photo by W

You have heard “insulin” discussed here many times, I’ve said that sugar is your #1 enemy in Fat Loss 101, and I have also said that the biggest health factor that contributes to most all degenerative diseases as being insulin resistance. But really…it’s quite simple to just take control, and that is what we need to do (as we do have full control and responsibility for everything we put in our mouths). Looking at the Standard Food Pyramid above that has been taught to everyone (esp kids) as the healthy way to eat….is it any wonder our rates of obesity, diabetes, cancer and other diseases are skyrocketing?

Well below are some great takes from a lecture done by Dr Rosedale from 1999. The full (and long but very worthwhile read) transcript can be found here (and many other places). The end result is, the more we learn about insulin and how to control it, the quicker we will improve our health and help to increase prevention from degenerative diseases. Once you really understand the damaging aspects of high insulin, insulin resistance and eating sugar…why would anyone want to continue down a road of increased risks of degenerative diseases and aging? Take control back and help those around you to do the same!

There are three major centenarian studies going on around the world. They are trying to find the variable that would confer longevity among these people. Why do centenarians become centenarians? Why are they so lucky? Is it because they have low cholesterol, exercise a lot, live a healthy, clean life?

Well the longest recorded known person who has ever lived, Jean Calumet of France who died last year at 122 years, smoked all of her life and drank.

What they are finding on these major centenarian studies is that there is hardly anything in common among them. They have high cholesterol and low cholesterol, some exercise and some don’t, some smoke, some don’t. Some are nasty as can be and some nice and calm and nice. Some are ornery, but they all low sugar, relatively for their age. They all have low triglycerides for their age.

And they all have relatively low insulin. Insulin is the common denominator in everything I’ve just talked about. They way to treat cardiovascular disease and the way I treated my stepfather, the way I treated the high risk cancer patient, and osteoporosis, high blood pressure, the way to treat virtually all the so-called chronic diseases of aging is to treat insulin itself.

If there is a single marker for lifespan, as they are finding in the centenarian studies, it is insulin, specifically, insulin sensitivity.

How sensitive are your cells to insulin. When they are not sensitive, the insulin levels go up. Who has heard of the term insulin resistance?

Insulin resistance is the basis of all of the chronic diseases of aging, because the disease itself is actually aging.

We know now that aging is a disease. The other case studies that I mentioned, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes, cancer, all the so-called chronic diseases of aging, auto-immune diseases, those are symptoms.

We’ve known for many years that sugar depresses the immune system.

We have known that for decades. It was only in the 70’s that they found out that vitamin C was needed by white blood cells so that they could phagocytize bacteria and viruses. White blood cells require a fifty times higher concentration at least inside the cell as outside so they have to accumulate vitamin C.

There is something called a phagocytic index which tells you how rapidly a particular macrophage or lymphocyte can gobble up a virus, bacteria, or cancer cell. It was in the 70’s that Linus Pauling knew that white blood cells needed a high dose of vitamin C and that is when he came up with his theory that you need high doses of vitamin C to combat the common cold.

But if we know that vitamin C and glucose have similar chemical structure, what happens when the sugar levels go up? They compete for one another upon entering the cells. And the thing that mediates the entry of vitamin C into the cells is the same thing that mediates the entry of glucose into the cells. If there is more glucose around there is going to be less vitamin C allowed into the cell and it doesn’t take much. A blood sugar value of 120 reduces the phagocytic index seventy-five percent.

What is the purpose of insulin in humans? If you ask your doctor, they will say that it’s to lower blood sugar and I will tell you right now, that is a trivial side effect. Insulin’s evolutionary purpose, among others at least known right now, we are looking at others, is to store excess nutrients.

We come from a time of feast and famine and if we couldn’t store the excess energy during times of feasting, we would all not be here, because we all have had ancestors that encountered famine. So we are only here because our ancestors were able to store nutrients, and they were able to store nutrients because they were able to elevate their insulin in response to any elevation in energy that the organism encountered.

When your body notices that the sugar is elevated, it is a sign that you’ve got more than you need right now, you are not burning it so it is accumulating in your blood. So insulin will be released to take that sugar and store it.

Once you fill up your glycogen stores how is that sugar is stored, as what particular kind of triglyceride, or fatty acid? Palmitic acid. Saturated fat, ninety-eight percent of which is palmitic acid.

