photo by MeghanWard

IF challenge week #2 begins today (or Day #8). Today’s focus is on fasted workouts. I came across this great read today from the Fitness Spotlight selection of the day. The post below comes from Evolved Living Blog on working out fasted.

I have always been a fan of working out fasted (first thing in the morning) I usually wake up, browse the net and drink a cup of black coffee and then have a workout, which is often a jog if the weather is nice out. This article is going to run over some of the benefits of training this way;

• AM exercise magnifies a positive hormonal response, working out later in the day will enhance cortisol and this is not a good thing before you hit the sack.
• Food releases insulin which blunts fat burning. When you wake Insulin is at its lowest allowing the most fat to be burnt.
• Cardio in the morning wakes you up and gets your body in action for the day, flushing out your lymphatic system and ensuring a flow of energy.
• It will activate your lean and hungry adaptive mechanism which will burn fat and build muscle, especially if you have a fasted weights workout which hits your back and shoulder area.
• Insulin sensitivity is further improved and fasting is prolonged which can have great health benefits….

Those are reason enough and with summer you have no excuse to hit the park/road and have a morning workout.

From my own experience I find that doing weight training when totally fasted should be done but be careful not to go too hard as it can compromise your mood and well being. Try a short and intense weights workout without too much volume that does not take longer than 30 minutes.

Some good take home points. I know everyone’s schedule is different, so here are some strategies to try to take advatage of a fasted state for fat loss (and muscle).

• Try AM workouts fasted. Your liver glycogen is very low so you can get to burning fat quicker than later in the day. Do any strength training first and make it short and intense (under 30-40min). Or start off with some intervals for 10-15min (go hard/easy every min). You are trying to increase the GH output and deplete glycogen in that period.
• Add some additional lifestyle activity after (cardio is the term I don’t like using…but that is what it is) a glycogen depleting workout. Hopefully you have gone at enough intensity to start freeing the fat from storage and now you have the ability to burn them in the muscle with no muscle loss. Go for a walk, bike ride, etc., nothing too highly strenuous otherwise you could be just wasting muscle, after your AM resistance/interval workout for another 30-45min (again this is now slower paced to take advantage of the fat burning environment you have just created)
• Because the intensity at which people workout/do intervals will vary, many will need additional activity (aka cardio) to help burn the fat. Not everyone can just get superior fat loss on high intensity training only unless they can really push themselves to that level to benefit from the EPOC window of burning calories post workout. When in doubt, add in some more activity and burn that fat pwo.
• If you workout later in the day, just try to eat as little as possible a couple hours before the workout. Remember that for fat loss we are trying to use weights and high intensity to drain glycogen and start burning fat afterwards.
• Do not eat for an hour after your resistance/interval training (which includes the time spent doing the additional lifestyle activities pwo). So for example, if you do lifting for 30min, and then another 30min of walking…wait another 30 min before eating a meal of mostly protein and some fat/veggies. Don’t flood your body with sugar as that will just shut off fat burning for the next 3 hours. If you are feeling too low on energy (low blood sugar), then have some fruit pwo.
• If you are feeling lightheaded or low blood sugar before a workout and can not do it, then you can add in some simple fruit 30min before to give you the energy to get through it (as we want our resistance and interval based training to be intense to get the full benefit)

Find what works for you and your schedule…and the fat should come peeling off little by little. Also a trick to add in some caffeine may help especially in the AM while fasted (as it stimulates a noradrenaline response to help signal those harder to burn fat cells with the A2 receptors…aka your trouble spots). Make sure you can tollerate it of course and take it slow and steady (may not be suitable for people with high BP or other issues, always check with a physician if you have any concerns). So to sum up:

• Do Workouts (resistance/intervals) first and fasted (as much as you can)
• Keep it short and intense for 20-40min
• Keep moving at a slower enjoyable pace/activity following the resistance/interval session for another 20-40min
• Eat protein/veg/fat pwo (60min after the resistance/interval part)
• Eat fruit pre-workout if you can not do an intense enough workout fasted, or pwo if you are feeling too light headed and tired
• Try caffeine pre workout (which can also increase intensity of workout and aid in signaling more fat loss…warning it can raise BP so make sure you are medically cleared for that first)
• All workouts should leave you feel refreshed and still feeling great
• Fat loss is an all day event, focus on eating for that hormonal response (no sugar, control insulin, eat slight calorie deficit for the day)
• Slow and steady gets real results, burns the fat in the trouble spots and saves muscle

photo by thornypup

Ask anyone and they will probably tell you that stress is not good….and then they go on telling you how stressed out they are all the time. In today’s world we have to take action to stop stress from taking over our lives (and taking it in the wrong direction). First let’s look at what is really going on inside of us.

Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) is an involuntary response system built into your body that controls many of your organs and muscles (heart, lungs, glands, stomach, blood vessels). We don’t even know it is working most of the time except when maybe we feel it in extreme situations (increased HR). What it does, is very important. You may also recognize it as the system that controls your “Fight or Flight” response (what keeps you alive when you need to fight off your attacker or run away from a dangerous situation). The 2 main parts of the ANS are comprised of the:

• Sympathetic Nervous System - Fight or Flight
  
• Parasympathetic Nervous System - Rest and Digest

The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) is responsible for getting us ready for action from an oncoming “stressor” (whatever that may be). It is our innate primal protective system that was meant to be used in times of stress that would cause harm to us. When it kicks in, it does the following:

• Releases Adrenaline/Noradrenaline
• Accelerates Heartbeat/Increases Blood Pressure
• Dilates Trachea and Bronchi (lungs)
• Stimulates conversion of Liver Glycogen into Glucose
• Takes blood away from the skin and other internal organs and increases it to the muscles, heart and brain
• Inhibits digestion (food movement through the gut and limited blood flow to the stomach)
• Inhibits saliva (enzymes needed for digestion start here)
• Contracts rectum

The Parasympathetic Nervous System is when there is no perceived threat (or stressor) and the body can relax and get back to normal function. The PNS does the following:

• Slows down the Heartbeat/Lowers the Blood Pressure
• Stimulates saliva. Simulates release of bile from the liver/gallbladder (needed to break down and digest fats)
• Relaxes the Rectum
• Stimulates Digestion
• Increases Blood Flow to Skin and other Internal Organs (stomach, liver, gallbladder

Looking at everything above, you can see why we want to have the PNS on most of the time (as that is what helps us digest food, detox the body, increase organ function, boosts the immune system, reduces inflammation, builds muscles, etc..etc). The SNS is meant for shorts bursts only, as once the fight or flight is over…then the body can slow down, shift over to the PNS response and heal and repair itself as needed. The problem is not with the short bursts of stress, but the chronic stress (ongoing for extended periods of time) in our lives…the ones that keep the SNS activated all day and do not allow the PNS to take over. Chronic SNS can lead to reduced digestion, improper organ function, malabsorption of essential vitamins and minerals (as part of the digestive process), lowered immune function, muscle breakdown and loss, sickness, increased inflammation, etc..etc. Not a road we want to go down I would assume for all of us.

