Raw Cocoa - Put it in a smoothie!!

<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <h3> <b><span style="color: #660000;">NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS OF RAW COCOA</span></b></h3> </div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <span style="line-height: 1.4em;">In its raw state, chocolate has more than 300 nutritional compounds and is one of the richest sources of antioxidants of any food on the planet!</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Minimally processed raw chocolate contains many vital vitamins and minerals such as:<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /> </strong></div> <ul style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Magnesium, and other essential minerals such as calcium, sulfur, zinc, iron, copper, potassium, and manganese</li> <li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Polyphenols, antioxidant rich flavonoids</li> <li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Vitamins: B1, B2, B3, B5, B9, C, E</li> <li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Essential heart-healthy fat: oleic acid a monounsaturated fat</li> <li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Protein</li> <li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Fiber </li> </ul> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <img alt="" src="http://www.chocchick.com/media/wysiwyg/raw-chocolate-3.jpg" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /> Because white / processed sugar depletes the body of vital nutrients including magnesium, Vitamin C and B vitamins that are necessary for energy, hormones and weight loss, our <a href="http://chocchick.com/categories/Buy-CHOC/Raw-Chocolate-Making-Kits/" style="color: #6b2a0a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="raw chocolate making kits">raw chocolate making kits</a> include <a href="http://chocchick.com/products/Sweet-Freedom-Mild.html" style="color: #6b2a0a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="Low GL natural sweetener">Sweet Freedom</a>, a low-glycaemic sweetener, to sweeten your raw chocs naturally and will not deplete your body of vital nutrients</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> The nutrients found in raw chocolate have been linked to a number of health benefits and has been known to:</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />1) Lower blood pressure & improve circulation</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> Flavanols, theobromine, and other components found in cacao may lower blood pressure and enhance circulation by promoting dilation, strength, and health of blood vessels</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />2) Promotes cardiovascular function & health</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> The antioxidant power of flavonoids and essential minerals and vitamins found in cacao can support healthy heart functioning by lowering blood pressure, improving blood flow, lowering LDL cholesterol, and reducing plaque buildup on artery walls.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />3) Neutralizes free radicals</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> High levels of antioxidants protect the body from a buildup of free radicals from sun exposure, pollution, cigarette smoking, etc., which may damage healthy body tissue giving rise to cancer and cardiovascular disease. Our bodies need antioxidants to 'mop up' free radicals that can damage our cells. Scientists from Cornell University recently discovered that raw cacao powder contains nearly twice the antioxidants of red wine, and up to three times the antioxidants found in green tea.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />4)Raw Chocolate can improve digestion</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> A sufficient amount of fiber delivered with each serving of cacao supports digestion while cacao stimulates the body’s production of digestive enzymes.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />5) Raw chocolate can enhance physical and mental well-being</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> There are many components of cacao including alkaloids, proteins, beta-carotene, leucine, linoleic, lipase, lysine, and theobromine, that all work together to improve physical and mental health. For example, theombromine helps to stimulate the central nervous system, relax smooth muscles, and dilate blood vessels, giving the body a boost of energy; “bliss” chemicals found in cacao help to increase circulation and availability of serotonin and other neurotransmitters in brain, improving mood and combating depression.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <br /></div> <h2 style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Other notable benefits include:</h2> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Appetite suppressant</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> Yes, that's right! Raw chocolate actually has appetite-suppressant properties and often added to weight loss products to help control hunger! Simply enjoy a couple of Raw CHOC's or add half a teaspoon of raw chocolate powder to a teacup of tepid water 10 minutes before a meal for a delicious, natural way to reduce your appetite.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Aphrodisiac</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> Chocolate has long been the food for lovers and is a symbol of sensuality and sexuality. The ancient Aztecs gave chocolate as wedding presents and other South American civilizations believed that chocolate was the food of the heart. Raw chocolate from South America has to be the best chocolate aphrodisiac about!</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Sense of well being</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> Long considered a 'happy food', chocolate is a popular treat when we need 'cheering up', recent research has discovered that cacao contains chemicals (such as Phenylethylamine* and Serotonine) which are scientifically proven to be present in the brains of people when they are happy, more relaxed, playful and creative.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /> *Phenylethylamine is a slight antidepressant and stimulant similar to the body's own dopamine and adrenaline.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />My personal favorite smoothie - makes great dessert too. I like to make it very thick as if it was cake or brownie batter. Makes 1 tall glass. Gives me SOOO much energy and makes me stay "full" for hours.</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></strong></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmAmjy3KzM8h4siskU6gCGoDnJRbtZH3qoAX0t5BaB29Pr7XzELPXMtAtwU-TZgNBV2kwr6HimTSRgY4suO_JT6rbbe_4IaxAiSpI3aHEGTSEr13UE_QGoTGSaNJxHu-JOFq6FQZ5Wayh_/s1600/chocolate-smoothie02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmAmjy3KzM8h4siskU6gCGoDnJRbtZH3qoAX0t5BaB29Pr7XzELPXMtAtwU-TZgNBV2kwr6HimTSRgY4suO_JT6rbbe_4IaxAiSpI3aHEGTSEr13UE_QGoTGSaNJxHu-JOFq6FQZ5Wayh_/s1600/chocolate-smoothie02.jpg" width="213" /></a></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <h3> <b>Cocoa PB Banana smoothie!</b></h3> </div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <b>1 banana</b></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <b>2 tbs Peanut Butter </b></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <b>3 tbs greek yogurt (plain or vanilla)</b></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <b>1/2 tbs honey</b></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <b>1-2 tbs raw cocoa</b></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <b>1 cup almond or coconut milk</b></div> <div style="background-color: white; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <b><span style="color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em;">1-2 tbs wheat germ (optional. For extra energy, fiber and all kinds </span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">of</span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em;"> stuff.)</span></span></b></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></strong></div> <h2 style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Articles and References</h2> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <a href="http://www.livestrong.com/article/522112-health-benefits-of-raw-cacao-nibs/" style="color: #6b2a0a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">http://www.livestrong.com/article/522112-health-benefits-of-raw-cacao-nibs/</a></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <a href="http://www.lifefood.eu/en/strava/raw-cacao-the-real-raw-chocolate.html" style="color: #6b2a0a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">http://www.lifefood.eu/en/strava/raw-cacao-the-real-raw-chocolate.html</a></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <a href="http://www.builtlean.com/2012/04/12/raw-chocolate/" style="color: #6b2a0a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">http://www.builtlean.com/2012/04/12/raw-chocolate/</a></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <a href="http://envirohealthtech.com/cacao.htm" style="color: #6b2a0a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">http://envirohealthtech.com/cacao.htm</a></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <a href="http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/prevention/nutrition/chocolate.aspx" style="color: #6b2a0a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/prevention/nutrition/chocolate.aspx</a></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,2046663,00.html" style="color: #6b2a0a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,2046663,00.html</a></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate" style="color: #6b2a0a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate</a></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2020555/For-chocolates-true-benefits-time-ditch-foil-real.html" style="color: #6b2a0a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2020555/For-chocolates-true-benefits-time-ditch-foil-real.html</a></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #6b2a0a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0.75em 0px;"> <a href="http://www.cacaoweb.net/nutrition.html" style="color: #6b2a0a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">http://www.cacaoweb.net/nutrition.html</a></div>

