By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS

Do calories matter or do you simply need to eat certain foods and that will guarantee you’ll lose weight? Should you count calories or can you just count “portions?” Is it necessary to keep a food diary? Is it unrealistic to count calories for the rest of your life or is that just part of the price you pay for a better body? You’re about to learn the answers to these questions and discover a simple solution for keeping track of your food intake without having to crunch numbers every day or become a fanatic about it.

In many popular diet books, “Calories don’t count” is a frequently repeated theme. Other popular programs, such as Bill Phillip’s “Body For Life,” stress the importance of energy intake versus energy output, but recommend that you count “portions” rather than calories…

Phillips wrote,

“There aren’t many people who can keep track of their calorie intake for an extended period of time. As an alternative, I recommend counting ‘portions.’ A portion of food is roughly equal to the size of your clenched fist or the palm of your hand. Each portion of protein or carbohydrate typically contains between 100 and 150 calories. For example, one chicken breast is approximately one portion of protein, and one medium-sized baked potato is approximately one portion of carbohydrate.”

Phillips makes a good point that trying to count every single calorie – in the literal sense – can drive you crazy and is probably not realistic as a lifestyle for the long term. It’s one thing to count portions instead of calories – that is at least acknowledging the importance of portion control. However, it’s another altogether to deny that calories matter.

Calories do count! Any diet program that tells you, “calories don’t count” or you can “eat all you want and still lose weight” is a diet you should avoid because you are being lied to. The truth is, that line is a bunch of baloney designed to make a diet sound easier to follow.

Anything that sounds like work – such as counting calories, eating less or exercising, tends to scare away potential customers! The law of calorie balance is an unbreakable law of physics: Energy in versus energy out dictates whether you will gain, lose or maintain your weight. Period.

I believe that it’s very important to develop an understanding of and a respect for portion control and the law of calorie balance. I also believe it’s an important part of nutrition education to learn how many calories are in the foods you eat on a regular basis – including (and perhaps, especially) how many calories are in the foods you eat when you dine at restaurants.

The law of calorie balance says:

To maintain your weight, you must consume the same number of calories you burn. To gain weight, you must consume more calories than you burn. To lose weight, you must consume fewer calories than you burn.

If you only count portions or if you haven’t the slightest idea how many calories you’re eating, it’s a lot more likely that you’ll eat more than you realize. (Or you might take in fewer calories than you should, which triggers your body’s “starvation mode” and causes your metabolism to shut down).

So how do you balance practicality and realistic expectations with a nutrition program that gets results? Here’s a solution that’s a happy medium between strict calorie counting and just guessing:

Create a menu using an EXCEL spreadsheet or your favorite nutrition software. Crunch all the numbers including calories, protein, carbs and fats. Once you have your daily menu, print it, stick it on your refrigerator (and/or in your daily planner) and you now have an eating “goal” for the day, including a caloric target.

Rather than writing down every calorie one by one from every morsel of food you eat for the rest of your life, create a menu plan you can use as a daily goal and guideline. If you’re really ambitious, keeping a nutrition journal at least one time in your life for at least 4-12 weeks is a great idea and an incredible learning experience, but all you really need to get started on the road to a better body is one good menu on paper. If you get bored eating the same thing every day, you can create multiple menus, or just exchange foods using your primary menu as a template.

Using this meal planning method, you really only need to “count calories” once when you create your menus, not every day, ad infinitum. After you’ve got a knack for calories from this initial discipline of menu planning, then you can estimate portions in the future and get a pretty good (and more educated) ballpark figure.

So what’s the bottom line? Is it really necessary to count every calorie to lose weight? No. But it IS necessary to eat fewer calories then you burn. Whether you count calories and eat less than you burn, or you don’t count calories and eat less than you burn, the end result is the same – you lose weight. Which would you rather do: Take a wild guess, or increase your chance for success with some simple menu planning? I think the right choice is obvious.

For more information on calories (including how calculate precisely how many you should eat based on your age, activity and personal goals, and for even more practical, proven fat loss techniques to help you lose body fat safely, healthfully and permanently, check out my
blog: “Weight loss Report”.

