Mike Geary who is a Certified Nutrition Specialist, usually shock people with this fact... it's true that there is a type of healthy natural trans fat that actually helps you to burn off abdominal fat.
Sounds far fetched, but it's true.
First of all, as I'm sure you've heard a million times by now, artificial trans fats in our food supply from hydrogenated oils are one of the most unhealthy foods (if you can actually call it suitable to eat) you can put in your body. Artificial trans fats cause everything from obesity to various cancers to heart disease, and more. They are pure evil, and everyone knows by now that this is a fact.
Stay away from artificial trans fats from hydrogenated oils at all costs!
However, what most people don't know is that there is a specific type of natural trans fat (yes, it occurs naturally) that can actually stimulate fat loss and lean muscle building.
This specific type of natural trans fat actually occurs in the meat and milk from ruminant animals such as cattle, goats, sheep, venison, bison, kangaroo, etc. It is called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and is not only known to help prevent cancer, but is also a potent fat burner.
CLA is highest when these animals are grass-fed instead of grain-fed.
Now before you think that you can just buy the CLA supplements that you'll see most supplement stores selling...
WARNING: Do not buy CLA supplements! The only form of healthy CLA is from grass-fed ruminant animals such as grass-fed beef, bison, lamb, etc. The CLA that's found in CLA pills is an artificially created form that is a different isomer than the natural CLA isomer found in grass-fed meat or dairy. The CLA isomer in the pills is NOT a healthy form, and will not benefit you.
Only the CLA that you get naturally from grass-fed ruminant meats actually has health benefits and can help increase fat burning (particularly from stomach fat) and building lean muscle, which helps increase your metabolism.
While most trans fats (the artificial ones) will just make you unhealthy and fat, now you know that there actually is such a thing as a healthy natural trans fat that makes you burn fat instead! If you liked this unique tip to burn belly fat with grass fed meats, I have tons more Fat Burning Tips here to give you a leaner, healthier body.
3 Veggies That Help to Burn Stomach Fat
Specific vegetables that actually help to stimulate the burning of stomach fat? Sounds crazy right?
Well, check this out below and you'll see why it's not so far fetched.
First, one fact that you may have not realized is that there are certain chemicals in our food supply and in our environment, such as pesticides, herbicides, and petrochemicals that have an estrogenic effect inside our bodies. This problem can increase belly fat on both men and women, so pay attention.
These are called xenoestrogens, and exposure to them from these chemicals in our food supply, water supply, and the environment is one factor that can actually stimulate your body to hold onto belly fat. The problem is that in today's world, even if you eat organic and live in a relatively low-pollution area, it is almost impossible to not get at least some degree of daily exposure to xenoestrogens. They are even in household cleaners and cosmetics!
So how can you fight against these xenoestrogens so that they are not forcing your body to hold onto stomach fat?
Well, that's where these specific types of vegetables that I'm going to show you can help.
There are many classes of vegetables, teas, spices, etc that have compounds which can help to fight against the effects of xenoestrogens. However, one of the most powerful classes are cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, etc.
These types of cruciferous vegetables contain very unique compounds (phytonutrients) such as indole-3-carbinol (I3C) that can help to combat the effects of xenoestrogens in your body, and therefore, can help you to burn abdominal fat more effectively.
As if you needed another excuse to eat more broccoli and cauliflower... Now, you can add losing stomach fat to the list! Now here's the cool thing...
On this link, I'm going to show you my program that explains specific teas, spices, and other sources of these unique compounds that help to fight against xenoestrogens and help you to Burn Belly Fat faster and more effectively.
Enjoy, and good luck with your fitness goals!
The 2 Worst Foods That Make You Fat - One May Shock You
The 2 fattening foods that I'm going to talk about in this article may actually shock you... most people falsely believe these 2 foods are "healthy". In all of my years working as a Certified Nutrition Specialist, this usually surprises people when I mention they should consider eliminating these foods from their diet.
Everybody these days knows how bad trans fats and high fructose corn syrup are for you, so I figured I'd spare you yet another lecture on those... Instead, read on to see a couple foods that may shock you that they may be packing on the blubber.
The first type of food that is often falsely believed to be healthy is wheat products... this includes most breads, cereals, bagels, muffins, pasta, crackers, and so on. And yes, I am including "whole wheat" in the category of this fattening food.
First of all, a large percentage of the population has some degree of intolerance to the gluten in wheat and some other grains. Full blown celiacs are the most sensitive to it, but what most people don't realize is that the majority of the population was never meant to eat large quantities of wheat. The human digestive system has never adapted to large amounts of wheat in the diet.
