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The other week I posted the original 3 Flat Belly Food Swaps article, and due to its extreme popularity, I’m back with three more!
#1 – Swap OUT brown rice, Swap IN quinoa
While brown rice is thought to be the healthy grain, there’s one even better, and that’s quinoa.
Quinoa is a gluten free grain that contains double the protein of brown rice along with greater fiber content and a lower glycemic load.
Not only that, but quinoa is the ONLY grain to contain complete protein and the full spectrum of amino acids. It comes in several varieties, including “oatmeal-like” flakes and it’s wholegrain rice-like form.
Enjoy it as an oatmeal substitute for breakfast, in salads or casseroles, or as a wholesome whole-grain, high protein side item to any lunch or dinner meal.
#2 – Swap OUT bran flakes, Swap IN Ezekial Golden Flax Cereal
In the original Flat Belly Food Swaps article I exposed the benefits of sprouted grain Ezekial bread over 100% whole wheat, and today I’m here to fill you in on another great Ezekial product, Golden Flax Cereal.
Golden Flax contains 8 grams of protein per 1/2 cup serving, along with plenty of fiber and EFAs making it far superior to Bran Flakes or any other “whole grain” cereal.
#3 – Swap OUT ground beef, Swap IN ground bison
Truthfully, I’m not against beef or ground beef for that matter, but if you’re looking for a leaner, more nutritious alternative to beef (especially for those Protein and Carb meals), look no further than Bison (buffalo).
Bison is generally 60-80% leaner than beef while containing nearly 30% more protein per ounce. It’s great for burgers and steaks alike and is a great substitute for any recipe calling for beef to add variety and nutrition to your weekly diet.
Want to up your nutrition IQ even more? Watch this video from my good friend Isabel where she reveals 4 other “healthly” foods that you should NEVER eat, along with her TOP 5 foods for a flat belly:
If you liked todays article, click the “Like” button below!
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Over the past few days Dr. Samhouri has been dropping knowledge bombs left and right, so much so that I wanted to get in on the action.
So today, I’ve teamed up with Dr. K to write the below article, educating you about how a strategically designed exercise program like Double Edged Fat Loss can, believe it or not, dramatically improve digestion and lead to a plethora of other benefits that you probably never thought of. I know you’re going to enjoy it.
Digestive Exercise
By Dr. Kareem Samhouri and Joel Marion, CISSN
We all know that both diet and exercise are important to achieve optimal fat loss results, but what you may not know is how directly related exercise and digestion are-and ultimately, how a very strategic exercise program can in fact improve digestion, causing you to assimilate more nutrients, rid yourself of gastro-intestinal problems, improve overall health and lose fat more efficiently.
Over the past few days, we’ve talked a lot about the central nervous system (CNS) and how it relates to fat loss, but what we haven’t talked about much are the two different divisions of the CNS.
Parasympathetic vs. Sympathetic Activity
You may have heard, or learned at some point, about the “fight or flight” response that our nervous systems resort to when stress is present. Both of these responses (engaging in the stressor [fight] or running from the stressor [flight]) are stimulatory responses that come from our sympathetic nervous system (SNS).
During exercise, it is the sympathetic, or stimulatory portion of our nervous system that is most active. This is great, because it helps us move faster, be stronger, and exercise in a much more effective way than if we were turned “off” during exercise.
The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) on the other hand is “calming” in nature and is responsible for the complete opposite response within the body.
Having said that, you can probably guess that the PNS is the system we want working for us most during digestion. In fact, the actions of the parasympathetic nervous system are often summarized as “rest and digest” as opposed to the “fight or flight” response of the SNS.
Okay, so let’s make some sense of all this and talk about why you actually care about the above brief science lesson.
Exercise and Digestion
As mentioned, your digestive processes function best when your “calming” parasympathetic nervous system is most active. Unfortunately, most people are almost nearly always in a heightened state of arousal (due to chronic stress), causing the SNS to continually fire and the PNS to take a back seat.
Chronic stimulation not only leads to general burn out and fatigue, but it also regularly hampers digestive activity as the PNS is constantly being overshadowed by stimulatory SNS function.
So how do we, or how can we turn “off” the stimulation in order to allow the “rest and digest” system to function at its fullest?
The answer is strategically “fatiguing” the SNS during exercise so that the PNS can reign at other times of the day. This is done via multi-energy system training.
