The power of protein may prevent obesity and aid in weight loss

High protein diets have long been used by fitness models and bodybuilders to build beautiful bodies. A sleek and lean physique is not built with workouts alone.
Protein not only aids in building muscle, it also helps these athletes diet successfully by dampening appetite.

Recent studies point to eating more protein as an aid in eating less overall. One editorial in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition goes do far as to ask, "The satiating power of protein—a key to obesity prevention?" While preventing hunger can give dieters an edge, this may not help typical Americans who overeat for reasons other than hunger. See this article.

Fats role

Eat protein at every meal. Protein digests more slowly than carbohydrates and fats. Approximately 25%-30% of the calories in each gram of protein are burned in digestion. In comparison, carbohydrates burn only 6%-8% of their calories in digestion. Protein has also been shown in studies to keep people full longer than fats or carbohydrates.

Fat prejudice continues despite America's growing waistline

We often judge others by their waistlines alone.

A sad fact about our society is that fat prejudice continues to exist. More of us are overweight and obese, so we should be less inclined to treat fat people badly, right? Just one problem, according to J. Eric Oliver, author of 'Fat Politics' we aren't really getting all that fatter as a nation. See video below.

The US government policy on what makes for a healthy BMI (body mass index) just makes it seem that way. And BMI measures total body weight in relation to height. It doesn't take into account whether your body weight is mostly from body or mostly from muscle. This means athletes and bodybuilders are labeled as overweight and obese. This means very fit people like Brad Pitt and Gov. Arnold Swartzenegger or lumped into the obese category.

So the theory that prejudice against overweight and obesity should lessen because we're all in the same boat doesn't hold water. But the fact remains fat prejudice is simply wrong. No one should treat another human being poorly because of appearance, body size, or personal choices about health or diet. It's simply none of our business whether someone is overweight, or why they're overweight.

As Eric Oliver points out, being overweight has little to do with mortality. The highest death rates are seen in those who are the most underweight, and then from the heaviest people. The merely overweight are living the longest.

Perhaps the most destructive form of fat prejudice is that of physicians and other health care workers. See video below. These so-called professionals are often the reason why overweight and obese people avoid getting routine health care and often weight until a health crisis develops. Some health care workers have no qualms expressing their personal opinions on weight in what should be a professional setting. Read more, get the links, and watch the videos.

Demon fat found to make foods more nutritious

Low carbohydrate advocates have long preached the value of fats in our diets. While certain hard core anti-fat experts like Dr. Dean Ornish cry foul, it appears recent studies prove that health promoting vitamins, anti-oxidants, and other compounds found in fruits and vegetables are fat-soluble. This means we need some fat to be consumed with these foods for the body to properly absorb these nutrients.

Studies by Steven Clinton, of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, found that choosing a fat free salad dressing, or skipping fatty toppings like cheddar cheese, avocado slices, or olives, means you get a lot less nutrients out of salads and side dishes.

Simplified, this means you can take low fat and fat free eating habits too far. If the nutrients don't get into your system, then you don't reap their benefits. Dr. Clinton's "salsa study" fed test subjects a meal of fat free salsa and bread. Later, a similar meal with avocado was fed. The avocado meal raised fat consumption to an extra 37 percent of calories. But the good news was that the blood levels of the test subjects showed they absorbed about 4 times more lycopene and 2.5 times more beta carotene. This is just one example of scientific research reinforcing fats as part of a healthy diet. The key is moderation. You don't need to down a stick of butter with your spinach. Read more.

Good Friday & Links

Good Friday 03 21 2008

I’m busy and preoccupied with Easter preparations (way more fun than tax preparations) so all you’re getting out of me today is some informative links on nutrition and fitness, including a few on Good Friday. Enjoy! Happy Easter!

And remember, don’t drink on Spring Break. Your fat loss will grind to a halt and you’ll turn into an obese under muscled toad overnight! (Must be a full moon).

All About Good Friday

Good Friday Wiki


Cheaters Always Prosper
The OFFICIAL Scivation Guide to Dietary “Cheating”

By: Chuck Rudolph, MEd,RD With Marc Lobliner and Derek Charlebois

Since publishing Game Over—The Final Showtime Cut Diet You’ll Ever Need, we have been bombarded with emails and comments. The one most frequently asked question is how and when it is okay to deviate from the plan. The answer for this is simple…Never! If following the Cut Diet, you should not cheat and if you do cheat, it better not be often. If you do happen to cheat, don’t cry to us that your results aren’t optimal.

