Top 5 Ways to GAIN Body Fat
by Rachel Cosgrove
Are you looking to put on a little extra pudge to keep warm? Maybe your boyfriend or husband wants to see “more” of you? How can you put on that extra layer of fat you’ve always wanted to fill out your jeans?
Follow these five recommendations and you’ll be on your way!
1. Do aerobic exercise every day.
The more aerobics you do, the more efficient your body will be at storing fat, especially if you’re looking to gain some size on your thighs!
Recommendation: Go to the gym every single day and find a treadmill or Stairmaster where you can watch TV while you’re working out. After all, you’re going to be there for a while. Do at least an hour per day, seven days per week at a very steady state (you should be able to carry on a conversation easily the entire workout).
Why it works to store fat: Your body will actually use fat as fuel during this workout (you should be in the “fat burning zone”) which will create the perfect effect we want for the other 23 hours of the day – fat storing mode. Yes, your body will adapt to become efficient at storing fat.
This workout will do nothing to increase your metabolism either. You’ll burn off muscle, decreasing your lean muscle mass, and actually slow down your metabolism. Also, because you’re using your lower body to perform this aerobic exercise, your body will adapt and will most likely store your new fat on your thighs.
So get to the gym and start spending countless hours doing aerobics, burning off muscle, and turning your body into a fat storing machine! This is a perfect way to gain some body fat!
2. Follow a low fat, low calorie diet… and don’t drink any water.
The less you eat, the lower your metabolism will go, which is optimal for storing body fat.
Recommendation: Keep your calories very low and deprive your body. Keep your calories around 1000-1200 per day (which is starving) and don’t eat more than 15 to 20 grams of fat per day. You want your body to think it’s starving so it’ll hold on to body fat at all costs. Also, don’t drink any water. Drink juice instead; it’ll work wonders for expanding your waistline.
Why it works to store body fat: Every time you eat, your metabolism goes up. This isn’t good when you’re trying to store fat. Eating enough food will fuel fat burning, the opposite of what we want. You want your body to be in fat storing mode, which is best accomplished by depriving it.
Also, count your fat grams and keep your dietary fat levels low. This will teach your body to hold on to fat, another excellent method for putting on that extra adipose tissue (body fat)! And drinking water will only cause you to drop any excess water you’re holding, therefore keep the water consumption low to keep you fat and bloated!
3. Avoid weight training at all costs!
Increasing your lean body mass is the best way to increase your metabolism to burn fat. So stay away from any weight training!
Recommendation: Don’t touch the weights in the gym. Or, if you do, only lift ones that are small enough not to build any muscle (you know the ones – the little pink dumbbells in the ladies-only room).
Why it works to store fat: The goal is to keep your metabolism as low as possible to turn your body into a fat storing machine. Any lean muscle would be bad news when you’re trying to gain fat because it would increase your metabolism and cause you to burn more calories! Also, weight training will raise your metabolism for the next 24 to 48 hours, which will never work to get that body fat up!
4. Eat only 1-2 meals a day!
Eating meals less frequently is a great way to keep your metabolism in the gutter all day long and will be ideal for storing fat.
Recommendation: The less often you eat, the better. If you can distract yourself all day and skip a couple of meals, you’ll set yourself up perfectly to store fat. And never eat breakfast to assure that you start your day off in a fat storing mode. For best results, don’t eat anything until dinner and then just eat the one meal before you fast again overnight.
Why this works to store fat: Again, every time you eat, your metabolism increases. If you skip a meal, your metabolism will drop, and if you skip more then one meal you can get that metabolism running very slow – perfect for storing body fat. Having a sluggish metabolism is ideal if you want to put on the chub, and this is a great way to achieve it.
5. Perform the exact same workout over and over without ever increasing the intensity.
Doing the same workout each time will confirm that you haven’t become any stronger or more fit, but instead have stayed exactly the same or become worse.
Recommendation: Go to the gym every day and do the exact same thing. Get on the same cardio machine, in front of the same television, and walk the same speed everyday.
Why this works to store fat: This will ensure that you don’t gain any lean body mass and that your workout won’t limit your fat storing capabilities. You don’t ever want to push yourself harder than you’re used to.
Call now for your free consultation - 203.535.9294
www.theplanoprogram.com
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Semi Private Personal Training
We are please to announce we are adding additional times for our semi-private personal training sessions. Classes will be held on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 6am. Once the 6am class fills we will also be opening up a 7am class.
Why Group Training? It's Simple- This Program offer a huge fun factor, accountability, affordability and professional coaching.
Where are classes held? Classes will be held Tuesday and Thursday mornings at The Plano Program, 500 Boston Post Rd. Orange Ct.
How many people are in a class? Minimum 3, Maximum 5.
How long is the program and what are the terms of the contract? The goal of the program is to complete a 16 week periodized training program. Each person will commit to at least a 4 week training program that will include 8 semi private training sessions with a certified Plano Program coach.
What is the cost of the program? The cost of the 4 week program with 8 semi private training sessions is $240 plus tax. Clients will have the option to renew every 4 weeks or elect to keep a credit card on file to be processed every 4 weeks.
What types of payments do you accept? All major credit cards, cash, or checks are acceptable. Checks should be made out to Optimal Results.
Is this a bootcamp? This is NOT a bootcamp. Each person will be provided with a individualized program based around client needs, goals, limitations, and fitness level. Your individualized program will be modified every 4 weeks to maximize results. The Plano Program uses a uniquely designed 16 week periodized training program to maximize results and minimize injury.
What if I am severely de-conditioned? Congrats for taking the first step! We all need to start somewhere. Your coach will adjust and modify your program according to your physical limitations, medications, injuries, fitness level, etc.
What happens the first class? All participants have the option to participate in a baseline assessment including:
• strength/flexibility assessment
• circumference measurements
• Bodyweight/bodyfat assessment.
Clients will also learn the correct biomechanics of the BIG 4 exercises. These BIG 4 will be the cornerstones of your exercise programs. Clients will also learn how to properly execute cardio equipment and how they will be used for Intervals and Circuit Training.
