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In my last article, I talked about how I gained 12 pounds of muscle naturally in two months with a few simple lifestyle changes. But when it came to diet, I’ll admit, I was pretty vague. So now I will get more specific on the different types of food I included in my diet, and when the best time to eat them is, to gain weight naturally.

First off: proteins. Proteins supply energy and provide the structural components necessary for growth and repair of tissue. They make up most of the body weight after water and they are the building blocks of organs, muscles, nerves, blood, skin, enzymes and hormone, the heart, organ, and even hair and nails.

But I’m sure you all already knew protein was important for putting on weight. What you may not know is what the best proteins are (they cannot be found in a bar or in a can of chemical-laden liquids), so let me shed some light on the oh-so-confusing subject of protein.

First off, I ate three servings a day of animal proteins. Only animal proteins - chicken, beef, turkey, fish, eggs and dairy — are complete protein sources because they contain all eight of the essential amino acids. Without animal proteins in the diet, one can become deficient in many important minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium and zinc. Animal protein is also rich in minerals, and vitamins B6 and B12.

But when it comes to animal protein, you must be careful. Due to improper cattle-raising techniques, steroids and antibiotics, commercially-raised animal proteins can quickly turn into an obstacle to your goals, filling you with toxins that your body will waste time dealing with when it should be building muscle. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 90-95% of all pesticide residues are found in meat and dairy products. Crazy!

So to build hard muscle naturally, you need to eat beef from organic or one-hundred percent grass-fed cattles; eat eggs and poultry raised in a free-range setting or organically fed; and drink organic, whole goat or bovine milk.

But one thing you should not worry about in these foods is the fat content. In fact, if they are organic, grass-fed, and antibiotic free, then the fat actually contains many important vitamins that you need to put on weight naturally. So enjoy the dark meat and full-fat raw milk.

When it comes to fish, wild ocean-caught fish is best. Farm-raised fish can contain many pesticides and their fatty acid profile is not as good as that of wild fish. And don’t worry about mercury; ocean fish that contain the toxic substance mercury also contain alkylglycerols, which are substances that remove mercury from your body.

To put on weight naturally, it’s best to avoid the scavengers and “bottom feeders,” such as clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, snails, shrimp, lobsters, crabs, and pork. These are shown to contain too many toxins than you want in your body.

In addition to animal proteins, I also had two to three shakes made with organic, raw hemp protein. Hemp protein may not have as many grams of protein per serving as those 10-gallon tubs of processed and heated whey protein do, but because it is raw and all the enzymes are still alive, your body will utilize much more of it and consequently give you more muscle mass.

Typically, I ate six meals a day, and alternated between an animal protein and the hemp protein. Although there would only be two to three hours between each meal, alternating the protein sources gave my body five to six hours between each animal protein meal, which is harder to digest. Make sense?

So that is the scoop when it comes to the proteins I ate, and how they helped me gain twelve pounds naturally in under two months. Next up will be carbohydrates….but until then, gain weight naturally by buying some fresh organic animal protein and hemp powder, and have a great time gaining weight the natural way!

Copyright 2008, Masszymes Inc. All rights reserved.

Chris Francis is a serious bodybuilder who has built serious muscle mass fast using the revolutionary new weight-training system, Freaky Big Naturally. Get a FR-EE shocking Insider Report on Natural BodyBuilding, a Muscle-Primer Program and more at http://natural-bodybuilding.freakygrowth.com.

This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni’s Raw Food Summit which can be found at http://rawsummitarchives.com. In this excerpt, Brendan Brazier shares information on his interest in nutrition as an athlete and also the research he’s done on food and the body that can benefit all of us.

Raw Food Summit Excerpt with Brendan Brazier, triathelete thriving on living foods, author, speaker and the creator of a meal replacement formula.

KevinSo, Brendan Brazier I would like to welcome you to Raw Summit.

Brendan: Thanks Kevin.

Kevin: Bren, there are bunch of things that I want to talk about today, but first let’s start with just a little bit of background about you.

Brendan: Sure. I actually got into the nutrition and just trying to achieve peak performance through nutrition back when I was around 15. That was all I cared about when I was 15. I was getting into track and field and I knew then that I wanted to try and become a professional athlete. I just really enjoyed running, I enjoyed swimming, biking, all those things. I realized pretty soon into the game that obviously I’ll have to do a lot of training. I got a hold of some of the top athlete training programs and then I also looked at some average athlete training programs. What really surprised me was that they hardly differ at all.

And so, then of course I wonder, well, what make some athletes Great? And I realized that it had to do with recovery because the quicker you can recover, the faster you improve. I found that at 80% of recovery has to do with nutrition. So that’s what got me going down that road.

Kevin: Wow! So, for recovery even if someone is a light exerciser or a heavy exerciser, what are some of the things that we need to do to get ourselves in a top shape and continue to perform at the top level?

Brendan: Well, one of the big things is having high quality food right after a workout because really a workout is just a form of stress. You break down your body tissue muscles and cells, and ligaments, tendons and if you don’t give yourself good food to reconstruct that, then your body has no choice but to take the food you give it and build new body tissue.

Eating the high quality good raw plant-based foods right after a workout is going to be the best way to do that and you stay strong, you improve quickly as an athlete and you stay healthy as well.

Kevin: So, at the end of races, you go to so many things and you see people eating jelly doughnuts, pizza and there’s all this “junk food.” What is that doing and what are some of the best foods that people can eat after a race for recovery?

Brendan: Yes, it’s funny. That’s one of the things that seems to be common is after a workout or a race, people think that eating junk food is fine. They think, “Well, I’ve done workout today.” But it’s actually, that’s the worst time to eat junk food.

