The Master Cleanse Detox Diet

The Master Cleanse Diet has been around since the 1940s but became a huge hit in 2008. This detox lemonade diet provides a healthy amount of calories and nutrients specifically suited for weight loss and cleansing of toxins within the body. The cleanse helps to rest the digestive system which allows the body to heal naturally. The cleanse needs to be performed for at least 10 days and for as long as 40 days.

I am a 27 year old fitness trainer and have done The Master Cleanse Diet numerous times when I felt that I had become sluggish and began to have headaches on a daily basis without any additional stress. The way the cleanse works is to keep it as simple as possible. The lemonade, which is the main source of nutrition during the cleanse, consists of 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of Grade B (pure) Maple Syrup and as much cayenne pepper as you can handle into a tall glass of pure water. This lemonade should be consumed from 6 - 12 times a day in order to maintain the correct amount of daily caloric intake and to keep detoxifying. In addition to the lemonade, a salt water flush and laxative tea is suggested. The salt water flush is supposed to be taken in the mornings and consists of four classes of water with 2 teaspoons of unrefined sea salt. I have tried the flush and unfortunately my gag reflex does not handle it well, but many others can get through it with little discomfort. The benefit of the salt water flush is that you will eliminate the waste left in your body within an hour of drinking it. The second aid is the laxative tea. This tea consists of the senna herb as well as licorice rout for settle sweetness. The tea should be taken at night before bed since it takes anywhere from 6 - 8 hours to eliminate waste.

I have found through personal experience that drinking the lemonade warm makes it taste better and I can drink more of it. The lemonade sounds very limited but you will be surprised at how filling it actually is. The longest I have done this cleanse for was 35 days and I lost 37 pounds and a flatter stomach. I also fall asleep easier and wake up completely refreshed, without experiencing any sharp hunger pains.

I definitely recommend The Master Cleanse Detox Diet to anyone who is looking to detoxify and help aid their healthier lifestyle change.

Benefits of Pro-Style Kettlebells

One of the more common questions I hear regarding kettlebells is, what is the benefit of competition/pro style kettlebells over standard kettlebells? The answer is simple, consistency. With competition/pro style kettlebells, you will be able to maintain the same form every single time you use them. This is true whether you are using a 8kg or a 32kg kettlebell. With standard kettlebells every size kettlebell has a different dimension. Whether it be the handle diameter, the dimension between the handle and the bell, or the bell size, it will always differ with standard kettlebells. It will not differ like that with the competition/pro style kettlebells.

The manufacturing process of the pro style kettlebells allows us to produce a kettlebell that has the same dimensions on every bell regardless of the size. That means the handles will always be the same diameter, the dimension between the bell and the handle will always be the same, and the size of the bell with never fluctuate. This will enable you to consistently, with every movement, keep the same form and feel regardless of the weight. This is an extremely big advantage over standard kettlebells.

Another benefit of the competition/pro style kettlebells is the weight tolerance. On a competition/pro style kettlebell the weight tolerance is typically +/-.3%. That's right, less than a half of a percent. That means that even on a 32kg kettlebell your weight might fluctuate about. 2 lbs(3.2 ounces). Again, that will only help create a more consistent lift and movement on all of your workouts.

Competition/pro style kettlebells are also 100% steel construction. This differs from standard kettlebells which are typically solid cast iron. Because steel is stronger than cast iron, this will generally create a higher quality kettlebell that will withstand more abuse.

Think of this in terms of the bumper plates that Olympic lifters use. Every bumper plate has the same diameter. Why is that important? Again the answer is simple, it is consistency. If you are doing Olympic movements like a clean for example, and the 10lb plates are a different diameter than the 45lb plates, when you do a 65lb clean you are starting at a completely different position than if you were doing a 135lb clean. If you cannot have consistency with those plates, you will never have a consistent form. The more consistent your form, the safer and easier it will be to move up in weight. Why would you want it to be any different when you are doing kettlebell work? You wouldn't!

So why do people use standard kettlebells instead of competition if there are so many benefits to the competition kettlebells? Well, one of the main drawbacks to the competition kettlebells is the price. They are, because of the quality, more expensive than a standard kettlebell. That means you would have to weigh your options as to what is more important, consistency and quality, or money in your wallet? At Christian's Fitness factory, we have our own line of competition kettlebells at very competitive prices.

