How do you measure up?

I found this interesting graph on the New York Times website...You can click the image to make it bigger.


I really don't know how to explain this article except that you should definitely read it to find out whether or not Japan would consider you "Metabo"

You can read the article here ==> Japan Measures Millions

BP

You Don't Make Friends with Salad

Right about now my little brother is killing himself laughing.

As a Simpson's affectionado, I bet he immediately realized that I just quoted the Simpson's in the title for this post.

And while watching the Simpson's family form a Conga line and sing this song to mock Lisa for becoming a vegetarian was entertaining, salads are no laughing matter.

Most salads are wolves in sheep's clothing.

Let me explain..

Almost every big restaurant chain makes the nutritional profile of their meals available on the internet.

I highly recommend you do some surfing and check out the calorie content of some of the salads that are available at your favorite restaurants...of course, do it on your lunch break if you are at work...no slacking ;)

You will probably be surprised when you find that most salad entres have just as much IF NOT MORE calories than many of the traditional entres (the main meals salads, not the appetizers).

My favorite Salad at Boston Pizza has over 1,000 Calories! The salad I like at Kelsey's has over 800!

The bottom line is that a lot foods get a halo around them because they are 'healthy'. When you hear people complaining that they "eat like a bird" but still can't lose weight...typically this is because they are assuming some foods are healthy and low calorie, when in fact they are not.

Quick quiz, if you were to order a snack at Starbucks, which of these options has the least amount of calories

a) The blueberry Oat Bar
b) The Banana Loaf
c) The Espresso Brownie
d) The Multi-Grain Bagel

The answer is C) The Espresso Brownie.

Watch for wolves in sheep's clothing when you are eating at restaurants and fast food places. These days the 'healthy' option isn't always the best option.

BP

PS - Here is a great email that I received form Denise...

I just wanted to let you know that I've had real success with Eat Stop Eat in just a short time. I've lost 10 pounds since April by fasting 1-2 days a week. On top of that i've increased weights in my deadlifts and kettlebell training as well as increased in pullups. I plan on continuing the Eat Stop Eat program forever. -Denise

I love the fact that she is losing weight AND getting stronger! Keep up the great work Denise!

Why Traditional Diet and Exercise are Mediocre at Best

Traditional diets and exercise plans are mediocre at best when it comes to helping us lose weight. But don't blame the diets, and don't blame the exercise either.

After all, it's our extremely poor ability to estimate how many calories we burn and how many calories we eat that is their downfall.

Take this study as an example.

Women exercised on a treadmill until they burned a set number of calories (the researchers new what the number was, but the women did not). After they were done exercising the women were asked to guess how many calories they burned during the workout.

Shockingly, the researchers found that the women overestimated how many calories they burned by 300 to 400%!

If you find this surprising, it gets better.

After exercising the women were then instructed to go into another room where there was a buffet set up. The women were instructed to try to eat the same amount of calories that they had just burned during the workout.

The subjects ate double to triple the amount of calories that they had previously burned during exercise!

And this is just one study. Research consistently shows that we are very poor at estimating calories. We constantly overestimate how many we burn working out, and underestimate how many we eat.

When left to eat as we please, our mind and body will try and convince us to overcompensate and eat more than we need.

This is why diet and exercise often fail for so many people. If we overestimate how many calories we burn during exercise, and underestimate how many calories we eat AFTER exercise, we could very easily end up in a positive calorie balance after each and every workout if we are not careful.

This is why I like the Eat Stop Eat method of fasting for weight loss so much. Simply, you don't need to count ANYTHING. This means you have absolutely no chance of messing up your diet with faulty calorie counting.

BP

The Cause of Obesity in North America

I think it's time to let you in on a little secret.

I don't think fat causes obesity. I also don't think it sugar either. The same goes for high fructose corn syrup and soda pop.

In fact, when it comes to the being overweight I think all of these things are only the tools that make us heavy, they are not the cause.

In my opinion, the single leading cause of obesity is this - We have all been taught to not be discriminating when it comes to what we eat.

Think about it. If I offered you a watch for 2 bucks that was made by "Rolecks" would you buy it from me? Would you wear it and show it to all your friends? How about if I offered you a 10 dollar "Goochi" purse? You'd probably laugh at me and walk away, right?

We may turn our noses up at cheap imitation clothes and accessories, but we have no problems accepting cheap imitation food.

Seriously, a 99 cent burger? An 8.99 Lunch special steak that is tough and tasteless? Where did we learn this complete lack of eating class?

We have taste buds for a reason. Their purpose is to allow us to discriminate between good food and bad food. Fresh or Spoiled. Ripe or Rotten. Yet over the last 100 years, the food industry has figured out how to trick us into thinking bad things taste good.

The right pictures, the right colors, the right wrapper and the right massive levels of sweet and salt. That's all it takes to completely blind our taste buds.

If you have ever had a chocolate flavored protein shake ask yourself 'did it actually taste like a "rich and creamy" chocolate shake?'

I sampled a protein shake last night.

I went to the store and picked out the one brand that said it was the 5 time award winner for best tasting product.

I took it home, mixed it exactly as instructed. At first taste, it was fine. But when I really truly tasted it do you know what I tasted?

I tasted sweet. Sweet combined with aluminum, tin, and the unmistakable zing of artificial sweeteners.

It did not taste good at all.

My coffee this morning tasted exactly like it always does. When I stopped and actually TASTED my coffee I realized it was horrible. I can't even describe what it tasted like, but it wasn't coffee and it wasn't good. I drank it anyways. Why?

As I am writing this I am eating a "Caramelt" chocolate bar (In the name of research of course!). It doesn't taste like caramel, chocolate, or for that matter fresh.

It tastes sweet, waxy and preserved.

I have eaten good chocolate before, the kind that is rich and melts in your mouth. This was NOT good chocolate. It was artificial. It was imitation chocolate.

We eat this horrible imitation food on a daily basis. Worse, we eat way more of it than we want to.

This is why I beleive that our loss of ability to discriminate between good foods and bad foods is the root cause of obesity.

Forget inactivity, sugar or saturated fat. It is the simple fact that the food industry has figured out how to fool our taste buds into thinking that every piece of food that is made available to us
tastes good and is desirable - THIS is what is causing all of us to become heavier than we want to be.

But it's not just our taste buds that have been fooled.

Our brains have been tricked too. We now eat for 'nutrition'. We eat because we just finished our workout. We eat to get some protein, or vitamin C, or any other new and popular nutrient that just might save our life. And worse of all, we eat because some health expert told us if we don't eat, we'll get fat.

So we are actually guilt-tripped into eating bad tasting food. So we accept imitation food, because we are led to beleive that eating something is better than eating nothing.

The alternative, is to be a discriminating eater. Be a connoisseur of food. Be picky and only eat good tasting food. If good food isn't available, you don't have to eat (if you've read Eat Stop Eat, you know that we can easily go 24 hours without eating, with nothing but good consequences).

Pay good money for good food, but eat less often. Stop and think about just how fun that could be. By eating less, and eating less often, you can allow yourself to eat good foods. And not just dessert, but everything. Every single piece of food you put in your mouth could actually be full of rich flavor.

A well made creme brule will always, always taste better than any fast food treat. Real ice cream will always taste better than imitation frozen milk ingredients. A good steak is better than a cheap one. Fresh strawberries are better than frozen.

Sure it is more expensive, but you pay for quality. And, if you are eating less, you really won't be paying more for food in the long run.

Don't worry about the fat content or sugar content or how much phytochemicals are in the foods you eat. By being picky you will eat less, and eating less is far more important to your health then the percentage of a nutrient in your foods.

Plus, by eating better tasting foods, you will almost always be eating healthier foods.

