Speed Up Your Weight Loss in 2013

Speed up your fat loss results by using more effective training methods. Burn body fat and get your lean body sooner. I'm talking about permanent weight loss......

Its not enough to just exercise every day. You MUST do the right kind of exercise to get the fat-burning results you want. And, you need to eat for muscle gain and fat loss.

Here are 5 proven fat-burning tips to give you faster fat loss results:

1. Superset strength training burns fat better than traditional strength training. Pair two non-competing exercises such as bench press and dumbbell rows, completing each exercise back to back without rest. Another good pair to superset would be squats and standing shoulder press.

Supersets allow you to do more work because one muscle group can rest while you work the opposing muscle group.

Doing a second workout during the day (even a short one) keeps growth hormone levels high throughout the day. This will give you even more fat burn.

So, you could do one 25-minute workout in the morning and another 25-minute workout in the afternoon. This will give you better fat loss results than doing one 50-minute workout.

2. Tone your body better and faster with explosive strength training. This type of training will burn fat and tone your body like never before.

Lifting weights explosively is an advanced form of exercise and shouldn't be done by beginners or youngsters. Your body should have the needed stabilization and strength before beginning explosive lifts.

Especially at the start of the lift, explosive lifting can be done for exercises like bench press, push ups, leg press, shoulder press and calf raises.

3. Do interval cardio sessions instead of long cardio sessions. All it takes is 20 minutes of intervals on the treadmill, grass or stepmill. This method will burn more fat than doing 60-minute cardio sessions that wastes away your muscle mass.

4. Circuit bodyweight cardio sessions are very effective fat-burners. Combine 4-5 bodyweight strength exercises, 8-10 repetitions each. Do this circuit 2-3 times and the fat will burn off your body.

5. Jumping exercises really burn the fat and tone your body, especially if done at full speed. Squat jumps, pike jumps, side-to-side hops, front-to-back hops, jump rope, jumping jacks and box jumps will all get the job done. Its important to learn proper jumping and landing techniques to avoid injuries.

Use these training methods to burn more fat, lose more weight and get your lean body on---faster!

Go to work and start changing your body!

-Cathering Ebeling and Mike Geary are co-authors of the popular ebook, Fat-Burning Kitchen, which shows you how to totally revamp your kitchen to make your body a fat-burning machine!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

10 Steps to Maintain Weight Loss

Burn fat, shape your lean body and keep weight loss off for good with consistent daily habits. The main flaw with quick weight loss programs is that you can't continue those programs for very long. So, you will likely gain the weight back.

Here are 10 habits for you to keep to never worry about weight gain:

1. A positive attitude. Everything goes better for you when you are optimistic each day. A positive attitude does wonders for your health. Make your best days even better and make your bad days better by adjusting your attitude.

2. Get a healthy, managed meal plan and comply with it at least 90% of the time. If you are trying to burn fat and lose weight, nutrition is critical. Eat mainly whole, natural foods that have one ingredient--the food itself. For example, fruits and vegetables have one ingredient.

I don’t ever encourage any diet that significantly omits one of the macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, proteins). Your body’s metabolism needs all 3 macronutrients to operate properly. So, diets that are very low in carbohydrates or fats will not help your body in the long-term.

Also, what you eat plays an important role in brain function.

3. Unless your daily nutrition is perfect, you need to take dietary supplements. Multivitamins, fish oil and vitamin D3 are examples of common supplements that people take. Consult with your doctor before taking dietary supplements.

For sure, you don’t need fat burner supplements and weight loss pills. They don’t work long-term. Spend your hard-earned money to buy whole, natural foods for your meal plan.

Eat these 3 Veggies to Burn More Abdominal Fat

4. Drink plenty of water. This will help you limit sugary drinks that pack on belly fat. Your body is about two-thirds water. Drink water and unsweetened drinks (like tea) most of the time. It will help you eat less and help your body function better.

Drink about half your weight in water every day. So, if you weigh 140 pounds, drink 70 ounces of water each day.

Remember, certain foods contain large amounts of water. This counts toward your water intake. For instance watermelon is about 90% water and lettuce has about 95% water. Some meats contain as much as 70% water.

Water also helps your body flex muscles, remove wastes, cushion joints, carry nutrients and oxygen to your cells and helps convert food into energy (although water doesn't provide energy).

You may be experiencing dehydration if you have dry lips/mouth, dizziness, headache, nausea or muscle cramps. When you exercise, drink about a cup of water every 15 minutes.

5. Regular exercise is critical. Physical exercise helps you burn fat, manage body weight, regulate stress and is necessary for maintaining good blood circulation to the body and brain. It also can significantly reduce the risk diseases such as heart attack, diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

I recommend weight training 3 days a week and short, interval cardio sessions 2-3 days a week.

6. Staying active as much as possible is very under-rated. It helps relieve stress, improves bloodflow and improves breathing. Sedentary lifestyles are a huge problem in society. We’ve gone from being physically active laborers (such as farmers) to sit-down jobs. So, if you have a "sit-down" job, I would recommend that you move more. When you sit, your fat-burning enzymes basically shut down.

Try to stand as much as you can during the day and take walking breaks to activate your fat-burning enzymes. Any activity is good to go along with your regular workouts. All movement burns calories.

7. Learn something every day to help you live a balanced life. I love fitness. But, there are experts in health, business, medicine, and other life disciplines who help me in other parts of my life. Read books, go to a seminar, listen in on webinars/teleconferences, follow experts on Twitter and Facebook, etc. There is really no excuse for not helping yourself improve.

8. Limit prolonged stress in your life. A certain amount of stress is good for us to live efficiently. Too much stress…well, you know the answer. In a Mayo Clinic article, “Stress Basics,” it states:

“When your brain perceives a threat, it signals your body to release a burst of hormones to fuel your capacity for a response. This has been labeled the "fight-or-flight" response.

Once the threat is gone, your body is meant to return to a normal relaxed state. Unfortunately, the nonstop stress of modern life means that your alarm system rarely shuts off. Without stress management, all too often your body is always on high alert. Over time, high levels of stress lead to serious health problems.”

My recommendations for helping control stress:

--regular exercise
--laugh often and don’t take yourself too seriously
--learn to relax by using tools such as music, deep breathing, walking, massage, meditation, etc.
--have a grateful attitude
--focus on positives and not negatives
--disassociate yourself from negative energy vampires in your life

9. Get enough sleep--every night if possible. Lack of sleep affects memory, concentration and health. Your metabolism won't work properly if you don't sleep enough. Your workouts will also suffer. In a Medical News Today article, “Getting A Good Night's Sleep,” the World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM), reports that sleep problems add up to a global epidemic that affects 45% of the world's population.

"Insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), restless legs syndrome (RLS), and sleep deprivation significantly impact physical, mental and emotional health, in addition to affecting work performance and personal relationships," WASM said.

10. Get professional advice if needed. When’s the last time you had a full physical exam? If you can’t remember, its been too long. Are your fat loss and weight loss efforts failing again and again? You may need a personal trainer to help you visualize success and individualize your fat loss and nutrition program.

Its hard to change your body all by your yourself. Research proves that you have a better chance to succeed if you have social support. That could be a trainer, spouse or friend.

Are you depressed? Although regular exercise will help you feel better, that won’t be enough to deal with serious depression. Get professional help.

Eat These 3 Foods to Burn More Belly Fat

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Starvation Diets NEVER Transforms Your Body to Lean

Going on starvation diets just to lose weight won't work to transform your body. You end up having what you're trying to avoid--weight gain.

If you've never tried a starvation diet, you're not missing anything except misery. Food is meant to nourish and energize your body and it should be enjoyed in the right portions.

Here are 10 common habits of those who just want quick weight loss using various starvation diets or methods:

1. You never make a commitment to a lifetime of fitness and health. You are too concerned with pounds on the weigh scale. Those who have succeeded at transforming their bodies from fat to lean have health and fitness practices that they do on most days. It becomes a sustainable lifestyle.

2. Starvation diets rule again and again. The less food you eat, the more weight you’ll lose, right? Sorry, but it just doesn’t work this way in the long-run. If your idea of the perfect diet plan for weight loss is popping crackers and diuretics, you’re headed for disaster.

Starvation slows the fat-burning process. Your body relies on the nutrients in whole, natural foods for fuel. When you starve yourself, it senses the downward shift in your caloric intake and kicks into starvation mode. When this happens, your metabolism will slow down and your body will hold on to stored fat in order to conserve energy.

Check out The Fat Burning Kitchen to get help with eating whole, natural foods.

Muscle mass needs more energy to function than fat. Basically, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you’ll burn. If you continue to starve yourself, your body will feed on your muscle tissue and make it even harder for you to lose weight.

Obviously, if you starve yourself long enough, you’ll have no choice but to lose weight. But the weight loss won’t be healthy, and it will show in your appearance. You’ll become emaciated and your body will start to look like an old bag of bones.

The weight lost from starvation diets almost always comes back. Starvation slows your metabolism down. And it can take months for it to return to normal. As soon as you start eating again, you’ll likely gain all of the weight you lost back, and more. In the end, you’ll wind up bigger than you were before you started starving.

3. Chronic starvation dieters end up with damaged health. If you are eating 900 calories a day, that is not enough food to even support your basal metabolic rate.

When you go without food, you don’t get any of the essential nutrients needed for good health. This can result in fatigue, kidney failure, heart failure, gallstones, ulcers, hair loss, muscle weakness and osteoporosis. This is just a short list of the physical problems a starvation diet can cause. We haven’t even touched on the mental stuff.

It’s not uncommon for extremely calorie-restrictive dieters to struggle with depression, anger, indifference, memory loss, poor concentration, hallucinations and mood swings. Starvation can also increase your chances of suffering with eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia.

In essence, your health will be a mess if you try to lose weight by starving. The worst part about it is that some of the health issues that arise from starvation diets can cause irreversible damage to your body and require long-term hospitalization or lifelong medical care.

If you plan to turn starvation dieting into a lifestyle, you’ll end up in a body bag way before your time. No amount of skinny is worth your life. Don’t let the desperation to lose weight push you to go on a starvation diet.

4. You experience weight loss and weight regain many times.

According to a Medicinenet.com article, "Weight Cycling...Facts About "Yo-Yo" Dieting,"

"Weight cycling is the repeated loss and regain of body weight. When weight cycling is the result of dieting, it is often called "yo-yo" dieting. A weight cycle can range from small weight losses and gains (5-10 lbs. per cycle) to large changes in weight (50 lbs. or more per cycle)."

"Some research links weight cycling with certain health risks. To avoid potential risks, most experts recommend that obese adults adopt healthy eating and regular physical activity habits to achieve and maintain a healthier weight for life. Non-obese adults should try to maintain their weight through healthy eating and regular physical activity."

"Some studies suggest that weight cycling may increase the risk for certain health problems. These include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and gallbladder disease."

5. Starvation dieters are not concerned with burning body fat. You MUST change your body's composition. You must increase muscle mass to become a “fat-burning machine.” This keeps the weight off your body for good. You don't need to be a body builder but you need to replace the fat (to an acceptable body fat percentage) on your body with muscle mass. This will give you the lean, healthy body you need.

You must do more than cardio exercise to change your body's composition. "Cardio only" will not lean out your body. Too much cardio will waste away your muscle mass.

Make a commitment to full-body strength training. Among other things, it builds muscle mass, speeds up your metabolism (the body has to work harder to maintain muscle) and helps improve your bone density. And, you’ll look great.

6. There are many lies about fat loss and weight loss out there---and many people believe them. Why? Businesses are trying to make money off of you and they'll lie, tell half-truths or present unproven facts to get it. You have to make a choice to believe or not believe those lies.

Fad dieters are always looking for the next pill, diet or fat blocker to change their bodies. The dream never comes true. Doctors, dieticians, and fitness experts agree that the best way to burn fat and lose weight is to eat higher quality calories, exercise regularly and increase your daily activity. Don't look for shortcuts.

7. Starvation dieters lose water weight. Burn body fat and lose weight.

If you lose 20 pounds in 10 days using severe calorie restriction with no exercise (you probably won't have the energy to exercise), just about all of that weight loss will be due to lost muscle mass and water weight.

The problem is further compounded if you gained weight without exercise. The composition of this weight gain is mainly fat and water retention. I have seen individuals with up to 70% body fat.

One big cause of water retention is too much salt consumption (sodium). If you eat many processed foods and not many whole, natural foods, your sodium consumption is too high---and you will take on more water weight.

So, you find yourself regaining this weight quickly when you begin to eat the carbohydrates, proteins and fats that your body needs. Why? Because you will also replenish water stores in your body's cells.

8. Veteran starvation dieters are frequent users. The typical dieter tries a new plan four times a year. "We have this mentality that a diet is something to go on and then get off as quickly as possible," says FITNESS advisory board member Madelyn Fernstrom, PhD, founding director of the University of Pittsburgh's Weight Management Center. "But lasting weight loss requires making lifestyle changes that will work long-term."

9. Quick weight loss veterans deal with slowed metabolism, a weaker immune system, hormonal imbalances, loss of lean mass, increased body fat, decreased energy levels and disrupted sleep patterns. Is that worth it?

10. Your confidence takes a hit with each weight loss and weight regain episode. "The more times you go through the gain-lose-gain cycle, the less convinced you become that you can break free from the constant ups and downs," says Keri Gans, RD, a dietitian in private practice in New York City. "No one wants to diet forever; it's hard work."

