The most disturbing problem I had in the beginning of my transformation was having external events that interfered with my newly born decisions, life changes and habits. For example, when I decided to change my eating schedule I suddenly had long meetings that conflicted with my new meal schedule. After changing my diet, I needed to go to China and did not have access to the food I decided to eat. When I decided to workout 5 mornings a week, I had early morning conference calls at the same time as my scheduled workouts. It was very difficult to fight interruptions and stick to strategic decisions.

Many people start diets and give up on the first serious glitch. They go to a party and “taste” just a “small” peace of cake, and then a slightly bigger slice…and so on. I have definitely been there, done that!

It’s not easy to overcome procrastination. But when you’ve already made a decision about a change in your life – and that can be any kind of change – there is a 3 month timeframe in which your new lifestyle is very fragile.

Any interruption that breaks the routine or new lifestyle can result in regressing to the old familiar habit. So how can we overcome our natural tendency to give in to external events?

I found the most effective way to achieve success in implementing changes is to expect the glitches. More than that, plan ahead for the glitches and how to overcome them. Let’s see how this works.

Imagine you decide to workout 5 times a week. You plan to work a different body part each day. It works wonderfully for the first 2 weeks and then, in the third week, you have a business trip and only have 2 days to workout. What do you do?

I used to do…nothing. Actually, I waited for a new week to start. Or I would just quit. This happens because the new commitment has been broken before becoming a habit. But what if you had a ready made a contingency plan for working out 1 day, 2 days or 3 days a week? What if you recognize that working 2-4 times a week is OK when it happens from time to time?

You can overcome the glitch easily by planning your workout 2 days ahead. For example, the first day working out your lower body and the second day your upper body. You can make as many contingency plans as possible. If you can’t go to the gym at all, do body weight exercises at home, hotel or outdoors. Do you get the idea?

The most important is to plan ahead and not be taken by surprise by external events and never be clueless about what to do. Momentum is the key, and if you lose momentum, you subconsciously act against your own decisions.

Here is another idea. Imagine you’ve changed your diet to 6 meals per day. Each meal contains protein and low GI carbs like I pitch in the
Anti-Aging Fitness Program. You are doing well, packing cottage cheese and apples to your office and starting to lose fat and feel good. But then your boss surprises you with a 5 day conference in Atlanta. If you are not ready, you will be hungry for 5 days and fall for the cookies and pastries at break time.

If you’re like me, you will pack in advance protein shakes powders, shaker, low GI fruit or even sugar free protein bars. You will never be hungry enough to fall for the junk food. Your
blood sugar level will be kept stable and you will be energetic, humble, and alert the whole conference. But most importantly, you will stick to what you started.

If you are not well prepared you are stepping back into your old bad habits with less chances to return to your new lifestyle. This is a double bummer. You lose the chance to change your body and your health. But most importantly your subconscious mind records a failure. Your weaker part wins 1:0…with a knockout. Don’t let it happen. Be ready for the glitches, prepare for them, plan for them ahead and never let them win.

Popularity: 2% [?]

So, you’ve been working out regularly and are really starting to see changes in your body.  But, for some reason you feel tired, without energy and are getting more colds than usual.  Your doctor says you are in good health.  So, what’s up with this tired feeling?  It’s time to look at the other aspects of wellness involved.  In other words, are your lifestyle choices and habits sabotaging your good work at the gym?

Let’s take a look at a few things that can affect your health and wellbeing and hence your fitness:

1.  Procrastination

Procrastination can really wreak havoc on your health.  For example, if you put off your exercise day after day, you lose fitness.  If you put off going to the doctor for an illness, it’s likely to get worse.  But what about everyday tasks?  If you put them off, they end up having to be completed in a hurry, you end up stressed and have to put off other things (like sleep and exercise) for a few days.

2.  Losing weight by eating less often

I have to admit, I am guilty of this one from time to time.  It never works.  Basically, your body needs the fuel on a regular basis or it goes into starvation mode, saves calories and doesn’t burn them. This not only makes you feel tired, but it also lowers your immune system.

3.  Taking too much on/ chronic stress

Stress is an individual thing.  I have friends who have full-time jobs, go to school part-time and have small children.  For me, this is overwhelming and I know a lifestyle like that would make me seriously stressed out.  But one thing for sure about stress on a long term basis… it impacts the body in many ways, not the least of which is the immune system.