By increasing your expectations of your food, and aiming for quality and flavor, overeating will never be an issue.

Most importantly, don't be afraid to eat less and eat less often, especially if the trade off is truly enjoying the foods you eat.

BP

The Set Point Theory and your Weight

In the last couple days I have read a number of articles from the Health section of the New York Times that were written by author Gina Kolata of "Rethinking Thin" fame.

The first article dealt with the possibility of the human body having a weight set-point that is tightly regulated.

According to the article 'For the Overweight, Bad Advice by the Spoonful',

"Scientists now believe that each individual has a genetically determined weight range spanning perhaps 30 pounds".

Immediately after I read this I thought of all the examples of people who have gained (or lost) more than 30 pounds.

At the age of 24 I weighted 216 pounds. At the bodybuilding contest I did when I was 28 I weighed 168 pounds, and I currently weigh between 175-180 pounds. That is a range of 48 pounds.

And while it took an extreme amount of eating to get to 216 (I did this on purpose), I also spent most of my late twenties between the weight of 185 and 195 pounds. For the last two years I have weighed between 175-180 pounds, but use fasting to maintain this weight.

So what is my set point?

John Barban, the editor of Eat Stop Eat has another similar story. When I first met John he weighed over 240 pounds. This was the weight he was at for duration of his graduate work.

When he returned from the first year of his PhD, he weighed 187 pounds.

For the three to four years after that he weighed between 220 and 230 pounds. Since he started following Eat Stop Eat almost two years he has weighed around 205 pounds. So this is a range of over 50 pounds.

What is his set point?

The truth is, I beleive there is some validity to the set point theory, but I think it is very ignorant to suggest that this is purely biological (NOTE: this was not Gina Kolata's suggestion, but one that is prevalent).

Biologically, I can see how your lean mass could be relatively fixed. Your height is the best determinant of your lean mass. A 6 foot 8 human being is almost always going to have more lean mass that a person who is 5 foot 3, regardless of any weight training or even drug use.

As another example, an adult man who is 175 pounds at 10% body fat would be very unlikely to ever reach 215 pounds at 10% body fat. However, if that same adult man is who is 175 pounds at 10% could change his lifestyle dramatically enough he could become 215 pounds at 27% body fat.

So just by increasing fat mass, you could easily move outside of a 30 pounds set point.

Now here is where it gets interesting. In another article by Gina, she reported that scientists have shown that:

Every year, whether you are fat or thin, whether you lose weight or gain, 10 percent of your fat cells die. And every year, those cells that die are replaced with new fat cells. The result is that the total number of fat cells in the body remains the same, year after year throughout adulthood. Losing or gaining weight affects only the amount of fat stored in the cells, not the number of cells.

So based on this information I believe that drastic changes in lifestyle can cause drastic changes in weight and body composition. I can see how a set point of 30 pounds would and could apply to lean body mass, and I can also see how changing fat mass can completely blow this 30 pound limit out of the water!

The problem is that for most people, drastic changes in lifestyle are not possible and/or desired.

Your family, where you work, the foods you like, the friends you have, the activities you do, even the shows you watch on TV, all can effect how you eat, what you eat, when you eat and how active you are.

The bottom line is that even though at some point in our lives the amount of fat cells we have may become fixed, and our ability to drastically alter the way our body looks is limited by factors including genetics, height and lifestyle, we can all still get leaner and we can all still add muscle.

BP

How to Eat and Why Eat

After finally finishing Michale Pollen's latest book "In defense of food" and reading a fantastic article by Trisha Gura in this months Scientific American Mind, I think it is time to revisit my one golden rule of eating.

"Eat less but enjoy the foods you eat. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and lots of herbs and spices. And maybe most importantly, spend less time stressing over the types of food you are eating."

I know my grammar could use some work, but this credo still remains as true to me today as it did when I first wrote it over three years ago. In fact, looking at it now, I think the first part is even more important than I ever realized...

"Eat less but enjoy the foods you eat"

Here is my simple suggestion for today. If you ever plan to go on a diet, or change the way you eat, get a pen and paper and simply write the following statement.

"I will eat less, and I will enjoy the foods I eat"

Trying to do the first (Eat less) without the later (enjoying the foods you eat) is what many of us are still doing wrong with our eating habits. Food should be about enjoyment not deprivation.

BP

How to Workout On Eat Stop Eat

There are many personalities in the fitness industry who are promoting the combination of 'fat burning workouts' with 'muscle building' nutrition.

When it comes to improving the way your body looks, I think this a completely backwards approach. Not only do I think it is backwards, but I believe it is highly ineffective.

Here's why:

It is very difficult to lose weight with exercise alone. It doesn't seem to matter if you using long distance running, interval training, high-intensity weight training or any combination of the three.

Despite what people tell you when they are pushing their "ultra fat burning workouts", the simple fact is exercise alone is a very poor stimulus for weight loss. Even if the workouts are metabolically demanding, the effect they have on calorie burning is actually pretty small.

Even the calorie burning that happens after hard workouts is only an extra 8-10 extra Calories per hour, and typically does not last the 24-36 hours that some authors say it does. The research on the benefit of this type of after-exercise metabolism boost is inconclusive at best.

There is also very little proof that any sort of eating style can actually build muscle. Again, I know lots of companies and people who promote certain methods of eating to gain massive amounts of muscle mass, but this just isn't backed by science.

I've been in full research mode now for the last 6 months working on my new book "How much protein?" and let me tell you, I am very disappointed with the lack of evidence that is available for any muscle building diet advice - This even includes ideas as simple as "eat an extra 500 Calories a day to gain muscle". Diet seems to have very little to do with muscle building.

Now, when you put these two concepts together you are in a real messy situation.

You are eating to gain muscle...eating multiple times a day, high protein, a little more calories than 'maintenance' and you are working out to burn fat, doing fancy weight training circuits, combined with cardio intervals, and lots and lots of ab exercises.

Since neither approach is effective, you end up spending a lot of time in the gym, and even more time planning your nutrition and worrying about macro-nutrient ratios and when to take your supplements. despite all of this hard work you still end up seeing very little results.

A much better approach would be to eat for weight loss, and workout to build or maintain muscle.

Research does support the rather simple concept that eating less will cause you lose weight. And that muscle building workouts will preserve muscle mass, even when on very extreme diets, thus ensuring that the weight you lose is from body fat.

This is why Eat Stop Eat involves a combination of fasting and resistance training. It is the combination of the two that leads to optimal fat loss with the least amount of physical or mental work.

So simply, the most ideal way to improve the way your body looks is to-

Eat for weight loss and exercise to build muscle.

It sounds ridiculously simple, but in reality it is very difficult to do. We are constantly bombarded with the latest and greatest new way to burn fat in the gym and it is very easy to get roped into this way of thinking.

The best advice I can give you if you are looking to change the way your body looks is: Keep your workouts simple and geared towards building muscle. Let your diet take care of your fat loss.

To accomplish this you have to follow a couple simple rules:

• Switch from high reps to lower reps (if you have been doing 15-20 rep exercises try increasing the weight and moving to sets of 5-8 reps)
• Remove most isolation exercises from your workout and use total-body multi-muscle movements.
• Get rid of crunches and sit-ups from your workout and spend that time on larger multi-muscle movements.
• Change your workouts frequently
  

And for your diet:

• Find the easiest possible method that allows you to eat less than it takes to maintain your current body weight, and use that method. (I know there are many other diet tips for improving your health, but for weight loss, I feel this is the only one that is truly important)
  

If you are someone who is stuck in the rut of spending hours in the gym every day and trying to eat in a way that supposedly maintains or builds muscle, try switching your approach and see what kind of an amazing difference it can make.

