Six tips to avoid catching a cold or flu over the holidays
It seems as though nearly everyone catches a cold or flu over the holiday season (between December and February). Most people are of the opinion that this is a natural state of affairs, and unavoidable. This is simply not true!
There are many ways to avoid these debilitating and depressing afflictions. Follow the tips below and significantly reduce your odds of becoming ill during the winter months.
1. Avoid sugar. As hard as this might be during the holidays, sugar is the #1 reason people fall ill! Sugar impacts your immune system and makes you more prone to disease. If you can’t go without sweets and desserts during this time, try to significantly reduce the amount you do eat and choose a few specific times you will indulge. Daily sweets will surely impact your health, so avoid those daily chocolate hits at the office!
2. Get adequate sleep. When your sleep is impacted through stress or a busy lifestyle, your immune system is weakened. You should actually sleep a little longer through the night during the winter months, so do attempt to maintain your sleep schedule during the holidays and resist cutting back on your sleeping hours.
3. Don’t stuff yourself. When you overeat, your liver is forced to work extra hard, and this can lead to you getting sick. It might be tempting to eat more than necessary, but try to resist. Another reason to avoid overeating is the fact that gluttony leads to weight gain, because any energy your body doesn’t use gets stored as fat. Stick with smaller meals more often through the day and don’t be pressured into eating “just a little bit more.” Avoid falling into the trap of filling up on appetizers before a meal. Think about what you’re eating and don’t overdo it with alcohol.
4. Reduce stress and prioritize. Prioritize and plan your work and daily activities so that you don’t try to overdo it. When you become overwhelmed and stressed out, your immune system suffers and makes you more susceptible to colds and flu. Try yoga or meditation, or any other relaxing activity (a nice hot bath or alone time) for 20-30 minutes a day where you don’t have to rush around or be anywhere specific.
5. Cook with coconut oil. For a long time, coconut oil was the preferred cooking oil in North America, until the vegetable oil industry spread false rumors about its health benefits. Recent studies prove that coconut oil is healthy and keeps our immune systems strong. Coconut oil is a healthy form of saturated fat. Eat a couple teaspoons of coconut oil each day (in cooking or in a smoothie) to help maintain health.
6. Work out. If you can’t get in both your aerobic and weight lifting workouts and need to skip one, make sure you skip your anaerobic activity rather than your aerobic one. Anaerobic activities like sprints or weight lifting actually add more stress to the body and it is beneficial to skip these types of workouts occasionally to give your body a break. An otherwise stressful time of year like the holidays is the perfect time to give your body this type of break.
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How to Maximize Your Fat-Burning Potential – Guidelines for Athletes
Are you frustrated by that extra stubborn fat that seems to stick to you no matter how hard you train? Do you compete in sports for weight loss – or fat burning?
Many athletes complain about the same thing. They train really hard, they lose weight, but then they hit a plateau and the fat burning seems to hit a wall and stops. There are many reasons for this…but more importantly, there is a solution! Many times, athletes are unable to get down to their ideal weight or body shape because of:
• eating the wrong foods and eating too much
• training too hard, or not taking enough recovery days
• skipping workouts
• getting stressed out about workouts
For me, reality started settling in after college. I needed a fitness and nutrition plan – the mac & cheese and meatless spaghetti diet just wasn’t cutting it. I was developing a spare tire and I never had any energy. I made some major changes to my lifestyle and finally got back to the body I wanted and had more natural energy.
The changes I made were even more important as I started doing triathlons. As an athlete, you need the energy to train twice a day sometimes, and you also have to pay particular attention to your health to avoid injuries and illnesses. You need to keep up your endurance, as well.
So – how can you do this and maximize your fat burning potential? You need to figure out:
• the things those Low Carb, Low Fat, and calorie-restricting diets don’t tell you
• the best and worst foods for maintaining (or gaining) optimum health
• which fats help you lose weight and boost immunity – and which fats you should avoid
• seven items you should look for in a grocery store that will do wonders for your health
• the lies everyone is told about exercising hard to burn calories and why exercise alone is an inefficient way to lose weight
If you’re looking to get into the best shape of your life, while achieving optimum health, you need to train smart, not hard.
Click here to get your free audio (which answers the five issues above), “3 Pillars to Achieving Your Perfect Weight Using the Mind-Body Connection.”