What if I want to do The Plano Program Nutrition Component? We are offering our cutting edge 12 week fat blasting program at a reduced rate of $500. ($100 off) Also Includes 2 Bodygem Metabolism tests.
Can I get my metabolism and burn rate tested with the Bodygem? Yes! We are offering 2 RMR test for the price of 1. Get tested at the beginning of your training program and get tested as your body significantly changes. Knowing this information will further optimize your results! Price: $100 for 2 tests.
Email Marc@theplanoprogram.com for more info and to reserve your spot!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Vitamin D and Performance
The Chicago Blackhawks are the first vitamin D team in modern professional sports history.
According to sources, the Chicago Blackhawk team physicians began diagnosing and treating vitamin D deficiency in all Blackhawk players about 18 months ago. Apparently, most players are on 5,000 IU per day.
After many losing seasons, last year the Blackhawks came out of nowhere to get to the Western conference finals. This year they are playing even better.
Improved athletic performance is only one of the benefits for the Blackhawk players. The other is a reduction in the number and severity of colds and flu and a reduction in the number and severity of repetitive use injuries.
Six months ago, Runner’s World published a story on vitamin D and physical performance.
Asp K. Running on D: The "sun vitamin" may boost performance, but you probably aren't getting enough. Runners World, December 2009.
A year ago, the flagship journal of the American College of Sports Medicine was the first journal to publish the theory that vitamin D would improve athletic performance.
Cannell JJ, Hollis BW, Sorenson MB, Taft TN, Anderson JJ. Athletic performance and vitamin D. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 May;41(5):1102-10.
According to sources, the Chicago Blackhawk team physicians began diagnosing and treating vitamin D deficiency in all Blackhawk players about 18 months ago. Apparently, most players are on 5,000 IU per day.
After many losing seasons, last year the Blackhawks came out of nowhere to get to the Western conference finals. This year they are playing even better.
Improved athletic performance is only one of the benefits for the Blackhawk players. The other is a reduction in the number and severity of colds and flu and a reduction in the number and severity of repetitive use injuries.
Six months ago, Runner’s World published a story on vitamin D and physical performance.
Asp K. Running on D: The "sun vitamin" may boost performance, but you probably aren't getting enough. Runners World, December 2009.
A year ago, the flagship journal of the American College of Sports Medicine was the first journal to publish the theory that vitamin D would improve athletic performance.
Cannell JJ, Hollis BW, Sorenson MB, Taft TN, Anderson JJ. Athletic performance and vitamin D. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 May;41(5):1102-10.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Grains-Healthy??
The Caveman in You, Grains, and Evolution
Data indicates that 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, prehistoric men and women were tall, strapping athletes with defined muscles, fit, strong, and free of heart disease and obesity. Early Humans were hunters and gatherers who subsisted on a diet that was extremely high in animal and plant based foods sources. They consumed significant amounts of plant in the form of fruits, tubers, leafy vegetation, nuts and seeds. Interestingly, these hunter gatherer societies consumed what we now consider “unhealthy” amounts of dietary fats, these humans were lean and muscular free of plaques that lead to heart disease and stroke.
So what went wrong?
About 10,000 years ago, the pressures of increasing population density in many areas of civilization forced and abrupt shift from the nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle to more geographically stable populations that depended on agriculture for survival. The advent of civilization brought about the domestication of livestock and introduction of dairy foods, as well as the cultivation of tubers, root vegetables, legumes, and cereal grains like rice oats, and wheat.
Got Grains??
After the advent of agriculture, and more specifically, the cultivation of grains, the humans lost a foot in height and experienced a significantly increased incidence of infections, anemia, bone disease, tooth defects, cavities, infant mortality, and a sizeable reduction in life span. This switch to a grain based diet caused the introduction of numerous food items for which our genetic predisposition was not prepared.
UNTIL TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO-A MERE BLINK OF AN EYE COMPARED TO OUR GENETIC LIFESPAN-THE ENVIRONMENT THAT DICTATED OUR GENETIC MAKEUP DID NOT INCLUDE GRAINS.
As a result, we were never physiologically equipped to digest, absorb, and assimilate grains in a way that promotes a well balanced, strong healthy body.
Anthropologist believe that our hasty shift to a grain based diet, for which we were genetically ill prepared, lies at the root of many modern degenerative diseases.
Phytates are the salts of phytic acid. More correctly named inositol hexakisphosphate, the acid (or salt) is a phosphorus based compound found in the many grains.
There is sufficient evidence that this overreliance on grains and excessive phytate consumption, (especially the low quality grains that are grown in the Unites States) may lead to numerous, vitamin, mineral, and nutritional deficiencies.
Check out the Plano Program food guide pyramid, you will see that grains play a very small role in our nutrition program.
Gluten and Containing Grains:
Researchers now believe that as many as a third of us are probably gluten intolerant or gluten sensitive. The third of people who are reactive to gluten (I think the number is actually higher) evoke an inflammatory response that triggers the immune system. Over time, those who are known to be gluten intolerant can develop an array of medical conditions such as joint pain, skin conditions, acid reflux, autoimmiune disorders and celiac disease. Some people may experience some lower grade symptoms that linger before a bigger symptom may present. At the very least, it’s worth conducting a 30 day test to determine your sensitivity. It is more than likely those aches and pains, allergenic responses, and GI discomfort you have been plagued with might subside.
You will most likely never see cereal for breakfast on The Plano Program. We feel that most cereals are low quality, highly processed, fortified with synthetic vitamins and minerals, void of essential fats, and low in protein. Most common breakfast foods like cereals, bagels, French toast, Pancakes, and Scones provide very little nutrition and make it extremely difficult to regulate blood sugar and insulin. These foods will undoubtedly attribute to weight gain, poor energy, and ill health.
Lectins and Grains:
Lectins are involved in food allergies/sensitivities, inflammation and autoimmune disease, just to name a few. For instance, Lectins are linked to celiac disease. Even weight gain and low energy can be linked to Lectins.
Whole grains, peanuts, kidney beans, and soybeans are high in Lectins. Cow’s milk, nightshade vegetables (like potatoes and tomatoes) and some seafood also contain fairly high amounts of lectin.