Stop starving yourself, start eating right and start building your body the right way. Its worth the effort.

Eat These 3 Foods to Burn More Belly Fat

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

10 Fat Loss Tips to Transform Your Body to Lean

If you are restarting your exercise program this January, you need to know about fat loss and how to get it done....

Here is an excerpt from the report:

There is a flood of information about weight loss out there in the marketplace. Some of it is just garbage. A general rule for you to follow with regard to weight loss is this: Don’t waste your money if the program offers a quick solution to your weight problem! Why? Because what you need is the permanent solution to your weight problem.

A permanent solution takes hard, smart work and sacrifice on your part. Human nature always seeks the path of least resistance. So, you can see why commercial weight loss programs promote things such as “in 2 weeks….” The promotion may be partially true, but what they don’t tell you is the most critical part of the fitness equation: fat loss is the key to permanent weight loss.

Changing your body's composition takes time (more muscle mass, less fat mass)! Don't expect fat burn supplements to do it for you. And, you can't be a "weigh scale junkie" (worried too much about weight loss).

If you're burning fat and building muscle, your body will eventually change permanently (if you consistently exercise). That's why a lifetime commitment to fitness is important. That way, it won't matter how long it takes for you to reach your goals---YOU'VE MADE THE COMMITMENT!

I overheard a fat loss conversation at the store one day. It didn't surprise me how the conversation ended.

I hardly ever shop for clothes longer than 30 minutes at a time. I already know what I'm going to buy before I go shopping. Today was no different, except that I overheard this conversation between father and son shopping for jeans.

The conversation went something like this:

Son - "I used to have to buy size 40 waist jeans two years ago...."

Father - "Wow, what did you do, starve yourself?"

Son - "No, not really, I just stopped eating junk." "I started to grill and bake my meats and stopped putting salad dressing on my salads." "Just things like that....."

He went on to say, "I was never hungry, I guess I just started eating right." He had a satisfied look on his face.

Father - "Yeah, I guess that sounds about right." "People say you do lose weight when you eat right."

It took every thing within me to not say a word to them....I just smiled and thought: that's what personal trainers say to people every day! Its refreshing to hear people talk about eating right and receiving the health and fat loss benefits.

I didn't hear the son say anything about exercising. A big part of you achieving total health and fitness is to regularly exercise with weight and cardio training. Building muscle mass and burning fat will help you to not regain the weight you do lose (i.e., prevent yo-yo weight loss and regain).

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Slow Aging with Whole Nutrition and Active Lifestyle

So, why are you gaining weight? Is it your sedentary lifestyle? There seems to be a new reason reported every week explaining why we are gaining weight and getting fat.

Sedentary jobs have been listed more than once as one of the main causes of weight gain for many people. There's one problem with that theory: I know many people (and so do you) who have "sit-down jobs" and are very fit and lean.

I also know people who work on their feet at health clubs who are very overweight. So, its not where you work that determines whether you will or are gaining weight.

Our culture encourages us to blame someone or sue someone in court to fix our problems. That works fine unless you are the cause of your problems.

In the fat loss and weight loss arena, YOU largely determine how much you will weigh. There are medical and genetic exceptions to this weight gain rule but that's a subject for another article. For purposes of this article, you are ultimately responsible for your body fat and body weight.

Slow your aging process with The Top 101 Foods that Fight Aging

Despite the popularity of many "other reasons" for our nation's overweight and obesity problem, I still maintain that the primary reason for your weight gain is a caloric imbalance.

Simply put, you will gain weight and fat if you consistently eat more calories than you burn. Some will say that theory is outdated. Don't believe them.

I realize its important to eat the right types of foods for nutrition and health. But, you will also gain weight if you eat too much of the healthy foods.

So, if you have a "sit-down" job, I would recommend that you move more. A standup desk is also a good idea to keep you active during the day.

Research proves that when you sit, your fat-burning enzymes basically shut down....when you stand during the day, those fat-burning enzymes go to work for you.

Try to stand as much as you can during the day and take walking breaks and lunches to activate your fat-burning enzymes! Any activity is good to go along with your regular workouts. All movement burns calories.

Don't blame your job if you're gaining weight. Make changes to your exercise, eating and lifestyle habits. These are the primary keys to you shaping and maintaining a lean and healthy body.

-Cathering Ebeling and Mike Geary are co-authors of the New ebook, The Top 101 Foods that Fight Aging, which shows you how to eat properly all the time! Get it now!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Elevate Testosterone Levels with Squat Exercise

Elevate testosterone levels naturally to build more muscle mass and "lean out" your body, whether you're male and female. How?

Do strength exercises that work major muscle groups such as squats and deadlift to elevate testosterone levels. Heavier squats will elevate your testosterone levels more. But, you don't have to "max out" on this exercise.

The squat is a must-do exercise to help you burn more fat and shape your body. Learn to love the squat exercise if you hate it! The squat gets a bad rap because people injure themselves by doing the exercise incorrectly.

There is probably no other exercise that has a greater impact on your body's muscle, metabolism and energy expenditure. Why? Because the squat is a complete-body movement exercise. This means your legs (especially quads, hamstrings and glutes), abdominals, lower back, arms and shoulders are targeted.

I would recommend doing squats without machines or weight belts. This will help you to learn how to stabilize your body without artificial support. If you are not able to perform squats with barbell or dumbbell weights because of injury, then start with bodyweight squats.

There are many variations of the squat exercise. Some are: barbell squats, dumbbell squats, bodyweight squats, one-legged squats, Bulgarian split squats, side squats, prisoner squats (pictured above), sumo squats, sissy squats, hack squats and front squats. They are all good to work into your routine at some point. Keep in mind that one-legged exercises are more intense than two-legged exercises.

Here are my Top 3 Reasons to do Squats and Burn More Fat:

1. The squat works the major muscle groups. To recruit more muscle fibers during workouts and improve your fat loss success, focus more on multi-joint or compound exercises like the squat. Compound exercises will help you burn more fat because of the intensity of working large muscle groups in your body. You will also burn more calories after your workout.

2. You will tone your bulky and shapely fast twitch muscle fibers better with the squat exercise. I am talking mainly about your butt, hips and thighs. Need I say more?

3. Work your core with squats. Research shows that the abdominal muscles are engaged more when doing squats than they are doing many of the more popular ab exercises. Your lower back will also get quite a workout. If you do the exercise correctly, you won't injure your low back (as many fear).

The are many other reasons to do the squat exercise. Include some type of squat in every strength training workout.

Learn how to do the barbell squat exercise

Be sure and download your FREE Report, "How to Knock 20 Years Off Your Body." You will learn the top ways to naturally increase your testosterone levels.

