Diet for men (a joke)

A guy calls a company and orders their 5-day, 10 lb. weight loss program. The next day, there's a knock on the door and there stands before him a voluptuous, athletic, 19-year-old babe dressed in nothing but a pair of Nike running shoes and a sign around her neck.

She introduces herself as a representative of the weight loss company. The sign reads, "If you can catch me, you can have me."

Without a second thought, he takes off after her. A few miles later huffing and puffing, he fi nally gives up. The same girl shows up for the next four days and the same thing happens. On the fifth day, he weighs himself and is delighted to find he has lost 10 lbs. as promised.

He calls the company and orders their 5-day/20 pound program. The next day there's a knock at the door and there stands the most stunning, beautiful, sexy woman he has ever seen in his life. She is wearing nothing but Reebok running shoes and a sign around her neck that reads, "If you catch me you can have me".

Well, he's out the door after her like a shot. This girl is in excellent shape and he does his best, but no such luck. So for the next four days, the same routine happens with him gradually getting in better and better shape.

Much to his delight on the fifth day when he weighs himself, he discovers that he has lost another 20 lbs. as promised. He decides to go for broke and calls the company to order the 7-day/50 pound program

"Are you sure?" asks the representative on the phone. "This is our most rigorous program."
"Absolutely," he replies, "I haven't felt this good in years."
The next day there's a knock at the door; and when he opens it he finds a huge muscular guy standing there wearing nothing but pink running shoes and a sign around his neck that reads, "If I catch you, your ass is mine."

He lost 63 pounds that week.

The Haloween Diet

Last Halloween one of my daughters made some scones and cream to give out to householders as treats. Since it was Halloween she added black food colouring to the scones and to the cream.

Well the scones smelled good and tasted good but they looked like horse droppings and the cream looked like brickies mortar. I wonder how many of her Halloween treats got eaten. I suspect most got chucked away.

There were a few left, which I ate of course because I don't like waste, but I must admit they weren't very visually appealing They tasted good but to look at they certainly didn't get my juices flowing.

Perhaps you could use this idea in your own efforts to avoid the foods that add to your waistline. If you are into baking pies, cakes, cookies and desserts use a generous dose of a food colouring likely to put you off eating the finished product.

After a while you'll get sick of complaints from others in your household and all the food you're wasting. I doubt you'll be over your addiction to those foods and your poor eating habits by then but you never know, it could be a crazy idea worth trying.

Answer to Chris

It's been suggested that eating whey protein right before a workout might have a beneficial effect.

Whey protein is certainly the superior protein powder. Whey proteins are highly digestible. They have an even better amino acid profile than egg whites, so whey protein has the highest biological value of any protein. It’s absorbed, used and retained better. This makes it more tissue sparing, making it a benefit to people as they diet, age, train or have illnesses or disease.

It’s high in BCAAs which are the aminos most oxidized during exercise and it may even decrease soreness in muscles and assist in recovery from athletic activity because of its quadra-peptides which have pain killing qualities. It may also contribute to bone cell growth, potentially strengthening all the bones in the body.
Whey protein also boosts the body’s ability to fight infection. Intense training lowers immune system response but whey boosts immune response. It helps build up the body’s own antioxidants by raising the levels of glutathione, an essential, water-soluble antioxidant that protects cells and neutralizes toxins.

It inhibits the growth of iron-dependent bacteria, scavenges free iron, can block the growth of pathogenic bacteria and yeast, can stimulate the beneficial intestinal micro flora and has antibacterial properties.

Now in this day and age we are so busy that it’s difficult for most people to eat the recommended six meals a day. This is where protein powders are a great help. It is much easier to have a breakfast a lunch and a dinner and three protein shakes in between.

But the best time to have it is probably in the 90 minute window after your workout as that is when your body needs the extra protein to repair and build up the muscle tissue after the workout breakdown. If you’re going to have anything before the workout it needs to be carbohydrate high rather than protein high, in order to fuel the workout.

The other good time to have it is before bed so your body has building nutrients to work with while you sleep. After all a late night snack of carbs isn’t needed unless you are going to be exercising in your sleep.

Thousand mile journey

You've heard the saying, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Well it could also be said, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and a flat tyre."

Sometimes the prospect of exercising or sticking to a healthy lifestyle diet leaves you with a feeling similar to the thousand mile journey because of a broken fan belt and a flat tyre.

If this is how you feel when you start out, guess what?

You won't stay on your program more than a week... and that's being optimistic!