In fact, estimates are that about 30% of our foods contain Lectins, and about 5% of the lectins we eat will enter our circulation.
Lectins are problematic because they are sticky molecules that can bind to the linings of human tissue, especially intestinal cells. In so doing, they disable cells in the GI tract, keeping them from repairing and rebuilding. Therefore, Lectins can contribute to eroding your intestinal barrier (leaky gut.
The Lectins in wheat for example, are specifically known to be involved in rheumatoid arthritis.
If you have any Lectin-related health issues like arthritis, allergies or autoimmune disease, our experience shows it is very helpful to reduce your intake of Lectins, especially from wheat. It’s also very important to balance immunity by working on stress management and gut health.
Cordain L et al. British Journal of Nutrition (2000), 83, 207–217.
Data indicates that 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, prehistoric men and women were tall, strapping athletes with defined muscles, fit, strong, and free of heart disease and obesity. Early Humans were hunters and gatherers who subsisted on a diet that was extremely high in animal and plant based foods sources. They consumed significant amounts of plant in the form of fruits, tubers, leafy vegetation, nuts and seeds. Interestingly, these hunter gatherer societies consumed what we now consider “unhealthy” amounts of dietary fats, these humans were lean and muscular free of plaques that lead to heart disease and stroke.
So what went wrong?
About 10,000 years ago, the pressures of increasing population density in many areas of civilization forced and abrupt shift from the nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle to more geographically stable populations that depended on agriculture for survival. The advent of civilization brought about the domestication of livestock and introduction of dairy foods, as well as the cultivation of tubers, root vegetables, legumes, and cereal grains like rice oats, and wheat.
Got Grains??
After the advent of agriculture, and more specifically, the cultivation of grains, the humans lost a foot in height and experienced a significantly increased incidence of infections, anemia, bone disease, tooth defects, cavities, infant mortality, and a sizeable reduction in life span. This switch to a grain based diet caused the introduction of numerous food items for which our genetic predisposition was not prepared.
UNTIL TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO-A MERE BLINK OF AN EYE COMPARED TO OUR GENETIC LIFESPAN-THE ENVIRONMENT THAT DICTATED OUR GENETIC MAKEUP DID NOT INCLUDE GRAINS.
As a result, we were never physiologically equipped to digest, absorb, and assimilate grains in a way that promotes a well balanced, strong healthy body.
Anthropologist believe that our hasty shift to a grain based diet, for which we were genetically ill prepared, lies at the root of many modern degenerative diseases.
Phytates are the salts of phytic acid. More correctly named inositol hexakisphosphate, the acid (or salt) is a phosphorus based compound found in the many grains.
There is sufficient evidence that this overreliance on grains and excessive phytate consumption, (especially the low quality grains that are grown in the Unites States) may lead to numerous, vitamin, mineral, and nutritional deficiencies.
Check out the Plano Program food guide pyramid, you will see that grains play a very small role in our nutrition program.
Gluten and Containing Grains:
Researchers now believe that as many as a third of us are probably gluten intolerant or gluten sensitive. The third of people who are reactive to gluten (I think the number is actually higher) evoke an inflammatory response that triggers the immune system. Over time, those who are known to be gluten intolerant can develop an array of medical conditions such as joint pain, skin conditions, acid reflux, autoimmiune disorders and celiac disease. Some people may experience some lower grade symptoms that linger before a bigger symptom may present. At the very least, it’s worth conducting a 30 day test to determine your sensitivity. It is more than likely those aches and pains, allergenic responses, and GI discomfort you have been plagued with might subside.
You will most likely never see cereal for breakfast on The Plano Program. We feel that most cereals are low quality, highly processed, fortified with synthetic vitamins and minerals, void of essential fats, and low in protein. Most common breakfast foods like cereals, bagels, French toast, Pancakes, and Scones provide very little nutrition and make it extremely difficult to regulate blood sugar and insulin. These foods will undoubtedly attribute to weight gain, poor energy, and ill health.
Lectins and Grains:
Lectins are involved in food allergies/sensitivities, inflammation and autoimmune disease, just to name a few. For instance, Lectins are linked to celiac disease. Even weight gain and low energy can be linked to Lectins.
Whole grains, peanuts, kidney beans, and soybeans are high in Lectins. Cow’s milk, nightshade vegetables (like potatoes and tomatoes) and some seafood also contain fairly high amounts of lectin.
In fact, estimates are that about 30% of our foods contain Lectins, and about 5% of the lectins we eat will enter our circulation.
Lectins are problematic because they are sticky molecules that can bind to the linings of human tissue, especially intestinal cells. In so doing, they disable cells in the GI tract, keeping them from repairing and rebuilding. Therefore, Lectins can contribute to eroding your intestinal barrier (leaky gut.
The Lectins in wheat for example, are specifically known to be involved in rheumatoid arthritis.
If you have any Lectin-related health issues like arthritis, allergies or autoimmune disease, our experience shows it is very helpful to reduce your intake of Lectins, especially from wheat. It’s also very important to balance immunity by working on stress management and gut health.
Cordain L et al. British Journal of Nutrition (2000), 83, 207–217.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Are You Eating Toxic Meat??
I have been wanting to write a clip on meats for a long time, but Vin Miller sums it up pretty well in the article below. I have been ordering my meats at uswellnessmeats.com and also found a place on Merwin Ave in Milford called Treats Farmstand. There is a local farmer there who sells grass fed beef - He is there on Saturdays and Wednesdays. Trader Joe's sells hormone free and antibiotic free meat which is a HUGE step up from most commercial places who sell toxic meat. If you want to go the extra step and get hormone free, antibiotic free, organic, free range AND grass fed feel free to visit Treats Farmstand or place an order with US Wellness Meats, I also get my grass fed butter from them...it's amazing. Remember, the quality of the food we eat comes from the quality of the food our food eats.
Enjoy the article!
When the topic of organic food comes up, most people think of fruit, vegetables, and perhaps dairy, but almost always fail to consider meat. This is an unfortunate mistake because meat from conventionally raised livestock comes with significant risk.
