Choosing an Exercise Program

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Q. Glen, I am currently 230 pounds and have decided to lose some weight. Is it better for me to walk or run for exercise?


A. If you haven't been exercising regularly until now, I would walk first. Pick a circular route where you can easily increase the mileage and try to walk one to two miles per day. A pedometer is a good way to track your mileage, or your steps. Your ultimate goal may be to walk 10,000 steps per day, which is roughly four miles.

As you lose weight you will probably find it easier to start jogging. To ease yourself into it, start by picking an interval (say, between stop signs) and alternate jogging and walking. Continue in this manner for the entire exercise session. Another way to introduce jogging to your routine is to walk one minute and then jog two minutes or vice versa. In the end, after you develop some cardiovascular fitness, you can jog the entire session.

An exercise session should last between 30 and 60 minutes. Eventually, you should add resistance-exercise training to your regimen. Try using weights at the gym two days a week, and then jog at least three days per week. Resistance-exercise training is best learned from a trainer at a gym. Good luck — exercise can help you burn off about 2,500 calories a week!

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program. Please consult your physician !

My mission is to provide you with "Trusted Advice for a Healthier Life."

Yours in good health

Any questions?

Ask Glen!

Diet-Friendly Dining Techniques

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Q. Glen, Do you have any eating techniques?

A. Eliminate any distractions while you're eating. Turn off the radio. Switch off the television. When you sit down at the table, eating should be your main focus. When other things are going on around you, you're less likely to concentrate on what you're eating and how much you're eating. This can cause you to overindulge. By focusing on the task at hand, you'll be more likely to stick to the proper portion sizes

Glen's Bottom Line: Concentrate...!

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program. Please consult your physician !

My mission is to provide you with "Trusted Advice for a Healthier Life."

Yours in good health

Any questions ?
Ask Glen!

What’s Better: Diet, Exercise or Both?

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Q. Glen whats better, Exercise , Diet or both?

A. It’s a trick question: You shouldn’t ever choose between the two. Both activities are key components of weight loss and increasing fitness and should be used in combination to reach your goals. Dieting can make it difficult to have the energy to exercise, so make sure you’re eating enough to meet your fitness needs even if you’re trying to cut calories to lose weight. A 2006 study from the Journal of Applied Physiology showed that exercising ensures that the weight you lose is fat, not muscle. Dieting alone, especially if you severely restrict your caloric intake, will pull energy from your muscles, which is never a good idea. Exercising alone increases your appetite, prompting you to eat more food to make up for the extra calories you burned. So don’t do it alone. Diet right by eating a lot of high-fiber foods to fill you up and give you the nutrients you need and leave the calories you don’t need behind. Exercise daily and always be sure to follow good post-exercise eating habits (like eating a carb-rich snack right away after exercising to promote muscle recovery). This balanced combination of diet and exercise will give you the two-pronged approach you need to overcome the challenge of weight loss.

Please consult your physician before starting any diet or exercise program

Wishing You Great Health,

Glen Edward Mitchell

Got a question? Ask Glen

Take It One Day At A Time

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Q. Glen, I having a bit of a problem focusing on my long range weight lose and diet goals, any suggestions?

A.With an estimated one in three people in the U.S. battling the bulge, it's obvious that many people have a substantial amount of weight to lose. Healthy weight loss happens at a rate of one to two pounds a week. Therefore, it can feel like the dieting process is going to last forever. Instead of focusing on the end of your journey, take it one day at a time. Don't think about next month or even next week. Instead, concentrate on the present and focus on healthy eating and exercise for today. Worry about tomorrow...tomorrow.

Glen's Bottom Line! Tommorrow will be a better you, a better me! One day at a time.

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program.

Please consult your physician !

My mission is to provide you with "Trusted Advice for a Healthier Life."

Yours in good health

Any Questions?

Ask Glen!

Less smoking, drinking delays Alzheimer's

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Q. Glen, Does Drinking or Smoking have any effect on Alzheimer's?


A. Heavy drinkers and heavy smokers develop Alzheimer's disease earlier than those with Alzheimer's who don't drink or smoke heavily!


U.S. study:

The study looked at 938 people age 60 and older who were diagnosed with possible or probable Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Ranjan Duara and colleagues of Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami said 7 percent of the subject had a history of heavy drinking -- defined as more than two drinks per day, 20 percent had a history of heavy smoking -- defined as smoking one pack of cigarettes or more per day, while 27 percent had the APOE gene variant, which increases Alzheimer's disease risk.

The study found heavy drinkers developed Alzheimer's 4.8 years earlier and heavy smokers developed the disease 2.3 years sooner than those not heavy smokers. People with the APOE gene developed the disease three years sooner than those without the gene variant. However, those with all three risk factors developed Alzheimer's 8.5 years earlier than those with none of the risk factors.

"It has been projected that a delay in the onset of the disease by five years would lead to a nearly 50-percent reduction in the total number of Alzheimer's cases," Duara told the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting in Chicago.

Reference:

Dr. Ranjan Duara, Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami.



Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program. Please consult your physician !


My mission is to provide you with "Trusted Advice for a Healthier Life."


Yours in good health

Any questions?

Ask Glen!

How the salad bar will wreck your diet

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Q. Glen, I am eating at the salad bar alot but I keep gaining weight what am I doing wrong?

A. Avoid the salad bar. Opting for the salad bar may sound like a healthy choice. However, it can be a major diet pitfall for people watching their waistline. The salad bar comes complete with high-fat dressings, mayonnaise-based pasta salads, cottage cheese, nuts, seeds, croutons and other calorie-rich foods that can quickly steer you off plan. Avoid this fat trap by opting for plenty of vegetables, oil and vinegar, fresh fruit (not drenched in syrup) and other diet-smart choices.

Glen's Bottom Line: When you watch what you eat...Watch what you eat!

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program. Please consult your physician !

My mission is to provide you with "Trusted Advice for a Healthier Life."

Yours in good health

Any questions ?
Ask Glen!

The Ultimate Diet Drink

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Q. Glen, what's the best diet drink?

A.Drink water. It's the ultimate diet drink. There's no denying the benefits of H20. Drink at least 6 to 8 glasses or 96 ounces of water a day. Water aids in digestion, assists in the excretion of waste, improves the health of skin, keeps the body hydrated and acts as an appetite suppressant. Oftentimes, people think they're hungry when in reality they're thirsty; the body has a difficult time differentiating between the two. Water is also a refreshing, calorie-free drink.


Glen's Bottom Line: Drink water!

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program. Please consult your physician !


My mission is to provide you with "Trusted Advice for a Healthier Life."
Yours in good health

Any questions ?
Ask Glen!

Soy Can Save Your Life

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Q. Glen. Anything good about Soy?

A. Reap the benefits of soy. Soy beans contain protein and are chock full of calcium, iron, zinc, fiber, omega 3 fatty acids and other health-enhancing components. In addition to improving heart health, preventing cancer and strengthening bones, soy also lowers cholesterol. Soy milk, soybeans, textured soy protein and tofu are all great sources of this food.

Glen's Bottom Line: Eat Soy! I do.

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program.

Please consult your physician !!

My mission is to provide you with "Trusted Advice for a Healthier Life."

Yours in good health

Any Questions?

Ask Glen!

Eat To Live, Don't Live To Eat......

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Q. Glen, I love to eat! All foods all the time..What do you say about that?

A. You must be one of those people who are consumed by what you consume? Are you thinking about your next meal before you've even finished the food on your plate? There are those people who live to eat. If so, you can benefit by changing the way you look at food. Instead of looking at eating as a source of pleasure, consider food a source of fuel that keeps your body operating in optimum condition

Glen's Bottom Line: Every car needs gas! But do not over fill your tank!

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program.

Please consult your physician !

My mission is to provide you with "Trusted Advice for a Healthier Life."

Yours in good health.

Any Questions?Ask Glen!

About my Topics and Blog

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Q. Glen, Where do your topics and answers come from?


