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Fitness for Nothing

December 20, 2010 admin No comments

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Fitness for Nothing

Hi,

Well, it has started. You see it everywhere.

Buy this fitness product and you will have fitness for life in days. You will have 6 pack abs in minutes.

These commercials will continue through Christmas and well into January – the time of New Year’s resolutions.

Basically they will tell you that you can get fitness for nothing.

That means that their fitness product or fitness routine or fitness food is the be all and end all of fitness.

Just buy it you will become fit.

That is the hype part.

Now comes the reality.

There is no fitness program, no fitness device, no diet program that will work without some effort on your part.

If you think you can become fit just by using some ab device you are sorely mistaken.

Dreams are nice, but you have to do something to make those dreams come true.

Being fit is fantastic. Being in good health is fantastic. Having abs is fantastic.

But, you don’t get that without effort.

Now I will be the first to admit that there are some good devices out there. The doorway chinning bar and fitness balls are a couple of example.

There are some good programs out there. My program (not available yet) and a few others are pretty good.

But, they don’t work in a vacuum. You have to use them and adhere to them.

And they take time. No program can change you overnight. And no program can change you without you doing something.

So whether you buy my program – when it is available – or someone else’s program doesn’t matter.

What you do have to do is commit to actually using the program or device.

So enjoy the holidays. If a program, device or nutrition program appeals to you then try it.

Try it for a few months. Make that commitment to do it or use it everyday.

Then you will begin to see results.

But, if you expect a magic transformation without doing anything and expect the program to transform you into a gymnastic model you will be very disappointed.

In the meantime enjoy the holidays and commit to changing your life by doing something.

On another topic, the new year is upon us. I will have my new program with several modules out on changing your fitness levels.

The program is designed for simplicity. I know how little time most of us have to actually exercise. I also no most people quit exercising after a few weeks.

That is because a routine has never been incorporated into your lifestyle. This program will change that.

So that is my main priority for the new year.

I will also be getting involved with social media and video and making this a more interactive experience for you.

As always I welcome your comments and suggestions and thank you for your participation in this blog.

Thanks,

Mike Val

The Real Truth About the Twinkie Diet

November 9, 2010 admin 2 comments

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The Real Truth About the Twinkie Diet

Hi,

I just saw this headline and had to write this now. The headline was: Twinkie Diet Helps Nutrition Professor Lose 27 Pounds. Here is the link: twinkie diet

There are a few points that this article brings up.

One is the point that -as I have said many times – it doesn’t matter what you eat for weight loss. The bottom line is if you take in less calories than you burn you will lose weight.

Now there are variations of how this works based on macro nutrients, but that is a different story.

So even if you eat nothing but junk fook you can lose weight on it.

But, this professor wasn’t eating just junk food. Although if you only read the headline and the first couple of paragraphs that is what you would belive.

He was eating: Twinkies. Nutty bars. Powdered donuts. Hostess and Little Debbie snacks, Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos.

The above was 2/3 of his diet.

And he lost 27 pounds in 10 weeks. He did this by dropping 800 calories per day. That is a pretty good weight loss over that time period.

This article also stated that his LDL or what is called bad cholesterol was reduced by 20%. the HDL (increased) increased by 20 percent and his triglycerides were reduced by 39%.

So why did a diet of 2/3 junk food help reduce the bad fats and increase the good cholesterol.

Two reasons.

One is that the other 1/3 of his diet was pretty good. He had a multivitamin pill and protein shake every day. He also ate vegetables every day. Even though they were canned vegetables mixed with regular vegetables.

The good stuff he was eating possibly counter acted the junk food he was eating.

The other point is that this experiment only lasted 10 weeks. It can take months and years before problems become apparent.

The body is very adaptable. It will keep functioning for a long time with no apparant consequences.

But, once it reaches a certain point then the problems become very apparent.

I’ll give you an example from my own family. My dad smoked pretty much all his life and he smoked unfiltered Pell Mells.

My mom smoked filtered Benson and Hedges before she was married and after the kids were all in school.

My mom died at 53 years old of lung cancer. My dad lived to 81. So whether it is smoking or eating junk food the consequences will catch up with you.

Sometimes it will be sooner and sometimes later. And before you think my dad was in good health up to 81 you would be mistaken. His last 20 years were not so great and he suffered a lot even though he finally stopped smoking around 65.

So what is the bottom line here. Yes, you can eat junk food all your life.

If you only eat a little bit and counter it with good nutritious food then you can probably postpone the consequences.

However, maybe you will be like my mom and die young because of your choices.

You don’t know.

The choices are always yours. My choice is to eat nutritious foods as much as I can. And yes, there is room for some junk food.

