Top 5 tips to eat right

The amount of information about eating right is OVERWHELMING!! Whereever you see there are people who have their own philosophy about eating right. Well, I can either be one of them or I can read through their philosolphies and tell you which are the most effective ones based on research and personal experience. I would I would go for the latter. I have gone through a number of websites and books to see what nutritional and the fitness industry experts class as healthy eating or the RIGHT WAY TO EAT. I found that most of them were saying more or less the same thing. One concetrated on one bit more than the other and vice versa. So here goes:

The more colourful the better: If you are eating a steak, it is usually dark brown in colour. Now just give it color, add a small portion of mashed potatoes (made with olive oil), some bell peppers, onions, tomatoes and chillies. Now that is colorful and at the same time, it will much healthier that just a piece of MEAT. You get fiber and complex carbs from the vegetables and mashed potatoes. You get the fat from the meat and olive oil in the mashed potates and protein from the meat. 'A complete meal' I call it. Add vegetables to add colour to your meal. Lots of vitamines and minerals along with fiber to help you feel more satisfied.

Stay hydrated: Doesn't matter how many times I talk about drinking water, it is not enough. I remember reading that if you are a body builder or you workout with heavy weights, you will increase your lifts by about 8% if you are hydrated as compared to when you are not. Just goes on to show you how good water is for you. I mean...we are about 80% water..aren't we? Ohh and if you are a body builder, protein can only bind with water. 1 molecule of protein binds with 2 of water. Have you ever noticed at 100grams of lean chicken breast has 21 - 25 grams of protein. What is the rest of the 75%? Well, about 70% or that 75 is water. So PEOPLE drink up!!

Never fill yourself to the limit: Smaller meals speed up your metabolism whereas larger meals speed it to the extent that your systems get exhausted and then slows down very quickly, UNLESS you have the capacity to cope with this load. Let's take a look at an example. If you have an old car, you travel at a speed of 30 - 40 miles an hour, the car will be fine and will take you from point A to point B. That very same car, if driven at 100 miles an hour will go fine for a while but chances are it may get heated up or might get some other problem. I know not that great an example but you get the idea!!! I suggest fill up to 2/3rds of your stomach.

Don't eat any a MEAL 2 hours before bet time: The reason for this is because when you sleep your matabolism slows down. If you eat something (especially carbs) before going to bed, they will not get used up and get stored as fat. Now noones wants that!! right? So give it a couple of hours before you go to bed.

Avoid simple sugars and saturated fats: This really is a no brainer. Simple sugars like any thing that has sugar and saturated fats like processed oil and butter etc. both should be avoided. Ohh and don't forget the ICE CREAM!! Ice cream has both simple sugars and cream i.e. saturated fat.

Follow these and you see a difference your lifestyle.

8 ways to lose weight without exercise

Now many people grilled me on my No sweat fat burning method post some time back, saying why am I prmoting not exercising. The thing is that I want to help people with atleast one thing if not both. Either, start and keep them with exercising or get them to start eating right. Both would absolutely amazing if there is a person who saying I want to lose weight but I don't want to exercise, people look him like he is some lazy coutch potato. I don't think there is any thing wrong with not wanting to workout. Working out is important for fitness not for weight loss. Weight loss is a secondary phenomenon that happens when you get fit. If you just want to lose weight, you CAN do it by not exercising. What happens is people get put off when they hear that they cannot lose weight without exercise and they won't even try. I have a problem with people trying to take pills to lose weight but not really the not exercising issue.

I have come up with 8 things that you can do to burn fat and lose the extra weight. Here you go guys:

- Eat real foods: Basically, NO PROCESSED FOOD. I think this is the most common advice you will find for losing weight. The reason is that it is the best one. Stick to natural and real foods like lean meat, veggies, grains, nuts and fruits. Avoid anything that comes out of a package and with a brand name on it.

