Former Fat Guy Blog

My Medical Emergency; This Happened Today

Rob — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:56:55 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout]

Sometimes you have to nearly lose it all to realize what you truly have.

I can honestly say that I have come close to death several times in my life. I’ve had my share of accidents, medical emergencies, and a near-fatal accident while driving.

But there was something about just laying on the gym floor today with two doctors hovering over me that gave me serious pause.

Time for some major reflection.

Now, before you get too alarmed (for those who know me, or just think I’m a pretty good guy… ; )… fear not. I did not have a stroke or anything like that, thank goodness.

What I did have was a major drop in blood pressure… so much that I came dangerously close to entering the “coma” zone.

I kid you not.

And trust me… I felt like I was slipping fast.

My girlfriend was there with me. I had her kneel down and, just like Spock in an old episode of “Star Trek”, I had her slap me several times in the face. Hard!

“If my eyes roll back, hit me harder.”

The doctor probably thought I was nuts… but I know that’s one way to elevate my blood pressure.

So, what happened? Am I falling apart at the relatively young age of 46? Is my dietary and exercise advise dangerous after all?

No… and here’s why:

I actually VOLUNTEERED for this.

Before you think I’ve totally lost my marbles, hear me out. If you listen to the rest of the story, you’ll see that not only has my advice been of great value when it comes to exercise and dietary strategy… it actually ended up saving my butt!

—————————————–
Really Bad Genetics Meets
The Cath Lab: A Wild Encounter
—————————————–

First, the “volunteered for this” bit needs explaining… right? Right.

If you read my first book, published in 2004, called “Fit Over 40″ (read more at www.fitover40.com) then you may recall that I went into great detail about my poor genetics and horrible health in my early and mid-30s.

Since then, and knowing exactly how bad my genetics are for such things as high blood pressure (oh, the irony!), heart disease, and stroke, I adopted the dietary plan and exercise routine I use to this very day. The very ones I cover in “The Every Other Day Dietplan” and “7 Minute Body.”

(If you don’t have these books and want them, you can get both here… The Every Other Day Dietplan Revealed — oh, and I have a short video up on this page if you have not seen on a 1-minute fatloss tip… )

Now, let’s get real folks: Dietary power and exercise MAY not be enough to overcome really bad genetics when it comes to certain diseases. And being ever curious, I wanted to know exactly how my own health was doing on my plan. So a month or so ago I paid a visit to the hospital to have some tests ran. All my yearly check-ups were okay, but I wanted a closer look at my heart… and I mean “literally”.

I wanted to be “cathed”… this is where they insert a camera into your heart, going up the femoral artery in your right leg, and take a look around. If they find anything dangerous, like a clogged artery, they can fix it right then and there with a stent. A stent is a metal device that presses plaque against the artery wall and opens up a clogged artery.

Of course I hoped I would not find such a thing… and certainly nothing worse. I mean, can you imagine? “Mr. Benson, you need a quadruple bypass!”

I could not, that’s for sure… and I was fortunate because, as you probably guessed, I didn’t hear those words from my doc.

It’s hard to get a cath done as it’s a risky procedure. I can’t even tell you how I managed to pull it off … that’s how touchy the hospitals are when it comes to this kind of stuff. Afterwards, I volunteered to do 5-10 workouts at their heart care facility so I could hook myself up to some nifty gadgets. I get to watch my EKG (how my heart is functioning during cardio and weights… and it works like a charm!) and really nice doctor folks come by to check my blood pressure (which is always low) during the workout.

Yep… the doc and I wanted to put my workout plan to the test, I guess you could say. I wanted to do it just to make sure I was 100% healthy during my training. You never really “know” I suppose, so I was up for it. And my doctor wanted me to do it just in case what he found during the cath was serious. There’s a lot to this process, and there’s some details I don’t wish to cover for privacy sake… but anyway, back to my story.

It’s long, but it may save your life too. : )

—————————————–
The Good News… The Bad News…
And The Stupid Jon News!
—————————————–

Turns to find out I made a few mistakes… some pretty costly mistakes… but (get this) none of them had to do with my dietary or exercise plan.

During the cath, here’s what the doc said:

“Jon, your heart’s two primary arteries look good… hardly any obstruction at all. And they are nice and thick from exercise.” For a guy who has had a cholesterol level of over 400 before, and a history of heart disease in the family, this was really good news.

“However, your genetics are catching up to you in one of your arteries…. and you need to be more aggressive with your drug treatment to make sure we don’t have to go back in here one day!”

Er… what??

Yep… turns out that the only thing that saved me from a BYPASS (that’s right) was what the doctor called “an enormous amount of peripheral arteries formed from years and years of weight training and exercise.”

Wow.

“Look right here Jon…” (He showed me my beating heart on camera… freaky…) “See all these arteries? Well the average person doesn’t have them. You do. Congratulations… you earned them.”

Wow again. And remember, I only workout with weights 3-4 times per week and my workouts are rarely over 21 minutes (time under the weight.)

—————————————–
What I Did Right… And What
I Did Wrong… And Why This
Could Save Your Life
—————————————–

So, listen up folks as I’m about to tell you everything I did wrong for the past several years… how it ALMOST cost me dearly (a bypass?… no thanks!)… how I managed to prevent it… and how I ended up on the gym floor today with doctors all around me.

It’s all related. And again, sorry for the novel-like email, but (again) this may save your life.

First, here’s what my excellent cardiologist said I did RIGHT:

1. Exercise: “Jon, your exercise plan, to put it bluntly, saved you from a great deal of pain… in fact it probably saved your life as these blockages would have been far worse without it.” With it, I had only one artery with enough blockage to warrant the drug therapy that I should have been on for years… more on that in a second…

2. Dietary plan: “Jon, your diet is perfect for this condition… low in carbs, high in protein and healthy fats is all anyone can do in order to help fight this genetic killer.” Yep… again… prevention in the form of dietplan saved my butt. Or rather my heart. : ) But it wasn’t enough… at least for one artery. However, it WAS enough to prevent them from having to do surgery on me.

“Jon, the take-away here is simple: Exercise and dietary plans, even the very best, may not be enough for super high-risk people… but in your case your lifestyle saved your life. And it certainly prevented you from having to have any serious surgery to correct a truly broken heart.”

Talk about EXCITING news… yep… you CAN beat this killer, even when you have MY horrible family genetics. However, like me, you may need some help… more on that in a second.

3. Blood pressure: “Jon, your blood pressure is excellent. Your lifestyle and very low-dose diuretic has kept your formerly sky-high blood pressure (it was 200/110 when I was 32!) to an excellent 118/78.” But you know doctors… even “excellent” isn’t enough and they recommended a stronger BP med for “my intense weight training.”

So, I listened… and ended up on the floor today. You see, many doctors do not realize the POWER of weight training compared to cardio. My blood pressure never budges during cardio, but less than 3 minutes into a resistance (weight-training) session it goes down like the stock market after a bad news day.

I mean SHOOTS down. I tried to explain this by letting the doctor see the veins in my legs… “Doc, my veins are MUCH larger than the average person’s… trust me, my pressure is fine.” “Jon, just try it for a few weeks.”

Bad mistake…. like I said, I ended up on the gym floor today with a blood pressure of 72/45. If I hit 40, I’m literally in a coma. 5 points away… very scary. Needless to say the doc took me OFF these meds and let me do it my way: With my Every Other Day Dietplan (low-carb most of the days) and good-old exercise.

If you have high blood pressure, I URGE you to take up weight training or resistance (body-weight or band) training. Of course, ask your doc about it first… but I’ve seen first hand for three weeks now how powerful my weight training sessions are compared to intense cardio sessions.

They are night and day folks… weights RULE. Cardio is good, but weights are best. Both of course would be the best course for ultimate health, but most people do far too much cardio and far too little resistance training.

—————————————–
Oops…
—————————————–

Now, here’s what I did WRONG:

1. Cigars: “Jon, you cannot afford to smoke cigars… ever. They have lowered your protective HDL to a dangerous level. Stop NOW!” That’s all it took folks. Yes, I smoked cigars for many years, but fortunately I was never an addict. I quit that very day.

Guess what? 10 days later my HDL DOUBLED (no kidding)… and without drugs. Of course that’s not all I did…

2. Fat too LOW: “Jon, you’ve lowered your dietary fat too low… this affects your HDL.” Yep, I normally eat about 35% dietary fat… and I cut it down to 20% to help me get ready for a photoshoot. Now that I put it back to where it belongs, I still have my abs (yep!) and my HDL is raising as I type.

3. Stress: “Jon, you are simply working too hard not to do some form of meditation or de-stressing.” So I dove back into my meditation CDs. (I’ll tell you more about Holosync and my hypnosis CDs in my next email… very cool stuff.)

4. Advil: “Jon, you take 4 Advil before you train? You’re nuts! That stuff can cause sticky plaque formations!!” You know, I may never even had an issue if I had known this (and not smoked cigars) a few years ago. Live and learn!

5. And finally… oh, this hurt to hear… no drugs! “Jon, if you want to make sure you beat this thing, you simply must take some meds to help.” Okay, I resisted any form of statin drug for the past 15 years (drugs to lower cholesterol.) I opted to try natural stuff… but unfortunately for me I was never too consistent. And I paid the price.

So the doc and I came to a compromise: I would take the LOWEST dose of statin along with 400 mg of CoQ10 (scary, but this was my idea, not his, and statins deplete this heart-friendly enzyme!) But I wanted a natural solution to the real issue: small particle LDL. You see, I’ve known for years that I carry the gene that makes LDL “small”. LDL is not dangerous unless it is small… that’s why “total cholesterol” means nothing to me. I’ve seen folks have heart attacks with a cholesterol level of 130. No joke. But their LDL was super-small… like mine.

And guess what? Dietplans cannot really help this. Well, they can HURT it (too many carbs, too many toxic fats, etc.) but they cannot shift the LDL from small to large.

For that, you need plain old niacin. Just a simple B vitamin… but in not-so-simple doses. In fact it’s considered a drug at the dose you have to take, and you should NEVER take niacin over 50 mg without a doctor’s supervision as it can be very toxic to the liver.

—————————————–
The Conclusion: The Power
Is In Your Hands
—————————————–

In conclusion, I’m A-Okay… my heart pumps and functions “like that of a strong 20-year-old” (my doctor’s quote) thanks to the extra arteries I developed from my exercise program (how cool!) … but in order to keep that one artery in check, I’m taking his advice and taking much better care of myself than I have been.

Today I learned that this does NOT mean taking blood pressure meds…thankfully… : ) But I had to make some changes. Some of them were “stupid” changes… sure, I know cigars are not good for you. I know you need good fats in your dietplan. I could have used common sense and figured out that 4-8 Advil on workout days was… well, stupid.

But the good news, which is what I choose to focus on, is this: In the areas that 95% of people NEVER change, I didn’t have to change much at all.

Dietary plan and exercise.

Turns to find out that what I was doing works great… and it did, in fact, save my heart and quite possibly my life.

For more on my dietplan and exercise routine, go here:

The Every Other Day Dietplan Revealed

Thanks for reading, and I wish all of you good health!

P.S. I got lucky in many ways, but especially so when it came to my doctors. Both of my doctors are young and savvy enough to be up on the latest research on nutrition. They know NOT to buy into this “low-fat” nonsense for heart health. (I’d use a harsher word, but kiddos may be reading… : ) That only works for about 10-15% of the population. The rest of us need to lower our CARBS, not our fats… but the way I do it I get to keep my favorite carbs in my dietplan every week.

The little that I do eat keeps me happy as a clam, and keeps my heart nice and healthy too. A little bit of bad food will not hurt most people… but eating it every day can flat-out kill you.

Please… take this seriously. I promise, my dietplan and exercise routine is a PLEASURE to follow… but if you don’t follow it then find one that IS enjoyable for you to follow… and do it.

Life is too short, you know?

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1-minute fatloss tip for this week

Rob — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:15:50 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout]

Got a minute?

That’s all I need to share my first of many video-based 1-minute fatloss tips.

Go here for the first of many….

click—–> How To Eat Your Favorite Foods And Drop Bodyfat

My new design is something to see too.

I have my weekly live 1-minute video, tons of new features… even a “diet quiz” if you care to test your fatloss knowledge.

Plus my main presentation: “1 Tip To A Flat Belly!”

Just don’t laugh at my ballcap/unshaven look in the video… I wanted this to be super-casual, but I may have taken it a bit too far… ; )

Oh… speaking of a flat belly… I’d like to give you yet another reason to eat and workout the way I suggest in “Every Other Day Diet” and “7 Minute Body”…

I had to go to the hospital last week. No worries… I’m fine… just a bit of a scare. Definitely enough to wake you up from walking through life like it will never end! But fortunately for me, only a scare.

Anyway, the doctors in the hospital were amazed when they looked at my heart and lungs (they had to make sure I did not have any infection… and I didn’t.)

“Most 46-year-olds do not have these around their heart,” the doctor said as he showed me the pictures they took. You could see all these vessels around the heart and branching off the main arteries.

“Peripheral vessels… they were formed by your exercise program. Well-done! These help keep your heart strong and healthy.”

Every doc that listened to my heart said, “Wow… strong heart!”

Indeed… resistance training makes it so.

Before I left, after the scare went away, I asked the doctor his opinion on my dietary plan. “Well, obviously you are very lean and in fantastic shape for a man of any age.”