BP

PS- Once you have conquered the mindset of eating for weight loss and exercising for muscle building then adding in additional exercise like intervals or metabolically demanding body weight exercises may speed up the fat burning process, but only if you have the first two steps set into motion.

Summer Time Coffee

It's funny how during the summer, coffee becomes dessert.

The minute the hot weather hits, coffee gets iced, blended, mixed, topped and garnished. It ends up being a Frankenstein liquefied version of a coffee cake.



Now, here is how I differ from most nutrition critics - I don't think there is anything wrong with this.

It is OK to drink a sugar, fat and coffee concoction as long as you realize that this is no longer your 100 Calorie morning cup of Java. It is now dessert. And it must be treated like dessert.

If you consume 300 Kcals and 50 grams of sugar from your coffee drink (which by the way isn't much worse than drinking 500 ml of chocolate milk) then you simply need to cut back on your calorie and sugar intake at some other point during the day.

A wide variety of foods can all be fit into a healthy diet, as long as by the end of the day, everything has balanced out to include a wide variety of foods and a reasonable total calorie intake.

BP

Why We Eat

Here is a great post from the TTmembers.com forums about the benefits of fasting at how it teaches you to recognize when you are truly hungry...

"But, to throw another curve at my doubts, yesterday during my fast, when I really wanted to say to hell with it and make myself a gorgeous pizza with olive oil and fresh basil (conveniently ignoring that I would have to let the dough rest for twelve hours), I opened my pdf of Eat Stop Eat, looking for some sort of loophole. What I found instead was John Barban on page 62 saying, "I think if people’s lives were a little more exciting they wouldn’t need to eat so much to get some joy out of their day.” Ouch. That one hurt. It also kept me from breaking my fast."

The truth is, for all the reasons we eat, hunger is very, very far down the list.

we eat because we are bored, or out of habit, or because we are with friends, or because we were invited out for dinner, or because it's 'time' to eat, and then occasionally we eat because we are really, truly hungry.

Something to consider the next you hear someone say "I'm starving, let's go get something to eat".


BP

Your Teeth and Your Diet

I know this is an odd topic for a Nutrition Blog, but I have always wondered if there is a connection between the health of your mouth and the health of your body.

Like most people, I try to take good care of my teeth. I brush regularly, and I floss at least daily. I try to rinse after drinking coffee or tea and I don't chew sugar-laden gum.

Despite all this, visits to the dentist are rarely fun for me. In the past it was never a question of IF I needed a filling, but rather HOW MANY fillings I would need.

I say 'in the past' because for the last four visits to the dentist things have definitely changed for me. Starting about two years ago, I had my first "cavity free" visit to the dentist.

The hygienist took a look at my teeth, then my files, and said "What are you doing differently?" I answered "Nothing" because honestly, I couldn't think of anything I have been doing that was any different. I brushed my teeth the same amount, and I flossed the same amount too.

My next visit was the same, followed by the next. Then just the other day I was at the dentist and my hygienist said "Hey, I saw your book on the 'net". After a little bit of conversation she offered up the idea that "Maybe it's that fact that you give your mouth a break every once and while that has made your teeth so much better"

Not a bad theory. Now, this is a N=1 case report, completely uncontrolled and full of bias, but I think it is still worth some consideration.

I don't profess to know much about density, but I could see how if you are constantly eating, then your mouth would constantly requires the enzymes responsible for breaking down food, perhaps this creates an environment that is capable of degrading the enamel of your teeth.

Something to consider for those following Eat Stop Eat.

BP

More on Obsessive Compulsive Eating

I was sent a link to a blog this morning that is written by a woman who, for lack of better terms, has self-diagnosed herself as an Obsessive Compulsive Eater.

I clicked the link to find a very well written, very captivating account of a person realizing that all the typical dieting nonsense was actually psychologically damaging her relationship with food.

A very informative and interesting read:

http://layla-gets-lean.blogspot.com/

BP

Work Out Update

I don't think I can properly express how refreshing the experience of moving my workouts outside has been.

Without meaning to use a horrible pun - it's been a breath of fresh air.

I've increased the weight for my weighted blast strap dips and rows by 2.5 pounds per workout. I'm up to 35 pounds now, and someone will need to explain to me why 35 pounds in a weighted vest feels much heavier than using 2 45 pounds plates attached to a dipping belt.

My plan is to continue to workout outside at least twice per week, adding 2.5 pounds at each workout, until I hit 5o pounds in the vest (while keeping all sets in the 8-10 rep range).

I will still keep one, possibly two (if it rains) gym workouts during the summer. But this will only to serve the purpose improving my Adonis Index Score. I am committing to not doing anything indoors that I could do outdoors.

My next step is to try keeping the weighted vest ON while doing the 400 meter baby jogs.

To see the original workout, check out Brad's Outdoor Workouts

The Fourth Macronutrient

It's Wednesday and I'm already looking forward to the weekend.

I have spent almost all of my morning answering e-mail questions that did nothing but reaffirm my belief that obsessive compulsive eating is continuing to dig its claws into the North American "healthy lifestyle".

I received two different emails about two very famous fitness personalities. One was promoting drinking ice-water to lose weight, and the other was spreading the "if you don't eat every couple hours you will cause your body to burn lean muscle" misinformation.

Ugh.

As if these emails weren't depressing enough, I then swtiched to answering questions like "Will switching from normal tea to green tea help me lose weight for the summer?" [no] and "Can I drink Fruit Smoothies while I am fasting if they are made from organic fruit?" [no again].

Honestly, it's 9 AM and I feel like I need a drink.

So, it's time to talk booze.

I like alcohol. I like it because very few people choose their drink based on it's perceived health value. For the most part, alcohol has not been influenced by obsessive compulsive eating.

People like what they like because of taste, branding, the 'image' it portrays, or some combination of the three (except for those people who drink red wine for the antioxidants).

I drink scotch for the taste. It has nothing to do with a media push about how scotch can cure diabetes, or improve my anti-oxidant status. Just pure, simple taste.

Sometimes I feel like drinking a smoky glass of Laphroig, other days it is the Balvenie that catches me. I can assure you, I have never once thought "I should have a glass of scotch today to improve my health".

It is an occasional treat, and like all treats, I do it for the taste.


When it comes to beer I'm very picky. I like Guinness and Innis and Gunn (I highly recommend you try Innis and Gunn, especially if you like scotch). Again, this has nothing to do with anything other than taste preferences.



As odd as it may be, alcohol and to a lesser extent chocolate and coffee are some of the few remaining "foods" that haven't slowly been turned into "nutrition". (although, I fear coffee and chocolate are quickly falling to the dark side).

More of a rant than anything else, but I can assure you of one thing - It will be a cold day in hell before any Scotch Distiller starts putting green tea extract or caffeine into their product!!

BP

PS- In case you were wondering, drinking ice-water will not make you lose weight, and eating every three hours has nothing to do with preserving your muscle mass. If you want to learn why, then you should read about the benefits of flexible intermittent fasting.

Brad's Predictions - An Update

It was back in January when I made my predictions for 2008. It's been five months now, so I think it's time we took a look and evaluate my Nostradamus-like abilities.


1. Eat Stop Eat will become very popular - Well, we're not there yet, but it does seem like every day more and more people are talking about the benefits of flexible intermittent fasting. Just yesterday I read a multi-page article in Men's Health on the health benefits of fasting, so it looks like people are starting to take notice of how short periods of fasting can help you lose weight and improve your health. Good news for all of us.


