EEEEH! EEEEH! EEEEH!….

I was awoken this Friday morning by the 5 am alarm clock on my iphone. As I wiped the crust from my eyes and stumbled into the bathroom, I realized that today was really the 1st day in 2009. I turned on the shower, debating whether to really count the 1st, which is more of a holiday than a typical day. Now that that was over, I had to once again teach a Muay Thai class at 6 am, just like the Fridays of last year.

As the water warmed, I stepped in the shower and thought about why this is considered a new year. I mean, yes the calendar has changed, and the dates on my checks will have 2009 on them, but other than that, what exactly is new? My routine is still the same. Nothing significant has changed in my life, and yet I am supposed to be excited for 2009?

That’s when it hit me (not the water, of course). If you plan to reach all of your resolutions in 2009, then TODAY is your opportunity to get started on the right foot. TODAY is the one day you must have the courage to change. TODAY is the first in a line of 363 other dominoes waiting to fall. The choice is yours whether they fall the same way as last year.

Make a Change

It is time to replace the words ‘New Year’ with the phrase ‘New Opportunity’. If you are expecting to make this year better than the last, then you have to make a commitment to change by taking your first big action TODAY. That is your opportunity.

Do something different. Take that initiative, and let the rest of the year follow suit. Many of us spend our Holiday recapping the prior year, and thinking about all the wonderful things 2009 can possibly bring for us. Well, the only way any of those things will come true is if we start to make a change right now.

Not tomorrow.

Not next week.

Not on Monday.

Today!

If you plan to lose weight, then start that diet today. If you plan to get in shape, make today your 1st workout. If you drink coffee every morning, maybe for some motivation today, you should try tea. The point is you must make an effort to change.

If you just go about the same routine as last year, how can you expect anything to change? Think of the movie Groundhog Day. Until Bill Murray actually made a change, he kept waking up to the same pattern over and over again..

That is why it is imperative to start on your resolutions NOW. To help get you motivated to do so, Yin vs Yang has come up with some resolutions of our own.

A NEW Year at Yin Vs Yang

This being our 2nd year, we have decided to take a more routine approach with our writing. We are going follow our own advice on change and set a new weekly routine.

• Mondays - Personal Development through Jiu Jitsu
• Wednesdays – Personal Development through Business
• Fridays – Video post or Video review.

In between, we will have random topics, jokes, stories, and quotes. However, this routine will give everyone a chance to know what’s coming, and when. So if you are a fan of the Mixed Martial Arts world, then you know every Monday I will have a story for you. If you read Yin vs Yang to improve your networking, business approach, or financial situation, then Wednesdays will be for you.

If you are a fan of the increasing popularity of videos on the world wide web, then Fridays will be a fun day for you.

If you enjoy them all, then sign up for our RSS Feed or subscribe by email below.  This way you won’t ever miss an article.

Take some inspiration from Yin vs Yang and make a change today in your own life. Our goal this year is to help make 2009 the best year for all of us. However, it all starts with today. Are you up for it?  Inspire us all by leaving the change you are going to make in the comments section below.

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“I’m Starting With The Man In The Mirror. I’m Asking Him To Change His Ways.
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer. If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place, Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change.”
-Michael Jackson from the song ‘Man in the Mirror‘

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If you like what you see, get all the latest updates right to your email…

I look forward to the holidays. Maybe it’s the time well spent with my family, watching my crazy uncle’s antics, or maybe its the food and drink that’s so readily available. I couldn’t tell you which one trumps the other but I can definitely say I truly love them both.

I can tell you that it usually has a direct effect on my weight and can have an effect on my waistline. Over many years of being an athlete I have created a blue print for myself and I would like to share it with you….

10 easy things you can do that will get you on track and do a great deal of damage control during the holiday season.