Easy Daily Exercises That Keep You Strong and Healthy

Having a strong body is one thing, but maintaining it is the hard part. You probably have recently noticed that you are no longer as fit as you were. You are easily getting tired and can no longer cope with the exercises you used to do. There are some exercises that you can do to enhance or improve your fitness.

1. Taking walks

Walking is one of the simplest exercises that you can do. It is something that you do on a daily basis. How often and how long you walk can actually make you more fit. Walking adds strength to your calf muscles and to a small extent your quadriceps group of muscles. Supplementing walking with jogging or running also adds to the strength of the hamstring muscles.

2. Squat

Squatting is a great and simple exercise that you can do. Regular squats will build your lower trunk muscles including your gluteus, hamstrings and calf muscles.

3. Swim

Swimming is an enjoyable activity and it is also an exercise. This one usually increases the power of your bicep and triceps muscles as well as your leg and thigh muscles. It also builds up your cardiovascular system as it involves most of your body muscles.

4. Cycle

If you have a bicycle, use it to keep your body fit. Cycle around your neighborhood several times a day and you will have strong calf and thigh muscles which will keep you fit for long.

5. Kegel exercises

For women, kegel exercises are important in strengthening the pelvic muscles. These muscles usually support some internal organs and prevent them from protruding. They may also be useful if one has undergone plastic surgery like hymenoplasty because, these exercises also strengthen the vaginal walls. For men, they have proved to be important especially for those suffering from premature ejaculation, bowel or bladder incontinence.

6. Sit-ups and pushups

These exercises usually go hand in hand and they usually work on almost the same group of muscles. They strengthen the back, chest, arms and also the shoulders. Having saggy muscles as a man is a turn off for many ladies, so keep them firm for your own advantage and vice versa for the ladies.

7. Cardiovascular system

One of the important exercises that improve your cardiovascular system is the aerobic exercises. They build your heart muscles and make them firm, hence enhancing your health.

Some simple exercises can be done to remain fit, but there are others that are more sophisticated and expensive, as most of them will require you to pay for some gym memberships. Doing the above daily will keep you fit at a cheaper cost.

Crossfit and the Paleo Diet: A Natural Fitness Solution

Many Americans struggle with obesity with billions of dollars spent every year on weight loss aids and fad diets. However, losing weight and staying in great shape could be quite easy if we just go back to our roots. The Paleo Diet and Crossfit training program provides an excellent synergy in terms of a natural strategy to achieve your fitness goals.

The Paleo Diet is based around the philosophy of rejecting the modern diet and trying to get back to the way our distant ancestors ate. The diet not only does away with processed food, it also eliminates much of the produce from the modern agricultural revolution, including whole grains. Basically it reverses the clock to a time when cavemen roamed Europe in a hunter and gatherer mode before the time of agriculture.

As a result, the Paleo Diet mostly consists of a diet of meats and organic fruits and vegetables. The diet works mainly by cutting out much of the processed nutritionally deficient food that caused problems with our nutrition in the first place. Additionally whole foods combat insulin resistance that has become a big problem in the West. One advantage of the Paleo Diet is that more calories can be consumed since there is a greater thermogenic effect to the food since it is in its raw unprocessed state requiring more energy to digest. Thus calorie counting is not a problem.

One of the more highly controversial aspects of the Paleo Diet is that foods such as whole grains, milk, and egg products are excluded from the diet. There is little scientific evidence to support excluding these foods, and many claims about our system not having time to adapt to these changes over the years by Paleo enthusiasts have been debunked by scientific studies showing that there have been genetic changes over time, such as the expression of more copies of the salivary amylase gene. Nonetheless, the Paleo Diet probably does work better for some people with food allergies, such as those who are lactose intolerant or gluten intolerant.

The Crossfit training program likewise is based on the concept of doing things the way we are meant to. As a result it stresses functional movements mirroring day to day actions, over artificial workouts that do not correspond to anything we might do naturally during the day. In fact, given this natural philosophy it is not surprising that the Paleo Diet is one of the two diets recommended by the program (the other being the Zone Diet).

Workouts for the day are constantly varied and posted online each day. People are also challenged to set and achieve robust personal goals. Activities are done for short durations at high intensity. Much research has shown such high intensity interval training such as this can actually be more effective for fat loss because it is important to give muscle tissue an opportunity to periodically rest. Otherwise, by doing too much steady cardiovascular endurance training, one could be in danger of losing lean body mass during a diet. Our ancestors did not do cardiovascular endurance workouts, they expended a short amount of energy in short periods of time.

