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Eat Like a Brazilian to Slim Down

By Margaret Furtado, M.S., R.D. – Posted on Thu, Nov 19, 2009, 10:32 pm PST

Healthy Living and Your Weight
by Margaret Furtado, M.S., R.D. a Yahoo! Health Expert for Nutrition

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It has Great information that we are always trying to drill into people heads in regards to the importance of having strong glute muscles.

Here is the article in its entirety, including information on the author if you wish to contact him in regards to more questions on this topic.

Or of course we can help you develop a properly structured program into your current workouts to improve this important muscle.

Dispelling the Glute Myth

by Bret Contreras
In 1995, my cousin and training partner at the time bought me The Complete Book of Butt and Legs because, in his words, he’d “never met someone so obsessed with training his glutes.”

I pored over that book, and since then I’ve read almost every study, article, and book ever written on the glutes. My bookshelf is loaded with glute and hip extension exercise material, including four extra-large three-ring binders full of glute articles and studies that have been printed and highlighted over the years.

Whether the publication was geared toward bodybuilding, powerlifting, or sport-specific training, if it pertained to the glutes in any way, I read it.

In 2006, I opened up Lifts, a Scottsdale-based fitness studio that specialized in glute training. I developed several brand new glute exercises, which my clients and I believed were much more effective than what most people were doing for their glutes. Lifts quickly became known as the butt-perfecting gym in Scottsdale.

Glute Gauges

Early in 2009, I was trained by Noraxon to use their Myotrace 400 and Clinical Application Software, a system that measures and records the muscular activity of exercises via a process known as electromyography, or EMG.

I’d long suspected that the methods and exercises I developed in my training studio were far more effective than what the typical fitness publications were printing, but after performing thirty straight leg workouts and experiments in my skivvies with wires and electrodes attached to me so I could measure and record the glute, quad, hamstring, and adductor activity of over a hundred different hip extension exercises, it became clear to me that the glutes are the most wrongly-pegged muscle group in fitness.

I tested common and unique bodyweight, dumbbell, band, barbell, apparatus, and machine exercises, and then tested three other individuals with varying anthropometry or body segment lengths to make sure the results I saw weren’t atypical.

Knowing that the fitness population would seek scientific explanation to lend support to my data, I knew what my next step needed to be. Fourteen years after reading the book my cousin bought me on the glutes, I wrote my own glute-book entitled Advanced Techniques in Glutei Maximi Strengthening.

Within its 675 pages, you’ll find pictures and descriptions of over 200 glute exercises, many of which you’ve never seen or tried before, as well as over 700 references and links to other sources. The book dispels many myths surrounding the glutes, “functional training,” and “sport-specific training.” If you’re interested in glute training, this book is a must-read.

The Glute Guy

Recently, a colleague of mine nicknamed me “The Glute Guy,” and it stuck. I’m certain that I’ve done more research on the glutes than any other person on this planet. My research has made me realize two things.

First, the experts don’t know shit about the glutes. Yes, this means all of your favorite authors, professors, trainers, and coaches. Despite the fact that the gluteus maximus muscles are without a doubt the most important muscles in sports and the fact that strength coaches helped popularized “glute activation,” none of them have a good understanding of glute training. Neither do bodybuilders, powerlifters, or physical therapists. They all think they do, but they don’t.

In fact, the experts are so far off the mark that their best glute exercises can only activate half as many fibers as the glute exercises I’m about to show you.

And second, athletes’ glutes are pathetically weak and underpotentialized. Even people who think they have strong glutes almost always have very weak glutes in comparison to how strong they can get through proper training.

Follow the Logic

I expound upon these concepts much more in Advanced Techniques in Glutei Maximi Strengthening, but for this article I’ll be very brief. Some of this might contradict what you’ve read in the past but keep in mind this is coming from “The Glute Guy.”

• The lower gluteus maximus is involved in three distinct actions; hip extension, hip hyperextension, and hip transverse abduction.

• The upper gluteus maximus is involved in five different distinct actions; hip extension, hip hyperextension, hip abduction, hip transverse abduction, and hip external rotation.

• These motions are the most important motions in sports and include sprinting, leaping, cutting from side to side, and twisting.

• The strongest joint action at the hip is hip extension/hyperextension.

• The hip can hyperextend ten degrees with bent legs, twenty degrees with straight legs, and thirty degrees when forcibly pulled back.

• Hip hyperextension is safe and occurs naturally during walking, running, sprinting, grappling, throwing, lunging, and hip flexor stretching.

• Length tension relationships dictate that a muscle contracts best when it’s at resting length, which means that the gluteus maximus muscles contract the hardest from zero to twenty degrees of hyperextension.

• Hip flexor flexibility allows for hip hyperextension and is an absolutely critical component to maximum glute activation; tight hip flexors prevent hip hyperextension and maximum glute activation.

• A vertical jump involves maximal vertical propulsion; whereas a sprint involves maximum horizontal propulsion.

• A sprint activates 234% more mean gluteus maximus muscle than a vertical jump.

• Due to the increased glute activation, sprinters commonly experience “butt-lock;” whereas repetitive vertical jumpers experience “quad-lock.”

• In resistance training, there are two distinct types of hip extension exercises; those that mimic vertical jumping and those that mimic sprinting.

• Hip extension exercises that mimic vertical jumping have vertical or axial directional load vectors and include squats, deadlifts, and static lunges.

• Hip extension exercises that mimic sprinting have horizontal or anteroposterior directional load vectors, involve hip hyperextension, and include reverse hypers, back extensions, hip thrusts, pendulum quadruped hip extensions, and pull throughs.

• Hip extension exercises that mimic jumping will be referred to as hip extension exercises, whereas hip extension exercises that mimic sprinting will be referred to as hip hyperextension exercises.

• The propulsion phase of a vertical jump involves simultaneous hip, knee, and ankle extension, whereas sprinting involves hip hyperextension.

• Hip extension exercises are usually performed while standing.

• Hip hyperextension exercises are usually performed in the supine, prone, or quadruped positions.

• Hip hyperextension exercises can be performed with bent legs or straight legs.

• Straight leg hip hyperextension exercises maximize hamstring contribution.

• Bent leg hip hyperextension exercises place the hamstrings in a shortened state which limits their contribution and maximizes gluteal contribution.

• In order, the hip extension exercises with the highest glute activation are the kneeling squat (67%), deadlift (55%), sumo deadlift (52%) and Zercher squat (45%).

• In order, the hip hyperextension exercises with the highest glute activation are the single leg bent leg reverse hyper (122%), hip thrust (119%), pendulum quadruped hip extension (112%), bent leg reverse hyper (111%).

• Hip abduction, transverse abduction, and external rotation exercises often maximally recruit the upper gluteus maximus muscles to a much greater degree than hip extension or hip hyperextension exercises.

• A well balanced gluteal routine involves hip extension exercises, hip hyperextension exercises, hip abduction exercises, and hip external rotation exercises.

Exercise Progressions

As mentioned earlier, most people think they have strong glutes, but they don’t. They believe this because they think that squats, deadlifts, and lunges are the best glute exercises, and they’ve spent years getting very strong at these. Even though they can make your glutes very sore, squatting, deadlifting, and lunging don’t strengthen the glutes much. They target the quads and erector spinae. Even box squatting, walking lunges, and sumo deadlifts don’t activate much glute in comparison to the exercises below.

If you studied glute activation like I have, you’d be blown away by the data. Most individual’s glutes contract harder during bodyweight glute activation exercises than from one-rep max squats and deadlifts.

This isn’t due to the fact that the individuals don’t know how to use their glutes or don’t adhere to proper exercise form. It’s due to the fact that biomechanically the glutes aren’t maximally involved in squatting, lunging, and deadlifting. They’re only maximally contracted from bent leg hip hyperextension exercises.

Furthermore, just because someone’s glutes are big, it doesn’t mean that they’re strong. In addition to training around three hundred “normal” clients over the past few years, I’ve trained various elite athletes, from NFL players and powerlifters to sprinters and figure models. I taught each of these individuals the exercises listed below, and I almost always had to start them off with their own bodyweight for resistance.

Although one of the powerlifters could do raw squats and deadlifts with over three times his bodyweight, when he first performed hip thrusts, he had to start out with two sets of twenty reps with his own bodyweight. We initially tried using 135 pounds on the hip thrust, which was roughly a third of what he squatted and deadlifted, but he could barely budge the bar.

The NFL players were both 350-pound offensive lineman who’d do hip thrusts for two sets of twenty reps as well. When you weigh 350 pounds, bodyweight exercises can be very productive! Both linemen mentioned that the hip thrust was the best posterior chain exercise they’d ever performed and remarked about how they loved the fact that they didn’t have to wrap their knees or wear a belt to perform the exercise.

The Olympic sprinter had the best relative glute strength of the bunch, easily being able to perform twenty single-leg hip thrusts on his very first workout.

Strength gains for the new exercises come very quickly. I started off using 185 pounds for ten reps on the hip thrust and within a year I could do 405 for five.

The following plan will get your glutes much sexier, stronger, and speedier. Since everyone possesses varying ranges of glute strength, I’m going to provide four phases, which become progressively more challenging and difficult.

If you belong at phase one and start off at phase three, you’ll just end up improving your existing dysfunctional patterns, which will lead to a pulled low back, hamstring, or groin muscle. You’ll have to be the judge as to which phase you start at, but I suggest playing it safe and starting on phase one, spending two to three weeks in each phase.