4.  Not sleeping enough/catching up on weekends

It’s really important to get enough sleep with REGULARITY (the experts call this good sleep hygiene).  The body and brain requires adequate sleep to rebuild and regenerate.  Without solid rest, the body just doesn’t recover from that really hard workout, or really stressful business trip and you end up feeling a bit weaker or even catching a cold.

5. Working out too much/not recovering

This is really important if you are training for a sports event or want to improve your muscle development in the gym.  Muscles need rest in between workouts (see sleep above as well) to rebuild from whatever loads you put on them.  If they become too fatigued, the joints end up taking the stress of the activity…which can end in injury and weakness.  Your immune system is also compromised by long or hard workouts and needs time to recover.

6.  Holding on to anger

The way people process anger has a big impact on their body.  The classic example of this is the “Type A” personality type who has a heart attack.  I am not really qualified to discuss this in depth, but anger has an evolutionary reason (flight or fight response) which is necessary.  But the body responses to anger are designed to be short in duration.  Holding on to anger keeps the body in this state.  Eventually, health is compromised.

Wishing you good health and fitness always!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Just yesterday, I was talking to my friend Jack, who is a Tri-athlete.  To train, he runs, swims, cycles and lifts weights.  I hadn’t seen this guy for about 6 months and he has really changed his body quite a bit with his rigorous training schedule.   He was showing me how his body had changed and asked me, “what else can I do to strengthen my abdominals?”   My answer, as always, was very long winded…and inspired this article.  Thanks Jack!

There has been a paradigm shift in the last few years in fitness science about how to strengthen abdominals.  Have you heard the term core body strength?  Then you have heard about this trend.  What is means is that in order to strengthen the abdominals, all of the muscles of the front, side and back of the torso must be exercised.  It also includes strengthening the pelvic floor muscles!  This is because all of these muscles work synergistically to stabilize the middle of the body.

Using the core training philosophy will not only improve those wash board abs, but will help your posture and ability to avoid back injury.  To implement this doesn’t necessarily mean doing different exercises than you are already doing, so long as you are working out your abdominals, obliques and spinal erectors (lower back).  It means doing them differently.

Here are 2 core techniques that will improve your workout:

1.    Pull your pelvic floor muscles up

(yes men too!) Women who have been pregnant will remember doing Kegel exercises.  Same movement, but you want to practice holding these muscles up at all times during your workout.  As your pelvic floor muscles get stronger, you will start to notice that when you pull them up, your lower abdominals tighten up.  This is because of the interconnection of the muscles of the abdominal wall and the pelvic floor muscles.

2.    Pull your belly button towards your spine

This motion engages all the ab muscles.

I highly recommend that you apply these 2 core techniques not only when you are doing abdominal exercises, but when you are doing ANYTHING.   Using these techniques for abdominal work increases the focus of the exercise and the number of muscles worked.  Using these techniques when running or weight lifting displaces the force throughout the core, which will result in better balance/stability and less downward compression on the spine.

If you would like to know more about core body work, there are tons of books and workout videos on the subject.  Another really good way to learn about core work is to take a Pilates class, Stability Ball class or Bosu.  This philosophy is becoming very popular and as such there are new core workouts coming out all the time.  Ask your trainer or at your gym about them.

Popularity: 2% [?]

As you might already recognize from my previous articles, I am a crusader for correcting muscle imbalances.  Muscle imbalances occur in all of us through daily activities and movements.  In this article, I would like to discuss the types of imbalances that occur in people who sit for long periods of time, say in a computer related job or taxi driver.

If you are reading this now, you are probably in a sitting position (unless you are in a Starbucks at one of the standing internet stations, and also having a coffee YUM).  Focus on your body position.  What muscles do you feel are shorter and which are longer (contracted vs stretched)?  Basically, the muscles of the front of your body are shorter and the back side are longer. If you are using your mouse or typing, your shoulders and neck are rounded a bit forward.

Ok, so the muscles of your chest, abdomen and hip flexors (connect top of legs to torso in front) are tighter, and your butt and back (especially upper back) are looser.  Over time, this position weakens the muscles of the back, butt and back of the upper leg and leaves the body with over tight hip flexors (putting stress on the low back) and tight chest muscles (pulling shoulders forward). A rounded spine is not good either!

