Protein Benefits: Real or Hype?

Protein has been shown to benefit people in a number of different ways, from increasing metabolism (thermogenic effects) to de-greasing and repairing a fatty liver.  One of the important benefits that increasing your dietary protein seems to deliver is the benefit of increasing lean muscle mass.  Even in a calorie deficit, it has been suggested that increasing your protein will preserve your lean muscle so that the majority of weight will be lost from fat.    You see when you go on a diet, eating less than your body needs, then “what” you are eating will result in you losing certain amount of muscle and a certain amount of fat.

An ideal diet, has you burning the greatest amount of fat, but preserves as much lean muscle as possible.  Many people go on diets eating anything that they want (including junk food) but just less of it.  What they do not understand is that they could be losing as much if not more muscle than fat, a fact that they will not be aware of simply by looking at the scale.  Do you think that that would make a difference in your body composition and how you looked? Imagine if you were to lose 50 pounds of weight, but in one scenario you lost 50 pounds of fat compared to another scenario where you lost 25 pounds of fat and 25 pounds of muscle?  Which scenario would you prefer?

A study that was just conducted this year, looked at the effects of dietary protein content on weight gain, energy expenditure and body composition during overeating. This was an excellent study because it was all performed in a controlled setting.  This means that all the participants were observed, monitored and fed under the control of the researchers.  Basically they were under house arrest for the duration of the study so all food eating was accurately recorded.

The results were interesting.  This was an overfeeding study so all subjects, who were between the ages of 18 and 35, were fed more than their daily energy needs. One group was fed a calorie surplus that had 5% protein (low group), another had 15% protein (normal group) and the last group was fed a diet that had 25% of its calories coming from protein (high protein group).  All groups were overfed an average of a thousand calories over their daily requirements.

The results proved that you can gain weight regardless of the macronutrient profile, of course.  But it also proved that the higher the protein intake the greater the acceleration of fat burning and the increase in lean muscle mass. The low protein group gained the least amount of weight, the normal protein group gained more weight, and the high protein group gained the most. But, the interesting thing is that all 3 groups had gained the same amount of fat.

• The low protein group experienced no increase in energy expenditure (thermogenesis) and no increases in lean muscle mass.
• The normal group had an increase both in lean muscle mass and energy expenditure.
• The high group had even a greater increase in both!  

The bottom line just looking at calories is that eating more than your body needs will increase your weight.
But, more importantly, this study proves the benefit of protein as it relates to thermogenic properties and retaining or increasing lean muscle even in a calorie deficit diet!  Said differently if you want to have the body of your dreams it involves losing fat and retaining or increasing your lean muscle.  To do that protein in the right amounts are key.

1)Bray, GA.  Effect of dietary protein content on weight gain, energy expenditure, and body composition during overeating: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA 2012

The Key to Achieving Your Health Goals

Sitting up straight or lying down, close your eyes for a moment and imagine what you would feel like, if you had your ideal body and perfect health. Really take a few moments to let yourself imagine this. Let go of your current self, your present self-image, health and body... and imagine the new you.

Imagine yourself with toned arms, flat 6-pack abs and legs and butt to die-for.

What would you do with all that extra energy, how would you dress differently, how would you feel about yourself?

Experience the confidence you would have, how your self-esteem would soar and how others would perceive your attractiveness and confidence! Imagine the limitlessness to all the activities you could participate in with your healthy, fit body. Imagine an evening of feeling sexy, sexually confident and attractive with your significant other. How would that affect your relationship or your ability to attract your ideal soul mate? Envision your perfect body and the way it would make you feel! Think of it like this: This vision is the “authentic” you – the person you have always wanted to be with the body and health that you have always known you should have!

Do you ever say to yourself, “If I just lost the weight, got healthy and took care of myself, then I would feel like […]”

That is the person you should be …the True or “authentic” You.

Now, open your eyes and realize where your health truly is. How much weight could you stand to lose or how much farther do you have to go before you have the lean, flat stomach of your dreams? Take a look at the harsh reality of what your body has become and consider the effect it has had on your self-esteem and self-image. Think about how your poor body image has negatively impacted your life.

Has your confidence become less than it could be?

Are you less sexually confident and is your sense of attractiveness diminished?

Do you feel great in a swimsuit or revealing outfit or do you hide from your mate or from yourself?

This is an excerpt from 'Mindset for Weight Loss' by Michael Mountain. The answers to these questions and more can be found by opting in to the free diet in the right hand sidebar.

The "F" Word: FEAR

These are the Top 4 fears that stop people from taking the road to success.

Fear of Failure – “What if I can’t lose the weight?” Ultimately, some people would rather not try to lose the weight due to the looming possibility that they might fail. Previous failed attempts only strengthen this fear! They can become so overwhelmed and fearful of letting themselves or others down that they never actually start.

