The best thing to do is MOVE ON. We all have days when we eat more than our bodies need, that is the rule, not the exception. In two decades of practice as a nutrition counselor, I have never met someone who did not lose weight because of ONE episode of overeating. The trouble starts when one episode stretches into an entire day, week, month – you get the picture. You do NOT need to go on a very restrictive program to compensate for over eating. But you should try to think about the circumstances that led up to the overeating — Too much tempting food around? A stressful personal or work situation? Being too restrictive with your weight loss program so that it is very hard to maintain? – So that you can try to understand the behavior and practice correcting the response the next time around.
Category Archives: Health
The Stress and Relaxation Response and How Belly Fat Is Made
The “fight or flight response” is our body’s primitive, automatic, inborn response that prepares the body to “fight” or “flee” from perceived attack, harm or threat to our survival. When we experience excessive stress, whether from internal worry or external circumstance this bodily reaction is also triggered. Originally discovered by the great Harvard physiologist Walter Cannon, this response is hard-wired into our brains and represents a genetic wisdom designed to protect us from bodily harm. This response actually corresponds to an area of our brain called the hypothalamus, which—when stimulated—initiates a sequence of nerve cell firing and chemical release that prepares our body for running or fighting.
After studying the physiological effects of the ‘flight or fight’ stress response, Cardiologist Herbert Benson discovered that by eliciting the ‘relaxation response’ the opposite was also true (1996). This physiologic state of calm is an equally essential survival mechanism, providing us with the ability to heal and rejuvenate our bodies. Today, the relaxation response is crucial when considering how often the fight or flight response is triggered inappropriately.
When our minds become focused through deep breathing, meditation, repetitive prayer, or mantras, the body responds with dramatic affects. There is a decrease in heart rate, blood pressure and metabolic rate (Benson, 1996).
Under stress, the potential to store belly fat is much higher. This is caused by certain hormone receptor sites in the abdominal region or center region of the body.
How does it get there? It’s absorbed via the intestines. But the key player is the omentum (the abdominal fat storage facility). It’s the pouch you carry on your belly. The belly pouch!
So your omentum clears the cortisol steroids because it has receptors that bind to them and can suck them out of the bloodstream (unfortunately, this doesn’t necessarily reduce the stress level that you feel). The steroids turbo-charge the ability of omentum to store fat, so your belly fat (and subsequent waist size) become the best surrogate indicator of how well you are really coping with stress (despite what your brain might be claiming). That uptake of steroids throws your body in metabolic disarray by:
Making your omentum resistant to insulin so sugar floats around without being absorbed and used appropriately by needy cells, and this:
- Chronically raises your blood sugar, which damages our tissues;
- Super-charging your omentum with inflammatory chemicals that destabilize the delicate equilibrium of your hormones;
- Forcing your omentum to pump high-octane fat directly into your liver—causing your liver to make even more inflammatory chemicals.
Here is the bottom line, the human body will always function in a way that ensures survival for evolution. A lot of times this means the body will resist the changes we are trying to induce. When you are stressed out the last thing the body is likely to do is lose weight, specifically fat mass. I have found with a lot of clients that progress will come to a screeching halt due to excessive stress in their lives. Focus on decreasing your stress, creating a planned safe approach to exercise, getting in the right type of nutrition for your goals and which compliment your exercise and everything in life will become easier and more manageable!
What should I do when I’m stressed and crave sugary and salty junk food?
Well I say when you are stressed or craving things become active. When you are active you less likely to snack on things that you should not eat. Snacking on junk food when you are stressed or bored is a learned behavior so you need to change your learned behaviors.
When you are stressed or cravings things start to trigger those thoughts with activity. If you learn to be active when you are stressed or have cravings sooner or later it will be as natural to be active as it is to reach for food.
Other techniques that I have found to be successful is to drink as much water as possible. If you are craving but yet you know you should not eat simply drink water. This will calm the craving and give your mouth that oral fixation.
Finally creating positive affirmations is very powerful. These affirmations can be limitless but anything that elevates who you are and how you do not need the food you are craving can help. Use all 3, change you learned behaviors and look at the results, these things are practical, realistic and healthy for your brain and mind.
