Dandelion Tea To Burn Fat

Back in May this year I wrote a little spot on dandelion tea and how awesome it can be to burn fat. I love this stuff so much that I just had to give you a reminder about how powerful little things can be in aiding to lose stomach fat. After all, why not try dandelion tea to help burn fat? It tastes great, has loads of benefits and can be easily substituted into your regular diet as a coffee replacement.

Also, if you want to DOUBLE your fat burning potential, use stevia as a sweetener and I guarantee you'll start to notice a difference in your body within a week!

But don't stop there by any means. There are so many simple little ways that can help you to burn massive amounts of fat and get six pack abs really fast. By using a combinational approach implementing very little known methods, you're way ahead of the pack already!

Dandelion tea is not the only fat burning tea out there either. In fact most teas have some form of beneficial fat burning properties that help in a massive way and make it heaps easier to lose fat.

Remember: It is always simple things that make a big difference. Just implement it and you'll see for yourself how awesome it can be!

Image sourced from: http://www.crazyfortea.com/images/dandelion.jpg

10 Simple Things That Burn Fat

You have to admit, it's not always easy to achieve a health and fitness goal based around fat loss. In fact, it may be one of the most challenging things to achieve full stop. One reason for this is that there is a serious lack of sound knowledge accepted wholly by the health and fitness community.
Another reason I can think of is that people over complicate things. Really fat burning is not that hard. It's about doing simple things consistently and sticking with the mindset of achieving that goal to lose stomach fat or whatever your goal may be.
Here's a list of 10 simple things that burn fat:

1. Walking - everyone walks right, so try to make walking a part of your daily routine if you haven't already - like most things it won't make a difference on its own but if you combine it with other techniques it can be powerful.

2. Drinking water - don't count coffee and juices towards your daily water count, drink at least 6 large glasses of water each day to replenish your cells and flush out fat-storing toxins.

3. Exercise habitually (outside of walking) - Find something you love doing which gives you a good workout and stick it into your weekly schedule.

4. Don't refuse exercise if you can help it - make movement a priority and put other things second.

5. Ask a friend to commit with you - find a fitness bootcamp or another activity and get a friend to join in.

6. Make yourself an adventurer - Almost everyone loves a bit of adventure right? So commit to do some form of adventure activity once per month - get some friends involved and do it!

7. Make a note of refusing to eat over-processed garbage disguised as food! Eat fresh, vitamin-packed foods each day and watch how much fat comes off.

8. Reward your good efforts - If you've done well throughout the week (keep a food diary to make sure) then give yourself a reward. This gives you power and reinforces the good habits to make sure you have maximum motivation to keep it up.

9. Stop listening to what your "friends" say when they are being negative - switch yourself on and listen carefully to what people say. You can still love someone and not agree with them all the time. Do what's good for you!

10. Sign up to a blog like this one and read good quality information diligently - Once you know all there is to know, you can put it into practice and achieve great things with fat loss.

That's it! You should be able to EASILY do 5 of these things regularly. With a bit of extra effort, you should be able to do all 10 and keep it going. You will definitely achieve results in terms of fat loss if you do.

Cinnamon Almonds - Awesome Fat Burning Treat!

It's amazing the things you can find day to day that will help you lost belly fat drastically just by using what's already around you!

I had a coffee this morning at a nice little cafe and got 2 little cinnamon almonds on the side... Nothing special right?

Well, I wasn't over impressed at the sugar coating of the almonds, that's certainly not going to do your stomach fat any favors. What made it interesting though was that the almonds were covered in cinnamon, an amazingly powerful thermogenic fat-burner. So naturally what sprung to my mind was...

All you have to do to that is replace the sugar with some stevia and voila! You have an awesome, tasty fat burning snack you can take to work and use to control sugar cravings.

Little things like this can be extremely powerful. Not only is the cinnamon going to help you burn fat, you're also going to get loads of protein, vitamins and minerals from the almonds.

Don't take for granted the awesome power of implementing a little thing like this to help you lose stomach fat. This 1 tip alone could help you lose at least 2 pounds of pure fat in a week!

