Tag: Nuts And Seeds

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Weight Loss Exercise

Quick Ways to Gain Weight


Most people are desperate to lose a few extra pounds, but there are also many people who are more interested in finding quick ways to gain weight. Being thin is not a good thing, because underweight people often have weaker immune systems, get sick easily, and recover more slowly from an illness. If you don’t want to look thin and malnourished, here’s what you can do to fill out your body in a healthy way.

High-calorie diet to Gain Weight

Quick Ways to Gain Weight

Let’s face it. You can’t gain weight if you don’t eat enough. The fastest way to gain weight is to include calorie-dense foods in your diet. In order to gain one pound per week, you need to consume about 500 calories more than you burn per day. Stay healthy by choosing high-calorie foods that are rich in nutrients.

  • Include healthy fats and oils in your diet. On a weight basis, fats and oils pack twice the number of calories found in carbohydrates and proteins. A tablespoon of fat or oil contains about 100 to 120 calories. Add healthy oils such as olive oil to salads, pasta, grilled meats and vegetables. Canola and sesame oil are also good choices. Nuts and seeds provide calories and heart-healthy oils as well.
  • Eat bigger portions. By eating more of your regular food, you’ll automatically consume more calories, which is a quick way to gain weight. Use a bigger plate so you can pile on more food. Try having second or third helpings.
  • Snack more often. Keep high-calorie foods such as nuts and dried fruits handy so you can snack on them between meals. Nuts provide about 160 to 200 calories per ounce. One-half cup of raisins has about 250 calories. Other high-calorie but less healthy snack options include cookies, chocolates candies, and corn chips. Frequent snacking is a quick way to gain weight.
  • Drink high-calorie beverages. Liquid sources can also add hundreds of calories to your total daily intake. Fruit juices, protein shakes and smoothies provide essential nutrients and calories. Avoid soft drinks; their calories come from sugars and are devoid of nutrition.

Exercise Regularly to Gain Weight

If you think that exercise is only for those who want to lose weight, you’re in for a big surprise. Regular exercise is a quick and healthy way to gain weight. A trainer can recommend exercises that will help you gain weight more quickly. Strength training exercises build muscles and help fill out your body. Extended periods of cardio exercise burn fat, so you may want to limit your cardio workout to no more than 20 minutes at a time.

The best exercises to gain weight are the ones that work multiple muscle groups. These exercises are called compound exercises. Examples of compound exercises are Squats, Deadlifts, Bench presses, and military presses. Doing lower rep sets (5-8 reps) for four or five sets would help to build muscle and your weight as well.

Physical exercise also has a way of increasing your appetite. When you eat more, you’ll gain weight more quickly.

Get enough rest to Gain Weight

You need to sleep and rest in order to allow your body to repair and rebuild itself. Muscle weight gain takes place while you sleep. Give your body sufficient rest so that it can develop muscle and mass.

Eating well, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep are the quickest ways to gain weight while staying healthy.

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Weight Loss Exercise

What is a Macrobiotic diet



Macrobiotic diet is a diet formulated by the belief that food, and the quality of food, has an affect on a person’s life on a greater extent than most people realize. Practitioners of a macrobiotic diet believe that food has an affect on health, as well as happiness and well being. Those who follow a macrobiotic diet believe that natural foods with little to no processing are the best choice of food. In addition, they believe in using traditional methods of cooking and they enjoy cooking for themselves, as well as for family and friends.

Creation of the Macrobiotic Diet

Literally translated, macrobiotics means “great life.” Physicians and philosophers from around the world have associated macrobiotics with living in harmony with nature while eating a simple and balanced diet. In the 1920’s, George Ohsawa, who founded the modern form of macrobiotics, claimed to have cured himself from a serious illness by changing his diet. Ohsawa believed in the Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang. They yin represents outward centrifugal movement and the yang represents inward centrifugal movement. Yin and yang are always opposite, with yin being sweet, cold, and passive and with yang being salty, hot, and aggressive. In a macrobiotic diet, the yin and yang need to be kept in balance for good health.

What is a Macrobiotic Diet?

What is a Macrobiotic diet

Foods in a Macrobiotic Diet

Macrobiotics emphasizes locally grown whole grain cereals, pulses (legumes), vegetables, seaweed, fermented soy products and fruit, combined into meals according to the principle of balance (known as yin and yang). Dietary recommendations include whole grains, such as brown rice, and other whole grain products, such as buckwheat pasta (soba); a variety of cooked and raw vegetables; beans and bean products, such as tofu, tempeh and miso; sea vegetables; mild natural seasonings; fish; nuts and seeds; mild (non-stimulating) beverages, such as bancha twig tea; and fruit. Certain types of vegetable-fruits, such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, are not recommended and are either avoided altogether or used very sparingly. Macrobiotics is an approach to life rather than a diet. General Guidelines for the diet are:

  • Whole grains, especially brown rice: 30-50%
  • Vegetables: 25-50%
  • Beans and Bean Products: 10-20 %
  • Miso soup: daily
  • Seaweed: small amounts daily

All foods included in the macrobiotic diet must be organically grown. Whole grains, such as barley, brown rice, oats, millets, rye, core, buckwheat and whole wheat are thought to be the most balanced of foods in a macrobiotic diet. Therefore, these foods make up about 50 to 60% of the macrobiotic practitioner’s diet. Whole grains are the preferred type of grain in a macrobiotic diet, but small portions of bread and pasta derived from refined flour are acceptable. The remainder is composed of fish and seafood, seeds and nuts, seed and nut butters, seasonings, sweeteners, fruits, and beverages. Other naturally raised animal products may be included if needed during dietary transition or according to individual needs.

