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5 Sneaky Tricks to KILL Belly Fat Fast

Posted by Joel Marion on September 25, 2010 31 Comments

Okay, we’re back with the follow up to yesterday’s article – if you missed that, Click HERE to read about the 3 Reasons You CAN’T Kill Belly Fat.  If you’re already up to speed, below are 5 big-time solutions to help you lose the belly buldge—for good!

5 Sneaky Tricks to SLASH Stomach Fat Fast
By Josh Bezoni
 

WARNING: If you haven’t read yesterday’s update #3 it’s important to do that before you read this article. In it I reveal:

1. The extreme dangers of belly fat
2. How to know if you have too much belly fat, and…
3. The 3 reasons you haven’t been able to KILL your belly-bulge and what to do about it.

To view it, Click Here.

Moving forward, are you ready to finally slash up to 11 pounds of belly fat, excess water and “toxic waste” from your body in just 7 days (and keep losing it at a record pace for weeks to come)?

And are you prepared to do this while still enjoying your favorite foods (without going hungry), and without endless exercise?

If so, you’ve come to the RIGHT place.

Here’s why:

Yesterday I revealed, “The 3 Reasons You Can’t Kill Belly Fat” and the email feedback has been nothing short of overwhelming.

Men and women from around the world were shocked to discover the 3 REAL reasons they haven’t been able to get a flat stomach. But at the same time, they were also RELIEVED to learn that excess belly fat wasn’t their fault.

The truth is, there are a lot of sneaky tricks being played on you by giant food manufacturers who have a BIG interest in making you and your family overweight. (Hint: It has to do with making $$$.)

Heck, as I revealed yesterday, even your body is genetically programmed to play tricks on you that force you to take/pack on the pounds in all the wrong places.

Believe me, I understand what it’s like to be ashamed of my weight and embarrassed about what I looked like.

I know what it feels like to:

• NOT want to be seen in a swimsuit (with my shirt off)
• DREAD shopping for new clothes
• NOT want to have pictures and videos taken
• Be SCARED to death about health issues—like when my cholesterol used to be 250 and my blood pressure was sky high. I thought I was going to die young of a heart attack.
• Know I was setting a BAD example for loved ones

Maybe you can relate to some of these feelings, too.

That’s why it’s high time to retaliate against your fat-storing metabolism and those pesky food manufacturers with some belly-burning, sneaky tricks of your own.

With that in mind, here are my 7 Sneaky Tricks to Slash Stomach Fat Fast…

Sneaky Trick #1: Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself
 

Okay, I have no idea what that means, but it sounds good. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is when your mind is not at peace and not “in balance,” all sorts of hormones go “wacky” and out of control. This can really cause some serious belly bulging. 

What causes this imbalance?

• Not getting enough sleep
• Running yourself ragged at work and with family obligations
• Worrying and stressing about life…

As a result of mental and emotional stress, your body will automatically release a fat storing hormone called Cortisol. This is bad because Cortisol’s favorite thing to do is to “redirect” fat storage to your abdominal area.

So, the bottom line is this: during your day, whenever you feel stress levels creeping up, I want you to take a few minutes (or seconds) to breath. It sounds simple but it works.

And if you want to get even more advanced do some meditation, yoga or simply think about all the things you’re grateful in your life. The truth is, it’s impossible to feel stressed out, anxious or depressed when you have a deep feeling of gratitude.

Here’s one more quick tip: studies show that you can decrease cortisol levels (the hormone responsible for storing belly fat), by 17% in just 14 days by eating a balanced meal every three hours. Pretty cool, huh?)

But what’s a balanced meal? We’ll talk about that more below.

Sneaky Trick #2: Confuse Your Calories
 

Here’s the problem… when most people want to lose weight, they begin to severely cut calories. Sure, they might start losing some weight temporarily, but this calorie restriction method will soon backfire and mangle their metabolism for two reasons:

1. As you’re probably aware, cutting calories leads to uncontrollable hunger and cravings because your body isn’t getting the nutrients it needs to function and be healthy. This causes severe hunger and cravings, and eventually breaks most people mentally…and causes them to lose control, overeat, rebound, and gain even MORE weight than where they started.
2. After about a week of dieting, the hormone levels in your body that are responsible for keeping your metabolism humming along (like the master weight-controlling hormone leptin and the thyroid hormones) start adapting to your new calorie intake, and they plummet like a piano off the Empire State Building. This causes your body to conserve calories.

