For some reason, motivation always gets more attention. Everyone
wants to be motivated, while few take the time to consider discipline.
That’s a mistake.
Discipline > Motivation
One of the biggest myths of all is that successful people are
constantly motivated. The online world that we live in certainly
perpetuates this false assumption. Social media only captures what a
person wants you to see. As a result, certain people have created the
illusion that they operate in a fairy tale land that’s devoid of bad
days and bad moods.
The reality though is that no one lives in a constant state of
motivation. We all experience ups and downs, and moments when we don’t
feel like doing what needs to be done. Successful people don’t just work
when they feel like working however. Instead, they are disciplined
enough to get the job done regardless of their mood.
If you always wait to feel a certain way before you act, don’t expect
to ever accomplish anything worthwhile. Too much time will be spent
procrastinating as you sit around waiting for the perfect mood to
arrive. Meanwhile, your successful competitors will be busy putting in
the work whether they want to or not.
Embrace the Grind and Do it Anyway
One of the keys to becoming more successful is recognizing the simple
fact that life is tough. There is no such thing as a perfect time to
work or start a new task. Focus on the process, there's a certain groove on anything, a niche where you can feel comfortable doing it after so many correct repetition (doing the correct way), focus on improving, embrace and enjoy the process. Therefore, rather than constantly seeking out
motivation to begin or continue, your time would be better spent
cultivating habits that will eventually lead towards enhanced
productivity. Remember that repetition is the mother of all learning and the father of action.
Speaking for myself, I have never relied on motivation to succeed that much. I
certainly welcome those times when I’m fired up and ready to go, but
I’ll never limit my output to such moments. I’d rather take pride in my work and realizing the positive outcome that will come in the future, than wait to feel a certain motivated feeling before I work. Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Motivation isn’t
what puts one foot in front of the other. It’s discipline and work ethic
that keeps me going.
In other words, just because I don’t feel like doing something doesn’t stop me from doing it anyway. Remember that one said success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out, and I find that to be true, because sometimes we think too much before actually do something, and always end up not doing it. This "perfection" mindset is usually have a negative impact to our journey in improving and achieving progress, thus we need to alter this kind of mindset to "Just-do-it" kind of attitude, that will keep the wheel of improvement keeps on spinning. We do not want to lose the momentum, just like when we try to push a car, it is easier to keep the car moving while it is still moving compared to the effort of moving the car from a dead stop, which we all know require a lot more energy.
Final Thoughts
As great as it feels to be motivated, it is important to understand
that motivation alone will only take you so far. Whether extrinsic or
intrinsic, motivation can come and go in a flash. Discipline however is
rooted in consistency. It quietly, yet continuously, chugs along in the
background. It becomes part of who you are and what you do.
As an old saying suggests, first you make your habits and then your
habits make you. A disciplined person gets up and grinds day after day.
They don’t wait for the perfect mood to arrive before beginning.
Instead, they cherish the feeling of accomplishment that comes after the
fact. That’s where the real joy lies.
In summary, don’t give motivation more credit than it deserves. You
don’t need to be motivated to succeed. What you need is the
self-discipline to put in the work whether you want to or not.
Successful people don’t waste time looking for motivation. They are too
busy putting in the work that will eventually allow them to enjoy the
fruits of their labor.
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment” – Jim Rohn
Pavel Tsatsouline (I learned SO MUCH about strength training from reading his books about 3 years ago, I can say he is my personal role model that has changed my life forever) is known for creating the phrase greasing the groove (GtG) in his book Power to the People.
In the book, he talked about how important it is for the neurological
groove to fire in a certain sequence and intensity. GtG is not so much
breaking down muscle tissue for more growth, as it is about building up
the neurological pathway of lifting heavy weight. The phrase greasing the groove has
been used in many articles. The basic premise in greasing the groove is
to do the same exercise frequently, with every set performed without
going to muscular fatigue.
Muscles are made up of many muscle fibers, which follow the all-or-none law - meaning they contract or they don’t. The
nervous system sends signals to the muscles fibers to contract. As the
signals become more frequent, the muscle fibers twitching overlap and
summate to create greater pull. The faster the signals,
the greater the cumulative pull of the muscle (similar to faster
revolutions of the engine lead to greater power).
GtG helps build this firing pattern. Furthermore, it
trains the inter-muscular coordination that is needed for heavy lifts
(helping the muscles get along better with each other).
Here is how Pavel stated it:
Muscle failure is more than unnecessary - it is
counterproductive! Neuroscientists have known for half a century that if
you stimulate a neural pathway, say the bench press groove, and the
outcome is positive, future benching will be easier, thanks to the
so-called Hebbian rule. The groove has been ‘greased’. Next
time the same amount of mental effort will result in a heavier bench.
This is training to success! The opposite is also true. If your body
fails to perform your brain’s command, the groove will get ‘rusty’. You
are pushing as hard as usual, but the muscles contract weaker then
before! To paraphrase powerlifting champ Dr. Terry Todd, if you are
training to failure, you are training to fail.