A. 1 Very good question! All my Topics come from Questions emailed to me or by Readers, Family, Friends and Associates with Situations or Problems directly related with the specific subject matter.

A. 2 All answers come from my many hours of research and reading and based on information gathered from Family Members, Personal Friends, Associates as well as other various sources like Wes Law ,Nexus / Lexus ,WebMD, The Mayo Clinic, AMA,ADA, Harvard Medical School, German Based Psychology Women Fitness , Menshealth, Womenshealth, Pervention, Cooking for Health Magazines Certified ACE Trainers ( My self included ) ACSM / NASM Certified Trainer All Articles about Women are written by women. ( Concerning relationships and sex) Articles Written about men are written by men!( Concerning relationships and sex) There are exceptions based on the opposite sexes point of view ( Which opinions can vary and always do! ) Most of my articles are based on medical fact and practices. Article on women / men behavior are based on psychological research, surveys, and opinions of said writers. I hope this will enlighten all readers! I still want all comments on future topics and answers positive or negative they help develop better questions and answers we all all on a quest for the truth and information on health, exercise, diet and sex None of these topics or answers should be taken personal they are general!

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program.Please consult your physician !

Wishing You Great Health!

Glen Edward Mitchell

Any questions? Ask Glen

10 Ways to Kick Sugar

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Q. Glen, What's the very first thing that I should do to kick or cut back on sugar or refined carbs?


A.That is one of the very first questions that most people have when they want to stomp out their pesky sugar habit.

After conquering my own horrible habit in 1998, inspiring thousands of "sugar sufferers" as well as studying and receiving input from many medical and self-actualization experts, I've found that the most important first step is to see yourself free, feel your sugar-free success and happily revel in it.

Here are 10 easy, effective tips and tactics to help you to begin to break free.

1. First off, congratulate yourself that you've even asked this question. Yes, really pat yourself on the back. You see, many sugar addicts, I've found, beat up on themselves for having eaten so many high-calorie, nutrient-poor sweets over the years. Instead, they should be excited, much like a runner who made it to the starting gate. So, begin to lavish some praise and much-needed applause on yourself, whether it's in a letter or poem to yourself or in a heart-to-heart conversation with a really good friend or loved one, who will support you in your endeavor.

2. Begin your day -- and go through your day -- with the firm belief in your heart that you can finally lick this annoying, if not horrifying, unhealthy sugar habit. Know without a doubt in the depth of your being that you will accomplish this.

3. Create a sugar-free affirmation or mantra that rings true for you. You could go for something simple like: "I am free of this sugar habit." Perhaps you'd like to try: "I succeeded! I am free of sugar cravings." Or you might like to try: "I only eat healthy, nourishing foods." And if you want to peel off some pounds, you may wish to say something like: "I, [your name], choose only nourishing foods that will help me reach my ideal weight."

4. State your sugar-free mantra out loud at least 20 times in the morning, 20 times midday and 20 times in the evening. Repeat them either inwardly (if people are around) or out loud (if you're alone) whenever sweets or simple carbs "call out" to you.

5. Write your mantra at least 20 times a day in a notebook. As you take pen to paper, feel yourself actually licking this pesky habit.

6. Play and replay "a movie in your mind" where you're the heroine or hero who is easily, gracefully and happily turning away from sugar and toward healthier foods or activities. You can find literature galore that attests to the power and effectiveness of visualization.

7. Now select one, two or even three people who have wildly succeeded at something and study their amazing stories. Anytime you're discouraged, just think how they overcame tremendous odds, and if they did it, so can you.

8. Read inspirational books and passages daily. As a Man Thinketh by James Allen, You Can if You Think You Can by Norman Vincent Peale and The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra were among the many books that helped me become sugar-free years ago. I still like to read them for inspiration about other matters. If the Bible is special to you, then select choice sections to study often, too.

9. Find and hang out with positive, like-minded people who also share this optimistic, glass-is-almost-full point of view.

10. Make sure to acknowledge and maybe even celebrate each accomplishment, such as making it through a day without sweets or eating less of them. Naturally, I mean that you should do something special that's sugar-free. You decide what works for you. It could be as simple as breathing deeply, filling up with pride and saying, "Congratulations, [state your name], I made it through the day." But applaud yourself each step of the way because those steps can add up to a week or more without sweets, which will result in less fat, more energy and feeling more focused. So happily revel in your small successes now.

And bear in mind: I have confidence in you. You can do it! I know it!

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program. Please consult your physician !

My mission is to provide you with "Trusted Advice for a Healthier Life."

Yours in good health

Any questions?

Ask Glen!

Food For Fitness

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Q.Glen, Do you know of any healthy recipes for the grill?


A.Yes here are a few I found in a protein magazine just for the grill

Sear Factor

The grill is the glory tool of masculine cooking. When a man steps in front of his Weber, you'd think he'd invented fire instead of just using it to cook a few steaks. But that's what's so great about grilling: The techniques are healthy, the food is sublime, and the credit you receive is as high as the heat. Maybe that's why every country has its own ways of coaxing gems from the coals. From the spicy salsas of South America to the herb-smoked meats of the Middle East, our culinary world tour is delicious proof that there is nothing better (or easier) than taming the flame.

Grilled Shrimp with Cilantro

Time: 20 minutes

Makes 4 servings

There is, in fact, nothing easier to grill than shrimp. They're less risky than even hot dogs. Because they're so lean, they almost never catch fire, and they turn pink when they're done, which is almost always in 5 minutes or so. (For that matter, even if you overcook shrimp, they'll still taste great.) The size of the shrimp doesn't matter much, though bigger shrimp look better and take less effort. (They're also more expensive.) Leave the peels on if you'd like, or be nice to your guests and take them off before grilling. Don't bother to devein the shrimp, though -- that's a waste of time and effort.

Ingredients

2 lb shrimp, peeled or unpeeled

Cilantro Salsa

1 c chopped fresh cilantro leaves

2 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly smashed

1 Tbsp peeled and roughly chopped ginger

1 habanero or jalapeño pepper, stemmed, seeded, and roughly chopped, or dried red-pepper flakes to taste

1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil, (or corn or canola oil)

Fresh lime juice, salt, and pepper to taste

Grilling instructions

1. Make the Cilantro Salsa. Start a charcoal or gas fire (don't make it too hot), and position the grill rack at least 4 inches from the heat source.

2. Grill the shrimp, turning once, until the shells are too hot to touch or the flesh turns bright pink and browns a bit. Serve immediately with the salsa.

Salsa instructions

1. Combine the cilantro in a blender with the garlic, ginger, hot pepper, and oil. Puree until smooth, adding more oil if necessary and stopping the machine to scrape down the sides as needed.

2. Remove to a bowl, add some salt and pepper, and thin with 1 or 2 tablespoons of lime juice. Taste, adjust the seasoning, and serve; or cover and refrigerate for up to a day. (Bring back to room temperature before serving.) Makes about 1 cup

Cook's Note: Learn to Salsa

Cilantro salsa is a South American standby made with raw garlic, chilies, lime, and a little oil. And we like a hit of ginger in there, too, for extra spiciness. Remove the cilantro leaves from the stems, and wash the cilantro well before putting it in the blender. This salsa works great on nearly anything you cook on the grill -- steak or chicken, firm white fish, even vegetables.

Grilled Chicken with Sesame

Time: 40 minutes, plus time to marinate, if desired

Makes 4 servings

Korean food is huge on flavor. It's like Japanese food pumped up by spice fiends. Garlic abounds, as does sesame in many forms, and there's usually some sugar and soy. In short, it's food for people who like their tastebuds awakened, not treated gently. And it shows itself off no better than with grilled chicken.