The great thing about the Crossfit program and Paleo Diet together is that since the Paleo Diet is not about calorie restriction and tends to generate high protein levels from meat consumption, lean muscle mass development can be accelerated. Maintaining and building lean muscle mass has long been recognized as key to boosting the metabolism and maintaining long term weight loss. By combining these two programs together, you just might reach your weight loss goals easier than you would have thought possible.

Quick and Easy Paleo Meal Planning

So you have decided to kick wheat, grains and refined sugar to the curb and adopt a Paleo approach to eating. Or perhaps you have already gone Primal, but are frustrated with what appears to be a total lack of recipes for the food that you can and want to eat. This article will help you learn how to make Paleo meal planning easy and full of the foods you enjoy.

Most of us grew up with the good old food pyramid, which had grains at the bottom. At home, our dinners were laid on a nice mattress of white rice or spaghetti. Otherwise, every meal was divided into three parts; the meat, the veggies, and the starch. The starch usually meant potatoes, rice, or those noodles you made from a packet. It's what we knew, it's what our parents knew, and that was that.

Things have changed a lot. Over the past decade or so, it feels like we have seen a big shift in our approach to food. Now we are starting to rebuild that pyramid, and grains are no longer seen as the perfect base. We are noticing that grains can have a negative effect of some people, and they have no choice but to rebuild their personal food pyramid.

Some people have chosen to remove the grains entirely in their quest to optimal health, myself included (with certain exceptions - I am not committed enough to be a purist). Many people have achieved positive results by switching to a Paleo diet some or all of the time. The foods that are Paleo change depending on who you ask, but the things most can agree on include:

• Fresh fruits and vegetables - most are fine, but a few kinds, such as potatoes, are avoided
• Meat and eggs - grass-fed and organic are preferred
• Animal and other good fats - choose high-quality animal fats and oils from good sources, such as coconut, avocado, and olive oils
• Nuts and seeds (but not peanuts, which are of course, not really nuts)

That is by no means a complete guide to what you can eat, but I am going to have to defer to actual experts on a lot of this. My go-to for Paleo advice is Mark's Daily Apple, which is an excellent resource for those who follow a Paleo or Primal lifestyle.

So with all that in mind, how do we go about revising our plates when we've taken out 33%-50+% of the stuff we used to pile on it?

Here is a simple guideline for planning Paleo meals.

Take your plate and fill it like this:

• 1/3 Hearty Vegetables (such as squashes and sweet potatoes - the vegetables that are substantial and add body to a meal)
• 1/3 Super Vegetables (this is where you load up on nutrient-dense vegetables, such as dark greens or brightly colored tomatoes and peppers)
• 1/3 Meat (lean protein is good, but a little extra fat is okay here, since it helps keep you feeling full long after the meal)

That is it.

Now it is easy to use this principle to come up with dozens of meals.

You could set up your Paleo meal plan strategy by making lists of your favorite foods for each category and matching them up.

Starchy Vegetables
Sweet Potato
Acorn Squash
Rutabaga
Carrots
Beets

Super Vegetables
Zucchini
Tomato
Cabbage
Kale
Broccoli

Protein
Eggs
Ground Beef
Pork Chops
Chicken Legs
Tilapia Filets

Tip: Consider putting ingredients together than pair well or could be cooked together.

For example, you could place cubes of chuck steak in a slow cooker with chunks of butternut squash and pearl onions and celery (there is no limit to how many Super Vegetables you can use). Add some broth, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper, and there you have it!

Avoiding Carbs or Starchy Vegetables?

It should be noted that you don't have to put every category on your plate. For example, if you are trying to avoid vegetables that are high in carbs or sugar (such as sweet potatoes), you could just skip that category and just double up on the Super Vegetables.

Paleo meal planning can be a challenge at times, but if you follow this simple food matching approach and include the healthy foods that you enjoy, it can be simple.

Diabetes and Heart Attack

One of the most scariest health threats facing people with diabetes is a heart attack. 75% of diabetics will die of a heart attack, even those who are taking their prescribed medication and following Doctors orders to a T.

