Low-Carb Diets

Low-Carb Diets 

Several popular diets advocate that you don’t eat carbs, and that’s one way to lose a lot of weight in a hurry. After all, for every gram of carbohydrate that is stored in the body (as glycogen), we store 3 grams of water.  But that’s a good thing since it keeps us hydrated. 

If you go on one of those diets without carbs, it’s like taking a sponge and wringing the water out. You’ll lose the water weight, but as soon as you eat carbs again—and you will at some point, because you need energy to function, and you can only go so long without carbs—then the sponge is going to fill up with water.  Research shows that the weight will come right back, and with a vengeance; people often gain back all the weight they lost while following a diet that severely reduces carb intake—and more. As with dieting, you’ll likely lose some of your lean mass in the process. 

In addition to the decrease in performance associated with low carbohydrate diets,  those following the low carbohydrate diets often omit many of the high-fiber whole grains and the vitamin, mineral and phytochemical loaded fruits and vegetables. 

A better approach is to eat carbohydrates based on your activity level and understand what makes up an actual serving size of carbohydrate. Carbohydrate equals fuel, and the body prefers glucose (what the carbohydrate is broken down into) for energy to fuel both the muscles and the brain. Without enough carbohydrate you are bound to sputter along like a car that is about to run out of gas. This becomes particularly important to the athlete who needs to have a full supply of energy at all times. During exercise or sports activities, the body will use available glucose in the blood for energy. Once that supply of glucose is depleted, the body will begin to break down glycogen, which is stored glucose, for energy. After that is gone, the body no longer has an efficient way to release glucose and your ability to perform at a high level will be compromised. 

Throughout the day and before training, choose mainly lower GI carbohydrates including high fiber whole grains and fruits and vegetables. After your training, eat enough carbohydrates by choosing some higher GI carbs to replenish your glycogen stores. By using carbohydrate as your training and performance partner and not as the forbidden nutrient, your energy stores and your diet will be appropriately balanced. 

7 Fat Loss Habits

7 Simple Fat-Loss Habits for 2012 That Really Work... For Life!

Why wait until you the New Year or some special event that dirves you to living a healthier you! Many seem to be looking to shed the extra pounds we've packed on while raising a family, in college, first years of marriage. The resolution we make to lose weight and get fit is sincere, but all too often, our good intentions don't ev...en last until for one month.

We all know that... "Every January, health clubs see a spike in attendance, followed by a drop in February," say boomer generation health experts Dian Griesel, Ph.D., and Tom Griesel.

The Griesels share seven simple steps we can easily incorporate into our busy schedules to make our lives healtheir:

• Set a goal for fat loss and improved body composition, not a reduction in pounds. Most dieting efforts, which focus on a drop in scale weight, result in the loss of lean body mass (LBM) along with fat. This loss of LBM can be significant and will reduce your base metabolic rate (BMR).

• Drink more water. Most people are chronically dehydrated, particularly first thing in the morning. We often mistake thirst as hunger, and eat when we should be drinking. Always drink a large glass of water as soon as you wake up, and whenever you feel hungry, before you eat anything. You may find you really weren’t hungry after all.

• Focus on being more active. Sitting for long periods of time is hazardous to your health and cannot be counteracted by daily trips to the gym. Never sit for more than an hour at a time, and always look for ways to increase your daily activity. Walking is great, but everything counts. Just be up on your feet and moving as much and as often as possible. Find an outdoor activity that you enjoy.

• Build and strengthen your muscles. It is your muscles that drive your metabolism 24/7/365. Increasing your muscle mass will increase your BMR. You do not need to join a gym or buy a set of weights. Simple body-weight exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, and squats done three to five times per day for as little as one minute will do the trick, especially if you have been inactive and sitting around too much. Do what you can now and build from there. Consistency is the key.

• Start improving your nutrition choices. Replacing the refined, processed, packaged, and fast foods in your current diet with fresh, natural foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, eggs, fish, and meat will dramatically increase your health and improve your body composition without dieting or counting calories.

• Get a good night’s sleep. We need deep, quality sleep for peak energy levels and to be optimally healthy. Set regular sleep hours and keep them whenever possible since it is during sleep that we “recharge our batteries." Avoid caffeine, alcohol, or stimulating TV or activities before your scheduled sleep time. Keep your room dark, cool, and quiet.