2. More people become pro-supplement. I don't have any direct proof, but I think I may have missed the boat with this prediction. It may just be me, but I get the impression that many of us are now completely immune to supplement advertising, and have become tired of the "Rage against the supplement industry" stance taken by many on-line health and fitness personalities. To be perfectly honest, I find the whole topic of supplements boring these days.

3. More and more people will become aware of Obsessive Compulsive Eating. I think this one is definitely happening. I have noticed many similarities between my own personal beliefs about the way we eat, and the beliefs put forth in Michael Pollen's book "In defense of food" so the message is hitting the mainstream, albeit slowly. Hopefully this means more and more people are eating food because of the love of food, and not for fear of eating 'wrong'.

4. More people will photo-blog their food. Definitely happening. And, does nothing for me except point out that I need to improve my culinary skills.

I'm 2.5 out of 4 so far ;)

BP

PS- You can see my original predictions here ==> Brad's predictions for 2008

Fasting AND Memory

I just read an interesting article on Scientific American about the possibility that HGH might be able to reduce the brain damage caused by the abuse of opiate drugs.

In case it wasn't obvious, abusing drugs can damage cells in the brain. The cool thing is that Growth Hormone has the ability to help new cells grow in that area (neurogenesis).

Now here is the interesting part, the area in the brain that opiates disrupt is in the hippocampus, which is tied to memory.

So an interesting hypothesis that doesn't involve drug use would be that while you are young growth hormone keeps neurogenesis moving smoothly and thus your memory working smoothly. Once old age hits and GH levels drop, this leads to less neurogenesis and memory starts to decline.

So based on this hypothesis, GH could be related to age associated memory loss.

This theory seems to hold some weight too. Elderly patients treated with synthetic growth hormones have experienced improved memory.

My thought is this: Rather than immediately turning to injecting synthetic drugs, we could look to more natural ways of increasing Growth Hormone and thus preventing age associated memory loss.

Fasting for instance.

If you've read Eat Stop Eat then you know that even short periods of fasting can increase GH levels.

So yet another possible benefit of incorporating flexible intermittent fasting into your life may be improved memory.

Fasting - It's not just for weight loss.

BP

Obesity and Corporate Identity

Obese people make Corporations happy. If you are overweight you are part of a select consumer group. And, you are a target of new found "corporate identities".

Take this article I found in this morning's nutraingredients.com newsletter.

Making a head start in this area, Nestlé Research Center (NRC) has announced a new collaboration with General Electric (GE) Global Research to gain access to GE's cutting edge technology.

"Through this collaboration with GE we have the opportunity to use cutting-edge diagnostic tools to increase our understanding of how nutrition and lifestyle choices impact body composition and metabolic health," said Prof. Peter van Bladeren, Head of Nestlé Science and Research.

"With this knowledge, Nestlé can continue to deliver science-based nutritional products to improve and enhance the quality of peoples' lives."

Nestlé is in the midst of transforming from a general food company into a health, nutrition and wellness company. Such a transformation is heavily reliant on R&D and the current annual spend of the company is reportedly almost €1bn.

What interests me is the second last sentence.

Nestlé is in the midst of transforming from a general food company into a health, nutrition and wellness company.

This is a very big, very successful food company that is now officially making the transition into health, nutrition and wellness.

It looks like (in the eyes of the corporate world), the days of "food" are over. We are now entering the era of "nutrition".

"Food" was ice cream being bought because of the flavor. "Nutrition" is ice cream being bought because of the added protein, polyphenols and green-tea extract.

This is a prime example of why the simplicity of 'eating less' to lose weight and improve health will probably never catch on. The complexity of 'eat differently' has far better economic ramifications for big business.

In the battle of simple (like the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle) versus complex (Obsessive Compulsive Eating), only one of these styles creates a need for new product development, innovation in food processing, increased need for marketing and PR and a label claims with a 'good for you' message. Which is precisely why complex is so appealing to big business.

Unfortunately for big business, it is Simple that works best when it comes to food, health and weight loss.

Find the easiest, simplest way to eat less and enjoy the foods you eat. This is the key to weight loss and health.

BP

Childhood Obesity

Here is an absolutely astonishing fact from research conducted at the University of Guelph:

"In a typical high school with more than 1,000 students, the cafeteria would sell only three to five pieces of fruit in total per day, which is extraordinarily low, and virtually no one is buying plain milk.”

If Dr. Wilson's research is correct, than the obesity epidemic is only going to get worse in the next couple years.

Combine these stats with the lack of physical activity in children and we are in a whole lot of trouble.

And, don't think an hour in the gym is going to fix this problem. While exercise is highly effective, its calorie burning ability is greatly exaggerated.

In a recent research study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, men who were asked to walk briskly for 15 minutes 14 times in a one day period (that's 3.5 hours of walking) only increased the calorie burning by 500 Calories. This is roughly the same amount of calories in one slice of Starbucks Banana loaf.

Exercise helps. Eating less works. Eating less and exercising is the magic combination to promote and maintain weight loss.

BP

PS- In another research study published this month it was suggested that lifestyle modification works better than traditional dieting. I couldn't agree more. I beleive on of the main reasons so many people are having long-term success with Eat Stop Eat is that it teaches you to change the way you think about eating. Learn more about Eat Stop Eat by visiting HERE.

Coffee for weight loss?

I've been following my friend Adam Steer's battle with coffee for a couple weeks now.

Adam is trying to "give up the juice" for two weeks, before starting back up with a respectable 1-2 cups per day (a far more reasonable number than his previous average of 4-5 cups per day).

You can read about Adam's experiences by visiting his blog here ==> ADAM STEER

I've also been trying to alter my coffee habits . I'm a big believer in the idea that when you are following Eat Stop Eat, little changes in the way you eat on your eating days can have dramatic results in the long run.

So, I've cut the sugar out of my coffee.

Since I have 2 (sometimes 3) coffees over the course of the day, this small change should result in about a 50-100 calorie decrease in my daily intake.

Like I said, small changes can create big results with Eat Stop Eat.

If you are looking to make a change in the way you eat, start small and conservative. The easier the change, the more likely you are to stick with it, the more likely you are to see results.

BP

PS- Here's something odd, I still find my coffee to be noticeably sweet, even without the added sugar, perhaps its from the cream?

How much water do I need to drink per day?

Every one knows you need to drink 8 glasses of water every day for optimal health.

Unfortunately, according to Scientific American, this may be another nutrition factoid that we have been misled to beleive as fact.

To listen to the 60 second podcast, or to read the transcript, visit:

The Mythical Daily Water Requirement

Creating my own Mobile Gym

It is finally summer in Canada.

This means it is time for me to move my workouts outside. Starting this week, the majority of my workouts will be done outdoors, with wife and baby. This way I get a little more family time, and a big long break from the crowded gym.

I'm still going to hit the gym once, maybe twice a week to do some shoulders training, (I'm trying to get my Adonis Index Score up to 1.5), but other than that, it is outdoor training only.

The accomplish this, I have three pieces of equipment that I know keep in the back of the car at all times.

1. My Blast Straps - I use these to do all kinds of Dips, Push-ups and Rows.

2. My weighted Vest - I have 25 pounds loaded into it right now, I'm hoping to get it up to 50 in the next month.

3. The Instep Jogger. The front wheel wobbles a bit, but other than that, we can get up to some good speeds no problem.

With these three pieces of equipment we can get in a great workout pretty much anywhere.

Yesterday we did:

2 set weighted blast strap dips
Super-setted with
2 set Weighted blast strap rows
followed immediately by 400 meter baby jogger run around the track.

We did this circuit 4 times, followed by one walking lap around the track. The whole workout took about 30 minutes.

Perfect.

BP

Sticking to my diet while travelling

Looking back at last week I can definetley tell you that I got what I deserved.

