At Risk at Any Weight

Today we have a special guest blog entry...

By James LaValle, RPh, ND, CCN

Just because you are not obese, doesn't mean you're off the hook when it comes to increased risk for heart disease and diabetes -- known as cardiometabolic disease. If you're just a little pudgy around the middle, you may pat your belly and chuckle about those few extra beers you had last night, but it is no laughing matter.

Two studies recently looked at the cardiometabolic health of three categories of white adults: normal weight, overweight, and obese. Researchers measured blood pressure, triglycerides, fasting plasma glucose, C-reactive protein (CRP), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and assessed whether the study subjects were insulin resistant.

What they found was eye opening -- 23.5% of "normal weight" adults were metabolically abnormal -- and surprisingly, the research done by Wildman's group found that approximately 30% of the "obese" group was actually metabolically pretty healthy.1 In the "overweight" group, it was split about 50-50 between those who were metabolically healthy and those who were at increased risk according to these measures.

So to summarize, the study found the risk for heart disease and diabetes in the three groups to be: normal body weight, 25% risk; overweight, 50% risk; obese, 70% risk.

Another study by Stefan et al. found that 25% of obese people did not have early signs of heart disease as determined by their blood vessel thickness and an oral glucose tolerance test used to measure insulin sensitivity.2 Nor were these people categorized at high risk according to their lipid profiles and blood pressure readings.

Both of these studies assessed whether central adiposity (belly fat) raised the risk of heart disease the most, as has been seen in other studies. According to the American Heart Association, if a man's waistline is greater than 39 inches and a woman's waistline is greater than 34 inches, it's time to take action.

Interestingly, the Stefan study found that in already obese patients, the most "at risk" fat was not belly fat, but liver fat. However, in normal and overweight people, belly fat did increase risk the most. (This may be because it is very unusual to see liver fat accumulating in normal weight people.) The Wildman study also found that normal weight or slightly overweight patients are more at risk for heart disease if they have belly fat.

The blogs are now flying about this research. I have seen statements like, "These studies once again prove that just because you are obese doesn't mean you are unhealthy." And indeed these studies show that if you are obese, you have a 25 to 30% chance of being in the group that hasn't yet developed heart disease or diabetes. But the overwhelming number of studies consistently shows that the vast majority of obese people do have heart disease and/or diabetes.

Even in the Wildman and Stefan studies, only 25 to 30% were escaping risk so far. The other 70% were at risk. In the normal weight category, 75% were metabolically healthy and 25% were at risk. I would take those odds any day.

I know some obese individuals will want to hang on to that 25% chance they may not be unhealthy just because they are severely overweight -- but there are other health problems that can develop too. Certainly if you fall into the obese category, you should at least be thoroughly evaluated to find out.

What are the take home messages from this research? You can be at cardiometabolic risk even if you are at a normal body weight, especially if you have increased waist size. This is not news to me and most health practitioners, but it is a big wake up call for many people.

Increased belly fat/waist size puts you at increased risk for heart disease and diabetes -- and the more overweight you become, the greater your risks. So, no matter who you are, you should take steps to prevent insulin resistance and control your weight to have the greatest chance of avoiding these two devastating diseases.

We also need to further study the 25% of the obese population to see what is keeping them from developing insulin resistance. For instance, the Wildman study found that increased physical activity reduced risk. Other studies have found that increased antioxidant intake from foods like green tea and turmeric may prevent damage to insulin receptors from the oxidative stress that can cause insulin resistance.

Perhaps these individuals have better sources of, or utilization of, the mineral chromium which helps regulate blood sugar. Or, they might have increased vitamin C intake from fruits, vegetables, and supplements which reduces the risk of insulin resistance and diabetes.3-4

Determining which factors can best lower risk of heart disease and diabetes, even in people who have not been able to lose weight, would be of tremendous value.

References

1. Stefan N, et al. Arch Intern Med. 2008;168:1609-1616.
2. Wildman RP, et al. Arch Intern Med. 2008;168:1617-1624.
3. http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/5/1/17.
4. Arch Intern Med. 2008;168:1485-1499.

This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise's Total Health Breakthroughs, offering alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription,
visit http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com

Exercise Alone Ain't Enough to Get It Done

Anyone who's read my stuff or followed any of my programs knows that when it comes to losing fat, I say that nutrition is more than half the battle.

Well, now there's some very good research that proves this point.

Basically this research took two groups of sedentary people, and gave one group a well-designed fitness program to follow for 12 weeks, while the other group remained sedentary.

They didn't change their eating patterns at all. The results might surprise you. You can read the details in a post from Dr. John Berardi, who was part of the research team.