Holiday eating…ohhh yes. It’s a wonder why gyms are packed come January 2nd. It is why many people put on close to 10 pounds of gluttonous weight. But fret not. I have a recipe that if you follow you are sure to stay lean through the holidays and throughout most of your life for that matter. So lets get right to it:

1. Eat to Lose Fat

The word “Diet” brings up images of no calorie sodas bland food and pea sized portions. The very word makes most people feel hungry. Worry no more. A diet is merely a eating regime. You can have a clean diet of whole grains, lean proteins, and mono unsaturated fats, or you can have a not so clean (pretty dirty actually) diet of McDonald’s super meals and soft drinks. Many people think dieting is about restricting or starving yourself. That is the worst thing possible. Our bodies are programmed from thousand of years to horde fat the moment the consistent eating stops. We were once gatherer hunters a few million years ago. Not much has changed from a physical stand point. The only difference is now we buy our meats at the meat market.

Ponder this- when we were hunters our meals would come scarcely. For survival, when we did eat, which was on rare occasions and short bursts, the body adapted to store body fat for later usage when food wasn’t abundant. We now live in civilized society, food is readily available. You have to trick your body into thinking it’s not starving by eating more often. 5-6 times a day spaced out every 2.5 to 3 hours. This will ramp up your metabolism. It sends a signal to your body that you aren’t going hungry anytime soon and it will start to shed body fat. The worst thing one can do is starve themselves. This slows down the metabolism and the moment you put food in your mouth there is a good chance that it will wind up becoming body fat. So rule of thumb, eat to loose weight, eat every 3 hours.

2. Work Out Rocky Style

One of the most fundamental things about body fat is that the more muscle you have on your body the less body fat you will have. Period. Muscles are ovens, just to sustain muscle mass on ones body you have to burn calories. Muscle burns calories all day long even at rest. They are your body fat incinerators. Working out with some form of weights be it barbells, dumbbells or kettle bells are great for you.

This type of exercise does a few things.

• Builds muscle
• Releases endorphins
• Keeps your hormones elevated
• Increases strength and stamina
  
• Enhances mood
• Strengthen bones (only load bearing workouts can strengthen bones)

Try doing some sort of workout at least 3 times a week with some form of weighted resistance training mixed in.

3. Protein. How sweet it is.

Protein is the key building block of muscle. The average diet doesn’t include enough of it. Elite athletes take in a 1.5 grams of protein per body weight a day for men and 1 gram per body pound for women. If you weigh 200 pounds you should take in 250 grams of protein a day for a man, and if your a 120 pound woman, you should take in 120 grams of protein a day for optimal results. Chicken, turkey, eggs, lean meats, fish, nuts, milk, and dairy are all good sources of quality protein and should be your first choice. But we all know how it is to be on the run. So how do you get this protein without eating all day long? Whey protein supplementation. Whey is low in calories and high in proteins that get into your system fast. They come in powder form and mix easily. Some taste really great as well. Here are some of my personal favorites:

http://www.cheapvitamins.com/Product/Complete-Whey-2-2-lb.aspx
http://www.cheapvitamins.com/Product/Natures-Best-Perfect-Whey-Protein.aspx

The times to take Whey protein:

• first thing in the AM
• after a workout (within 20 minutes of that workout)
• right before bed

Keeping your body filled with high quality protein will put it into a positive nitrogen balance. This keeps your body from looking for protein in itself. The downside to having muscles is that to sustain muscle you need to feed it protein constantly, if you don’t it will find protein in your body and the first source it goes for is your own muscles. Your body will begin to eat itself if you starve it of protein.

4. Breakfast Is THE Most Important Meal of the Day

Breakfast is literally the break in your overnight fast while you slept. For this reason it is so crucial. It’s also why its called Breakfast. Remember how in the first tip I said eating constantly will ramp up your metabolism?

Well missing breakfast is sure to plummet it by 10% for the entire day. As I pointed out, when you go long periods of time without food, your body thinks it starving and hordes fat. There’s nothing you can really do about sleeping. If you don’t sleep won’t live too long. During sleep you have a long period of no food. It’s the first time in the whole day you go (if you eat 5-6 times a day) without food for over 3 hours. For that reason its crucial to eat the moment you awake. No later than an hour after wards. Breakfast also ramps up your metabolism for the entire day, especially when you give it good proteins some fats, and low glycemic carbs (sweet potatoes, oatmeal, Whole Wheat toast etc).

