Modifying your metabolism...

Often times I am asked if our exercise programs come with a eating plan to follow. It sounds like a logical question. As much as myself and other health professionals say that nutrition and eating are the biggest components to a fitness program, you'd think we would have a customized nutrition plan ready to go for you.

Unfortunately, even if I did give you a strict nutrition plan to eat 5 times per day, with 140g of protein, 42g of fat and 200g of carbohydrates what are the odds you'd actually follow it? I've written programs like this for myself and my compliance with it is less than 90%.

So wouldn't it be easier to give you a few general goals that give you some freedom to make some decisions so that you aren't eating the same 6 foods over and over? Some people don't mind eating the same foods everyday. I'm one of those people. But others needs a lot of variety. My wife is one of those types of people.

I recently put together a little report on how to modify your metabolism through 5 different means that are pretty quick to implement. In it I discuss the 4 components of your metabolism and which part of your metabolism the 5 strategies effect. This way you can see that by implementing all 5 you are really beginning to change your body to be a fat-burning machine!

Because you guys are on our mailing list I'll give you the quick run-down of th 5 Ways to Kick Start Your Metabolism...Today!

1. Eat protein with breakfast. And not just a single egg (which has only 6g of protein). I'm talking add some PROTEIN! Have a protein shake along side that bowl of oatmeal. Or have a smoothie with some protein tossed in for good mix. Smaller individuals will want aroudn 15-20g of protein in their breakfast while larger individuals will want 25-35g of protein in their breakfast.
2. Exercise at work. By increasing your energy expenditure multiple times over the course of the day, you're constantly giving your metabolism a kick in the pants. So go up and down the stairs twice (act like you forgot something if you need an explanation) or walk quickly out to your car and back in. Just get your heart rate up a couple times during the day for 2-3 minutes. But don't do it so much that you sweat. That might raise a few eyebrows. And careful with the yoga stuff...
3. Use your kids as weights. Play with your kids. Pick them up and down, raise them over your head, swing them around a little (within reason). All of these things will increase the intensity of any motion. And you'll give your kids memories (or nightmares) for a lifetime!
4. Walking Intervals. Some people walk for fitness while others walk to get from place to place. If you're walking for fitness or as transportation, throw some intervals in there. Walk fast until you feel you're breathing hard and your heart rate is higher and then slow down a bit. Alternate these higher and lower walking speeds to give your metabolism a quick shot in the arm.
5. Eat more fat. Research has shown that our bodies will shift our metabolism to use the energy we have the most of. In addition newer research is suggesting we might be able to modify our metabolism to prefer a type of energy on a daily basis! This means that you have the potential to shift your metabolism to use fat on a daily basis. So how can we increase our fat intake? Fish oil supplementation has been shown to have an array of benefits including reduced inflammation, increased fat mobilization, improved cardiovascular function, brain development and immune system function.

Head over to the website www.pairmarotta.com/fitness and enter your email address to get the report emailed to you!

The best way to eat your veggies...

We've heard it since we were kids. You have to eat your vegetables. Why? Vegetables are loaded with nutrients and vitamins that you can't even find fruit! But often people like to broil, boil, fry, stew, steam, roast and grill vegetables. This may improve their flavor but it often decreases their vitamin and mineral content.

Vitamins are very sensitive to the stress of heat. It doesn't take much heat for the vitamin levels in, say broccoli, to drop by as much as 50% when they are steamed. Think about how crunchy most vegetables are when they are raw. Then think about how soft and squishy they are when they are cooked. Also, look at how much color may be lost when they are overcooked. Vegetables can look pale and dingy when over cooked. Not only do they look non-appetizing, but they've also had much of the vitamins cooked right out of them.

The best way to eat vegetables is to have them raw. Think about when you have a salad. Raw lettuce or spinach, some carrots, onion, tomato, broccoli, raddish, cucumber and celery. These foods are BURSTING with vitamins and minerals and wth a little consistency, will drastically improve your health in a hurry!

