Five Of The Best Foods For Fat Loss

By Kevin DiDonato MS, CSCS, CES

Everyone wants to eat right and/or lose weight.  But not everyone knows what the best foods for fighting belly fat are. Protein, fat, and carbohydrates (yes I said carbohydrates) will feed your metabolism-boosting lean mass helping you destroy belly fat forever!  So what are the best foods for blasting away belly fat?

Here is a list of my top five foods for weight loss:

#5 Eggs

Words cannot describe the fat fighting power of eggs.   One egg has high-quality protein, and plenty of essential nutrients like choline all in 70 calories. 

Pair with organic greens,  a piece of whole wheat toast, and an apple or pear and you are well on your way to providing your body with fat fighting nutrients, including plenty of fiber to keep you feeling fuller for longer throughout the day.

#4 Apples or pears with skin

Apples and pears are another great way to add extra fiber to your diet.  One large apple gives you  5 grams while 1 large pear gives you 7 grams of fat-fighting fiber.  Fiber is perfect for curbing your appetite, which makes you eat less at meals or when snacking.  Not only do pears and apples provide plenty of fiber, but they are fat free and cholesterol free.    An apple gives 65 calories and a pear about 100 calories, making it a perfect healthy snack or a side dish at breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Pair together with low-fat cheese, yogurt, or all natural peanut butter to provide essential amino acids and making it a wholesome and nutritious snack

#3 Greek Yogurt

So do Greeks know something we don’t? This amazing food is a staple in Greek and Mediterranean cultures and is frequently given to a bride and groom on their wedding night for vitality, energy, and strength. Why is Greek yogurt so good for you?  Your typical yogurt is double filtered but Greek yogurt is triple filtered, resulting in a very creamy texture.   Greek yogurt is higher in protein and lower in carbs than most commercial yogurts.  This is a perfect treat for Diabetics and people who are low-carb crazy!

Pair this together with nuts and a touch of honey for a sweet and savory treat packed with fat burning protein, low carbohydrates, and a healthy dose of fiber.

#2 Sprouted Whole Grain (SWG) Breads

Considered the “flourless” bread.  This bread is unique because it is made directly from the sprouted seed, which provides more vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids, and fiber. You get the whole-grain goodness without the flour!  This type of bread is made from a sprouted wheat berry, picked, ground up, and then added to the mixture, which makes it “flourless."  High in protein, vitamins and minerals, and packed with plenty of fat-fighting fiber, this is the perfect item to include in your menu plan!
Pair this with some grain-fed beef for a healthy steak sandwich, which packs plenty of nutrition and loads belly slashing fiber!

#1 Whey Protein

This widely used supplement is the byproduct of cheese manufacturing.   The liquid left over is purified and made into whey powder, concentrated whey protein, or whey protein isolate.  Whey powder is used in many products from bakery items to infant formula.  Whey is power packed with essential amino acids, which are the building blocks for muscles.   Research has shown only 56 grams of whey protein a day can help you lose weight without restricting your energy intake.  This same research showed consuming whey protein resulted in a drop of 4 pounds, 1 inch off the waist, and a drop in body fat of 5 pounds!  

Pair this together with ice, a tablespoon of peanut butter, and some fruit for a healthy and nutritious snack with plenty of appetite-suppressing protein and plenty of fat fighting potential.

Incorporating these five foods into a well-balanced diet plan will help provide essential nutrients needed to help you lose weight and keep it off.   Fiber-rich foods have been shown to help curb your appetite which can suppress the desire to eating more.  This will fight stubborn belly fat and help you stay healthy and fit for a long time to come!

Can Caffeine Help You Burn Fat?

By Kevin DiDonato MS, CSCS, CES


“Caffeine is most powerful when consumed in an anhydrous state (capsule/tablet, powder ) as compared to coffee.”

I am starting with this quote because it of utmost importance.  Caffeine can improve performance, increase cognitive function, and increase fatty acid oxidation in the body.  In fact, caffeine can also increase metabolism and fatty acid oxidation in obese, lean and older adult subjects.

Why is this important?  Caffeine has gotten a bad reputation for a long time!

Caffeine comes in two forms: one is anhydrous form, and the other is from coffee beans or tea leaves.  The latter we are most familiar with.

So most caffeine we think of is full of water.  Anhydrous caffeine is not.  With 0.5 percent or less, this type of caffeine is found as a bitter, white powder.    This powder form of caffeine is appealing to many different manufacturers, which use it in their products.   Many supplement and soft drink companies use this type of caffeine in their products to increase the caffeine content.   You can find this type of caffeine in soda and many energy drinks on the market today.