Within your body, three energy systems are present:
1. First, your ATP-PC system (or if you prefer the fancy terminology, your Adenosine Triphosphate Phosphocarbonate system), is the energy system at work during quick, super fast, zero to ten second energy.
2. Second, the glycolitic system, thrives on sugar and carbohydrate to produce energy. This system is most at work during intense activity up to two minutes.
3. Third, your aerobic system, is predominately at work during relatively slower activities lasting longer than 2 minutes.
The beauty of a program like Double Edged Fat Loss is that it is composed of exercises that fully and strategically tax ALL THREE energy systems.
By doing this, not only will you be burning your sugars and breaking down your carbs properly during exercise (instead of having them latch-on to your love handles), but the other side of this is that you’re actually going to wear out your sympathetic nervous system-stopping the stimulation and endorphin release-and ultimately turn on your parasympathetic while your not exercising.
This means:
- Much better digestion (as the PNS is the system responsible for proper digestion taking place)
- Better nutrient absorption (due to proper digestion cleaning out the “gunk” currently in your gastro-intestinal track)
- Immediate weight loss (resulting from the excretion of that same “gunk”)
- Reduced overall stress and your body being in the state that it’s naturally supposed to be in at “rest”
- Greater gains in lean body mass (due to more nutrients being digested and assisting in recovery and repair of muscle tissue)
- Reduced cortisol (the “stimulatory” stress hormone that results from constant SNS activation) and muscle wasting
- Reduced belly fat (cortisol is also heavily associated with abdominal fat storage)
- Improved GI comfort and alleviation of certain GI issues
- Increased overall health
- FASTER FAT LOSS
Can you now see that your nervous system controls literally EVERYTHING related to body transformation? Truly, it does.
And that’s exactly why Dr. K has created Double Edged Fat Loss, and that’s exactly why both of us are so excited to release that very program next week.
But, we’ve got even better news for you coming as early as tomorrow…and I’m hearing it involves a couple of iPod Touches along with a several FREE copies of Double Edged Fat Loss 2.0! Stay tuned.
For now, if you have any questions whatsoever about today’s “Digestive Exercise” article for Kareem and I, then drop them below and we’ll be sure to answer them for you.
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NOTE: If you have not yet read yesterday’s article, The Limiting Factor You Don’t Even KNOW About, do that now by clicking HERE (page opens in a new window). You first need to fully understand the information in that article in order to fully grasp the “solutions” presented in today’s article.
Once finished, check out today’s dynamite content, starting with a 30-second introduction from Dr. K:
5 Solutions To TRIPLE Fat Loss Results
by Dr. Kareem F. Samhouri, CSCS, HFS
Metabolic Fat Loss & Fitness Expert
Yesterday we spoke about 5 nervous-system related issues preventing YOU from getting great fat loss results with your exercise program:
1. Muscle Imbalances
2. Incoordination
3. Sub-sensory pain signals in your joints
4. Inflammation & resultant decreased circulation
5. Improper use of rest periods in exercise program
Today, I’m giving you 5 solutions to counteract each of these 5 problems… the kinds of things you can start doing RIGHT NOW & watch your love handles melt away and your results take off. Here they are:
1. Multi-Planar Movement
2. Movement Complexes
3. Muscle Balancing
4. Mindset Shift
5. Motor Learning
Solution #1 – Multi-Planar Movements:
We live in a 3D world. We need to train in a 3D way.
By working on exercises that involve forward/backward motion, side/side motion, and rotational motion, you are training in a real-life way and challenging your muscles and nervous system in a real-life way. The end result is stronger signaling, a stronger connection with your nervous system, and exponentially greater and faster fat loss results.
Here is an example of the squat, performed in all 3 planes of movement:
As an added point, it is very difficult to create imbalances between muscles when you are recruiting their fibers from so many directions during an exercise program and in a way that is natural for the body to move. Without muscle imbalance (as you’ll see below), you build healthy joints & improve circulation, leading to improved strength & faster fat loss.
