Ambassador of Wellness : nutrition, fitness

How to Rock a Strapless Dress

Eliz — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:14:57 GMT

Hey there, I just had a few questions that aren't derby related. I am getting married in April and have been working out 4-5 times a week on top of derby now. I am concerned about toning my arms (among other things) because my dress is strapless. I have some okay biceps going due to my job but my triceps are pretty squishy. Do you have any tips on focusing on lengthening and toning arm muscles? I have a few small weights and treadmill, as well as doing push ups and working with a resistance band. Any advice to add to my routine would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Chelsea Handle Her

This is such a great question that I decided to answer it in a blog post because I think it's a topic that many folks want the answer to: whether getting married, or preparing for a school reunion, getting in shape for bathing suit season, or just wanting to look our best for ourselves!

First, let me dispel a myth that some folks in the fitness community would have us believing.

Genetics determines the shape of our bodies & although we can increase & decrease the amount of fat & muscle we have on our bodies, we can't change the length or shape of our muscles.
Genetics also determines where we store fat on our bodies. Therefore, we can't choose where we store or reduce fat on our bodies.

So, getting beautifully sculpted arms & upper body require a three pronged approach: Proper diet, cardiovascular exercise & strength training.

Proper Diet

Exercise is important, but eating properly is probably 75% of the battle. You can workout really hard & have gorgeous muscles, but if you can't see them, what's the point? Therefore, you need to eat fewer calories than you burn. This will allow you to show off your beautifully sculpted arms & back!

Here are some Nutritional Guidelines that I adhere to. As far as calorie needs go, start by multiplying your weight by 11. As you lose weight, keep multiplying your weight by 11 to reduce your calorie budget. Log your food to make sure that you're staying within that calorie budget. There are lots of online tools that you can use to log your food:

If you want a tool that you can use on your smartphone, checkout:

Cardio

You want to break a sweat for a minimum of 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. The more intense the exercise, the more calories it will burn. Although cardiovascular health is important, the reason it's key here, is simply to burn calories. The more movement you can add to your day, the more calories you'll burn & therefore creating more of a calorie deficit. A calorie deficit will result in fat loss & you'll be able to show off those beautiful muscles you're working so hard to sculpt through your strength training.

Strength Training

Strength training is important because if you only focus on losing weight, you'll just become a smaller version of your bigger self. Strength training allows you to provide some structure to your body. Even if you still have a layer of body fat over your muscles, you'll still look better because there's something there to support it. Liken this to wearing a bustier without boning versus one with; the boning provides support so that the bustier sits up & doesn't sag.

When strength training, I like to focus on major muscle groups: Chest, Back & Legs. I do this because your major muscle groups have more muscle mass than the smaller muscle groups (arms, abs, calves) & therefore will have a larger impact in boosting metabolism. Strength train 2-3 times a week.

Push-ups are a FANTASTIC exercise! They're hard because they work so many muscles in your body. Pushups are mainly a chest exercise. I also really like Chest Flys.
Back exercises that you can do with resistance bands & hand weights include Rows & Pull-Downs. Straight Arm Press Downs & Dumbell Pull Overs are also great for the Lats (aka: bra-fat muscle)
Finally, I'd also suggest that working shoulders with shoulder presses & lateral raises are super important.

I also like this post from Mark's Daily Apple which outlines a really good total body bodyweight routine.

Finally, Congratulations on your marriage! You'll look gorgeous no matter what!

Bodybugg or No Bodybugg that is the Question?

Eliz — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:29:00 GMT

Yesterday, I posted an article about whether the Bodybugg is useful for fitness pros. It was spurred by a conversation on twitter with another personal trainer, out of Seattle, @Targettraining. He asked if he could post a response. Here it is:

Guest Post by Shayne P. Norton

In the small article I will discuss why the Bodybugg is not for everyone, and why would you want it. So there are many controversies about calories in versus calories out, fat loss and weight loss. Well I am here to tell you the difference and obsession with the people of today.