Good luck!
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Paleo Kits & Steve's Original snacks- A Review
In August, I had Steve Liberati on the podcast, the creator of Paleo Kits- snack foods that follow the Paleo diet very closely. He sent me some samples and I was 
able to try them out the past couple of weeks. Here’s what I got:
Original Paleokit: Beef jerky, nuts, and berries
Grass Fed Paleokit: Grass fed beef jerky, nuts, and berries
PaleoKrunch Cereal: Grainless granola cereal made with coconut, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, and honey.
PaleoKrunch Bar: Grainless granola bar made with coconut, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, and honey.
Original Just Jerky: Just Beef Jerky!
Receiving the package of paleo snacks in the mail was excellent timing for me. As I’m trying to eat more and more paleo-ish, one of the hardest things is finding quick, easy snacks that are also healthy. Most of the bars out there are either too high in carb, or they have many chemicals that I can’t pronounce!
I’ve been really enjoying the jerky, nuts and berries. It’s an odd combo, but it has that sweet-salty taste that actually goes well together. And the plain jerky is fantastic for a quick snack when you are really after some extra protein.
The PaleoKrunch cereal has really been a treat! I haven’t eaten cereal in years and usually prepare a breakfast in the morning. But with this cereal, I’m pouring coconut milk over it and it’s good to go. I found that it works best to mix in some light coconut milk with the real thing, so that it mixes well with the contents of the cereal. This meal left me feeling satisfied and energized for hours after- as opposed to regular cereal which used to leave me hungry a short time after eating it! I still would not want to eat PaleoKrunch every day- it seems like more of a twice a week thing, but it’s great if you’re short on time in the morning.
And the bars, they are just the cereal in bar form. They taste great, my only problem with them is that they crumbled in my hands! I guess that’s what happens when they’re not loaded with preservatives!
Overall I definitely recommend Steve’s Original snacks.
Right now, you can get 10% off your order by going to http://stevesoriginal.com and using discount code ‘healthymindfit’.
Enjoy!
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Natural Movement: How to add more fun into your workouts
Over the weekend, I was in San Diego on the beach with Wes (of HMFB fame) and found myself in need of a workout, but didn’t have a lot of time. So we took a walk 
and cooked up a little fitness course. It was very simple, and fast!
There was an empty life guard tower on a mound of sand, and behind it was stairs going up to the boardwalk in two directions. There were some bars on the life guard tower. Not a lot to work with, but we made do.
1. Pull yourself over the bars and jump down the tower stairs.
2. Crawl down the mound of sand.
3. Sprint to the stairs and do a loop- up one side and down the other.
4. Sprint back to the tower, repeat.
We did 4 rounds of this, and WOW that workout packed quite a punch for both of us! The warm-down walk back to the car was well-needed.
The thing about this workout is that it is simple & fast, yet, it works all the muscle groups and energy systems. Walking, sprinting, pulling up, and crawling does a body good!
What is your favorite workout?
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Is it true that fat burns fat?
While low fat diets are slowly making their way to the pages of history (fortunately) as part of a fad that failed miserably in the attempt to collectively help people lose weight and get healthy, we are starting to hear that “eating fat burns fat on your body.” Is this true?
Yes and no.
There really is no such thing as “burning” fat. Your body doesn’t heat up like a furnace when it gets rid of unwanted fat. However, if you have been eating a more traditional high carb, low fat diet, and you are aiming to change in your diet in the effort to lose extra weight, you will have to replace the carbohydrates with something- and dietary fat is a great substitute.
We need fat in our diets to survive. Fat will keep you full far longer than carbohydrates, or even protein. Dietary fats are also the most stable form of energy. Of course, you want to avoid trans fats, like the “partially hydrogenated fat” that we’ve discussed on this blog & podcast, but drop your fear of fat and gravitate towards avocados, nuts, coconut oil, coconut milk, olive oil, meats, etc.
The French have longer life spans than the Americans, and they eat far more fat than we do, in general.
Adding more fat to your diet will not suddenly “burn” fat off your body. But if you strategically replace a good amount of the carbohydrates you currently consume with calories from fat, you will, in the long run, have a much easier time getting to the thin body you want!
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Carbo Loading, Exercise, and Low Carb Diets
“Carbo loading” is encouraged in many running groups in the week leading up to any race. I had thought this practice went out with the 80s! Unfortunately, this is a thriving attitude among different endurance sports athletes and groups.