Here's the link to the post.

~Dave

Guess What? Diets DO Work

That's right. Diets do work.

Now most fitness pros will tell you that diets don't work, but I'm here to tell you that they do.

Atkins, Zone, Ornish, Oprah's latest, you name it, they'll help you lose weight.

What they won't help you do is keep it off. For that, you need a healthy lifestyle and need to know how to eat right and exercise.

The reason the vast majority of people gain their weight back after going on a diet has nothing to do with the diet at all. It has to do with the fact that when they stop the diet, they go back to eating like crap.

That's why you gain the weight back.

If you eat like crap, go on a diet and lose weight, then go back to eating like crap, you'll gain the weight back and end up fatter than when you started.

If you learn to eat healthy and exercise as a lifestyle first, then diet to lose fat, and go back to your healthy eating lifestyle, you have a very good chance of not gaining the weight back.

Problem is, most people don't do that.

In my 12-week weight loss course, I spend the first NINE WEEKS getting people to learn how to eat right and exercise, before I introduce them to a shorter term program designed to melt off serious fat.

That's why people succeed with my method, and why Oprah has been losing the same 50 lbs over and over for the past 10 years.

Diets DO work, IF you already know the rules of eating right, exercising, and living a healthy lifestyle.

Diets DON'T work if you eat like crap and think going on a diet for a month will cure everything.

~Dave

Low-Carb Wins After All?

So this headline caught my attention the other day on the internet:

Study: Low-carb diet best for weight, cholesterol

"The Atkins diet may have proved itself after all: A low-carb diet and a Mediterranean-style regimen helped people lose more weight than a traditional low-fat diet in one of the longest and largest studies to compare the dueling weight-loss techniques."

Any of you who read my stuff or follow my Metabolism Makeover Course know that I advocate cutting out processed carbs and getting the majority of your carb intake from fruits and veggies, with limited servings of whole grains. That doesn't mean I'm an Atkins follower though. And unlike what the lead paragraph in the article implies, this study didn't prove Atkins is the way to go at all.

This study followed 322 moderately obese people for two years, and broke them into 3 groups. One followed a low-fat diet plan (Metabolism Makeover participants know what I think of that), one group followed a low-carb plan, and one group followed a Mediterranean style diet.

The low-fat diet — no more than 30 percent of calories from fat — restricted calories and cholesterol and focused on low-fat grains, vegetables and fruits as options. The Mediterranean diet had similar calorie, fat and cholesterol restrictions, emphasizing poultry, fish, olive oil and nuts.

The low-carb diet set limits for carbohydrates, but none for calories or fat. It urged dieters to choose vegetarian sources of fat and protein.

So what happened?

The dieters lost between 6.5 on the low-fat plan and 10 lbs on the low-carb and Mediterranean plans.

IN TWO YEARS!

That doesn't mean one diet is better than the other. In fact, it means that none of them are better than the others.

If you've got 322 moderately obese people dieting for two freakin years and the best they can do is lose 10 lbs, then your plan sucks. Plain and simple.

Research like this pisses me off because it sends the wrong message. Since it was funded by an Atkins advocacy group, you certainly won't see any of the researchers telling you the results sucked, but that's the reality of it.

Just by simply eating right and exercising properly, an otherwise healthy, moderately obese person can easily lose 10 lbs in a month or less.

And don't worry all you low-fat advocates, they'll be research next week that says low-fat is the way to go. Just wait.

Researchers need to get out of the lab and into the real world. I don't need idiots like this telling me what works and what doesn't, I see it every day. I can also see that what they did didn't work at all.

If you want to know what really works, go to www.HealthyWeightInnerCircle.com and read "The Ridiculously Simple Rules to Good Nutrition", or better yet, start following the Metabolism Makeover Course.

~Dave

14 Fat Loss Experts Share The Goods

Now, I know my fat loss techniques work, but I'm comfortable enough to say that there are other experts out there who have great techniques and programs that work just as well. None of us invented fat loss, we've just honed our own particular ways of attacking it.

If you're interested in seeing what types of tips, tricks, and programs are out there, I've got a great free resource you can check out. You see, I've been selected as one of a select group of fat loss experts and have been asked to contribute some of the fat loss techniques I use with my clients to the rest of the world.

The Free Fat Loss Tips website is where 13 other experts from Australia, The United States, Canada and The UK, join me on this new site.

The best part, of course, is each of us has decided to give up our great secrets for free and the site is now live!

http://www.freefatlosstips.com

You'll find some great information from myself, of course, and my Busy Woman's Fitness Solution, along with these 13 other leaders in the fat loss game:

• Daniel Munday, who specializes in short, intense workouts for busy people who usually don't have time to exercise. He is giving away the Aussie Fatblast Secrets Revealed audio and eBook special report.
  
