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Hi to all our readers out there.
This has been a much debated topic between scientists, nutritionists, dieticians and other experts in the industry.
Opinions on this subject are mixed, so I can only attempt to answer this question with the current knowledge at hand and what I have personally found to be the case with myself and some of the many clients I have helped to achieve fat loss.

A recent Hypothesis says insulin sensitivity decreases towards the evening and therefore if Carbohydrates are eaten at night they will be stored as fat. Still others say this is not the case, it is merely a question of creating the right energy deficit within a 24hr period and that it doesn’t really matter when you eat what, it is a matter of total energy consumed for the day.
Still others say the reason one should not eat at night is so that the body can settle into a fasting state 3hrs before bedtime which will cause the release of more Growth Hormone, which in turn will help the body burn more fat.

Whatever the differing reasons for it, I for one do recommend that clients cut their carbohydrate intake down after 6pm for women and 7pm for men (more lean muscle tissue to fill with Glycogen) if they are wanting a reduction in body fat?
Here’s why:
Physiologically carbohydrates do not turn to fat if eaten after a certain “cut off” hour anymore than a bewitched person turns into a ware wolf on a full moon. What I do know is that the law of energy balance is operating in our bodies in a constant state of flux in every hour of the day. This bears some deeper thought as we need to look at what times of the day we expend the least amount of energy. Yes, you are right, it is night time!

Sports nutritionist and dietician Dan Benardot said that thinking in terms of 24 hour energy balance may be a seriously flawed and outdated concept. He says that the old model of energy balance looks at calories in versus calories out in 24 hour units. However, what really happens is that your body allocates energy minute by minute and hour by hour as your body’s needs dictate, not at some specified 24 hour end point. Whoever decided that our bodies operate in a 24hr day cycle? Does your body really do a calculation at midnight and add up the day’s totals like a business man when he closes out the register at night? It’s a lot more logical that energy is stored in real time and energy is burned in real time, rather than accounted for at the end of each 24 hour period.
This suggests then that we should adjust our energy intake according to our activity. If you trained at night, then yes you would eat more carbohydrates at night, as this is when you are most active and should surround most of your pre and post workout nutrition around this point for optimum performance and recovery.

Bottom line as that your RMR (resting metabolic rate) will be just that at night, you will not have the added benefit of an extra energy expenditure rate at night time as this is when people generally are less active. Therefore if you do consume carbohydrates during this period then you will have an insulin surge and some of it will be stored as muscle and liver Glycogen (energy), but the excess will be stored as fat, as you are in a resting state and will not require the immediate extra energy at that point. It is far better to eat a lean protein source with some fibrous vegetables or salad at night as it will have a lower Glycaemic load and your body will expend more energy trying to breakdown proteins into amino acids for muscle recovery and immune function, than it would carb’s.
I also want to remind you that your body doesn’t generally favour protein as a fuel source and so most of it will be used for tissue repair and growth.

Regardless of which side of the “carbs at night” debate you lean towards, if you consider the within day energy balance principle, it makes perfect sense not to eat large, calorie-dense meals late at night before bedtime.

Keep in mind of course, that cutting back on your calories and or carbs at night makes the most sense in the context of a fat loss program, especially if fat loss has been slow. It’s quite possible that I might give the exact opposite advice to the skinny “ectomorph” who is having a hard time gaining muscular body weight.

Yours in Health & Wellness,

Jonathan Mannheim
Personal Trainer
Virgin Active, Table View

As I discussed in the last article, you want to use the information you have about fat storage and fat metabolism to stimulate your system to burn up excess energy. You are probably carrying a few kilos after the break.

A quick recap?

You know that fat is stored in 2 pathways:
o The Alpha pathway stores body fat as triglycerides
o The Beta pathway stimulates the breakdown or storage of fat in the bloodstream

Males tend to have more beta-receptors, whilst females tend to have more alpha-receptors. This means you store fat in different ways.

The situation is not as easy and simple as I am trying to write about, but basically you need to limit the storage system, by controlling the sugar intake and limiting your insulin response; and secondly you need to stimulate the use of body fat, both cellular and blood borne.

Last time we dealt with some training variations that will help you to increase the fat burning capability of your muscular system, today we will deal with dietary adjustments.

Through extensive research, not done by me, studies indicate that the fat metabolic system is stimulate more by a ketogenic type diet, this means high protein, high fat and low carb intake. Now a lot has been said about high protein diet, and not all of it is untrue.

Personally, this is the way I eat for life. Remember, high protein does not mean NO CARBS. What you need to do is limit the intake of simple sugars into your system; this decreases your insulin response and thereby prevents you from storing body fat.

Excess carbohydrate intake is public enemy number one when it comes to fat. (To read more about insulin go to my post “Fruit sugar and Body Fat loss” )

The top culprits in our modern diet are:
1. Alcohol
2. Sugar i.e. coffee,sweets,chocolates,
3. Fruit
4. White Flour i.e. Bread Dough
5. Pasta
6. Potatoes
7. Additives like maltodextrin, milk solids

By cutting these foods, you reduce your calorie consumption dramatically. It must be noted however that you still need to get energy from somewhere… this leads us to vegetables and fat intake. Complex carbohydrates release their energy slowly and allow your body a sustainable source of energy, the same is true for unsaturated fats, which are found in certain nuts, oils, avocado and oily fish. It is much more desirable to consume these foods that simple, processed sugars.

