Healthy Andy

Antioxidant Information Week rolls on!  Today, it’s a video describing how taking the acai berry, a popular antioxidant supplement often promoted for weight loss,  actually works as far as fat loss is concerned.  Really, it’s not just the acai berry, it’s any highly potent antioxidant of the polyphenol type, but I singled out acai because lots of people ask about it.

I sure hope you read yesterday’s post on antioxidants and inflammation, because our old friend NF-kB is back and causing more problems in our lives!  If not, well, I still explain how it all works, but you might want to check out yesterday’s post when you’re done watching the video for a little more insight on how inflammation is triggered in the body… and how antioxidants help.

So, antioxidants aren’t going to make us lose weight all by themselves, but they will help remove a significant block to losing weight- cortisol.  Don’t discount the importance of this.  We’re surrounded by all kinds of industrial toxins dumped into our water and air, pesticides and other chemicals added to our foods, and all kinds of crap we haven’t even discovered yet.  All of those chemical stressors activate the inflammatory cascade, leading to cortisol and therefore more fat (even if you’re low on calories!).

Let me put it to you this way.  How many of you out there DON’T think  your life is stressful?

Right.  So better help yourself out a bit.

So, one more point in the Win column for antioxidants.  Any questions or comments, please feel free to add them below, and if you found this article helpful, spread the word throughout the land via facebook, twitter, or just plain old telling your friends face-to-face about Healthy Andy!

Thanks for stopping by and stay healthy!

Recently I had a conversation with someone, a former fitness competitor, that reminded me of the importance of having a cheat day in order to keep yourself healthy and your body fat low in the long run.

Yes, my friends, you’re going to cheat.  You are.  It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when. 

I mean, really… are you REALLY going to give up your favorite indulgences- chocolate, pizza, burgers, whatever- every day, day in, day out, for the rest of your life? 

Of course not.  That’s insane.  You’re not a robot or a cyborg.  And, if you’ve read my post on sugar addiction, you know that you’re fighting something as powerful as a cocaine addiction if you try to never cheat.  So forget it.  You WILL stray from your healthy whole foods diet.

Knowing this, decide right now to cheat smart.  CONTROL your cheating by QUANTIFYING it.  The worst thing you can do is say, “Oh, Healthy Andy, I’ll just let myself have an occasional treat from time to time, and that will be it.” 

WRONG!  Liar!  Because what will happen is, “occasional” will become more and more frequent… especially when you’re feeling stressed, unhappy, tired, that sort of thing.  Does this sound familiar?  “Oh, just this once.  I deserve it.”

“I deserve” is a one-way ticket to Fattown.  No, you can’t trust yourself.  Sorry, you can’t.  The insanely high obesity rates in this country proves it.  Hey, I can’t trust myself, either.  So here’s how you limit your indulgences, to keep them indulgences.

Have a cheat day.  That’s, A cheat day, as in ONE.  One day a week (most people pick Saturday or Sunday), you go hog wild on anything you want.  Pizza, burgers, ice cream, chocolate, I don’t care, stuff it all in like the world is ending.  And then… that’s it.  The other six days, it’s an all whole foods diet, no junk, no exceptions.

You see, there’s only so much you can really stuff in your body in one day.  At some point, you’re going to stop, or get sick.  That sugary awesomeness that you’ve been dreaming about, will, after you’ve overindulged, become so goddamn sweet you can’t stand another bite.  Those burgers will fill your belly till you don’t even want to hear the word “burger” spoken aloud.

In other words, you limit the amount of over-consumption of calories to one day, and you limit the crazed spiking of your insulin levels (from the carbs) to one day.  The other six days, your body will easily recover.

It’s how you have your cake, and eat it too.  After all, you may not be able to give up chocolate forever, but you can give it up for a couple of days.  Especially if you know that you’ve got your cheat day coming up, and anything goes.

Every bodybuilder, fitness model, or other fit person I know that has stayed fit in the long term, uses this approach.  Those that don’t, eventually freak out and don’t just fall off the wagon, they FLY off (and usually stay off!).

You can’t do it overnight, of course.  Most of my weight loss book is all about how to get yourself to that point.  But I don’t want you for a second to think that a healthy lifestyle means no indulgences, ever.  You just have to keep indulgences, INDULGENCES, and not the norm. 

I was the guy who was exercising like crazy and could never lose his gut, until I started using this concept.  Then, I dropped about 25-30 pounds of body fat.  And I still get to wolf down ice cream and pizza until I’m stuffed… from time to time.