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Raw Cocoa - Put it in a smoothie!!

NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS OF RAW COCOA In its raw state, chocolate has more than 300 nutritional compounds and is one of the richest sources...

Why Low Carb Diets Got it All Wrong

<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img height="80" src="http://www.precisionnutrition.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Precision-Nutrition_Carb-Blog-Article_2014-2.jpg" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; margin: 2rem auto 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 931px;" width="200" /></div> <br /> <div class="wrapper_inner_fluid" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 750px; width: 745px;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> </div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <span style="color: #606060; font-size: 13px;">By Brian St. Pierre shared from www.precisionnutrition.com</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <div class="first" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; padding: 2rem 0px 18px;"> <span style="color: #f4cccc;">Ask almost anyone what they need to do to lose a few pounds, and they’ll probably say: “Cut back on the carbs.” As a nutrition coach, I’ve heard it hundreds of times.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> While the low carb movement has waxed and waned in popularity since the Atkins revival of the late 90s and early 2000s, most folks now assume that carbohydrates are inherently fattening.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Health-conscious diners order bunless hamburgers, skip the baked potato side dish, and send the bread basket back to the kitchen. (Or don’t, and feel guilty about it.)</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In the past few years, I’ll bet you’ve heard (or thought) at least one of the following:</div> <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">Carbs spike your blood sugar and insulin, which slathers on the body fat.</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">Carbs, especially sugar and grains, cause inflammation.</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">Carbs are not an essential part of the diet like fat and protein.</li> </ul> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Seems simple and logical. Which is the problem.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> These simplistic statements about “good foods” and “bad foods” ignore biological complexity and the bigger picture.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Let’s look closer.</div> <h4 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Do carbs increase insulin levels?</h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Yes, they do.</div> <h4 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Does increased insulin after meals lead to fat gain?</h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> No.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> (Insulin’s actually a satiety hormone — in other words, it makes you feel full — so the idea that on its own it leads to fat gain doesn’t make sense.)</div> <h4 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Are carbs really inflammatory?<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"></strong></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> That depends. Are we talking about processed corn syrup? Probably.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> But if we’re talking about whole grains, <a href="http://www.precisionnutrition.com/should-you-avoid-grains" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0a7baa;">not really</a>.</div> <h4 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Are carbs less important than protein, fat, and the many micronutrients that contribute to our health?</h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"></strong>Well, if you’re talking about processed carbs, the answer is a resounding yes.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> But if you’re talking about whole, minimally processed carbs, that’s a different story.</div> <h4 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Can a low-carb diet work to help people lose weight?</h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Of course it can.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Is it because it is low in carbs?</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Maybe. Maybe not.</div> <h4 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Can eating an appropriate amount of carbs actually help you look, feel and perform your best?</h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> You bet it can.</div> <h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 2.25rem; font-weight: normal; line-height: 2.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> The problem with <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">not</em> eating carbs</h2> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> As a weight loss strategy, cutting carbs (while reducing the total number of calories) clearly works pretty well for some people. If it didn’t, then Atkins would have never been popular in the first place.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Here’s the thing, though: <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Carb reduction costs us.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> You see, <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">most of us require some level of carbohydrates to function at our best over the long term</strong>.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Sure, we can cut carbs <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">temporarily</em> if we need to lose weight quickly. But for most of us, keeping carbs too low for too long can have disastrous consequences.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> This is especially true for those of us who work out.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> If you’re sedentary, your carb needs are lower. So you might be able to get away with more restriction.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> But if you like to exercise regularly and enthusiastically, restricting your carb intake too drastically can lead to:</div> <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">decreased thyroid output</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">increased cortisol output</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">decreased testosterone</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">impaired mood and cognitive function</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">muscle catabolism</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">suppressed immune function.</li> </ul> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In other words: Your metabolism might slow, your stress hormones go up and your muscle-building hormones go down.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> You feel lousy, spaced-out, sluggish, cranky… and maybe even sick.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Most vexing of all: <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">You probably don’t even lose that much weight in the long term.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> If you’re interested in the details and some research, read on. If you just want to know what to do, skip to the end.</div> <h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 1.35rem; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Decreased thyroid</h3> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In order to function properly and to maintain an appropriate metabolism, our body produces an important hormone called T3. T3 is the most active thyroid hormone and is incredibly important for blood glucose management and proper metabolic function.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Low T3 levels can lead to a condition called euthyroid sick syndrome</strong>, in which people are constantly cold and sluggish. (Imagine your metabolic “body motor” idling at a slower speed.)</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> A landmark study, known as the Vermont Study, found that T3 is very sensitive to calorie and carbohydrate intake. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">When calories and carbs are too low, your T3 levels drop</strong>.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In addition, the Vermont Study found that another hormone, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">reverse</em> T3 (rT3), is <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">also</em> sensitive to calorie and carbohydrate intake. Reverse T3, as the name implies, inhibits T3.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Getting enough carbs can lower reverse T3. Not eating enough carbs will increase it, thus blocking the important work of T3</strong>.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> The Vermont Study is far from alone. Other research confirms that ketogenic (ultra-low carb) diets reduce T3 levels as rapidly as starvation.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Additional studies  show that when calories are held constant (in this case at 2100 calories), reducing carbohydrates from 409 g to 202 g and then to 104 g significantly reduced serum T3 levels (from 91 to 86 to 69 ng/dL respectively).</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Finally, French researchers examined four calorically equal diets (2800 calories in this case), lasting 1 week each. Two of these diets contained 250 grams of carbs, which is a fairly typical proportion. The low-carb diet included 71 grams of carbs, and the high-carb diet included 533 grams of carbs.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> T3 levels were equal on the normal and high carb diets (ranging from 163.3 to 169.5 ng/100 mL). However, on the low carb diet they fell to 148.6 ng/100 mL on average. And of course, rT3 correspondingly rose on the low carb diet, but not on the standard or high carb diets.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Thyroid hormones are important for more than just weight loss; they also have profound effects on our overall health and energy levels.