The process of extracting caffeine from coffee beans is done in two different ways: soaking them in hot water or subjecting them to carbon dioxide.  Soaking is the preferred choice, because it is less expensive!

You can also get caffeine by drinking coffee and tea but it is not as effective at increasing performance and weight loss as anhydrous caffeine is.

How does it help in weight loss?  Let me explain.

Caffeine has direct influence on the central nervous system, or the system which controls our fight or flight response.  This system increases the productions of epinephrine, which stimulates the process of lipolysis.  This happens when it binds to receptor cells called β-andregenic cells.

Caffeine can also help increase energy expenditure, therefore burning fat and carbohydrates.  In fact, here is the research to prove it!

Research by Bracco et al shows just how effective ingesting caffeine is for weight loss.  Their research shows a dramatic response in both lean individuals, and obese individuals.  They showed by ingesting caffeine, there was a prolonged thermogeneic response during the night.  They showed caffeine ingestion resulted in more oxidized fatty acids and carbohydrates.   They concluded there was a significant increase in lipid oxidation, as much as 29% in lean subjects and 10% in obese subjects.   This might have been due to the release of epinephrine, resulting in increased fat oxidation.  There’s more!

Research done by Koot et al, demonstrated similar finding as Bracco.   They did note one difference: metabolic rate increased almost immediately following consumption of caffeine.   They determined metabolic rate stayed elevated for 3 hours after ingestion, therefore increasing metabolic rates by 7%.  This means more calories burned, and more fat liberated and burned off!

Now let’s take a look at a study over a 12 hour period!

Researchers Dulloo et al, subjected individuals to 2 hour caffeine ingestion for 12 hours!  Their results will astound you!   Immediate caffeine ingestion resulted in an increase of metabolic rate by 3-4% over the course of 3 hours.   Over the course of 12 hours, they noticed increase energy expenditure of 8-11% in both groups.  So what does it mean?  Lean subjects burned 150 more calories, while obese subjects increase energy expenditure by 79 calories.  Just by adding caffeine to the mix!

Great!  Most of these studies focused on lean and obese subjects, but I also mentioned older adults.  Arciero et al showed caffeine increased energy expenditure in older adults.  Not as significantly as the younger population, but it did increase.  They showed a 15.4% increase in energy expenditure in young adults, compared to 7.8% increase in older subjects.  In a following study older adults and younger adults have a similar thermogenic response to caffeine ingestion.  The only difference:  smaller increase in fatty acids availability after consuming caffeine in older adults.

So what about increasing performance?  I am glad you asked!

Every athlete struggles to find the competitive edge.  Athletes today are stronger, faster and more efficient!  Caffeine can be the edge athletes are looking for.

Paluska et al, proved caffeine provides an ergogenic effect on performance.  They showed caffeine improves performance and endurance during prolonged exhaustive exercise events.   They also showed caffeine has some benefits on short-term, high-intensity exercise.  A review paper by Graham, he concurred the statements.  He showed caffeine, in moderate amounts acts an ergogenic aid in activities lasting more than 1 minute.  He also mentioned caffeine can increase speed and endurance.

BENEFIT OF EGGS.

© r.classen - Fotolia.com

As the latest superfood hits the headlines (when was the last time you ate broccoli sprouts?), it's easy to forget the humble egg.
Packed with nutrients, relatively low in calories and easy to obtain, here are some reasons why eggs should be part of a healthy, balanced diet.

Protein

Eggs are a rich source of high quality protein. A medium sized egg has more than 6g of protein, and contains all eight of the essential amino acids which can only be obtained from your diet.
Virtually free of carbohydrates, the high protein content of eggs may also help with satiety, i.e. they help you feel full for longer than other foods. At around 80 calories per medium sized egg, they are also low in calories.

Fats

Eggs are often thought of being high in fat. But a medium sized egg contains around 6g of fat, and only 1.7g of this is saturated fat, the type associated with high cholesterol levels, heart disease and stroke. Most of the fats in eggs are the healthier monosaturated or polysaturated kinds.

Cholesterol

When it comes to cholesterol, eggs get something of a bad press. High blood cholesterol levels are a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, and egg yolks are rich in cholesterol. However, it's now known that saturated fats play a major role in blood cholesterol levels, whereas cholesterol-containing foods such as eggs and prawns have little overall effect.
If you want to lower your cholesterol levels, especially bad LDL-cholesterol, cut back on foods containing saturated fats such as fatty meats, sausages, pastries, cakes, butter and lard.

