GetFit Top Tip

I am now over 3 weeks in to the Elimination Diet, and what have I learned?

Coffee: having been a coffee junkie for years, going without for over 3 weeks has at times been tough. BUT after the initial withdrawal headaches and generally feeling rubbish, I am now finding it easier to go without. I am also finding my sleep patterns have improved massively, and I feel more lively during the afternoon (a typical sluggish time for me). Now this may be due to an increase in water intake too, I don’t really know. The big thing here and I don’t want to understate it, really is the improved sleep quality!

Breads and Pasta: Not really missed the pasta’s, never really ate too much of the stuff anyway! But the bread was like the coffee, one of my major weaknesses. I think this part has contributed mostly to the visable results that i have obtained, no more bloating, no more over-full feeling. We simply do not have the stuff in our house any more, and going out for lunch or dinner simply means ignoring the bread that appears on the table!

Over high energy dense foods: Heavily processed foods such as sweets, pizza, burgers and such like didn’t really exist in my diet anyway, but I was certainly prone to the more than occassional treat… which it seems added up. Cutting those out at times was difficult, regularly eating our normal dinner and then wanting something sweet after was just a habit. A habit that is now broken.

Yes this is a bit of a sales pitch, BUT only because I could not have done the last few weeks without it. The Elimination Diet Cookbook has been a indispensible companion on this journey so far. So if you are starting your Elimination Diet program today, then I would thoroughly recommend the Cookbook too.

The Results: well in 3 weeks, ie. 21 days, i have lost 4.5kg and now dropped to my lowest body fat percentage measurement I have ever recorded on myself.

Don’t wait till monday to start this! Start NOW!

Bookmark It

Serves 4.

Preheat oven to 190 degree.

Put in a large roasting dish: 500 grams small, peeled, carrots, cut diagonally, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons runny honey, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1 red, largely chopped peppar.

Roast in the oven for 20-25 min, stirring twice. In the last 5 min stir in a 400 gram-tin of chickpeas, rinsed and drained.

While roasting the veg, prepare 200 grams wholegrain couscous. Mix the couscous with 300 ml of  vegetable stock. Leave to rest for 20 min or until liquid has been absorbed.

Combine  everything with the juice from 1 lemon, 100 gramslowfat feta cheese, 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, 8 large cut into squares dates.Season generously with black peppar and salt. Stir in a handful of fresh coriander just before serving.

Enjoy!

Per serving: 465 kcal, 18g fat,63g carbs, 7g fibre, 16g protein

Bookmark It

Don’t Displace, Dummy!
by Dr. John Berardi There’s a big difference between a healthy diet to which treats are occasionally added and an ‘all-treat diet.’ In the former, unhealthy foods are consumed rarely and in addition to healthy foods. In the latter, unhealthy foods are consumed often and instead of healthy foods. This is called ‘food displacement’ and must be avoided if optimal body composition and health are your goals. Don’t displace nutrient dense food with empty calories!

SEE ALSO:
This tip is sponsored by Precision Nutrition - our pick for the best nutrition and supplement resource currently available. Containing system manuals, gourmet cookbook, digital audio/video library, online membership, and more, Precision Nutrition will teach you everything you need to know to get the body you want — guaranteed.

Order Precision Nutrition now and get $50 off!

Bookmark It

OK here I am again experiencing another of our fundamentals this time Nutritional Responsibility, what is this exactly? well it is actually very simple, it’s all about going back to basics making sure that we have a clean diet consisting of fresh fruit and veg, fresh meat and fish, low fat dairy and water.One of the things that we ask you to do is to to keep a truth diary. This involves writing down everything that goes into your mouth and at what time.You will also grade them. A is for all fresh, B is for not so good but not so bad and C is yes you guessed it is all heavily processed foods like pizza, alcohol, biscuits etc. You will also mark down how many portions of fruit and veg you have eaten and what you have drunk.

So how is it going so far….. well boy does it make you think about what you are putting in your mouth. The idea is not really to change what you are eating just to record it, but automatically i found myself making small changes.

