6 Reasons Why You Should Drink Tea.

I have to admit, coffee and tea are not my favorite drink choices.  I have never enjoyed the taste of either and still really don't.  I will occasionally have a cup of coffee if I am having a rough morning, but that is pretty much it.  I do try and have a cup of green tea everyday however.  I, again, don't really enjoy the taste of it, but there is so much evidence out there on the health benefits of tea that I feel it should be part of my daily routine.  I know most people will choose coffee over tea, but you may want to cut back on your morning joe a bit.  Here is some information that may help you change your mind from a team of scientist from the US and UK.  

Researchers used data from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, a large-scale, long-term study of health and fitness. Researchers included 43,727 subjects in their coffee-mortality investigation, men and women ranging in age from 20-87.  Here are the main findings:

• Men who drank more than 28 cups of coffee per week (4-8oz cups per day) had a 21% increased risk of all-cause mortality.
• Men under 55 who drank more than 28 cups per week had a 56% increased risk of mortality.
• Women under the age of 55 saw a 113% increase in mortality risk.

While yes there are health benefits to coffee most people highly over consume it.  Too much of a good thing turns bad here.  

So if you don't currently drink tea you may want to give it a try.  In the October 2013 issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, there were numerous studies looking at the healthy benefits of tea consumption.  I have summarized their findings with these 6 reasons below:

1. Regular tea consumption may reduce the risk of stroke.
2. Tea might protect against the development and progression of cardiovascular disease, such as atherosclerosis. 
3. Tea can help improve alertness, attention, mood, creativity, and work performance.
4. Catachin- and caffeine- rich teas such as green, oolong, and white teas enhance energy expenditure and increase fat burning.
5. Some studies are showing green and black tea may help prevent certain cancers and prevent lesions from becoming malignant tumors.  
6.  Tea can help prevent bone loss and osteoporosis.  
7. Tea is loaded with antioxidants. 

These are just a few of the very significant reasons why you might want to try some green, black, white, or oolong tea in the mornings.  If you love coffee you don't have to give it up, just think about subbing a day or two each week with tea.  

Cheers.  

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS

San Diego Premier Training

Diet Or Exercise For Weight Loss?

So if you have struggled with losing weight in the past you probably have tried many different methods to lose weight.  You probably followed some diet or maybe even a few diets.  When that didn't work as you hoped you started an exercise program.  Maybe you even tried some combination of both.  Hopefully you found some strategy that worked best for you.

Now there is one thing we can be absolutely sure of in terms of weight loss.  There are many different ways you can achieve it.  We all need to discover the lifestyle that works best for us.  Regardless of how you plan on losing weight, the two main criteria that we must look at are your calories in and your calories out.  Losing weight may not be this simple, but no matter what the diet program or exercise program you follow, we have to be aware of how much we are eating and how much energy we are spending.

So this is often followed up with, "well what is more important diet or exercise?"  Most people will tell you that you diet is 80-90% of your weight loss success.  While this is true, it is only partially true.  Obviously you can follow the best workout programs that burn hundreds of calories, but if you eat too much you won't see anything move on the scale.

While I don't disagree that you nutrition is a huge part of it, this really is a loaded question.  Neither is more important.  They both are a necessity and should work together, so one can't be more important than the other.  To illustrate my point check out this brand new study that was just published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

Researchers wanted to look at the effects of diet and exercise on behavioral change.  In this case, as in most cases, our behavior we are trying to instill is to eat a better diet and exercise regularly.  They divided the subjects into 4 groups.  One group just changed their diet first then 4 months latter they added exercise.  The second group just did the opposite and started with exercise first.  A third group changed both at the same time.  And the final group was the control group that did nothing.

They wanted to see with all of these scenarios, which group would be most likely after 12 months to stick with the program.  We can assume that those that stuck with it had the best weight loss results.  They found that the group that lead to the best adherence was the diet plus exercise group from the start.  This goes against what many people do though.  Often we will start one to try and get into a routine and then start the other.  It seems logical to do it this way, but it seems the best strategy is to start with both and incorporate the entire program right from the beginning for the best results.