Everyone has heard of the hormone called Cortisol, it’s a stress hormone and goes up when the SNS is activated (in response to adrenaline/noradrenaline). It’s a natural hormone that is actually needed to even wake up! As we wake up at 8am, our cortisol level is at it’s highest converting liver glycogen into glucose and increasing blood glucose levels to give us energy. (Hence if you ever see anyone suffering from Chronic fatigue or can’t wake up in the morning, chances are their cortisol output is very small….as sign of burnout from too much SNS activation and chronic cortisol production). What we want to do for optimal health and weight loss is to manage sources of chronic or excessive cortisol as it can lead to increased insulin resistance, obesity, inflammation, muscle loss, and a host of other bad things listed above (a distinct sign of cortisol and it’s related insulin resistance role on fat gain, is seeing it more in our “problem” areas). Cortisol has a half life of about 1hour, so it can go down if we give it a chance. Our natural rhythms should be higher cortisol in the morning, and then shifting into lower and lower amounts until we hit bedtime around 10pm where our cortisol is so low (along with blood glucose) that we are tired and need to go to sleep. Then the cycle starts over again. Unfortunately, this cycle is messed up with alot of people and unless it is corrected and controlled, some may never see the weight loss they want because of all the other hormonal things going wrong in the body.

So, to sum up what we have gone over so far:

• Fight or Flight Response is made for quick situations (will turn on the SNS response and increase levels of cortisol)
• Chronic Stress is the Main Issue. It is keeping the SNS turned on (and levels of cortisol higher) and can lead to muscle loss, cortisol burnout (chronic fatigue), high blood pressure, obesity (through insulin resistance), compromised digestion, depressed immune function and a host of other bad things.
• We have to learn to control stress, and find periods that allow the PNS to turn on and do it’s job. (our bodies were not designed to have the SNS on all the time and still operate effectively, aka have a healthy body).

So let’s wrap this up with a list of what the most common chronic stress factors are and things you can do to control it. Remember that it’s up to you to identify and control what comes in and out of your life. You may think you are getting away with it now, but if you keep the SNS on and limit the PNS activity, then you are most certainly heading down a road of illness and disease.

• Do not starve yourself or stay on a low calorie diet too long. Remember when we talk about IF, we always say “get your calories in”. Fasting is one thing with proper nutrition, starving yourself is another. Long term starvation (which does not happen in a few days) will only lead to elevated cortisol, muscle loss, immune system depression, etc. Eat smart, eat healthy and like mentioned before add in a higher calorie day once in a while if you think you are not eating enough daily. IF done right will actually lower blood pressure, total cholesterol, insulin resistance and yes….even total daily cortisol (why people on IF can gain muscle and not lose it like seen in general CR diets)
• Don’t do excessive exercise. This again will only start to increase your cortisol levels. More is not better in many cases. Usually anything under 45min of pretty intense exercise is the limit, after that your muscle saving hormones (test, GH) start to decline and cortisol starts to rise. Keep your weight training short and intense and any other aerobic activity (that is a higher HR) to under 45-60min. There are some other tricks you can use: Vit C taken in divided doses through out the day (or even pre/post exercise) can lower overall cortisol levels. Try taking 500mg-1000mg 3x a day (divided as it is water soluble and passes through your system), first thing AM, last thing PM, 30min pre-workout, post workout or just during very stressful times.
• Get your SLEEP. This can not be “stressed” enough (pardon the pun). If you are not going to bed early, staying up late, sleeping very little….you are just setting yourself up for disaster with lower GH levels, messed up melatonin, and higher cortisol peaks too soon (may cause restless sleep or waking up during the night, preventing that healing deep sleep). Not good. So the whole get your sleep saying should always be a top priority! Turn off the TV early, relax, do some deep breathing, turn down the lights (light is a stimulus!) let your cortisol levels drop like it should and you will feel and look better.
• Limit your use of stimulants. Yes, coffee and other caffeine stimulate the adrenaline/noradrenaline hormones. You are turning on the SNS response, which as we know…is meant for short bursts. Limit your use and certainly don’t have any later in the day, as that will not help your cortisol to lower and you get good sleep.
• Reduce stress and stop the weight gain. Ever notice when people say they eat more sugar when they are stressed out? (and lead to more insulin resistance, spiking insulin, taking in excess calories and more weight gain) This is your body’s response to the threat, it’s yelling “give me sugar for action”….so hence higher chronic stress (especially after liver glycogen is tapped out) means more cravings! Get rid of the stress, get rid of the cravings.
• Simplify your life, your possessions you are worrying about, don’t over commit to people, clear your schedule and keep tasks simple. Life is meant to be taken slowly and at an enjoyable pace. Slow and steady wins the race. Fast and chaotic makes you fat and sick.
• Stop stressing out over things you can not control or don’t matter. Whether at work, home, in the car. Practice stress reduction techniques like smiling more, ask yourself “will this even matter in a month…or year”, deep breathing exercises, go for a walk in nature, go exercise, simplify your life and it’s demands on you, learn to say “No” to people and take control of your time and life, turn off the TV, read something inspiring, don’t eat in front of the TV or while distracted, turn off the computer, turn off the cell phone, sit in traffic without the radio on and just focus on relaxing…..we are constantly being bombarded with stimulus and stressors every second of the day. Time to take notice and take control. You may not feel the SNS kicking in, but with every motorist that cuts you off, or every explosion/tense moment on a TV show, or every time the cell phone rings….your body responds in some way for possible future action (aka SNS response). Little chronic stressors can lead to bigger issues. Got some fat you are not losing? Well them….time to look at your whole lifestyle and see there may be something bigger in the works.