I also included an array of exercises, some of which can be performed at your local gym or garage gym, and some of which require specialized equipment. I believe that the equipment below should become staples in glute training and sport-specific training, as they effectively train the sprint-vector and maximize glute activation.

Don’t stop performing your squat, lunge, deadlift, and back extensions movements. Do these on your regular leg day and perform two weekly glute workouts on separate days. The workouts will be brief and won’t get you very sore. Always begin each glute workout with a simple warm-up consisting of hip flexor stretches and a couple of bodyweight glute activation exercises.

Phase One: Hip Flexor Flexibility and Glute Activation

You must possess adequate hip flexor flexibility in order to open up the hips and maximally activate the glutes. Furthermore, you must be able to control your own bodyweight and learn how to contract the glutes properly before you begin adding weight. Mark Verstegen, Mike Boyle, Eric Cressey, and Mike Robertson have done an excellent job of discussing the importance of glute activation.

Perform two sets of hip flexor stretches for sixty-second static holds, progressing deeper into the stretch as time ensues.

Pick two exercises and perform two sets of ten reps with a five-second isometric hold up top:

Glute bridge
Quadruped hip extension
Bird dog
Hip thrust
Single-leg glute bridge

Pick one exercise and perform two sets of ten reps with a five-second isometric hold up top:

Lying abduction
Clam
Fire hydrant

Phase Two: Glute Hypertrophy

Now it’s time to progress into more challenging exercises and start packing on some functional glute mass.

Pick two exercises and perform two sets of ten to twenty reps:

Barbell glute bridge
Pendulum quadruped hip extension
Single-leg hip thrust
Weighted bird dog

Pick one exercise and perform two sets of ten to twenty reps:

Band standing abduction
Band seated abduction
Band external rotation

Phase Three: Glute Strength

At last, we’ve reached the maximum strength phase. By this time, you’ll have developed a superior mind-muscle connection and will be able to maximize your glute activation through heavy strength training.

Pick one exercise and perform four sets of five reps:

Barbell hip thrust
Bent-leg reverse hyper
Bent-leg back extension

Phase Four: Glute Power and Speed

Finally, it’s time to test out your new-found glute strength and increased locomotive capacity.

During these sprint sessions, you’ll notice increased gluteal recruitment while running, and you’ll be able to hold the “sprint position” throughout the entire 100-meter race. Make sure to spend about twenty minutes warming up and progressively increase speed as the sets progress.

Perform these workouts five days apart. On your first sprint session, work your way up to four 100-meter sprints at 80% max-speed. On your second sprint session, work your way up to two 100-meter sprints at 90% max-speed. On your third sprinting session, work your way up to one 100-meter sprint at 100% max-speed. Have a buddy bring a stop-watch and see if you can set a personal record.

When you finish with these phases, you can simply mix together your own glute program based on equipment availability and individual exercise preference. After building up strength on these exercises, your workout will never feel right without having at least one maximum glute-strengthener in your routine. The days of just squatting and deadlifting are long gone.

Tips for Special Populations

Bodybuilders

Ronnie Coleman upped the ante for bodybuilders’ glutes when he showed up at the 2003 Mr. Olympia at 293 pounds with huge, shredded glutes. If you’ve seen Ronnie’s videos, you’ll know he loves his heavy squats and deadlifts, as well as his grueling parking lot lunges. I can’t imagine what his glutes would’ve looked like had he done hip thrusts or pendulum quadruped hip extensions.

Bodybuilders are right on the mark with quad training and way off the mark with glute and hamstring training. Their arsenal of exercises is too narrow. Bodybuilders should stay away from sprints, plyos, and one-rep maxes, as the risk-to-reward ratio just isn’t great enough.

A better strategy is to just integrate some of the exercises listed below into your routine for higher reps. If you’re a 300-pound bodybuilder, performing 20 controlled reps with a slight pause up top on the hip thrust with just bodyweight will really tax the glutes. Since the glutes are on average a 68% slow-twitch muscle, they may respond very well to higher reps.

However, there’s also much evidence that shows that since the gluteus maximus is often the largest muscle in the body, it remains dormant during low-intensity activities in an attempt to spare energy for more intense purposes. In this way they are like “sleeping giants”; they only want to be bothered when absolutely necessary.

If you’re a bodybuilder and you need bigger glutes, then you must perform the exercises below. Squats, deadlifts, and lunges aren’t doing it for you. I like Haney Rambod’s FST-7 method where he suggests performing a couple of heavy exercises in the eight to twelve rep range, followed by seven sets of a lighter isolation exercise for eight to twelve reps with shorter rest-times.

I’d suggest performing four sets of heavy hip thrusts followed by seven sets of either an abduction movement like a band abduction or a more targeted movement like a single-leg glute bridge or even a quadruped hip extension with a five-second isometric hold up top.

Many gyms have good glute machines too. These machines can activate the glutes to a much higher degree than typical standing free-weight exercises. Just pin extra weight to the stack if need-be.
Figure Models

TC has alluded to the importance of the “A-shape” for sexy female glutes. While the shape of the glutes are largely genetic, women still need to attempt to preserve the sexy A-shape as much as possible and watch their upper glute to lower glute ratio.

The girls in the “good” category have a sexy A-shape and can perform all types of glute exercises. The girls in the “bad” category have well-developed glutes, but are losing their A-shape due to overdeveloped upper glutes. Their upper glutes are getting too big. These girls should avoid hip hyperextension, abduction, and external rotation exercise and stick to solely hip extension exercises. Although hip extension exercises don’t work the glutes like hip hyperextension exercises do, they focus on the lower glutes and limit upper glute involvement.
Athletes

The glutes can’t get too strong in sports. The stronger they get, the more powerfully they contract in sprinting and the better they protect against low back, knee, hamstring, and groin injuries. Charlie Francis talked about how there were only a few athletes in the world who could maintain “sprint form” in the 100-meter sprint and how sprinters knew they had a bad day if they felt their sprints in their quads.

Over twenty years ago, he was prescribing reverse leg presses as his main glute and hamstring exercise in order to prepare his athletes for the big race. The reverse leg press was like a donkey kick performed while standing backwards facing away from a leg press on a Universal gym. Talk about being years ahead of your time! The reverse leg press is a great exercise, but the hip thrust and pendulum quadruped hip extension are even better.

FAQ

Q: Your research sounds pretty crazy. Is there any existing research to substantiate your claims?

A: Yes, there are, including a study performed by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) in 2006, which showed that a bodyweight quadruped hip extension activated more gluteus maximus muscle than a one-rep max squat. There’s also a study performed by Kearns, et al. which showed that back extensions activated more gluteus maximus muscle than straight-leg deadlifts, and a study performed by researchers at the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital that showed that jogging on a treadmill activated over twice as much gluteus maximus muscle as the Stairmaster. Even walking beat out the Stairmaster.

In Advanced Techniques in Glutei Maximi Strengthening, I explain these studies by exploring and analyzing muscle fiber orientation, load vectors, length-tension relationships, and angular kinematics. In the three studies described above, quadruped hip extensions, back extensions, and treadmill running (all anteroposterior actions) beat out squats, deadlifts, and the Stairmaster (all axial actions).

Q: You’ve been having your clients hip thrust for over two years? It looks pretty dangerous. Is it safe? Have any of your clients injured themselves?

A: Yes, the hip thrust is perfectly safe. In the past three years, I’ve had around ten male clients regularly hip thrust over 365 pounds for ten reps and around ten female clients hip thrust 135 pounds for ten reps. I’ve been hip thrusting 405 to 455 pounds for two year now, and my back has never felt healthier.

In almost three years of prescribing hip thrusts, not a single individual has ever hurt themselves from performing the exercise. Not only do they not lead to lower back injury, they even prevent lower back injury because they maximally strengthen the glutes; the best back-sparing muscle there is.

Why would any movement that focused on targeting the glutes — the strongest muscle in the body — through direct hip extension while keeping the spine in neutral be unsafe?

Q: Ronnie Coleman had the best glutes of all time, and he never did hip thrusts. Neither did Andy Bolton, and he deadlifted more than any man in history. Usain Bolt is the world’s fastest man, and he never did any hip thrusts. What gives?

A: Ronnie’s glutes would have been even bigger from hip thrusts. Andy Bolton could get stronger at his deadlift lockout if he did hip thrusts. And Usain Bolt could get even faster if he performed hip thrusts. They are that good! Expect this exercise to be very popular in time.

Q: Activation exercises were meant to just activate muscles with bodyweight resistance. I don’t think you’re supposed to load them up.

A: You can load any movement in exercise. I agree that you shouldn’t try to load exercises like scapular wall slides, but glute bridges? Come on! We’re talking about the glutes. The powerhouse of the human body!

Q: Those exercises look funny. I don’t want to do them at my gym.

A: You don’t like humping? What’s wrong with you? Just kidding; they are indeed strange looking. I have to confess that when I first started doing these at Powerhouse Gym I got some strange looks. Now I have half the gym doing them. I have people come up to me every day and say, “You’re the guy who taught my friend the hip thrust. He taught me them and I never do a leg workout without them!”

They’re no more awkward than Romanian deadlifts or hip adductions, but we’ve gotten desensitized to them. In time, they won’t look so awkward. If you’re okay with settling for half your possible glute activation, then don’t do them. But if you want maximum glute strength, sprinting speed, low back health, and sex-appeal, then you better start thrusting.