Thanks doc, but I wasn’t fishing for a compliment! Since this was a heart doctor I was curious as to his thoughts.

“If you had heart disease, or if you want to prevent it, this is the exact dietary plan I would recommend.”

While I expected to hear this, it was still music to my ears.

So, my higher-than-normal dietary fat and protein, lower-carb, and relatively frequent “fun food” dietplan is “ideal” to combat heart disease according to the good doc. And according to my family doctor.

Nice to know.

Laughing Yoga. My Experience.

Christina — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:22:57 +0000

Laughter is an instant vacation. ~Milton Berle

One day while on Facebook I saw an event called Laughing Yoga and before I knew it I had signed up and called the yoga studio to pay my registration fee. Originally, I had seen Laughing Yoga featured within the documentary film about yoga, Enlighten Up! and at the time it seemed to me like an interesting concept. What appealed to me most was that no yoga experience was required and all that was needed was the ability to laugh. I had never taken a single yoga class. But, this I could do and just thinking about it brought a smile to my face.

If laughter was an instant vacation, then what a trip I was about to embark on!

Definition: Laughter is an audible expression or the appearance of happiness or an inward feeling of joy (laughing on the inside). It may ensue (as a physiological reaction) from jokes it is in most cases a very pleasant sensation. Laughter is used as a signal for being part of a group — it signals acceptance and positive interactions with others. Laughter is sometimes seemingly contagious, and the laughter of one person can itself provoke laughter from others as a positive feedback.

Laughing Yoga was created in India by Dr. Kataria in 1995 with his first laughter club. It is Pranayama, “yoga breathing” and unconditional laughter. His concept: The scientific fact is that the body cannot differentiate between fake or real laughter. It has both physiological and psychological benefits to the individual. Laughter is simulated as a body exercise in a group; with eye contact and childlike playfulness, it soon turns into real and contagious laughter.

Today there are over 600 Laughter Clubs in 6o Countries throughout the World.

The yoga studio itself was quite beautiful and minimalist in its décor filled with bolsters, blocks and sticky mats. It was a perfect setting for the normal zen like calm that would soon erupt into hearty laughter.

Our instructor Graham welcomed us with a brief introduction into Laughing Yoga, what to expect and we introduced ourselves. He then asked if there was anyone who did not practice yoga and as I looked around at the small group of Lululemon wearing, Hippies, hard bodies and yoga experts. The voice in my head went, “Oh shit!” I smiled and timidly raised my hand. He quickly acknowledged that we wouldn’t be doing any difficult poses but it would include stretches and simple poses. I silenced the voice in my head and was relieved that I wasn’t going to have to contort my body into a pretzel!

We began our class with a 15 minute unison vocal meditation in lotus position (cross legged for those not familiar with yoga terms). During the vocal meditation, focus on the sound of the words and the effects on the different parts of the body. Vowel sounds were pronounced as we traveled through a series of yoga poses and stretches on our sticky mats. It was an interesting experience to hear the harmony, tones and musicality of the sounds in the different positions. What was particularly more interesting was how my body responded to the sounds. Throughout the several simple playful exercises, different patterns of breathing continued to bring more oxygen to the body and brain.

Yoga brings the body to a relaxed state and during the exercises you soon find yourself immersed in a giddy, joyous state connecting with your inner child. The one you continually push down. The one that wants to jump in puddles, laugh at in appropriate times or who laughs at cartoons or silly jokes. Throughout the class, I noticed the edges of my mouth curving in an upward state.

One of the suggestions is to fake your laughter if you are not “feeling it” through the exercise or “fake it ‘til you make it” and before you know it you are laughing spontaneously. Perhaps the moments of how absurd it looked contributed to the such moments. The laughter becomes contagious and before you know it, the whole room is laughing! There were times when I was laughing so hard that I could feel my whole body vibrating with energy. The energy filled my entire body as the laughter came from my core.

One doctor who has studied laughter says, “Laughter is a mechanism everyone has; laughter is part of universal human vocabulary. There are thousands of languages, hundreds of thousands of dialects, but everyone speaks laughter in pretty much the same way.” I was once again reminded that we are all connected. It was an amazing experience and one that I am blessed to have been a part of.

Next week, I begin my beginner’s yoga course and I will enroll in the next Laughing Yoga course. My smile has returned.

Namaste.

Christina

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3 Ways To Eat Fast Food And Drop Bodyfat!

Rob — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:54:57 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout]

Believe it or not you can get lean by eating fast food.

I know, it sounds crazy… but in a few weeks I’m going to prove it to the world with the release of my newest mini e-book “Fast Food Fitness: How I Dropped 40lbs Eating Fast Food Every Day.”

Do you think I’m joking? I’m not.

Of course there’s a WAY to eat fast food and drop the pounds. You can’t just eat like everyone else does. That’s common sense.

And believe me, there are more healthy ways to drop the pounds than eating fast food… for sure.

But the way I figure it: Would you rather be healthIER and lean or UNhealthy and overfat?

Silly question… so consider “Fast Food Fitness” a path to the lesser of two evils… and one that actually got me to 10% bodyfat (that’s pretty lean!) a few years ago.

Here’s how it started:

I simply hate to cook! I have since solved that problem… I hired a part-time chef (it’s cheaper than it sounds)… but until two years ago I was eating out every single meal… I mean EVERY MEAL.

Most of the time… not all of the time, but most of the time… these meals were fast food joints like burger joints and even fried chicken places.

But I had to keep my physique, so … what to do?

Well… you’ll have to wait. At least a few weeks.

If you want the book for half-price, you have to own a copy of “Every Other Day Dietplan”… everyone who owns a copy before “Fast Food Fitness” hits the Internet will get half-off.

So go here if you don’t have EODD yet …

click—–> My Favorite Foods Fatloss-Plan

Here’s 3 of my top 25 fast-food diet-tips… just these 3 will take you 1/3 of the way there…

First, use my Half-n-Half Principle. Order whatever you are going to order and then have the person behind the counter cut the order exactly in HALF.

Half to go… half to eat there.

Eat half now…. then the other half 3-4 hours later. Believe it or not you will store less bodyfat and even increase your metabolism eating like this.

Simple trick… give it a shot.

Second, ditch all the starch. That means buns, bread and anything made of flour. BUT here’s the “still tastes good” trick I use. I keep ONE of the pieces of bread from, say, my hamburger. Then I “pick” at it while I enjoy the meat and either a small diet soda or tea. Eat no more than 5 “picks” at the bread… about half a slice. You still get the exact taste of a burger with none of the stuff that makes most people over-fat.

Third, for you chicken lovers, split your order between fried and baked chicken. KFC has excellent baked chicken… try it. Then strip most of the skin off the fried chicken. Not all… most.

You still get the taste, but with far fewer bad food-stuffs and calories…. make sense?

Enjoy the tips… but remember, the healthiest (and tastiest) way to eat is still my Every Other Day Dietplan, which works in your favorite foods each week….

click—–> My Favorite Foods Fatloss-Plan

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I Just Lost 11 lbs of Bodyfat… On Vacation!

Rob — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:05:30 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout]

It was the weirdest thing …

I mean, I’ve been around you know? I’ve had just about every body and fatloss experience you can think of… the good, the bad, the ugly…

… and now the really bizarre.

Here’s the story:

I took off on an 8-day cruise to the Caribbean. This was a “business” cruise (yeah, right)… and I knew there was no way to eat the way I prefer to eat. At least not ideally. After that I had to speak in Tampa Florida at a fitness summit, then off to Las Vegas for yet another summit meeting.

All-in-all I was gone for almost three weeks.

First thing that I knew had to go was my “ideal” dietplan.

That’s my “Extreme” Plan on the Every Other Day Dietplan…

Every Other Day Dietplan

There are three plans in EODD: The Primer Plan, which is literally “every other day”. You get to eat your favorite foods within reason every other day or so on this Plan. It’s perfect for folks who ‘hate’ dieting because, let’s face it, anyone can diet-for a day, right? Right.

Then there’s the Lifestyle Plans. These are two days of “burn eating” followed by a day of eating favorite foods. Most people use this because it too is so simple to use.

Then for we athletes and fitness pros there’s the Extreme Plan. This is for ultimate bodyfat loss and muscle-shaping. I love this plan.

But hey… it’s a vacation. And so I decided to eat on the Primer Plan… remember, that’s every other day. So every other day on the cruise I had a small dessert (sometimes two), pizza, or pasta… whatever I wanted within reason. The days before I did perfectly, substituting my morning shake for egg white omelets with a bit of cheese and a lot of veggies. Yum!

Within three days I had LOST more than 4 lbs… or about 2 kg. Pure fat… well, a bit of water I suppose, but mostly that stubborn bodyfat around my middle that’s the last to go.

What the heck was going on?

Wait… the story gets better…

I move on to Tampa, and then Vegas, and now I’m 11 lbs (about 5 kg) down. My jeans ALL require a belt, only this time it’s not a fashion statement.

Frankly, I’m as surprised as you may be.

But I figured out why this happened. And I want to share it with you so you can use EODD (or another plan if you want… but mine is the best… : ) when you go on vacation or take a break.

Here’s why I dropped the last bit of my bodyfat:

First, I was on a VERY large cruise ship. I knew my weight training would not be as intense (the weights were not that heavy) but I also knew I could just make it work… train a bit more and go for the “pump”… just a good, quick workout. I ended up training 5 days on the cruise without a problem (and only ONE day of cardio for 20 minutes… you see, you do NOT need cardio to dump bodyfat!)

But the difference was in the WALKING. The ship was the largest ever built… the size of 2.5 football fields. And I walked everywhere… on the islands, on the boat, even to every meal. Just walking burned off FAR more calories than my normal lifestyle, which like most of you has a lot of sitting down to it. ; )

Walking… my favorite “Cardio” to this very day.

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My Supplement Tricks

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Second, I took extra potassium, along with all of my Radical Fatloss Blueprint Supplements. I carried them all on board.

You can read more about the supplements I take for “radical” fatloss here:

www.radicalfatlossblueprint.com

The two that really did the trick for me was the Aqualize (also known as Acquacil), only 1-2 a day, along with the amino acids.

Finally, I realized that I need MORE food than I’m eating now in order to increase my metabolic rate. Just a bit… about 400 calories a day more than I have been eating. Doing just that rebooted my metabolic rate and presto… 11 lbs of bodyfat and useless water is history. My abs have never looked better.

I hope this gives you some encouragement when it comes to being on the road or on vacation. With the right plan (like EODD and Radical Fatloss) you can actually improve your body…

… and best of all, I enjoyed every minute of my vacation!

P.S. An important note was that I made a decision not to drink on the cruise or elsewhere. I had one small glass of wine last night to celebrate with my largest affiliate and business comrade. He flew in from Israel just for this meeting, and it was the least i could do. Roei and I had a blast all day.

The reason drinking is a problem is that alcohol shuts down fat-burning for several hours… sometimes longer. But a glass of wine or two a week is not going to hurt you. I just made that one small “sacrifice” so I could enjoy ice cream, pizza (I ate four slices one night at 3:00am and woke up leaner!) and all the yummy food the boat had to offer.

So, my final tip: Make a decision to cut out just ONE thing when you’re on the road. Alcohol was easy for me as I do not drink that much as it is.

Read more about my personal dietplan and my supplement plan here….

Every Other Day Dietplan

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3 Reasons Why Obesity Is… A Disease?

Rob — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:50:31 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout]

I bet you didn’t know this …

Obesity…even being overfat… is a disease.

No, really.

At least that’s what several social groups wish you to believe. “Suffers Of Obesity” is just one of those groups. Their entire stance is obesity (which, btw, can be only 30lbs or so over your ideal bodyweight) is an actual disease.

Well, is it?

Yes… and no.

Comedian Ricky Gervais has a hilarious go at this stance… that obesity is a disease. You sometimes have to laugh, you know? ; )

“No… it’s not a disease… it’s greed. You just love to eat,” or so Gervais believes.

Well, in my first newsletter for 2010, a new decade with new ideas, I’m here to share a new idea with you:

We really need to redefine some words.

One of those words is “disease”.

Case-in-point: Wikipedia.com defines disease…

“In human beings, “disease” is often used more broadly to refer to any condition that causes pain, dysfunction, distress, social problems, and/or death to the person afflicted, or similar problems for those in contact with the person. In this broader sense, it sometimes includes injuries, disabilities, disorders, syndromes, infections, isolated symptoms, deviant behaviors, and atypical variations of structure and function, while in other contexts and for other purposes these may be considered distinguishable categories.”

Let’s think about that.

If you bump your knee against a sharp object, is this a new disease called “bumpuskneeitis?” Er… no. It’s an accident. Sure, it may ’cause’ a specific set of symptoms that could broadly (as in as broad as the back-side of a barn) be considered a “disease”, but … no. It’s an accident with biological consequences.

Social problems? So, if I decide to read 17 books on why my parents suck as a teenager and develop anti-social behavior, is this a “disease”? NO! This is the angst of youth combined, perhaps, with poor parenting! Sure, it can lead to mental issues that could be classified as “disease”, but guess what?

It’s totally within your control. No one force-fed the books to the teen. And no one is force-feeding you, or anyone you know.

That decision is yours and yours alone… and anyone, repeat ANYONE on the face of planet earth can change their behaviors and attitudes toward food.