Ingredients

3-4 lb chicken parts, trimmed of excess fat

1/4 c sesame seeds

2 Tbsp minced garlic

1 Tbsp minced ginger

1/4 c soy sauce

2 Tbsp sesame oil

2 Tbsp sugar or mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)

Salt and pepper to taste

Chopped scallions, for garnish

Instructions

1. Toast the sesame seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan frequently until they color slightly. Grind half of the seeds to a powder and set the other half aside. Combine this powder in a large bowl with the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, oil, sugar or mirin, salt, pepper, and about 1/4 cup of water.

2. Make a couple of deep slashes on the skin side of each piece of chicken, and add the chicken to the marinade. Let it rest while you prepare the grill, or refrigerate up to 24 hours, turning occasionally.

3. Start a charcoal or gas grill. The fire should be only moderately hot, with the rack about 4 inches from the heat source. Grill the chicken carefully--this mixture will burn easily--starting at the cooler part of the fire and, as the chicken's fat drips less, moving to a hotter part. Turn the pieces as necessary to brown them. The chicken is done when it's lightly charred, firm, and springy to the touch.

4. Serve the chicken hot or at room temperature, garnished with scallions and the reserved sesame seeds.

Cook's Note: Soak Up the Flavor

The all-purpose Korean-style marinade used here is useful on just about everything --f ish, shellfish, meat, and even vegetables. You can marinate seriously and let the food bathe in it overnight (or even for a couple of days -- always in the refrigerator, please), or just turn the food in it right before grilling. You need not even grill; this will cook fine in an oven or broiler. A couple of words about ingredients: You can buy pretoasted sesame seeds and even sesame-seed powder in Korean markets, something you might consider if you become addicted to this cuisine. But toasting them takes no time at all, as you'll see.

Grilled Lamb Skewers with Bay Leaves

Time: 30 minutes

Makes 4 servings

Middle Easterners love to skewer meat, and the addition of fresh herbs injects an extra layer of flavor into this simple classic. If you're using wood skewers, soak them in water for about half an hour before you start cooking, so they won't burn as readily. And if you use two skewers for each kebab, the turning process will be much, much easier. For the moistest results, use lamb chunks from the shoulder. Marbling in the shoulder keeps the meat moist and delicious, even if you overcook it. You probably don't want to eat the bay leaves.

Ingredients

1 1/2-2 lb lamb shoulder, cut into 11/2 inch pieces

1 lb zucchini, chopped into 1-inch pieces

3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 Tbsp minced garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

Lots of bay leaves, preferably fresh

Instructions

1. Start a charcoal or gas grill; the fire should be only moderately hot and the rack about 4 inches from the heat source.

2. Combine the oil, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper. Toss the meat and zucchini in the oil mixture to coat. When you're ready to cook, skewer pieces of meat alternately with bay leaves. If the leaves break, just jam them between pieces of meat.

3. Grill the meat for about 2 to 5 minutes a side, depending on the heat of the fire and your desired degree of doneness. Remove and serve.

Cook's Note: Smoke Some Herb

Using fresh herbs on the grill perfumes the meat with a delicious aroma once the herbs are singed. Look for fresh bay leaves at your local market. (They are glossy, green, and leathery when fresh.) Fresh leaves are much stronger than dried leaves and go beautifully with lamb. (Dried will work, though, and are better than nothing.) Rosemary is another herb that's fantastic on the grill: Use whole branches stripped of their leaves as skewers. (Save the leaves for marinades.) Or take whole sprigs of thyme, oregano, or sage and toss them directly onto the grill just before cooking; the results are astonishing.

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program. Please consult your physician !

Wishing You Great Health!

Any questions? Ask Glen

The Hardness Factor

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Q. Glen can a man's health be determined by his erections?

A.You have a built-in barometer of your overall health: It's called your penis

When the penis is hard, life is good.

When hardness diminishes, so does a man's health and his innate sense of who he is. No matter how talented a man may feel he is in bed, he defines his sex by his erection, by its strength and hardness. This is what I call the Hardness Factor.

The harder the erection, the healthier the man.

In just the past decade, researchers have made the all-important link between sexual activity and good health. When a man's blood vessels are healthy and "elastic," his heart and brain are functioning well-and his erections are rock hard. When his neural connections are firing and nitric oxide is being released in great abundance throughout his body, his cognition is high-and his erections are rock hard. When testosterone levels are normal and weight is controlled, he has the ability to train most effectively-have a healthy, trim body-and his erections are rock hard. Once a man starts to connect the dots, once he fully understands that good health and a hard erection are linked, he will begin to take better care of himself.

From my own ongoing exercise and hardness studies, I have found that much of the decline in hardness often attributed to aging is actually the result of sedentary living and poor nutrition. Once you understand its basic concepts, you realize how sexuality is a window into general health and how by staying fit you can enjoy feeling virile as long as you live.

According to a new study of 2,400 men conducted by researchers at the University of Bristol, in England, men who reported three or more orgasms per week were half as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as those who had sex less often.

On the surface, it looks as though the principal message of this study is that having sex reduces heart attack and stroke and lets you live longer. In fact, just the opposite is true: Being healthy allows you to have sex as much as you want. Having sex three times a week serves as an important marker that you are healthy and in good physical shape-you're certainly more sexually fit than a man who can't have sex three times a week. Beyond that, the strength of a man's erection-his hardness-is the true barometer of his overall health.

There is a powerful and unmistakable link between failing erections and common medical ailments, including obesity, high cholesterol levels, hypertension, depression, sleep disorders, diabetes, and heart disease. When atherosclerosis develops, it starts to clog up the tiny vessels in the penis. The impact is often seen there first, long before it ever shows up in the coronary arteries of the heart, or in any of the other 100,000 miles of blood vessels that run throughout the body.

The canary in the coal mine warned of unseen danger, and for men, the health of their penis, and more specifically the hardness of their erections, is a great early-warning indicator of underlying cardiovascular problems that may be developing.

How to Achieve Your Best Health and Sexual Fitness at Any Age, that utilizes the same general principles. Follow it and you will be in the best sexual shape of your life, enjoy better sex that lasts longer, and live healthier.

Step 1: Sexual Nutrition

Your sexual performance is greatly impacted by what you consume and how much you consume. Here's what you need to do:

Cut back on portion size
Try to eat 10 percent less at each meal or about 500 calories less a day. By Day 4, you may notice a drop of 1 or 2 pounds on your scale. That is important because the amount of fat in your gut affects the amount of testosterone available to you-the more fat, the less testosterone.

Avoid fatty foods
Stop shocking your blood vessels. Fatty, high-calorie foods are not kind to erections. The fats injure your blood vessels to the point where they are stunned, preventing them from being totally responsive when sexual signals are being transmitted from brain to penis. Penile nerves lose their sensitivity when cholesterol builds up. Top saturated-fat culprits to avoid include egg yolks, butter, cream, fatty red meats, and coconut oil.

Eat nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day
They help lower your cholesterol level, an improvement that combats cardiovascular disease and increases blood flow to the penis. Leafy green vegetables are excellent sources of folic acid, calcium, magnesium, and zinc. Citrus fruits offer plenty of vitamin C. Go heavy on the blueberries. They're the fruit with the highest amounts of free-radical-crushing antioxidants.

Drink black or green tea
Both are high in antioxidants. As a morning beverage or with a meal, a cup of tea has too many disease-fighting benefits to be ignored, among them protecting against cancer and maintaining heart function and strong bones.

Spice up your foods
Chile peppers, ginger, and other spicy foods can enhance sexual performance by increasing circulation.

Eat a hardness-friendly dinner
Look at dinner as a training meal-you are getting ready to perform later. The right choices will help to set the mood and give you enough calories without overloading your gut, so more blood flows to where you really need it. Some important guidelines:
• Avoid before-dinner cocktails.
• Don't order anything braised, scalloped, sauteed, creamy, or fried.
• Choose entrees that are steamed, boiled, baked, poached, grilled, or roasted.
• Pass on all foods high in MSG or salt.
• Split your entree with your partner.
• Have salad dressing served on the side. Better yet, opt for oil and vinegar.
• Trim the fat from red meat, and have any poultry dish served without skin.
• Choose fruit or sherbet for dessert.