- Eat Frequently: Eat after every 2 - 3 hours as it increases your metabolism. You won't feel hungry or won't have carbohydrate cravings. Honestly, this is excellent advice. You will never BINGE EAT ever again.

- Control your portion size: Now it doesn't mean eat HUGE portions of chicken and whole grain bread sandwiches. Even though they are healthy, bug portions mean more calories so you might actually gain if eat too much of whole foods as well. Restrict your portion size. If you have a 12 inch subway sandwich, leave 6 inches and eat it after 2 - 3 hours. The same thing, same amount of calories BUT better digestion, increased metabolism and weight loss :)

- Water before and during: Drink water before and during your meal. Not right after your meal. There are some serious absorption issues. I always recommend take a glass of water before a meal and take one glass during the meal i.e. sipping as you go on eating.

- Don't fill yourself up: Eat enough to fill about 2/3 of your total stomach capacity. Only YOU can be the judge for that.

- Eat fats: Eat enough healthy fats from nuts and non-processed oils. They are great for energy and help you get enough calories in a small meal. E.g you need a 400 calories meal and using protein and low carbs you get about 300. Sprinkle one tablespoon of olive oil on it and you get those extra 100 calories to get the 400 calories.

- Eat junk once a week: You are allowed to cheat once a week so go all out. Eat WHATEVER you want. Just keep it to one day. Even better, just keep it to one meal.

- Take fresh juices: If you feel like having some juice. Go to the kitchen, switch on your juices and get some fresh juice. Avoid the other juices...Ain't always what they say it is.

There you go. Nice and simple wasn't it? Let me know what you think by leaving a COMMENT!!!

Top 5 foods to burn fat

Let's be honest here. There no foods that BURN fat directly. There are a number of different theories out there but there is just one basic principle about foods that burn fat. Foods that raise your metabolism for long periods of time will burn fat. The longer the metabolism is raised for, the more fat burning will take place. I am not saying everything else is pointless. I am just saying that they may help the process...THAT IS IT!!

Animal protein is usually the best candidate as it takes longer to breakdown. Here is the breakdown rate order from quickest to slowest.

Simple Carbohydrates
Complex Carbhydrates
Unsaturated Fats
Saturates fats
Fibrous Carbohydrates
Dairy Protein
Animal Protein

Some people might want to argue with me. LOOKING FORWARD TO IT...BRING IT ON B_ _ _H.

Now let's get to the point. Top 5 fat burning food. Here it comes. The number 5 place goes to........


Avocado: Some websites call this a SUPER FOOD. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a super food, but they are pretty good. Very high in unsaturated fats, vitamins and have quite a bit of fiber. I don't want to get into how fats are good for you, that is a whole post on its own. Just remember unsaturated fats in moderate amounts are good to burn fat.

Fibrous vegetables: First of all these vegetables (and even fruits) that are high in fiber are low in calories and fill you up for a good amount of time. They are mainly carbohydrates so energy is not a problem. So basically all I am trying to say is listen to your mum...take in lots of vegetables :D

Lentils and Beans: Lentils are not used in the western world all that much...unless you are a vegan. The main usage of lentils and legumes is in the indian subcontinent. They are high in SECOND GRADE protein so one should always try to mix them up with some sort of LOW GI carbs to get a complete protein. Even if they are taken alone, they will help in reducing body fat.

Chicken: This one is a no brainer. Isn't it? Every where you look you see high protein and you can't have too much beef and even eggs so people stick to lots and lots of chicken. Turkey falls in the same category but I personally couldn't develop the taste for it. The meat i.e. chicken i.e. animal protein i.e. complete protein keep you full for longer. The thermal effect raises the matabolism for longer and it help muscles rebuild themselves after a workout.

An the WINNER IS............THE FISHES

Fish: Let's just say you get all the benefits from a fish that you get from chicken. The only difference is that the fish has healthy fats in them. Oils that are mono and poly unsaturated. Oils like Omega 3 and 6 etc. So a fish is excellent. to burn fat ohh and to build muscle as well. But that's a different story.