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Thus, when you don’t eat enough, and/or eat enough carbs while training:</div> <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">T3 goes down</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">Reverse T3 goes up, further blocking T3</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">You feel like crap, and eventually your training sucks</li> </ul> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">If you’re active, you <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">need</em> adequate energy and carb intakes for a healthy thyroid.</strong></div> <h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 1.35rem; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Cortisol up; testosterone down</h3> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Research consistently shows that <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">people who exercise regularly need to eat enough carbs or their testosterone will fall while their cortisol levels rise</strong>. This is a sure-fire recipe for losing muscle and gaining fat.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Incidentally, it’s also a marker for excessive training stress.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In a study in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Life Sciences</em>, men who ate a high carbohydrate versus a low carbohydrate diet for 10 days had higher levels of testosterone and sex hormone binding globulin, and lower levels of cortisol.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> A few years later, another study took this research a step further. This time the subjects included men and women who exercised regularly. And in addition to considering the effect of their diet on hormones, researchers put them through some performance tests.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Once again, <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">when the subjects ate a low carb diet, their testosterone (and other anabolic hormones) went down, while their cortisol went up</strong>.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> And, after following a low carb diet for just <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">three</em> days, only two of the six participants were able to complete the cycling test! Meanwhile, when following the higher carb diet for three days, all six participants were able to complete the test.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In 2010, researchers reconsidered the same question — this time in relation to intense exercise. In this particular study, subjects eating the low carb diet (where 30% of their calories came from carbs) saw a drop of 43% in their testosterone to cortisol ratio. Not good. Meanwhile, the control group (who got 60% of their calories from carbs) saw no change in their testosterone/ cortisol ratios.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Thus:</strong></div> <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">inadequate carbohydrate intake can decrease testosterone (which no one wants); and</strong></li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">increase cortisol (which no one wants); while</strong></li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">negatively affecting performance (which no one wants).</strong></li> </ul> <h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 1.35rem; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Carbohydrates and women’s hormones</h3> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> We now know that <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">eating too low-carb for too long can cause significant disruptions to many hormones</strong>.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">This seems especially true for women</strong>, whose bodies may be more sensitive than men’s to low energy or carbohydrate availability (perhaps because of the evolutionary importance of having enough body fat and nutrients to sustain a pregnancy).</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> While organs like our gonads or thyroid make hormones, Mission Control of our hormone production system is the central nervous system (CNS), i.e. the brain.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Our hypothalamus and pituitary glands, which sit in the brain, are exquisitely sensitive to things like energy availability and stress (which can include life stress and exercise stress).</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> The hypothalamus and pituitary work together with other glands such as the adrenal glands. This partnership is often known as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal, or HPA, axis.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Thus, when women don’t eat enough calories or carbohydrate — or even when women eat enough calories but not enough carbohydrate — they face <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">hypothalamic amenorrhea. </strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> This means disrupted hormones and stopped — or irregular — periods because of the HPA’s response to perceived starvation and stress.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In hypothalamic amenorrhea, hormone levels plummet, and the cascade is felt throughout the system. You end up with low levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In addition, we’ve already seen that not eating enough carbohydrate tends to increase cortisol levels. When cortisol rises, it signals your HPA axis to further decrease pituitary activity. Not good.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Your HPA axis regulates functions such as stress response, mood, digestion, immune system, libido, metabolism and energy levels.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> And your pituitary in particular is responsible for synthesizing and secreting growth hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone, prolactin, LH, FSH and other incredibly important hormones.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> With all this said, here’s the takeaway message: Many women try to eat low-carb, wanting to be healthier.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Yet because low-carb diets can significantly disrupt hormone production, women with too-low carb intakes — especially active women — can face:</div> <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">a stopped or irregular menstrual cycle;</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">lowered fertility;</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">hypoglycemia and blood sugar swings;</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">more body fat (especially around the middle);</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">loss of bone density;</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues;</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">chronic inflammation and worse chronic pain;</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">chronic fatigue and disrupted sleep; and</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">a host of other chronic problems…</li> </ul> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> …ironically, this is the exact opposite of what they wanted in the first place.</div> <h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 1.35rem; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Muscle loss</h3> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> When we think about building muscle, we usually think of protein. But research shows that lowering carb intake can affect your muscle mass <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">even if</em> protein remained constant.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">In other words, even if you’re guzzling protein shakes or eating steak 5 times a day, you could be losing muscle if you aren’t getting enough carbs.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> A recent study from the Netherlands compared three diets:</div> <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">a high carb diet (85% carbs);</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">a medium carb diet (44% carbs); and</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">a low carb diet (2% carbs).</li> </ul> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> All diets had the same total calories and the same amount of protein — 15%. (Yes, a little low, but more or less adequate.)</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> The result? For starters, pretty consistent with other research.</div> <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">T3 levels and reverse T3 levels stayed the same with high and moderate carbohydrate intake.</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">T3 levels and reverse T3 went down on the low-carb diet.</li> </ul> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> But here’s the interesting wrinkle. In this study, the researchers also measured urinary nitrogen excretion to see how the diets affected protein breakdown.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In this case, <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">the low carb diet <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">increased</em> muscle breakdown, because severely low carbs lowered insulin levels.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Again, you’d assume that protein intake would determine muscle breakdown. And you might assume — based on what you’ve heard — that having higher insulin is always “bad”.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In fact, <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">insulin is crucial for building muscle</strong>.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">When you get enough carbs to meet your needs, you replenish muscle glycogen and create an anabolic (building-up) hormonal environment</strong>. You get strong and buff. That’s good.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Conversely, when you don’t eat enough carbohydrate, muscle glycogen is depleted and a catabolic (breaking-down) hormonal environment is created, which means more protein breakdown and less protein synthesis.