Fear of Success – You’re thinking, NO WAY, why would anyone fear success?! Because people with this fear think, “If I lose the weight, my life might change or friends might judge me and not want to hang out with the new thin me.” Some people have friends and family that are overweight and they fear that if they are successful that it might negatively affect their relationships. This leads us into the next fear people have…

Fear of Rejection – These people fear being judged or rejected by the people they love the most. Some peoples’ lives revolve around food and social situations; they can feel that if they change how and what they eat, then their friends might not enjoy their company because this person is not participating in the usual and customary way. They also can fear that their friends might not like to hang out with them if they are fit and healthy because their friends might feel uncomfortable or feel compelled to change themselves.
We so often don’t realize that those who love us, who genuinely wish us well, want us to be happy and most of the time are prepared to join us on our journey!
And then, there's...

Fear of Limitation or Restriction – These folks can feel like they are going to somehow miss out; they often say things to themselves like, “I don’t want to deny myself life’s pleasures like Friday Pizza Party, Saturday Beer and BBQ, Sunday Nachos & Margaritas!" They even justify it, “I work hard and this is some of life’s simple pleasures,” or some people feel that life is already full of restrictions or limitations. These feeling can come from many issues - big ones especially, such as money struggles - and these folks commonly feel that food is the one thing that they can go crazy with, without limits.

Yes, these are all head games, but fear is the number one reason people fail to even start to lose weight. These people can be terrified into inaction. Please be aware... these fears are NOT REAL, and otherwise known as "Inauthentic Fears"; friends and family will not run away because you are getting healthy…
These fears do exist in some people's heads, and they do hold people back. You may recognize yourself in some of these fears or situations. And that's OK. But what you need to understand is that this is your psycho-cybernetic mechanism messing with your head! Remember the weight gauge we talked about towards the beginning of this book? … That gauge will resist change by sending you these feelings of fear! That thermostat is kickin' in!

To read more about how to beat fear in your weight loss program check out Mindset for Weight Loss by Michael Mountain. You can also opt in for a free diet from Michael right here by filling out the form to your right!

WHY You Eat is the Key To Permanent Weight Loss

Hunger, social situations and the myriad of reasons one eats is not the topic of this article. The larger, broader picture of what leads us to gaining weight is, because within its understanding lies the solution to permanent weight loss. An important part to realize in the broader picture of things is that what we eat and how much we eat is an action, as is whether or not we exercise. These actions have lead to the level of health you know have. Your past actions (food choices) or lack of action (exercise) have created the results, your weight, you presently enjoy. If you want to change your results than all you should have to do is change your actions.

Since going on a diet is a change in action, it would make sense if the results were to follow and success was easy to achieve. We can summarize it in the following way…

Unhealthy Actions => unhealthy results/being overweight

Change the action or go on a diet/start to exercise…

New Healthy Actions => New Results/Weight Loss

That is what a diet in fact is supposed to do, it gives you the information necessary to hopefully carry out new actions. But, here is the problem and why 95-97% of all people fail to lose weight and keep it off when they simply follow a diet. All actions that human beings perform are initiated by their thoughts and their feelings. Unfortunately, your thoughts and feelings are linked to old patterns. These learned patterns or habits are associated with unhealthy actions (unhealthy food and no exercise). Picking a diet book up off the shelf reading it and then following its recommendations for diet and perhaps exercise, does nothing to change your thoughts and emotions; the very thoughts and emotions that drive you towards your unhealthy patterns of eating and not exercising.

Here is an analogy, you can think of going on a diet just like taking an aspirin for pain, it does not treat the underlying condition or cause of your pain, it just masks it. Similarly while on a diet, you have not broken the cycle by treating the cause of your weight gain, as a result you will inevitably gain the weight back or sabotage your own weight loss efforts.

We can summarize things further in the following way…

Thoughts/feelings => unhealthy actions=> unhealthy results

It should be obvious by looking at that line above that real, lasting change will come from having strategies in place that direct your thoughts and feelings. By creating a simple and slight shift in your mindset towards food and exercise, you will engage the most powerful ally you could ever have in your goal to lose weight… YOU!

New thoughts/feelings =>New healthy actions=> New Results!

New thoughts and emotional connections with food will treat the cause of your problem and free you to achieve your dream results. Knowledge on what is healthy, nutritious food and why exercise is vital to your health is going to give your new mindset the opportunity to make new associations with that information. When your mind and your new actions are congruent and “on the same page” towards achieving your goal, then permanent weight loss becomes effortless. But, if you ignore the power of your mind, it will fight you all the way. That is why people struggle with will power and why up to 97% of all people don’t achieve lasting results. If you want to end your struggle and want to feel a sense of incredible self-empowerment, then know the following… When you change your mind then you will change your results, because changing your mind is the key to following through with new action!

About: Michael Mountain is a transformational author on health, weight loss & personal growth and is featured on Amazon.com. He is the author of the Ultimate Fat Loss Solution Diet which is available presently free of charge at www.michael-mountain.com. He is also the author of Mindset for Weight Loss transformational program - a revolutionary step-by-step program designed to provide the “inner-strength strategies” to take any diet and make it effective for permanent weight loss. This program allowed him to end his own personal 20 year struggle with weight and poor health! You can sign up to receive his blog updates on weight loss and motivation at www.michael-mountain.com

Is The Cost of Eating Healthy Foods a Legitimate Excuse?