Vitamin D

Many of us are deficient in this vital vitamin. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, important for healthy bones and teeth.
Our bodies produce vitamin D when exposed to sunlight, but eggs are one of the few foods which are also rich in this vitamin.
Adults deficient in vitamin D are at greater risk of osteoporosis. Other studies have linked vitamin D deficiency to serious health problems including cancer, heart disease and multiple sclerosis.

B vitamins

Eggs are a great source of vitamin B12, needed for making red blood cells, maintaining the nervous system and for general growth. Too little vitamin B12 can lead to anaemia.
Eggs are also a good source of vitamin B2 (riboflavin), which helps the body absorb iron and is important for healthy skin, nails and hair.

Choline

Eggs are a brain food, as they are one of the richest sources of choline, needed for healthy brain development and function. The yolk from a medium sized egg contains around 300mg of choline.
Most of the choline we need comes from our diet. It is used by the body to form the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, involved in memory function.
Low levels of choline can lead to a deficiency in folic acid, also important for a healthy brain. Choline plays an important role in the brain development of the unborn child and also helps prevent birth defects.

Carotenoids

Egg yolks contain lutein and zeaxanthin, carotenoids which may help lower the risk of macular degeneration, the most common cause of sight loss in the UK. Research also suggests that the lutein from eggs is more readily taken up by the body than from other types of food.

What They Never Told You About Coffee

By Kevin DiDonato MS, CSCS, CES

Folgers makes it.  Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts do too.  What am I talking about?  Coffee of course!  There is nothing better than waking up to a freshly brewed cup of coffee.  Coffee wakes you up due to the healthy amount of caffeine found in coffee.  However, today there are new ways coffee is being used, and it could just help you fight off the aging process.

Coffee has always been a way to rev our engines in the morning or late afternoon.  Did you know there are 150 million coffee drinkers in the US, and they drink an average of 3.1 cups of coffee per day?  Also, did you know coffee shops exceed 12 billion in yearly sales?  Pretty impressive numbers, for a product which comes from a simple seed!

Those numbers are impressive, but what is even more impressive is the effect coffee has on the body.   Coffee has been shown to prevent strokes, heart disease, type 2 Diabetes, and helps to prevent the onset of Parkinson’s disease.  The reason: coffee is full of phenolic nutrients which are antioxidants that help fight off oxidative stress and damage to cells in the body.

So what are phenolic nutrients?

Phenolic nutrients are antioxidants found in certain foods which can help reverse damage created by free radicals in the body.   Oxidative stress and damage is a common reaction in the body due to metabolic processes.  This can lead to inflammation, degenerative(s) disease, and can lead to heart disease.   Oh yeah and one more: aging.

We want to clean up and rid our bodies of free radicals from oxidative stress.   But how?

Coffee to the rescue.

Coffee has high levels of phenolic acid.   One cup of coffee has 350 milligrams of phenolic nutrients, and 12% of the coffee bean itself is full of chlorogenic acids!   Out of all foods tested, adults get more antioxidants from coffee than from other phenolic-rich foods.  But what if you do not like coffee?

No problem!  We have the answer for you!

Coffee comes from a berry, and this berry is undergoing research to determine its effectiveness in the body.   One study has found that 1g of coffeeberry has the same ratio of phenolic nutrients as one cup of coffee.  Do not like the caffeine rush from coffee? Coffeeberry only has 1.5% of the daily caffeine intake recommended.  Much lower than a cup of coffee!

Not only do you get the same benefit from a single coffeeberry as a full cup of coffee, you get less caffeine, which will put you at ease.  Not only can caffeine clear your mind and wake you up in the morning, it can also lead to increased blood pressure and heart rate.

Caffeine is a stimulant in the body.  Drinking coffee stimulates our fight or flight system to release a hormone called adrenaline.   Extra levels of adrenaline lead to the brain closing blood vessels.  This raises the amount of dopamine in the body, which helps us stay alert and ready to go.  Having too much caffeine can be a drain, since it causes us to stay awake.

One more thing: coffee can help prevent Diabetes!

I know, crazy to think that drinking coffee decreases your risk for developing Diabetes, especially type 2 Diabetes.  The reason: minerals found in coffee help to regulate insulin.

Coffee has two minerals shown to help regulate insulin levels and help shuttle blood sugar into the cells.  In type 2 Diabetes, the body becomes resistant to insulin, limiting the amount of sugar from the bloodstream we can use as energy.  Magnesium and chromium found in coffee can help insulin do its job: shuttle sugar into the working cells!

Caffeine found in coffee can be a useful tool in the fight against Diabetes.  Research done by Wedick et al. has found caffeine to be effective in fighting the development of Diabetes.  Through research, they determined caffeine to have an effect on a hormone found in fat cells.  Adiponectin decreases, helping the body to regulate insulin more effectively.