So, for recovery what I started doing was making smoothies, liquid form of course so that really helps speed digestion. So, I would make my own smoothie, I’ll use ham protein, greens, flax and nuts and then I actually started just having that evolve over the years. It became really good and just really healthy and then I developed it as a product and called it Vega and that came out a few years ago, but it’s something that was born 15 years ago.

Kevin: Did you notice the difference in your recovery times and your results when you started to eat some of these different foods?

Brendan: Absolutely, yes. It was very noticeable. You know one of the things that I find interesting with a lot of people now is that they expect things to be instant. And we’re in that kind of culture of sugar and you know if you drink a cup of coffee you feel the energy immediately. And healthy foods are not that way. They’re not stimulating; they’re nourishing, so you don’t feel the energy immediately.

But over time, six to eight weeks or so, if you’ve cleaned up your diet, you’re really going to start feeling better and I just encourage people to stick with it.

Kevin: Well, when you exercise you’re causing a lot of stress on the body and you’re letting go of muscle glycogen. What’s the correlation between the muscle glycogen replacing it and the sugars? And why is that not necessary the best thing?

Brendon: Well, definitely you want to stay away from any kind of refined sugar. Like white flour, for example, takes a lot of energy to breakdown and digest because your body has to build digestive enzymes to break that down and a healthy body can do that, but it takes work.

So if you’re spending all that energy to try and get energy, the amount of energy you’re left over with is very low. I used to be under the impression as most people are that if you eat more calories, you’ll have more energy, and it seems logical. But I was getting really tired and I was eating a plant-based diet, but I was eating also peanut butter and bread and things that are very high in calories, but very low in nutrition. And the body just had to work so hard to digest those things.

So when I switched to more raw food, lots of leafy green vegetables, lots of fruit, getting carbohydrate from fruit as opposed to grains, I noticed a huge difference and that was a big point for me.

I think just the whole calorie thing is so flawed and that it just doesn’t take into account what source the calorie is and how hard your body has to work to digest that and assimilate it.

Kevin: Yes. What sort of fruits were you eating that you found were the best for you?

Brendan: Pretty much any fruit works well for me, usually banana and the smoothies, dates and berries. I try and eat and fuse them as much as possible, so I’ll eat a lot of local berries. I like grapefruit a lot. I like apples, oranges. I like some tropical fruits too - mangoes, papayas, dates. Dates are a great source of quick energy.

Kevin: Sure.

Brendan: Really good during long races just to have a date or even make an energy gel. I’m sure people - a lot of people are familiar with energy gels that you can take during a long run. And a lot of them, all the commercial ones as far as I know, are really highly processed and not so healthy, but it’s very easy to make your own and I have a recipe for those in the new book, the Thrive Diet. You just take agave nectar, a couple of dates, blend them together with a bit of lemon and lime juice, grate off lemon and lime, mix them with a little sea salt, and that’s a great gel. You just put that in a gel flask and that’s high energy that will keep you going strong throughout the race. It tastes good. It’s refreshing and it’s a really simple solution, of course, 100% raw and natural end process.

Kevin: That’s incredible. When you’re exercising for even 40 minutes or maybe even longer, two hours, six hours, what are some of the nutrients that are depleted and then what are some of the specific things that you can take to bring them back?

Brendan: Well, the body burns carbohydrate, that it’s first choice for fuel. So you want to make sure you’re giving enough carbohydrate. When a lot of people think carbohydrate, they think starchy foods like the pasta and rice and bread. I hardly eat any complex carbohydrate. I get almost all of my carbohydrate from fruit, which is simple carbohydrate and the advantage of that is that the body cannot use complex carbohydrate without first converting it into simple carbohydrate, into sugar. So it’s one less step for your body.

And one of the other things that’s good for good quality carbohydrates are pseudograins. Pseudograins are technically seeds. So quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, and wild rice, they’re all seeds…

You can make really simple snacks from them, even just sprouted quinoa with some avocado with a lemon juice and some sea salt, just really plain simple taste that’s really good.

Kevin: You touched on protein there and I think a lot of people feel that they need to really overdo it on protein. And what does that do with the body and why is that might not be the best thing to do?

Brendan: Yes, excess protein is very common. It’s bad quality protein, what a lot of people eat and drink. Whey protein has been very well marketed and it’s the staple of so many athletes. It’s unfortunate. It’s incredibly acid forming, so therefore, the body, to keep the blood neutral for survival’s sake will pull calcium from the bones, and calcium is very alkaline. So, over the course of a decade or two, that leads to weaker bones and it’s bad for the immune system. It creates inflammation and something I learned recently was that, in North America now, the chance of getting osteoporosis is so much greater, and it’s happening younger and younger in life for people.

And that was originally thought that it was because our diet didn’t have enough calcium. But as it turns out, that’s not the case. We’re leeching calcium out of our bodies by eating too many processed acid forming foods. And if we were just to eat more leafy green vegetables, more raw foods, basically the less processed the food, the more alkaline it’s going to be.

Kevin: When you talk about acid building up in the body over. Let’s talk about this over a day. Someone wakes up in the morning. They drink a couple of coffee. They exercise. They have their whey protein shake after. What’s going on in their body in terms of acid, I mean how low is the pH actually getting?

Brendan: Yes, it’s critical. It’s turning people into very, very sick people and it’s become a very serious problem. You touched on coffee too, which I think is really interesting. What I found when I was researching this was that stress is the root cause of pretty much all problems and the minor problems that are the first signs of stress, there comes a red flag. We have to really, really focus on and not try and suppress them and treat the symptoms but really be opened to them and know how to actually get to the root cause of each problem.

