ex: <http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/foodlab.html#see2>, great website for understanding food nutrition label

ex: <http://www.freedieting.com>, tons of calculators (BMI, target heart rate, body fat %)

ex: <http://www.eat-well-to-be-well.com/disease1.htm>, sweet nutrition advice

ex: <http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH>, issues in news but gives for many ears

ex: <http://www.gastroresource.com>, scientific findings

Myth Busters:
#1: Women get honking huge if they touch a barbell. Actually, women do not have the hormonal balance to build too much muscle mass. Women who lift weights can actually be very sleek. To put on massive weight gain, even men who often find it hard find programs (see programs below) that help them build muscle.
#2: Weight belts are beneficial. Actually, unless performing near-max spine squats/lifts in exercises like squats or deadlifts, the weight belt can actually weaken core musculature. This is counter to what weight belts are supposed to do: pull in ab wall and support spine in heavy lift. Using weight belts incorrectly (correct use for max/near-max lift) can result in back injury.
#3: To lose weight, people should focus on cardio (aerobic) exercise. Cardio certainly loses weight, but in excess can produce the “skinny-fat” look (from lost muscle as well). The most beneficial weight loss routine is a mixture of anaerobic and aerobic.
#4: Training 5-6 days/wk is needed for great physique. While exercise is needed to build muscle and lose fat, the body needs a rest to recover from the exercise and prepare for next time. Depending on body type/shape, workout frequency differs. Most people chose b/w 3-4 days/wk for 45-60 intense min (longer can lead to catabolic hormone cortisol or excessive muscle protein breakdown). Still, experiment w/ what best w/ you.
#5: To strengthen abs, ab-specific exercises are best. False! Whole-body exercise like squats and presses are more effective because they 1) use abs to stabilize and 2) burn body all over body so that abs can better be seen.

Resources:
http://BuildInsaneMuscle.com–tips/techniques for building muscle (men/women)
http://BusyManFitness.com–4-min, fast/effective workouts for those on the go
http://TruthAboutAbs.com–info. above, work-out routines (beg, inter, exp), and pic examples of how-to do weight training

Benefits
1. Can help someone lose weight.  In a study of 63 obese men/women, the ones assigned a low-carb diet lost 4% more in 6 months than those in the traditional low-fat diet.  (After one year, both groups evened out.)
2. Refined carbs do disservices to your body (sugar immediately turns into glucose in body, eventually stored as fat; genetically: 75% of population have this problem).  Soft drinks, candy, pretzels, crackers, and other snacks are among refined carbs, and many know cutting out on some of these carbs. are a good thing.
3. Insulin, the hormone that brings glucose into cells, can eventually become resistant with too many refined carbs, developing type-2 diabetes.  Low-carb diet can control insulin levels and prevent type-2 diabetes.
4. Low-carb diets seem to hold off hunger better than low-fat diets.  Eating more protein and decreasing sugars (found in cheap carbs) keeps insulin levels normal, aka a person feels fuller.
5. Eating fewer carbs may also lower heart-disease risk and stomach protrusion (evidence unconvincing in evidence).
6. Recommended daily intake of carbohydrates (130g./day).  Many Americans get double or triple that per day.
7. Wine actually only has 2-3 g. of carbs in ea. glass; beer 6-13 g. of carbs.

Disadvantages
1. Carbs are a macronutrient that the body needs (6-11 servings), so it is not a good idea to cut many whole grains, beans, whole fruits, and vegetables out of one’s diet.  The body needs the fiber, which helps the body absorb food more slowly and not immediately as fat.
2. A person cannot exist with no carbs:  starves brain, lose concentration, feel fatigued, and experience mood swings.

Who is doing It?
According to Selene Yeager, 1/3 of those trying to lose weight are cutting their carbs.

Is it for You?  H-E-A-L-T-H
Low-carb does not mean no-carb.  People often eat the wrong tpes of carbs in the wrong amounts.  Eat the carbohydrates of Mother Nature (fruits, veggetables, and whole grains), recommended 6-11 whole grain carbs.  Lastly, unrefined carbs may taste good, but do a bodily disservice.  Eat small amounts and balance those with a good dose of complex carbs (see Help! Belly Fat articles for 15/6 ratio). 

Bottom line: low-carb diets initially help a person lose weight (deplete muscle glycogen), but also cause loss of lean muscle and decreased resting metabolic rate (leads to faster weight gain, once person eats reg. carb levels again).

www.TruthAboutAbs.com p.77
Yeager, Selene. “Low-Carb Diet: Getting a Better Insulin Response to Lose Weight.” The Doctors Book of Food Remedies. Rodale: 2007.