Not much, but it does taste good.

And I exercise every day. Sometimes it is only stretching, sometimes, cardio, sometimes weight lifting, sometimes fat burning workouts.

Combine exercise with an overall good nutrition program and you have the best of both worlds.

So stay off the twinkie diet, but if you like them don’t cut them entirely out of your diet.

Thanks

Mike Val

Fat Burning Revolution

November 1, 2010 admin 3 comments

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Fat Burning Revolution

Hi,

Are you ready for the fat burning revolution?

No, I am not talking about some new pill, or miracle exercise program.

I am talking about what is going on with you.

I am going to compare you to a forest. I know, sort of crazy, but bear with me for a few minutes.

Many times a forest gets overgrown. And that makes it prime for an explosion. One bolt of lightening and there is a fire that destroys everything.

Or at least everything above ground.

But underneath the ground, that is where the revolution is going on. Seeds are germinating and propagating.

And sure enough in a few years you can see a new forest beginning.

So how does that relate to you. Maybe, over the years, you too have become overgrown. This usually translates into too much weight.

Too much weight and poor food choices helps cause inflamation in your body and that primes it for a lightening strike.

Only the lightening in this case could be a heart attack, stroke, diabetes, cancer and a few hundred other diseases.

And, just like the world needs lightening and fires in order to restart, maybe that is what you need to start a revolution.

I am hoping that you don’t wait that long.

Why wait until you are overweight, maybe even obese, out of shape and primed for an explosion?

That could be the catalyst for change for you. If you survive the initial attack.

If you don’t, then there is nothing.

If you do, then you can change. The body is very adaptable and it will react positively to new changes and it will regrow.

There might be repurcussions though. Like large hospital bills, like a paralyzed limb, like a weakened heart, like being on medications for the rest of your life.

My question is why would you want to wait until those things happen when you could change them right now – in an instant.

Instead of becoming overgrown like the forest, let’s start trimming back now.

That means eating nutritious foods, exercising more and turning your life around.

Anyone can do this and do it now. It only takes a decision.

Maybe you don’t know exactly what to do or how to go about doing it.

That is actually the easy part. The hard part is making the decision.

Once you do then the fat burning revolution is on the way.

Yes, it will take some time, just like the forest takes some time to grow back, but once started it is inevitable.

Thanks,

Mike Val

Lower Your CRP With Fiber

September 16, 2010 admin 2 comments

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Hi,

You can lower your CRP with fiber.

What is CRP? It is called C reactive protein and it is a measurment of the amount of inflammation in your body. It is also used as a predictor of heart disease and diabetes.

So you want a very low number on your CRP tests.

Fiber can help.

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition evaluated the body composition, diet, physical activity and CRP levels of 524 participants.

The CRP levels were inversely related to the amount of fiber in the diet. The more fiber, the lower the CRP levels.

This is a simple way to fight inflammation in your body.

Just eat a variety of fiber foods. You should include both soluble and insoluble fibers in your diet.

Fruits and vegetables have fiber in them. Eating your 5-7 servings a day will pretty much give you all the fiber you need.

Oats, grains and beans also have fiber. Just make sure you are eating whole grain cereals and breads and natural oats in order to get the full benefits.

Thanks,

Mike Val

Aging Metabolism 2

September 9, 2010 admin No comments

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Hi,

In our last post on aging metabolism I asked you if you could start changing tomorrow.

Changing your nutrition habits and your movement habits. These two things are what you need to do to fight the loss of muscle and the slowing of your metabolism as you age.

But, that was a trick question.

Most people would answer, sure I can start that tomorrow.

But, that is the wrong answer.

Tomorrow is a nebulous term. It is sometime in the future. It is something that might happen.

It is a good excuse for postponing actually doing something.

You know that life can get in the way of almost everything you do. And it is so easy to put something off until tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow until everything is perfect for you to do something.

If something is so important to you then you should do it right now. You should not wait until tomorrow.

Your answer should be, “No, I can’t wait until tomorrow. I need to start this right now.”

If your answer isn’t that, then you are pretty much doomed to fail.

I know that sounds pretty pessimistic and full of doom and gloom. But, it is also pretty realistic.

Look at New Year’s resolutions. Several studies show that these resolutions – based upon starting tomorrow or in the next few days – don’t last for more than a couple of weeks for most people.

A couple of weeks!

By the end of 6 weeks less than 10% of these resolutions are even remembered.

If it isn’t important enough to start right this minute then it just isn’t that important to you.

Maybe you need a wake up call – like a heart attack at 45. Or maybe you have to start taking insulin shots. Or maybe you can’t even play with your grandchildren because you are too out of shape or too heavy.