The simple formula for fat loss is to use more energy than you consume.

The dietary adjustments will help reduce calorie intake and exercise will increase energy output. The use of supplementation to boost the body’s metabolic rate is another way you can burn calories. Since the discovery of the harmful side effects of ephedrine and clenbuterol as fat burners, many people turn to “natural” products to boost fat burning potential. The best product that I have used is Yohimbine HCL. It has few side effects and is relatively safe if taken in controlled doses. Once again, I need to warn you that NO SUPPLEMENT is a quick fix. If you are not prepared to eat properly and exercise regularly, you are wasting your time taking pills and powders.

Just another warning about following the High Protein type eating style: If you do not re-introduce carbohydrates slowly into your system after completing any diet you will rebound, which is an experience most people know about. You cannot just go back to eating what you want. Your body cannot process simple carb’s after being denied them, it will just store all of it and you will be back to square one.

I know that it is difficult to glean information from the loads and loads of things out there. The best advice is to follow an eating plan consistently over a period. Do not try to achieve things dramatically; you set yourself up for failure. Try to form a habit of eating properly and the effects will be forever. A Healthy, Lean body takes time.

Kind regards

Jason

•  As a Personal Trainer I am often faced with the topic of Nutrition and planning it. Rightfully so, as I believe it plays about a 70% role in the contribution towards the health and aesthetic goals you are looking to achieve. The saying: “You are what you Eat”, really rings true for me as our bodies are one of the most high performance, complex machines ever given to us. You wouldn’t just put any old oil or fuel in a Ferrari would you, well why then don’t we treat our bodies even better than that.

  This week’s article looks to address the nutrition topic and more specifically, the question of whether there is a difference between dieting and following a healthy eating plan.

  Dieting and the tide of diet books that came out was brought about primarily after people learnt that bodybuilders could manipulate their body fat and weight by changing ratios of macronutrients or even eliminating completely a certain macronutrient to achieve the desired effect. Most of these diets however are extreme and not easily maintainable long term, if at all and take precision like discipline to implement. The effects are also sometimes very temporary and once the person returns to a more normal eating plan they find they blow up or smooth out.

  The medical field was also responsible for developing certain types of diets that helped address problems such as obesity, adult onset diabetes, high cholesterol, gout, and other special needs that patients had in order to try and help them back to a state of normality or “health”. With the help of dieticians and other specialists in nutrition the governments of countries also developed the food guide pyramid, which is supposed to cover all basis and lead to optimal health. We have over the years however found the recommendations of the food guide pyramid to be flawed as it does not account for individual dominating body types, genetic differences, gender, intolerances and current weight status of each individual. If every person followed the food guide pyramid, I believe we would have an even bigger prevalence of obesity and deficiencies.

  So, having said all of the above, I believe there is a difference between a diet or dieting to change body composition or achieve extreme results faster, and following a lifestyle based healthy eating plan.

  A diet is something you do for a certain amount of weeks or months to get yourself into the shape you want to be in, e.g. coming out of winter hibernation mode and then panicking to get into shape fast for vests & summer bikinis. The problem is that usually this may involve extremely low calories, cutting out certain food groups, exact caloric amounts per meal, militant discipline, slight starvation, using ergogenic aids etc.

  A healthy eating plan however looks rather at implementing healthy eating principals into your daily lifestyle that can be maintained over a lifetime.

  These are principals such as:

• portion control,
•  eating low GI carbohydrate foods,
•  keeping empty calories such as alcohol to a minimum,
•  eliminating simple sugars,
•  eating complete proteins with most meals,
• adding more raw foods to your diet,
• eating foods high in fiber,
• staying away from animal and hydrogenated saturated fats,
• keeping wheat based carbohydrates to a minimum,
•  not eating heavy starch based meals late at night,
• snacking often on healthy food choices to maintain a stable blood sugar level,
• drinking enough water to stay hydrated,
• taking a daily multivitamin and Omega 3 supplement,
• knowing your average daily caloric limit based on your Basal Metabolic Rate and daily energy expenditure rate etc.

  This approach is a step type approach and is usually followed by my older clients from the ages of 38yrs and upwards due to the fact that they are tired of bouncing back and forth like a slinky; fat – slim, fat – slim, fat – slim ………. You can get away with the temporary dieting approach when you’re younger and your metabolic rate is still super revved up, but as we age, there needs to be more of a lifestyle change on the horizon, and No, you may not have your cake and eat it.

  I think it is healthy to assign yourself one “cheat” or rewards day per week to help you stay sane and eat all those lovely little goodies you desire so much. The other six days of the week should be filled with Optimal Nutrition. Dieting and following a healthy plan both have their place in this world and neither of them are wrong. You have to ask yourself though, am I going to keep yo-yoing and going from a state of fat to skinny btw every winter and summer or will you make healthy eating principals part of your lifestyle, and stay in a permanent state of optimal wellbeing.