Belly Fat Cure?
One (of many) contributers to belly fat is your sugar/carbohydrate ratio.  Jorge Cruise calls this his S/C value and bases a whole diet around getting a 15/6 value of 15 g. sugar to 6 carbs  At least 3 million of his customers have had success with their belly fat over the past 10 yrs.  He has some good research and you can get a free belly fat report by visiting www.jorgecruise.com.

Sugars
Too much sugar fails to produce the hormone leptin.  Without leptin, people tend to overeat (leptin controls appetite) and gain, rather than burn, fat (leptin controls use/storage of fat).  As belly fat mounts, the body can become leptin resistant which causes a person to feel hungry all the time, thus aggrevating belly fat even more

Also, fructose–a type of sugar–does not produce insulin, which regulates sugar levels.  This means a large amount of fructose goes straight into the liver, is converted into triglycerides (fat found in the blood), then stored as abdominal fat.  Moderate amounts of fructose should not matter, but excess amounts will not reward the eater.

Artificial sweeteners–aspartame (blue packets), sucralose (yellow) and saccharin (pink) are exitotoxins and are regarded by many health experts to be dangerous to health, leading to neurodegenerative diseases.  (see article, Artificial Sweeteners)

Carbohydrates
As known carbohydrates are recommended in the food pyramid to be the core of your diet (4-7 servings/day of whole grain).  They are complex (sugars are simple) which means, chemically, that they are a chain of carbon and, practically, that you will stay full longer.  They also release a steady amount of glucose into the blood (reverse of sugar).

Too little carbohydrates produce “false belly fat,” but by eating enough fiber, the fecal matter in your intestines and colon is pushed out.

Solution?–S/C Value by Jorge Cruise
Jorge recommends sievia and xylitol rather than artificial or excess natural sweeteners.  They are “nutritional supplements” found in health food stores or amazon.com.  You may be skeptical, but they do not taste much different and bar against belly fatattacks (ahhh!).  For other everyday foods, Jorge has launched a Real Sweet TV video blog.

Cons: must watch sugar (should be watched anyways)
Pros: do not have to worry about excercise (though advocated!), calorie countig, points, or pills.  Claims easy, efficient, and instantly effective.

Your Turn
About making H-E-A-L-T-H choices!  Sugar consumption gave me blues for years personally, so I tend to put weight in his eating plan.  Interestingly before his study, through trial-and-error, I found that my sugar hunger was often satisfied by a piece of bread.  Test it out:  remember to eat your food pyramid carbs and think at least about sugars (see articles, Sugar–Linked to Bad Immune System and Sugar, What’s it Good For?)

Cruise, J. “The Belly Fat Cure: Special Report.” 2009. <www.JorgeCruise.com>.  31 Dec. 2008.

What is belly fat?
Abdominal is the folds in front of the stomach that you can grab.  Visceral fat is the fat that harms the liver.  Visceral is the most dangerous fat to have on the body; NOTHING is good about it!  It begins in the stomach, wrapping itself around organs (like liver/kidneys) and pushing the belly out.  The omentum is the organ that causes a flopping bellly by fat deposits.

Dangers of belly fat
1. Belly fat highers mortality rate (35 in. waist can more than double premature rate), according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
2. Leads to problems with erectile dysfunction, memory problems, diabetes, and heart disease.
3. Inflammation of organs (ex: liver, kidney) can result through toxins and hormones that the belly fat releases.  (Belly fat is an active passenger and just does not sit on those hips!)
4. Contributes to type-2 diabetes (decreases life expectancy by two) through portal vein (passageway from ab organs to liver).  Belly fat dumps fatty acids and hormones into passageway, which spikes glucose, and causes insulin-resistance, which leads to type-2 diabetes.
5. Blocks muscle from using sugar and responding to insulin.
6. Squeezes out kidneys.
7. Metabolic syndrome (high blood pressure, cholesterol, and sugar).  This syndrome is the #1 cause of heart attack, stroke, and wrinkles.
8. Rubs away health and energy.  Belly fat impacts testosterone levels.  The more body fat, the more SHBG (sex hormone-binding globulin) that eats testosterone.

Risk to You?
Measure your waist (grab tape measur, suck in, and measure right above hips).  Don’t trust belt size .  Women over 32.5 in. should put up the flag, and men over 35 in.  OR take height in inches and divide it in two (your waist should not excede this #)

What to do about it
Lose some of the inches around the waist!  According to The New England Journal of Medicine (2008 study based on results on 350,000 people!), a 2 in. decrease in waist circumference can inrease life expectancy by 17%.  According to Dr. Oz (Oprah), it is the single-most important thing a person can do to guard their health and age.

Cruise, J. “The Belly Fat Cure: Special Report.” p.1-13. 2009 31 Dec 2008.