So the idea of the medical profession to go on a high complex carbohydrate, low saturated-fat diet is an absolute oxymoron, because those high complex carbohydrate diets are nothing but a high glucose diet, or a high sugar diet, and your body is just going to store it as saturated fat. The body makes it into saturated fat quite readily.

What is one of magnesium’s major roles?

To relax muscles. Intracellular magnesium relaxes muscles. What happens when you can’t store magnesium because the cell is resistant? You lose magnesium and your blood vessels constrict, what does that do?

Increases blood pressure, and reduces energy since intracellular magnesium is required for all energy producing reactions that take place in the cell. But most importantly, magnesium is also necessary for the action of insulin. It is also necessary for the manufacture of insulin.

So then you raise your insulin, you lose magnesium, and the cells become even more insulin resistant. Blood vessels constrict, glucose and insulin can’t get to the tissues, which makes them more insulin resistant, so the insulin levels go up and you lose more magnesium. This is the vicious cycle that goes on from before you were born.

Insulin also causes the retention of sodium, which causes the retention of fluid, which causes high blood pressure and fluid retention: congestive heart failure.

One of the strongest stimulants of the sympathetic nervous system is high levels of insulin.

What does all of this do to the heart? Not very good things.

There was a study done a couple of years ago, a good, down to earth nicely conducted study that showed that heart attacks are two to three times more likely to happen after a high carbohydrate meal. They said specifically NOT after a high fat meal.

Why is that?

Because the immediate effects of raising your blood sugar from a high carbohydrate meal is to raise insulin and that immediately triggers the sympathetic nervous system which will cause arterial spasm, constriction of the arteries. If you take anybody prone to a heart attack and that is when they are going to get it.

Cells become insulin resistant because they are trying to protect themselves from the toxic effects of high insulin. They down regulate their receptor activity and number of receptors so that they don’t have to listen to that noxious stimuli all the time. It is like having this loud, disgusting rap music played and you want to turn the volume down.

This is the same thing with insulin resistance. What happens is that if your cells are exposed to insulin at all they get a little bit more resistant to it. So the pancreas just puts out more insulin. I saw a patient today, her blood sugar was 102 and her insulin was 90! She wasn’t sure if she was fasting or not, but I’ve seen other patients where their blood sugar was under 100 and their fasting insulin has been over 90.

That is a fasting insulin. I’m not sure how many people are familiar with seeing fasting insulins. But if I drank all the glucose I could possibly drink my insulin would never go above probably 40. So she was extremely insulin resistant.

All of those sugars are as bad or worse for you than glucose. You can’t just go by so-called blood sugar which is just blood glucose, because we just don’t measure blood fructose or blood galactose, but they are all bad for you. Why are they bad, well number one we know that it provokes insulin and every time you provoke insulin it exposes yourself to more insulin and just like walking in a smelly room it is going to become more resistant to insulin.

So every time you have a surge of sugar and you have a surge of insulin, you get more and more insulin resistant and all of the problems we’ve talked about.

Diet really becomes pretty simple. Carbohydrates we started talking about. You’ve got fiber and non-fiber and that’s real clear-cut. Fiber is good, non-fiber is bad. Fibrous carbs, like vegetables and broccoli, those are great. What is a potato? A potato is a big lump of sugar. That’s all it is. You chew a potato, what are you swallowing? Glucose. You may not remember, but you learned that in eighth grade, but the medical profession still hasn’t learned that.

You know you need to breathe oxygen. It gives us life and it kills us. Same with glucose. Certain tissues require some glucose. We wouldn’t be here if there were no glucose, it gives us life and it kills us. We know that we have essential amino acids and we have essential fatty acids. They are essential for life, we better take them in as building blocks or we die. So what he did is he took all the essential nutrients that are known to man and plugged it in to this computer data bank and he asked the computer what are the top ten foods that contain each nutrient that is required by the human body. Each of the fifty-three or fifty-four, depending on who you talk to, essential nutrients that there are were plugged in, and did you know that grains did not come up in the top ten on any one. What is the minimum daily requirement for carbohydrates? ZERO.

In an active day you would die if you had to rely one-hundred percent on sugar.

Why doesn’t your body store more sugar if it is so needed? Sugar was never meant to be your primary energy source.

It is a turbo charger, a very hot burning fuel, if you need fuel over and above what fat can provide you will dig into your glycogen and burn sugar. But your primary energy source as we are here right now should be almost all fat.