Not Training to Failure - Perfect Practice
One of the biggest keys in the above statement is how important it is to not train to muscle failure. As Dave Whitley has described, lifting heavy weights is a skill.
A skill is not learned by completing it over and over until muscle
fatigue sets in. The old-time strongmen performed every repetition
knowing they would have to do it again soon. It was always perfect
practice. Paveldescribed the way a tennis player would perfect his serve as an analogy to how to train to lift heavy weights:
"How do you improve your tennis serve? Do you hit the
court once a week and keep on serving until your balls could not knock
out a sick mosquito and you can barely lift your arm? No, you come to
the court as often as possible, ideally more than once per day, and slam
those little yellow balls until you feel that your serves are about to
slow down."
Frequent Greasing
One of the big keys in GtG is frequent work of the same exercise. It may seem counterintuitive as we often hear how we need to avoid overtraining.
However, if we are not training to failure our bodies can afford to do
the same exercises again either later that day or the next day. Again, we are training the nervous system to utilize our muscles to the fullest capacity. Similar
to learning a language, if you only use it once a year we will not
retain it very well. However, if we are immersed in a foreign country
and use language frequently throughout the day we will learn it quicker.
As Artemis Scantalides discussed in her article,
she is training for the Iron Maiden Challenge, which consists of a
weighted pull up, a pistol squat, and a strict press all with a 24kg
(53lb) kettlebell. One of the best ways to train for these skills is using a greasing-the-groove type of program. For
example, I will often do weighted pull ups in between sets of squats
and deadlifts.
Every Hour on the Hour (EHOH)
For the strict press, for example, I can put a dumbbell in my office. Every few hours, I shut the door and press it a few times on each side. Instead of an every-minute-on-the-minute type of workout, we can call it an every-hour-on-the-hour (EHOH) workout.
Pistols also work well in this type of fashion. A deadlift bar in the
office would be nice, but in a common working situation everyone would be looked
upon even more strangely. Handstand push ups, one arm push ups,
and other difficult bodyweight movements are also great for EHOH training. Just be ready for strange looks if you are caught mid-handstand if someone walks into your office.
Fresh All the Time - Easy Strength
One of the goals of GtG is to stay fresh all the time.
For tactical officers, being fresh is vital. In the heat of the moment,
an officer can’t say, “Sorry, I did a tough workout yesterday and I
can’t go.” One of the best programs for tactical officers is Easy Strength, authored by Pavel and Dan John. In this program, every day contains the same workout of five movements (squat, deadlift, push, pull, and carry).
The principles of GtG are all included in that you never go to failure,
so you leave enough energy to do the exercises again the next day. I
found this program, despite its simplicity, to be highly effective.
Pull Ups With GtG
One of the questions I hear most often is how to do a strict pull up. Accomplishing a strict pull up makes people very happy. The GtG program is perfect for building strength in this way. If a pull up can’t be completed then a ring row is a perfect
alternative. However, jumping pull ups, where the person jumps up and
then lets him- or herself down slowly are a great way to build strength
for a full pull up. The eccentric portion of a movement is an excellent strength builder.
When doing jumping pull ups, only do a few at a time and focus on
going as slowly as possible through your sticky points. If you have a
difficult time with getting your chin over the bar in a pull up, then
focus on holding that part as long as possible on the way down. Over time, try to make the way down slower and slower. An ideal plan would be to do about one quality negative pull-up every
ten minutes while working out other body parts (for a grand total of
five in a workout). Do this everyday and a strict pull up will come soon.
The Take-Away on GtG
Greasing the groove methods provide a great way to build the neurological skill to move heavy objects. It is not a hypertrophy type of program, but rather a way to build the muscle firing patterns for a max effort.
The world is slowly waking up to the fact that, when you give the
body what it needs, it can heal things we previously thought were
impossible. A fine example of what is often deemed as an incurable
health problem is dental cavities, but extensive research is now
becoming more public about the true nature of tooth decay and the fact
that there are proven remedies that can remedy it. The lies perpetrated about tooth decay
How to heal Cavities naturally:
According to the American Dental Association, the reason we have tooth decay is as follows:
“[Tooth decay] occurs when foods containing carbohydrates (sugars and
starches) such as milk, pop, raisins, cakes or candy are frequently
left on the teeth. Bacteria that live in the mouth thrive on these
foods, producing acids as a result. Over a period of time, these acids
destroy tooth enamel, resulting in tooth decay.”
There are a few problems with this theory, including:
Groups of indigenous people who had fermentable carbohydrates stuck
on their teeth all the timethat did not brush or floss were mostly or
completely free of tooth decay.
Bacteria do not consume processed sugar or flour because of the lack of nutrients in them.
Foods that bacteria like to eat, such as milk, vegetables, meat,
fish and fruit, are not commonly implicated in causes of tooth decay.
So if the modern explanation of tooth decay is not accurate, what is actually the cause of tooth decay? What actually causes tooth decay
Tooth decay, as researched by Dr. Weston Price and other dental pioneers, boiled down to three factors:
Not enough minerals in the diet.
Not enough fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) in the diet.
Nutrients not being readily bioavailable, and your intestinal system
not properly absorbing them. The presence of phytic acid largely
influences this factor.
