Have you ever wondered why some people seem to look so long and lean and others have more of a pear shaped body with legs? It’s important to understand that we are all genetically unique in terms of our anatomy and therefore the degree to which we can change our physique is limited.Having said that, with determination and discipline, it’s truly amazing what I’ve seen people accomplish in changing their appearance. So the concept is to take what God has given each one of us, and optimize it through fitness and good nutritional habits. Although we inherit a particular metabolism based on our genetic uniqueness which we received from mom and dad, a big part of our body mass index and our percentage of body fat is due to eating habits and other lifestyle habits that we’ve adopted early on and engaged in for years. In other words, it’s not an accident that we have the body that we have. As a former fitness trainer, I’ve had the opportunity to work with many clients who wanted to transform their physique to become leaner and tighter. It’s truly magical to see the change in a person’s confidence when they feel better about their body.
Make Your Dream Come Alive by Setting Realistic Goals
Simply put, if you fail to plan for your fitness and health, you plan to fail. Many people talk a lot about what they’re going to do to get in shape but as one philosopher put it, “When all is said and done, there is always more said than done.” A friend of mine once told me that every time he got the urge to exercise, he would lay down until it passed.
A goal is nothing more than putting a dream into action. Writing down a specific short range and long range goal related to your fitness and health will allow you to pursue that goal with laser-like determination. We don’t try to attain a goal–we train to attain the goal. It’s not about trying, it’s about training.
It is important that you have a vision of what you want your body to look like. What specific areas do you want to trim down and tone up? Let your trainer know very clearly what you’d like to accomplish so that he or she can help you realize that goal. This is a PERSONAL Fitness Program, which means that it’s all about YOU and YOUR goals. Remember though, if you aim at nothing, you’ll inevitably hit it!
We cannot go into the cells of our bodies with genetic scissors and snip out faulty genes but we can modify the expression of potentially faulty genes that lead to excess body fat accumulation.
In recent years, we have learned how to manipulate the metabolism through dietary intake and nutritional intervention:
- Digestive function
- Thyroid function
- Elimination
- Exercise and activity
- Sugar intake and metabolism
- Liver/Gallbladder function
Where did all the excess body fat come from?
- Fed a high fat, high sugar diet as a child
- Inborn error in your metabolism? A metabolic dysfunction. This can include hormone imbalance or impaired enzyme
- Diets don’t work simply because A) they’re temporary B) they’re extreme—therefore they do not foster long term adherence leading to lasting success.
- The body perceives a diet as deprivation. When you diet, your body thinks you’re starving it. Reducing excess stored body fat is not merely about calories in, calories out. It is important to reduce empty calories—that is, calories that have little nutrient It’s also important to at least consider how many calories one is taking in on a daily basis compared to what one is burning in activity/exercise.
- Why do some people tend to accumulate excess body fat and not others? First of all, I don’t think the body fat is the primary problem— it appears that it’s a symptom of a much deeper
- What I’m saying is that underlying the excess body fat is a state of impaired metabolic
- Now, you might be thinking—Ok, so I have impaired metabolic function…what do I do about it? Where do I begin to look?
What that means in terms of nutrition is that the food of one can be the poison of another. This is why the idea of an ideal diet for all people is a myth. So the basic concept is that we all have biochemical strengths and weaknesses. The weaknesses we refer to as biochemical Achilles heels. The strengths may be thought of as designer genes.
Biochemical Individuality
Biochemical Individuality depends upon our genetic uniqueness and leads to biochemical strengths and weaknesses. This concept of Biochemical Individuality was first proposed by Dr. Rodger Williams and when he first started talking about this idea, it was not well accepted by the scientific community. It was thought that we all have 10 fingers, 10 toes and 2 eyes and therefore the difference from person to person biochemically is not that great. For years, the medical establishment taught that people were all basically average in their characteristics and it was from those principles that the RDA’s were established. Dr. Williams passed away several years ago at over 90 years of age and he made an interesting statement years ago. He said, “Nutrition is for real people—statistical humans are of little interest.” You know, in school, they teach you a lot about statistical humans but in the real world, you don’t see statistically average people. I’ve seen people who get eczema, arthritis, bunions, shin splints, headaches, backaches. In other words, everyone is uniquely different.