  Diets are great for what I call body reconstruction, whereby we implement a diet to shave off the fat and bring out the muscle tone and thereafter we implement a healthy eating plan. The downside of trying to do this is that most people don’t have the discipline to stick to it for the full duration as they are usually coming to us with the preconceived idea that its easy because the magazine says you can have it all in just 6-8 short weeks! If that were the truth, then why do trained, competitive bodybuilders take 16 weeks of dieting to get ready before they are satisfied on stepping up on that stage.

  Don’t kid yourself! Dietting for results is a tough game, it requires some serious committment to achive these sort of results.  However it must be mentioned that the satisfaction that comes from achiving body fat loss because you have been disciplined is truly rewarding. It is not as tough as you think and if you alternte periods of ‘dietting’ with periods of ‘healthy eating plans’ you will achieve a slimmer physique over a longer period of time, which is far more sustaineble.

Yours in Health & Wellness,

Jonathan Mannheim.

This is an age old question. Can I just address my diet to lose weight & live a longer life of health & wellbeing or is it vital that I combine both a regular exercise programme and adopt a healthy diet.

Many a client has asked me this and my answer is always the same. Read on so I can elaborate for you.

Diet alone , meaning the foods we put in our mouths, has been proven to be effective in its relation to weight loss by many a clinical study. Any weight loss is welcomed if you are anywhere btw 6-20kg overweight as you are putting your heart, joints and other bodily systems under tremendous strain, thus increasing your risk for high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, high cholesterol, heart disease, gout and other infectious diseases. So it is understandable that the medical experts get excited when you lose any amount of weight.

 

It is simple for the time being as it boils down to calories in versus calories expended. Create a negative energy balance and presto, weight loss starts happening. Now you may be asking me, why didn’t I think of that? It sounds so simple, or is it?

What happens when you’ve lost a few kilo’s and you hit the dreaded Plateau, reduce more calories? Not working huh, oh I know the answer, reduce more calories and presto!

Nope, wrong! This is the predicament diet alone leaves you in. The metabolic rate of your body catches on after a month or two depending on your genetic makeup and it starts to learn to metabolize less food as you have now triggered its defence anti-starvation mechanism. Another thing to keep in mind is that when your body is under excessive amounts of stress, whether internal or external, it produces a catabolic hormone to help you cope by reducing inflammation and increasing immediate energy, which is sometimes derived from your muscle protein if calories have been too low for too long. This catabolic environment then affects other important hormones in the body such as Insulin, Leptin, Testosterone to name a few and ends up exacerbating the whole process.

 

Now let’s take a look at the inclusion of a regular exercise programme and the benefits it brings. Let me just say though before I start that the human body is actually designed for physical movement everyday or what some may call “exercise” and that those who are doing something active 5-7 days per week are not “fitness freaks”. No, they are actually the normal ones. Abnormality is what society has brought us to by pinning ourselves behind a small illuminated screen for hours on end every day. We don’t have to walk anywhere due to the convenience of cars, elevators, lifts and other modern forms of transport, which ends up costing us our very health. A sedentary lifestyle is far from normal my friends.

 

Ok, so as I was saying….

Exercise can change the way you look, feel & perform, as well as have a tremendously positive impact on your health and almost every aspect of your life.

 

It has been scientifically proven that one of the main noticeable effects of doing aerobic exercise is the elevated state of mood which follows, usually called the endorphin rush. Yes, by elevating your heart rate and bodies core temperature for 20min or more causes the release of “feel good” hormones that give you a sense of wellbeing and health. Who wouldn’t want that?

You will not even get close to this state of being with diet alone and your only substitute would be to eat a slab of chocolate, which can elevate mood for a time, but leaves you feeling guilty and overweight if practised too often. I would rather not have the guilt thanks.

Let’s talk metabolism now. When you do resistance training your body usually adapts by increasing its amount of muscle protein i.e. skeletal muscle tissue. Muscle tissue is metabolically active and is in a constant state of flux, which in turn means constant cellular activity by these cells which leads to energy being used by this type of tissue to move your body around on a daily basis, to perform other tasks and to maintain itself.

Fat cannot act on a joint to move it, muscle does. That same muscle requires energy to do the task. The more muscle involved in doing the task correctly, the more energy used = more energy expenditure.

Another great benefit of resistance exercise is that when you create enough tension on muscle tissue it then exerts force on the bones, which cause the bones to absorb more nutrients to add density, therefore increasing their strength in the body. Stronger bones means less fractures, hip replacements and breakages as a mature adult.

The calories burnt during exercise also play a significant role in contributing to weight loss and increased tone in the muscles, as they firm up. If your intensity was high enough during a workout you not only burn calories in the gym, but also out of the gym as your body goes into  the GAS (general adaptation syndrome) mode. This means that the body tries to adapt and become stronger, fitter, and the heart becomes more efficient at rest when pumping blood around the body. This process too, bumps up the metabolism as your body remains in an active state of repair and regeneration.

