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By Kevin DiDonato MS, CSCS, CES

Are you fat, tired, and unhappy with your appearance?

When you look in the mirror, do you see a protruding belly and NO SIX pack abs?

Have you tried everything from exercise to eating right – all to no avail?

What may be happening is this: you may be lacking essential nutrients in your diet which may INCREASE your fat burning potential.

But more importantly, if you find yourself overweight, you may have some deadly tissue growing inside your body.

And it may be wrapping itself around your organs.

This may INCREASE your risk for developing chronic diseases.

And those nutrients may be a KEY to fighting this nasty type of fat.

What am I talking about?

The connection between vitamin D, calcium and visceral fat!

Give me a moment and I will open your eyes to the newest research that is sweeping the nation.

And it may help banish your BELLY FLAB forever!

Visceral Fat

There are two types of fat in your body: subcutaneous and visceral.

One fat lies on TOP of your muscles, preventing you from seeing your six pack abs.

The other lies deeper, closer to your vital organs.

Chances are, if you have a protruding belly – then you may have MORE visceral fat.

Visceral fat may be deadly to your body’s fat burning potential, and also to your HEALTH.

In fact, the more visceral fat you have may increase your risk of developing CHRONIC DISEASES.

Visceral fat is commonly referred to as intra-abdominal fat.

This type of fat may be found in between and around your organs – even wrapped around your heart!

And when it is wrapped around your heart, your risk for heart disease may increase.

The problem with visceral fat: it may consist of more than just one type of fat.

In fact, it may be made up of THREE different types!

And they may all reside in a “pocket” in your fat cells.

And these pockets may be FILLED TO THE BRIM with nasty FAT.

You might be asking yourself if there is a way to rid yourself of visceral fat.

I am here to say YES, you may be able to cleanse your body of this disease-causing fat!

But first…

Protein and Weight Loss

Protein may provide the building blocks you need to maintain lean muscle tissue on your body.

And lean muscle may BOOST your metabolism, possibly leading to a tone and lean body.

There are different ways to increase your intake of dietary protein:

• Lean meats

• Nuts

• Protein supplements

However, with a hectic lifestyle you may be TOO busy and have very little time throughout your day to make a chicken breast or some kind of lean meat.

And you may have forgotten to replenish your stack of nuts.

The next best way is to mix your favorite protein powder with a tall glass of low fat milk or coconut milk.

This may give you good fats and an ample protein supply, which may be vital for lean muscle development.

Plus, it may provide more vitamin D and calcium, which may stimulate your body to burn MORE visceral fat.

Confused?

Let me explain…

Vitamin D, Calcium, and Fat Loss

Researchers may have determined that vitamin D and calcium TOGETHER may be a potent one-two punch for weight loss.

And not your regular run-of-the-mill fat loss, but a potent fighter against visceral fat.

These researchers have determined that a large percentage of Americans may be lacking in calcium and vitamin D.

And this may lead to an increase in obesity.

In a similar study, researchers determined that youth who may be lacking in vitamin D, may be one key for the rise in youth obesity.

Now back to the ADULT study!

The researchers recruited 171 participants with an average age of 40.

They were randomly assigned to one of two groups: one with fortified orange juice (both regular and lite), and the other as a placebo.

The results were ASTOUNDING!

Both groups showed insignificant weight loss.

Insignificant weight loss means that it might have been statistically insignificant.

However, the group who had the fortified orange juice – lost 12.7 cm of visceral fat.

The control group lost only 1.3 cm.

Plus, the participants in the “lite” version – lost a dramatic 13.1 cm of visceral fat.

The control group in the lite version lost only 6.4 cm.

Their researchers concluded that vitamin D, in combination with Calcium supplementation, may reduce visceral fat deposits.

Even though this research is new and needs further study on the exact mechanism, the results may prove promising for reducing central obesity.

What Can You Do?

Obesity has grown to epic proportions.

And these numbers may continue to climb in the foreseeable future.