For example, when your body gets stressed, stress response affects the adrenal glands and cortisol, the stress hormone, goes up and when cortisol is high you actually don’t get into a deep phase of sleep. It’s called delta and that’s a really deep rejuvenating sleep. That is when your body recovers and that’s vital because if you don’t get in that form of sleep, which 95% plus of North Americans don’t, we wake up we feel tired and we crave coffee and sugar, because coffee and sugar are stimulants.

If we clean up our diet, we can actually help reduce cortisol levels. Therefore, we will get into that deep delta phase of sleep and sleep efficiently. And therefore, we’ll wake up and feel ready to go. And also too if we sleep efficiently, we don’t need to sleep. People say all the time, “I wish I had an extra hour a day,” and in a way you can have an extra hour everyday if the diet is highly raw, plant-based and really stress relieving.

To read the rest of this transcript as well as access the Raw Summit just experts like Brendan Brazier, please click here! Kevin Gianni is an internationally recognized health advocate, author & film consultant. He has helped thousands of people take control of their own health naturally through teleseminars and programs. For more information visit raw food diets and holistic nutrition.

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This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni’s Raw Food Summit which can be found at http://rawsummitarchives.com. In this excerpt, Brendan Brazier shares some amazing insight into talking about health in Washington and what he does on a daily basis for himself and to spread the message to others.

Raw Food Summit Excerpt with Brendan Brazier, tri-athlete thriving on living foods, author, speaker and the creator of a meal replacement formula.

Kevin: You recently have spoken in front of the government, in Washington DC to Capital Hill. Tell us a little bit about that and what your mission is to do something like that. I mean you have to have a pretty strong mission, so let’s talk about that.

Brendan: Sure. Yes, last year 2006, I was invited to speak on Capital Hill on behalf of PCRM which is Positions Committee for Responsible Medicine, and it was really interesting actually because we had to just basically make a case that there’s a connection between health and diet. That’s how basic it was.

There are people there who had just not given it any thought. They just thought that, “Ah, when you’re 40 years old, you’re going to be overweight. You’ll have high cholesterol. You’ll have sore joints. You’ll be lethargic.” And why does that happen? Well we just don’t know. But making the case that diet is probably the cause for that was what we had to do, and to their credit they were very receptive and people were nodding and you know saying, “Yes, you know that makes sense.”

And one of our big things too is that sure we can, you know keep subsidies there and keep food like hamburgers, a dollar and an organic apple cost a dollar yet the amount of oil at today’s current oil price to create a hamburger, it should be a $35 hamburger because of the resources that go into that.

Subsidies exist to keep those prices low and our saying was that the subsidy should come off to expose the real cost of food and sure people wouldn’t be able to afford meat for one because we all know how much oil and fossil fuel has to be burned to create a pound of meat - it’s incredible. And yes, it would make those foods out of reach but then others will become more available.

Lots of fruits and vegetables and things that are easier to obtain and the problem is that sure those subsidies make it cheaper now but what’s happening is that people are of course eating lots of those type of food and getting sick. So therefore placing a huge burn on our medical system, which is of course taxpayer funded so in effect, we’re really delaying when we pay and in doing so, we’re weakening our society. I think that really struck the core with them. It’s very basic, but it’s - I, think they thought…you know, that does make sense. If we can really teach a preventative approach and reduce the dependence on the overworked medical systems, we will be a more prosperous nation. Sure, maybe the drug companies won’t be so much and, you know it is a whole other story. But, it does make basic simple sense that if we can not have to pay as much and our tax dollars for the medical system that we’ll be economically better off, and of course our health will be far better off in doing that too. I mean, we will have a stronger nation of people. And having stronger more vibrant people I think can only help the country.

Kevin: Yes, absolutely. What you think it’s going to take to do that?

Brendan: It’s going to take time for one. It’s not going to happen overnight. As we all know, drug companies are very tightly tied with governments and drug companies of course. Treat symptoms of problems that have been created by eating the wrong kinds of foods for years and years and it’s not going to happen overnight, but I do think that getting involved really on this, now is the time and over time, I think if we can make a really good economic case that – because of course that’s what they want to hear, you know everything comes down to money in the end, and if we can just make the case that by alleviating pressure on the medical system for one, that will be our get starting point and we can take it from there. But, yes…it’s small steps for sure.

Kevin: And what can someone do who wants to make a difference with this? I mean what’s the process that they go through? I mean should they start speaking about it? I mean, what can someone do to help bring this awareness about?

Brendan: Well, one of the things that I think is I guess probably the easiest way too, there are other good ways but I think doing it for yourself. Going and experience this for yourself and being vibrant and even being kind of selfish about it in the beginning. Just thinking about yourself, thinking about what you need to do to get as healthy as possible and people will laugh. When they feel the change in you, they will ask you what you’ve been doing. They’ll say you look great though. They’ll notice and then, your platform is so much stronger. If you just take it upon yourself to be as vibrant as possible and healthy as possible, you will be amazed at how many people seek you out for answers and then what you say just carries so much weight because they’ve asked you, you haven’t just gone out and started preaching about it.

Kevin: In experience, talks fill out louder than theory. That’s amazing. So, your book is Thrive and then the Thrive Diet. Are they similar or what’s the?