Solution #2 – Movement Complexes:
Movement complexes involve doing multiple exercises, often times using only 1 exercise modality, without rest before taking a prolonged rest break and repeating again. For example, in the Double Edged Fat Loss method for Neuro Fat Loss, I use the following arrangement of exercises, all without a rest break, and all with the same piece of equipment:
- Squat
- Push
- Lunge
- Pull
- Plank
For a better understanding of the Double Edged Fat Loss method, how it can help you, and what movement complexes are, check out one of my visits to the NBC studios below:
By performing many exercises back to back in this format, you stimulate a greater metabolic demand across your entire body, improving circulation significantly. With increased total-body circulation, it is extremely difficult for swelling to become deposited in one particular area. Your muscle pump system will be working well for you, and you will be taking the demand off of your venous & lymphatic systems.
In the end, more of your energy will be able to be devoted to your exercise, rather than other processes. You will lose fat faster.
Solution #3 – Muscle Balancing:
Muscle = Your Metabolism.
Unless you effectively balance the muscles around a joint, your body will stop growth and progress dead in its tracks.
In the video below, I teach you exactly what muscle balancing is, why it’s important, and some really important take home points that you can use with your fat loss program right now:
Invest in your body by balancing muscles for a much better fat loss result.
Solution #4 – Mindset Shift:
Belief system is everything. You truly do create your own reality. Watch this clip from Will Smith that I think pretty much sums it up:
I believe in teaching mindset, so I’ve created an audio training system that does just that. It all starts with positive self-talk & multi-sensory imagination. Basically, in English, what this means is that you want to see, hear, feel, smell, & taste success. Doing one is just not enough if you really want to melt the rest of your body fat off and truly transform, once and for all.
The entire audio series is part of the Double Edged Fat Loss System.
Solution #5 – Motor Learning:
Basically, it matters how much muscle you recruit in an exercise & how coordinated you move. As we discussed yesterday, if you are doing 10 sets of 10 repetitions, the weakness is compounded 100x by not properly recruiting your entire muscle. In order to properly recruit your muscle, your body must know where it is in space. This is called proprioception, or position sense.
Effective position-sense training will lead to faster nerve conduction, improved signaling, more muscle recruited, and greater strength with each exercise you perform. Your body will recruit everything it has for you, and you will get results (i.e. fat loss) exponentially faster!
Once you learn movements through the proper motor learning strategy, exercise will never be as hard again. With Double Edged Fat Loss, you will learn to do 3-5 exercises at once, and you will get 3-5x the fat loss result.
Check out this video to see a demonstration of why Motor Learning is so important if you never want to plateau again:
In the end, if you want to lose fat THREE times faster, you must—absolutely MUST—learn to optimally address your nervous system with your training. That’s what Double Edged Fat Loss 2.0 does.
Oh, and you may be wondering what the whole “Double Edged” part of the program title refers to. Well, not only am I going to give you nervous-system based, highly effective fat loss programs that will absolutely have you losing fat faster while improving your nervous system efficiency for even faster long-term results, but I’m also going to teach you exactly how to build your own fat loss workouts and programs. Get the workouts — Learn the methods. That’s what Double Edged Fat Loss 2.0 is all about. A true fat loss education (via audios, webinars, and a whole “education center” within the members area) as you get unparalleled results.
I trust today’s article has challenged you — start applying the techniques to your training today, and in just a few days time I guarantee you’ll notice a substantial difference.
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I told you this guy was BRILLIANT. Kareem is truly living and practicing on the cutting edge of therapy and fitness, and the results his clients are achieving with his methods are, quite frankly, incredible.
If you have a question or comment for Dr. K based on the information he’s shared in the last two articles, post it below and Dr. K will be popping in to the blog to address each and every one of them again today.
Talk to you in the comments section!
-Joel
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Click Below to Watch a 30 second introduction from Dr. K
The Limiting Factor You Don’t Even KNOW About
by Dr. Kareem F. Samhouri, CSCS, HFS
Metabolic Fat Loss & Fitness Expert
Simply put, everything you do, including every effort you put forth during exercise, originates in your body’s central command center, the Central Nervous System (CNS).
And for 99.9% of exercisers, the unfortunate reality is this: your central nervous system is operating at a very elementary level, and it’s absolutely holding you back from experiencing the most rapid fat loss results.
How and why?
Bottom line: most people simply do not understand how to properly communicate with their nervous systems, and as such are missing out on at least 60-80% of the metabolic potential of every single exercise they do. In fact, even advanced trainees tend to be “under-achieving” by at least 30-50%.