Why? If you are following Doctors orders to the T, shouldn't that be enough? Unfortunately the answer is no.

I am going to show you that following the standard medical treatment is not the answer. But there is an answer, and it is simple, cheap, effective, and everyone can do it.

Elevated levels of glucose is dangerous causing damage to all the cells it comes in contact with, including your blood vessels and nerve cells. So we find that the major risk factors of diabetes are heart attack, blindness and numbness in feet and hands, sometimes resulting in amputation. These are all signs that you are rusting from the inside.

Blood sugar in our body is like oxygen to iron. It causes rust. In our cells it is called inflammation. So the sugar running around will cause the walls of your arteries to become inflamed and small cracks to appear.

This inflammatory response triggers the formation of plaque, which is the bodies attempt to patch up the damage. It is actually the body trying to heal itself, not the body going haywire. Unfortunately we often add anti-cholesterol medication to the mix, rather than looking at why we have what is seen as excess in our system.

The cholesterol finds its way to the damaged arteries and lays down plaque to try to patch up the damaged areas. In the process it narrows the arteries and this increases our chance of having a heart attack.

Two of the most common drugs to control blood sugar have been shown in a number of studies in both Australia and USA that they do not reduce the risk of heart attack. In fact they actually increase the number of deaths from heart disease and other causes

This finding was confirmed in 2008 by the ACCORD study of 10,000 type 2 diabetics. Those in the group using aggressive drug treatment had a 22% higher death rate than the control group

Statins used to reduce the level of cholesterol provide no protection and actually raised the risk of diabetes in the people taking them.

Taking cholesterol medication is like taking away the bandages that a bleeding person is using. Yes it save on all the mess of bandages, but the sore is still there and it is still damaged, but now it has no covering to protect it. And so with Cholesterol. It is the bandage trying to cover the wounds in our blood vessels. Taking Statin drugs, takes away this bandage, but leaves the damage.

So what can you do?

Believe it or not the main answer is exercise. I know, I seem to always be on about exercise but it really is the best medicine that you can buy, or in this case get for free. If it could be bottled it would be marketed as a cure all, and make its manufacturers super rich, and actually work for the patient too.

Unfortunately, there is no drug. The answer is in you. You can completely reverse all signs of diabetes. It is within your power.

Shirley was a client of mine about 10 years ago. She was 65 years old and had a history of high blood sugar level. She had been controlling it with diet and had been able to maintain reasonable blood sugar levels. In the past year it had been going up, and her Doctor wanted her to go on medication. She was well aware of the dangers of diabetes, having a brother who was in a wheel chair with both feet amputated, and a parent who had died early of heart attack caused by diabetes. She had seen an article about exercise helping diabetes and she asked the Doctor if she could give that a go.

So we meet and start training. She was an ideal client, working hard and doing all her homework. She was very motivated. Within 6 months she had her levels checked again and they had come down. Within a year she had normal blood sugar readings and they stayed normal for the next three years while we trained together. Unfortunately for me, she then moved away. She kept up the work at home and was doing well last time I talked with her. While training together she lost 6kgs in weight, improved her posture, improved her bone density score, her arthritic knees improved to the point where she was skipping rope, and her sore hip, that had been caused by a very nasty fall about 20 years earlier was gone. But best of all her blood sugar levels were normal. She had reversed her diabetes. She was getting younger and healthier, while her younger brother became sicker, and died of complications of diabetes just three years later.

Shirley went on to perform in the local U3A musical theatre performances and her friends were constantly amazed at her energy and fitness

So are there some exercises better than other?

Yes. The best form of exercise is weight bearing exercise. The same exercises that are essential for osteoporosis prevention, and have also been shown to be be beneficial in many forms of cancer.

Walking is a wonderful exercise and if you enjoy it, then do not stop. It is great for our cardiovascular system. In other words it exercises your heart, but it is not really weight bearing.

Weight bearing is when you put your muscles under a work load. You have to push the muscles to become stronger. This uses up the sugar that is in the muscles, and in the blood, reducing the amount of sugar that is floating around your system.

What we need is to stabilise the level of blood sugar in our system, therefore reducing the damage to our blood vessels, and allowing this magnificent body to heal itself.

Unfortunately I can not be your trainer in person but if you come and be a part of our membership site you will learn more about the right type of exercises to do, the right way to do them and you to can reverse your diabetes.