One of the common excuses I hear from people who say they want to lose weight but can’t because of “blah-blah-blah” is because of the cost of eating healthy.

Commonly, this is stated by people who buy their Starbucks every morning,  and eat out breakfast, lunch and dinner at fast food joints.  There is no way that these people are spending less than I spend on an average day to eat 5 very nutritious meals a day.  My average daily expenditure is well under $10 dollars for all my meals total. 

Even on a cheap, fast food diet – it would be very difficult to eat 3 meals, let alone 5 meals for under $15.00.  The truth is that eating healthy, especially if you prepare your meals at home and take them with you, is very inexpensive.  My wife and I figured it out;  when we began to eat healthy we were saving $200-400 dollars a month by not eating fast food or low end eating out- we still have occasional date nights at nice restaurants.

 The reality is that the cost of eating healthy is just an untrue excuse. Similarly, all excuses like cost of food, no time, bad influences or no-support are just that, excuses. 

Excuses and blame are cut from the same mold.  Neither one can exist if you are to be successful losing weight.  Excuses and blame create a prison within the mind of the person using them.  By pointing your finger at things outside of yourself as to why you just can’t lose weight, you are robbing yourself of power you possess.  This power - your personal power is the very key to personal freedom and permanent weight loss. 

Even when you lose weight on a diet and then gain the weight back; if you blame that diet for your lost result, then you are positioning yourself in your prison as a victim. In my past, I lost and gained weight back on seven different diets, so I know how easy it is to play the blame game.
So how did I begin the process of changing my result? I took responsibility!

Permanent weight loss will never be achieved until you take responsibility for your life and your health.

The second you start to tell yourself that you and you alone are responsible for your health and the weight your presently have, you will get your power back.  By taking responsibility for your present state of health, you place the responsibility for action likewise upon yourself and will start actively finding a way to move boldly towards your goal! 

When you blame, make excuses or justify – you accomplish the other, weakening your position and shutting down appropriate action!

Taking responsibility for your health and your results are one of the keys to permanent change and successful weight loss!

Here is something that you should begin to say to yourself with emotion everyday!

“ I am responsible for my health, I am responsible for my feelings, I am responsible for my weight loss results!” 

Try repeating that 5-10 times each day and see if your life doesn’t change dramatically!

Fats and Carbs: The Good? The Bad? The Confusing?

There is a lot of confusion out there when it comes to understanding good fats vs. bad fats as well as good carbohydrates vs. bad carbohydrates.  Really, what is the truth and what do you really need to know in order to have great health?   Are all fats bad or just the saturated fats like steak and eggs?  Are all carbohydrates bad or just the simple carbohydrates like sugar and high fructose corn syrup, or products like bread, pasta, rice, cookies and cakes?

Do we really need to memorize all of the different types of food groups and which foods fall into the “good” category, or is there an easier way to make choices that will serve our purpose.

Well if you believe the no-fat, low-fat supporters then all fat is bad and just about all carbs are good. That certainly makes it easy, and you can lose weight that way if you limit your calories.   But, history has shown us that eating very low levels of fat is very detrimental to our health.  It leads to decreases in brain and nervous system function, decreased sex hormones and libido,  decreases in lean muscle mass, and increases in diabetes, dry skin and brittle hair, just to name a few.

 On the other hand if you believe the no-carb, low carb groups and supporters, then all fats are good and all carbs are bad.  The research shows that there are some positives found in this claim like weight loss, decreases in cholesterol at least short term, as well as increased feelings satiety and more controlled blood sugars.   But, long term over exposure to only fat and protein is questionable for health, especially for the heart and has been shown to increase inflammation in the entire body.   Beyond that it is important to realize that the brain needs a minimum of 70 grams of carbohydrates a day to function properly, and your muscle and liver glycogen needs to be replaced each day or at least every other day if you want to keep your energy up.   Case in point; there is less than a hand full of athletes, especially professional and elite athletes who eat very low carbs.  The reason is because their bodies need energy from carbohydrates and so does yours to work well!

You might be able to get away with eating almost no carbs for a while but if you want;  unlimited energy, a high functioning brain and the ability to exercise, and at the same time don’t want to invite heart disease or chronic inflammation into your life then low carb is not the way to go.

So instead of looking at the extremes let’s look at the reality; humans need energy to function, energy is created out of both fat and carbohydrates.  Your heart prefers fat as its major energy source but your brain prefers glucose or carbohydrates.   Your muscles can operate satisfactorily off of either source of energy but prefers one over the other for optimum performance dependent upon the situation.     This means that we need to eat both.  But how do we do that if we are trying to be healthy and trying to lose weight?

