Grain Brain

I went away last week.

I did loadsa reading

I was in Scotland, it was beautiful.

I couldn't put this book down.

Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar - Your Brain's Silent Killers 

and I started to read this one too..........



but as it belonged to my sister I had to leave it there.

Anyway, suffice it to say I am going to try some of this low carb approach.  I decided to get me a coffee grinder for grinding the flax and chia seeds.  I asked my friend who knows all this stuff and she said "get a blade one as the burr ones are better but you can't clean them.  So OPERATION LOW CARB is about to commence.

Now don't get excited there y'all.......I am only going to do the breakfasts.  You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time right?

The 5 Day Diet : How To Live Fit And Have Fun

Can you indulge and enjoy life on a bodybuilding diet? Here's how the 5/2 solution allows you to achieve a great physique and still engage in all the debauchery of weekends.

I still remember the first day of my college econ class: The professor scribbled "TANSTAAFL" on the blackboard. The acronym stood for a basic tenet of macroeconomics: "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch."

This wasn't a reference to the free meal my friends had bought me two weeks back for my birthday, but rather an admission that everything comes with a cost. Those free miles you get with your credit card purchase mean you had to buy something—you had to earn them. They're not really free!

To that end, if you want to lead a balanced life that includes hard training and clean nutrition alongside some cheats, treats, and fun on the weekends, you need to start thinking about earning your right to eat foods that are normally off-limits.

If you train hard, be it in the gym or with some form of cardio, you earn the right to cheat a little. Train harder and you earn an even greater margin of indulgent food choices. Skip your workouts altogether, and you can't redeem anything!

ENTER THE 5-DAY DIET

This is the basic idea of the 5-Day Diet. By working hard five days per week, you earn yourself two free days on the weekend.

This diet is designed for people who are willing to work hard during the week, but don't want to avoid certain foods or events on the weekends. It's for the guy or gal who wants to kick ass five days a week and let loose a little on Saturday night, not sit at home fretting over visible abs.

THIS DIET IS DESIGNED FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE WILLING TO WORK HARD DURING THE WEEK, BUT DON'T WANT TO AVOID CERTAIN FOODS OR EVENTS ON THE WEEKENDS.

In short, the 5-Day Diet includes five days of being fairly strict with your training and nutrition followed by two days of letting go, which can easily fit your workday/weekend schedule, and is designed to allow you to enjoy all the social aspects of your life without feeling restricted or deprived.

The key to making it work, however, is that you have to earn those free days. Work hard, play hard.

If that sounds like a program you can see yourself following, let's take a closer look at establishing some parameters that can make it easy to follow.

5 ON, 2 OFF

The 5-Day Diet can be summed up something like this: "Buy 5 and get 2 free!" That may sound like an offer you'd see in the supermarket, and it's probably a great deal. But, like TANSTAAFL, you still have to commit to five.

For our purposes, the five corresponds to five consecutive days, like your work week. Your aim is to complete all your training days as scheduled and eat smart during those days: clean, healthy, high-protein foods, with an eye toward controlling simple carbs and watching calorie-dense fats.

If you put in five near-perfect days, you'll be rewarded with a weekend-free pass each and every time you reach your goal of five. If you miss your five consecutive days of crushing your training and nutrition plan, then you have to scale back your weekend reward.

Of course, every buy-one-get-one-free kind of offer has rules and stipulations, but these are designed merely to increase your chances of success following a program like this. So here's the fine print that you'll want to consider:

The 5-Day Diet isn't the best plan under the sun for fat loss. If you have a lot of weight to lose and you want to drop it quickly, you may need to follow a tighter plan. However, if you're already in solid shape and you now want to reap the rewards of your hard work, or even if you want to maintain or gain weight, the 5-Diet Diet will work for you.

There's no counting calories, but you should keep an eye on the mirror and your body weight. If you're looking to compete, this isn't the program for you. It is one, however, in which a reasonable trade-off can be made that can improve your quality of life while still achieving bodybuilding and fitness gains.

Hardgainers who have a really tough time adding weight may benefit the most from this approach. Cursed (or blessed) with a high metabolism, such individuals typically find it difficult to eat a clean diet 24/7 and put on weight. For them, more frequent cheat days can actually help them achieve appreciable gains in size and strength.