I don’t know what your trigger is, but there is one there somewhere. I urge you to find it.

Because every day you let become tomorrow, every day you let slide is a day you have slid further from your health.

Stop aging metabolism. Stop deteriorating. Start gaining strength. Start eating healthy.

Start right now.

Thanks,

Mike Val

Holidays and Fitness

September 3, 2010 admin No comments

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Hi,

With Labor Day coming up many health and fitness gurus will talk about the holidays and fitness.

Holidays are almost always associated with good food and lots of it. It is a time of gathering with friends and family and drinking and eating is part of that celebration.

Many will tell you that you must maintain your discipline in order to get through the holiday with minimal deviation from your diet or fitness program.

I say hogwash.

A friend of mine was training with some nutrition and fitness guru (this was in another town). He told her that she had to maintain her diet and her training schedule through a three day holiday weekend.

She did do it and had a miserable time. She couldn’t let go and just enjoy herself. And of course you can imagine the teasing and questioning she got from everyone.

“You are going to go work out now?” “Oh, don’t you want a bite of this?” And so on.

Doing that is just plain silly.

Let’s look at the bigger picture. If you decide you have to lose weight or get in better shape that is great.

And if a trainer helps you do that, then it is even better. But, remember it is your life that you are trying to improve.

Is your life really improving if you are not enjoying yourself? If you have to put up with questions and teasing from everyone?

If you can’t enjoy some holiday food and drink?

So what can you do? You still want to stay on track with your fitness and nutrition programs and you still want to enjoy yourself.

So here are a few tips.

Nutrition: Make sure you do eat some healthy, nutrient rich foods at every meal or snack. But, go ahead and enjoy the rest of the eats.

Sip on a protein shake throughout the day. But, go ahead and have a soda or alcohol drink.

Stop eating and drinking when you start to feel full. Do not keep gorging.

Take some extra Vitamin C and some anti-oxidants.

Fitness: If you want to keep your workout schedule, then do it early in the morning when no one is up.

Add an extra walk before and/or after a meal. Take someone with you.

Have an extra hard workout on the day before the holiday weekend.

See that wasn’t so hard was it.

Remember life is about enjoying what you do. This includes getting fit and eating healthier. It also includes enjoying the holidays with your friends and family.

You can balance the two so that the holidays and fitness are not enemies.

Enjoy,

Mike Val

What is the Best Nutrient?

August 31, 2010 admin No comments

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Hi,

Just what is the best nutrient? First let’s define nutrient.

A nutrient is a chemical that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism’s metabolism which must be taken in from its environment.¹

If you knew what it was you could eat lots of it and improve your health quite a bit. Right? Not so fast.

It is not quite that easy.

As science has progressed it has been easier to isolate nutrients in the food we eat.

Once a nutrient is isolated, then someone in the diet or pharmaceutical industry trys to make it synthetically.

Then they market it as the next best thing.

Almost every vitamin, mineral, antioxidant, phytonutrient and so on has gone through this process.

So why aren’t we all healthy?

Because it is not that simple. Simply isolating a nutrient does not mean it will perform as well as it did in the food it was isolated from.

And sometimes putting these isolated nutrients in other products makes for some strange combos.

Would you have a glass of orange juice with a meal of fish? Maybe, maybe not.

But most would not think anything about drinking some orange juice with Omega 3′s in it (which you get from fish).

Maybe some things weren’t meant to be.

Sometimes initial studies show a great benefit with an isolated nutrient. This great benefit might have come from an in vitro experiment, or a study on other animals.

It might not have had the greatest controls. Further studies might not show the same benefits. This has happened with Vit C, Vit E, Vit D and the list goes on and on.

Yet, eating lots of fruits and vegetables has been proven time and time again to provide these great benefits.

So, if you can isolate the nutrients and increase them in a pill, why don’t you get the same benefits?

Because Mother Nature knows best. A fruit or vegetable is not made up of just one nutrient. It has many, sometimes hundreds of nutrients within itself.

This combination and synergy is what makes all the difference in the world.

That is why an eating plan with lots of variety of natural foods, including fruits and vegetables will provide a host of benefits that you will never get from an isolated nutrient.

This is true even if you could isolate every nutrient and take them individually.

We still don’t know every nutrient and we don’t know exactly how they work together.

So that simple apple is quite a complex nutrient machine.

So what is the best nutrient? All of them in a natural food.

Make the big majority of your meals with as many nutrients as you can. Then indulging in a chocolate sundae every once in a while isn’t going to wreck you.