Over a period of time, if your diet lacks vitamins and minerals from a
poor diet and/or contains high levels of phytates (from grains, seeds,
nuts, and legumes), the blood chemistry and the ratio of calcium and
phosphorous become out of balance, which results in minerals being
pulled from bones, causing tooth and bone loss.
So, the long-standing belief that sugar causes tooth decay is true,
but as a result of it depleting nutrients from the body, not because
bacteria eat it and produce acid that ruins your teeth. The food remedies that can heal cavities and tooth decay
In order to restore the ratio of calcium and phosphorus in our blood,
and to enable minerals to bond to our teeth, it is not enough to just
avoid eating too many sweet or processed foods. We must also eat
health-building foods, containing copious amounts of minerals and
vitamins that will build a glassy hard tooth structure.
Foods to focus on are:
Coconut oil, grass-fed organic dairy (especially butter), grass-fed meats, seafood and bone broths.
Organic cooked vegetables (soups with bone broth are ideal).
Organ and gland meats, like liver.
Limit foods that are high in phytic acid, like grains, beans, nuts
and seeds, as well as limiting processed food intake full of processed
flours and sugars that upset blood sugar balance.
Supplements to consider are:
Fermented cod liver oil – very high in fat soluble vitamins A, D and K.
Magnesium – required to use calcium and phosphorous effectively.
Gelatin – if you don’t have time to make bone broth, this is a good alternative and is great for gums and digestion.
The maverick scientist has long argued that sugar is as harmful as
cocaine or tobacco – and that the food industry has been adding too much
of it to our meals for too long.
It’s SUGAR That Raises Your Cholesterol and Gives You Heart Disease. NOT SATURATED FAT.
For many decades, people have blamed saturated fat for heart disease, which is the no.1 killer in the world.
However, new studies are showing that saturated fat is harmless (27, 28).
The evidence is mounting that sugar, NOT fat, may be one of the
leading drivers of heart disease via the harmful effects of fructose on
metabolism (29).
Studies show that large amounts of fructose can raise triglycerides,
small, dense LDL and oxidized LDL (very, very bad), raise blood glucose
and insulin levels and increase abdominal obesity in as little as 10 weeks (30). These are all major risk factors for heart disease. Not surprisingly, many observational studies find a strong
statistical association between sugar consumption and the risk of heart
disease (31, 32, 33).
A must watch video about why sugar is TOXIC:
Sugar Can Give You CANCER!
Cancer cells love sugar! That is why refined carbohydrates like white
sugar, white flour, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and soft drinks are
extremely dangerous for anyone trying to prevent or reverse cancer.
Sugar essentially feeds tumors and encourages cancer growth. Cancer
cells uptake sugar at 10-12 times the rate of healthy cells. In fact,
that is the basis of PET (positive emission tomography) scans — one of
the most accurate tools for detecting cancer growth. PET scans use
radioactively labeled glucose to detect sugar-hungry tumor cells. When
patients drink the sugar water, it gets preferentially taken up into the
cancer cells and they light up! The 1931 Nobel laureate in medicine,
German Otto Warburg, PhD, discovered that cancer cells have a
fundamentally different energy metabolism compared to healthy cells. He
found that malignant tumors exhibit increased glycolysis — a process
whereby glucose is used as a fuel by cancer — as compared with normal
cells.
Acidity
Warburg also found that cancers thrive in an acidic environment.
Sugar is highly acidic. With a pH of about 6.4, it is 10 times more
acidic than the ideal alkaline pH of blood at 7.4.
Immunity
Sugar suppresses a key immune response known as phagocytosis – the
Pac-Man effect of the immune system. Consuming 10 teaspoons of sugar
can cause about a 50% reduction in phagocytosis. If you consider the
sugar in your cereal, the syrup on your waffles and pancakes, the sugar
added to your morning coffee or tea, the sugar in cold beverages like
iced tea or lemonade, the HFCS in prepared foods, salad dressing and
ketchup, and of course sugary snacks and desserts, you can see how easy
it is to suppress your immune systems significantly. Not only the amount
of sugar, but also the frequency of ingesting sugar is relevant to
immune function. In one study, research subjects were found to have
nearly a 38% decrease in phagocytosis one hour after ingesting a
moderate amount of sugar. Two hours later, the immune system was
suppressed 44%; immune function did not recover completely for a full
five hours.
Activity
In most people, when sugar in any form is consumed, the pancreas
releases insulin. Breast tissue, for example, contains insulin
receptors, and insulin is a powerful stimulant of cell growth. One
group of Australian researchers concluded that high levels of insulin
and insulin-like growth factor (IGF) may actually be causative of
cancers of the breast, prostate, endometrium and pancreas. A broad study
conducted in 21 countries in Europe, North America and Asia concluded
that sugar intake is a strong risk factor contributing to higher breast
cancer rates, particularly in older women. A four-year study at the
National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection in the
Netherlands compared 111 biliary tract cancer patients with 480 healthy
controls. Sugar intake was associated with more than double the cancer
risk.