The bottom line is that the Cut Diet relies on getting the body primed and in the zone. Cheats throw this off. But what if following more of a lifestyle type Cut Diet where you taper carbs throughout the day or even bulking? These are situations where cheating is acceptable and downright yummy. If you like eating pie and being lean at the same time read on and find out how you can cheat and win!

How much can I cheat?

Let’s set forth some guidelines. While it is okay to have the occasional Thanksgiving-like feast where you eat until your pants don’t fit and your feet are swollen, we do not recommend doing this on a weekly basis. Thus, when following the aforementioned diets, we recommend two to three cheat meals per week with calories at around 150% of your normal meal. Meaning that if a normal meal for you yields 500 calories, you will want the cheat to be around 750 calories. But how do you count cheat calories? You don’t. It is all about moderation and approximating the total. In essence, eat until you are full yet not stuffed.

What can I eat for my cheat meal?

We recommend making healthy choices, but the beauty of a cheat meal is that you can cave in to those cravings! If you feel like a piece of pie, get a nice slice of Pecan Pie. If you feel like cheese, buy some Gouda! Just try to control yourself and not eat the whole pie or an entire cheese wheel. The beauty is that you can kiss those protein to carb to fat ratios goodbye for this meal. Enjoy the freedom! Read more.

Sodium, Your Secret Weapon
by Scot Abel

In ancient times, salt was precious. It was traded as the most valued of all commodities, and having a good supply of salt was as close to life insurance as you could get. Age-old aphorisms like "salt of the earth" and "worth your salt" remind us how important salt has always been.

The answer may surprise you. The anti-sodium campaign actually began as a commercial movement to sell different foods and snacks, under the guise of being healthier. Much like the low-fat movement, manufacturers care more about selling products than they do about scientific accuracy. Read more.

Busting the Great Myths of Fat Burning

Your body burns either fat or carbs depending on the intensity of your activity. But when it comes to losing weight, calories are calories. You burn fat even when you're in couch-potato mode. Yet, a lot of misunderstanding prevails.

Get ready to break down some of the myths people have about burning fat:
Read more.


Fat Roundtable
What's new in fat science?
Refereed by John M. Berardi

During our last roundtable, Cy Willson, Lonnie Lowery, and myself got together to talk protein. There were no holds barred as we threw out our own personal protein theories and suggestions with extreme prejudice. With the theories bouncing around like lotto balls in a billion dollar drawing, we went crazy. Lonnie was screaming about being a real man while whipping out his long, cylindrical? pointer to illustrate his points on the graphs and tables he brought along.

In the meantime, Cy and myself were flipping each other off at each disagreement. All in all we had a real blast while giving you guys some practical suggestions for how to use protein to get bigger.

We had so much fun I couldn't wait to do another roundtable. Only this time we'll talk about fat. Within the last few years there's been a lot of discussion regarding the optimal macronutrient composition of the diet. A wide range of individuals (some of them being very wide themselves) have asked me for advice about what fats to eat and how much.

You see, after the anti-fat surge of the 80s and early 90s, people began to realize that the elimination of dietary fat from our culture was not only nearly impossible, but was downright stupid. Read more.

Marion Nestle’s Sorting out low-fat vs. low-carbohydrate

Several people, among them Kerry Trueman of Eating Liberally, asked my opinion of John Tierney’s column about Gary Taubes’ new book, Good Calories Bad Calories, in today’s New York Times. Taubes’ book arrived while I was in India and I can’t really comment on it until I have had a chance to read it. I gather from Tierney’s piece and Gina Kolata’s review of it on Sunday that it comes down hard on carbohydrates.

I continue to be impressed by how difficult it is to separate the health effects of fat, carbohydrate, and protein from the calories they provide, the foods that contain them, the diets as a whole, or the rest of the lifestyle that goes along with the diet. Finding out what people eat is hard to do. Determining the health effects of dietary factors or patterns is even harder since humans make such awful experimental animals. Plenty of things about human nutrition are reasonably well established–the basic nutrients that are required and the amounts that prevent deficiency diseases, for example. But it is much trickier to figure out the effects of nutrients on chronic diseases that are also affected by activity levels, cigarette smoking, alcohol use, and social factors such as poverty, stress, and lack of control. So I can’t help but be skeptical of journalists who think they have answers to questions that scientists have been grappling with for years. Read more.