Okay, some more thoughts on disease:

Let me give you a few examples of what is typically thought of as “disease”…

— Leprosy
— Cancer
— Hypothyroidism

We’ll just take three… there are thousands as you know.

Now, we can all agree that these three states represent true “disease”. The first you could catch by accident; the second is a combination of genetics, environment, and who-knows-what-else, and the third is almost always genetic.

One, cancer, is something you ‘may’ be able to do something about. For example, lung cancer. 90% of lung cancer patients contract the disease from smoking.

Let’s just cover these 90%, shall we?

And folks, I’m asking for an open mind here…

Is lung cancer, in the case of the 90%, REALLY a disease?

Or is it a biological consequence?

Sure, “cancer” is a disease. But what caused it in this case? Something involuntary? Hardly. Something that could not be stopped?

No way.

The 90% caused it. Period.

Welcome to the real world.

So, I propose this: We redefine “disease” as an abnormal biological condition that we DO NOT have direct cause or effect over.

Airborne viruses: Disease. Obesity: NOT a disease.

And yes, lung cancer in chain smokers: NOT a disease; it’s a biological outcome. The end result should be treated as a disease, of course, but come on: Where is the responsibility folks?

Life, if you want to life it fully and without fear, is ALL about taking total responsibility. That’s empowerment. Anything less is… well, LESS.

In our example, lung cancer is no more a “disease” than, say, me hitting myself over the head with a hammer every day and causing brain damage is a disease.

Brain damage (not self-induced) = disease.

Brain damage caused by self-inflicted hammer-hitting = biological consequence. In this case of sheer stupidity!

Now, one could (and many will) make the argument that I had a “mental” disease that caused me to WANT to hit myself over the head with a hammer… but… well…

At this point we need to redefine the word “disease” in my opinion. Here’s why:

First, if this were the case, I could say that all criminals have a disease.

They all have a mental disease that makes them want to kill, steal… you name it.

This may in fact BE true… we do not know… but do we hold them NOT responsible if it is? No, we do not.

And that brings us back to obesity.

Obesity and being overfat is not a disease folks…
—— > it’s a biological consequence.

And, with the exception of the extremely ‘rare’ cases of total glandular dysfunction from birth, obesity… your bodyweight… is your responsibility.

Period. End of story.

Sorry, but that’s the way the ball bounces.

Am I being mean? No. I was obese. I have a right to speak my mind about it, and trust me: My depression (a disease… sorta… some genetic, but a lot of it was caused by eating too much sugar) definitely aided in my obesity.

Then how come I’m not obese any more?

I found a better way to eat. I re-trained my body to crave this style of eating (and exercise) over stuffing myself with pizza and burgers every day.

Here’s what I use:

Click.Here———–> My No-Disease No-Obesity Wake-up Call!

It torches bellyfat… and it reprograms the body and mind to use food as fuel… especially if you use my “7 Minute Body” workout system (you can get it at 77% off after you pick up EODD on the page above… ; )

So be brave. Be fearless. And be responsible.

Oh… and be sure not to catch “internetemailitis”… its a disease that causes you to want to check your email more than 10 times a day.

I have it. So be careful… may be contagious. : )

P.S. In my journey from obesity to total leanness I had to overcome ‘real’ diseases, like pituitary failure from a high fever (i.e. viral pneumonia that almost killed me) and, yes, clinical depression (partially my fault; partially not… i.e. half disease, half biological consequence.) So I have sympathy, believe me. But I also know what you can do once you have a solid plan in place and a determined mind.

Then no “disease” can stop you… at least the ones that do not kill you.

So go for it… be brave, be responsible… and be lean!

click.here ——> My No-Disease No-Obesity Wake-up Call!

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6 Strange Dietary Bedfellows

Rob — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:49:42 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout]

What do these six things have in common?

– McDonalds
– Renée Zellweger
– Epileptic children
– Yours truly
– Most bodybuilding and fitness competitors
– Kiefer Sutherland

Give up?

All the above employ the strategies of the low-carb dietplan.

Recently researchers have found that low-carb nutrition plan reduced the number of seizures in epileptic children.

Most of the world’s leanest physiques get that way on a regimen, limited or not, of low-carbs and higher protein.

Even McDonalds is getting into the act.

Even Renée Zellweger.

Even Kiefer Sutherland.

Even me.

Kinda.

Read on and I’ll explain what I mean…

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Why Low-Carb Works

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When McDonalds starts counting carb grams in their food, you know someone is either jumping on a trend or finally seeing the light.

In this case, both — but it is a good thing. Low-carb dietplans. They work.

For the masses, they work because they are the easiest nutrition plan to follow when you’re busy.

McDonalds and stars like Kiefer Sutherland figured this out. The busy on-the-go guy or gal doesn’t want to make the time to prepare six meals per day and carry them around in Tupperware.

When choosing my own lifestyle nutrition plan, time and convenience played a major role. I looked at role models who were very busy, formerly obese, and very lean.

Most of them rely in some form or fashion on a low-carb strategy.

Low-carb also works, much to the hem and haw of traditional doctors and nutritionists, due to the way the body processes fuel.

For those of us fortunate enough to grow up on whole grains and very low-sugar mealplans, a moderate to higher-carb nutrition plan may work just fine.

But most of us grew up eating junk.

Processed foods, fast foods, and downright junk was the cornerstone of our dietplans. That puts your body on the “carb defense.”

After years of abuse the body becomes resistant to carbohydrates. The insulin they produce can cause all sorts of health issues, fat-burning problems, and more.

When carbs are removed, even healthy carbs like whole grains, the body has time to re-adjust.

In some cases, you can go back to a moderate-carb plan with whole grains and fruits after a period of time.

In others, you are a “low-carber” for life.

Guess which one I am?

Finally, low-carb works because you tend to eat less. Fat is very satiating, and most low-carb plans are fairly high in dietaryfat.

So, in recap:

— Easy and convenient;
— Metabolically important for carb recovery;
— Lower in total food volume (eat less)

Do not make light of that first point. Any plan that is not simple is one very few people will stick to. Making your plan simple and tasty is key, even if that plan is not “perfect” by nutritional standards.

Now, by far, the best low-carb dietplan in the world (yes, I’m bias for good reason!) is this:

click.here ——> My Favorite Foods Diet Presentation

EODD works so well because your carbs are low for “most” of the time. Not “all” of the time. And the times when your carbs are not low you can enjoy your favorite foods.

Personally I enjoy pizza and burgers on my non-low-carb days. You can enjoy whatever you want if you just keep it reasonable.

You see, there’s no need to diet-perfect.

Progress always trumps perfection.

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Why Low-Carb Fails

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There are two primary reasons for the failure of the low-carb nutrition plans: boredom and media bashing.

One causes irritability. The other, doubt. Unless you’re certain that your plan will work, you will eventually go off of it.

This is true of any plan, no matter how ideal it is. Certainty rules.

That’s why I believe in having a flexible, tasty plan like EODD.

Then boredom is easily solved.

I share my own unique ideas about “cycling” carbs and fats in the presentation here:

click.here ——> My Favorite Foods Diet Presentation

Using my cycle strategy you will rarely if ever become bored. And your body will burn more bodyfat too. It’s just a cheap metabolic trick…but boy, it works.

The second reason is media and medical bias. One study after another has proven that low-carb plans, even the Atkins plan, works and is safe to use for most people.

Check with your doctor first, of course.

I’ve seen researchers get down-right angry when the results come back. In one study, carried out for a full year, the low-carb plan out-performed the so-called “healthy” Dean Ornish plan.

Lower blood fats, more weightloss, and more energy were the results.

My preference always comes back to low-carb nutrition. I just cycle it in a way that allows me to get plenty of veggies, some grains, and ample fiber.

Even a slice of cheesecake here and there… : )

Hey…I said “low-carb”, not “low-life!”

Yours In Fitness,

J O N B E N S O N

P.S. One of these days the mainstream medical community will wake up to the fact that 90% of the population will never eat 15 servings of veggies per day.

While this may be “optimal”, it’s not at all practical. I’d rather give you down-to- earth practical nutrition advice that you CAN and WILL follow — and enjoy.

Makes sense, doesn’t it?

click.here ——> My Favorite Foods Diet Presentation

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A Rant: Why We REALLY Overeat

Rob — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 21:18:43 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout]

Fair warning … this one is a rant. It’s probably a bit long, but take the time to read it.

I have some things to get off my chest … and a lot of people reading this will find it refreshing.

We have a problem in this country… hell, this world… with people overeating.

Obviously overeating is one of the primary reasons people are struggling with bellyfat and excess bodyweight in general. The solution to this problem is not “don’t eat so much”, although that is the end goal.

The solution is to really, REALLY understand how your body uses fuel and how to create a dietplan that allows you to take advantage of it.

First, my rant.

You want to know why 99% of the people who fail to see results from my dietplans… or any dietplan for that matter… REALLY fail?

They do not understand how smart and powerful their bodies really are.

Look… no dietplan on earth will allow you to eat whatever you want every day. That’s fatloss suicide.

No pills will cure this. No surgery.

Only this will cure it:

Use your body’s own internal appetite mechanisms to your advantage.

I receive hundreds of emails every day from people who see results from my Every Other Day Dietplan.

But I won’t lie to you: I also get emails from people who do not.

Welcome to the real world, right? Some people succeed, others do not. It’s the same story no matter what your goals may be.

But in fatloss, the difference between success and failure, at least in the case of my readers, is NOT the dietplan… it’s the need to fully appreciate how and why it works.

Let me explain…

Here is a picture of me (excuse the quality; this was snapped with a mirror and a cellphone…)

Obviously I have abs… and I’m lean… and because I love to lift weights I also carry a lot of muscle… but the real power behind this picture is what you do NOT see:

–> You do not see what I ate the night before; half a pizza.

–> You do not see how obese I was ten years ago… yes, 70lbs over-fat with a belly that looked like I swallowed a basketball.

–> You do not see how I set my body up to receive this pizza and actually get leaner after eating it.

In case you think I’m on some magical dietplan or taking some fatburning-stimulants… wrong.

I just woke up 5 years ago after studying nutrition for 15 years and finally put 2 and 2 together.

So, here’s the facts.

My EODD Plan is build around a simple concept: Eat your favorite foods “frequently” and still drop the bodyweight you want.

And it works… not because it’s a gimmick, but because it uses the science of metabolism, natural hormonal manipulation, and psychology to prepare your body to eat more calories.

Now those calories could easily come from, say, three yams… but I prefer pizza. ; )

If you’ve tried EODD with success, you know what I’m talking about. If not… then read on.

First, EODD never promises you that you can eat however MUCH you want every other day (or in my case, since I’m athlete, every three days)… no, no, NO!

It’s whatever you want… not however MUCH you want. That is the sole reason a small fraction of my readers are not seeing the results they want.

Now, here’s the beauty of it all:

After about 3 weeks following my System of eating, you simply cannot overeat… well, you can, but you’d have to force-feed yourself in order to pull it off.

You’ve been feeding yourself frequently for the day or two before your favorite food meals. The higher protein and very low starch content of the nutrition plan (with plenty of veggies) ensures that your body’s metabolism stays elevated. BUT… and this is crucial… the amount of food consumed on these days before is not that much.

I’m never starving… I eat too frequently for that, plus the foods on my Plan curb your appetite. But I am not eating anywhere near my maintenance level of calories. I do not count calories (nor should you)… I just follow the System, which does the calorie-counting for me. Plus I know my body really well after all these years.

So, after days of eating enough to keep my metabolism relatively high, and right BEFORE it starts to slow down (your metabolism slows when you do not eat enough, bringing fatloss to a rapid halt) I hit the body with a lot of calories.

BUT… at the right time, and never at certain times.

And, please read this: I do not eat “however much” I want on my feed meals… I eat WHATEVER I want in reasonable portions. I don’t have to fight to not overeat, even when it’s pizza or burgers (my two favorite cheat meals.) Why? Because my body is set up to want more food, but also trained not to eat too much food at one sitting.

This is because I’ve been “grazing” — eating small, frequent meals the days before my feed day. And the body learns to adapt… quickly.

The brain is actually re-trained to signal the stomach that you’ve had enough food… yes, even when it’s dessert, or pizza, or whatever your favorite food may be.

So here’s the deal: Yes, you can lose all the bellyfat and bodyfat you want eating like this… but like anything else that works, you have to follow a few simple rules.

The result is a dietplan where you never feel trapped. You always know that tomorrow, or possibly the day after, you can have whatever food you want. Just in reasonable amounts.

If you ask me, this is the perfect trade-off. No starvation, super-healthy eating at least 4 days a week, and you get to eat your cake as well (literally if you want.)

It’s not magic — it’s science, and a bit of work on your part. Yes, work.

Nothing happens with effort. But put some effort into this System and boy… there’s not a better dietplan on the face of the earth.

Click the URL below and watch my full presentation on how and why this works…

Now, one more thing: I do take a few supplements to help the process along. I have a video on the Member’s Only page that explains what I take and why.

The good news: Not one of these supplements are stimulants or dangerous. In fact they’re all very healthy nutrients the body needs.

In conclusion, I like to think of The Every Other Day Dietplan as “The Thinking Person’s Dietplan.” Anyone who considers every angle of what it takes to shed bodyfat: Food you enjoy, freedom, a plan that’s easy to follow, and flexibility will recognize this right away as the ideal approach.

But, like all ideal approaches, it requires you to re-think the way you eat.

