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So another new year is upon us. Untold numbers of people are “resolving” to win the battle of the bulge this year.

Some people are actually laying out a solid plan based on exercise and nutrition.

Others are going to go on yet another fad diet.

Even worse, lots and lots of soon to be disheartened folks will be turning to the latest miracle pill they’ve seen on TV or the Internet.

It’s sad really.

The marketing for these pills gets cranked up to full blast now that it’s January. These far less than reputable companies know how desperate people are. And they certainly know how much greater that desperation becomes in January.

Look, you and I know better. We know that the only way you’re going to Kung Fu that fat off your belly, butt, hips and thighs is to eat right and exercise.

Know what else is sad?

Once people come to grips with the fact they’ve been ripped off over and over by these “miracle” diet pill companies, oftentimes they’ll refuse to listen to reason about nutritional products that have actual benefits.

For instance, did you know that Essential Fatty Acid products help promote fat loss through the stabilization of blood sugar levels?

And that they may also help regulate mood, improve heart health and decrease joint pain?

If people are looking for a pill to take - one that is actually based on research - they should strongly consider adding an Essential Fatty Acids product to their diet.

I’m asked all the time what I use and it’s Prograde’s EFA Icon (you can read more about it here: http://metamorfitness.getprograde.com/icon )

Again, I know you’re to smart to fall for the gimmicks, but if you know of anyone trying a diet pill this January, please tell them to get real. They’ll be better off for it.

Yours in health,

Katrina

PS - Again, if you’re looking to add a great Essential Fatty Acid product to your diet be sure to check out Prograde’s EFA Icon. It’s the best out there. http://metamorfitness.getprograde.com/icon

Click Here for More Information

Fitness pros get a bad rap at times. And hey, sometimes it’s well deserved. It’s unfortunate, but there are still way too many “meat head” trainers who are more interested in looking at themselves in a mirror than they are in their own clients.

But we also take heat at times for being too interested in looks and appearance than health and wellness.

Well, I’m going to fill you in on a little secret. We’ve tried to market our businesses by educating people about the health benefits of proper nutrition and exercise. We’d love for people to care more about their health than how they look.

Unfortunately, and this holds true for the vast majority of people, they only care about their health once they’ve lost it.

Think about that for a little bit.

I can tell you right now the unscrupulous marketers online are making a FORTUNE promoting these Acai Berry pills right now. And they are able to do that because they are promoting it as weight loss and not the real benefit of Acai Berry.

It is the “magic pill” of the day. If you’ve been paying attention to the weight loss market you’ll know it used to be Hoodia.

Now, you might not like it, but I’m not going to be the one to lie to you. I’m not going to be the one to tell you take this little pill and watch the weight fall off. Acai Berry is a heck of an antioxidant that can help your body fight the aging process and help boost your immune system, but it’s not going to flush the excess pounds off your belly, butt, hips and thighs. Sorry.

Now my friends at http://www.metamorfitness.com/pgn.cfm HERE. com have an amazing product that includes Acai Berry as one of its main ingredients. But unlike the Grade A scumbags out there lying to you, they only promote their product for what it is; a very powerful Antioxidant formula to help boost your health.

So if your health is of interest to you then definitely check out http://metamorfitness.getprograde.com/longevity

Sorry if this ticks you off. I’m here to shed light on the truth for you. It’s up to YOU to decide whether or not your health is more valuable to you than your appearance.

Yours in health,

Katrina McKenna

PS - Again, if you value your health and want help with the aging process I can’t recommend http://metamorfitness.getprograde.com/longevity to you enough

Follow these simple tips from registered dietitian Jayson Hunter, the Head of Research and Development for Prograde Nutrition, for a lean and healthy body.

Eat 4-6 small meals day a day instead of the usual 2-3 large meals. Eating frequently will help regulate and boost your metabolism to burn more calories.

Click here to Get Prograde Nutritional Products

Consume whole foods that are high in fiber and low in sugar, such as lean protein sources (lean beef, chicken, fish, and whey protein), fruits & vegetables (oranges, apples, strawberries, blueberries, broccoli, peppers, asparagus, carrots, nuts (almonds, cashews, & walnuts), and whole grains.

Eat low-glycemic carbohydrates such as vegetables, whole-wheat products and oatmeal instead of refined processed carbohydrates which usually come in a box or a bag.

Consume 25-35 grams of fiber per day. Fiber will help satisfy hunger pangs as well as control insulin and blood sugar levels which tend to promote fat storage.

Click here to Get Prograde Nutritional Products

Eat some type of lean protein at each meal. Protein helps to satisfy hunger and provide the necessary building blocks to maintain lean body mass while losing body fat.

Consume adequate amounts of healthy fat foods such as olive oil, walnuts, almonds, Omega-3 fortified eggs or other Omega-3 products. Healthy fats are great antioxidants as well as help with brain function and many other essentials processes that take place in the body on a daily basis. Essential Fatty acids also help prevent certain diseases. To guarantee you’re consuming enough Omega-3 supplement your diet with EFA Icon.

Eat 5-10 servings of fruit and vegetables a day to meet your micronutrient needs. Vegetables also contain a good amount of fiber and help to control appetites and curb hunger. Additionally, VGF25+ provides the power-packed nutrition of 25 whole vegetables, greens and fruits in a convenient “super pill.”

Consume Green Tea or Water instead of calorie filled drinks such as soft drinks. Green Tea has many health benefits and should be drinking 1ml of non-caffeinated fluid for every calorie that you consume. This works out between (8-12) 8oz glasses of Green Tea or Water a day.

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Balance your fat intake for the day. 1/3 should come from saturated fats, 1/3 from monounsaturated fats, and 1/3 from polyunsaturated fats. Again, ensure you’re consuming Anti-Oxidant rich Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids by incorporating EFA Icon into your nutritional plan.

Consistent fat loss requires good habits. If you want to create good habits then you need plan. Therefore, map out your meals every day and follow them. If you follow your plan everyday for 2-3 weeks you will form habits that become part of your daily routine and part of your life.

Incorporate “superfoods” into your meal plan on a daily basis. Some examples are salmon, low-fat plain yogurt, tomatoes, spinach, mixed berries, whole oats, mixed nuts, olive oil, flax seeds(or flax meal), green tea, and various beans. Many of the super nutrition found in these “superfoods” are also found in VGF25+.

Keep total fat intake under 30% for the day. This can easily be accomplished by avoiding “extra” fats such as butter, sour cream, mayonnaise… This doesn’t mean you have to completely eliminate these items, just use them sparingly and avoid adding them to foods whenever possible.

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EXERCISE! Yes, you can lose weight just by changing your eating habits. But very few people succeed long-term - and it takes much longer to lose fat - when they don’t exercise. And something most people don’t realize is, just how critical ingesting the research proven Protein to Carbohydrate ratio is to optimizing the results of your workout efforts. CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT…prograde varsity.

Record what you eat and drink. You will be amazed by what you find. Keeping a food journal is critical to your success because you need it to evaluate and analyze your current eating patterns. If your fat loss efforts are stagnant the answer can usually be found in your food journal.

Follow the 90% rule. If you can follow your plan 90% of the time you will soon see unwanted fat melt off your body. However, if you find yourself breaking these rules more than 90% of the time your chances of failing increase significantly.

Click here to Get Prograde Nutritional Products

Yours in health,

Katrina

If I hear one more time that walking is the best way to lose weight, I might throw a medicine ball at the dumbbell who says it. Don’t get me wrong, walking is better than sitting on your couch watching TV both in terms of fat loss and your health but after your body adapts to it, it provides little stimulus for fat loss. Any exercise is beneficial for your health, but we are talking fat loss here.

This goes for all types of slow and steady exercise, walking, jogging and all of the cardio machines. This type of exercise does nothing to preserve muscle and performing excessive cardio can actually break down muscle and slowing your metabolism making it harder to lose weight.

The problem is, the more cardio you do, the better you get at it. So you are burning LESS calories for the same amount of work. So you have to do more and more and more…in order to get the same result. Then at the point that you begin to lose muscle you will start to get fatter (even though your weight may stay the same or go down).

Think of what a sprinter looks like versus a marathoner. Marathoners look too skinny; because they have very little muscle as a result they have higher body fat percentages.

If you want to lose fat and improve your health you absolutely must maintain and preferably increase the size of your muscles. The more muscle you have the more calories you are burning even when you are sitting on the couch watching TV!

You can do this by performing resistance or strength training exercises. Many people are wary of strength training, fearing it will make them bulky or too muscular. For most women this is nearly impossible since they have significantly less testosterone than men, and it requires large amounts of food and hours every day in the gym. I recommend 2 - 3 full body workouts a week which could be as short as 30 minutes each!

You still need cardio; I am not recommending that you avoid all cardiovascular exercise, but perform it differently. Ignore the ‘fat burning zone’ charts in the gym and the ‘talk test’. These concepts are based on the idea that you burn a higher percent of fat calories with low intensity exercise than with high intensity exercise. That is partly true, BUT, does not take into account that you burn more TOTAL calories exercising at a higher intensity. PLUS high intensity exercise caused you to extra calories for HOURS after your exercise session.

Instead of an hour on the treadmill at a fast walk or jog, you should work in sprints and finish in 15 - 30 minutes. After warming up (5 - 10 minutes), push very hard for 15 seconds and then recover for 45 seconds. Repeat 5 times and then cool down for 5 - 10 minutes. Before you add more time to your exercise session, you can work harder for those 15 seconds increase the work to recovery ratio, i.e., work for 20 seconds and recover for 40, then 30 and 30.

High intensity exercise takes a lot out of you so you HAVE to shorten the exercise session. You get better results in less time! You can either perform your new shorter cardio sessions after your full body weight training workout or on the days in between.

If you are not used to working at high intensities you do have to build up to it. Start by pushing yourself just a little harder than normal and push a littler harder than that the next week.

For optimum fat loss you will still have to add in a supportive eating.

“When is the best time to exercise,” is one of the most common
questions I get asked by diabetics and non-diabetics alike. A
common belief is that low intensity cardio on an empty stomach
burns the most fat because carbohydrates are not available.

First, low intensity cardio is not the best for fat loss. The
fat burning zone is myth that does not take into account all
the calories burned during and AFTER the exercise session and
can actually cause you to lose muscle. If you want to lose
fat, then you must preserve your muscles.

Second, research has shown that there is no difference in
how much fat is burned during a moderate intensity cardio
session with or without food. It does make a difference at
lower intensities, but I already said that this is not
ideal. At high intensity training, you need some food to
maintain performance. So actually by eating a small amount
you are allowing yourself to exercise harder and as a result
increasing the amount of calories that you will burn hours
after your exercise session.

Third, you risk increasing the level of your stress hormones
and instead of breaking down fat, your body may break down
muscle. Again lowering your metabolism and pushing you in the
opposite direction of fat loss.

Exercising on an empty stomach can actually cause your blood
sugar to increase if you have diabetes. This seems very
strange since most of the time exercise helps to lower blood
sugar levels. Exercising tells the liver to release its stored
sugar or glycogen into the bloodstream but if there is not
enough insulin in the bloodstream the muscles cannot absorb
the sugar quickly enough.

People with diabetes must check their blood sugar before and
after exercise to determine their response to exercise. If
your blood sugar is very high (consult your health care
provider for the suggested level) then exercise could make
it even higher. This happens due to the stress hormones causing
the release of sugar into the bloodstream, often because of
limited insulin. If your blood sugar level is high test for
ketones in your urine. If there are ketones then you should
NOT exercise until your blood sugar is at a safer level.

Research is showing that you may be able to exercise safely
with high blood glucose level as long as there are not ketones
in the urine. Speak to your health care provider for specific
recommendations. In this case, keep the exercise intensity low,
because high intensity exercise can raise your blood sugar
levels even further.

Now, I know I just said to avoid low intensity exercise for
fat loss but under these conditions, preventing your blood
sugar from going higher is more important for your health
and the prevention of diabetic complications. All exercise
helps your diabetes even if it doesn’t promote weight loss.
I’d much rather you keep the habit of exercising than skip
it because it isn’t the most efficient for fat loss. Remember
you are exercising for both your health and fat loss. Your
health has priority over fat loss.

Exercise can also cause low blood sugar. As the muscles are
working they are absorbing sugar from the blood stream far
easier than they do when they are not working. If your blood
sugar is too low before you start exercising you must eat some
carbohydrates beforehand. This is not ideal for fat loss, so
timing your exercise session after you eat and avoiding the
peak time of your insulin is best. Depending on the length
and intensity of exercise your blood sugar can go low several
hours after exercise, making exercise close to bedtime risky.

OK, so what is the final answer? You must find a time 1 - 3
hours after you eat but away from the peak action of insulin.
The larger the meal, the more time you should wait. If you
must exercise in the morning, eat something small before
starting, such as low fat yogurt, a handful of nuts, something
that has some carbs, some protein and some fat.

There have been some reports on a recent research study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology Metabolism that claims that diet and exercise are no better than dieting alone for weight-loss, fat-loss and body composition improvements. This report also says that exercise doesn’t preserve muscle mass.

Unfortunately, what the report fails to mention is what the participants of the study did for exercise. Apparently to most people exercise means steady-state aerobic training because that is the type of exercise used in the study, “Effect of calorie restriction with or without exercise on body composition and fat distribution.” So what the study did prove was that steady-state cardio exercise is equivalent to dieting for weight-loss.

I agree steady state aerobic exercise is not very helpful in fat-loss or muscle growth. So the study is really no big surprise. But the interpretation of the study does not specify the type of exercise and is very misleading. The suggestion is that all exercise is created equal which is absolutely wrong. The type of exercise is critical to losing fat.

Another study in Metabolism (1994 Jul;43(7):814-8), “Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism” demonstrated that high intensity interval training exercise created a 9 time greater loss in subcutaneous fat than the steady state cardio group.

That’s nine times, that means a 15 minute interval training workout creates more fat loss than a two hour steady state cardio workout out. Which workout would you rather do? This happens because high intensity exercise causes your body to burn excess calories for hours after the exercise session. On the other hand, steady state cardio just allows you to become more and more efficient at burning calories so you burn less and less each time for the same effort.

The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology Metabolism study even mentions that high intensity exercise can have a greater effect on fat loss, insulin sensitivity and cholesterol profiles than lower intensity exercise. Why didn’t the report mention this?

Then of course, any legitimate weight loss program must include weight training. While the participants of this recent study did lose some muscle mass, a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1993 Oct;58(4):561-5), “Muscle hypertrophy with large-scale weight loss and resistance training” demonstrates that even with extremely low calorie intake resistance training still causes an increase in muscle mass.

The report states that the one of the authors of the study, Ravussin, has published other studies that indicate that exercise does not increase muscle mass that increases weight loss. Well, here we are with what exercise means again. I agree, steady state aerobic exercise does not increase muscle mass. There is no question that resistance training does increase muscle mass.

Oddly the report states, “And their carefully controlled study added to the evidence that adding muscle mass does not somehow boost metabolism and help dieters take off even more weight.” Since both groups lost a small amount of muscle mass, this study could not possibly have come to this conclusion. Additionally, muscle is metabolically active tissue, many chemical processes are occurring inside muscle tissue and muscle creates movement, these things require energy or calories. Little happens inside a fat cell, it just stores fat. It is estimated that for every additional pound of muscle your body has, you burn an additional 50 calories per day.

So while you could lose weight through dieting alone or even dieting and steady state cardio, why would you? You can lose significantly more fat, faster by incorporating interval training and a resistance training program along with your reduced calorie diet.

Steady state cardio does have other benefits. All exercise is good for your health and disease prevention or reduction. Plus if you love to run, run. Enjoyment is a perfectly legitimate reason to something.

Diabetes is ravaging western society and even increasing dramatically in developing countries. With increased incidences of type 2 diabetes in young people, Americans may decrease average lifespan for the first time in history.

According to New York City fitness trainer, Katrina McKenna, this trend can be reversed but only if people get the right information. Even though Americans spend billions on weight loss most of them are going about it the wrong way, especially people with diabetes.

When people try to lose weight and fail, they often give up, believing that they just can’t lose weight. But the problem, according to Katrina, is misinformation. Many fitness resources promote exercise programs that may actually increase fat and many organizations promote low fat eating which is inevitably a high carbohydrate diet. Carbohydrates limit weight loss and lead to diabetic complications.

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death (fifth leading cause of death by disease); it affects over 20 million Americans! Another 40 million Americans have pre-diabetes. Many of these people do not even know it.

According to the American Diabetes Association diabetes is the leading cause of adult onset blindness, the cause of 60% of non-traumatic lower limb amputation, and a major cause of heart disease and stroke, which are responsible for approximately 65% of deaths among people with diabetes.

Unfortunately, while most resources for people with diabetes recommend exercise, the information is limited, inefficient or wrong. There are also great exercise books but they lack the specific details that people with diabetes need to know in order to exercise safely. Katrina wrote the book, “Yes! You CAN Be Fit, Feel Fantastic and Look Better Naked Even With Type 2 Diabetes” to fill the gap to help people with diabetes learn how to exercise and lose weight effectively and safely.

Katrina McKenna is a fitness professional serving New York City and specializing in helping people with type 2 diabetes lose weight and live healthier lives.