Many people who are looking to lose weight, burn off fat, and improve their health will join groups- running groups, swimming groups, triathlon groups, etc. This is a great idea as it can lead to a higher level of motivation, as well as an improved social life!
The truth is, the best fuel to use during any endurance exercise is not sugar but fat. Yes – “carbo loading” simply means you are building up glycogen stores, which means you have sugar to use as fuel. But the more efficient you are at fat burning, you will be able to go longer (and farther). Stu Mittleman, Slow Burn, is one of the greatest distance runners of all time. He normally eats a ratio of 40-30-30 (carbs-protein-fat), but when training for an event, he increases his fat to 50 percent of his diet!
I have found this way of eating also beneficial when I occasionally train for a race. Otherwise, with a high level of carbohydrates in my diet, I end up on this roller coaster ride where I have to keep consuming more carbs to keep up my energy levels- otherwise I will crash! Does this sound healthy?
So unless you are an English Channel swimmer, and want to store some extra fat, carbo loading isn’t a useful practice- and the science is behind this.
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Hidden Poison in Your Food
Did you know there could be poison in some of your favorite processed foods? Everything from bread and crackers to chips, cookies, energy bars, and frozen pizza, and thousands of more packaged goods, are examples of foods with this hidden killer. The poison in these foods is called partially hydrogenated fat, often 
called trans-fatty acids.
Trans-fatty acids are usually made from a vegetable oil like soybean, cottonseed, corn, or rapeseed (canola). Those oils have been treated by a process called hydrogenation where it is highly processed to make it a solid at room temperature.
When margarine first came on the market, consumers were fed a brain-washing marketing scam that told them that if they replaced butter with this margarine, their risks of heart disease and cancer would be lowered. That didn’t happen – in fact, it later became evident that the chemical process used to solidify vegetable oils to make them look like a saturated fat actually caused the very illnesses they were trying to avoid!
Harmful effects of trans-fatty acids:
-cause you to burn sugar and store fat
-increase levels of LDL (low-density lipoproteins) or “bad” cholesterol
-decrease levles of HDL (high-density lipoproteins) or “good” cholesterol
-increase your perception of pain
According to the law, as of 2006, food manufacturers must list trans fats on the nutritional information labels on foods and so now consumers may be more aware of what is in their food. However, some manufacturers try to convince you that their products are “low in trans fats” by advertising as such…but keep in mind that even small amounts are harmful!
To be safe, avoid all foods containing any amount of trans-fatty acids. Most foods that sit on a shelf (baked goods, snacks, peanut butter, cookies, crackers, and candy bars) will contain hydrogenated – or partially hydrogenated – oils. Even some “healthy” diet products marketed for weight loss contain this poison!
Don’t go with the crowd and eat that stuff just because it’s there, or because everyone else is. Convenience is not more important than your health. Read those labels!
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My Natural Movement workshop with Erwan Le Corre
On Saturday, I participated in Erwan LeCorre’s MovNat workshop here in Austin, TX.
We interviewed Erwan on our podcast which was posted last week, and had a great time discussing what MovNat is and the type of exercise we did as children translated into the adult world.
Not something we attempted at the workshop!
So on Saturday, I got to experience the real thing. It was a cool (by Texas standards) morning when we got going at 7 am. We started with some basic concepts like how to effectively use your body with gravity as opposed to against gravity. We discovered throughout the 6 hour course how to utilize energy most effectively when running, climbing, carrying, and jumping. All exercises in MovNat have a practical function in nature. It was pretty much a fitness re-education for me!
I had a few revelations this day.
One is, we discussed the traditional ways in which people exercise. Erwan pointed out that there is no practical reason to do multiple “reps” of various exercises, [CORRECTION FROM ERWAN: "Actually, we do repeat moves in MovNat! Only that it is not the sole way to train/move. Series of reps are most of the time combined with other movements, to favor the ability to transition (with ease, speed and accuracy), instead of always separating movements (different series for different movements), or reps (taking a break between series of reps). Also, the types of movements that can be performed as series are much more varied that in a conventional approach of fitness. That is because is MovNat, natural movement IS the conditioning. 100% of movements that are performed are either the real, complete movement, or a segment of them, so that repeating them will condition us to ultimately perform natural movement (practical and adaptive physical action) with max efficiency."]
such as the classic 10 pushups. When in nature will you suddenly need to do multiple pushups? Or squats? With the exercise in MovNat, you don’t do things in order to build muscle, but building muscle is a result of the things you do.