At the same time, the fat-storing hormone insulin goes berserk as does a hormone called cortisol that is responsible for storing fat skyrockets. As a result, your weight loss will come to a screeching halt. At this point, you’ll need to reduce your calories even lower to keep losing weight, or you’ll need to do MORE exercise to burn even MORE calories. (Not fun…I’ve been there.)

But there is an odd-ball little trick you can do instead of constantly lowering your calories and practically starving yourself in the process.  It’s to change the number of calories you’re eating every 7 days just before your body “catches on” to what you’re doing. 

Now, I’m not talking about indulging in a “cheat day” or having a few “cheat meals” at the end of the week (although these are part of the equation, too).  I’m talking about actually changing the number of calories you eat every week for 7 days in a row. 

BINGO!

This is my Calorie Confusion Method™ in a nutshell. If you do it the right way (and there is a wrong way to do this), you will fix your metabolism and trick your body into continuously burning more and more calories and unattractive body fat, without hitting a plateau or igniting a tidal wave of hunger and cravings in the process.

You do this by changing the calories you’re eating before your body is able to lower the hormones responsible for controlling your calorie-burning metabolism.

Now that you’ve learned a little about my Calorie Confusion Method™, I’ve got to give you a little warning. You can’t just randomly change your calories up and expect to notice results. There are certain belly-fat-burning foods you need to be eating (all calories are not created equal), and there are certain “cycles” that you need to follow. 

But here’s the kicker… you don’t have to actually count calories to enjoy the benefits of Calorie Confusion. Counting calories is way too difficult and takes too much time. (I’ll show you this cool alternative in my soon-to-be-released 7-Day Belly Blast Diet program.)

While we’re on the topic of calories, here’s my next way to “kill belly fat fast”…

Sneaky Trick #3: Eat These 7 Belly-Killing Foods
 

Yep. There are certain foods that KILL belly fat and others that CAUSE belly fat (and belly bulge).

What’s more, the RIGHT kinds of foods give you the nutrients you need to crush cravings. What’s more they will “scrub” your digestive track and allow you to eliminate pounds of “toxic waste” and excess water from your body in just  a few short days.

Here are 7 belly KILLING foods:

1. Avocados: These little suckers are loaded with two nutrients that are KEY to killing belly fat: hunger-crushing fiber (11 to 17 grams per avocado!), and monounsaturated fats, which studies have shown to actually “spot reduce” belly fat. Zowie!
    
2. Peanut Butter: Okay, not just peanut butter, but mostly any seeds and nuts (these are the best): pistachios, walnuts, almonds (or almond butter), pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and flax seeds. Why? They keep you full and satisfied for long periods of time, and they’re stuffed with healthy, belly-burning fats and minerals. (Stick to natural peanut butter by the way. The regular stuff is full of deadly trans fats.)
    
3. Dark Chocolate: That is not a typo. Dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants (nearly eight times the number found in strawberries) and it contains stimulants that can have a positive effect on fat burning, including theobromine and caffeine. It also contains a nice dose of oleic acid, which is a monounsaturated fat. Make sure to choose the 78% or higher cocoa levels for best results.
    
4. Green Tea: Not only does it contain a potent antioxidant, many scientific studies have linked green tea to increased fat burning, including a report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that found green tea extract boosted the daytime metabolism of test subjects by 35-43%.
    
5. Cinnamon: Researchers have found that cinnamon contains a type of antioxidant that increases insulin sensitivity and effectively helps to stabilize blood sugar. Bottom line…you’ll store less belly fat.
    
6. Yogurt: Most regular yogurt is bad for your belly. It’s loaded with belly-bulging sugar (real or artificial) that you want to avoid it. However, Greek yogurts like Stoneyfield Farms and Oikos Greek Yogurt (plain) are loaded with probiotics that fight belly bulge. (See “Sneaky Trick #6.”) Add some natural sweetener like stevia or Truvia™ to it with some walnuts and berries for the ultimate belly flattening treat.
    
7. Giant Turkey Legs: You got me. I’m pulling your leg. (Get it?) I’m not just talking about turkey meat (white preferred), but any lean protein source is a good belly-blasting food. This includes wild salmon, free-range chicken, whey protein powders, and most especially grass-fed beef because it contains natural CLA—a fat that studies have actually shown to burn fat. The interesting thing about protein is your body will burn off as much as 30% of its calories to digest and “use” it. Read the next trick for details…

Sneaky Trick #4: Set Your Food on Fire
 

The fact is, after years of poor food choices and yo-yo dieting, most overweight folks these days have a broken calorie-burning furnace.