You eat for fuel… period. But you CAN (and should) eat for pleasure too. As long as you keep FUEL as the main reason you are eating in the forefront of your mind, your body (and mind) will follow. Your body will adapt and begin to use both healthy and “not-so-healthy” foods as fuel.

Fuel to power your workouts, help you burnoff that bellyfat and bodyweight you don’t want, and empower your sense of control.

Especially now, with the holidays upon us, “food as fuel first; food as pleasure second” should be carved into your dinner table. Because, let’s face it: When all that holiday overeating is over with, you will be left with a bigger belly, feeling sluggish, and just one more step away from the body you desire.

My alternative offers the best of both worlds. You just have to be willing to re-think some things and give your body a few weeks to re-learn what it already knows –

When to signal you that you’re full, and way before you overeat. And, believe it or not, you can (and should) do this by eating your favorite foods each and every week.

That’s the only way to keep your MIND satisfied and happy. And your mind is the key to your body’s success.

Thanks for reading.

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4 Common But Useless Fattburning Exercises

Rob — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:11:17 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout]

You may be wasting your time in the gym or at home if you are trying to shape your body or get rid of bodyfat.

Most people are. That is when it comes to exercise for getting rid of bellyfat and getting into better shape.

I was in the gym today (nothing new… ; ) and I saw all 4 of these exercises being performed by various gym members (again… nothing new.)

And they are useless for 99% of the people on the planet.

Here they are…

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USELESS EXERCISE 1: Walking Dumbbell Lunges

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Okay ladies, this one is for you… although I see guys do this exercise as well.

This is where you take a pair of dumbbells and kneel with one leg, then the other, and so-on, walking around the gym as you go.

The idea behind this exercise is to work the butt, and to some extent the thighs… but it’s a joke. It’s something invented by trainers who should know better.

If you want to build and tone your butt, exercise one leg at a time. Lunges are a great exercise for this, but save your energy. Do them on a Smith Machine or with a barbell. Work one leg at a time, too. Do not alternate legs. This just wears you out aerobically before it has a chance to get to your glutes.

Here’s how I perform lunges: On a Smith Machine, with pretty heavy weights… one leg at a time. I will do 2-3 sets, or do them in my 7 Minute Body-style workout fashion. I will finish one leg (and one butt cheek) before moving to the other leg.

Why? Again, to focus on the muscle more intensely and to avoid turning a leg/butt workout into a cardio session.

I cover exactly how to work the butt area for the best results in 7 Minute Body and 7 Minute Muscle, found right here:

click.here —– > 7 Minute Workout Plan

———————————————————————-|

USELESS EXERCISE 2: The Sit-up

———————————————————————-|

I’m shocked that people still think sit-ups done the old-fashioned way actually work the abs. Even worse, most people have been fooled into believing this actually helps get rid of bellyfat.

Nonsense. Bellyfat is burned off when you have a good nutrition plan and through general exercise, not using exercises for the abs. Ab exercises are fine, but guess what?

I never train my abs more than 3-5 minutes. Today my ab workout took 3 minutes and 12 seconds to complete. And my abs are sore!

But without the nutrition plan, forget it… I’d never SEE my abs at all. I’d just have a nice wall of muscle with a bunch of flab covering it up.

The best nutrition plan for abs is my Every Other Day Dietplan, found here:

click.here —– > Every Other Day Dietplan

The best exercises to do for the actual ab muscles are hanging leg raises, done slowly, crunches (if you do them right)… and that’s really all you need.

———————————————————————-|

USELESS EXERCISE 3: The Bench Press

———————————————————————-|

I’m going to get a lot of flack from the guys out there who love to bench, but I’m here to tell you that this exercise for bodyshaping is all but worthless.

Why? Because most people are not built right body-wise to bench press on a flat bench with a barbell. I am not, that’s for sure.

Bench presses work if you have short arms, a relatively short torso, and your shoulders are genetically strong.

Protect your shoulders and really work your chest by doing incline dumbbell presses with your palms facing OUT, not in toward your head. This protects the rotator cuff, a part of the shoulder that is often injured using barbell bench presses.

Combine this with a good cable fly or press movement and you’re set. Again, you only need about 7-14 minutes of chest work tops to get the job done.

———————————————————————-|

USELESS EXERCISE 4: Most Cardio Exercises

———————————————————————-|

Yep… saved the best for last.

Here’s a fact: Most cardio (bike, treadmill, glider, whatever) is a waste to time… UNLESS you do it at the right time with the right nutrition plan.

The calories you burn from cardio will be easily negated simply by eating a bagel! Hardly effective for getting rid of bodyfat. Weight training and/or resistance training at home or with your body weight, as covered in 7 Minute Muscle, is your best bet for exercise that burns-off mega-calories and keeps on burning long after the exercise session is over.

Here’s how to use traditional cardio wisely:

1. Do it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach;
2. Keep your heart rate down to 75% of your max (220 minus your age x .75 will give you this number, at least approximately);
3. “Burst” for 2-3 minutes in your session up to 85-90% of your max heart rate.
4. OR, do cardio right after weight or resistance training when your heart rate is already elevated and your blood sugar is lower. Your body burns blood sugar first during exercise.

Cardio for most people only needs to be performed 3-4 times a week for 20 minutes. The only time I break this rule is when I want to get my bodyfat below 10%. Then I will do more, but only using the rules above.

Hope this saves you a ton of time with your workouts.

Enjoy your holidays!

P.S. You can get both of my books, The Every Other Day Dietplan and 7 Minute Body, for a big-time discount by going here and watching this presentation:

click.here —– > www.everyotherdaydiet.com/video.php

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Muscle-shaping 101: 5 Tips (Part 1)

Rob — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:16:11 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout]

Ever heard of Rowdy Gains?

Rowdy was swimmer and Olympic gold-medalist in the 1984 Olympics.

But that’s not what made Rowdy special.

And certainly not what makes his story worth reading when it comes to muscle-shaping secrets.

Over the next few days I’m going to be sharing 5 Tips for putting on lean muscle. If you want to put on a 2 lbs or 20lbs of muscle, these 5 Tips will help you do it faster than ever.

Remember: Muscle burns calories at rest… the more lean muscle you have the less bodyfat you’ll have if you eat the way I suggest. It’s as simple as that.

Back to Rowdy Gains…

His story is golden because of “how” he won the medal.

You see, Rowdy was an underdog. He was considered too old to be a legitimate threat in the race, despite being a world record-holder. He has missed his prime due to the boycott of the 1980 Olympics.

But Rowdy had a good coach (more on that tomorrow)… and his coach knew the power of “distinctions”…

Distinctions are the subtle things that turn average into excellence and losers into winners. Often distinctions are so hard to spot that even the smartest people miss them.

The men and women who succeed massively rarely miss them.

Rowdy was focused on the race… but his coach was focused on the distinctions.

“What can Rowdy do that no one else is doing to give him an edge?”

Well, his savvy coach noticed that the guy who started the race was calling “on your marks…” and then quickly firing the starting-gun. Very quickly in fact.

His coach came up to him moments before the race and said, “Rowdy, jump early.”

And jump early he did. He was first off the blocks and never looked back.

Turns to find out that his time off the blocks was the difference between winning and losing. And the second place guy was furious! He was hitting the wall and yelling about the “false start”… but there was not a false start upon reply.

Just a savvy start! A start based on one, small, tiny… actually monumentally huge distinction.

The first thing you need to ask yourself when it comes to your weight-training goals is this:

“What small distinctions can I make to turn an average workout into a super-productive workout”?

Again, these are small distinctions… little things that add up to huge gains.

Here’s an example:

When doing a chest press exercise, I have two distinctions that have made all the difference in my chest gains.

First, I turn my palms inward, rather than facing out, when pressing with dumbbells. Obviously this does not work with barbell presses, but I use mostly dumbbells.

The result? No rotator cuff or shoulder injuries.

This alone has allowed me to train three more months out of each year. That’s how much time I used to lose before an orthopedic surgeon gave me this tip.

Second, when pressing, I explode up. Then I slow DOWN… I always lower the weight slower than I lift it up. This gives me TWO growth factors rather than just one in the same movement, and without one second difference in the gym.

Again… distinctions.

If you want my book on the best distinctions I’ve ever used for gaining lean muscle, then go here:

7 Minute Workouts <– go.

Think about it next time you plan your workouts.

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How to: Not get sick

Christina — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:18:12 +0000

The basics are diet, water, exercise and sleep. A diet full of natural healthy foods and exercise, naturopaths also endorse natural products and additions to boost the body’s immune system. Never was this more apparent to me today as I sit at home (Day Five) with H1N1 (swine) flu.

Influenza, known as the flu, is an infectious disease that effects birds and mammals. The most common symptoms of the flu are chills, fever, muscle pains, severe headache, fatigue, coughing, and general feelings of being unwell. Sore throats, fevers, and coughs are most frequent of symptoms. Typically, it is spread in the air by coughing and sneezing creating aerosols of the virus. It can also come in direct contact through secretions and contaminated surfaces.

Media coverage is everywhere. H1N1 is the #1 topic of discussion on radio, tv and all multimedia. Not only on your local news , international news but also making the news world wide. Manufacturers of hand sanitizers and disinfectant hand soaps are selling out of products and shelves go bare. In Canada, if you walk into your local medical center or hospital you will be asked to use hand sanitizer and wear a mask if you enter with a cough. The most interesting experience I had recently was going to a medical center for a prescription renewal and being asked three times if I would like to get the seasonal flu shot because it was free and today happened to be immunization day. “You happened to come in on the right day and we can fit you in right away!”

Wow. I was confused. Had I suddenly “supersized” my medicines? Today was buy one, get one free day at the local medical clinic!

There are strong debates for and against immunization and I will not promote either. However, after my recent experiences, I can offer the following advice.

Educate Yourself

Ask questions of your health care provider(s). It is your body. Ultimately, it is your choice. As a species, each day we make choices intentionally and unintentionally. We make choices with the best information we have at the time. Think of it this way: As you go grocery shopping, do you read the boxes for the ingredients and nutritional value so that you can choose what best supports your body? Why would knowing what is being injected into your body be any different?

I have come to realize that less is more and I am interested in doing things that contribute to healthy lifestyle. Eating more nutrient rich foods, eliminating processed foods, drinking more water, being active, getting more rest, and as I suddenly reflect, I see that I was not listening to the signals my body was sending me. Life got busy and as I do, I quickly swam with the current and at times against it. It took this illness to realize it.

Health Is Not Valued Until Sickness Comes

So, here I am, with time on my hands and time to think. After all, when you are dealing with symptoms that don’t allow you to do much else, you have plenty of time to think. I’ve had to make some decisions with regards to medications to now treat the severity of my illness and have had to go down the pharmaceutical route much to my dislike but in other cases have chosen not to buy over the counter medications to treat the symptoms.

If you have the flu or flu like symptoms, and think you may have H1N1, I would like to offer the following suggestions. I am not a medical doctor and these are from my own person experiences and have worked for me personally. They may not be right for you.

Christina’s Personal Survival Guide to H1N1

Fluids: Drink plenty of water, decaffeinated teas and my favorite is Ginger Tea. Take fresh ginger root and grate into pot of boiling water. Allow to simmer for five minutes. Pour into mug and enjoy with honey if you choose. The ginger root will act as a natural decongestant and expectorant if you are suffering from mucus. It will also prevent some coughing and if you are suffering from nausea it will help with digestion. The flu will result in excess sweating and it is crucial that you replenish fluids lost by consuming fluids every hour. Remember, our bodies are 70% water.

Rest and Sleep: Surrendering to sleep can be a hard thing to do if you are an active or busy person. So, instead of going on Facebook and playing Mafia Wars until the wee hours of the morning, why not turn off the lights and go to sleep? Sleep is the time to recharge, rest and rebuild the body. Muscle aches, decreased energy and fatigue will remind you soon enough what you sometimes need is more rest.

Quarantine Yourself: Be Kind to others. If you think you have H1N1 or any other flu, please, stay at home. Allow yourself to stay at home until the symptoms have left and you don’t pass along your illness to others. This is a hard one. I know because I’ve gone to work or functions while sick because I felt obligated or guilty if I didn’t fulfill my commitments. I have a better understanding and respect for my health and the health of others. Keep family members and loved ones flu free by cleaning around yourself and if you can, preventing contact.

Disinfect Your Surroundings: Find a good disinfectant / antibacterial product and wipe down all the common surfaces of your home. The telephone including keypad, light switches, door knobs, kitchen cabinet knobs, fridge handles, toilet flusher handle, remote controls, computer keyboards and any other common surfaces that are touched by yourself or other members of your family.

Today, after a health assessment it has been recommended that I stay home now for a week until my symptoms clear and I am in good health again. I am with people everyday so this will be one of the most interesting challenges that the Universe has sent to me.

–Christina

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Related Articles at Former Fat Guy Blog:

10 Fatloss Questions You Should Be Asking ( Part 1 )

Rob — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:36:39 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout]

There’s stuff you know.

Then there’s stuff you don’t know.

But the key to success in anything is the discovery of one other variable:

The things you don’t know you don’t know.

Think about that.

So many people ask me questions like…

– How can I get rid of my stubborn bodyfat?
– How fast can I do it?
– What’s the best dietplan for me?

These are good questions, don’t get me wrong.

But there are at least 10 questions most people never know to ask.

It’s the stuff they didn’t know they didn’t know… make sense?