Hope you guys enjoyed the post. Leave me a comment and tell me what you think.

Ana + Cata = Meta

Every where you go, you will hear people talking about their metabolism, I have a high metabolism, I am increasing my metabolism, metabolism this, metabolism that. But what exactly is metabolism? If we can understand what metabolism is and how it affects our body, we can train and eat in a manner that effects the metabolism exactly like we want to it be.

In very simple terms – it is a set of chemical reactions to keep us alive. It is broken down into two major parts – Anabolism and Catabolism. When food/nutrients go into our body, two things happen. They get used as energy or they get stored for future use (if the food intake is more than required).

Anabolism is the series of reactions that helps create new molecules. Now these molecules can be anything, can be fat, can be muscle, can be bones etc. Catabolism on the other hand breaks down molecules for energy. Both anabolism and catabolism are taking place all the time. However, depending on our age, sex, time of day, food and physical activity one may be more dominant than the other. So at any given point, your body will be in either an anabolic state or catabolism state. For example, if you take a meal, you body will be an anabolic state and if you are starving yourself, then you will be in a catabolic state.

If we can control our metabolism to the extent that we build muscle during the anabolic state and lose fat during the catabolic state, then we can achieve the Burn fat ‘n’ Build muscle goal.

There are a lot more details on how we can control our metabolism and use it to our advantage e.g. there are a number of hormones that we need to control to direct our metabolism towards one source of energy and keep it away from others. Read the ‘No sweat burning method’ article which outlines what you can do to manipulate your metabolism in giving you what you want. If you are interested in fitness, then understanding metabolism should be the first thing you understand in detail.

Low GI for fat loss and muscle building

There are a number of different kinds of carbs – simple, complex, fibrous, low GI, high GI etc. What do these mean? If you are not sure, please read my previous post here.

A number of articles are pointing out that LOW GI carbs are lean friendly. What does this exactly mean? Does it mean that carbs help us burn fat or do they helps us gain muscle mass?

In very simple terms, Low GI carbs are the carbs that get absorbed into our system very slowly and at a low rate. GI (glycemic index) determines how quickly a particular carbohydrate increases the blood sugar level. The lower the GI, the slower the rise in blood sugar levels. You may ask the question – Why do we need slow absorbing carbs? Well, basically when the carbs get absorbed very quickly, the amount of sugar is increased quite a lot. Your body tries to lower the carbs, as it doesn’t require that many carbs. The body releases a hormone called insulin which does three things:

- Lowers the carbs
- Stores them as fat
- Tells the body that ‘we already have too many carbs, don’t use the fats for energy’.

The above are not good for you. Insulin is very useful for you right after a workout (as you tend to use most of the carbs and the insulin helps you build muscle), it should not be spiked at any other time of the day. The LOW GI carbohydrates give your body constant energy at a steady rate so that you don’t get too many or too little carbs in your system and you avoid turning carbs into fats. But remember, if you take too much of any kind of carbs (even LOW GI), you increase the chances of converting them to fat.

Tom Venuto once wrote that it doesn’t matter whether individual items in a meal are low or high GI. You should make sure that the overall meal is low GI. E.g. potato on its own is high GI, but if you eat it with a chicken steak, it becomes low GI after mixing with proteins that gets absorbed at a very slow rate. Hope this makes sense.

If you stick to low GI for a fat loss program, you will minimize the chances of converting carbs to fat and also burn extra fat. If you want to build muscle – again, stick to low GI throughout the day, but take High GI with half an hour of a vigorous workout. I hope this has helped you understand what kind of carbs you should eat. Ohh, one more thing. Try not to take carbs after 6 – 7pm or keep them low in the evening/night. This again may increase chances of your storing carbs as fats over night because your metabolic rate slows down at night and if you don’t use up the carbs (or any other macro-nutrient), it will convert to fat.

Right!! I think that’s all for today…stay tuned. I will shortly start posting some workout routines and also a HOW TO guide. See ya!!