Guess what?  You do not have to drink just regular coffee!  You can get the same benefits from drinking de-caffeinated coffee.

WOW, who could imagine coffee can have such tremendous effects on the body!  How can coffee help slow the aging process?

When the body is exposed to high levels of oxidative stress, this speeds up the aging process.   Oxidative stress can lead to damage of our DNA, protein, and lipids in the body.   Once again, here comes coffee to the rescue!

Coffee and coffeeberries have higher levels of phenolic nutrients, which can help reduce the effects oxidative stress has on the body.  By reducing the high concentration of free radicals, you are saving the cells of the body from aging.  This slows the aging process considerably.

Coffee is amazing! Coffee contains high levels of phenolic nutrients, which are another class of antioxidants that the body uses to slow the aging process.  These antioxidants also help reduce the chance of heart attacks, stroke, and your chance of developing type 2 Diabetes.  The Coffeeberry is a little powerhouse of nutrition, carrying the same level of phenolic acid in a small amount, compared to levels you would find in one cup of coffee!  Amazing little fruit!

Next time you reach for your next cup of coffee, know you are making a wise decision for the health of your body.  If you are not a coffee fan, find a product containing Coffeeberry to raise your antioxidant levels, helping to prevent diseases and the aging process.

COFFEE - 3 Tricks to Make it Super-Healthy
by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
Author of best seller:  The Truth About Six Pack Abs

Mmm, coffee... almost everybody drinks it... some people have 3-4 cups per day or more. 

But most people don't think of it as a "health drink".  And it's certainly NOT healthy the way most people make it with loads of added sugar or artificial sweeteners and artificial creamers.

But I'll give you my tips here on how I make a healthier cup of coffee and what to watch out for...

First, you may have seen debate in the past about how coffee has some compounds in it that could have negative health effects such as some tars or other possibly inflammatory compounds in brewed coffee.  But, the good news is that coffee has such high concentrations of beneficial antioxidants, phenolic nutrients, and other good compounds, that it counteracts the bad compounds.  Also, this article here shows various studies that prove coffee reduces risk of many common diseases.

So what's the best way to make a healthy cup of coffee?  Well, here's my 3 most important tricks to maximize the benefits of coffee and minimize the negatives:

1.  First of all, you need to AVOID adding any refined sugar or harmful artificial sweeteners.  What I do instead is use either a very small touch of organic maple syrup or a half packet of natural stevia to just lightly sweeten my coffee.  If you like your coffee black with no sweetener at all, that's the healthiest way.

If you're getting your coffee at a coffee shop, make sure to avoid all of those fancy specialty coffees (lattes, frappuccinos, etc) as they are almost ALWAYS loaded with extra sugars or artificial sweeteners.  Some of those fancy coffee drinks at Starbucks or other coffee shops can have 300-400 calories in just one coffee!  Definitely not good for your body.

2.  You also need to AVOID any of those crappy artificial creamers (liquid or powder), which are usually made with corn syrup solids and hydrogenated oils (harmful trans fats).  Instead, use a little bit of REAL cream (organic grass-fed if you can find it). 

Or, better yet, what I've been using for a while now is coconut milk/cream as a much healthier creamer alternative.  I get this by buying cans of organic coconut milk, and then after opening the can (shake the can well before opening), I store the coconut milk in the fridge in a container.  Note that the cans of coconut milk are much creamier and better as a coffee creamer than those cartons of "coconut milk drink" which are just watered down coconut milk.

The thick creamy coconut milk is the healthiest option for coffee creamer because it's loaded with super healthy saturated fats called medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), which boost your immune system and your metabolism!  Plus, coconut milk in coffee is just plain delicious!  It's the best healthy creamer option by far.

3.  If you want to load your coffee up with more healthy antioxidants and good taste, consider trying some added cinnamon to your coffee (cinnamon can help control blood sugar and has many other health benefits).  It's also really tasty in coffee!
I also sometimes like to add a teaspoon of organic cocoa powder (non-sweetened) to my coffee to make my own sort of mocha coffee (but without the loads of sugar in a typical mocha you'd get at the coffee shop).  The added cocoa powder also gives you great taste and a good dose of extra healthy antioxidants (and cocoa is also known for helping to lower blood pressure!)
I personally only drink coffee about 3-4 times per week, because I'm sensitive to caffeine and don't want to get addicted to caffeine like some people are.  I see people that drink 3-4 cups per day that get a massive headache if they don't have their daily coffee due to caffeine withdrawal.  I choose to avoid this addiction by only drinking it about 3-4 times a week, and I drink various teas most other days, which are much lower in caffeine.