Brendan: Yes. Well, Thrive came out as a self-published book that I wrote in 2004. And then, Penguin Canada bought the rights and I expanded it greatly. The Thrive Diet is 307 so obviously much bigger and far more in depth and a 100 recipes too, all wheat-free, glutton-free, soy-free. Mostly all raw. The ones that aren’t raw have raw options so you can make them raw. And, also a 12- week meal plan that you don’t have to follow completely, even just one meal or one snack a day can make a difference. Published by Penguin and that’s available at any Canadian bookstore or health food store. And it comes out in the US in January of ’08 by a different publisher by Avalon. It’s available online.

Kevin: Oh, wow.

Brendan: The premise is the same as the first one. It’s about reducing stress to better nutrition. It’s just as simple as that. And it is a very easy to understand, very logical approach I think and I’ve had a good feedback on it so I’m glad to say that the people are finding it helpful and enjoying it.

Kevin: Does it include exercise as well or no?

Brendan: It includes some basic talk about exercises and how exercise can help and basically how to select the exercise that you want to do. One of the things I talked about is not trying to force your self into a certain type of exercise because they are very specific to personality type like me, of course I’d like to run. I enjoy it but a lot of people don’t and that’s fine. I don’t think those people who don’t like running, I don’t think they should run. I think they should find activities that they enjoy. And, you know a lot of people say well, yoga’s great for relieving stress and yes that’s true if you like yoga, but if you hate it, it’s not.

Kevin: No, it’s very stressful.

Brendan: Exactly. So try and like cram yourself into an exercise routine that does not jive with your personality can actually create more stress and I think just helping people find the activity that they enjoy is a good starting point as well and that’s why I don’t have a specific exercise program although I am working on a book now that will come out January of ‘09 that will combine the nutrition with a full exercise program and the whole routine as well.

Kevin: Oh, great! And then, you also have the meal replacement as well. Can you get that just anywhere? How do you get it?

Brendan: Yes. Vega meal replacement. The meal replacement is the main one that will have the essential fat, fiber, greens, enzymes, the map, the carrel, and the whole bit. You can get that at all whole foods in the US. Basically, every health food store in Canada has it. In the US, very soon most health food stores will have it. So, it is getting out there. It’s also in the UK now and in Taiwan as well.

To read the rest of this transcript as well as access the Raw Summit just like Brendan Brazier, please click here! Kevin Gianni is an internationally recognized health advocate, author & film consultant. He has helped thousands of people take control of their own health naturally through teleseminars and programs. For more information visit raw food diets and holistic nutrition.

This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni’s Raw Food Summit which can be found at http://rawsummitarchives.com. In this excerpt, Brendan Brazier shares more specifics on the way foods can either provide or deplete energy and the effects of stress.

Raw Food Summit Excerpt with Brendan Brazier, tri-athlete thriving on living foods, author, speaker and the creator of a meal replacement formula.

Kevin: So, you talked about what you do before a race, I mean I remember in high school we used to have posh parties the night before. What is the better option than loading yourself down with processed wheat?

Brendan: There are now a lot of better options but, yes, it’s funny and people still do that. I don’t change my diet before a race at all. I just continue to eat really good, clean foods. I’ll just have a big salad and then, one of the really important things is to make sure you eat the right stuff right after exercise to rebuild. So, before, I just make my own energy bars that’s why I have the Vega bars that developed out of what I used to make and really simply you just throw everything in the food processor, dates and some proteins, some flax and… it’s really simple. And I actually even have the recipes for the bars in the new book.

I would spend maybe 60 to 90 minutes once every 4 months to make a huge batch, cut them up individually, wrapped them, put them in a freezer and just grab one on the way out each day. It was really simple ingredients, aren’t that expensive and that was a total of like four hours a year of food preps, so it’s not exactly a big commitment.

They digest these well, they’re really easy on the stomach and you’re not having all that processed foods that actually rob you of energy but give you that false impression that it’s giving you energy. Some of the energy bars, ironically enough, are the most energy robbing foods there are out there.

Kevin: Yes. And why is that?

Brendan: Because of the processed ingredients. High fructose corn syrup is one of them that you’re body has an incredibly hard time turning into usable fuel. it’s trying to digest that and it’s so artificial that the body doesn’t even recognize it as a nutrient type of food. It’s just pure stimulation.

Kevin: And it is just the high fructose corn syrup? I mean, even some of the other ones, you know sugar and soy too.

Brendan: Yes, absolutely. Soy is in so many things and I know a few vegetarians who use to eat soy every meal and have actually developed sensitivities to it.

I did actually find in research that more people are becoming vegan in North America than ever before, but fewer people are sticking with it. The theory is that because there’s so many options now for meat alternatives like there’s soy hotdogs, soy hamburgers, tofu ice cream but then at the end of the day, they’re still not that healthy. Sure, they’re better than the meat version but they’re not great food. They’re good for transition. I think they do have their place. But then, I would caution people against staying on those and really once you have transitioned. The reason people aren’t sticking with vegan diet is because they are not feeling good on them, because they are not healthy diet food. It can very easily be said now that there are vegan junk food options out.

Kevin: I used to know a vegetarian who had a bagel and lettuce and onion and tomato and that was her lunch. She was always sick and it was sad. You talked about these soy products and you talked about all the foods that are coming out, even the fruit bars and the energy bars, what are you looking for and what do you know is good and what do you know is bad?

Brendan: Well, I’ll try and keep things pretty simple. I’m, when it comes to eating, I’m really simple to feed. I just eat lots of fruit and vegetables and try and avoid packaging as much as possible…

Kevin: Okay.

Brendan: But it’s difficult because we’re all starting in a different situation and there are some people who use standard American diet for 30 or 40 years but are genuinely interested in a healthier way now because they realized they have to do something about their diet. But the chances of them going raw or even vegan or even partially raw or vegan overnight is very, very slim for them to experience success on that.

