Are Whole Eggs or Egg Whites Better for You?

I was on a weekend trip with some friends recently and one of my friends was cooking breakfast for the whole group. I went over to see what he was cooking and saw he was getting ready to make a big batch of eggs.

Well, to my shock and horror, I noticed that he was cracking the eggs open and screening the egg whites into a bowl and throwing out the egg yolks. I asked him why the heck he was throwing out the egg yolks, and he replied something like this...
"because I thought the egg yolks were terrible for you...that's where all the nasty fat and cholesterol is".

And I replied, "you mean that's where all of the nutrition is!"
This is a perfect example of how confused most people are about nutrition. In a world full of misinformation about nutrition, somehow most people now mistakenly think that the egg yolk is the worst part of the egg, when in fact, the YOLK IS THE HEALTHIEST PART OF THE EGG!
By throwing out the yolk and only eating egg whites, you're essentially throwing out the most nutrient dense, antioxidant-rich, vitamin and mineral loaded portion of the egg. The yolks contain so many B-vitamins, trace minerals, vitamin A, folate, choline, lutein, and other powerful nutrients... it's not even worth trying to list them all. 

In fact, the egg whites are almost devoid of nutrition compared to the yolks.
Even the protein in egg whites isn't as powerful without the yolks to balance out the amino acid profile and make the protein more bio-available. Not to even mention that the egg yolks from free range chickens are loaded with healthy omega-3 fatty acids.
Yolks contain more than 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, and B12, and panthothenic acid of the egg. In addition, the yolks contain ALL of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K in the egg, as well as ALL of the essential fatty acids (EFAs).
And now the common objection I get all the time when I say that the yolks are the most nutritious part of the egg...

"But I heard that whole eggs will skyrocket my cholesterol through the roof"
No, this is FALSE!
First of all, when you eat a food that contains a high amount of dietary cholesterol such as eggs, your body down-regulates it's internal production of cholesterol to balance things out.
On the other hand, if you don't eat enough cholesterol, your body simply produces more since cholesterol has dozens of important vital functions in the body.
And here's where it gets even more interesting...
There have been plenty of studies lately that indicate that eating whole eggs actually raises your good HDL cholesterol to a higher degree than LDL cholesterol, thereby improving your overall cholesterol ratio and blood chemistry.
And 3rd... high cholesterol is NOT a disease!  Heart disease is a disease...but high cholesterol is NOT.  Cholesterol is actually a VERY important substance in your body and has vitally important functions... it is DEAD WRONG to try to "lower your cholesterol" just because of pharmaceutical companies propaganda that everyone on the planet should be on statin drugs.
If you're interested in this topic of cholesterol specifically, I have another article listed at the bottom of this page about why trying to attack cholesterol is a mistake, and what the REAL deadly risk factors actually are.
In addition, the yolks contain the antioxidant lutein as well as other antioxidants which can help protect you from inflammation within your body (the REAL culprit in heart disease, not dietary cholesterol!), giving yet another reason why the yolks are actually GOOD for you, and not detrimental.
To help bring even more proof that whole eggs are better for you than egg whites, I recently read a University of Connecticut study that showed that a group of men in the study that ate 3 eggs per day for 12 weeks while on a reduced carb, higher fat diet increased their HDL good cholesterol by 20%, while their LDL bad cholesterol stayed the same during the study.  However, the group that ate egg substitutes (egg whites) saw no change in either and did not see the improvement in good cholesterol (remember that higher HDL levels are associated with lower risk of heart disease) that the whole egg eaters did.
So I hope we've established that whole eggs are not some evil food that will wreck your body... instead whole eggs are FAR superior to egg whites.

But what about the extra calories in the yolks?
This is actually a non-issue and here's why... even though egg yolks contain more calories than just eating the egg whites, the yolks have such a high micro-nutrient density in those calories, that it increases your overall nutrient density per calorie you consume.  Essentially, what this does is help to regulate your appetite for the remainder of the day, so you end up eating less calories overall.  In addition, the healthy fats in the egg yolks help to maintain a good level of fat-burning hormones in your body.
Overall, this means that the extra fats (healthy fats) and calories from the yolk are so nutrient-dense that they actually HELP you to burn off body fat!
Also, your normal supermarket eggs coming from mass factory farming just don't compare nutritionally with organic free range eggs from healthy chickens that are allowed to roam freely and eat a more natural diet.  Your typical cheap grocery store eggs will have lower nutrient levels and a higher omega-6 level and lower omega-3 level.  On the other hand, the cage-free organic eggs from healthier chickens allowed to eat more natural feed and roam freely will have much higher vitamin and mineral levels and a more balanced healthier omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid ratio.
I recently compared eggs I bought at the grocery store with a batch of eggs I got at a farm stand where the chickens were free roaming and healthy.
Most people don't realize that there's a major difference because they've never bought real eggs from healthy chickens... The eggs from the grocery store had pale yellow yolks and thin weak shells. On the other hand, the healthier free range eggs from the local farm had strong thick shells and deep orange colored yolks indicating much higher nutrition levels and carotenoids... and just a healthier egg in general.
This is due to the fact that a free-roaming hen allowed to roam on plenty of land will eat a variety of greens, insects, worms, etc transferring MUCH higher levels of nutrients to the eggs compared to an unhealthy hen that is trapped inside a dark factory farm hen house in horrible conditions and fed nothing but piles of corn and soy.  It's a DRASTIC difference in the nutrition that you get from the egg.
So next time a health or fitness professional tells you that egg whites are superior (because of their "fat-phobic" mentality towards dietary fats), you can quietly ignore their advice knowing that you now understand the REAL deal about egg yolks.
And can we all please STOP with this sillyness about eating an omelete with 4-5 egg whites and only 1 egg yolk... If you want real taste and real health benefits, we'd all be better off eating ALL of our eggs with the yolks.
After all, do you REALLY think that our ancestors thousands of years ago threw out the yolks and only ate the egg whites?  NOT A CHANCE!  They intuitively knew that all of the nutrition was found in the yolks.  But our modern society has been brainwashed with misinformation about fats and cholesterol.

Another interesting study about eggs...
I read a study recently that compared groups of people that ate egg breakfasts vs groups of people that ate cereal or bagel-based breakfasts.  The results of the study showed that the egg eaters lost or maintained a healthier bodyweight, while the cereal/bagel eaters gained weight. 
It was hypothesized that the egg eaters actually ate less calories during the remainder of the day because their appetite was more satisfied compared to the cereal/bagel eaters who would have been more prone to wild blood sugar swings and food cravings.
Oh, one last thing I almost forgot... I personally eat 4 whole eggs almost every day with breakfast, and I maintain single-digit bodyfat most of the year. 
Enjoy your eggs and get a leaner body!

Why Cardio Doesn't Work For Some People: A NEAT Explanation

At the Burn the Fat Inner Circle member forums, I get a question which comes up with alarming frequency: "Why isn't my cardio working?"  Despite not only doing regular cardio for weeks, but actually increasing the duration of her workouts, one member still saw no added fat loss and started wondering what she was doing wrong… or what was wrong with her!  I gave her the surprisingly simple answer, which I've printed for you as well in this article and new research has added even more to the answer – it's a NEAT explanation…

How is it possible that some people do tons of cardio and don't lose weight?
Simple: Weight loss is a function of caloric deficit, not how much cardio you do. Cardio is only one of the tools you use to create and increase a caloric deficit.

Endurance athletes are a perfect example for illustrating the error in thinking that "an hour a day" (or whatever amount) of cardio will guarantee weight loss…

They might train for two, three, even four hours or more on some days, but they are often not trying to lose weight. They (have to) eat huge amounts of food to fuel their training and keep their weight stable.
It's not unusual at all for a cyclist to burn 4000 or 5000 calories per day and not lose any weight. Why? Same reason you're doing a lot of cardio but not losing weight:  there's no calorie deficit. Calories in are equaling the calories out.