Overloading The Liver With Fructose Can Cause Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
When fructose get turned into fat in the liver, it is shipped out as VLDL cholesterol particles.
However, not all of the fat gets out, some of it can lodge in the liver.
This can lead to Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), a growing problem in Western countries that is strongly associated with metabolic diseases (6).
Studies show that individuals with fatty liver consume up to 2-3 times as much fructose as the average person (7, 8).
In order to understand what is so bad about sugar, then you need to understand what it is made of.
Before sugar enters the bloodstream from the digestive tract, it is broken down into two simple sugars,glucose and fructose.
Glucose is found in every living cell on the planet. If we don’t get it from the diet, our bodies produce it.
Fructose is different. Our bodies do not produce it in any significant amount and there is no physiological need for it.
The thing with fructose is that it can only be metabolized by the liver in any significant amounts.
This is not a problem if we eat a little bit (such as from fruit) or
we just finished an exercise session. In this case, the fructose will be
turned into glycogen and stored in the liver until we need it (3).
However, if the liver is full of glycogen (much more common), eating a
lot of fructose overloads the liver, forcing it to turn the fructose
into fat (4). When repeatedly eating large amounts of sugar, this process can lead to fatty liver and all sorts of serious problems (5).
Keep in mind that all of this does NOT apply to fruit. It is almost impossible to overeat fructose by eating fruit.There is also massive individual variability here. People who are
healthy and active can tolerate more sugar than people who are inactive
and eat a Western, high-carb, high-calorie diet.
Bottom Line: Excess fructose gets turned into fat, which can lodge in the liver and cause non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Sugar Can Cause Insulin Resistance, a Stepping Stone Towards Metabolic Syndrome and Diabetes
Insulin is a very important hormone in the body.
It allows glucose (blood sugar) to enter cells from the bloodstream and tells the cells to start burning glucose instead of fat. Having too much glucose in the blood is highly toxic and one of the reasons for complications of diabetes, like blindness. One feature of the metabolic dysfunction that is caused by the
Western diet, is that insulin stops working as it should. The cells
become “resistant” to it.
This is also known as insulin resistance, which is believed to be a leading driver of many diseases… including metabolic syndrome, obesity, cardiovascular disease and especially type II diabetes (9).
Many studies show that sugar consumption is associated with insulin
resistance, especially when it is consumed in large amounts (10, 11).
When our cells become resistant to the effects of insulin, the beta cells in our pancreas make more of it.
This is crucial, because chronically elevated blood sugars can cause severe harm.
Eventually, as insulin resistance becomes progressively worse, the
pancreas can’t keep up with the demand of producing enough insulin to
keep blood sugar levels down.
At this point, blood sugar levels skyrocket and a diagnosis of type II diabetes is made.
Given that sugar can cause insulin resistance, it is not surprising
to see that people who drink sugar-sweetened beverages have up to an 83% higher risk of Type II diabetes (12, 13).
Bottom Line: Because of the harmful effects of sugar on the function of insulin, it is a leading driver of type II diabetes.
Because it Causes Massive Dopamine Release in The Brain, Sugar is Highly Addictive
Different foods can have different effects on our brains and the hormones that control food intake (19).
Studies show that fructose doesn’t have the same kind of effect on satiety as glucose.
In one study, people drank either a fructose-sweetened drink or a glucose-sweetened drink.
Afterwards, the fructose drinkers had much less activity in the satiety centers of the brain and felt HUNGRIER(20).There is also a study where fructose didn’t lower the hunger hormone ghrelin nearly as much as glucose did (21).Over time, because the calories from sugar aren’t as fulfilling, this can translate into an increased calorie intake.
Like abusive drugs, sugar causes a release of dopamine in the reward center of the brain (22).
The problem with sugar and many junk foods is that they can cause
massive dopamine release much more than we were ever exposed to from
foods found in nature (23).
For this reason, people who have a susceptibility to addiction can become strongly addicted to sugar and other junk foods (24).
The “everything in moderation” message may be a bad idea for people who are addicted to junk food, because the only thing that works for true addiction is abstinence.
The way sugar affects hormones and the brain is a recipe for fat gain disaster.
It leads to decreased satiety and can get people addicted so that they lose control over their consumption.
Not surprisingly, people who consume the most sugar are by far the most likely to become overweight or obese. This applies to all age groups. Many studies have examined the link between sugar consumption and obesity and found a strong statistical association (25). The link is especially strong in children, where each daily serving of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with a whopping 60% increased risk of obesity (26).
One of the most important things you can do if you need to lose weight is to significantly cut back on sugar consumption.
Bottom Line: Because sugar causes a large release of dopamine in the brain, it can cause addiction in a lot of people, this is why sugar dramatically increases the risk
of becoming overweight or obese.
Added Sugar Contains No Essential Nutrients and is Bad For Your Teeth
You’ve probably heard this a million times before… but it’s worth repeating.
Added sugars (like sucrose and high fructose corn syrup) contain a whole bunch of calories with NO essential nutrients.For this reason, they are called “empty” calories.
There are no proteins, essential fats, vitamins or minerals in sugar… just pure energy.