So get a notebook and start writing down everything you are doing all day, what stresses you out, what you worry about. Most stress is based on future events. You can’t control the future, you can only influence it’s outcome by what you are doing right NOW. So stop wasting your time stressing, and just take action. If you take the right actions now, there is nothing to worry about in the future. Enjoy your life and take control….and if you must, take time out to visualize something that relaxes you while at work….here, let’s all just drop all our worries for a few minutes and head out to the beach…..

photo by jorgemiente

Here at Mark’s Daily Apple, we advocate the Primal Blueprint Lifestyle, that is, a health philosophy that in large part acts to mimic the diet and physical activity of our pre-agricultural ancestors.

And, while we’ve explained in the past what it means to “Get Primal,” we figured what’s not to love about a bulleted list that reminds us how to incorporate these methods into our everyday lives.

Read on to learn how you can get primal on every level on every occasion:

Hike:

Whether it was searching for food, shelter or just greener pastures, our ancestors spent a lot of time taking the heel-toe express! (Though, it wasn’t exactly heel-toe in those days.) These days, of course, we have planes, trains and automobiles to get us from A to B, which means hoofing it has become our least likely mode of transport. To get back to the Primal Blueprint, set aside some time every week to participate in sustained activity as a way to return your body to its natural state (that is, being in a constant state of motion). And, although hiking was the primary modality for sustained exercise for our predecessors, feel free to substitute it for biking or any other low-level physical activity you can do for a long period with little interruption.

Sprint:

Although eat or be eaten is no longer really considered a threat in today’s society, for our ancestors, it was a pretty big (and potentially lethal) deal. The solution? Run fast, run hard, and run for your life! You can incorporate these same theories by adding a series of short sprints into your exercise routine (see Mark explain his sprint routine here). The idea here isn’t necessarily to be the fastest kid on the block (although that would be awesome), but rather to give all you’ve got for a brief period of time. Also, bear in mind that this concept of going hard and fast for a few seconds isn’t limited to the act of sprinting; you could try water sprints, power cycling, jump rope intervals or any other activity that requires short, intense bursts of energy.

Lift Hard:

Think Cavemen killed time pounding weights in a dingy gym? Think again! Our ancestors tested their strength only in real-life situations (as opposed to having a pose-off with the meathead in the cut-off shirt!) and grew strong by doing, for the most part, weight bearing exercises. Naturally, they focused on activities that would help them carry out real life functions. Want to work out like your primal ancestors? Try weight bearing activities such as squats or dead lifts, which our ancestors did when lifting a heavy rock or log for building; lunges, which mimic the action of transversing steep terrain or stepping into a throw; pull-ups and standing rows to mimic the movement of pulling a heavy object towards the body; pushing, to mimic the motion of… well, pushing things; and twisting motions such as medicine ball throws or cable woodchoppers, which our ancestors did when throwing spears or hoisting objects. For a new challenge (and an exercise that combines just about all of the above motions, try the Turkish get-up (YouTube link)

Ditch Grains and Sugar:

With the tagline “so simple even a caveman could do it,” the commercial suggests that our ancestors were, well, not the sharpest tools in the shed. But, clearly they were smart enough to shun grains and sugar (a feat that the majority of current day Americans have yet to accomplish). In fact, according to some anthropologists, our ancestors only consumed about 80 g of carbohydrates per day, largely because sources of carbohydrates – such as grains, beans and potatoes – are toxic in raw form. To keep it primal, avoid all grains, including bread, pasta, rice and noodles, and all refined sugar. It should also probably be noted that the majority (if not all) of processed foods are packed with carbs - either in the form of a grain, sugar, or both - so it’s best to cut those out too!

Eat Meat and Fish:

When dinner time rolled around for our ancestors, they weren’t exactly reaching for the yellow pages! Instead, they were reaching for a spear, ax or some other weapon to catch their meal. While we’re certainly not advocating that you begin hunting for your own entrees (people might talk!) we do recommend that you begin thinking about your diet in a way that resembles their dietary habits. That is, if you can’t catch it or find it in nature, you can’t eat it. In short, opt for meat and fish and don’t get hung up on the fat content. Not only is fat integral to health, it will also help keep you feeling satiated longer!

Eat Berries, Nuts and Unbridled Amounts of Veggies:

Again, when selecting foods, remember that you’re playing the role of the hunter and gatherer, so feel free to indulge in foods you would find in nature. Specifically, the Primal diet recommends berries, which are low in sugar and packed with vitamins, antioxidants and other beneficial nutrients, and nuts, including walnuts, brazil nuts, macadamias and almonds (but not peanuts which are a legume and should also be avoided for fear of aflatoxins). When it comes to vegetables, seek out root vegetables including carrots, turnips, parsnips, rutabagas and Swede (but not potatoes or other starchy, high-carb varieties), leafy greens, tomatoes and other brightly-hued vegetables (which not only add color to dishes, but also seriously improve the nutrition value).

Drink Water:

Although there is some back and forth about how much water our early ancestors actually consumed (with some anthropologists suggesting that early man got most of his water from the vegetables he consumed as opposed to risking his life standing in line with the other predators and prey at the local waterhole), the reality is that even if early man didn’t consume that much pure water, he certainly wasn’t reaching for a Coke. Get back to your primal roots by ditching the Gatorade, the soda (including the diet ones – they’re nearly as bad!) and especially the juice. All you really need is water, and lucky for you, it’s as easy as turning on the tap.

Sleep Smart:

When the sun went down, early man started prepping for bed. When the sun sets today, most men (and women) will do the dishes, watch Grey’s Anatomy, finish up paperwork, pay bills and check their email before falling asleep with the television blaring Conan O’Brien. No offense to Mr. O’Brien, but when nature starts heading to bed, so too should you. To catch Zzzs like our ancestors, remove all electronics from the bedroom and focus on creating an environment that is dark, quiet and serene. Also, while it might seem counterintuitive to not close the blinds, allowing natural light to be your wake-up call is far more refreshing (and natural) then waking to the shrills of an alarm clock.

Relax:

As much as we harp on about how hard early man had it (what with having to work hard to survive and all that), make no mistake, early man liked his downtime too! Unlike our ancestors, however, many of us tend to spend our downtime plunked in front of the TV or computer engaged(?) in mindless activity for hours on end. To get back to our primal roots, select an activity that will clear your mind and help you recharge and refocus. And don’t forget that part of this getting up and moving around a bit.

Crack a Coconut, Spear your Dinner and Sleep in a Cave:

Ok, maybe we’re kidding on this last one. But imagine how primal it’d make you feel!

IF Life Note: Thanks to our friends at Mark’s Daily Apple for the Guest Post!