  
• Ed Scow, the author of Fat Loss To Go, who is giving you 3 hot secret reports on the best ways for men and women to lose that body fat.
  
  
• Mike Grafstein, is a Youth Soccer expert who has some great interval fitness programs if you have any kids that play the world game.
  
  
• Caroline Radway, offers you her Perfect 10 tips to help you achieve your perfect fit for life.
  
  
• Stephen Cabral, a renowned media personality, who is offering The World?s Most Powerful Weight Loss Interval report.
  
  
• Dan Grant, magazine contributor and body transformation coach who will teach you his Degrees of Change system to accelerate your fat loss results.
  
  
• Dr Kareem Samhouri, ground breaking, year long, Lift Hard Play Hard program is one of the internet's premier online training solutions.
  
  
• Eddie Enriquez, who has created the MyTrainer.com website to allow users free access to some of the best fitness videos and audios on the planet. This is You Tube for fitness.
  
  
• John Fell, a Sydney based trainer to the stars who is offering you 3 months online training with access to mp3 workouts, education, and his sought after motivation and support methods.
  
  
• Ben Warstler, runs successful boot camps in small town Vermont and is sharing with you his 4 Secret Hot Spots for fast and effective fat loss.
  
  
• Susan Hill, a renowned personal trainer of the year winner, and author of the Bikini Butt Workout for all the women wanting to look their best in their swimsuit this summer. Susan will give you the best tips for picking the right swimsuit.
  
  
• Jeremy and Alissa Nelms, creators of the revolutionary Mid Year Resolutions Program which is a teleseminar series that addresses your fat loss, financial and relationship success. Jeremy interviews over 20 experts and you can gain access to this for free!
  
  
• BJ Gaddour, a successful real world fat loss expert who has a revolutionary online membership site with audio workout programs to maximise your fat burn. BJ is offering a free, downloadable, cardio workout.
  
  
• and me...:)
  

As you can see, it's a pretty comprehensive list of accomplished and successful Fat Loss Experts.

The site will only be up for a limited time though, so check it out now if you'd like to get inside their heads for free.

Once again, the place to get your freebies is www.freefatlosstips.com.

~Dave

Why Your Diet Doesn't Work

At any given time, more than 60% of people say they are dieting, so if diets really worked, we'd all be pretty damn thin.

But we're not.

Give you one guess why...

Because diets don't work. In fact, they suck.

I've got a video you can watch that will basically explain, in very simple terms, why dieting alone as a means to lose weight doesn't work in the long term. It's about 30 minutes long, but that's because I go into detail and cover lots of info.

And yes, the video is free. Just click the image to the left or see the dieting video here.

So, go get yourself a cold drink and sit back and watch. You'll never go on another diet if you do.

~Dave

These People Are Not Role Models

I keep saying that if people focused on being healthy instead of focusing on being thin, they'd be much better off.

But, it is certainly an uphill battle when the media, fashion industry, MTV, Hollywood, Madison Avenue, etc. keep forcing unrealistic images of "beauty" on the public.

Check out this AP photo of a model on the catwalk during Paris Fashion Week last October, modeling the latest from French fashion house Guy Laroche.

Uhh, sorry Guy.

That's not fashion. That's anorexia, and you're pretty pathetic for glorifying it.

So, how about we all "Just say no" to Guy and everyone like him.

Then, please do yourself a favor and talk to your kids about the importance of choosing good role models.

(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere, File)

~Dave

It's Time to Stop Dieting

As you can see by the date below, this press release will be going out in a couple of days. You can get a sneak preview here.

~Dave
****************************************


April 2, 2008 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New online fitness community Healthy Weight Inner Circle debuts

Programs stress common sense approach towards healthy living.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Perfect Fit, LLC announces the debut of its new online fitness community, Healthy Weight Inner Circle. The site is a private, members-only resource exclusively for people who are serious about losing weight and getting healthy.

“Healthy Weight Inner Circle gives a person 24/7 access to the private, members-only area where they’ll find a wealth of exclusive information, including articles, exercise video clips, nutrition information, recipes, workouts, discussion forums, and much more,” says Dave Soucy, Fitness Expert, Author, Certified Personal Trainer, and owner of Perfect Fit, LLC. “What members WON’T find are any fads, gimmicks, or diets. Our community is for people who have finally realized that fad diets and gimmicks just don’t work. Healthy Weight Inner Circle is about losing weight and getting fit for a lifetime, and we help people do that by getting them to stop focusing on being thin, and start focusing on being healthy. If people focus on being healthy first, then thin will come.”