Knowing the good fats over the bad fats can have value, just as the same applies to carbohydrates.  You can find the complete breakdown of this list in my free diet available at Michael-mountain.com.  Here is a simpler and more important point, we use both sources for energy but utilizing one source at any given time is easier on the body and more efficient for creating energy.  In fact, if you eat fat and carbs at the same time, it will usually result in fat storage.   So, start to realize the most important rule is not what is good or bad, but to try to separate the two sources at any given meal. 

We need energy but we don’t need a ton of it!  Eating fat and carbohydrates together nine times out of ten provides too much energy for the body to burn so it stores the surplus as fat.  The typical western diet and its ill effects is a perfect example of these fat-carbohydrate combinations that make us obese and destroy our health.  Pizza, hamburgers, French fries, meat pies, steak and potatoes…the list is endless.  To maximize weight loss, simply limit each meal to one source of energy.    It is a perfect beginning to know how to choose certain foods in healthy combinations.

Research has proven that the winning combination of foods for health and weight loss is lean sources of protein and high fiber, nutrient rich vegetables.  That is where you start.  To that you can add either a fat source or a carbohydrate source but not both together at a meal.  Here is an example using breakfast; you might begin with a vegetable, egg-white omelet (protein and vegetables) and to it you might add fat such as the egg yolk or avocado to the omelet and cream to your coffee.  On the other hand you might add a carbohydrate such as a bowl of oatmeal or a slice of whole grain toast, such as Ezekiel bread.  At each meal, just make a choice as to which energy source, fat or carbohydrates, you will be adding. 

   It becomes quite easy as a way to make healthy food choices.  Separating your energy sources will not only trim down your waist-line it will also increase your health because you will be giving your body both the energy sources it needs to function optimally!   Special tip: the best time to add carbohydrates to your protein and vegetable meal is right after your work-out!

Do You Crash or Have Low Energy Right After Lunch?

When you think of the period of time ½ hour to 2 hours after lunch what comes to mind?  Is it a time of energetic productivity or do you find that your energy takes a dive right after lunch?  Does the thought of a nap, a half hour after lunch sound like the best thing in the world?  If you do, then you most likely need to change what you are eating.

Scientists have now proven that we have certain cells in our brains, in an area called the hypothalamus, that wake up the brain or put it to sleep.  These cells called orexins and they actually communicate with a network of command nerve cells called hypocretins. 

These cells can be stimulated to be turned off or turned on depending on what you eat.  When they are turned off, you feel sluggish, sleepy and just want to lay down.   They even slow down your metabolism, so that it is negatively affects your weight and body composition.  The foods that turn these specialized cells off are carbohydrates!

When these cells are turned on then you have tons of energy, are motivated and driven to be productive.  It will also increase your metabolism so that you will burn fat and positively impact any weight changes you are working on.  The type of foods that turns these specialized cells on are proteins!  This can make a world of difference between a productive afternoon and an afternoon of dread and dreaming of a siesta!

So what this means is that if you want to keep your energy consistent then protein must be included in your lunch.  If you find that even when you combine carbohydrates and protein, such as a roast beef sandwich, that you still feel that you are sluggish, it means that you are extra sensitive.  You would do better to have a lunch that is predominantly protein and fibrous vegetables…it is superior for energy at that time and for weight loss!  Kicking the morning off on the right foot is always a great way to start, this is why I recommend protein with breakfast because it’s benefits to health, energy and body composition.

Some people can get away with the combination of protein and carbohydrates at lunch and still be energetic, others will have to look for combinations that include limited to no carbohydrates.  This recommendation of carbohydrate restriction does not include vegetables.  For many people carbohydrates are best eaten at dinner time right after your workout!

 About:  Michael Mountain is a transformational author on health, weight loss & personal growth and is featured on Amazon.com. He is the author of the Ultimate Fat Loss Solution Diet which is available presently free of charge at www.michael-mountain.com.   He is also the author of Mindset for Weight Loss transformational program - a revolutionary step-by-step program designed to provide the “inner-strength strategies” to take any diet and make it effective for permanent weight loss.  This program allowed him to end his own personal 20 year struggle with weight and poor health!  You can sign up to receive his blog updates on weight loss and motivation at www.michael-mountain.com

Pleasure and Pain

Your desire to seek or experience PLEASURE and…
Your need to avoid or not experience PAIN.

These are things that bring us pleasure we are attracted to --- and things that cause us pain we try to avoid. Plain and simple. And almost all our daily decisions are based on these two simple needs. But, let’s clarify some important points beyond your initial thought that chocolate, pizza and ice cream give you pleasure….and… Exercise, lean chicken and broccoli give you pain. (LOL)