From seeing what I had written down I have automatically increased my water intake upped my portions of fruit and veg, cleaned up my main meals by reducing the amount of processed foods and increased the amount of times that I am eating per day(which is never a problem for me as I love to eat:o), which of course is the key to revving up your metabolism and getting rid of your body fat. So with out really making an effort and just with these small changes I have lost nearly 2 kilos already!!!

Now as part of your 3 month pro gramme with us for ONE MONTH we ask you to give up alcohol, wheat based products and all processed foods so that you can really see dramatic effects that it can have. I will let you know how this goes in the not to distant future…

Start training with Marie this week, utilising the power of Nutritional Responsibility, go here to arrange a consultation

Bookmark It

Oh here we go, hang the current media storm over the global financial situtation on the reasons why we are getting fat… a tenuous link you may be thinking… however a little bit of science may prove this correct.

Over the last few weeks I have noted increased tension in pretty much everyone, all my clients, the trainers around me, my family and pretty much everyone I talk to. I am not going to dismiss that there are some fairly sizeable problems out there, but I am not going to succumb to the frenzy that we see on the tv every day.

The problem with increased stress levels for prolonged periods mean that our cortisol levels remain at a heightened state for longer period. Whilst some cortisol is good for us, the length of time is the bit which causes the problem.

The long periods of elevated cortisol leads significantly to muscle loss and fat gain, in part due to lowered testosterone levels(yes even in females). Symptoms of excess stress include, weight gain, fatigue, spikes in blood sugar levels as well as cravings for carbs and increased regualarity of illness … All pretty grim really… but what can we do about it.

Now I am not suggesting we all shut ourselves in a box for the next 3 years waiting for all this to blow over, but it may be a good idea to reduce the exposure we have to these stressful things we see on the tv and read about on the internet.

• Many of you do work in the financial sector, which is getting hammered as we speak, but certainly I would suggest only dealing with what you can deal with during the  time you are in the office.
• When you wake in the morning, DO NOT turn on the TV or read a newspaper, I actually stopped doing this months go and it is a real eye opener to see the changes in your mood at the start of the day.
• At lunch time, get away from your desk, don’t surf the internet, better still get down the gym for a quick and hard 30 minute workout, take you iPod and pump some uplifting tunes in to your head.
• On the commute on the way home, each night make a mental or physical list of the things that you are going to start the following day with. Once you are at your front door, no more thoughts about work, and switch off the blackberry.
• Have a healthy evening meal, sit down with the family and watch a good film, go and do some sport and generally chill out.
• Finally go to bed early to get at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Theses changes are so minor, they don’t affect your normal routine, other than simply avoiding being sucked in to the media frenzy of the day. Give it a try for the next few weeks and you’ll find that your stress levels will change, and your ability to lose body fat will be increased.

Bookmark It

It is day 15 of the Elimination diet for me. So how has it been going.

The biggest thing for me is cutting out the coffee. I am finding it less of a problem day by day avoiding the coffee, but at times it really has been difficult.

The bread part has not been so difficult, and I have really managed to work around not being able to make a sandwich.

The Elimination Diet Cookbook has been a lifesaver to be honest, breaking my wife and I away from the tedious meat and vegetables meals, and we have tried a couple of different dishes including a slightly different style of omlete for breakfast.

Snacks have fairly consistently been fruit based and also natural yoghurt for the protein element.

So what has been the results: so far I have lost about 2.5kg not a huge amount, but significant in just over 2 weeks. The big difference is in the body fat percentage now down to its lowest in 18 months.

Dax is just finishing off the new Elimination Diet site, but if you want to get hold of it simply pop over to:

http://www.eliminationdietblueprint.com/

Oh yes and I would strongly recommend the cookbook if you plan on starting which you can get here

Bookmark It

In a hurry in the morning, don’t miss breakfast what ever you do if you want to lose BodyFat!

Here is a quicky:

In mixer put 1 mango, 3 kiwis, 1/2 avocado and natural yogurt (if you want it thin and drinkable add ricemilk/oatsmilk) While mixing; Boil 1 egg and put on rye bread with some fresh basil.Pour the thick smoothie over some natural muesli and enjoy!