Finding Energy To Exercise Part 3 of 3 - Developing Super Powers

So in the last 2 installments of this brief series on how to boost your energy dramatically, I mentioned, (a) how your mindset can be a major influence on your energy levels and (b) what kinds of foods you should focus on getting and what kind of foods you must remove from your diet.
Today, in the last little bit about boosting energy to help you lose stomach fat, I wanted to make a special mention to developing super powers and how it can drastically improve your energy levels and your results with your general fitness regime....
Well, I must be honest, I'm NOT talking about super powers in a traditional sense. You won't be able to fly and you probably won't be able to lift buildings et cetera. What I mean by super powers is your ability to define yourself.
Now a lot of people have extremely busy lives but this often stops them from getting the results they want in terms of their health and fitness. When you refuse to give in to your "busy-ness" and make it absolutely essential to fit some daily exercise into your routine, you are pretty well (by my standards) developing some super-powers. You see this step is simply a choice to get up and do something (exercise) even when you don't feel like it. You will notice a huge boost in energy, motivation and your health and fitness will thank you for it. Not to mention a drop in belly fat as a bonus.
So that's it for now, next edition I'm going to give you some really juicy facts and weird breakfast ideas to help you lose stomach fat.

Image courtesy of http://www.samruby.com/History/CosmicSpiderman.gif

How Does Coffee Affect Your Metabolism?

Well, as you probably well know, coffee is one of the big controversies amongst fitness professionals and this is due to it's "dual sided" nature.
You see, coffee, as we all know, is a stimulant and because of this, it is accurate to say that it will give your metabolism a boost. The problem with this is that people end up drinking loads of coffee, usually adding either sugar or artificial sweeteners.
Too much sugar is unanimously agreed to cause excessive "empty caloric consumption" leading to insulin spikes and ultimately, fat storing around your belly!
The lesser known, and more controversial topic, is that of artificial sweeteners. I'm talking about synthetically derived sweeteners containing aspartame. Now although popular belief will tell you that these sweeteners are better than sugar because they don't have the calories, in actual fact aspartame-based sweeteners will do far more damage to your body in the long term and will not even help you lose stomach fat at all. Instead they will alter your hormone levels and cause more fat storage and a slower metabolism.
So, the point is:

• Coffee is a stimulant and (on it's own) will increase your metabolism and help you burn more fat.
• Adding sugar to your coffee adds loads of "empty calories" to your diet causing fat storage.
• Adding artificial sweeteners to your coffee is a poor choice due to the negative affects it has on your hormones.

This leads us to the milk debacle... Milk in itself is not bad. In its raw form it contains loads of important fats, vitamins, proteins, enzymes and minerals. The more it's processed, however, the more good stuff is taken out, leading to a more sterile form of food which will not do much good for your body at all.

So how do we use the positive affect of coffee to our advantage to help lose stubborn fat?

Drink coffee if you want but avoid the common sweeteners. Try stevia as a sweetener alternative (a natural sweetener with zero calories). Use the most wholesome milk you can if you need to use milk.

2 Major Ways To Replace Fat Storage With Fat Burning

I'm sure I've spoken about this in some prior posts but I just wanted to go over the massive benefits that can be gained just by making 2 simple changes in your food. People too often underestimate the effects of their diet on losing stomach fat and getting abs but when it comes down to it, it's known factually by almost any savvy trainer or nutritional/exercise professional that what you eat contributes to about 80% of your ability to lose stomach fat.

Yes, the old saying is true. You are still what you eat.

So the 2 replacement foods that are going to help you burn loads more fat from all over your body are:

1. Replace sugar with Stevia - Stevia is a natural sweetener made from herbal extract of the stevia plant. Unlike sugar, it contains zero calories and unlike other no-calorie alternatives, it will NOT mess up your metabolic rate via hormonal distortions and excessive xenoestrogen invasion.
2. Replace nothing with cinnamon - You can put cinnamon on virtually anything and it will actually provide an extremely powerful fat burning effect which will help you lose excess stubborn fat. If you currently eat fruit salad, muesli or even if you drink tea or have an occasional treat, add some fresh cinnamon to ensure your metabolism stays afloat.

That's it. Simple enough strategies to get 6 pack abs by losing loads of stomach fat through both decreasing your caloric load and increasing your fat burning metabolism rapidly and drastically.

Make Money By Losing Weight?

So as if we didn't have enough reasons to get fit and lose weight already, now it seems that there are also financial incentives for many people to achieve results for their own health and fitness.

Many employers will actually pay employees to make positive steps towards being healthier and fitter and this is simply because it saves them money in the long term. There are loads of ways to lose weight, even eating honey, but what an employer is more likely to give you the cash bonus for an "acceptable method" like joining a gym or by measurable results

So sure, you can make a few hundred dollars by talking to your boss about health and lifestyle options that may be available to you, why not?