Rule of thumb: eat breakfast it as soon as you wake up. Don’t wait, and definitely don’t skip it as its detrimental in trying to keep body fat off if you do.

5. All Carbohydrates are not created equal

If protein is the building block of muscle, carbohydrates are fuel that runs the engines. You need carbohydrates as a part of your diet they give your body calories to burn while it does whatever activity you have chosen. However you should not be over eating on carbohydrates. When you do eat carbohydrates you want to stay away from simple refined ones, and pick complex carbohydrates. Just to keep things moving we will abbreviate carbohydrates for carbs going forward.

Simple sugars (soda, candy, processed foods, white rice, white bread) burn fast spiking your insulin. Complex carbs like sweet potatoes, oats, whole grains , fruits and vegetables are the way you should get your carbs. Please don’t drink soft drinks. Soft drinks are the worst thing on this planet for you, completely ridding them of your diet can easily make you drop up to pounds in a few weeks. Complex carbs are crucial when you are working out or active, they take a long time for your body to burn them up, so they produce a slow and steady stream of energy as opposed to eating something sugary which gives you a short burst of energy but then crashes your blood levels after wards. Fruits although they are a high glycemic index they are a low glycemic load, Which means they take longer to burn off, but they don’t spike your insulin like pure sugar does.

6. Sleep zzzzzzzzz

Sleep is a necessity in staying lean and staying alive. You need all the muscle you can get to keep fat from piling up. Getting ample sleep not only boosts your hormone levels, it raises growth hormone in deep R.E.M. sleep. (Dreamy sleep). Growth hormone is what keeps you feeling and looking young. As you age your body secretes less and less. Fighting back with ample sleep can work wonders. You do a serious injustice to your body and mind when you do not get the proper amount of sleep. Everyone differs, some days you may need 8 hours, some days 6. For an average adult a good rule of thumb is 6-8 hours. Studies have shown you can not make up sleep. So sleeping 15 hours after being up for 2 days doesn’t do any better than 8 hours of sleep. You lost it, it’s gone. Keep it moving.

7. Water and Vitamins

You should keep yourself hydrated. If your mouth at any point in the day is dry you are already close to 10% dehydration. I bought a stainless steel water bottle. (good for the environment, stays cold, and no nasty after taste if you leave it in the car by accident. No plastiques going down my throat…) Invest in a good multi-vitamin. Some people don’t realize how much vitamins help your bodies natural functions. Vitamins are crucial to optimal digestion and body maintenance. One a day, Solgar, and many others are a good start.

8. Sports or Activities

I love MMA, and Crossfit workouts. (http://www.crossfit.com) Doing any sort of sport, or activity is good for you. Running, biking, rollerblading, ping pong, baseball, basket ball, foot ball, hiking, swimming or any sport that will get you up get you out in the real world. You get to interact with others, with nature or your own zone, its important to break the monotony of regimen workouts in a gym per say.

9. Portion Control

This one is a big one, America is sadly uneducated when it comes to portion control. Sorry people, a plate of food should not be 2 times the size of your skull as they would have you think when you eat out at some restaurants. Correct portions should be a lot smaller than you may think. The reason we have such a weight problem in this country is directly related the the size of portions we eat. Super size is super death in a bucket. lets be honest no one has the time to measure portions, and you’d be kinda weird to walk around with measuring cups at work. A good rule of thumb is using your clenched fist as a guide. A meal of 3 major groups is important. Proteins, fats, carbs, vegetables and fruits. A rule of thumb is you should have a clenched fist full of protein, of carbs, and a fist and a half of Vegetables. Add in a few servings of fruit a day and some good fats and your doing great. Using the fist method works because on average a persons hand is proportion to the size of their body (for the most part).