When I talk with people about this, I usually try and just let them know that transitioning is fine and it may take a year and that’s fine because if it sticks, then it’s great, when you actually start wanting to eat the foods that are healthy for you and you lose the taste for the ones that aren’t, that’s the greatest place to be. And I think that some of the soy products are okay for transition, but just the caution is to know that they are for transition and get off them once you’re beyond that.

Kevin: I don’t imagine there are many people in this call who train as much as you do or did, but I imagine there are people on the call who would find value in what you do on a regular basis, how you train and what you eat on a regular basis throughout the day, so can you take us through a day and just kind of tell us you know what you doing and what kind of food you eat?

Brendan: Yes, sure. On a typical day, when I was training lows I would swim in the morning about four and a half kilometers pretty early in a day. Before that I would have usually half an energy bar, the ones that I just make for myself and a food processor for really basic. Get home from that, I would have usually a smoothie with quite a bit of fruit and oat mixed vega in there to have all the protein, essential fats, fiber, greens, all of that, and that would pretty much do it after the swim workout. Then I would go for a bike ride or depending on the day. I might have a nap after that if it’s going to be a really long day, but usually I’d just get on my bike ride anywhere from four to five hours. As I ride, I would drink a sport drink that I would make for myself. Really basic, the recipe is in the tried diet as well but I really want to avoid of course Gatorade and things that are full of high-fructose, corn syrup, artificial flavor and color and seems funny that there are so many sport drinks out there and all the ones I’ve seen are really not very healthy. So making my own seem like a good option and it’s really easy.

People often ask about that but it’s really just easy. I use coconut water as a base from young coconut and you can either just buy the coconut pack, or you can buy a tetra pack that has young coconut water and it is pasteurized if it’s in a tetra pack so it’s not raw but you can find one that have just 100% coconut water and that’s the only ingredient, so it’s still a pretty good option if you don’t happen to have your machete on you to open the coconut. And that would become the base of my sport drink and I’d blend in a date and a bit of lemon and lime zest just like with the jellies I talked about before but just have more liquid.

Kevin: Just zest, no juice?

Brendan: Sometimes squeeze a little juice in there too and a bit of sea salt or even a bit of dull seaweeds. Some people have a hard time getting their head around drinking, but they actually didn’t even taste it. I would just have it in a very small amount or just taste a little bit salty, and it was really good and it has lots of electrolytes in it which what you sweat out. Of course you don’t just sweat water, you sweat magnesium, potassium and other electrolytes so replacing that with dulls is a really good way do it as well. So I drink that as I rode and often at the end of that I would then have some usually another smoothie with quite a bit of protein, essential fats, all of that.

Kevin: Also have some seed in it.

Brendan: Yes, yes. Some seeds are good and then later on that night I would have a big salad, have avocado, lots of super additives, lots of seaweed, all kinds of different lettuce, sometimes some kale ripped up in there and really load up that in. That has quite a lot of protein. I think sometimes people don’t realize how much protein you got from greens. Spinach for example has almost 50% protein, around 45% and it’s such high quality that you’re getting a significant amount of protein to rebuild muscle tissue.

Kevin: Wow! And now you are burning about how many calories you think a day?

Brendan: I was probably burning around 5000 but the thing is as you’re body get used to this training and adapts, it burns fewer calories. The more fit you get, the fewer calories you burn. That’s important for an endurance test, like they don’t want to burn more than you have to. It’s all about conservation and economy, really.

Kevin: That’s one of the biggest challenges I think, a lot of people think that it’s about powering through and powering through an exercise work out too.

Brendan: Right. A lot of people and think okay, this is the week that I’m really going to get fit and healthy. I’m going to go and start this big workout routine and they do way too much too soon. Any kind of change is stress and this is true for exercise or even changing the way you eat. Even though it’s a positive change, too much too soon is going to be a stress. You got to start slow and just ease into it. Let your body adapt. There has to be physiological changes to take place and don’t try and do it overnight. The odds of sticking with it throughout the rest of your life is far greater than if you just jump into it and create all kinds of muscle soreness and can actually really injure yourself as well.

Kevin: Let’s go over some of the symptoms of too much stress again. Lack of sleep is one of them, what are some of the other ones?

Brendan: Yes. The first symptoms of stress are ones that most of us experience - trouble sleeping, sugar craving, starch craving, a bit of weight gain, trouble losing body fats, irritability, mental fog, just general fatigue, even headache, even bloating, mouth-flu like symptoms, all those things. It’s different for everyone but even in some cases, rashes, people will have skin irritation. I like to actually be sensitive to those things. I’m not trying to suppress them because I know that they’ll just manifest themselves and quite possibly crop up as a serious disease later. If you pay attention to the warning signs of stress then you’re much better off and instead of drinking coffee if you’re tired, clean up your diet and maybe get a little better quality sleep which will just happen when your diet is better.

To read the rest of this transcript as well as access the Raw Summit experts just like Brendan Brazier, please click here! Kevin Gianni is an internationally recognized health advocate, author & film consultant. He has helped thousands of people take control of their own health naturally through teleseminars and programs. For more information visit raw food diets and holistic nutrition.

Coconut oil as the new healthy oil? I thought it was full of bad saturated fats. How can it be healthy for me? After all, this is the same oil they use in chocolate candy that makes them so rich, yet so high in saturated fats. The experts say that saturated fats are bad for me. Now coconut oil is good for me?