But don’t despair, some foods will fix a “mangled metabolism” BIG TIME, while others can actually destroy it and stop it dead in its tracks.

The truth is, calories from different types of food act very differently once inside your body. Some of them ignite what I call “Thermal Burn” and others are plain “Thermal Duds.” (For some reason, now I’m thinking of the little “Milk Duds” chocolate candies. As Homer Simpson would say, “Mmm duds…”)

Here’s an example: your metabolic rate will increase by approximately 5% in response to eating fats. This means that for every 1,000 calories of fat you eat, your body will burn 50 of its own calories to digest and process the fat you just ate. (Note: Keep in mind that some healthy fats can help you burn fat in other ways, so don’t discount them.)

When you eat carbohydrates, your metabolic rate will increase by up to 10% (less for refined carbs like sugar that are easily digested, more for high-fiber choices). This means your body uses 100 calories to digest and use 1,000 calories of carbs.

Now, PROTEIN has the highest Thermal-Burn of all foods, increasing your metabolism by up to a whopping 30%. ZOWIE!

Why? Because protein is a very complex nutrient…  for every 1,000 calories of protein you eat, your body will use about 300 calories to digest and process this macro-nutrient.

This means you’re only netting about 700 calories for every 1,000 calories you eat of protein.

So, you’re getting 300 “free calories.”

Pretty cool, huh?

Heck, the “Thermal Burn” of some natural foods is so high that they don’t even register on the calorie scale. They’re “FREE Foods” that you can practically eat non-stop without gaining an ounce.

Now, to backtrack a bit, I’m not suggesting that you eat ONLY protein in an attempt to fix your broken metabolism. (Cluck, cluck…another chicken breast anyone?) No, not at all.

What I am saying is that I’ll show you how to eat specific Thermal-Burn MEALS throughout the day that include precise amounts of protein, slow-absorbing carbs, and a dollop of good fat (love that word…dollop). This way, you can wage WAR against your metabolism and WIN.

The funny thing is that some of the foods I’m going to show you are not what you’d typically think of as diet foods. It’s all in how you prepare them. An example? Okay, how about a thick, juicy cheeseburger and sweet potato fries.

Or mouth-watering pizza.

Or melt-in-your mouth lasagna.

What I’m trying to say is that you’ll be able to eat MORE delicious food but with a lower calorie impact. More bang for your buck. And I don’t know about you, but I LOVE eating, so this is a very exciting way to kill more belly fat.

Sneaky Trick #5: Exorcise Your Demons
 

Did you know that most of the tens of thousands of food items which line our grocery store shelves are made and controlled by only four or five GIANT multinational food corporations who only have one goal in mind—to make more and more money? It’s true.

What’s more, the food chemists that work for these food kingpins are paid big bucks to create “Frankenstein foods” that are manufactured within huge, robotic, assembly-lined factories.

Here, they dump all kinds of (mostly) man-made preservatives, additives, and chemicals into the recipes for our favorite meals and snacks–in just the right amounts–so these “fake foods” can sit on grocery store shelves for months, years, and even decades, without going bad. (YUMBO!!)

Out of these toxic food chemicals, I have identified 7 that I not-so-lovingly refer to as “Obesity Additives.” I call them this because research shows they have a big, negative impact on our health and waistlines.

And, all you need to do to experience some SERIOUS weight loss fast is to exorcise these “DEMONS” out of your kitchen.

How Do These 7 Obesity Additives Make You Fat?

Good question. Studies show…

• Two interfere with a hormone called leptin which sends a signal from our stomachs to our brains to tell us we’re full. Without this signal we keep eating and eating.
• Other Obesity Additives create weight gain by causing hormone imbalances. That’s right, a fat-storing hormone called insulin skyrockets in your body (hello belly fat!), while a fat-burning hormone called glucagon is shut off. (Not good.)
• Another (in excess) can cause a mineral imbalance in your body that causes you to become “bloated” with water weight all the time. (Ever feel bloated?)
• And yet science has proven that some Obesity Additives actually addict us and cause us to eat uncontrollably by altering brain chemicals called neurotransmitters—just like the street drugs cocaine, morphine, and nicotine do. (Maybe this why you can’t “eat just one.”)