Can you just imagine how much faster you’d progress if you were able to double or triple the metabolic effectiveness of each and every exercise you do? The answer: A LOT FASTER.
Going back to the problem, inefficient nervous system communication results in:
- poor signaling leading to decreased force output and sub-par muscular contractions
- less overall motor units recruited
- less weight used for every exercise, set, and rep (for a workout requiring 10 sets of 10 reps, that inefficiency is compounded 100 TIMES over)
- overall less work done in any given session
- neuro-muscular fatigue occurring before muscles even receive the necessary stimulus to grow and/or strengthen
- fewer calories burned
- overall decreased metabolic effect of exercise even when the same effort is put forth (the same effort for 1/4 of the results)
- dramatically slowed results
- dramatically less fat loss
On the other hand, an extremely efficient nervous system results in:
- greater signaling, leading to greater, faster, more intense contractions
- increased loads used for every single exercise, set, and rep (compound that improvement 100 times over for a workout requiring 10 sets of 10) – and that’s just one workout – imagine the effect this will have over 4 weeks worth of workouts!
- increased motor unit recruitment
- more stimulus from the same work
- greater strength gains
- greater lean muscle gains
- greater metabolic cost of every single exercise you do
- more calories burned (acutely/immediate)
- exponentially greater fat loss over time
Legitimately, the difference in the rate of fat loss between the above two examples is the difference between getting in incredible shape for summer and being self-conscious all the way through August.
This is also the difference between hitting and maintaining your ideal body weight easily versus struggling for the rest of your life—period.
Do you realize this means you’re probably struggling to lose weight right now because your nervous system is operating far below its capacity?
Essentially, you’re working twice as hard for 1/4 the result—and I hate to see that happen!
The fact is this: Most fat loss programs do not even consider the role of your nervous system in program design, and as such, at best improve nervous system communication from ‘Poor’ to ‘Fair’. Even if you consider yourself “advanced”, you probably still have room to at least double your nervous system signaling efficiency, and therefore your results.
Bottom line: If you really want to dramatically hasten fat loss results, then you absolutely MUST learn to improve your nervous system signaling from ‘Fair’ to ‘Good’ to ‘Great’-all the way to ‘Excellent’.
And here’s the best part – it can be done in a very short period of time with the appropriate plan of attack, and you’ll do it while you lose fat at an accelerated rate.
But before I teach you how it’s done, you first need to understand exactly WHAT is holding you back from experiencing your true metabolic potential-and there are 5 major contributors (each taking a major toll on nervous system efficiency):
1. Muscle Imbalances
2. Incoordination
3. Sub-sensory pain signals in your joints
4. Inflammation & resultant decreased circulation
5. Improper use of rest periods in exercise program
Let’s go over these, one by one, so you have a better understanding…
Muscle Imbalances:
Whenever your body senses imbalance, it tries to correct for it. This means top to bottom (arms to legs), side to side (left to right), and back to front.
If you’re not balanced in all 3 ways, your body will naturally stop growing and strengthening in an attempt to regain balance and prevent injury.
As a practical example, many exercisers suffer from major imbalances from front to back. Their quads generally dominate their hamstrings, and their “pushing” muscles (chest, anterior shoulders) quite often overshadow those of their back (lats, rhomboids, etc). Essentially, these types of imbalances are actually like pulling the fire alarm for your body.
In effect, you’re screaming at your body and telling it to stop growing, stop strengthening so the weaker muscles can catch up. Unfortunately, unless you KNOW that’s going on and actively take steps to strengthen those imbalances, those muscle groups never catch up and progress declines or altogether stops – and this goes on indefinitely.
In the end, calories that should be going to fuel strength and lean mass gains get shuttled toward fat storage. Simply put, no matter how hard you work, you simply cannot outsmart your nervous system.
Incoordination:
There Are 2 Kinds Of Nerve Signals: Efferent & Afferent
- Efferent (like ‘exit’) are nerve signals that exit from your brain and go down to your muscles & joints – these signals create movement.
- Afferent are nerve signals that begin at your periphery (i.e. skin, muscle, joint, etc.) & work their way back up to your brain – these signals provide feedback after movement occurs to tell your brain what actually happened.
Until your joints are properly positioned and muscles receive constant, uninterrupted communication from your nerves, both your efferent & afferent signals are like a loose wire. They are firing off, haphazardly, and your body is having to work twice as hard to control movement.
