Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Laws of Leanness: Simple Ways to Go From Thick to Thin

By Thomas Incledon Two years ago, I presented 10 dietary rules for the man who wants bigger muscles and a smaller waistwhich is to say, every man who reads my articles. Those rules still stand. But even if you memorized them, youre probably more confused than ever by the sheer white noise created by todays dietary advice. If you did what you were told by the experts out there, youd eat more of everything and less of everything, and youd eat it earlier, later, and not at all. Fat would save you and kill you, carbohydrates would make you skinny and fat, and protein would turn you into Adonis and put you on dialysis. Recently, as part of a research project, I reviewed hundreds of weight loss studies, and found some surprising ways in which nutrition science is remarkably clear and straightforward. So with apologies to Atkins, Pritikin, Sears, Ornish, and all the other noted weight-loss experts, I humbly present the undisputed masters of the midsection. To lose weight, you must cut calories The American College of Sports Medicine recommends restricting calories in order to reduce weight. The calorie deficit should be around 500-1000 calories per day. You dont have to starve your self though. You can easily achieve a calorie deficit by a combination of diet and exercise. The goal should be to exercise at a minimum of 2.5 hours per week and work up towards 3.5-5.0 hours per week. If you do this right you can have your cake and eat it too! The low-fat/low-carb debate comes down to this: You still have to eat fewer calories than you burn off if you want to lose weight. Every study I looked at shows this. I almost feel like Im cheating by pointing it out, but there really is no perfect ratio of fat, protein and carbohydrates for every person. The perfect weight-loss diet is the one you can live with, no matter if you cut fat, carbs, or some combination. 1.Use whey to cut waist Protein-rich foods put more distance between hunger pangs. And the fuller you feel between meals, the easier it is to avoid the binges that can derail a diet faster than you can say Tasty Creme. The absolute best food for appetite destruction: whey protein. A daily shake made with two scoops of whey protein, fruit (fresh or frozen berries or a banana), and some water or crushed ice will go a long way toward improving your middle line. You can get whey protein at any health food store. 2. Never cut back on protein. There is ample evidence that protein controls appetite better than either fat or carbohydrate. Before you run off and start eating a whole side of beef, it seems that the upper limit for the appetite suppressing effects of protein may be around 25-30% of calories or 1.96 g PRO/kg BW. If you eat lots of protein all the time then your body gets used to it and the appetite controlling quality of protein is diminished.
3. Meat murders fat When you eat, your body has to expend calories to digest the food. This process is called the thermic effect of feeding, and the more your body uses it, the less fat it stores. Protein causes this inner fire to burn the hottest, followed by carbohydrate, followed by fat. Animal proteins increase thermogenesis more than vegetable proteins, so the best calorie-burning foods are lean meats. In case you need another excuse to have a sirloin for dinner tonight. Just make sure the meat is lean. 4. Remember these letters: BCAA Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, and the branched-chain amino acidsleucine, isoleucine and valineare the Holy Trinity. BCAAs are as close to magic foods as well ever get. They help you recover from hard workouts by reducing the protein breakdown within your muscles; they increase testosterone and growth hormone, your bodys most important muscle-building and fat-fighting hormones; and they have their most profound effect when youre following law #1 and cutting calories in order to lose weight. For starters, try to get at least 10 BCAA grams a day. Since theyre most abundant in meat and dairy products, you can get most of that by following laws #2 and #3. You can also buy BCAA supplements (which, fair warning, are expensive). Look for supplements that are 50 percent leucine, 25 percent isoleucine and 25 percent valine. Start off with 10 grams per day, and wait a month before bumping up the dose. The maximum useful intake is probably 60 grams a day from a combination of food and supplements. 5. If its fryin, youre dyin One thing that every weight-loss researcher and diet-plan author can agree on: Highly refined carbohydrates such as fructose sweetened beverages and low fiber breads, are a terrible idea. Among the many sins of Mountain Dew and Twinkies is the way these things cause your blood sugar to spike soon after eating. What goes up fast comes down fast, and you end up feeling tired and hungry much sooner than you should. Goodbye diet, hello diabetes. Now we know of a way to make refined carbs even worse: Fry them. Researchers found a suspected carcinogen called acrylamide in such products as potato chips, French fries, and some cereals. A suspected carcinogen isnt the same as a proven carcinogen, such as tobacco smoke. But any time I get a chance to talk you out of eating nutritionally worthless snack foods, I jump on it. 6. Food goes farther with fiber Fiber causes the opposite effect of snack foods. When you have fiber in your stomach, food takes longer to enter the bloodstream, and your blood-sugar level stays steady. The benefits: consistent energy and less between-meal hunger. The only potential downside is that you wont get as much reading done in the bathroom. What slows down your blood sugar at the front end speeds things up at the back end. You certainly want to continue eating your broccoli and Raisin Bran, but you can safely and easily add more fiber by using a supplement. (MD Labs FiberPsyll is a good one; go to www.MDlabs.com.) Start with seven to 12 grams a day, mixing some with water and drinking it before your main meals. 7. Count on calcium. If youve been reading MH carefully the past couple of years, youve seen that dairy and other calcium-rich foods help you stay lean, prevent osteoporosis, and possibly prevent colon cancer. Unfortunately, too much calcium may also increase the risk of prostate cancer. And whats the point of having a V-shaped torso if your prostate has a spare tire?