About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written more than 200 articles and has been featured in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on Tom’s program,visit==>
www.perfectformulaoline.com/tom

Dear Friend,

Here’s a newsflash I’m sure won’t surprise you… nothing concocted in a laboratory can ever replace the value of what is found in nature!

The coconut is a “functional food” rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber – the essential nutritional building blocks for perfect health.

Coconut oil in particular has been shown to protect you from viruses, bacteria, infection, cancer, thyroid, brain and heart problems… plus beautifies your skin – and even burns fat!
Coconut oil – a saturated fat – is chock-full of health-promoting properties – and is in no way responsible for high cholesterol, obesity, heart disease and the bad effects you’ve been led to believe.

Before World War II, the miracle-healing coconut had been used to help alleviate:
Coughs
Constipation
Malnutrition
Skin infections
Toothaches
Earaches
Flush
And more!

The Four Unhealthy “Healthy Oils” You Should Never Consume!
Over four decades healthy sources of fats were replaced with vegetable oils that were thought to be “better-for-you.” We now know they’ve done more harm than good.

The following four are the worst offenders you should avoid at all costs:
Canola – Animals and insects avoid it in nature
Cottonseed Oil – An industrial plant saturated with pesticides…
Safflower – Studies show an increase of Omega-6 also increases the rate of death by heart disease, reason enough to avoid this oil…
Soybean – The GMO, hormone disrupting nightmare “health” food they keep telling you is safe..

Coconut Oil Will Set You Free — and Improve Your Health!
Coconut Oil Contains the Healthiest Substance on Earth!

In The Coconut Oil Secret: Nature’s #1 Best Healing Superfood, you’ll find out about:
The unique quality that helps coconut oil readily fight viruses, bacteria and even yeast!
The special reason The Health and Science Institute proves coconut oil can promote colon health!
A complete list of parasites, infections, and viruses that coconut oil has been shown to be effective against!
The recommended dosage of coconut oil to consume, based on weight, for health purposes!
And so much more!

Coconut Oil Fuels Your Metabolism!
In The Coconut Oil Secret: Nature’s #1 Best Healing Superfood, you’ll discover:
The secret ingredient in coconut oil that burns fat quickly to fuel the body!
Why coconut oil makes you feel fuller longer and reduces food cravings!
The islanders who ate a diet of 50% fat but were slim and trim—and healthy!
The so-called “heart friendly oils” you should avoid that increase your risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
How consuming one ounce of coconut oil a day helped a group of women decrease BMI (body mass index) and waist circumference!
And so much more!

Coconut Oil Boosts Your Thyroid!
Find out if your thyroid is malfunctioning and how coconut oil can get it up to speed in:
“The Coconut Oil Secret: Nature’s 1 Best Healing Super food.”

Coconut Oil Protects and Beautifies Your Skin!
Coconut oil is a naturally moisturizing cleanser – and an effective sunscreen, blocking out 20% of
harmful rays…thanks to the medium-chain fatty acids that protect and heal the skin at the same time.

Coconut oil Can Save Your Brain
Alzheimer’s is on the rise – but you can do something now to protect your brain from the devastating
effects of this savage disease!

Coconut Oil Fights Cancer!
Don’t be terrified by cancer anymore! Because researchers have discovered it’s
possible to actually “starve” cancer cells – and this pro-active defense leaves
the body more able to fight the disease than being assaulted with chemotherapy!

Coconut Oil is the Ultimate Detox!
Coconut oil has amazing detox abilities and boisters your energy during a detox
program.

Coconut Oil is Amazing for Heart Health!
Heart disease is a scary disease often treated with even scarier drugs –  like
statins! Statins (cholesterol lowering drugs) deplete the body of vital heart-
nourishing nutrients and can do more harm than good!
Coconut oil can help prevent the need for such drugs- and even help getting sick
in the first place!

Coconut Oil Makes Yeast Yield to Its Health-Promoting Powers!