Poor movement control = Poor coordination
Poor coordination = Poor strength
For example, incoordination may cause your forearms to work harder as you bench press, instead of the target muscle. The result: your forearms tire first and your chest is never fully stimulated. The same is true on a lunge; your back leg will get tired before your front, and that’s not even where you’re supposed to “feel” the movement.
Building a bridge between efferent & afferent signals will allow your coordination to improve, making advanced exercises easy, and improving the overall fluidity of every movement you make. In other words, you’re nervous system will be effectively communicating with your musculature and as a result your body melts fat and builds muscle.
Sub-sensory Pain Signals In Your Joints:
Your body is constantly in pain, or, in other words, pain is very much relative. You see, the types of nerve cells that respond to pain are never dormant; they are always awake, and they monitor the amount of activity at various areas of your body before reaching ‘threshold’ and setting off a chain of events resulting in palpable pain (pain that you actually “feel”).
When joints are maligned and exercises are done in the wrong sequence, there is a slight increase of pain receptor activity that takes place. Unfortunately, these nerve receptors send a message to your brain to turn muscles OFF and focus on eliminating the pain. That’s why we go limp when we have back pain, for example.
Now think about how much harder it must be for someone with overdeveloped pecs and a weak back to do shoulder raises. As the imbalance grows, there will inevitably come a point where “rounded shoulders” caused by the aforementioned imbalance will actually force the deltoids (shoulders) to turn off, and the upper back (trapezius) will then take over the movement.
From there, your upper trap attaches to your cervical spine, which creates and even bigger problem and more nerve signaling that’s turning off muscles as your trap pulls your spine out of place…yikes!
The end result is a vicious cycle until you eliminate the issue altogether.
Inflammation & Resultant Decreased Circulation:
Following any workout your body is inflamed, or at least it should be. Tiny little tears take place in your muscles, and this is what allows you to burn calories as the damage is repaired. Meanwhile, your muscles grow.
When there is more inflammation in your biceps, for example, than your triceps as a result of muscular imbalance between them, and one muscle is being over-shortened while the other muscle is over-lengthened, your lymphatic (healing) system will have a harder time getting rid of the swelling. Once it does get rid of swelling, your lymphatic vessels are supposed to dump the fluid into your veins.
Your muscle pump system (opposite muscle groups actually work like a pump to assist the venous system with the return of blood to the heart) becomes ineffective. Your venous system, as a result, has to work harder, and your veins end up blocking your lymphatic vessels from ‘dumping’ their fluid and sucking up more.
Swelling persists. Over time, this will lead to more compression on nerves, and decreased blood supply to them as well. Just like everything else in our bodies, our nerves need blood and oxygen to function at their best.
And if they’re not getting it, guess what happens? That’s right, nervous system inefficiency and decreased communication between nerves and muscles, leading to decreased fat loss and overall results.
Improper Use Of Rest Periods In Exercise Program:
Rest periods, when used properly, often do not rest your body at all. In fact, there’s a such thing as ‘active rest’ and ‘passive rest,’ but most people don’t know how to choose which one they need during various points in their workouts:
Active Rest - continue exercising, rest that particular muscle group
Passive Rest - sit still and do nothing
- When training for muscle building (i.e. bulking) passive rest periods are an intricate part of the program.
- When training multiple energy systems in your workout program, passive rest periods are essential to success with your second, third, and fourth sets.
- When training for endurance, circuit-style training is best, because it is a submaximal level over a prolonged period of time. Naturally, this will lead to endurance, and you will be preparing your body for your particular goal.
- When training for fat loss, there has to be a balance between strength, energy system work, and endurance in order to become successful. You have to build enough endurance to endure longer bouts of exercise without losing intensity, while you have to build enough strength to raise your metabolism. It takes a carefully designed program to consider all factors for rest periods in a top-notch fat loss program.
Here’s The Bottom Line…
You – yes, you – likely have quite a few “issues” that are holding you back from experiencing two to three times the fat loss results you’re currently experiencing. With my new program, Double Edged Fat Loss 2.0, I teach you how to address the ROOT problem, so that you can correct these issues and lose fat faster at the same time.
Double Edged Fat Loss 2.0 becomes available on Monday, September 6th, but don’t worry, I’m not going to leave you hanging with just today’s information.