Today we’ll cover 3 of the 10…

HIDDEN QUESTION 1:
“What’s The Best Dietary-Fat To Eat To Get Rid Of Bodyfat?”

Sounds nutty, doesn’t it?

The media loves to deceive you when it comes to dietary fats… and I’m here to set the record straight:

You absolutely must consume dietary fat in order to burn-off your bodyfat.

There’s an old saying: “Fat burns…but in the presence of dietary-fat.”

It’s true.

There are actually two “Best Fats” you should be eating:

Coconut Oil
CLA

Coconut oil is ideal to cook with. Use that in place of all the starchy foods you may be eating. You’ll get leaner faster… and you’ll be a ton more healthy too.

Coconut oil keeps you satisfied longer, lubricates your joints, and yes… actually helps you get rid of stubborn bodyfat.

Use 1 tablespoon per 50 lbs per day, but be sure to decrease your starchy carbs (breads, rice, potatoes, etc.)

CLA is a form of (gasp!) transfat… but it’s a healthy form that helps your body get rid of bodyfat. You can only get it in supplement-form… well, that’s the best way.

I personally take 4 grams per day. Jarrow is my favorite brand. You can get it at most health food stores.

I cover several other fats you need to eat in my video and book, found here:

The Every Other Day Diet Click-Here

HIDDEN QUESTION 2:
“Why Is Cardio Bad For Me?”

Okay… that’s an over-statement. It’s not ‘bad’ for you… it’s just not nearly as ‘good’ for you as the media and magazines want you to believe.

Especially if you do it the way they suggest: Too long, too frequently.

Do it the way I suggest and watch what happens.

First, spend 80% of your exercise time doing ‘resistance’ training, not cardio… but rest very brief between sets.

My newest update to “7 Minute Muscle” is called “7 Minute Body”. It combines both “7 Minute Muscle” and an additional 100 or so pages of in-home ONLY workouts.

That way you can train in the gym… or in your home… and get it done in 7 to 14 minutes a day. Done!

You will be shaping your body and burning-off some major calories at the same time… all without boring cardio.

Then when you “do” cardio, do it the way I detail in “7 Minute Body”… use the 9-minute GXP Cardio Workout.

Add simple walking to this several days a week and your cardio is set.

GXP works because it is progressive and does not over-tax the recovery system. You warm up, then hit about 85% of your max effort, then cool down.

But the key is ‘when’ to do it… and that’s covered in my book.

I still enjoy sitting on my bike and watching TV, but I do that just to burn-off those last bits of bodyfat. Most of you do not need to do this.

It’s a waste of time for the masses… but resistance training is not.

Oh, one more thing: Runners have a far higher degree of heart attacks than non-runners. So cardio ‘can’ be bad for you if you over-do it.

NOTE: You can pick up “7 Minute Body” at 77% off…
but only if you get EODD…

More here:

The Every Other Day Diet Click-Here

HIDDEN QUESTION 3:
“How Does Pizza Help Me Shed Bodyfat?”

Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it?

Think again.

My dietary plan not only “lets” you eat pizza (or whatever your favorite foods might be) every week, several times a week… it DEMANDS that you do it.

What the…. ?

Yep. Here’s why.

First, I have you eat less on certain days and certain times. If done the way I suggest your metabolism (the rate you use fat, energy, etc.) will not slow down that much.

Then… at a specific time… boom! You eat a lot more food… and the best way to do this is eating your favorite foods.

First, they usually have more calories.. duh! Second, you’ll ENJOY the freakin’ process! Most “diets” fail because people hate them… too restrictive.

So I created my System from the ground up to ensure I never got bored with my eating… and the extra cals from pizza (or my favorite… Mexican… or Key Lime Pie… yum) actually boosts my metabolism sky-high.

Here’s an example:

Last week I ate the normal Every Other Day Diet-way… for me it’s the “Extreme Plan” (there are 4 Plans, each for different goals.)

So, after several days of lower-cal, lower-carb eating, I ate about 5000 calories of Mexican food (so good!) But the TIMING is crucial. You just can wing it. Don’t worry… I tell you exactly when to do it.

The next morning I saw more of my abs.

I went back to EODD-style eating, which I love btw… and then later had some Key Lime Pie… and what do you know? Leaner the next day.

Now I’m doing this as I “peak” — I have to be in top shape in December. The only time I stop this is 4 weeks prior to a photoshoot… but unless you want to be 5% bodyfat (and you probably do not) you never have to stop it.

Works like a charm.

Watch this and find out why:

The Every Other Day Diet Click-Here

Yours In Fitness,

J O N B E N S O N

P.S. Special freebie to those who watch my entire presentation on the page above… very nice… : )

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Related Articles at Former Fat Guy Blog:

4 Fatloss Tricks No One Tells You About

Rob — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:40:50 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout]

There’s a club you should join.

It’s called The Insider’s Club.

It is that club whose membership is based only on what secret goodies the members possess.

In our case, this is the Fatloss Insider’s Club. Only those in the know can join…. freee to them of course… : )

So, if you want to get rid of some lbs…

FATLOSS TRICK 1
Eat Pizza?

Today I went for some New York-style pizza here in Austin, Texas.

Do I feel ‘guilty’? No way… in fact tomorrow I will feel LEANER.

What the what?

I had to set up my body for this bit of metabolic trickery of course. You cannot just “eat pizza” and shed the pounds… I wish you could!

But my personal System for fatloss not only “allows” pizza (and all my other favorite foods)… it DEMANDS that I eat it.

Here’s another true story: I blew off my “feed meal” (that’s what it is called in my System) four days ago. I have been on a massive fatloss roll for weeks now and frankly I just did not feel like eating a lot.

That’s another benefit of my System… it really cuts your appetite and food-cravings down.

Anyway, the next day in the gym I fell on my face! I was weaker and not any leaner. I went home, ate literally about 6000 cals and presto: Leaner than ‘ever’ the next day and ready to train hard.

Learn how to use this System here:

The Every Other Day Diet Click For More Tricks!

FATLOSS TRICK 2
The 10-Minute Cardio Trick

If you want to just get into good heart health, you only need GXP Cardio (covered in the System mentioned above) 2-3 days per week for 9-15 minutes. That’s it.

However if you want to use “smart cardio” (not long, boring cardio) then you need a bit more. Just a bit.

It’s my 10-minute trick.

Start with just every other day. Then move to 4 days… and then 5.

If you are pressed for time, this is ideal. Even if you are not, it works like magic.

10 minutes in the morning ‘before’ you eat. Just make sure your heart rate is only about 65% of your max… in other words, you are not breathing super-heavy at all, but you are working up a sweat. That’s it.

10 minutes ‘before’ lunch. Just cut your lunch hour short by 10 minutes… that’s all. You don’t sweat enough to need a shower… don’t worry. Walking stairs works great, or walking outside… be creative!

Then 10 ‘harder’ minutes about 2 hours before you go to sleep. Get your heart rate up to where you are breathing a little harder.

That’s it.

You can even start with just two sessions of 10 minutes (morning and night) if lunch is out.

FATLOSS TRICK 3
Increase Your Fat?

Yep. I want you to eat more dietary-fat…. but I want you to replace some of your carbohydrates (starch like rice, potatoes, etc.) with healthy fats like olive oil, coconut oil and almonds.

Fat dulls the appetite and all three of the fats above actually help your body get rid of its fat-stores if you decrease carbs.

I have the plan laid out for you. More here:

The Every Other Day Diet Click For More Tricks!

FATLOSS TRICK 4
Think Resistance

Far better than cardio will ever be. That would be resistance training.

Either weight training or in-home resistance training using bands and bodyweight. Studies confirm what we fitness pros already know: Resistance training not only sculpts the body (cardio cannot) but it also burns 9-12x more bodyfat over the long-term than cardio.

But you need both. And both cardio and resistance training (in-home or in the gym) is worked into my book “7 Minute Body.”

You can get it when you pick up “Every Other Day Diet” for 75% off-retail… it is all detailed here…

The Every Other Day Diet Click For More Tricks!

Welcome to the Club!

Yours In Fitness,

J O N B E N S O N

P.S. I’m still giving away “Radical Fatloss Blueprint” along with EODD for a few more days. And I’m giving a lucky few the chance to pick up the Supplement-Kit that comes with Radical Fatloss for almost 100 bucks off… the video and details are here:

The Every Other Day Diet Click For More Tricks!

Sorry… EODD Readers Only…. so pick it up today.

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Related Articles at Former Fat Guy Blog:

4 Fatloss Tricks No One Tells You About

Rob — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:40:50 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout]

There’s a club you should join.

It’s called The Insider’s Club.

It is that club whose membership is based only on what secret goodies the members possess.

In our case, this is the Fatloss Insider’s Club. Only those in the know can join…. freee to them of course… : )

So, if you want to get rid of some lbs…

FATLOSS TRICK 1
Eat Pizza?

Today I went for some New York-style pizza here in Austin, Texas.

Do I feel ‘guilty’? No way… in fact tomorrow I will feel LEANER.

What the what?

I had to set up my body for this bit of metabolic trickery of course. You cannot just “eat pizza” and shed the pounds… I wish you could!

But my personal System for fatloss not only “allows” pizza (and all my other favorite foods)… it DEMANDS that I eat it.

That’s another benefit of my System… it really cuts your appetite and food-cravings down.

Anyway, the next day in the gym I fell on my face! I was weaker and not any leaner. I went home, ate literally about 6000 cals and presto: Leaner than ‘ever’ the next day and ready to train hard.

Learn how to use this System here:

The Every Other Day Diet Click For More Tricks!

FATLOSS TRICK 2
The 10-Minute Cardio Trick

If you want to just get into good heart health, you only need GXP Cardio (covered in the System mentioned above) 2-3 days per week for 9-15 minutes. That’s it.

However if you want to use “smart cardio” (not long, boring cardio) then you need a bit more. Just a bit.

It’s my 10-minute trick.

Start with just every other day. Then move to 4 days… and then 5.

If you are pressed for time, this is ideal. Even if you are not, it works like magic.

Then 10 ‘harder’ minutes about 2 hours before you go to sleep. Get your heart rate up to where you are breathing a little harder.

That’s it.

You can even start with just two sessions of 10 minutes (morning and night) if lunch is out.

FATLOSS TRICK 3
Increase Your Fat?

Yep. I want you to eat more dietary-fat…. but I want you to replace some of your carbohydrates (starch like rice, potatoes, etc.) with healthy fats like olive oil, coconut oil and almonds.

Fat dulls the appetite and all three of the fats above actually help your body get rid of its fat-stores if you decrease carbs.

I have the plan laid out for you. More here:

The Every Other Day Diet Click For More Tricks!

FATLOSS TRICK 4
Think Resistance

Far better than cardio will ever be. That would be resistance training.

But you need both. And both cardio and resistance training (in-home or in the gym) is worked into my book “7 Minute Body.”

You can get it when you pick up “Every Other Day Diet” for 75% off-retail… it is all detailed here…

The Every Other Day Diet Click For More Tricks!

Welcome to the Club!

Yours In Fitness,

J O N B E N S O N

The Every Other Day Diet Click For More Tricks!

Sorry… EODD Readers Only…. so pick it up today.

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Related Articles at Former Fat Guy Blog:

Your 5-Minute Fat Loss Shake

Rob — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:33:02 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout]

Protein shakes are a dime a dozen. However a high-quality protein drink that is both homemade and nutritious is a rare find. Most protein drinks today have traveled the path of least resistance — cheap and potentially dangerous sweeteners, sugar alcohols (in order to bring down the supposed “carb count”), and protein sources that are often dubious…and accompanied with more outrageous claims than grams of the good stuff.

I use a simple, homemade, economic and super-healthy protein drink at least five times a week during my normal nutrition cycle and several times a day during peak training cycles where I need to be in top shape. My strategy for building this drink was simple:

Go hormone-free and organic with everything possible;
Go with plenty of healthy fats rather than cheap sugar substitutes to help control insulin and provide more satiety;
Think ‘raw’;
Make it delicious!

Below you will find this recipe, complete the the exact ingredients used. It takes less than five minutes to make and keeps me full for 2-3 hours. It is less than 1/3 the cost of an out-of-the-box MRP (Meal Replacement Product) and contains 1/10th the number of ingredients — and that’s a good thing. If you cannot pronounce it, it’s probably bad for you. And it tastes fantastic!

Mix the following into a high-quality blender:

1. One heaping scoop of Jay Robb’s Egg White Protein You will need to adjust this amount to your body weight. I use up to 1.5 grams times my body weight (max) and as low as 1 gram times my body weight when doing two shakes a day. For me this is between 20 and 35 grams of powder. Jay uses the best sources available, including hormone-free cattle and Stevia, a herbal sweetener, to make his excellent protein. There are no additional carbs to speak of and only the bare essentials ingredient-wise. Jay also makes a high-quality whey. I will often combine the whey and the egg white powders, using a bit over half a scoop each.

2. One raw egg (cage-free) Do not worry about cholesterol or getting food poisoning. These claims are mostly media hype. You need the high-quality protein and fats found in the egg. Most people try to go low-fat when making a protein shake. This is a mistake, as fats are crucial to the digestion of protein. As for contamination: Roll the egg on the counter. If it wobbles, you are safe to consume it. I’ve used this technique for ten years and I’ve yet to have one case of food poisoning consuming raw eggs. Oh, and it makes the protein drink taste better (believe it or not.)