 

When you combine diet and exercise correctly by having the right macronutrient ratios, you can put the body into a powerful state of Thermogenesis by teaching it to use more fats as fuel than carbohydrates or proteins. Fat, in the form of adipose tissue burns in the presence of heat and oxygen. This is something that can be accomplished during exercise by elevating your core temp with the right exercise type and frequency, something that would be very hard to do with diet alone.

Calorie restricted diets without exercise often cause you to lose muscle tissue as well as total body weight as there is no impetus for the body to keep it and you are usually depriving it of much needed protein.

 

Exercise has known psychological, physical and emotional benefits. It has often been used as stress relief for those with pent up aggression or energy that needs to be expressed physically. Mmmmm  nothing like hitting the good old punch bag, or  accidentally your Personal Trainer who is innocently/conveniently standing at the receiving end wearing a nice little red pair of shadow mitts. Doesn’t he know bulls are attracted to red? Oops I slipped, let me not give any of you out there any more ideas.

 

With diet alone you do get a measure of success in achieving your goals, but it is very short lived and doesn’t give you the benefit of increasing fitness levels, getting stronger, feeling stronger, maintaining or increasing bone density, getting rid of catabolic hormones , improving daily movement through increased flexibility, increasing your energy reserves and many other benefits that I don’t have time to mention.

 

Summary of benefits of diet alone Vs Diet & Exercise:

  

Just Diet:                                                            

·         Able to lose a few kg’s                                              

·         Reduce certain lifestyle diseases by 40%                      

·         Feel good while losing wt                                           

·         Maintain goal weight for a short period of time

 

                  

Diet & Exercise:

·         Have the ability to continue to lose wt

·         Reduce certain lifestyle disease by up to 87%

·         Feeling of wellbeing is ongoing

·         Maintenance of goal wt can be ongoing

 

·         Metabolic rate is improved & maintained

·         New lean muscle tissue burns more calories

·         Cardio respiratory system functions optimally

·         Increased fitness increases energy reserve

·         Stress hormones are eliminated or reduced

·         Connective tissue is strengthened

·         Brain cells kept oxygenated due to exercise

·         Excess calories consumed more easily dealt with, without starvation methods

·         Body geared towards including fats as fuel during exercise

·         Appearance of body, more toned

·         Risk of injury is reduced during daily tasks

·         Body becomes more responsive to hormones such as insulin

·         ….the list is ongoing.

 

 

 

Remember, our bodies are 3D representations of what is going on inside. So you must get healthy to lose weight, not lose weight to get healthy.

 

Yours in Health & Wellness,

Jonathan Mannheim.

Hello readers…

 This is a question from JP in London who wants to lose weight and build muscle,              (hmmm like every man in the world), but who is confused by the bombardment of supplement marketing (hmmm like every man in the world).

  Firstly, I would like to express my base philosophy: Anything that was not created for by GOD  to eat or drink, ie made  by human hands, should be consumed with caution! Why is this… Man has been trying to imitate or recreate the food stuffs we see in nature to try to provide an easy solution to food. They have obviously failed: Two reasons are that they the products man designs, whether a protein shake, or a cheese burger is lacking in the minerals and vitamins that nature packs into its food stuffs in abundance. Coupled with the hunger of manufactures for Profit, they will take any short cut to sell you anything.

 Before you buy into all these shakes and pills, first consider whether you are actually feeding your body what it needs. This means fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs, meat, chicken and fish. You need to consume these foodstuffs more that anything else.( For concepts as to nutrition please feel free to read the blogs under the Nutrition Category)

 REMEMBER: A supplement is supposed to be an extra. If you are not eating right to start with, no pill is going to make you lose fat, no drink is going to help you be healthy!

 You need to be weary when purchasing supplementation. Do not be fooled by marketing or hype. My favorite is the ‘new improved formulas’ etc. Remember that manufactures spend more money on marketing than on research! If they add one extra gram of salt to the formula is NEW and IMPROVED. There are tons of cheap, hidden calories in protein powders and meal replacements!

Stick to the basics: For men I always recommend they take creatine monohydrate ( 99%) and whey protein isolate. This is an effective method to feed your muscles the EXTRA calories that you need once your diet is in place.  Now I know that there are many, many supplements out there that do work, but for me personally I prefer this combination. It is basic and you don’t spend 15 minutes a day swallowing pills. Personally I would rather eat steak all day than actually force myself to drink fake strawberry/chocolate/vanilla plastic flavoured powder.

 Now I know you are thinking about fat burners, and this is one of the subjects I am very opinionated about. Do Fat Burners work? Yes they do! Should I be taking them? Only if you are at your peak fitness, and if your diet is spot on. How long should I take them? 5 days on, 2 days off, one month on, one month off. Do you recommend women take fat burners? Only if they are emotionally stable and if the dosages are controlled, because I have seen women become depressed and grumpy when they are off because now they feel they are fat, even though the stomach is flat and toned already. Fat burners alter your mood and should be controlled or you can become dependant.

 As with most things remember that you are an individual and your needs are different. I have offered a basic solution to a general question. If you are serious about losing body fat/ muscle building or have specific strength goals contact me personally I can try to help you. That is what I studied and what I am employed to do.