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Lies that Food Labels Tell Consumers

Food Labels Infographic

Eat These 3 Foods to Burn More Belly Fat

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Weight Loss Industry Causes Confusion

If you're looking at endless weight loss commercials and are still confused, there's a good reason for your frustration.

There are low-fat products, low-carb diets, high-protein diets, diet pills, meal replacements, fad diets, energy drinks, etc. and we still have an overweight and obesity problem in our population.

There are no shortcuts to getting lean and fit. Don't place your fat loss and weight loss dreams on gimmicky products and fad diets. And, NEVER make weight loss your primary goal.

Fat loss, good health and a lean body are your long-term tickets to permanent weight loss.

1. Be careful when eating low-fat products for the purpose of losing weight. Low-fat doesn't necessarily mean low-calorie. Sometimes these products contain other ingredients such as sugars and carbohydrates to make them taste better.

Carefully check the "Nutrition Facts" label to determine the total calories in the food product. Remember, if you consistently eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight (regardless of the type of the food eaten).

And, if you are trying to lose weight and body fat by food deprivation, it won't work for you either. Why? Because your body defends itself by storing fat and slowing down its metabolism to compensate for the lack of nutrition.

This is the opposite effect of what you want. The main purposes of exercise (resistance and cardio) is to burn body fat, lose weight and speed metabolism. Exercise and plan a healthy diet. This will give you the long-term health and fitness that you seek.

2. If you are depending on weight loss supplements to lose weight, you will be disappointed.

Research has proven that these supplements have no long-term benefit. Also, some of these supplements could be harmful to your health.

3. The energy drink business is a huge industry. So, how do energy drinks fit into your fitness program? First, know that any weight loss or weight gain goal achievements will be accomplished by your hard work and a well designed fitness program.

Second, you can accomplish your fitness goals without ever drinking 1 ounce from an energy drink.

Third, energy drinks often cause you to crash lower than the previous "energy high" provided by the drink. What was the question? Oh yeah, how do energy drinks fit into your fitness program?

And the answer is---you don't need energy drinks to accomplish your fat loss and weight loss goals. You will get plenty of energy from proper nutrition and adequate sleep.

Remember also that many energy drinks are loaded with sugar which might hinder your nutritional goals. Energy drinks are also usually loaded with caffiene. Save your money on energy drinks and try a good cup of coffee.

You may need help from a personal trainer. Here's one good way to tell if a personal trainer might work for you. YOU HAVE TRIED JUST ABOUT EVERY THING ELSE IN ORDER TO GET FIT AND NOTHING HAS WORKED LONG-TERM FOR YOU.

A qualified personal trainer is trained to not grasp for "quick fixes" when it comes to fitness and health and knows that longterm fitness depends on a systematic, progressive training program---and that takes time.

A personal trainer is trying to help you make "fitness become a way of life" and this will result in the PERMANENT BODY COMPOSITION CHANGES you want.

-Cathering Ebeling and Mike Geary are co-authors of the popular ebook, Fat-Burning Kitchen, which shows you how to totally revamp your kitchen to make your body a fat-burning machine.  Get it now!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Pistachios Nutrition - One of the Healthiest Snack Foods

Why pistachios not only taste delicious, but are also jam-packed with nutrition for your lean healthy body

by Cat Ebeling, RN, BSN & Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist
co-authors of the Fat Burning Kitchen program

Some people mistakenly think that pistachios are a "fattening" food... but despite having loads of healthy fats, these yummy little snacks can actually HELP you to burn off stomach fat. Let's see why...

Do you remember eating pistachios when they used to be dyed a deep pinkish/red? They were always so delicious, but after eating a bunch of those bright "red" nuts, your fingers and hands would be stained red.

Pistachios, as we now know, do not grow as magenta-colored nuts but come in a nice natural tan colored shell with a mild-tasting, crunchy, green and yellow interior. Nuts have risen in popularity lately, but did you know that pistachios are probably one of the most nutritious of all nuts?

It's hard to compare anything to the nutritional benefit of nuts like almonds, walnuts, and pecans... but pistachios give them a run for the money!

Just a one-ounce serving of pistachios will give you over 30 vitamins, minerals and other super nutrients.

One of the best things about nuts in general, is that they are full of minerals that are VITAL to our body's proper functioning. And if you have paid much attention to nutrition news lately, you may be aware that minerals are getting harder and harder to obtain from our diet, and many people are mineral-deficient in one way or another.

So what are these great nutrients in pistachios?

Well for starters, pistachios are full of copper, phosphorus, and manganese (different from magnesium).

Copper is made up of multiple enzymes that help to create many of the necessary biochemical reactions in your body and also forms connective tissue. Manganese also helps form connective and skeletal tissue, and is instrumental in growth, reproduction and (this is good!) carbohydrate and fat metabolism. Phosphorus is very important for strong bones and teeth and works with calcium to prevent osteoporosis.

Other important minerals are magnesium -- necessary for more than 300 different important biochemical reactions in your body, and good for your heart and blood pressure; potassium --an electrolyte that keeps the body in the correct acid/base balance and also helps in forming proteins, metabolizing carbohydrates and building muscle.

And there is more to this nutritional powerhouse...

Pistachios are a rich source of B vitamins. B vitamins are essential for good nerve transmission, muscle building, a good mood, lots of energy, and infection-fighting power. They are also one of the highest protein nuts (as well as healthy fats), so they make a great satisfying snack that keeps your blood sugar and insulin at a good steady level.

In one study on pistachios and antioxidants, pistachios ranked up in the group with the highest amount of antioxidant activity above over 100 other foods. Antioxidants help to prevent free radical damage, which saves your cells and prevents aging and disease among other things.

We hear a lot about eye health and nutrients for the eyes lately, and guess what-- pistachios contain generous amount of lutein and zeaxanthin which prevent macular degeneration and other eye diseases related to aging.

Fiber

Last but not least, pistachios are full of appetite satisfying fiber -- as much as a serving of oatmeal.

Nuts in general are a great source of fiber, which is valuable for fighting cancer, controlling blood sugar, and aids in a feeling of fullness. Most people only get about half the recommended amount of fiber they need in their diets, so eating pistachios will help add to your dietary intake.

Healthy Fats

While eating extremely large quantities of pistachios would be a LOT of calories... the good news is that the protein, good fats and fiber in them are nutritious and satisfy so much of the nutrient needs of your body, it's VERY difficult to overeat them.

Even when only eating small servings of these nuts, they have been proven to provide a high rate of satiety. Besides, having to shell all those pistachios actually ends up making you eat them a little more slowly, so the message to your brain that you are full happens on less nuts than if you were eating something already out of its shell.

Try to go for the all-natural or organic pistachios with no salt of low salt. Some brands of pistachios are a bit heavy on the salt.