What you need to do is shift your focus OFF of some kind of prerequisite time spent doing cardio and ON to the REAL pre-requisite for weight loss: a caloric deficit.

If your caloric intake remains exactly the same and you add cardio or other training or activity you will create a deficit and you will lose weight, guaranteed.

With all this talk about "cardio" and "training" one important area that people often forget about is all the other activity in your life outside of your cardio and weight training. There's a name for that:

Non exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT

NEAT is all your physical activity throughout the day, excluding your "formal" workouts.
NEAT includes all the calories you burn from casual walking, shopping, yard work, housework, standing, pacing and even little things like talking, chewing, changing posture, maintaining posture and fidgeting. Walking contributes to the majority of NEAT

It seems like a bunch of little stuff – and it is – which is why most people completely ignore it. Big mistake.
At the end of the day, week, month and year, all the little stuff adds up to a very significant amount of energy. For most people, NEAT accounts for about 30% of physical activity calories spent daily, but NEAT can run as low 15% in sedentary individuals and as high as 50% in highly active individuals.

I'm always telling people to exercise more – to burn more, not just eat less. This is not only for health, fitness and well-being, but also to help increase fat loss.

But some people say that increasing exercise doesn't always work and they quote from research to make their case.  It's true that some studies paradoxically don't show better weight loss by adding exercise on top of diet.

But there are explanations for this…

If you add training into your fat loss regime but you don't maintain your nutritional discipline and keep your food intake the same, you remain in energy balance. If a study doesn't monitor this type of compensation, or if the researchers trust the subjects to accurately self-report their own food intake (hahahahahahahaha!), it will look like the exercise was for nothing.

In studies where the food intake was controlled when exercise was added… surprise, surprise, weight loss increased!

Stated differently, all these "experts" who keep saying that exercise doesn't work for weight loss are  ignoring or not understanding the concepts of calorie deficit and energy compensation.

Why  Exercise "Doesn't Work" – The NEAT Explanation
So a handful of people exercise and then eat more than they were eating before and then scratch their heads and wonder why they aren't losing. DUH!
Or, they go on some idiotic crusade against exercise. "SEE! exercise is a waste of time… all you have to do is follow the 'magic' diet!"
Wrong. Dieting alone is the worst way to lose weight because without training, the composition of the weight you lose is not so good (goodbye muscle… hello skinny fat person!). Want to avoid skinny fat syndrome? It's nutrition, then weight training, then add in and manipulate the cardio as your results dictate.
There's another type of compensation that researchers have recently started studying.  When people increase their training, especially high intensity training, sometimes they also compensate by moving less later in the day and in the days that that follow!
For example, you work out like an animal in the morning, but then instead of your usual walking around and doing housework the rest of the day, you crash and plop your tired body in your LAZY BOY for a nice nap and a marathon session of TV. The next day, the delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) sets in and then you REALLY don't feel like moving!
Research on NEAT is extensive and it tells us that NEAT plays a major role in obesity and fat loss. Finding ways to INCREASE NEAT along with formal exercise can be a promising strategy to increase your total daily calorie burn and thus, increase fat loss. The flip side of that equation is finding ways to avoid decreases in NEAT that we might not have been aware of. Because NEAT is so completely off most people's radars, most people miss this.
(NOTE: For a real eye-opener, try a using a pedometer or bodybugg for a while)
Previous studies have confirmed that many people compensated and decreased their activity (NEAT) during the remainder of the day or on rest days after exercise training. This led anti-exercise pundits once again to spit out their party line, "see, exercise doesn't work! You might as well just diet."
However, a study published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found no immediate debilitative effect on NEAT on the day of exercise or on the following 2 days. In fact, there was a delayed reaction and NEAT actually INCREASED 48 hours after the exercise session (60 minutes of treadmill walking at 6 kph @ 10% grade with 5 minute intervals at 0% grade).
Why the conflicting findings? Scientists aren't 100% sure yet, but they have discovered that part of it has to do with exercise intensity.

Moderate Intensity vs High Intensity cardio: Effect on NEAT

You sometimes hear certain trainers claim that only high intensity exercise is worthwhile and everything else is a waste of time or at best inefficient. That's not always true, on many levels, and one of them involves NEAT.
It looks like higher intensity training has more potential to DECREASE NEAT later on than low or moderate intensity training. You burn a lot of calories DURING the workout when training at high intensity. However, the calories burned during the formal training can be at least partly canceled out by a decrease in NEAT outside the training session.
It also appears that moderate intensity exercise may be better tolerated than high intensity exercise by some people, especially beginners and obese individuals. The low or moderate intensity workouts don't wipe them out so much that they don't become fatigued, sluggish and sore later in the day…. and there's no decrease in NEAT.
Am I saying you shouldn't do high intensity exercise? Not at all.
High intensity training can be very effective and very time efficient and a mix of high and lower-intensity training might be ideal. But if you do a lot of high intensity training, you have to be aware of how OVER-doing it might affect your energy and activity level outside the gym – on the day of training, and even in the days that follow the intense workout. Otherwise, you might end up with fewer total calories burned at the end of the week, not more.
If you don't understand the calorie balance equation and the calorie deficit… if you don't understand the compensatory effect of NEAT on energy out and you don't understand the compensatory effect of eating behaviors on energy in, then you can do cardio until you're blue in the face and you'll still be in energy balance… and your body fat will stay exactly the same.

Important points
1. This study SUPPORTS the role of exercise for weight loss and debunks the idea that exercise doesn't work for weight loss, provided all else remains equal when exercise is added on top of diet.
2. Exercise intensity can affect NEAT for days after a workout is over. Too much high intensity work might zap your energy and activity outside the gym, resulting in a lower level of NEAT. You have to keep up your habitual activity level outside the gym after pushing yourself hard in the gym.
3. This information supports the role of low moderate intensity exercise (like 60 minutes of treadmill walking) based on the effect this has on your activity outside the gym. It is not true that only high intensity training is worthwhile. There are pros and cons of training at various intensities.
4. If you can keep up your NEAT, you can increase your weekly calorie expenditure and increase your fat loss.
5. It's important in research to look beyond short term results (during a workout bout, 24 hour studies, etc), and also consider longer term effects. We should watch out for more studies on NEAT that go beyond 24 hours to learn more.
NEAT is a great way to improve your total fat loss results, but it can also undermine your efforts if you don't consider the toll it takes on your daily energy expenditure. The best thing you can do is follow a fat loss system like my Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle Program that takes account of the big picture, including NEAT.
Train hard and expect success!

3 So-Called "Healthy" Foods that You Should STOP Eating

3 So-Called "Healthy" Foods that You Should STOP Eating (if you want a lean healthy body)

I was reading a statistic in a nutrition book recently, and this is going to shock you...
Now before I tell you the statistic, let's keep an important fact in mind... according to well renowned nutrition author Michael Pollan, and his amazing book called In Defense of Food , humankind has historically consumed approximately 80,000 different species of edible plants, animals, and fungi, and approximately 3,000 of those have been widespread foods of the human diet.

Now get ready for a shocking and appalling statistic...
Currently, the average adult eating a typical modern western diet in countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, etc consumes approximately 67% of their total caloric intake from only 3 foods -- CORN, SOY, AND WHEAT (and their derivatives).

What would be considered a reasonably healthy amount of corn, soy, and wheat in the human diet?  Based on 10's of thousands of years of human history, and what the natural diet of our ancestors was (indicating what our digestive systems are still programmed to process), this would probably be in the range of about 1% to 5% MAX of our total calories from corn, soy, and wheat.