 

REMEMBER:  You need to diet properly BEFORE you start with any supplementation. This will ensure that you have created the demand for the supplements and that you utilize them efficiently.

 Please do not hesitate to contact me further

 Kind regards

 Jason

   

Hello all…

 In this post, I will comment on other simple food choices that you can make to improve your health and well-being.

 Let discuss diuretic foods.  Simply put Diuretics help your body to flush water through your kidneys and to detoxify your body.  I am not going to talk about medical diuretics like water pills, etc which are harmful to your system if abused. I want to make you aware of natural substances, which help you to combat water retention, edema, kidney stones, Lymphatic problems and PMS.

 Remember that sufficient water is essential to your health and without it your cells will deteriorate. Before you think of diuretic foods, you need to ensure that you drink enough water first.  What are these food types? Natural teas, cucumber, asparagus, onions, cabbage, brussel sprouts, beets, tomatoes, paw paw and raw natural oats.  These will help to drain fluid from your body and assist in alleviating the discussed conditions.

 Next, let us talk Anti-oxidants.  When metals are exposed to water and oxygen, they begin to rust. This also happens to your cells as they use minerals and nutrients to produce energy; they produce toxicity.  Technically this means there are excess ions in your system. This destroys your pH levels. This is what they mean when they say ‘Free Radicals’. They mean you are ‘rusting’.  Obviously, oxidation is bad for you as it causes cell deterioration and aging.  By consuming anti-oxidant foods, you heal this process from the inside.

Interestingly there are external causes of oxidation to your cells besides poor diet: these include U-V exposure, pollution, smoking-, alcohol-, and drug abuse. 

 

Anti-oxidant food types include berries, red grapes, tomatoes, spinach, garlic, broccoli, carrots and soy.  Oxidation is what causes cancer and heart diseases, so by eating these foods you are helping your body to fight off the effects of aging.

 Thirdly, I will discuss foods that burn fat. These foods get your body into fat burning mode by raising your metabolic rate.  How does this work? Simply put some of the foods in this group use more energy than they provide. This is known as negative calorie consumption. The food uses calories to digest, without providing excess!

 They include Radishes, ginger, chilies, grapefruit, apples, lemons, cabbage, carrots, beetroots and broccoli.

 So what does this mean for you?

Just by eating certain foods and by choosing tea over coffee( No Sugar) you can help your body to keep healing itself, preventing cancer and heart disease, and also to burn fat.  Obviously, you have noticed that these foods are freely available and all you need to do is make the effort to keep them handy. Proper Panning Prevents Poor Performance!

 I would like to suggest recipes for shakes that I find pack all the punch you need to receive the benefits of what we have discussed.

 Firstly, ‘Pete’s Power Punch’!  This is for a 2-litre container. I drink a small glass every morning and I can feel the effects almost instantly.  Take 500g of carrots and pulp it together with one whole ginger root.  Transfer the pulp into your container. Next add apple or orange juice to fill the bottle and you are ready to go. Leave in the fridge and drink one glass every morning.

 This next formula is one my wife swears by.  It is perfect as an alternative breakfast. In your blender put half-cup raw oats, half-cup low fat yogurt, one scoop protein shake, one banana and add some milk. Blend it and drink up. This is quite a heavy mix and I do not recommend it if you are going to train afterwards as it will repeat.

Thirdly, I recommend this anti –oxidant blend as a snack food. As always, eat 7 almonds with your carb snacks to slow down digestion.
The formula is as follows: pulp 10 tomatoes, 10 strawberries, whole fresh mint and fresh parsley. Store in a 2-liter container and only have one glass a day.
I hope that you find this information helpful. I personally have seen the benefits in the result of my clients and myself by adjusting simple things regarding eating.

 I do need to stress, however, that the timing of your meals is just as essential as what you eat. You need to keep your metabolism burning fuel all day. You need to eat every 2-3 hours. This is not easy in the beginning and it takes serious planning to have your food handy. If you eat healthily, your body will be good to you. You do not need to go on crash diets or very strict restrictions of calories to reduce body fat. What you do need to ensure is that you eat QUALITY CALORIES and that you understand that carbohydrates need to be controlled, not eliminated.  Recognize the methods you can use to slow down sugar release into your blood stream and keep your insulin response regulated.

 Kind regards

 Jason Hough

Personal Trainer

Renaissance Body Science Institute

Cape Town

Mobile (27) 763 970 284

 Hello all,

In response to my criticism of all the ‘pleasurable’ foods that make you fat, I have been asked by Jonathan to reveal part of the solution. So here it is, a two-part post on foods that will help you achieve your dietary goals. Granted, it does not seem very exiting at first glance,  but believe me, once you change you eating style you will feel better and your results will be magnified.

Number one is Water.  Water is essential for life. In fact, water makes up 75% of your body. It is necessary for proper and efficient cell function. Without sufficient water, you cannot transport food and nutrients to the cells, and conversely water removes toxins and waste products from those same cells.  So, no matter how good your diet, without enough water you will not be operating at your peak! You need to counter dehydration.