You see, it goes much deeper than that... In fact, YOU really didn't create your own likes and dislikes.
Mostly during childhood; your culture, family, friends, personal experiences, the media and advertisements directed what we have linked to pleasure.
And for clarity…
There is Short Term Pleasure and Long Term Pleasure
There is Short Term Pain and Long Term Pain
Pain is not always bad… for example, the pain of being overweight, unhealthy and wanting more has driven you to The Mindset for Weight Loss program and to finally losing the weight for good. So, that's good.
People who get healthy and stay healthy for a lifetime have associated pain with being OUT of shape. They have also linked pleasure with respecting their bodies, feeding it health, and exercising daily.
So that being said, we can, by choice, learn from others and change our behavior by changing what we LINK to pain and pleasure.
Here is an example using ice cream… Have you ever eaten a bowl of ice cream that brought you pleasure at the time, but as soon as you were finished, you felt Pain? Let me elaborate… Let's say that you ate the ice cream because of the immediate pleasure it gave you; not only did it taste good, but you had always been given ice cream as a reward or treat by your parents and you linked that feeling of reward, connection and love to ice cream anytime you ate it. Also, it lit up the taste buds in your mouth just like the advertisement said it would.
But after, it caused you pain because you knew that it would make you fat, you would feel bloated which in turn would make you feel unattractive… ultimately you had let yourself down. Now as a second option, have you ever chosen not to eat the ice cream?… which caused you some pain because you were denying yourself that immediate pleasure - But after the pangs for the ice cream go away, you feel great about yourself; you realize that you have taken one more step towards your goal, you feel more attractive and confident in yourself and are empowered because of your own self-discipline! Two similar scenarios with dramatically different actions and interpretations, right?

The above is an excerpt from my book Mindset for Weight Loss.  You can purchase the full book at http://tinyurl.com/7vbxkjo

Fast Food And Why We Are Becoming Fatter And Fatter!

The Fast Food industry is smart. They are killing it in regards to profit and they are killing us in the process!
Never before has more unhealthy, nutrient poor food, laden with combinations of fat, sugar and salt been served up in such huge quantities. It seems that even Starbucks has decided to join the long list of food retailers that provides no inherent restraint to portion size or calorie control. They have begun introducing their new line of “supersized” coffee drinks beginning with the frozen blended drinks. Guess who the large consumers of those drinks are? Kids between the ages of 12-25!

These "trentas", as they are being called, hold 31 ounces of your favorite blended drink. What is interesting to note is that the calorie intake of one of these drinks could be as much as 1200 calories plus! Way over half of the calories that people that age should be eating for the whole day!

Why did they do this? It would appear that McDonalds has been giving them a run for their money, or said differently McDonalds has been stealing away customers from Starbucks because McDonalds has been offering supersized blended coffee drinks.

We all know that McDonalds and most the other fast food chains out there do not consider the public’s health a priority when creating it’s products, but instead looks at the scientific research of what ratios of high fat, high sugar and high salt creates the strongest cravings for people to go back for more and more! It would appear now, that the all mighty dollar has motivated Starbucks to likewise forgo any thought as to what is O.K. for its consumer’s health... 31 ounce drinks filled with sugar and fat! That is insane!

When is enough... enough? Many years ago, before this huge obesity epidemic, it used to be that getting a 10-12 ounce soda (140 calories) was a real treat and more than enough… Even though my family's eating habits weren't necessarily in the "healthy" category, I remember as kids, we were lucky to get a soda more than once a month!

What has happened? As much as we would like to blame the fast food companies who are motivated only by money, ultimately blame must go on the consumer because WE are buying this crap!

But…why? Why do people feed their faces to such excess? Even in the presence of increased rates of; obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and Diabetes?

Some would suggest that it is because of our evolutionary experience. That, in Paleolithic times, we ate in a feast or famine way. We did not get fat then because the availability of the food was limited and sporadic. We also didn’t get fat because the type of food that made up our diet was mostly lean meats, nuts, seeds, vegetables and some fruit.

It is suggested that we continue to eat in a feasting pattern based on that preserved behavior, the only problem now is: there is food available everywhere and at any time. Others would blame the agricultural age and the increase in production of grain, flour and cereal consumption as well as the more contemporary addition to our diets of preservatives, increases in sugars, salt, and manufactured syrups and fat. It is very true that these types of food create chemical and hormonal changes that lead to powerful cravings to want to eat more of the same. And certainly much of that has lead to poor health and disease, but is that REALLY why we are driven to consume outrageous amounts of food?

The answer is that all those things together have contributed to this time in history… a time where obesity, Diabetes and heart disease run rampant. But… they are not the biggest reason.The truth is that for the majority of people, they eat without much thought. So yes, we can consider as part of the problem our learned feasting patterns, exposure to unhealthy, nutrient poor foods and effects of bad, even toxic food that trigger cravings in the body. But all of that pales in comparison to the one truth... eating for us is a habit. We have learned to eat a certain way, eat certain types of food and consume a certain amount of food. It occurs over time and is handed down from the previous generation to generation. Each generation is teaching the younger generation that there is no such thing as too much of a good thing!

Have you ever been told…”finish what is on your plate.” Even better, that learned habit is reinforced with even more food. “If you finish what is on your plate, then you can have dessert!” This bad habit is accentuated by the fact that the general serving size has been getting bigger and bigger. Regardless of how much you give us, we keep “finishing what is on our plate”. This is just one example of how poor eating habits are learned. We learn them from seeing, doing, participating and modeling from sources like parents, family, friends, culture, television etc.