Considering that modern humans are eating 67% of their total calories from corn, soy, wheat... you can see why we have massive problems in our health, and our weight!
It's not a surprise that we have so many intolerances and allergies, specifically to soy and wheat (and gluten intolerance)... the human digestive system was simply never meant to consume these substances in such MASSIVE quantities.

Keep in mind that these massively high levels of corn, soy, and wheat in our modern human diet is a relatively new phenomenon that originated from the economics of the multi-billion dollar corn, soy, and wheat industries.  It really HAS been all about the money... NOT about our health!
By "derivatives" of corn, soy, and wheat, this means the food additives such as:

• high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
• corn oil
• soybean oil (hydrogenated or plain refined)
• soy protein
• refined wheat flour
• hundreds of other food additives such as maltodextrin, corn or wheat starch, soy lecithin, mono and diglycerides, etc, etc

This doesn't surprise me... consider how much soda or other sweetened drinks (with loads of HFCS) that the average person drinks daily... this is a LOT of calories from just 1 sole corn derivative.  Even marinades, salad dressings, ketchup, breads, and 100's of other foods contain loads of belly-fattening HFCS!
Also think about how many processed foods we have that are either fried in soybean or corn oil... and even if the foods are not fried in these oils, these oils are additives to almost every processed food... chips, candies, cakes, salad dressings, tomato sauces, burrito wraps, corn chips, breaded chicken, etc, etc.  This is a LOT of calories from these 2 other corn and soy derivatives... both of them EXTREMELY UNHEALTHY!
On top of that, think about how much breads, cereals, pastas, muffins, and other highly processed wheat products that most people consume each day.  Again, this is LOADS of unhealthy, blood-sugar spiking, nutrient-poor calories, that more than half of the population has some degree of intolerance to anyway.
It gets even worse!
Not only are we eating 67% of our total calories from corn, soy, and wheat... but because of the economics involved (specifically with cheap corn and soy) we are also feeding most of our farm animals corn and soy now too... again amplifying the amount of corn and soy that passes through the food chain and (from a biochemical standpoint) ends up in our bodies.
Probably the 2 worst examples of this blatant mismanagement of our food supply is how our factory farmed chickens and cows are fed.
Cows are fed mostly corn in factory feedlot farms, even though their digestive systems are only meant to eat grass and other forage. This makes the cows sick (hmm... E-coli anyone?), alters the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of the fats to unhealthy levels, and also diminishes the healthy CLA fats that would occur naturally in grass-fed beef .  All of these problems go away if our cows are fed what they were made to eat naturally - grass!
Our chickens are also fed a diet of mostly corn and soy and crowded in tight pens in horrendous conditions... when the fact is that a chicken was meant to roam around the outdoors eating a mixture of greens, insects, worms, seeds, etc.  When chickens are kept inside in tight quarters and fed only grains, it leads to an unhealthy meat for you to eat, and less healthy eggs compared to free-roaming chickens allowed to eat an outdoors diet.
Our food supply has gotten so screwed up that we're even feeding our salmon and other farmed fish corn and soy...again because of the economics involved.  How ludicrous is this, considering that fish are meant to eat a diverse diet of smaller fish, worms, bugs, etc.  Again this makes farm raised fish unhealthy in terms of nutrition compared to the wild counterparts.  If you want to see something even scarier about farm-raised fish, watch this quick video about the toxic fish you might be buying .
So even when you're eating chicken, beef, and fish, you're still essentially getting even MORE corn and soy into your body...considering that the cows, chickens, and farmed fish ate mostly soy and corn.
So it's actually WORSE than just 67% isn't it!
Why is it so unhealthy to consume 2/3rds of our calories from corn, soy, and wheat?
Well, this section could encompass an entire book, so to keep this short, I'll just throw out a few random reasons...

• Skews the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in our diet to as high as 30:1, when a ratio of 1:1 to 2:1 is considered healthy.
• Problems with gluten intolerance (related to heavy wheat consumption)
• Problems with weight gain, blood-sugar swings, and reduced insulin sensitivity (and progression of diabetes) due to excessive refined corn and wheat flours, as well as HFCS in our diet
• Soy and corn are the most genetically modified crops (which also allows more pesticides and herbicides to be used, which are usually "xenoestrogens")
• Many of the pesticide and herbicide residues in these crops are xenoestrogens, which can increase "stubborn" belly fat 
• Soy products and derivatives contain a double-whammy of xenoestrogens as well as phytoestrogens... again creating an environment in your body for fat storage, carcinogenic effects, and even "man boobs" for some men in very severe cases
• The feeding of corn and soy to animals reduces the health and nutritional benefits of those animal products
• and the list could go on and on and on...

So how do you avoid all of this overwhelming amount of corn, soy, and wheat in our food supply, and finally take control of your weight and your health?
1. Don't purchase processed foods!  It all starts with your grocery cart discipline... choose only 1-ingredient foods such as fruits, veggies, beans, eggs (free roaming), nuts, seeds, and meats from grass-fed or free roaming animals that are raised correctly.  Only resort to junk foods or processed foods on a 1-day per week "cheat day" but ONLY when dining out... that way, the processed foods aren't in your house to tempt you.
2. Get most of your carbs from fruits and veggies instead of grains.
3.  Avoid store bought salad dressings as they almost always contain soybean oil and HFCS (instead, try my homemade healthy salad dressing )
4. Make sure that your tomato sauces don't have HFCS and soybean oils... look for sauces made with olive oil instead.  Remember to avoid unhealthy canola oils too !
5. If you like guacamole (one of the healthiest snacks on the planet!), try veggie sticks with guacamole instead of genetically-modified, oil-soaked corn chips
6. If you like hummus, try veggies sticks with hummus instead of pita chips or other bread.
7. Reduce your cereal, bread, and pasta intake by having these foods only on "cheat days" and stick to more of the 1-ingredient foods I mentioned in #1 above.  Try some of these healthy snacks  as good alternatives (yes, I know that one of the 13 snacks on there has sprouted grain, which is fine on occasion).
I could go on with more examples, but I think that's good for now.
So with all of this said... Is my diet perfect?  Well, no of course not!  Nobody is perfect, and I can give in to temptation on occasion just like anybody else.
However, I'd estimate that my corn/soy/wheat consumption is only about 2-4% of my total caloric intake compared to 67% for the average person.  The way that I achieve this is to simply not bring any corn, soy, or wheat products into my house, so I'm never tempted by it.  Therefore, at least 6 days/week, I eat virtually no corn/soy/wheat, except for the occasional piece of sprouted grain toast a couple times a week (which is a better option than typical "whole grain" bread).
I do, however, give in and sometimes eat breads, pasta, and even corn chips, etc. when I'm dining out.  I see these as my cheat meals and try to do this no more than once per week.  I still completely eliminate sodas and deep fried foods though...they are just TOO evil!