Being overweight or obese may increase your chances of developing chronic diseases.

In fact, the longer you hold onto your FAT may dramatically increase your risk.

There are two types of fat in your body: subcutaneous and visceral.

Visceral fat may be DEADLY to your health.

Including more calcium and vitamin D may increase your body’s ability to BOOST VISCERAL FAT BURNING, thereby banishing it FOREVER.

Including more foods that supply your body with adequate vitamin D and calcium may provide a powerful one-two punch for visceral fat loss.

by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of the best-seller:  The Truth About Six Pack Abs
I was reading a statistic in a nutrition book recently, and this is going to shock you…

Now before I tell you the statistic, let’s keep an important fact in mind… according to well renowned nutrition author Michael Pollan, and his amazing book called In Defense of Food, humankind has historically consumed approximately 80,000 different species of edible plants, animals, and fungi, and approximately 3,000 of those have been widespread foods of the human diet.

Now get ready for a shocking and appalling statistic…

Currently, the average adult eating a typical modern western diet in countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, etc consumes approximately 67% of their total caloric intake from only 3 foods — CORN, SOY, AND WHEAT (and their derivatives).

What would be considered a reasonably healthy amount of corn, soy, and wheat in the human diet?  Based on 10’s of thousands of years of human history, and what the natural diet of our ancestors was (indicating what our digestive systems are still programmed to process), this would probably be in the range of about 1% to 5% MAX of our total calories from corn, soy, and wheat.

Considering that modern humans are eating 67% of their total calories from corn, soy, wheat… you can see why we have massive problems in our health, and our weight!

It’s not a surprise that we have so many intolerances and allergies, specifically to soy and wheat (and gluten intolerance)… the human digestive system was simply never meant to consume these substances in such MASSIVE quantities.

Keep in mind that these massively high levels of corn, soy, and wheat in our modern human diet is a relatively new phenomenon that originated from the economics of the multi-billion dollar corn, soy, and wheat industries.  It really HAS been all about the money… NOT about our health!

By “derivatives” of corn, soy, and wheat, this means the food additives such as:

• high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
• corn oil
• soybean oil (hydrogenated or plain refined)
• soy protein
• refined wheat flour
• hundreds of other food additives such as maltodextrin, corn or wheat starch, soy lecithin, mono and diglycerides, etc, etc

This doesn’t surprise me… consider how much soda or other sweetened drinks (with loads of HFCS) that the average person drinks daily… this is a LOT of calories from just 1 sole corn derivative.  Even marinades, salad dressings, ketchup, breads, and 100’s of other foods contain loads of belly-fattening HFCS!

Also think about how many processed foods we have that are either fried in soybean or corn oil… and even if the foods are not fried in these oils, these oils are additives to almost every processed food… chips, candies, cakes, salad dressings, tomato sauces, burrito wraps, corn chips, breaded chicken, etc, etc.  This is a LOT of calories from these 2 other corn and soy derivatives… both of them EXTREMELY UNHEALTHY!

On top of that, think about how much breads, cereals, pastas, muffins, and other highly processed wheat products that most people consume each day.  Again, this is LOADS of unhealthy, blood-sugar spiking, nutrient-poor calories, that more than half of the population has some degree of intolerance to anyway.

It gets even worse!

Not only are we eating 67% of our total calories from corn, soy, and wheat… but because of the economics involved (specifically with cheap corn and soy) we are also feeding most of our farm animals corn and soy now too… again amplifying the amount of corn and soy that passes through the food chain and (from a biochemical standpoint) ends up in our bodies.

Probably the 2 worst examples of this blatant mismanagement of our food supply is how our factory farmed chickens and cows are fed.

Cows are fed mostly corn in factory feedlot farms, even though their digestive systems are only meant to eat grass and other forage. This makes the cows sick (hmm… E-coli anyone?), alters the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of the fats to unhealthy levels, and also diminishes the healthy CLA fats that would occur naturally in grass-fed beef.  All of these problems go away if our cows are fed what they were made to eat naturally – grass and other green forage!

