Q: You know, I have read so many articles about diets and carbs, and by now, everyone knows the difference between complex and simple carbs ok?

I just wish these articles would emphasize working out and watching portion size ok?

I mean, this isn’t rocket science, you know?

The rule is: calories in and calories out ok, end of story.

So, I just have to wonder why so many new books and magazines come out each month with some so called new diet ok???

A: I totally agree with you and I’m glad to see someone from the ‘general public’ knowing this.

You’d be surprised how many people DON’T know the difference between simple and complex carbs. Some people even don’t realize that simple sugar is a big no-no when you want to lose fat.

Why so many ebooks and ‘fad diets’? Simple… people want easy, quick solutions when we both know that there is no such thing. The fitness industry generates millions of dollars per year on this stuff and try to trick people that you don’t need to check your calories, you don’t need to workout, etc. etc. etc.

Alan

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Q: Is it possible for someone to gain muscle mass and burn body fat while working out in the AM on an empty stomach? I’ve been told no, and most of the diets I’ve seen have you working out with weights in the evening. I appreciate your time in answering my question.

A: You could workout in the morning on an empty stomach but it’s not recommended. I found that on a full stomach, most of my clients are able to push harder and have a better workout in general then on an empty stomach.

My suggestion to you is: try one week on an empty stomach and one week on a full stomach and try to pay attention on your energy level and progress in the gym.

Alan

PS: Have any questions you’d like answered on our blog? Please email us with what you want to know and stay tuned to our blog. We will answer your question.

Alwyn Cosgrove in his blog post The Evolution of the Fitness Profession describes that the new trend in the fitness industry is youth fitness, or youth sports training.

He doesn’t surprise me when he says that more than one million kids hired personal trainers in the US alone. Actually, my reaction was FINALLY!

The problem of obesity has contaminated our youth, there is no denying it. OUR KIDS ARE BIG!

I am not a parent myself but I do remember my activities as a kid compared to what my younger cousins and nephews are doing… As soon as I was done my homework, I was sent out the door to play. Like any boy, we played mostly sports (baseball and street hockey) and fighting… (did the car arrive before or after I scored?) and I didn’t arrive home until it was dark out or my mom called me back home.

Nowadays, with the world of technology and games, Wii, Nintendo, and all these consoles are now the best friends of this new young generation. How sad is that? The nearest park near my home is EMPTY… where all the kids gone to?

So, do we need trainers to get back our kids lives? Maybe… I’m not knowledgeable enough to say what we, as a society mus do, but I do believe that a sincere slap in the butt and kicking out kids out to play and chucking out these computer consoles to the trash (after destroying it of course) can definitely help. I mean, these companies have enough money as it is, why handicap our kids?!?!?!!?

So, as parents and responsible adults, let’s do something to turn the tide… are you with me?

Q: I have been working out at the gym since the past 2 years. My weight has been more or less the same. Recently, my personal trainer has been making me do weight training and strength training. I have started losing in inches but my weight has increased by 2-3 kgs. I’m worried and can’t understand why my body is responding in this manner.

A: It’s normal to see an increase in weight when you start doing resistance training. It’s just the way the body responses to the exercises. Also, when you say that you are loosing inches but the weight goes up, that’s a clear indication that you are losing fat and gaining muscle… which is exactly what you want to do. Don’t concentrate so hard on how much you weigh, but rather on the body fat percentage.

Alan

PS: Have any questions you’d like answered on our blog? Please email us with what you want to know and stay tuned to our blog. We will answer your question.

My friend and I are looking to set-up an online fitness consulting program and we are taking advantage of this blog to figure out what you, the end-user and reader of this blog, is looking for when searching for information online?

What kind of service are you wiling to pay for and what would be your budget?

Shocking weight loss research out of Australia has recently shown that the old way of using cardio for fat burning just doesn’t work. Medical researchers put women through a 15 week period of cardio workouts, and yet these women did not lose any weight over the entire program.

Both researchers and subjects were stunned by the lack of results. But that wasn’t the only surprise. (Read more…)

I’ve always wondering if diet pop, of any type, was any good for us.  We all like the taste and the caffeine rush, that’s without considering the sugar rush, we get from these drinks.

In fact, I was hooked on pop for a very long time, especially in my teens when I was skinny.  I never was concerned about the impact it had on my health. Pop would keep me awake and alert and that’s all I cared about.

Working in the processing industry, I got to learn a few things about how things are produced.  For a while, I was involved in the food industry, selling equipment to produce packaged foods and beverages.