Step 2: Sexual Supplements

Which of nature's legendary hardness enhancers really work? My study results, and those of others, have proven that there are several interesting supplements that significantly enhance hardness and increase sexual interest.

Pycnogenol/L-arginine mixture
Pycnogenol, extracted from the bark of a French pine tree, is a precursor to aspirin. It enhances blood flow to the heart and to the penis. It also helps restore elasticity and smoothness to the skin by reinforcing collagen fibers and strengthening the tiny capillaries, which help nourish the cells. L-arginine is an amino acid that is used by the body to build protein. When L-arginine supplements are taken in tandem with a daily routine of physical activity, a synergistic effect is produced that markedly increases your production of nitric oxide. This means greater blood flow to all areas of the body, and specifically to your penis. Take 80 milligrams of Pycnogenol and 3 grams of L-arginine daily (take them on an empty stomach, since protein will inhibit absorption into the bloodstream).

Omega-3s
Take 3 grams of fish-oil tablets daily for vascular support and protection. Research has shown that the marine oil reduces sudden death from heart attack, probably by preventing fatal rhythm disturbances. I like the fact that omega-3s, available in capsule form, are excellent for reducing triglycerides-another form of fat circulating in your blood-and help protect the tiny blood vessels of the penis.

OPCs
Oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs) enhance the activity of vitamins C and E. For improved blood flow and extra protection against insults to blood vessels, add 25 milligrams of red-wine extract and 100 milligrams of grape-seed extract daily to your 4-day regimen. Both contain OPCs.

Vitamin C
This potent antioxidant seems to protect against heart disease. I believe this will translate into protection for the endothelium (lining of the veins), as well. I suggest 500 milligrams of vitamin C daily.

Horny goat weed
Yes, that's really its name. I call it the great libido-booster. I recently completed a 45-day double-blind placebo-controlled study of a Chinese herbal mixture comprised primarily of horny goat weed (Epimedium grandiflorum), along with three other well-known herbal sex boosters (Lepidium meyenii, Mucuna pruriens, and Polypodium vulgare). How horny goat weed creates sexual fire is unclear, but researchers think the boost may be related to its stimulating properties, which may work on the hypothalamus or pituitary gland. Take two capsules twice daily and an additional four capsules 2 hours before a sexual encounter.

Step 3: Sexual Fitness

The surest way to enhance hardness, whet sexual appetite, boost self-esteem, and increase sexual activity is through regular physical activity. Exercise improves fitness, and sexual functioning is an important part of that condition. It also positively affects brain-wave activity, which makes you feel energized. Working out regularly builds stamina, preventing or delaying fatigue during sex. And finally, exercise boosts levels of the male hormone testosterone, leading to heightened libido.

Raise your heart rate To get your heart pumping, make a conscious effort to add 5,000 steps to your daily hoofing, roughly 2 miles. Get a step counter if it helps. (If you already run or bike, these extra steps will supplement that exercise.) A walking program can rev up hormones, flush stress, whittle away fat, and rejuvenate the body, filling you with renewed vigor, confidence, and the glow of good health. I want you to work up to 10,000 steps daily. Why 10,000? Research has determined this is the number of steps that will bolster overall fitness and health and knock off weight. And when the weight goes down, erections go up and stay up.

Build strength Muscle fatigue during sex is a bummer, so add pushups, ab curls, and squats to your work out routine. These exercises strengthen the shoulders, chest, abdominals, buttocks, and legs, all of which are called upon during sexual activity. You already know how to do them, but you might not be familiar with the Cobra. This yoga move is one of the best stretching-strengthening combination exercises around, because it relaxes the muscles of the lower back as it gently stretches the muscles of the abdomen, hips, and neck. Lie facedown on a mat with your face almost touching the mat. Bend your arms and place your palms on the mat beside your shoulders. Keep your legs together and the tops of your feet resting on the mat. Push up, straightening your elbows as you lift your head off the mat, but keep your pelvis pushed into the mat so your spine arches backward. Look at the ceiling. Hold for 1 second; then descend to the mat. Repeat nine times.

Stretch every day
To promote optimal flexibility-the ability to use muscles and joints through their full range of motion-I want you to perform the following stretches every day. Regular stretching will help relieve stress, a major contributing factor to hardness problems. When performed in a slow and focused way, stretching can be an excellent relaxation therapy as well as a tension easer.

The side lunge keeps the muscles used during sex-the adductor, core, and lower-back muscles and the quadriceps, buttocks, and hamstrings-limber and flexible. Stand with your feet slightly apart. Contract your abdominal muscles. Keeping your right leg straight, take a large step sideways with your left foot, toes pointing forward. Bend your left knee. As you lunge, bend your torso toward your left thigh. Reach down and touch your left foot with both hands. Return to the starting position by pushing off your left foot to straighten your leg. Repeat the exercise with your opposite leg. Do 10 with each leg.

The crossover stretch loosens the muscles of the lower back. Lie on your back. Bend your left knee at 90 degrees and extend your arms out to the sides. Keeping your head and shoulders flat on the floor, pull your bent left knee toward the floor and twist your lower body toward your outstretched left arm. Hold for 45 seconds. Switch sides. Repeat.

When you complete this work out program, you will certainly feel different. You will achieve measurable changes in flexibility, strength, and hardness. Hardness is a lifestyle, not 96 hours' worth of quick changes. The idea is to feel good about yourself emotionally and physically always. It's a lifestyle decision.

Adapted from The Hardness Factor: How to Achieve Your Best Health and Sexual Fitness at Any Age, by Steven Lamm, M.D., with Gerald Secor Couzens, (c) 2005 HarperCollins

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical. Please consult your physician !

Wishing You Great Health,

Glen Edward Mitchell

Any questions? Ask Glen!

10 Fitness Lies !

Ask Glen!



Q. Glen What are some exercise Lies? In short what works and what don't ?


A. Biting my tongue has become second nature. Why? Because I hear endless questions like this: "If I take a fat-burning supplement will that get me to my goal?" Or, "If I lift light weights and perform a lot of repetitions per set will that get me defined?”

Then there’s my personal favorite, "If I just eat a lot less won’t I lose weight?" Please don’t misconstrue my tongue-biting comment. I absolutely love what I do for a living and am immensely passionate about it. However, one of the problems in our society is that we hear concepts, products and methods -- and we simply assume that they’ll work.

It’s important to ask not only, "What is my goal," but also, based on what I've researched on the way the human body works, "Will this work?" "Does it make sense?" and, "Is it safe?"

It doesn’t require being a biochemist or an exercise physiologist but simply acquiring a small amount of knowledge about the way the human body works. Sometimes it’s good to experiment with unorthodox methods. However, there are some things that are simply ineffective, yet people continue to believe they work.

Here is my top 10 fitness "facts" that in reality are not true:

1. Lifting lighter weights will make your muscles more defined and cut. FALSE!

Muscle responds to overload. If you lift heavier weight with sufficient intensity, you will create more microscopic tears in the muscle. When the muscle recuperates, it will become bigger and stronger over time.

However, your supplemental nutrition must support your training. Reduced body fat is what creates the "cut" look, not high (15 or more) reps. Reduced body fat is a result of efficient weight training, proper amounts of cardiovascular exercise and nutrition that places you in somewhat of a calorie deficit. That’s how you get defined.

2. A lot of cardio is the most efficient way to lose body fat. FALSE!

Excessive cardio will strip muscle mass and body fat. This is definitely not the most efficient method for losing body fat. Once you begin stripping muscle mass, your body becomes less efficient at burning body fat. Muscle is metabolically active, which simply means it stimulates the metabolism

For each pound of muscle you put on, you will burn up to 50 additional calories per day. If you strip muscle mass, all you accomplish is sabotaging your efforts to efficiently reduce body fat.