Ok, so today begins the first day of the challenge. Part of my own personal challenge is posting every weekday some little tips to help you along the way whether it be in weight loss, exercise or just simplifying and enjoying life. So here’s the first of many posts for the 30 day challenge (along with other regular posts). I hope everyone can take something from this, make great permanent changes, get results and most importantly find a new lifestyle plan that gives you increased health, fitness and happiness. So let’s get started.

Does everyone have their plan in place? Do you know what you need to do? Do you know what foods you should be eating? Do you know when you are going to get your exercise in and what you are going to do? No more excuses….you have the time, so now it’s just time to prioritize it. Here are some steps to take today:

• If you need some guidance on getting a clear vision, re-read the post How to Get Anything You Want in Life
  
• Make sure you start off the day knowing what you need to do, have a plan (be active everyday, know what kind of exercise you are going to do and when, know when you are eating and what you are having)
• If you shouldn’t be eating it, get it OUT of the house! Clean up your environment around you and make sure it supports your positive goals (You can’t be tempted by anything if it is not around!)
• Shop at the grocery mart with a list (know what you need to get, and then get out!), don’t wander the isles and don’t ever shop hungry! (as you will end up buying things based on cravings….which will not be good)
• Know you can do it, just focus on what you are doing at the present moment and make it happen. Don’t worry about what happened in the past…or hasn’t happened yet. You only have control over what you do right now. You can plan for future, but you can only act in the present.
• Take a picture of yourself, weight yourself…and then don’t worry about it for 30 days. Don’t get obsessive about weight loss…as that will never leave you feeling happy. Just know what you need to do every day, and then repeat….daily. Success is consistency. You can make sure you are making progress just by looking in the mirror and seeing how you feel.

IF is meant to be a realistic and relaxing lifestyle that can get you the results. This challenge is what YOU make of it…whether it is about health, fitness or just making your life more simple and enjoyable. So focus on living and appreciating the daily journey, make the right decisions and the results will follow!

Photo by Landersz

Ok, well the IF challenge officially begins on Monday. I will be launching a new free IF intro e-book to everyone who is signed up for email or RSS subscription (so make sure not to miss out!). In the meantime this is just a little IF reveiw and follow up on many things.

Q: What’s the difference between IF and CR

A: IF is NOT about excessively restricting your calories when you are eating. IF however has been shown to give all the benefits associated with CR (see resources for all studies) PLUS has none of the drawbacks to CR and allows you to not be hungry all the time, shown better retention of muscle mass while decreasing fat loss and does a better job to decrease insulin resistance factors (which are important to all disease prevention plans)

Q: Which is better? 15-18h hours daily fasting or 24hour fasts a few times week.

A: Honestly there are so many variables when it comes to IF such as what you are eating, macro nutrient ratios, meal timing, your activity level, your state of health (insulin resistance, inflammation and other health /hormonal factors), your long term goals, etc. BOTH can work greatly! The key to anything that is going to get you results is how effective is this long term? So you have to find the plan that works the best for your lifestyle, energy levels and goals. Both can work, and there are still many factors involved that one can change along the way. Don’t think of IF as just another diet, it’s a lifestyle choice! It has to be in order for it to really work (as we know diets don’t work longterm). 24 hour fasts may improve some disease symptoms quicker, but smaller daily fast can also. Smaller daily fasts may just seem easier to do and therefore you keep up with it longer than trying to do 24hr fasts. Again, what are you going to do consistently? So start one way, tweak as you go and pretty soon you have a lifestyle plan that works for you!

Q: When doesn’t IF work?

A: Again, there are many factors and some people may not respond well to IF. Here’s some common misconceptions that can prove to be disasterous in the long run:

• “More is better when it comes to fasting” - Wrong!! If you fast too much/too often…you can compromise healthy thyroid/adrenal output and create an environment that may actually lead to more health issues.

• “I can eat anything I want on IF” - While this may seem like a saving grace for some people just starting off and having alot of weight to lose, like any quick weight loss you may see at first, it will plateau off. Then it becomes a question of the quality of foods that need to be used to continue down the road of health. Quality of foods is just as important in any eating plan for real long term health and success

Q: What are the most common mistakes people do when trying IF

A: Like mentioned above, here are some of the most common mistakes:

• Fasting too often/too long

• Not eating enough when you are supposed to eat (remember this is not about serious calorie restriction, you will still need some calorie deficit average for weight loss but we are not starving ourselves in the process)

• Not eating the right foods (binging on sweets and sugar will lead to more insulin resistance and other diseases down the road, like diabetes). We still have to eat right and healthy, when in doubt no sugars and whole food sources. When in doubt, sugar is bad and if it wasn’t around 1000 years ago, chances are you don’t need it!
• Trying to eat all the calories in one serving. This is not a good idea as your body can still raise up insulin levels after big meals, therefore creating more fat storage. Smaller and more frequent (to a certain extent…don’t need 6x a day…3 works fine…see below) meals is the best way to go.

Q: What about people who say eating 6x a day is the key to weight loss and keeping the metabolism strong?

A: That is just a myth, as there is no proven research to say that eating 6x a day is any better than having 3 meals a day (one meal a day can be a negative thing though…see below). Fat loss comes down to 2 main things, daily calorie intake and insulin control. Your metabolism will not drop if you skip breakfast, that is quite ridiculous to think your metabolism and body responds so quickly like that. If you starve yourself for a couple weeks, then yes…it will drop the metabolism, but nothing will happen in the same day, never mind a week. (A trick is to use weekends to eat up, signal there is no starvation going on if your weekly calories are too low…highly recommended for everyone doing IF, of course we are talking healthy calories…but you don’t have to deprive yourself 100% either if you want to go enjoy a nice meal out with friends once a week…remember weight loss is still about calories, so don’t get too crazy).

Q: So why is IF such a great choice?

A: For me it was a personal decision after spending decades of trying different eating plans. Now I can: gain muscle and lose fat while eating less food overall. I am not obsesssed about meal timings during the day. I can eat as much as I want provided the choices are mostly healthy. I take a day off on the weekend and just eat whatever I like. I can go out with friends and not feel like I am depriving myself. I know how food effects me and how to control what I eat. I feel better all day long with more constant energy levels. I have less inflammation issues from old injuries. I rarely get sick (if I do it doesn’t last 24hours and can count the number of times from the last 5 years on one hand..that and is usually due to me not recovering properly from playing sports). I have no digestive issues. I feel fine exercising in a fasted state, and enjoy it more. I am no longer paranoid about “losing muscle” because I didn’t have a protein shake during the middle of the night or during the day every 2 hours. It’s a simple and easy way to live life as things can always change daily. It makes sense from an evolutionary perspective of how the body was designed for periods of feast and famine, how the body can heal itself if you give it time, and protect itself better when exposed to small doses of stress. That and what it can do for disease prevention and longevity makes it a logical choice on how I want to live my life as I get older. But hey…that’s just my opinion.