</strong> This means slower muscle growth — or even muscle loss.</div> <h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 1.35rem; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Putting it all together</h3> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> The bottom line? <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Not eating enough carbohydrates can lower T3 levels, disrupt cortisol to testosterone ratios, interfere with a woman’s delicate hormone balance, contribute to muscle loss, and prevent muscle gains.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Definitely not what most of us want!</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> But wait a minute.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Even if all of this is true, aren’t low carb diets better for fat loss?</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> And aren’t fat-adapted athletes performing just as well as athletes who eat a lot of carbs?</div> <h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 2.25rem; font-weight: normal; line-height: 2.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Low carbs are not better for fat loss</h2> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> The logic seems so clear and appealing: <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">High carbs lead to insulin which leads to fat storage. Low carbs keep insulin low, which should get you effortlessly lean while you enjoy chicken wings, salmon, eggs, and butter</em>.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Indeed, many people who try low-carb dieting are initially pleased by an immediate weight loss… which is mostly water and glycogen. So, in the short term, it <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">seems</em> like low-carb diets are superior.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> But does long-term evidence support low-carb dieting?</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Research says no. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Over the long haul, any differences between low-carb and other diets even out.</strong></div> <h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 1.35rem; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Protein: The hidden success factor</h3> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Most studies that suggest low-carb diets are superior suffer from a common methodological flaw: They usually don’t match protein intake between groups. This means that the low carb group often ends up consuming significantly more protein.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> We know that getting plenty of protein has many advantages:</div> <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">protein has a higher thermic effect — our bodies have to “rev up” to digest it (you’ll know this if you’ve ever gotten the “meat sweats” after a big steak);</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">protein makes people feel fuller, longer; and</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">protein helps people retain lean mass.</li> </ul> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">In other words, the big “secret” might be a <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">high protein</em> diet rather than a <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">low carb</em> diet.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> So let’s play fair and look at a study where protein was matched. In this study, subjects who ate a moderate carb diet (40% calories from carbs) reported significantly better mood, and <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">lost about the same amount of weight as those on a ketogenic low-carb diet</strong> (5% calories from carbs).</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Actually, the group who ate a moderate amount of carbs showed a small (though not statistically significant) tendency to lose <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">more</em> body fat as compared to those on a low carb diet (5.5 kg vs 3.4 kg in 6 weeks).</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Both diets improved insulin sensitivity. However, the ketogenic diet also increased LDL cholesterol and inflammatory markers and subjects who were on it felt less energetic.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Thus, in this study:</div> <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">moderate carb eaters felt better</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">moderate carb eaters lost about the same amount of weight, maybe even a little more</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">both types of eaters improved insulin sensitivity</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">the low carb dieters ended up with worse blood work and inflammation</li> </ul> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Makes you wonder why low carb gets so much hype, doesn’t it?</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Especially considering that a recent review of long-term low carb versus low fat diets — the largest of its kind so far — found that both low carb <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">and</em> low fat diets reduced people’s weight and improved their metabolic risk factors.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In this review, both diets had about the same weight loss, changes in waist circumference, and measurements of several metabolic risk factors (blood pressure, blood glucose, insulin).</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Still, it would be great to understand more about what makes low carb diets “work” at all. One recent study asked: Do low carb diets work because they restrict carbs or because they tend to increase protein?</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Over the course of one year, the researchers compared four different conditions:</div> <ol style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">normal protein, normal carbohydrate</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">normal protein, low carbohydrate</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">high protein, low carbohydrate</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">high protein, normal carbohydrate.</li> </ol> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Interestingly, <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">the two groups eating the high protein lost the most weight</strong>.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> And the real kicker? <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Varying the levels of fats and carbs seemed to make no difference to body composition.</strong></div> <h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 2.25rem; font-weight: normal; line-height: 2.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Who needs carbs? Who doesn’t?</h2> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> As our name implies, at Precision Nutrition we don’t believe in one-size-fits-all dietary recommendations.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Like most things, carbohydrate requirements fall on a bell curve.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Bell curve diagram copy r1 1024x715 Carb controversy: Why low carb diets have got it all wrong." height="418" src="http://www.precisionnutrition.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Bell-curve_diagram-copy_r1-1024x715.png" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; margin: 2rem auto 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 745px;" title="" width="600" /></div> <h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 1.35rem; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Most people do best with some carbs.</h3> <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">About 70% of you will do really well with PN’s standard hand-size portion guidelines.</strong> (See our <a href="http://www.precisionnutrition.com/calorie-control-guide" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0a7baa;">Calorie Control Guide</a> for more.)</li> </ul> <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Around 25% of you will do really well increasing or reducing your carb servings by just a little bit.</strong> This is what we call eating for your body type, and we outline our recommendations <a href="http://www.precisionnutrition.com/fix-a-broken-diet" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0a7baa;">here</a>.</li> </ul> <h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 1.35rem; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> A few people do best with high carbs.</h3> <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">About 2.5% of the population — people who are ultra-endurance athletes, and a few other outliers — will thrive when eating incredibly <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">high</em> amounts of carbs. (We’re talking ≥ 70% of their total calories).</li> </ul> <h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 1.35rem; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> A few people do best with low carbs.</h3> <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">In fact, ketogenic diets are actually prescribed for people with epilepsy, as they seem to reduce their symptoms and cut down on seizure frequency.</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;">Very sedentary people, as well as people who are extremely metabolically dysregulated (e.g. metabolic syndrome, diabetes), may benefit from a lower-carb diet for a while as part of an overall transition towards more activity and healthier metabolism.</li> </ul> <h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 1.35rem; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> A unique specimen: The low-carb athlete</h3> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> You might have been wondering about that remaining 2.5% of successful low-carbers.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> While rare, these ultra-low-carb people do exist. Even in athlete trials, where the vast majority of participants do better on high carb diets versus low carb diets, you’ll almost always find a few who perform better on a low carb regime.