• Practice regular stress reduction techniques. In today’s world, we experience chronic stress that was unknown to our ancestors. Modern stressors constantly activate our "fight or flight" survival mechanism, and this is very detrimental to our health. Meditation can be very helpful. However, consistently practicing short relaxation exercises during your day is often even better, because they provide regular feedback and can help you to recognize and break stress patterns. These mini-relaxation sessions will reset your nervous system and do wonders for your health and feelings of well-being.

check out NUTRIMANAGE for helpful products to support your weight loss plan.

The right way to Dieting and Losing Weight

give up dieting forever, stop asking no white diet,no meat diet,no…

1 : Finding a better way

our web site introduces you to a different way of thinking about your weight, what you eat, and how you exercise. It’s called the ”nondiet’ approach, and, yes, it involves giving up diets and renegotiating  your image of an attractive body. at its core, the nondiet approach is about nurturing all facts of your life: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.

you will learn more about these principles and explore how to incorporate them into your lifestyle. you will also read advice from experts and real peaple who stopped dieting and not only survived, but also thrived.(see “Nondieters success stories“). by the end of this section, we hope you’ll adopt a new definition of the word diet.

2 : the diet trap

It’s hard to resist the allure of diets. our culture is mesmerized by thinness. from an early, we see slender image splashed across billboards and gracing TV shows, advertisements, movies, and magazines. Ironically, even those waiflike  models need an airbrushing before they’re deemed pageworthy. how is the average person supposed to attain that? No wonder we’re a diet-mad society, so willing to pin our hopes on every latest fad diet that come along. Diets set unrealistic expectations that are as elusive as the proverbial carrot on a stick.

3: The allure of being thin

Consider what you think losing weight will do for you. Sure, you expect to get  thinner, but how do you imagine your life to be then ? will you find your dream love match ? get a promotion ? be more populare ? Enjoy great wealth? if you think you’ll finally have the perfect life and fell terrific about yourself, you have lots of company. “our society is obsessed with thinness and promotes weight loss as the key to happiness and the answer to many of life’s problems,” says registered dietitian dayle hayes, advocate of the nondiet approach, author, and nutrition therapist in billings, Montana. these promises are seductive, but seldom, if ever, come true. you can probably lose weight on any diet, but you’ll still be the same person. “once the initial thrill of buying new clothes in smaller size wears off, you lost weight,” says hayes. weight loss never changes who you really are, nor will it make you happy. happiness is internal.

4: Why diets fail

Many discouraging statistics report that people who lose weight on a diet will gain it back within a few years. one reason for this dismal success rate is that people often view diets as a temporary situation to endure until they lose weight. then they go off the diet and back to the same eating patterns that caused them to gain weight.

Another reason diets are unsuccessful is that they override inborn hunger and fullness signals, placing external controls on eating. ” Chronic dieters are used to eating when, what , and how much their current diet dictates, not because they”re hungry or full,” says registered dietitian evelyn tribole, a southern california-based weight management and eating disorders specialist.

principles of a non diet approch

Sport Specific Nutrition and Performance Products

Product Recommendations for Sports & Activities 

After reading the article, check out our many world-class energy, weight-loss, nutrition, and sports performance products

Whole Grains Are Better

"Go for the Whole Grains-- and Beware Added Sugars:

What are good foods to choose if you want to eat carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, crackers, and cereals?

A wise approach is to seek out the whole grains and shun added sugars. When you are shopping for packaged carbs, search the ingredient
list. Choose foods with whole grains such as buckwheat, brown rice, millet, whole rye, whole wheat, wild rice, quinoa, bulgur, oatmeal, whole grain barley, and whole grain cornmeal.
Shun food with added sugars in the ingredient list such as brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, fructose, dextrose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, sucrose, molasses, and sugar.

The higher the item in the package's ingredient list, the more of it in the product. Therefore, whole-grain ingredients listed first on the package indicate that they are the food's primary component.

Don't be fooled by healthy-sounding options such as "wheat bread" and "multigrain." These products are not necessarily whole-grain rich.

PROTEIN MAP

WHEN TO

USE IT

	THROUGHOUT THE DAY Protein should be taken multiple times per day to ensure your body gets the nutrition it needs, timing your intake around workouts.
	POST-WORKOUT It is especially important to take protein within 30 minutes of a workout so muscles have the necessary fuel for building and repair.