Important Diet Lesson You Will Ever Learn

The BEST Way to Eat a Truly Healthy Diet for a Lean Body and Disease Prevention

This article might surpise some people... because most people don't view nutrition in this way that I'm about to explain.  Instead most people get thoroughly confused about nutrition and calories, protein, carbs, fat, diet foods, low-fat, low-cholesterol, low-carb, healthy label claims, vegetarian, raw foods, etc, etc.
However, if you view nutrition in this way that I'll explain below, it solves every single confusion about nutrition that you could ever have.  I will warn you though, this is very BIG PICTURE thinking, and it helps explain a lot about the human body when you think about things this way.
Ok, the #1 MOST important aspect about nutrition involves the study of ARCHAEOLOGY (and anthropology)!
What the heck am I talking about?  Well, let's dig in...
Yes, everything about the human body that is either healthy or bad for us currently, all stems from hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years of evolution and how the human body adapted to everything around us, including food, exercise, our environment (city vs nature), and lots more.
We know from archaeological records that our current human species (homo sapiens) originated approximately 200,000 years ago... however, our close cousins (ancestors prior to homo sapiens), such as homo erectus, date as far back as several million years.
If you study evidence about what our ancestors ate, it gives obvious clues about how the human digestive system evolved and what are the healthiest foods for us to eat in today's world.
This obviously explains why relatively new chemicals and food types (that humans were NEVER meant to ingest) cause so many health problems, such as artificial sweeteners , HFCS and other corn derivatives, white bread and other refined grain products, refined oils such as soybean and unhealthy canola oils , and so on.
Now this discussion could get pretty involved and encompass an entire book, so let me give some important statements to best summarize this:
1.  Despite what you'll hear from extreme vegans, extreme raw foodists, and other believers in "extreme" types of diets that eliminate entire portions of the historical human diet, the human digestive system evolved to eat a mixture of plants and animal foods (yes, we evolved as omnivores), as well as a mixture of raw food AND cooked food.

I know, I know... You'll get heated debate about both of these topics...meat eating vs veganism, and raw foodism... however, it's historical FACT that our current species (and historical ancestors back over a million years ago) in almost every culture around the world, ate at least some % of plant-animal food combination and raw food / cooked food combination (even if it was at different times of the day, or even different times of the year).
Some cultures, such as the Inuit of the arctic and several tribes in Africa, thrived in stellar health on almost an entirely animal-based diet, and other cultures around the world thrived on almost an entirely plant-based diet... But all cultures generally had some mixture of plant and animal foods, even if the amount of animal food was small in some cultures, or the amount of plant food was small in other cultures.
Similarly, virtually every culture around the world has also historically consumed BOTH raw foods and cooked foods in differing amounts of each... but there's no real evidence of societies thriving on 100% raw food diets.
But what about the argument that raw foodists make claiming that all animals in nature eat 100% raw foods, but humans are the only species that eats cooked food...
Well, there's a simple explanation for that... humans were the ONLY species with a well developed enough brain to understand how to control fire and therefore cook our food... And since we've been cooking a portion of our foods for the entire existence of our species (200,000 years) as well as our ancestors back several million years, our digestive systems have adapted to eating a portion of our food cooked.
This also explains why acrylamides are more harmful to animals that eat cooked food compared to humans... since humans have adapted some level of tolerance to acrylamides from eating a partial cooked diet for 100's of thousands of years, but animals have never historically adapted to a cooked food diet, and therefore, are more sensitive to acrylamides.
If you've never heard of acrylamides, they are formed when the outside of foods are burned during cooking (such as the browning on breads or other baked goods, browning on deep fried foods, or the charring of vegetables cooked over a flame, etc) and these compounds are potentially carcinogenic to both humans and animals.  Cooking foods with water, and also using high antioxidant herbs and spices in cooking helps reduce acrylamides and protect you against them.
The bottom line... we were designed through evolution to eat a mixture of both plants and animals as well as cooked and raw foods... But let's clarify an important point in #2 below...

2. Although I say that we were meant through evolution to eat an omnivorous diet of both plants and animals, one thing that we were NEVER meant to eat is factory-farm raised animals, or eggs or milk from factory-farm raised animals.
Factory farming is an entirely new phenomenon that's still only decades old, so essentially, these types of meat products were never meant to be part of the human diet.
Chemically (nutritionally), factory-farm animal products are VASTLY different from animal products that were raised the way they were meant to live and eat. Examples of these differences can be seen glaringly in the nutrition profiles of grass-fed meats vs grain-fed factory farm meat, free range eggs vs factory eggs, wild fish vs farmed fish, and so on.
We're talking about major differences in omega-3's vs omega-6's, differences in vitamins and minerals, differences in other healthy fats such as CLA, and lots more.
So although I don't fully agree with veganism at least from a nutritional standpoint (moral arguments aside), I also don't agree with our current state of affairs of the majority of our food supply of factory farm raised animal products (at least here in the US, where the condition of the factory farm animals and nutritional quality of the food is horrendous).
That's why I try to not support the factory farm industry as much as possible (which is most meats and dairy in your supermarket) and instead, I try to eat almost solely grass-fed meats from free ranging animals, wild game, wild fish, eggs from local farmers from free roaming hens, and dairy only from grass-fed cows that are allowed to graze almost entirely on forage.

3.  Although I point out that many historical cultures around the world thrived on vastly different percentages of animal products vs plant products in their diet, here is another type of food that we were NEVER meant to eat:
PROCESSED FOOD
Yes, I know it hurts to hear it, but cakes, cookies, crackers, microwaved meals , chips, sodas, granola bars, sugary sports drinks or  energy drinks , and 1000's of other products that line our supermarket shelves were never meant to be part of the human diet, so it's obvious why it causes so many health problems for us.
This gets back to what I always say about trying to include as many "1-ingredient" foods as you can in your diet if you want to eat like we were meant to eat.
"1-ingredient" foods means healthy meats, eggs, nuts, seeds, beans, tubers, fruits, and veggies.  It's really that simple.

4.  Ok, this one starts to get a little controversial... but, remember that agriculture is also a relatively new phenomenon in the big picture of the human diet when you expand far back in history a couple of million years.  And when I'm talking about agriculture, I'm mostly talking about the massive influx of grain-based foods into the human diet that occurred with the invention of agriculture.
The mass production of grains through agriculture is only a few thousand years old... Compare that to our ancestors historical existence as hunter-gatherers as far back as a couple of million years, and our current species (homo sapiens) 200,000-year history as hunter-gatherers.
If you think about it, as hunter-gatherers, we would have had very limited access to grains, and they would have encompassed a very small % of our historical calorie intake, since they weren't mass produced and processed. Instead, we thrived on mostly game meats (including the organ meats, where most of the micro-nutrients are found), wild fish and seafood, eggs, nuts, seeds, beans, tubers, fruits, and veggies.
From this perspective, grains probably never accounted for more than 1-3% of our historical calorie intake... and as you know from one of my recent articles, currently our modern processed diet that the average person eats consists of 67% of total calories from grains such as corn, soy, and wheat and their derivatives ... now THAT'S a shocking revelation in why our entire food supply is backwards, and how that affects your waistline!
It also makes you think about how ridiculously wrong our "food pyramid" really is, which promotes the bulk of our food to be eaten from grains.
I could go on with more examples, but I think you're seeing the major points here... the most important aspect to eating a healthy diet that promotes a lean, healthy body is to acknowledge what our ancestors ate throughout the millions of years of evolution.
And that certainly wasn't processed "diet foods" with fancy label claims deceiving you into thinking they're healthy... instead, it was the 1-ingredient foods I listed above, eaten in a combination of raw food and cooked food.
A couple final thoughts on how to fit these suggestions into your healthy eating plan:
1.  Try to become a "locavore" as much as possible... if you can get local farm-fresh produce, that is the most environmentally and socially responsible, as well as healthy way to get your produce.  Research if you have farmers markets and farm stands that might be in your area, or deliver to your area.
2.  Try to choose organic foods as much as possible... but local food will many times trump organic food that had to travel thousands of miles to make it to you.
3. When choosing meat and eggs, try to choose grass-fed meats as much as possible, free range chicken, turkey, and pork raised in a humane manner, and eggs from hens that truly roam free outside instead of being confined to "chicken factories".  Many times, this means making the effort to seek out local farms or co-ops that deliver to urban areas.  This site is a great source of meats that were raised in the healthiest manner, and they deliver right to your doorstep
Remember that eating healthy and responsibly doesn't mean eating bland boring food... there are tons of ways to eat in a healthy and socially/environmentally responsible manner, and we describe in depth how to do this in our Fat Burning Kitchen Program .