The Absolute Proven Tip to Avoid Pitfalls in your Training
Training too often and trying to adapt in too many different ways all at once (power, strength, hypertrophy, endurance) will result in overtraining.
A smart approach is to use periodization training, Periodization training is simply a planned training program. You can have weekly, monthly and yearly plans. It has been shown to be an effective form of program design. The primary benefit is to allow for maximum levels of adaption and minimize overtraining.
You can train different forms of strength and control your volume of training. With periodization training you can write down your progress and then reassess your training either on a weekly or monthly basis. This can help you avoid stagnation, training plateaus, overtraining and assist you with reacher your goal faster.
Overtraining is like an overload to your system. The body can’t keep up with the adaptations your trying to meet in your fitness, bodybuilding or sports training. If your using periodization training for sports, you will greatly benefit by progressively adapting to increased levels of volume training and avoid overtraining.
Some symptoms of overtraining are:
Loss of appetite
Headaches
Depression
Decreased Immunity
Sudden drop in performance
General Bitchiness
Insomnia
Gradual Increase in Muscle Soreness
By using the a planned program such as periodization training, Overtraining syndrome is easily preventable. Unfortunately, most athletes avoid periodaztion training because they rely too much on their instincts. By design your instincts tell you to remain comfortable or ignore the the above symptoms because when you start reaching a over trained state, your instincts which are your internal feedback mechanism will not give you an absolute accurate decision to treat and avoid overtraining.
Q&A What can I do for my low blood pressure?
In my experience, I have had clients with low blood pressure and they have asked me if their low blood pressure would improve with training. The answer is YES.
Anybody with a reading if 90/60 mmHg or lower is regarded as having hypotension (low blood pressure). People with low blood pressure have some protection from factors which raise blood pressure to undesirable levels. However, low blood pressure may be a sign of an underlying problem, and can cause unpleasant symptoms.
Below are the most common symptoms of hypotension:
Blurred vision
Cold, clammy, pale skin
Depression
Dizziness
Fainting
Fatigue
General feeling of weakness
Nausea
Palpitations
Rapid, shallow breathing
Thirst
Two of the main causes that I see more often in clients are:
Dehydration
When your body loses more water than it takes in you eventually become dehydrated. Hydration levels (levels of water in the body) do not have to drop much before you start feeling dizzy and weak – dehydration-induced weight loss of just 1% can lower blood pressure enough to cause symptoms. Dehydration can be caused by severe diarrhea, vomiting, heat, overusing diuretics, and over-exercising. If water or blood levels drop dramatically the patient can go into hypovolemic shock – the severe water/blood drop in volume means the heart cannot pump the blood properly, resulting in life-threatening hypotension.
Endocrine problems (not including diabetes)
The endocrine system is a system of glands involved in the release of hormones – examples include the thyroid gland, and the adrenal gland. The thyroid gland makes and stores hormones that help in the control of the heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and the rate at which food is broken down and converted into energy (part of metabolism). Low blood pressure can be caused by hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) or hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid). If the adrenal glands do not work properly (adrenal insufficiency) there is also a risk of hypotension – the adrenal glands are located just above each kidney and are chiefly responsible for regulating the stress response.
There are 2 critical things to normalize low blood pressure based on the above potential causes:
1. Drink More Water. The average person that exercises for 30 minutes in a neutral climate with no health issues, needs around 3 liters of pure water a day. Start sipping on water throughout the day until you reach 3 liters and any other fluids on top of that is bonus (Alcohol and Coffee is excluded).
2. Use slow, safe exercise progressions to build muscle. Muscle building exercise raises your T3 (active thyroid) raising your core temperature. Muscle building also reduces overall stress in the body, because in order to build muscle, you must attain an anabolic state. An anabolic state can only be achieved by a healthy strong metabolism.
A health strong metabolism, means that your good hormones and enzymes are being built up at a optimal rate.
Serious Warnings about Dieting
As an expert and someone that has been in the community of fitness and bodybuilding for many years, I’ve seen people start diets and fail after 3 weeks even when they did lose 5 pounds the first week on their diet.
Here are some facts about weight loss that you should know if you dare attempt to start a diet on your own.
* If done incorrectly can cause serious rebound effects.
* First week of initial Weight Loss is all water and glycogen — Not Fat.