“That’s ok”, you say. “I go to the gym and do strength training”….great!!! BUT I think you can see where I am going with this…

If you are sitting at a computer or driving a car (or any other sitting activity) for long periods of time, it’s a good idea to emphasize working out the backside of your body a bit more than the front.  In other words, build the muscles of your lower, middle and upper back, the gluteal muscles (derrière) and the back of your upper leg.  Stretch a bit more those musles of the front like the quadriceps (front of the upper leg), hip flexors (front of the pelvic bones) and pectorals (chest).

To illustrate this further, stand up from your desk and arch your back.  Drop your head back and let your arms fall down and back.  Basically, this is the opposite position from sitting.  How does that feel?  I bet your back and shoulders say AAAHHH, good.  In this position, the muscles of your back side are shortened and the front ones are lengthened.

In yoga, there are many poses that involve arching the back.  Even the ancient masters knew about stretching and building opposing muscle groups to achieve “body balance”!

Taking this idea one step further…. In the gym or in your regular exercise routine, strengthen the muscles of your back, derrière and back of upper leg and you will see and feel the difference in your posture, with less back, shoulder and neck aches from your job.

For advice on which exercises build these muscle groups, talk to your trainer or check out the many books on the subject.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Like taxes, stress is a part of everyone’s life.  The “experts” tell us that some stress is good because without it there would be no motivation to do anything!  However, if you are like me, serious stress and anxiety makes me feel bad physically – I am unable to eat. This can’t be good!

For most of us, stress is low-level most of the time.  Our daily tasks and relationships give us a bit of stress but not major anxiety.  The body’s response to low-level stressors is designed to motivate us to action with a slightly raised heart rate and increased mental clarity –similar to the response to caffeine.

In times where stress levels go higher, the responses are what many people call the “fight or flight” response.  The body sends blood to the extremities to get ready for action!   These responses are normal and good for you – except when the stress levels remain high for a long time.  When the body perpetually stays in a stressed state, the systems begin to break down.  Think of it like a car engine where the throttle is stuck and the engine is constantly “revved up”.  Not only will it consume A LOT of gasoline, but the mechanical parts will wear out faster.

So what to do to protect ourselves from this?  RELAX of course….and EXERCISE.  Exercise helps us relax both physiologically and, if it’s enjoyable, provides a mental escape from the stressor.  The physiological effects of exercise include release of morphine-like chemicals (which include beta-endorphins) that give us a sense of well being.  Have you ever heard the term Runner’s High?  This is caused by the release of “endorphins” into the blood.  Since these chemicals stay in the blood for several hours after stopping the activity, the “feel good” feeling remains for a while.

OK, so we know why exercise can help with anxiety and stress.  But what are some of the ways regular exercise keeps us healthy in normal, low-level stress, times?

Here’s some from the top of my head:

• Using a daily dose of natural “feel good” chemicals is better than drugs or alcohol!!
• Looking fit, healthy and strong  (It’s ok to admit that looking good makes you feel good!)
• Feeling good from accomplishment and improvement.
• Escaping from the daily grind for an hour – change of scene.
• Keeping the body systems prepared to handle high-level stress.

The key to lowering stress with exercise is that you ENJOY the exercise that you choose to do.  If you hate going to the gym, it’s not going to lower your stress – in fact it probably will add some!  Also, studies are showing over and over that even low intensity exercise helps anxiety, so any activity you enjoy is good.  For me, when I am under stress, nothing works better than a good sweaty dance session.  The music, movement and high heart rate just melt away my troubles.  Some of my clients even tell me that the sense of achievement from competitive sports makes them feel less stressed!

The bottom line?  To decrease the effects stress on your body, pick a fitness or sports activity you enjoy, do it regularly and HAVE FUN.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Organic foods have become very popular in recent times.  I haven’t been in a MacDonalds lately, but I bet there’s even an organic selection on their menu!  Personally, I get a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that the entree I order is organic or do I?  Wait a minute!  What does “organic” really mean and why does organic food cost so much more?