For years we have been taught that coconut oil is bad for us. Yet millions of islanders worldwide have enjoyed coconuts for thousands of years without becoming obese or unhealthy. So, what’s up? The answer is quite simple. Islanders use fresh coconuts to eat and to produce coconut oils, while most of the oils we use are manufactured from less than fresh coconuts.

Manufacturers of coconut oil produce two different types of coconut oil using old or fresh coconuts: highly processed oils and virgin coconut oil. The highly processed oils end up containing high amounts of bad saturated fats, while virgin coconut oil is all natural, has no additives and has healthy benefits to our bodies.

How commercial grade coconut oil is produced: This method of extracting coconut oil involves using copra (the dried meat of the coconut). The copra is dried by using kilns, air drying, or smoke drying. Because the oil produced from this method of oil extraction is considered unsuitable for human consumption caused by the unsanitary methods of drying, resulting in rancid oils, the oil goes through a process known as RBD – refining, bleaching and deodorization. Sodium hydroxide is then used to remove free fatty acids and prolong shelf life. Some people actually cook and consume this grade of coconut oil.

How virgin coconut oil is produced: There are 2 different methods of producing virgin coconut oil. The first is to quick dry the coconut meat, then press out the oil. The second, more traditional method is to use fresh coconut meat, pressing out the coconut milk. The coconut milk then separates into layers naturally, with the water on the lower level, clear coconut oil on the second level and coconut solids on the top level. The coconut oil is then extracted and filtered. There are no chemicals added, no bleaching, no deodorizing or other refinements. The result is pure coconut oil with a natural shelf life of about 2 years and a melting point of 76 degrees.

Virgin Coconut oil is rich in lauric acid. This is a nutrient that supports the body’s immune system and is also found in human mother’s milk. It is also rich in other nutrients and phenolic compounds healthful to the body. Virgin coconut oil still retains the natural coconut flavor, giving it a rich, flavorful taste. Research has shown that the shorter medium chain fatty acids found in coconut oil boost the body’s metabolism, raise body temperatures, and help provide greater energy. Results are a healthier, leaner body, more energy and healthier skin.

As a cooking oil, the chemical structure of virgin coconut oil is kept in tact. It remains resistant to mutations of fatty acid chains even when used in higher cooking temperatures, and unlike most vegetable oils does not produce trans fatty acids. You would think that the coconut flavor would permeate to all of your cooking, but it makes for a very delicious cooking medium.

I was a little skeptical at first. There always seems to be a new miracle product on the market. This product has been around for many years and I can now attest to the health benefits of virgin coconut oil. After one month of using 2 teaspoons of virgin coconut oil daily my good cholesterol increased about 20%, my bad cholesterol decreased by 10%, my triglycerides decreased by 15%, my skin stopped peeling around the nose and ears and I dropped 10 lbs. Not everyone experiences the dramatic changes I did, but every comment I have heard from others has been positive. With the benefits I have experienced, you can be sure that the new oil in my household is virgin coconut oil.

You can get virgin coconut oil at most health food stores. Or check out my website for a link to where I buy my virgin coconut oil and other vitamins and supplements, often at a discount.

Jeff Keto suffered a stroke in March, 2007 requiring a much healthier diet and lifestyle. Product links available at: http://njkmarketing.com

I had a stroke 13 months ago. At 36 years of age, that was a wake up call to really start eating right. I had dropped 68 lbs over an 18 month period prior to the stroke by eliminating fast foods and soda and exercising more. At 50% of my goal I thought I was doing well. But now I had to get serious about what I ate, especially since I had lost use of my right side making exercise out of the question for many months.

I have had to totally revamp what and how I ate. No more fried or fatty foods, no cakes, pastries or candies, a lot smaller portions, less carbs, less fats and more good foods were required. In fact, my stomach seemed so full with so much less that I had to make everything I ate count.

I had made it past being a statistic (stroke is the #3 killer in the USA and Europe) and I wanted to keep from being a future statistic (70% of stroke victims die in the first year). Fruits and vegetables became the norm, with grilled fish, especially salmon, and lean meats, such as chicken breast, rounding out my meals. Oatmeal and whole grain cereals became my regular breakfast foods. A few heart-healthy nuts like almonds, cashews, and sunflower seeds became my snacks. It is a lot different having to change your lifestyle than thinking about what you can change.

Of course I had to change what I put on a salad. The standard dressings are just too high in salt, sugar and fat. Olive oil with non-salt seasonings became the dressing of choice, in moderation. In fact, anything requiring oil was replaced with virgin olive oil.

During the past year I have gained back some use of my limbs and can actually go for walks unassisted. I can eat a little more and have been able to add some other foods in my diet in moderation, being very careful what I eat. My weight loss during this period was 13 lbs.

My blood tests showed my beginning bad cholesterol, LDL, were 166 mg/dL and my triglycerides were over 200 mg/dL. Normal levels of LDL should be 70-130 and triglycerides 0-150. Both bad cholesterol and triglycerides dropped significantly by my diet changes to the point where my doctor was no longer concerned about my new levels of bad cholesterol 110 mg/dL.

Apparently my changes in diet had helped drop the LDL levels, but my lack of ability to really exercise had caused my good cholesterol, HDL, to drop to 32, putting me at a greater risk of heart disease. Desirable levels of HDL are 40-70. The recommendation was to try and add more exercise. But, I was already doing as much as I could. I needed to find other ways to help raise my good cholesterol.

I had heard about the health benefits of coconut oil, so I got on the computer and started researching the facts. Convinced this may help me I approached the doctor with what I had learned. At first she was against the idea of my using coconut oil because of the saturated fats associated with this oil. I agreed. That’s what loads chocolate with so much saturated fats. The oil is processed and chemically treated. Ugh!