You Are What You Eat
Each of the trillions of cells that we’re made of are created from the nutrients we eat. While a healthy diet will support optimal cell function, a poor diet will promote cell malfunction and lead to disease. As the saying goes, we are what we eat!
This applies to animals as well. If forced to eat poor quality food, they’ll likely become sick and develop disease. By eating meat from these unhealthy animals, you’re relying on a poor source of nutrition and are consuming the toxic chemicals that made them sick. They’ll eventually make you sick as well. In other words, you are what your food ate! This is an important concept to keep in mind throughout the rest of the article.
Are Farmers Smarter Than Nature?
Understanding that livestock will do best on the diet they naturally eat in the wild is nothing more than common sense. Despite this, conventional farmers don’t even come close to raising their livestock in this fashion.
Based on millions of years of evolution, cattle and sheep eat grass while chickens and pigs primarily eat insects and plants. However, conventional farmers choose to ignore the significance of evolution and force their livestock to eat grain. In many cases, livestock are kept in enclosed buildings, and because they don’t have access to natural pastures, grain is all they eat.
How well do you think your health would hold up if you ate nothing but grass your entire life? It wouldn’t hold up at all! Because these animals are forced to eat foods that they’re not evolved to process, their health doesn’t hold up either.
Grain Quality Translates Into Meat Quality
As with most conventional crops, the grain fed to livestock is heavily sprayed with pesticides and other toxic chemicals. This causes health problems for the animals that eat the grain, and also for us when we eat the meat of these animals.
In addition to the chemicals, the conventional grain will probably have low nutrient levels. Based on all the consequences of the grain only diet, it’s highly unlikely that the livestock will receive the nutrition they need to support good health and this further compounds the risk of sickness and disease.
Furthermore, the grain that conventional farmers feed their livestock is often very poor in quality. In many cases, farmers save money by purchasing grain that failed inspection for human consumption, usually because of mold growth. Ironically, by eating meat from the animals that eat this grain, humans are exposed to the mold toxins anyway.
In general, the meat from purely grain fed livestock is not very nutritious, especially if the grain is of poor quality. The potential for the meat to contain toxins makes it a health risk as well.
Would You Like a Side of Antibiotics With That?
It’s clearly a big problem for a farmer to have sick livestock. The connection between unhealthy livestock and the grain only diet should be a matter of common sense. But instead of choosing to improve livestock health through a better diet, conventional farmers compensate by feeding their livestock grain that’s laced with antibiotics. How convenient.
Antibiotics originate from toxins produced by fungi. Although this may surprise you, it shouldn’t. After all, the phrase anti biotic literally means anti life. Antibiotics kill without discrimination, and as a result, good bacteria is killed along with the bad. This can easily lead to intestinal imbalance and destroy your health. Because antibiotics are toxins and enter your blood stream, they can also cause unwanted problems anywhere in your body.
In many cases, livestock are raised under such poor conditions that antibiotics just aren’t enough to keep them healthy. They become infected by parasites and develop cancer, glandular swelling, infectious arthritis, pneumonia, and other serious health issues. What’s most frightening is that the FDA allows the meat from these sick animals to be passed along to your plate as long as any relevant tumors or lesions are removed. Do you really want to eat the meat of a cancerous animals?
How About Some Newspaper and Cardboard?
Many conventional farmers are completely overcome with a greed based mentality. As such, they focus on efficiency and strive for quantity at the cost of quality. In exchange for easier profit, they’re sacrificing the health of their livestock, and more importantly, the health of the people who consume their meat.
To further reduce the cost of the already inexpensive grain, some farmers use fillers such as sawdust, cement dust, cardboard, newspaper, and sewage. Sounds tasty, doesn’t it? Before you answer, consider the fact that you may already be eating some of these fillers if you eat conventionally raised meat!
The use of these fillers provides the greedy farmer with another significant advantage that increases the incentive even further. In addition to reducing costs, the fillers also cause the livestock to gain weight. Because most farmers are paid by the pound for their livestock, this is an amazing deal. They not only save money on feed, but are also rewarded with additional profit. As you can probably imagine, only a farmer with the purest intentions would pass on this opportunity.
Hormones are Also on the Menu
For some farmers, the use of cheap grain and filler isn’t enough. To further accelerate growth, they feed synthetic hormones to their livestock.
Synthetic hormones are often associated with cancer. Furthermore, hormones can be very powerful in small concentrations and have a significant effect on our day to day function. It doesn’t take much to disrupt our delicate and complex hormonal balance, and when it does go out of balance, our health will often deteriorate significantly. Remember, if you eat an animal that was fed synthetic hormones, you’re eating the hormones as well.
Apparently, nature just isn’t fast enough for the business minded farmer. With the use of grains, fillers, antibiotics, and hormones, conventional farmers are able to bring a steer to full size in less than a year and a half. Under natural conditions, it would take 4 or 5 years! These animals are basically being transformed into mutants. Is that what you want to have on your plate every day?
A Quick Note About Dairy
Although this article is about meat, I want to quickly mention a related concern about dairy. Some farmers use a hormone called recombinant bovine growth hormone which is specifically designed to increase the lactation period of cattle. In fact, it nearly doubles it. As with other synthetic hormones, rBGH is linked to cancer and can disrupt normal hormone balance.
Producing milk is a physiologically demanding process for cattle. Their bodies are simply not evolved to handle the amount of milk production that’s possible with rBGH. As a result, their utters often become inflamed and infected which causes puss to be secreted into the milk. How does that make a nice thick milk mustache sound?
The cattle that are injected with rBGH are literally milked to death and typically die after approximately two years.
Animal Cruelty
Some of the horror stories associated with conventionally raised livestock are enough to turn a meat lover into a vegetarian. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. As omnivores, eating animal meat is part of our evolution. Although vegetarians and vegans may argue this point, meat is quite simply a basic part of our natural diet. But this certainly doesn’t justify the inhumane ways that some farmers maintain their livestock.