Instead of taking my own advice, I rationalized my way into doing something very, very foolish.

I spent this week traveling. Not normal 'business-style' travel, but a very rare family trip to visit my little brother (he's two inches taller then me, but I'm older so he's still 'little brother').

This trip included my parents, my wife and my little girl. Since I was traveling with a larger group than I am used to, I somehow concluded that it would be easier for me NOT to fast during my trip.

I can't exactly recall my reasoning, but it was good enough to somehow self-talk myself into dong something I knew I would regret.

I have always been an advocate of planning my fasts around my flight times. By doing this I avoid paying for overpriced junk food while waiting for my flight, then paying for overpriced processed food on the plane.

But for some reason, for this trip I decided to ignore my own advice.

Bad idea.

My 5:30 PM flight was delayed until 7:30 PM. To make matters worse, we arrived at the airport way ahead of schedule, figuring we would need some extra time since we were traveling with an 11 month old baby.

After an hour of sitting around my gate, it began.

I walked down to Starbucks and ordered a tall Americano and a slice of Banana Loaf.

(MISTAKE NUMBER ONE- One slice of banana loaf from Starbucks contains over 420 Calories. Add in the Americano with a little bit of cream and that was a 500 Calories "snack").

After my coffee break I strolled my daughter around the terminal, doing several laps as she pointed with delight at every other baby in the airport.

When I returned to my gate I found that my father and my wife had bought some Twizzlers Licorice.

This really bothered me.

I have had tremendous success maintaining a fairly lean body by using a simple combination of eating sensibly and fasting once or twice a week.

My wife on the other hand, has lost all her baby weight and is now ten pounds lighter then she was before she became pregnant. She accomplished this through a combination of fasting once or twice a week and sensible eating. Only for her sensible eating includes twizzlers, dairy queen Blizzards and chocolate.

To say I am a little envious of her ability to eat anything she wants and still lose weight while fasting would be a gross understatement.

So, after watching my father and my wife split a bag of twizzlers, I tried to ignore sweet tooth by playing "airplane" with my daughter, but after about 15 minutes, I cracked and went to the store and bought a small bag of very over priced cashews.

(MISTAKE NUMBER 2 - While considered 'healthy' nuts are another hidden calorie bomb. The three ounces I ate contained another 500 calories)

At 7 PM, protein guilt started to kick in.

What's 'protein guilt' you ask?

Protein guilt is the term I coined for when you convince yourself you need to eat some food because you have not eaten enough protein that day.

It is an Obsessive Compuslive Eating habit that I should have been able to identify as soon as it happened, but for whatever reason, on this particular day I fell for this little OCE mind game. A large Chocolate Milk was my protein fix.

(MISTAKE NUMBER 3 - Chocolate milk doesn't contain any more protein than normal milk. What it does have is over 200 more Calories. Plus, considering my breakfast, plus the cashews I easily had eaten around 70 grams of protein already that day so I definitely did not need the extra milk)

So, by the end of the day, I let the Airport rob me of 15 dollars, and let some poor nutrition choices add 1300 Calories to my daily intake during a 4 hour stay at the airport.

lesson learned. When you are in high traffic areas where the food choices are limited and the food marketing is severe, pack your own food, avoid protein guilt and foods with high calorie contents, or best case scenario, fast during your trips.

BP

PS- I think the airport is a perfect example of why Eat Stop Eat works so well. The idea of simply flipping the switch to "off" makes resisting temptation a lot easier then lowering the amount of food you eat. It makes the decision making process incredibly simple.

PPS- Craig Ballantyne is starting his second Turbulence Training Transformation Contest very soon, and I'm proud to say his first ever winner used Eat Stop Eat as part of her winning plan. You can read her story HERE

(Playing airplane while waiting for the airplane)

Eat Stop Eat Before and Afters

Craig Ballantyne's Next Transformation Contest is starting soon, so for some extra motivation I thought I'd share some great new before and After pictures from people who have great results following Eat Stop Eat, a sensible diet and an effective workout program.

Dr. Geoff Dover from the University of Florida has lost over 40 pounds by following Eat Stop Eat!
Megan Gabel from Keystone Heights has done an extraordinary job transforming her body by using Eat Stop Eat and dedicating herself to a workout program.

PhD candidate Chad Fenwick from the University of Waterloo has undergone such an amazing transformation I had a very hard time actually believing these two pictures were of the same person! He lost over 60 pounds in 4 months!

These are just three examples of real people with real jobs and real responsibilities accomplishing amazing things with the help of Eat Stop Eat.

BP

Paleolithic Diet AND The Economy

I have some bad news for you. Gas prices in North America are going to continue to go up. What’s worse, this means that eventually food prices are going to go up too.

As an example, the Florida orange I have sitting on my desk right now was grown somewhere in the sunshine state. Yet I live an hour outside of Toronto. This means that at some point this particular orange was on a plane, train or automobile making the trip to my local Fortino’s.

That long trip took a lot of gas, and therefore it also took a lot of money. And right now it costs a lot more then it did two years ago to do the exact same trip. This increased transportation cost will eventually be passed on to us the consumer, as big business rarely like to absorb extra costs all by themselves.

So, what can we do?

Well, here’s an idea. I know a lot of people who try their best to eat in a Paleolithic style. I’m definitely not an expert on this style of eating, but I now that typically this means higher protein, lower carbs, zero processed foods and occasional periods of flexible intermittent fasting.

But there is one major thing many of these people are forgetting. Paleolithic man had no choice but to eat locally grown foods. And I mean really local..as in “within an arms reach” local.

So if you want to fight the rising cost of food consider shopping for locally grown meat and produce, and if you have room consider a family garden.

For as long as I can remember my grandfather always had his own vegetable garden and my mother used to grow her own tomatoes. Something as simple as a windowsill herb garden could not only save you some money, it could also help the environment and lower the burden on the world food supply.

Yep, a little home grown basil and parsley can do all that.

If you don’t feel like taking the time to tend your own garden, still try locally grown foods. It takes a little extra effort to find locations where you can buy local, but your health and your wallet will benefit from the effort.

BP

PS- If you are interested in another great way to help the economy, the environment, the global food supply and your health, then its time to check out the benefits of fasting. It's easier than you think to cut back on how much you eat. Learn more about fasting for weight loss.

How many Calories?

Here is a great link for anyone who has ever wondered how many calories, protein, fat or even specific single amino acids are in any particular food.

The USDA provides the most comprehensive nutrient database I have ever come across, and it is the one I use most often.

You can check it out here:

USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory

BP

Eat Stop Eat Review by Emily

I'm out in Regina Saskatchewan right now, dealing with a little bit of jet lag, a sick wife and a very confused little baby (she's an all star traveler, but nap times are all messed up).

Mommy and baby have finally fallen a sleep, so I have managed to steal two minutes to check emails.

It's going to be a very busy day, so instead of a blog post from me, here is a really good review of Eat Stop Eat written by Emily, The winner of the first every Turbulence Training Transformation Contest.

You can read her review by visiting here ==> Emily's Eat Stop Eat Review

I'm off to find hot water for the baby bottles!

BP

31,000 Pushups

Here's a great idea from a friend of mine.

On Tuesday I had to drive down in Rochester for a meeting. Since it was an unusually warm and sunny day after our meeting my friend decided that it was in everyone's best interest to find a restaurant with a patio in downtown Rochester (which by the way, is beautiful!).

During lunch the issue of Birthdays came up. My friend was turning 31 this year. I asked him what he was doing for his birthday and his answer absolutely shocked me.

"31, 000 pushups"

Yep, that was his answer. He had decided to celebrate his birthday by committing to working out.

His plan is to complete 31,000 push ups in one year, starting on his Birthday. This averages out to be about 87 push ups per day.