But, I showed her that virgin coconut oil is processed differently. It is pure and contains lauric acid. Its fats are healthier medium chain fats beneficial to the body. I showed her the studies and results of people using virgin coconut oil. In the end she agreed to let me give it a try for one month.

Here are the results of adding two teaspoons of virgin coconut oil each morning to my banana/milk/protein shake and replacing virgin olive oil with virgin coconut oil in my salad dressings. Note that my exercise remained the same as before. My good cholesterol rose to 40 mg/dL, my bad cholesterol dropped to 100 mg/dL, my Triglycerides dropped to 140 mg/dL and I dropped 10 lbs. I can’t wait to see the results in 6 weeks when I get tested again.

Virgin coconut oil definitely has very good benefits. It is too bad the commercial coconut oil manufacturers use in foods, especially chocolates, are so highly processed and chemically altered that they are so loaded with saturated fats. I hear you can even safely use virgin coconut oil to replace cooking oils used in saut

You can imagine my surprise after my last blood test when my doctor told me I needed to raise my cholesterol levels. What? I had a stroke the year before and had revamped my diet to lower my cholesterol. I was slowly able to walk and move more and was adding as much exercise as my body could handle. I had successfully dropped an extremely high cholesterol level to well within normal ranges. Now she wanted me to raise my cholesterol levels again?

That’s because there are two types of cholesterol; good cholesterol, or HDL (high-density lipoproteins) and bad cholesterol, or LDL (low-density lipoproteins). HDL scour the walls of the blood vessels, sweeping away excess fat and cholesterol in the blood and carries it back to the liver for processing, preventing plaque build-up. We’ve all heard that it is important to decrease bad cholesterol, but it is just as important to keep our HDL levels high. I had lowered my bad cholesterol levels but my good cholesterol had dropped as well.

An HDL reading less than 40 mg/dL is considered to be a major risk factor for heart disease, with a reading between 40 and 50 mg/dL recommended, while readings over 60mg/dL indicate a significantly lowered risk of heart disease. My HDL had dropped to a risky 32 mg/dL. The question now was how to raise good cholesterol. Listed below are some suggestions that will help.

Lose Excess Fat by Increasing Activity: It is important to lose excess body fat. But, often dieting alone can cause the desirable HDL to drop along with LDL. By increasing regular physical activity with aerobic exercise, this trend is stopped and good HDL levels will increase. Aerobic exercise is any constant activity that increases your heart rate. Please note that exercise has a powerful, yet short-lived effect, so it is important to exercise on a consistent basis. Studies show that people who exercise regularly tend to have higher HDL.

Research shows that HDL may be elevated as much as 20 percent from regular aerobic exercise that expends at least 800 to 1,200 calories per week. For example, walking at 3 miles per hour burns roughly 300 calories per hour, so walking 3 to 4 hours a week would meet this goal. Further studies show that the duration of exercise, rather than the intensity is a more important factor in raising HDL. Any aerobic exercise will have a greater effect the longer you can participate in that activity. Instead of increasing how hard you exercise, try adding a little more time to your activity for the greater HDL benefits. Studies show that for every 10 minutes of additional exercise HDL may increase by 1.4 mg/dL

Weight control is critical to raising HDL levels. Researchers note that every kilogram (2.2 pounds) of weight a patient loses raises HDL levels by an average 0.35 mg/dL. So, get walking, hiking, swimming, biking or whatever. Just increase your activity and control what you eat.

Stop Smoking: Giving up tobacco will result in an increase of HDL. Studies show this can raise your HDL by about 4 mg/dL. If you do smoke, please stop! Smoking puts you at high risk for heart disease and stroke. Believe me, these are not experiences you want, especially since they are the #1 and #3 killers in this country and strokes are the #1 cause of disability.

Eliminate Trans Fats: High intakes of trans fats lower HDL. It is hard enough to improve cholesterol levels with food. Cutting out fast foods, processed foods and foods made with hydrogenated oils will at least stop drops in good cholesterol and will stem the rise of bad cholesterol. This is not an easy task since many of our favorite prepared foods contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.

Alcohol: One or two drinks a day, no more, can show a beneficial increase to HDL levels, regardless of the type of alcohol, by up to 4 mg/dL. But, use caution if you have liver or other conditions affected by alcohol or you have an addictive nature. Consult your doctor.

Improved Diet: What we eat can help lower overall cholesterol and increase HDL levels. It gets so hard with our lifestyles these days. I had a problem eating right while working an 8-5 job, juggling home life and personal activities. It is just so much easier to eat processed foods. But it can be done. The more I find foods I like that are good for me and include them in my diet, the less room I have for not-so-good foods.

Canola oil, avocado oil, olive oil and the oils found in peanut butter can increase HDL, as can soy, flaxseed, eating more nuts such as almonds, cashews, walnuts, peanuts and pecans. A 2004 study in Diabetes Care found that men and women with type 2 diabetes who included 30 grams of walnuts a day in their diet showed improved HDL levels.

Soluble fiber found in fruits, vegetables, beans and oats help reduce LDL and raise HDL. Orange juice and cranberry juice have also been shown to be beneficial, as are cold-water fish containing omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, tuna and mackerel. High glycemic products like cereals and breads on the other hand are associated with lower HDL levels. Consumption of the products should be reduced.

Magnesium rich foods have been shown to both help raise good cholesterol, lower blood pressure, lower blood sugar levels and lower blood fats These include spinach, black beans, kidney beans, lima beans, soybeans, halibut, peanuts, pumpkin seeds and some whole grains.