You probably also heard me talk in the past on how important exercise is for weight loss in addition to dietary changes.  One of the biggest reason previously discussed was when diet is used without exercise (especially resistance training) muscle mass and bone mass is lost as well as a reduction in metabolism making it more difficult to continue to lose weight in the future.

So if you are really trying to make a lifestyle change and not just a quick fix for weight loss, work on putting all the pieces together right away.  Neither is more important, they both are a must.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

Don't Try And Lose Weight This Way!

Hey there.  I have talked about this before on my blog as well as with many clients and others that I discuss weight loss with.  This is probably the biggest mistake you can make if you are trying to lose weight.  You try and lose weight by restricting your diet.  I know you be asking well how do you lose weight without restricting calories?  Obviously you most likely have to cut out some calories that are causing you to go into a caloric surplus (eat more than you burn).  We have to drop the calories enough to get into a caloric deficit, but be careful.

The goal is not to eat nothing and drop weight fast.  Yes this will work in the short term.  You will drop weight fast.  Some of that weight will be fat, some will be muscle, some will be bone, some will be organ tissue, and some will probably be brain tissue.  That last part I can't back up, but it might be true.

I wanted to share with you a few studies with why you can't be successful with this type of weight loss plan.  The first study examined the weight loss effects on resting metabolic rate on morbidly obese clients over 30 weeks.  They exercised 6 days a week for 90 minutes a time.  The average weight loss came from 47.1kg of body fat and 10.5kg of lean mass.  The average baseline resting metabolic rate was 2679 calories in the beginning and dropped to 1890 calories at the end.  That is almost a 30% drop in RMR.  We start to see hear why short term dieting won't work.  You drop that initially weight but if you return to your previous eating habits, you burn significantly less calories at rest, so you are going to put that weight back on plus some.

The second study looked at both obese and nonobese individuals and the effect of weight loss on RMR.  They found when the obese group lost 10% of their body weight they saw a drop from 2078 calories to 1778 calories from RMR.  For nonobese they dropped from 1511 to 1290 calories per day.  This is a pretty significant drop for both groups to experience.  It should be noted they were put on a liquid diet of 800 calories.  15% of the diet was protein.

I mentioned the protein amount because there was a similar study changed two things.  They put participants on an 800 calorie diet, but it was 40% protein and they had participants perform total body resistance training 3 days per week.  How much did their RMR drop?  It might sounds surprising but it didn't.  In fact in increased.  Crazy I know.

So what does this tell us.  If you drop your calories you will lose weight in the short term.  If diet is the only thing you change you will not maintain your RMR making it harder to continue to lose weight.  So the key is to obviously reduce calories, just be careful how low, and perform total body resistance exercises like we do at our studio.  I know there are people that have lost weight by dieting and doing cardio but I promise it is not the best what to do it.  You MUST include resistance exercise in your program.  Cardio is good too, but it most likely will not help keep your RMR from dropping (unless you are performing HIIT).

If you need help with your workout program feel free to sign up for a free workout trial with us.  Just click on the link below to get started.

http://www.sandiegopremiertraining.com/free-workout

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS

San Diego Premier Training

I'll Pass On The Banana, But Can You Hand Me My Gluten Free Cupcake....

Ok I have to start this post with a bit of a warning.  I might go on a little rant here.  I will try and keep it under control, but I can only take so much.  First off, nutrition is a very complicated topic.  I wish I had all the answers, but no one does.  No matter what Dr. Oz or any other diet "guru"  out there may tell you.  We are learning new things all the time.  Fat used to be bad for you and carbs where the devil.  Many people still believe this because of bad information that is passed around.  Somethings I can tell you though are most likely true and that is what sparked this post.

The past few weeks I have had the same comment/question come up from clients, friends, and pretty much every where I look.  The idea that fruits make you fat.  Just writing that sentence makes me quiver.  I can tell you that anyone who tells you this does not understand nutrition, physiology, or common sense.