You absolutely must get those feelings right before you start. What are the strong reasons for doing it? Have you written them down and written your goals? Have you got someone to encourage you to keep going when you want to quit? Do you have a system to check progress and inspire you on?

That thousand miles can be made to seem less if you approach it the right way. And if you do, before you know it, you'll have done it. I'm with you if you want to start.

Calorie cutting tips

When cooking a dish with both vegetables and meat, reduce the amount of meat by 1/3 and increase the amount of vegetables by 1/3. You won't notice much difference in the meal size or enjoyability but there will be fewer calories and fat.

Use spices and herbs for flavoring rather than butter or rich sauces to spare the calories. Garlic, basil, oregano, and thyme add lots of flavor without the fat.

Eat beef jerky, carrots, other raw veges and celery sticks instead of chips and cookies.

The sacred self

"The body is a sacred garment," according to Martha Graham. "It's your first and last garment; it is what you enter life in and what you depart life with, and it should be treated with honor". In the Garden of Eden, eating was modeled as one of life's most pleasurable experiences. But then Eve took a bite out of that apple and ever since then men and women have been at war with food.

But I don't think weight problems are God's way of punishing humankind. Perhaps your weight issues are really a symptom of something else - boredom, depression, regret, or rejection maybe. At the root of many issues is our self-loathing at worst, our self-indifference at best.

Food is not the enemy. We are. Break the cycle of dieting and replace it with loving yourself enough to make good choices about your diet. Examine your eating habits this week. Are you honoring your body with your food choices? How can you love yourself back to a healthy relationship with eating? One way is to use Emotional Freedom Techniques. Take steps now towards defeating the natural compulsion or craving that might take you down a path of regretful eating.

Cereal time

For years I've enjoyed cereal as an evening snack, much to the amusement of others at times. Well now I could be vindicated.

Scientists at Wayne State University had a sample of 58 overweight nighttime snackers where half of them ate a 150 cal bowl of cereal and low fat milk 90 minutes after dinner and the others ate as usual.

This worked out an average of 140 fewer calories than they usually ate after dinner. They lost on average around 2 pounds.

Bear in mind the study was funded by the Kellogg Company. I'm sure if the results came out any other way they wouldn't have even reported it.

They do say the cereal type doesn't matter. It's obvious to me that what does matter is the caloric intake, regardless of the food (though calorie for calorie, natural, fresh, unprocessed foods are always better than refined foods due to the higher nutrient value).

So whatever you snack on, remember, overdo your calorie needs and you're setting yourself up to overdo your waistline!

Flavor without fat

Today I have a bit more on fat for you.

Fat and sugar laden foods today have changed our tastes. It’s what we’re used to now. But in the obesity battle we’ve got to change our habits.

Search for lite or reduced-fat versions of condiments, like dressings and sauces. One serving of lite mayo has fewer than half the calories (85) of regular mayo (200), but is almost identical in taste and texture.

Skimp on butters, dressings, and creams, using just enough for taste. Flavor with salsa rather than butter, and forgo the "secret sauce" on your burgers.

Use fresh or dried herbs to add flavor to foods without excess calories and fat. An added bonus from herbs is that studies show that spicy foods, flavored with red peppers or chilli peppers, may boost metabolism and help you to stop eating sooner.

Hold the fat

Here's another quick tip on improving your diet.

When cooking, limit the amount of oil you use by using a non-stick pan. You can also use sprayable oils (avoid substitutes and go for the real olive and canola oil sprays) to coat your pans with virtually zero calories.

Instead of commercial aerosols, you could even get a pump action mist sprayer, available in department stores, to evenly distribute 1/2 teaspoon of oil or salad dressing, compared to the 2-3 teaspoons that you would usually pour on for the same purpose - a saving of 100 calories.

You could also blot the fat from greasy foods like pizza or burgers. One could easily soak up a teaspoon of grease, 5 grams of fat, and 40 calories from two slices of pizza alone. Keep doing these things until they are automatic habits. Stay well.

Don't cut all fat

It's important to remember that not all fats are bad. Certain oils (olive, canola), and nuts are nutritious and healthy to eat. However, fat does have more than twice the calories per gram than carbohydrates and protein (9, 4, and 4, respectively).

Generally, people consume too much fat (and too much food overall) and the wrong kinds of fats, which means excessive calories.

With all the processed foods of today and the availability of fast food and packaged food, fat is the easiest part of our diet to fill. Unfortunately most of it is bad fat. So focus on cutting them and reducing overall calorie consumption. Stay feeling full on water and low calorie natural complex carb whole foods.