Unfortunately, with each subsequent generation the bad habits, the negative patterns, the shear amount of consumption increases! We have been trained to think that bigger is better and more is better, like we are “getting our money’s worth”, and it is killing us.

McDonalds and now Starbucks is simply added fuel to the fire of an out of control flame of over consumption built on bad habits and poor diet choices. If we are ever to stop the insanity we are going to have to do two things….

1. Change our eating habits and stop handing bad habits down to our children.
2. Learn what foods in what amounts our body truly needs to thrive and be healthy.
3. Ignore the insanity that is seen in advertising and make smarter choices in restaurants and fast-food establishments.

Most importantly we must realize that the beneficiary of over consumption is the bank accounts of the fast food companies and they are not going to grow a conscience. You will be dead long before they start serving healthy, balanced food products served up in reasonable amounts… So, it is up to us to stop the insanity!

Article Source: http://www.streetarticles.com/weight-loss/fast-food-and-why-we-are-becoming-fatter-and-fatter

 

Calling All People who Want to Lose Weight

Calling All People Trying To Lose Weight!

Finally, a Way to Elevate Your Self Esteem, End the Guilt and Lose the Weight!

Guilt, self esteem and being overweight are intimately linked, there is no denying it.

The fact that this is established and well understood should be the foundation for a complete solution that ultimately addresses all these factors.

Unfortunately, Diet books and “Gurus” only ever talk about nutrition, diet and exercise.

As a result the documented success rate for people on a diet is about 5%. Well there is no doubt that that is a pathetic statistic. What it really helps us identify is the fact that diet and exercise alone are an incomplete solution. It proves that you can’t ignore all the things that are going on inside your head and hope that it will all change because you are forcing yourself to eat healthy.

Here is why.

The choices you have made about food and exercise in the past have created the health and weight you have now. These choices are ingrained within you….that is why you have struggled to break the pattern. You literally eat based upon learned patterns of emotional behavior and bad habits. They can include daily fast food, boredom eating, emotional eating, weekend binge eating, etc. In essence, prior to going on a diet, you had a pattern of eating behaviors that created what we can call your food and health “Autopilot”.

This autopilot or negative patterns of eating and dis-empowering relationships with food are very powerful. It is the reason that people struggle with weight, binge eat, cheat on their diet and why the majority of folks fail to ever reach their dream weight. This struggle of course wreaks havoc on your self esteem as does the fact that you are not happy with your appearance.

It is no wonder that substantially overweight people or the obese feel like they weigh much more than even the scale tells them… all that guilt and negative self image must feel like the weight of the world on their shoulders. So what do we need to understand?

Think of it this way, a plane can be set on autopilot so that it is set for a certain direction.

That setting can be circumvented by someone steering the plane off course, but the second that that person releases the controls then the plane will eventually return to it’s original heading because of the autopilot.

That is how it is for you. You ate a certain way with certain patterns, associations and emotional relationships that created your negative autopilot for food and health. Your autopilot has given you the weight and health you have today.

By going on a diet, it is like you steered your plane off course, the autopilot is still on and it will take you back to it’s original heading whenever it can. That is why people who have lost tons of weight regain it back. They have been eating healthy for months, even years and yet that did not create new habits or change their autopilot because changing what you eat is not enough.

In order to lift the weight of the world off of your shoulders, raise your self-esteem, end the guilt and finally lose the weight forever you must reset your autopilot for a whole new course or direction.

Only changing what you eat will not change your autopilot…but, just like a plane, if you turn off the autopilot, turn the plane in the NEW desired direction and then turn the autopilot back on then you will reach your destination with ease. The same thing will happen to you when you change your present negative food and health autopilot to a positive, empowering food and health autopilot.

Your self-esteem will soar and you will reach your weight loss goal with ease!

Yours in health, weight loss, and plain old happiness!

Is There Such a Thing as Good Calories and Bad Calories?

There is a common question that I hear and that is, “is there such a thing as good calories and bad calories?  Well the answer would be yes and no. 

You see, a calorie is defined as the approximate energy needed to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius.  Oh geez, that doesn’t make it any clearer either, does it?

Now that you are totally confused, let’s cut to the chase and let me try to make it clear.

A calorie is a calorie, as long as you ignore the overall benefits or ill-effects the calorie has on health and metabolism.  Said differently, and this was tested quite recently by a man who lost approximately 25 lbs eating nothing but Twinkies, that a calorie equals a calorie regardless of what the calorie is made of.  This is why, simply from a calorie breakdown perspective the answer is that there are no good calories and bad calories.

Many people preach that weight loss is simply nothing more than a calorie deficit, energy in has to be less than energy out or expended.  In essence, as long as you eat less than your body needs – it will burn calories stored as fat, the type or quality of the calories being irrelevant.   And this is true if you don’t care about; health, energy, body composition, and stagnant weight loss!   That is why that man could lose weight on a Twinkie diet, and the same can happen eating nothing but cookies, cabbage soup, subway sandwiches, cardboard, etc.   As long as you eat less than your body needs, you will lose some weight.