So the argument against fruit goes like this.  Fructose cannot be converted to muscle glycogen (the sugar stored in muscle for energy) because it lacks the enzymes to do so.  Fructose instead is converted to sugar in the liver called liver glycogen.  The liver can only store so much glycogen until fructose will increase lipogenesis.  This means that if you have too much fructose it will increase fat storing.  So stop eating fruit right?

If we look closer we can see there are some misconceptions.  While nothing I noted above is a lie it isn't telling you what really goes on when we eat fruit.  First off, just look around you.  How many people do you know that are overweight consume a diet high in whole fruit?  Those that are overweight most likely are not consuming too much fruit, they are consuming too much of everything.

First off, the fructose we consume from fruit might not even make it too the liver.  It may be used immediately for energy, if consumed after a workout for example.  Next let's look at liver glycogen.  The liver can store roughly 100g of liver glycogen.  We can handle about 50g of fructose a day before sparking fat storage.  On average you will get around 6-7g of fructose in a piece of fruit.  Or up to 10-12g in the "high sugar" evil banana.  So you could have 5 bananas in one day before having to worry about increasing fat storage.

Know that you can see from a physiological perspective ,fruit does not equal increased fat.  Let's look at some of the other benefits of increasing your fruit intake.  Sugar aside, look at all of the nutrients, antioxidants, and fiber you are missing when you don't eat fruit.  Fruit helps us battle cancer, look younger, improve our heart health, and there are many more benefits.  So unless you are going for that pirate - dying of scurvy look, keep eating fruit.

Fruit is also very filling.  Because of the high water and fiber content you probably can't overeat fruit.  One apple is around 95 calories.  Eat just one and you should be pretty satisfied.  When was the last time you could say that about most other foods.

And finally if you still don't believe me and are scared to eat fruit, maybe science will convince you.  Here are just a few studies that will prove my point.

1.  Two studies from the University of Navarra in Spain put two groups of women on different diets.  One group had 5% of their diet come from fructose, while the other had 15%.  They both saw equal weight loss, but the high fructose group improve their cholesterol levels.

2.  A study published in 2011 in Metabolism compared a high fructose diet (50-70g) to a low fructose diet (under 20g).  In this study the high fructose group lost more weight in 6 weeks than the low fructose group.

3.  A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that diets higher in fruit and vegetables decreased the risk of metabolic syndrome and inflammation which is linked to many disorders.

4.  And finally another study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that diets high in fruit increased Vitamin A & C levels, as well as, lycopene.  They concluded that high fruit intake reduces early mortality.

So what we know from research and nutritionists is that fruit will help you lose weight, make you feel full, fight a variety of cancers, give your body the nutrients it needs to survive, and improve your heart health.  Or you can believe people trying to make money off some new diet program, that fruit will make you gain weight.

Science is always changing as we learn more about how the body works, and I will be the first to admit if I am wrong here, but I just don't think it will happen.  Emily and I consistently have consumed multiple servings of fruit (yes even bananas) everyday and can thank them for helping us stay healthy.  There aren't necessary good and bad foods.  Just eat certain foods in moderation and stick with mainly whole food choices.

End Rant.....

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

2 New Studies To Help Your With Your Abs

One thing I love and hate about being in the fitness industry, is that it is such a new industry to be in.  Exercise for weight loss in particular has not been around for that long.  So more and more studies come out each week helping us find the best exercise techniques and nutrition programs to follow.  The pain is that as we learn more and new studies do come out, we find that things we thought were true may not be.

After browsing through the latest issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, I found two studies that I know would beneficial for my readers.  I will warn you.  With this first study you probably won't like what you hear.