So to sum up, how do we begin to IF?

• Start slow at first, more is not better in most all cases. (Start with 16-18hr weekday daily fasts or if you want to do 24 hr fasts try them only 1-2x a week….see how your body responds, how you feel, how your energy is and more importantly what works best in your lifestyle) Note: remember 24hr is NOT skipping a whole day, it’s stopping at say 6pm one day and eating again 6pm the next.

• You should be able to eat enough healthy foods as you want in your eating windows (no real restrictions needed…only when sugar and processed foods come in do we need to control the portions).

• Best results hands down for weight loss, muscle gain, reduced inflammation and increased longevity and disease prevention are seen with eating lower carb, moderate protein and higher healthy fats. That will signal all the right hormones needed for muscle growth, muscle retention, fat burning, anti-inflammation and disease prevention.

• Eating smaller meals during your feeding window is better than 1 big meal. For starters you just won’t get enough healthy calories in that window, and most people may take it as a pass to eat anything they want….which will just lead to weight gain. So try and aim for in your eating window 2 smaller meals if you are doing 24hr IFs or 3 meals equally spaced apart if you are doing a daily IF. Break up the calories and eat as much healthy food choices as you want. If you do only fit in one…then don’t use it as a pass to jump face first into the dessert buffet…try starting off with a salad first…and then eating your main meal a little while later. Keep control of your cravings!

• Take the weekends off from fasting schedules, keep your metabolism strong by letting your body get in enough calories (especially if you think you are not eating enough during the week)

• Know that you can adjust as you go. Nothing is set in stone, just what you make of it. Outlined above are the ways to get great results but you have to do them consistently to make it work. So if something feels wrong, take a look back at what you are doing and then move forward with a new plan.

Photo by kevinthoule

Sorry for the slowdown in the last week for posts, but been working hard on a few things and now ready to move forward. So…..(drumroll please) I know people have been anxiously waiting…..so here it is. The IF challenge will begin next Monday. Below are all the details and some updates for the IF Life as well:

What is the Challenge

The “official” IF challenge will be a 30 day personal competition for you to get serious results in your life. Although the main focus is on health, fat loss, and building muscle…it can be anything you want to accomplish in your personal or professional life.

What do I win?

Well anyone that gets great results for the health and fitness goals in 30 days and wants to share their story, wins a front page blog spot! You get your very own story told to the world in your own words! If you want to include any pictures you are welcome to submit those as well! Yep….internet fame and glory is all yours! (sorry no fancy cars to give away….)

What do I need to do?

Well, just get a blank notebook and start writing down what you want to accomplish in the next 30 days. From there you can take a picture of yourself from start to end (as most of the time we never notice how great our appearance changes except if we see a past picture). All you need to do is just take action and get serious for 30 days. Anything you want to accomplish is up to you…no more excuses, no more procrastination, no more distractions…just success!

What will be provided for the challenge?

The IF Life will have a DAILY blog post (Mon-Fri) for the 30 day period. (along with some regular blog postings as well) Each day will be something for you to think about and focus on. The action is left up to you to take. I am also in the process of finishing up a quick “Intro to IF” ebook which will be available next week for those new to IF. Here’s the key, it’s FREE to everyone on the RSS or Email subscription! So if you have not already signed up, go ahead and register and you will get the link to the free ebook when it is released next Monday. From that point on it will be available for free to anyone who signs up for the email updates from IF Life blog.

What if I am already doing IF and seeing results?

That’s great! Remember this challenge is for you personally to focus on something new….and go after it. It doesn’t have to be just about fat loss or health…could be something else you have always wanted to do or want to work on. There are no strict rules, only what you can imagine accomplishing.

I challenge YOU to challenge someone else!

Where I am going to commit to making you get results, I want you to find someone around you and challenge them as well! Find someone who always talks about losing weight or getting in shape and never does it. Work together, have a partner/support group, get your work friends involved….make it fun and exciting!

Do you have to do Intermittent Fasting?

No. I am not forcing anyone to do it. Can you get results just eating healthy foods all day long? Sure you can. Do I believe that periods of fasting greatly improve our health and can lead to great fat loss and muscle if done correctly? Of course I do. The manner in which you do or do not use an IF approach is up to you….my goal is to motivate you to get improved health and get serious about it for 30 days. No more excuses….just dedication and a step towards a new and better lifestyle.

Getting Started

For those new or need the refresher course, here’s some top past posts to re-read to help you get a clearer picture of what you want to focus on for the next 30 days:

How to Get Anything You Want

Intermittent Fasting 101

Muscle Building 101

Fat Loss 101

How to Be Happy Right Now

More IFLife Updates

Some of these may be repeats, but I still want to share my vision and where the blog is heading:

• Submit your success stories - At any point in time, whether it is at the end of the IF challenge or even right now for people who have done IF with great results, email me (mike@theiflife.com) your story and pictures. I will share your personal success stories on the main page/daily blog with all our readers. You will be the inspiration for many to make things happen in their life as well. So send me your stories, pics and whatever else you have to show the world.
• Any Free E-Books will be for those only on Email/RSS feeds right now and in the future available to people registering through the email subscription - Honestly the only way I even know how many people are really on the site are through the subscriptions. So I want to encourage people to sign up for updates so I can personally keep track of how many people are out there (as it continually motivates me to know that there are a growing number of people who enjoy what I am able to share on a weekly basis). Also I would just ask that you do not redistribute the free ebooks but just encourage people to come to the site to download it for free. You can always check back on the site for comments and discussions, as there are alot of great questions and answers that are shared in those as well (and note those will be updated once every 24 hours).

Ok so there you have it….the IF challenge officially starts next Monday. Time to get serious and start thinking about what it is you really want to accomplish. I am going to personally dedicate myself to a short daily motivational/thought provoking post every weekday for the duration of the challenge (that is part of my own personal challenge) to keep you going. I challenge you to not only do this for yourself, but also find someone around you and help improve their life in some way too! Fame and internet glory await you! ….Well about as much fame and glory that my blog can bring you that is.

