Friday, February 13, 2009

Get Six Pack Abs Here's How

In this article, I've posted the "diet tips for six pack abs" portion of our interview we recently did. Enjoy! Here it is...

CB: And finally Mike, 1 or 2 of your top secret nutrition tips for carving out those six pack abs. Open your vault of info!

MG: Well Craig, I think you'd agree that there has never been a more confusing time regarding proper nutrition for consumers. Every so called "expert" out there seems to disagree and contradict each other on what's the best way to eat for fat loss and overall good health.

One of the most important messages I try to teach my readers in this world of heavy confusion is that your diet doesn't need to conform to any of the fad diets... you don't need to go "low carb" or "low fat", or high or low anything for that matter to be successful in losing enough body fat to get lean enough to be able to see your abs. I like to try to simplify things for my readers. I think that balance is the key to success along with eating a diet that is made up of nutrient dense foods in their natural state (as unprocessed as possible).

In general, it is the heavy processing of foods that makes it wreak havoc inside our bodies. Most foods in their natural unprocessed state are inherently good for us. Of course there are always exceptions... a salad of poison ivy leaves is "natural and unprocessed" but certainly would not be good for us!

I'll leave your readers with a couple of the most important aspects of nutrition and diet that help to get you lean for life (and have any chance of getting those abs to show)...

1. Get enough quality protein in the daily diet - not only does it have a higher thermic effect than carbs and fat (so you burn more calories digesting it), but it also creates satiety so your hunger is satisfied longer. Plus it's a building block for maintaining and building lean muscle... And remember that the amount of lean muscle you carry is one of the main factors for controlling your metabolism.

2. Think fiber! When it comes to carbs, make sure that almost all of your carbohydrate intake is from higher fiber sources like vegetables, fruits, and high fiber unrefined grains. Try to avoid refined sugars and refined grains as that is one of the main reasons so many people struggle with body fat. I personally don't eat many grains as I prefer to get most of my carbs from veggies and fruits, but I am a bit of a fan of sprouted grains. I generally recommend looking for carbohydrate sources that have at least 2-3 grams of fiber per each 10 grams of total carbs. Remember that fiber helps fill you up and also slows down the glycemic response of the foods you eat, all beneficial for getting lean.

3. Don't be afraid to eat fat! Many people try to go way too low on their fat intake in their diet and this can negatively affect hormone levels in your body as well as causing more cravings. Try to eat enough healthy fats daily. Good sources are all nuts and seeds, nut butters, avocados, olive oil, organic meats and eggs, coconuts and virgin coconut oil. On that note, saturated fats from tropical oils are VERY misunderstood, even by many nutritionists and other health professionals. Yes they are composed highly of saturated fats, but are actually beneficial (but that's way beyond the scope of this article).

4. Avoid the two worst things in our food supply at ALL COSTS:

*artificial trans fats from margarines, shortening, and hydrogenated oils that are in most processed foods

*high fructose corn syrup, which is in almost all sweetened products on the market

Again, if you avoid processed foods, it becomes easy to avoid these two worst offenders in our food supply.

I always contend that once you get a handle on these 4 main points of your diet detailed above, the rest starts to take care of itself as you gain control over your appetite, blood sugar levels, hormone levels, etc. It all falls into place, and you eventually gain total control over how lean you want to get. Gain control of this part of your life, and those abs may be showing in no time!

Don't miss out on this free report detailing over 29 unique metabolism boosting secrets at Abs Diet Tips for a Flat Six Pack

Are you tired of boring monotonous cardio workouts? Expand your thinking and see: Beyond Cardio Workouts

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Six Pack Abs And Stomach Fat

 Fat Burning 3 Factors For Fat Loss

Burning belly fat is not as complicated as it seems. It is possible to burn stomach fat faster, but first we need to understand three basic factors that will determine how we can lose fat. Those factors are: quality of our food intake, increasing our energy expenditure and monitoring the frequency and decreasing stress in our lives.

To make our belly fat burn faster, we need to watch what we eat and how often we eat. We should increase our food intake to 5-6 meals throughout the day and make sure we eat a balance of foods rich in protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. We should avoid processed foods, sodas, cookies and fast food. When we control our food intake, we can better energize our bodies with better fuel and optimize our workouts to burn fat to flatten our stomachs.

Increase Your Physical Activity

Burning belly fat, our energy expenditure needs to be greater than our total food intake. So by increasing our physical activity, we promote building muscles used for that activity. For example: running will build the muscles of the legs. By increasing our muscle strength, we are also increasing our lean body mass, which also makes our bodies burn fat to help fuel the increased activities that we are doing.

Cut Down On The Stress

Our bodies have a way of surviving and maintaining energy supplies when they feel they are in danger. When we have high levels of stress, our bodies produce the Cortisol hormone, which stores fat in our stomach area. Stress causes the body to hold onto the fat, so that it can be used as an energy source for survival.

When our bodies are in a stressful situation, they react by releasing a hormone called Cortisol, which tells our bodies to preserve fat and prepare for an emergency situation. That fat is thereby stored in our stomach area.

Accumulated fat in the abdomen increases your risk of developing high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and diabetes.

By managing our stress, we can help control our stress levels and thereby allow our bodies to burn the belly fat through eating right and increasing our metabolism through exercise.

Burning belly fat in the fastest way possible is not rocket science. All it takes is a commitment to make the necessary changes and step-by-step, our belly fat will be burnt away.
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