HOW MUCH

TO TAKE

15 TO 45 GRAMS POST WORKOUT Consuming 15 to 45 grams of high-quality, intact protein as part of post exercise recovery is critical. Depending on the intensity of your workout and your fitness goals, you may need to fuel your body with more protein. Examples of high-quality protein include whey, (isolate or concentrate), casein and soy protein.

DAILY NEEDS

VARIED BY

FITNESS

The average adult needs at least .5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Protein needs will vary based on age, gender and the type of athlete.

	ENDURANCE .5 to .6 grams of protein per pound of body weight
	STRENGTH .5 to .8 grams of protein per pound of body weight

6 Pack Abs

What does it take to get a six-pack? 

Developing a six pack has more to do with nutrition and genetics than training alone. To start seeing ripples, you'll likely need to bring your body fat below 10 percent. Fine tune your eating habits by asking yourself five key questions:

1. Are you eating 5-6 mini meals per day?

Eating smaller portions spread evenly throughout the day helps rev up your metabolism and curb hunger.

2. Are you eating the majority of your carbohydrates around times of activity?

Think about eating the majority of your carb-dense foods, like grains, before and after exercise. By doing this, your body will use carbs for energy so they're not stored as fat. Outside of the hours surrounding your workout, focus on eating smaller portions and aim to make fruits and veggies your primary sources of your carbohydrate.

3. Are you including a lean protein source with each meal?

Protein has a high thermic effect, which simply means your body burns more calories to digest it. Make sure you include protein--chicken, fish, beef--with each meal to keep your metabolism running at full throttle.

4. Are you drinking enough water?

Aim for half an ounce to an ounce of water per pound of bodyweight a day to stay hydrated. Green tea is another proven metabolism booster. Drink 16 ounces of green tea a day.

5. Are you drinking alcohol on a regular basis?

Alcohol is a major weight loss saboteur. Just another reason to think before you drink.

Maximize Muscle Gains

MAXIMIZE MUSCLE GAINS Want to build muscle and recover from your lifts faster than ever? Nutrition is the answer. Consuming enough of the right kinds of protein and other nutrients, at the right times, can supercharge your workouts and help you build lean muscle faster than ever. Start by following these rules: Make protein a part of every meal. Most experts recommend getting 1g of protein per day for every pound of body weight. Focus on high-quality sources of protein, like whey. Don’t ignore amino acids, like L-glutamine and L-arginine. These 2 important acids help speed muscle recovery and boost muscle growth. Eat more at breakfast and after training, when your body is looking for nutrients. Obviously, it’s important to fuel yourself throughout the day, but immediately after you finish a workout is when your muscles are most hungry for protein to build and repair themselves. Aim for 6 small meals per day. This keeps you from getting hungry and potentially starving your muscles from the fuel they need to get your through your next workout. Look for complex carbohydrates, and avoid simple carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates are those found in whole grains, oats and brown rice. Avoid the simple carbohydrate sugars in sports drinks; they will give you a temporary boost, but drop off quickly, and can be more easily turned into fat.

Improving Fitness Training

FULL ARTICLE

Follow these eight cardinal training principles and you will be well on your way to designing effective fitness programs.

Specificity Principle

The specificity principle asserts that the best way to develop physical fitness for your sport is to train the energy systems and muscles as closely as possible to the way they are used in your sport. Thus, the best way to train for running is to run, for swimming is to swim, and for weightlifting is to lift. In sports such as basketball, baseball, and soccer, the training program should not only overload the energy systems and muscles used in that sport, but should also duplicate similar movement patterns. For example, in strengthening a quarterback’s throwing arm, design the exercise to simulate the throwing movement. Warning: This principle can be taken too far. Ample evidence suggests that cross training, or doing another sport or activity, can help improve performance (see the variation principle).

Overload Principle

To improve their fitness levels, athletes must do more than what their bodies are used to doing. When more is demanded, within reason, the body adapts to the increased demand. You can apply overload in duration, intensity, or both. If you increase a cross country runner’s long-distance run by five minutes, you’ve added an overload of duration. If you instead ask the runner to run her normal distance but in a shorter amount of time, you’ve added an overload of intensity.

Progression Principle

To steadily improve the fitness levels of your athletes, you must continually increase the physical demands to overload their systems. If the training demand is increased too quickly, the athlete will be unable to adapt and may break down. If the demand is not adequate, the athlete will not achieve optimal fitness levels.

