Reasons Why Soda Is Terrible For You.."Killing You."

A recent study showed how drinking too much diet soda for a long period of time can end up hurting your teeth as much as chronic abuse of methamphetamines or crack cocaine.

The acids in each substance eat away at tooth enamel, the hard outer surface of the tooth that protects your pearly whites from cavities, cracks, and discoloration.

Soda doesn't just rot your teeth. Either sugar-free or sweetened soft drinks have at one point been linked to obesity, depression, and diabetes.

We've gathered the scariest findings from recent soda studies:

• Soda increases your risk of heart attack. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, published March 2012 in the journal Circulation, found that drinking just one sugary beverage a day was associated with a 20 percent increase in a man's risk of having a heart attack over a 22-year period.

Control the Damage From Overeating

Here's what you need to know...

• Any meal over 750 calories (not including the peri-workout nutrition period) results in a measurable amount of fat storage, regardless of macronutrient profile.
• Glycogen-depleting workouts done before a cheat meal can help counteract its detrimental effects.
• Eating a low-glycemic meal a couple of hours before a big meal can improve carbohydrate tolerance and quell the appetite.
• Taking thermogenic and nutrient-partitioning supplements before pigging out can undo much of the damage.
• If you ignore any or all of the preceding tips, you can do a modified Pulse Fast the day after the meal to set you right.

Low Fat Apple Cake

Low Fat Apple Cake

Nutritional Info

• Calories: 248
• Protein: 5.0g
• Carbohydrates: 44.0g
• Fat: 5.0g
• Cholesterol 85mg
• Sodium 354mg
• Potassium 109mg

Preparation Time 15 min
Cooking Time 50 min
8 servings

Fitness Tip: Eat More Food

Fitness Tip: Eat More Food - How many times have you starved yourself into either not losing weight or even gaining the weight back from your latest diet plan. Most diets and most people make a huge mistake and cut so many calories out of their meal plans that they put their bodies into what we call protection or starvation mode. Yes, your body is defending against you starving it. It is a natural occurrence in all people, and it can be the biggest nutrition mistake you can make.

Remember to EAT, but make sure that you are doing the following healthy meal plan tips.
a. Reduce caloric intake no more than 500 calories from your maintenance levels.
b. Eat more early and less later - Breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day.
c. Eat 5-6 small meals daily
d. Eat every 3 hours
e. Do not eat at least 3 hours before bedtime
f. Balance is the key - Not too much protein, fat or carbs
g. Eat high quality lean proteins - Fish, lean Poultry and very lean Red Meats
h. Eat high quality Carbs - 100% Whole Grains, high in fiber
i. Drink plenty of Water - Green Tea and Low or No calorie fluids
j. Keep Sugar to a minimum - Use Splenda or Stevia as a sugar alternative
k. Keep sodium in check - No extra salt added to your meal plan
l. Eat foods from the most natural state possible - Processed foods tend to have lots of preservatives, sugar, salt, fat, and those things that make you gain weight.

Fitness Tip: Liquid Beverage - Adding Green Decaf Tea to your diet

Fitness Tip: Liquid Beverage - Adding Green Decaf Tea to your diet has been shown to provide several health benefits that include metabolizing fat, supporting digestion, and also adding a good source of antioxidants. Green Tea can be sweetened with Splenda or Stevia as an alternative in keeping with a NO Calorie beverage choice for your meal plan.

Fitness Tip: Whole Grain Goodness

Fitness Tip: Whole Grain Goodness - 100% Stone Ground Whole Wheat products are the way to go when it comes to eating high quality wheat derived carbs. They are loaded with more fiber, reducing you risk for heart disease, cancer, and other health related diseases. Focus on Oats, Barley, Bulgur, Quinoa, Brown Rice, Millet, Buckwheat, and Ground Flaxseed.

Flush It Out

Fitness Tip: Flush It Out - Water does the body good when it comes to good health. Water helps flush out toxins and other unwanted things lingering in your body. Water also replenishes fluids that help lubricate the internal body, while keeping you hydrated, lowering your desire to eat, and also helps keep your skin looking smooth and young. I know it's hard to drink lots of water, but find bottled water you enjoy the taste of or filter your tap water and keep it chilled in the refrigerator. You should be drinking at least 64 oz per day up to 128 oz to keep your body hydrated and working properly.

Upside of Eating Fat

Yes, you can eat fat.

New research has turned this nutritional nemesis into a must-eat. Think you have to go low fat? Not anymore!

For decades, fat got a bad reputation because scientists assumed, based on the misinterpretation of a couple of large studies, that eating foods containing fat would lead directly to obesity and heart disease. That fatty foods were made out to be our dietary vice, responsible for raising our cholesterol levels, clogging our arteries, and getting us fat. That gets to us thinking that the fat we consume wind up as the fat that we see on our butt and things.

Experts are getting off the “fat is evil” bandwagon – and we should, too – saying that the low-fat diet has backfired. According to Frank Hu, MD, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health “America’s obesity epidemic skyrocketed even while our fat intake went down.”

The Upside of Eating Fat 

Fat is an essential nutrient, just like carbohydrates and protein. Our body requires fat for the following key functions:

• absorbing the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.
• fat is an important energy source
• fat is vital for keeping our skin and hair healthy and smooth 

Research is revealing that eating the right fats can actually lower our risk of diabetes, heart disease, and obesity, and improve our cholesterol level. Isn’t that surprising!

Rest time for muscle growth

Two things are required for muscle growth: the first is optimal load during your training sessions and the second is quite long intervals between them because the process of muscle growth and recovery is taking place not during workouts but after them, during rest periods.  That’s why you ‘go on’ doing bodybuilding even when you are sleeping because your muscles continue to grow.

Toning Overview

Everyone is looking for that elusive, magic weight-loss trick. The only "magic" weight-loss trick I know of is strength training - weight-bearing exercise designed to build and strengthen your muscles. That's what this section of my site is all about toning and firming those muscles!

Fitness Tip: Exercise of Choice - Many people are looking for the best overall exercises. If I was to select the best single exercise if you could only pick one, then it would be the Leg Squat. Squats are an excellent lower body exercise that hit the largest muscles in your body which includes glutes, hamstrings, quads, and calves.

Don't Over Indulge

Fitness Tip: Don't Over Indulge - Life is about balance, and when you do anything in excess, your body pays the price. So when it comes to drinking alcohol, you need to be wise about your decision making process. Think of the effects of too much alcohol in your current and future fitness and health.

• Can Damage your liver
• Shuts your metabolism so you can't burn food energy
• Impairs your decision making process - especially with healthy food decisions
• Adds tons of liquid NO quality Calories to your daily diet: Sugar & Fat

Exercise of the day: The Ball Spinal Twist provides a great stretch and also tones and develops your core region with the support and stability of your exercise ball.   Click Here to see it in action!

Click here to Get Your GoFit Exercise Ball

Fitness Gear: Ultimate Pro Gym in a Bag

 

Which Vending Machine Snack Should You Unwrap?

Ah, the infamous vending machine. It's great and convenient when you need an afternoon pick-me-up, but you probably already know that most vending machine foods are not the healthiest choices.

Here are two common vending staples, both from Hostess: the cherry-flavored Fruit Pie and a three-cake serving of Ho Ho's. Okay, the cherry pie does contain some fruit, but also has lots of sugar.

The Ho Ho's are chocolate cake with cream, but one package usually contains three cakes! If you want a good size treat, which of these Hostess treats will satisfy your sweet tooth for fewer calories?