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> This study on competitive cyclists offers a perfect example. While the authors concluded that endurance wasn’t generally affected by a high-fat, low-carb intake — at least after athletes became adapted to it — individual responses to this diet did vary enormously.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Two of the five participants got tired sooner when eating low-carb (taking 48 and 51 minutes to conk out, respectively). But one participant actually got <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">better</em> by 84 minutes on the low carb diet.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">The data are clear: Each athlete — each person — is unique when it comes to carbohydrate requirements.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> While on average the performance of the cyclists did not vary whether they were eating high carb or high fat diets, there was one interesting difference, highlighted by the study authors in a review study done twenty-one years later.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> After a week of adaptation to the low-carb diet, most cyclists felt that they could more or less perform normally… except for their sprint capacity, which <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">never</em> seemed to recover while restricting carbs.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> If you are a high-performing athlete, this might be especially important to keep in mind. Even in extreme endurance sports, sprint capability can be vitally important. Especially as you’re nearing that finish line.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">But before we get too carried away in the opposite direction and start carb loading, let’s remember this basic truth: Most of us are not elite athletes.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> So while studies will show that on average athletes tend to perform better with higher carb intakes, this is not a universal rule. There is always individual variability.</div> <h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 2.25rem; font-weight: normal; line-height: 2.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> What this means for you</h2> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Sometimes, we get so caught up in fad diets that we forget to look at the evidence. But fad diets are mostly bad diets.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> For many years, we thought the secret to maintaining our weight was to eat lots of carbs and reduce our fat intake. Just think of the old Food Guide Pyramid with grains at the bottom and oils at the top.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Low-fat, high-carb didn’t work for most of us</strong>. People felt deprived and hungry; they “cheated” with “fat-free”, high-sugar treats; and they ended up eating a lot of rice cakes.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Then the pendulum swung, people hopped on the low carb, high fat bandwagon, and it was party time with almond butter, bacon, and heavy cream.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Unfortunately for most of us, low carb doesn’t work so well, either.</strong></div> <h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 1.35rem; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Strict diets aren’t the answer</h3> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> If your eating plan isn’t working for you, it’s tempting to make it more restrictive. You might assume that if you aren’t losing fat going kinda low-carb, you should go full ketogenic.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> But <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">more restriction almost never works</strong>.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Don’t take your nutrition to extremes — unless you have extreme goals.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Strategic moderation, as unsexy as that sounds, is the only sustainable method.</strong></div> <h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 1.35rem; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Most of us need some carbs</h3> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Most of us will look, feel, and perform our best when we balance a reasonable amount of lean protein, quality carbs, and healthy fats.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Our standard portion size recommendations aren’t just what we <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">think</em> is best. They’re what we <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">know</em> is best, based on careful research and our experience with 20,000 clients to date.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <img alt="V Type Diet Women Carb controversy: Why low carb diets have got it all wrong." class="size-full wp-image-42060 " height="321" src="http://www.precisionnutrition.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/V-Type_Diet_Women.jpg" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; margin: 2rem auto 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 745px;" title="" width="612" /></div> <div class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25em; font-style: italic; padding: 0px 0px 18px; text-align: center;"> Portions for women</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <img alt="V Type Diet Men Carb controversy: Why low carb diets have got it all wrong." height="360" src="http://www.precisionnutrition.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/V-Type_Diet_Men.jpg" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; margin: 2rem auto 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 745px;" title="" width="612" /></div> <div class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25em; font-style: italic; padding: 0px 0px 18px; text-align: center;"> Portions for men</div> <h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 1.35rem; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Experiment & have fun</h3> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Our recommendations let you be flexible, enjoy the high-quality foods you love, and adjust your intake to your own experience, goals, and unique needs.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Don’t like rice? Fine. Try another carb source.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Don’t like beef for your lean protein? How about eggs?</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Need more carbs to support your athletic performance? Cool. Add another few servings and see how it goes.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Curious about balancing your blood sugar by dialing back the carbs just a little bit? Great — give it a go, monitor your glucose levels, and see how you feel.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> YOU are unique. Your body is unique.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Your individual carb requirements depend on your:</strong></div> <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">goals</strong> (fat loss, muscle gain, maintenance)</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">genetics</strong> (different body types, medical conditions)</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">carb source</strong> (refined versus minimally processed)</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">activity level</strong> (sedentary, weight-training, endurance athlete).</li> </ul> <h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 1.35rem; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0.25rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Keep it simple</h3> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Don’t overly restrict</strong>; don’t over-think it; don’t waste time with “carb math”.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Enjoy a wide variety of minimally processed, whole and fresh foods</strong>.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Observe how you look, feel, and perform</strong>.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Decide what to do based on the data you collect about yourself</strong>, not on what you think you “should” do.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">The only “rules” come from <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">your</em> body and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">your</em> experience</strong>. Don’t follow a dietary prescription for anyone else’s body.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> And above all, for most active people, <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">carbs are your friend!</strong></div> <h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 2.25rem; font-weight: normal; line-height: 2.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Eat, move, and live… better.</h2> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> High carb, low carb…the health and fitness world can sometimes be a confusing place. But it doesn’t have to be.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Let us help you make sense of it all with this <a href="http://www.precisionnutrition.com/weekly-email-updates" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0a7baa;">free special report</a>.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In it you’ll learn the best eating, exercise, and lifestyle strategies – unique and personal – for you.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <a href="http://www.precisionnutrition.com/weekly-email-updates" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0a7baa;">Click here to download the special report, for free.</a></div> <h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00bbe3; font-size: 2.25rem; font-weight: normal; line-height: 2.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> References</h2> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <a href="" id="references_link" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0a7baa; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;">Click here to view the information sources referenced in this article.</a></div> <div class="best_of" style="border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: normal; margin-top: 3em; padding: 2rem 0px 0px;"> </div> </div> </div>