I have learned in my field of personal training that personal trainers will lie to you at a corporate gym due to the pressure of sales from the management. Trust me I have been there and done that, also if there is a personal trainer that has said that they haven’t I would not trust them. A lot of trainers also do not know much about nutrition as well, especially with gadgets like the Bodybugg out there. Equipment like that is more focused on weight loss instead of the main idea of a wellness coach or nutritional consultant, which should be what do you eat? Why and what times do eat? How often do eat? These are things that trainers lack now days. Did you know that most trainers now have a garbage certification or none at all? A lot of gym now will hire trainers without experience, and then just have them take a 40 hour class getting them an Apex certification or Bodybugg Certification and all these teach you are how to use the Bodybugg and sell the apex supplement line. That is not what people need these days, they should actually be explained on why the need to eat the right foods and how important it is to eat throughout the day. People with the Bodybugg do seem to do a few things one is not entering everything that they have eaten so in that way the Bodybugg is not useful if you do not enter everything, and another is they become so OCD on having a calorie loss that they constantly have the calorie deficient to long in turn lowering their metabolism. So what that means is when they first started it is good weight is going down starting to see some results, then the body does its job…it adjusts to what you have done and starts to be more efficient at burning calories. Which we know as a plateau. This also happens when people do the same thing with cardio. Adaptation and your body overcomes what you are doing. So there is no reason to spend the money on a Bodybugg when it is all about education. The bottom line is if you do have a personal trainer that knows what they are doing, they will not sell you a Bodybugg; that person will educate you enough to overcome any of the obstacles that will happen to you. It should be focused more on getting rid of the fat on the body than dropping weight. Example of this is when you see someone doing the same thing over and over how much change do you see? You may see that person get smaller but not get anymore definition, which is what you are trying to do…get RID OF THE BODY FAT!!!! That is my focus and I have had total and optimal success doing this without the Bodybugg.

My response:

I agree with most of what Shayne is saying, however, I still think that they bodybugg is a fantastic tool. Again, it allows people to self monitor. It allows people to see the impact of being sedentary all day. It clearly illustrates that although I exercised today, if I don't keep moving for the remainder of the day, all of my hard work is going to be gone.

I have no response to personal trainers not being qualified in exercise science or nutrition as I have never worked in a mega-mart gym. I don't think you can blame the bodybugg for having a crappy personal trainer. It reinforces the fact that everyone should be an informed consumer - do your research on anything that you purchase.

EDITED 6/11/09:

I'm an introvert (at least that's what the Meyer's Briggs Test tells me), and that means that sometimes it takes me a bit to process my thoughts. I'd just like to add that not everyone has a personal trainer. Personal trainers are expensive and not sustainable. Hopefully, if you use one, you'll be able to get enough information from them in order to be able workout on your own. But for people who aren't fortunate enough to afford a personal trainer, and aren't sure if they're working out at the intensity that they should be, I still believe that the bodybugg is a fantastic tool. You don't need a personal trainer to lose weight. Yes, they will help get you to your goals faster, but they aren't required to lead a healthy life. And for people who don't know where to start, it's eye opening. Although I had kept a food journal for years, the difference that the bodybugg made for me was that it motivated me to move more when I wasn't working out, and I AM a personal trainer!

I also reverted the article to how it was submitted to me. I had edited the piece & decided that it wasn't fair to the author.

Copyright Elizabeth Sherman. Purchase a Bodybugg through Elizabeth Sherman.

8 Reasons Why You Keep Falling Off The Diet Wagon

Eliz — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:14:40 GMT

Guest Blog Post By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com

Clearly, we have an obesity problem in America and many other countries across our planet. Yet, I propose that we do not have a weight loss problem today. In case you’re confused at this apparent contradiction, consider these statistics:

According to a study from Oxford University published in the International Journal of Obesity, within 3 to 5 years, about 80 percent of all ‘weight losers’ have regained the lost weight, and often gained back a little extra.

According to research by the National Weight Control Registry, that relapse rate may be as high as 95 percent.

For comparison, relapse rates for drug, alcohol and tobacco dependency have been reported in the range of 50-90%.

This means that lots and lots of people have “successfully” lost weight. But not many have kept it off. Therefore, we don’t have a weight loss problem, we have a weight-relapse problem; we have a “not sticking with it” problem. Wouldn’t you agree?

In fact, the fall and subsequent weight-regain usually doesn’t take years. Many people have abandoned their new year’s resolutions within weeks. By the time the Super Bowl party rolls around, their diet is history!

If this is true, then shouldn’t we put more of our attention onto figuring out why you haven’t been sticking with your program, and what you should do about it?

I put together this new list (below) of the top 8 reasons why you fall off the wagon.

Rather than worrying about the minutiae of your diet plan, like whether you should be on low carb or high carb, Mediterranean or Okinawan, vegetarian or meat eater, I propose that if you simply focus on these 8 issues, you’ll start getting more lasting results.