Our chickens are also fed a diet of mostly corn and soy and crowded in tight pens in horrendous conditions… when the fact is that a chicken was meant to roam around the outdoors eating a mixture of greens, insects, worms, seeds, etc.  When chickens are kept inside in tight quarters and fed only grains, it leads to an unhealthy meat for you to eat, and less healthy eggs compared to free-roaming chickens allowed to eat an outdoors diet.

Our food supply has gotten so screwed up that we’re even feeding our salmon and other farmed fish corn and soy…again because of the economics involved.  How ludicrous is this, considering that fish are meant to eat a diverse diet of smaller fish, worms, bugs, etc.  Again this makes farm raised fish unhealthy in terms of nutrition compared to their wild counterparts.  If you want to see something even scarier about farm-raised fish, watch this quick video about the toxic fish you might be buying.

So even when you’re eating chicken, beef, and fish, you’re still essentially getting even MORE corn and soy into your body (from a biochemical standpoint) …considering that the cows, chickens, and farmed fish ate mostly soy and corn.

So it’s actually WORSE than just 67% isn’t it!

Why is it so unhealthy to consume 2/3rds of our calories from corn, soy, and wheat?

Well, this section could encompass an entire book, so to keep this short, I’ll just throw out a few random reasons…

• Skews the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in our diet to as high as 30:1, when a natural ratio of 1:1 to 2:1 in our ancestral human diet is considered healthy.
• Problems with gluten intolerance (related to heavy wheat consumption that is rampant)
• Problems with weight gain, blood-sugar swings, and reduced insulin sensitivity (and progression of diabetes) due to excessive refined corn and wheat flours, as well as HFCS in our diet
• Soy and corn are the most genetically modified crops (which also allows more pesticides and herbicides to be used, which are usually “xenoestrogens”)
• Many of the pesticide and herbicide residues in these crops are xenoestrogens, which can increase “stubborn” belly fat
• Soy products and derivatives contain a double-whammy of xenoestrogens as well as phytoestrogens… again creating an environment in your body for fat storage, carcinogenic effects, and even “man boobs” for some men in very severe cases
• The feeding of corn and soy to animals reduces the health and nutritional benefits (and micronutrient levels) of those animal products
• and the list could go on and on and on…

So how do you avoid all of this overwhelming amount of corn, soy, and wheat in our food supply, and finally take control of your weight and your health?

1. Don’t purchase processed foods!  It all starts with your grocery cart discipline… choose only 1-ingredient foods such as fruits, veggies, beans, eggs (free roaming), nuts, seeds, and meats from grass-fed or free roaming animals that are raised correctly.  Organic is preferred. Only resort to junk foods or processed foods on a 1-day per week “cheat day” but ONLY when dining out… that way, the processed foods aren’t in your house to tempt you.

2. Get most of your carbs from fruits and veggies instead of grains.

3.  Avoid store bought salad dressings as they almost always contain soybean oil and HFCS (instead, try Dee-vine dressing

4. Make sure that your tomato sauces don’t have HFCS and soybean oils… look for sauces made with olive oil instead.  Remember to avoid unhealthy canola oils too!

5. If you like guacamole (one of the healthiest snacks on the planet!), try veggie sticks with guacamole instead of genetically-modified, oil-soaked corn chips

6. If you like hummus, try veggies sticks with hummus instead of pita chips or other bread.

7. Reduce your cereal, bread, and pasta intake by having these foods only on “cheat days” and stick to more of the 1-ingredient foods I mentioned in #1 above.  Try some of these healthy snacks as good alternatives (yes, I know that one of the 13 snacks on there has sprouted grain, which is fine on occasion).

I could go on with more examples, but I think that’s good for now.

So with all of this said… Is my diet perfect?  Well, no of course not!  Nobody is perfect, and I can give in to temptation on occasion just like anybody else.