Look out internet! This is just a special announcement that I have setup a group on Facebook for the IF Life people to discuss all things health, fitness, IF, simplicity, happiness or whatever topic is related. I admit, I am a Facebook newbie as I just signed up this morning. To be honest I am not a fan of becomming addicted to online things, but I do believe that this can be a great additional social interaction tool to use in small doses. I’ll figure out how it all works soon enough and will join in on the conversations and community. So if you are on facebook (or want to join for free like I did this morning), go ahead and join the group and invite others to do so also! I am excited to see where it goes, as I really have no idea how facebook works but seems like a great place to connect and talk with people even further. (You will also see the logo on the main menu and link, if the link is not working for some reason please let me know…it’s my first attempt at getting it setup.) Thoughts and feedback on this are appreciated. Spreading the truth on health and fitness one blog post at a time! (and cutting out all the other BS that passes for so called information and expert advice out there)

Ok well I told you I was working on some other sites and today one of the sites was officially launched. Introducing Fitness Spotlight (www.fitnessspotlight.net)

Fitness Spotlight is a site dedicated towards giving you even more information on all things health and fitness out there on the internet. In partnership with another top health and fitness blogger Scott Kustes from Modern Forager , we decided with all the information that we come across daily from our research, and the amount that we can only personally blog on….why not have a site that took what we know are the best articles and info from other bloggers and news sources and share with you. Now you can see multiple highlights per day and be able to pick and choose what stories you want to read more about. This way, you can save your time and not have to be looking on the internet for information as we will be doing the work for you! We also wanted to be able to highlight and find other bloggers who do put out quality content and give them a chance to show people what they have. Soon we will be partnering up with bloggers and also be choosing premier sites that we will select based on ongoing quality content and information. Now you can not only keep up to date with the most recent posts from your favorite bloggers with your RSS or email, but in addition we will find hidden gems in blog archives from all over the place and let you re-read top quality content from the past or present. New listings will be published on Mon, Wed and Fri with multiple listings per day from various catagories (fitness, nutrition, health and lifestyle). The sources will include:

• Blog Archives from top health and fitness bloggers that you may or may not have heard about
• News stories from across all the major news network wires
• Articles from online magazines or other sources
• and other media….if it’s on the internet, we will use it!

We are excited about this new project and encourage you to give it a look. If you have any questions, comments or feedback please feel free to share them here in the comments (as there are no comments on the other site because it is just a link database driven format…which will take you to the user’s articles and comments not controlled by us). Hope you enjoy!

photo by drurydrama

Want to know about a group of people who eat primarily only meat and fat, very little fruits and vegetables and are healthier than any other group of people? Well meet the Inuit from the frozen North. They seemed to eat all the things that are blamed for heart disease and cancers (meat and fat) yet somehow had little to no diseases of modern man. Let’s learn a little more about them. Below you will find several resources and reading materials on them (to keep you busy while I do my taxes for the next couple days!). But here are the highlights:

The Inuit traditional diet offers natural protection against two of the planet’s biggest killers — heart disease and cancer

Dewailly says the traditional Inuit diet is high in selenium, common to whale skin, and likely explains why prostate cancer is almost unheard of in the north, as are most other cancers. Cardiovascular disease is also rare, likely because the Inuit diet remains rich in wild game. “The traditional Inuit diet is fats and proteins, no sugar at all,” says Dewailly. “It is probably one of the healthiest diets you can have. The human body is built for that.”

from this article here

“The Inuit people are numerous groups of hunter-gatherers,” says Loren Cordain, a professor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science at Colorado State University and author of the book The Paleo Diet. “It’s not a single group. There are many, many cultures and they lived in many many parts of the Arctic. There was no single Inuit diet, other than the fact that none of them had a whole lot of carbohydrate or fresh fruits and vegetables.”

Scientists studying the Inuit in the 1970s found that as a group, they suffered much less than their European counterparts from certain diseases, such as coronary heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and diabetes mellitus. Yet their diet was very high in fat from eating foods like whale, seal, and salmon. Discover Magazine called this the “Inuit Paradox.”

from this article here

One of the differences is that the traditional Inuit’s diet is very high in omega-3 fats while our diet is very high in omega-6 fats. Science has shown that the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 should be as close to a ratio of 1:1 and certainly no more than 4:1. Inuits are about the only people to approach the 1:1 ratio, while we typically come in at 20:1, or upwards of 50:1 for real junk food lovers. A balanced omega-6 to omega-3 ratio promotes a balanced, non-inflammatory state in the body, while tilting the scale toward a higher level of omega-6 will promote an inflammatory – and therefore diseased and degenerative – state.

Man-made vegetable oil diets (margarine and other hydrogenated oils) are high in omega-6 fatty acids and convert into high levels of arachidonic acid (AA) in the body. The excessive amounts of AA in our omega-6-rich Western diets contribute to our chronic inflammatory degenerative diseases such as heart disease, asthma and arthritis.

from this article here

The main nutritional challenge was avoiding starvation in late winter if primary meat sources became too scarce or lean. These foods hardly make up the “balanced” diet most of us grew up with, and they look nothing like the mix of grains, fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, and dairy we’re accustomed to seeing in conventional food pyramid diagrams. How could such a diet possibly be adequate? How did people get along on little else but fat and animal protein?

Fats have been demonized in the United States, says Eric Dewailly, a professor of preventive medicine at Laval University in Quebec. But all fats are not created equal. This lies at the heart of a paradox—the Inuit paradox, if you will. In the Nunavik villages in northern Quebec, adults over 40 get almost half their calories from native foods, says Dewailly, and they don’t die of heart attacks at nearly the same rates as other Canadians or Americans. Their cardiac death rate is about half of ours, he says.

and finally from the BIG story article at Discover Magazine here

Now you are probably asking, what about vitamins that are found in fruits and vegetables? How did they stay healthy without them? Well….they actually did get vitamins from some surprising sources: (taken from the various articles above)

Seal meat, especially blubber, are also very high in vitamins E, A, D and selenium. Recently, researchers have concluded that these inherent antioxidants are big reasons why Inuits are free of cardiovascular disease, while other mostly-fish-eating populations are still prone to this disease. Fish oils alone will not do the same as seal oil.

But vitamin A, which is oil soluble, is also plentiful in the oils of cold-water fishes and sea mammals, as well as in the animals’ livers, where fat is processed. These dietary staples also provide vitamin D, another oil-soluble vitamin needed for bones.

