Green tea helps lose stubborn belly fat!

Green Tea Burns Fat, Inhibits Cancer, and more!

Not only does green tea help reduce the risk of breast cancer according to another new study, it can even help people to lose stubborn belly fat!

Researchers randomized 132 overweight or obese adults to receive a beverage containing approximately 625 milligrams green tea catechins (including gallocatechin, epigallocatechin, catechin, epicatechin, EGCG, gallocatechin gallate, epicatechin gallate and catechin gallate) and 39 milligrams caffeine, or a beverage containing the same amount of caffeine without catechins daily for twelve weeks. Participants were requested to maintain the same amount of caloric intake and to engage in at least 180 minutes per week of exercise, including at least three supervised sessions each week. Body composition, serum lipids, and other factors were assessed at the beginning and end of the study.

Both groups lost weight by the end of the study, yet participants who received catechins experienced a greater amount of weight loss than those who consumed the control beverage. When fat mass was considered, the percentage lost was greater in the catechin group, although the amount was not considered significant. However, total abdominal fat area, subcutaneous abdominal fat and serum triglycerides were significantly lower in subjects who received green tea catechins.

As my clients know, I have been big on green tea for a long time (organic is better to avoid risk of fluoride exposure). I had a tea party for my clients once to honor the Zen tradition of the tea ceremony. In essence, you are just making serving tea a ritual, a meditation – another way to be present and relax. So here is yet another reason to drink several cups of green tea daily!

“The Roof, The Roof, The Roof is on Fire!”

Yes, the roof is indeed on fire on all levels. The planets roof is heating up, the roof of Pax Americana is also burning, and the roof of your body – your immune system is also heating up! But we don’t need no water, let the cooling effects of living in harmony with our body and collective bodies (society) put out the flames!

There is an order to the world around us that is astounding – from the micro to the macro the same truths apply. Just as we run cooler (aka stay & look healthier) by getting clean energy from organic, natural foods the way nature intended, the planet runs cooler (& healthier) if we get clean energy from sources like solar, wind and geothermal. This short video shows part of the connectedness with you and your world!

“If man lives, earth dies. If man dies, earth lives. This is one of the only planets in the universe where life can survive. We can’t afford to have this planet die...” Keanu Reeves as the Alien in “The Day The Earth Stood Still”

In the end of the movie, the god like aliens give mankind another chance. Lets hope the real gods give us another chance as well! In the meantime, think of creative ways to reduce your carbon footprint. If you can walk, walk. Its’ healthier for you. You’ll save energy and reduce emissions. In years to come our children’s children will wonder how we could use 4000 lb vehicles to move 150 lbs of human around. It takes a lot of energy to move 4000 lb of steel!

Buying more organic sends a message of support for sustainable agriculture and helps turn the tide toward ecologically sound practices on farms.

The bottom line is most people do not really care about the planet – its an abstract word, an ethereal concept that brings no immediate pleasure. So bring it back to yourself – after all it is all about you! Walking more, eating healthier – is good for you. You get to look and feel healthier! And you might decrease the chance of getting some painful disease like cancer or a paralyzing stroke. Simple enough!

Build Muscle, Burn Fat – Sleeping?

Build Muscle – Burn Fat: Sleeping!

That title is not in error, it is possible to use sleep to your advantage in building a great body. Besides being healthy for a variety of reasons, sleep offers us an opportunity to enhance recovery, stimulate anabolic hormones such as growth hormone (GH), and to increase fat loss.
Why Sleep?
First off, why do we need sleep? Current ideas focus on sleep being essential for neurons and the associated chemistry (neuronal biochemistry such as neurotransmitters) to regenerate. Most of this activity is going on in the brain. So we need sleep because our brains need to regenerate. Memory, learning and social processes are cycled and rejuvenated during sleep. Sleep enables the brain to encode new information and store it properly. REM sleep activates the parts of the brain that control learning.

In addition, the nervous system and immune system are being viewed as one system, so sleep is also essential for optimal immune function. In case you didn’t realize this – everything about you, from your ‘self’ and personality, to mood swings, hormone levels, sexual desire, intelligence, etc are all centered around your brain. You literally are your brain. So saying that its vital to take care of this organ is an understatement.

As a side note, in grad school at New York Medical College, I did my thesis on brain function and nutrition, and I can assure you, brain chemistry, and how it affects all aspects of ‘you’ are sensitive to changes in nutrient intake, and to items like sleep.

As a Health & Fitness Trainer for http://www.MyHealthExperts.com (and Equinox ) I consult with many bodybuilders and athletes, and a common statement is “I work hard and I play hard.” Yet when it comes to health, they often have a lackluster response such as, “everything in moderation.” Where is their logic? Living today requires that we compensate hard as well. Compensate for all the stress working and playing hard produce. And the only way to compensate is to focus on being healthy. Being healthy is the core of everything, the foundation upon which everything you value is built upon. And part of being healthy is getting adequate sleep. This usually is between 7-8 hours for most people.