How? By being able to stick with whichever plan you decided was best for you! After all, even if you have the best nutrition program in the world - on paper - it doesn’t do you much good if you can’t stick with it in practice!

THE 8 REASONS

1. No focus: you didn’t set goals, you didn’t put your goals in writing, and/or you didn’t stay focused on your goals daily (by reading them, affirming them, looking at a vision board, etc.)

2. No priorities: you may have set a goal, but you didn’t put it on or near the top of your priorities list. For example, your goal is six pack abs, but drinking beer and eating fast food on the weekend is higher on your priorities list than having a flat stomach.

3. No support system: you tried to go at it alone; no buddy system, training partners, family, spouse, friends, mentors or coaches to turn to for information and emotional support when the going got tough.

4. No Accountability: you didn’t keep score for your own accountability – with a progress chart, weight record, measurements, food journal, training journal, and you didn’t set up external accountability (ie, report to someone else or show your results to someone else)

5. No patience: you were only thinking short term and had unrealistic expectations. You expected 10 pounds a week or 5 pounds a week or 3 pounds a week, so the first week you lost “only” 1 or 2 pounds or hit a plateau, you gave up.

6. No planning: you winged it. You walked into the gym without having a workout in hand, on paper, you didn’t plan your workouts into your weekly schedule; you didn’t have a menu on paper, you didn’t make time (so instead you made excuses, like “I’m too busy”)

7. No balance: your diet or training program was too extreme. You went the all or nothing, “I want it now” route instead of the moderate, slow-and-steady wins the race route.

8. No personalization: your nutrition or training program was the wrong one for you. It might have worked for someone else, but it didn’t suit your schedule, personality, lifestyle, disposition or body type.

So there you have it – 8 reasons why most people fall off the wagon! Have you been making these mistakes? If so, the solutions are clear and simple: focus, prioritize, get support, be accountable, be patient, plan, balance and personalize.

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com

You Can't Fool Mother Nature

Eliz — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:32:00 GMT

Last night I saw this commercial for the Jenny Craig weight loss system. It's Valerie Bertinelli stating that for the first year in 20 years that she will not be making a new year's resolution for weight loss, because she has hit her goal & maintained it.

The commercial kind of hit a chord with me because I feel very similarly. For the first time since I've been on my nutrition journey, I feel like I'm not 'white knuckling' it.

People who know me probably want to smack me right now. They'd probably say, "What the h*ll are you talking about? You're not fat."

I was over-fat 10 years ago & came to my smaller resting size about 6-7 years ago. To the unobserving eye, although my weight has shifted in small increments (maybe not even enough to notice), I haven't had huge fluctuations; I am at a good size for my height. I seem to have my weight under control.

Over that time though, a LOT has been happening inside my head.

I went from knowing nothing about calories, or nutrition & eating anything I wanted
to becoming a lacto-ovo-pesco vegetarian because I knew that I wasn't eating the right things, but I didn't really know how to make those right choices.
to food journaling & counting calories. I severely reduced my calories to sub-healthy levels.
to following the Body-for-Life way of eating with a cheat-day. Okay - so this program is actually very good. However, with my mindset, I went waaaay overboard with the cheat-day; I would go to bed sick from eating too much crap.
to taking endless fat burning supplements & spending way too much money on them in hopes that this one would make me thin.
to becoming a bodybuilder & following a VERY strict diet & loving what I saw in the mirror only to be disappointed with my social life. What I did learn here though was that I could go to a party & not have to eat & drink to have fun; AND that no one was paying attention to or cared what I was eating or drinking. Very Valuable!
to eating whole foods, but not pre-portioning my servings.
to eating intuitively, but backing that up with a food journal & the bodybugg just to make sure that I'm on moving enough & eating enough (not too much) to support my activity.

All of the early techniques were ways that I thought I could fool the system. But the body knows. I was trying to short cut the inevitable; eating fake food (protein bars, shakes, & other 'healthy marketed' food substitutes), or cheat days where I would take in an excess of 5000 calories. I would just have to make good choices & move more.

What it comes down to is making sensible food choices & being active. Yes, there's room for treats, in fact life is about enjoyment. What would life be without a few cookies? The difference that this year makes is that I feel like I finally have my head on straight.

I've also come to appreciate ... what was that margarine commercial from the 1970's? You can't fool Mother Nature.