3. Five grams of L-Glutamine Powdered L-Glutamine (I use Jarrow’s brand) is one of the healthiest things you can supplement your diet with. L-Glutamine has been shown to be one of the most powerful nutrients for both recovery and immunity enhancement. Bodybuilders will take up to 25 grams per day of L-Glutamine during hard training cycles; I do as well. It makes a tremendous difference in both performance and wellness. It is tasteless, too.

4. Five grams of Creatine Monohydrate If you want more strength and muscle fullness, good old creatine monohydrate (the non-fancy stuff; just monohydrate for me) works like you would not believe. Five grams per day is all you need. Like L-Glutamine, it is tasteless. I use Jarrow Brand.

5. Raw almonds I cannot say enough good stuff about almonds. Besides tasting great, they are loaded with essential fats and healthy fiber. Here is how I measure how much to use. This comes right out of my book “The Every Other Day Diet”.

Get it here:

The Every Other Day Diet The “Cheat To Beat” Diet Plan

You can find 15 other shake recipes and over 40 pages of recipes in my book that fit the bill of being tasty and fantastic fat-burning meals. Here is the trick: Divide your body weight by 10. That’s it. If you weigh 200 pounds as I do, that means 20 almonds. Simple, right? I created an entire measuring system for Every Other Day Diet’s SNAPP! System of eating that is this simple for everything: Calories (none to count), carbohydrates, fats, protein intake… even water!

6. Frozen berries (raspberries mixed with blueberries) Yes, fresh is better than frozen… but frozen makes the shake more frothy. Plus I buy organic berries and freeze them in containers. There is practically nothing lost in the process. How much? Simple: Divide your body weight by 5! In my case this is 40 berries, or about a handful. Once you count them out once or twice you never have to again.

7. Pumpkin seeds This was a great find: A super-healthy and tasty addition to my protein recipe, plus a nice bump in the fiber content. Measuring something as fine a seeds is a bit more challenging using my numeric system, so we keep it simple: Use your palm. Just pour the seeds into your palm. Make sure they are not forming a pyramid or overflowing. That’s the ideal amount.

8. 1 to 1.5 cups of pure water I use only 1 cup of water as I like my shake thick.

9. 1 cup of ice Adjust to taste and texture preference.

10. Stevia (to taste) I love Stevia. It is an herbal sweetener that does not cause an insulin spike like sugar or even sugar alcohols can, and does not have the health hazards of artificial sweeteners. I use a few packets as I like my shake nice and sweet.

There you have it: A mostly raw, protein-rich, health-fat, carb-friendly protein drink that will fill you up for hours, tastes great, and contains more raw nutrition than most people get in a week.

P.S. There’s an eye-opening weight loss video you need to see.

Watch it here: Weight Loss Video Watch

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Fat, Fatter, Dying

Rob — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:36:18 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout]

Below are two videos. Watch them if you dare.

Then, by all means… take action.

Part 1

Part 2

Put an END to this! Grab the book below…

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Fat Is Not Your Fault

Rob — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:40:31 +0000

In this video I hope to shed some light on some provocative issues. First, craving fatty, sugary, high-calorie foods is not your fault. However, it is your responsibility—you have to learn to manage this vestibule pattern passed down through generations of DNA.

I have included a transcription of the video below. Enjoy!

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout. I have his permission to share it with you. ]

Note: Thanks to too many years in scuba, I continually say “vestibular” in the video. The correct term of course is vestigial. But other than that… ; )

Please press the Play button to start the video…

Note: You can learn more about how to escape the “vestigial loop” covered in this video while still eating your favorite foods and losing all the weight you want by picking up my book The Ever Other Day Diet below…

TRANSCRIPTION

Hi, Jon Benson from Jon Benson Fitness dot com. Again, excuse the video-less video… my iCam is busted, but I’m getting it fixed this weekend.

If you missed the first video in this series, “Low Carb Lunacy”, be sure to check that out. Link below:

Low Carb Lunacy Video

Fat is not your fault.

Craving foods high in fat is not your fault.

Craving foods high in sugar is not your fault.

Craving high-calorie foods is not your fault.

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Well, it’s a biological and evolutionary fact.

BUT….

Guess what.

Just as a ruptured appendix is not your fault, it’s damn well your responsibility.

Just as your appendix is primarily useless; a vestigial organ no longer required for daily function, so is… yep.

Your cravings for sugar, fat, and calories.

Picture yourself living on the Savannah countless thousands of years ago. Everything you ate you either hunted or gathered—and for most of your days hunting was far more rewarded by your clan and by the females than gathering.

Gathering was the sign of a poor hunter. In fact, there’s an old joke: Vegetarian in the Cherokee tongue means Bad Hunter.

Turns out there may be more to this joke than you think.

On the Savannah, you might go days without food. Hunger and discomfort was associated mentally with “gathering” — picking up second choice. Is it any wonder so many of us as children seem to have a built-in aversion to vegetables? Our ancestors probably viewed what little vegetables were available during the warmer seasons as scraps from a table — not nearly enough calories, protein or fat to sustain themselves against the ravages of the day.

But bring home a nice tiger or lean game and presto: Hero status. The clan celebrated. The women swooned (great hunters were like rock stars in that day, or so I can imagine.) And the clan ate like crazy. Why? Who knew when the next high-fat, high protein, super-filling meal would come?

Folks, this same pattern, now just a vestigial mental organ if you will, is very much alive in your DNA. The problem? That tiger is now conveniently packed in your grocery’s freezer section. You may expend about 75 calories driving to the store, picking up a nice fatted piece of beef, drive home, cook it, and serve it. Hardly worthy of lavish praises from the female in your “clan”… but again, that genetic memory is a monster. It kicks in. The “provider” is still “worshiped” in the recesses of your DNA guys.

Unfortunately, it’s now a matter of economics, not hunting prowess. And being good with money rarely entails expending calories. So, that same drive to collect high-calorie, high-fat, energy-sustaining food is all but useless in today’s evolved society.

Same with sugars. When sweet fruits were in season on the Savannah, they provided the energy needed for the hunt. They tasted great. They were, as some anthropologists suggest, a type of early aphrodisiac. Sugar can trigger powerful “feel good” hormones, especially in its refined form. So, if you cannot eat filling food, how about a quick fix of feel good food?

Again, you were rewarded for this, albeit probably not as much — and definitely in different ways — back on the Savannah.

So you’re bucking eons of societal evolution folks… countless thousands of years of how humans ate, every time you sense hunger. Every. Single. Time.

Only now, everything is at your fingertips. Ladies, you no longer need a “hunter” — you can “hunt” for yourselves. Unfortunately you expend far less calories than males, both then and now. Some theorize than the females were responsible for preparing the meals. that, in and of itself, was very demanding calorically. Now… er… not so much. Guys, the hunt is over. All that’s left is brining in the cash to pay for the meals — one of the reasons, btw, many psychologists believe women are attracted to security of wealth. Yep — it all goes back to the hunting fields.

The obvious problem is that we now have these foods — but we have them at our fingertips and we have them on steroids multiplied by infinity. Our sugars are 100x sweeter than any fruit ancient man could have ever tasted. Our beef is loaded with hormones and unhealthy altered fats never known in the ancient world.

But our vestigial cravings are still there.

So, while craving foods that are high in sugar and fat makes perfect biological sense, it is no different than your appendix. It is a useless vestigial organ if you will, and it must be removed.

That part is your responsibility. It is the price we pay for societal evolution. But you can do it. As we’ve evolved, we’ve also become far more intelligent. More aware of our actions and their consequences. And we can fool the body quite nicely into thinking it has all the nutrients it needs.

I cover more about how to trick the body out of this historical “loop” of hunter/gatherism in my book The Every Other Day Diet…

Think about it. Comment below. Let me know if this resonates with you at all.

Thanks.

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AudioFIT: Travel Tip

Rob — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:00:15 +0000

Looking for food that you can eat while traveling that supports your weight loss or muscle building goals? Today, Jon Benson gives us an audio tip on this very subject. It’s not what you’re expecting either. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout ]

Please press the Play button to begin the audio. Thanks!

Related Product:

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Video: More Outdoor Pushup Variations

Rob — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:00:25 +0000

A few days ago I posted Tara Scott’s Outdoor Pushup Variation video showing some extreme pushup drills. As amazing as they were, these pushup drills take it to another level.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Tara Scott blogs about primal fitness and outdoor exercise and fitness. She is a senior instructor and trainer of primal body conditioning.

Pushups are a core piece of Turbulence Training by Craig Ballantyne

Make sure you see part 1 of the pushup variations video

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Video: Outdoor Workout Pushup Variations

Rob — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:19:07 +0000

Basic outdoor body weight exercise should be a foundation for any workout program and Coach Tara has these primal workouts down to an art form. The pushup is a basic movement that strengthens so many parts of your body, the chest, tricep, shoulders, core etc and with her variations, begins to work more and more parts.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Tara Scott was a Class 1 National Gymnast and a Professional Modern Dancer. Now she’s a Certified Pilates Trainer, and a Senior Instructor and Trainer of Primal Body Conditioning. I’ve got to find out more about this Primal Body Conditioning instruction course.

and of course, Tara is hot.

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Back Flip Extravaganza

Rob — Sun, 17 May 2009 19:35:42 +0000

How’s your back flip anyway?

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

via scott bird

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The Vice Squad Came a Knockin

Rob — Sat, 09 May 2009 04:42:31 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. Jon is the author of Seven Minute Muscle Workout and many others. I have his permission to share it with you. ]

A video about vices.

What are your vices? Here are my top 5 vices. And one of my vices — sugar — has been worked into my fat loss plan.

Think I’m kidding?

Pigs In Space: The Truth About The Swine Flu

Rob — Fri, 01 May 2009 05:16:19 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. Jon is the author of Seven Minute Muscle Workout and many others. I have his permission to share it with you. ]

Pigs In Space:
The Truth About The Swine Flu

THE MEDIA IS LYING TO YOU!!

Shocking News: 36,000 People Dead In The U.S. Due To The Flu!

Sounds scary, doesn’t it? I mean, this whole Swine Flu makes you want to send every pig on earth into orbit.

Pigs in Space!

That’s the answer man. Shoot ‘em all up into the atmosphere. Let Ms. Piggy sort ‘em out.

That bit of shocking news? It’s true.

About 36,000 people have already died of the flu — last year.

And the year before.

And…. the year before that.

And so-on, and so-on.

Not the “Swine” flu — that’s killed one person so far in the United States (an infant.)

The “flu” flu.

You know…. the FLU? The pain-in-the-ass flu bug that you’ve known about but never feared and panicked over since you were a kid?

Yeah… that flu.

36,000 a year in the U.S. alone.

How many media outlets are talking about this historical fact? Hardly any.

Just today I saw headlines in 4-inch type: “FIRST AMERICAN SWINE FLU DEATH”.

Now, I feel for the poor little baby who died. Do not get me wrong.

But can you not see the clear, unmitigated media hype here folks?

The media depends on sensationalism and hype to sell papers and advertising. Period.

And almost ever year, something like this comes along. A few years ago it was “Bird Flu.” Remember?

How many people do YOU know that were killed by the Bird Flu.

Uh-huh. Me too. Zilch.

Let’s review:

36,000 a year die of the simple, plain-old flu.

And… we’re supposed to freak out over the potential of a new strain?

Okay — here’s what you can do to protect yourself from any strain of flu — and colds for that matter.

Ready? It’s kinda complex, so be sure to take notes…

1. Wash your hands.
2. Never touch your face (mouth, nose, eyes) before washing your hands. Antibacterial soaps probably do not help much. It is more important to take time to wash/scrub hands well. (from a post by a doctor to this reply…thank you!)
3. Eat a diet that is low in insulin response.
4. Drink plenty of water.

That’s all.

I know, very, very complex stuff… but… what can I say.

The only thing you may NOT being doing (most people are not) is eating a low-insulin diet. That’s a diet that does not promote insulin resistance in the cells.

The ideal diet for that is my Every Other Day Diet. Why?

Well, because I wrote it… that’s why. ; )

Actually, because it allows you the foods you love every week, so you don’t feel like you’re on a diet all the time.

If you doubt the claims, just read about the results on my support blog.

Or get yourself a copy. Try it. If you don’t like it, I’ll pay you back.

Simple as that.

Go here now –

The Every Other Day Diet The Flu AND Fat Killer

Feel better now? Good.

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Recipe: 3 Dairy Free Coleslaw Dressings

Rob — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:15:29 +0000

Coleslaw is one of my favorite side dishes so for variety sake, we had to come up with some dairy free coleslaw dressings. Cabbage is part of the cruciferous vegetable family and is excellent for colon health. If you’re a guy, colon health and specifically cruciferous vegetables play a big role in prostate health and increasing testosterone. We make our own coleslaw around our house, grating fresh red and yellow cabbage ourselves. I like to make different sorts of dairy free coleslaw dressings, some with a little kick.

I used to think that coleslaw dressings were always white and creamy because that’s how it was when my mom made it. It’s also how you’ll find the fast food variety of coleslaw, like KFC or otherwise. We like mustard and lime and spices such as cayenne, so they’re included in our dressings.

Growing up, coleslaw dressings typically included dairy and or mayonnaise, but for health and weight loss reasons, dairy should be completely avoided.