The question that everyone asks is, are we doomed to an early death because of our genetics? Unfortunately, none of us got to fill out a wish list when the sperm met the egg. We simply got what we did and we’ve been working with it ever since. Defending against disease and promoting health really go hand in hand. Defending against disease simply means that you reduce the risk of the major degenerative diseases such as coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and cancer. So for people who have susceptibility factors to these degenerative diseases, we lower the risk of those factors using nutritional medicine and lifestyle habits.
Based upon our genetic uniquenesses, we all have specific biochemical strengths and weaknesses. The strengths are those areas that lead to resiliency. The weaknesses lead to an elevated risk to these various diseases but they are not a death sentence in and of themselves. Just because you have a family history of a disease indicating that you have a genetic risk to that disease does not in and of itself dictate that you are going to get that disease.
There’s a behavioral/habitual component to eating and to our entire dietary lifestyle which requires each one of us to take an honest assessment of why we make certain food choices and not others. You can eat for pleasure, you can eat to survive or you can eat to win. Many of us are pleasure-seekers and we simply eat the foods that taste good to us regardless of their inherent risk or value. Some are indifferent to food and simply eat to survive, not putting a great deal of thought into what they’re even putting into their bodies. And finally, some people raise their consciousness to actually ask the intelligent question of what’s the best food to eat in order to win the race of life. These are the ones who enjoy great energy, excellent immunity, get good sleep and come to appreciate that we are what we eat. Remember: it’s not merely the food in your life that matters, it’s the life in your food. What is your food doing for you? How is it helping you? Or is what you’re eating possibly hurting you?
Diets Don’t Work, Can’t Work and Will Never Work!
Are You Always Looking for That One “Unique” Diet That Will Finally Work for You? If so, stop looking because diets don’t work, can’t work and will never work. Why? Because they’re always temporary and do not encourage long term adherence leading to lasting success. In fact, we consider the word “diet” a dirty word! In the realm of nutritional science, the word “diet” is defined as the food that you eat on a daily basis as part of your lifestyle. This word, however, has taken on the meaning of “a temporary eating regimen intended to help one lose wait.” This is why, in order to avoid confusion, we have chosen to use the phrase “good eating habits” throughout this booklet. The word “diet” has a negative connotation for many people since most of them have done the “Dieting routine” many times resulting in disappointment and failure. It’s truly amazing that in an age of scientific enlightenment, so many people are still duped, deluded and deceived by mass marketing of various diets that are long on promises but short on results and which almost always lead to “diet burnout.” The psychology of diets is based on the maxim of taking the path of least resistance — that “new pill” or the “new powdered drink.” These are dishonest marketing schemes because they are not addressing the necessary core issue of behavior modification. This is far more important and requires modifying the way we think about food and what we’re going to eat from meal to meal.
Avoid Failure
Start Applying 21st Century Knowledge to Reducing Your Body Fat.
Begin by avoiding diet burnout. Dieting deals with weight-loss instead of fat-loss. When you subject yourself to pre-processed foods, low-calorie meals, liquid diets, meal substitutes or diet pills, you might lose a little fat but you’ll also lose 25-30 percent muscle — the very tissue that is responsible for burning fat!
At Nutritional Medicine, we won’t write out a “diet” for you, ask you about your “diet” or even check up on you to see if you’re staying on your “diet.” We will, however, provide you with well-researched, scientifically based guidelines of “good eating habits” which you can then adopt and incorporate into your lifestyle. “Good eating habits” are normative, reflexive behavior that you don’t have to think about — it just simply becomes habit because you know there is a pay off immediately and down the road — short term and long term. That payoff is looking and feeling your very best!
You Don’t Need To Be A Fanatic
The idea of one ideal diet or for that matter ideal eating habits for everyone is a myth. You are genetically unique and that is what gives you your “biochemical individuality.” This individual uniqueness determines what ratio of fats, carbohydrates and protein is most appropriate and compatible for you.