What I find amazing is that people will do just about anything to get out of exercise if it's only themselves they are letting down but when you add in a reasonably small financial incentive it can actually give people that little extra drive to get the results for themselves that they wanted all along.

Whatever works! That's my motto, and if it takes something like a financial incentive to get you started on your goal to lose stomach fat and get sexy abs, then all the best to your success!

Get Sexy Abs With Antioxidant Rich Berries

Berries are known to be one of the richest natural sources of antioxidants on the planet and as we already know, antioxidants are a majorly helpful companion in any quest to lose stomach fat and get sexy abs. In a massive study conducted on fruit and vegetable antioxidant content published in the June 9 2004 Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, berries easily trumped the competition in terms of the amount of antioxidant for the price.

The reason berries help you get sexy abs is because they are known to actively fight oxidation in the body via their high antioxidant content. This reduces the amount of free radicals in the body and helps with the process of losing fat.
Among the richest antioxidant containing berries are:

• Blueberries
• Cranberries
• Blackberries
• Raspberries
• Wolfberries (Goji berries)
• Acai berries
• Strawberries

These berries all help to fight fat loss with massive vitamin content and loads of polyphenol.
So if you didn't already have enough reason to include more berries into your regular eating then now you can rest assured that almost any berry will also help you to get sexy abs.

Not Your Usual Top 10 Fitness Tips From An Expert

Now, I know a lot of fitness experts have compiled a "top 10" list of fitness and weight loss tips but I wanted to do something a little different. What I've done here is looked at some highly respected fitness professionals and compiled a "top 10 list" of each of their number 1 tips. Make sense?

So here goes, 

1. Write down our goals and be specific. Don’t just say, "I want to loose weight." A good example may be "To loose ten pounds by June 1st". When we write down our goals, they become more realistic and easier to achieve, because they are more then just a random thought. Just like when you need to reach a new destination by car. If you don't have directions, you may never get there. Get a map and you will! By Fawnia Mondey
2. Get real and be specific. Write down three or four realistic goals that you can stick to. For example, "I will try to lose one pound of body fat every week. I will walk for 30 minutes minimum five days a week." Avoid fantasy-land goals that will only frustrate you. By Dr. Pamela Peeke
3. Work out regularly! Always remember that it is more important to have a quality workout than to have a long one. However, you should try to progressively increase the time spend working out from twenty minutes to an hour. You can work out harder when you`re full of energy. By Alice D.
4. This is the easy one that everyone knows but doesn’t always practice: exercise or diet alone won’t work. An exercise routine and healthy food plan based around your lifestyle is the best way to lose body fat, tighten muscles and increase energy so think of the two as inseparable. By MirrorDiets.co.uk
5. Get into the habit of being active. Don't just rely on your "exercise" sessions to keep you fit. Use the stairs, walk to the shop, go for a bike ride with your family, go for a walk at lunch, etc… eg. A one hour fast paced walk with the dog is a great exercise session! By Go Personal Training.
6. Find out how many calories you need. By Gloria Tsang, RD.
7. When you first feel a pang of hunger, don't reach for the regular sugary carbo snack, instead, reach for an 8 oz. glass of clean purified water.  This will suppress the feeling of hunger that's often mistaken when the body really wants water anyway.  Be sure you are drinking lots of clean water throughout the day because the last sign of dehydration is a dry mouth. By HealthyYouNaturally.com
8. Reward yourself. rewards are great motivators, so allow yourself a treat, such as your favorite burger or an extra beer once or twice per week. This will stop you from cracking under the pressure and giving up. By Evan Campbell
9. PLAN, PLAN, PLAN. Don’t wing it. By Holly Rigsby
10. Set Realistic and Tangible Goals. Simply stating that you want to lose weight is not effective. Be specific. For example, I want to lose 5 pounds of fat by February 14th. By Lynn VanDyke
     

So there you have it! 10 top fitness experts from all around the world and their number 1 tip. I think it's safe enough to say that from all that, the major points that are agreed on by most of them are:

• Plan your goals and set it out on paper 
• Take action by changing exercise habits
• Give yourself rewards
• Increase your water consumption

So if you're just starting out, you now have a good solid foundation to help you lose weight, lose stomach fat and get fit.