3. You can gain 20 pounds of muscle in a few months. FALSE!

All the claims that you read about certain routines or supplements that can help you gain "10 pounds of muscle in a month" are big fat lies. They're marketing scams to get you to buy a product. It takes diligent weight training using sufficient overload, consistency and patience to build significant muscle mass. Except for initial muscular gains which happen quickly when one begins a weight training program, it can take up to a year to gain five to six pounds of muscle mass.

4. The best way to lose fat is to eat very few calories. FALSE!

Always consider your body from the inside out. Your body’s main objective is to survive. It doesn’t care if you want to lose fat. In fact, it would prefer to increase fat in case of famine. Internally, the body has no idea that it’s the year 2005. It could still be 10,000 years ago for all it cares. Survival is its number one objective.

If you eat very little, the body perceives an emergency and will accommodate you by holding onto stored body fat. As well it should, because it has no idea when it will be fed again.

5. The best way to lose fat is to eat a lot of calories. FALSE!

Just as you don’t want to eat too little, you don’t want to eat too much. Duh. I know this is a "no brainer," but the big message in the nutrition and personal training world today is that most people need to eat more to stimulate the metabolism. The truth is you need the CORRECT AMOUNT of total calories to lose body fat, not simply more food!

6. Calories are the only thing that counts when trying to lose fat or gain muscle. FALSE!

Ratios of protein, carbohydrates and fats are also important. The key to losing fat and gaining muscle is controlling and manipulating insulin levels. In simple terms, when we consume excessive calories or excessive amounts of high glycemic carbohydrates at one meal, the body’s blood sugar rises. When this happens, the pancreas secretes insulin to lower blood sugar levels.

One of the many drawbacks of this happening excessively is, along with putting you at risk for diabetes, the body also holds onto stored fat! A balance of protein, carbohydrates and fats works most efficiently in losing fat and gaining muscle.

7. A woman will get muscles as big as a guy if she lifts heavier weight (8-12 reps). FALSE!

This myth never seems to die. A woman has approximately one-third of the testosterone of a man. Unless she is on anabolic steroids, growth hormones or other chemicals, a woman will never achieve the muscular size of a man. However, she can get a degree of muscularity that makes her lean, hard and tight.

8. One pound of muscle and one pound of fat are the same size. FALSE!

If I place one pound of muscle on a scale and one pound of fat on a scale, they will both weigh one pound. The difference is in total volume. One pound of muscle may appear to be the size of baseball; one pound of fat will be three times the size and look like a squiggly bowl of Jell-O.

9. You can put on a lot of muscle and lose a lot of fat at the same time. FALSE!

You can put on muscle and lose some fat in minimal amounts. However, the body functions best when it has one goal at a time. If your goal is to put on a lot of muscle, then make that your number one objective. If your goal is to lose significant body fat, then your focus should be on preserving your much earned muscle mass.

10. The more protein I consume, the more muscle I will put on my body. FALSE!

The human body requires the correct amount of protein to put on muscle. The hardworking weight trainer requires a lot more protein than the sedentary person. However, the correct amount is key, not excessive amounts. In addition, the body uses protein, carbohydrates and a small amount of fat to build muscle, not simply excessive protein.

I hope you find these points helpful. Now that you have some newly found knowledge, just remember to bite your tongue when someone spouts out a fallacy. With tact and patience, share your knowledge and help spread the word.

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program. Please consult your physician !

My mission is to provide you with "Trusted Advice for a Healthier Life."

Yours in good health
Any questions?

Ask Glen!

Big Fat Lies Part 10 Fat Lose Quick & Permanent

Ask Glen!

Q. Glen, How quickly should you shed your excess pounds? Yes, we all wish we could melt off the fat "overnight," but supposing you really could take the weight off "lightning fast." Is rapid weight loss is really healthy and safe? And is it permanent?How much fat loss is realistic? How much is physiologically possible?

A. I've got bad news for you. You have been lied to over and over about "quick fat loss" and it really irks me that weight loss companies keep getting away with it at your expense!

It's time to bust this myth and uncover the truth.

Fat Loss Lie #10: "Fat loss can be quick and permanent"

The "Quick Fat Loss" Lie Exposed

"Lose 30 pounds In 30 Days!"

"Lose 9 Pounds Every 11 Days!"

Lose 10 Pounds This Weekend!

You see ad claims like these all the time, and they sure are enticing, aren't they? They play on our emotions and our desires for instant gratification.

Patience is the one thing you never seem to have when you’ve got a body fat problem. You want the fat gone and you want it gone now! And why not? It seems so do-able. Everywhere you look, you hear promises of quick weight loss and you even see people losing weight quickly.

We have reality TV shows that actually encourage people to attempt “extreme” body makeovers or see who can lose weight the fastest, and the winners (or shall we say, the "losers", as if that's a flattering title to earn), are rewarded generously with fortune, fame and congratulations.

Let’s face it. Everyone wants to get the fat off as quickly as possible - and having that desire is not wrong – it’s simply human nature. However...

Serious Problems Can Occur If You Try To
Force It And Lose Weight Too Quickly

The faster you lose weight, the more muscle you will lose right along with the fat, and that can really mess up your metabolism.

An even bigger problem with fast weight loss is that it just won’t last. The faster you lose, the more likely you are to gain it back. It's the the "yo-yo diet effect" - weight does down, but always comes back up. Think about it: We don’t have a weight loss problem today, we have a “keeping weight off” problem

Weight loss will be the healthiest, safest and most likely to be permanent if you set your goal for about two pounds per week (and even if you lose only a single pound each week, that is healthy progress). This is the recommendation of almost every legitimate and respected dietician, nutritionist, exercise physiologist and personal trainer on the planet, as well as exercise organizations such as the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Dietetic Association.

Are there any exceptions? Yes. It may be ok to lose more than two pounds per week if you have a lot of weight to lose, because the rate of weight loss tends to be relative to your total starting body weight. Generally the rule is that it’s safe to lose up to 1% of your total body weight per week, so if you weigh 300 lbs to start, then 3 lbs a week is a reasonable goal.

But there IS a catch.

What Really Matters Is Not How Much WEIGHT
You Lose, But How Much FAT You Lose

Where did your weight loss come from? Did you lose body fat or lean body mass? "Weight" is not the same as "fat." Weight includes muscle, bone, internal organs as well as lots and lots of water.

Let’s look at an example with some numbers so you can really grasp this concept of weight versus fat and then you can see, illustrated with specific examples, what will happen when you lose weight too quickly.

As an example, let’s take a 260 pound man who has a lot of body fat to lose - let’s call it 32%. With 32% fat, a 260 pounder has 83.2 pounds of body fat and 176.8 pounds of lean mass. Using this example, let’s look at a few possible scenarios with losses ranging from two to four pounds per week.

Weight Loss Scenario 1:

Suppose our 260 pound subject loses four full pounds instead of the recommended two pounds per week. Is this bad? Well, let’s see:

If he loses a half a percent of body fat, here are his body composition results:

256 lbs
31.5% body fat
80.6 lbs fat
175.4 lbs lean body mass

Out of the four pounds lost, 2.8 pounds were fat and 1.2 were lean mass. Not a disaster, but not good either. Thirty percent of the weight lost was lean tissue.

Weight Loss Scenario 2:

If he loses a half a percent of body fat and only three pounds, here are his results:

257 lbs
31.5% body fat
80.9 lbs fat
176.1 lbs lean body mass

These results are better. Although he lost less body weight than scenario one, in this instance, 2.3 pounds of fat and only 0.7 lbs of lean mass were lost.

Weight Loss Scenario 3:

What if he only lost two pounds? Here are the results:

258 lbs
31.5% body fat
81.2 lbs fat
176.8 lbs lean body mass

These results are perfect. Even though our subject has only lost two pounds, which seems slow, 100% of the two pound weight loss came from fat and he kept ALL the muscle!

