As you’ve heard me write about many times, I’m a big advocate for eating organic. The word organic encompasses many different practices for different types of foods. As a general rule of thumb, it means that no hormones, anti-biotics, or pesticides were used in the production of that food.

For live stock it means that they weren’t confined and fed a diet(corn) that wasn’t its natural diet. In the case of cattle, they roam freely and eat grass. Hence the commonly used term “grass fed beef”. Fish are caught wildly instead of raised in fish farm tanks. Chickens roam wildly eating worms and their natural diets instead of living in a case or overcrowded dark hen house walking on their own feces and trampling each other to death.

Recently I watched a documentary that has enforced my commitment to eating organically stronger than anything I could have expected. It’s a documentary called “Food Inc.”. In this movie they highlight so many cruel, un-sanitary, and downright ridiculous ways that everyday food is modified in order to increase profit, decrease price, and decrease nutritional value.

Our food has changed more in the last 50 years that it has in the previous 10,000. It is now cheaper to eat a bag of potato chips than a bag of carrots. A trend has been taking place in front of our very eyes where the poor are getting fatter, experiencing more disease than they did 50 years ago. The nutritional education we’ve received as kids and adults is a joke. The truth is that your everyday “conventionally” grown foods are poisoning you. The big food companies just like the big drug companies are doing everything they can to keep this information from getting out.

The US government has subsidized corn farming in the US to where its now they main ingredient in the majority of foods. It’s what we feed cattle, chickens, pigs, etc… Not what they were intended to consume. Anti-biotics and growth hormones are used so that a chicken can reach full maturity(larger than normal) for slaughter in 49 days instead of 90 days.

They actually show a side by side comparison of raising a chicken all the way through the slaughter process in both the conventional fashion and organic natural farming fashion. It’s pretty eye opening.

Check out the trailer for the movie:

I can’t do justice to the information shared with you in that documentary. All I want to say is that if you truly care about what you are putting in your body(and your families). Please watch this documentary. It will change your life.   Go to www.FoodIncMovie.com

Dedicated to your health,

Dennys Passeto, CPT
www.achieve-fitness.com

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I can’t possibly count how many times people come to me and are struggling with losing weight but are working their butts off at the gym to do so. Though their effort is there and they’re putting the time in, they just can’t seem to lose weight or change their bodies. When I hear this scenario, I can almost instantly diagnose the problem nine times out of ten. It’s the result of having gone “cardio crazy.”

Generally, the people who fall into this category have the same frustration. They spend 1 hour a day, 5 days a week, sweating it out on the treadmill, the elliptical or the recumbent bike. Some of them burn up to 800 calories per workout, but are just not seeing the results. It’s difficult to understand because they’re burning such a high volume of  calories, and we’ve all been taught that it’s all about calories in versus calories out, right?

Yes, you DO need to expend more calories than you take in to lose weight. If this simple mathematic equation doesn’t add up, weight loss will be impossible. Unfortunately, however, this is NOT the only part of the weight loss equation. Let me explain…

The real key to losing weight, and more specifically burning fat is not how many calories you burn during your workout,  but what your body does to recover afterward.

Traditional cardio, like the kind I described above, usually  entails 30 to 60 minutes of a low to moderate intensity exercise like walking, jogging or biking at a pace that is sustainable for a long period of time. No one would argue that this type of exercise doesn’t have its health benefits and can produce some gains in fitness. However, the problem is, as soon  as you’re done performing this type of exercise, your body stops reaping the benefits of it. It simply does not take your body much to recover from the stresses of pure aerobic activity.

If you live in this zone of cardio, you WILL NOT see significant improvements in your fitness level or your weight loss efforts!

To truly improve your fitness level and increase your metabolism,  you must constantly vary the stimulus, and therefore constantly change the metabolic demands of your workouts. There are so many  ways to vary the stimulus provided by your workouts. These  variables include the modality of exercise,load, tempo (intensity), distance, duration of exercise and rest periods. Once your body fully adapts to any stimulus, the cardiovascular system stops being challenged, and therefore ceases to make further improvements.

One of the keys to getting more out of your cardiovascular  program is to periodically work out at an extremely high  intensity for shorter durations. This is where interval training becomes so powerful. Rather than running for 45 minutes at one speed, you can perform 30 second sprints at 90 – 95% of your maximum heart rate, resting one minute between each sprint.  If you push the pace properly, you only need to perform about 5 repeats of this interval to reap its metabolic benefits. Why? Because different work to rest ratios have different energy demands, and this will shock your metabolism way more than a leisurely 30 minute jog!