The problem lies in that the type and quality of the calories have an effect upon the body;  those effects lead to increases or decreases in energy and health as well as facilitate weight loss or inhibit weight loss.  That is why I said that indeed there is such a thing as good calories and bad calories!

So, we could say that Good Calories are nutrient dense calories that promote a health and weight loss advantage, whereas bad calories are nutrient poor calories that diminish health and create a weight loss disadvantage.

Good Calories accomplish the following that Bad Calories do not…

•     Increases the health and function of the liver – the liver is the major organ for burning fat in the body, when it works better you accelerate fat burning and weight loss!  Bad Calories decrease the function of the liver.
•     Decreases inflammation in the body – the number one problem of fat in the body is the production of inflammatory chemicals that lead to heart disease, thickening of the arteries, chronic pain and a whole slew of other stuff you do not want. You can lose weight eating crap but your body will continue to suffer with ill-health and disease due to inflammation.
•     Burns mostly fat – Good calories burn the largest percentage of fat compared to muscle, bad calories do the opposite!
•     Maintains and Increases the formation of new lean muscle – lean muscle burns more fat, so that your new muscle very quickly starts to accelerate fat loss.  Dieting while eating only Bad Calories will have you losing as much muscle as you do fat, the scale might say that you lost weight but your body will be weaker than ever! 
•     Increases your energy and the health of your entire body – By increasing the health of your body by giving it the vitamins, minerals and nutrients it needs to function better, it will affect all aspects of your body!  Dieting while eating only Bad Calories will have you feeling terrible regardless of any weight change!
•     You don’t have to be obsessed with counting calories when you eat good calories – They all increase health and increased health accelerates fat loss.  Dieting while eating bad calories means you have to be obsessed with every bite.  One too many French fries can tip the balance and screw up a day’s dieting efforts!  Do you really want to bring a calculator to every meal?   

Please review the Ultimate Fat Loss Solution Diet for a list of Good Calories vs. Bad Calories at www.UltimateFatLossSolution.com.

Food, Weight Loss and The Law of Attraction

It has been said many times in the past that, “You are what you eat!” But what if I was to add also that “You are what you think”?

The first one makes sense to us on some level. Even if you don’t understand the science or the effects of what you eat on your biology or how it works, you know that your body uses what you eat to create the cells and health of your entire body.  But what about the second one, “You are what you think”?
I am going to guess that this might be a tough one for you to wrap your arms around.  Let me help you to understand this, for it is a key to health.

First,  to say “You are what you think” is really incorrect; it is really more accurate to say that, “You are what you think AND FEEL”.  Because your thoughts create your feelings and your feelings change everything!  Let me share with you what science is now proving…

… have you ever felt sad or depressed, in fact so much so that it lasted all day or more?  It would be fair to say that you were in a negative headspace so to speak, yes?  Here is what I want you to embrace: the way you felt that day and its effects on the health of your entire body can most easily be compared to… a day or more of eating nothing but; high sugar, high fat, fast food!  Both will decrease your health, both will make you fat, both will make you be less appealing to others and both attract more of the same to you!

Now, have you ever felt great, upbeat and excited, or full of unwavering love and connection for at least a day?  It would be fair to say that you were in a positive headspace, wouldn’t it?  The way you felt for those couple of days and the effects of those positive feelings can be most readily compared to a couple of days of eating nothing but healthy, nutritious foods!  Both will increase your health, both will make you a leaner, fitter version of yourself, both will make you more appealing to others and both will attract more of the same to you, if you know how!

Let me make sense of each effect. Here is a simple way to get it!