In fact, tomorrow I’m going to be back with another article to teach you THREE ways you can start immediately improving central nervous system efficiency while overcoming each of the 5 “problems” we addressed today.
The question you have to ask yourself is this: “Is setting myself up to double or triple my current rate of fat loss—whatever that may be—through a completely untapped medium, something I’m interested in?”
If so, stay tuned for some serious “solutions” coming at you tomorrow.
Part II of this article has now been posted. Check it out HERE.
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I truly believe this is some of the most game-changing, revolutionary information to hit the fitness industry in years, and that’s exactly why I’m sharing it with you. I will be posting the second part of this article tomorrow, but for now, please post your comments and questions for Kareem and I to answer below.
P.S. And if you have not yet grabbed your copy of the webinar Vince Del Monte and I hosted with Kareem just a few days ago, then please, do that now by clicking HERE.
Bring on the questions and comments!
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I just got home from the grocery store.
I’m going to make some fajitas. Mmmm fajitas.
So what did I buy from the grocery store? Wouldn’t YOU want to know?
Just kidding, I’ll tell you.
I bought a bunch of stuff that you already know is healthy (plenty of fruits, veggies, etc) and then quite a few things that most people don’t use but are WAY healthier than the “healthy” option of similar food items that people do normally use.
Confused yet? Let me break it down in to practical examples.
Most people would choose 100% Whole Wheat bread as a “healthy” option. I didn’t buy 100% Whole Wheat bread, I bought Ezekial 4:9 Sprouted Grain bread.
Is 100% Whole Wheat bread bad? No, but Ezekial bread is just 100 times better. Organic, Sprouted, 100% Whole Grain flourless bread. And a 2-slice serving even contains 8 grams of complete protein (and 6 grams of fiber). So yes, it’s better.
Not only did I buy some Ezekial bread, but I also bought some Ezekial flourless tortillas (for my fajitas) – same whole grain, complete protein goodness as above.
So that was the first “healthy” food swap I made.
Second, I bypassed the All Natural Peanut Butter and instead picked up a jar of Enhanced Almond Butter by Naturally More. Why? Because Enhanced Almond is like super nut butter, and I’m all about being super. That and the fact that peanuts are one of the most common food allergens, and when consumed regularly can cause slowed weight loss in those sensitive to it (which is actually the majority of individuals).
In addition to that, Enhanced Almond is also fortified with flaxseeds to give it a nice Omega-3 kick. Best. Nutbutter. Ever.
Up next was my third food swap, and that was when I passed through the dairy isle. See you later organic milk, I’m grabbing the almond milk instead.
Again, a lot of individuals are sensitive to dairy, and actually experience accelerated fat loss by removing it from their diet. I hardly drink milk anymore, and instead opt for almond milk whenever possible.
No lactose, no dairy, no indigestion, no bloat…and frankly, I think it tastes better.
And oh yeah, it has one THIRD the calories of regular milk while scoring far lower on the Insulin Index.
There’s pretty much no downside.
Eat this, not that. Hey, that’s a popular book.
Want to up your nutrition IQ even more? Watch this video from my good friend Isabel where she reveals 4 other “healthly” foods that you should NEVER eat, along with her TOP 5 foods for a flat belly:
If you liked todays article, click the “Like” button below!
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So what do Siberia, Asia, and America have to do with your energy levels?
Answer: A LOT.
You see, these three countries (Siberia being a region of Russia) are the native home of an ancient energy boosting herb: Ginseng. (everything you never knew about ginseng below)
Now, while you’ve probably heard of ginseng before, you probably DIDN’T know that there are actually 3 different types of Ginseng, and you’ll definitely get the most bang for your ginseng buck when combining the unique “powers” of all three.
A little science lesson:
The active ingredient of both American and Asian ginseng are it’s ginsenosides, Rb-1 and Rg-1. Rb-1 acts as a depressant to the Central Nervous System (CNS), yielding stress-reducing benefits and a calming effect. On the other hand, Rg-1 has a stimulatory effect on the CNS, increasing alertness, physical and mental performance, reducing fatigue, and it has even been shown to increase romantic desire and performance.
American Ginseng: Rb-1 dominant.
Asian Ginseng: Rg-1 dominant.