With these Obesity Additives working against you, it’s no wonder you haven’t been able to win the belly bulge battle in the past. Failing to lose weight isn’t your fault.

Where Obesity Additives Are Found

These dangerous Obesity Additives are secretly hiding in dozens of foods within your kitchen. These are foods that you’re eating–and feeding to your family–each and every day.

• Salad dressings—including many low-fat and fat-free versions
• Cereals (even those advertised as healthy for children), crackers, breads, chips, pretzels, and pastas—even good ol’ macaroni and cheese
• Condiments like ketchup, jelly, jams, syrups, gravies, and sauces
• Dried, canned, and cured meats
• Canned and frozen fruits and vegetables (no kidding)
• Soft drinks, fruit juices, energy drinks, and teas
• Many pre-packaged diet foods and drinks
• Hundreds of foods labeled low-fat, fat-free, and “diet”
• And, of course, most junk foods, desserts, and fast foods

 

In addition to these 5 very sneaky tricks, I’ve got many more tips and strategies in my upcoming 7-Day Belly Blast Diet program. In fact, it’s a step by step program that takes ALL of the guesswork out of how to get a flat stomach fast, and it will be releasing this Tuesday at a HUGE $50 discount.  Be on the lookout from an email from Joel letting you know (I hear he’s got some really cool EXTRA bonuses for you when you pick up your copy through the special link in his email).

It’s time to get sneaky!

Coach Josh

———————————–
 
I told you we’d be back to hook you up today!  Post your questions and comments for me and Coach Josh below and we’ll be checking back in all day to give you individual attention!

Keep rockin’!

Joel

3 Reasons You CAN’T Kill Belly Fat

Posted by Joel Marion on September 23, 2010 47 Comments

Part II of this article is now posted HERE.

BOOM! 

My buddy Josh Bezoni posted the below article to his site the other day, and I thought it was so important that my readers get this information that I asked him if it’d be okay to repost it on my blog.  Well, not only did he give me the go ahead, but he also told me that he’ll be stopping by the blog today so both him and I can answer your specific belly fat burning questions in the comments section below. 

So, enjoy the below article, and make sure to drop a question or comment in the comments section.  Josh and I will be stopping in all day to answer!

3 Reasons You CAN’T Kill Belly Fat
By Josh Bezoni
 

Can you really drop up to 11 pounds from your body (and belly) in just 7 days (and keep losing it at a record pace for weeks to come)?

Believe it or not…the answer is a shocking YES. And you don’t have to starve yourself or do endless exercise, either… AND you can still eat your favorite foods. In fact, it’s an important part of my new 7-Day Belly Blast Diet… YIPPEEE!

But before we talk about how to do this, today I want to talk about 3 things…

1. The extreme dangers of belly fat

2. How to know if you have too much belly fat, and…

3. The 3 reasons you haven’t been able to KILL your belly-bulge and what to do about it.

Then in tomorrow’s article I am going to show you how to overcome the problems that I reveal today. So, be sure to look for that update tomorrow. For now, get educated below!

The Extreme Dangers of Belly Fat
 

Doctors around the world agree that belly fat (in particular, the internal belly fat that surrounds our organs) is the most dangerous kind of fat there is.

I guess you could say it’s, “Public Enemy #1” when it comes to your health (and appearance).

The reason?

Internal belly fat surrounds all of our vital organs inside our abdominal cavity, and because of this, it can “interfere” with our body’s natural physiological functions.

This can lead to health issues such as insomnia, headaches, anxiety, and depression, joint pain, infertility, low energy, allergies, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and the list goes on and on.

To make matters even worse, excess belly fat dramatically increases the chances of potentially deadly illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers, Alzheimer’s, and even stroke.

And if all of that weren’t enough that dreaded belly bulge makes us look less attractive and it can demolish our self-esteem and confidence to boot.

Not good…

How Do You Know If You Have Too Much Belly Fat?
 

The science says if a man has a belly circumference of more than 40 inches, and a woman has a belly circumference of more than 35 inches–measured around the widest section of the stomach at the belly button–then they’re in a very high risk category for conditions I mentioned above.

Another way to know if you have too much belly fat is to simply divide your height in inches by two. Your belly fat circumference (again measured around the belly button), shouldn’t be more than half your height. So, for example, if you are 5’10 tall (70 inches), your “belly measurement” should not exceed half of that, or 35 inches.

