Secret Diet Solutions

Archive for January, 2010

Is your morning coffee features in your healthy eating plan?  Is coffee really bad or good for you?

Now there are Healthy Caffeine in Coffee and I get these questions about coffee and health all the time and as a coffee drinker myself, it is smart to take a look at both the good and the bad.

Now, I’m not here to tell you that your morning cuppa is good for you. If I did, I would be telling only the good side of the story and I’m no politician. I am here to give you the good and the bad and tell you how you can incorporate your favorite coffee or tea into your healthy meal plan.

The Ugly Side of Caffeine

Most coffee and tea contains a lot of caffeine. This is usually the primary reason people make coffee their drink of choice in the morning. Caffeine is a drug like any other and comes with a long list of side effects. Have you ever tried not having your coffee in the morning? Yeah, pass the Excedrin, right?

The headache that comes on when you try and kick this habit can be brutal (just like with other drugs) and creating a dependency and addiction like this is harmful to the body.

Second, coffee is extremely acidic. Our bodies function at optimum levels when they are slightly more alkaline (the opposite of acidic). It is best for us to greatly reduce any foods that will drive our body’s pH to be more acidic and eat more foods that are alkaline (like fruits and veggies). An acidic body pH is like a magnet for all kinds of illnesses. Also, an alkaline body has a much stronger immune system, making illness much less likely.

Last but not least, the caffeine in coffee and tea is abuse to your adrenal glands. Your adrenals release your “fight or flight” hormones basically giving you a nice “boost” when needed. Unfortunately, people who drink coffee all day long are consistently beating on their adrenals. This is the equivalent of whipping a tired horse even when he is exhausted. Eventually he will not move at all.

The Pretty Side of Caffeine

Coffee tastes oh so yummy and makes me feel great in the morning. (What? Is that not a good enough reason to drink it?)

Many studies have shown that coffee can help in the prevention and treatment of diseases and illnesses as varied as Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, liver disease, skin cancer, Parkinsons’s disease and more. Although, I don’t believe coffee would be the cure all to any of these diseases, many ancient cultures did rely on the coffee bean to cure a long list of ailments. Not to mention, small doses of caffeine can increase performance and mental focus.

Green tea is also a great drink to include with a long list of benefits. If nothing else, green tea is a wonderful source of antioxidants which are important in cancer prevention. Green tea has even been found to raise metabolism and aid in fat burning. Before you go take a green tea bath, its effects are really minor when compared to the effects of sound nutrition and exercise plans. Now that I’ve said that, don’t think you can eat junk food and just wash it down with green tea!

What is a coffee and tea drinker to do?

1. Limit your coffee and tea intake to 2 – 8 oz cups per day. No, not 2 of each, 2 total. Any more than that is considered as a heavy addict. (I know. I’ve been there).

2. If you are currently dependent on a lot of caffeine each day, replace 1 or 2 cups of coffee with green tea instead. Green tea has much less caffeine than coffee and will help combat the ugly detox symptoms.

3. Do not jack up your coffee with sugar, milk, syrup and whip cream (So I guess that means no Starbucks, huh?). Use stevia or xylitol to sweeten and avoid all the empty, harmful calories. A teaspoon of half and half won’t hurt either. Please oh please, do not use any of those flavored creamers. They are closer to someone’s chemistry experiment than they are to real food.

4. Make sure to make your food choices healthy. Avoiding other acidic foods like sugar, artificial sweeteners and processed foods will lighten the acid load on the body.

5. Make sure the coffee you drink is organic. Conventional coffee is filled with pesticides and chemicals and should be avoided at all costs.

There is no need to give up your morning coffee but it is important to drink the right types of coffee, without the added unhealthy extras and, as with most things, in moderation.

Get started on your own weight loss goals right away with these Healthy Weight Loss Meal Plans.

Do YOU want to be leaner but not meaner?

Good deal… here’s 5 tips that will help you to achieve…

TIP 1
Forget the Starch

Yes in most books you find, they state that Starches, such as rice, potatoes, some veggies, oats, etc. are often considered “health foods.”

No doubt , while they can be healthy, they can also be the cause of bodyfat like crazy in the stomach if you overdo them.

In Jon Benson’s eBook, “Every Other Day Diet” System (EODD) actually encourages you to eat starches and even sweets several days a week to get rid of excess weight.

DO you wanna know how THAT works??

Simple: Timing is everything.

As we take a “weekly” approach to foods rather than a daily approach. This keeps your metabolism guessing. If your body cannot figure out what you’re up to, fatburning is that much more powerful. And you can get by with eating starches… at least a specific times on specific days.