Thanks,

Mike Val

1. Whitney, Elanor and Sharon Rolfes. 2005. Understanding Nutrition, 10th edition, p 6. Thomson-Wadsworth.

Brain Shrinkage

August 24, 2010 admin 2 comments

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Hi,

We all know that using your muscles will keep them from shrinking. But, did you know that your brain also shrinks with age?

Brain shrinkage happens to most people that live long enough.

The actual size of the brain is not the important thing. But, if your brain is shrinking then it is possible you could have some health issues related to the brain.

While you can do brain exercises to keep mentally alert, it turns out that won’t stop your brain from shrinking.

However, there is a very easy way to keep your brain from shrinking.

All you have to do is take some vitamin B-12.

If you don’t get enough vitamin B-12 it could lead to fatigue and depression. Long term is could cause permanent damage to your nervous system and brain.

Natural vitamin b-12 can only be found in animal products. Things like meat, fish and milk are the primary sources.

Synthetic forms of B-12 are added to many foods like cereals and breads.

Seafood has the highest amounts of B-12 and you can get your daily dose from: clams, osyters, mussels, caviar, octopus, many fish types, crabs, and lobsters.

Meat sources include: liver, milk, cheese, lamb and beef.

Eggs also have a great amount of vitamin B-12.

All of these products are also good sources of protein. So if you are a body builder then you are already probably getting plenty of B-12 in your diet.

So you shouldn’t have to worry about brain shrinkage at all.

But, what about forgetting where your keys are? The answer to that is tomorrow.

Thanks,

Mike Val

Update on Junk Food

July 30, 2010 admin No comments

Hi,

Just a quick update to let you know next week I will be starting a series on junk food. What it is and why we all want to eat it.

So I am putting the finishing touches on it today and this weekend.

In the meantime, have a great weekend. Get out there and eat healthy and do a little exercise.

Mike Val

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Dieting is too Hard, Part 2

July 16, 2010 admin No comments

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Hi,

Dieting is too hard. That was the conclusion of a survey on eating patterns in America.

Yesterday we talked about why this is so. We discussed the physical aspects of dieting and how your body will fight you every step of the way when you go on a diet.

But, the physical part is only one part of the equation. The other two parts are the mental and spiritual.

It is hard to imagine, but a very large per centage of dieter’s don’t go on a diet because they want to.

They go on a diet because someone else wants them to. This someone else could be their doctor, their spouse, a family member or even a friend.

All these other people are well meaning and concerned about their friend’s or loved one’s health and being overweight.

This is good and can be a motivation. But, if you (as the person that needs to lose weight) don’t have that motivation from within, then the diet is not going to work.

Yes, you can know all the health statistics in the world. You can wish to be in better shape. But, if you don’t have the internal fire or desire to lose the weight, then you aren’t going to do it.

Or at best you will do it for a little while and maybe even lose a little weight. But, will you keep it off. The answer is no.

Look, dieting is hard. Mainly because a diet is depriving you of something you want.

If your body is fighting you and if you see a diet as something where you can’t eat what you want and have to eat rabbit food, then all the discipline in the world isn’t going to overcome that.

Add to that the fact that you are eating less food and you just know you are going to be hungry and grouchy all the time, then any motivation you do have goes out the window.

It then becomes so easy to have just one extra serving of food, or one sugary snack in the afternoon, or a dish of ice cream on a hot night.

Then you are on that slippery slope of falling off your diet and there really isn’t any return.

Is it hopeless? Not at all.

First thing is to not go on a diet in the first place. Diets are about deprivation.

So instead of depriving yourself, how about enhancing what you eat.

Do it gradually. Add some good foods in with the bad foods you have been eating. Do this over a period of time and keep doing it until you are eating mostly good foods.

The more good foods you eat, the less you will have to eat. Your body needs nutrients to function at its peak. It needs these nutrients every day.

If you give it these nutrients, it will signal your body that is has enough and you will stop eating. This is how the body is designed to work.

If you feed it junk or food with very few nutrients, then your body is not satisfied. It is going to keep looking for the nutrients and it is going to keep signaling you to eat in hopes that the next meal will have enough nutrients.

This is a vicious cycle and even though it is not healthy your body will continue to signal you to eat (to find the nutrients) no matter how overweight or obese you become.

Want to get off this merry-go-round? Keep reading this blog and check out my Stop Dieting ebook

Thanks,

Mike Val

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Browsing Posts tagged Nutrition

Fitness for Nothing

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The Real Truth About the Twinkie Diet

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Fat Burning Revolution

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Lower Your CRP With Fiber

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Aging Metabolism 2

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Holidays and Fitness

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What is the Best Nutrient?

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Brain Shrinkage

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Update on Junk Food

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Dieting is too Hard, Part 2

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