Lose Belly Fat

April 26, 2008

The key is to understand how your body works and to have a comprehensive plan that you will execute over a reasonable period of time. Translation: this is not a quick fix. But, remember, it is doable! Take the turtle approach, slow and steady, and you’ll get there.

Now it is true that fat cells don’t disappear unless you surgically remove them. But you don’t need to go that route because fat cells can shrink! You may think “Oh, boy, this is going to be difficult.” It will take work, yes, but remember it’s not impossible. There is a solution. You can trim your tummy. This is great news!

I’ve assembled a guide here that includes the best tips from my own personal experience as well as other experts in the fields of diet, exercise, and stress-management.

The tips below work best when combined as an overall program. The three areas we’ll cover are diet, exercise, and anti-stress strategies. Get committed, create your personal plan, and you will lose your belly fat!

Diet Tips for Losing Belly Fat

If you want a sleeker tummy, then you’ll want to lose weight overall and more specifically you’ll want to lose fat. Spot reductions are not feasible. However if you carry most of the weight in your mid-section then the good news is that’s where you will see the results first. Here are the tips for healthy dieting:

1. Weight Loss Plan

Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate and figure out how many calories your body burns daily just sitting on a couch.
Then add in the calories you burn with exercise and daily activity.
Calculate your weight loss goal, time frame, and amount of calories you need to cut out daily to reach your goal.

2. What to Eat.

Balanced Diet where your calorie breakdown follows these percentages approximately:
35% lean protein (vegetarian is healthiest - beans, nuts, tofu, seitan, lots of green veggies)
35% high fiber carbohydrates (shoot for 25-30g fiber per day)
30% healthy fats (olive oil, flaxseed oil - bear in mind you can’t cook with flaxseed oil, add it to salads or already steamed vegetables for flavor and other important nutrients)

Eat lots of vegetable and fruits that have a low glycemic index. Here is a list of foods and their glycemix index. To reduce fat, steam your vegetables or stir fry in broth.
Drink Your Fruits/Veggies! This is an easy way to eat healthy. Blend up smoothies, vegetable drinks, or quick puree soups. I can’t recommend anything more highly than a VitaMix blender. It’s a little pricey, but they last a lifetime and they make eating healthy a breeze. I love mine! Start Burning Your Belly Fat Now!
Take the first step to learn why you should start burning belly fat

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Fat & Obesity

April 17, 2008

by L. Lee Coyne, Ph.D.
GOOD FAT / BAD FAT?

North Americans eat less fat than ever recorded in history and yet we have an obesity epidemic. According to the World Health Organization, obesity is doubling every 5 years and at the current rate everybody in North America will be obese by the year 2230.

Fat is a very functional source of energy. It is stored as adipose tissue in times of plenty and metabolized when we need the calories. Insulin is the hormone, known as the storage hormone derived from the “thrifty gene”, responsible for most of this storage. It is responsible for transporting surplus carbohydrates and some proteins out of the blood and into the cells where it is stored as glycogen or fat.

It is true that fat goes from your lips to your hips and all over the body very easily. However most do not understand that if your insulin is under control (not elevated), fat is the energy source of choice by a resting or light exercising body. Even when you exercise at 65% of your maximal capacity, 50% of your energy will come from fat, unless you have very high insulin from eating too many sugars.

Good Fats
Misconception: “all fats are bad!!
This is not true. There are some fats that you must eat - called “Essential Fatty Acids” or EFA’s - so you can metabolize other fats and produce hormones and immune cells. That is why the American Heart Association’s position is that any diet with less than 30% fat is “unproven and potentially dangerous”.

We get good fats, sometimes referred to as omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids from raw nut and seeds, cold pressed oils like flax seed, walnut, pumpkin seed and soybean oils or lecithin (usually derived from the soybean) and cold water fish like salmon and sardines. These are the polyunsaturated fats which can go rancid very quickly and require refrigeration and air tight storage.