In this first study, participants performed a leg extension exercise on one leg.  Researchers wanted to see what amount of muscle built and fat burn occurred specifically on the leg muscle trained vs. the rest of the body.  The participants performed 1 set of 900-1200 repetitions on the leg extension.  They found that there was significant fat burned during the exercise, but they found more significant fat loss in the upper extremities and trunk.  I know this may not sound correct but this is not the first study to show this.

I can't tell you how many times I get the question, "What's the best exercise to get rid of fat on my [insert body part]?"  It just doesn't work this way.  You can do 1000 crunches everyday and loss fat from your arm, but not your stomach.  It's not fair I know, but that's life.

So what should you do?  Stop trying to perform exercises with the purpose to lose fat in that area.  It won't work no matter how hard you try.  Instead first focus on burning fat in general.  Higher intensity exercises that work multiple body parts work best.  If you have little fat over an area and want to see definition or muscle tone, then you can work on that specific muscle more intensely.   And of course don't forget about your diet.

The second study had to do with ab training as well.  So I just mentioned how ab exercises don't necessarily burn fat in your stomach.  It will burn some, but it may come from other places as well.  But this doesn't mean you never should do ab exercises ever.  We will want to work on building strength, endurance, and stability for our abdominals.  This second study compared sit up and curl up exercises two different ways to see what was more effective.  

They had participants perform 2 minutes of sit ups and curls with and without their feet restrained.  The study found that when the feet were restrained during sit ups and curl ups, there was higher activation of the abdominal muscles.  This sounds great, but there is a concern here.  They also found that during these exercises there was a greater activation of the hip flexor muscles.

In the past these types of exercises have shown to increase shear and compressive forces placed on the lower back.  This is likely due to increased activity from the hip flexor muscles.  So even though the feet restrained produced the best abdominal response, it comes at a cost of increase low back injuries.  So even though there was not as much ab activity when the feet are not restrained it may be the better exercise choice, especially if you have back issues.

Try this during your next workout if you plan on doing sit ups or curls ups.  When you raise up try not to allow your legs to move or lift at all. When they lift it means the hip flexors are starting to take over.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

Simple Way To Get More Fruits And Veggies IN Your Diet

Hey Guys!

I have recently decided to take on the challenge of becoming a bit more of a nutritional "go-to" at the studio and am excited to begin my nutritional certification  classes in September. With that- I wanted to touch base on one thing that many clients may not know much about- or maybe you have heard us babbling about it before- and didn't pay much interest at the time... 

To start- did you know that 1 in 10 people take in the recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables per day? Think about your diet for a minute and how do you compare? Are you in that part that doesn't get all your needs every day? If so- I am sure you have asked Mike or I about ways to get more fruits and/or veggies in your diet and I guarantee the first thing we have mentioned is a greens supplement.  A greens supplement is veggies, fruits, algae, and grasses that have been compacted or dehydrated and distilled into a powder form. The benefits of this supplement  include reducing cardiovascular disease, lowering blood pressure, lowering high cholesterol, reducing COPD, helping with weight loss and preventing obesity, along with many more.  Basically all the same benefits of eating a diet high in vegetables and fruits.  

Another important thing to bring up- is how a diet rich in vegetables  and fruits can aid in keeping the body in the right acid/alkaline levels. pH Levels are measured in the body on a scale of 0-14 with 7 being neutral. Lower numbers indicate a higher acidity in the body, while higher levels conversely indicate lower acidity in the body. Lower pH levels can lead to fatigue, cardiovascular damage, bone loss, and weight gain. While regular exercise is important to incorporate in your life to assist with this- it can cause an increase in acid production due to repeat muscle contractions in the body. Being in an acidic state is not great for a variety of reasons- so making the necessary adjustments in your diet to compliment your workouts are obviously helpful not only in the weight loss side of things. Research has shown that there are many harmful organisms (bacteria, viruses, etc) that tend to thrive in a more acidic environment.  By including more veggies and fruits in your diet we can keep these organisms away- while reaping the benefits of more energy, quicker recovery, bone health and weight loss!

