Finding Energy To Exercise Part 2 of 3 - The Fuel To Boost Your Results

Last time I wrote about how the importance of a mental commitment to achieving results is often overlooked and what a drastic impact even a very small mental commitment (like 1 minute of exercise per day) can have on losing stomach fat and getting flat, sexy, 6 pack abs.
This time, I'll touch briefly on food. In particular:

• Avoiding processed food
• Eating more cruciferous vegetables
• Mixing up your food and trying different things

So, we all know that more highly processed foods are not good for us, right?

The fact is, the more you process a natural food source, such as rice, milk, corn or even wheat, the less nutrient value the end product will have. So the (major) problem with this is then: You are eating food which is not really food! The whole idea behind eating food is about fueling your body for its peak performance (while also enjoying the flavors, temperatures and textures that come with it. The other problem with processed food is that it will often also contain harmful xenoestrogens which act just like an excess of the estrogen hormone in your body. This causes a mega-host of problems for you and of particular concern in this blog - stomach fat!

Cruciferous vegetables can help to a) reduce the effects of xenoestrogens and b) load up your body full of vital minerals and vitamins which promote good health and help you lose stomach fat faster. These are things like broccoli, cauliflower, leek, rocket, cabbage and other members of the cruciferous family.

Finally, don't be afraid to mix up your food and try a range of different things in your diet. Variety is the spice of life as they say and I always say a little bit of everything in moderation never hurts (unless its a deep fried doughnut).  Try different herbs and spices and lots of different fresh foods for a boost in energy.

All of these tips will help get your fuel performing beautifully. And what this means for you is more energy and less fat.

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.

How To Get A Flat Stomach Without Exercise

Now, if you've read some of my previous posts you would easily come to the realization that I'm a strong believer in exercise not only to help you get a flat belly but also for your health in general. Exercise is beneficial in thousands of ways but it's not always for everyone.
I understand that many people dread exercise with a passion and those are the people who should definitely check out this post.

If  you want to learn how to get a flat stomach without exercise, the best thing you can possibly do is look at 3 aspects of your lifestyle:

1. Your calorie intake & food sources
2. Your hormonal levels
3. Whether or not you have parasites (not the most romantic topic I know)

So let's look at them one by one:

Calorie intake plays a major role in the storage of fat. Too much and you'll start storing excess calories as fat, too little and you'll start storing all the energy available to your body as fat. So you need to maintain a healthy balance with calories. Eat sensibly most of the time, but also allow some treats into your eating plan (preferably low calorie, natural treats).
The other important factor here is food sources. If you want to know how to get a flat stomach without exercise, you will have to focus on getting as many vitamins and minerals from your food as possible. This will result in massive metabolic boosts, not only from good food content, but from avoiding bad food content. It has a double pronged effect towards fat loss!

Your hormone levels are another major player in the fat loss game. Optimally, you want to reduce your exposure to xenoestrogens and balance your hormones to contain more progesterone. Many people have seriously high estrogen levels and comparably low progesterone levels. One way to do this is by eating loads of cruciferous vegetables each day. Another way is to take a specific type of supplement such as wild yam.

Parasites. Not a nice subject. Too many people have them without even knowing it and it leaves them wondering how to get a flat stomach without exercise while totally oblivious to the fact that parasitic organisms are feeding of their nutrients and leaving toxic chemicals as a substitute. This is a big problem (even if you are exercising). Getting rid of them is not as easy as it may seem. Some natural products are available which are very effective. Things like walnuts, pepitas (pumpkin seeds) etc. can help, but it pays to be wildly thorough. If you want to stay parasite free, cook your (fresh) meat well, avoid drinking water you're not sure is clean and do a cleanse when returning from overseas (especially developing countries).

That's it. So now you should have a basic grasp on how to get a flat stomach without exercise. You didn't even have to go jogging. Not so hard is it? :)

Image courtesy http://losefatatwork.com/wp-content/uploads//2009/09/fat-loss-frustration.jpg

Hormones & Getting a Flat Stomach

Now I go on about this topic for one reason and one reason only:
It is one of the biggest problems people encounter regarding fat loss and getting a flat stomach!

I kid you not, hormones play a vital role in weight loss, fat loss and just about everything that goes on in your body.

I've written about xenoestrogens before and how they tilt the balance of hormones in your body to make your entire system more estrogen dominant. Well, this is just one of the causes of hormonal imbalances that makes it so hard to get a flat stomach.