But if you’re not going to do EODD, then you’ll have to wing it. And the best way to wing it is to simply cut starches out entirely for 4-8 weeks. Then slowly add them back a few days per week.

TIP 2
Get Rid of The Sodas

Ah yes, this one is really hard for me. I’ve been hooked on diet-soda on and off for years. When I go to get into top shape (like I am now) I have to get rid of the diet-sodas… yes, DIET-sodas. Need I say “real” sodas too? They are loaded with sugar.

Why diet-sodas? A recent study revealed that people who drank diet-sodas actually increased bodyfat when compared to those who drank sugar-sodas. What the… ??

Yep. Your body cannot be fooled by aspartame and chemicals. Sorry, but that’s the truth.

Here’s a personal story: When I cut out the diet-sodas my bodyfat drops like a rock in a pond of clear water.

And that’s what you need to be drinking: A quart of pure water per 50 lbs of bodyweight a day.

I mix it with lemon and a bit of Stevia (an herbal sweetener) and make lemonade. It’s wonderful!

TIP 3
Stay Hungry

Arnold’s first movie was “Stay Hungry” (well, after “Pumping Iron” that is). You cannot rest on your butt and stay hungry. You cannot think you’ve “arrived” and stay hungry.

It takes a special person to be hungry… and an even greater one to stay that way.

I want you to stay hungry in two ways: In how you workout and literally… stay a bit hungry before you go to bed. Not “starving”… just a bit hungry.

For your workouts, I have a great solution. If you pick up EODD you’ll get a limited shot at “7 Minute Body”… my combination of “7 Minute Muscle” and “The 7 Minute In-Home Workout” in one book… and for more than half off… but that’s a very limited deal. Gotta have EODD… you’ll need them both…

You see, progression — “forced” progression — is the best way to stay hungry. 7 Minute Body forces you to progress without thinking about it.

Progression is built into the System.

As far as staying hungry at night? Check with your doctor and if he/she okays it take 500mg of potassium and 1000mg of magnesium/calcium a few hours prior to bed. This helps with the hunger pangs. Also, keep hard-boiled eggs in the fridge. If you get really hungry, eat one with half the yolk (toss the other half.) It keeps me full for an hour at least.

TIP 4
Cardio Clarity

Hours and hours of cardio a day is not the answer. However, you can do “light” cardio (i.e. brisk walking, or riding the bike at 60% of your max) just to burn off calories. That’s okay… and personally I don’t find it that boring if I’m watching a TV show. It does not interfere with my main fatloss exercise (weight training… YES!) and it burns off about 400 calories an hour.

What does work is early morning fasting cardio… but you only need 9-15 minutes. I explain the GXP Protocol (Modified) in the 7 Minute Body book, available only if you pick up EODD, and you can get it at more than half off:

TIP 5
Get Raw At Night

Raw veggies with your last meal and as a snack will really help your fatburning along. I started with red peppers because they’re sweet. Now I eat virtually every veggie raw at night without thinking about it. Give this a shot. The fatloss is well worth it.

—-> Note From Christopher: Jon is still giving away “Radical Fatloss Blueprint” along with EODD for a few more days. And he is giving a lucky few the chance to pick up the Supplement-Kit that comes with Radical Fatloss for almost 100 bucks off.

If you ever needed another good reason to exercise, I’ve got one for you:

Exercise makes your brain bigger.

Actually this isn’t entirely accurate. To be more specific, exercise was found to increase brain size slightly, but far more important to increase “spatial reasoning.”

This is the ability to recognize patterns, remember phrases, numbers, and so-on. This was discovered by researchers at the Universities of Chicago and Pittsburgh. It is also one of the most important factors to the prevention of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

My mom suffered with dementia the last ten years of her life. But unlike most dementia patients she was fully functional thanks to exercise. She drove and had a mind that was unbelievably sharp right up until an accident injured her beyond the ability to exercise.

After that, she mentally went downhill rapidly. Thankfully, she passed in peace… and she had ten wonderfully active years thanks to her willingness to take up weight training at the age of 71. She eventually walked up to 3 miles per day and trained in the gym 3 days per week. That kept her mind sharp, along with fish oil and N-Acetyl L-Carnitine, a wonderful brain nutrient.

Once again, we see the power of exercise. It increases the QUALITY of your life.

Quantity is no where near as important to me as quality.

One of the best ways to start exercising when you are over 40 is by using the routines covered in “Fit Over 40″. This book profiles 53 different men and women, age 40 to 80, all sharing their workouts, nutrition plans, and mental empowerment techniques.

It is a MUST-HAVE for anyone wanting to begin exercising or improve their level of fitness after the age of 40.

The Author Jon Benson shared this with me, and he gave me permission to share it with you.