10. Getting Back on the Wagon After a Hard Fall.

We are all human, to say we are going to go through the holidays without indulging would probably not be realistic. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Staying fit and lean, actually includes a day of cheating. If you stick to a strict regimen all week, and take 1 day to to eat everything in your kitchen, from pizza to Baskin & Robbins, it’s OK. Blasphemy you say? Not even a bit. Eating whatever you want for a day will actually tell your body it’s not starving and help the following weeks fat burning session. If you do slip up don’t get crazy over it. Most people use this slip up to rationalize why they should quit the rest of the day and just pig out. “Oh well I messed up already may as well go for the whole day…” Wrong. Don’t go there. Just jump right back where you fell off and grab the next proper meal. That’s it. Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor was it toppled in one either. Just don’t beat yourself up over it. See it for what it is: mistake in judgment, and put yourself right back on schedule.

Holiday season is a lovely time. use these tips now and all year long and your sure to stay the same waist size. I don’t like to gloat but I have been doing this now for a decade and being 33, I am the same waist size as 23.

Wishing you and yours happy holidays from yinvsyang.com

This is a guest post written by Nathalie Lussier from Billionaire Woman.

I am currently traveling throughout China, and I decided that I would take a closer look at Chinese medicine. While in Beijing, I had my pulse checked by a traditional Chinese doctor.

What the doctor told me after 30 seconds of feeling my pulse was a revelation!

She could tell from the beating of my heart, whether I was healthy or not. However, she never told me that I needed to undergo more tests, because all she needed to know was whether my body was in balance or out of balance.

Balance

In traditional Chinese medicine, balance is the key to perfect health. Rather than a cold being caused by a virus, as in western thinking, a cold is caused by an imbalance in your body. For instance, you may have slept too little, or eaten too much unhealthy food. All of these things can be solved through the application of different herbs, and every plant has either a yin quality or a yang quality.

Hot and Cold

In traditional Chinese medicine, every food has a temperature: hot or cold. When I first went to visit a Chinese doctor, I was told that my body was too cold and that I should eat only hot things.

Food that is hot includes: meet, nuts, seeds, durian, bananas, garlic, ginger, onions, and other spices.

Cold foods include cucumbers, oranges, watermelon, lettuce, and other fruits and vegetables that are high in water content.

What you eat impacts your balance, such that medicine and food are one and the same. Different people need different amounts of each type of food group in order to keep their own balance in check.

Men and Women

Using the Yin and Yang concept, men are hot and women are cold. This may or may not stem from the fact that men tend to eat more hot things such as meat, and women historically eat more fruits and vegetables. Whatever the case may be, the way that women act and then act also reflects this hot and cold reality. Men tend to be fiery, aggressive, and on the ball. Whereas women tend to be like the waves of the ocean, cold, cyclic, and more emotional.

Neither of these is wrong, or better than the other, we just happen to need a bit of each to make the world work. It’s another piece of the balance puzzle.

Yin and Yang Working Together

Although we have yet to achieve balance on a world scale, I believe that true balance begins within. Once you start eating a more balanced diet in terms of hot and cold foods, your body will return to its optimum state. Once you are a healthy individual, you will begin to look towards the outside and try to balance this reality. Once we have more balanced individuals vying for global balance between men and women, humans and animals, nature and humanity, we will make great strides.

I challenge you to learn more about traditional Chinese medicine, or at least try to balance your intake of cold vegetables with hot foods.

This is a guest post written by Nathalie Lussier from Billionaire Woman.

We all like to eat healthy, but it can be expensive to do so. Below is an incredible list of 10 Tips that will not only keep you healthy, they will save you some money as well.

1. Buy Whole Foods. Unprocessed foods are cheaper and more nutritious than processed foods. They also give you total control over the ingredients. Avoid anything that comes from a box 90% of the time.