The other major cause for hormonal upset other than xenoestrogens in food and chemicals is the production of excess estrogen in the body, usually due to an unbalanced diet containing too many synthetic "foods" and not enough real, raw, vitamin-packed, antioxidant-loaded, fresh, organic meat and veg.

To ensure that you have an easier time with fat loss and your goal to get a flat stomach, it's 100% necessary to eat well by adding variety to your diet. Get the right advice on your food and it can really be easy to make the necessary changes to start reaping the benefits within a week or less!

Image courtesy of http://k21st.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/neurons1.jpg

What It Really Takes To Lose Belly Fat

At the risk of sounding controversial, why does it seem like the world is lying to you about stomach fat?!?

Well here's how I see it... There are fitness trainers and there are fitness professionals. Most fitness trainers out there call themselves fitness professionals and there is no real definitive line there to make things clear for everyone. In fact, in many countries, there is actually no required qualification in order to call yourself a "fitness professional"!

This means that any Tom, Dick or Harry from down the street could (and usually does) give you loads of health and fitness advice on how to lose belly fat without any formal qualification at all.
What's even worse is, the professionals that are qualified and practicing in the fitness industry will quite often not be adequately trained in what it takes to lose belly fat.

If you ask most personal trainers out there how to I lose my gut, the answer you will often get back would be something like, "Do loads of cardio exercise".

In reality, this doesn't work for most people. If you did have heaps of free time on your hands and you managed to motivate yourself to go jogging every day for 2 hours, sure you'd have some success with losing belly fat but the fact of the matter is that this approach is not practical and most people don't enjoy cardio exercise enough to sustain the commitment.

Here's what it's all about: If you really want to know what it takes to lose belly fat then you need to be informed on a number of different levels. The exciting stuff:

1. How hormones will dictate fat storage and loss in both men and women!
2. How parasites stop many people from achieving peak metabolic fat-burning success!
3. The 100% must-have exercises and the 467 ab exercises you need to avoid with a vengence.

There are hormones in your body (some of which are artificial, synthetic hormones - xenoestrogens) which tell your energy where to go (eg. fat cells, muscle mass or energy for doing things). There are also parasites which will infect this process and sabotage your metabolism by dumping fat-storing toxins and consuming fat-burning vitamins. Also, there are exercises which work miracles for fat loss and there are exercises that are almost totally useless.
When you get on top of these three vital things in your life, it will be effortless to lose belly fat and get lean, 6 pack abs.
That's all for now. Tomorrow I want to get down and dirty into the idea of "health food extremists" VS the average guy and how that dictates your fat loss. You'll be surprised at the results actually.

Image courtesy of http://www.dbtechno.com/images/belly_fat_dementia.jpg

Xenoestrogens & Making Fat Loss Work

Hormones are one of the least understood functional aspects of losing weight and losing belly fat. People will often think that the roles of hormones are as simple as estrogen: women, testosterone: men but it is much more complicated in reality.The fact is, regardless of your sex, you will produce very similar hormones, just in different amounts. The problem with the estrogen hormone is becoming more and more apparent to many people as we generally start to put on more and more weight and experience various other undesirable health symptoms such as osteoporosis and the dreaded "man-boobs". The key thing to realize here is the massive link between the estrogen hormone (including xenoestrogens) and health problems, ultimately including stubborn fat.
Xenoestrogens are synthetic, chemical substances which behave like estrogen hormones in the body. Exposure to these chemicals, then, leads to a massive array of problems in the body including belly fat. These substances, I might add, have only been in existence (as commercially produced, industrial chemicals) for about 70 years and during that time the population of our western world has steadily gotten fatter.
So, how do we avoid xenoestrogens becoming a problem?

• Give up conventional meats and switch to organic (especially poultry) as they are a large source of xenoestrogens. This is a hard step to take for many people simply because of the exorbitant costs of organic meats but make this step and it will make a huge difference.
• Avoid parabens (in lotions)
• Stay away from insecticides, pesticides and lawn care products
• Switch to an organic diet in general and you will reduce xenoestrogen exposure by 50% or more
• Never heat food in plastics in the microwave and avoid the use of soft plastics wherever possible as harmful xenoestrogens leach out of these plastics (like cling wrap) and into your food
• Check out this list of xenoestrogens and make any necessary changes (the ones I've mentioned above are the major ones that will make the biggest difference to your results with fat loss)

One of the main issues with fat loss and losing belly fat is hormonal imbalances and it's generally due to xenoestrogens for the large part. Take these out of the equation and losing weight will be much easier. You'll feel fresher, have more energy and get better results with losing belly fat and get a flat stomach faster.

Image courtesy of http://dr89015.com/hormone.htm

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.

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.