As for vitamin C, the source in the Eskimo diet was long a mystery. If we don’t ingest enough of it, we fall apart from scurvy, a gruesome connective-tissue disease. However, Arctic peoples living on fresh fish and meat were free of the disease. Native foods easily supply those 10 milligrams of scurvy prevention, especially when organ meats—preferably raw—are on the menu. For a study published with Kuhnlein in 2002, Fediuk compared the vitamin C content of 100-gram (3.55-ounce) samples of foods eaten by Inuit women living in the Canadian Arctic: Raw caribou liver supplied almost 24 milligrams, seal brain close to 15 milligrams, and raw kelp more than 28 milligrams. Still higher levels were found in whale skin and muktuk. Thick skinned, chewy, and collagen rich, raw muktuk can serve up an impressive 36 milligrams in a 100-gram piece, according to Fediuk’s analyses. “Weight for weight, it’s as good as orange juice,” she says. Traditional Inuit practices like freezing meat and fish and frequently eating them raw, she notes, conserve vitamin C, which is easily cooked off and lost in food processing.

Ok so far so good. So what are we saying here is a license to eat as much meat and fat as possible? Well…..let’s look at a couple more things:

The solution to the paradox may lie in the fact that not all fat is created equal. “[The Inuit] ate a lot of marine animals, like walruses and seals, whales and so forth, and the blubber of these animals is a very high source of monounsaturated fat,”says Cordain. “So if you contrast the Inuit diet to the Western diet, it actually turns out to be lower in saturated fat— very high in fat, but high in healthful fat, monounsaturates and polyunsaturates, high in a specific type of polyunsaturates called omega-3 fatty acids that come from the marine food chain.”

Arctic people had plenty of protein but little carbohydrate, so they often relied on gluconeogenesis. Not only did they have bigger livers to handle the additional work but their urine volumes were also typically larger to get rid of the extra urea. Nonetheless, there appears to be a limit on how much protein the human liver can safely cope with: Too much overwhelms the liver’s waste-disposal system, leading to protein poisoning—nausea, diarrhea, wasting, and death.

plenty of evidence shows that hunters through the ages avoided protein excesses, discarding fat-depleted animals even when food was scarce. Early pioneers and trappers in North America encountered what looks like a similar affliction, sometimes referred to as rabbit starvation because rabbit meat is notoriously lean. Forced to subsist on fat-deficient meat, the men would gorge themselves, yet wither away. Protein can’t be the sole source of energy for humans, concludes Cordain. Anyone eating a meaty diet that is low in carbohydrates must have fat as well.

Stefansson tucked into his rations of chops and steaks with fat intact. “A normal meat diet is not a high-protein diet,” he pronounced. “We were really getting three-quarters of our calories from fat.”

A key difference in the typical Nunavik Inuit’s diet is that more than 50 percent of the calories in Inuit native foods come from fats. Much more important, the fats come from wild animals. Wild-animal fats are different from both farm-animal fats and processed fats, says Dewailly. Farm animals, cooped up and stuffed with agricultural grains (carbohydrates) typically have lots of solid, highly saturated fat. Much of our processed food is also riddled with solid fats, or so-called trans fats, such as the reengineered vegetable oils and shortenings cached in baked goods and snacks. Wild animals that range freely and eat what nature intended, says Dewailly, have fat that is far more healthful. Less of their fat is saturated, and more of it is in the monounsaturated form (like olive oil). What’s more, cold-water fishes and sea mammals are particularly rich in polyunsaturated fats called n-3 fatty acids or omega-3 fatty acids. But the polyunsaturated fats in most Americans’ diets are the omega-6 fatty acids supplied by vegetable oils. By contrast, whale blubber consists of 70 percent monounsaturated fat and close to 30 percent omega-3s, says Dewailly.

Ok….got all that? Whew….Yes I know alot to read….but loads of important points. Let’s summarize:

• The Inuit ate a diet high in meat and fat, low in fruits and vegetables and still had low rates of heart disease and cancer (sadly only recently when more modernization came to them in the form of convenience stores, soda and other processed foods did you see the illnesses start to increase. Once sugar came to them….things went sour)
• Their meat they ate was completely different from the meat you are eating. Theirs was wild, fresh, sometimes raw, seal and other animals that you are probably not going to eat. Not to mention they also ate the organ meats, which again….most people are not going to do. Because the animals were wild they were also not fed grains, contained good amounts of Omega 3s and low amounts of Omega 6s…the opposite of modern meats.
• Their meat was actually low in saturated fat and more monounstaturated….completely different from the meat profile of fattened cows on grains (very high in saturated fats and loaded with omega 6s….proinflammatory).
• Their meats were high in Omega 3s (anti-inflammatory) and overall diet was more a 1:1 ratio of omega 3s to 6s (unlike todays ratio of about 1:25(+) of omega 3s to 6s)

So although we are not about to move to the great white north and eat raw whale blubber, we can use the knowledge of the Inuit and take home the following lessons (and you will see many familiar things below)

• Eat a diet of moderate protein (make sure you are eating with fat and not going overboard, for most this is not an issue as even a high amount of 1g/lb of bodyweight is still usually 30% of total calories)
• We are not eating seals or their organ meats, so get your fruits and vegetables (as we need them for sources of vitamins that are not in our meats)
• Have plenty of healthy fats including: some sat fats (but again look at how little sat fat the Inuit actually ate vs how much was monounstaturated), MUFA (Monounsaturated Fatty Acids like X-Virg Olive Oil). Even watch your sources of sat fat (see below), as most is very high in proinflammatory Omega 6s from grains/veg oils.
• Take some fish oil (Omega 3s) to help balance the Omega 3:6 ratios (most people probably need about 3g a day of EPA/DHA….about 2-3 teaspoons of fish oil). Some may need less, but that would mean their diet is already low in Omega 6s….which are everywhere nowadays!
• Lower dietary sources of Omega 6s including high fat grain fed beef/meats/eggs. Try for lean beef/meats (Omega 6s are in the fatty parts), Omega 3 eggs, or Grass Fed Beef (but be warned…even if it is says grass fed it doesn’t mean it is 100% grass fed…so read your labels carefully)
• Inflammation = increases in heart diseases and cancers….so get rid of the big evil inflammation messengers of Omega 6s/Veg Oils (excess PUFAs), Sugar and Trans Fats. Get rid of those 3 and you will go along way to increasing your longevity and health.