Is ice cream healthy for you?

I bet many of you just came to this post because you want to prove to yourself that ice cream is healthy, that ice cream can help you lose fat and help you build muscle? Well, there is good news for half of you and no so good for the other half. Research shows that the best kind protein is Whey protein. Whey is a by-product of the cheese making process and is present in dairy products It is now being used all over to world in form of Whey protein shakes and other supplements. The good news is - ice cream has lots of it. If you read some of my previous posts, you will find that if you are trying to build muscle, you should take-in high GI carbohydrates with fast absorbing proteins right after a workout. You get both of them from ice cream - sugar and whey. If you can buy a low fat brand of ice cream, it is possibly the BEST post workout small meal that you can take. Mind you, this is for people wanting to build msucle. If your aim is to lose body fat and you take ice cream, you won't get fat but chances are that you will slow down your fat burning ability. Reason being the amount of carbs that you will take in. It is advised to keep carbs quite low in a fat loss program. However, if you can find low fat and low sugar ice cream (of the diabetic ice cream), you can take it right after a vigerous workout. The good thing about a post workout meal is whether your aim is fat loss or muscle gain - the food you take in after a workout will get used up - atleast most of it. So even if you are on a fat loss plan, you can have ice cream right after a workout.

Who would have thought, ice cream - good for you :-). That's what I'm here to do. Make the impossible, possible :-). I recommend that you make a post workout shake with 2 scoops of ice cream. I have posted some recipes here. Feel free to try them.

I just though that I would write a small YET useful post to the point this time. Hope you liked it. Till next time guys. See ya.

Cycle your carbohydrates – Burn fat fast

Did I just say CYCLING? Yes, I did. Cycling your carbs sounds funny doesn’t it? But let me tell you…it is one of the most power techniques of dropping a few pounds of fat very quickly. It has been used by professional body builders for a long long time near the competition season. Just look at those natural body builders a couple of months before competition and then on the actual day of competition. You won’t be able to see even a bit of body fat on them. How do they do it? Obviously, there is the workout and muscle mass factor but, they have that all year round as well so how come they do not stay LEAN throughout the year? It’s because of CARB CYCLING.

The idea of carb cycling is alternating between either high and low/no carbs or starchy and fibrous carbs. There are a number of different theories about what the best way to do this. Some say that you should have 5 days of low carbs and 2 days of high carbs, some say the best approach is replace starchy carbs with fiberous carbs for 3 days and then go back to starchy carbs for 3 days (with a cheating day), then we have experts taking the zig zag approach and taking high carbs during the major muscle group days and low/no carbs on other days. There is a lot of stuff out there, so we will discuss what should we be doing.

This is a technique where you can burn fat and build muscle. Let’s say if you are following the 3 day high and 4 day low carb. For the first three days, you do compound exercises and take in high carbs. During this time, you will be promoting muscle gain. For the next few days, you take in low carbs (but the same amount of fats and protein) and do some fat loss exercises i.e. full body workouts and HIIT. This will promote fat loss. You can also workout one day, rest the other. In the same way, you take in high carbs on the workout day and low/no carbs on the resting day. There are a lot of techniques out there. The idea is to get maximum gains in muscle with minimizing fat gain (or even losing it).

My personal recommendation is ‘any of the above’. You can try any of these techniques as all of them have proven to work. My routine is as follows:

Mon – Chest and Thighs with high carbs mainly around the workout

Tue – Triceps and calves with no carbs

Wed – Back and shoulders with high carbs

Thur – Biceps and forearms with no carbs

Fri – HIIT with high carbs

Sat – Abs and lower back with low carbs

Sun – Cheat day

On days when I need the energy and am trying to build muscle, I take in high carbs and on other days I take lower carbs with moderate exercise. Hope this has been useful for you. Please comments if you want to know more and I will write another post in greater detail. Till next time – stay tuned for lots more.