Weight Loss Scenario 4:

Now let’s suppose he loses three pounds but he loses more body fat: .8%

257 lbs
31.2% body fat
80.2 lbs fat
176.8 lbs lean body mass

These are the best results of all. When the weekly fat loss is .8% (better than average), 100% of the three pounds lost is fat. So as you can see, yes, it’s safe to lose more than two pounds per week… but only if the weight fat. If you lose three or four pounds per week, and you know it’s all fat, not lean tissue, then more power to you! If you lose four pounds and two of those pounds are muscle, you just shot yourself in the foot!

If as little as 20%-30% of your weight loss comes from muscle, when compounded over a few months, you’re talking about a massive muscle tissue loss which can dramatically slow down your metabolism, weaken you and turn you into nothing more than a “skinny fat person” (that's a person with low body weight because they lost so much muscle, but still holding stubborn fat because they shut down their metabolism).

Don't Be Fooled By Water Weight Losses

One thing you should also know is that it’s very common to lose 3 - 5 pounds in the first week on nearly any diet and exercise program and often even more on low carb diets. Just remember, its NOT all fat - WATER LOSS IS NOT FAT LOSS!

The only way to know if you've actually lost FAT is with body composition testing. For home body fat self-testing, I recommend the Accu-Measure skinfold caliper as first choice. Even better, get a multi site skinfold caliper test from an experienced tester at a health club, or even an underwater (hydrostatic) or air (bod pod) displacement test.

From literally hundreds of client case studies, I can confirm that it’s rare to lose more than 1.5 - 2.0 lbs of weight per week without losing some muscle along with it. If you exceed 2.0 to 3.0 pounds per week, the probability of losing muscle is extremely high. If you lose muscle, you are damaging your metabolism and this will lead to a plateau and ultimately to relapse.

The Biggest Weight Loss Mistake That Is
FATAL To Your Long Term Success

Lack of patience is one of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to losing body fat. If you want to lose FAT, not muscle, and if you want to keep the fat off for good, then you have to take off the pounds slowly. (of course, if you want to crash diet the weight off fast, lose muscle with the fat and gain all the fat back later, be my guest)

This is one of the toughest lessons that overweight men and women have to learn - and they can be very hard learners. They fight kicking and screaming, insisting that they CAN and they MUST lose it faster.

Then you have these TV shows that encourage the masses that rapid, crash weight loss is okay. To the producers of these shows, I say SHAME ON YOU! To the personal trainers, registered dieticians and medical doctors who are associated with these programs, I say DOUBLE SHAME ON YOU, because you of all people should know better. These shows are not "motivating" or "inspiring" - they are DAMAGING! They are a DISGRACE!

The rapid weight loss being promoted by the media for the sake of ratings and by the weight loss companies for the sake of profits makes it even harder for legitimate fitness and nutrition professionals because our clients say, “But look at so and so on TV - he lost 26 pounds in a week!”

Sure, but 26 pounds of WHAT - and do you have any idea what the long term consequences are?

Short term thinking… foolish.

Do it the right way. The healthy way. Take off pounds slowly, steadily and sensibly with an intelligent nutrition and exercise program, measure your body fat, not just your body weight, and make this a new lifestyle, not a race, and you will never have to take the pounds off again, because they will be gone forever the first time.

We're getting close to the end of this series and next time, in part 11 of 12, you'll find out about the scandal that is taking place in the medical and pharmaceutical industries ("The big pharmacy lie")... Plus, you'll also learn the truth about steroids and other performance-enhancing and fat-burning drugs. Until then...

Train hard and expect success,

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program.Please consult your physician !

Wishing You Great Health!

Any questions? Ask Glen

Big Fat Lies Part 9 Exercise is not Necessary!

Ask Glen!

Q. Glen, Which is better? Diet or exercise? Can you really get lean - and more importantly, stay lean - without exercise?

A. Lose weight without exercise is one of the most common claims made in the weight loss industry, yet it remains the subject of fierce debate.

Fat Loss Lie #9: "Exercise is not necessary... all you need is a diet"

The Truth About The Diet Versus Exercise Debate

Yes, you CAN lose weight by cutting calories. But as you learned in the first part of this course ("the starvation diet lie"), there is danger in using very low calorie diets; you almost always re-gain weight that's lost with highly restrictive diets.

Some people use calorie restriction out of necessity. For example, I know some wheelchair-bound individuals who lost weight with calorie restriction alone. I also know some people who were very obese and had orthopedic problems (making exercise difficult at first), who chose to get started only with dietary restriction, then they added the exercise later. They also lost weight.

However, for able-bodied people, dieting is the absolute WORST way to lose weight.

Two Ways To Create A Calorie Deficit And Lose The Fat

As you learned in part 5 on calories, to lose fat, you need a calorie deficit. However, there's more than one way to create a calorie deficit. One is to decrease the amount of calories you consume (eat less). The other is to increase the amount of calories you burn (exercise more).

Of the two ways, burning the calories with increased activity is the superior method. Or, you can also combine the two - eat a little less, and exercise more.

Paradoxical as it seems, the most effective approach of all is to eat more and exercise a LOT more (as long as you still keep your calorie deficit). Nutritionist and exercise physiologist Dr. John Berardi calls this a "HIGH ENGERY FLUX," which simply means, higher energy input, higher energy output. The result is a high level of nutrition and a turbo-charged metabolism.

Top 10 reasons why exercising ("burn"), not dieting ("starve"), is the superior method of losing body fat:

The most effective fat-burning programs in the world always contain two types of exercise - weight training and cardiovascular training. The reasons to include both could go on for pages, but here are the top 10:

1. Exercise increases your metabolism.
2. Exercise creates a caloric deficit without triggering starvation mode.
3. Exercise helps you sleep better and manage stress better.
4. Exercise (strength training) tells your body to keep the muscle. Dieting causes muscle loss.
5. Exercise increases bone density.
6. Exercise helps prevent diabetes, control blood sugar, and improve insulin sensitivity.
7. Exercise improves cardiovascular health.
8. Exercise improves mood, helps relieve depression and increases self esteem
9. Exercise increasese mobility and quality of life as you get older
10. Exercise helps you keep the weight off long term.

The Science Behind Burning More, Not Eating Less

The role of energy expenditure in weight loss (diet vs exercise) is still the subject of controversy. For years I've been a strong advocate of weight training and cardiovascular training to "burn the fat" instead of just cutting calories (and being a "couch potato"). Take a look at some of the research-proven benefits of the "burn more" approach and see for yourself:

“Strength training may have greater implications than initially proposed for decreasing body fat and sustaining fat free mass. Research suggests that adding exercise programs to dietary restriction can promote more favourable changes in body composition than diet or physical activity on its own.”
-Stiegler, Sports Medicine, 2006

“Treatments relying only on energy restriction commonly cause substantial loss of lean tissue…” - Walberg, Sports Med, 1989:

“Increasing daily activity and regular exercise plays an important role in weight maintenance due to an impact on daily energy expenditure and a direct enhancement of insulin sensitivity.”
- Astrup, Int J Vitam Nutr res, 76:4, 2006”

“Physical activity is a critical factor for successful body weight regulation. Physical activity facilitates weight maintenance through direct energy expenditure and improved physical fitness.”
- Saris, Int J Obes relat Metab Disord, 1998:

“Reduced energy expenditure appears to facilitate weight gain in individuals susceptible to obesity."
- Saltzman, Nutr rev, 1995:

The Lies And Deceptions That Fuel The $50 Billion Weight Loss Machine

With this kind of proof, why is there any debate at all? Well, the biggest reason is because the weight loss industry thrives on novelty. Without “what’s new,” there's no story. People want to hear about some cutting edge new revolutionary pill or unique new diet breakthrough.

The industry also bets on laziness. Exercise is a hard sell because it's perceived as hard work. Advertisers know there's a lazy side hard wired into human nature, so they do everything they can to make their weight loss solutions look quick, easy and painless.