Honey Mustard Coleslaw Dressing

½ cup olive oil
½ cup Udo’s Oil
3 Tbsp organic Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp Honey or Agave (unpasteurized honey if possible)
Celtic sea salt or Real Salt brand sea salt to taste

Place all ingredients in a jar or blender. I like the magic bullet blender for this purpose. Bullet blenders are so versatile. Shake or blend until combined.

Honey Lime Coleslaw Dressing

3 Tbsp Lime Juice – fresh squeezed or bottled organic
1 Tbsp Maple Syrup – Darker syrups have more minerals
1 tsp Turmeric
½ cup Almond Milk
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp to ¼ tsp Celtic sea salt or Real Salt brand sea salt

Place all ingredients in a jar or blender and shake or blend until combined. Change the amounts of almond milk and maple syrup to vary the thickness. Ie: use less almond milk, or a little more maple syrup.

This dairy free coleslaw dressing can also be used on a salad.

Rob’s Spicy Fat Burning Coleslaw Dressing

½ cup Udo’s Oil
¼ cup Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar
3 Tbsp Honey or Agave Syrup
2 tsp Celtic sea salt or Real Salt brand sea salt
¼ tsp or more of Cayenne pepper
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
2 tsp mustard seeds (optional)
½ tsp celery seeds (optional)

If blending, mix all items into blender and blend until mixed. Then add the seeds. If using a jar, place all items into jar and shake.

Because of the healthy fats from Udo’s Oil, the cayenne pepper and black pepper and the apple cider vinegar, I call this my Fat Burning Coleslaw Dressing.

Dairy Free

We replace cows milk with Almond Milk. You can either make your own almond milk or purchase it. Completely skip any mayo as there’s no nutritional advantage to it. Dairy free is the way to go as far as I’m concerned, in your coleslaw and in your life.

Don’t Avoid the Salt

Table salt should be thrown out and replace with sea salt. Salt should have color, not be white. The minerals in sea salt is what gives it the various colors and does the body good. Salt is not a bad thing, but has to be balanced with a larger amount of potassium (Cave man ate roughly a 10:1 potassium to sodium ratio). Dark leafy greens, apples, apple cider vinegar and other vegetables are sources of potassium. Too much salt is not necessarily the problem, but rather too little potassium. For step by step information on including more potassium in your diet, in a natural and tasty way, have a look at my Fat Loss Fundamentals – 12 weeks to better eating course.

Other Replacements

Non nutritional oils are replaced with Udo’s Oil for it’s health and fat burning properties and any white distilled vinegar is replaced with unpasteurized Apple Cider Vinegar (I use Bragg brand).

Note: because of the variety of sizes of the coleslaw dressings, you’ll have to play with the amount of cabbage you use. If you like your slaw creamier and richer, use less cabbage. If you like the taste a little milder, use more cabbage. I’m sure you get the idea.

For best results, make ahead of time, stir dressings into the shredded cabbage and allow for flavors to mix for a few hours. Make lots, keep in a covered container in the fridge and have as a side for a few days.

Coming soon: Wasabi coleslaw dressing and Horseradish coleslaw dressing

Because coleslaw is an excellent way to improve colon health, and because I just like cabbage so much, I eat it on a fairly regular (no pun intended) basis and suggest you do too. These dairy free coleslaw dressings are simply one way to add variety to your meals.

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The End of a Classic | Does Being Slightly Overweight Matter?

Rob — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:47:59 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. Jon is the author of Seven Minute Muscle Workout and many others. I have his permission to share it with you. ]

Does Being “Slightly” Overweight Matter?

Shockingly so.

A 2008 study nicknamed “The Physician’s Health Study” proved that just a little bit of extra weight can raise the risk of heart failure. The study was designed to calculate the heart hazards of being pudgy but not obese.

Researchers tracked the health of 21,094 U.S. male doctors for two decades found that even those who were only modestly overweight had a higher risk for heart disease. The numbers grew along with the amount of extra weight.

In men who are 5 feet 10 inches tall, for every seven pounds (3.2 kg) of excess body weight, their risk of heart failure rose on average by 11 percent over the next 20 years, the researchers wrote in the journal Circulation . The average age of the men at the outset of the study was 53. During the study, 1,109 of them developed heart failure.

Overall, the risk of heart failure increased by 180 percent in men who met the definition of obesity according to their body mass index (BMI of 30 and higher), and by 49 percent in men who met the definition of overweight (a BMI of 25 to 30).

So, what about the leaner and more active doctors?

“The lean and active group had the lowest risk and the obese and inactive group had the highest risk,” Kenchaiah said in a telephone interview.

And what about “all those hours” needed for exercise?

Yet another myth –

“As far as vigorous physical activity is concerned, even if somebody said they exercised one to three times per month — which is a very low level of exercise — they had an 18 percent reduction in the risk of heart failure after accounting for all other established risk factors,” said Kenchaiah.

This is just more support for my approach to exercise as found in 7 Minute Muscle. It is by far the shortest workout you can do to reap the greatest rewards.

It’s time to get more serious about that “little flab” — and studies like this one conducted over twenty years will go a long way to showing exactly how beneficial cutting the flab can be.

Fit Bits: In-Home or In The Gym?

For my top 5 questions of the day received, this makes the list.

“Jon, can I workout in my home or do I have to go to a gym?”

Here is both sides to the story…

First, the answer in most cases is “Yes” — you can workout in your home with little to no equipment and make very good progress.

With some exceptions.

First, you have to really have a great plan. Home workouts are fine, but honestly they are less exciting than going to a gym and being around other fit-minded folks. So a plan is crucial. If you just try to “catch a workout”, you will probably end up being inconsistent and not progressing.

Next week I’ll be releasing my 7 Minute Body System. This the in-home version of 7 Minute Muscle that requires only bands, a rubber ball, and your body weight. Dumbbells are optional.

This is a great plan for in-home workouts… and of course it’s only 7 minutes long.

There are other plans you can find on the Internet or in another book that may work for you too. Just be sure to USE on. Do not just wing it.

Results for in-home training tend to be lower on average than in-gym training for two reported reasons: Commitment and variety.

Commitment is crucial. If you have a good system and you can commit to it, then you can do well. But a gym fosters commitment in most people due to the costs and the environment. This is not always the case of course. Some people waste their bucks on a gym membership.

Variety is obviously much better in a gym — more equipment, more people to interact with (mental variety) and so-on.

One more thing: Progression. Progression is key in the gym or at home. So no matter what workout environment you choose, write down your workouts every day. The next time you perform that workout, be sure to add a rep or two here and there or some more resistance. Perhaps less rest between sets.

Always try to progress. Some days you will, others you may not — but the mental attitude of progress is essential.

The bottom line is this: If you can make the commitment to your self and get yourself a good, solid in-home plan, you can make in-home workouts work for you.

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Low Pressure Sex Released; Dismiss Perfection

Rob — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:32:16 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. ]

Have you ever started out to do one thing but ended up doing something different?

Night and day different?

Remember how Post-It Notes were invented?

Some guy was trying to come up with a “permanent” glue.

Obviously he failed… and he considered it a failure… but 3M had another idea.

The guy was all of a sudden Joe Brilliant.

Well, I’m feeling a bit like Joe today. But this is much more interesting to you than Post-It Notes…

It’s about sex… sorta. Not dirty, I’m talking about couple’s stuff here.

My new book just came out today about it.

But it didn’t start off that way at all. In fact … get this… I was co-writing a book with medical researcher Frank Mangano on lowering blood pressure without meds… really.

So how did this big U-turn occur?

Okay, okay…. funny, true story:

I read this article from a medical journal about how “lowering blood pressure would help sexual-performance-problems.”

Ding. The lightbulb went off in my head.

You see, lowering blood pressure is probably the most healthy thing you can do for yourself.

But face it — it’s really, really BORING.

I mean, who really cares about their blood pressure unless their doctor says, “Look, lower your blood pressure or you’ll die in six months.”

Then you care.

Are you with me?

I’m right and we all know it.

Heck, I was the same way.

I ignored my blood pressure for years until it hit stroke-level back in my 30s.

Then I could no longer ignore it.

I found every natural alternative possible… which led me to Frank’s books… and they are the BEST.

So Frank comes to me and asks me to contribute to his very popular on-the-shelf book “The Blood Pressure Miracle” –

… and I said,

“Hey, guess what I just read?”

Since he’s the researcher, I said, “Go see if there’s any truth to this.”

The results BLEW MY MIND.

Not only is there truth to it — that, yes… lowering blood pressure not only extends your life but also extends your sexlife as well — but WOW… it’s a major player in everything from male-ED to females feeling “out of the mood.”

It’s crazy, but it’s true.

It makes sense once you read this:

Low Pressure Sex Book Click here for “Low Pressure Sex”

Hang with me: It gets better…

So Frank digs up article after article on the subject of high blood pressure and LOW sexual-energy and performance… and we have a much more compelling reason to want to lower our blood pressure, now don’t we?

But we wanted more.

I said, “Look Frank, I get a lot of emails about sex-after-30… people who want to feel more kick, more alive in that area of their lives… and above all, closer to their mates.”

So… we decided to add another book on TOP of our book…

… a book on improving sexual-pleasure for couples only. “RevolutionarySex” is the name of it. My friend Alex Allman wrote it…and just like that we had two books instead of one.

But that’s not all… ( told you… this story is interesting… ; )

THEN my friend Jeff Anderson comes out with his “homemade V” — and guys, we know what “V” stands for.

Listen: V (little blue things) is really dangerous stuff. It really is. It RAISES blood pressure for one thing. For another it can cause addiction and memory loss.

But Jeff’s version is all-natural, cheap (we’re talking pennies instead of dollars per “pill” to make) and above all… SAFE.

So all of a sudden… THREE books (plus an audio)… so…

It became a System, not a book.

And the topic went from “lowering blood pressure” to …

… How you can completely solve your sexual-performance-problems and increase your pleasure all by lowering blood pressure naturally without meds.”

What a concept…

…and it WORKS.

Low Pressure Sex Book Click here for “Low Pressure Sex”

Here are the advantages…

1. If you take blood pressure meds… and a lot of you do… your “kick in the stick” suffers. A lot. Some men suffer all the way, which lead them to taking the V stuff…

… and that stuff ‘raises’ blood pressure.

Bad, bad combo. Our System gets you off of that dangerous and expensive cycle of drugs and on to a natural, easy approach that also adds pleasure to your relationship.

2. Cheaper… by far… than meds.

3. Something you can read and do as a couple or as a single person.

4. You get healthy and you get your vigor back at the same time. Ladies too.

5. It’s guaranteed-to-work… 60 days on us.

I’m very proud of this System. We put a lot of time, research and effort into it.

If you want a life freee from high BP and sexual-performance-issues and better health, then go here:

Low Pressure Sex Book Click here for “Low Pressure Sex”

Fit Bits: Forget Perfection

You will never be perfect. At anything.

Period.

Forget it. In fact, the faster you forget it the faster you’ll make progress in the gym and with your weightloss-goals.

Perfection with a dietplan is silly. No one will eat perfectly for life. No one will make every workout.

But thousands upon thousands of people try to be “perfect” every single day. That’s why they fail on their dietplans and exercise schedules.

They are too demanding.

In the first day’s lesson in my Personal Fat Loss Certification Course I teach you (free) how to avoid perfection in both dietary and exercise protocols so you can progress enjoyably for life.

Trust me: I’m far from perfect. Tonight I had Mexican food. Bad Mexican food, but still… ; )

And I’m still in good shape. I know how “not” to be perfect — and how to eat ‘tomorrow’ to ensure that what I had ‘tonight’ will not affect my body or my health at all.

I look forward to teaching you the same secrets.

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Issue 64: The Skinny on Fats

Rob — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:57:43 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. ]

Let’s get this one out in the open:

1. Fats do not make you gain bodyfat.

2. Fats do not put you on Heart Attack Row.

3. Fats are not the enemy.

We’ve been sold a bag of lies when it comes to fats.

Fats are essential for your body’s hormone production, skin health, absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, and even burning bodyfat. Yep… you need fats to burn fat.!

Studies have been conducted to attempt to elevate cholesterol levels using high-fat diets. Most all of them have failed miserably — in fact several “lowered” total cholesterol while raising the so-called “good” cholesterol (HDL).

That being said, you don’t need the following…

1. A lot of fats in your diet. Fats still contain over twice the calories per gram as carbs and protein.

2. Any kind of “fake fats” — margarine or processed oils of any kind are highly dangerous foods.

Here’s my simple dietary fats solution:

Eat fats as they occur in nature, but eat at least 80% as they REALLY occur in nature — meaning from grass-fed and free-range sources. The extra cost is worth it. It tastes better and your medical costs will well offset the few dollars more per pound you pay.
Cook with a combination of olive oil and coconut oil, but use both sparingly. If you are eating plenty of animal protein you do not need excessive fats… not because of ‘danger’ but because of needless calories. Not a good idea if you’re wanting to keep your abs. But a bit of raw butter or olive oil can make bland veggies taste wonderful, so feel freee. Also, omega 3-rich fats like olive oil and fish (and especially fish oil) help lower inflammation. That’s the real culprit behind heart disease in most cases.
Avoid a lot of fats at night. The night-time meals should be high in lean protein (tuna, tofu, turkey breast) with very limited fats if you are wanting to really get lean. If you are just trying to shed bodyweight slowly, it’s okay to have some fats at night.