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                           Edition #36

The 3 Keys to Well Being

Tom Rath is only 39 years old, but he’s already sold six million books, includingStrengths Based Leadership and his latest, Are You Fully Charged? He’s a senior scientist and advisor to Gallup and is hugely influential in the business world. Since age 16, he’s been successfully battling a rare disease that causes cancer cells to appear throughout his body. And last but not least, he’s an incredibly humble and down to earth strong (and proud!) introvert.  read it all….

Sex & Scheduling: 8 Simple Tips To Reduce Stress In Your Daily Life

According to a 2013 survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, more than 75 percent of Americans suffer from physical symptoms of stress and nearly a quarter feel as though they are living with “extreme stress”. These statistics should leave no doubt that we are a stressed out society.    Read More »

Jamie Oliver’s Recipe of the Day
 Golden chicken, braised greens & potato gratin 

More Health & nutrition by Nutrobalance
Three keys to losing fat and gaining muscle
Seven Tips to lose Belly Fat Fast
How to find a weight loss Program that Works

There are three main keys to losing fat and gaining muscle. If you’re missing any of these
you will most likely fail in your attempts to build a lean muscular body. So what are they?

1) Eat Less Calories than you burn off

2) Resistance Training

3) Eating enough protein to maintain muscle mass

That’s as short and sweet as I can put it.

Any diet can work as long as it gets you to eat less calories than you burn off.
The key is to find a diet that suits your personality and your lifestyle. If you’re like me
you don’t have time to spend on diet rules and focusing on good foods and bad foods
and what to eat and what not to eat, and meal timing and all of that.

The diet that will work for you will most likely be the one with the least amount of rules,
or in fact no rules at all but rather just provide a guideline or two. For me that diet is
Eat Stop Eat. It is the simplest nutrition program I have ever come across.
There is only one guideline, and that is to take a 24 hour break from eating once or twice
per week. That’s it, simple and effective.

This type of eating program might work for you, or it might not. You just have to try it first.
As long as you can find a diet you can stick with for the long term you’ll be able to lose weight, the next key it making sure all of that weight comes from fat.
This is where resistance training comes in.

You have to do some form of resistance training in order to maintain and build muscle mass while you’re losing fat. If you are following an effective diet without doing resistance training you could end up losing muscle mass along the way. If this happens you could lose body weight without actually improving the look or shape of your body.

Your actual body weight doesn’t matter as much as your percentage of fat. If you can lose
5 pounds of fat, but gain 3 pounds of muscle you will only lose 2 pounds of body weight
on the scale, but you’ll look 8 pounds different. Even though 2 pounds doesn’t sound like much, the difference on your body fat percentage is the key.

This is why weight training is so important while dieting. Weight training is the best way to
make sure you don’t lose muscle while you diet, this helps with overall health as well as improving the overall look and shape of your body. After all when you diet the goal is to show off the lean muscle that is under the fat.

The third key to building muscle while losing fat is protein. You have to eat just enough protein to make sure your muscles can grow. This is a controversial topic that many nutrition ‘experts’ still don’t agree on. But the bottom line is protein is your friend when it comes to building muscle and especially when you’re dieting.

Mix these three key ingredients together and you’ll have a potent fat loss and muscle building program that can transform your body in no time.
For more information about fatloss, click here.

  Edition #35

Six steps to help you live the life you deserve

Link Between Children’s Brain Development And
Physical Fitness

Researchers have found an association between physical fitness and the brain in 9- and 10-year-old children: Those who are more fit tend to have a bigger hippocampus and perform better on a test of memory than their less-fit
read it all

The Leptin Diet: The 5 Rules of The Leptin Diet

Did you know that it is just as important when you eat as what you eat? Watch Byron, Leading Leptin Expert, explain The Leptin Diet 5 Rules, and why they are so important to follow for weight management and optimum health. “Learn how to eat in harmony with the hormone leptin.” https://youtu.be/NwdxTRAH_Gs

Mental health problems are experienced by more people worldwide than from any other physical disorder.
Based on estimates from the World Health Organization, by 2020 depression will cause greater disability than any other mental or physical disorder.