If you haven't read our new Fat Burning Kitchen program, make sure to see the dozens of foods that help you burn fat, and surprising "health foods" that make you fat.

Eat well and stay lean!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

How NOT to Lose Muscle Mass with Cardio Exercise

If you only do cardio sessions for exercise, you are losing muscle mass. And, if you do too many long, slow, steady-state cardio sessions, (like 5 or 6 sixty-minute sessions a week), you are losing muscle mass.

Use short burst intervals for cardio to save your muscle mass, burn fat faster and see your body lean out sooner. High intensity interval training (HIIT) is a proven effective fat-burning cardio exercise method.

Also, HIIT is the best way to burn fat, while saving muscle mass in the shortest amount of time. All that's needed is 20 minutes per workout session. This type of cardio will also give you superior heart health compared to long, steady-state cardio.

Doing this type of cardio will burn more calories and fat during and after your workout. Exercise Post-Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) causes your body to burn more calories and fat after a tough workout. Your body has to work harder to get back to its pre-exercise state. Fat burning and metabolism can increase for up to 48 hours after your workout.

Long, traditional 1 hour cardio sessions can have a negative impact on hunger and stress hormones which can cause increased appetite and cravings for sugary and other fatty foods.

Research at Duke University, directed by Dr. Cris Slentz, supports high-intensity exercise for better fat loss. The eight-month study showed that people could lose weight with exercise and no dieting. Those who exercised intensely (especially using interval training) lost much more fat than those who exercised moderately.

According to the research, the high-intensity exercisers had these advantages over the low-to-moderate intensity exercisers:

--more release of fat from cells
--more fat used as fuel during exercise
--increased metabolic rate after exercise

Here are 5 interval cardio workouts to burn more fat and save your muscle mass:

1. Sprints. After a proper dynamic warmup (like jog/run progressively for 5 minutes), sprint for 60 yards and walk back to the starting line. The sprint has to be at maximum effort. Do this rotation for 20 minutes.

To continually challenge yourself, progress this cardio exercise to surfaces such as inclines, hills and stadium steps. Weighted resistance, such as vests, could also be used.

2. Jumps. This includes exercises such as squat jumps, jumping jacks, jump rope, pike jumps, side-to-side hops, front-to-back hops and tuck jumps. You can use one exercise or 2-5 exercises during a workout. Do the intervals for 30 seconds and walk for 1 minute. Total workout time is 20 minutes.

3. Mountain Climbers. The mountain climber is a versatile exercise in that you can do it on level ground, on an incline, knee-across-your-body, as a warmup, as cardio or as a speed exercise. I like to include mountain climbers as part of a bodyweight cardio session.

Either way, include mountain climbers in your workouts more often. It is one of the best and toughest exercises out there. It is a compound exercise in that it works the calves, quadriceps, glutes, back, chest, triceps, abdominals and shoulders.

You will need high levels of core strength to do this exercise the right way for each set. Do the intervals for 30 seconds and walk for 1 minute. Total workout time is 20 minutes.

4. Bodyweight Cardio. Get strength and cardio benefits with this highly effective form of exercise. You could do a workout that includes squats, squat jumps, pullups, pushups, burpees and inverted rows. You won't get bored doing this type of workout!

Do the intervals for 30 seconds and walk for 1 minute. Total workout time is 20 minutes.

5. Cardio blasts. Between each weight training exercise set, do 30-45 seconds of jump rope, mountain climbers or squat jumps full speed. It's just that simple and that tough.

Rest 1 minute after doing a cardio blast. Rest 2-3 minutes after completing a weight training circuit and repeat the circuit 1 or 2 more times.

All of these workouts are great for burning fat, building muscle mass and improving heart health. These workouts are not for beginners, those getting back into shape or those with health issues.

Do interval cardio for your cardio workouts and you will burn more fat.

Be sure and download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Top 10 Methods to Beat Aging

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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12 Fit Steps to take BEFORE Year-End

Since the date is 12/12/12 for the first time in forever, I will give you 12 fitness and health steps you need to take before year-end. If you're waiting for January 2 to get started improving your health and fitness, don't....start today!

If you are overweight or have too much body fat (a skinny person can have too much body fat), your body is not as healthy as it could be. Start making changes today.

Here are 12 fitness steps to start taking today:

1. Adjust your attitude. Everything goes better for you when you are optimistic each day. A positive attitude does wonders for your health. And, you'll need a positive attitude to identify your fitness goals and determine why your fat loss and weight loss efforts have failed or succeeded in the past. You must get your motivation right for your exercise program to work for you.

2. What is your body's composition (body fat % vs. lean mass %)? You need to know where you are fat. Excess abdominal fat has been shown to be a precursor to diseases such as cancer. A trainer will check it for you for free as part of a fitness assessment.

3. When's the last time you had your body measurements taken (chest, arms, neck, hips, waist, etc.)? You must burn fat and inches to transform your body. This is part of your fitness assessment.

4. What's your health history? You might need a doctor's clearance before you can begin an exercise program.

5. What are your eating habits? Part of your assessment will look at what you are eating, how you are eating and changes that you need to make. You may need a pantry makeover, throw out the bad stuff and replace it with healthy stuff.

6. What is your basal metabolic rate? Don't know? You will after your fitness assessment. This rate helps you set the daily calories you will need.
Its important for you to not eat too little or too much to reach your fat loss and weight loss goals.

7. Have you had low back pain for some time? If so, you probably have postural problems that need to be corrected. And, yes, a postural assessment is part of your fitness assessment. Do you have other injuries? Start healing your body.

8. Had any muscle spasms or "knotted muscles" lately? Then, you need to improve your flexibility. The fitness assessment will tell you where your muscles are tight, lengthened or weak. You may need other therapy such as deep tissue massage.

9. When's the last time you checked your resting pulse rate? Your resting pulse rate will tell you how hard your heart is working in a resting state. For instance, my resting pulse rate was 58 beats per minute the last time I checked it. That's pretty low.

10. How ready is your body for physical activity? You don't know? You will after your fitness assessment.

11. Start walking 30 minutes every day. Staying active as much as possible is very under-rated. It helps relieve stress, improves bloodflow and improves breathing. Sedentary lifestyles are a huge problem in society. We’ve gone from being physically active laborers (such as farmers) to sit-down jobs. So, if you have a "sit-down" job, I would recommend that you move more. When you sit, your fat-burning enzymes basically shut down.

Try to stand as much as you can during the day and take walking breaks to activate your fat-burning enzymes. Any activity is good to go along with your regular workouts. All movement burns calories.

12. Drink enough water every day. Surprisingly, it is difficult for many people to drink enough water every day.

This will help you limit sugary drinks that pack on belly fat. Your body is about two-thirds water. Drink water and unsweetened drinks (like tea) most of the time. It will help you eat less and help your body function better.