In an endeavor to answer this question, I looked up the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines on raising food that receives the “USDA certified organic” seal of approval.

The rules go something like this:

1. The land has to be free for 3 years before growing from certain prohibited substances which include sewage sludge (oh man! Does this mean non-organic farmers use sewage sludge?).
2. The farmers can’t use genetic engineering or ionizing radiation.
3. The organic foods and the non-organic foods cannot be processed together or come in contact with chemicals.
4. Livestock must be fed 100% organic feed.
5. Livestock cannot be given hormones or antibiotics.
6. Livestock must have outdoor access.

This is informative, but doesn’t give the whole picture as to what organic is.  The term “organic” refers to the way that farmers grow, handle and process our food.  Organic is a philosophy of farming where “conventional methods” of fertilization, weed control and livestock disease prevention are used.  Farmers use natural fertilizers like manure, try where possible to use beneficial insects and birds instead of pesticides, rotate crops and weed by hand and feed livestock organic feed.

Natural does not necessarily mean organic.  However, there are some other terms types of growing and husbandry methods that might be important to you such as “free-range” or “hormone free”.

Whether you buy organic or not, the USDA also recommends eating many different kinds of fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy.  This is not only to ensure that you get the most nutrients possible from your food, but also to keep from saturating your system with the same chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, hormones, antibiotics and fertilizers).

Even if you don’t choose organic, it’s always a good  idea to wash and scrub your vegetables/fruit with a brush.  This will remove more chemical residues than washing alone.  Better yet, peel them when you can!

Take care of your body!

Popularity: 2% [?]

We have all heard the term “overtraining”, but what does the term mean really?  Well, it means different things to different people depending on what activity or sport is involved.  Mostly it means too much, too often and too intense.

If you have been weight/resistance training, you will understand how great it is to see your body change so dramatically and how easy it would be to increase training intensity and frequency too quickly.  Of course, rationally we all know this is a mistake.  But, the desire for an even better shape and “feel good” chemicals (endorphins) can cause us to do just a bit too much…. And ouch.

I had this experience when I started training with weights 15 years ago.  I  had been teaching aerobics classes for 8 years when I started.  Well, naturally the weights changed my body a lot and I LIKED the changes!  Then one day, I decided to do the same workout twice in one day.  I mean, after all, if one is good, two is better right?  Wrong! The result was tendonitis in my shoulder which took forever to heal.

Now, often I spend a fair bit of time explaining to clients how more is not necessarily better.  The key is to workout SMART!  Ok, what does this mean?

First:  rest is very important. Muscles need rest between workouts.  Working the same muscles in the same way too often results in injury and a reduction in performance.  When a muscle is overtired, the load is taken into the joint.  Joints are not designed for load, they are designed for movement.  Tendonitis and joint pain are pretty common indicators of overtraining.

Second: varied workouts. This is why we fitness instructors recommend doing different sports or fitness activities.  But for “die hard” weight lifters, variation can be accomplished in a variety of ways.  One common way is to work different muscle groups in different days. Another method is to change the way in which a particular exercise is performed so as to train the muscles differently.  An example of this would be to change the speed of the lift from workout to workout, like very slow one day, the faster the next time the muscle group is worked.

There’s lots of ways to vary your workouts.  Check out some books on weight training or talk to a Fitness Trainer if you need some ideas. You will not only help prevent injury, but you will see changes in your strength and muscle development.

Keep your workouts SMART!

Popularity: 2% [?]

Today is just a heads up for  2 new procedures that I haven’t added yet to my ebook  “How to Astonish Everyone with a Wrinkle Free Young Look”. This 6 X 6 Anti-Aging Skin Care Program provides 6 regimens for 6 minutes a day.

This program is no hype, no miracle creams, no magic solutions but very reliable fully proven and inexpensive procedures for men and women.

I’m going to add 2 new regimens for just additional 2 minutes a day and the updated program will be 8 X 8 Anti-Aging Skin Care Program.

What are the new regimens?

Today I will expose a proven overlooked procedure that those who apply have a remarkable results.

It all started when Ainsley showed me her photos of 10-15 years ago and I was surprised how her face have changed tremendously and became less round and more shaped. She looks as she have gone through face lift surgery. Her secret, which at first she was a bit embarrassed about, is a fitness training for a facial muscles. Can you imagine?

