Nutritional Guidelines
Nutrition Guidelines
What you consume every day has a dramatic effect on your energy levels, your emotions, and desire for life. Rather than struggling to sustain yourself on SAD CRAP (Standard American Diet of Carbohydrates, Refined sugar, Additives and Preservatives), follow these simple guidelines and you'll be well on your way to a healthier way of being.
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Drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces of filtered water a day. If you weigh 140 pounds, you should drink 70 ounces a day.
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Eat organic as much as possible, putting a priority on meats and dairy. The higher you go up the food chain, the more likely pesticides, hormones, etc., are concentrated in the food product.
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Consume less than 25 grams of sugar per day.
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The longer the shelf life, the more wrong it is for your body.
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Food is fuel. Don't put bad food into your engine and expect it to run smoothly. If it takes more energy for your body to convert the substance into a digestive state than it gives you, don't eat it.
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Don't follow the 'feedlot food pyramid' which emphasizes grains over greens. Working farm animals are raised on pasture grasses to get lean and strong with small percentages of fat so they have plenty of strength and endurance to perform chores. Animals intended for the slaughterhouse are fed grains to quickly fatten them. What kind of animal do you want to be?
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Non-fat is no good and often means the product is de-natured beyond the point of being nutritious. Humans must have fats for proper body functions. Incorporate good fats, such as high quality butter, ghee, nut butters, olive oil, coconut oil and fats from grass-fed organically raised animals into your diet.
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Avoid wheat and unfermented soy products, particularly if you suspect you are gluten intolerant.
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The term 'natural' doesn't mean it is good for you, carefully read labels and if you can't pronounce it, you don't think it existed 5,000 years ago, or your grandmother didn't eat it, don't eat it.
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Avoid additives and preservatives, artificial and natural flavorings. There are 32 different substances that go into making the flavoring for strawberry alone. That is a lot of chemistry used to create something that is supposedly 'natural.'
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Eat according to your metabolic type. If you are a lion and thrive on protein, don't eat a diet primarily of carbs.
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Eat mindfully. Consider why you are about to eat something and the goal you hope to accomplish by ingesting it. Nothing, whether it be plant or animal, dies easily. Honor the sacrifice the entity which you are about to consume made by eating only what you need to sustain optimal life and create goodness out of the energy the food gives you.
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Eliminate or limit dairy products. Stick with raw, unpasteurized, organic dairy products as much as possible and remember, despite the marketing campaigns, you don't need milk to meet your calcium needs as the chart below shows. The World Health Organization recommends 500 mg. of calcium for children and 800 mg. for adults.
Eat Your Way to a Flat Stomach
Targeting your abs with exercise won't get you the flat stomach you desire if you aren't eating correctly. Follow these rules and start getting the stomach shape you want.
1. Eliminate wheat, soy, additives and preservatives. These items are some of the most common food allergies which can lead to weight gain, bloating and other digestive issues.
2. Forego dairy. Stick with raw, unpasteurized, organic dairy products as much as possible and remember, other foods offer substantial calcium.
3. No grains, see the gains. Limit the amount of grains you eat and stay away from refined flour. Organic, whole grains are best. Remember, carbs are your body's 'quick' fuel. If you don't burn carb calories you're going to pack on the weight.
4. Go raw. Raw foods such as fresh ingredients from a salad contain enzymes that are beneficial to digestion. Pineapple and papaya are foods that are especially helpful in this area.
5. Eat lean protein but don't go non-fat. Your body needs fat to function properly. Think of your metabolism as a fire. You need carbs for hot, fast burning fuel and you need fat to keep the fire burning for a long time.
How to Flatten Abs and Burn the Fat Metabolically
Diets don't work. Don't starve your body to shed fat, focus instead on increasing the amount of energy you expend. Muscles burn more calories and after exercising increase your metabolism up to three to four hours after your weight training session ends. Use these tips to help you get the burn you want before, during and after workouts.
1. Don't diet! Eat regularly to discourage the "survival" fat storage that occurs when you skip meals, particularly breakfast. Remember the definition of breakfast, you a breaking a fast. Give your body the food it needs to spark its metabolism. Ideally you should eat within 30 minutes of waking. Try to eat every four hours.
2. Make your first two meals of the day the largest. Eat snacks as needed and don't skip on the post-workout meal. Your metabolism is cranking the most after a workout, keep it going by eating something within 30-to-60 minutes of a workout.
3. Eat your smallest meal of the day for dinner and two hours before bed. Your metabolism slows at night when you sleep, so give your body ample time to process your dinner before you go to bed.
4. Use resistance training to increase muscle mass, metabolism and become fuel inefficient. Aerobic training makes your body more efficient at burning calories. This is great if you are training for an endurance event, but the wrong effect if you want to lose weight.
5. Use periodic cycles of high intensity circuit training with short rest periods and big exercises to get the burn going. Work big muscles and see big gains!
5 Tips to get the Right Kind of Six Pack
1. Eat organic foods. The chances of reducing the fat around your mid-section will be reduced in proportion to how toxic your body is. Reducing toxins is dependent upon proper hydration, the right nutrition, adequate exercise, proper breathing and a functional bowel.
2. Eat right for your metabolic type. Giraffes don't eat meat and lions don't eat leaves. Stay away from the fad diets such as no-fat, no-carb or all-protein gimmicks and eat the right combination of proteins and carbs for your body. Otherwise, your body will continue to crave the nutrition it is lacking and you'll keep eating more than you need!
3. Drink half your body weight in ounces each day. Water is the best detoxifier there is. In addition, studies show an athlete who is only 2 percent dehydrated will see a drop in performance by up to 10 percent. You should never feel thirsty.
4. Use big exercises. Spot reducing doesn't work. If you want a six pack, focus on big, high energy movements in the gym such as squatting, lunging, rowing, etc. to burn more calories and work more muscles.
5. Save the abs for last. Always end your workouts with ab isolation movements, never work them at the beginning of a workout because they are important stabilizer muscles. If they are fatigued, your risk of injury goes up. Use high intensity exercises in which you can't do more than 12 reps per set.