Drink about half your weight in water every day. So, if you weigh 140 pounds, drink 70 ounces of water each day.

Remember, certain foods contain large amounts of water. This counts toward your water intake. For instance watermelon is about 90% water and lettuce has about 95% water. Some meats contain as much as 70% water.

Water also helps your body flex muscles, remove wastes, cushion joints, carry nutrients and oxygen to your cells and helps convert food into energy (although water doesn't provide energy).

You may be experiencing dehydration if you have dry lips/mouth, dizziness, headache, nausea or muscle cramps. When you exercise, drink about a cup of water every 15 minutes.

Get yourself started today to improve your health!

If you need Motivation and Accurate Information to make your best body.......

Be sure and download your FREE 7-Day Body Makeover Jumpstart e-Course, which shows you how to totally remake your body a healthy and lean fat-burning machine!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Lose Weight with Smart Workouts, Timely Nutrition

It takes hard, smart workouts and timely nutrition to burn fat and lose weight. Over-training with longer and longer workouts are not better for you. They can leave you tired, frustrated and sometimes sick.

If you are at a weight loss plateau, here are 4 tips to start making progress again:

Note: Always take at least 1 day off each week from regular workouts. Moderate walking on days off is okay (15-30 minutes).

1) Weight often comes off easily at the beginning of a workout program. But then your body adapts to your workouts. When this happens, you need to vary your workout routines and intensity.

Do different lifts for the different body parts, such as substituting bench presses with stability ball dumbbell presses or doing step-ups and lunges instead of squats. A shorter, more intense 30 minute full-body circuit weight workout will work better than a 1 hour weight workout when you are trying to burn body fat and lose weight.

A circuit workout is one in which you do one exercise after the other with little or no rest between exercises. Also, change up your cardio routines such as rotating sprint intervals, stair-stepper intervals or bodyweight cardio intervals. Keep interval cardio sessions at 20 minutes.

Research and evidence proves that doing these types of short workouts (short bursts) will burn more calories and fat during and after your workout. Exercise Post-Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) causes your body to burn more calories and fat after a tough workout. Your body has to work harder to get back to its pre-exercise state.

For instance, athletes in speed and power sports are usually very cut and lean because most of their exercises are done with intervals at full speed.

Doing a strength workout with supersets also work well to burn fat. You would pair two non-competing exercises and do them back-to-back without rest between exercises. For instance, you could do a set of squats followed immediately by shoulder presses. Bench press followed by rows is also a good superset. This allows you to do more work in less time because the opposing muscle group rests while you are working the opposite muscle group.

Finally, rotate heavy and light lifting days to keep your body guessing.

2) It is more important to burn body fat and lose inches than it is to lose weight. The goal is to transform your body to lean (to keep lost weight off for good). If you just lose weight without strength training, you will still have high body fat. And, it is highly likely that you will regain this weight and have even more body fat (weight cycling).

Have your body fat percentage checked and your circumference measurements done by a trainer to see how much fat and inches you have lost. Do this body fat checkup once a week. Muscle weighs more than fat, so your body could be shrinking. Don't worry, the weight loss will take care of itself.

3) Longer workouts too often lead to over-training, injuries, illness and stalled progress. Exercise was meant to fun and productive!

An intense 20-minute interval cardio session at 90%-95% maximum heart rate will give you more fat loss and heart-health benefits than a 1-hour cardio session at 65% maximum heart rate. Too many long, slow cardio sessions will waste away your muscle mass and hinder your fat burning potential.

Here are 2 more very effective, fat burning exercise routines:

--Plyometric exercises are very intense and effective fat burners. Examples would be squat jumps and lateral cone hops. You should perfect jumping and landing techniques to avoid injuries.

--Metabolic circuit training is an advanced form of high intensity exercise (strength circuits and interval cardio circuits). Metabolic circuit training is a popular and effective method for sports teams. If you play on a rec league basketball, soccer or flag football team, metabolic circuit training would be ideal. You would also lessen your chances of injury. Many weekend warriors get hurt because they aren't in condition to play a sport at full speed.

4) You need to know your basal metabolic rate-BMR (how many calories your body would burn each day if you did nothing). Base your daily caloric intake on your BMR, activity level and goals. You don't need to strictly count calories but you need a good idea of how much too eat.

If you don't eat enough (severe calorie restriction), your body will store fat because it thinks you are starving. And, you will gain weight even on the days you work out really hard if you take in more calories than you burn.

Exercise smarter, not harder.

Download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

How NOT to Revisit Weight Loss Failures

Doing a review of your weight loss and fat loss results can be a huge benefit. The only way to improve is to know where you went right or wrong. Getting at the truth behind your weight loss, fat loss and subsequent weight gain (if any) can sometimes be painful.

The bottom line: you want a healthy, lean body that will give you the best chance to live healthy for a long time. You need to know the reasons why your weight loss and fat loss efforts succeeded or failed. There's always room for improvement either way.

As a personal trainer, I have seen many reasons why people fail at weight loss and fat loss. Some are:

1. You MUST make a real commitment to change eating habits and exercise habits. A real commitment always includes willpower to succeed. That means you won't quit even if you lose some battles along the way. One bad day or bad week won't stop you---you will get back up and keep trying. Its also called perseverance.

2. You try to burn fat and lose weight all by your lonesome. You need help to accomplish your weight loss goals. That could be a trainer, a friend, a spouse or other family member. Research proves that those who have weight loss buddies are more likely to succeed.

3. Some people are haphazard with workouts and eating habits. Consistency is critical if you want to succeed.

4. You have the wrong workout routine and you're stuck doing the same workout week after week (with little or no results). It matters how you workout. A personal trainer can offer valuable guidance and feedback.

5. You're not working hard enough. It takes hard, smart work to change your body composition.

6. You're depending on a fat-burner supplement, powder or weight loss patch to change your body! Stop wasting your money! See number 5.

7. If you are afraid to set goals for fear of not reaching those goals, then you will find some way to sabotage your efforts. For example, you set low goals or no goals and that's what you achieve---very little.

8. If you have low self worth, it will affect everything you do (including your efforts to change your body and lose weight). Somehow, you must workout because you're worth it and its good for your health and lifestyle. This is a very positive behavior and will lead to permanent lifestyle changes.

9. You experienced quick weight loss without exercise and without fat loss. In other words, you didn't change your body. You didn't build muscle. You lost muscle mass. The weight came back on with a vengeance when you started to eat again (and not starve yourself).

10. You can do your own weight loss and weight gain autopsy. It will be well worth your time. Ultimately, you will succeed if you learn from your successes and failures. You can do it!