By combining the two, you get the benefits of both: the stress reduction/calming effects of Rb-1, and the increased physical and mental, and sexual energy of Rg-1.
So where does Siberian Ginseng come in to play?
Unlike American and Asian ginseng, Siberian ginseng contains no ginsenosides. Instead, it’s active ingredient are it’s eleutherosides, which have been shown to boost physical and mental clarity and endurance through different pathways not tapped by its Asian and American counterparts.
Now, to get the full energy benfits of ginseng, you could purchase each type individually and supplement accordingly, OR you could enlist the help of a formula that already contains all three, like Energy Matrix.
In addition to the synergystic combination of all three ginseng species, Energy Matrix also contains several other natural energy enhancers (all providing unique benefits via different mechanisms) like Ginko Biloba, Gutu Kola, and a potent green tea extract.
Do you suffer from Neurotransmitter Burnout?
In case you missed it yesterday, my friends at Energy Matrix are in the middle of a 72-hour ”survey recruitment” for qualified consumers as a means to gain testimonials and feedback from people who may be suffering from Neurotransmitter Burnout.
Do you suffer from Neurotransmitter Burnout and potentially qualify for the survey? Just take the quiz on this page and see if you answer “Yes” to at least 3 of the questions:
Neurotransmitter Burnout Quiz <——– Take the quiz to see if you qualify
Needless to say, I think Energy Matrix is a really “smart” blend of quality, proven ingredients, and if you qualify, the current “survey recruitment” could be an awesome opportunity for you.
See if you qualify by taking the quiz:
Neurotransmitter Burnout Quiz <——- Take the quiz
Keep rockin’,
Joel
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Tonight I enjoyed a fine, healthy meal at P.F. Chang’s China Bistro.
Now, you’re probably reacting to my above statement in either one of two ways:
1) You’re a bit naive and believe that veggies + protein + rice automatically = healthy.
2) You know that most entrees at P.F. Chang’s are loaded with hidden fat and carbs and are wondering just how I managed to grab a “healthy” meal there.
Well, I ordered Mongolia Beef, which normally would bring in just over 1,000 calories along with 45 grams of fat and 90 grams of carbs. Not exactly the “healthiest” nutrition profile…
Little side note: Let’s say, for example, I ordered a regular 3 course meal, consisting of a steamed dumpling appetizer, Mongolian beef entree, and then I went ahead and treated myself to dessert.
Calorie total: 2,472
And that meal isn’t even that BIG. But it sure does pack in well over a day’s worth of calories for most people. Just an example of how a reasonable meal at most restaurants is six-pack suicide.
I digress.
So, I managed to bring the fat and carb content of my beef entree down by about 70% and dropped the total calories by 50% all while eating the exact same amount of food, just with a couple swaps.
First, I made the obvious decision and opted for brown rice over white, which truthfully didn’t do a whole lot to save calories, but it did up the meal’s fiber and overall nutritional content.
Second, and here’s where I saved practically ALL the calories, I requested that my entree be prepared with chicken broth, as opposed to the corn starch and canola oil “sauce” that it’s normally mixed with. In the end, I wound up eating the SAME exact amount of food, but less than HALF the calories.
Which brings me to the crux of this blog post – The #1 thing to avoid at restaurants – the SAUCES.
A huge portion of the sugars and crappy fats are found in the sauces served at restaurants.
- The dressings on the salads…
- The sugar/butter mixture drenching the vegetables you special ordered to be “healthy”…
- The cream sauces on the pasta…
- The starchy/fat-laden sauces used in stir fries…
- The cream/butter/sugar-laden sauces served a-top otherwise lean cuts of fish, chicken, and beef…
Do yourself a HUGE favor – next time you’re dining out, be mindful to avoid the sauces. You’ll save yourself a tremendous amount of calories without sacrificing volume whatsoever.
- For salad dressing, go with oil/vinegar.
- For pasta sauce, ask your server if they have a low-fat tomato sauce (most do).
- For stir fries, request that they prepare your meal with chicken broth (and grab that asian flavor from low-calorie soy sauce instead).
- For your veggies, ask for a bit of butter on the side so that you’re in control of applying it.
- For protein sources, skip the sauces for seasonings
Simple tip, but one that will probably save you 10-20 lbs worth of calories over the next few months.