If you eat sugar your body will burn it and you stop burning fat.

We only have one hormone that lowers sugar, and that’s insulin. Its primary use was never to lower sugar. We’ve got a bunch of hormones that raise sugar, cortisone being one and growth hormone another, and epinephrine, and glucagon.

Our primary evolutionary problem was to raise blood sugar to give your brain enough and your nerves enough and primarily red blood cells, which require glucose. So from an evolutionary sense if something is important we have redundant mechanisms. The fact that we only have one hormone that lowers sugar tells us that it was never something important in the past.

The biggest stress on your body is eating a big glucose load.

You can increase sensitivity by diet, that is one of the major reasons you want to take Omega 3 oils. We think of circulation as that which flows through arteries and veins, and that is not a minor part of our circulation, but it might not even be the major part. The major part of circulation is what goes in and out of the cell.

The cell membrane is a fluid mosaic. The major part of our circulation is determined by what goes in and out. It doesn’t make any difference what gets to that cell if it can’t get into the cell. We know that one of the major ways that you can affect cellular circulation is by modulating the kinds of fatty acids that you eat. So you can increase receptor sensitivity by increasing the fluidity of the cell membrane, which means increasing the omega 3 content, because most people are very deficient.

To store energy and not burn it. I see a fair amount of athletes and this is what I tell them, you want everybody, athletes especially, to be able to burn fat efficiently. So when they train, they are on a very low carbohydrate diet. The night before their event, they can stock up on sugar and load their glycogen if they would like.

They are not going to become insulin resistant in one day. Just enough to make sure, it has been shown that if you eat a big carbohydrate meal that you will increase your glycogen stores, that is true and that is what you want. But you don’t want to train that way because if you do you won’t be able to burn fat, you can only burn sugar, and if you are an athlete you want to be able to burn both.

It is a high protein diet that will increase an acid load in the body, but not necessarily a high fat diet. Vegetables and greens are alkalinizing, so if you are eating a lot of vegetables along with your protein it equalizes the acidifying effect of the protein. I don’t recommend a high protein diet. I recommend an adequate protein diet. I would go 20% of calories from carbs. Depending on the size of the person, 25 to 30% of calories from protein, and 60-65% from fat.

I can not put it any better myself. I highly recommend reading the full article as he goes into much more depth and details esp with certain diseases and treatments. In the end, the best thing you can do is:

• Eat a lower carb diet (it doesn’t have to be 30g a day, but even 100g a day is quite low in comparison). Since everyone is different with their insulin resistance, activity levels, recovery needs and hypoglycemia variables, you have to tweak to your condition (always work with your physician especially if you are diabetic or on medicine). A diabetic may get more benefit from a low 50g a day while an active person may be fine at 100+g/day. Again if you have any real concerns you should always work with a professional physician to help monitor.
• A higher whole food carb meal (along with protein) is best timed at peak insulin sensitivity, aka the post workout window when they will most likely go into muscle glycogen.
• Eat moderate protein and moderate/high fat (healthy) - Eat protein to slow down the gastric emptying with every meal (controls insulin) and increase fat intake to keep your calories high enough not to be in starvation response and to fuel your body’s energy needs. Fat does not effect insulin levels, so eating a higher fat diet has a completely (and better) insulin response than a higher carb diet.
• Avoid sugar and eat only whole natural foods (not processed). Things like Fruits, while healthy can also have sugar (in the form of fructose). Depending on your starting point, you may want to limit or avoid fruit for a while. Those that are more active or have increased insulin sensitivity may do fine with higher fruit intake (esp if you time them around your workouts). Again, starting points in health will vary by person.
• Exercise! Yep. Resistance/strength training is the best way to help those muscle cells to become more insulin sensitive and suck up higher floating blood glucose levels. So get out and do some pushups, lift something heavy and do some sprints (or what you can).
• Periods of Fasting also can help lower insulin resistance/increase insulin sensitivity/decrease fasting insulin levels. If you are going deaf, how do you improve your hearing quicker…by turning down the music a little or having periods of complete silence? Hence why you see IF have a greater impact on fasting insulin levels than a CR diet.
• Supplement with some Fish Oil, as it will help increase and repair those insulin receptors on the cells while also helping to lower overall inflammation.