However, I’d estimate that my corn/soy/wheat consumption is only about 2-4% of my total caloric intake compared to 67% for the average person.  The way that I achieve this is to simply not bring any corn, soy, or wheat products into my house, so I’m never tempted by it.  Therefore, at least 6 days/week, I eat virtually no corn/soy/wheat, except for the occasional piece of sprouted grain toast a couple times a week (which is a better option than typical “whole grain” bread).

I do, however, give in and sometimes eat breads, pasta, and even corn chips, etc. when I’m dining out.  I see these as my cheat meals and try to do this no more than once per week.  I still completely eliminate sodas and deep fried foods though…they are just TOO evil!

7 Habits That Make You Fat

7. Putting the Serving Dishes on the Table

Researchers at Cornell University found that when people served themselves from the kitchen counter or the stove, they ate up to 35 percent less food than they did when the grub was on the kitchen or dining room table. When there’s distance between us and our food, the scientists theorize, we think harder about whether we’re really hungry for more.

6. Getting Too Little (or Too Much) Sleep

 

A sleep schedule is vital to any weight-loss plan, say Wake Forest University researchers who tracked study participants for 5 years. In the under-40 age group, people who slept 5 hours or less each night gained nearly 2½ times as much abdominal fat as those who logged 6 to 7 hours; also, those who slept 8 hours or longer added nearly twice as much belly fat as the 6- to 7-hour group.

People with sleep deficits tend to eat more (and use less energy) because they’re tired, says study coauthor Kristen Hairston, M.D., while those who sleep longer than 8 hours a night tend to be less active.

5. Not Multitasking While Watching TV

We don’t need to tell you that too much TV has been linked to weight gain. But here’s what you may not realize: You can have your TV and watch it, too. Just do something else at the same time. Washing dishes burns 70 calories every 30 minutes. So does ironing. Here’s another thing to keep in mind: Cutting TV time even a little helps you burn calories, say researchers at the University of Vermont. In their study, overweight participants who cut their viewing time in half (from an average of 5 hours to 2.5) burned an extra 119 calories a day. “Nearly anything you do—even reading—uses more energy than watching TV,” says study author Jennifer J. Otten, Ph.D.

4. Drinking Soda

Researchers say you can measure a person’s risk of obesity by measuring his or her soda intake. Versus people who don’t drink sweetened sodas, here’s what your daily intake means:

½ can = 26 percent increased risk of being overweight or obese

½ to 1 can = 30.4 percent increased risk

1 to 2 cans = 32.8 percent increased risk

More than 2 cans = 47.2 percent increased risk

That’s a pretty remarkable set of stats. You don’t have to guzzle Double Gulps from 7-Eleven to put yourself at risk—you just need to indulge in one or two cans a day. Wow. And because high-fructose corn syrup is so cheap, food marketers keep making serving sizes bigger (even the “small” at most movie theaters is enough to drown a raccoon). That means we’re drinking more than ever and don’t even realize it: In the 1950s, the average person drank 11 gallons of soda a year. By the mid-2000s, we were drinking 46 gallons a year. A Center for Science in the Public Interest report contained this shocking sentence: “Carbonated soft drinks are the single biggest source of calories in the American diet.”

3. Fat Habit #5: Taking Big Bites

Dutch researchers recently found that big bites and fast chewing can lead to overeating. In the study, people who chewed large bites of food for 3 seconds consumed 52 percent more food before feeling full than those who chewed small bites for 9 seconds. The reason: Tasting food for a longer period of time (no matter how much of it you bite off) signals your brain to make you feel full sooner, say the scientists.

2. Not Eating Enough Fat

You don’t have to go whole hog on a low-carb diet to see results. Simply swapping a few hundred calories of carbs for a little fat may help you lose weight and reduce your blood-insulin levels, according to researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. People in their study who consumed just 43 percent of their calories from carbohydrates felt fuller after 4 hours and maintained their blood-sugar levels longer than those who ate 55 percent carbs.