Replacing calories

When cutting out high-fat and high-calorie foods, replace them with fruits and vegetables. These essentials are low in calories, but high in volume, fiber and nutrients, so they give a feeling of fullness. They make great snacks and are easy to pack.

Stick to whole foods as much as possible. A potato is a better option than an order of fries, just as an apple is healthier than a slice of apple pie. Make your choices foods you enjoy eating and give yourself plenty of variety so you stick with the good habit.

Weight loss and health really is pretty simple! Maybe not easy... but simple!

Stabilize

When you look at the way most people eat and how inactive they are, it's not surprising so many people are overweight. But did you know that the main reason people struggle with their weight isn't their inactivity or poor eating habits? These are certainly important factors, but there is an even BIGGER one.

It's the first and simplest factor to maintaining a good body weight.

What is it?

It's your blood sugar levels.

The key to shedding the excess pounds is to stabilize your blood sugar. And this doesn't just apply to people with diabetes. The reason we get fat is because we are supplying our bodies with more energy than it needs at any particular time. It's a supply and demand issue.

For more information on this read this article.

Master this and your struggle with weight will be over.

Water, alcohol and fat

The best weight loss drink is free!

To lose a pound of fat per week, which is a good healthy rate of weight loss, all you need is a 500-calorie deficit per day, This can be achieved by exercising more, reducing calories, or preferably, a combination of both. Instead of a diet, choose a healthy lifestyle, one that is easy to stick to.

The first easy strategy to reduce calories without giving up the pleasures of eating is to drink water rather than alcohol.

Alcohol contains around 7 calories per gram. We all know about the drink driving and embarrassment that can result from excessive alcohol consumption. But even moderate amounts of alcohol can lower your self-control when it comes to food.

Limit your alcohol intake and your body will thank you. Save it for a post-meal indulgence, rather than drinking it before or with food. Studies show that alcohol lowers inhibitions and self-control when it comes to eating. So people who drink before meals eat more than those who wait to drink after finishing a meal.

Drinking water throughout the day, before, and during meals helps curb your appetite. Often when people think they are hungry they are actually thirsty. Thirst of course indicates dehydration.

Dehydration can slow metabolism, but the process of drinking water and the body warming it up to body temperature involves energy and burns calories. Plus, if you are well hydrated your body will have least 10 minutes more energy for exercise (according to a study in the International Journal of Sports Medicine).

Awww... do I have t-o-o-o-o-o?

Do I really have to exercise to lose weight?

The short answer... yes!

The long answer... well it is possible to lose weight without exercise but where that weight comes from becomes important.

The problem with a diet only approach is the loss of lean muscle tissue. Up to 30% of muscle can be lost!

This loss of muscle lowers metabolism by around 20% (say around 300 calories a day) because its the muscles that burn fat.

Even though millions of people take up dieting, only about 1% achieve any lasting success. The secret to successful long term fat loss is to change the diet and do exercise, both resistance with weights and aerobic training. This burns calories as well as maintaining muscle and metabolism so that future fat burning is assured.

Sorry about that. So make sure you find some form of exercise that you can enjoy at least a bit. As you do more and fitness grows you will be inclined to exercise more in different ways. Come on guys, I know you can do it.

Guessing short

Studies show that people tend to underestimate how much they really eat every day.

Do you read food labels? This is a key to healthy portion sizes. The portion sizes on some packaged foods may seem just right for one person but in fact a closer look will reveal that the package includes two or more servings, which doubles the caloric content.

If you have trouble stopping at one serving buy single-serving packages of your favorite foods for built-in portion control, or measure out single servings into baggies or containers. Those big meal sizes are a habit and can be changed.

When you decrease your caloric intake you generally end up feeling deprived so make sure you graze between meals on healthy low calorie snacks, and drink plenty of water. Also reduce the time interval between meals if you can.

After familiarizing yourself with portion sizes, be sure to measure. Be exact if cooking at home, but when eating out, think about common objects. A serving of meat is the size of the palm of your hand. A medium piece of fruit is similar to a baseball.

Nutrient poor foods

I said last time that many westerners are not getting quality nutrition. Our food may be rich in variety but pretty poor in quality. What are these "nutrient poor" foods?

To explain, we'll have a look at bread. Now there are many varieties of bread, but in the days of our grandparents, farmers grew vegetables and grains on local farms and the harvest went straight from the fields to the dinner table. This means bread was baked fresh every day at home with freshly-harvested grains.