When people eat up to 10-20% of calories as sugar (or more), this can become a major problem and contribute to nutrient deficiencies.
Sugar is also very bad for the teeth, because it provides easily digestible energy for the bad bacteria in the mouth (1).
Bottom Line: Sugar contains a lot of
calories, with no essential nutrients. It also causes tooth decay by
feeding the harmful bacteria in the mouth.
What is intermittent fasting and Why should we do it
Intermittent fasting (IF) is a term for an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating.
It does not say anything about which foods you should eat, but rather when you should eat them.
In this respect, it is not a “diet” in the conventional sense. It is more accurately described as an “eating pattern.”
Common intermittent fasting methods involve daily 16 hour fasts, or fasting for 24 hours, twice per week.
Humans have actually been fasting throughout evolution.
When you think about it, our hunter-gatherer ancestors didn’t have supermarkets, refrigerators or food available year-round. Sometimes we couldn’t find anything to eat, and our bodies evolved to
be able to function without food for extended periods of time.
If anything, fasting from time to time is more “natural” than constantly eating 3-4 (or more) meals per day.
Bottom Line: Intermittent fasting (IF)
is a term for an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting
and eating. It is currently very popular in the health and fitness
community.
How to do Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting has been very popular for many years and several different methods have been used.
All of them involve splitting the day or week into “eating periods”
and “fasting periods.” During the fasting periods, you eat either very
little or nothing at all.
These are the most popular methods:
The 16/8 Method: Also called the Leangains
protocol, it involves skipping breakfast and restricting your daily
eating period to 8 hours, for example from 1 pm to 9 pm. Then you “fast”
for 16 hours in between.
Eat-Stop-Eat: This involves fasting for 24 hours,
once or twice a week, for example by not eating from dinner one day
until dinner the next day.
The 5:2 Diet: On two non-consecutive days of the week, only eat 500-600 calories. Eat normally the other 5 days.
By making you eat fewer calories, all of these methods should make
you lose weight as long as you don’t compensate by eating much more
during the eating periods. I’ve personally found the 16/8 method to be the simplest, most sustainable and easiest to stick to. It is also the most popular.
The 16/8 Method involves fasting every day for 14-16 hours, and restricting your daily “eating window” to 8-10 hours. Within the eating window, you can fit in 2, 3 or more meals.This method is also known as the Leangains protocol, and was popularized by fitness expert Martin Berkhan.
Doing this method of fasting can actually be as simple as not eating anything after dinner, and skipping breakfast. For example, if you finish your last meal at 8 pm and then don’t eat
until 12 noon the next day, then you are technically fasting for 16
hours between meals.
It is generally recommended that women only fast 14-15 hours, because they seem to do better with slightly shorter fasts.
For people who get hungry in the morning and like to eat breakfast,
then this can be hard to get used to at first. However, many breakfast
skippers actually instinctively eat this way.
You can drink water, coffee and other non-caloric beverages during the fast, and this can help reduce hunger levels.It is very important to eat mostly healthy foods during your eating
window. This won’t work if you eat lots of junk food or excessive
amounts of calories.
Further reading on the 16/8 method:The Leangains Guide.
This guide is written mostly from a bodybuilding perspective and also
involves weight lifting and supplementation, but the program can be
adapted to suit any lifestyle.
I personally find this to be the most “natural” way to do
intermittent fasting. I eat this way myself and find it to be 100%
effortless.
Bottom Line: The 16/8 method involves
daily fasts of 16 hours for men, and 14-15 hours for women. On each day,
you restrict your eating to an 8-10 hour “eating window” where you can
fit in 2-3 or more meals.
How Intermittent Fasting Affects Your Cells and Hormones
When you fast, several things happen in your body on the cellular and molecular level.
For example, your body changes hormone levels to make stored body fat more accessible.
Your cells also initiate important repair processes, and change the expression of genes.
Here are some changes that occur in your body when you fast:
Human Growth Hormone (HGH): The levels of growth
hormone skyrocket, increasing as much as 5-fold. This has benefits for
fat loss and muscle gain, to name a few (4, 5, 6, 7).
Insulin: Insulin sensitivity improves and levels of
insulin drop dramatically. Lower insulin levels make stored body fat
more accessible (8).
Cellular repair: When fasted, your cells initiate cellular repair processes. This includes autophagy, where cells digest and remove old and dysfunctional proteins that build up inside cells (9, 10)
Gene expression: There are changes in the function of genes related to longevity and protection against disease (11, 12).
These changes in hormone levels, cell function and gene expression
are responsible for the health benefits of intermittent fasting.
Bottom Line: When you fast, human growth
hormone levels go up and insulin levels go down. Your body’s cells also
change the expression of genes and initiate important cellular repair
processes.
Intermittent Fasting is a Very Powerful Weight Loss Tool
Weight loss is the most common reason that people try intermittent fasting (13).
By making you eat fewer meals, intermittent fasting can lead to an automatic reduction in calorie intake.
Additionally, intermittent fasting changes hormone levels to facilitate weight loss.
In addition to lower insulin and increased growth hormone levels, it
increases release of the fat burning hormone norepinephrine
(noradrenaline).