21 Day Fix, carbs, clean eating recipes, diet, food, health, health and fitness, lifestyle, nutrition

Why Low Carb Diets Got it All Wrong

By Brian St. Pierre shared from www.precisionnutrition.com Ask almost anyone what they need to do to lose a few pounds, and they’l...

Clean Eating Taco Seasoning

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXsV0ND7R1151ux31zH_bC-Yqe8tPnCVcCo-YBVha4KFR8UCwU-J0skLLzo9PMQXwxhXv4jxoMQzfR3Xvr7iIXFwnOnsjSoVUfDvgoo0Fns73kJt5YQlOQVVC6q1HasjHFIMCXaVvhlGkU/s1600/taco+seasoning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXsV0ND7R1151ux31zH_bC-Yqe8tPnCVcCo-YBVha4KFR8UCwU-J0skLLzo9PMQXwxhXv4jxoMQzfR3Xvr7iIXFwnOnsjSoVUfDvgoo0Fns73kJt5YQlOQVVC6q1HasjHFIMCXaVvhlGkU/s1600/taco+seasoning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXsV0ND7R1151ux31zH_bC-Yqe8tPnCVcCo-YBVha4KFR8UCwU-J0skLLzo9PMQXwxhXv4jxoMQzfR3Xvr7iIXFwnOnsjSoVUfDvgoo0Fns73kJt5YQlOQVVC6q1HasjHFIMCXaVvhlGkU/s1600/taco+seasoning.jpg" width="203" /></a></div> <h2 class="fn" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"> </h2> <h3> <span style="color: #f4cccc; line-height: 1.5;"><br /></span></h3> <h3> <span style="color: #f4cccc; line-height: 1.5;"><br /></span></h3> <h3> <span style="color: #f4cccc; line-height: 1.5;">No More Using Store-Bought Taco Seasoning Full of Sugars and Maltodextrin and MSG! MUCH Better!! </span></h3> <div> <br /></div> <div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> <h4 style="color: #534640; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"> Ingredients:</h4> <ul style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <li class="ingredient" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2 tablespoons ground cumin</li> <li class="ingredient" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1 teaspoon paprika</li> <li class="ingredient" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper</li> <li class="ingredient" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1/2 teaspoon onion powder</li> <li class="ingredient" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1/2 teaspoon garlic powder</li> <li class="ingredient" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1/4 teaspoon black pepper</li> <li class="ingredient" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1/4 teaspoon chili powder</li> </ul> </div> <div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> <h4 style="color: #534640; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"> Directions:</h4> <ol class="instructions" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <li style="list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Blend all spices in a bowl and use to season any taco meat you are cooking. Use approximately 1 tablespoon per pound of meat.</li> <ol><ol><ol><ol><ol> <li style="list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Note: This mix has a small amount of “kick” to it. Nothing that will set your mouth on fire, but definitely noticeable. If you want something without the kick, leave out the cayenne and add an extra 1/2 teaspoon of paprika. <strong style="color: #534640; line-height: 1.5;">Like the jar? </strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GCTF0ZS/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00GCTF0ZS&linkCode=as2&tag=thecooblo-20" style="line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Get them on Amazon here</span></a><img alt="" border="0" height="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thecooblo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00GCTF0ZS" style="border: none !important; color: #534640; height: auto; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%;" width="0" /><span style="color: #534640; line-height: 1.5;">. (affiliate link)</span></li> </ol> </ol> </ol> </ol> </ol> </ol> </div> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>

clean eating, good habits, health and fitness, Healthy recipes, seasonings, spice

Clean Eating Taco Seasoning

No More Using Store-Bought Taco Seasoning Full of Sugars and Maltodextrin and MSG! MUCH Better!!  Ingredients: 2 tablespoons...

If you’re struggling with your fitness goals, feel free to quit. Just quit tomorrow.

<div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">article from precisionnutrition.com by Craig Weller</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;">Coach Craig Weller talks about the importance of finding your “deep reason” when things get tough and</span><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;"> how to keep going when the going gets tough, Craig explains how</span><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;"> </span><strong style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;">small daily decisions can help to keep us on track.</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <span style="font-size: 30px;">More lessons from Special Operations Forces</span><b></b></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In Special Operations Forces selection we used to have a saying:</div> <blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.4em; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> “Finish out today and quit tomorrow.”</div> </blockquote> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> SOF selection is essentially a system of heavy-duty hazing, ruthlessly tormenting a bunch of people until most of them drop out.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> During this intensive process, it’s so tempting to tell yourself that <em>The run is too far</em>.<em>The water is too cold</em>. <em>My arms are too weak to do one… more… pushup… unnnggghh</em>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> It’s so tempting to tell yourself: <em>It doesn’t matter. It’s not worth it. <strong>Nothing</strong> is worth this pain or boredom.</em></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> So what’s the secret to staying the course?</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Quitting. Later, that is.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> My buddies and I promised each other we’d never quit in the middle of an evolution. At least, we’d wait until the end of the day, when the intensity of the moment had passed.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> The carrot of quitting dangled enticingly in front of us. A little treat, the promise of eventual relief to keep us going. It was just a <em>little</em> farther away.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Of course, at the end of the day, we’d look back on the incident that had made us want to quit, realize it wasn’t so bad – and feel good about our decision to continue. Invariably, this simple trick would pull us through.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> We didn’t quit today. And every one of us made it through selection.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Precision Nutrition Motivation Secret 2 Quit Tomorrow Body Image Motivation secret #2: Quit tomorrow" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-40022" height="400" src="http://www.precisionnutrition.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Precision-Nutrition-Motivation-Secret-2-Quit-Tomorrow-Body-Image.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; margin: 10px auto 18px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" title="" width="600" /></div> <h2 style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Self-herding</h2> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Great, you might be thinking – but what’s the carry-over to ordinary life? How do small daily decisions (like my decision to postpone quitting) support or detract from our longer-term commitments, like a commitment to fitness and health?</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Upside-Irrationality-Unexpected-Benefits-Defying/dp/0061995037/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314645593&sr=8-1" style="color: #0a7baa;"><i>The Upside of Irrationality</i></a><i>, </i>author Dan Ariely describes a phenomenon he calls “self-herding.” “Herding” is what happens when we follow what others are doing. “Self-herding” occurs when we allow our own previous actions to govern our current behavior.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Sounds pretty innocuous. But here’s the thing: <strong>Many of our small, daily decisions are governed by our emotional state in the moment. </strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> And self-herding is such a powerful force that <strong>each decision has the potential to establish a habit</strong>, which in turn could help or hinder our long-term goals.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Ariely gives an example. Suppose your favorite team wins a game just before you head out to your mother-in-law’s for supper. In your excitement, you stop to buy her flowers on your way. Two weeks later, on your next visit, you find yourself buying flowers again.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> What’s going on here? The underlying reason for your initial purchase (excitement about the game) is gone. But without necessarily meaning to, you use your previous actions as a template for what you <i>should</i> do next and the kind of person you are.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Thus, a passing emotion ends up influencing a long string of decisions and helps to establish a habit – and to shape a character.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Now what if, in that initial moment of happiness about your team’s win, instead of buying flowers for your mother-in-law, you chose to stop at the pub for five or six pints?</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Or what if your team <i>lost</i> and you chose to kick the dog – or open a bag of Oreos?</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Self-herding can turn you into the kind of person who finishes a demanding course of training or brings flowers to your mother-in-law – or the kind who drinks too much, lashes out at others, or eats for comfort.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong>The small, seemingly unimportant decisions we make in the moment can have far-reaching consequences for the kind of people we become</strong>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> That’s why it’s so important to pause and think before we act. To harness the power of self-herding so it works for us, not against us. To finish out today and “quit tomorrow.”</div> <h2 style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> The Opposite Rule</h2> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In our coaching programs, we often like to use the Opposite Rule: If what you’re doing isn’t working, try the opposite. (Ridiculously simple, we know. But it works.)</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Most of us have told ourselves: <em>I’ll start ___ tomorrow</em>. [Insert one or more of the following self-improvement projects: running, getting up early, eating healthy, being nicer to my in-laws, learning Swahili, etc.]</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> “Starting tomorrow” — while it’s a great way to begin — also often lets us justify poor decisions today.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> So what about trying the opposite? Instead of “<em>start</em> tomorrow”, how about: “<em>Quit</em>tomorrow”?</div> <h2 style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Quit tomorrow to keep fit</h2> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Did you just start eating a clean diet and give up processed foods? Did you just start a new and more intensive exercise program?</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Here’s some news: It’s going to suck sometimes, and there is nothing you can really do about that until your body adapts.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> You’re going to have moments of weakness when you want nothing more than a bag of chips or a package of Twinkies. Days when you can barely drag yourself to the gym.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <i>It’s only once. It can’t really hurt. It’s not so bad</i>. The mind is remarkably adept at coming up with justifications.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> But – as the theory of self-herding demonstrates – this decision won’t stand on its own. Every choice you make lays neural groundwork that will bias your future decisions. Eventually, you’re the sum of your habits. No more, and no less.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong>So, my advice when you want to give up is this: Quit tomorrow.</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Nourish yourself with healthy food today. Get yourself to the gym and do that set today. And tomorrow, if you want that Pop Tart or you need a rest, go ahead and take it.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> But I’m betting the urge to quit will be gone. Instead, when tomorrow dawns, you’ll feel just a bit healthier, a little less dependent on sugar, a little stronger. You’ll have harnessed self-herding in your favor. And you’ll be one step closer to your goals.</div>