As the population grew, farms become bigger and with mechanization and the growth of transport farmers could sell their products to consumers hundreds of miles away.

But then...

They realized this nutritious bread was going mouldy before the consumers even had a chance to buy it. The "shelf life" of the nutritious bread they were shipping was very low. They needed to increase the shelf life of their bread products.

So what did they do?

They found that the bran and wheat germ could be removed from wheat flour to make white bread. Until then bread was made from whole wheat flour, in which these parts are retained and contribute a brownish color.

In addition, the white flour is generally bleached with potassium bromate or chlorine dioxide gas to remove any slight yellow color and make its baking properties more predictable.

Unfortunately most of the vitamins in wheat are removed along with the germ or destroyed in the bleaching process.

So white bread is an example of nutrient poor food and the bread which still has its germ and vitamins intact is the more nutrient dense food.

Since a similar thing has happened to many of the products from the farm, the nutrient poor foods are generally the processed and refined ones.

So look for foods that are closest to their natural state such as fresh fruits and vegetables and other raw foods and you're on your way to better health with more nutrient dense foods.

Quality nutrition

There are more people over 100 years of age on the Japanese islands of Okinawa than anywhere else in the world. It is believed the reason for their longevity and good health relative to the elderly in the western societies is due to the simple foods they eat which are nutrient dense and low in calories.

The human body is an extremely complicated machine requiring a wide variety of nutrients to maintain a constant state of health.

Unfortunately the typical westerner does not get the nourishment needed to properly maintain a healthy body free of disease.

The reason?

We are consuming processed "nutrient poor" foods (more on this next post).
We are getting plenty of calories but not getting quality nutrition. Write down the sorts of foods you typically eat over a week then you’ll be able to see what your nutrition is really like.

Log your food

I was once asked by a naturopath years ago what my diet was like. I assessed it as pretty good – lots of healthy foods etc. But when I actually wrote down what I ate as I did it there was quite a different picture presented.

Research shows that keeping a log by recording exercise and food intake is one of the best predictors of successful weight loss. A written record can point out your eating patterns such as eating in front of the TV or in the car, or eating the same breakfast every day. You can find out what triggers (stress, sadness, boredom, time of day) cause you to overeat. A written log can help you identify areas where nutritional changes can be made.

You may find that you are eating fewer fruits than you thought or drinking too much soda, for example. Then you’ll know where you can implement healthy changes. Studies show that people tend to underestimate how much they really eat every day.

In doing so, we consume too many calories without realizing it.

And you know what the result of that is!!

Steady burn

Have you ever been around a campfire? You've got to keep it going so it's ready to cook over at certain times don't you.

So what do you have to do to keep it going so it's a steady fire?

Feed it, right?

Can you achieve this by feeding the fire once or twice per day?

No you can't, because you'll have a raging blaze after stoking it up and then it dies down more and more until you stoke it up again.

Your metabolism is like this. It works best if it's fairly steady.

Once your metabolism is back up where it should be, it takes continued "stoking" of the metabolic furnace to keep it there. If you starve it of fuel (crash diet), it dies down. So once you get your metabolic fire burning, you've got to keep feeding it fuel or the fire will die down. This means frequent small meals rather than a couple of big feeds a day.

And what you feed it too is important. You can't throw some crumpled newspaper on the fire, it's too quickly burning. For your body this is akin to eating the high GI foods.

You have to keep putting small amounts of wood (the right type of fuel) on the fire at regular intervals or the fire burns out. For your body this means quality nutritious food.

To get your metabolism burning hot and keep it burning cannot be achieved by sporadic, infrequent training, missing workouts or missing meals.

Crash diets crash the metabolism

Most diet programs claiming to help you quickly drop excess weight, only end up making it harder for you in the long run because they use harsh metabolism-decreasing diets. Furthermore they rarely advise enough exercise and almost never any weight training.

The result of following starvation diets or dropping weight too rapidly in is metabolic damage; in other words your metabolism slows right down. This makes it very difficult, after the initial impact of the crash diet, to achieve any further fat loss at all.

The bottom line is: you can’t starve the fat off with crash diets.

The good news is, any damage to the metabolism can be repaired. You just need the right combination of metabolism stimulating exercise and metabolism stimulating nutrition.

Applied consistently over time anyone can increase their metabolism.

It may take a bit longer if you've lost a lot of lean body mass from severe starvation dieting in the past, but it is not hopeless.