GIVE ME 5

Your goal for the first five days should be twofold: Follow a clean, bodybuilding-style diet and kick ass in the gym. Let's be a bit more specific here:

• Eat about 25 percent of your daily calories from protein sources, another 25 percent from fats—mainly unsaturated, meaning low in animal fats and trans fats—and the remaining 50 percent from carbohydrates. Slower-digesting complex carbs are much better choices than simple sugars, as they often come with fiber and won't send insulin levels—the hormone most responsible for fat storage—skyrocketing.
• Your daily macro totals are your primary goal, whether you eat four, five, or six meals to get there. Eating clean and getting ample protein is sometimes difficult, which is why supplements can be so beneficial. And if you become hungry between meals, a protein shake is easy to make and a far better clean option than most snack foods.

YOUR DAILY MACRO TOTALS ARE YOUR PRIMARY GOAL, WHETHER YOU EAT FOUR, FIVE, OR SIX MEALS TO GET THERE.

• To earn your free weekend you're going to have to forgo processed and refined foods, sugary sweets and desserts, fattening fast foods, and anything else that's off your clean-foods list. I trust you know what those foods are—and I don't like playing the role of your mother.
• Whether you prefer bodybuilding, strength training, CrossFit, plyometrics, or other miscellaneous fitness activity, try to get at least 60 minutes of training during each workday. If your training split consists of fewer than five days in the gym, choose another physical activity for the balance of the days.
• Whatever your workout, crush it. Push yourself. Demand more out of your body. Work your tail off to earn your body and your fun. Do compound movements, lift heavy, challenge your strength and endurance levels, do two-a-day workouts when you're feeling really motivated, and don't get complacent.
• Unless you're really trying to pack on maximum mass, don't skimp on the cardio. Hit a 20-minute high-intensity interval training (HIIT) session a few times per week. Instead of sitting on the bike or treadmill for a low-intensity stroll, cycle very high- and low-intensity intervals for just 20 minutes. You'll burn more calories and increase your fitness at the same time.

2-DAY TIPS

If you can successfully and honestly complete all of the above, you've earned the right to cash in your free-eating weekend. But let's establish a few guidelines here as well to ensure you make the most of it.

1

 M STANDS FOR MODERATION

Sure, I want you to let loose on weekends, but finishing off a case of beer—which I've seen a number of my gym buddies do every weekend—is gonna put you in a deep nutritional hole.

The idea of splurging isn't to undo everything you've achieved during the week, but to selectively enjoy yourself. Whatever foods or beverages you choose to consume, just be smart and do so in moderation.

2

 DO SOMETHING FIT AND FUN

You can forget about a gym workout on your days off, but that doesn't mean you can't do something fit and fun. Whether it's a hike in the mountains, tennis with your partner, dancing at the club, or a bike ride along the beach or a lake, here's your chance to actually enjoy yourself and not be chained to a piece of cardio equipment.

Your activity should be fun (I trust you can find something to meet that criteria), and at least an hour in duration. If you're having a good time, it won't even feel like exercise.

3

 START YOUR WEEKENDS WITH A POWERFUL PROTEIN MEAL

Most diet busting comes later in the day when you're away from home, at a sporting event, or enjoying a night out. But that doesn't mean you have to blow every meal on Saturday and Sunday. By starting off with your normal high-protein fare, you'll be ahead of the game right off the bat on weekends.

BY STARTING OFF WITH YOUR NORMAL HIGH-PROTEIN FARE, YOU'LL BE AHEAD OF THE GAME RIGHT OFF THE BAT ON WEEKENDS.

So skip the chocolate-chip pancakes in favor of an egg-white omelet as an easy insurance policy for all your weekday gains.

4

 IF YOU START YOUR WEEKEND ON FRIDAY EVENING, TRADE IT WITH SUNDAY EVENING

I don't want to be the scrooge who says you have to wait till 12:01 a.m. on Saturday to start enjoying yourself, especially if you have plans on Friday. But seeing how two cheat days can morph ever so quickly into three, you'll have to trade your Sunday evening back.