*There is a big difference between Fat Loss and Weight Loss
* Second week of Weight Loss is water glycogen and muscle — Not Fat.
* Diets alone are a temporary solution to weight loss.
* Your body adapts to your diet within 3-4 weeks.
* There are different types of metabolisms and the diet that you are currently on might work against your metabolism.
* Healthy Weight Loss on diet alone does NOT work.
* Beware of Diet pills, if it’s not a drug it will NOT work. If it is a drug, it will NOT work without proper nutrition and exercise, however caution must be used as the fat loss will only be temporary once you come off the drug.
* Losing 15 pounds does not mean you lost 15 pounds of fat (adipose tissue).
Fat burning should be part of the weight loss process if done correctly. A nutrition plan and exercise plan work best for ultimate fat loss. Losing fat greatly improves life expectancy, physical and mental well-being. The true goal behind weight loss is FAT LOSS.
You want to lose weight from FAT which is mainly adipose tissue.
Weight Loss is a generic term for losing unwanted scale weight. If your not losing fat, your losing water, glycogen and muscle. These are three of the most important things your body needs to stay healthy and function. No wonder people that go on so called diets feel like crap, see no beneficial results and don’t meet their long term goals.
This can easily be solved by hiring an expert. With an expert, your obstacles and goals will be concretely defined on paper and you are guaranteed a success plan to losing fat for good.
Q&A What type of exercise training program do you recommend?
I recommend a training program, that includes both a custom diet and
customer exercise workout. The diet is specific to your body type
which can be classified by your skeletal frame, lean muscle and age
and sometimes even specific to your geno-type, which can be
classified by your blood group. No exercise training program is ever
complete without healthy nutrition that is well rounded and custom
for you. The exercise program would target your weak areas first,
which help you build a stronger foundation and would include cardio,
flexibility, balance, core and resistance training with weights.
The exercise program, would take you through phases of training.
These phases of training are specifically designed to follow
biomechancial, physiological and functional principles of the kinetic
chain. They provide systematic progression that minimizes injury and
maximizes results. There are many different variables used when
creating a training program and they are specific to the client’s
weakness, strengths and goals. Once the body starts adapting in a
productive way, after a planned time period, these variables change.
Q&A How do you maintain discipline with diet?
Diet is simply a selection of healthy or unhealthy foods. once you’ve
made the decision to eat healthy, then momentum and discipline will
keep you strong for the road ahead.
My discipline comes from an intensity of thought. To build this
intensity of thought. You have to first create something called a
Hook. This hook creates a conditional reflex. When you activate your
hook, you intensify a behavior. You can read up on the Nobel prize
winner named Ivan Pavlov that really gets into detail about this. I
first learned about this in a Russian manual for bodybuilding, that I
ordered from a bodybuilding magazine, about 17 years ago. So, I
started created my own hooks. Every time I opened the fridge, I
would picture myself in the shape that I wanted to be in and if I ate
unhealthy food, I would immediately do 200 situps. Eventually, every
time I would open the fridge and see unhealthy food, my abs would
start to ache.
Get into a routine and focus and the next thing you must do to
accomplish your task. I always have a vision. Stay very focused. You
need to believe in yourself and have no self-doubt that you will
accomplish your goals.
Q&A If you could do one thing to improve your health, what would it be?
Focus on what you put into your body. I call this food shaping. Food shaping is what I call knowing how much of certain foods to eat, (portion control) what time to eat them, and what type…There are 2 types of foods. Food that fuels your body and food that breaks your body.
Imagine your body as highly priced automobile, like a Bugati Veyron (my favourite). You put low grade fuel; you get low grade performance which can result in breakdown.
Food for fuel directly affects your body’s metabolism. Most people that have been on low grade foods, don’t notice the continued negative effects such as lethargy, brain fog, stress, high blood pressure, high sugar, high fat cravings and less than optimum hormone production. They don’t know what’s it like to have that high end metabolism. Little by little it becomes worse, until you have a habituated lifestyle.
Start eating whole natural foods, which are unprocessed, and contain macro and micro nutrients that your body needs to run on and repair itself.
Healthy food doesn’t have to taste like cardboard. Be creative.