Now, he isn't going to do 87 push ups every single day, but rather he is going try to average about 600 push ups per week, making sure to take days off, and to rotate between high volume days and low volume days.

There are a number of reasons why I like this plan so much. firstly, it has a goal, secondly his progress is measurable every step of the way, and it can be progressive.

On days were he feels like really challenging himself he can do spider-man push ups or decline push ups. On days when he wants a lighter workout he can do regular push-ups or close grip push ups.

A great and creative idea that is goal driven and measurable, which means my friend has a high chance of succeeding.

BP

Eat Stop Eat vs. The Warrior Diet

Here's an interesting question I received:

Brad, what's the differences between ESE and the Warrior Diet?

Both programs are based on the benefits of fasting. The main difference is, the Warrior Diet is a little more lenient that Eat Stop Eat, and Eat Stop Eat is a little more flexible than the Warrior Diet. (How's that for confusing?).

The Warrior Diet is more lenient because it allows for small meals during the fasting period, whereas Eat Stop Eat calls for nothing but calorie free beverages during the fast. Also, the Warrior Diet is 18 hour fasts, whereas Eat Stop Eat is 24.

However, Eat Stop Eat is more flexible as you only fast once or twice a week, whereas with the Warrior Diet you fast every single day for 18 hours at a time.

This is a very simplified answer, but the bottom line is that while they are both effective programs based on fasting for weight loss, they have very different philosophies.

I know of some people who have enjoyed success with the Warrior Diet approach, but I was only able to keep with it for a little under two weeks before it started getting in the way of my lifestyle (lunch meetings etc.).

Similar to my opinions on every other day fasting or even traditional intermittent fasting, I think that they simply are not flexible enough to maintain long-term. This is why Eat Stop Eat was designed to be flexible. The better you can fit your nutrition program around your life, the better it will work.

BP

Running for Weight Loss

I just returned from a very good lunch with a friend of mine who is an avid runner. He is the type of person who is fascinated by the sport of running, not one of those people who hates running but does it anyways because they want to lose weight.

I have always been an advocate of the saying "You can't outrun a bad diet". Meaning, unless you are training for an Ironman triathlon, running for weight loss is actually very ineffective.

The typical twice weekly 3 mile runs are not going to make up for a week where you have overeaten by a 1,000 Calories. Especially since, an extra thousand calories over the course of a week is only an additional 150 Calories per day - fairly easy to do, even for people who are 'watching what they eat'.

However, I will admit that if you are already following a good diet like Eat Stop Eat, and are in a caloric deficit, running will help you lose weight.

I know to most trainers and weight loss experts out there running for weight loss is practically a sin, but from my experience if you are following a good diet, running can be an effective addition to a weight loss program.

So I guess what I am trying to say is "you can't outrun a bad diet, but running can accelerate the results of a good one".

BP

PS- I should state that I still prefer training programs like Turbulence Training over running when it comes to promoting time efficient ways to lose weight, however running is definitely better than doing nothing at all!

PPS- If you are interested in seeing what the combination of Turbulence Training, sensible eating and following Eat Stop Eat can do to your body, you can check out the blog of the first ever Turbulence Training Transformation Contest Winner by visiting her BLOG HERE.

One Fast Per Week

Today I wanted to share an email I received showing that you can still see great results with only one fast per week.

Hi Brad,

Just a quick mail to let you know that I have completed
4 fasts (one a day for 4 weeks) and the results have
been very good indeed.

I guess for many the bottom line is how much weight has
been lost, and for me the answer is 6 pounds, which is
pretty good given that my previous regime (6 meals a
day at 300 calories each) would not have given this
dramatic a change. 

The more interesting thing for me is that my strength
and fitness hasn't suffered at all (no evidence of
starvation mode type shutdown), with me actually doing
a Personal Best in the bench press last Monday which
surpassed my previous PB set in...wait for it...1983!!

Thanks a million for the book (and the 40 min interview
last week, very "real world" good sense).

I'll be sticking with the eat-stop-eat regime for the
foreseeable future and so will my wife who has also
done it at the same time and loves the leeway to eat
"normally" on the other 6 days. She hasn't lost as
much (4 lbs) but she only weighs 125lbs anyway so I
guess that's to be expected. Neither of us find the
fast day difficult at all and as we do it on the
busiest day of the week (Tuesday-Wednesday). we find
we have more time for the necessary things that must
be done. 

All the best with the book and no doubt the world tour
to promote it!!!!

Karl. 

BP

PS- The world tour is actually a great idea!

PPS- If you want to learn more about the Eat Stop Eat program CLICK HERE.

Adventures with Eat Stop Eat

We all have good days and bad days. Good days at work, bad days at work. Good days in the gym and bad days in the gym. And, for those of us who practice Eat Stop Eat, we have good fasts and bad fasts (hopefully we all have more good than bad).

Sometimes the curve balls that life can throw you while you are fasting can be unbelievable.

For instance, check out the email I received on Monday about a truly unbelievable example of fasting and will power.

Hi Brad

I'm a TV reporter and I am following Eat Stop Eat. One of the city's largest and oldest bakeries burned to the ground on the weekend -- they produce something like 40-thousand loaves of rye bread every week.

So, I was assigned to go to their secondary bakery and do an interview with the owners about the future of the original plant and how they're going to keep up with their orders. But the owner was very late getting there... he kept me and my cameraman waiting for about an hour and a half... during which time I simply had to sit in the bakery store-front and wait, surrounded by -- and I'm not kidding you -- stacks and stacks of the most amazing cinnamon buns, pastries, cookies and bread.

It looked and smelled like heaven, you don't even know. You want to talk about iron will? *I* have an iron will!!

P.S. I accidentally swallowed my gum this afternoon too. Like a three-year-old. My cameraman laughed at me and said I broke my fast. Noooooooo!

Honestly, Unlike this emailer I probably would have caved. I am super impressed that she made it though this ordeal as fresh baked goods are my weakness.

The good news is that the fact that she made it through the entire interview without sampling any of the baked goods showed her just how strong she can be. You can bet the next time she's tempted while fasting it will be an absolute breeze for her to ignore the temptation.

What doesn't break our will, simply makes us stronger.

However, if you do break your fast prematurely don't worry. Remember the whole goal of Eat Stop Eat is flexibility. If you wake up one day and simply do not feel like fasting, or life throws you a curve ball that will make your planned fast difficult, simply reschedule.

There is no difference between fasting Sunday and Thursday as opposed to Sunday and Friday.

Keep your fasts flexible and make them fit into your lifestyle and you will see great results.

BP

Seth Godin vs. Eat Stop Eat

I woke up this morning to an email in-box that was full of emails about marketing guru Seth Godin's recent blog post titled "The (stupid) Diet".

In case you missed in, here is what Seth had to say:

My friend Chris told me about a diet he used to use to lose weight. He would eat what he wanted five days a week and fast two days a week.

No, that doesn't work.

The parallel to marketing seems pretty obvious, doesn't it?

Now I am pretty sure that Seth isn't talking about Eat Stop Eat. Especially since "Eat what you want five days a week and fast for two" would be an absolutely horrible description of the philosophy of Eat Stop Eat. (I would much prefer "Eat sensibly and responsibly while enjoying the foods you Eat. Follow a resistance training program and once or twice a week take a 24 hour break from eating").

Even if Seth was talking about Eat Stop Eat, he most likely has not read the book, and is simply basing his comments on the typical assumptions about the idea of fasting for weight loss.

I find this to be the one thing that every Eat Stop Eat naysayer has in common - They haven't read the book. Once they've read Eat Stop Eat, they almost always take a much more open minded approach to the philosophy behind Eat Stop Eat.