Q: Are you sure that lunges aren’t the best glute exercise? Every time I do them I can barely sit down for a week.

A: Yes, I tested them many times on myself and on several other people to. They sure make the glute-ham tie-in sore, but they don’t make the upper glutes sore, nor do they cause a burn or a pump in the glutes like the exercises listed above. Contrary to popular opinion, they only get glute activation to at most 30% of MVC, while others can get glute activation to over 120%.

Hip Flexor Stretch

Glute Bridge

Single-leg Glute Bridge

Bird Dog

Hip Thrust

Lying Abduction

Clam

Fire Hydrant

Barbell Glute Bridge

Pendulum Quadruped Hip Extension

Single-leg Hip Thrust

Weighted Bird Dog

Band Standing Abduction

Band Seated Abduction

Band External Rotation

Barbell Hip Thrust

Bent-leg Reverse Hyper

Bent-leg Back Extension

What do probiotics do?

Did you know that there are 20 times more bacteria than cells in your body? In fact, at any one time, you have more bacteria in your body than the total number of people who have ever lived on the planet. So the next time you step on the bathroom scale, you need to remember that 1 pound of that weight is not you at all, but the billions of bugs that live in your gut. This may sound alarming, but many of these organisms are crucial to good health.

A probiotic is an organism which contributes to the health and balance of the intestinal tract. A probiotic is also referred to as the “friendly”, “beneficial”, or “good” bacteria which when ingested acts to maintain a healthy intestinal tract and help fight illness and disease.

A healthy lower intestine should contain at least 85% friendly bacteria to prevent the over colonization of disease causing micro-organisms like E. coli and salmonella. Our colon can maintain its health with 15% unfriendly bacteria, if the body contains at least 85% probiotic friendly bacteria. Most people have this percentage reversed.

The word “Probiotic” simply means “for life” which explains why these nutrients are so important. But if you want the proper scientific definition of a Probiotic here it is:

“A live microbial feed supplement, which beneficially affects the host by improving its intestinal microbial balance”

New research is establishing how important the supplementation of probiotics can be for a variety of conditions. Probiotics enhance the immune system by favorably altering the gut micro-ecology and preventing unfriendly organisms from gaining a foothold in the body. They prevent the overgrowth of yeast and fungus and produce substances that can lower cholesterol.

Probiotics are widely recommended for the treatment of Candida – a fungal infection – because they establish large, healthy populations of friendly bacteria that compete with the Candida that is trying to take up residence in the intestine. Probiotics are also essential in the treatment and prevention of thrush, vaginal yeast infections, and athlete’s foot. Good health depends fundamentally upon the more than 400 types of friendly, symbiotic bacteria that inhabit the digestive tract.

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Why Do We Need Probiotics?

Two of the most damaging substances to the delicate intestinal flora balance are chlorine and sodium fluoride, present in most treated city water, and thus also present in most beverages which one gets at restaurants. The drinking of alcoholic beverages also contributes to the destruction of the intestinal flora. Medical antibiotics, birth control pills and many other allopathic drugs cause damage to the intestinal flora and to the tissue in the intestinal wall.

Poor eating habits, chlorinated drinking water, stress and disease and the use of antibiotics in food production as well as in medical treatments can wreak havoc in the gastrointestinal tract by destroying good bacteria and allowing undesirable bacteria to multiply. When the ratio of good bacteria to bad is lowered, problems begin to arise such as excessive gas, bloating, constipation, intestinal toxicity and poor absorption of nutrients.

While it’s true that non-beneficial bacteria are naturally occurring in the intestinal tract, problems begin when their growth goes unchecked and probiotics play an especially important role in keeping in check the pathogenic bacteria that cause disease.

A good probiotic supplement will contain millions and millions of live bacteria to bolster and replenish levels of the health promoting good bugs in your digestive tract. Once there, these probiotic reinforcements join forces with the existing friendly bacteria to help inhibit the growth of more harmful microbes.

This, in turn, will help improve the digestion and absorption of your food and stimulate and support the immune system.

Here’s a summary of what probiotics can do:

• Inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria that cause digestive stress
• Improve digestion of food and absorption of vitamins
• Stimulate the body’s natural defence mechanism – the immune system
• Help make vitamins needed by the body

Why are probiotics supplements necessary?

The answer is, that while it is true that certain foods – especially live yogurt, Japanese Miso, Tempeh and some cheeses have a probiotic action in the gut, you can never be sure what strain of bacteria you are eating or exactly how much is contained in these foods. And there is no way of knowing just how many of those replacement bacteria are going to survive and make it all the way through the acidic and bug-killing environment of the stomach to the colon.

There are other foods, such as bananas, garlic and onions, which can also help repopulate levels of the good bacteria in the intestine. But we do not yet know how many you need to eat for the best results and, you can only eat so much garlic in a day!

Selecting a good probiotics supplement

The single most important thing you need to remember, is that even if all probiotics products contain what they promise on the label (and it appears that, according to clinical tests, many do not), only those probiotics which have a special coating to protect them as they pass through the stomach and small intestine will really hit the spot.

This is because the stomach is a sterile and acidic environment and has been designed to kill off bugs – the good ones along with the bad. And if the good bugs cannot get to the large colon – that part of the intestine where they are most needed – then you will not get the full benefit.

One way around this problem is to make tablets that are “enteric-coated.” This means the tablets are coated with a special protective layer to ensure the microbes will survive en route through the stomach and will get to the lower part of the intestine. This is where levels of existing bacteria, good and bad, are at their highest.

We currently recomend to our clients  that they start with some type of probiotic to start helping flush their system of the bad stuff! You can ask us for advice on which one we currently use!

This simply means the bodies ability to properly use and discard what it does not need from our body, including the waste products from our metabolism.

If we have assaulted our body with a bad diet for years, how can we realisticly expect our body as to be so kind to lose bodyfat at a drop of a hat and few minor changes to our activity level and maybe not eating out as much???

Here is an excelent article on the subject, hope you like it:

http://www.naturalnews.com/z026965_enzymes_food_health.html

True weight loss can only come through an approach aimed at healing the whole body. The body stores fat when it lacks nourishment and is under stress, so it is vital to address these issues when seeking permanent, healthy weight loss. An important element of this approach is natural enzymes. When there is a lack of enzymes, the body cannot utilize the nutrients it needs. This triggers fat storage and stimulates the appetite, causing weight gain and food cravings.

Although enzymes are often associated with digestion, this is not their only function. Enzymes are complex proteins that facilitate hundreds of activities throughout the body. They are responsible for the use of vitamins and minerals, the regulation of hormones, and the health of the immune system. Enzymes also play an important role in detoxification, a vital component of weight loss. Even basic activities like breathing and talking rely on the presence of metabolic enzymes.

It’s important to understand that most of society no longer functions in a way that’s conducive to proper enzyme and digestive function. We eat mostly cooked food, many times processed under high heat. Heat destroys enzymes – dry heat at 150 degrees Fahrenheit and wet heat at 118 degrees Fahrenheit. We are also subject to extreme amounts of environmental and emotional stress, which further depletes our bodies of the nutrients we need.

Frequent digestive problems such as indigestion, heartburn, acid reflux and irritable bowl syndrome (IBS) are all signs that your digestive system is under too much stress. Enzymes can help relieve all of these issues, as well as problems with fatigue, insomnia, joint pain and much more. The longer you have spent consuming food void of enzymes, the more it will take for your body to recover from this depletion, but with time and dedication it is possible.

It helps to eat some kind of raw food with each meal to provide the body with natural enzymes needed for digestion. Foods that are particularly rich in live enzymes are pineapple, avocado, grapes, papaya, and soaked or sprouted nuts and seeds. The quality of your food directly influences the quality and quantity of enzymes you consume. Commercially-grown produce is a poor sources of enzymes. Maximize your enzyme intake with organic, locally-grown fresh foods.

While digestive enzyme supplements are far from magic weight loss pills, they are a very useful tool that will help you achieve total body health over a period of time. A high-quality general digestive supplement is beneficial to almost everyone. Additional supplementation with enzymes like lipase and protease (typically found in pancreatin combinations) may further encourage fat loss through the break down of fat stores. Lipase specifically helps break down and utilize fats, while protease is used to break down proteins and eliminate toxins.

As you incorporate raw foods rich in enzymes and quality enzyme supplements into your diet, it may take several weeks for your body to adjust. During this time it’s not unusual to experience varying appetite and energy levels. This happens because your body is adjusting to finally being nourished with food and cleansed from the build up of toxins. It’s important to be patient and let your body heal. This will pave the way for permanent, healthy weight loss.

Next article will be on probiotics!!!

We highly recomend you read it!

Glute Activation Exercises are included as they a very important part to having a stable Lumbo-Pelvic Hip Complex.

Most Programs do not emphasize Core Stabilization and therefore as people advance to more progressive programs of training they end up straining their back muscles, overly active abdominal and hip flexor muscles weaken the posterior chain of movement and cause hypo active gluteus muscles and strained lower back muscles.

Here is the PDF handout:

Phase 1 Gluteus Strengthening Exercises

Video:

This example workout includes the use of: dumbbells, physio ball, mat, barbell plates and a lot of energy!

Here is the handout:

Full Body Routine Program pdf.