Losing Stomach Fat With Cruciferous Veg

All the health and fitness experts (at least the good ones) today are talking about how cruciferous vegetables are one of the key elements to fighting stomach fat. And it's seriously no wonder why.
The science:
Studies suggest that cruciferous vegetables are pretty much "super vegetables". The contain loads of phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals that all aid your body in the fight against stomach fat in one way or another. So what are cruciferous vegetables?
Cruciferous vegetables are vegetables of the "cabbage family". These include:

• Broccoli
• Kale
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Bok Choy
• Turnips
• Rocket 

And many more.
What do they do for your body?
Cruciferous vegetables have been shown to reduce the risk of cancer, reduce oxidative stress, reduce the risk of heart disease. Things called isothiocynanates which are just a part of the cruciferous arsenal aid the liver in breaking down unwanted toxins (such as xenoestrogens) in the body, thus giving you a more powerful, hormonally balanced, fat burning machine with your metabolism.

Make no mistake, these vegetables are a powerful companion in any attempt to lose fat. They are like a fat burning, metabolic boosting secret weapon!
Try adding a few serves of these vegetables to your daily (or at least weekly) diet and see if it makes a difference - it will.

Sunlight To Lose Stomach Fat?!

That's right, it's a commonly known fact that sunlight exposure leads to the production of Vitamin D in the body which is essential for good health. What you might not have known is that the benefits of sunlight exposure probably extend much further than you would think.
It is true that excess exposure to ionizing radiation from the sun creates free radicals which are associated with causing cancer, but, a diet which has sufficient antioxidant intake can help to offset the free radicals produced. Sunlight is an essential part of our health and if your aim is to lose stomach fat then definitely aim to get at least 30 minutes of moderate sun exposure each day. Not only does it help with weight loss, but a host of other health problems as well including heart conditions.
Studies have been conducted in Scotland on the link between exposure to sunlight, Vitamin D intake and obesity and it was revealed that people who have a higher Vitamin D intake (as little as 10% higher) have it easier when it comes to weight loss and losing stomach fat. Insufficient vitamin D in the blood interferes with the hormone leptin, which signals to the brain when the stomach is full. Therefore it is thought that a lower level of Vitamin D contributes to larger portion sizes, higher calorie intake and thus, more fat.
So, like I said, aim to get a little bit of moderate sunlight exposure each day and your body will thank you. Other sources of Vitamin D may also help, although sunlight is the most natural source of Vitamin D and it doesn't cost a cent!

Unusually Effective Spices To Lose Stomach Fat

We all know that green tea has some kind of benefit for weight loss right? Well, that is true. Green tea has a thermogenic effect which is actually an increase in heat through metabolic stimulation. Basically, green tea is loaded with antioxidants and increases your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) which ultimately helps you lose stomach fat, leg fat, arm fat and just about any fat that you want to lose! Now for those of you who want to avoid caffeine, but still want an awesome tea with a great thermogenic effect to help you lose belly fat, try Yerba Mate (lower-caffeine) or Rooibos(caffeine-free), an African tea which also works wonders on the metabolism.

Now, like I've said many times before, none of these things are going to work magic overnight, but, when you apply just a few of these tips in your regular activities, you will start burning fat like crazy.

Another unusually effective herb to increase metabolism is known as bladderwrack. Now this herb is loaded with minerals and nutrients to help you lose stomach fat. It's also got a decent iodine content which will help regulate the thyroid and will be especially helpful with weight loss for those of you with thyroid conditions.
A close, more commonly found, cousin to bladderwrack is kelp. Kelp has virtually the same properties and will provide a thermogenic effect to boost your metabolism.

Three other great spices you can include in your daily diet are ginger (great in stir-fries), cinnamon (great on anything sweet) and cayenne (capsaicin - adds a little heat). These three all have a thermogenic effect which will boost your metabolism massively and make it heaps easier to lose stomach fat.

Weird Filtered Water Facts For 6 Pack Abs

We all know water is good for us right? There's no disputing the fact that the average person doesn't drink enough water and we should all drink a lot of the stuff. After all, our body is made up of a majority of water, so replenishing the water supply to your body is logical and vital for health.
One really valid source of controversy when it comes to water consumption is to do with filtered water. Is it necessary to drink filtered water? Will filtering your water strip the minerals out, leaving you with overall poorer health?
Well, the answers to these questions are quite simple. The fact is that most tap water throughout the world contains toxic contaminants. Now, it's known that chemicals such as chlorine, arsenic, fluoride, benzene, lead, mercury and many others are present in many water sources. It is also a known fact that these chemicals are indisputably carcinogenic. On top of this, synthetic chemicals are likely to stuff things up hormonally, producing ever more xenoestrogens which make it harder for you to lose stomach fat. So, is some method of filtration necessary? Well, yes if you care about your health and/or if you want to make it easier to lose belly fat.
Now, to the second question, will filtering your water strip out needed minerals? Well, think of it like this... If you eat organic foods, the mineral content in those foods is hundreds of times greater than anything which might be present in your drinking water to start with. And if you get a decent variety of organic foods, you are likely to be consuming all manner of necessary organic minerals which your body needs, in sufficient amounts. So, my stance on this is, even if filtering your tap water removes some minerals, such as magnesium, from it, you are better off removing more than 52 contaminants from your water which would wreak havoc on your body and your metabolism.