I bet neither your dermatologist, nor your beautician, ever encouraged you to workout your facial muscle. But hold on. Think for a minute. Isn’t our face built of muscle. And as I wrote in the above book,  sagging face isn’t just a result of loosen skin but also loose muscle.

So let’s me explain the fundamentals and start shaking this muscle to get the same results that you have got by going through a face lift plastic surgery.

Wrinkles, crows’ feet and laugh lines on the face – the stuff that women’s nightmares are made of! With increasing age, they cannot be avoided. But following a regular face exercise regimen can help to keep wrinkles and sagging skin at bay. Other than the jars of moisturizers and tubes of cleansers, facial skin can be kept healthy and glowing with face exercises. Each part of the face can be exercised. Here are  some simple face exercises that you can benefit from.

Face exercise benefits
The appearance of your skin relies in part on supportive facial muscles. In order for these facial muscles to remain smooth and firm, they need to be exercised and well toned. Facial exercise will assist in achieving this. The benefits of face exercises are removal of puffiness or ‘bags’ under the eyes. The milking action of the muscles drains the lymph in areas where it tends to accumulate. This tends to be prominent under the eyes and in the lower jaw. With the right face exercises, facial lines and wrinkles are minimized and potential wrinkles are prevented. Improved muscle tone will result in better blood circulation and therefore a more radiant complexion. Face exercises also activate better nutrition to the skin. Consequently, you will see improved collagen and elastin production. Balanced sebum distribution balances out the oily and dry patches and leads to smaller pores. A few minutes per day is sufficient for a routine that would lead to visible results.

Facial Exercise 1
A great exercise it to sit upright, tilt your head back looking at the ceiling, while keeping your lips closed and then start a chewing movement. You will feel the muscles working in your neck and throat area. Repeat 20 times.

Facial Exercise 2
Sit upright, tilt your head back looking at the ceiling, while keeping your lips closed and relaxed. Start puckering your lips together in a kiss and stretch the kiss, as if you were trying to kiss the ceiling. Keep your lips puckered for 10 counts. Relax and bring your head back to normal and repeat 5 times.

Facial Exercise 3
Sit upright, tilt your head back looking at the ceiling, while keeping your lips closed and relaxed. Open your lips and stick your tongue out as if you were trying to touch your chin with the tips of your tongue. Keep your tongue out in this position for 10 counts and return your tongue and head to its normal position.

Facial Exercise 4
Sit upright, tilt your head back looking at the ceiling, while keeping your lips closed and relaxed. Next move your lower lip over your top lip as far as possible and keep it there for a count of 5. Relax and repeat 5 times.

Facial Exercise 5
Lie on your bed, with your head hanging down over the edge. Slowly bring your head up towards your torso and keep it there for 10 counts. Relax and lower your head towards the floor again. Repeat 5 times.

Facial Exercise 6
Sit upright and face forward and while keeping your lips together, separate your teeth by dropping your jaw and then push your jaw forward, keep for a count of 10 and bring back to starting position. Repeat 5 times.

Face tapping is yet another good facial exercise to pep up the blood circulation. Tap dots on the face with the pads of your middle fingers. Sharp, light and quick taps can help boost the circulation. Massaging the ears can go a long way in lending a glow to the face. With index finger and thumb, massage the rim of the ear and pull it slightly. Do not miss out the crevices and spirals of the ear too.

If puffy and droopy eyelids and sagging chin stare at you from the mirror, it is about time to tighten the elongated muscles and rebuild the atrophying muscle tissues. Get started on a face exercise regimen!

More to discover on this amazing issue in the next issue. Don’t miss any of the coming ezines.

Popularity: 10% [?]

“By our most conservative estimate, replacement of partially hydrogenated fat in the U.S. diet with natural unhydrogenated vegetable oils would prevent approximately 30,000 premature coronary deaths per year, and epidemiologic evidence suggests this number is closer to 100,000 premature deaths annually.” (1)

This is the stunning conclusion of the top epidemiologists at Harvard University.
Nothing in our food supply is more dangerous than trans fatty acids (“trans fats”) that are produced by the partial hydrogenation of oils. Yet partially hydrogenated oils are used in thousands of products, including cakes, cookies, other baked goods, many diet and “health” foods, and in most restaurants.