Other herbs and nutrients that have been beneficial are niacin (vitamin B3), guggul (a gum resin from the mukul myrrh tree), curcumin, chromium and calcium citrate.

As you can see, with a few dietary changes and increasing aerobic physical activity you can win the battle over cholesterol for life. For the balance of this article discussing the above mentioned supplements, please visit my website for the full article.

Jeff Keto suffered a stroke in March, 2007 requiring a much healthier diet and lifestyle. Product links available at: http://njkmarketing.com

One of the many rewards of vigorous exercise is the leisurely relaxation of the post exercise bath or shower. You will find that the most enjoyable part of a workout is taking a shower, although pitchers sent to the showers disagree. This is the moment of intense nothingness you have earned. Make the most of it. It is good for you. You are now re-educating your muscles to relax on command. There is no tension in the shower. You probably could not be anxious if you tried.

Your muscles and nervous system once again have learned to obey the STOP sign that they learned to ignore in your efforts to be successful. And second, this application of moist heat promotes increased circulation to your muscles, of significant benefit in avoiding stiffness and cramps.

Workouts should be varied—both to provide varying degrees of stress and to offer variety and promote fun.

How To Limber Up

Early in the game you should do limbering-up or flexibility workouts. You must redevelop long-lost flexibility of muscles and joints before starting in on “progressive resistance” training. Limbering-up workouts consist of stretching exercises. These include touching your toes, rotating and bending the trunk, flexing and extending the neck, flailing the arms loosely in all directions, and a series of other exercises which you can improvise for your own needs.

Training for strength and stamina should be attempted only after two to four weeks of limbering-up workouts—when you are sure you are loose enough. This takes patience. Naturally enough, fitness beginners want to see immediate results. But Rome was not built in a day. Achievable fitness goals, like all other ambitions, should be modest at all times and without time limit. You can set your sights higher and higher—but one step at a time.

Other of your workouts can be modifications of those used by competing athletes. Once you have graduated beyond the limbering-up phase, you are now ready for fun workouts. The ground training is over and you are ready to take off— and solo.

In any fitness program, whether or not competition is an aim, improved proficiency and stamina are inevitable—but unpredictable. Unlike climbing Mount McKinley, where each bit of progress is a measurable distance of steady ascent, fitness is a series of prolonged plateaus, each of which seems never to end but which is a definite step up from the former.

During initial efforts little if any improvement may be noted for weeks. Then, with no extra effort, the next plateau is reached abruptly and continues for more weeks. Later, a higher degree of achievement is suddenly discovered—and with plateau periods of varying lengths, higher and higher peaks are reached. Improvement is stepwise, not steady. Protracted leveling off may be discouraging, but usually precedes another jump in performance. The weatherman and the physician base their forecasts on sound, scientific data. Although the physician fortunately has a higher batting average, both are subjected to the whimsical vagaries of nature. It would be impossible for any physician to predict how long it may take you to reach excellent, steady, superior fitness. If you have followed the rules outlined thus far, a conservative guess would be six months

CJ Boston owns and operates www.MuscleFitnessEquipment.com ,covering the latestTreadmill Review and even tips for Muscle Elegance

Are you one of those who have lost hope in weight loss? You think you can’t do it for nuts. You think you have tried it all and it’s of no use? Think again! Most of you might have reduced weight only to gain more, or some of you might be frustrated on the slow pace of weight loss or few might simply hate the kind of diet they are following. Whatever may be the reason, weight loss is not such a horrendous or a tough task. Getting that into your head will prepare you psychologically for weight reduction. It will look a lot easier. So what is the secret of those who have successfully reduced weight?

1. Study pattern shows that they pursue aerobics. They practice an aerobic session 5-7 days a week. These people average about 45 minutes of aerobics everyday with their ranges spreading over 30-90 minutes. Aerobics helps you burn a lot of calories. It also increases your BMR- basal metabolic rate.

2. Weight training programs help you to tone your muscles. This is also another successful method followed by the successful group. They weight train for 2-3 days a week. Those who follow this are more successful at weight loss.

3. Workouts in the morning help tremendously in preparing your body for the rest of the day. You end up feeling great. Consistent morning exercises on a day to day basis puts in place your food habits. You tend to feel less hunger and hence eat the right food. This regulates your metabolic system and it works the way it should and helps you get into a healthy mind frame. Natural weight loss is the best way to reduce weight as in merges well with the body and helps in the long run. Crash diets won’t help. It is better to stick on to healthy food consisting of your favorites to make it tastier. Avoid junk food.

4. People often misunderstand the concept. 20 minutes of exercise every day won’t help if you are looking for serious weight loss. You have to work out vigorously to make changes. If it’s your priority go ahead and do it. You will definitely feel a change in yourself soon. 20 minutes every day can’t change your metabolic rate effectively, drastically reduce your weight, and make you feel great.

5. It is practically impossible to work out consistently for an hour. Make time, wake up early in the morning, make it a routine, fix your targets, and be sincere. And when you end up reducing weight, it is important to maintain it, or you will end up putting on more weight. Stick to your regime, you can probably ease out a bit but not too much. If you are looking for a serious change, then you will have to follow a serious plan. Weight loss tips can only guide, you are the only one who can make it work. So go ahead and make the difference.

Gary Grewal is the founder of the site http://www.101weightloss.com/; A site featuring many articles on weight loss subjects such as eating habits, exercise, foods & nutrition, diets, pills etc. Visit his site for many more tips on natural weight loss.