Protein Shakes

Protein shakes are very popular nowadays especially because of the high protein diet. Here are a few recipes of protein shakes without the use of supplements that you might want to try.

Pre-workout/Snack
3 scoops low fat and low sugar ice cream
½ cup skimmed milk
2 tbsp oats
1 tbsp peanut butter

10 – 15 crushed almonds
½ cup skimmed milk
¼ cup yogurt
2 egg whites

Post workout
½ cup skimmed milk
2 scoops of ice cream
¼ cup yogurt
½ bananas
2 – 4 ice cubes
2 egg whites - optional
1 banana
3 egg whites
½ cup evaporated milk
2 – 4 ice cubes
10 – 15 Crushed almonds
50 g skimmed milk powder
¾ cup skimmed milk
Milkshake powder or a low GI fruit (e.g. mango, peach, pear, apple etc.)

Here is a very good collection for protein powder shakes:
http://www.projectswole.com/diet/70-protein-shake-recipes

Instead of just giving you some recipes, I’ll give you some details about what you should be considering when coming up with a protein shake recipe.

If you are following a fat loss plan, you should consider taking a similar shake as the Pre-workout shakes showed above. Along with the protein, take some fiber (oats are probably the best option) or complex carbohydrates (Low GI fruits) and also introduce unsaturated fats like peanut butter, almonds, olive oil etc. This will help slow down the absorption process, therefore providing you with constant energy. You can take this as a pre and/or post workout meal as long is fat loss is your aim.

As for muscle building, the pre-workout shake should be the same as outlined above with the same concept. The post-workout shake should include fast absorbing proteins and carbohydrates. You can take sugars, as at this point your body will be craving for sugars. In simple words, you will use up these sugars or store them as glycogen in the muscles and liver (by the way, this is all good for you). Taking in these sugars will increase your insulin level which would be unlike any other time. Usually we want to control the insulin levels but after a muscle building workout you should increase the insulin levels and take in a good amount of proteins as insulin is an anabolic hormone and helps in protein synthesis (muscle building) when required. At other times, instead of building muscle, it builds fat so be careful or spiking insulin level at times other than post muscle building workouts.

I guess this gives you an idea of what you should try and do. Please note that these guidelines are for people looking for fitness. As far as Pro-bodybuilding goes, one needs to consider a number of other things as well.

That’s all for now, stay tuned for lots lots more.

Are all calories the same?

A number of nutritionists out there just tell you to eat low calorie foods to lose weight and that’s it. This is known as the ‘A calorie is a calorie’ concept. This indicates that all calories are the same. Well, strictly speaking, the calories are the same BUT the effect that they bring with them can either help your goals or make it harder to achieve them. Let’s take a look at them in greater details.

We have three macro-nutrients:

Carbohydrates are the primary source of energy for our body. They are present in fruits, dairy products and gains. Carbohydrates (also known as carbs) are broken down into glucose to be used as energy and also converted into glycogen to be stored in the muscles and liver. If you take in more carbs than you require, your body will convert these carbs into fat and store them for future use. This is one of the reasons why low-carb diets are so popular. Basically, there are a number of different types of carbohydrates. The traditional method of carb classification is simple carbs, complex carbs (starch), fiber. Another method to classify the carbs is the Glycemic Index including Low GI, Medium GI and High GI carbs which are based on how quickly the blood sugar level increases where you take in the carbs. A similar method is the insulin index which is fairly new based on which carbs effect insulin in which way. The main idea is to stick to Low GI and complex carbs and taking minimum carbs at night.