The site will feature new weekly and monthly workouts specifically designed to burn fat and build muscle, with members having access to the complete archive of all past workouts as well. With close to 100 exercise video clips (and more being added) members will learn exactly how to perform each move safely and effectively, either at the gym or in the privacy of their own home. In addition, HWIC's Recipe Box has close to 100 easy-to-make recipes for appetizers, main dishes, side dishes, and more. Also, there are articles that expose the incredible amount of misinformation regarding diets and weight loss that circulates in the marketplace. Finally, the HWIC Discussion Forums will give community members the opportunity to interact, have discussions, and get answers to their questions on fitness, nutrition, fat loss, motivation, and more.

“Healthy Weight Inner Circle is different from the thousands of diet sites on the internet,” adds Soucy, “as my goal is to get people to STOP dieting. The diet industry is a $50 billion business built on hype and false promises. Healthy Weight Inner Circle is here to help members break the dieting cycle once and for all. If they do, I know they’ll finally lose their extra weight for good. I’m so confident in this that I’ve removed all of the risk and decided to let anyone try out the site for a full 14 days for just $1. If they don’t agree with me, they can cancel any time. But, I know once they experience the HWIC community, they’ll never go back to their old dieting ways again.”

Soucy also operates Perfect Fit Fitness Bootcamps in Manchester, NH and is the author of several works including The Caveman's Guide to Fitness, The 17-Week Body Transformation Course, The Perfect Fit Personal Fitness and Workout Journal, and the healthy-eating cookbook Eating Right Made Simple.

More information can be found at www.HealthyWeightInnerCircle.com.

Healthy Weight Inner Circle

Okay, I know I've been a slacker when it comes to blogging lately.

What can I say? I've been busy.

I actually have been writing lots of stuff. Been filming even more stuff.

It just hasn't been for here.

I'm working on a new web site that will be the final destination for those of looking to lose weight, get healthy, and do it the right way. The site will be called Healthy Weight Inner Circle, and it will be for those of you ready to break the dieting cycle for good.

If you want to see what Healthy Weight Inner Circle is all about, just watch the short video below.



~Dave

You Can't Out-Train Lousy Nutrition

I see lots of people who are faithfully following a proper exercise program, but are frustrated because they aren't losing weight or inches. For some reason, many people think that just because they exercise regularly, they can then eat like crap and get away with it.

Well, I guess you can, as long as you don't care if you look and feel like crap as well. But if your goal is to lose weight, then you've got to get as serious about your nutrition as you are about working out. If you're not willing to do that, then don't expect to see great changes in the mirror or on the scale.

And as I said in a previous post, that doesn't just mean eating well. You've got to eat well, but what you've really got to do is eat well and create a caloric deficit.

That translates into 'stop eating crap and eat fewer calories than you burn'.

Combined with an appropriate training program, that is how you lose weight, because no matter how you try, you can't out-train lousy nutrition.

~Dave

The 12 Days of Fitness

If you're interested in receiving tons of health and fitness info for free this holiday season, then read on.

My friends Dax Moy and Pat Rigsby are coordinating a great program called The 12 Days of Fitness, and I'm happy to say that I'm one of a handpicked group of just 250 health and fitness experts from all around the world to participate in the largest fitness gift-giving program ever.

This means that, as well as getting your gifts from me, you'll be able to download a wealth of videos, audios, ebooks and special reports on just about every area of health and fitness from Diet & Nutrition, to Fat Loss, to Strength Training, to Back Pain (that's one of mine) to Mom's Fitness and just about EVERYTHING in between.

Dax and Pat have ensured that only top quality gifts have been allowed into this year's gift-giving, meaning that many of the contributors have created gifts that you would happily pay for...

But you get each and every one of them for free!

All you have to do to get your hands on these gifts is to register at www.12daysoffitness.com and you'll be notified when the first set of gifts are available. (In case you haven't figured it out, they'll be spread out over 12 days so you aren't overwhelmed with hundreds of choices all at once.)

Just my way of saying thanks for reading my blog.

Well, what are you waiting for? Get on over to www.12daysoffitness.com now!

~Dave

No Need To Overthink Weight Loss

In my previous post I talked about how just 'eating right' may not always be enough to cause you to lose weight. That still doesn't mean it has to be complicated though.

My brother is a good example.

He's lost about 30lbs in the past 2 years or so, and you might be surprised at how simple his weight loss secret is.

He simply gave up eating until he was full. Instead, he ate until he wasn't hungry.

Simple, yet a very big distinction.