How to Get Started on Macrobiotics

A person considering adopting the Macrobiotic diet should spend some time researching the philosophy as well as the specific foods and cooking techniques used. It is very likely that if a macrobiotic way of eating is adopted “cold turkey” that one will have vast cravings for a few days to a few weeks. However, one may choose to transition into a full macrobiotic way of eating and being. The best way to transition to a macrobiotic diet, however, is to first employ a wholefoods diet for several months before going into the more restrictive macrobiotic way of eating and being. A wholefoods diet requires erradicating all heavily processed and refined foods such as granulated sugar, refined flour, and most canned or pre-prepared foods. Next, one would begin erradicating all dairy products and red meat, while utilizing only whole grains. Finally, particularly during these transition periods, it is important to be very aware of what is going on in your body and your body’s response to the foods you intake. A person following a macrobiotic diet only drinks when thirsty. The only drinks that are generally accepted in a macrobiotic diet are teas, which are made from dandelion greens, roasted grains, or the leftover cooking water from preparing soba noodles. Teas containing caffeine or aromatic fragrances are unacceptable. In addition, all cooking water and drinking water must be purified before use.

Vitamin Supplementation

Don’t try this diet without consulting a dietitian – otherwise you might end up with nutritional deficiencies. Taking a multi-vitamin supplement everyday might be in order, unless you eat a good amount of sea vegetables. Since the macrobiotic diet plan includes very little fish, you could end up with a deficiency of omega 3 fatty acids.

Exercising on This Diet

The macrobiotic diet doesn’t address exercise. As a given, though, no diet is complete without some form of moderate exercise. Try to be as active as possible every single day. Just cleaning the house and scrubbing the floors can provide fitness benefits. You might also want to consider engaging in systematic exercise programs like martial arts and yoga.

Should you Try a Macrobiotic Diet?

The macrobiotic diet plan requires a lot of commitment since it’s about making permanent changes to your lifestyle and daily eating habits. If your primary goal is to lose weight then this might not be the diet plan for you. The idea behind this diet is to strive for a long, healthy life. It’s appealing to those who want to take a holistic approach to their well-being which is What a macrobiotic diet is. The macrobiotic diet is more than just a diet, it is a lifestyle, and it embraces a simplistic diet bound closely to nature.

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Weight Loss Exercise

The Caveman Diet



I receive a monthly newsletter from Tom Venuto, the famous fitness book writer that wrote Burn the Fat Feed The Muscle (link to the review I did a little while ago of the book). He had a great question and answer that I wanted to share about The Caveman Diet, a diet that I myself had never heard of.

QUESTION:

Hi Tom,

The Caveman DietYour Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle ebook was an eye-opener for me. I am following your advice closely with very good results. I’m a semi professional windsurfer and a mountain biker, and especially for the latter I need to be as lean as possible. Thanks in large part to your program, I’m well into a single digit body fat and dropping.

Just recently I came across a book called the paleolithic diet and I was wondering if you ever heard about it? What’s your opinion on this book? Is it worth reading if I already have your book? Is the program any good?

Regards,

Mariusz G.
Poland

ANSWER:

The “paleolithic,” “stone age,” “cave man,” or “neanderthal” eating plans have been around for a while and there are quite a few books that have been written on the subject.

In general, with a only few minor constructive criticisms, I think they are right on point, and will benefit your health and definitely your fat loss efforts.

What is the Caveman Diet?

A “Paleo Diet” is actually quite similar to my Burn The Fat program, only with the starches and grains (and dairy products) removed completely.

In fact, a “paleo” or “cave man” diet is very, very similar to the “contest” (bodybuilding or physique) diets I recommend in Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle and this is most definitely a great way get very lean, very fast.

The Caveman Diet

Paleo Diet Food

On physique competition diets (bodybuilding, fitness, figure, etc), you leave the lean proteins, lean meats, nuts and seeds, the green veggies (fibrous carbs), and some fruit in the diet, while reducing or removing ALL processed foods and SOME of the grains and starches. (usually the dairy products go too).

When it comes to MAXIMUM FAT LOSS, the removal or reduction of grains and calorie dense starchy carbs in favor of lean protein and veggies will definitely help speed the process – even if that’s only because it reduces caloric density of the food intake, although there are other reasons. Lean protein (fish and meat) + good fats nuts + lots of green veggies + some fruit = LEAN! And thats basically what the “paleolithic” diets recommend, because the principle there is to eat like our “stone age” ancestors did – before there was McDonalds, Coca Cola and other junk food.