If you really aren't too keen on eating vegetables as a snack, you can also sneak them into a smoothie by combining them with a food that has a very strong flavor. For example, you can add kale, spinach or carrots to a smoothie that has peanut butter, banana and a little chocolate and get all of the vitamins that way. Talk about mixing business with pleasure!!

In summary, vegetables will be better than the alternative no matter which way you have them (aside from deep fried) but eating them raw is the best way to make sure you get the full benefit from eating them. Your body will thank you!

To Snack or not to Snack?

There is a bit of a conundrum that is faced when trying to lose weight. Actually there are a few. But I am just going to tackle one for today: Snacking.

 

Some people see it as their downfall, the reason that they are overweight. "I can't stop snacking! I feel like I eat all day."

 

Other people swear by it for weight loss. "I eat 6 times a day and have lost 10 lbs this month!"

 

So which is it? 

 

Research and "belt science" would indicate that eating too much causes us to gain weight. At the same time research shows that those who eat 4-6 meals per day actually reduce more body fat than those who eat 1-2 times per day.

 

The truth? Eating frequently (every 2-3 hours) helps to speed up your metabolism, BUT....

Belly fat juice.

If your snacks are Tootsie Rolls, Doritos, M&M's and Pepsi (that includes diet too!) I will personally GUARANTEE that you will GAIN weight when you snack.

 

But if your snacks are carrots, cottage cheese, apples, yogurt, blueberries, almonds, pistachios or iced tea, then I will personally GUARANTEE that you will LOSE weight when you snack!

 

Eating frequently has been shown to alter your metabolism. If you eat more, you're metabolism will rise following your snack. However, if you eat sugary stuff your metabolism will not rise as much as when you have a high protein-high fiber snack such as apples and yogurt, or carrots and cottage cheese. 

 

Fruits and vegetables will ALWAYS be a better choice than chips, candy and soda. Chips and candy have almost ZERO nutritional value and as a result are energy sapping slugs that only send your insulin levels through the roof. And when insulin is constantly high, it stores excess energy as FAT. 

 

Belly Fat Fighters

Protein on the other hand has a much slower digestion, requires more energy to breakdown and when it is broken down can be used for repairing muscles, organs, bone as well as providing energy. And it increases your metabolism for up to 30%. And a fast metabolism is the key to getting rid of stubborn belly fat.

 

So how to sum this up and make it practical?

 

Snacks like cottage cheese, yogurt, 1 piece of fruit, baby carrots, broccoli sprouts, or a small handful of almonds or pistachios are the BEST foods for losing belly fat. Eat snacks in between your main meals and a small one before bed and your metabolism will begin to speed up and you'll start to see that spare tire slowly begin to deflate!

I was wrong...

Hey guys, 

This summer has been super busy and it got me thinking about how busy you guys must get. I realize time is at a premium for most of us. If we spend an average of 9 hours a day working, 1 hour a day commuting, 2 hours a day eating, 7 hours a day sleeping that leaves us...5 hours to do our own thing. This doesn't include the morning ritual of waking up and getting ready for work. That could be another hour!

I've spent blog upon blog telling people how important it is to record what they eat. The main idea behind this was for you to see how many calories you're eating. As well as But often this would become overwhelming. In the past our nutrition evaluations would have a printout with what percentage of your meal should be carbohydrates, protein and fat.

But we don't eat protein, carbohydrates and fat. We eat food. So I thought the evaluation needed to be redesigned. 

So here I am saying I was wrong. When I designed our nutrition evaluation, I placed too much emphasis on calories, macronutrient distribution and activity level. 

In reality, nobody needs a program that is exact. Why? Because nobody would follow it. If an eating plan is too strict, most people will be too busy for it.

So what should you look for instead? Look for guidelines. But here's the kicker.

If you're given rules to follow instead of a strict diet and meal plan, then you need to follow the rules!

And there are some pretty simple rules:

1. Eat 4-5 meals per day
2. Eat fruits and vegetables with every meal.
3. Eat a lean protein with every meal
4. Don't drink your calories.
5. Only eat grains (bread, pasta, oats, pancakes) during your first meal

And in reality, you don't even have to start all of those habits at once. Pick one that you can succeed with and then do it. When that becomes a habit, simply choose another habit and add to it.