The introduction of wheat into the human diet has only been in the last couple thousand years, and it has NEVER been in such large quantities in the human diet until the last 80-100 years. This is a small time frame compared to the traditional diet that the human digestive system developed over several hundred thousand years eating a hunter-gatherer diet of meats, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.
From my experience with many of my clients, when they heed my advice and eliminate wheat from their diet for 2-3 weeks to see if they start to lose weight and feel better, this almost always makes a HUGE difference. Many times, they not only start losing body fat much faster, but they also finally get rid of headaches and indigestion that has plagued them for years. Sometimes even skin problems go away when eliminating wheat from the diet.
The 2nd example of the worst fattening foods that shocks many people because it is thought to be "healthy" is -- fruit juice.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not an anti-carb advocate per se... I actually think most fruits are VERY healthy for us. However, we were NOT meant to separate the juice from the rest of the fruit and only drink the high calorie sugary mixture and leave behind the fiber and other beneficial components of the fruit.
When you only drink the juice of fruits (apple juice and orange juice being 2 of the worst culprits in the western diet), you are not getting the appetite satisfying effect of the fiber in the fruit, and you're left craving more carbs. Also, the fiber in whole fruit helps to slow the blood sugar response when eating whole fruit compared to fruit juice.
Bottom line... overconsuming fruit juices makes you fat. On the other hand, eating whole fruits including all of the fiber helps you maintain a healthy balanced diet and high nutrient density (as long as the rest of your diet is whole unprocessed foods as well).
If you want the REAL truth on eating strategically for permanent fat loss, read these 5 tips for Losing Body Fat the smart and effective way.
Enjoy, and good luck with your nutrition endeavors!
As a Certified Nutrition Specialist, Mike Geary likes to find ways to prepare delicious foods that most people can't believe are actually healthy for you. If you have a sweet tooth like me, I'm sure you've tried to find ways to still enjoy sweet treats, but also try to make them healthier than typical junk food desserts.
The major problem with most so-called "healthy" desserts is that most companies attempt to make them healthier by reducing the fat content and thereby increasing the sugar content or artificial sweeteners... there's nothing healthy about either of those!
Below is his famous healthy chocolate-peanut-butter fudge recipe that takes only 5 minutes to make and is really simple. The great thing is that I use no added sugars, no artificial sweeteners, and all healthy fat sources. You'll see why below.
His healthy chocolate-peanut-butter fudge recipe (peanut butter can be omitted if you prefer plain chocolate):
Extra dark chocolate bar (3-4 oz bar works well -- look for at least 70% cocoa content, between 70-85% -- this minimizes the sugar content)
4 or 5 Tbsp of your favorite organic nut butter (almond butter, cashew butter, peanut butter all work well)
2/3 to 3/4 cup of organic coconut milk (great source of healthy saturated fats from medium chain triglycerides - MCTs)
2 tbsp oat bran (more healthy fiber including soluble fiber)
1/2 cup raw pecans, almonds, or walnuts (yes, more healthy fats, antioxidants, and tons of vitamins/minerals)
1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins (optional based on your tastes)
1 tsp vanilla extract
a little stevia to lightly sweeten (stevia is a natural non-caloric sweetener as opposed to harmful artificial sweeteners)
Start with the coconut milk, nut butter, and chocolate bar in a medium saucepan and put it on the lowest heat possible. Continuously stir as the chocolate, coconut milk, and nut butter melts together. Once these melt together add in all of the other ingredients and stir together very well.
Once everything is mixed well together, spread the mixture onto some waxed paper laid out in a baking dish and throw it in the fridge to solidify.
Now you have some of the healthiest chocolate fudge ever known to man!
Keep in mind that you still need to keep your serving portions small because this is still a calorie-dense snack even though it is super-healthy. The good news is that it is lower in sugar and calories than typical fudge and has loads more nutrition than any typical fudge.
Enjoy! Tell your friends that Trainer Mike Geary gave you this recipe.
Check out these 5 tips to Get a Flat Stomach faster with no bogus diet pills or useless "abdominizer" gadgets.
Good luck with your fitness goals!
3 Important Tips to Build Muscle Faster - Get Lean and Ripped
Let's face it... building muscle is not the easiest thing to accomplish even despite regular hard workout schedules and trying every type of workout and supplement.
I struggled for years to gain any significant muscle mass, but over the years in my personal training business and with my own experimentation have found some important things that have helped make significant muscle gains possible even for hardgainers.