One topic that I haven't even touched on yet is the presence of parasites in tap water and the fact that a good quality reverse osmosis water filter will remove 100% of many parasites. This makes it an even more vital consideration when it comes to losing stomach fat and getting 6 pack abs.

So, if you are currently drinking tap water, make the switch to a good quality filtration system and you'll never look back.

More & More Serious Stomach Fat

It seems that the more we research and analyze current trends the more we come to serious and often deadly conclusions about some of the most common problems plaguing people around the globe including something as simple as belly fat. So if you're finding it hard to motivate yourself into a program which will help you to lose stomach fat, consider also how your choices affect your health both in the short and long term.

In Australia, the largest cause of death is due to heart disease. Unhealthy hearts are our biggest problem.in Australia and the US has a very similar problem. The ABS statistics put heart disease as the cause of 16% of all deaths in 2008. You know what's even more disturbing... "People with a greater concentration of fat around their stomach have an increased risk of developing certain chronic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and heart disease". So if you need a really good reason to start working harder on losing belly fat (and losing weight overall), here it is.

With such a high percentage of people now overweight and an even higher percentage struggling with stomach fat, it is definitely time to take action and get fit, get a set of sexy abs and avoid all the drama. Plus you'll feel so good about yourself, it's bound to change your life.

Getting More Out Of Workouts

Hey! It's been a few months since my last post and I've just been crazy busy recently. Getting back into some regular posting now though so I hope to seek out all the best info for you on losing belly fat and how to keep fitter for longer.

So on to the topic! How to get more out of your workouts! Well, I was thinking about something that a lot of people ask me and about how important it is for people to better understand the roles that different areas of your life play in your results and...
You need to look at more than just awesome, fun stomach and abs workouts to get really good results. Everyone who is serious about getting 6 pack abs or about getting great results always employs some form of nutritional strategies to help them get there.

The main point here is that it is really important to change some of your eating habits as well as doing some really great workouts. You will most likely treble your results with fat burning and you'll notice how much more quickly you can lose stomach fat.

I'll give you some more details on common eating habits to change tomorrow.
Until then, just remember it is 80% nutrition and 20% workouts that makes the results happen but if you get both right, you will literally get results 3 times faster!

A simple technique to lose more body fat

Well, with an impending adventure to NZ in 2 weeks, I thought I'd write something about incidental exercise and what an important role it plays in a healthy lifestyle, AND for losing body fat. Since I'll be skiing down the stunning New Zealand landscape and doing other non-stop adventure activities, I thought it's an appropriate topic.

Incidental exercise (in case you don't know) is exercise that you do just when you're going about your daily business. Stuff like walking up stairs, running to catch a bus etc. The reason that this type of exercise is so important is that it keeps our metabolism running at a relatively high level compared to if we were constantly stagnant, sitting at a desk.

The way to get the most out of your incidental exercise is to put it in wherever you can and work around any inconveniences it might cause - some people avoid exercise because it causes them to sweat which can be embarrasing. You should always try to take stairs instead of lifts, walk whenever possible instead of driving. If you are going for a walk to get somewhere, try taking the more difficult path. The good thing about this is that it is often also the most interesting path. Another extremely useful tip that everyone should implement is taking a break from your work every 20 - 30 minutes just to keep blood flowing and keep your metabolism in check. A friend of mine gets up every 15 minutes and jumps up and down energetically to keep his body active and responsive. He's also quite fit, funnily enough.

You'd be surprised what a difference it can make to your ability to lose body fat too. Even your fitness will increase slightly just by adapting your activity choices.

If you're after more specifics on how to lose stomach fat, you'll need to do a bit extra on top of your incedental exercise.

Here is a recent article I wrote on stomach fat: 5 Ways To Lose Stomach Fat