Because of these changes in hormones, short-term fasting may actually increase your metabolic rate by 3.6-14% (14, 15).
By helping you eat less (fewer calories in) and helping you burn more (more calories out), intermittent fasting causes weight loss by changing both sides of the calorie equation.
Studies show that intermittent fasting can be a very powerful weight
loss tool. In a review study from 2014, it was shown to cause weight loss of 3-8% over periods of 3-24 weeks (1).
That is actually a very large amount compared to most weight loss studies.
According to this study, people also lost 4-7% of their waist circumference (1). This indicates that they lost significant amounts of the harmful belly fat that builds up around the organs and causes disease.
There is also one study showing that intermittent fasting causes less
muscle loss than the more standard method of continuous calorie
restriction (16).
However, keep in mind that the main reason this works, is that it
helps you eat fewer calories overall. If you binge and eat massive
amounts during the eating periods, then you may not lose any weight at
all.
Read this article for more information on IF and Weight Loss.
Bottom Line: Intermittent fasting may
boost metabolism slightly, while helping you eat fewer calories. It is a
very effective way to lose weight and belly fat.
Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
Many studies have been done on intermittent fasting, in both animals and humans.
These studies have shown that it can have powerful benefits for
weight control and the health of your body and brain. It may even help
you live longer.
Here are the main health benefits of intermittent fasting:
Weight Loss: As mentioned above, intermittent
fasting can help you lose weight and belly fat, without having to
consciously restrict calories (1, 13).
Insulin resistance: Intermittent fasting can reduce insulin resistance, lowering blood sugar by 3-6% and fasting insulin levels by 20-31% (1). This should protect against type 2 diabetes.
Inflammation: Some studies show reductions in markers of inflammation, a key driver of many chronic diseases (17, 18, 19).
Heart Health: Intermittent fasting may reduce LDL
cholesterol, blood triglycerides, inflammatory markers, blood sugar and
insulin resistance. These are all risk factors for heart disease (1, 20, 21).
Cancer: Animal studies suggest that intermittent fasting may help prevent cancer (22, 23, 24, 25).
Brain Health: Intermittent fasting increases a brain hormone called BDNF, and may aid the growth of new nerve cells (26, 27, 28). It may also protect against Alzheimer’s disease (29).
Anti-aging: Intermittent fasting can extend lifespan in rats. Studies showed that fasted rats live as much as 36-83% longer (30, 31).
Keep in mind that the research is still in its early stages. Many of
the studies were small, short in duration or conducted in animals. Many
questions have yet to be answered in higher quality human studies (32).
More evidence-based details here: 10 Benefits of Intermittent Fasting.
Bottom Line: Intermittent fasting can
have many benefits for your body and brain. It can cause weight loss,
and may protect against type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. It
may also help you live longer.
Intermittent Fasting Makes Your Healthy Lifestyle Simple
Eating healthy is simple, but it can be incredibly hard to stick to.
One of the main obstacles is all the work required to plan for and cook healthy meals.
If you do intermittent fasting, this gets easier because you don’t need to plan, cook or clean up after as many meals as before.
Intermittent fasting is actually very popular among the “life
hacking” crowd because it improves your health while simplifying your
life at the same time.
Bottom Line: One of the major benefits
of intermittent fasting is that it makes healthy eating simpler. There
are fewer meals that you need to prepare, cook and clean up after.
Some People Should be Careful With Intermittent Fasting (or Avoid it Altogether)
Intermittent fasting is certainly not for everyone.
If you are underweight, or have a history of eating disorders, then
you should not do intermittent fasting without consulting with a health
professional first.
In these cases, it can be downright harmful.
Should Women Fast?
There is some evidence that intermittent fasting may not be as beneficial for women, as it is for men.
For example, one study showed that it improved insulin sensitivity in men, but worsened blood sugar control in women (33).
Although there are no human studies on this, studies in rats have
shown that intermittent fasting can make female rats emaciated,
masculinized, infertile and cause them to miss cycles (34, 35).
There are plenty of anecdotal reports from women who became amenorrheic (their menstrual period stopped) when they started doing IF, then went back to normal when they stopped doing it.
For these reasons, women should definitely be careful with intermittent fasting. Ease into it, and if you have any problems like amenorrhea then stop doing it immediately.
If you have problems with fertility and/or are trying to conceive,
then consider holding off on intermittent fasting for now. Intermittent
fasting is probably a bad idea when pregnant or breastfeeding.
Bottom Line: People who are underweight
or have a history of eating disorders should not fast. There is also
some evidence that intermittent fasting may be harmful for some women.
Safety and Side Effects
Hunger is the main side effect of intermittent fasting.
You may also feel weak and that your brain isn’t performing as well as you’re used to.
This may only be temporary, as it can take some time for your body to adapt to the new meal schedule.
If you have a medical condition, then you should consult with your doctor before trying intermittent fasting.
This is particularly important if you:
Have diabetes.
Have problems with blood sugar regulation.
Have low blood pressure.
Take medications.
Are underweight.
Have a history of eating disorders.
Are a female who is trying to conceive.