So, I'm going to give 3 important tips here so you can start building lean muscle mass faster and easier.
1. Make sure that 95% of the exercises you perform regularly in the gym are big multi-joint compound exercises. It doesn't matter if your goal is fat loss or building muscle... big multi-joint exercises should comprise 95% of the exercises you do in your workouts if you want to get lean, ripped, and powerful.
It's easiest to think of it in terms of the major movement patterns such as these (focus 95% of your workouts on these):
upper body horizontal press (bench press, pushups, dips),
upper body horizontal rows (1-arm dumbbell rows, seated cable rows, bent over barbell rows),
upper body vertical pull (lat pulldowns, pullups, chinups),
upper body vertical press (overhead dumbbell and barbell presses, barbell or kettlebell clean & presses)
lower body squatting movements (front squats, back squats, overhead squats, bodyweight squats, etc)
lower body deadlifting movements (regular deadlifts, sumo deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts)
lower body single leg movements (lunges, step-ups, jump lunges, etc)
abdominal and core exercises (these are important, but still are 2nd priority after all of the major upper body and lower body multi-joint movements... your abs and core will be worked from most major multi-joint exercises anyway)
The other 5% of your exercises can focus on single joint exercises (isolation exercises) such as bicep curls, tricep presses, calf presses, shoulder shrugs, shoulder lateral raises, pec flyes, etc, etc. However, these exercises are only accessory exercises to do after the main focus has been the multi-joint drills.
2. Train hard and intensely 3-4 days/week for 45-60 minutes per weight training workout. Keep your workouts to no longer than 60 minutes as training too much beyond this point can trigger excess catabolism. You want to stay anabolic, but you still need to train your body hard and intensely enough to trigger muscle growth.
Try a super-set style of workout program to maximize the intensity that you can train. My favorite combinations are opposing upper and lower body movement patterns that don't interfere with each other, such as squats coupled with pullups as a superset, or bench press coupled with deadlifts as a superset.
Don't underestimate the effectiveness of these types of upper/lower body supersets done with heavy weights and a high intensity. The first time in my life that I experienced significant muscle mass gains were when I started doing these types of workout combos regularly (although still mixing up my training variables).
These are mainstays of almost any effective workout program -- caloric intake can simply be adjusted whether your goal is fat burning or gaining muscle mass.
3. Eat clean with quality whole foods... REAL foods instead of highly processed over-hyped supplement powders and bars.
The quality of protein (and additional nutrition from vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants) are best assimilated by the body from real whole food such as eggs, meats, dairy (preferably raw), fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, etc. instead of from processed protein powders, chemical-laden bars, and meal replacements.
Forget about the hyped up workouts in the muscle mags that only work for pro bodybuilders or people on steroids. Forget about the over-hyped supplement "stacks" that pay the bills for almost every muscle mag... Instead, make these tips in this article part of your lifestyle, and you'll see muscle gains and a leaner, ripped body like you've never seen before!
If you want to get a lean chiseled body, check out these tips to Get Ripped Abs the right way.
Enjoy, and good luck!
The Top 3 Fat Burning Foods - Surprising Hidden Gems
Mike Geary who is a professional Nutrition Specialist stated that in all his years, he has noticed that most people are shocked to hear some of my picks for the top fat burning foods that are best for weight loss and good health.
I won't bore you with all of the typical "healthy foods" that you hear about all of the time such as fruits and veggies... everybody knows those. Instead, I'm going to show you some shockers that most people don't realize are super healthy foods for fat loss.
1. Egg Yolks - yes, that's right... full fatty egg yolks with all of their fat and cholesterol. By the way, you've been mislead about the cholesterol in egg yolks -- it actually raises your GOOD cholesterol and helps balance proper ratios, so don't be afraid of the fat and cholesterol in these little nutrition power packed gems. And if you choose cage-free eggs from free roaming hens, the omega-3 content is higher with a more balanced fat profile.
Egg yolks are also one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet in terms of vitamins, minerals, and trace nutrients. Trying to list all of the vital nutrients in egg yolks would take up an entire page so I won't even try that here. Just realize that egg yolks should NOT be avoided in favor of egg whites. Even the protein is more bioavailable when you include the yolks!
So don't be afraid to eat those delicious and healthy eggs and start burning belly fat faster.