In the end, if you are doing a Lower carb/higher fat/mod protein “Paleo” food like diet with occasional higher pwo whole food (not sugary drinks) carbs after resistance/weight training, that is a pretty solid healthy plan (esp if you add in the fact you are probably only doing 3 workouts a week and other factors like IF and Fish Oil). Add in grass fed meats/eggs and not grain fed and you are going to be in pretty good health and do wonders for decreasing insulin resistance (and inflammation) and slowing down/reversing any risks for degenerative diseases (aging)! Not too mention the great results you will get for fat loss, muscle and increased performance!

photo by KevinLabianco

A few people have commented about increased “anxiety” during Intermittent Fasting, so I thought I would share this as it was part of a discussion I had with someone about anxiety. As much as IF have brought people a more stress free life (along with all the other numerous health benefits) when it comes to eating, with others it also may amplify some underlying issues there are that need to be addressed (especially if one does IF too much too soon). It comes down to still keeping the “Intermittent” part in IF, and making it work for you….and knowing when it is not. The discussion went as followed (my reply below to his question about increased anxiety):

Anxiety is not good….then again I don’t know your lifestyle…your stress levels….do you worry about things at work….do you try and do too much for work all day….are you not finding down time to relax….are you obsessing over things you can’t control….have you had issues in the past with depression….have you had issues with obsessing over what you eat in the past….are you getting plenty of sleep…..are you wired on coffee all day? So many questions that health is a bigger part of.

I’ve had little anxiety attacks but it is usually when I am pushing my mind and body too hard…with trying to get too much done…worrying about something that has to do with work and money…stressing out about stuff that really doesn’t matter….staying up late and usually not getting any release with exercise or just a break. From there it will take me a day to shut off the computer and go do nothing…..the body needs to reset itself. IF may have been a factor because it gave me too much mental focus during a time I tried to do way too much. My brain shorted out eventually. Thinking too much is not the goal….enjoying life is. Just to be able to sit back and let the mind be free is how you don’t get anxiety….letting the ego side take over and give it the need to always do stuff is going to wear anyone down. For me I already enjoy being able to sit still and do nothing….for someone that can’t sit still or have high anxiety/stress levels, giving them more mental focus is like giving a race car to a teenager….not a good idea and will only lead to a crash eventually (which is usually depression). Fasting long ago was easier when people didn’t get so worried about stuff and had plenty of down time…..in today’s world of non-stop stimulation/cell phones/traffic/stress from work/deadlines/pressure to be the best you can be/gyms with electronic equipment and TVs all over the place/24hr bad news channels always giving you something to worry about……I think IF could just going to amplify any problems we already have that we are not addressing….IF just blows it up to a new level as now our brain gets more active but it’s still focused on the wrong things. There’s a deeper problem at heart that needs to be brought to light and let go of. The good news is that we have total control on what to focus on and what to let go of, but first we have to really see what is going on….as you can’t drop luggage you don’t even know you are carrying.

Giving this more thought here’s what I came up with:

• daily routine fasting is not something 10,000 BC man did every day….he fasted when he had no food and he ate when he had it….so hence…the whole “intermittent” part

• You autonomic nervous controls your heart, lungs, glands, stomach, blood vessels and other organs. It’s compromised of the SNS (fight or flight) and PNS (rest and digest)

• Waking up you are in a SNS response (fiight or flight)…why? Because your body has to elevate cortisol to wake you up and it has to motivate you to go hunt for food. It also increases your mental alertness because it wants you to find food and be a smart hunter…as a dumb one may starve to death.

• Fasting (IF) Daily will just keep the SNS going…hence why there may be an additional metabolism spike and fat burn (also the reason for increased mental focus).

• Our daily stressors and lifestyles are not what they were 10,000 years ago. Paleo man didn’t wake up and worry about the monthly mortgage, paying off credit cards, world politics, what the stock market was doing, what time to pick the kids up from school, sitting in traffic for hours, or to finish up the report that has to be on the boss’ desk by Friday.

• If you are already stressed and prone to anxiety, then turning up the SNS and keeping it going is going to amplify your underlying issues

• You still need to find ways to destress in life….as you don’t just turn up the radio when you hear something going wrong with the car do you? (well maybe some people do…but it’s not going to hide the issue that could come back to do damage later). Take time off, go outside in nature, get away for a couple hours….let things become clear to you, see what you are really worrying about, what is really stressing you out….learn to let go, to detach from things you have no control of, just learn to live in the now and forget about the past or future.