I’m also guessing that their low stress lifestyle, low exposure to environmental toxins, daily active lifestyle (they didn’t wear HR monitors and go do “cardio”), adequate sleep/rest, strong community and family ties also contributed greatly to their health, longevity and happiness!

photo by Walsh

Everyone tells us we need it….we need more and more fiber, that’s the solution to all our problems. Ok, first thing I always like to ask when hearing something like this is “who” said we need it. The usual answer for most of these general health concepts are to respond doctors or scientists or some other random source. But do you even know why we need it? To have more bowel movements? Nope sorry…false assumption. To lower cholesterol? Nope sorry, never been proven. To lower the risk of colon cancer? Well….yes and no, and you will see that below in more detail. First let’s go over the 2 types of fiber:

• Soluble - fiber that is “water soluble” (put it in water it expands into a large gel like substance). This is what expands in our guts, gives us a feeling of fullness, slows down digestion.
• Insoluble - fiber that is NOT “water soluble”, this goes through us like sand through a long winding pipe. Simple enough huh?

Ok….so what are the main sources of fiber? Fiber is found in fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes and the most popular source nowadays of “bran fiber”. But what is Bran? Does it really improve our health? Why do we even need it? Let the games begin….

The belief that regular bowel movement is important for health is very ancient. But the present theory is based on Dr. Dennis Burkitt’s discovery that relatively few rural black Africans suffer from cancer of the colon. He attributed this to their relatively crude diet.

The theory was that, as fibre made food travel through the gut faster, it allowed less time for cancer-inducing agents to form. This, of course, presupposed that food became carcinogenic in the gut and there was no evidence that it did. Neither was there any evidence that moving food through the intestine at a faster rate decreased the risk of colon cancer. Moreover, the rural Africans’ lifestyle was far from that of the Western city dweller: their diet is different, but also they were not exposed to so many pollutants, toxins or mental stresses. Indeed, there were many factors that could have been responsible for a difference in disease patterns. Other communities - the Mormons of Utah, for example - also enjoyed a low incidence of colon cancer yet they ate a low-fibre diet.

Wait….so more fiber does not lower the rate of colon cancer? Other factors in their lifestyle could of been more important to preventing colon cancer? Hmmmm….go on…..

Commercial interests were quick to see the potential in the recommendation and jump on the bran wagon. Burkitt’s recommendation was based on vegetable fibre, but bran (cereal fibre) has a far higher fibre content and bran was a practically worthless by-product of the milling process that, until then, had been thrown away. Almost overnight, it became a highly priced profit maker. Although totally inedible, backed by Burkitt’s fibre hypothesis, bran could now be promoted as a valuable food. But Dr. Hugh Trowell, Burkitt’s partner and another strong advocate of dietary fibre, stated in 1974 that: “A serious confusion of thought is produced by referring to the dietary fibre hypothesis as the bran hypothesis, for many Africans do not consume cereal or bran”

So basically Fruits and Vegetable based diets are what all the health benefits of fiber are based upon yet Bran jumped on that bandwagon because manufacturers found a cheap way to make their cheap products healthy to the general public? Hmmmmmm……more?

It may be useful at this stage to consider the claims for fibre in curing or preventing other diseases. For example, bran has been a popular way to manage irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) for about thirty years, despite the fact that no placebo-controlled study of bran in IBS has yet shown any convincing beneficial effect. A study, published in 1994, found that while fruit fibre was effective, bran only made the situation worse. Far from being a cure for IBS, they found that it was the bran that was causing it! Bran also caused bowel disturbances, abdominal distension and pain.

Again….”Yeah” for Fruits and Vegetables….but Bran? “Booooooo…….”.

Tests into the supposed benefits of dietary fibre soon showed that there could be other harmful side effects. All the nutrients in food are absorbed through the gut wall and this takes time. Fibre, by speeding food through the gut faster so that less nutrients are absorbed, inhibits the absorption of iron, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, energy, proteins, fats and vitamins A, D, E and K. This happens with all types of fibre although with a normal Western-style, nutrient-rich diet, the loss caused by vegetable fibre intake is unimportant. More importantly, phytate found in cereal fibre (bran) also binds with calcium, iron and zinc making them indigestible, which in turn causes malabsorption. One study, for example, showed that subjects absorbed more iron from white bread than from wholemeal bread even though their intakes of iron were fifty percent higher with the wholemeal bread. Bran has also been shown to cause faecal losses of calcium, iron, zinc, phosphorus, nitrogen, fats, fatty acids and sterols, thus depleting the body of these materials.

Holy *#&$…..(I mean Wow…). Too much fiber can speed up food through the gut, bind itself to essential vitamins and minerals and cause malabsorption? I didn’t see that on the box of Cheerios…..(all those quotes above were taken from this article)

So honestly what are we to do for maximum health? Here’s the overview:The source of fiber is important, fruits and vegetables should be our primary source. Bran is cheap, worthless and does more harm than good. (also makes crappy foods “healthy”in the public eye)

• If you are not eating processed foods, then you don’t have to worry about blood sugar control with slower gastric emptying, as you get that automatically with fruits and vegetables.
• Bowel movements are more based on the BACTERIA environment of the gut. Don’t believe me? Go take some probiotics (healthy bacteria) and let me know what happens….stock up on the TP! If you want more bowel movements, start with treating the source which is the bacteria balance in your gut. Fiber is not the answer.
• Fiber is not the magic pill to cure or prevent colon caner or any disease/illness. Eating a diet higher in fruits and vegetables will always give you a healthier body….but it is a small portion of what true health is. Our whole environment from external toxins, stress, and overall lifestyle play into those factors as well. Don’t think a fiber pill is going to save you if you life is chaotic and destructive.
• Too much fiber is not going to be healthy too as it can absorb essential nutrients that your body needs and can cause gut irritation (like scratching your skin with your fingernails…fiber is scraping your intenstinal lining). You want to get really sick? Then mess up your gut! I can’t stress how important a healthy gut is for overall health…it’s the biggest factor that we can control and is usually all messed up! Re-read the post on gut health again….and again….and again.

Once again…..moral of the story….eat your fruits and vegetables, stay away from processed foods and don’t believe the marketing hype of manufacturer’s trying to make their food “healthy”…as it usually has more disadvantages than advantages. If you are eating meats, vegetables, fruits, health fats, avoiding sugars, not taking antibiotics (or taking probiotics), controlling stress, limiting toxin exposure…then you don’t need any more fiber do you? Keep your gut healthy, keep your foods natural, and live an enjoyable low stress lifestyle….chances are that you will live long and happy. If you want more bowel movements….take some probiotics and enjoy!