Video:

San Diego Hardcore Fit

Anna Cervantes- Personal Trainer/ Figure Competitor

David Garate- Functional Exercise Personal Trainer

It is important to go thru cycles to allow your body time to adapt to the exercise stimulus that you are subjecting it to and rest and your nervous system to catch up to the stimulus.

This means that your body will get tired from the same stimulus and then boredom will set in, and this mean results will be reduced.

If you find that you have been stuck for a while in the same spot, be it fitness level, physical appearance, strength, it is time to review your periodization.

Here is the explanation taken from:

http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/periodization.html

Periodization: Latest Studies and Practical Applications
By Christopher C. Frankel and Len Kravitz, Ph.D.

Introduction
Periodization is an organized approach to training that involves progressive cycling of various aspects of a training program during a specific period of time. The roots of periodization come from Hans Selye’s model, known as the General Adaptation Syndrome, which has been used by the athletic community since the late 1950s (Fleck, 1999). Selye identified a source of biological stress referred to as eustress, which denotes beneficial muscular strength and growth, and a distress state, which is stress that can lead to tissue damage, disease, and death. Periodization is most widely used in resistance program design to avoid over-training and to systematically alternate high loads of training with decreased loading phases to improve components of muscular fitness (e.g. strength, strength-speed, and strength-endurance). This system of training is typically divided up into three types of cycles: microcycle, mesocycle, and macrocycle. The microcycle is generally up to 7 days. The mesocycle may be anywhere from 2 weeks to a few months and can further be classified into preparation, competition, peaking, and transition phases. The macrocycle refers to the overall training period, usually representing a year. This article will discuss the efficacy of periodization and present some of the current issues from recent research.

Theory and Research
The research has focused primarily on the variation in training volume (total repetitions per workout or total repetitions x mass lifted) and exercise intensity (%1RM). While the underlying mechanisms that explain the differences between periodized and non-periodized programs remains to be fully investigated and explained (Fleck 1999), the effects on neural adaptations and the avoidance of overtraining are suggested as possible factors (Fleck 1999, Stone 1999 a & b).

Most comparative studies have demonstrated the superiority of periodized over non-periodized programs in terms of greater changes in strength, body composition, and motor performance (Fleck 1999).
In these investigations, programs were evaluated based on changes in strength and/or power-related measures such as 1 RM bench, 1 RM squat,vertical jump power and height, and cycling sprint performance. The studies ranged in duration from seven to 24 weeks. When summarized, these studies demonstrate that even over a relatively short period of time (the length of a mesocycle), significantly greater improvements can be realized using systematic variation in training volume and intensity compared to linear programs using constant sets and reps (i.e., 3 sets of 10 repetitions).
In two separate studies, groups using a one-set-to-failure program were compared to other groups using periodized training principals.
Both methods resulted in improvements in strength and power measures over the training period. However, the periodized groups demonstrated significantly greater increases than did subjects in the single set groups (Fleck 1999). An obvious concern in the interpretation of these results is the greater amount of training volume (reps, sets, and total mass lifted) in the periodized programs, which may account for the differences in performance gains between the groups. However, these findings may furnish evidence for the use of periodized, multiple set, programs over single set programs, which continues to be an ongoing debate among fitness professionals.
To address the influence of overall training volume, multiple set linear programs (constant reps and sets) have been compared to periodized programs (decreased volume-increased intensity with time). In the majority of cases, periodization based programs still provided significantly greater improvements in performance measures (Fleck 1999, Stone 1999a, Stone 1999b). Therefore, there is evidence to support the idea that appropriate manipulation of volume and intensity, over and above just increases in total training volume alone, is an important factor in optimizing strength training effects.

Periodization, Variation, Periodization Models
Periodization, as it has been defined, refers to specific methods of manipulating training variables to provide variation in volume and intensity. While variation itself may play an important role in optimizing strength-related improvements, not all programs that include a variation component will provide similar results (Stone 1999a). In other words, random variations in training variables may not produce the desired results, lending credence to the adage “Fail to plan—plan to fail.”

Traditional models of periodization describes a progression from high volume and low-intensity work towards decreasing volume and increasing intensity during the different cycles. Other periodization programs have been developed and have potential advantages over non-periodized approaches. A reduction in volume and an increase in intensity in steps during the training cycle is referred to as stepwise periodization. In the overreaching periodization model there is periodic short term (1-2 week) increase in volume or intensity followed by a return to normal training (Stone 1999b). During undulating periodization, training volume and intensity are increased and decreased on a regular basis, but not in the general pattern of always increasing intensity and decreasing volume as the training period progresses (Fleck 1999).

Practical Considerations
Coaches and athletes have long been aware of the benefit of changing the training stimulus at regular, or even irregular intervals. Tapering training volume prior to competition, planned periods of active rest, and
interspersing power and strength workouts to challenge different energy systems are all attempts to exploit the General Adaptation Syndrome. In the “black box” model of performance are qualitative variables such as motivation, adherence, and compliance which not be underestimated as determining factors in the success of any program. For instance, Stone et al. (1999b) describe that the attrition and noncompliance rate of their constant reps group was attributable to the monotony and boredom of this type of training. There may be psychological factors that additionally influence the quality and quantity of work performed during training.While the body of research pertaining to periodization focuses on the effect of varying volume and exercise intensity, it should be clear that these are not the only variables that determine training adaptations.

Other influential components of any program include
(1) choice of exercises
(2) order of exercises
(3) resistance or load
(4) number of sets per exercise
(5) number of exercises per muscle group
(6) repetition range
(7) type of contraction
(8) speed of movement
(9) rest periods between sets
(10) rest periods between training sessions, and
(11) nutritional status.
Further research remains to be conducted and evaluated. However, for more advanced resistance training designs, the evidence appears to strongly suggest utilizing a periodized approach as compared to constant repetition/set type programs.

TRAINING MODELS
NONPERIODIZED MODELS
Linear: Volume (reps x sets) remains constant during training period. Intensity increases with load progression.

Random Variation: Volume and/or intensity change randomly, with no consideration other than to introduce variation into the program.

PERIODIZED MODELS
Traditional: Volume and intensity are systematically manipulated. Training cycle begins with a high-volume, low-intensity profile, then progresses to low volume, high intensity over time.

Step wise: Like the traditional model, intensity increases and volume decreases during the training period. Volume is decreased during the training period. Volume is decreased in a stepwise fashion: Repetitions are reduced from eight to five, five to three, and so forth, at specific time intervals.

Undulating: Training volume and intensity increase and decrease on a regular basis: but they do not follow the traditional pattern of increasing intensity and decreasing volume as the mesocycle progresses (Fleck 1999).

Overreaching: Volume or intensity is increased for a short period of time (one to two weeks), followed by a return to “normal” training. This method is use primarily with advanced strength trained athletes.

Sample Periodization Model by Muscle Fiber Type

Articles Reviewed:
Fleck, S. J. (1999). Periodized strength training: A critical review. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 13, 82-89.

Stone, M. H., O’Bryant, H. S., Schilling, B. K., Johnson, R. L., Pierce, K.C., Haff, G. G., and Stone, M. (1999). Periodization: Effects of manipulating volume and intensity. Part 2. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 21(3), 54-60.

Stone, M. H., O’Bryant, H. S., Schilling, B. K., Johnson, R. L., Pierce, K.C., Haff, G. G., and Stone, M. (1999). Periodization: Effects of manipulating volume and intensity. Part 1. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 21(3), 54-60.

Here is what happens to neurons exposed to Mercury.

Here is a little information on this little known disease that seems to be very common today for a lot of people, but they are not aware of what is causing their symptoms.

Gluten-free Diet

GENERAL INFORMATION:

What is a gluten-free diet?

• Gluten is a general name for storage proteins found in wheat, rye, barley, and oats. Gluten may cause health problems for some people. A gluten-free diet is a diet including foods and drinks that do not contain gluten.
• A diet without gluten should be followed if you have celiac (SE-le-ak) disease, or dermatitis herpetiformis (her-pet-i-FORM-is). Dermatitis herpetiformis is a skin condition that is also called DH. A gluten-free diet should also be followed if you are allergic (al-ER-jik) to wheat. People who need this diet to treat a medical condition usually need to follow it for their whole lives.
• With celiac disease, eating too much gluten may cause you to have diarrhea and stomach pain. You may also be very sad most of time, or become angry easily. It is possible for you to have celiac disease but have no symptoms. Even so, you are still at risk for medical problems.
• With DH, you may have very itchy rashes which may blister. These symptoms may come and go, but you should still follow a gluten-free diet all of the time. Following this diet may decrease the amount of medicine that you need to take for DH.

What can I do to make a gluten-free diet part of my lifestyle?