Thanksgiving Vacation, Mooning Over My Hammy, & Links To Get Fit and Healthy

Autumn In Mills Park, Carson City, Nevada















Thanksgiving looms and I’m about to get really busy. I finish up my shopping tomorrow and start cooking on Monsday to get a head start on the whole process. We’ll have turkey and ham as well as all our favorite fixings.




















Check out this delicious imported gourmet ham we bought last year and again this year, and at 99 percent fat free – a 2 ounce serving has 50 calories, 0.5 grams fat, > 1 gram carbs, and 10 grams protein - you get a good dose of delicious protein for less calories. And this ain’t your momma’s store bought ham, it’s oh so delic-i-o-so.

iGourmet.com Le Cochon d'Or Smoked Ham

This premium Canadian ham is prepared in the classic French tradition in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, a small town that lies between Quebec City and Montreal. The hogs in Cap-de-la-Madeleine are naturally raised with no growth hormones or steroids, which is a rare occurrence these days.

Their premium-quality hams are hard-carved from the leanest, most tender part of the animal and are 99% fat free. They are delicately coated with unique blends of herbed and spiced marinades and slow cured to develop a full rich flavor and uniform pink color. We offer three popular flavors - Baked Black Forest, Honey, and Cracked Black Pepper. Each ham weighs approximately seven pounds, making one perfect for a Sunday dinner for the whole family, a party on the weekend, or a team picnic. Varieties sold separately.

Price: $34.99
Size: 7 pounds

Assuming I don’t find time to blog in the coming week I’m leaving you with this super sized list of links chock full of information on fitness, nutrition, and a reminder to check out the website Wellness For Nancy and donate if you can.

Giving Thanks for All Our Blessings and Wishing You a Happy Thanksgiving! Carol



7 Fat Loss Strategies For Busy Moms
Michael Jordan
November 16, 2007
Would you like to "jump start" your metabolism and lose your ‘mommy belly' once and for all? If so, the following seven tips are exactly what you need to improve your workouts and ignite your metabolism. Try some or all of these tips, but beware, the result may be a number of admiring second glances and the need to pull your ‘skinny jeans' out of the closet.

Bodybuilding Fat Loss Tips for Women
From Hugo Rivera

Lose Fat With IFBB Figure Pro Pauline Nordin
Everyone knows what to do to lose fat, right? Then how come so few reach their goals and achieve that lean look if it's so damn easy to get ripped?

I could tell you the very same things as everybody else does, but I definitely won't. It's not only about the perfect diet plan and the right amount of exercise, the best supplements and so on; the most important part of a fat-loss strategy is your mental approach to it.

That's what I'm going to tell you about. Basically, what you've got to do is stick to your plan. Period.

The Most Unusual Way To Build Muscle
By Mark McManus

Can you build muscle without touching a weight?

Imagine the possibility of using your mind to reshape your body size and strength!
Strange? Indeed.

I recently remembered reading about a study a few years ago in Men’s Health in which the subjects increased the size and strength of selected muscle groups by simply ‘thinking‘ about working them out.

They simply visualized the process and their bodies responded in the same manner as if they’d actually hit the iron!

It’s well known by a lot of people in psychology and exercise physiology that the brain cannot distinguish the difference between a ‘real’ event i.e. one that is observed objectively, and a vividly imagined one i.e. one that is created subjectively. The implications of this could be quite exciting for bodybuilders.


Tony Horton’s 11 Laws For Lifetime Fitness

4 Tips To Fat Loss by Gregg Gillies

“Can You Burn Fat And Build Muscle At The Same Time?”

How To Lose Weight By Eating More


Holiday Weight Management Survival Guide
From Paige Waehner


Holiday Pounds Forever - Consistent Eating for Long-Term Weight Control


7 Day Fat Loss Meal Plan


Fat Loss For Beginners-8 Tips For Getting Started

The No Weight Gain Holiday Guide

Harvard School of Public Health On Fruits & Vegetables

Increase Your Metabolism and Curb Your Appetite With This Fat Burning Food Group


99 Tips For Family Fitness Fun