Alistair Ramsay - Thursday, December 16, 2010
If you want to increase your body fat % then feel free to gorge on the following popular foods:
(N.B. Even the 'healthy' whole grain varieties will help you pack on the pounds)
How do these foods help with your fat gain efforts?
Simple, they provide a large dose of nutritionally void energy in the form of glucose. This helps spike blood sugar levels which stimulates a big surge of insulin to be released from the pancreas. When insulin levels are high, you are in storage mode plain and simple. Insulin will send excess blood sugar to be stored in the liver and muscles, when these finite stores are maxed-out the remaining blood glucose will be stored as fat.
Insulin also decreases levels of the hormone glucagon (whose job it is to mobilise fat stores). Therefore when insulin is high, you cannot burn fat as a fuel. More fat storage, and less fat burning is the perfect formula for those looking to increase their body fat %!!
HOWEVER.....
I am guessing that most readers would rather lose fat and not gain it. Therefore I recommend doing the exact opposite and instead of eating more pasta, bread, rice and cereals, eat far less.
This is a very simple, yet powerful strategy for fat loss. Ditching the processed carbohydrates so prevalent in the western diet will help you reign in the fat storage hormone insulin and will have a profound impact on your fat loss efforts.
Try this simple experiment......
- For two weeks eat no processed carbohydrates whatsoever
- This includes: pasta, bread, rice, cereals, biscuits, pastries, sweets/chocolates and all their derivatives
- Take various body measurements at the onset and conclusion of the two weeks
- Compare the results
- Hopefully you will be delighted with the outcome.
PS If starting this experiment right now in the middle of the Xmas party season is out of the question then there can be no better date than the 1st of January. Give it a shot :-)
Alistair Ramsay - Wednesday, December 15, 2010
I would like to take two minutes to discuss a powerful fat loss supplement that you can use today and for the rest of your life to greatly enhance workout recovery, fat loss, mental alertness and much more besides. Large daily doses of this powerful supplement will.....
- Reduce Cortisol Levels
- Increase Growth Hormone Levels
- Increase Melatonin Levels (a powerful anti-oxidant)
- Enhance muscle repair, growth and recovery
- Encourage fat loss
- Improve mental clarity
- Energise your body
- Plus much much more....
Sounds like a list many people would pay handsomly for right? In fact if someone were able to create a product that simultaneously delivered all the benefits this amazing supplement provided and got it onto shop shelves they would make millions, actually make that billions.
Well luckily for you buying this product won't ever be necessary. For the supplement I am referring to is nothing more than long, deep sleep. In the modern world where the lights never go out it is very easy to get less and less sleep.
Reverse this trend and add this all-powerful and completely free supplement to your daily regimen. Your body will absolutely love you for it.
Alistair Ramsay - Friday, December 03, 2010
"In
Lights Out, we prove that obesity and the other major killers correlated
with obesity - heart disease, diabetes, and cancer - are caused by
short nights, by working ridiculously long hours, by literally burning
the candle at both ends, and by the electricity that gives us the
ability to do it. The cause is most certainly not overeating fat or a
lack of exercise"
The quote above is taken from a book I am currently reading called "Lights Out : Sleep, Sugar & Survival" written by T.S. Wiley. As you can probably tell the overall theme of the book is that the human race is getting fatter and sicker as a direct consequence of sleep deprivation. The last century has seen the dawn of an incredible technological evolution, an evolution that included the ability to turn night into day with the use of electrical lighting. This allowed us to stay up longer and longer which according to T.S. Wiley has had dire results on our internal biochemistry and health.....see the addtional quotes below:
"In 1910, the
average adult was still sleeping nine to ten hours per night. Now the
average adult is lucky to get a full seven hours a night. Most of us
don't even get that"
"...when you sleep less than you're meant to, melatonin isn't the only hormone affected. There are at least ten different hormones, as well as many more neurotransmitters in the brain, that go sideways when you don't sleep enough. Melatonin is the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. It is all the other shifts that change appetite, fertility, mental and cardiac health."
Since I am only half way through the book I don't intend this blog post to become a book review, rather a simple reminder that sleep (and getting plenty of) is a REALLY important part of the health equation. More sleep = more energy, better mental clarity, improved health, greater productivity and of course better body composition (less fat, more muscle). It is a shame that for many powering throught 'all nighters' at the office or in front of the TV screen is seen as a badge of honor, it really isn't.
Alistair Ramsay - Wednesday, November 17, 2010
When looking to enhance body compostion (less fat, more muscle) many people get side tracked by all the minor details. These people get stuck trying to adhere to 1001 different fat loss tips they have picked up from various websites and magazines and before long get completely bogged down in small detail.
The simple reality is that most fat loss tips you read will have very little (if any) impact on your fat loss efforts unless you already have the big hitters in place.
- Eating the right foods
- Training with intensity
- Recharging and Relaxing
The above combination will help you build lean muscle, increase your energy expenditure, reduce chronic stress levels and create an optimal hormonal environment for fat loss to occur.....great results will flow shortly after!
Before you start worrying about which spice to add to your next meal to maximise fat loss or which metabolism boosting supplement to add to your arsenal make sure you have got the main players working in your favour. You will probably find all the other stuff suddenly becomes not so important after all!