Proteins are present in different kinds of meat, dairy products, plants, beans and lentils etc. The main purpose of protein is to provide muscle and other tissue repairing properties. As far as nutrition goes the important things to note is that protein takes a lot of time to get digested thus keeping you full for a long time and also gets absorbed slowly. Protein also has a thermal effect, increasing our body temperature and therefore our metabolism. High protein diets are very popular nowadays mainly because of the reasons mentioned above. Proteins can be used as a source of energy minimizing the use of carbohydrates and they are also the least likely of the three macro-nutrients to get stored as fat, you will get a goof fat loss effect. However, eating too much protein has two big negative. Firstly – you start over working the kidneys as a lot of waste is created from protein rich foods. Another big big negative is increasing the risk of intestinal/stomach cancer and ulcers. The right balance is required to get the best benefits from proteins. There are a number of different kinds of proteins, ranging from dairy, to plant to animal. The best kind of protein is said to be ‘Whey’ protein followed by egg protein. Whey is a bi-product of cheese making and SURPRISE SURPRISE, it is also present in ice cream. So a very good post workout meal = ICE CREAM…hehe. These proteins are complete and incomplete, get digested either very quickly or take their time. These effects are very important to determine your success.

Fats are of the good kind and the bad kind. These are saturated fats, unsaturated fats (mono and poly) and trans-fats. The good fats (unsaturated) are vital components of building tissues and cells so cutting out fats completely from your diet (which many people do) is absolutely wrong. You need things like nuts, olive oil, fish oil etc. in your diet to ensure a balanced diet. However, the amount of fats should not be very high as they are rich in calories. The unsaturated fats also help you slow the digestion and absorption process (i.e. helping you stay full provide slow and constant energy to your body).

Amount of calories
Proteins – 4 calories per gram
Carbohydrates – 4 calories per gram
Fats – 9 calories per gram

As you can see there are different classifications of different macro-nutrients, which means that they have different properties and effect us in different ways. If all calories were the same then eating only sugar in moderate amounts would help you lose fat, but does it? A calorie is in fact a calorie, but the effects such as saturated fat calories increasing cholesterol and unsaturated fats lowering cholesterol, insulin going sky high with High GI carbs and staying in control with Low GI are things that determine whether you will reach your fitness goal. I will be talking about each macro-nutrient in days to come to stay tuned.

The no-sweat burning method

Do you want to burn fat without exercising, here is what you do.

- Calculate your BMR
- Add a factor for the activity level and get the total calorie in take amount
- Get used to the calories
- Create a zig-zag
- Lose body fat

There are some other rules that need to be considered. These are related to the timing of calories and the type of calories you are taking in.
Breakfast - Low GI carbohydrates | Fiber | Slow Protein | Unsaturated fats
Snack - Protein | Unsaturated fats | Low or no carbohydrates
Lunch - Protein | Unsaturated fats | Low GI carbohydrates | Fiber
Snack - Protein | Unsaturated fats | Low or no carbohydrates
Snack 2 - Protein | Unsaturated fats | Low GI carbohydrates
Supper - Slow Protein | Unsaturated fats | Low or no carbohydrates

Never fill yourself up
Drink 8 – 12 glasses of water at least.
Supper needs to small and needs to be 2 – 3 hours before going to bed

Now let’s look at an example. My BMR is 1800 and I am just moderately active throughout the day. I add about 200 calories extra for the activity and finally coming to 2000 calories a day. This would be my maintenance level. Now I design a diet plan for myself taking into consideration the rules above and making sure I take in 2000 calories everyday. I continue with this for 2 weeks. This is to get my body to get used to and start running on 2000 calories.

After the two weeks, On Monday I take 2000 calories, but on Tuesday and Wednesday, I take in about 1200 – 1400 calories. I don’t skip any meals, I just reduce the portion size, ideally from the carbs. Just think about it, your body is used to running on 2000 calories, but for two days you create a deficit and making sure that you body knows that you are not in starvation as you will be eating 6 small meals and also at the very same time after the two days you go back to 2000 calories so your body remains used to the 2000 calories. The 600 calorie deficit that is produced needs to come from some where. You are controlling the cortisol by eating frequently; taking in low carbs so the only source left is FATS. So we are creating 4 x 600 calorie deficits a week, increasing metabolism and improving energy levels along with making sure that we take in all the nutrients. Make sense?

Shoot me with any questions.

That’s all from me today. See you guys tomorrow.