If I Decide That I Want To Go With Another Nutrisystem Plan, Can I Switch?

I sometimes hear from people who aren't sure which Nutrisystem package to order. They are afraid of making the wrong choice because they are afraid of being stuck with what isn't going to work out to be the best plan for them. Some of them wonder if they can switch plans if they end up not wanting to repeat the one that they are now on.

Common comments are things like: "I have decided to go with the Nutrisystem basic plan, mostly because I want to save some money. But if I end up deciding that I want to upgrade to core or select plan, can I do that later? Will I be penalized for it? Will there be additional changes to switch over?"

Another example is: "I decided to go with the select plan for my first order. But what happens if I decide that I want to go with the cheapest plan the next time? Is there any flexibility to go with another plan?" I will answer these concerns in the following article.

You Can Change Your Plan At Any Time: First or all, you don't have to commit to anything beyond your initial order. If you choose to go month to month, you are only placing a one time order. Once you eat the food in the first order, you can then decide if you want to place another order. At that time, you are free to choose whatever plan you like, even if it differs from the one that you placed before.

Some people will take advantage of the auto ship option. This option usually gives you the best repeated discounts in exchange for automatically being shipped the foods each month until or unless you cancel. They make changing auto ship very easy because the day before the shipment is going to go out, the company emails you a reminder outlining what foods are scheduled to be sent. If you don't like your previous choice or have changed your mind, then you can take the opportunity to change this. You aren't stuck with any option that you previously made. (Although you want to make any changes well before your shipment is scheduled to go out. You are charged a fee if you don't cancel your order and then you refuse to take delivery. As of this writing, that fee is $30.)

People often ask me if it's a better strategy to start with a cheaper option like the basic or if you should just go with what you think you will like best from your first order on. There are different opinions on this. I realize that some people might disagree with me, but my belief has always been that you should always try to give yourself the best chance to succeed. If you like the frozen menu items on the select plan, then to me, it is worth it to spend a little more to get the foods that you think are going to allow you to stick with the plan. That's not to say that the basic or core menus aren't good. They are. Some folks like them very much. That's why it's important to look at all of the menus to determine which contains more of the foods that you will like.

Is It A Good Idea To Skip A Meal If You're Going To Eat At A Restaurant While On Nutrisystem?

I sometimes hear from people who understandably want to eat out from time to time when they are on the Nutrisystem diet. They are looking for ways to minimize the impact of eating out and of taking in more calories for that day. Some wonder if they should skip meals to make up for taking in additional daily calories.

I heard from someone who said: "in a couple of days, I have a work meeting at one of my favorite restaurants. Obviously, I won't be having my regular meal at lunch time. And I will be eating more on that day. Should I skip some Nutrisystem meals in order to compensate for eating out? Since I'm going to be eating a larger meal, I don't have a problem with skipping dinner. And I could skip breakfast too if that would help." I will tell you my opinion on this in the following article, but please keep in mind this is only my opinion. You can always do a live chat on the company's website or call one of the counselors for a more official answer.

My opinion from reading all of the resources that Nutrisystem provides is that you shouldn't skip any meals. Sure, you're not going to eat your Nutrisystem lunch because you will be having your lunch somewhere else. So you can just save your diet lunch for another day. But, as far as skipping breakfast or dinner, I would not advise that and here is why. The diet is designed so that you eat regularly. That is why they include snacks. This is very important because eating regularly keeps your blood sugar steady and it keeps your metabolism revving. And there is something else at play also. Since the diet is high in protein and low in carbohydrates, it encourages your body to get into a metabolic state where it is burning fat rather than carbohydrates.

This can result in steady weight loss and a body that looks more lean. Your body works hard during this process, which is one reason that you're asked not to skip meals. Here is something else to consider. The diet's meals are all very low in calories. So skipping a meal is not really saving you a lot in terms of calories. Skipping breakfast was probably the worst idea in this scenario because then you would risk eating more at lunch. And skipping dinner wasn't the best idea either, in my opinion. I suppose if you truly weren't hungry, you could always skip your dessert if you were having it at dinner.

But to answer the question posed, I don't think that it's ever a good idea to skip meals in a diet that is designed so that you eat regularly. Yes, she would take in additional calories at the restaurant, but she could just resume with her normal regimen the next day with the diet meals, at least that is the way that I see it.