Diminishing Returns Principle

When unfit athletes begin a training regime, their fitness levels improve rapidly, but as they become fitter, the diminishing returns principle becomes law. That is, as athletes become fitter, the amount of improvement is less as they approach their genetic limits (figure 13.9). A corollary to this principle is that as fitness levels increase, more work or training is needed to make the same gains. As you’re designing training programs, remember that fitness levels will not continue to improve at the same rate as athletes become fitter.

Variation Principle

This principle has several meanings. After your athletes have trained hard for several days, they should train lightly to give their bodies a chance to recover. Over the course of the year use training cycles (periodization) to vary the intensity and volume of training to help your athletes achieve peak levels of fitness for competition. This principle also means that you should change the exercises or activities regularly so that you do not overstress a part of the body. Of course changing activities also maintains athletes’ interest in training.

Perhaps you’re thinking that the specificity principle and variation principle seem to be incompatible. The specificity principle states that the more specific the training to the demands of the sport, the better; and the variation principle seemingly asserts the opposite-train by using a variety of activities. The incompatibility is resolved by the degree to which each principle is followed. More specific training is better, but it can become exceedingly boring. Thus some variety that involves the same muscle groups is a useful change.

Reversibility Principle

We all know the following adage: Use it or lose it. When athletes stop training, their hard-won fitness gains disappear, usually faster than they were gained. The actual rate of decline depends on the length of the training period before detraining, the specific muscle group, and other factors. A person confined to complete bed rest is estimated to lose cardiovascular fitness at the rate of 10 percent a week. Smart coaches and athletes today recognize that maintaining a moderately high level of fitness year-round is easier than detraining at the end of the season and then retraining at the beginning of the next.

Individual Differences Principle

Every athlete is different and responds differently to the same training activities. As discussed in chapter 5, the value of training depends in part on the athlete’s maturation. Before puberty, training is less effective than after puberty. Other factors that affect how athletes respond to training include their pretraining condition; genetic predisposition; gender and race; diet and sleep; environmental factors such as heat, cold, and humidity; and of course motivation. As discussed previously, it’s essential to individualize training as much as possible.

Moderation Principle

Here is another familiar adage: All things in moderation. Remember that training is a slow, gradual process. Give athletes time to progress. Your challenge as a physical conditioning coach is to design a training program that progresses optimally using the principles just discussed. You want to gently coax your athletes’ bodies into superior condition, not beat them up by overtraining.

Make training fun. Design games and activities that challenge athletes to do the same work but without the drudgery of monotonous exercises. Be encouraging and promote a positive attitude about training. By all means don’t use training activities as punishment for misbehaviors.

Take Control of Your Career and Financial Situation

Nutrimanage


If you work for most companies, you don't have a contract that gives you a meaningful severance package if you are terminated without cause.  The fact is that employers don't need to give you warnings.

The vast majority of employees in the US are "AT WILL"" employees. Such employment may be ended by either party, without notice, and for any reason.  So, the bottom line is that you could be terminated ANY TIME for ANY REASON or NO REASON.   As an employee, you basically have no control over your career or your life. Yet, you can also leave anytime, but in today's economy it is not easy to find a job, so if you are terminated you could be in for a long stint of unemployment.  And, that stats are clear that the older you are, the longer you are likely to be unemployed.  Many over 50 employees have found it impossible to find new jobs even if they were senior executives for many years. 

So, what do you do? 

A. Start a consulting company...this assumes that you have a specialty that companies (and maybe your former employer) will pay for.

B. Buy into a Franchise....many people have made fortunes in the franchise business (McDonald's, etc.)....but, it is tough to find the right one and many franchisors have lousy business models, require toe much marketing that only benefits the franchisor, and cost a lot of money to open (especially retail). In addition, if you are borrowing money, you will have to personally guarantee the loan (either via a bank or the Small Business Administration).  Bottom line, if you are interested in becoming a franchisee, you need to take a long time doing your due diligence, interviewing other franchisees (though often they dont want to badmouth the franchisor because they might want to sell their business).  

C. Start company with a new idea.  If you have a patent or have been working on a new concept, now may be the time to move forward with your dream. But, starting a new company has tremendous financial risks. Many people don't have the skills or the financial wherewithal to build a company from the ground up, attract key people, raise equity, etc. 