-Cathering Ebeling and Mike Geary are co-authors of the popular ebook, Fat-Burning Kitchen, which shows you how to totally revamp your kitchen to make your body a fat-burning machine. Get it now!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Weekend Fat Burning Cardio Intervals

Cardio exercise, by its nature, can get repetitive and boring. Avoid boredom by mixing it up and keeping sessions short. This will also help you burn more fat and spare your precious muscle mass.

The more intense your workout, the more calories and fat you will burn during and after your workout. Your body has to work harder to get back to its pre-exercise state. Fat burning and metabolism can increase for up to 48 hours after a tough workout.

This weekend, use running and jumping jacks cardio intervals to burn more fat.

Intense circuit weight training and interval cardio workouts will increase your body's growth hormone. Research has also proven that the benefits of anaerobic exercise (like sprint interval cardio and jumps) is superior to aerobic exercise for fat loss and heart health.

If you want to tone up your body and look more sculpted, you should perform the majority of your cardio exercise using intervals (such as sprints).

Doing cardio sprint intervals will activate your bulky fast-twitch muscle fibers to give you a more lean and toned body. Just take a look at an athlete who competes in a speed sport. Their bodies are "ripped" for a reason (most of their training is fast).

Plyometric exercises (jumps) are great fat burners but only if you have enough strength and joint stability to make these more risky exercises work effectively for you.

Total workout time is 30 minutes. Do the workout this way:

--Running intervals, 10 minutes. Rotation: 30 seconds fast, 1 minute walking

--Rest 5 minutes

--Jumping Jacks, 10 minutes. Rotation: 1 minute fast, 1 minute walking

--Rest 5 minutes

--Running intervals, 10 minutes. Rotation: 30 seconds fast, 1 minute walking

Finished!

Take home lesson: make your cardio workouts fun and challenging! Don't do something you hate. Find exercises you enjoy.

Download your FREE 10-Minute Fat Burning Workouts now and take them with you. There are strength and cardio workouts in the e-book.

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

3 Tips to Control Hunger and Overeating

Control your hunger and overeating during the day by eating smarter. This will also help you control your caloric intake.

Here are 3 tips to help you eat with purpose:

1. Eat small meals about every 3-4 hours (never skip breakfast) to keep your energy levels high and metabolism ramped up. Building muscle will also speed up your metabolism. Frequent meals keep the hunger pangs away.

2. Another way to control your hunger pangs is to eat protein with every meal. You don't need to do protein shakes...just eat the right foods.

Research has proven that protein keeps blood sugar levels more steady and helps you feel fuller for a longer period (slower digestion). Protein also keeps the hunger hormone (ghrelin) in check so your hunger doesn't spike so high.

Eat more protein to repair tissues and build muscle....I have always said to get your nutrition mainly from food...there's plenty of protein in the foods we eat...Good food sources for protein are:

lean beef, lean chicken, fish, eggs, milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, beans, peas, nuts and seeds. If you are vegetarian, there are plenty of protein food sources for you.

If you feel fuller for longer periods, you will eat less and you won't binge eat if your hunger pangs are "not out the roof" when you do eat. Use your eating smarts.

3. Remember to drink enough water during the day. You will slow down your fat loss and weight loss efforts by dehydrating your body. Drinking enough water will also help to control your hunger and flush toxins from your body. Aim to drink about half your weight in water every day. So, if you weigh 150 pounds, drink about 75 ounces of water daily. Foods and drinks with water would count as water consumed.

Eat to stay healthy and reach your goals!

Eat These 3 Foods to Burn More Belly Fat

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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4 Tips to Naturally Detox Your Body

by Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN and Amy Coates, BSc., RHN

The average person in North America consumes 150 lbs of refined sugar per year! This is astronomical in contrast to the 5 lbs per year consumed by the average person at the turn of the 20th century.

Sugar, especially in its refined state, has many detrimental effects on the body. First and foremost, it is highly acid-forming. This means that sugar consumption throws off your pH balance so that your blood and other important cells become more acidic. The more acidic your body becomes, the greater the likelihood for disease to flourish.

Arthritis, asthma, headaches, psoriasis, cancer, stomach gas, intestinal gas, osteoporosis, heart disease, weight gain, PMS, candidiasis, tooth decay, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, cancer sores, cataracts, gallstones, kidney stones, and cystic fibrosis are all diseases and conditions that are negatively affected by the intake of sugar.

Download your Free book, "5 Detox Scams to Avoid" and learn how to really detox your body with whole, natural foods.

1. Sugar - The Fat Promoter and Drug

When you consume sugar, insulin is released from the pancreas, causing your muscle and liver cells to take up glucose from the blood and store it. A diet that includes lots of refined sugar goes hand in hand with mood swings. When blood sugar is abnormally high, as it is when sugar is ingested, the sugar acts like a drug, and you become elated.

But once insulin packs the sugar away into the cells, your mood begins to head south and your brain signals that more sugar is needed to regain the high. This is exactly when you find yourself reaching for that chocolate bar or sugary treat.

When a low-sugar diet is consumed, you will find your moods are even throughout the day, and your body will actually tap into fat as a source of fuel, a process that stops the second you eat something sugary. Since toxins are stored in fat, this is something you want to get rid of!

2. Sugar = Toxic Acid

Excessive sugar consumption throws your body’s pH levels out of balance. The sugar, and the acidity that it creates, provides an internal environment that is ripe for the overgrowth of dangerous yeasts, fungi, and bacteria - ultimately making it much harder for you to lose weight and maintain optimal health.

In turn, these nasty little critters feed on the sugar, multiply, and expel toxic wastes that make you feel and look even worse. Because these critters feed on sugar, your body begins to crave more sugar in the form of sweets, breads, pastas, and so forth. You end up feeding these microorganisms and fuel their growth, placing additional toxicity acid into your body.

As this vicious cycle continues not only do you feed these toxin-producing microorganisms but you also intake huge amounts of calorie-rich, nutrient void, sugar-laden foods. Over time, an excess intake of calories through sugar obviously leads to weight gain (considering everything else remains equal).

The other aspect of sugar that increases toxicity is the fact that as you fuel more and more of these “bad” microorganisms, the toxins they expel create more acid in your blood and pose added stress on your liver.

Since excess acid in the blood will eventually be stored in fat cells, it is imperative that you reduce the acid load in your body - if you want to lose weight and achieve great health. Only once you rid your body of excess acid and restore its proper pH balance will you be able to shed excess fat. If fat isn’t needed to store acid, then it can more readily be metabolized.

Make sense?

Similarly, if your liver becomes stressed and compromised as a result of having to filter tons of toxins floating through your blood, your weight loss attempts will be in vain. This is because the liver is not only the body’s major filter but it also regulates sugar and fat metabolism.

If your liver is not functioning properly then its ability to metabolize sugar and fats will also be compromised. Elevated blood sugar and blood lipid levels are usually the result.