I'm not going to feel guilty on Vacation

Eliz — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:19:00 GMT

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was on vacation last week; and I ate. A lot! So the next question you might ask is, "Did you wear your Bodybugg?" No, I did not. I wore it when I exercised - because I have the display device, and I wanted to know how many calories I was burning. There were a few days that I really wish that I had worn it because Gary & I were so active that I was curious to know how many calories I was burning.

The main reason I didn't wear it was because of the food. I was going to eat what I wanted to eat regardless of how many calories I burned; and also add to it that I was eating restaurant food, which, in my opinion, is more difficult to estimate calories than the national debt. I was on vacation, and I didn't want to feel guilty for drinking a beer at lunch. If I had logged my food, it would have ruined the enjoyment of sitting on the water with my husband drinking a beer, eating oysters & steamers.

Wearing the bodybugg without logging your food is similar to logging your food & not knowing your calorie burn; It's only half of the equation.Additionally, I only had web access part of the time while I was there.

For those reasons, wearing the bodybugg on vacation didn't make sense.

What I really like about the bodybugg is being able to make timely ad-hoc decisions about my food based on my activity level for the day. If you wear the device all day & eat what you want, but don't upload the data to the website (even if you have entered your food online - but even worse if you haven't), You could be way off track with your eating plan.

We all know that overeating will make us gain weight - the same could happen if you drastically undereat. For me, hunger carries over to the next day. So, if I undereat one day, I could be setting myself up for a binge the next day - and that's not good for anyone either. If you have a bodybugg, check in with your calorie alotment throughout the day - see how you're doing. If you've planned meals, see how they fit in with your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). Ideally, you want your calorie consumption to mimick your calorie burn as the day progresses (meaning that the time of day that you burn the most calories is ideally the time of day that you consume the most calories). Although, research has proven that timing of calories doesn't make a difference in our weight management, you do want to make sure that you have enough energy (calories in your system) to fuel your activity.

Copyright Elizabeth Sherman. Purchase a Bodybugg through Elizabeth Sherman.

Eat Without Abandon

Eliz — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:16:00 GMT

This week I was on vacation. My husband, Gary & I went to Boston for his sister's wedding, and while we were there we spent a couple of days in Newport, Rhode Island.

Now, my attitude towards vacations is this: When I'm on vacation, I do everything that I can't do at home. That definitely includes eating; I eat whatever I can only get locally. I don't eat foods that I can get at home because really, what's the point? Since I was in Boston & Newport, seafood (specifically shellfish & lobster), italian food and good bread (because we can't find those here in Austin) were on the menu.

I follow a 80/20 rule: 80 percent of the time I make food choices that are "clean eating"; or foods that my body needs to function properly. The other 20 percent of the time, I relax my guidelines a bit, and eat foods that my brain needs to stay sane. Vacation falls into the 20%, although because I have lost the craving for high fat & sugary foods, the foods that I crave or tend to order on restaurant menus are still pretty healthy.

I teach a lot about making good choices in restaurants. Eating healthy when traveling takes work. Not only making good choices and knowing how to place your order, but also knowing when to stop eating since portions can be so large. Because I was on vacation, I wasn't so concerned about my vegetable, fiber, or portion intake. If I was traveling for business, I would have been. I ate what looked good to me, and I did so without guilt. I know I gained a few lbs, however it doesn't bother me too much because I know that once I continue normal eating and exercise routine, I will be back to my comfortable size.

So, when thinking "What Would Elizabeth Eat?" The answer may not be as simple as "carrot sticks & celery stalks". I consider myself a foodie & love to eat good food that is good for me. For the most part, "good for me" means nutritious food that fuels my body. Occasionally it means food that nourishes my soul.

But ... how do you know? Part 2

Eliz — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:30:00 GMT

The art of weight loss isn't rocket science, however given the fact that weight loss is a multi-billion dollar industry, we can see that it eludes quite a number of folks. Weight maintenance/loss/gain is simply a matter of "calories in" versus "calories out". On the nutrition side, if you eat more calories than your body needs, you'll gain weight; if you eat the same number of calories that your body needs, then you will maintain your weight; and if you consume fewer calories than your body needs to maintain it's weight, you will lose weight. But, how do you know how many calories your body needs to maintain it's weight?

In But ... how do you know? Part 1, I explained that our metabolism (BMR),depending on how active a person is, can make up for approximately 75% or less of our calories burned. I also explained how we can estimate our BMR. So, that gives us a starting point.