What No One Is Telling You About Calories In VS Calories Out

I'm going to share with you the most crucial weight loss strategy that will literally make or break your success. This is the number one fat loss tip I could ever give you. If you don't get this right, you can kiss your fat loss results goodbye. This is the one absolute requirement for weight loss, and it's something you've probably heard of before. However, there's one critical distinction about this familiar advice that you might not have considered - and this one thing makes all the difference in the world…
Let me quote Melvin Williams, PhD, professor emeritus of exercise science at Old Dominion University and author of the textbook Nutrition for Health, Fitness and Sport (McGraw Hill):
"Human energy systems are governed by the same laws of physics that rule all energy transformations. No substantial evidence is available to disprove the caloric theory. It is still the physical basis for bodyweight control."

There are a variety of diet programs and weight loss "gurus" who claim that calories don't count. They insist that if you eat certain foods or avoid certain foods, that's all you have to do to lose weight. Dozens, maybe hundreds of such diets exist, with certain "magic foods" put up on a pedestal or certain "evil fat-storing foods" banished into the forbidden foods zone.
Other weight loss "experts" invoke the insulin/carbohydrate hypothesis which claims that carbs drive insulin which drives body fat. That's akin to saying "Carbs are the reason for the obesity crisis today, not excess calories."
They are all mistaken.
Of course, there IS more to nutrition than calories in vs calories out. Food quality and nutrition content matters for good health. In addition, your food choices can affect your energy intake. We could even point the finger at an excess of refined starches and grains, sugar and soft drinks (carbs!) as major contributing factors to the surplus calories that lead to obesity.
However, that brings us back to excess calories as the pivotal point in the chain of causation, not carbs. A caloric deficit is a required condition for weight loss - even if you opt for the low carb approach - and that's where your focus should go – on the deficit.

Now, here's that critical distinction…
You've heard it said, "exercise more and eat less" a million times. However, saying "focus on the calorie deficit" is NOT the same thing. If you don't understand the difference, you could end up spinning your wheels for years.
You could exercise more, but if you compensate by eating more, you cancel your deficit.
You could eat less, but if you compensate by moving less, again you cancel your deficit.
This type of compensation can happen unconsciously, which leads to confusion about why you're not losing weight or why you're gaining. That often leads you to make excuses or blame the wrong thing… anything but the calories.
Therefore, "focus on the calorie deficit" more accurately states the most important key to weight loss than "exercise more and eat less." Make sure you understand this distinction and then follow this advice.
Last but not least, keep in mind that there are a lot of ways to establish a deficit and many of those ways are really dumb. Eating nothing but grapefruits, cabbage, twinkies… but in a deficit?… Dumb!
The bottom line is that a calorie deficit is required for fat loss, but once your deficit is established, the composition of your hypo-caloric diet DOES matter. That's why any good fat loss program starts with "calories in vs calories out" but doesn't stop there - you also need to look at protein, essential fats, macronutrients, micronutrients, food quality and how the diet you choose fits into your lifestyle. This is the pivotal strategy that my entire Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle system hinges upon.
Don't let the simplicity of this idea fool you. This is the #1 key to your successful weight loss now and in the future: Focus on the deficit!

Need Calcium? A Dairy-Free Diet Can Deliver

I was sitting here the other day thinking about that old '80s dairy commercial. You know the one with the tagline that says, "Milk Does a Body Good." The slogan is catchy and unforgettable, but the claims are a bit twisted. Believe it or not, a dairy-free diet will do your body much better than one that contains milk.

From growth hormones, to antibiotics, to pasteurization, to homogenization – there are so many things wrong with the milk nowadays. I could go on for hours about the damage drinking milk can do to your health. This is why I advise people to stay away from the stuff.

The Truth About Dairy and Calcium

I know exactly what you're thinking. "If I follow a dairy-free diet, how will I get enough calcium to keep my bones from crumbling out from under me?"
The answer is quite simple. Load your plate with veggies, and make your mamma proud by actually eating them. People think I'm nuts when I tell them veggies are a much better source of calcium than dairy. After all, the "big-wigs" who can afford multimillion dollar dairy campaigns say otherwise – and who am I to challenge them?
It's like this: I've always given it to you straight, and I'm not about to hold back now. Contrary to what you were taught, milk does not hold the monopoly on calcium. I repeat. Milk does NOT hold the monopoly on calcium. In fact, milk is not even an adequate source of calcium.
By the time manufacturers finish pasteurizing, homogenizing, enriching, fluffing, stuffing and whatever else they do to prepare milk for the marketplace, a lot of the calcium is unusable by the body. This could be one of the reasons why osteoporosis is on the rise. I won't even get started on the other ailments drinking milk can cause.

Veggies That Offer Calcium

Veggies that contain calcium are abundant – so there are bound to be some you can't get enough of. All green leafy vegetables are rich in calcium. Some other veggies that contain this nutrient include cauliflower, green beans, onions, okra, chickpeas, black beans and avocados. This is just a short list. There are plenty of other calcium-rich vegetables out there.
Here's a plus. Veggies are naturally low in calories. If you really want to see that fat fade into oblivion, replace the dairy in your diet with some of the veggies listed above. FYI, Acid-forming foods like soda, sugar, coffee and artificial sweeteners rob your body of calcium. Avoiding these foods will make more calcium available for your bones.

What About Organic Milk?

I don't advocate drinking milk. However, if you have to have it, stick with "certified" organic. The standards for producing organic milk are more stringent than the rules for producing conventional milk. Organic farmers are required by law to raise their dairy cows using all natural methods. This makes organic milk a little better to drink (I didn't say it was healthy).
The problem with organic milk is that it is processed the same way as conventional milk. This means, your body still won't be able to digest a large portion of the calcium. However, when you opt for organic milk instead of regular milk, your liver won't have to filter out the antibiotics and growth hormones used to raise conventional dairy cows.
Don't spend another day in the dark about nutrition and watch this video to see why you can live a happy and healthy life with a dairy free diet. Let The Diet Solution Program arm you with the information you need for good health.

I Need to Lose Weight by Eating Organic-How Can I Afford it

My DSP followers and blog readers keep me motivated. I want to pay it forward by answering your common nutrition questions. Here's a great one: I need to lose weight by eating organic. How do I accomplish this without ending up in the poor house?
First, let me just reassure you that your ability to lose weight is not dependent on whether you eat organic foods or not. If you follow the right eating plan, you can achieve successful weight loss results without going organic. However, if you want to invest in your long-term health, an organic diet is definitely worth considering.

If you're a regular reader, you know that I'm a huge advocate of organic foods. I know what kind of garbage farmers and manufacturers use in conventional foods, that's why I don't buy them. I'm not going to sit here and pretend that organic foods aren't pricy, because they are. However, there are ways to add organic foods to your diet without going broke.

Get Rid of the Junk and Eat Sensibly

Processed junk like cereal bars, granola bars, protein shakes and low-fat cookies can put the squeeze on your wallet. Once you rid your grocery list of junk, you'll be surprised how much moola it will free up. Put the leftover money to good use and buy a few organic food items.

How many of us eat way more than we should? Think about it. The more food you eat, the more you'll have to buy, and the costlier your organic diet will be. If you learn to manage your portion sizes and stop eating once you're full, you'll not only lose weight, you'll save money too.

Buy Selectively and Bargain Shop

I'm a pretty thrifty gal. If I get wind of a good sale, I'm there. When you find great sales on organic meat or poultry, rack up. You can pop the extras in the freezer and use them later on down the line. If you can never seem to catch natural poultry or meat on sale, buy whatever gets you the most mileage out of your dollar.

Pick and choose the kind of produce you buy organic. Produce with thick skins such as bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, lemons, asparagus and melons tend to resist pesticide penetration. So if push comes to shove, you can buy the conventional versions of these foods.