attitude, Fitness motivation, good advice, good habits, health and fitness, lifestyle, mind over matter, mindset, Motivation, workouts

If you’re struggling with your fitness goals, feel free to quit. Just quit tomorrow.

article from precisionnutrition.com by Craig Weller Coach Craig Weller talks about the importance of finding your “deep reason” when thin...

Do Your Workouts Feel Like a Chore?

<h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 11px;">by Mark Sisson @ marksdailyappple.com</span></span></h1> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <img alt="todolist2" class="alignright" height="260" src="http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202012/todolist2.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 2px 7px; max-width: 100%; padding: 4px;" title="Do Your Workouts Feel Like a Chore?" width="320" />Evolution tends to reinforce healthy, beneficial behaviors that improve the survival of members of a species by making them enjoyable. <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/sex-health-benefits/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="8 Health Reasons to Have Sex (As If You Needed Them)">Sex</a>, <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-manufacture-the-best-night-of-sleep-in-your-life/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="How to Manufacture the Best Night of Sleep in Your Life">sleep</a>, socializing, and <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/yet-another-primal-primer-animal-fats/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="A Primal Primer: Animal Fats">animal fat</a> either feel good, taste good, and sometimes feel <em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">and </em>taste good at the same time not “just because” but because they are necessary components of a healthy, (re)productive lifestyle. And it’s not just the act that feels good. Evolution has also reinforced the anticipation of the behavior. At the prospect of <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/a-guide-to-maintaining-a-healthy-sex-drive/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="A Guide to Maintaining a Healthy Sex Drive">sex</a>, we become aroused, horny, randy, or whatever you want to call the pleasure of anticipation. Those long, delicious yawns that herald the surge of melatonin and promise excellent sleep as we slip beneath the cool covers with a good book? Nothing better. And I still get happy stomach butterflies when friends are coming for dinner and the scent of crackling <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/pork-belly-croutons-with-kale-salad/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Pork Belly Croutons with Kale Salad">pork skins</a> fills the kitchen.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <span id="more-50238" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> Okay, but what about exercise? There’s the <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-get-high-naturally/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="How to Get High on Life: 10 Natural Ways to Feel on Top of the World">endorphin and endocannabinoid high</a> from exercising intensely, but that exists to keep us moving during an activity as we near the physiological breaking point. It doesn’t get us off our butts in the first place. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">If exercise is so good for us – and it is – why doesn’t everyone crave it? Why does it feel like a chore?</strong> Why do many people dread it so much?</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Here’s the thing: exercise wasn’t always optional.</strong> If we didn’t chase down the antelope, we wouldn’t have dinner. If we didn’t climb that forty foot acacia tree, our glycogen-starved muscles wouldn’t get the <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-honey-a-safer-sweetener/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Is Honey a Safe(r) Sweetener?">honey</a>. If we didn’t make the six mile walk to the spring, we wouldn’t have water to drink. We <em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">had</em> to do these “exercises” if we wanted to survive on a day-to-day basis. There was no “Oh, I’ll just sit on this couch and eat microwaved pot pies and go to the gym some other time.” <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">There was no selective pressure to evolve a love of exercise because we were gonna do it anyway</strong>.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> Today, exercise is in a weird place. Exercise is optional, but it’s also not. Though being sedentary remains disastrous to our health, circumstance no longer compels us to move. There’s no trench-coated goon pointing a gun at us and nodding toward the treadmill, but plenty of “authorities” point their fingers and strongly recommend exercise on pain of disease. We’re buried in studies proclaiming the essentiality of exercise for good health. The message is clear and overwhelming: we’d better work out if we want to be healthy and live long. Just like they tell us we need to work the crappy soul-sucking job to pay the bills, they tell us we need to exercise for thirty minutes a day to stave off disease. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">For most people living in the first world…</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Exercise is something you do to lose weight. It’s a mechanistic way to churn through the calories you’ve eaten and make room for the <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/dear-mark-maximum-4000-calories-a-week-of-exercise/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Dear Mark: Maximum 4,000 Calories a Week of Exercise?">calories</a> you want to eat.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Exercise is something you do even though it’s unpleasant. It’s like brushing your <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/nutritional-cures-for-damaged-teeth/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Beyond Sugar and Soda: Nutritional Cures for Damaged Teeth">teeth</a>, taking out the trash, and emptying the cat litter.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Exercise is about attaining a far-off goal.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Meanwhile, the journey – the actual experience of exercising, of moving your body through space and time, of challenging your physical capabilities – is forgotten.</strong> It’s not just forgotten, it’s willfully ignored. We actually try to shut it out, because the act of exercising is all pain and suffering and drudgery. It’s the goal that matters to us, the weight lost, the<a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/gain-weight-build-muscle/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="How to Gain Weight and Build Muscle">weight lifted</a>, the miles logged, the calories burned, the <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/health-vanity/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Mirror, Mirror on the Wall">beach body attained</a>, the tickets to the gun show redeemed.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">The evidence suggests that this paradigm doesn’t work all that well.</strong> A <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11002-014-9301-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" target="_blank" title="Is it fun or exercise? The framing of physical activity biases subsequent snacking">series of three recent studies</a> illustrates this. In the first, researchers gave healthy adult women (most of them overweight) a map of a mile-long outdoor walking course and told them to walk it for half an hour. Half were told to treat the walk as exercise and monitor their exertion, half were told to enjoy the walk and listen to music. Both groups spent the same 30 minutes <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-definitive-guide-to-walking/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="The Definitive Guide to Walking">walking</a> the same course, but only the exercising group felt grumpy and fatigued. And when they had lunch, the group who’d “exercised” consistently chose soda over water, pudding over applesauce, and ate far more calories than the “fun” group.