Quote of the Day: "The groundwork of all happiness is good health." Leigh Hunt

Article of the Day: 17 Ridiculously Healthy Reasons to Exercise

One of the main reasons I love health and fitness is that it is always changing. There is always new research being produced and new fitness equipment being invented. However, all of the changes can sometimes lead to clutter and a lot of false information floating around. Hopefully, by sharing my thoughts about the latest books, equipment and research, together we can weed out some of the clutter.

I am currently reading, “This is Why You’re Fat (and how to get thing forever)” by Jackie Warner. Some of you might recognize Ms. Warner from her TV show Workout on Bravo. She is what they call a celebrity personal trainer. I’m not sure if that means she trains celebrities or if she is a personal trainer that just happens to be famous. Anyways, when I saw her book my first thought was, “wow what a harsh title.” However, I was intrigued so I hit the internet super highway to see what people were saying about the book. Most of the reviews I read were positive, so I decided to pick one up.

The tag line for the book is, “Eat More, Cheat More, Lose More- and Keep the Weight off.” Well that sounds too good to be true right? Based on the TV show, Jackie seems like a very intense person who is probably very strict with her diet and workout routine. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. The main theme of the book is that sugar is the enemy and if you fuel your body with healthy good for your foods your body will naturally burn excess fat. There are no crazy food restrictions or crazy juice only detox diets. She uses sound nutrition principles and encourages consumption of food that naturally help your body burn fat and stay healthy.

The beginning of the book discusses how what you eat affects your hormones, and which hormones make you fat and which ones make you thin. I thought this was the most interesting part of the book. Next Jackie shares her diet and nutrition principles and exercise plan.

Key Diet and Nutrition Principles:

1. Never skip a meal. You should always eat three meals a day and 2 snacks to help regulate blood sugar.
2. Sugar is your enemy not fat. Excess sugar is like a wrecking ball to your body. Initially, sugar is stored in your liver in the form of glycogen. However, when your liver runs out of room, glycogen is released in the form of fatty acids. These travel all over the body and lodge themselves in your fatty areas.Yuck!
3. Follow a 5-2 eating plan. Eat clean 5 days a week, and then enjoy 2 (yes 2 not one!) cheat meals on the weekends.
4. Do not eat food with more than 9 grams of sugar (during your 5 clean days).This one requires you to pay very close attention to nutrition labels.
5. Pay attention to serving size. Learn what a proper portion is, and stick to it!
6. Do not use working out as an excuse to eat whatever you want. You have to be at a calorie deficit to lose weight.
7. Eat within an hour of every workout to prevent your body from eating into muscle for energy.
8. Add certain nutrient rich foods to your diet every day. Some of these include eggs, oatmeal, detox veggies, whole fruits, water with lemon, whey protein, and herbal teas. Again none of these are crazy! 

Key Exercise Principles:

1. Ramp up your intensity! It is not important how long you workout, but how hard. You should incorporate 20 minutes of high intensity cardio each day. (I’m not sure how I feel about this one. I did one of the workouts from the book and only burned 250 calories, which means I have to be pretty restrictive on calories to produce a calorie deficit. However, I do agree with the work harder not longer method. I’m just not sure if 20 minutes is long enough.)
2. Weight training is essential for all women trying to lose weight. Aim to do resistance training 3-4 days a week. Jackie points out, if you add 3-5 pounds of muscle to your body, you will burn 250-500 extra calories per day which equals 3-5 pounds of fat loss per week. That’s huge!
3. The fastest way to your ideal body is through power circuit training. Jackie combines three upper body exercises and three lower body exercises into one giant set. You do not rest in between and you alternate quickly from upper to lower body exercises for maximum fat burn.
4. Focus on the mind muscle connection. You want to visualize the muscles you are working to actually increase muscle tone.

Overall, I have really enjoyed reading this book. The information on how what you eat affects your hormones, and in turn your weight loss was very interesting. The best thing about this book, is that it can be done by anyone. No expensive pre-packaged meals or gym membership required.

Yours truly,

Lauren G.

P.S. Are you reading any good books right now or is there a book you are thinking about reading but haven't started yet? If so, let me know what! It does not have to be health and fitness related.

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