• Eating a large meal in the morning generates PNS responses therefore taking you more out of SNS and calming down your alertness

Either way…IF is meant to be….ready….Intermittent. So do it 2x a week….3x a week….1x a week….but not every day as that will not be a good way to start. That and listen to how your body responds…..as the level at which you stress out on things is completely different from the level I stress out about things….so I may be able to do it 5x a week…..but you may find it only works for you 2-3x a week. Believe me, if I find my plan isn’t working for me or I am going through more stressful times, then IF is put on hold. The real power of IF comes from knowing when and how to use it….and when to take a break from it.

Along that line it can also be important to generate a large PNS response towards night so you can fall asleep and recharge as part of the natural cycle of SNS during the day and PNS at night. If your sleep is compromised then so will your recovery ability to handle SNS the next day. So bigger meals at night (more with protein/healthy fats)…go to bed feeling satisfied and stress free….no news before bed.

Also work on the other lifestyle issues and stimulants that are causing excessive stress in your life and remove or just detach from them. Make your life more peaceful and enjoyable….don’t just turn up the car radio. (which is a main reason people turn to alcohol and drugs, to basically shut off the thinking part of the mind that is creating all the fear, self-doubt, worry, etc…, but that wears off and then the anxiety comes back….so hence people become addicted to the drugs/alcohol as it never makes the underlying issue be confronted and dealt with)

In the end….if eating all day works better for you emotionally then you are probably best sticking with it until you can address the other issues underneath (stress, worry, fear, lack of sleep, etc). If you want to try IF again you have to start slowly and do it once a week. See how your body reacts. Most people have problems because they try and do too much thinking more is better….when it never is. There is no one right way….but there are plenty of wrong ways. Keep the “Intermittent” part in IF and make it work for you!

photo by JessicaDeWinter

Ok a while back we talked about the longevity genes associated with the CR and IF studies as being Sirt1 gene expression (see the Longevity Gene post here). So now we come across a compound from grapes that may be able to express the longevity gene without needing CR or IF, this compound known as Resvertol. But is it really all it is claimed to be….let’s look into it:

Red Wine Ingredient — Resveratrol — Fights Diabetes In Mice

Even relatively low doses of resveratrol–a chemical found in the skins of red grapes and in red wine–can improve the sensitivity of mice to the hormone insulin, according to a new report. As insulin resistance is often characterized as the most critical factor contributing to the development of type 2 diabetes, the findings “provide a potential new therapeutic approach for preventing or treating” both conditions, the researchers said.

The research group also confirmed that increased levels of an enzyme called SIRT1, which earlier studies had linked to longevity, DNA repair, and insulin secretion, improve insulin sensitivity in mice. Resveratrol is known to activate the SIRT1 enzyme.

Researchers Discover That A Protein In Grape Skins Can Kill Cancer Cells

It’s well known that drinking red wine in moderation can have some health benefits, mainly attributed to a compound called resveratrol. Now, scientists at the University of Virginia Health System have discovered how.

They found how resveratrol helps to starve cancer cells by inhibiting the action of a key protein that feeds them. Mayo said that the resveratrol in one glasses of wine three or four times a week is the right amount to block the protein from feeding cancer cells. Drinking much more than that, however, could stop this affect and, in fact, lead to a greater risk of cancer, he said.

Resveratrol is an antioxidant found in a number of plants, including grape skins, raspberries, mulberries and peanuts. Its job in nature is to fight fungus during the rainy season, and it is especially prevalent in grapes used in making red wine.

Small Molecule Increases Lifespan and “Healthspan” of Obese Mice

Researchers have used a single compound to increase the lifespan of obese mice, and found that the drug reversed nearly all of the changes in gene expression patterns found in mice on high calorie diets–some of which are associated with diabetes, heart disease, and other significant diseases related to obesity. The research, led by investigators at Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging, is the first time that the small molecule resveratrol has been shown to offer survival benefits in a mammal.