Jess

Bookmark It

Good Fats
by Dr. John Berardi On average, most people should ensure that 25-35% of their energy intake comes from fat, with your fat intake split equally between saturates (animal fat), monounsaturates (olive oil, avocados, etc), and polyunsaturates (flax oil, salmon oil, etc.). Your total fat in the diet may vary but make sure you’re getting about 1/3 of each type for the best fat balance.

SEE ALSO:
This tip is sponsored by Precision Nutrition - our pick for the best nutrition and supplement resource currently available. Containing system manuals, gourmet cookbook, digital audio/video library, online membership, and more, Precision Nutrition will teach you everything you need to know to get the body you want — guaranteed.

Order Precision Nutrition now and get $50 off!

Bookmark It

So I think We have all been there…It’s that time of the Year when all your clothes are suddenly to Tight and You wonder how the heck that happened. And in true fashion the first thing You would do is cutting down on the food or start mad hard training or even worse both at the same time….If You have any of those thoughts in you head then STOP right there…Think about it for a second. When you go on a diet you are acctually breaking down body tissues. You want to loose bodyfat but what happens in a diet is your loosing water and even muscles. Yeah, you might loose a few kilos but is it the right kilos???? On a diet you won’t get a toned body and You won’t feel very well either and worse of all when you start eating normally again, you will put everyhting right back on and often alot more.

Second scenario is You are training very hard and then start cutting down on the food because You feel nothing is happening….Why oh Why..?

A very hard training-body doesn’t Want to loose any fat and will  do anything to keep it. So in order to loose BODYFAT you WANT to get the Metabolism-Fire burning to the Max. This is how to do that:

First of all, If you are trainig very hard and you  don’t loose any BODYFAT, it’s most likely that you acctually don’t eat enough or secondly you don’t train in the most Effective way.

You HAVE to EAT to be able to BURN!!!!!  Eat EVERY 2-3 hours to keep that fire burning inside you.It goes without saying that obviously it has to be the right things you eat: Keep it Clean and Natural and don’t make it hard on yourself. Stay away from alcohole and Refined Sugars, They will SLOW DOWN the metabolism!

Training Wise…for Fatburning, STOP those hour long cardio w/o and stay away from the aerobics classes. Start building MUSCLES! Without Muscle mass You will NOT BURN! You don’t have to go mad now and start building like Arnold Scwarzenegger…Bodyweight Resistance training is enough but don’t be afriad to use DumbBells.For a woman to get Huge with Muscles,  it is near enough Impossible. That will take hours in the Gym with HardCore Wieght training for a very long period of time, so don’t be afraid to Push Yourself out of Your Comfort Zone, because that’s when things starts to heat up in your body.

Add on some SHORT but SHARP Intervalls into the schedule and Your Metabolism will really Kick Off .

Seems like alot of work??? Acctually, All You need is 3/Week Resistance Training a 45min and 2-3/Weeks Intervalls a 20-25min and together with EATING regulary the BodyFat will start to Melt off in the Fire of a Great Metabolism!

JESS:)

Bookmark It

So far so good… well kind of… One of My Magic Hundred was to follow the elimination diet…

I am 2 days in to Dax Moy’s Elimination Diet… basically you are only allowed to eat things like fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh meat/fish/poultry, some basic dairy produce and drink only water.

The hardest part for me so far is the coffee bit… having spent a week in the US trying to stay awake in a different time zone whilst listening to lectures has required plenty of coffee, so going cold turkey on the caffeine has produced some monster headaches.

The other hard part is cutting out the bread… I admit it is my one major weakness.

I did ForestFit this morning and suffered big time… too much rubbish this last few weeks has taken its toll.

Despite sounding like it is awfully hard to do, having done this before I know the results it can produce. Last time I cut bread for a month I lost 5kg of pure body fat! So it really can make a difference.

To get Dax’s Elimination diet go to http://www.daxmoy-pts.co.uk/elimination/

He also has a great cookbook that accompanies the free program available here

Bookmark It