But whatever you do, do something. Exercise is great for increasing strength, improving cardiovascular fitness, increasing flexibility and other performance measures. But it's not all it's cracked up to be when it comes to fat loss. If you want to lose fat. You MUST follow the 5 rules above.

Does exercise even WORK for fat loss??

If this is your breakfast, exercise will NOT work for fat loss

Being that I am a fitness specialist, this must sound like a ridiculous question. If exercise doesn't work for fat loss, then what the heck am I selling?

I'm selling health: increased strength, flexibility, endurance, heart function, decreased cholesterol, improved movement and overall quality of life

But does exercise work for fat loss?

In previous posts I've said yes. In another I said NO. But here is the final word (until I change my mind again!)

In the presence of a diet that EXCLUDES breakfast, and INCLUDES high refined carb intake, only 1 or 2 meals a day, minimal levels of sleep and no supplementation, EXERCISE SUCKS for fat loss.
"Well dang, Aaron. That's pretty rough." But it's true. If you do all of the above and expect 4 hours a week of exercise to undue the damage, your hoping for rain without a cloud in the sky.

If this is your breakfast, exercise works WONDERS for fat loss!

But if you:

1. Eat a high protein breakfast
2. Eat 4-6 times per day
3. Include protein (dairy, meat, tree nuts)
4. Minimize grains in your diet
5. Drink 1-2 liters of water per day
6. Get 8+ hours of sleep a night

Then exercise will certainly help with fat loss!

But as you can see, nutrition is the key to fat loss. But what should people eat for fat loss? And even now that you've read the rules on fat loss, how does the plan work? What should my day of eating look like? Well, below is a sample!

Wake-up - 1/2 cup oatmeal with protein powder mixed in, +  fruit + 3 fish oil capsules
+3 hours - 1 cup yogurt, palmful of almonds, + 1/2 Liter water
+6 hours - turkey sandwich (open face), salad + vinagraitte dressing with walnuts, + 1/2 liter water
+9 hours - protein powder + spinach + strawberry smoothie
+12 hours - chicken, 2 servings of veggies, 1 cup milk + 3 fish oil capsules
+15 hours - almond milk, peanut butter smoothie, 1/2 scoop protein powder

As you can see it really isn't that difficult. But you have to plan. If you hope to do this by the seat of your pants, your looking for gold in a dry river.

So in summary, does exercise work for fat loss. Absolutely. And absolutely not. It all depends on your eating. Follow the rules above and you'll be on your way.

100th Post!! - 5 Habits to develop for the New Year...

Well, Christmas day has come and gone. Which means that Christmas parties are gone and....New Year's parties are just days away.

But even more irrelevant, this is my 100th post on the blog!! Hopefully you're finding the information in each blog post useful, relevant and interesting! If not, just go ahead and send me an email or leave a comment with your suggestions!

Onward and upward to 2011!!

Being that between 42-45% of Americans make New Year's Resolutions but only 8% of resolutions are maintained, I wanted to give you guys 5 Healthy Habits to develop for 2011.

So here are 5 Resolutions that are easy to keep and help shred fat:

1. Eat Breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for a variety of reasons. The first being that it stimulates your metabolism that has slowed considerably over night. Secondly it stimulates peristalsis which is a process that moves food through your digestive system, helping to maintain a healthy digestive system! A healthy breakfast is also incredibly easy to make!! Try some "Coach's Oats" with chopped apple, walnuts, a teaspoon of brown sugar and a cup of green tea!

2. Start eating 1/4 of  mixed nuts per day. Although these guys are high in fat, the fats they are highest in are the good, artery cleaning unsaturated fats. Just stay away from the flavored and honey roasted nuts. Stick with raw almonds, walnuts and cashews. When nuts are roasted, the fats change chemically and many are unusable by the body when they are heated. Mixed nuts are also a high protein, low carb snack that will keep your metabolism up and your insulin levels low and stable, keeping you in the optimal belly fat burning "zone."