“The “healthspan” benefits we saw in the obese mice treated with resveratrol, such as increased insulin sensitivity, decreased glucose levels, healthier heart and liver tissues, are positive clinical indicators and may mean we can stave off in humans age-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, but only time and more research will tell,” says Sinclair

Investigators identified resveratrol while looking for compounds that activate Sir2, an enzyme linked to lifespan extension in yeast and other lower organisms. For the last 70 years, scientists have been able to increase the lifespan of a variety of species by reducing their normal food consumption by 30 to 40 percent - a diet known as calorie restriction. Through this research, scientists identified Sir2 as a key contributor to life extension. Without Sir2, for example, fruit flies see none of the benefits from either calorie restriction or treatment by resveratrol. The mammalian version of the Sir2 gene is SIRT1, which has the same enzymatic activity as Sir2, but modifies a wider variety of molecules throughout cells. Indicators in this study show that resveratrol might also be activating SIRT1 in mice, as well as other known longevity pathways.

A Low Dose of Dietary Resveratrol Partially Mimics Caloric Restriction and Retards Aging Parameters in Mice

Our studies suggest that dietary consumption of a low dose of resveratrol partially mimics CR and inhibits some aspects of the aging process. In long lived rodent strains and in humans, lifespan is often limited by spontaneous tumorigenesis. Studies have determined that the ability of CR to inhibit spontaneous tumorigenesis is linked to the CR-mediated reduction in circulating IGF-1 [28], and in the case of mammary carcinogenesis can be reversed by the administration of IGF-1 to CR animals [29]. Our study design involved the use of a long-lived F1 hybrid mouse strain, and sacrificing mice at 30-months of age, therefore we were unable to evaluate effects of resveratrol on average or maximum lifespan. We note that unlike CR, resveratrol did not reduce circulating IGF-1 levels (Figure 2B), and there was also no decrease in spontaneous tumors at the time of sacrifice (Supplemental Table S2). In particular, spontaneous liver tumors were abundant in mice fed the control diet or resveratrol, but rare in CR mice. Thus, although a low dose of resveratrol can improve quality of life by retarding aging parameters such as cardiac dysfunction, a nutritional or pharmaceutical strategy to also increase lifespan in mice will likely require blockage of the IGF-1 axis or its targets.

from Chris over at Conditioning Research I found this study as well:

Low Sirt1 expression, which is upregulated by fasting, in human adipose tissue from obese women.

Likewise, lean women (n=12) had more than twofold higher Sirt1 expression in subcutaneous adipose tissue compared to obese women (n=12; 0.33-0.73 arbitrary units, P<0.05). Sirt1 was equally expressed in the stroma-vascular fraction and the isolated adipocyte fraction. Finally, in vitro, we demonstrated that resveratrol (a Sirt1 activator) significantly enhanced the lipolytic effect of epinephrine in human adipose tissue (P<0.05)

and from Mark at Marks Daily Apple we have this tidbit:

The ingredient in question is resveratol, a naturally occurring substance in wine, that stimulates a gene known as SIRT1. In previous studies, the SIRT1 gene has been found to increase the lifespan of rodents, but this is the first study to test the theory in humans.

For the study, researchers assigned 67 diabetic patients to receive doses of a proprietary form of the resveratol drug known as SRT501 in either 2,500 or 5,000 milligram (huge amounts) liquid doses. At the end of the 28 day study period, the researchers reported that SRT501 “significantly reduced blood sugar in 67 diabetic patients as compared with a placebo group.” In addition to the positive outcomes, the groups experienced no adverse effects.

Interesting stuff to ponder. So will we see more studies? Yes. Will there be more compounds to come along that also are found to increase Sirt1 activity? Possibly. Because we are now dealing with something that can be “manufactured” and “sold” by the big pharma/supplement companies we will see more research and more trials on it. Is it the magic fountain of youth pill? I don’t think so. Could you get the same results from a clean and healthy lifestyle of good foods, CR/IF and exercise? Quite possibly. Is a glass of red wine several times a week going to give you the same protection and benefits? It could. While something like this may be good to help those already sick with diseases like diabetes, I am also not a fan of a pill coming along to “replace” a healthy lifestyle of activity and eating the right foods, it should only compliment it. My rule with any supplement, only take it after you have adopted a healthy lifestyle of eating/rest/exercise and are seeing some results….never use it to replace it.

So when we come down to it, could it really be something to compliment an already healthy lifestyle and increase longevity? Who knows…..that’s the best part about a longevity pill…..the only way to know if it is working, is that you are still living. Funny huh? Should be interesting to keep an eye on this though and see what else comes from it.