Many dietary interferences like low zinc, high cholesterol, alcohol, cheap oils, saturated fats, viral infections, and antibiotics, interfere with the activation of EFA’s. Many have to use the “activated” versions known as GLA (gamma linolenic acid, an omega 6 fatty acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid - an omega 3 fatty acid) for optimal health. Olive and sesame oils are considered high in Mono-unsaturated fats and are considered neutral with some benefits. (Canola oil would require another column to discuss).

Bad Fats
An excessive intake of saturated fats from animal sources and from certain tropical oils have been implicated as contributors to heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer and inflammatory diseases.

Unfortunately most the these implications are based on large cross sectional - after the fact - correlation studies and not intervention clinical studies. There is very little discussion about the how and why this occurs. There is some evidence that if saturated fat intake is balanced with EFA’s, many of the risk factors like high cholesterol and triglycerides are reduced.

Current advice would suggest you moderate (not eliminate) saturated fat intake but don’t get paranoid about it. There are differences in how the body handle certain saturated fats. “Short Chain and Medium Chain” triglycerides like those found in butter can be easily metabolized for energy - particularly if you control your insulin levels through moderate carbohydrate intake. Many saturated fats also carry and store other nutrients like Vitamins A, E & K plus CLA (conjugated linoleic acid which has a host of benefits). So do not treat Saturated fat like it is poison.

Ugly Fats
A group of polyunsaturated fats, exposed to heat, light, oxygen and hydrogen (hydrogenated) become altered in processing and storage. When altered they are know as Trans Fatty Acids.

This group is now considered toxic and is implicated in the causes of cancer, some heart disease and immune system challenges. These nasty fats, found in deep fried fast food, most margarines, anything rancid, processed or packaged can shorten your life. My standard recommendations are to never eat cheap oils, deep fried grease and margarine.

Recommendations
Your diet should be 30% fat divided equally between EFA’s, mono-unsaturated and saturated fats. Avoid Trans Fatty Acids like you would an infectious disease.
Recommend Top Secret Fat Loss Secret

Emotional Eating

by Amy Parker, RD

Emotional Eating - What are you really hungry for?
Assess the reasons you are eating, most people are feeding more than hunger. If you find yourself at the fridge when you are mad, glad, stressed or sad, you are not eating for energy. At these times take a deep breath, have a glass of water and think about what you really need. If you are stressed, physical activity may take the edge off. If you are sad, call a friend and talk about it. So many times we turn to food when the answer is elsewhere.

Join the Breakfast Club
Breakfast will always be the most important meal of the day. After depriving your body all night of food, the morning meal kicks off the day the right way. Your body needs food to get your metabolism running. Make sure to include whole grain carbohydrates, protein and a piece of fruit.

A Clean Plate is not Necessary to Leave the Table
As a child many people are raised to clean their plate. As the size of plates at restaurants and at home increase to sometimes massive proportions this old adage becomes dangerous. By no means should you be wasteful with food but realize that you can leave the table without a clean plate. Leftovers make a great lunch the next day or share a large portion. At home one easy way to downsize is by using smaller plates. Appropriate sized portions may get lost on a dinner plate but they will look heaping on a smaller sized plate.

No Snacking Before Bed
As you rest overnight all your bodies functions slow down. This means you do not digest as quickly as during the day and you do not need food to give you energy. It is recommended to stop eating 2-3 hours before bed time. If you tend to have a late dinner and go to bed early, this means no snacking after dinner. Of course it is not realistic to refrain from eating late at night every night. If you must eat choose something healthy, a piece of fruit or a glass of milk.

Don’t Let the Little Habits Become Big
Stop doing the things that have got you this far. For instance, having one little donut won’t make much difference, but allowing it to become two, three or back to having one everyday will set you back. Remember the 80/20 rule; what you do 80% of the time is most important. Allow yourself some flexibility 20% of the time but save that “cheating” for special occasions.

Successful lifestyle change is like climbing stairs. Success is much more likely when we take it one step at a time!

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