The premise is that since our genetic code (the human genome) has changed less than 0.02 percent in 40,000 years, this means that our bodies are still expecting to get the same foods and nutrition they were getting 40,000 years ago.

By eating what our “stone age” hunter and gatherer ancestors ate, say the paleo diets, we will rid ourselves of the health problems and the obesity problem that has only recently begun to plague us as a result of modern lifestyle and processed manmade foods.

What was Food Like in Caveman Time?

Forty thousand years ago, you had to eat nature-made food. There was no food in cans, boxes or packages was there? The packaging was peel, a skin or a shell!

There were no TV dinners. There was no drive in fast food. There were no convenience stores.

There was no corn syrup. There was no white sugar. There were no hydrogenated oils. No chemicals. No preservatives. No artificial anything

There was only what could be hunted and gathered: Meat, fish, nuts, seeds, plants, vegetables, fruits.

My only real constructive criticism is that some of these programs not only recommend removal of all grains and starches (and even dairy), they outright condemn them – sometimes unfairly, I believe.

They say that agriculture arrived on the scence only 10,000 years ago so foods produced as a result of agriculture should also be on the “banned” list and that includes 100% whole grain products and even rice, potatoes and other starches which are not manmade.

Are all Starches Bad?

the truth is there are some starchy carbohydrates and grains which are very minimally processed or completely unproceseed (the only processing being cooking).

Also, some people can metabolically handle starches and grains just fine, while others cannot. The same can be said for dairy products.

This is known as metabolic individuality. Because this individuality exists from person to person, I don’t believe it’s necessary to recommend that “EVERYONE” cut out “ALL” the starches and grains “ALL” the time.

I do believe that many people are getting an overdose of refined carbs and sugar and that moderating intake of concentrated carbs almost always accelerates fat loss.

However, the nutrition program you choose should depend on your metabolic/body type, your current body composition and state of health as well as your goals (maximum fat loss vs. muscle growth vs. maintenance, vs. endurance athleticperformance).

I don’t believe that “agriculture” and everything that came with it is “evil.”

I believe that highly processed and refined and packaged foods are the “nutritional evils” we should be aware of.

To remove brown rice, 100% whole grains, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, legumes and so on for healthy carb tolerant people, especially those who are highly active and or already at a normal body fat level doesnt make a lot of sense to me.

In particular, for athletes with a high energy expenditure, eating the concentrated complex, starchy carbs and grains – from natural sources – can be quite important.

Sure, there are some “renegade’ nutritionists who prescribe high fat diets for endurance athletes and claim that will provide high energy and high performance, but that is controversial.

Also, an explanation for athletes successful on such plans may be that they are metabolically suited for more fat and protein to begin with, so that conclusion shouldn’t be generalized to everyone.

thats the trouble with so many programs — the creators might say, “It worked for me and for some of my clients, so this is the way EVERYONE should do it.”

Everyone is different, so the true inquiring minds will inquire about what is best for THEM, not the other guy… In the case of highly active healthy people and athletes, I would lean towards a decent amount of natural carbs forperformance goals (and pull back on starches and grains when goals change to maximum fat loss).

The key word here is NATURAL!

There is a HUGE difference between natural starches and grains and refined starches and grains.

For example, look at old fashioned unsweetened oatmeal versus sugary, white flour cereal grains. How can you throw those together into the same category??? They are no where near the same, but often they get lumped together by those who are adamantly “no-grain” or “no-cereal” allowed.

What about sweet potatoes? why cut something like that out of your diet? They are not processed or man made at all are they?

Aside from that minor quibble I have with some of these programs being too strict with their “Absolutely no grains or starch allowed,” there is a lot anyone can learn from the “paleolithic” eating concept.

The questions raised from these programs and books are good ones:

“What were we eating tens of thousands of years ago?”

“What are we genetically and environmentally predisposed to eat?”

“what has gone wrong with the modern day diet that has led to so much disease and obesity which didn’t exist thousands of years ago?”

What Should you Eat?

I believe that too many people get caught up in low fats or low carbs or whatever the trend of the month is, but the real source of our problem is neither fat nor carbs, it is an excess of processed, refined man-made food! (combined with a serious shortage of exercise)

If you study and understand the concept of eating according to your personal goals and your unique body/metabolic type first, which I discuss in chapter 5 of my book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, then I believe you will get even more benefit from the further study of the “paleo” eating concept, as you will be informed and flexible enough to adapt it to your personal situation.

Loren Cordain and Ray Audette have written two of the more notable works on the subject (the Paleo diet and Neanderthin). You can get either of these at almost any bookstore or Amazon.com. You can get my Burn The Fat program at http://www.burnthefat.com

ANY good nutrition program – for health or for fat loss – is going to be focused on natural foods and it will teach you how to get the processed food OUT and the natural food IN

keep in mind what Fitness Icon Jack Lalanne has always said,

“If man made it, dont eat it!”

THAT is the essence of eating how we’re supposed to eat!

Until next week, train hard and expect success,

Your friend and coach,

Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Certified Personal Trainer
Certified Strength Conditioning Specialist
Fat Loss Coach