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> The second study placed a group of men on the same mile loop. Half “exercised,” half walked for fun. After the walk, they were given plastic baggies, access to an unlimited bowl of M&Ms, and instructions to fill the bags with as many as they desired. The exercise group filled their bags with twice as much candy as the fun group.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> Finally, the researchers approached runners as they finished a relay marathon race and offered them a choice of snacks: a gooey chocolate bar or a “healthy” granola bar. Those who said the race had been difficult and unpleasant were more likely to choose the chocolate, while those who’d enjoyed the race usually chose the granola bar.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">When working out feels like a chore, we demand compensation upon completion, often in the form of junk food.</strong> This can derail weight loss efforts, but it also perpetuates an abusive relationship with physical activity. There’s also evidence, at least in non-human animals, that <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0016643" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" target="_blank" title="The Effects of Voluntary, Involuntary, and Forced Exercises on Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Motor Function Recovery: A Rat Brain Ischemia Model">voluntary exercise is less stressful than involuntary or forced exercise</a>. If that’s the case, workouts that feel like chores heap additional systemic <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/rethinking-stress-it-could-save-your-life/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Rethinking Stress: It Could Save Your Life">stress</a> on top of the local stress the exercise already applies to the muscles. This could make it harder to <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/7-things-impair-workout-recovery/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="7 Things You May Be Doing That Impair Workout Recovery">recover from exercise</a> and easier to recover from <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/15-concrete-ways-to-play/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="15 Concrete Ways to Play">play</a> – even if the total work done for each was identical.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">How do we change our relationship with physical activity?</strong> How can we reframe exercise to make it less unpleasant and more effective? How can we train ourselves to appreciate the journey of movement?</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> Reframing our own activities and appreciating movement for movement’s sake can be tough. You won’t have a guy in a white coat wielding a clipboard and considerable amounts of authority telling you to “enjoy the <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/17-reasons-to-walk-more-this-year/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="17 Reasons to Walk More This Year">walk</a>” you’re about to take like the people in the studies.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> You can’t expect to make everything fun and games. Few people think of hill sprints as “fun.” I can’t ever recall seeing a powerlifter rock a Cheshire grin in the power cage. But it has to be rewarding. You have to get something from it immediately. The activity must be its own compensation. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">The key, I think, is finding immediate value in the activity rather than relying on some far off goal, like weight loss, to motivate you.</strong> The weight loss, the hypertrophy, the fitness gains, all those “bigger” goals will happen anyway, but they’re not enough of a primary motivator for most people. I mean, everyone has those goals. They’re the reason most people decide they need to start exercising and why there are <a href="http://www.ihrsa.org/media-center/2011/4/5/us-health-club-membership-exceeds-50-million-up-108-industry.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" target="_blank" title="U.S. Health Club Membership Exceeds 50 Million, Up 10.8%; Industry Revenue Up 4% as New Members Fuel Growth ">over 50 million gym memberships</a> in this country. But by and large, <a href="http://greatist.com/health/exercise-weight-loss-071213" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" target="_blank" title="Americans Are Working Out More Than Ever. Why Aren’t We Losing Weight?">they’re not reaching those goals</a>. Something’s gotta give.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> That’s easier said than done. Undoing a lifetime of acculturation isn’t easy. You have to willingly appreciate the flowers along the sidewalk, the birds in the trees above, the sunlight shining down, the refreshing sensations of unused muscles finally used. You have to realize that our bodies are built to move and need to move. We’ve got these shoulders that rotate almost 360 degrees. We can draw our knees up to our chins and touch our toes with straight legs and do the splits (in theory). It’s a crime not to use them – and you have to <em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">feel </em>that. You have to find something of worth in the exercise as you’re doing it.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> That could be a PR in the squat, or discovering that <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/15-reasons-to-sprint-more-this-year/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="15 Reasons to Sprint More This Year">sprinting</a> up the steep hill outside your place is getting a lot easier. It could be the the perfect high-five shared with a <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/p90x-and-crossfit/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="P90X and CrossFit">CrossFit</a> bro after Fran that seems to make time stop and the universe shudder for a moment. Or maybe it’s the meditative <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/flow/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Total Immersion: How to Recognize and Tap Into the Power of Flow">flow state</a> you reach when training, the peace of <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/hiking-around-the-world-what-to-eat/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Dear Mark: Hiking Around the World">hiking</a> through an ancient redwood forest, or chatting with your power-walking partner. It can also be the sheer joy we feel doing something we love to do, like play <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ultimate-frisbee/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Ultimate Frisbee">Ultimate Frisbee</a> (winning doesn’t hurt).</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">It took me a long time to reach that place, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I suggest you try to do the same</strong></div> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />link to article: <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/do-your-workouts-feel-like-a-chore/#ixzz35RZbS3zh" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #003399; line-height: inherit; outline: none;">http://www.marksdailyapple.com/do-your-workouts-feel-like-a-chore/#ixzz35RZbS3zh</a></span>

attitude, Determination, exercise and fitness, fitness, fitness goals, good habits, healthy lifestyle, Motivation, strategy, strength, weightloss, workouts

Do Your Workouts Feel Like a Chore?

by Mark Sisson @ marksdailyappple.com Evolution tends to reinforce healthy, beneficial behaviors that improve the survival of members of ...