If the 100,000 figure is correct, then an average of 274 people are dying each day from consuming trans fats only in USA. On top of that, there are a far greater number of non-fatal but terrifying and damaging heart attacks caused by trans fats, not to mention other health problems.

Dr. Walter Willett is the Chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School. He is generally recognized as one of the world’s top authorities on nutrition. He calls the partial hydrogenation of oils the “biggest food-processing disaster in U.S history.”

He says: “No one doubted trans fats have adverse affects on health, and still companies were not taking it out.”Do It Yourself (D.I.Y) Face Lift

If the hydrogenation process were discovered today, it could not be adopted by the oil food industry. The use of partially hydrogenated oils should be banned!

Tommy Thompson, the Bush administration’s Health and Human Services Secretary, gave the following warning to consumers in July 2003:
“Trans fats are bad fats. The less trans fat you and I eat, the healthier we will be.”

About Trans Fat

There are four kinds of fats:
1.    Monounsaturated fat
2.    Polyunsaturated fat
3.    Saturated fat
4.    Trans fat

Monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat are the “good” fats. It is generally accepted that consumption of saturated fat should be kept low, especially for adults. Trans fat (which means trans fatty acids) is the worst kind of fat, far worse than saturated fat.

Partial hydrogenation is an industrial process used to make a perfectly good oil, such as soybean oil, into a perfectly bad oil. The process is used to make an oil more solid; provide longer shelf-life in baked products; provide longer fry-life for cooking oils, and provide a certain kind of texture or “mouthfeel.” The big problem is that partially hydrogenated oil is laden with lethal trans fat.

It is only the trans fat created by the partial hydrogenation of vegetable oils that we are concerned about and that should be eliminated completely from your diet.

Partially hydrogenated oils are commonly found in processed foods like commercial baked products such as cookies, cakes and crackers, and even in bread. They are also used as cooking oils (called “liquid shortening”) for frying in restaurants.

Health Effects

One of the reasons that partially hydrogenated oils are used is to increase the product’s shelf life, but they decrease your shelf life.

Trans fats cause significant and serious lowering of HDL (good) cholesterol and a significant and serious increase in LDL (bad) cholesterol; make the arteries more rigid; cause major clogging of arteries; cause insulin resistance; cause or contribute to type 2 diabetes; and cause or contribute to other serious health problems.

Explanation of terms

• LDL (bad) cholesterol: The main source of cholesterol buildup and blockage in the arteries.
• HDL (good) cholesterol: Carries cholesterol from the blood back to the liver, which processes the cholesterol for elimination from the body. HDL makes it less likely that excess cholesterol in the blood will be deposited in the coronary arteries. (HDL levels, to be considered “normal,” should be at least 35 – 40 mg/DL.)
• Blood vessels: There are three types of blood vessels: arteries, veins, and capillaries. The arteries carry blood away from the heart. The capillaries connect the arteries to veins. Finally, the veins carry the blood back to the heart.

A New York Times article  states that “There is considerable evidence linking an increased risk of heart disease and stroke more strongly to low HDL levels than to high LDL levels. For every one-milligram rise in “good cholesterol,” the risk for developing cardiovascular disease falls by 2 to 3 percent. A level of 60 milligrams or higher helps to protect against this major killer.

In addition to enabling the body to get rid of unwanted cholesterol, HDL also acts in several other protective ways: as an antioxidant deterring the harmful oxidation of LDL, and as an anti-inflammatory agent, helping to repair what is now considered a major player in blood vessel disease. And it has anti-clotting properties, which can help keep blood clots from blocking arteries.”(3)

How Much Trans Fat is in the Products that We Eat?

In a recent survey, five popular restaurant or takeout foods were randomly selected and analyzed for their trans fat content. Trans fats were found in all of the products that were tested:

• Five small chicken nuggets from a fast food chicken outlet contained nearly 4 grams of trans fat.

• An apple danish from a donut shop contained about 2.7 grams of trans fat.

• Two vegetable spring rolls from a Chinese takeout contained about 1.7 grams of trans fat.

• Just one fillet of battered fish from a fish and chips restaurant dinner contained about 1.2 grams of trans fat — and that’s not including the trans fat in the French fries.