• Changing what you eat and drink may be hard at first. Think of these changes as “lifestyle” changes, not just “diet” changes. You may need to make these changes part of your daily routine. Following a gluten-free diet may help you feel better.
• Choose a variety of items on this diet so that you do not get tired of having the same items every day. Keep a list of items allowed on this diet in your kitchen to remind you about the diet.
• Carry a list of items allowed on this diet with you to remind you about the diet when you are away from home. Tell your family or friends about this diet so that they can remind you about the diet.
• Ask your caregiver, a dietitian (di-e-TISH-an), or a nutritionist (noo-TRI-shun-ist) any questions you may have about your diet plan. A dietitian or nutritionist works with you to find the right diet plan for you. Dietitians and nutritionists can also help to make your new diet a regular part of your life.
• Always read the ingredient labels on products before buying any packaged food. Gluten is found in many foods and drinks. It may not be clear which foods contain gluten. As a general rule, avoid all foods that contain wheat or the wheat-related grains. This includes spelt, triticale, and kamut. You will also need to avoid foods and drinks with rye, barley, and possibly oats. You will need to avoid eating many grain, pasta, and cereal products, and many processed foods. Even while following these guidelines, a gluten-free diet can still be well-balanced, and contain a variety of foods.
• At first, it may take more time to shop for groceries, and plan and prepare meals. Over time, you will learn what products to buy for a gluten-free diet. For more information about a gluten-free diet, you may want to contact the following:
  • Celiac Disease Foundation
    13251 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 1
    Studio City, CA 91604
    Phone: 1-818-990-2354
    Web Address: http://www.celiac.org
  • Canadian Celiac Foundation
    190 Brittania Rd. East
    Mississauga, ON L4Z 1W6
    Phone: 1-905-507-6203
    Web Address: www.celiac.ca

What should I avoid eating and drinking while on a gluten-free diet?

• Breads and starches:
  • Bread crumbs.
  • Cereals, including muesli, oatmeal, farina, and other hot cereals.
  • Couscous.
  • Crackers, and trail mixes with small crackers.
  • Packaged rice and noodle mixes.
  • Pretzels.
  • Some rice cakes, rice crackers, and popcorn cakes.
  • Wheat or flour tortillas.
  • Avoid all breads, cereals, pastas, baked items, and mixes that contain these grains or ingredients:
    • Barley, bulgar.
    • Cereals with added malt extract and malt flavoring, such as Cheerios™.
    • Wheat flours, including white flour, gluten flour, graham flour, high protein flour, and pastry flour.
    • Gluten, vital gluten.
    • Kamut.
    • Oats, oat bran.
    • Rye.
    • Semolina.
    • Spelt.
    • Triticale.
    • Wheat bran or flour, wheatgerm, or unnamed starch.
    • Wheat flours, including white flour, durum flour, gluten flour, graham flour, high protein flour, and pastry flour.
• Dairy Foods:
  • Chocolate drinks, hot cocoa mixes, and chocolate milk.
  • Malted milk drinks.
  • Processed cheeses.
  • Some puddings, ice creams, frozen and flavored yogurts.
• Fruits and vegetables:
  • Baby food fruits with starch added.
  • Breaded vegetables.
  • Cream soups or vegetables with flour.
  • Fruit jams, jellies, sauces, spreads, or syrups with thickeners.
  • Fruit pies, pastries, and cobblers made with any of the grains listed in the breads and starches section.
  • Some French fried potatoes (especially those in restaurants), and flavored potato chips.
• Meat and other protein sources:
  • Breaded meat, fish, or poultry.
  • Canned baked beans.
  • Casseroles made with flour or pasta.
  • Chicken, turkey, or other deli meats and roasts made with processed vegetable protein.
  • Corned beef.
  • Foods with macaroni, noodles, or pastas made from types of flour listed in the breads and starches section.
  • Imitation seafood, imitation bacon.
  • Meat dishes that include flours listed in the breads and starches section, such as meatloaf, Swiss steak, or meatballs.
  • Meats or meat dishes containing soup base or bouillon made with certain ingredients (in the Checklist for the Patient section).
  • Packaged meats made with flour (such as cold cuts, lunch meats, hot dogs, sandwich spreads, pates, sausages, canned or imitation meats).
• Fats, soups, sauces, and seasonings:
  • Any soup made with noodles.
  • Certain salad dressings, such as malt vinegar. Read the label before buying the product.
  • Chip dips.
  • Gravies and sauces made with flour.
  • Most canned and dry soup mixes, as well as soup bases or bouillon mixes with yeast or vegetable protein.
  • Rice syrup.
  • Seasoning mixes.
  • Some brands of chili sauce and steak sauce.
  • Soy sauce made with meat.
• Desserts:
  • All cookies, pies, pastries, and cakes made with any type of flour listed in the breads and starches section.
  • Fruit pies thickened with flour.
  • Ice cream and ice cream cones.
  • Licorice and jelly beans.
• Other:
  • Additives, preservatives, and stabilizers found in processed foods, medicines and mouthwash.
  • Beer, ale, and malt liquor.
  • Cereal beverages (Postum™, Ovaltine™).
  • Certain imported foods. Imported foods labeled “gluten-free” may still contain wheat starch.
  • Flavored coffees.
  • Instant coffee made with wheat.
  • Medicines that contain gluten. Ask your caregiver if any medicine that you are taking contains gluten before taking it. Vitamins may also contain gluten.
  • Non-dairy creamers.
  • Pickled foods.
  • Prepared mustard.
  • Some instant natural beverages.
  • Some spice blends such as curry powder, ground pepper mixes, and herb seasonings.
  • Sweets and candies made with certain ingredients (in the Checklist for the Patient).

Checklist for the Patient: Take this list with you when you shop. Look for products with “gluten-free” written on the label. It may not be clear what products contain gluten. This list contains items to look for when reading food and drink labels. Avoid buying products that have one or more of these ingredients:

• __ Caramel flavoring, or non-United States manufactured caramel coloring.
• __ Cereal extract or additive.
• __ Cereal protein.
• __ Edible starch or wheat starch.
• __ Emulsifiers.
• __ Flour.
• __ Fillers.
• __ Hydrolyzed, hydrogenated, or texturized vegetable or plant protein (HVP or HPP).
• __ Dextrin.
• __ Malt, malt flavoring, or malt extract.
• __ Mono-glycerides or di-glycerides.
• __ Stabilizers, such as gluten stabilizers.
• __ Thickeners, such as modified food starch.
• __ Vegetable gum or protein, such as oat gum.

What can I eat and drink while on a gluten-free diet?

• On a gluten-free diet, it is very important to read the ingredient label on packaged foods before buying the product. Less-processed foods or things you make yourself should be safer to eat than packaged foods. While oats were not included in a gluten-free diet in the past, newer research finds that oats may be safe on this diet. Ask your caregiver about adding oats to your diet.
• Breads, cereals, pasta, and baked items made with potato, rice, soy and bean flour may be eaten on a gluten-free diet. Some gluten-free cereals include Arrowhead Mills Corn Flakes™, and Health Valley Rice Crunch-Ems™. Products with garbanzo, potato, rice, soy, and tapioca flour may be eaten. Foods made with nut flour and millet may also be eaten.
• Brown, white, and wild rice without sauces may be included in a gluten-free diet. Rice products, such as rice cakes, rice crackers, and puffed rice may also be eaten. Rice cereals, cream of rice cereal, and rice polish may be eaten. Corn products, such as cornmeal, corn flour, corn tortillas, or corn cereals may be included in a gluten-free diet. Popcorn and popcorn cakes may also be eaten if they do not contain any gluten ingredients.
• Ingredients such as corn starch and potato starch are also OK when selecting foods. Gluten-free flours, baking mixes, and baked foods may be selected and included in this diet. Arrowroot powder, amaranth, buckwheat, hominy, quinoa, and tapioca are also allowed on a gluten-free diet.
• Plain meat, fish, fruits and vegetables are safe to eat while following this diet. Choose fresh, frozen, or canned meat, fish, fruits and vegetables. For packaged items, choose foods that do not have ingredients listed on the Checklist of ingredients to avoid.
• Ketchup, distilled vinegar, and some mustards are safe to include with meals. Ingredients such as maltodextrin and soy sauce that is labeled “gluten-free” may also be included. Caramel coloring made in the United States, and most syrups and jellies may be included in a gluten-free diet. Some chocolate drinks may also be enjoyed. Read labels on these items to make sure they can be included in your diet.
• Over time, you may learn how to prepare a variety of enjoyable and healthy meals and snacks. To learn more about recipes for a gluten-free diet and order gluten-free products, you may contact the following:
  • Celiac Sprue Association
    P.O. Box 31700
    Omaha, NE 68131
    Phone: 1-402-558-0600
    Web Address: http://www.csaceliacs.org

What other diet guidelines should I follow?

• When you eat away from home, ask the waiter, chef or host how the foods and drinks that you are about to eat are prepared. Take a list of the ingredients, foods, and drinks not allowed on a gluten-free diet. Ask if any of these ingredients, foods or drinks are in the meal. If they are, ask for other foods and drinks that are OK to have while on a gluten-free diet.
• Call your caregiver if you have questions or concerns about your illness, medicine, or a gluten-free diet.

Sample diet for one day:

• Early morning snack: Banana.
• Breakfast: Soft boiled eggs, gluten-free toast with butter, milk.
• Morning snack: Gluten-free rice cakes.
• Mid-day meal: Tuna salad with tomato and lettuce. Apple.
• Afternoon snack: Carrot sticks.
• Evening meal: Broiled chicken, baked potato, green beans. Baked apple.
• Evening snack: Gluten-free rice crackers and sliced Swiss cheese.