Contrary to popular belief, you cannot catch up on sleep by sleeping extra on the weekends. You may be so fatigued that you need more sleep, but you are not making up for the lost sleep on other days. Studies also show that those going on 4-5 hrs of sleep a night can have as much cognitive impairment as someone who was awake for 3 days straight! What’s more interesting is that these people often do not even realize their loss of mental function. We all know how bad it feels to have residual fatigue from not sleeping enough the night before – it affects everything from your workouts, to your mood.

Hormonal Hazards:Good sleep enhances the release of growth hormone, a critical hormone for a number of physiologic processes, including building muscle and burning fat. Eating before bed may inhibit growth hormone release, so if you need to eat, be sure to have no carbs at the very least. Drinking a protein flax oil shake may be the best as it is easily assimilated. Even better might be to take 20 grams of BCAA’s along with 5 grams of taurine. This will help mitigate nighttime catabolism and still not effect GH release. Plus taurine is great as a mild sleep aid.Eating before bed also inhibits Phase II detoxification in the liver. Phase I liver detoxification includes filtering and the Cytochrome P450 enzymes.  Phase II involves conjugation. Conjugation is where various enzymes in the liver attach protective compounds to toxins.  This either neutralizes the toxin or makes the toxin more easily excreted. Phase I and II work together so that both need to be working properly. Proper liver detoxification is especially critical for the prevention of cancers.This is even more dangerous to bodybuilders as steroids and high-protein diets activate Phase I detox, and eating before bed inhibits Phase II thus leaving dangerous carcinogens (cancer causing agents) lingering in the body longer. Therefore consider cycling periods of eating before bed with periods of not allowing maximal liver activity.

Good sleep elevates Leptin and suppresses Ghrelin, two key hormones affecting appetite and hunger. Leptin is a hormone produced by fat cells that tells the brain energy levels are high, so appetite is suppressed. Ghrelin is a hormone made in the stomach that stimulates hunger and appetite. Eating a meal suppresses ghrelin and increases leptin, thereby suppressing hunger. Recent evidence suggests that losing sleep causes subjects to become more hungry and eat more by elevating ghrelin and decreasing leptin. Not the ideal situation for losing weight.

Other hormones are also affected by sleep. One hormone that is elevated when we don’t sleep well is cortisol. This catabolic hormone is a bodybuilders nemesis, so missing sleep may catabolize (cause a net loss of) prescious muscle tissue. Making matters worse, TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is a hormone released by the pituitary to control thyroid output and metabolism, is reduced during sleep deprivation.

Many men snore and think it’s normal. It may be an indication of low testosterone levels. Sleep apnea is a respiratory disorder that affects 4%-9% of adult males. Its most common manifestation is loud snoring and it may occur several hundred times throughout the night, resulting in sleep fragmentation and excessive daytime sleepiness. A recent study found that nearly half the subjects who suffered from severe sleep apnea also secreted abnormally low levels of testosterone throughout the night.

Do you need more Sleep?Consider the following questions:Do you sleep extra hours on the weekend?Do you need an alarm clock to wake up on time?

Do your eyelids feel heavy during afternoon classes or meetings?

Do you use caffeine as to stay awake or alert?

If you answer yes to any of the above, you’re probably not getting adequate amounts of sleep. Try to focus on getting 7-8 hours a night for 2 months and see if you notice any improvements.

Our bodies have a natural sleep cycle that is optimal when sleeping from 10 pm to about 6 am. Try to get to bed at least prior to midnight. Be sure to sleep in a dark environment with no noise. Any light hitting the retina will inhibit stimulation of the pineal gland and as such a critical hormone called melatonin is inhibited. Melatonin is important for many functions, for example, it turns on the gene known as p53 that stops cancer cells from growing.

If you have problems sleeping, consider taurine (1000-3000 mg), magnesium (400-800 mg), and even glycine (2000 mg). Recent evidence suggests an herbal ingredient known as THP is also clinically effective in treating insomnia. It’s so potent is was recently patented. Only one product has this; its called Eden PM and its available at Sleep.KiloHealth.com

Sleep, along with diet, exercise and nutritional supplementation, is a cornerstone of optimal health. Don’t neglect it!

No Abs Abs?

Someone recently asked me what I do for abs (after she saw this pic of me). I said ‘nothing’ – and in fact I am currently on the fat side of my ‘normal’ range. I went on to tell her I use what I call the “No abs Abs” routine:

Exercise:

I do nothing specifically to work my abs. I feel abs can get plenty of stimulation from an intense workout – exercises like tricep pushdown, squats, Chop Wood, deadlifts, lunges, push-ups, etc all require work from the abs. Most exercises benefit from you tightening your abs as you conduct the movement, and of course so do your abs!

Diet:   Burning the fat off the abs is the most important thing to see good abs. Eat clean and do some cardio to keep the fat off, and you should begin to see lines where fat once was!