Seated Adduction Machine

3. Don't just buy a gym membership, sign up for class. Gym memberships are just that: a membership. It's not a workout, it's not activity. In fact, its like purchasing an anatomy book and then saying you're going to become a doctor. You have to have somebody teaching you how to USE what is available to you. Most people purchase a gym membership, walk in, hit the treadmill for 15-20 minutes and then look around for something that looks like it works their "trouble" spots, such as the seated adduction machine that wastes tons of time and only serves to make those muscles stronger, not to lose fat from that area. 

A class will help you stay focused, will be progressive and will open your mind as to exercises you can do on your own when the time comes. Plus, with classes all you really have to do is show up and put forth some effort. No thinking, wandering or guessing as to what to do next. Just show up and follow the instructor. Plus there is a set schedule so if you miss it, it's like missing any other appointment. I personally recommend our Hi-5 FitCamp. But I bet you already knew that!

4. Buy a book on nutrition and start learning. It's difficult to follow rules when you don't understand why the rules are there. By purchasing a quality nutrition book, you'll begin to understand why you need to eat so frequently, why your body NEEDS fat, why Low-Fat foods can actually MAKE YOU FAT, and why protein is so important in losing weight. I recommend The Metabolism Advantage by Dr. John Berardi. Great book, quite inexpensive and an easy read.

 
5. Look back at last year. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. If you aren't satisfied with the way you looked and felt last year, then you need to know why you looked and felt that way. Look back at pictures of yourself and become determined to make a change. Take a picture on January 1st and then take one on the first day of every month and make sure that you are making progress. If you aren't changing, then something in your life isn't working. Most often its a result of inconsistent eating, poor food choices, and not enough movement. In which case you need to look at Number 4 again.

Look, 2011 doesn't have to be the year your resolutions drop flat. Set goals, write them down and achieve them. After all, we aren't getting any younger!

Another Gourmet Nutrition Recipe

Well as I continue to work my way through Gourmet Nutrition, i've found another great recipe! This time its the Fruity Cashew Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa). 

Pretty good stuff and its fairly simple to make. 

• Add 1/2 cup of quinoa to 1 cup of boiling water or vegetable broth (although I recommend the broth for more flavor). 
• Lower to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. 
• While that is cooking, chop 1/2 an apple, 1/4 an orange (tiny bits) and 1/4 cup of cashews. 
• After the quinoa has cooked for 10 minutes add the chopped fruit and cashews, turn off the heat and let sit for another 10 minutes. 
• Then add 1 tsp of chopped cilantro at the end.

This goes great with chicken skewers (according to the book). I didn't have it with BBQ'd skewers as my 2-1/2 year old daughter Lucy was running around with me and she doesn't do well around BBQs. So I just had the quinoa. Good stuff, it would probably go good with a pineapple burger or some other tropical protein dish.

So to everybody who purchased this awesome cookbook, what's your favorite dish out of the book so far? You can post your reply here, on our Facebook page or head over to the forum bearcave.freeforums.org. 

Have a great Wednesday and enjoy the rest of this Bonus week of workouts!! 

Keep the flame burning...

How do we keep the fat burning flame burning? How do we get it to "burn hotter"?

Although exercise is the tool necessary for building muscle and manipulating fat-burning hormones, we have to keep metabolism up as well as prevent muscle breakdown!

So here is a quick snack to have after your workout that offers protein and some good low glycemic carbohydrates to help push the protein into your muscles. Remember, we want to keep metabolism high with quality foods and be sure to have fruits/vegetables with each meal. 

The recipe is pretty simple. First chop an apple into 1/4 inch cubes. Generally I cut the apple into 1/8 segments, then lay the apple on the side, cut that in half length wise and then chop. 

Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the apples, along with a 1/2 packet of Splenda. Then add 1 cup of yogurt or cottage cheese. 