Carbs can cause blood-sugar levels to spike and then crash, leading to hunger and overeating, says study author Barbara Gower, Ph.D. Fat, on the other hand, keeps you satiated longer. Some easy swaps: butter instead of jam on toast; bacon instead of potatoes; low-fat milk instead of a sports drink.

1. Not Getting the Best Guidance!

Signing up for e-mails (or tweets) that contain weight-loss advice can help you drop pounds, a new study reveals. When researchers from Canada sent diet and exercise advice to more than 1,000 working adults weekly, they discovered that the recipients boosted their physical activity and ate smarter. People who didn’t receive the reminders didn’t change. Lucky for you, we publish the best diet and fitness guidance every single day.

 

From “Eat this, Not That”

 

 

By Kevin DiDonato MS, CSCS, CES

Do you suffer from painful, stiff, or swollen joints?

When you get out of bed in the morning, do your knees, shoulders, or wrists prevent you from getting out of bed like a normal person?

Are you one of the millions who suffer from a condition known as osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis is predicted to be the FOURTH leading cause of disability by the year 2030!

If so…

There is a potentially new BREAKTHROUGH on the market.

There are A LOT of claims out there, but this may be the REAL DEAL!

It is not a magic pill, nor is it a revolutionary breakthrough in your personal fight against arthritis.

What could this magic potion be?

Krill oil!

That’s right ladies and gentlemen; Krill oil is loaded with higher levels of DHA and EPA and may help reduce the symptoms of normal, everyday arthritis.

Let me explain a little bit first on what YOU might be experiencing.

Effects Of Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis which might affect your parent, your spouse, your kids, and even YOU.

Your joints have a special buffer system which helps protect them from the constant impact that you face each day.

No I am not talking about the meniscus, which does also help protect against impact forces.  What I am talking about is cartilage.

YOU and everyone else in the world have cartilage, which covers the head of your bones.  And when we run, jump, or plain old walk, the joints start to rub together, causing them to slowly break down.

This rubbing together, in combination with aging, causes the cartilage to breakdown, leaving our bones even more vulnerable.

The breakdown of cartilage increases the underlying bone in the joint which is the main cause of  STIFFNESS and PAINFUL joints, which are common characteristics of arthritis.

Common treatments for arthritis include pain management through the use of anti-inflammatory medications, over the counter pain medication, and eventually KNEE REPLACEMENT!

And aging speeds up the process of damage to your cartilage.

That’s right, there is no known cure for osteoarthritis, not even a way to SLOW IT DOWN!

But breakthrough research is showing omega-3 fatty acids MAY be the secret we have been SEARCHING FOR!

Breakthrough Research On Arthritis

Research done by Knott et al. shows there might be a light at the end of the tunnel when talking about arthritis.
Now for the boring stuff!

They took guinea pigs that were susceptible to arthritis and FED them a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids.  They wanted to determine how a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids compared to the common western diet you normally eat.

A Western diet is linked to INCREASED omega-6 fatty acids, which leads to INCREASED INFLAMMATION!

What the researchers found will leave you in AWE!

They found that the guinea pigs that were susceptible to OA and fed the omega-3 diet REDUCED the disease process.

Most of them were like their NON-AFFECTED counterparts!

The possible explanation:

Altering the diets to more omega-3 enriched diets, resulted in LESS inflammation, which may reduce the OA affected joints.

That’s right, osteoarthritis is an INFLAMMATORY response!

Altering the diet to a more positive omega-3 enriched diet, resulted in a DECREASE in inflammation, which positively affected the joints.

Hold on…there is another reason!

The other interesting find: omega-3 fatty acids MAY increase BONE DENSITY, which may possibly reduce many of the symptoms associated with arthritis.

Have More Omega-3 In Your Diet

Omega-3 fatty acids have been linked to MANY health benefits, ranging from heart disease to fighting depression.

Add another notch into the belt of omega-3 rich Krill oil!

Altering YOUR diet to promote a higher omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, MAY help reduce inflammation and promote healthier bones and joints for years to come!