Now- a greens supplement can't replace a diet that is healthy in vegetable consumption- however, it can be helpful in getting you closer to reaching that recommended serving amount each day. Mike and I know how hard it can be to get in health meals all the time and a greens supplement, as mentioned is our usual first suggestion to any one that is having troubles. It is especially helpful to those that are on the go alot- since this is the hardest time to find nutritious whole foods. Adding this simple supplement to a smoothie or protein shake- will be a great addition to your healthful diet. 

Now it is important to check the ingredients on any supplement that you consider incorporating into your diet. Not all are created the same- so be sure to find a reputable one. Also- find one that has a flavor you like.  If you have a great supplement but can't stand the taste- then you are much less likely to use it. 

You can pick up some greens supplements at Trader Joe's, GNC (ask for Vida), or it is more expensive but www.AthleticGreens.com is another good company.  

That's all for now- I will be in touch with more great recipes and nutritional info soon! Enjoy your smoothies! :)

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Emily Deibler

San Diego Premier Training

Is Your Diet Screwing Up Your Thyroid?

I am getting ready to head to Vegas for the weekend and I am in the betting mood to get ready. I'm willing to bet a significant amount that if you are reading this, you are trying to lose unwanted fat.  I will even double up on that bet and say you probably have had difficulty losing fat at some point and have been frustrated.  And one final bet is you probably have thought you may have a thyroid issue since you can't seem to lose weight anymore.

How did I do?  Am I ready to make some bets in Vegas and win some $$?  I am fairly confident with these predictions because I have seen it happen so many times.  The most common method people use to lose weight is drop calories.  Now this is probably completely necessary, but it is often done incorrectly.  If you drop calories you will lose weight initially.  Then you stall out, start eating more, and gain the weight back (and more probably).  Why does this happen?  

We usually will look for something to blame this on.  The most common guess is Hypothyroidism.  Our thyroid controls our metabolism.  If it is not working properly than we will have a slower metabolic rate and most likely have weight issues.  The problem is not really your thyroid though.  The problem may be restricting your calories.  Those that drop calories below your metabolic need for a prolonged time will spark a series of chain reactions in the body.  The body responds to lower caloric intake by dropping T3 and T4 levels in the body, which are our thyroid hormones.  It is believed the body does this when it is starving to attempt to preserve muscle tissue and prevent you from killing yourself by not eating.  

The good news is this is reversible.  The key is we need to be more strategic besides just dropping your calories down to lose weight.  The first step is to determine where you metabolic need is first.  This is the number we want to use as a baseline in order to avoid our metabolism from slowing.  There are a number of calculations and formulas you can use to determine this.  Here is a simple one.  Divide your weight by 2.2.  Then multiply that number by 30.  This is the approximate number of calories you would need to maintain your weight.  

Let's use these numbers as an example.  If you weigh 180lbs; we divide by 2.2 which is 81.81.  This times 30 equals about 2455.  That would be the number of calories you would consume to maintain your weight.  

So what we need to do is drop our calories some to lose weight.  If you figure out what your ideal weight is we can use that same formula to figure out what our caloric need would be at that weight.  Let's say we want to weight 150lbs.  Using the same formula we would need about 2045 calories.  So this is our magic number now.  

So if I eat around 2000 calories per day I should hit this goal eventually.  Now we could just drop our calories but we run the risk of effecting our thyroid.  So instead we alter our calories from day to day.  If we look at the calorie needs for the week we would eat 14,000 calories if we averaged 2000 per day.  Instead, what if I ate 1500 calories 4 days, 2000 calories on 2 days, and 3000 calories one day.  We still hit that 14,000 goal but varied each day so our bodies never felt like they were starving and reduced our metabolism.  

Simple, right?  The cool part of this type of dieting is one day a week you get to increase your calories significantly and not feel like you are depriving yourself.  

I hope this helps you with your weight loss battle.  Wish me luck in Vegas.  I'm sure I might have a few 3000+ days myself.  

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler 

San Diego Premier Training

North County San Diego's Top Personal Training