Are a female with a history of amenorrhea.
Are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Bottom Line: The most common side effect
of intermittent fasting is hunger. People with certain medical
conditions should not fast without consulting with a doctor first.
Frequently Asked Questions About Intermittent Fasting
Here are answers to the most common questions about intermittent fasting. 1. Can I drink liquids during the fast?
Yes. Water, coffee, tea and other non-caloric beverages are fine. Do not add sugar to your coffee. Small amounts of milk or cream may be okay. Drinking coffee will make you intermittent fasting much easier because Coffee can blunt hunger . However not everyone can drink coffee on empty stomach, read this A Reason NOT to Drink Coffee on an Empty Stomach
2. Isn’t it unhealthy to skip breakfast?
No. The problem is that most stereotypical breakfast skippers have
unhealthy lifestyles. If you make sure to eat healthy food for the rest
of the day then it is fine. 3. Can I take supplements while fasting?
Yes. However, keep in mind that some supplements (like fat-soluble vitamins) may work better when taken with meals. 4. Can I work out while fasted?
Yes, fasted workouts are fine. Some people recommend taking branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) before a fasted workout. 5. Will fasting cause muscle loss?
All weight loss methods can cause muscle loss, that is why it is important to lift weights and keep protein intake high. One study shows that intermittent fasting causes less muscle loss than regular calorie restriction (16). 6. Will fasting slow down my metabolism?
No. Studies show that short-term fasts actually boost metabolism (14, 15). However, longer fasts (3 days or more) can suppress metabolism (36). 7. Should kids fast?
That’s probably a bad idea.
A number of expert
scientists believe that the Ketogenic diet, involving a high ´good fat´,
low carbohydrate, lowish protein combination, may have the potential to
manage even advanced cancer cases - preliminary research shows it can
stop cancer progression, inhibit metastases and kill off cancer cells.
Cancer cells can ONLY survive by using glucose as fuel all other cells can use either glucose or ketone bodies:
Simple Theories of the Ketogenic Diet
1.The fundamental tenet of the Ketogenic Diet is that cancer cells
need to ferment to survive. And to do this they consume glucose and
glutamine (from protein). While healthy cells can switch to burning fats
if there is insufficient glucose available, cancer cells are inflexible
and the theory is that if there´s no glucose available, they wither and
die.
2.There is increasing evidence that high plasma glucose levels are
linked to greater cancer risk and lowered survival in those already with
cancer.
3. There is increasing evidence that calorie restriction (that is,
eating about 15% less calories than you need in a day) can aid cancer
survival.
4. There is increasing evidence that fasting can increase survival
because it reduces plasma glucose levels, and those of the hormones
IGF-1 and insulin, both implicated in cancer development. Fasting also
restricts glutamine levels, another energy source for cancer. And
fasting boosts the immune system.
Note also, that both Calorie Restriction and fasting have been shown
to improve chemotherapy outcomes, reduce side-effects, and allow lowered
doses of chemotherapy to be used.
5. After 24 hours fasting starts to starve inflexible cancer cells of
their fuel (glucose), while normal healthy cells, which are flexible,
can burn fuel from other sources (for example, fats). This is called KETOSIS.
Unfortunately, in practice, 70 per cent of cancer patients cannot
bear the thought of fasting even though it can halt cancer progression.
6. A ketogenic diet, which limits carbohydrate and protein
consumption, but allows people to eat healthy fats, overcomes the need
to fast while enhancing ketosis in the body.
What does the Ketogenic Diet involve?
While calorie restriction may have benefits against cancer, when you
next have a meal glucose, insulin, IGF-1 and glutamine levels all spike.
This causes mood swings, cellular inflammation and may refuel the
cancer cells. Complete fasting (3-5 days) can prevent this. Fasting
induces a state of ketosis in the body, where flexible healthy cells
deprived of glucose switch to a fat burning system. But cancer cells do
not have this flexibility, and so they starve to death.
So then we come to a Ketogenic Diet where the rules are simple:
1. Eat no carbohydrates other than non-starchy vegetables -
definitely consume no glucose or high fructose corn syrup (think fizzy
soft drinks).
2. Eat moderate amount of protein - and make sure it is quality, fresh protein (fish, chicken)not dried meats and the like which can have added carbohydrate. High protein consumption can increase glutamine levels, glutamine is the cancer cells reserve fuel when glucose levels have depleted.
3. Consume good fats - like virgin olive oil, fish oils, flaxseed,
walnut, macadamia and other nuts and seeds, coconut oil, avocados. Eat
no ´bad´ trans fats and no cows´ dairy, unless raw and from grass fed
cows; even then in moderation.
The theory is that this maximizes the state of ketosis, reduces the
drivers of cancer and can starve cancer cells out of existence,
BEN SUTANTO, MSc (Master of Science) -NASM International Certified personal trainer-
Saya memiliki pengalaman lebih dari 1400 jam sesi personal training di gym komersial terbesar di Indonesia, saya memiliki pengalaman menangani kurang lebih 50 klien pria ataupun wanita dari berbagai usia, remaja, ataupun orang tua.