The thing is, the body is a very complex sophisticated organism. In order to lose weight, you want to take in fewer calories than your body needs. But, take in too few & the body thinks that it is going to starve, so it starts doing 2 things: 1) slowing the metabolism so that it's able to work on fewer calories, and 2) starts burning off muscle which is more expensive for the body to maintain than fat (since muscle consumes more calories than fat, it makes sense for the body to get rid of those things that are going to allow it to stay around the longest). So there's a very fine line between maximizing your weight loss, and stunting it.

The calories that create that buffer between healthy weight loss & danger are created by Thermic Effect of Food(TEF) & Thermic Effect of Activity (TEA). They are the calories that our bodies burn by eating & digesting food, and movement.

So, how do you know what your burn? Up until recently, there have only been estimations available - based on your daily activity/job (office worker versus waitress). Heart Rate Monitors do a pretty good job estimating calories burned during exercise, however it's estimate is only based on heart rate, which isn't always accurate; for example, it doesn't take into account body fat percentage.

I was thrilled when I found out about the bodybugg by Apex Fitness (which is a division of 24 Hour Fitness). The bodybugg is a device that you wear on your arm (similar to an iPod) that records your movement. It completely takes the guess work out of the "calories in" versus "calories out" equation.

This is what I see when I login to the web application that goes along with the bodybugg device. It's got a great interface - it's really easy to use. You can upload your activity from the device multiple times a day or save it up for several days. Then, you log your food for each meal & see how it relates to your calorie needs for the day.

Now, I've logged my food on & off for years. At the beginning, I was very diligent about measuring & weighing my foods prior to eating them, but then I thought that I had a good handle on what a Tablespoon of dressing/peanut butter looked like, so I stopped. Gradually, those two Tablespoons of peanut butter grew to be a 1/4 cup! I thought I was eating two tablespoons, but I was eating twice that much!

What's cool about the bodybugg application, is that because we underestimate how much food we eat by at least 20%, when we weigh in, it compares how much we said that we ate to and estimate of how much we ate based on the weight.

In this article, I've been focused on weight loss, but there are lots of programs for folks who want to improve sports performance, or maintain their weight, and even for those who we are jealous of because they're trying to gain weight.

This is a tool that I am really impressed by. I think it can really help those folks who are ready to make a serious change. In fact, I've decided to add the bodybugg to my business, and start distributing it to help my clients.

Copyright Elizabeth Sherman. Purchase a Bodybugg through Elizabeth Sherman.

But ... how do you know? Part 1

Eliz — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 21:57:00 GMT

On the bottom of every nutritional facts label there is a foot note. The footnote tells us that diets based on 2000 & 2500 Calories should have "x" amount of Total Fat, Saturated Fat, Cholesterol, Sodium, Total Carbohydrates and Fiber respectively. That's great, but how do you know which one you should abide by?

How many Calories do you need in a day?

Three things influence how many calories you need in order to maintain your weight.

Your Metabolism (aka: Basal Metabolic Rate - BMR)
The amount of activity that you get on a daily basis (aka: Thermic Effect of Activity - TEA)
How many Calories your body uses to process the foods that you eat (aka: Thermic Effect of Food - TEF)

Your metabolism is responsible for using the bulk of your calories in a day - roughly 75%. A few things contribute to your metabolism:

Genetics
Age
Weight
Lean Mass

Starting with Genetics, We all know people who can eat all day and not gain a pound; then we also know people who can just look at a piece of cake & gain a pound. How efficient we are at using our calories is determined by our parents.

On the bad side, our metabolisms start slowing down after the age of 30 - but some of that has to do with loss of lean mass due to the fact that we aren't as active as we were when we were younger (think about running around outside as kids, or dancing until the wee hours of the morning as teens and young adults).

Weight is also a major contributor to how many calories we burn on a daily basis; but here's where it gets interesting, and here's where we have a bit of control over our metabolisms.

What's more important than weight, is body composition. Weight is divided into two distinct types of tissue: fat, and lean mass. Lean Mass is comprised of your bones, organs, and muscle. Muscle is "metabolically active tissue"; meaning that muscle consumes calories. Fat doesn't consume any additional calories other than that of your body having to work harder to carry additional pounds around on a daily basis - kinda like your body having to lug around a few extra 5# dumbbells.

1 lb of fat will consume an additional 5 Calories per day where 1 lb of muscle will consume an additional 45 Calories. So the lesson learned here is to strength train. Build more muscle and your muscle will help you stay lean.

But how do you know? How do I know how much muscle I have?

