My Daily Wellness Tip

10 Secrets to Lose Fat & Build Muscle at the Same Time

Since I met Rob four years ago, I've always considered him to be one of the most knowledgeable personal trainers in Ottawa. The guy has placed 1st in 8 different bodybuilding shows and many times taking the overall win. But it's not only his own accomplishments and his desire to learn that impressed me but the results of his clients. You may  have seen Rob in the Ottawa citizen or on the cover of the Ottawa Sun or on TV because his clients have lost a crazy amount of weight (One of them even made the CNN website) and had great stories to tell about him.

Well I'm happy to announce that Rob Lagana has joined the team in a big way. He will be part owner of the Free Form Fitness downtown location and will be heading up the team of great trainers there. (more details about the upcoming opening later this week).

In the meantime here are Rob's 10 tips to getting lean and gaining muscle at the same time

Secret 1: Get at least 7 hours of sleep

Secret 2: Calculate your Daily BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), add the
amount of calories you consume through
exercise and other daily activities to your calculated daily
BMR. Eat those food calories from your total.
As an example: Mine is 2700 calories per day.
This will also help re-program your metabolism into a fat
burning machine.

Secret 3: Never sacrifice quality of a muscle contraction for
quantity of weight used for that contraction.

Secret 4: Stay psyched before and during a workout! Think recovery
and rest after a workout.

Secret 5: Never miss a workout with or without your partner, if you
have one.

Secret 6: Set goals. Short and long term and strive to achieve
them. Write your goals down and Think positive!

Secret 7: Start with Multi-joint movement exercises and finish with
isolation exercises.

Secret 8: Weight train twice a day. Make sure your workouts are at
least 6 hours apart. Don't train the same bodyparts twice a day,
use different ones.

Secret 9: Stack a combination of well known supplements to help you
maintain in anabolic state as much as possible.  Timing is crucial.

Secret 10: Change your exercises on a weekly basis, especially if
you've already been training for a long time.
If you're a beginner, you can get away with changing your
exercises every 3-4 weeks.

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Cholesterol Is Not A Good Indicator Of Heart Disease

If I ask you to say one word that reminds you of heart disease, chances are you’re going to say cholesterol. It has been entrenched in our brains that consuming dietary cholesterol will result in a higher cholesterol level. I’ve done a lot of research lately on this topic and what I’m about to say may shock some of you. Cholesterol is not a good indicator of heart disease and you need cholesterol in your diet to be healthy.

Here’s what got me thinking about all this. Last year I heard the news that drug companies are looking to start giving children cholesterol lowering medication because some of these children have high cholesterol. I immediately felt there was something wrong with this scenario. The more I research the more I realized that cholesterol is really not a good indicator of heart health and in fact total LDL (bad cholesterol wasn’t a good one either) The best predictor of heart disease is actually your ratio of HDL (good cholesterol) To total triglyceride numbers. In adults, the triglyceride/HDL-"good" cholesterol ratio should be below 2 (just divide your triglycerides level by your HDL). Or more precisely, the triglyceride/HDL ratio:

2 or less is considered ideal

4 - high

6 - much too high

And, since HDL (high density lipoprotein) is protective against heart disease, the lower the ratio, the better.

In other words, the lower your triglycerides, or the higher your HDL, the smaller this ratio becomes.

What about the LDL’s? The LDL has more than one particle – Large and fluffy (that cause no damage) and small particle LDL’s (the bad one’s). So giving you a total score of your LDL’s without knowing if they are big or small particles is deceiving.

The study that really started this whole “cholesterol is bad” was called the 6 country study where the researcher Ancel Keys only chose the countries that he wanted to prove his hypothesis. The reality was when you added in all countries and their dietary habits his hypothesis didn’t make any sense. I would urge all of you to read the book Cholesterol myth by Uff Rasinov. I must warn you it’s an incredibly dry read but if you’re a science junkie like me you will love it.

But the key point here is don’t rely on your total cholesterol number as an indicator for heart health and find out what your HDL to triglyceride ratio is. 

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How Flossing Made Me Think

My whole life as a kid I hated flossing my teeth and because I hated doing it I was never consistent. No matter what, you could never make flossing fun because well it's flossing. Now, I can't go a day without it. What happened? Is it that now that I'm older I realize the cost of ruining my teeth? Or because I can appreciate the benefits in maintaining my dental health?

I think the habit of flossing is a lot like exercising; It's time consuming, It hurts when you haven't done it in a while but once it becomes a routine you feel horrible if you miss a day. And also like exercise, it's a powerfully tool to improve life expectancy.

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Recipe - Asian Lobster Salad

Ingredients

SALAD:
* 3/4 pound cooked lobster meat, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 2 cups thinly sliced Chinese cabbage
* 1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
* 4 scallions, thinly sliced
* 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

DRESSING:
* 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
* 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
* 1 tablespoon canola oil
* 1 teaspoon sesame oil
* 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger)

Directions:
For the salad: In a large serving bowl, combine lobster, cabbage, bell pepper, scallions and sesame seeds.

For the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk all dressing ingredients together. Pour dressing over salad. Toss gently to coat and serve.

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Alcohol Facts

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How Expensive is Your Urine?

Doctors often advise their patients to not take a multivitamin, saying that you really don't need most of what's in it and that it turns into expensive urine. These doctors are going on the assumption that you are eating enough fruits and veggies and getting enough sun, and is definitely not the case. Also if you exercise you need more than the RDA.

That is a weird way of thinking, as anything you put into your body comes out in part some way. Any drug you take comes out in your urine and those same doctors have no problem prescribing those drugs. You urinate water, so does that mean you shouldn't drink water?

I know personally I would much rather prefer to have expensive urine than be deficient in any vitamin or mineral. You could be lacking just one of those and it can cause depression, or cause you to not be able to lose that last 10lbs.

Even though your body may absorbs 15% from a vitamin supplement, assuming you don't have a deficiency for a particular nutrient and the rest is excreted in your urine, that does not mean taking the multivitamin is worthless. And remember also that the quality of the source of the minerals and vitamins matters, not just any vitamin will work the same. The higher the quality, the higher the absorption rate. Also don't forget to take your vitamins with food, not on an empty stomach.
 

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