D. Get involved in a Multi-Level Marketing business on the side while you are working.  Although it is not easy to network with a product company, the reality is that this is the lowest cost option and if you are successful at it, you can eventually build an income that will allow you to get debt free and quit your job.  You need to be able to recruit people to sell for you.  However, with the internet, your options to attract people has changed dramatically, as you can do a lot online as opposed to years ago when you invited people to your home (which was awkward).  Also, you should find a product or group of products that you believe in and are passionate about and is in a category considered a growth industry.   For example, the sports nutrition, supplement, weight loss and energy products market is booming due to the aging population and a bigger focus on fitness and nutrition. 

Here is one opportunity in that category that requires $89 to get started (you get samples and your own microsite), and your own 20% discount off the retail prices on the site. As you either buy or get people to buy and/or distribute the products (which are competitors of GNC), you earn 40% commissions.  So, this is a great business to test out while you are working:

Nutrimanage

It is time to take control of your career and financial situation, because your employer can terminate you any day and ruin your life.

Stop Working for The Man

CLICK HERE FOR A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY


Most people are tired of working for someone else...you have to deal with bad bosses, ridiculous HR policies, back stabbing employees and a corporate culture that rewards people who are basically nasty to their fellow employees. And, 76% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. There is a better way.

If you don't have a great idea or a lot of money, it is a challenge to go out on your own (unless you have a specific expertise that you can turn into a consulting business).  The worst thing you can do is get into a retail business or franchise that sucks the life out of you (retail is 24/7, watching the cash, having to deal with a lease that requires a personal guarantee that goes after your assets if you fail, having to find good employees, and dealing with the vagaries of customers and season issues).

Furthermore, the internet has revolutionized the world and offers everyone the opportunity to sell either nationally or globally in many different ways.  Combine that with the right multi-level marketing ("MLM") business and you have a very powerful combination.  In addition, the right MLM business does not require a significant upfront investment and allows you to succeed at your pace.

So, what is a potentially strong candidate in the MLM/intternet marketing space?  One that combines products that are in a high growth industry....nutrition, wellness, energy, weight loss.  In other words, products that compete with GNC and a business model that does not require you to open a store (and drain your savings).

As an example:

Supplement sales hit $11.5 billion in U.S., report says

Supplement sales across the U.S. have shown strong, steady growth in the face of economic uncertainty, posting a 7% gain in 2012, according to a new report.

This is a big business and growing as the population ages.  

Click Here for a distributor opportunity in the wellness, energy, weight loss and sports nutrition business that requires only $89 to get going and NO other commitment.  You have to either sell products directly (you can do it online or out of your home, but you dont have to buy anything after the initial purchase, so if you feel that you can't make it work, you are not draining your bank account.  This company is thriving and offers tons of great products for many different target markets.

Sports Nutrition Market

PROSPECTS

• The growth in consumer education will bolster the growth in mainstream sports nutrition users. As such, during the forecast period, protein products is expected to record a constant value CAGR of 7% to reach US$6 billion. The increase in mainstream consumers is giving major growth opportunities for companies to expand their offerings that are vegetarian and vegan-friendly, as well providing new delivery formats which is more accessible to non-extreme athletes.

NUTRIMANAGE  offers a great opportunity in the sports nutrition market for people who are tired of working for the man.  Gain financial freedom selling products that you love.

Living Paycheck to Paycheck

According to CNN,

Roughly three-quarters of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, with little to no emergency savings, according to a survey released by Bankrate.com Monday.

Are you tired of this? Time to stop working for the man, paying off your debt and living a better life.  

Fewer than one in four Americans have enough money in their savings account to cover at least six months of expenses, enough to help cushion the blow of a job loss, medical emergency or some other unexpected event, according to the survey of 1,000 adults. Meanwhile, 50% of those surveyed have less than a three-month cushion and 27% had no savings at all.

"It's disappointing," said Greg McBride, Bankrate.com's senior financial analyst. "Nothing helps you sleep better at night than knowing you have money tucked away for unplanned expenses."

Even more disappointing; The savings rates have barely changed over the past three years, even though a larger percentage of consumers report an increase in job security, a higher net worth and an overall better financial situation.

So why aren't Americans saving more?

Last week, online lender CashNetUSA said 22% of the 1,000 people it recently surveyed had less than $100 in savings to cover an emergency, while 46% had less than $800. After paying debts and taking care of housing, car and child care-related expenses, the respondents said there just isn't enough money left over for saving more.