• Food and Health – You are what you eat!  Any food that you eat will, based upon its level of nutrition and health, either increase or decrease the health of your entire body.  Through digestion and chemical reactions your body uses what you give it to continually re-construct all the cells of your body.  Just because you don’t die the second you eat a super-sized meal from your local fast food joint, don’t be fooled… you have taken a step towards the grave.
• Food and Weight Gain – When you eat junk and you eat more of it than your body can use, then your body will add it to your storage cells; the fat on your body.  Eating junk destroys the organs and hormones associated with metabolism, burning fat and feeling like you have had enough to eat.  You stack the cards against yourself every time you have a day of eating unhealthy foods because the system that is supposed to reverse the process and help you lose weight becomes weaker and weaker!  Besides that, you feel hungry all the time, even when you truly are not – because the hormones that send that message are not working!
• Food and Weight Loss – When you consistently eat healthy foods you will heal the organs and hormones associated with weight loss.  Even if you are eating amounts that would not result in immediate weight loss you have taken steps to start losing weight because your body will be working better, and you won’t feel hungry all the time, since you are eating higher quality foods.    If you add a calorie deficit (eating less than your body needs) and you eat healthy foods, then you will massively increase health and weight loss.NOTE: Be careful of what diet you choose because some of the fad diets out there help you to lose weight but are also decreasing the health of your body, so that long term you will gain weight because your metabolism and fat burning organs have been further injured.
• Negative thoughts and feelings – Your thoughts and your feelings have a direct effect upon the health of your cells, not just of your brain but of your entire body.  Science has proven that your thoughts and feelings communicate with all of your cells.  Negative feelings decrease the health of your cells; they create a stagnant cesspool within the cell itself.   When you feel this way you just feel cruddy all over, don’t you?  If you have any body aches or pains they get worse, don’t they?  The thing to know is that the less health you have in your cells and throughout your body, the harder it is to process fat and toxins out of the body.  It makes it easier for your body to hold on to the fat!  Have you ever been on a diet, not lost any weight and wondered why?It has been shown that today more than any other time, people are in a negative headspace over 70% of the time! Truly it appears that negativity has become the default setting in most people.   Our obesity epidemic is likewise at an all time high… hmmmm,  I wonder – is there a connection?!  Most definitely.
• Positive thoughts and feelings – When you are in a good headspace and feelings of love or optimism fill your head, those feelings are actively increasing the health of your whole body.  Your entire mind and body are vibrating at a higher level!  Think back to a time in the past when you had positive thoughts and feelings. When you felt that way didn’t you feel great all over? That is because you not only felt good but you had raised the vibration level in all of your cells and that vibration sent out positive energy in all directions, in your body and outward!  The body and the cells also now actively want to get rid of the unwanted fat!  Ever been optimistic about losing weight, feeling good about it and the weight started to come off?
• The Law of Attraction – the law of attraction states that like attracts like, but think of it as things or people with similar vibrations levels will be attracted to each other.  Likewise, things with different vibration levels repel each other.  When you are in a negative headspace you attract more negativity and other negative people to you.  Do you have bad days regularly? Do you sit around the water dispenser at work complaining and griping with all the other people who complain and gripe?  Or are you upbeat and positive most of the time, attracting other positive people and opportunities to you?  You attract to you what is in your life based upon your predominant thoughts and feelings!  Including regularly eating unhealthy  or healthy foods depending on your thoughts or feelings.
• The Law of Attraction and Weight – So, now you realize that your thoughts and feelings helped to  create the level of health or weight that you now experience.  If you are not at the weight you want to be, you must not only change what you eat and create health within your body, but you must make sure that your predominant thoughts and feelings are positive.  In essence, you become what you think about most of the time; don’t play the head game of, “I am sad because I am overweight, not overweight because I am sad!”  The two are intimately linked; ask yourself why you eat most of the time?  Only because you are hungry or because food helps you to change the way you are feeling at a given moment?  Unfortunately for almost everyone who is overweight they are linked, you can’t address one without the other. In order for you to change your health and weight you also must change your mindset just a little bit from the inside out!
• Thoughts and feelings are the key to health and weight loss; they are as important as the very food you eat!  If you are going to achieve your perfect weight, true health and a life that is fulfilling and full of passion you must embrace that the changes you need to make will begin on the inside!  From there, a diet that is founded on health will only help!

Why do you think that losing weight raises your self esteem so much? Only because of how you look? No, because of how you feel;  it changes the very essence of you!  The mind-body connection is the key to an incredible life and you can use the Law of Attraction to strengthen and reshape your very own mind-body connection.

Protein and Resistance Exercise Reign Supreme

Are you trying to lose weight?  What is best?   These and other head scratching questions and considerations come to mind when people are trying to figure out what diet they should go on.

 

There is a lot of conflicting information out there that can lead folks into a state of over-analysis paralysis!   Diet Guru’s only seem to foster a greater level of confusion because instead of sharing the results of research, they choose only to promote their own agenda by substantiating their perspective.

 

So here is some unbiased information of 3 different research papers that looked at the superiority of a high protein diet compared to a high carbohydrate diet.  They looked at the advantages of protein or carbohydrates with resistant exercise and without. They looked at the effects of a high protein diet on Cardiovascular disease, belly fat, nutrient profile, lipid profiles and weight loss.

 

The results for all 3 research papers were unanimously conclusive that a high protein diet is a superior way to go.  Weight loss was superior in the group that ate high protein, and even more so when combined with resistance exercise.  CVD or markers for cardio vascular disease decreased substantially with the high protein diet as did the test subjects amount of belly fat.  Important nutrients like vitamin B-6 and B-12 increased with a high protein diet, the same cannot be said with the high carbohydrate diets.

 

In fact it was found that when you eat protein, you can increase your metabolism more 30% for as long as 12 hours!  Fat and Carbohydrates elevate metabolism less than 4 % for less than an hour. 

 

All in all this research is conclusive that high protein diets are important not just for increasing lean muscle mass but also for important health markers: such as CVD markers, lipid and nutrient profiles, as well as losing belly fat, over all body weight and effectively changing your body composition.

 

Please note that protein is not your only consideration when trying to eat both for health and a lean, fit body.

 

But, this is a good start to build on.