Don't worry about the naysayers. They are typically just scared by the idea of fasting and haven't actually read the research behind it.

BP

PS- If you would like to learn more about the benefits of fasting and the Eat Stop Eat philosophy of fasting for weight loss, please CLICK HERE.

Finally, a REAL transformation contest

Here are 3 quick reasons why I am so impressed by the transformations in the first ever Turbulence Training Transformation Contest.

1. No crazy after pics where the person is tanned, shaved, and posing perfectly. You can definitely tell that these are real people making real differences in their bodies. Unlike some transformations where the contestant is a fitness model and their before and after pictures are simply "in-season" and "off-season".

2. No massive bodybuilders. Ever notice how so many before an afters consist of guys who are absolutely massive but with a gut, then they trim down to be absolutely massive but with abs? In my opinion if you already have veins running through your arms, shoulders and traps, you don't need to be in a transformation contest.

3. They are Real! Finally, I can look at before and after pictures and say to myself "I absolutely beleive this transformation occured". No second guessing about drug use or faked before pics. In my opinion these are the real deal!

My congratulations goes out to all the finalists!

BP

Don't forget to vote on who had the most dramatic changes! Look for a combination of weight loss, muscle gain, and total body appearance!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE NOW ==> TRANSFORMATION CONTEST RESULTS

Listen to me being Interviewed About Eat Stop Eat

I recently discovered the miracle of Skype. I know that most people probably think Skype has been around forever, but for me this is some pretty new stuff.

I'm not sure if you are as in the dark as I am when it comes to this type of thing, but just in case you haven't heard of Skype, its a service where you can make phone calls using your computer.

As soon as I figure this out it was time to start calling people I knew who would otherwise be long distance. I ended up chatting with my friend Adam Steer from www.coachsteer.com and pretty soon our conversation turned to everything to do with Eat Stop Eat, fasting for weight loss and working out.

Luckily, Adam saw this as a great opportunity to do an impromptu interview.

Adam had some great questions for me, so if you want to hear what I think about detox diets, or how I stumbled into studying the benefits of fasting (or if you just want to hear my funny Canadian accent) then all you have to do is sign-up for the Eat Stop Eat newsletter.

(use the sign-up box on the right top corner ==>)


BP

Big News!

As you might have heard, my friend Craig Ballantyne of Turbulence Training fame has been running his first ever transformation contest.

The contest is now closed, the results are in and let me tell you some of these transformations are MIND BLOWING!

I am so proud and impressed by these people, they all truly did an amazing job transforming their bodies and their lives!

What's more, a couple of the finalists used EAT STOP EAT to get their great results ( I'm not going to tell you who, because I don't want to bias your choices).

What's even more exciting is that it is now up to you to vote for the winner!

Please visit Craig's transformation site and place your vote for who you should think the winner should be.

CLICK HERE ==> The Turbulence Training Transformation Contest

BP

Aspartame makes you fat

I woke up this morning to the sounds of Smashing Pumpkins coming through my radio. The song was 'today" from their 1993 album Siamese dream. This immediately made me think back to my high school days (yes, I'm dating myself here).

Back in high school my buddies and I were coffee house rats. Yep, my addiction to all things coffee started very early in life, mostly because there wasn't much else to do when you were 15 in Southern Ontario.

(album of choice while cruising in my 1986 supra..)

My high school crew are now all in different parts of the world these days. One is a chef in Toronto, another is a journalist in Japan and one is an architect in New York. So needless to say, none of them were about to meet me for coffee.

But since I do love coffee, I went anyways.

I noticed two interesting things while waiting in line for my coffee at a local Williams Coffee Pub. One, I realized I still had the chorus from 'Today' stuck in my head, and two I was eaves dropping on the people in front of me.

The lady in front of me ordered a coffee with one sweetener. The gentlemen with her ordered a large coke, then emphasized the word 'Regular'.

He then turned to the women he was with and said "I'm off artificial sweeteners, I heard on the news that research says they make you fat".

"really?" she responded

"Yeah, they just make you hungrier 30 minutes after you eat them, apparently you are better of drinking regular Coke". he replied.

So this man just ordered 16 ounces of sugar because artificial sweeteners might have slightly increased the chances of him ordering 16 ounces of sugar later in the day. The logic here is so messed up, it makes my nose bleed.

This is another reason why I now go out of my way to avoid nutrition advice that comes from the mainstream media.

I could understand ordering a water, or a black coffee..but a regular coke? because a diet coke will make him fat?

This is what happens when weight loss research that is cutting edge and novel is found by mainstream media. Something that is very exploratory, very new, and not conclusive at all can be turned into a completely backward nutrition "factoid" that serves to do nothing more than confuse us.

Losing weight would be easy if everyone didn't try to complicate it all the time. Find a simple way to reduce the calories you eat, find the time to exercise and ignore crazy nutrition factoids from the main stream media.

BP

All Natural Aspartame

Here's some pretty sad information that will ensure that food and food labeling will stay confusing for years to come...

According to food navigator.com, The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has no plans in the near future to establish a definition of the term 'natural', saying it has other priorities for its limited resources.

So really, every single food can be called "natural" as long as there is room on the label!

BP

Steroids in your Supplements?

According to a report on nutraingredients.com Greece's Olympic weightlifting team is blaming contaminated Chinese-made food supplements for some of its members being charged with doping violations.

Random testing resulted in 11 members showing positive results for steroids and other banned substances, according to media reports.

The Chinese manufacturer of the supplement has accepted fault for the contamination believed to consist of an anabolic steroid, an opiate designed to alleviate athletes' dependence on the steroid, and an estrogen suppressor.

I have spent a fair number of years not only designing sports supplements but also auditing manufacturing sites and I can tell you that from my experience, getting an anabolic steroid, an opiate and an estrogen suppressor into a batch of products without anyone knowing would have been down right impossible.

Maybe I just worked with really good companies, but that kind of think would have been spotted quicker than you can say "quality control".

Nevertheless, this type of report is scary. Whether you are looking for weight loss, fat burning or new ways to build muscle, be very suspicious of anything that promises you a quick fix.

BP

How to eat heathier foods

I just found the following in a recent article on food navigator USA.com:

According to a public opinion survey commissioned by the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), 82 percent of Americans think food companies should be making a greater effort to reformulate for more better-for-you products.

Although this is a high percentage, it compares with 90 percent in Britain, 89 percent in Spain and 87 percent in Hungary.

In my opinion this is a very backwards approach to improving health. The answer to eating healthier foods is not asking food companies to add even more things to our food, but rather to question the foods we are already consuming.

You don't need to add anything to an apple to make it healthy, and there is nothing better for weight loss than eating less food and exercising more.

I'm betting that we will soon see a green-tea enriched white bread.

BP

Weighted Ab Exercise

I've had another busy couple days helping John Barban film some video for his new project "The Adonis Effect."

Our latest shoot involved a series of weighted ab exercises.

Here's a pretty bold statement => A lot of people (guys and girls) want a 6-pack.

Well in my opinion they only have to do two things to accomplish this goal.

1. Get lean (I use Eat Stop Eat for this one)
2. Get well developed abs.

For number two, the trick is treating your abs like the rest of your muscles. Work them hard and work them against some form of resistance.

Check out the video below for a great weighted ab exercise

Booster Drink Sabotage!

I've noticed an interesting trend of 'Booster Drink' places appearing in all of gyms around where I live.

The idea is simple, go to the gym, get a great workout, then get a booster drink made with real fruit and fruit juice on the way out the door.

Sounds perfect.

Except there's a hitch. Their protein smoothies have between 390 and 500 Calories per serving. and their power smoothies have between 320 and 430 Calories per serving!