But, let’s face it; you don’t need to do all these measurements to know if you have too much belly fat. All you need to do, right now, is place your hands on your belly and take a squeeze. If you’re getting a big, ol’ handful of belly blubber then you know that it’s time to do something… and fast.

The 3 Reasons You Can’t KILL Belly Fat
 

As I mentioned in a previous article, I used to be 32 pounds heavier than I am right now. It was quite embarrassing really; here I was a “diet guru,” but I was clinically obese and feeling very ashamed about my body.

And the worst part was, even though I was a real pro at knowing how to lose weight and keep it off, none of my old tried-and-true strategies seemed to work for me anymore.

Because of this, I had to go back to the drawing board and develop a completely new set of sneaky tricks to burn belly fat and keep it off for life. I studied countless scientific journals, talked with top experts, and used myself as a guinea pig for months.

During this process, I discovered the 3 reasons I wasn’t able to KILL my belly bulge, and luckily, I was also able to discover exactly how to overcome and solve these seemingly insurmountable challenges (which I’ll talk about more, tomorrow).

So, without further adieu, here are the 3 reasons I couldn’t KILL my belly bulge and I’m positive they’re the exact same reasons you haven’t been able to kill yours either.

Reason #1: You’re a Basket Case
 

Okay, all kidding aside, here’s something very important to understand… when your mind is not at peace and not “in balance,” all sorts of belly-bulging hormones go “wacky” and out of control. This can really cause some serious belly bulging.

What causes this imbalance?

• Not getting enough sleep
• Running yourself ragged at work and with family obligations
• Worrying and stressing about life…

As a result of mental and emotional stress, your body will automatically release a fat storing hormone called Cortisol. This is bad because Cortisol’s favorite thing to do is to “redirect” fat storage to your abdominal area.

Scientists believe your body does this as a natural “preservation technique.” You see, constant stress sends a signal to your body that it’s under attack and your body responds by storing belly fat reserves around your organs to 1) protect them and 2) to make this fuel source available for quick energy needs.

You see, you body is somewhat lazy (read: efficient) and in times of stress it doesn’t want to pull energy [fat] from far away, like your leg for example. It wants fat close to your internal organs… in your belly.

But don’t worry, tomorrow I’m going to talk about some simple techniques you can use to “decompress” and get your fat storing hormones back in balance fast.

Reason #2: Your Body is Like a Vending Machine
 

If you peer through the glass of most vending machines you will see a bunch of sugar-filled, chemically-stuffed, over-processed, “dead food” that is slowly killing you, bite by bite. (Ouch…)

And because we eat this type of food wayyyyy to much (and I’m also talking about fast food and processed food), our bodies quickly become what we eat.

We’re “walking vending machines”—slow, sluggish, and falling apart with each awkward step.

Here are the A, B, C’s of what makes bad food, well… bad:

A. Obesity Additives:

Did you know that most of the tens of thousands of food items which line our grocery store shelves are made and controlled by only four or five GIANT multinational food corporations who only have one goal in mind—to make more and more money? It’s true.

What’s more, the food chemists that work for these food kingpins are paid big bucks to create “Frankenstein foods” that are manufactured within huge, robotic, assembly-lined factories.

Here, they dump all kinds of (mostly) man-made preservatives, additives, and chemicals into the recipes for our favorite meals and snacks–in just the right amounts–so these “fake foods” can sit on grocery store shelves for months, years, and even decades, without going bad. (YUMBO!!)

Out of these toxic food chemicals, I have identified 7 that I not-so-lovingly refer to as “Obesity Additives.” I call them this because research shows they have a big, negative impact on our health and waistlines.

And, all you need to do to experience some SERIOUS weight loss fast is to exorcise these “DEMONS” out of your kitchen.

How Do These 7 Obesity Additives Make You Fat?

Good question. Studies show…

• Two of these additives interfere with a hormone called leptin which sends a signal from our stomachs to our brains to tell us we’re full. Without this signal we keep eating and eating.
   
• Other Obesity Additives create weight gain by causing hormone imbalances. That’s right, a fat-storing hormone called insulin skyrockets in your body (hello belly fat!), while a fat-burning hormone called glucagon is shut off. (Not good.)
   
• Another additive (in excess) can cause a mineral imbalance in your body that causes you to become “bloated” with water weight all the time. (Ever feel bloated?)
   
• And yet science has proven that some Obesity Additives actually addict us and cause us to eat uncontrollably by altering brain chemicals called neurotransmitters—just like the street drugs cocaine, morphine, and nicotine do. (Maybe this why you can’t “eat just one.”)