Now, I’m involved in water treatment and I fell upon some documentation that shed some light on the production of pop and I’m going to use that information to put to rest this never-ending debate.

I’ll start by the conclusion: ALL POP DRINKS OF ANY KIND IS BAD FOR YOU… no matter if they are diet, reduced sugar, or whatever. This is why:

Let’s look first at the nutrition side of the question.  A can of regular pop is loaded with sugar and has about 150-200 of empty calories and is loaded with sugar and a bunch of chemicals such as different acids and artificial flavors.  Diet pop mainly has the same ingredients except that they use aspartame instead of sugar.  By doing so, they can state that the drink has 0 calories and therefore, it’s “diet”.  Yes, drink all diet pop you want, you want ingest any calories.  What “they” fail to mention is the health impact these chemicals have on your system.

First, let’s talk about Aspartame.  Aspartame has created a huge debate in the community.  Used as an artificial sweetener, aspartame is subject of controversy as it is perceived to have adverse effects on health.  Just the fact that aspartame has been associated with cases of headaches, brains tumors and other diseases, makes me personally nervous about ingesting any of it.  I’ll take the sugar over this any day.

Another aspect about carbonated drinks that is not often talked about is the fact that it’s carbonated.  Ever had heartburn after sipping a glass of pop?  Go figure!  After reading below, you’ll understand why.

In order to introduce the carbon dioxide (hence the word “carbonated”), water is completely stripped of its minerals.  You reach levels of high purity using different technologies, which we won’t discuss here.

Drink “mega” pure water can sound good but this topic is also in debate and is beyond the scope of this article.  However, I’ve been in the field for a while and the general consensus is that it’s always better to have minerals in the water and for many different reasons.  In some water treatment plants, they inject fluoride to help the population being served with dentistry problems.

So, the water is completely bare.  Once this is achieved, all dissolved gas, naturally present in the water, is also stripped.  This is done in order to monitor the quantity of carbon dioxide that will be injected in the drink.  Once this step is completed, the gas is introduced in the drink (that includes the syrup) and is then packaged and shipped.

What people don’t know is what carbon dioxide can do.  Since they are present in a confined environment, such as a can or bottle, there is no exchange with the environment.  A good part of the carbon dioxide dissolves in the water to produce carbonic acid.  Although it is considered a weak acid, the pH is still around 4, and… well, it’s still an acid.  And a pure acid at that!

Once the container is opened to atmosphere, the concentration difference in carbon dioxide between the liquid and the atmosphere allows the gas to dissipate out of the container by creating bubbles.

Yes, we’ve all heard different statements like “coke can clean a rusted penny”.  Well now, you understand why.

Do you still think Diet Pop is good for you?

While it is easy to demonize calories and we often blame them for making us enjoy good food, we must also realize that calories nourish our body and keep us strong and healthy. While we shouldn’t think of calories as the enemy, we must work to find a healthy balance of food that our body needs to thrive, and calories that are contributing to unwanted weight gain.

The number of calories in the food one consumes is a measure of the number of energy units supplied which in turn keeps the body mechanism healthy. Only 4 components in food provide calories: alcohol protein, carbohydrates and fat. Minerals, Phytochemicals, Vitamins, water and fiber do not contribute calories.

Cutting calories one consumes on a daily basis is the cornerstone of loosing excess weight. One pound of fat equals about 3,500 calories. This roughly translates into losing a pound a week or around 500 calories per day. Common sense tells us that restricting your calories is one of the best ways to lose weight. (Read more…)

I’ve heard a lot of buzz about micro-blogging and more specifically: Twitter and Pownce, who seem to be the 2 major players in this new web 2.0 microblogging world.

So, I decided to check out how I can use Twitter (for starters) to help generate more buzz about this blog as well as my other blogs.

I’ll be using the plug-in Twitter Updater and Twitter Tools and with time, I’ll let you know if this helped to generate traffic to my site. So far, it works, once I posted this post, there was an update on Twitter (using Twitter Updater) which makes my life and the life of other blogger so much easier.

Next Step: integration of Pownce

Tom Venuto is by far the most respected and followed fitness expert on the internet. His best seller, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, is #1 ebook on fitness according to Clickbank.

So, for fun, I figured that I’d find out what people say about Tom on the Blogosphere…

Burn the Fat, by Tom Venuto - A Closer Look
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Well, since everybody is posting a photo of themselves with Tom Venuto (our Wonderful TomV), I decided to put one up of me with…..hey! Wait! Am just kidding! Don´t I wish I looked like that AND was there with Mr. Wonderful! …