2. Avocados - This is yet another "fatty food" that is also one of the best fat burning foods! Not only that, but avocados make just about everything creamier and more delicious. They are also power-packed with healthy fats, fiber, and antioxidants, as well as vitamins and minerals. The healthy fat in avocados also helps control appetite and fat burning hormones in your body.
Try adding avocado slices or guacamole to everything from morning eggs, salads, sandwiches, and burgers, and starting burning body fat faster! I would definitely consider avocados one of the best healthy super foods.
3. Grass-fed beef - While most beef you see at the grocery store is grain fed beef from cattle that are in poor health and has lower nutrition values and omega-6 to omega-3 fat ratios that are far out of whack, there is a better option... and that is Grass-Fed Beef!
Grass-fed beef is known to have much higher levels of healthy omega-3 fatty acids and lower omega-6 fats (which most people get too much of anyway). Grass-fed beef also contains higher levels of many vitamins and minerals, as well as containing high levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is a healthy fat that is known to help muscle building and fat burning.
So don't be afraid to live it up a little and eat more beef, as long as you choose healthy grass-fed beef instead of grain fed beef. Enjoy and start burning more body fat with these so called "fatty" foods!
If you want to lose body fat faster, check out these 5 tips to Burn Stomach Fat the smart and effective way. Enjoy, and good luck with your fitness endeavors!
5 Tricks to Eat Healthier at Restaurants
Dining out is a big part of most people's lives. Maybe you have to eat out frequently because you entertain clients at restaurants. Perhaps you don't even like eating out. Regardless, if you want to keep a nice fit body, restaurant meals will give you a huge obstacle to overcome. In fact, eating out at restaurants is one of the biggest reasons why so many people fatten up while traveling.
Below, I'll give you a few very simple tricks you can use to eat healthier and stay lean even while dining out at restaurants...
The 3 most important things to avoid that are everywhere at restaurants are:
deep fried foods (anything battered that got a scorching bath of trans fats)
refined starchy foods
any sodas, juices, or other sugary foods (except whole fruits, which are great)
If you can skip these major culprits, this eliminates the major food sources that do the worst damage in our food supply - trans fats, refined vegetable oils, refined starchy carbohydrates, and processed sugars.
This means you should try to skip the table bread, skip the french fries that come with every single sandwich on every menu known to man, and reduce all of the heaping portions of pasta and rice that are often loaded on the plates as well.
Instead, try to order just meat with side vegetables, and a salad, asking for the vegetables or salad as a substitute for the typical french fries, pasta, or rice, that most restaurant meals usually come with.
Almost every restaurant I have ever been to will always allow me to substitute vegetables or a side salad for the french fries or chips that almost always come with burgers or sandwiches.
On a side note, it always amazes me how many people scrutinize me because I substitute veggies for fries by telling me that I am "not living" because I refuse to eat french fries... are you kidding me! If that's your idea of "living it up", you need to get some better hobbies!
Ironically, these are also the first people to complain that they are overweight and have "tried everything", yet can not lose weight, no matter what. I am not sure why so many people think that eating french fries equals "living it up"... hey, I am all for moderation with many things, but if there are 2 things that should be totally removed from everyone's diet because these foods are simply that dangerous... it is sodas and fries!
Take a look at the typical difference this simple substitution makes between choosing smart and doing what most people do...
Most people will eat a meal out such as this:
Burger or sandwich or burger
chips or fries
soda or other sweetened drink (and no, diet sodas are NOT healthy!)
A MUCH smarter alternative if you care about your body and health is this simple change:
Burger or Sandwich
Salad or veggies
unsweetened iced tea or water (no diet drinks -- unless you like to drink poison!)
These 2 simple substitutions save at least 400 - 900 calories every time you dine out (depending on drink refills and fries portion sizes)... AND you are cutting out the most harmful foods to your body as well by avoiding the evil trans fats and high fructose corn syrup from the fries and soft drinks.
Another side note: a little-known way to eat full portions of pasta, rice, and breads and actually get away with it without packing on the body fat is to make sure to schedule a high intensity full body resistance training workout (can be free weights or body weight training) before your scheduled meal time.
Sometimes it may be hard to fit the workout into your schedule right before the meal, but if you can, the meal can be your "post-workout meal". After a high intensity resistance training workout, your body can handle a higher amount of carbs than normal to help replenish the muscle glycogen depletion you had during the intense workout.
A typical moderate intensity cardio workout will NOT cut it for this... it must be high intensity resistance training workout to deplete enough muscle glycogen to handle restaurant portions of carbs.
I hope these dining tips help you choose smarter and healthier for a leaner body next time you eat out.