In other words, if you start partying at 5 p.m. on Friday, you've got to get back to clean living at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

FEEL OUT YOUR 5

Ultimately, this kind of approach isn't based on science. Instead, it's intended as a framework to help you enjoy aspects of your life without feeling deprived. It works because you implement smart recommendations based on balance and moderation. It's intended to help you realize that you can be fit, look great, and not feel like you're making huge sacrifices when it comes to your nutritional choices.

At the end of the day, you want to look great and feel great about yourself. The 5-Day Diet won't necessarily help you jump on a bodybuilding stage in 12 weeks, but it will help you live fit for life and reap the rewards of your hard work. There's no reason you can't enjoy yourself along your fitness journey!

Source:- http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/the-5-day-diet-how-to-live-fit-and-have-fun.html

Eat Fat, Get Thin: The New Diet Rules

Can you really lose half a stone by gorging on steak while exercising for only 15 minutes a day? Charlotte Ross tests the diet rules for lazy people

When you join a new gym, you don’t expect to be sent home with a long list of fats to introduce into your diet. Neither is it normal to be given a workout plan that lasts for no longer than 15 minutes. Isn’t that just a warm-up?

But that’s exactly what happened to me at The Library, a boutique gym in Notting Hill that specialises in superfast workouts and rapid results. The owner, Zana Morris, was confident I’d shift at least 5lb on her 12-day starter programme, a regime that involved gorging on ribeye steaks, whole avocados and great dollops of cream cheese plus lifting weights so heavy you’re almost sick with exertion. 

I had put on a stone and a half since having a baby five years ago, mostly around my middle. Women are particularly prone to this pattern of weight gain, with hormones, age, stress, lack of sleep and a sedentary lifestyle all blame factors. Even though I’d cut out croissants, curries, butter and cheese, switched to skinny lattes and slashed my wine intake, still my weight was creeping up. Cycling for nearly two hours a day had given me the lowest pulse rate in the office but still my dress size rose. So the notion of eating more fat, loads of it, and doing a lot less exercise was perversely appealing: if being good doesn’t work, perhaps I should try the fat and lazy approach.

Fat is getting good press right now. After decades of being told we need to cut it out, a slew of experts are reassessing its positive benefits. Nina Teicholz publishes The Big Fat Surprise (Scribe) this week, arguing that the healthiest diet contains plenty of protein and liberal amounts of fat, butter and cheese. 

Morris believes that carbohydrates are actually what make us lay down weight — especially around the middle — by causing spikes in our insulin levels. “Fat is the only food group that doesn’t cause an insulin release,” she says, recommending instead that  you follow “a high fat, very low-carb diet which also causes your body to burn fat as opposed to sugars as a fuel — meaning you burn into your body fat and therefore actually lose fat.” So eating high enough quantities of fat along with the right foods could actually help you become thin. 

Morris also offers an explanation for why cycling wasn’t making a dent in my weight: “Intensive exercise beyond 45 minutes causes your body to lose more muscle than it’s capable of recovering, meaning there’s a muscle loss. As your daily calorie intake is almost exclusively burned by your muscle this is the very tissue you do not wish to lose.” So too much of the wrong sort of exercise really can make you fat.

Morris prescribes super-tough short bursts of high-intensity training (HIT) that actually break down your muscle, meaning the body has to work to build it back up again, which it does with all the protein you’re getting from that ribeye. You also get a big metabolic boost she says: “A short HIT causes a massive surge in your metabolism for at least two hours after the training session.”

I went straight home and got stuck in to a steak with melted Boursin cheese and an avocado and walnut salad. The next morning I hit the gym at 6.40am, did the toughest workout of my life and less than 20 minutes later, with legs like jelly, went for breakfast of eggs, bacon and coffee with double cream. Lunch was salmon with green salad and a big bag of macadamia nuts. No wine. No juice. No carbs. No sugar.

I did this every day for a fortnight, the trainer rotating my workouts to target legs, arms, chest back and abs. For a week, my muscles ached and I grew ever grouchier. In a pep talk, Morris tossed me a hefty chunk of wobbly rubber: “That’s 5lb of fat.” It was enough to make me carry on — for another week anyway.

And in the second week a corner was turned. My body stopped hurting, my mood lifted and I could only manage two meals a day. Yet I never felt hungry and my energy levels were steady. My clothes began to feel looser as my body got slimmer and stronger. By the final weigh-in I’d lost 7.8lb — 6.6lb of it fat — and skimmed 10 inches from my body.