I believe the fact that we need to exercise - for health, quality of life AND for improved body composition - is such a common sense and intuitive conclusion that I find it almost comedic that there's any debate about it at all.

Think about it: What will your body shape look like by dieting without doing any training??? Diet without exercise tends to create a “skinny fat person” - someone with a low body weight but little if any muscle, and the last 10-15 lbs of stubborn fat is left defiantly clinging to your hips, butt, thighs, abs or "love handles!"

Here's what else I believe about exercise vs dieting:

• I believe that the human body is the only machine on the face of the earth that wears out and breaks down from not using it enough


• I believe that much obesity and disease are a direct result of inactivity


• I believe that much of the deterioration that happens as you age is a direct result of a sedentary lifestyle and a loss of muscle


• I believe that cardiovascular exercise + weight training + a small calorie reduction is vastly superior for fat loss purposes than a calorie reduction alone, both in the short and long term


• I believe that calorie restriction alone is a short-sighted and incomplete approach to a complex problem, and it requires a complete change in lifestyle habits to achieve better health, better body composition and results that last


• I believe that everyone who is able-bodied should get some type of physical activity almost every single day


• I believe that anyone who is healthy and physically able should get involved in weight training 3 days per week (up to 4 - 5 times per week for athletes and bodybuilders)


• I believe that anyone healthy and physically able should do at least 3 days per week of vigorous cardiovascular exercise (jogging, brisk walking, treadmills, stairclimbers, ellipticals, aerobics classes, etc), and they may increase their exercise frequency, intensity and or duration if necessary, to accelerate fat loss


• I believe that more people should stop taking their bodies for granted and start appreciating that those wheelchair-bound individuals I mentioned earlier would give anything to be able to run or ride a bike

It's tempting to keep looking for some kind of "no-sweat" secret, whether in the form of a special diet technique, a magic fat burning pill or whatever, but in the end, it always, comes back to this: You need a calorie deficit to lose weight... and it's better to burn more calories than to cut more calories.

Exercise - including weight training and cardio training - should be a part of every weight management program and a part of your lifestyle. This is one of the ultimate secrets to fat loss and long term weight control:

Remember, don't starve the fat, "BURN THE FAT."

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program.Please consult your physician !

Wishing You Great Health!


Any questions? Ask Glen

Big Fat Lies Part 8 Low Carb Diets

Ask Glen!




Q. Glen, Do low carb diets really work? Even more important, can they keep the fat off permanently, or is this yet another temporary quick fix?

A. Yes and No! Its not the carbs! Its the calories! Here is the truth!

Fat Loss Lie #8: "Zero carb or very low carb diets are best for permanent fat loss"

The Low Carb Diet Truth

No diet issue has ever created more confusion and controversy than the low carb vs. high carb debate. You are about to finally hear the low carb truth... simplified... But then, you will also hear about a few surprising "twists" to the low carb story!

Contrary to what certain "gurus" tell you, carbohydrates are NOT fattening. As you learned in part 5, what's fattening is eating more calories than your body can use at one time. If you eat too much of anything, it will get stored as fat. Period. That is the pure essence and scientific truth about fat loss:

IT'S NOT ABOUT THE CARBS!!!

IT'S ABOUT THE CALORIES!

But don't throw out your low carb diet just yet!

Reduced carb dieting does seem to have some beneficial effects on weight loss and fat loss, but it may not be for the reasons that most people think! In fact, it may not have anything to do with carbs at all ... it may be about protein and appetite regulation!

Low carbers usually don’t want to admit this - they usually want to insist on “metabolic advantage” - but the fact is, one of the biggest reasons that low carb diets can help improve fat loss is because it's very difficult to overeat when you restrict an entire group of energy dense foods like carbohydrates.

And there we have the truth again - if you eat less because of a low carb diet, you lose weight because you ate less, not because you ate less carbs. Got it? Less carbs = less calories!

Test it for yourself:

See how easy it is to overeat if you are told "eat as much of anything as you want." Then see how hard it is to eat a surplus of calories if you’re told, "eat as much as you want - but only lean protein, salad veggies and green veggies with a little bit of essential fat." You will lose fat like crazy on a diet like that, but it's not necessarily because carbs are low, it’s primarily because the CALORIES are low!

The problem is, most people cannot stay on a diet so restricted in choices. That's why over the long term, low carb diets aren't really much more effective than any other diet.

Appetite control - a legit benefit of low carb diets?

Very low carb diets often tell you not to count calories and they say you can eat as much as you like if you just stick to protein and fat. However, they're making a huge assumption that by restricting carbs and allowing fat intake, your appetite will regulate itself and you will eat less as a result.

That's often exactly what happens with low carb, high fat diets - you tend to eat less automatically - so appetite control appears to be a legitimate benefit of low carb diets. However, there is nothing special about "low carb diets" that allows you to eat unlimited calories. If you eat in a caloric surplus, you are going to gain weight, no matter what the macronutrient composition of the diet.

High thermic effect: A second weight loss advantage of a low carb (higher protein) diet?

Here's another potential advantage: Low carb diets tends to be higher in protein. Since protein has a much higher thermic effect, it can lead to slightly greater fat loss than a diet of the same calorie amount that is high in fat and carbs.

In a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2005 (93(2): 281-289), researchers followed a group of 113 overweight subjects after 4 weeks of a very low calorie diet, through a 6 month period of weight maintenance. The subjects were divided into a control group and a protein group that was given an extra 30 grams of protein in place of an equal amount of carbs.

The researchers found that the group with the higher protein intake was less likely to regain the lost weight, and any weight gain in the protein group was lean tissue and not fat. The results were attributed to higher thermic effect and a decrease in appetite.

A third advantage to low carbs?

Another potental benefit of carb restriction is better glycemic (blood sugar) control. This may provide some body composition and health advantages for individuals who are carb intolerant or who suffer from "metabolic syndrome" (where the body doesn't process sugar very well and tends to overproduce insulin).

Of course, as with nearly everything in life, there are two sides to every coin...

Disadvantages of low carb diets

1) For most people, strict low carb diets are difficult to stick to.

If you remove most of your carbohydrates from your diet for a long period of time, you're setting yourself up for a relapse. You tend to crave what you cannot have, both physiologically and psychologically. The more you cut the carbs, the easier it is to rebound will be when you put carbs back in.

2) Very low carb diets are often unbalanced and missing many nutrients.

It's still up for debate whether low carb programs like the Atkins diet are unhealthy, but removal of entire good groups such as fruits and 100% whole natural grains is definitely not nutritionally balanced for fiber, phytochemical and micronutrient intake.

3) Very low carb diets may cause low energy levels.

Most people will feel physically tired and mentally irritable without carbs, so their training will usually suffer: Low carbs = low energy. Low energy = poor workouts. Poor workouts = poor results. This makes low carb diets a poor choice for highly active people. The reason I don't recommend "very low" carb diets to my clients is because I am a strong advocate of weight training and cardio training as part of a fitness lifestyle. When you are training hard, you must "feed the machine" and eat to support your activity.

4) The intial rapid weight loss on a very low carb diet can be deceiving.

Much of the initial weight loss on low carbs is water and even lean tissue. If you drop 5-7 lbs in your first week on a low carb diet it sounds impressive, but if one pound is fat, 2-3 pounds are water and 2-3 pounds are muscle, what did you accomplish? Your goal should be fat loss, not "weight" loss.

Taking a lesson from the leanest athletes on Earth

On an interesting side note, I've made an 18-year long study of how the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models get so incredibly lean. One thing I noticed was that almost every bodybuilder or fitness competitor uses some variation of the low carb diet to prepare for competitions. Why? because although there are disadvantages, they want those low carb advantages, even if it's a difficult diet to follow.

Most bodybuilders however, use an interesting variation on the traditional low carb diet. It's called "carb cycling," where you increase carbs at regular intervals rather than staying on low carbs all of the time. Carb cycling makes low carb diets safer, more effective and easier to follow.