Study after study in exercise science has shown that the  higher the intensity of the stimulus, the longer the post-workout metabolic rate is elevated. If your current workload is not causing you to fatigue, it’s time to start pushing it further! Overloading is absolutely necessary in achieving any positive physical change in your body.

The problem with the traditional cardio programs that people  tend to follow is that they never challenge their anaerobic  threshold. Simply put, anaerobic activity occurs when the body cannot produce enough energy for the muscles with oxygen alone. The beauty is, you can train anaerobically using just about any modality. Sure, you can stick to running, swimming, or biking using interval training. But you can also push your anaerobic threshold using strength training, plyometrics, or body weight resistance.

Remember, variation is the key to success. Routine truly is the enemy when it comes to producing positive physical change. You  can get just as much benefit (if not more) performing fast- paced  intervals of air squats or push ups for 10 minutes as you can in a 45 minute aerobics class. Mix it up and watch your body transform!

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It’s that time of year again! Ok, now that I have your attention, what I really mean is it’s that time when people typically feel tired, lethargic and drained of energy. The good old winter blues have struck again!

This is the time of year that people dread. The buzz from the holidays has worn off, the days are short, and it’s too cold to get outside and be active. Sure, part of these feelings  just seem to come with the season. However, there are also internal changes that occur within our body that make this time of the year seem unbearable.

One of the main reasons for these feelings during this time of year is due to the lack of sunlight.

There is hope, however, and the beauty of it is that we as human beings have the power to make a few small lifestyle  changes that can make the winter season just as happy and  productive as any other time of year. One of the most  powerful things you can do to keep you feeling energetic,  lively and enthusiastic through the winter season is by adding one of nature’s critical elements to your lifestyle.

What is this miracle substance that I refer to? No, it’s not a magic pill that I’ve discovered on the Wal-mart shelves. It’s one of nature’s healthiest nutrients for the human body, it’s called…..Vitamin D!!

The benefits of Vitamin D cannot be overstated. Vitamin D regulates growth in just about every cell of our body. It is absolutely critical to developing strong bones, teeth, and eyesight. It also aids in the absorption of other key nutrients, mainly calcium and Vitamins A and C. It has also shown to play a role in the prevention of various types of  cancer, as well as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and inflammatory conditions.

Vitamin D deficiency can cause some frightening effects  as well. It has been linked to elevated cholesterol levels and hypertension in older adults. Because of its critical role in calcium absorption, the lack of Vitamin D can also cause weakened bones, which in turn leads to severe joint pain and inflammation. People who have tested low for Vitamin D levels in the bloodstream have also reported lower energy levels, depression, and overall lack of motivation.

….Try combating the Winter Blues without it! No thanks!

So, where can we get Vitamin D. There are a lot of answers out there – in our diet, supplementation, and sunlight would be the most common. All of these are good sources.

Supplementation is a great way to get the necessary  Vitamin D3.  I usually try and take about 5000 IU’s per day.  It’s very inexpensive and effective at maintaining healthy energy levels.

Some great food sources for Vitamin D include eggs (particularly egg yolks), some meats (especially liver),milk, sardines, salmon, and cod liver oils. While these are all great resources for getting Vitamin D in your diet, ingested sources are generally insufficient for ensuring adequate Vitamin D levels. However, that doesn’t mean you should give up. Foods that are high in  Vitamin D usually contain other critical nutrients for overall health as well.

Sunlight may be the most effective way to get adequate amounts of Vitamin D. Conventional wisdom would tell us to avoid the sun at all costs, however, regular moderate exposure to sunlight is the best way to get Vitamin D that the human body can use.  Without getting adequate sun, you would need to drink almost 40 glasses of milk to achieve adequate Vitamin D levels. Excess Vitamin D is actually destroyed by the sun itself, so it is impossible to overdose on it through sun exposure.  The greatest benefit of getting sunlight is that the Vitamin D that is specific to sun exposure contains a natural mood elevator, something that can play a necessary role in
combating the Winter Blues!

So the solution to picking your spirits up this season? Eat a healthy, balanced diet with plenty of natural Vitamin D sources, and try to endure the cold and get outside, even if it’s just for a few minutes every day. Even if its just sitting by a window with sunlight coming through it for a few minutes per day.  Your body (and mood) will thank you for it, as you re-energize during this typically “down” time!

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