It has been incredibly motivating: it’s hard to stomach food that rich for long and a fortnight was enough for me. But I’ve lost half a stone and learned vital lessons: fat is not the enemy to staying slim, and quality of exercise can matter as much as quantity. Should I stick to the lazy, fat regime? Other than that stubborn stone — and maybe my appetite — what’s to lose?

thelibrarygym.com

Source:- http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/health/eat-fat-get-thin-the-new-diet-rules-9678181.html

Muffin Top Makeover – 9 Ways to Whittle Your Waist

Ugh! The muffin top…it leaves many of us covering up at the beach, tugging down our shirts, or wearing sack-like clothing. The frustrating bulge can strike at any age, but women are particularly vulnerable once they reach their late 30s. The good news is you can makeover that muffin top for a wonderfully whittled waist:

1. Sculpt your core. When you want to get rid of that muffin top, work to build core muscles, which burn more calories than fatty tissues, and, as a result, raise metabolism. By toning the muscles in the back, chest, and abdomen you’ll burn more fat so less is deposited around the waist. Target your tummy with the Muffin Top Meltaway 200 workout.

2. Control calories with cardio. Burn the excess calories that turn into fat with regular cardio exercise. Work up a sweat with activities like interval-training, swimming, or running.  4 Minute Belly Burn, cardio you can do!

3. Get carb smart. Limit the bad (simple) carbohydrates that easily convert to fat.  Instead, choose good (complex) carbs like fruits, veggies, and whole grains, such as superfood superstar quinoa. Start your day with our muffin-top-busting Quinoa Breakfast Cereal.

4. Pump up the fiber. High-fiber foods help us feel full so we’re less likely to reach for junky snacks. Pack your diet with fiber-filled fruits and veggies, like apples, bananas, cabbage, collard greens, Brussels sprouts, or spinach. Get your fill of healthy fiber with this Skinny Slow Cooker Spinach and Mozzarella Frittata.

5. Slash sugar. Go easy on the extra sugar that leads to weight gain around your middle and other areas. Watch out for sugar-added processed foods as well, like jarred tomato sauces, store-bought salad dressings, and packaged breakfast cereals. You can still indulge your sweet tooth with these No Sugar Added – Skinny Desserts.

6. Power up with protein. In an effort to shed pounds, it’s common for women to cut back on the protein needed to build fat-burning muscle. The average non-pregnant, non-nursing woman needs about 46 grams a day from healthful sources, like lean meat or cold-water fish.

7. Reduce or eliminate alcohol. No matter what your libation of choice, alcohol only adds empty calories. What’s more, drinking even a little too much in one sitting can break down your resolve to eat well, which means it becomes harder to say “no, thanks” to muffin-top-building foods, like nachos or cheese sticks.

8. Control stress. The stress hormone cortisol makes it easier for the body to deposit fat in the abdomen. Stress may be inevitable, but you don’t need to allow it to create a ring around your middle. Find stress-relieving activities you enjoy, whether it’s yoga or journaling. Tame your tension tonight with this Evening Yoga for Relaxation.

9. Invest in jeans that fit. Okay, so this isn’t exactly an eating or fitness tip, but too-small or low-rise jeans are notorious for putting a spotlight on a muffin top. Create a smoother silhouette with mid-rise jeans that fit you at your current weight. As you shed excess fat, you can reward yourself with a smaller size.

Leave the muffin tops for the bakery case, and start building the healthier lifestyle that gives you the whittled waist you want.

Source:- http://skinnyms.com/muffin-top-makeover-9-tips-to-whittle-your-waist/

The Questionable Link Between Saturated Fat and Heart Disease

Are butter, cheese and steak really bad for you?

The dubious science behind the anti-fat crusade

RF Pictures/Corbis

"Saturated fat does not cause heart disease"—or so concluded a big study published in March in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. How could this be? The very cornerstone of dietary advice for generations has been that the saturated fats in butter, cheese and red meat should be avoided because they clog our arteries. For many diet-conscious Americans, it is simply second nature to opt for chicken over sirloin, canola oil over butter.

The new study's conclusion shouldn't surprise anyone familiar with modern nutritional science, however. The fact is, there has never been solid evidence for the idea that