• Proteins. Ground beef, frozen chicken breast, tuna cans, calves’ liver, cottage cheese, plain yogurt, eggs, milk, whey, …
• Carbs. Pasta, rice, oats, potatoes, beans, apples, bananas, raisins, broccoli, spinach, cabbage, …
• Fats. Olive oil, fish oil, flax seeds, real butter, mixed nuts, …

2. Buy Cheap Proteins. You need 1g protein per pound of body-weight per day to build and maintain muscle. Eating whole protein with each meal also helps fat loss as protein has a higher thermic effect than other foods.

Keep the steaks & salmon for special occasions. Buy eggs, milk, whey, mackerel, tuna, calves liver, frozen chicken breast, cottage cheese, …

3. Buy Frozen Fruits & Veggies. Unfreeze berries in microwave and eat warm with cottage cheese. Put frozen spinach in a colander the night before and try one of these recipes the next day. Try also frozen beans & broccoli. Benefits:

• Save Money. Often half the price of fresh. Almost infinite shelf life when kept in freezer. And you can buy in bulk to get more discount.
• Save Time. Frozen fruits & veggies are pre-washed and pre-cut, which saves preparation time. Time is money.
• Nutrient Dense. If frozen right when picked, frozen fruits & veggies can contain more nutrients than fresh ones.

4. Buy Generic Food. And store brands. Raw foods like rice, pasta, eggs, milk, cottage cheese, frozen fruits/veggies, … taste like brand name foods once you get used to them. But they’ll save you money on packaging & advertising.

5. Buy Supplements. They’re cheap and make your life easier, however whole food is better. You can use supplements, but make sure the bulk of your diet consists of whole, unprocessed foods.

• Whey. Cheapest protein you’ll find. 1 scoop ON whey is 24g protein/30g serving. At 2 scoops/day, a 10lbs bag will last 10 weeks for $84.99.
• Fish Oil. Cheaper than fish. 1tsp Carlson Fish Oil is 1600mg omega-3. At 1tsp/day, 1 bottle will last 40 days for $23.04.
• Multi-vitamins. Vitamin deficiency is common. 1 bottle AST Multi Pro 32x contains 100 servings and will last 6 weeks for $17.03.

6. Buy in Bulk. Especially when you have promos running. Foods like pasta, rice and oats are easy to stockpile. If they’re on sale, buy as much as you can afford & store to last you until the next sale. More ideas.

• Side of Beef. Not necessarily cheaper, but you have better quality meat. Buying a side of beef gets you 100lbs meat at $3.60/lbs.
• Supplements. You often get free shipping and discounts when buying in bulk. Make a 4 month order for you, friends & family and split the costs.
• Frozen Fruits & Veggies. Check tip #1. Saves money, saves times and nutrient dense. Buy mixed berries, spinach, broccoli, beans, etc.

7. Buy In Season Fruits & Veggies. Food grown in season tastes better and is cheaper. Root vegetables in the Winter. Apples & squash in the Fall. Broccoli & berries in the Summer.

8. Buy Calorie Dense Foods. Whole milk, potatoes, rice, pasta & oats are filling, healthy and easy to stockpile. They’ll help you get your daily caloric needs fast & cheap.

9. Buy Discounted Meat. Grocery stores often discount meats by up to 70% as they approach expiration date. Buy several pounds and store in your freezer.

10. Buy From Local Farmers. Or farmer’s markets. They aren’t always cheaper, but you get tastier & better quality food and they often give you free stuff when you buy a lot.

In today’s rough economy, every expense can be a burden.  It can be tough choosing which expenses to cut.  One of the toughest expenses to decide on can be your gym membership.  Staying in shape is good for your health, and that can make your gym membership feel like a necessity.  However, in actuality, your membership is really a luxury because there are countless ways to work out without ever going to a gym.

When it comes to staying fit, money should never be an issue.

On that note, I’ve come up with 7 ways to stay in shape and save that monthly gym membership fee.  Not only that, but mixing all 7 ways into your workout routine will actually be 100x better for your body than a continued routine at the gym.  Now, some of my suggestions cost some minor money, but it is nothing compared with a monthly membership.  For example, you can’t do a kettle bell routine without kettle bells.  Therefore, I’ve also broken it down by cost.