The bottom line?

Yes, there is something to the low carb diet that helps accelerate fat loss. But in the end, it all comes back to calories and to whether or not you can stick with your program. Ability to comply with a program may be the biggest factor of all in long term success, not the level of carb intake. Low carb diets work primarily because they make you eat less. Eat too much and you gain weight, regardless of whether it's protein, carbs or fat.

My advice is not to jump into a low carb diet without reason, but to assess whether you are a good candidate for this type of approach. Then, if you decide to try the low carb approach, it's best used temporarily to break a plateau or reach a peak and it appears that a small reduction in carbs with a slight increase in protein is enough to get most of the benefits of low carb diets.

Cutting out carbs completely (or even dropping all the way to 20-30 grams a day as some programs advise in the beginning), is not necessary, it's hard to stick to and is probably not healthy in the long term. It's usually not wise to go to extremes in anything and that's as true for nutrition as anything else in life: moderation is the key..

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program.Please consult your physician !

Wishing You Great Health!


Any questions? Ask Glen

Big Fat Lies Part 7 Genetics

Ask Glen!




Q. Glen, Am I Fat because of my Genetic makeup?


A. Here are the scientific facts and latest discoveries about heredity and body fat, straight from the laboratories of the human genome project...


Fat Loss Lie #7: "Your genetics are keeping you fat

How The News Media Distorts, Exaggerates And Lies To You

A recent New York Times story headline said, "Genes Take Charge, And Diets Fall By The Wayside." A similar headline in the New York Post said, "Battle Your Biology? Fat Chance!"

These and other articles like them claim that more and more evidence is proving that if you're overweight, "it's not your fault" and that genes - more than environment and behavior - explain obesity.

I say, "complete, unadulterated GARBAGE!"

Media stories like these often take legitimate statistics about genetic obesity completely out of context and blow them out of proportion to make for sensational news. They also make the common and devastating mistake of encouraging people to cast blame for their health anywhere but on themselves. Many of these types of stories are also based on ulterior motives.

Even worse, believing that "It's not your fault" is one of the biggest lies told in the weight loss industry and one of the most damaging beliefs you could ever have. In fact, the ONLY way you can ever become successful at achieving and maintaining your ideal weight is by accepting responsibility.

What The Research Really Says About Obesity And Your Genes

Make no mistake, there IS a genetic component to obesity. According to the latest research from the Human Genomics Project, you may inherit body fat tendencies just as you inherited your height, eye color or hair color. The tendency may range from slight predisposition to full blown genetic obesity.

In the 1990's, obesity researchers identified the OB (obesity) gene and mapped it to chromosome #7. Studies following a large number of twins and families have also helped to establish a link between obesity and heredity.

However, scientists say that severe mutations in the obesity gene are rare in humans (so mouse studies are largely irrelevant) and doubt has been raised concerning high genetic probability for obesity. ("Full blown" genetic obesity affects only about 5% of obese individuals!)

Therefore, claiming that genetics are more important than behavior and lifestyle is completely false.

Other Genetic Influences... Your Body Type And Metabolic Type

Other theories of genetic individuality discuss inherited body types, metabolic rate and body chemistry . In the 1930's, Harvard psychologist Dr. William H. Sheldon developed a classification system for different body types called "somatotyping":

Ectomorphs are the lean, lanky types. They are usually very thin and bony, with fast metabolisms and extremely low body fat. An ectomorph can seemingly eat like a horse without gaining an ounce.

Mesomorphs are the "genetically gifted." They are lean, muscular and naturally athletic. Mesomorphs lose fat and gain muscle with ease.

Endomorphs are the "fat retainers." Characterized by round features, excess body fat and large joints ("big bones"), endomorphs usually have difficulty in losing body fat and they tend to gain fat quickly if they eat poorly or don't exercise.

In addition to inherited body type ("somatotype"), individuals may also inherit certain metabolic types. Some people metabolize carbohydrates inefficiently and do not regulate blood sugar efficiently. They tend to produce too much insulin when they eat concentrated or fast-absorbing carbs, and or to be insulin resistant. This makes it more difficult to release stored body fat and puts them at risk for a variety of health problems. This condition is known as "Syndrome X" or "metabolic syndrome."

The $26 Billion Conspiracy Behind The Lies

Some doctors and researchers, such as those quoted in the newspaper stories, consider these obesity-stimulating conditions to be genetically transmitted "diseases" that require medical treatment. In a few isolated cases, obesity clearly is a genetic disorder. However, these cases are rare, so this idea of obesity as a "disease" should be viewed with a great deal of caution and suspicion, because weight loss is potentially the biggest market in the world for drug sales.

According to Justin Gillis, a staff writer for the Washington Post, more than 45 companies worldwide are trying to develop new obesity drugs, and the stakes couldn't be higher. Gillis writes, "In world where a blockbuster drug is worth $1 billion a year in sales, analysts give $5 billion as the low estimate for sales of an important obesity drug. If a company developed a truly safe, effective weight loss drug, and sold it for $3 a day to one quarter of the 100+ million American adults estimated to be overweight, sales would exceed $26 billion a year in this country alone."

If obesity is classified as a (genetically inherited) "disease", that means more prescriptions will be written

Listen, if anyone ever tells you that "It's not your fault... you were born fat, so don't feel guilty... and don't worry, we have a drug that can help," be cautious and question whose interests are being served; yours or the pharmaceutical giants.

The Truth About Heredity And Body Fat

Losing weight does seem easier for some people than for others. In fact, researchers say that there is a segment of the population that appears to be "genetically resistant to obesity." That doesn't seem fair, but that's the way life is. Let's be honest; not everyone has the genetics to become a top-ranking pro bodybuilder or to become an Olympic Gold medallist.

But you are NOT doomed to live a life of fatness if you don't have "athletic genes." Everyone can improve their body shape and fitness level beyond where it is today.

Body fat is the result of many influences. Genetics is only one of them and as little as 25% the causes are genetic/biological in nature. According To Dr. Claude Bouchard of the Human genomics Laboratory in Baton Rouge, LA, there are several certainties about the TRUE causes of obesity. He suggests the following contributing factors:

(1) physical environment
(2) social environment
(3) behavior
(4) biology

This means that 75% of your results are dictated by lifestyle and behavior factors and only 25% by biology. Accodring to Dr. Bouchard, "The obesity epidemic that we are facing today has developed only over the past 50 years and cannot be explained by changes in our genome."

And The Truth About Personal Responsibility That Will Set You FREE!

Like it or not, the condition of your body today is primarily a result of your own lifestyle, behavior and mindset (psychology). But that's great news, because it means most of the factors that affect your body fat levels are entirely under your control. These factors include how much you eat, what you eat, when you eat, who you eat with, how many sedentary activities you engage in, what type of exercise you do, how frequently you exercise, how long you exercise and how hard you exercise

Your first step if you want to achieve and maintain your perfect weight, is to accept 100% responsibility for your weight and your health. When the going gets tough, it’s easy to blame and make excuses. But blaming genetics is a convenient excuse for not taking continuous action. It's also giving away your power and conceding that you a victim rather than a creator of your life.

If you're a frustrated "endomorph" or if you feel like dieting is an uphill battle against your genes, PLEASE do NOT chalk it up to "bad genetics," and do NOT blame your weight on your chromosomes! YOU are responsible and YOU are in control! Dr. Thomas Wadden, a psychologist from Syracuse University, says, "There IS a genetic component to your weight, but NO ONE is destined to be obese."

Above all else, do NOT quit! The universe always bows to persistence. The empowering approach is to see your physical challenges as assets, because overcoming obstacles forces you to develop discipline, determination and character. These traits will carry over to other areas of your life and make you a stronger person.

As Arnold Schwarzennegger once said, "Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strength. When you overcome hardships, that is strength."

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program.Please consult your physician !

Wishing You Great Health!


Any Questions? Ask Glen!