3. Sugar is a Now a Processed Food Ingredient

The manner in which sugar is processed exacerbates the problem. More than 60 chemicals are used in the processing of natural sugarcane’s thick beige stalks into the fine, white granular table sugar that we’re all to familiar with. Many of these chemicals, including bleaches and deodorizes, are still present in the final product.

At same time, the naturally occurring minerals and vitamins in the sugarcane plant are completely removed. One such mineral is chromium.

Chromium is a critical player in your body’s ability to uptake sugar from the blood and into the cells. The fact that chromium is not present in refined sugar poses a serious problem for sugar uptake and metabolism, which imposes further stress on your body’s ability to burn fat and control blood sugar effectively.

4. Sugar Upsets the Mineral Balance in Your Body

There are so many reasons that sugar is bad news that simply it’s impossible to go through all of them right now. But one reason we will hit on is the fact that sugar can single-handedly impair the mineral balance in your body.

Researchers have found that ingesting sugar increases the rate at which we excrete calcium. Essentially, calcium is removed from the bones, teeth, and tissues to neutralize the consumption of acidic sugary treats!

Since minerals work in relation to one another, when you consume sugar, you are starting the dominoes falling.

And it’s not just the refined table sugar that is the problem. In fact, the majority of our sugar intake comes from hidden and unexpected sources such as processed and packaged foods. Sugar is used as an additive in foods ranging from meat to ketchup to salt. In packaged foods sugar can take the form of glucose, dextrose, sucrose, or the ever-present high-fructose corn syrup.

The major concern is that sugar provides no real nutritional value, while wreaking havoc on your blood sugar levels (promoting diabetes and weight gain) and leading to excess caloric consumption. It suppresses the immune system, disrupts normal mineral relationships, compromises the health of your vital organs, and keeps your body incredibly toxic.

Obviously, you must not only eliminate sugar from your diet, but also avoid other antinutrients such as alcohol, sweeteners, caffeine, rancid fats, drugs, and food additives and colourings to ensure your immune functioning is up to par. Of course, you must also eat a diet full of fresh, whole, colourful, and nutritious fruits and vegetables!

Don't waste money on detox pills, detox supplements and detox potions that will not work. Instead.......

Download your Free book, "5 Detox Scams to Avoid" and learn how to really detox your body with whole, natural foods.


Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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Keep Your Metabolism Active at Any Age

Growing old, overweight and fat is NOT inevitable. Absent medical problems, YOU control how well your body ages. Can your muscle mass change into body fat? Read this question and my answer.....

Client Q: I used to have a pretty muscular body when I was younger...now at age 41, because I have't been exercising, alot of my muscles have turned into fat. What can I do to change my body?

Mark's A: Muscle never changes into body fat. Muscle is metabolically active tissue and fat is inactive.

First things first, you don't need to eat as much at age 41 as you did at age 20 or 30. This sounds simple but many people fall into this eating trap. And, if you are not exercising, you are hit with a double dose of bad news. First, you will gain weight and fat.

Because you have been inactive, your muscles have lost mass (atrophy). And, your fat cells were still there although they had shrunk. So, now the fat cells are taking over!

In your early thirties, you can begin to lose as much as one-half pound of muscle each year. Inactivity will make this problem even worse. Remember, muscle mass speeds up your metabolism because your body has to work harder to maintain muscle mass (interpretation: your metabolism has slowed down). So, you begin to lose muscle mass and gain body fat.

Although the primary cause of weight gain is due to consistent daily calorie surpluses (eating more calories than you burn), you can burn more calories if you keep your metabolism active with proper nutrition and exercise.

Research and my personal experience as an exerciser and personal trainer proves that a combination of full-body circuit weight training (including bodyweight training) and high intensity interval cardio training is best for optimal fat-burning, muscle strength/endurance, cardio-respiratory health and bone density benefits.

Here are 3 things you can do to build up your body and maintain muscle mass throughout your life:

Regular Strength Training is Necessary

1. Muscle mass can be maintained/increased (and body fat decreased) throughout your life with weight training. Weight training also helps to keep your bones strong (preventing osteoporosis).

Tough, smart strength workouts are mandatory to change your body. Total body fat loss is the key to burning more fat and transforming your body. To lose weight and keep it off, you must make a major commitment to strength training.

Not only will your body's composition improve (less fat, more muscle), it will improve your overall health.

Strength training should be tailored to your body type. We all have a body type due to heredity and lifestyle choices. A fitness assessment is important because a personal trainer identifies postural weaknesses and muscle imbalances. The fitness program is then tailored to fit your needs. Without this assessment, you are "shooting in the dark."

Eat Healthy and Managed Meals

2. Eat right--meaning whole, natural foods with quality calories. Whole, natural foods have one ingredient, such as fresh fruits and vegetables. And, they are many times nutritional and low-calorie. Find foods that you enjoy. You are more likely to maintain something that you enjoy.

Help control your hunger during the day so you don't overeat when you do eat. Do this by eating small meals every 3-4 hours to keep your metabolism ramped up.

Another way to control your hunger pangs is to eat protein with every meal. Research has proven that protein keeps blood sugar levels more steady and helps you feel fuller for a longer period (slower digestion). Protein also keeps the hunger hormone (ghrelin) in check so your hunger doesn't spike so high.

If you feel fuller for longer periods, you will eat less and you won't binge eat if your hunger pangs not out-of-control when you do eat.

Finally, drink mainly water and unsweetened drinks like green tea.

Take Care of Your Body

3. Get enough sleep each night. That means about 7-8 hours every night. Your metabolism will not work right if you don't sleep enough. And, your energy level and workouts will suffer.

Keep stress under control. A certain amount of stress and tension helps you take on challenges and perform better. Too much stress (left unchecked) over a prolonged period is not good and it causes health problems and affects metabolism. Also, some people respond to stress better than others. One person might crumble under the same workload that causes another person to thrive.

Your body's normal state (homeostasis) is changed by stress. The hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, are secreted in response to a stressful situation. The "fight or flight" response to stress is intended to give you the energy to take on or run away from a particular situation. Stressful situations that go on for months or years signals to your body that the normal state includes excessive amounts of adrenaline and cortisol.

As it relates to metabolism, adrenaline makes your fat cells more efficient at turning fat into energy and speeds up metabolism. On the other hand, cortisol increases the amount of glucose in your blood and creates more energy. If you are consistently inactive, this excess adrenaline and cortisol builds up. Unused excess energy will be stored as fat.

Chronic stress or stress with no end in sight has major health implications. Adrenaline will continue to be secreted but your body and fat cells will build up a tolerance to it.

Its never too late to start a strength and conditioning program. Don't let your muscles continue to shrink and your health worsen due to inactivity!

Be sure and download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs