Month: October 2013

I was at the local 7-11 last week and saw a magazine article showing how Christina Aguilera has lost a lot of weight lately. The change was shocking as I haven’t seen or heard about her in quite a while and I knew that she had failed to get the baby weight off after the birth of her son Max back in 2008 and had kind of yo-yo dieted since then.

In reading up I also saw that Christina Aguilera is a really resonsible adult, giving time to charities and lending her name to lots of great causes. I love seeing people use their fame as a force for good.

The New Christina Aguilera

The magazine cover of Maxim was very hot (a little to slutty for my taste though, so I show you this one) and although it always seems to me like Maxim is the worst for objectifying women, in this case Christina looked great and was up to the challenge.

She has lost 49 pounds this year. Fabulous weight loss and tough for anyone famous or not to pull off.

What did Christina Aguilera Eat?

She eats blueberries, half an avocado and turkey bacon for a well balanced breakfast that has both lots of good fruit carbs as well as protein to get her day started well.

She frequently eats a salad with chicken breast for lunch. For dinner, she loves curry with chicken or fish. She sometimes indulges with a glass of wine but limits her alcohol intact overall.

For snacks between meals, she loves almond butter on celery and shrimp cocktail.

You can see that she has a fairly low caloric intake but at the same time she has a veery clean diet with no complex carbs and a pretty high protein intake. Although the diet seems extravagent and really yummy it would really get boring quickly eating this clean and is really tough to keep up over the long term.

And Christina Aguilera is a Gym Rat

To start her workouts Christina does a 10-20 minute walk on the treadmill and depending on her schedule will also run for about the same amount of time.

As far as weights, Christina works out 5 times a week and does a fairly heavy weight workout to bring up the metabolism and get great muscle tone. She does ab exercises every session without fail. She does up to 350-500 reps of sit-ups and other exercises like push-ups and lunges that focus on her core.

I used to really like her voice and she is obviously very popular but it seems that Christina Aguilera has really become committed to her fitness and that is a nice image and attitude to give forward to her fans.

Christina Aguilera Weight Loss, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

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Here’s a little secret that the majority of people that want to lose weight don’t know. Your brain releases fat BURNING hormones or fat STORAGE hormones depending on what you eat; people gain weight when they consistently eat fat storage foods in excess. To help you ‘Eat Your Way Slim’ here are the top 6 foods that make your brain release fat BURNING hormones to help burn body fat the fastest.

Great Fat Burning Foods

1. Chicken Breast

This is definitely top of the list, nutritionally an 8oz chicken breast only has 220 calories and less than 2 grams of fat and carbohydrates whilst packing a massive 48 grams of extremely high quality protein.

A great thing about chicken breast is that its easy to cook and it literally goes with anything; you can use it in a stir fry, curry, biriyani and it tastes great on its own with a bit of seasoning for flavour. It is also very cheap too, all of this makes chicken breast number 1 on the list.

2. Chilli Con Carne

Chilli con carne is great for fat loss. It is an all in one meal that includes all 3 fat loss super foods – protein (minced beef) legumes (red kidney beans) and vegetables (chopped tomatoes, onion, peppers).

3. Salmon

It’s great to have fish in your diet for health purposes – fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and essential vitamins and minerals which helps your resistance to disease and your energy and well-being in the long-term. Not to mention it is a fantastic fat burning food.

4. Lean Steak

While the best fat loss protein is chicken, steak is a very close second. I eat steak on occasion and use it more as a treat because of the higher fat content compared to chicken and fish, a lean 8oz steak has about 12 grams of fat where chicken breast only has about 2 grams. Overall it is a fantastic source of protein.

5. Broccoli

Steamed broccoli is a fantastic food for fat loss as part of the vegetable section of a fat loss meal. A 12” stalk of broccoli contains 9 grams of fibre which helps keep you full for longer so you don’t feel the need to binge and it also contain 7 grams of protein! The best way to cook broccoli is by steaming rather than boiling; this will retain more of the vitamins and minerals and it helps give it a crispier taste.

6. Eggs

Eggs are a fantastic fat loss food that allows you to make many different variations on meals. I change between poached and scrambled eggs mainly but you can also fry or hard boil them. Experiment with adding your favourite vegetables, meats, and seasoning into your scrambled egg to add more taste and flavour. A great breakfast for fat loss (and to supercharge your metabolism for the day) is  2 poached eggs, 2 rashers of turkey bacon and 2 organic sausages

Ryan Phillips is an online fat loss coach and author of the Rapid Fat Loss System. You can ask him for advice on his blog or download his free report here Free Fat Loss Report to help you drop fat in the fastest and easiest way possible.

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Inflammation is the body’s natural defense against injury or disease. Chronic inflammation, on the other hand, is believed to be a major contributor to disease.

When your body experiences a constant inflammatory response, you become more susceptible to aging and chronic disease.

Instead of protecting our body, chronic inflammation slowly begins to destroy it, one cell at a time.

The Problem with Inflammation

This inflammation has been connected to many diseases including: obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and some cancers.

A number of factors are believed to contribute to chronic inflammation, but the most common and probably most important is your diet. The modern diet offers us an upside-down ratio of fatty acids (too little omega 3s, too much omega 6), too much sugar and simple carbohydrates or high levels of wheat and common food allergens.

High-carb, low-protein diets are pro-inflammatory. The biggest culprits are processed foods, sugary foods, unsaturated oils and trans (hydrogenated) fats. These types of foods are found everywhere in our society: snacks, fast foods, fried foods, pastries and so on. Refined sugar and other foods with high glycemic values increase insulin levels which over stimulate the immune system.

Lastly, be aware of increasing food sensitivities such as gluten, eggs, dairy, soy and nuts.

Prolonged increased levels of insulin are highly associated with chronic inflammation and glycosylation (addition of sugars to protein or lipid molecules). Glycosylation will increase the risk of many diseases including diabetes, heart disease and a number of cancers through the cytokine process.

When inflammation occurs, cytokines (cell-signaling proteins) are released into the blood as part of the healing response. Cytokines, though, can be destructive to our bodies resulting in inflammation, damaging blood vessels, nerve cells, cartilage and other tissues thus leading to further inflammation.

Common symptoms associated with chronic inflammation

Aches and pains Frequent infections Irritable bowel Indigestion Elevated blood pressure Elevated glucose levels Skin outbreaks, eczema Joint swelling Joint stiffness Weight gain/obesity

Other possible causes of chronic inflammation:

• Smoking
• Excessive caffeine
• Illegal drugs
• Alcohol
• Chronic stress
• Menopause
• Environmental toxins

An anti-inflammatory diet is a diet that is “clean” and is not based on the natural building blocks instead of based on the common north american diet that is loaded with high amounts of refined carbohydrates. So try eating good stuff like:

• Fruits and Vegetables
• Seafood
• Lean meats
• Unsaturated fats
• Plenty of water

Also it helps to supplement with the following

Anti-inflammatory supplements – think of the Foods containing these nutrients vs. supplements!

Essential fatty acids (EFA’s, Omega 3s), Folic acid Vitamins A, B, C, D, E Green tea Bioflavonoids (flavonoids)Glucosamine (for joints)

Dr. Dwight Lundell, Heart Surgeon on Chronic Inflammation As a Result of the Imbalance of Omega 3 and Omega 6 Fatty Acids:”The human body cannot process, nor was it designed to consume, foods packed with sugars and soaked in Omega-6 Oils.”

There are a few Oils you should not consume

• Safflower Oil
• Sunflower Oil
• Corn Oil
• Cottonseed Oil
• Sesame Oil
• Peanut Oil
• Soybean Oil
• Canola Oil
• Walnut Oil

Inflammatory Foods to Avoid Always

Simple, highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flour and all the products made from them) in combination with any of the above oils.

What these products do to your body:

Again from Dr. Dwight Lundell, Heart Surgeon:

“Take a moment to visualize rubbing a stiff brush repeatedly over soft skin until it becomes quite red and nearly bleeding.

You kept this up several times a day, every day for five years.

If you could tolerate this painful brushing, you would have a bleeding, swollen infected area that became worse with each repeated injury.

This is a good way to visualize the inflammatory process that could be going on in your body right now.

Regardless of where the inflammatory process occurs, externally or internally, it is the same.”

Several times a day, every day, the foods we eat create small injuries compounding into more injuries, causing the body to respond continuously and appropriately with inflammation.

While we savor the tantalizing taste of a sweet roll, our bodies respond alarmingly as if a foreign invader arrived declaring war.”

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