Up till today, most mental health problems are treated with psychological and pharmacological interventions.
The most common psychological treatments are known as cognitive behavior therapies, while antidepressants are the most common class of medication used to treat both depression and anxiety.

Herbs and nutrients are also often used to treat mental health problems, but there is often debate about whether they actually work. It is often argued by mainstream professionals that all they do is create expensive urine and do little to improve one’s mental wellbeing.
In this article some of the more commonly used natural supplements will be reviewed.

Omega-3 fish oils
There has been a considerable amount of research investigating the effects of fish oil
for the treatments of several mental health problems.
Most of the research has been in the area of depression, anxiety and
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Overall, the evidence suggests that fish oil is moderately effective for these conditions.

If you’re currently on the search for weight loss programs, you’ll need to consider a variety of things. All weight loss programs are not created equally; some will have a much higher rate of success than others.

Knowing exactly what to look for when searching for weight loss exercise programs will help enable you to make a decision that will get you the results you’re looking for.

First, if you’re like many people, you probably want a free weight loss program. The thing to keep in mind though is that these are free for a reason. They are targeted towards the general public and as such, give such broad suggestions that while it may work for one person, it will not work for you. For example, if you are a 200 pound man and the free weight loss programs you are finding are more geared towards a 140 pound woman; you can see why this would obviously be problematic.

The first thing to ask yourself when you see a weight loss diet program is how personalized is it. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that “General programs produce general results,” which is very true. The more personalized and targeted the solution is to your individual situation, the higher your chance of consistent weight loss.

Next, ask whether it allows for enough calories to keep you from completely starving. While it may be tempting to try a very low calorie approach to get the weight loss process over and done with, usually these end up backfiring on you, leaving you gaining more weight back after you go off them than you had when you first started. Your goal is to burn the fat, not starve the fat and the majority of weight loss programs force your metabolism to shut down which leads to muscle loss – a doubled edged sword contributing to greater fat storage on your body.

Another component that you’ll want to factor in is exercise. A good weight loss exercise program will combine both cardiovascular training along with weight training. Those weight loss exercise programs that have you doing hours of cardio on end are not going to be all that beneficial at retaining your lean muscle tissue mass, nor time efficiency. Since, your lean muscle tissue is what keeps your metabolism the highest; it’s what you really want to focus on the most. Neglecting this aspect of your workout is a huge mistake and does not maximize the 24 hours in a day you have to burn fat.

Finally, keep in mind that any weight loss program you go on you should be maintainable in the long run. A program that you’re only able to maintain in the very short term is likely to not be overly beneficial as if lifestyle changes are not made with regards to how you’re eating; chances are that the weight will be back at some point in the near future. Your ultimate goal is a lifestyle change, not a temporary change.

So, if you want to get on a weight loss program that works, be sure to check out Your Six-Pack Quest. As you’ll discover when you sign up for this plan you’ll get 9 balanced meal plans, 84 days each, ranging from 1200 to 2800 calories. You have literally zero guess work because these plans include grocery lists, a wide variety of meals, tasty meals, and exact times to eat. Follow the plans to the letter and you’ll have a ripped and sexy six pack 6 months tops.

———————————-

About the Author:

Vince DelMonte is the author of Your Six Pack Quest found at http://www.YourSixPackQuest.com

   Edition #34

Professor William Evans and Irwin Rosenberg, from Turfs University in the US, wrote a book called: Biomarkers, in which they discussed that building muscle is one of the best ways to improve overall health as well as slowing down the aging process.

However when we consider weight loss on it’s own, there are several mechanisms through which building muscle can assist weight loss.

Our muscles can burn up a lot of energy, particularly when they are recovering and rebuilding after exercise.This means they can make it easier for us to create an energy/calorie deficit and therefore lose weight. Your body will indiscriminately lose both fat and muscle tissue during the weight loss process.

Muscle loss without building muscle results in slowing down your metabolism, making it harder still to continuously lose  weight.