If you want to learn about 4 other “health” foods you should NEVER eat if you want to lose fat, click below to watch the video my friend Isabel put together for you:
Enjoy the tips!
Joel
59 Comments
So, here’s a little tid-bid of info that you may not know:
I subscribe to just about every mainstream fitness magazine available.
Why? Well, when you have a career in health and fitness, you want to pay attention to what is being talked about in the media, particularly what topics are “hot” amongst other fitness “news” outlets.
And although most articles suck, browsing through a magazine generally gives me at least one idea of something to blog about or write to you about in my newsletter.
Well, tonight’s browsing session was no different. As I sat here and thumbed through the pages of a rather prominent women’s fitness magazine, I come across this gem of a paragraph:
“Several studies have shown that people who regularly consume soy protein tend to weigh less and have less abdominal fat those who don’t. The key compounds are the soy isoflavones: These estrogen-like substances not only fight belly fat, but they also protect against the development of breast cancer.”
Um, no.
Here we have an article crediting estrongen-like soy isoflavones for decreased belly fat. Huh? Since when do estrogenic compounds decrease belly fat? Since never, because they actually increase it, and the isoflavones are the exact reason you shouldn’t be eating soy on a regular basis.
And as far as soy protecting against breast cancer, it’s pretty well established that increased exposure to estrogen increases the risk of breast cancer. And there are MANY studies showing that genistein, the main isoflavone found in soybeans, stimulates the growth of breast cancer cells and tumor growth.
Here are just a few:
Zava DT, Duwe G. Estrogenic and antiproliferative properties of genistein and other flavonoids in human breast cancer cells in vitro. Nutr Cancer 1997; 27: 31-40.
Hsieh CY, Santell RC, Haslam SZ, Helferich WG. Estrogenic effects of genistein on the growth of estrogen receptor- positive human breast cancer (mcf-7) cells in vitro and in vivo. Cancer Res. 1998;58: 3833-3838.
Allred CD, Allred KF, Ju YH, Virant SM., Helferich WG. Soy diets containing varying amounts of genistein stimulate growth of estrogen-dependent (mcf-7) tumors in a dose-dependent manner. Cancer Res. 2001;61: 5045-5050.
Petrakis NL, Barnes S, King EB, Lowenstein J, Wiencke J, Lee MM., Miike R, Kirk M, Coward L. Stimulatory influence of soy protein isolate on breast secretion in pre- and postmenopausal women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1996;5: 785- 794.
McMichael-Phillips DF, Harding C, Morton M, Roberts SA, Howell A, Potten CS, Bundred NJ. Effects of soy-protein supplementation on epithelial proliferation in the histologically normal human breast. Am J Clin Nutr. 1998;68: 1431S-1435S.
So where did the author of this article get their information? I don’t know, since there were no sources listed (surprise, surprise).
I shared the article with my buddy Mike Geary, and he immediately replied with “No wonder why so many people are confused out there! So many bad sources of information.”
And that’s incredibly true…and sad…because the misinformation really has crippled America’s health.
Well, fortunately, there’s guys like me and Mike, and gals like Isabel De Los Rios to help set the record straight and help clear the cloud of misinformation that fogs up the airwaves each and every day.
Make no mistake, soy is one of the foods you should be AVOIDING if your goal is decreased abdominal fat and increased health and longevity. If you want to educate yourself on quite a few other so-called “healthy” foods that are anything but, then I highly recommend you check out Isabel’s video here:
Knowledge is power…your friend,
Joel
116 Comments
On Thursday, I went over Super Method #1 – MEGA Carb Loading, and today I’d like to share a different, yet enormously effective method called Anabolic Burst Cycling through Diet and Exercise (ABCDE).
To be honest, the whole ABCDE approach is rather old news. I first read about it back in Muscle Media 2000 (man, I miss that magazine) some ten years ago when Bill Phillips interviewed some crazy under-the-radar dude named Torbjorn Akerfeldt.
Click here to continue reading
213 Comments
In our last post on gaining muscle and losing fat we discussed that while these goals do indeed require different training and nutrition strategies, these strategies are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
Meaning: You CAN lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously provided you use a strategic, timed approach.
Also in that post, I loosely gave mention to several different methods to achieve both goals simultaneously, and in these next few posts I want to take a deeper, more specific look at each.
Today’s method: MEGA Carbohydrate Loading
Click here to continue reading
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...