With these Obesity Additives working against you, it’s no wonder you haven’t been able to win the belly bulge battle in the past. Failing to lose weight isn’t always your fault.

B. Uncontrollable Cravings:

Here’s something you may not realize… your body is severely undernourished and starving for certain nutrients. You see, your body needs specific macro and micro nutrients to run properly or you will get mentally and physically sick. I’m talking about illnesses such as heart disease, some cancers, diabetes and depression, for starters.

So, if you’re not eating the right foods that are packed full of nutrients your mind will constantly “scream” at your stomach to eat more. It does this in the form of cravings and hunger.

Problem is, most people just eat more “nutrient-dead junk food” and their bodies continue to starve and cravings spiral out of control. (If you feel hungry all the time, now you know why.)

C. Toxic Waste Buildup:

As I keep repeating (like a mantra), my goal is to help you drop up to 11 pounds of belly fat, excess water, and “toxic waste” from your body over the next 7 days.

Well, we’ve come to the part of today’s update where I talk about ridding your body of pounds of “toxic waste.” And what I mean by “toxic waste” is, well… poop that has built up in your digestive tract. (Not a pleasant dinner conversation, I know.)

I’ll put it like this… if you think your bulging belly or “pooch” is all fat… think again.

Not eating the right kinds of foods causes waste to become backed up in your colon and intestines. This can give you a permanently bloated appearance.

What’s more, when your digestive system is clogged and polluted, you can’t efficiently absorb the healthy proteins, carbs, essential fats, water, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients your body desperately needs to be healthy and to burn fat at an accelerated rate.

As I mentioned in “B” above, when your body doesn’t get the nutrients it needs, it signals your mind to tell your stomach to EAT MORE by causing uncontrollable cravings.

As you can see, this is a big problem. You need to keep your digestive system clean to fight hunger.

With this in mind, tomorrow, I’ll reveal how to get your digestive system going and detoxify your system of unhealthy chemicals without harsh laxative drugs or starvation diets.

Reason #3: Your Belly-Burning Furnace is Busted
 

Another BIG reason you haven’t been able to kill belly fat is because your belly-burning furnace (metabolism) is on the blink.

So instead of humming along burning thousands of calories a day, it’s sputtering and jerking down the calorie-burning-highway in the slow lane. Or, you may even be pulled off to the side of the road with the hood open and the engine smoking.

But why? Good question.

A. You’re Not Eating Enough Food, at The Right Times

Here’s the problem… when most people want to lose weight, they begin to severely cut calories. Sure, they might start losing some weight temporarily, but this calorie restriction method will soon backfire and mangle their metabolism for two reasons:

1. As you’re probably aware, cutting calories leads to uncontrollable hunger and cravings because your body isn’t getting the nutrients it needs to function and be healthy. This causes severe hunger and cravings, and eventually breaks most people mentally… and causes them to lose control, overeat, rebound, and gain even MORE weight than where they started.

2. After about a week of dieting, the hormone levels in your body that are responsible for keeping your metabolism humming along (like the master weight-controlling hormone leptin and the thyroid hormones) start adapting to your new calorie intake, and they plummet like a piano off the Empire State Building. This causes your body to conserve calories.

At the same time, the fat-storing hormone insulin goes berserk as does a hormone called cortisol that is responsible for storing belly fat skyrockets. As a result, your weight loss will come to a screeching halt. At this point, you’ll need to reduce your calories even lower to keep losing weight, or you’ll need to do MORE exercise to burn even MORE calories. (Not fun… I’ve been there.)

B. You’re Eating Foods With Low “Thermal Burn”

Make no mistake, some foods will fix a “mangled metabolism” by increasing your calorie-burning furnace BIG TIME, while others can actually hurt your metabolism and stop it dead in its tracks.

The truth is, calories from different types of food act very differently once inside your body. Some of them ignite what I call “Thermal Burn” and others are plain “Thermal Duds.” (For some reason, now I’m thinking of the little “Milk Duds” chocolate candies. As Homer Simpson would say, “Mmm duds…”)

Heck, the “Thermal Burn” of some natural foods is so high that they don’t even register on the calorie scale. They’re “FREE Foods” that you can practically eat non-stop without gaining an ounce.

Tomorrow I’ll be talking more about how to eat specific Thermal-Burn MEALS throughout the day so you can wage WAR against your metabolism and WIN.