• Even in pizza you’d most likely ingest about 1 gram of trans fat in two slices — most of it from vegetable shortening used to process the crust.

• McDonald’s one large French fries contains 8 grams. A baked apple pie contains 4.5 grams.

• 3 Oreo cookies contains 7 grams of fat, 1.5 of which is saturated fat, and 2.5 of which is trans fat.

Incidentally, don’t think that the problem is only at McDonald’s or other fast-food chains. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many other restaurants, including “quality” restaurants, fry their food in partially hydrogenated oil and served baked goods containing partially hydrogenated oil. At least McDonald’s is diligently trying to reduce trans fats in its cooking oil and has had some success in reducing it in its fried chicken products. Many other restaurant operations are not even trying.
The Great “Zero Grams of Trans Fat” Labeling Fraud

Many products now on supermarket shelves in the United States have labels that state that they contain zero grams of trans fats. However, you will see on the ingredients lists of many of those “zero grams of trans fat” products that they contain partially hydrogenated oil or shortening, in other words trans fat.

Isn’t this fraudulent labeling? Yes, absolutely. If a label states that a product contains zero grams of trans fat, then it should contain zero grams of trans fat, right? Right.

But believe it or not, food companies are not only allowed to engage in this fraudulent labeling – they are legally required to do so.

Under FDA regulations “if the serving contains less than 0.5 gram [of trans fat], the content, when declared, shall be expressed as zero.”

Suppose you eat a product that contains 0.4 grams of trans fat per serving and another that contains 0.3 grams of trans fat per serving. The labels state that each product contains zero grams of trans fat per serving, but you have in fact just eaten 0.7 grams of trans fat. You could eat products all day long that have zero grams of trans fat according to the labels, and end up eating 5 grams of trans fat or much more.

Popularity: 8% [?]

To lose fat, you need to do things that average people won’t do.
Each day, I see the same people doing the same exercise routine as they did yesterday. They go through the same machines in the same order using the same weight each day. Then they go to the same piece of cardio equipment and use the same level and go at that same slow pace as always.

And do you know what I see the next day?

The same old physique on that same person. No change. Next week? No change. Same workout, same body.

The politically correct myth says, “Just keep at it. Keep working hard. Doing more cardio will help you burn the fat.

But the non-politically correct truth is that they don’t have a good program or a good idea about what they should be doing in the gym.

Rarely will a program of slow cardio, light weights, high reps ever make a difference on someone’s body.

To change your body, the awful truth is that you have to sweat, grunt, and work hard. You need to choose hard multi-muscle exercises. You need to do intervals. And you need to be disciplined to eat the right foods at least 90% of the time.

You have to step out of your comfort zone. You have to plan your workouts so that they challenge you. You can’t just go through the motions. That won’t work.

Take jogging for example. This is one of the easiest methods of exercise because joggers don’t have to think. They don’t have to plan a program. They don’t have to pick the best, efficient strength training exercises and then put them in the proper order in an effective routine. Instead, all they have to do is put one foot in front of the other.

But, and there is always a BUT, isn’t there? That easy, no-thinking approach is not going to get them very far. After ten days, there probably won’t be much change in their body.

And the same goes for those high-rep, low weight, machine circuit programs. No thinking required, no results guaranteed.

Recently my gym installed an “Express Workout” track of consecutive 10 weight machines that people follow at the same order for the same time to complete the track quickly without cuing. People love it. It’s a “no brainer”. No need to plan. No need to think. Just follow the crowd. And guess what? This people haven’t changed their body even a bit.

However, if they had taken the steps that no one else is willing to take, and followed a fitness program that a lot of thinking have been put in, and planned they workouts according to well researched guidelines, they would already see some changes.

But planning a workout takes effort. And going through an effective workout of efficient strength exercises and interval training takes even more effort. But you get out what you put in. That saying goes for just about anything in life, especially for workouts.

So the choice is u p to the exercisers in the gym I guess. If they stay in their comfort zone, it will be easier on their body and their mind in the short-term. But over the long-term, they’ll probably drop out of the fitness scene as they find they never get the results they want.

Or they can put in the short-term effort, researching the best program for their goals. And with this approach, you get the long-term payoff of success.

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