After the first part of this course, my view of fitness and exercise was already changing!
The other thing I noticed is, whatever the exercise is in MovNat, it involves using your core muscles. Even though we did a lot of pulling ourselves up and jumping, my arms and legs were not sore the next day- but my abs and glutes were definitely sore!
The course was not brutally hard in terms of the amount of exercise we did throughout the day. However, the last couple of hours with the hot Texas sun beating down on me, I started to fade. While everyone else in the clinic was from Texas and at least somewhat used to exercise in 98 degree temps, the wimpy Californian boy was not! The good thing was, there was no humidity that day, so 98 felt like 98 instead of 108!
We finished up the day with a circuit of sorts, that Erwan invented, using our surroundings- which consisted of stairs and picnic tables. We had to sprint up the stairs, crawl down a few steps, jump up onto a table, and jump down. This was repeated 5 times. After we finished that, I think one of the guys in the class wanted to do more, but I was pretty satisfied with my day overall- and ready to jump in the natural springs pool right next to where we were doing the training.
The pool was cold and felt FANTASTIC! I did a couple of laps, thanked Erwan for the day, and headed home- where eating and sleeping were the order for the rest of the day.
Overall, the MovNat clinic was a physical and mental challenge that opened up my mind to creativity, and has me now wanting to do more of this. I’m already thinking of new routines for my workouts this week, and how I can go back to having FUN at each and every workout!
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Slow the Aging Process: A How-To Guide
While most commercially-available “anti-aging” products are complete scams and a huge waste of money, there are several things you can do for FREE to slow down signs of aging. Here are some 
ideas:
-Reduce your sugar intake. A high carb/sugar diet weakens your immune system and causes wrinkles. Studies have shown that high levels of sugar in the body can be just as damaging to your skin’s appearance and health as nicotine and unhealthy exposure to UV radiation.
-Take fish oils. The Omega-3 essential fatty acids found in fish oils help lower your blood pressure, improve your mood and maintain brain health. All three of those things are associated with longer, healthier lives.
-Eat your greens. Many of the nutrients in dark leafy green vegetables help slow aging and can even prevent age-related illness.
-Get safe sun exposure. Your body needs UVB exposure in order to manufacture Vitamin D. Vitamin D fights cancer, obesity, diabetes, builds bones, and is a general, all-around tonic for enhanced performance. 20 minutes a day of peak sunlight (during warm months) should do it.
-Drink green tea and reap the benefits. In addition to the benefits of anti-oxidants, studies have shown that green tea aids in fat-burning and lowers “bad” cholesterol levels.
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Is it Possible to Use Exercise to Lose Weight? Part 1
It seems wrong, somehow, to say that exercise shouldn’t be your focus when you’re trying to lose weight.
But it’s true.
There are thousands of fitness plans that tell people to exercise more and eat less in order to lose weight. The benefits of exercise are well-known (even I exercise almost on a daily basis), but is this method effective in successful weight loss and ideal weight maintenance?
Answer: no way! Sure, the people in those (in)famous before and after photos included some form of exercise in their weight loss plans, and most probably followed a restrictive calorie-counting diet with lots of exercise. That may be effective, short-term, but for the most part, these results will not last.
These diets fail because the emphasis is misplaced. Instead of increasing exercise, many people have dropped pounds of fat simply by reducing their carbohydrate consumption – no exercise involved! I’m not recommending a sedentary lifestyle by any means; it’s not healthy. But most (some say 80-85%) of your success in achieving a permanently fit body is a result of your nutrition, not how many hours a day you perform cardiovascular exercises.
The reason this works?
When you exercise, your appetite is often stimulated, and you may be tempted to overeat.
Another reason is that most fitness programs are not sustainable for most people; they simply cannot maintain an exercise-intensive and calorie-restrictive diet.
Finally, exercise can act almost as a fix for psychological addictions to food or certain types of food: for example, a brief period of exercise will often relieve you of your intense craving for chocolate.
In Part 2 we will explore these above-mentioned three aspects of fat burning and fitness plans in more detail.
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