During post workout cardio increased fat burning.
Resistance exercise is the best way to stimulate your muscles to grow. Resistance exercise
tends to be a high intensity form of exercise and your body will use a greater proportion of
carbohydrate as a fuel source during the session.
As a result, your body will be in a carbohydrate-depleted state after workout and if you
perform some aerobic exercise (cardio) your body tend to use fat for its primeral fuel source.
This effect can be enhanced by using a thermogenic fat burning during exercise.

Regular exercise routine
You can’t just simply eat more food or take a protein powder in order to build muscle.
You first need a stimilus, and your body needs to be forced to adapt and overcome a stress, which in  this case is resistance exercise.

In order to get results fast it is best to perform a weight training routine 3 – 6 times
per week, in conjunction with some aerobic exercise.
If you haven’t had much experience with weight training it is always good to use the services of a personal trainer. They can help you to perform all of the exercises correctly, as well as help you to make the workouts more effective and enjoyable.

Many people are in search for a healthy lifestyle, but what are really
the essentials for “good health”? How do you achieve overall well being
and a healthy life?

When you have a closer look at the concept,it all boils down to the following three basic components, which are crucial for healthy living.
They are:
*1  Good Nutrition
*2  Regular Exercise
*3  High Quality Nutritional Supplementation

I will describe in more detail the above three components for healthy living.

First of all: Good Nutrition.
You probably heard it before: “You are what you eat.”
Although I like a more accurate definition.It is better to say:
“You are what you can get out of your food.”

Good nutrition is fundamental for good health.
The human body is a complex system that requires a full spectrum of
nutrients for optimal health.
What do we mean by “good nutrition”?
Good nutrition means: eating the right food that contains the right
amount of macronutrients,such as carbohydrates,protein & fat in the
right ratio,depending on the metabolism of each individual, fatty acids,vitamins,minerals and trace elements,based on your body type.

We can distinguish three types:
When your metabolism is slow, you belong to the “Endomorphs” group of
people. You are naturally overweight, you gain fat and retain water easily.
If you belong to this group, you need:
45%  Carbohydrates
35%  Protein
20%  Fat

Wen your metabolism is higher, you belong to the “Mesomorphs” group of
people. You are naturally muscular and have little or no body fat.
If you belong to this group, you need:
50%  Carbohydrates
30%  Protein
20%  Fat

The group with the highest metabolism are called the “Ectomorphs“.
You are generally skinny, could eat anything without gaining any weight.
If you belong to this group, you need:
55% Carbohydrates
25%  Protein
20%  Fat

A second factor that determines good nutrition is our body’s ability to
absorb the nutrients from the food that we eat.
The nutrients have to be in a form that the cells can accept them, and the
cells have to be in optimum condition to be able to absorb the nutrients.
That is one of the reasons most nutritional supplements miss the mark,
they don’t address the cellular condition of the body.

We also need a sufficient amount of antioxidants, to counteract the
formation of free radicals, caused by our stressful lifestyle,
pollution in air and water and malnutrition.
Oxidative stress has shown to be the root cause of over 70 chronic
degenerative diseases.

The second component for  healthy living is Regular Exercise,
It’s not all about nutrition, neither is it all about exercise.
A balanced lifestyle is the key. exercise at least three times per week.
Aerobics, jogging, swimming, cycling and also include weight
lifting in your exercise routine, which is important for maintaining
a healthy bone-structure.

Another important factor is proper pace. Don’t overdo it.
You can’t force things to happen at once. The secret to good
health is consistency and steadiness. The right amout of food
and exercise regularly.

The third component is: a high quality nutritional supplement.
As I mentioned earlier, most supplements do not address the
cellular condition of your body.
Even worse, many are in a form that is unacceptable for the cells
themselves and don’t contain biological available substances
that are useful for the cells in your body.

High quality supplements  are bio-available,well balanced,
preferable manufactured according to pharmaceutical standards
and potency guaranteed.

Hopefully people who are overweight, don’t exercise or suffer from
any degenerative diseases will take note of these three components,
which are essential for healthy living.