The idea of a great tasting drink made from real fruit is definitely sounds like a good one, but we shouldn't mistake the idea of something being healthy as also meaning it is always good for us.

500 really healthy all-natural calories are still 500 calories - and if you are trying to lose weight this is easily enough calories to erase all of the hard work you just did at the gym (even with the added 'goodness' of wheat grass and acai juice).

Who would have thought a delicious green tea power smoothie with 20 grams of protein could end up being weight loss sabotage?

There's nothing wrong with drinking a great tasting booster drink now and then, just remember the calories still count.


BP

How to lose weight properly

I've had my eyes re-opened the last couple days.

Somehow, I've had my own little personal epiphany regarding weight loss. Or, more correctly, I've had my own little epiphany regarding selling weight loss.

This is my ah-ha moment.

When I left the supplement industry it was because I wanted a change. I wanted out. After answering this mornings emails about Eat Stop Eat I suddenly realized, I'm right back into it.

Most of the emails I received this morning were actually not about Eat Stop Eat. They were about other people's diet programs. It seems that there are a lot of people who have been scared and pressured into eating in a certain way, or following a certain program.

This is something that really bothers me, and I think it signifies a lack of credibility and respectability (and is part of the cause of OCE) - If your nutrition/weight loss program is as good as you say it is you should not have to scare people into making a purchase.

Tell me how many times have you seen these scare tactics:

Eat multiple times per day or something very bad will happen to you (Metabolism goes down, insulin sensitivity goes wonky..)

Don't eat too few calories or something very bad will happen to you ((Metabolism goes down, insulin sensitivity goes wonky..)

Eat lots of protein or something very bad will happen to you (get fat, lose muscle, lose muscle and get fat)

Don't eat carbs or something very bad will happen to you (get fat, become diabetic..)

Eat carbs or something very bad will happen to you (performance will suffer, you'll become mentally slow, you will stop losing fat)

The list goes on an on...

The interesting thing is, there is nothing 'wrong' with some of these ideas and I have no problems with other authors promoting their products. As I've said before Eat Stop Eat is not the only way to lose weight. Any diet that reduces calorie intake will help you lose weight. The easier and more logical the program, the better your results will be. The problem I do have is with these ideas is the way they are pushed on you.

Instead of promoting the benefits of their diet program, many people are trying to scare you by telling you the horrible consequences of NOT following their diet.

This is scaremongering. When you see this be very weary.

There are a lot of good program out there. Look for the ones have logical explanations of their benefits and be very weary of the ones who use poorly explained "scare" tactics as their only explanations behind the value of their products.

The proper way to lose weight is by following a nutrition and exercise program that you are confident in because it was well explained and makes logical sense. The wrong way to lose weight is by follow a nutrition and exercise program because the author has convinced you that it is the ONLY way to lose weight, and if you don't follow it then bad things will happen to you.

BP

PS- In once sentence, the benefits of Eat Stop Eat is that is is incredibly easy to follow, very flexible and perfectly effective.

Fasting for weight loss

I found this comment on one of my previous posts. It actually took me a couple reads before I realized the irony in what he was saying:

When I studied abroad in France, my host-mother would often fast to lose weight. To me at the time it seemed like a really unhealthy approach, but I'm the one who gained 20 pounds that year!!

I find it interesting that so many people have had to defend their fasting to friends and family members.

In my opinion this is the exact opposite of how it should be. Intuitively, the idea of constantly eating and consuming has always seemed unhealthy to me.

I guess the food industry has successfully figured out exactly how much money they need to spend in advertising to erase the logic of "eat less to lose weight" and replace it with "just keep eating our stuff, losing weight isn't healthy, to be healthy you need to eat even more"

My advice to anyone who has had trouble losing weight with the common approach of multiple small meals a day is to give flexible intermittent fasting and honest try.

If one approach hasn't worked for you then there is absolutely NO REASON for you to keep following it. You may as well try a different approach.

Eventually, you will find something that works and that is easy, comfortable and that you can envision yourself doing for a long period of time.

BP


Learn more about flexible intermittent fasting and weight loss

How much weight training do I need to do?

Here's a great question I received today:

When you refer to resistance training (and the Eat Stop Eat program), is there a particular type you're talking about?

To be more specific (and personal), most people use "resistance training" and "bodybuilding-type" workouts synonymously. And by bodybuilding-type workouts, I mean multiple sets of 6-12 reps.

I'm training as a sprinter and am working out specifically for increased power and fast-twitch fiber development. Namely, I'm deadlifting and bench pressing and, for each exercise, doing no more than 5 sets, with no more than 5 reps/set, and no more than 10 reps total (I mix it up each workout) with weights that are between 85-100% of my 1rep max.

Would this be effective with the ESE program?

Here is my answer:

This work out program would definitely be effective.

I believe that as long as your workout program contains a work load that creates enough stress to challenge your muscles (which I'm sure this program would do), I believe it will protect you from any muscle loss.

I often get asked why I never give an "exercise prescription" with Eat Stop Eat. The reason is simple. It depends on the person. (this is the same reason why I don't tell you HOW to eat while following Eat Stop Eat).

For instance, it takes a high amount of volume, stress and exercise frequency for a 250 pound bodybuilder to maintain this high level of muscle mass.

If a 250 pound bodybuilder were to follow Eat Stop Eat then the amount and type of exercise that he would need to do to maintain that mass would be much greater than what a 145 pound women who doesn't exercise at all would need to do.

So your exercise needs are very dependent on your current training status, your goals, and the amount of muscle mass you are currently carrying.

Look at the amount of exercise you were doing before you started following Eat Stop Eat, and make sure to slowly progress from there.

BP

Tips to prevent holiday weight gain

Here's a great post from Adam Steer's Blog about Fasting and
holiday eating that I thought you might like to read. This past
weekend I took almost the exact same approach as Adam.

Nothing better than flipping the switch to "OFF" for a bit. Kind of
like an eating "re-boot". Especially since for me, holiday eating
can have an effect that last for days!

You can read Adam's post here ==> http://tinyurl.com/2hdrjh

BP


PS- Here's a a great email about Eat Stop Eat that I want to share
with you.


--email start---

Hi Brad

Your book was a breath of fresh air. I am 48 years old and have
been weight training for about 4 years now, trying to eat a good
diet (six meals a day) and not daring to miss a meal in case I lose
muscle. I have not been able to lose that last bit of fat.

I have been using the fasting principles twice a week for the last
month with great results - fat loss and no muscle loss. It's such
a great way to eat.

Thanks,

Maxine Morris
United Kingdom

--end email--


Learn more about using intermittent fasting to lose fat.

Why I like the Smith Machine

I know for most of us this last weekend was probably one that involved a fair bit of food...especially chocolate.

For this reason I know you probably don't want to read about anything to do with food or especially fasting right about now.

No problems.

I spent the Easter weekend helping my friend John Barban work on a new project. We took a break during a video shoot, and I decided to do my first ever video-blog entry.

Simple story. While we were shooting, I noticed a smith machine. This reminded me of how everyone always "rips" on the smith machine for being a totally useless piece of gym equipment.

I've always found this funny, because next to the squat rack and a bench, this is probably the one piece of equipment I use most often.

BP

Learn more about exercising while fasting

Eat Stop Eat Review

Here's another great review of Eat Stop Eat I just found over at the Skwigg Blog.

You can read Skwigg's review here ==> Skwigg reviews Eat Stop Eat

BP


PS- I totally agree with Skwigg about coconut flakes, they make everything taste better (I put them in plain yogurt with diced almonds, apples, bananas and a little bit of honey)



lose weight easily with intermittent fasting