First, get your body composition checked. Estimates for BMR is 10 Calories per lb of lean mass. For example; a person with 125 lbs of lean mass would have a basal metabolic rate of roughly 1250. Depending on your daily activity, there are formulas to calculate your TEA - the additional calories that you use in a day.

So, how do I know if I have a slow or fast metabolism?

There's this cool device that will measure the amount of oxygen that your body consumes at rest. It's called a BodyGem by Microlife USA. It's pretty accurate & allows you to see exactly how many calories your body uses at rest. It's a simple test given first thing in the morning after not eating for 12 hours (water is okay, but anything with caffeine or calories is not) or exercising for 24. With a nose plug on (ensuring that all breathing happens through your mouth), you breathe into a device for about 10 minutes. It immediately gives out a reading for your BMR.

To find someone in your area to perform this test click here.

But...how do you know? Part 2

You are what you eat

Eliz — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 00:30:00 GMT

For Christmas, Gary gave me a book written by Paul Chek, called How to Eat, Move & Be Healthy. First, Paul Check, for those of you who don't know him, is a leader in the wellness & personal training industry. The man is brilliant in his approach.

Last January, a member on another board suggested that I read the Metabolic Typing Diet. I started it, but never finished (I do that quite a bit). Then a couple of months ago, Gary bought Dr. Mercola's book: Total Health. Dr. Mercola also uses the Metabolic Typing Diet.

Anyway, even though I didn't finish it, it really made sense to me that everyone is different in how they metabolize food & therefore we each need different macros & food sources to become optimal in our health. The idea behind Metabolic Typing is that depending on where our heritage originated, the food sources that are native to that area are the foods that we should be eating. Cultures have been living on the foods that they have cultivated for thousands of years & our bodies have adapted to those food sources.

It's only been in the past 100 or so years that people have become more transient so that people are eating different foods than their ancestors, and with importing foods from different agricultural areas, and not to mention the modern day food manufacturers, our bodies aren't capable of changing that rapidly. Therefore, since our bodies aren't conditioned to eat these new foods (as well as the chemicals we put in foods) we don't function as well, and as a result, our bodies cope by gaining fat, and growing disease.

Anyway, so you take a test that is subjective, and based on the answers, you are either a protein type, carbohydrate type or a mixed type. It seems as though Endomorphs (people who gain muscle easily) are protein types, Ectomorphs (people who have a hard time gaining muscle) are Carbohydrate types and Mesomorphs (people who are in between an ecto and endo) are Mixed. Ultimately, Everyone is a Mixed - it just depends on how far on the scale you are from the end.

I'm pretty much at the far end as a Protein type. I'm not sure why, but this makes me sad. Probably because I like sugar. I like carbohydrates, and they're bad for me. It makes sense though as to why when I eat clean, I don't crave sugar or carbs, and why I have no problems with energy during times of extremely low carbohydrate intake. I want to have a healthy relationship with carbohydrates, but I guess it's just not in the cards for me.

In addition to having a type of diet, he also recommends food rotation. This seems difficult to me. I'm okay eating the same things day after day, and with his approach, I wouldn't be able to do that. So, at this point, these are just thoughts. I may follow his plan with the macros & allowed foods (for me that would be 45p/35c/20f) those numbers include Non-Starchy Vegetables as carbohydrates, and fat ingested through protein sources is not counted as fat.

Since my competition in November I've eased up on the "strictness" of my diet. I don't feel good, I've been sleeping more & I can see negative visual changes to my body.

It's hard in this world where images of bad for me food are bombarding me on a regular basis through television & magazine print ads. Also, I feel pressure from those around me (not G) that my diet is "too restrictive", yet when I open my diet up, I feel like crap. So, I guess now I know to respond with "yes, maybe it is restrictive, but I feel better eating this way."

I think we all have varying degrees of commitment & flexibility. Dr. Mercola, Paul Chek & the Metabolic Typing diet all call for organic foods - absolutely CLEAN foods & you need to take your environment into play. I think it helps us to understand what foods give us energy, and which foods deplete our body. Whether you follow this diet or not is fully up to you, and to what extent you can follow the plan is all an individual thing.

We live in an environment where most people take medicine to solve their problems - never once thinking that what we put into our bodies directly affects how our bodies perform. In Paul Chek's book he spends quite a bit of time discussing how you feel 1-2 hours after eating to decipher if what you ate was good for your body. Also, he discusses how your stool (I know - a gross topic) will directly tell you if your diet is good or not.

I'd definitely recommend both books- if for nothing more than to get to know your body a bit better.