Thin-skinned and leafy produce like spinach, apples, nectarines, bell peppers, strawberries, lettuce and grapes absorb pesticides like sponges; so buy these types of fruits and veggies organic whenever possible.

Garden and Buy From Local Farmers

Have you seen the price of tomatoes lately? Whoa. You know organic tomatoes are super easy to grow and you don't even need a yard to do it. You can get a decent size pot and grow enough tomatoes to last all summer long.

Tomatoes aren't the only things you can put in your garden. Radishes, cucumbers, spinach, onions and herbs practically grow themselves. If you're serious about going organic without going broke, don't be afraid to get your hands dirty.

If you want fresh, affordable produce, visit your local farmers' market. The local farmers who sell at these markets usually limit or eliminate the use of pesticides on their fruits and vegetables. The produce goes straight from the farm to the market, so there are no added expenses for shipping or packaging.

There's no need to dive into an organic lifestyle head first. It took me three years to completely transition. I started slow and inched my way up until I got where I wanted to be. You can do the same thing. Simply start by replacing a few of the foods you consume regularly and then take it from there.

Don't spend another day confused about nutrition. Let The Diet Solution Program show you what it means to eat healthy, lose weight and feel great about yourself.

4 Foods Never to Eat

Back in November I was having dinner with world-famous nutritionist
Isabel De Los Rios and her husband in Los Angeles, California.
And believe me, I kept an eye on what she had to eat, after all, she's one of my three trusted sources for nutrition secrets.
Then the next day I went with her and a group of fitness experts to Bill Phillips' house in Beverly Hills. And I noticed he was listening
to every word she said as well!
And then the next morning, I saw her having breakfast with
Tim Ferriss, the NY Times best-selling author.
Wow, does she have a lot of guys listening to her advice on nutrition!

As my friend Joel Marion says, "When Isabel speaks, I listen…and so should you."
=> Do NOT Eat These 4 Foods if you want to lose fat fast
Take a few minutes to watch Isabel's free presentation she created for you, where she'll expose four of the foods you should NEVER eat if you want to lose belly fat fast.
Controversial? Yes.
Proven to help you lose fat? Absolutely.
=> 4 Foods NEVER to eat (free presentation)
This video is just in time to help cure your belly fat problem from the foods eaten over the holidays.
Enjoy!

The Truth about CORN

There's nothing like a good piece of corn on the cob at your summer barbeque or your buttered popcorn to go along with your favorite movie, right? Or wrong?
This question seems to be coming up more and more often…

Isabel, are corn and foods made from corn allowable on The DSP?
Well, the answer is yes, BUT there are a few details you need to know first (you didn't think I was just going to leave it at that, did you?)
It's been approximated that about 60% of the corn, now in the U.S., is genetically modified (although, I do think this number is higher now). The practice of genetically modifying corn began in an attempt to make corn crops resistant to certain pesticides. This helps the farmer because they are then able to grow a larger crop because it is easier to fight off pests (they can spray the crops with pesticides and get rid of insects without damaging their crop).

Sweet corn has also been genetically modified (now called Bt-corn) so that it produces a poison which kills harmful insects. This means the farmer no longer needs to fight insects with insecticides.
Now although some of these may sound like a good thing (especially if you're a farmer!), we need to consider how GMO foods respond in our bodies and what kind of long term effects they can have on our health.

Well, because the introduction of GMO foods is still relatively new, we're in a way being used as "guinea pigs" in a massive experiment (Yikes!). In April 2007, Arpad Pusztai, from the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, UK, announced that experiments had shown intestinal changes in rats caused by eating genetically engineered potatoes (and I don't know about you, but I'm not happy about anybody trying to mess with my intestines).

This actually doesn't surprise me. It's amazing to me how many more people now complain of things like irritable bowel syndrome and other nagging digestive problems. I'm not saying that eating GMO foods is the only cause for these conditions but I'm sure it's a significant contributor (along with processed foods, but that's a story for a different day).
Ok, so what if you're able to get non-GMO corn? (Which it is difficult to know which brands and items are GMO and which are not) where does corn fit into your DSP meal plan?

First, your body reads corn as a grain, NOT a vegetable so if you are to include it into your meals, this will be the grain (carbohydrate) for your meal. So having corn and brown rice would be having 2 grains in one meal. This is not necessarily off limits and not "bad" in any way, just consider if you are someone who is sensitive to grains, you will lose weight faster by greatly reducing the number of grains you eat each day. You may want to take 2 – 3 weeks and follow the "no grain" meal plans in the Diet Solution manual and see if that helps break through any weight loss plateaus and/or helps your digestion.
What about microwave popcorn?

Well even the organic varieties contain preservatives (of course to keep them in the bag) and have been shown to contain the same chemical coating in the bag that is used on non-stick cookware (double YIKES!). I would stay away from this stuff.
How about air popped popcorn?
This is your best bet and can definitely be used as an occasional snack. But notice I said "occasional". Remember most people lose weight faster by decreasing (not necessarily eliminating) many grains. Snacking on popcorn every day could and most likely will, impede your weight loss efforts.
I hope this information helps you to make a more informed decision at your next barbeque and at your next movie night. Remember, corn is not off limits by any means, just remember you're looking for the non-GMO varieties and including it as a grain and not a vegetable into your meal plans.
Find out how to lose inches off your waist by changing 3 things you eat.

The Truth About Cholesterol

I am going to let you in on something shocking. Cholesterol is not the major culprit in heart disease. I know this may be hard to believe after all we have heard about the dangers of high cholesterol from our doctors, and the media. But the truth is, it is not the cholesterol levels themselves or the cholesterol containing foods that are the culprits in heart disease, it is those foods and any other thing that causes inflammation in your body that is the major cause of heart disease (as well as diabetes and high blood pressure).

What is cholesterol and why do we need it?

Cholesterol is a soft, waxy substance found among the lipids (fats) in the bloodstream and in all your body's cells. It's an important part of a healthy body because it's used to form cell membranes. Cholesterol also aids in the manufacture of bile (which helps digest fats), and is also important for the metabolism of fat soluble vitamins, including vitamins A, D, E and K. It is the major precursor for the synthesis of vitamin D and of the various steroid hormones (which include cortisol and aldosterone in the adrenal glands, and the sex hormones progesterone, the various estrogens, testosterone, and derivatives ).

How could something so good be so bad?
Cholesterol has been wrongly accused because upon inspection of the arteries of someone at risk for a heart attack, levels of cholesterol and plaque build up are very high. Cholesterol is actually being transported to tissues as part of an inflammatory response that is there to repair damage. It will only lodge itself onto the artery and cause plaque if the artery has become damaged. Inflammation in the artery is what causes this damage. In fact, it is now known that the coronary disease that causes heart attacks is now considered to be caused mostly from chronic inflammation.
To blame cholesterol for heart attacks would be the equivalent of blaming increased police security in a high crime area. It was not the police that caused the crime, they were just placed there in response to the crimes.

A more important question to ask ourselves, is how do we decrease the amount of inflammation in our bodies so that cholesterol will not bind to our arteries?
We must decrease all of those things that we do that cause inflammation and increase things that decrease inflammation. First and foremost we must stay away from foods that cause inflammation in our bodies. Any food that causes a fast rise in blood insulin levels will quickly cause inflammation in the body. These foods are sugar, white breads, most dairy products and almost all packaged and processed foods. What does this leave you with? Fresh, wholesome foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean animal proteins, nuts, and lots and lots of water. Also, taking in lots of omega-3 rich foods will dramatically decrease inflammation in the body (salmon, organic eggs, walnuts and sardines).