In many cases, conventionally raised livestock are kept indoors where they get absolutely no exposure to sunlight, are so crowded that they can barely move, and are forced to live in their own feces. This merely scratches the surface of how bad the living conditions can be for these animals. This significantly impacts the health of the animal and the nutritional quality of it’s meat, but more importantly, it’s cruel, inhumane, and absolutely unnecessary.
Any time you buy meat or dairy that comes from conventionally raised livestock, keep in mind that you may be supporting these cruel and inhumane practices.
The Alternative - Buying Quality Meat
The good news is that there are plenty of healthy and humane alternatives to the meat that comes from conventionally raised livestock.
Although organic certification is a fairly reliable marker of high quality fruits and vegetables, that’s not entirely the case with meat. While organic meat is free of hormones, drugs, and other chemicals, it may still come from a predominately grain fed animal. Even though the grain must be organic, it still compromises the health of the animal and the quality of it’s meat. Furthermore, people who are sensitive to grains can also be sensitive to meat that comes from grain fed animals.
The absolute best way to buy meat is to find a local farmer that raises livestock according to their natural diets, under humane conditions, and follows organic farming practices. Don’t be overly concerned with organic certification. Local farmers often have too small of an operation to justify the expense, and by overlooking this, you may be missing out on an excellent resource.
Below are some guidelines on what to look for when evaluating a potential source of meat.
Beef and Lamb
Cattle and sheep naturally eat grass. As such, you should buy beef and lamb from farms that allow their livestock to roam freely on grass pastures. Meat from a pasture raised livestock is often referred to as “grass fed.” Verify that pesticides and other chemicals aren’t used on the pastures and that the animals are not treated with antibiotics or hormones. Some organic minded farmers will use antibiotics on rare occasion when an animal absolutely needs it. You’ll have to decide for yourself if this is acceptable or not.
Some organic farmers “finish” their livestock with grain. This means the animal was raised on grass pastures, but was fed grain for a brief period before slaughter to increase the flavor and marbling of the meat. Personally, I think this is completely unnecessary and think purely grass fed beef and lamb taste excellent, but once again, it’s your choice.
Chicken and Pork
Chickens and pigs have much more variety in their diet than cattle and sheep. Chickens eat mostly insects and plants while pigs will eat just about anything. Because these animals eat more than just grass, their meat is often referred to as “free range.” This means they’re free to roam the pastures of the farm and are free to choose what they eat.
I’m not sure if chickens and pigs eat grain in the wild. My guess is that they don’t, but it seems to be quite acceptable and common for organic farmers to supplement the diet of their chickens and pigs with grain. What’s important is that the animals have the freedom to roam the pasture and consume the natural food it provides.
As with cattle and sheep, you want to make sure the pastures are free of chemicals and that the animals are not exposed to drugs or hormones.
Where to Buy Locally and Online
As I said, the best option is to buy from a local farmer that you can trust. EatWild.com is an excellent resource that will help you find local farmers that have embraced the practices of grass fed, free range, organic and humane farming.
If buying from a local farmer isn’t possible or is too inconvenient, you can often find quality meat at local farmer’s markets. Check LocalHarvest.org for a listing of farmer’s markets in your area.
Finally, if you prefer the simplicity of having your meat delivered to your doorstep, an excellent place to order from online is U.S. Wellness Meats. You can click on their “Protocol” link to read about how they raise their livestock.
Another excellent place to order from online is Blackwing Quality Meats. I’ve ordered from both places many times and think their meat is excellent.
Enjoy the article!
When the topic of organic food comes up, most people think of fruit, vegetables, and perhaps dairy, but almost always fail to consider meat. This is an unfortunate mistake because meat from conventionally raised livestock comes with significant risk.
You Are What You Eat
Each of the trillions of cells that we’re made of are created from the nutrients we eat. While a healthy diet will support optimal cell function, a poor diet will promote cell malfunction and lead to disease. As the saying goes, we are what we eat!
This applies to animals as well. If forced to eat poor quality food, they’ll likely become sick and develop disease. By eating meat from these unhealthy animals, you’re relying on a poor source of nutrition and are consuming the toxic chemicals that made them sick. They’ll eventually make you sick as well. In other words, you are what your food ate! This is an important concept to keep in mind throughout the rest of the article.
Are Farmers Smarter Than Nature?
Understanding that livestock will do best on the diet they naturally eat in the wild is nothing more than common sense. Despite this, conventional farmers don’t even come close to raising their livestock in this fashion.
Based on millions of years of evolution, cattle and sheep eat grass while chickens and pigs primarily eat insects and plants. However, conventional farmers choose to ignore the significance of evolution and force their livestock to eat grain. In many cases, livestock are kept in enclosed buildings, and because they don’t have access to natural pastures, grain is all they eat.
How well do you think your health would hold up if you ate nothing but grass your entire life? It wouldn’t hold up at all! Because these animals are forced to eat foods that they’re not evolved to process, their health doesn’t hold up either.
Grain Quality Translates Into Meat Quality
As with most conventional crops, the grain fed to livestock is heavily sprayed with pesticides and other toxic chemicals. This causes health problems for the animals that eat the grain, and also for us when we eat the meat of these animals.
In addition to the chemicals, the conventional grain will probably have low nutrient levels. Based on all the consequences of the grain only diet, it’s highly unlikely that the livestock will receive the nutrition they need to support good health and this further compounds the risk of sickness and disease.
Furthermore, the grain that conventional farmers feed their livestock is often very poor in quality. In many cases, farmers save money by purchasing grain that failed inspection for human consumption, usually because of mold growth. Ironically, by eating meat from the animals that eat this grain, humans are exposed to the mold toxins anyway.
In general, the meat from purely grain fed livestock is not very nutritious, especially if the grain is of poor quality. The potential for the meat to contain toxins makes it a health risk as well.
Would You Like a Side of Antibiotics With That?
It’s clearly a big problem for a farmer to have sick livestock. The connection between unhealthy livestock and the grain only diet should be a matter of common sense. But instead of choosing to improve livestock health through a better diet, conventional farmers compensate by feeding their livestock grain that’s laced with antibiotics. How convenient.