Risks:

• With celiac disease, eating too much gluten may cause you to have bloating, diarrhea and stomach pain. You may also be very sad most of time, or become angry easily. Your teeth may lose their white color. Eating gluten will cause problems in your small intestine (bowel). This may make you unable to get the nutrition your body needs, even while following a healthy diet. There may be weight loss, and children may not grow or develop correctly.
• Following a gluten-free diet when you have celiac disease may stop your symptoms. It may also heal bowel problems, and stop more bowel problems from developing. You may feel better, and healing may start within days of starting the diet. Some people with celiac disease will not improve even if a gluten-free diet is carefully followed. This is because their intestines are too damaged and are unable to heal. You may need to have other treatments, and take medicines to help treat celiac disease.
• People with DH often have the same intestine damage as those with celiac disease, but not the same symptoms. People with DH who do not follow a gluten-free diet may have a very itchy, blistering skin condition.
• If you are allergic (al-ER-jik) to wheat and do not follow a gluten-free diet, you may have an allergic reaction. This may include a rash, sneezing, watery eyes and nose, itching, swelling and hives. This may lead to trouble breathing and unconsciousness (unable to be awakened from sleep). The symptoms may begin minutes or hours after eating wheat products, and they may lead to death.

San Diego Hardcore Fit Note:

Please Keep in Mind That These Articles Are Not Meant to Scare But to Create Awareness

In Today’s Society The Abundant Food Has It’s Price and This Means Cheap Sugar, Preservatives And Additives to Give Color and Taste!

Nitrates May Be Environmental Trigger For Alzheimer’s, Diabetes And Parkinson’s Disease

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Nitrites and nitrates belong to a class of chemical compounds that have been found to be harmful to humans and animals. They are found in many food products, including fried bacon, cured meats and cheese products as well as beer and water. Exposure also occurs through manufacturing and processing of rubber and latex products, as well as fertilizers, pesticides and cosmetics. (Credit: iStockphoto/Lauri Patterson)

ScienceDaily (July 6, 2009) — A new study by researchers at Rhode Island Hospital have found a substantial link between increased levels of nitrates in our environment and food with increased deaths from diseases, including Alzheimer’s, diabetes mellitus and Parkinson’s. The study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Led by Suzanne de la Monte, MD, MPH, of Rhode Island Hospital, researchers studied the trends in mortality rates due to diseases that are associated with aging, such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes and cerebrovascular disease, as well as HIV. They found strong parallels between age adjusted increases in death rate from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and diabetes and the progressive increases in human exposure to nitrates, nitrites and nitrosamines through processed and preserved foods as well as fertilizers. Other diseases including HIV-AIDS, cerebrovascular disease, and leukemia did not exhibit those trends. De la Monte and the authors propose that the increase in exposure plays a critical role in the cause, development and effects of the pandemic of these insulin-resistant diseases.

De la Monte, who is also a professor of pathology and lab medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, says, “We have become a ‘nitrosamine generation.’ In essence, we have moved to a diet that is rich in amines and nitrates, which lead to increased nitrosamine production. We receive increased exposure through the abundant use of nitrate-containing fertilizers for agriculture.” She continues, “Not only do we consume them in processed foods, but they get into our food supply by leeching from the soil and contaminating water supplies used for crop irrigation, food processing and drinking.”

Nitrites and nitrates belong to a class of chemical compounds that have been found to be harmful to humans and animals. More than 90 percent of these compounds that have been tested have been determined to be carcinogenic in various organs. They are found in many food products, including fried bacon, cured meats and cheese products as well as beer and water. Exposure also occurs through manufacturing and processing of rubber and latex products, as well as fertilizers, pesticides and cosmetics.

Nitrosamines are formed by a chemical reaction between nitrites or other proteins. Sodium nitrite is deliberately added to meat and fish to prevent toxin production; it is also used to preserve, color and flavor meats. Ground beef, cured meats and bacon in particular contain abundant amounts of amines due to their high protein content. Because of the significant levels of added nitrates and nitrites, nitrosamines are nearly always detectable in these foods. Nitrosamines are also easily generated under strong acid conditions, such as in the stomach, or at high temperatures associated with frying or flame broiling. Reducing sodium nitrite content reduces nitrosamine formation in foods.

Nitrosamines basically become highly reactive at the cellular level, which then alters gene expression and causes DNA damage. The researchers note that the role of nitrosamines has been well-studied, and their role as a carcinogen has been fully documented. The investigators propose that the cellular alterations that occur as a result of nitrosamine exposure are fundamentally similar to those that occur with aging, as well as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

De la Monte comments, “All of these diseases are associated with increased insulin resistance and DNA damage. Their prevalence rates have all increased radically over the past several decades and show no sign of plateau. Because there has been a relatively short time interval associated with the dramatic shift in disease incidence and prevalence rates, we believe this is due to exposure-related rather than genetic etiologies.”

The researchers recognize that an increase in death rates is anticipated in higher age groups. Yet when the researchers compared mortality from Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease among 75 to 84 year olds from 1968 to 2005, the death rates increased much more dramatically than for cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease, which are also aging-associated. For example, in Alzheimer’s patients, the death rate increased 150-fold, from 0 deaths to more than 150 deaths per 100,000. Parkinson’s disease death rates also increased across all age groups. However, mortality rates from cerebrovascular disease in the same age group declined, even though this is a disease associated with aging as well.

De la Monte notes, “Because of the similar trending in nearly all age groups within each disease category, this indicates that these overall trends are not due to an aging population. This relatively short time interval for such dramatic increases in death rates associated with these diseases is more consistent with exposure-related causes rather than genetic changes.” She also comments, “Moreover, the strikingly higher and climbing mortality rates in older age brackets suggest that aging and/or longer durations of exposure have greater impacts on progression and severity of these diseases.”

The researchers graphed and analyzed mortality rates, and compared them with increasing age for each disease. They then studied United States population growth, annual use and consumption of nitrite-containing fertilizers, annual sales at popular fast food chains, and sales for a major meat processing company, as well as consumption of grain and consumption of watermelon and cantaloupe (the melons were used as a control since they are not typically associated with nitrate or nitrite exposure).

The findings indicate that while nitrogen-containing fertilizer consumption increased by 230 percent between 1955 and 2005, its usage doubled between 1960 and 1980, which just precedes the insulin-resistant epidemics the researchers found. They also found that sales from the fast food chain and the meat processing company increased more than 8-fold from 1970 to 2005, and grain consumption increased 5-fold.

The authors state that the time course of the increased prevalence rates of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and diabetes cannot be explained on the basis of gene mutations. They instead mirror the classical trends of exposure-related disease. Because nitrosamines produce biochemical changes within cells and tissues, it is conceivable that chronic exposure to low levels of nitrites and nitrosamines through processed foods, water and fertilizers is responsible for the current epidemics of these diseases and the increasing mortality rates associated with them.

De la Monte states, “If this hypothesis is correct, potential solutions include eliminating the use of nitrites and nitrates in food processing, preservation and agriculture; taking steps to prevent the formation of nitrosamines and employing safe and effective measures to detoxify food and water before human consumption.”

Other researchers involved in the study with de la Monte include Alexander Neusner, Jennifer Chu and Margot Lawton, from the departments of pathology, neurology and medicine at Rhode Island Hospital and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

The study was funded through grants from the National Institutes of Health. Two subsequent papers have been accepted for publication in the near future that demonstrate experimentally that low levels of nitrosamine exposure cause neurodegeneration, NASH and diabetes.

1. De la Monte, Suzanne M., Alexander Neusner, Jennifer Chu and Margot Lawton. Epidemilogical Trends Strongly Suggest Exposures as Etiologic Agents in the Pathogenesis of Sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease, Diabetes Mellitus, and Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 17:3 (July 2009) pp 519-529

http://Ultrawellness.com

I have kept the links active for your convenience.

Could something as simple as a quick and easy blood test save your life?

Absolutely.

It is called a C-reactive protein test, and it measures the degree of HIDDEN inflammation in your body.

Finding out whether or not you are suffering from hidden inflammation is critical, because almost every modern disease is caused or affected by it.

If your immune system and its ability to quell inflammation in your body are impaired, watch out. You are headed toward illness and premature aging.

Fortunately, addressing the causes of inflammation and learning how to live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle can dramatically improve your health.

Today, I am going to review what the primary causes of inflammation are and give you a simple, 7-step approach that will help you cool the fires raging out of control in your body.

Cooling off Inflammation is Key #3 to UltraWellness and in this blog — the third in this 7-part series on the 7 keys to UltraWellness — I am going to teach you how to do just that.

The first step is to understand what inflammation is and why it can become so dangerous.

Inflammation: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Everyone who has had a sore throat, rash, hives, or a sprained ankle knows about inflammation. These are normal and appropriate responses of the immune — your body’s defense system — to infection and trauma.

This kind of inflammation is good. We need it to survive — to help us determine friend from foe.

The trouble occurs when that defense system runs out of control, like a rebel army bent on destroying its own country.

Many of us are familiar with an overactive immune response and too much inflammation. It results in common conditions like allergies, rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune disease, and asthma. This is bad inflammation, and if it is left unchecked it can become downright ugly.

What few people understand is that hidden inflammation run amok is at the root of all chronic illness we experience — conditions like heart disease, obesity, diabetes, dementia, depression, cancer, and even autism.

A study of a generally “healthy” elderly population found that those with the highest levels of C-reactive protein and interleukin 6 (two markers of systemic inflammation) were 260 percent more likely to die during the next 4 years. The increase in deaths was due to cardiovascular and other causes.

We may feel healthy, but if this inflammation is raging inside of us, then we are in trouble.

The real concern is not our response to immediate injury, infection, or insult. It is the chronic, smoldering inflammation that slowly destroys our organs and our ability to function optimally and leads to rapid aging.

Common treatments such as anti-inflammatory drugs (ibuprofen or aspirin) and steroids like prednisone — though often useful for acute problems — interfere with the body’s own immune response and can lead to serious and deadly side effects.