What about your cholesterol medication?
Some may be thinking, it is just easier to take a pill and not have to change what I am eating. But you may want to think twice considering the side effects of statins (cholesterol lowering drugs). The most common side effects reported are fatigued, headaches, nausea and the most common of them all, severe muscular pains and muscular degeneration. If you remember that cholesterol is essential for the formation of cell membranes, taking a drug that is drastically lowering cholesterol may be causing membrane damage in neural and muscle tissue. Most people on statins complain of neck, back or leg pain.
Millions of Americans are now on cholesterol lowering drugs, but the number of people suffering from heart attacks and heart disease is only increasing. Let's take a personal responsibility for our health and truly get to the root of the problem. Managing your diet and staying away from those foods that are causing an inflammatory response in your body is your first step to decreasing your chance of heart disease and heart attacks.

The Real Truth behind Organic Foods

Many people are unaware of what organic food really is.  It seems that everywhere we go now, someone is promoting something that is "organic".  Are these foods worth your time and money?
It almost seems like some people are afraid of organic food. Could this be possible? Are people afraid that eating one morsel of organic food is going to somehow instantly initiate them into the organic food cult where you're only allowed to wear sandals made from tree bark and deodorant is prohibited?
I swear I have had people say to me "Well, you can't be that organic because you wear make-up and you don't smell."
What? That's not what organic means at all!  All it means is that the food or the product has been grown the way mother nature intended: without the use of chemicals, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. In other words, naturally!

Are some people afraid of the price? Organic does not automatically mean "break the bank". Many times when I compare the price of the organic food versus the conventional food, they are only a few cents different. In the case of the bag of organic carrots I bought today for my lunch, they were the exact same price as the conventional ones. Imagine that!
If anything about the word "organic" makes you want to jump and run the other way, be sure to read my previous blog post "Is there such a thing as Cheap Organic Food?"

It will help you understand exactly why organic food is all the rave these days and what you can do to make organic living easy, simple and not so scary!

Get started on your own fat loss and health goals right away with these Simple and Easy Healthy Meal Plans.

Stay up to date on the most current nutrition and health information here:  The Best Diet Info

The Top 5 Benefits of a Wheat Free Diet Plan

You've probably heard about changing to a gluten-free or wheat free diet plan. But if you don't suffer from a wheat allergy or from Celiac disease, you may wonder if there's really any benefit to going wheat-free. After all, wheat and wheat-based products are so ingrained (pun intended) in the American diet that we often wonder if we really can give it up altogether.

Going wheat-free requires some work on your part—but that's a good thing. If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you know that becoming educated about the food you eat is something I am passionate about. So if going wheat-free makes you stop and read your food labels, then you know I am all for it. But there are other, more tangible benefits to following a wheat-free diet plan. I'm going to list the top 5 reasons you should switch to a wheat-free diet below.

1. You may have wheat intolerance—but you don't know it.

Studies show that Celiac disease is actually underdiagnosed in the United States. Some estimate that only 1 in 3000 people are diagnosed, when in reality, 1 in 250 suffer from the disease. So it may be worth your while to go off wheat for a period of time and see how you feel.
Does your digestion improve? Do you have more energy? If so, you may have wheat intolerance. A simple blood test can show the presence of antibodies in your bloodstream, and an intestinal biopsy can confirm Celiac disease. But simply eliminating wheat from your diet, and then seeing how you feel, is an easy self-test you can try on your own.

2. You may feel allergy relief.

If you suffer from many allergies, eliminating wheat from your diet can help ease your symptoms. If you have dry, itchy skin, or suffer from hives, then eliminating wheat can have a profoundly positive effect on how you feel.

3. You may experience digestive relief.

If you experience gas, bloating, and water retention, eliminating wheat from your eating plan can really help improve your digestion. Although we think that wheat is easy to digest, it's actually quite hard on your intestines, and can cause sluggish digestion and even blockages. A wheat-free diet is much easier on your intestines than a diet that relies on wheat products.

4. A wheat-free diet can help keep weight gain at bay.

If you want to really jump start your weight loss, try keeping wheat out of your eating plan for a couple of weeks. You may be surprised at the result. Many of the refined carbs we eat without thinking (cookies, crackers, breads, pastas, and the like) are made with wheat. By eliminating wheat from your diet, you eliminate these products by default from your eating program, which can help you achieve your weight loss goals.

5. Your joints will thank you.

Studies show that gluten is often an instigator for joint pain in the body, as it weakens our bodies' natural defenses. If you suffer from joint pain or have a family history of arthritis, you can keep your joints feeling better—and thus stay more active—by eliminating gluten products from your eating program.
When eliminating wheat from your diet, be sure to read the labels of every food product you eat. Even seemingly innocent foods, like soy sauce, contain wheat. So if you are truly going gluten-free, you will need to make sure you read about everything you eat, before you consume it.
Want to get healthy, but don't know where to begin? The Diet Solution Program can get you on the right path and keep you there. Our recipes are all friendly to a wheat-free diet, too!

How Will Proper Nutrition Help Me Lose Weight?

If you've tried diet after diet and you're still hollering, "Please! Help me lose weight!" It's because diets don't work (obviously). Sure, they may help you drop a few pounds in the beginning, but the results are often short lived. Most diets require you to restrict your caloric intake to the point where your body is literally starving.

Not getting enough calories slows your metabolism down, causes the loss of lean muscle tissue, deprives you of the fuel you need to perform, and causes your body to hold on to stored fat for energy. In addition, diets are miserable, depressing, frustrating and not sustainable over the long term. Seriously, how long do you think you can survive off of grapefruits and cabbage?

Take it from a gal who has tried almost every diet on the market. Proper nutrition will give you better weight loss results than simply going on a diet. Here are three good reasons why.

Healthy Foods Are Naturally Low in Calories

Unlike processed junk, healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, legumes, beans naturally raised meats, organic poultry, raw nuts, seeds and organic eggs are naturally low in calories. When you eat reasonable portions of these foods, you automatically reduce your caloric intake and lose weight without feeling hungry, deprived or bitter.

There is so much nonsense in processed foods. When you eat them, your body doesn't have a clue what to do with the calories; so they just get stored as fat. When you eat nutritious foods instead of processed junk, your body actually benefits from the calories so they are less likely to get stored as blubber.

Proper Nutrition Helps Fuel Your Body

All nutritious (and I mean truly nutritious) eating plans will allow plenty of fresh vegetables, fruits and beans in the diet. These foods provide the healthy carbohydrates you need to fuel your body and keep your metabolism performing properly.

If you come across a diet that tells you not to eat healthy carbohydrates, run away from it as fast as you can. Your body absolutely has to have healthy carbohydrates (healthy being the operative word) to survive.

Eating Healthy to Burn Fat

Here's some great news. Healthy diets that include protein can help you build lean muscle tissue, which can kick your metabolism into high gear. This is definitely a plus if you want to send that double chin packing.

When you eat protein rich foods, your body releases a hormone that helps you burn fat. Protein also helps make meals more satiating so you eat less (bring on the protein, baby). Some nutritious protein sources include naturally raised lean meats, organic poultry, beans, raw nuts and whole organic eggs.

Why put yourself through the drama of dieting just to be disappointed with the end results? Healthy eating is a much better option for dropping unwanted pounds. Remember though, nutritious eating is just one part of the weight loss puzzle. If you want to keep those results coming, get plenty of exercise and drink lots of water.

If you are serious about losing weight, watch this video to learn some of the things that help me lose weight and keep it off.