 Now, I want to bring your attention to a slight paradox about water:  If you do not drink enough water, your body will retain all the water you drink, because it thinks you are not going to get more. If you consume sufficient water, about 2-3 liters every day, your body will not store the water because it knows there is more on the way! 

 Another benefit of drinking enough water is that it increases your blood volume. This means that if you are drinking enough water you will have more blood in your system.  Why this is important is that it takes energy to move this blood around the body. Therefore, by drinking more water you burn more calories. Interesting point.

 Second on the list of great things to eat has to be fresh vegetables.  As always, consumption of these needs to be balanced and controlled, and you need to be meticulous when you are choosing which veggies to eat.  Here is where the Glycemic index and glycemic load charts will help you. 

 NOTE: If you e mail me I will send you a copy of the GI List for South African Foods, or  for the complete list Click here!

 This solves the greatest problem that most people have… that of sugar addiction and not being able to regulate their sugar levels efficiently.  Keep fruit intake low and if you are going to eat, eat early. This will allow you to burn the calories during the day. Another tip I can give you is always to combine your fruit and veg intake with a protein. This will slow down the release of the sugar into your system and keep you feeling ‘fuller’ for longer.

 Vegetables provide energy, fiber, vitamins and minerals that are essential for healthy existence and proper muscle development. Forget the hype of ‘No Carb’ Diets; the results are short-lived and not sustainable. Eventually you will need to eat Carbs and it is better to eat a balanced diet that to deprive your body of essential vitamins and minerals. Remember that science has not been able to copy completely the range of essential nutrients you get from fruit and veg. Multi vitamin pills are designed as a supplement to diet, not a Substitute!

Remember also that your veggies should be steamed or roasted; boiling them destroys the nutritional value as well as the flavor.  Remember that you can slow the digestion of the vegtables by combining them with a protein, and by adding some olive oil after they are cooked.

 Thirdly, I will discuss Almonds, Avos, Oily Fish, Free range eggs  and some oils.  Now all of these foods belong to the ‘Good Fats’. This means that they have Omega 3, -6 or -9 in them. The importance of this is that these foods is that they help to clean your arteries of cholesterol and plaque, as well as supporting better brain functioning,  hormone production, skin-, eyes- and hair health to name a few. In addition, these foods keep you from feeling hungry and help slow the digestion of your carbs.

 Almonds, specifically brown-skinned almonds are supreme as my choice in snack foods. Combine 7 of these with a small fruit and you have your protein, fat and carb snack. Perfectly balanced.

 Next in the group are avocado pears, although they are also part of the carb group they do have good fats in them. Warning: eating more than one avo a week is too much, so enjoy but do not indulge.

 I cannot stress enough the benefits of eating fresh fish, not the box variety that comes with crumbs.  Fish provides sufficient proteins and essential fats without making you feel heavy after your dinner. It is a fact that fish is easily digested and that makes it a popular choice over heavy red meat varieties as a protein source.

 Free Range Eggs, might cost a little more, but come with added benefits of having the correct ratios of omega 3 & 6 fatty acids.  I stress free range because grain fed eggs have distorted fat ratios. This is because the hens are fed grains. This means they are eating carbohydrates for their food. These chickens have a fat and cholesterol problem, so the eggs they produce also have a fat and cholesterol problem. Free range chickens are allowed to consume their natural prey of insects and worms which means the eggs they produce are more natural and better balanced that their grain fed or fish meal fed counterparts!

Lastly lets discuss oils as part of your healthy eating plan. I always tell my clients that they need to consume sufficient raw oils in their diet. This is because oils are a direct source of these fatty acids we have been discussing. However, not all oils are equal.  I am referring here to olive oil, grape seed oil, cold pressed flax seed oils and coconut oils.  These will help you get in the right type of fatty acids.

 As always, you need to beware that any oils that you heat will break down and become just as dangerous as your cooking oil varieties. So do not cook with these oils. What I am talking about is consuming these oils raw, over salads, in smoothies, in your yogurts or shakes, to provide you with these necessary fats.

 This is the end of part one. In part two I will discuss the role of diuretic foods and also foods that boost your immune system, antioxidants, and fat burning capability. I will also give you examples of three power shakes that will boost your energy levels and provide the necessary ‘zing’ for a healthy lifestyle.

 Kind regards

 Jason Hough
Personal Trainer
Renaissance Body Science Institute
Cape Town

Mobile (27) 763 970 284

Good day all… 

We have already discussed the issue of glycemic index and carbohydrate quality several times in the past.( See ‘Do I need to diet for flat abs’) However, I feel that is necessary to draw your attention to several specific mistakes you might be making in your dietary program that will significantly slow down your progress! Here are five of the top enemies to your waistline… 

Alcohol… this has to be number one on any list as it is the most widely abused and consumed negative substance.  Alcohol is actually a name of a specific type of sugar. That is right: Alcohol is a SUGAR! This means that the more you take in, especially late at night, the more Calories you are stuffing into your body, and you start the ‘Insulin Rollercoaster’ all over again.