Evaluate what’s in your fridge and cupboards. Most people know which foods are good and which are bad. Take the bad foods and remove them from your home. If you need extra help, consult with a dietitian.
None of us want to wake up one morning with cancer, or diabetes, or heart
disease. Now – not all disease can be averted – but ultimately us
all would like to avoid as many health setbacks as we can.
31 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Exercise
The hardest part for most people is to stay motivated with diet and
exercise. Here are 31 ways I suggest that you keep your motivation.
Get motivated. Build the Passion. Keep it for good! 2011 is going to
be a super exciting year! Are you pumped ?
- Find a training partner or even better, a coach and commit to a
schedule. - Buy a dog and take it for a long walk everyday. The fresh air
and sunshine can give you more energy. You also have a chance to
clear negative thoughts and focus on your goals. - Don’t think about exercising or diet, just do it. If it’s already
on paper, your a step away from doing it. - Get out of bed early, have a tall glass of water and use a cardio
machine in your home. - Buy a cardio machine for your home, if you don’t have one, then see 4.
- Eat to live life with the right amount of energy and transform
your body. Don’t live to eat, especially when you eat junk. Garbage
in = Garbage out. Your body should be a temple, not a tent. - Never miss 2 workouts in a row.
- Give away 1 or 2 articles of your fat clothing each week.
- Buy 1 or 2 articles of clothing which are tight fighting and
show off your body each week, If you still look fat in them, keep
them around and focus on diet and exercise to start looking better in
them. - Once 9 is fine, then start socializing more. At night on the
town, does wonders to keep your motivation high. You’ll realize fast
where you stand and where you need to go with your image. - Choose friends that will take you higher and higher. Friends
that have similar interests. Just because you’ve been friends with
someone for 20 years and they don’t share your view or don’t want you
to succeed for some reason, doesn’t mean you have to hang around them
all the time and influence you to make poor decisions. Find new
friends. - Reward yourself. Reward yourself. Reward Yourself. Every time
you noticeably start looking better and feeling better, give yourself
positive verbal pep talk, then go shopping for something nice ! - Get a tan. You’ll notice so much more changes in your physique
as the tan will accentuate your cuts. - Walk into an old age home and take a look around. You’ll find
that some are in their 60s. Prevention is key. When I’m 60, I’ll be
in my own Rambo movie, doing my own stunts. - Whoever says “Working out is not everything in life.” is right.
It’s not everything, but that session that you dedicate makes you
move ahead 100 times more than the person that complains about it.
Keep a balance, but never neglect your right to a better life. - Make it your goal to get a professional photo shoot done.
- Write down your intentions for the month which lead to your
goals. The more details the better. - Plan things that are fun, like a vacation, a photo shoot, play a
sport or take your kids to disneyland for 3 days, (alot of walking..)
so you have a reason to motivate yourself to exercise. - Plan to go to a concert and meet the band !
- Watch an inspiring movie, like
“Never Back
Down” or “No
Retreat, No Surrender”
- Make an example of what you will accomplish, so that others can
follow and be inspired by you. - Blog your complete body transformation experience, like my client
Rosy did, who lost 150 lbs in 1 year. - Take body part circumference measurements every 2 weeks. Log as a
measurement of your transformation. - Take a front, back and side photo of yourself every 2 weeks. Log
as a measurement of your transformation. - Make a Pros and Cons list about exercise and eating healthy.
Make Pros and Cons list about not exercising and not eating healthy.
Why would you not want to feel and look better on a consistent
basis? - Write down 1 thing each day that is going to move your life
forward. Would you not want to increase your longevity and enjoy a
better life ? What you write down is completely realistic. - Create in your mind what you want. Believe you deserve what you
create. Accept the things that will help you move forward toward your
creation. - Avoid distractions. A distraction could be a person or event,
that pulls you temporarily away from your goals or creations. The
best way to avoid them is to ignore or move away from them. - Meditate which clears and refreshes your mind and allows you to
continue to focus on your goals. - Plan to get naked more often. Seeing yourself naked can surely
motivate yourself to get in shape faster and stay in shape. Don’t be
afraid of your skin ! - Don’t think of the problem for too long. Thinking of the problem
wastes time. You should be thinking of the solution and benefits that
it will bring into your life. Make a decision to act on your
solution.