The "Weird" Types of Meat with the Highest Nutrient Density

A "Super-Food" That's Actually Not a Plant-Based Food

While it's true that most "Superfoods" we usually talk about are plant-based foods, this article will show you an often overlooked animal-based superfood.
Did you know that most predatory animals instinctively eat the organ meats from their kill before moving to the muscle meats?  What do the animals know instinctively?  They know THAT'S where the highest nutrient density meat is located, and is best for them!  We're talking liver, kidneys, brains, hearts, etc.
Before you say "YUCK" and stop reading, there ARE ways to incorporate these super nutrient dense types of meat into your diet that actually taste good, and I'll also show you how nutrition packed these are.
In fact, did you know that one of the main reasons that the traditional Inuit populations in the Arctic were able to maintain good health while eating very little plant material is that they were smart enough to get a large amount of their nutrition needs from organ meats.  Even vitamin C can be found in organ meats despite that fact that most people falsely believe that plants are the only source of Vitamin C.
Organ meats are not the most popular cuts of meat in the US, but with the growing popularity of grass fed beef, there is renewed interest lately in these power-packed nutrition superstars. However, organ meat is still very popular in many countries.

Many cultures use almost the entire animal for food, including the organs. The most often-used organs are the liver, tongue, kidneys, brains, heart, stomach, and intestines. If you take a look at our dietary history, it is obvious that organ meat was very common and eaten even more often than the muscle meat of animals.
What did our ancestors know that we've ignored in recent times?
They realized that the organs contained some of the most concentrated sources of nutrients and were the most important part of the animal to eat.
Compared to regular cuts of muscle meat, organ meats are more densely packed with just about every nutrient, including heavy doses of B vitamins such as: B1, B2, B6, folic acid and vitamin B12.
Organ meats are also loaded with minerals like phosphorus, iron, copper, magnesium and iodine, and provide the important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Key to remember here is that animals raised outside on grass contain even higher levels of these essential nutrients than their grain-fed counterparts.
One of the few natural sources of Vitamin D

You've probably heard how Vitamin D is one of the most important vitamins (actually a hormone precursor) and regulates more functions in your body than you can even imagine.  It's also one of the nutrients that many people are deficient in, especially those that live at higher latitudes and receive less sun (since sun exposure is your best source of Vitamin D).
Well, organ meats are known to have some of the highest concentrations of naturally occuring vitamin D of any food source, and including a source of organ meats into your diet once or twice a week, can especially help people in the winter times that might otherwise get a vitamin D deficiency.
Organ meats also contain high amounts of the essential fatty acids such as arachidonic acid, and omega-3 fats, including EPA and DHA. Yep, despite popular belief, fish and fish oils are not the only source of the important EPA and DHA... organ meats are loaded with these important nutrients.
Even if you don't eat large servings of organ meat, you can add smaller amounts of organ meats to your favorite ground meat dishes, and help your family supercharge their nutrition.

Let's take a look at the benefits of organ meats, especially those of grass-fed cattle... perhaps liver, heart and kidneys, and you may find that organ meats might take on a new attraction.

What about safety?

People usually ask about the safety of liver in particular of all of the organ meats. It is the liver's job to neutralize toxins in our body (or an animals body) from drugs or other chemicals, so obviously the best choice for liver is the grass fed kind, without added antibiotics or hormones.

Liver is known to be one of the most concentrated sources of natural vitamin A of any foods.

Natural vitamin A works to aid digestion, keeps sex organs/reproductive organs healthy, and is a powerful antioxidant in the body. Vitamin A also works in conjunction with 'activator X' or vitamin K2 found in grass fed butter, cheese, and grass fed dairy, to promote bone and arterial health. It is a fat-soluble vitamin, so if you eat grass fed butter with your liver the vitamin A will be absorbed better.

Liver is a great source of folic Acid, B vitamins and especially vitamin B12, which help with fatigue, mental ability, nerve health, and depression, as well as preventing anemia.

Liver also contains one of the best, most usable sources for the body, of iron. Iron is necessary for many functions in the body including formation of hemoglobin, brain development and function, regulation of body temperature, muscle activity and catecholamine metabolism, to name just a few. A lack of iron will have a direct effect on the immune system; it diminishes the number of T- cells and the production of antibodies.
Iron is essential to oxygen to the blood cells. The primary function of iron is oxygen transport and cell respiration. For an anemic person, fatigue is one of the most noticeable symptoms. The iron in liver is one of most easily absorbable and usable sources of iron for our bodies.

Did you know that liver contains an anti-fatigue factor, which is probably why endurance athletes have always liked liver to maintain stamina and energy? The improvement in endurance is likely to do with improving the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood cells; increasing endurance and strength in athletes.

Liver contains many nitrogen-containing compounds that are building blocks for DNA & RNA. In combination with the B vitamins, this makes it extremely helpful to people with Alzheimers or other types of dementia.

While liver is highly nutritious, its precious nutrients are very much affected by heat, so never cook it more than rare or medium rare to preserve the digestive enzymes and nutrients. When cooked too long, liver will be rubbery, chewy and have a strong liver taste. Soaking liver in lemon juice helps to cut down on the strong taste that some people don't like.

Get liver in your regular diet at least once a week if possible for maximum benefit of its high levels of nutrients. One of the best ways to enjoy liver, especially for those who are not fans of cooked liver, is grass fed liverwurst and braunsweiger .
Personally, I'm not a fan of the taste of liver, but I particularly enjoy liverwurst, especially when it's from healthy grass-fed animals.
Note: the ONLY healthy source of liverwurst or braunsweiger is from a healthy grass fed source that doesn't use nitrates and nitrites in the processing.  The brand above is one of the only brands I've found that is actually healthy and isn't loaded with nitrates and preservatives.
Braunsweiger contains liver and beef with a delicious spicy seasoning—great for sandwiches. Liverwurst contains power-packed beef liver, kidneys and heart.
The liverwurst and braunsweiger in the links above are unique in that they come from healthy grass-fed animals (unlike the unhealthy sources they will come from at your typical grocery store), and also contain some high-antioxidant spices and sea salt.

Beef heart — because it is a muscle-- beef heart is somewhat similar to other cuts of meat like steak, ground beef, roasts, etc. although it is a heavier, more dense muscle than others though. But heart meat carries a bigger punch of protein and unique nutrients.

The heart is a very concentrated source of the supernutrient, CoQ10.
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is produced by the human body and is necessary for the basic functioning of cells, as well as optimizing the heart's rhythm. CoQ10 levels are reported to decrease with age and to be lower in some patients with some chronic diseases such as heart conditions, muscular dystrophies, Parkinson's disease, cancer, diabetes, and HIV / AIDS.

CoQ10 has been shown to be very effective for improving cardiac function. Scientists have also found that CoQ10 provides benefits to other organs whose cells require this high-level energy metabolism such as the brain and kidneys, as well. In addition, prescription drugs such as statins deplete the body of CoQ10, so replacing this vital nutrient is extremely important for these people.

Beef heart also contains Selenium, Phosphorus & Zinc, along with essential amino acids that help build muscle , store energy and boost stamina and endurance. A meal of organ meats will charge you with extra energy, noticeable right after you eat it. The heart also contains twice as much collagen and elastin than regular meat, which is good for the skin and connective tissue, and actually helps prevent wrinkling and aging.

Because heart is such a dense muscle meat, it is a little bit tougher than other meats,  but marinating the meat in an acidic-based marinade really helps to tenderize it and add delicious flavor as well.
Heart can easily be added to your favorite ground beef recipes for added nutrition with little change in taste. Get brave and try some great tasting grass fed headcheese for your next lean energy snack. Headcheese contains beef tongue and beef heart.

Now you know that there IS such a thing as a non plant-based Superfood!
So, while you may need to get up your nerve to try organ meats, you may be pleasantly surprised! Braunsweiger, liverwurst, and headcheese are all delicious ways to enjoy organ meats if you are the slightest bit squeamish.
For the more adventuresome ones, cook up some grass fed liver or heart for your next dinner, and feel the power boost you get from that high-powered nutrition!