Just do me a favor: If you are on the “Fats make you gain bodyfat and have heart attacks” bandwagon, jump off. We have consumed fat for countless thousands of years. Just consume it the way we always HAVE (naturally, not stuffed with hormones and cooked up in a lab) and you’ll be fine.

If you want a diet-solution that actually uses dietary fats to help you lose bodyfat, then use this one:

My Real-World Diet Plan Eat Fat, Lose Fat!

It’s a real-world plan that allows you to eat your favorite foods and still shed the bodyweight you want.

And yes — that includes fats.

Fit Bits: Unilateral Training

Here’s something to break up your workout: Train one SIDE at a time.

You can work one side of your chest at a time, one arm at a time, one leg at a time, and so-on. Working unilaterally will cause you to have to increase your balance skills, and that involves muscles you are probably not working at the moment. Plus working one muscle side at a time really is a challenge, especially with legs.

Two of my favorite unilateral leg movements are one-legged bodyweight squats and leg presses with one leg. Both are super challenging and take practice. You can Google “one leg squats” and find some YouTube examples of how to do them properly. For the leg press, just make sure you start with well ‘under’ half your normal leg press weight. That’s just so you can get the movement down before you increase the poundages.

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Issue 63: The 48-Hour Fitness GiveAway

Rob — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:02:53 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. ]

I promised you free stuff … and this one is the mother-load.

The good news: I’ve lined up with four of the top fitness guys in the world. We all chipped in and created unique gifts for our most valued readers.

The urgent news: It’s only for 48 hours.

Each of these five gifts are free… no stings, no catches, no cards to “input” and be charged later… nothing like that.

This is just a great big “thank you” for being a loyal reader.

The gifts you’ll find at the below address range from anywhere from $50-$250 in actual real-world value.

But for the next 48 hours ONLY you can grab them for the best price ever – zero.

Just go here and enjoy –

http://www.FreeFitnessGiveaways.com Click Here

Since many of these are all products that are actually “sold” our time limit is 48 hours. Then we take them down.

Stay subscribed and you’ll get these kinds of gifts from me from time to time.

Thanks to fellow fitness author and Body For Life Grand Champion Joel Marion, this 48-Hour GiveAway is the best I’ve ever seen.

Go see for yourself –

http://www.FreeFitnessGiveaways.com Click Here

Nothing to buy…just a way of saying how much we all appreciate your readership and support.

Fit Bits: Free Dumbells and Barbells?

Okay, it’s one thing to give away five killer fitness books (see the article above) but free dumbbells and barbells?

Kinda-sorta.

I watched for the past few weeks as my good friend Fabrice Rinaldi, author of 1 Rep Fitness, trained another Frenchman, Sebastien Night, for a really cool French video special.

Using 1 gallon milk jugs, Fabrice made dumbbells and “plates” that worked for the entire 3-week program!

All you do is fill the gallon jugs with water and some sand until they are heavy enough for you. Wrap a towel around the handle and tie a knot in the towel and you have a dumbbell for free. Add small rocks and sand as you need.

Fabrice ended up with 4-6 of these homemade dumbbells, putting them on the end of a simple wooden pole to create a barbell as well as using the towel method for creating dumbbells. That’s it… and that’s all you really need if you workout at home to create free dumbbells and barbells. And trust me — you can get a gallon jug up to about 25 pounds if you put enough rocks, sand and water in it. That’s plenty for most people just training at home.

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Issue 62: Fitness One-liners: The Best Diet/Workout Ever

Rob — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:38:52 +0000

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. ]

What is your favorite one-liner?

Most people think of one-liners as either pick-up lines for the ladies or one-liner jokes.

Rodney Dangerfield was a master of one-liner jokes.

One of my favorite was:

“When it comes to women, I never cry…I beg.”

I guess that’s both a joke and a pick-up line! Ha….

Anyway, my one-liners are no where near as funny. They also do not land me dates.

Over the past three weeks or so I’ve noticed that my one-liners are all super-fast answer to pretty complicated questions.

Questions like…

“What’s the best dietplan for me?”

“What’s the best workout you’ve ever used?”

“How can I lose this bodyweight and eat like a normal person?”

“How can I workout when I only have 30 minutes a day to spare?”

“What is the capital of Arkansas?”

(That last question was to see if you are paying attention… ; )

And so-on it goes.

Folks, these are NOT simple questions to answer. There are a lot of variables.

What foods do you like? What foods are you allergic to? Have you ever trained with weights? Do you train at home?

That’s just for starters.

So, I came up with my fitness one-liners.

What I didn’t know was that I was actually outlining the basics in two of my own books: The Every Other Day Diet… and 7 Minute Muscle.

Since I’ve shared these on countless interviews and in-person, I thought I would share them with you today.

These Fitness One-liners are basically my best shot at answer this question:

“What is the best diet/exercise plan for me?”

I may be chopping myself off at the ankles financially, but if you apply these simple “Fitness One-liners” you may not need any other book or plan to get into descent shape.

If you want to get into “great” shape, then sure… you may need more. My books cover that “more” part.

But some of you cannot afford them right now and just want a place to start.

So, I’m going to give it to you. I want to see each of you succeed.

If you can, grab a book or two at the bottom of this email. This is all I do for a living.

If you can’t, take these Fitness One-liners and run with them. You can make some pretty remarkable progress.

Let me cover a few ground rules first, okay:

These are one-liners, not “details”. If you want details, books are required. Otherwise you’d be reading a novel for an email!

These one-liners will work for “most” people “most” of the time. Again, if you need specifics (like if you are diabetic, or if you are working out at home) you need more information.

Finally, these are my overriding guidelines. In each of my books I give exceptions to these guidelines… but when it comes right down to brass tax, this is what I suggest for most people.

Ready?

DIETPLAN ONE-LINER:
“Eat 2-3 days very low-carb, then one day higher carb, then repeat.”

That’s it.

Of course there are tons of details, but that’s the one-liner. Eat nothing but veggies, protein, and healthy fats for 2-3 days, then take a day to increase your carbohydrates. You can increase your carbs by eating an “off-meal” (a junk-food meal) or if you are really serious about dropping bodyfat by eating yams, brown rice, or other natural unprocessed starches.

Just do yourself a favor and eat something you really enjoy at least once per week.

If you simply avoid adding excessive amounts of fats to your low-carb days and take in only the fats you need (a bit of coconut oil, olive oil, and natural real butter is fine… but a BIT is not a GOB!) you will naturally eat less on these days. Then on your higher-carb days you will naturally eat more.

This is called “caloric staggering” — and it’s the secret behind most successful nutrition plans we fitness types use.

FITNESS PLAN ONE-LINER:
“Do one exercise per bodypart, one exercise per day, Monday-Friday, and start with 10 reps, resting only 30 seconds between sets, and stop when you cannot get 3 reps.”

Okay, that was a massive one-liner and a run-on sentence… : )

If I had to do ONE thing in the gym, or even out of the gym, this is what it would be.

And I do this all the time. It’s “almost” like my 7 Minute Muscle, but it’s not quite as effective. Still, it works.

Here’s an example:

Work your chest on Monday, your back on Tuesday, your shoulders on Wednesday, your legs on Thursday and your arms on Friday. Work abs and calves at least twice per week as you see fit.

Normally training five days in a row would lead you to over-train, but doing only one “long” set with mini-rest intervals and only one movement keeps your workout under 7 minutes. Most people will not over-train.

Let’s take Monday’s workout: Chest.

Let’s assume you’re doing Incline Smith Machine Presses. (Note: Use any compound movement, but do not use isolation movements.)

I would warm up for a minute or two, then put my 10-rep weight on the bar. I would to 10 reps, rest for 30 seconds, then try 10 more. I will probably get 8 this time due to the limited rest. Then rest 30 seconds, and so-on.

I would stop when I could not get more than 3 reps.

If you do not want a lot of muscle mass, stop when you cannot get more than 6 reps.

That’s it… and we’re talking about some hard work, but short… 3-7 minutes TOPS.

Now obviously you may need more than this, but you’d be shocked at how far this can take you.

If you want more than a One-Liner, then go here:

7 Minute MuscleClick Here

This is my 7 Minute Muscle System. And on the pre-checkout page you will be given the option to get my Every Other Day Diet System along with it for a 30 buck discount.

That will give you more than a one-liner — that will give you a plan for life.

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Tom Venuto Body Fat Solution Giveaway

Rob — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:00:02 +0000

Tom Venuto, author of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, one of the top selling books on burning fat while building muscle, has just released his first book The Body Fat Solution. It quickly became a #1 seller on Amazon and has impacted tens of thousands of lives already.

Written in a no nonsense style, Tom easily explains the principles to overcome emotional eating, why we eat more and exercise less (and what to do about it) and why it is so difficult to balance calorie input with calorie output. If you’re looking for a clear guide to calories and how they play a role in getting to your weight loss goals, this is the book for you.

The Body Fat Solution

The over consumption of calories plays a large role in our gaining fat but we’re not always so rational when we think about food, hunger or exercise. The Body Fat Solution: Five Principles for Burning Fat, Building Lean Muscles, Ending Emotional Eating, and Maintaining Your Perfect Weight is aptly named.

Drawing on his years of personal experience as a personal trainer and nutritional adviser, Tom lays out a clear plan of action to overcome the very things that keep us where we’re at and to help bust any plateaus. It’s the “little things” that we don’t think of that are just as important as daily exercise.

The Body Fat Solution is impacting lives. I received this recently from one of my subscribers:

I just want to fall down on my knees and THANK YOU for recommending Tom Venuto’s book: The Body Fat Solution. While I was reading it, I felt my mind being reprogrammed, and my physical health is now my top priority. I relaized that I have always made other things priorities. I have a wall full of diplomas, degrees and certifications as proof of my relentless pursuit of goals. It wasn’t until I read this book that I realized that having the body I have always wanted was a simple as deciding to do it- no excuses, no acknowledgment of barriers- except to kick them down or work around them and no tolerance for failure. I exact these standards in other areas of my life- my health should have been top priority all along! The athlete inside of me is awake and it is SO on. Thank you so so much for caring enough to share this information with me.

-Tangee

When I first reviewed Tom’s Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, I said that I learned some new principles that took my physique to the next level.

Well, he did it again (Thank you Tom).

Embracing Hunger

Tom discusses hunger in a way that I’ve never read before, and it was exactly what I needed to hear. We tend to overeat because we fear hunger but it’s in embracing hunger – just a little bit of hunger – that gets us closer to our goals.

It’s easy to accept that eating too much will add weight to our bodies, but it’s in overcoming the fear of hunger that we reach our goals quicker. It’s time to reframe our beliefs on hunger and accept, as Tom so beautifully puts it, that “hunger is not an emergency”. Tom does not take credit for that statement though, and says he’s quoting Judith Beck.

Hunger IS NOT an emergency!

Hunger is the sound of “fat cells shrinking”.

By being a little bit hungry between meals, just a little mind you, we reach our goals of a lean physique that much quicker. Hunger must be reframed in your mind and understood to be your friend – your ally. I’ll never forget a conversation I had with Tom a few years ago when he said “Rob, you must go to bed just a little hungry every day”.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said that to myself since reading the book. I’ve updated my facebook status with that statement and tweeted it on twitter. It’s something you have to take on and accept, if even for the short term, until you reach your goals.

We’ve eaten too much food and we’ve stored it. Eating is fun, but to reverse that process, we must accept hunger. As I said earlier, reframe hunger and begin to realize that hunger is fat cells shrinking.

The Body Fat Solution is a robust book – as important for the weekend warrior as it is for the weight loss novice. Part of what you’ll learn:

Change your vision and gain indomitable confidence by setting manageable goals
Maximize your metabolism to jolt out of plateaus
reshape your body through lean muscle training for a strong core and toned frame
invite a supportive social network of friends, family, and mentors to help you achieve your dream for life

.. and it goes so much further past all that. It’s had an immediate impact on me and how I think from chapter to chapter that I simply must share it with someone.

Free gift…

I recommended The Body Fat Solution by Tom Venuto when he first released it and after reading it myself and hearing back from Tangee, I want to give a couple of copies away.

To win a free copy of this book, there are two requirements:

1. Leave a comment telling me why you should be picked. Maybe it’s because you’re an emotional eater, or maybe it’s because you need more education into physical fitness. Maybe it’s because you never fully understood the relationship between having a calorie surplus vs a calorie deficit or simply because you need a good kick in the pants.

2. You must be a subscriber to my natural weight loss newsletter. This give away is a way for me to give back to my readers and subscribers. I will cross reference the email you use for entering the comment against my subscriber list. The email address must have been on my subscriber list before placing the comment.

If you’re not a subscriber to my newsletter, sign up (look for the red box on the right side of the page). Subscribers receive my free report “How To Lose 10 Pounds a Month, Every Month, Until You Reach Your Goal Weight” when joining. Subscribe here.

Contest closes Sunday February 15th 2009

Winners will be notified via the newsletter.

UPDATE: BONUS ALERT – GRAND PRIZE OFFER

After speaking with Tom, he’s agreed to up the reward and offer a personally signed copy as a Grand Prize, to be sent directly to the winner.

So there are now 3 copies to be given away, 2 from me and 1 personally signed copy from Tom himself.

Winners…

And the winners are Comment #9 Christie Landtroop (Grand Prize winner), #3 Tara B and #38 M Reed.

Email me at your earliest convenience with your mailing address using the same email address you used to enter your comment. Congratulations!

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