Now I realize I said there were only three reasons why people can’t lose belly fat, but come to think of it there’s actually four. Let me explain…

Reason #4: You Try to “Go” it Alone
 

Here’s an interesting fact. Recently, doctors and researchers from the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, performed a unique weight loss study and discovered one somewhat “unusual” factor had a profound effect on weight loss over those who DIDN’T have this factor present. Do you know what that factor was?

Social support.

And do you know just how MUCH of a difference it made? A LOT. In fact, those who had a support system in place, such as attending support meetings to encourage them and keep them accountable during their weight loss journey, lost an average of 225% more weight over the two year study period!

Wow.

That’s why, tomorrow, I’ll reveal how you can get your very own support group to make sure you achieve accelerated weight loss results, too.

So there you have it, my 3 (actually 4) reasons you haven’t been able to kill belly fat in the past.

I’m betting that you didn’t even know some of these problems existed. But don’t despair, now that you’ve become aware of these challenges, in tomorrow’s update I’m going to reveal the SOLUTIONS to each and every obstacle standing in the way between you and your flat belly, so that you, too, can drop as much as 11 pounds of belly fat, excess water, and “toxic waste” from your body in as little as 7 days!

Make sure to look for tomorrow’s email update—you DON’T want to miss it. I’ll talk to you more then…

With Energy!

Coach Josh

Part II of this article, 5 Sneaky Tricks to KILL Belly Fat Fast is now posted HERE.

————————————

KILLER information!  Post your questions and comments for me and Coach Josh below and we’ll be checking back in all day to give you individual attention!

Keep rockin’!

Joel

The #1 Fruit for Weight Loss

Posted by Joel Marion on September 13, 2010 27 Comments

You’ve probably heard the tip that if you’re interested in losing weight, it’s a good idea to eat slowly and chew your food at least 15-20 times before swallowing.  Doing so allows your brain and body to actually sense that it’s full, instead of cramming a bunch of food down your throat only to find out 30 mins later that you’re WAY stuffed.

And for that reason (and a few others) , I’m picking cherries as my #1 fruit for weight loss.

With cherries, you can’t just pop 30 in your mouth in two mins like you could, and probably often do, with grapes or blueberries.  Instead, the pits force you to eat them slowly, allowing your satiation sensors to chime in a prevent you from over-indulging.

So that’s reason #1 – built in portion control.

Reason #2, and it’s a BIG one, is that cherries have the LOWEST glycemic index of all fruits, and one of the lowest glycemic indexes of any carbohydrate source—period.

Scoring at a ridiciulously low 22, you can even snack on cherries in the evening without much detriment as their effect on insulin is minimal at best.  Again, it’s not late-night eating that’s the problem, it’s eating the wrong foods (those that cause a substantial rise in fat-loss halting insulin) in evening hours that is.

So next time you’re in the mood for a sweet, satiating snack, reach for a small bowl of cherries and enjoy the goodness.  My new favorite variety is Rainier cherries….Mmmmmmm mmmm good :)

Want to learn some other smart food choices for weight loss (and even some “healthy” foods that you should NEVER eat)?  My good friend Isabel gives you the details in her video here:

3 MORE Flat Belly Food Swaps

Posted by Joel Marion on September 8, 2010 25 Comments

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!

Digestive Exercise?

Posted by Joel Marion on September 1, 2010 62 Comments

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 Full Throttle 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 Full Throttle 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 Full Throttle 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…  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.

5 Solutions to TRIPLE Fat Loss Results

Posted by Joel Marion on August 31, 2010 98 Comments

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 Full Throttle 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 Full Throttle 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 Full Throttle Fat Loss does.

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.

——————————————————————————————-

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

The Limiting Factor Your Don’t Even KNOW About

Posted by Joel Marion on August 29, 2010 107 Comments

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, Full Throttle Fat Loss, I teach you how to address the ROOT problem, so that you can correct these issues and lose fat faster at the same time. 

Full Throttle Fat Loss becomes available on Tuesday, 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. 

——————————————————————————————————– 

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. 

Bring on the questions and comments!

Three Flat Belly “Food Swaps”

Posted by Joel Marion on August 28, 2010 86 Comments

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:

Siberia, Asia, America, and Your Energy Levels

Posted by Joel Marion on August 27, 2010 11 Comments

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

#1 Thing to Avoid While Dining Out

Posted by Joel Marion on August 24, 2010 30 Comments

Last night 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