Free

1. Run, Run, Run – Everyone knows this one, or at least thinks they do.  But you see, I am not talking about just running around the block.  I am talking about mixing it up with jogging, sprinting, high-knee runs, and walking, as well as mixing up distances and surfaces (street, sand, dirt, tracks).  Sprint a 40 yard dash one day, then sprint a block on another.  Jog a mile one day, then jog three miles another day.  You get the idea.  This will help lower the wear & tear on the body while keeping you in excellent shape.  I would say running 2-3 times per week is a nice start, and all you will ever really need to do.

2.  Go to a local park – Local parks can be the most fun to workout at.  I like to do crossfit training there.  This means you come up with a series of exercises you will do one after the other, than rest for 45 seconds, and do the entire set again.  An example would be doing 30 second intervals of pull-ups on the monkey bars, than push-ups in the sand, then box jumps on a bench, then sit-ups on a decline bench or slide, and finish with body squats.  Doing a mix like this builds up your stamina and wind.  It also helps the body get a complete workout.

3. Push-ups, Sit-ups, Dips – These three exercises are all you will need to stay in shape besides your cardio.  I remember when I was younger my Father had a Bike store in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.  It was a very Russian neighborhood at the time, and still is.  My Father hired a mammoth Russian man to help him clean the store.  This guy lifted three racks of Bikes with his legs and back, as well as bear-hugging a Soda Machine and moving it.  I have never seen such brute power before.  The guy told my Father all he did was 1,000 push-ups, sit-ups and dips every day.

A Little Pocket Change

4.  Exercise Videos – Some exercise videos are great to use, especially for women.  My wife loves Amy Dixon’s videos.  The benefit to these videos is they are cheap, fun, fast, and easy to use.  You can do them on your own time schedule, and they are filled with aerobic movements that really build up your core. Not all videos are good, so do your research, but they are definitely a great way to mix up your weekly workouts.  Cost: $10 – $15 each video.

5.  Exercise Ball – Have you ever seen the big rubber, air filled balls at the local gym?  These are exercise balls.  You can do all sorts of exercises with them.  They can completely replace a flat bench on most exercises.  Plus, they add all sorts of balancing to the exercise, making it more beneficial.  You can buy these balls online, or in a local store.  Some even come with a video of exercises you can do with just the ball!  Cost: $30

Small Investment

6. Kettle Bells – You may have heard of these as they are the new rage these days.  Kettle bells are weights shaped like a kettle bell (hence the name I believe).  I have a guy who comes by my Jiu Jitsu school every Wednesday night to give a seminar on them.  They are excellent for getting your entire body in shape.  They are used a little differently than normal dumbbells, as you utilize your entire body during the routines.  This is an excellent way to stay in tip top shape by just having two kettle bells in your house.  Cost: About $70 – $80 for two.

7. Play a sport – The cost on this can vary from nothing to however much equipment you need.  However, playing any sport that keeps your body active will have a wonderful effect on your condtioning.  The thing about Sports is they are fun.  So it is a great way to have a good time and still stay in shape.  The competition among your peers also pushes you to push yourself.  Playing any sport is good for the body.  Even Golf is, as long as you stay off the cart!  Cost:  Obviously, it depends on the sport.

These 7 ways are just the beginning.  To keep this list going though, I am going to need your help.  Please comment on any other ways that you stay in shape without going to a gym.  I’m sure we could all use some fresh ideas!

One of the hardest things to do in your daily life is maintain a healthy diet. We all try, but those feel good foods are sometimes too hard to resists. Everyone knows that candies and snacks are not the healthiest things to eat. Everyone also knows picking up fast food is not going to sit well with your doctor. However, most people don’t realize there are three major food items you should stay away from: Trans Fats, Refined Sugar, and White (or enriched) flour.