In fact, as many people die from taking anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen every year as die from asthma or leukemia. Stopping these drugs would be equivalent to finding the cure for asthma or leukemia — that’s a bold statement, but the data is there to back it up.

Meanwhile, the real effects of statin drugs like Lipitor in reducing heart disease may have nothing to do with lowering cholesterol, but with their unintended side effect of reducing inflammation.

But is taking medication the right approach to addressing the problem of inflammation?

No. It is DOWNSTREAM medicine.

Here’s how UPSTREAM medicine thinks about inflammation …

How to Locate the Causes of Hidden Inflammation

So if inflammation and immune imbalances are at the root of most of modern disease, how do we find the causes and get the body back in balance?

First, we need to identify the triggers and causes of inflammation. Then we need to help reset the body’s natural immune balance by providing the right conditions for it to thrive.

As a doctor, my job is to find those inflammatory factors unique to each person and to see how various lifestyle, environmental, or infectious factors spin the immune system out of control, leading to a host of chronic illnesses.

Thankfully, the list of things that cause inflammation is relatively short:

• Poor diet–mostly sugar, refined flours, processed foods, and inflammatory fats such as trans and saturated fats

• Lack of exercise

• Stress

• Hidden or chronic infections with viruses, bacteria, yeasts, or parasites

• Hidden allergens from food or the environment

• Toxins such as mercury and pesticides

• Mold toxins and allergens

By listening carefully to a person’s story and performing a few specific tests , I can discover the causes of inflammation most people.

It’s important to understand that this concept of inflammation is not specific to any one organ or medical specialty. In fact, if you read a medical journal from any field of medicine, you will find endless articles about how inflammation is at the root of problems with the particular organ or area they focus on.

So what’s the problem?

There is almost no communication between specialties. Everyone is treating the downstream effects of inflammation, but addressing the causes of inflammation that are upstream could help people who have multiple problems that are really linked together by this common root cause.

Take, for example, a man who came to see me recently. He wanted to climb a mountain and asked for my help to get healthy. He was 57 years old and took about 15 medications for six different inflammatory conditions: high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, colitis, reflux, asthma, and an autoimmune disease of his hair follicles called alopecia.

Yet when I asked him how he felt, he said “great”. I told him I was surprised because he was on so many medications.

Yes, he said, but everything was very well controlled with the latest medications prescribed by the top specialists he saw in every field–the lung doctor for his asthma, the gastroenterologist for his colitis and reflux, the cardiologist for his high blood pressure, the endocrinologist for his pre-diabetes, the dermatologist for his hair loss.

But did any of those specialists ask him why he had six different inflammatory diseases and why his immune system was so pissed off? Was it just bad luck that he “got” all these diseases — or was there something connecting all these problems?

He looked puzzled and said “no”.

I then searched for and uncovered the cause of his problems: gluten. He had celiac disease, an autoimmune disease related to eating gluten, the protein found in wheat, barley, rye, spelt, and oats.

Six months later he came back to see me. He had lost 25 pounds, had no more high blood pressure, asthma, reflux, or colitis, and said he had normal bowel movements for the first time in his life. His hair was even growing back. And he was off nearly all his medications.

7 Steps to Living an Anti-inflammatory Life

So once you have figured out the causes of inflammation in your life, gotten rid of them, the next step is to keep living an anti-inflammatory lifestyle. But how do you do that?

Here is what I recommend. It’s a disarmingly simple but extraordinarily effective way to achieve UltraWellness:

1. Whole Foods – Eat a whole foods, high-fiber, plant-based diet, which is inherently anti-inflammatory. That means choosing unprocessed, unrefined, whole, fresh, real foods, not those full of sugar and trans fats and low in powerful anti-inflammatory plant chemicals called phytonutrients.

2. Healthy Fats – Give yourself an oil change by eating healthy monounsaturated fats in olive oil, nuts and avocadoes, and getting more omega-3 fats from small fish like sardines, herring, sable, and wild salmon.

3. Regular Exercise – Mounting evidence tells us that regular exercise reduces inflammation. It also improves immune function, strengthens your cardiovascular systems, corrects and prevents insulin resistance, and is key for improving your mood and erasing the effects of stress. In fact, regular exercise is one among a small handful of lifestyle changes that correlates with improved health in virtually ALL of the scientific literature. So get moving already!

4. Relax – Learn how to engage your vagus nerve by actively relaxing. This powerful nerve relaxes your whole body and lowers inflammation when you practice yoga or meditation, breathe deeply, or even take a hot bath.

5. Avoid Allergens – If you have food allergies, find out what you’re allergic to and get stop eating those foods–gluten and dairy are two common culprits.

6. Heal Your Gut – Take probiotics to help your digestion and improve the balance of healthy bacteria in your gut, which reduces inflammation.

7. Supplement – Take a multivitamin/multimineral supplement, fish oil, and vitamin D, all of which help reduce inflammation.

Taking this comprehensive approach to inflammation and balancing your immune system addresses one of the most important core systems of the body.

In the future, medicine may no longer have specialties like cardiology or neurology or gastroenterology, but new specialists like “inflammologists”.

But by understanding these concepts and core systems that are the basis of healthy living now, you don’t have to wait.

Now I’d like to hear from you …

Have you had your C-reactive protein tested?

Do you think inflammation may be at the core of your health condition?

Why do you think so many doctors practice downstream medicine instead of catching problems early with upstream medicine?

Please let me know your thoughts by posting a comment below.

To your good health,

Mark Hyman, MD

My Comment:

Great article by the doctor, tell me your thoughts to see if you find things you can do to improve your overall well being, after being in the fitness field I have seen most interested in the exterior changes, yet very little happens on the inside when it comes to changes, you want real change?

Well change the things that affect your inside first, please do!

I hope you read the full article and my comments

This question is a trick question first of all!

Why? well first of all the way the question is asked is as follows:

Flabby arms

How do I get my arms smaller, what are the best exercises to reduce the back my arms???

Great question right?

Well this is were it gets tricky, if you ask someone that has been exercising for a long time they will give the 99 exercises they know about triceps!  Tricep extensions, dips, machine dips, push-ups, skull-crusher, bent over tricep kickbacks on the floor,lying down, on the ball, on the bosu, one leg in the air, on the bench, on a machine, with the bar, one eye closed, superset, drop down set, killer set, lypo!

You get the idea with this respone!

And while this is great activity related advice, the real question when someone is asking a trainer, is:

Can you help me reduce these flabby arms that I just have no clue how to get smaller.

Lets start with a real answer, questions!:

-What is your goal? do you only want to reduce your arms, or are there other body parts?

-How many calories do you consume?

-How many meals do you have?

-How much protein,fat, carbohidrates do you eat in grams?

-How much water do you drink?

-How many hours do you sleep?

-How much cardio do you do in a week?

-What is the intensity range you use when doing cardio?

-What is your target heart rate range when doing cardio?

-What is the rest of your resistance training routine like?

-How strong is your core, or what is the level of core exercises you are currently at?

-How long have you been working with weights?

-Do you have any injuries in your shoulders, knees, ankles, back or anywhere else?

-How many time a week do you workout?

-How long is your workout?

Do you always workout with the same intensity?

After a few of these questions it would seem we don’t want to answer the “original question”

But there is a difference between the first response and the second!

The first response is activity based and simple enough for someone to be happy with it and walk away happy! but not happy with the longterm results

The second response would sound like something you don’t want to hear and you would hate these questions, but you would love the results after you answer the questions and you were given a long detailed explanation on all the factors involved in making those arms looking like this:

Toned Arm

But the real question is are you willing to do all the work that this person has done not only inside the gym, but outside the gym to make the arms look like this?

Someone has just asked you how do They get their arms like yours, but without putting in all the work you do!

See where the question gets tricky!

We live in an instant gratification society ready for the next pill or the next TV gadget to get us there!

So lets get to the real simple answer (As simple as we can answer it for now!):

1) determine what you are eating to maintain your weight, write it down, did you write it down yet? what are you waiting for! don’t go to the next question this one is important enough!

2) What you just wrote down, now transfer this into a number of calories, # of grams of protein,fat, and carbohidrates, make sure you put everything, this includes dressing and that salad that you thought had zero calories.

3) Are you happy about how much you weigh currently? Now this one is tricky since bodyfat should be the real thing you should be looking at

4) Lets say you are happy with your current body weight for now and bodyfat is ok  ( did you take it?). What are the % of calories that come from fat, protein, carbohydrates?

Now does your plate look like this:

Proper Portion Distribution of Food

Does it? no!

how soon can you get as close to this as possible?

Menu Planning will make or break your results!

5) Next How much time do you spend in the gym per day and per week?

Lets just say it is 5 hours over 5 days:

Your workout should look like this:

5-10 minute dynamic warmup- Cardio-Dynamic stretching for the area you plan on working, lets say upper body like this:

Now the video is just an example.

After your warmup, you have 50 minutes left.

30 minutes could be dedicated to resistance training body toning exercises and stretching after your done with the body part that day or preferably a full body/half body workout, depending on your level.

20 minutes would be dedicated to a cardio session after your workout to reduce some of the bodyfat that you wanted to lose in your whole body( there is no spot reducing) in your target rate range either in the low end(fat burn zone) or the high end (cardio condition zone)

6) You did say 5 days 5 hours right?

How woud you break up the resistance training portion then?