This comes out to 

• 200 calories 
• 0-g of fat
• 38-g of carbohydrates
• 11-g of protein 
• 5-g of fiber

Now 200 calories is sufficient if you're on a 1500-1600 calorie diet. This works for most women but guys will need a bit more, especially if you lifted fairly heavy. 

Guys can add a serving of vanilla protein powder. This will change the nutritional profile of the meal to the following:

• 322 calories
• 42-g of carbohydrates
• 34-g of protein
• 2.1-g of fat
• 6-g of fiber

Other options include any of the oatmeal recipes from Gourmet Nutrition. 

Some of these recipes include Banana Cream Pie Oatmeal, Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal, Chai Blueberry Oatmeal, or the Apple Walnut Oatmeal. Each of these have between 500-600 calories for a large serving and 250-300 calories for a small serving. Also, these take about 10 minutes to make. Then once you really start to make them, you can begin to streamline the process and it will take even less time.


If you've got the book already, then you know how awesome these recipes are! If you don't, well then I would suggest ordering one ASAP!


Overall, these past 2 days in the Hi-5 FitCamp have been great. The group is really working hard and pushing each other. The newbies are pushing hard and have fit in quite well with the rest of the group. 


Keep up the great work and keep pushing to be your best every day!

A supplement you can lose with...

Supplement makers often pass their product off as "sports nutrition." Quite frequently supplement makers put a lot of money into marketing but very little money into research. 


But there is one supplement that has an abundance of research supporting its benefits. And it's one of the easier supplements to take and in addition to that is found as a very common addition to many recipes in "Gourmet Nutrition." (A little more on that AWESOME cookbook later!)


Fish oil, or more specifically omega-3 fatty acid supplementation, has a huge amount of research on it. Much of the research outlines the benefits of fish oil as an anti-oxidant and a free-radical eater.


But research also supports fat loss as one of the benefits of omega-3 supplementation.


A 2007 article in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that 6 g/day of fish oil and 45 minutes of exercise combined to decrease fat mass and that even taking fish oil alone increased lean muscle mass (important for us all attempting to increase our metabolism!).


Fish oil also serves to prevent muscle breakdown following strenuous exercise. The cardiovascular and blood lipid benefits of fish oil were an increase in HDL (good) cholesterol and a decrease in triacylglycerol as well as improving arterial compliance meaning that arteries and blood vessels were more pliable and provided less resistance to increased blood flow. This equates to lower blood pressure.

The take home here? Get yourself some fish oil and begin a supplement schedule. The study used 6 grams/day for their supplementation. However, up to 12 g/day has been found to be safe. I myself take 9 g/day to preserve muscle and improve cardiovascular health and function.

Be sure that your fish oil is from wild caught, ocean salmon, anchovy or sardine that are antibiotic and hormone free. A safe alternative to fish oil is krill oil. This can be purchased at health food stores or ordered online. When keeping fish oil, i recommend keeping it in the refrigerator so that the oils stay cold and do not denature from being at room temperature.


Keep in mind that and omega-3 supplement is not the end all to your weight loss problem. Instead it is just one piece of the puzzle. Take it in addition to altering your nutrition and eating habits. An easy way to change your dietary habits is to purchase a quality cook book that is geared towards weight loss. 


My recommendation for that is "Gourmet Nutrition." Gourmet Nutrition is the "Cook book for the fit food lover" and it is terrific. I have a copy and 29 other people in our Hi-5 FitCamp have purchased one, including both of our physical therapists! 


Gourmet Nutrition is a cook book that gives you the tools to wage your war on fat! Why would you not want that weapon? Now the list price from Amazon for Gourmet Nutrition is $39.90. I looked into shipping and it was $7 for shipping. So if you buy it from Amazon, you're looking at spending $47 for this book. 

However, we will be making another bulk order within the next week and when purchased as a part of our group, your price drops to $35 shipping included.

If you'd like to order this "secret weapon" in the fat loss battle, send me an email at aaron@pairmarotta.com. I will be placing the order next Wednesday so let me know ASAP!!


Here's to your health!