Antibiotics originate from toxins produced by fungi. Although this may surprise you, it shouldn’t. After all, the phrase anti biotic literally means anti life. Antibiotics kill without discrimination, and as a result, good bacteria is killed along with the bad. This can easily lead to intestinal imbalance and destroy your health. Because antibiotics are toxins and enter your blood stream, they can also cause unwanted problems anywhere in your body.
In many cases, livestock are raised under such poor conditions that antibiotics just aren’t enough to keep them healthy. They become infected by parasites and develop cancer, glandular swelling, infectious arthritis, pneumonia, and other serious health issues. What’s most frightening is that the FDA allows the meat from these sick animals to be passed along to your plate as long as any relevant tumors or lesions are removed. Do you really want to eat the meat of a cancerous animals?
How About Some Newspaper and Cardboard?
Many conventional farmers are completely overcome with a greed based mentality. As such, they focus on efficiency and strive for quantity at the cost of quality. In exchange for easier profit, they’re sacrificing the health of their livestock, and more importantly, the health of the people who consume their meat.
To further reduce the cost of the already inexpensive grain, some farmers use fillers such as sawdust, cement dust, cardboard, newspaper, and sewage. Sounds tasty, doesn’t it? Before you answer, consider the fact that you may already be eating some of these fillers if you eat conventionally raised meat!
The use of these fillers provides the greedy farmer with another significant advantage that increases the incentive even further. In addition to reducing costs, the fillers also cause the livestock to gain weight. Because most farmers are paid by the pound for their livestock, this is an amazing deal. They not only save money on feed, but are also rewarded with additional profit. As you can probably imagine, only a farmer with the purest intentions would pass on this opportunity.
Hormones are Also on the Menu
For some farmers, the use of cheap grain and filler isn’t enough. To further accelerate growth, they feed synthetic hormones to their livestock.
Synthetic hormones are often associated with cancer. Furthermore, hormones can be very powerful in small concentrations and have a significant effect on our day to day function. It doesn’t take much to disrupt our delicate and complex hormonal balance, and when it does go out of balance, our health will often deteriorate significantly. Remember, if you eat an animal that was fed synthetic hormones, you’re eating the hormones as well.
Apparently, nature just isn’t fast enough for the business minded farmer. With the use of grains, fillers, antibiotics, and hormones, conventional farmers are able to bring a steer to full size in less than a year and a half. Under natural conditions, it would take 4 or 5 years! These animals are basically being transformed into mutants. Is that what you want to have on your plate every day?
A Quick Note About Dairy
Although this article is about meat, I want to quickly mention a related concern about dairy. Some farmers use a hormone called recombinant bovine growth hormone which is specifically designed to increase the lactation period of cattle. In fact, it nearly doubles it. As with other synthetic hormones, rBGH is linked to cancer and can disrupt normal hormone balance.
Producing milk is a physiologically demanding process for cattle. Their bodies are simply not evolved to handle the amount of milk production that’s possible with rBGH. As a result, their utters often become inflamed and infected which causes puss to be secreted into the milk. How does that make a nice thick milk mustache sound?
The cattle that are injected with rBGH are literally milked to death and typically die after approximately two years.
Animal Cruelty
Some of the horror stories associated with conventionally raised livestock are enough to turn a meat lover into a vegetarian. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. As omnivores, eating animal meat is part of our evolution. Although vegetarians and vegans may argue this point, meat is quite simply a basic part of our natural diet. But this certainly doesn’t justify the inhumane ways that some farmers maintain their livestock.
In many cases, conventionally raised livestock are kept indoors where they get absolutely no exposure to sunlight, are so crowded that they can barely move, and are forced to live in their own feces. This merely scratches the surface of how bad the living conditions can be for these animals. This significantly impacts the health of the animal and the nutritional quality of it’s meat, but more importantly, it’s cruel, inhumane, and absolutely unnecessary.
Any time you buy meat or dairy that comes from conventionally raised livestock, keep in mind that you may be supporting these cruel and inhumane practices.
The Alternative - Buying Quality Meat
The good news is that there are plenty of healthy and humane alternatives to the meat that comes from conventionally raised livestock.
Although organic certification is a fairly reliable marker of high quality fruits and vegetables, that’s not entirely the case with meat. While organic meat is free of hormones, drugs, and other chemicals, it may still come from a predominately grain fed animal. Even though the grain must be organic, it still compromises the health of the animal and the quality of it’s meat. Furthermore, people who are sensitive to grains can also be sensitive to meat that comes from grain fed animals.
The absolute best way to buy meat is to find a local farmer that raises livestock according to their natural diets, under humane conditions, and follows organic farming practices. Don’t be overly concerned with organic certification. Local farmers often have too small of an operation to justify the expense, and by overlooking this, you may be missing out on an excellent resource.
Below are some guidelines on what to look for when evaluating a potential source of meat.
Beef and Lamb
Cattle and sheep naturally eat grass. As such, you should buy beef and lamb from farms that allow their livestock to roam freely on grass pastures. Meat from a pasture raised livestock is often referred to as “grass fed.” Verify that pesticides and other chemicals aren’t used on the pastures and that the animals are not treated with antibiotics or hormones. Some organic minded farmers will use antibiotics on rare occasion when an animal absolutely needs it. You’ll have to decide for yourself if this is acceptable or not.
Some organic farmers “finish” their livestock with grain. This means the animal was raised on grass pastures, but was fed grain for a brief period before slaughter to increase the flavor and marbling of the meat. Personally, I think this is completely unnecessary and think purely grass fed beef and lamb taste excellent, but once again, it’s your choice.
Chicken and Pork
Chickens and pigs have much more variety in their diet than cattle and sheep. Chickens eat mostly insects and plants while pigs will eat just about anything. Because these animals eat more than just grass, their meat is often referred to as “free range.” This means they’re free to roam the pastures of the farm and are free to choose what they eat.
I’m not sure if chickens and pigs eat grain in the wild. My guess is that they don’t, but it seems to be quite acceptable and common for organic farmers to supplement the diet of their chickens and pigs with grain. What’s important is that the animals have the freedom to roam the pasture and consume the natural food it provides.
As with cattle and sheep, you want to make sure the pastures are free of chemicals and that the animals are not exposed to drugs or hormones.
Where to Buy Locally and Online
As I said, the best option is to buy from a local farmer that you can trust. EatWild.com is an excellent resource that will help you find local farmers that have embraced the practices of grass fed, free range, organic and humane farming.
If buying from a local farmer isn’t possible or is too inconvenient, you can often find quality meat at local farmer’s markets. Check LocalHarvest.org for a listing of farmer’s markets in your area.
Finally, if you prefer the simplicity of having your meat delivered to your doorstep, an excellent place to order from online is U.S. Wellness Meats. You can click on their “Protocol” link to read about how they raise their livestock.
Another excellent place to order from online is Blackwing Quality Meats. I’ve ordered from both places many times and think their meat is excellent.
Conventional Thyroid Testing
Most of my clients almost immediately lose weight and feel awesome when following the 6 pillars of The Plano Program. On the flip side, there are some clients that are too tired to exercise or even cut up vegetables. Their weight loss is incredibly slow or sometimes non existent even though they follow all the rules- they journal their food, exercise, get to sleep on time. eat a clean diet, etc. Their family, friends, and doctor tell them that they are not trying hard enough....and once again they feel like a failure.
Some of my heaviest clients are not food cravers or overeaters at all. They eat normally. In fact some of them even chronically undereat, because moderate eating, even combined with exercise, has resulted in continued weight gain! Some of them even gain weight on severely reduced calories or a medically supervised fast. When I looked into the research on this, I found that half of people entering formal weight loss programs do not overeat. The dropout rates for these programs runs as high as 85 percent, partly because so many dieters can not lose weight by cutting calories. What about Thyroid Function?
Common Symptoms and Risk Factors of Low Thyroid Function:
-Heavy since childhood
-Family history of thyroid problems
-Low Energy, Fatigue, trouble getting going in the morning
-Tendency to feel cold, especially feet
-High Cholesterol
-Headaches
-Poor concentration and Memory
-Low Blood Pressure and Heart Rate
-Hoarse voice
-Reduced libido
-Tendency to gain weight easily or inability to lose weight
How do you know that your weight gain and fatigue are due to a thyroid problem and what about conventional thyroid test??
The most common test for thyroid function is the TSH(thyroid stimulating hormone) test. The TSH measures a chemical sent by the pituitary gland in the brain, which relays order to the thyroid gland about how much TSH the body need at a given time. However, from my research, experience, and picking the brain of some of the most educated natural doctors, the TSH is NOT the most reliable test which frequently leaves you with, "Sorry, but the test reveals your levels are NORMAL" If I had a dime for everytime I heard this I would be a rich man.
Different doctors have different kinds of training and use different tests but MOST conventional doctors use the TSH test. If you feel that your thyroid is sluggish insist the following be performed:
1) TSH
2) T4
3) T3
4) RIA -Radioimmune assay
5) T3 Uptake
6) Reverse T3
7) Thyroid Antibody Test
8) FTI - Free Thyroid Index
2 simple Test You Can Do Yourself:
There are a couple of test that can be quite accurate at detecting a thyroid problem.- The Basal temp. test which was conducted by Dr. Barnes in 1942 which proved to be a highly accurate test. Another is the Ankle Reflex Test.
1) Buy a mercury thermometer - Do not use a digital thermometer
2) Place thermometer under your armpit 30 min after awakening but before you get out of bed or turn the light on. Keep your eyes open.
3) Leave it there for ten minutes
4) Do this for three mornings or more to get an average temp. If the axial temp is consistently subnormal (97.8 degrees), your thyroid function is probably low. (Your adrenal function is probably low too)
Testing Your Ankle Reflex
Here is another way to test for thyroid function. Does your foot bounce when the someone taps the tendon or the back of your ankle? This is a good indication that you do not have a sluggish thyroid.
Adrenal Function and Thyroid:
Adrenal function often affects thyroid function, it is crucial to test your adrenals (through saliva) as well as your thyroid. I have been doing tons of adrenal function tests lately, low and behold most of my clients are under some form of adrenal fatigue with strong hormonal imbalanes. For a better understanding of how the adrenals affect thyroid function please visit www.theplanoprogram.com under functional diagnostic nutrition.
PS I just got a shipment of Krill Oil in, let me know who needs more!
Regards,
Marc Plano
www.theplanoprogram.com
www.optimal-results.net
Some of my heaviest clients are not food cravers or overeaters at all. They eat normally. In fact some of them even chronically undereat, because moderate eating, even combined with exercise, has resulted in continued weight gain! Some of them even gain weight on severely reduced calories or a medically supervised fast. When I looked into the research on this, I found that half of people entering formal weight loss programs do not overeat. The dropout rates for these programs runs as high as 85 percent, partly because so many dieters can not lose weight by cutting calories. What about Thyroid Function?
Common Symptoms and Risk Factors of Low Thyroid Function:
-Heavy since childhood
-Family history of thyroid problems
-Low Energy, Fatigue, trouble getting going in the morning
-Tendency to feel cold, especially feet
-High Cholesterol
-Headaches
-Poor concentration and Memory
-Low Blood Pressure and Heart Rate
-Hoarse voice
-Reduced libido
-Tendency to gain weight easily or inability to lose weight
How do you know that your weight gain and fatigue are due to a thyroid problem and what about conventional thyroid test??
The most common test for thyroid function is the TSH(thyroid stimulating hormone) test. The TSH measures a chemical sent by the pituitary gland in the brain, which relays order to the thyroid gland about how much TSH the body need at a given time. However, from my research, experience, and picking the brain of some of the most educated natural doctors, the TSH is NOT the most reliable test which frequently leaves you with, "Sorry, but the test reveals your levels are NORMAL" If I had a dime for everytime I heard this I would be a rich man.