There is a very simple reason why you should avoid as much as possible these three foods. You see, your body is like a computer. When we ingest something from nature, like natural sugar, your body recognizes these foods and knows exactly how to move them through your body, whether bad or good.

However, when we process man-made foods (which these three items are), our body is confused. Picture inserting an Apple based program into your Windows operating system. The computer will spit out the disc because it does not recognize it. Your body does the same thing. Instead of spitting it out, your body throws it aside into your arteries where clogs can form after many years of abuse. This has been the main cause of many heart attacks in countless people. It’s why many of my Italian ancestors who ate nothing but pasta, white bread, and pasteries, all had either obesity or heart issues.Let’s explore a little more about these three food items.

TRANS FATS

Luckily, the government became aware of the trans fat issue a few years back. Since 2006 it is illegal to have over a certain amount of trans fat in any food.

Trans fats….”are industrially created by partially hydrogenating plant oils — a process developed in the early 1900s and first commercialized as Crisco in 1911. The goal of partial hydrogenation is to add hydrogen atoms to unsaturated fats, making them more saturated. These more saturated fats have a higher melting point, which makes them attractive for baking and extends their shelf-life. Another particular class of trans fats, vaccenic acid, occurs naturally in trace amounts in meat and dairy products from ruminants.”….from Wikipedia.

Since 2006, most companies have gone through the process of nearly eliminating trans fats in their foods due to the FDA. However, schools still buy items in bulk and it is impossible to figure out the amount of trans fats that way. The best thing to do is peak over the ingredient list. If you see anything that reads ‘partially hydrogenated’, maybe it’s best to pass that up.

REFINED SUGAR

Refined, or granulated sugar is the most common form of sugar in the US and Europe.

‘Refined sugar can be made by dissolving raw sugar and purifying it with a phosphoric acid method similar to that used for blanco directo, a carbonatation process involving calcium hydroxide and carbon dioxide, or by various filtration strategies. It is then further purified by filtration through a bed of activated carbon or bone char depending on where the processing takes place.’ …from Wikipedia

This process changes the fundamental structure of pure cane sugar. So, once again, your body does not recognize it when ingested. Refined sugar is found mostly in soda, cookies, deserts, and candy. However, fruit is also loaded with sugar you may say. This is a common misnomer. Fruit is loaded with natural sugar. Natural sugar is from nature, so your body knows exactly how to process it.

WHITE FLOUR

This is probably the worst of the three. Now that you know about trans fats, it is easy to see how that oil is bad for you. The same goes for refined sugar. You probably already knew to stay away from cookies and soda. But, did you know that white bread is just as bad?

White flour, or enriched flour, is a process that was developed in the middle ages. It is called enriched flour, because it replaces some of the ingredients lost during the white flour making process. Flour, without anything before it, refers to wheat flour. Wheat flour, along with any other natural grain flour (corn, rye, barley, rice, etc.) is completely natural. Once again, your body will recognize the nutrients and know how to disperse them.

When the flour is bleached to make it white and more suitable, then enriched to replace the nutrients lost in the first process, you wind up with something unnatural. Your body does not recognize those two pieces of white bread holding your sandwich together, nor that slice of sicilian pizza. Instead, these food items are pushed to the side as unknowns, potentially clogging up your arteries and your waist line.

OVERALL

The new challenge for you is not change your diet over night. It is to sit back an analyze what you eat. How much white flour, refined sugar, and trans fats do you eat? One way to track it is to make a list of everything you eat.

Another, much easier way, is to try and stick to natural items during your main meals. Everyone loves a dessert now and again which is usually loaded with white flour and refined sugar. I try to eat healthy in all my meals, avoiding the three unnatural food items, this way I don’t feel so upset when I consume a Napolean from the local bakery.

The real battle is understanding what you are consuming. You have already taken that step by reading this article. The next step is up to you. I have found through my personal experience that cutting out these foods leads to more energy, increased performance, and most of all, a fitter body. I lost about 10 pounds when I switched. Not immediately, but over the course of a few weeks. That weight has never come back either.

Whole wheat bread anyone?