Remember that we talked about quality carbohydrates and the timing of your calorie intake? Well Alcohol is definitely a big no no when you consider both of these issues. In addition, there unfortunately is no ‘better’ alcohol to drink. Some people suggest whiskey over beer, but actually, if you consider the alcohol concentration relative to the volume of the beverage you still get the same amount of sugar!  Yes its true that red wine has anti- oxidants and whiskey thins your blood, but the fact remains that these still provide you with poor quality energy that is released almost instantly into your blood stream! 

Secondly, I would like to make you aware of soft drinks and so called health energy dinks like ‘anything-ade’! Sugar, Sugar, Sugar!  Fizzy drinks probably deliver the highest dose of sugar per ml next to alcohol. They will make you FAT. Coupled with the sugar, the preservatives and colorant they put in there is just lunacy. Remember if you read the label and you cannot pronounce any of the words don’t eat or drink it! 

Now, many of my clients, who are exercise machines like you are, ask me whether they can drink energy drinks like ‘anything-ade’ or caffeinated booster drinks. They use the defense that caffeine burns fat and the energy drinks have electrolytes so that must be good, Right? … Sorry NO. Companies like to market these products as healthy but in truth unless you are running a marathon or cycling to the moon, you will never need that quantity of energy in your diet. Those sports drink are simple carbs that have been designed for athletes, and marketed for the masses. Do not be a sucker. Even flavored waters are laced with hidden calories! Read the labels. 

Thirdly, sweets and chocolates.  This is always a very touchy subject with female clients who argue that their partners consume alcohol so why can’t they eat chocolate. This is a valid argument if you are both satisfied with being overweight and aren’t serious about achieving exercise goals.  Chocolates and sweets are just little insulin releasing time bombs that ‘make you feel’ better for a while and then dump you into sugar depression; until you feed the sugar monster again to keep you feeling happy.
Fourthly, I would like to discuss, Cheeses. These are hidden fat producing slices of heaven.  Cheese, although dairy, has been processed. This means that the natural structure has been altered and the nutritional value of the milk has been broken down through the heating and fermentation of the milk. Try this experiment: Take a block of cheese and microwave it for a few minutes. What is left? Fat, Fat, Fat and a little bit of something that you don’t really want to eat anyway. Cheeses belong to the Saturated fat group and are poison for your body. Yes, once again I hear the argument that its dairy, but be honest, actually cheeses, even if low fat or white varieties are still just saturated fat. Remember that low fat does not mean No Fat, it just means ‘less’ fat!

Lastly, I would like to discuss what I call ‘Fillers’. These things are everywhere, from your yogurts to your cheaper protein powders!  What you will read on the label are things like Matodextrin, Wheat flour, Milk solids etc. However, what are they? 

 You see what happens is that when big companies try to make money they inevitably take shortcuts… My favorite example is the ‘Low fat’, or ‘Fat free’ yogurt!  Dairy farms have reduced the fat content of these products, but now without the fat the yogurt is very runny and not nice to look at, so they add very simple, refined carbs to make the fluid thicker. Very clever hey… The yogurt has less fat, but the sugar energy is enormous.  Not very healthy. This is done to almost everything that you buy in a packet including your pre- made soup, potatoe bakes, cook in sauces. So you think you are eating healthy foods but actually you have been fooled, because there is so much sugar in the stuff that your body can do nothing but store it as Fat. 

Another of my favorite culprits are Supplement manufacturers who add maltodextrin to their products to make the volume greater. This is what they mean when they talk about a ‘transport system’. They take a perfectly normal substance like Creatine and add the magic ‘transport system’, sugar, to the product to help absorption.  You go and purchase it because you believe they have your best interest at heart.  Very smart, you paid 50% more for half the creatine plus cheap sugar they get by the tonne. Now in the case of creatine, yes, sugar will aid absorption, but you do not need to pay that much for it.  Do you? You could just mix it with fruit juice, you would get the same effect.

This is also common with protein products that promise massive bulk and huge gains in size. Of course, you need carbs to build muscle, but you should get it from your diet. You should not have to pay huge markups for cheap, simple carbs like maltodextrin. Rather take quality whey protein and eat your vegetables. Your energy release will be more sustainable, and you get dietary fibre with minerals and vitemins. The quality is far superior.

So how do you tell? Good question. With so many companies trying to make a buck out of you it is difficult to decide what products to take. Rely on reputable companies that list what is in the bottle. As a trainer, I only use products from companies that will provide me with printed research data.  Very few will because they know their products fail the standard and if you ask they refuse to release that information. The brands I can recommend are EAS, MUSCLETECH, and DESIGNER WHEY. They have been open and honest about their products and the quality is good.  We have asked all other brands in South Africa to supply their data and they wont, so personally I wouldn’t take any other brand.
In conclusion, you need to know what it is you are eating. What you think is healthy might actually be hurting your progress. I suggest that you keep a food log where you write down everything you eat and drink so that at the end of the week you can analyse if you are taking in extra calories. Stick to your eating plan and you should be able to eliminate these hidden calories.  READ THE LABELS!