Lets say it is arms you are unhappy about and you are happy with rest of your body, so you would say I need to do my arms more! wait before going this route

Do this test for me: grab all the fat in your arm and squeeze it (not too hard I don’t want you to blame me for the bruising) if you were to get rid of the fat would you be happy with  the size of your arm? if the answer is yes, this means you just need to work out your body evenly to reduce your body fat %, since spot reducing is almost near impossible, unless your brother has “M.D.” after their name and they happen to own the local plastic surgery office down the street.

So lets say that you are at about 30% body fat and this needs to come down.

You will get much better results by doing something that uses all your muscle glycogen in all your muscles, and after that you get a really good core-stretching routine in also, and then you go burn the fat off on the cardio equipment, wait I only get 30 minutes for all this?

YES

How would you do this? well depending on your level of exercise “IQ” I would recommend the more free weights you can do the better, and try not to do stuff for small muscles focus on Large Muscles to burn energy “calories”.

As you get closer to the % of body fat that you want then you can focus more on those muscles that are not coming along or the smaller muscle groups, but only as the body fat % is lower and closer to your goals.

7) Are you taking any supplements to help supplement your food imbalances or shortcomings?

Low on energy? getting sick often? having a hard time sleeping? these are all questions that are normally answered with nutritional imbalances being corrected, there is no better thing than natural foods, but sometimes this creates a little havoc since some foods will have calories that you cannot afford to consume in your quest for those smaller arms and your lifestyle and work will be hard at the beginning.

I recommend on supplements that you ask us to better help you!

These are some of the things you can do to improve your arms!

But wait what exercises can I do for the arms????

O that’s right, pick any 2-3 exercises and do about 7-9 sets total for that body part or a total of about 18-24 sets per day of total resistance training( there are no magic exercises) Too little sets you say? You are used to doing 50 sets in one day? well maybe you should raise the intensity and work harder and less!

Remember Smarter not Harder!!!

Obviously there are more questions that can be addressed, but this is why we have a job:

1) How do I make a proper nutrition plan?

2) How much protein should I really consume?

3) How many times a day should I eat?

4) Can I eat after 6pm?

5) What cardio do I pick?

6) How much weight should I carry?

7) What stretches should I be doing?

8 ) What core Exercises should I be doing?

if you are a beginner you can go to our post on this:

http://sandiegohardcorefit.wordpress.com/2009/08/21/core-exercises-level-1-stabilization/

9) What do I do about my bad shoulder, my back pain, my bad balance?

10) I have really bad posture how do I fix it?

11) I’m Not seeing the results I want! What am I doing wrong?

These questions are called Personal Training!

Email us today or leave your comment if we left something out:

sandiegohardcorefit@gmail.com or hit the link:

Email San Diego Hardcore Fit

Now the article states that only a few items have been confirmed, but apparently the manufacturers do not have to inform the public by which method they produce their HFC.

So I would venture to say that about a 1/3 of all products containing High Fructose Corn Syrup would have some mercury to be a safe bet. Which ones? want to play Russian roulette with your brain?

Anybody want to check the actual figures?

Please Read the Article :

article taken from:

http://www.momssoapbox.com/high-fructose-mercury/

High Fructose Mercury?

A pair of new studies has revealed traces of toxic mercury can be found in many popular food items containing high-fructose corn syrup.  High-fructose corn syrup is a sweetener; just like sugar, honey and molasses are sweeteners. What’s different is that high-fructose corn syrup has really only been widely used in the US food industry since maybe the mid-’70s and only used in soda pop since the early ’80s. In the last thirty to forty years it’s become the major sweetener, to the point where now one-in-ten calories that the average American eats comes from high-fructose corn syrup, and that’s the USDA’s own figures. The sweetener has become a widely used substitute for sugar in processed foods, including many items marketed toward children. Mercury is considered toxic in all forms and is particularly dangerous for children.

Items found to contain mercury include:

* Wish-Bone Western Sweet & Smooth Dressing

There are large chemical plants, chlorine alkali plants worldwide, that make a variety of chemicals, and many of them are used commonly in food production, including in the production of high-fructose corn syrup. These huge chlorine plants, many of them continue to use a really outdated technology that’s based on mercury cells. It’s not the only technology they could use. It’s only one of three, but many still use it, despite the fact that we’ve known for a long time that they are big polluters of mercury into the environment.

An open secret in the industry, though, was that the food-grade chemicals that came out of these plants could also be contaminated with mercury. And so, what these new studies shed the light on is the possibility that we’re getting significant exposure to mercury through these contaminated food chemicals.

David Wallinga, the director of food and health at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis talks about the recent studies:

The first study was in a peer-reviewed journal, and it talked about high-fructose corn syrup samples that were collected  and then tested for total mercury when the lead author was a public servant at the FDA. What they found was about half of the twenty samples of high-fructose corn syrup that were collected had detectable mercury at varying levels.

The second study, that my own group did, tried to expand on the earlier study’s findings. We went out to supermarkets and actually looked for common brand-name food and beverage products, then tested them for total mercury. And we found that about one-in-three, of the fifty-five products that we sampled,  had detectable mercury in them.

Because High Fructose Corn Syrup is just not bad enough, they had to add a little mercury to it.

Is This Fat Sugar Baby Yours?

Normally when we design a nutrition program we try to reduce calories between 300-500 calories per day for most people in a weight reduction program, normally we find that most Adults in the US consume a lot of sugar by additional sugar added to the products they consume.

We have to become smarter and we must consume more natural products and less processed products.

When in doubt what is processed, go to Costco (nothing against Costco BTW) and look at 95% of the food available at Costco and then look at people carts, if it is packaged it is processed and has something added to create addiction, why do you think those Costco chocolate chip cookies taste so good (we really like them)!

Here is an article taken from the AP (not my favorite source of world information)

The point that we want to you to take from this is that you are not alone on this “cheap sugar causing epidemic”

And if we are not careful we will transfer this epidemic to our children, remember when you were a child and eating out once a week was a treat? or reserved for special occasions?

Heart group: Cut back — way back — on extra sugar

By JAMIE STENGLE, Associated Press Writer – Mon Aug 24, 1:57 PM PDT

Most of that added sugar comes from soft drinks and candy — a whopping 355 calories and the equivalent of guzzling two cans of soda and eating a chocolate bar.

By comparison, most women should be getting no more than 6 teaspoons a day, or 100 calories, of added sugar — the sweeteners and syrups that are added to foods during processing, preparation or at the table. For most men, the recommended limit is 9 teaspoons, or 150 calories, the heart group says.

The guidelines do not apply to naturally occurring sugars like those found in fruit, vegetables or dairy products.

Rachel K. Johnson, lead author of the statement published online Monday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, said it was time to give specific advice on how much added sugar Americans should be getting, not just advising moderation.

“Take a good hard look at your diet,” said Johnson, professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont in Burlington. “Figure out where the sources of added sugars are and think about how to cut back on that.”

She said about 8 ounces of fruit-flavored yogurt has about 6 teaspoons of added sugar; 8 ounces of low-fat chocolate milk has about 4 teaspoons; a cup of frosted whole grain cereal has about 3 teaspoons.

The biggest culprits for the glut of sugar? Soft drinks by far, followed by candy, cakes, cookies and pies.

With about 8 teaspoons of added sugar, a regular 12-ounce soft drink will put most women over the recommended daily limit.

Cutting back on sugar likely won’t be easy for many people, said Lona Sandon, a dietitian at Dallas’ University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

“I think it’s probably going to be a struggle for quite a few people,” Sandon said.

Calculating one’s sugar intake can be tricky as the government doesn’t require labels to differentiate added sugars from naturally occurring sugars, said Johnson. But she points out that the biggest sources, like regular soft drinks and sweets, are pretty obvious. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture has a database for the added sugar in some foods.

To check for added sugar, look for a variety of ingredients including sugar, corn syrup, fructose, dextrose, molasses or evaporated cane juice on the label.

The heart group didn’t recommend general limits for added sugar for children; a national health survey has shown that boys ages 14 to 18 consume an eye-popping 34 teaspoons of added sugar a day.

Sandon said that parents can help lower that sugar intake by getting soda out of the house, looking at how much sugar is in their kids’ cereal and substituting snacks like cookies with popcorn.

Johnson concedes that sugar does play an important role in enhancing the taste of food, adding: “If you feel like, ‘I just can’t live with this low amount of sugar in my diet,’ then what you need to do is up your energy needs.”

In other words, she said, get moving. A man in his early 20s who walks more than three miles a day could consume about 288 calories, or about 18 teaspoons, of added sugar.

The statement says data indicates added sugar is contributing to Americans consuming too many discretionary calories — the number of calories remaining after a person eats the foods needed to meet nutrient requirements.

“We know for sure that if you are consuming excessive amounts of added sugar, you will add calories, which leads to weight gain, or you will displace other essential nutrients,” she said.

On average, most women need about 1,800 calories a day and most men need about 2,200, Johnson said.

If someone drinks their daily calorie needs in soft drinks, they will be maintaining their weight, but won’t be getting any nutrients, she said.

Wahida Karmally, nutrition director at Columbia University’s Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, said that with these guidelines, it’s important to remember overall moderation. Some people, for instance, might be doing fine in their sugar consumption but are overdoing it on fat.

“I don’t want people to go back thinking if I just cut back on teaspoons of sugar I’m going to be very healthy,” she said.