Different doctors have different kinds of training and use different tests but MOST conventional doctors use the TSH test. If you feel that your thyroid is sluggish insist the following be performed:
1) TSH
2) T4
3) T3
4) RIA -Radioimmune assay
5) T3 Uptake
6) Reverse T3
7) Thyroid Antibody Test
8) FTI - Free Thyroid Index
2 simple Test You Can Do Yourself:
There are a couple of test that can be quite accurate at detecting a thyroid problem.- The Basal temp. test which was conducted by Dr. Barnes in 1942 which proved to be a highly accurate test. Another is the Ankle Reflex Test.
1) Buy a mercury thermometer - Do not use a digital thermometer
2) Place thermometer under your armpit 30 min after awakening but before you get out of bed or turn the light on. Keep your eyes open.
3) Leave it there for ten minutes
4) Do this for three mornings or more to get an average temp. If the axial temp is consistently subnormal (97.8 degrees), your thyroid function is probably low. (Your adrenal function is probably low too)
Testing Your Ankle Reflex
Here is another way to test for thyroid function. Does your foot bounce when the someone taps the tendon or the back of your ankle? This is a good indication that you do not have a sluggish thyroid.
Adrenal Function and Thyroid:
Adrenal function often affects thyroid function, it is crucial to test your adrenals (through saliva) as well as your thyroid. I have been doing tons of adrenal function tests lately, low and behold most of my clients are under some form of adrenal fatigue with strong hormonal imbalanes. For a better understanding of how the adrenals affect thyroid function please visit www.theplanoprogram.com under functional diagnostic nutrition.
PS I just got a shipment of Krill Oil in, let me know who needs more!
Regards,
Marc Plano
www.theplanoprogram.com
www.optimal-results.net
Sugar and Cancer
Dr. Mercola’s Comment:
Most people, physicians certainly included, are absolutely clueless how devastating sugar can be on your health. They just don’t understand how something that tastes so good can be so damaging to your health.
That is one of the reasons why the typical American, and I am confident that includes most all doctors, consume 175 pounds of sugar EVERY year.
If you ever questioned how much sugar worsens your risks of developing cancer, this should be eye-opening. This important study shows that high blood sugars can increase your risk of cancer even when there are no signs of life-shortening type 2 diabetes.
This has to do with the amazing hormone insulin. A fasting blood insulin level is one of the most important tests you can have and it is relatively inexpensive. If you are walking around with a high fasting insulin level you are a walking time bomb.
Ideally it should be below 3 or 4. Anything over 10 is a disaster. The higher the number the worse you are. I like to see insulin levels 2 or lower.
There is just no question that if you have cancer or are interested in reducing your risk of developing cancer, one of the most important things you can do is to make sure your fasting insulin levels are normal, ideally below 5. As I said, this is a very simple and inexpensive test to perform and should be regularly monitored if you have or are at risk for cancer.
When your blood sugar rises in response to eating carbohydrates, your pancreas releases insulin. Insulin ensures your cells receive blood sugar necessary for life, but high levels of insulin can cause major damage to your body.
The most recognized of these is diabetes. In addition, hypertension, obesity, high levels of cholesterol and other lipids, heart disease, kidney disease, female infertility and neurodegeneration are all caused by eating too many carbohydrates, resulting in high insulin levels.
High insulin levels are also one of the most potent ways that you can increase your rate of aging. Conversely have low insulin levels and you slow down your aging rate.
Another absolutely essential tool for you to actively engage in is to follow a diet appropriate for your metabolic type. What would be a great anti-cancer food for someone might actually increase someone else’s risk for cancer.
"Marc's Metabolic Typing and nutrition program really works. I have had severely reduced kidney function for most of my life. Since I started the metabolic typing program 2 months ago my kidney function has improved by over 40%, energy and endurance levels are much higher and I have lost 16lbs. It is true when Marc stresses the importance of your body having the proper pH balance.
Mark Vallas, Branford CT
Marc Plano
CPT,CSCS,Certified Sports Nutritionist, Metabolic Typing Specialist
www.optimal-results.net
Most people, physicians certainly included, are absolutely clueless how devastating sugar can be on your health. They just don’t understand how something that tastes so good can be so damaging to your health.
That is one of the reasons why the typical American, and I am confident that includes most all doctors, consume 175 pounds of sugar EVERY year.
If you ever questioned how much sugar worsens your risks of developing cancer, this should be eye-opening. This important study shows that high blood sugars can increase your risk of cancer even when there are no signs of life-shortening type 2 diabetes.
This has to do with the amazing hormone insulin. A fasting blood insulin level is one of the most important tests you can have and it is relatively inexpensive. If you are walking around with a high fasting insulin level you are a walking time bomb.
Ideally it should be below 3 or 4. Anything over 10 is a disaster. The higher the number the worse you are. I like to see insulin levels 2 or lower.
There is just no question that if you have cancer or are interested in reducing your risk of developing cancer, one of the most important things you can do is to make sure your fasting insulin levels are normal, ideally below 5. As I said, this is a very simple and inexpensive test to perform and should be regularly monitored if you have or are at risk for cancer.
When your blood sugar rises in response to eating carbohydrates, your pancreas releases insulin. Insulin ensures your cells receive blood sugar necessary for life, but high levels of insulin can cause major damage to your body.
The most recognized of these is diabetes. In addition, hypertension, obesity, high levels of cholesterol and other lipids, heart disease, kidney disease, female infertility and neurodegeneration are all caused by eating too many carbohydrates, resulting in high insulin levels.
High insulin levels are also one of the most potent ways that you can increase your rate of aging. Conversely have low insulin levels and you slow down your aging rate.
Another absolutely essential tool for you to actively engage in is to follow a diet appropriate for your metabolic type. What would be a great anti-cancer food for someone might actually increase someone else’s risk for cancer.
"Marc's Metabolic Typing and nutrition program really works. I have had severely reduced kidney function for most of my life. Since I started the metabolic typing program 2 months ago my kidney function has improved by over 40%, energy and endurance levels are much higher and I have lost 16lbs. It is true when Marc stresses the importance of your body having the proper pH balance.
Mark Vallas, Branford CT
Marc Plano
CPT,CSCS,Certified Sports Nutritionist, Metabolic Typing Specialist
www.optimal-results.net
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