Heres how to get the benefits of calcium without the risks: Avoid taking high dose calcium supplements unless you really need them (ie you dont eat food rich in calcium or your doctor has prescribed calcium). The fat-fighting properties of calcium are only activated if you use real food. Look for low-fat dairy products fortified with vitamin D such as skim milk, non-fat yogurt, which offers prostate protection. Triple your home-gland security by having an occasional salad made with tomatoes (rich in prostate-protecting lycopene), mozzarella cheese (rich in calcium), and olive oil (which contains a cancer-fighting fat called Betasitosterol). 8. Alpha males use omega-3s Each year, we learn more about the health benefits of omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, which are found in fish, nuts and seeds, and in fish and flaxseed oils. Those health benefitsless risk of heart disease and diabetes, for exampleare great on their own. But they contribute to a better physique as well as a longer life. For example, omega-3s make your muscles more sensitive to insulin. Your body releases a lot of this hormone when you eat following exercise. If your muscles are more sensitive to insulin, theyll soak up more protein and carbohydrate for post-workout repair and refueling. Omega-3s also reduce inflammation throughout your body. That not only prevents heart attacks (inflammation in the tissues surrounding blood vessels is a major cause) but also helps your muscles recover faster from workouts. If you dont eat fish twice a week and cant stomach fish-oil supplements, try eggs high in omega-3s Research shows you can eat four of them a day without any negative effects on your cholesterol levels. 9. Stay wet Water has had an interesting history in the world of health and fitness. Until about a year ago, experts had us convinced we were as dry as a Baptist wedding reception, and that our dehydration was making us slow, fat, and stupid. The only way to stay hydrated was to drink until we turned ourselves into walking, talking municipal reservoirs. Then another group of experts suddenly appeared to tell us there was no evidence of mass dehydration (which means all the slow, fat, and stupid people had to be explained some other way). They said we get plenty of fluids from food, milk, soda, and juice, as well as the occasional sip of water. The second group is right, but with this caveat: If you follow the advice in this article and start taking in more fiber and protein, you need more water than the average person. If youre exercising hard, you need even more. A good standard: Drink at least a quart of water for every 1,000 calories you expend each day. So if youre a 200-pound guy who works out pretty hard several days a week, you probably burn 2,800 calories a day. So three quarts will do it. Your diet provides three to four cups of fluid, which means you need to get the remaining eight or nine cups from beverages. If you have to go to the bathroom three times during your exit interview with the human-resources manager, its safe to say youre overdoing it. 10. Any plan is better than no plan Next time you read a weight-loss story in a newspaper or magazine, count the number of disparaging references to popular diets. If you actually believed all those guys with all those letters after their names, youd think there was no diet on earth that actually works. But the truth is that you cant lose weight without a diet. You must have a plan of some sort. The more sophisticated and individualized, the better. You cant wing it and expect to see results. More than half the U.S. population is overweight, and my guess is that most of them think they can lose weight if they just cut back a little on this or that. 11. Pretend youre a tailor Measure everythingweight, waist size, etc. Re-measure every four weeks. You cant know if youre improving if you dont know where you started. 12. To change your weight, follow the 15/500 rule Never cut your daily calories by more than 15 percent, or 500 calories, whichever is less. Same goes if youre trying to gain weight. Never add more than 15 percent of 500 calories a day. 13. You must eat fat Chomp on macadamia nuts and drench your salad with olive oil. 14. Remember: Meat is muscle Animal protein builds muscle better than soy and other vegetable proteins. 15. You need carbohydrates, but not the fun kind Fruits, vegetables and whole grains help you stay lean and healthy. Anything sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, youre better off without. 16. Eat before you lift Get some protein and carbohydrate an hour or two before your workout. This prevents muscle from breaking down during and immediately after your workout. 17. And eat after you lift This is the one time of day when fast-acting carbohydratesrice, potatoes, simple sugarscan help you build a better body. Consumed with protein after a workout, these carbs stimulate insulin, a hormone that pushes nutrients into your muscles to help them recover. 18. Be a nutritional Boy Scout Be prepared for contingencies. If youre going to eat a meal or snack every two to three hours, you have to make sure you have good stuff available to eat. In a pinch, apples and peanut butter make a great snack. 19. Eat before bed Some protein and fat before sleep can keep your body from breaking down muscle tissue while you sleep. Keep it to about 500 calories or less. 20. Take notes For one day, measure and record everything you eat, then figure out how many total calories youve eaten, as well as the protein/fat/carbohydrate breakdown. When you have the numbers, you can figure out what you need more of, less of, or perhaps none of.
I wont offer you the perfect weight-loss diet, because research has yet to discover one. But I will say this: The worst plan is more likely to succeed than no plan at all. The best plan is likely to include these elements: Meals and snacks are based on some lean protein sourcefish, eggs, dairy, meat.
More meals are better than fewer. Five or six meals and snacks a day is ideal.
Low-fat and high-fat diets can both work, but a plan that eliminates almost all fat is doomed. Nobody ever became obese from eating the best carbohydratesfruits, vegetables, whole grains. And nobody ever died from skipping potatoes, pasta, rice, popcorn, and Wonder bread. References upon request. Thomas Incledon, PhD(c), RD, LD/N, NSCA-CPT, CSCS, RPT has been involved in research on how to enhance health and human performance for over 17 years and is considered one of the worldwide leading experts on effective health and performance strategies. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Human Health Specialists. Tom can be reached at info@thomasincledon.com or (480) 883-7240. Visit our websites at http://www.ThomasIncledon.com, http://www.HumanPerformanceSpecialists.com, http://www.HumanHealthSpecialists.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Thomas_Incledon http://EzineArticles.com/?Laws-of-Leanness:-Simple-Ways-to-Go-From-Thick-to-Thin&id=356767 buy-best-k viagra cialis -fwavwn
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