It is our job to give you the general concepts and guidelines that will lead you in the right direction and be in the best interest of your genes. Eating a lot of highly saturated or hydrogenated fat, white flour and sugar is certainly not in the best interest of anyone’s genes.
Weight-Loss vs. Fat-Loss
The Real Secret To Reducing Stored Body Fat and Increasing Lean Muscle
The real secret is in asking a different question. The most important question is not so much what ratio of fats, carbohydrates and protein to eat, though that is important. The real issue that is critically important is what kind of fats, what kind of carbohydrates and what kind of protein is best to achieve the goal of looking and feeling great. Remember, all fats, carbohydrates and proteins are not created equal!
The Intelligent Approach: Take Advantage of Our 21st Century Understanding of Biochemistry
Your body stores fat for energy. When you starve it by eating fewer calories, it adapts by slowing itself down, breaking down muscle and replacing it with fat for survival. You actually teach your body that fat is more important than muscle! When you stop the diet and start to eat normally, your body will naturally take all those extra calories above the amount you were eating on your diet and turn them into fat. It will continue until it gets back to your original weight, plus more, anticipating the next time you put your body through another deprivation cycle. Statistics reveal that 99% of those people who were on a conventional diet put all their weight back on within the first year after stopping the diet! To make matters worse, it also gets harder and harder to reduce excess body fat in the future because you keep losing muscle tissue on each diet!
Non-Negotiable Foods: In Other Words, Don’t Eat Them
Cows Milk — which includes non-fat, low fat, whole or even dried milk. The most respected experts in nutrition and fitness all agree on this one, and they will tell you, “If you want to weigh 300 lbs., then drink milk!” Cows milk is for baby cows, period! No other animal on the planet, other than us brilliant humans, drinks the milk of another species of animal. The protein is not compatible with the human intestine and immune system.
Additionally, cows milk contains significant levels of hormones necessary to turn a 120 pound calf at birth into a 1,000 pound heifer in a couple of years! Bessie sure isn’t gaining that kind of weight by just eating grass!
French Fries — which have been deep-fried in rancid oil that’s been heated past its critical temperature threshold several times. French fries will create liver congestion and toxicity and impair your ability to metabolize any dietary fats and oils.
Potato or Corn Chips — which have been deep-fried, are also rancid and toxic to the liver and extremely “fat storage provoking.”
Muffins, Crackers, Cookies, Pizza and Dried Cereal — are mostly white flour, sugar, heated oil and salt! They contain partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed oils, which are like plastic to your liver! These oils clog the liver and the gall bladder and make existing fat cells bigger!
The white flour acts like wallpaper paste in your intestine, slowing down transit time of digested food allowing it to rot in the intestine and impairing absorption of critically essential nutrients across the mucosal lumen. This combination of white flour, sugar and heated oil is a toxic insult to your livers’ detoxification system and creates an inability for it to perform its normal metabolic function of breaking down dietary fats and oils!
Soda Pop — is one of the greatest insults you can rail against your body! We call it “cancer in a can” because of the multiple negative effects it has on the body. Since every can contains 8-9 cubes of sugar, it convinces your body not to look for any other fuel source to burn creating a sort of pharmacological fat storage effect. “But I only drink diet” you say. There are several other very significant problems with sodas other than the sugar such as the phosphoric acid, which gives it the bubbles. Lemon juice is a pH of 3.2 which is very acidic but sodas are a pH of 3.5 — only a few tenths of a point less acidic! This acid ultimately leeches the calcium and other minerals out of your bones leading to osteoporosis and connective tissue weakness. This acidic pH also leaves your tissues oxygen deficient lowering your immune response and leaving you vulnerable to disease.
Sodas also contain colorings and preservatives which are toxic and “natural flavors” which is a code phrase for MSG (monosodium glutamate)! This flavoring agent causes water retention and swelling in the body as well as insomnia or restless sleep. The Nutrasweet in diet sodas is considered by researchers to be an “exitotoxin”, with the potential to cause neurological problems and liver toxicity.
Pork — which includes ham, sausage, hot-dogs, bacon, porkchops or anything else from our farm yard friends that oink.