Photo: Real Testimonail with IF from LeanGains.com

Note from Mike: Today is a guest post from another Intermittent Fasting blogger by the name of Martin Berkhan. Martin has been getting great results with some of his clients using IF (especially those wanting to put on quality muscle while doing it). It’s my hope to bring together IF bloggers in the common goal of getting the truth and message out there to people about what can be done. This is just one example of a way that can get people results. Remember that IF is a lifestyle choice with such great potential for health and fitness benefits, and you can control how it works for your activity level, your goals and your healthy and happy lifestyle! Hope you enjoy.

Sure Fire Fat Loss

My name is Martin Berkhan and I work as a nutritional consultant, magazine writer and personal trainer. I also happen to be a proponent of intermittent fasting for health, fitness and fat loss. I have my own blog about fasting (www.leangains.com), but when Mike asked me if I’d like to make a guest post on his blog, I thought that’d be a great way to present my method in greater detail.

The Leangains protocol consists of two phases; 16 hours of fasting, followed by 8 hours of feeding. During this period, three meals are usually eaten. Depending on the day, the composition of those meals varies; on workout days, carbs are prioritized before fat, while on rest days fat intake is higher. Protein remains fairly high on all days. That’s a very basic and general description of the protocol I employ; of course, variables change depending on goals, gender, age, body fat and activity levels, but it would be hard to describe it in greater detail without drifting off too far.

Most of my clients are fitness enthusiasts, athletes and weight trainers, but the great majority of them have one thing in common – to look good naked. The ‘gain’ in Leangains can therefore be a bit misleading, as most of my clients wants to lose fat, while retaining as much muscle as possible in the process. While their diets might vary, it rests on some nutritional principles that I thought I’d present to the crowd reading this post. These principles will work for everyone, regardless of fitness level.

Here are a few guidelines that I consider success factors for performance, fat loss and excellent diet compliance.

• On workout days, break the fast with meat, veggies and a fruit. If you’re planning to train shortly after this meal, add a few carbs in the form of a starch source – potatoes or whole grain bread, for example. Make it a medium sized meal and don’t stuff yourself. Train within 3 hrs of having eaten this meal and have a much larger meal after your workout; in this meal, add more complex carbs – and you may even have one of your favourite treats as dessert, if it’s not too high in fat and if eaten in moderation. Good examples of what I refer to as ‘treats’: low fat ice cream, sorbet or JC’s cheesecake. Bad example: Chinese buffet or your son’s birthday cake. You get the point, keep it within moderation and don’t pig out.

• On rest days, eat less calories than on workout days - do this by cutting down on carb intake, and make meat, fibrous veggies and fruit the foundation of your diet for this day. The first meal of the day should be the largest, in contrast to workout days where the post-workout meal is the largest. Largest doesn’t necessarily mean largest in terms of volume; I suggest getting at least 40% of your calorie intake in this meal, and the dominant macronutrient should be protein. I’ll have some clients eating upwards to 100 g protein in this meal, so don’t be afraid to pile on the meat (or whichever protein source you prefer). Fattier meat and fish like ground beef and salmon are examples of some excellent protein sources that may be consumed on rest days.

• In the last meal of the day, include a slow digesting protein source; preferably egg protein, cottage cheese (or any other source of casein based protein). Meat or fish is also ok if you add veggies or supplement with fiber. This meal will keep you full during the fast and exert an anti-catabolic effect on muscle protein stores by ensuring that your body has an ample supply of amino acids until the next meal.

• Whole and unprocessed foods should always take priority over processed or liquid foods, unless circumstance demands a compromise. For example, you might find yourself in situations when there is little time to eat or prepare foods – in such a situation, having a protein shake or meal replacement bar is ok, where as solid, more satiating foods should be consumed whenever there is ample time to cook.

These are a few of the principles I’ve employed with great success; there’s a bit more to it, but this should get you started in the right direction.

Well here it is, a simple and very easy guide on how to troubleshoot and make sure you making continual progress in your fat loss efforts. No matter if you eat all day or follow an Intermittent Fasting schedule, no matter what kind of shape you are in, and no matter how much weight you have to lose….this guide will keep you on track. Remember that you can burn fat all day…..if you do the important things right on a consistent basis. Forget all the little things that provide little to no results, focus on the bigger important things that you have to do daily and then anything is possible. (click on the picture to see the whole guide)