 Kind regards

Jason Hough

Personal Trainer

Renaissance Body Science Institute

Cape Town

Mobile (27) 763 970 284  

 Thank you for your question Janice… Typically what you are talking about is spot reduction, or losing body fat in one area of your body by training that area… unfortunately this is impossible and not based on scientific reasoning. 

Sure that by exercising your abdominals, or any other muscle in fact, you can definitely improve the tone and shape of that particular muscle.  However if the muscles are still covered by body fat you will not be able to see the results of your hard work. It is true that by increasing the size of a muscle, you thin the layer of fat surrounding that muscle. Like inflating a balloon: As you inflate, the plastic becomes thinner and thinner.  However this does not mean that the total body fat is reduced! 

Body fat reduction occurs by (1) increasing calorie output and by (2) controlling the quality of the calories you consume. Calorie output can refer to the training you do: resistance training coupled with cardio sessions burns the best ratio of fat.  Did you know that you can increase your metabolic rate by consuming balanced small meals every 2 hours and by drinking 3 liters of water a day?  Think of it as adding wood to a fire… if you add a little wood every 2 hours you keep the fire burning steady, instead of all the energy at once, and then no flames for the rest of the day! 

Calorie consumption refers to what you put into your body to provide the energy to use for life.  The better the quality of your food, the better your body will treat you and the less chance of problems later on. So how do you decide?

An easy guide is not to eat C.R.A.P!Carbohydrates - Here we refer to high GI energy poor carbs like pasta, white rice, baked   white potatoes, white bread and most fruits.

Refined Sugars- This refers to almost everything that has been man made!! Wheat flour, white sugar, soft drinks, crisps, chocolates, sweets, ALCOHOL etc.Additives- This refers to most things we add to our food like salad dressings, salt, ketchup, chutney, etc.

Preservatives-    This is what is added to your canned foods, processed foods like cheeses, polony.  Generally they contain sodium or potassium which causes your body to retain water to dilute the acids that form when preservatives are digested. As a general rule, try to eat things that come from nature. Fresh fish, free range meat and eggs, and organically grown vegetables and fruits might seem a little excessive but they taste incredible and are hormone, pesticide and chemical free. The quality of the carbohydrates and proteins are unbelievable. You will improve your quality of health just by eating the foods that were created for us to eat! Our bodies are not designed to digest Coco Pops and Kool Aid!

Make use of your personal trainer or dietician to help you develop a personalized eating plan so that you can meet your specific energy needs.  If you are serious about those washboard abs you will need to diet effectively and will need to be very, very committed.For a female the abdominals only show at 14% -or less and for a male at fewer than 8 % body fat. It takes quality food and serious exercise to achieve this, but there is unbelievable satisfaction in knowing you can, and will get there if you push yourself.Use your resources, hire a qualified person to help you… ask to see their degrees/ diplomas and insist on the best for yourself. You are worth it  Kind regards  Jason Hough

Personal Trainer

Renaissance Body Science Institute

Cape Town

Mobile (27) 763 970 284

Hello once again,
Many people are confused as to the importance of eating the proper type and quality of carbohydrates…

Not all carbohydrates are equal. The glycemic index rates different carbohydrates by ranking them according to their individual effects on your blood glucose level.

Low GI carbohydrates tend to release their glucose very slowly into the bloodstream.  This causes a steady release of energy for the body to use. For example a sweet potatoe has lots of energy but this is released over several hours, as it is digested.

High GI carbohydrates release there energy very rapidly and often cause an insulin spike response. This is illustrated very well by the body’s response to high sugar soft drinks:

The sugar is released almost instantaneously, and the body, in response to such high carbon intake (sugar) releases insulin to remove the sugar from the bloodstream. This is done through storing it in cells, muscle ,liver and fat cells. Now there is too much insulin present so your body slows down the metabolism and you feel hungry, tired and lethargic. Most people will have another snack (Chocolate, soft drink, crisps etc.),  Big mistake because this just starts the cycle over again and you store, store, store all that sugar and water as ….FAT!

High Glycemic foods cause your body to react negatively to the energy you have ingested and are counter productive.

 It is far better to control your blood glucose levels through eating many small balanced meals throughout the day.

Closely related to GI is Glycemic Load.  The glycemic load relates to the total energy value of a certain carbohydrate.  This is important because you want to consume low GI, but high gycemic load carbohydrates!!! For example you want to consume vegetable with high energy values, but which take a long time to digest.  These carbohydrates are usually high in fiber as well, and that is great for your digestive system.

Solution:  Find out what you are eating.
Are you eating balanced meals and do you eat regularly enough? 

Remember that your body is either burning fat, or storing it. If you get hungry then you are too late, you are already storing fat.  Get your personal trainer or nutritionist to create an eating plan that suits you.  Granted adjustments will be made, but the results are worth the effort.

So how do you tell if something is low – or high GI…. an easy way is to think about how quickly the substance would dissolve in water, high GI (White bread) disolves much more quickly than low GI (Broccoli). or look at the table.(Click Here for the GI Chart)

Kind regards

Jason Hough

Personal Trainer

Renaissance Body Science Institute

Cape Town

Mobile (27) 763 970 284