Most people eat more than they need to because they eat until they feel full. And because most people eat very quickly, your brain doesn't catch up to your stomach, and by the time you feel full, you've over-eaten by a good percentage.

My brother's method: eat more slowly and stop eating when you are no longer hungry.

Simple, yet effective enough to get a fifty-something year old guy back down to his high-school weight.

~Dave

Eating Right and Not Losing Weight?

Here's a quote I hear fairly often:

"I'm eating right and I'm still not losing any weight. How can this be?"

Well, it's usually pretty simple. By 'eating right', most people mean they aren't eating junk food, they're staying away from sugar, eating plenty of fruits and veggies, eating frequently, etc.

That's great.

That doesn't mean you'll automatically lose weight though.

As an example, I just had a routine physical exam. I get one every 2 years and my weight this year was within a pound of where it was 2 years ago. And I'd say that I eat right (well, most of the time anyway).

But, what you need to realize is that if your goal is to lose weight, simply 'eating right' is usually not enough. The bottom line is you need to be disciplined, making sure that in addition to making the good choices listed above, you are also eating such that you are creating a caloric deficit (calories in has to be less than calories out).

Now, that doesn't mean starving yourself. You still need to make good choices, eat frequently, etc. But, you also need to make sure you're following a proper exercise program designed to burn fat and build muscle, so that you are burning more calories every day.

Eating right is a good thing. It can help lower blood pressure, control diabetes, lower your bad cholesterol, and any number of other healthy benefits. But, by itself, it is often not going to be enough to get you the weight loss results you want.

~Dave

How To Lose Weight and Why Diets Don't Work

If you've had a hard time losing weight (who hasn't?), check out this video.



www.DietVictims.com
~Dave

Food Label Lies, Part 2

A quick follow up to my previous example of how food companies lie to you. Here are a couple of other good examples, courtesy of the Center for Science in the Public Interest:

Kellogg's Special K Fruit & Yogurt
The ads for this cereal tell us how it "combines the crunch of whole grain goodness, the smooth creaminess of yogurt and the sweet taste of berries..." Notice how the objects in the sentence are 'crunch', 'creaminess', and 'taste'. That's because the cereal really contains more highly processed refined rice than whole grain wheat, no actual berries at all (they're really just dyed apple pieces), and no yogurt (just heat-treated yogurt powder).

Smucker's Simply Fruit
Well, it might be, sort of. It actually contains more fruit syrup than real fruit, and the syrup isn't made from the fruit in the product's name. It is made from apple, pear, or pineapple juice concentrate, which is cheaper than the fruit they tell you is in the jar.

DanActive Immunity Dairy Drink
This is one of my favorites. Dannon tells you that this drinkable yogurt will help to "strengthen your body's defenses." Unfortunately, the reality is that Dannon only did one study to see if drinking this stuff actually kept people from getting sick, and they found out it didn't. But, let's not let that get in the way of clever marketing.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has a great newsletter, Nutrition Action. You should check it out at www.nutritionaction.com.

~Dave

How Food Manufacturers Lie to You

If you open your cupboard, I'm guessing you'll find a can of non-stick cooking spray. I know there's one in my cupboard.

Look at the front of the can, and regardless of the brand, you'll probably see "For fat-free cooking", "calorie-free cooking spray" or something similar.

Now, turn the can around and look at the ingredients. Basically it is canola oil, flavoring, and propellant. If you look at the bottle of cooking oil you probably also have in your cupboard, you'll see that it has 120 calories per tablespoon, with 100% of the calories coming from fat.

So, how is it that taking canola oil from a bottle and putting it in a spray can removes all of the fat and calories?

It doesn't. That cooking spray has 120 calories per tablespoon and is 100% fat.

So, how is the manufacturer able to get away with lying to you? The law allows them to. You see, FDA regs say that if a food has less than .5 grams of fat PER SERVING, it can be called fat-free.

Take a look at the serving size on your cooking spray: .25 grams. If the serving size is less than .5 grams, there has to be less than .5 grams of fat in it, right?

To point out how ridiculous a serving size of .25 grams is, they even tell you that equals a spray lasting 1/3 of a second. Even if you could hit the trigger, spray, and get your finger off the trigger in 1/3 of a second, you wouldn't cover much of your pan.

But, that doesn't matter, as there are no rules defining serving size. So, food manufacturers can simply manipulate serving sizes, even to ridiculous degrees, to justify the marketing hype on the front label that gets you to buy the product.

Now, I'm not saying non-stick cooking spray is bad. I'm just saying it isn't calorie- or fat-free. In fact, it is 100% fat.

The point is, you can't always believe what is on a food label.

~Dave