Spesialisasi saya adalah latihan dengan menggunakan berat badan, dumbbell, barbell dan latihan yang berfokus pada pembentukan massa otot, pembentukan kekuatan, dan fungsionalitas gerakan
Transformasi badan saya:
Memiliki latar belakang ilmu beladiri, saya mulai berlatih ilmu beladiri pada usia 7 tahun, dimulai dengan latihan tae kwondo dan karate. Kemudian setelah beranjak remaja, mulai berlatih boxing, muay thai,jeet kune do, krav maga, perkelahian praktis jalanan and escrima.
Inilah beberapa rahasia untuk awet muda selalu fit, sehat dan terlihat segar :
1 Makanlah banyak buah2an dan sayuran, dan sedapat mungkin, hindari makanan berkabohidrat tinggi seperti roti, pasta, kue, dll. Juga hindari makanan yang digoreng, minuman2 manis, makanan yang mengandung banyak garam. Jangan merokok!
2 Minumlah air dengan jumlah yang cukup, kurang lebih 8 gelas atau 2 liter
4. Makanlah makanan yang tinggi protein seperti ayam, putih telur, ikan, dan sekali-sekali daging merah. (Total protein yang harus dikonsumsi dalam sehari kurang lebih 1.5-2 gr per kg berat badan)
5. Tidur yang cukup dan tidur di ruangan yang gelap, sedapatnya tidur siang kurang lebih 15 menit setiap hari
6. Selalu bersyukur setiap waktu. Riset menyatakan, jika kamu memiliki makanan di dalam lemari rumahmu, pakaian yang bisa kau pakai dan ganti sewaktu waktu, kamu memiliki atap di atas kepalamu, kamu lebih kaya dari 75% penduduk dunia yang lain.
Here are some quick tips to look good, being fit and healthy, and looking fresh:
1 Eat plenty of fruits and veggies (pineapple, guava, berries, apples, banana, cucumber, green leafy veggies). Eat less refined carbohydrate, such as white bread, pastas, or french fries. Also avoid fried foods, sweet beverages, food that contains a lot of salt, as much as you can.
2 Drink enough water, around 8 glasses or 2 litres a day, and DON'T SMOKE!
3 Lift weights. Basic lifts should be more than enough : squats, deadlift, overhead press, bench press, push ups, pull ups, leg raises, plank. Focus on your core strength at firts. MASTER these BASICS!
4. Eat lean protein like chicken, eggwhites, fish, and occasionally red meat (total protein intake should be around 1.5-2 grams/ kg bodyweight )
5. Get enough rest, sleep in the dark. Take a fifteen minutes nap in the afternoon.
Scientists claim adding insects to our diet would be good for us and the environment.
Crunching
into crickets or snacking on grilled caterpillar is apparently a means
to a nutrient-rich diet that also helps reduce pests and puts less
strain on the planet than eating conventional meat.
Some insects in their dried form are said to have twice the protein of
raw meat and fish, while others are rich in unsaturated fat and contain
important vitamins and minerals.
Experts believe they could one day be marketed as a healthy alternative to fatty snacks.
In
most of Europe, bug-eating is largely restricted to the belated
realisation that there has been an unwelcome addition to the salad.
It is common elsewhere, however, with some 1,700 species of bug eaten in 113 countries. In
Taiwan, stir-fried crickets or sauteed caterpillars are delicacies. A
plate of maguey worms - larvae of a giant butterfly - sells for
£12.50 in smart Mexican restaurants.
Sago grubs wrapped in banana leaves go down well in Papua New Guinea, as does dragonfly in Bali.
In many parts of south-east Asia market stalls sell insects by the pound and deep-fried snacks are served up as street food. As you can see they are very HIGH inPROTEIN
Insects
are arthropods, much like crab, shrimps and lobster which are all
accepted by the European palate. In North Africa locusts are sometimes
called sky prawns.
But Patrick Durst, of the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organisation, said that if consumers were to be tempted
to broaden their culinary horizons the trick might be to make the bugs
look more palatable.
'You need to get the food into a form where someone doesn't have to look the bug in the eye when they eat it,' he said.
Earlier
this year the Food and Agriculture Organisation held a conference to
discuss how entomophagy - eating insects as food - could contribute
to sustainable development.
Bug-farming preserves forests - which are needed to attract insects - and is encouraged in some countries. As
for pesticides, some experts have pointed out the irony of using
chemicals to get rid of bugs that are more nutritious than the crops
they prey on.
In Thailand when pesticides failed to control locusts, the government urged locals to eat them and distributed recipes. Chef
Paul Cook, who supplies exotic and unusual food through his
Bristol-based business Osgrow, has sold a range of insects including
locusts. He said: 'You have to get past your feeling when you look at a whole locust or cricket. They are very clean and nutritious.
One of the biggest myths of all is that successful people are
constantly motivated. The online world that we live in certainly
perpetuates this false assumption. Social media only captures what a
person wants you to see. As a result, certain people have created the
illusion that they operate in a fairy tale land that’s devoid of bad
days and bad moods.
Speaking for myself, I have never relied on motivation to succeed that much. I
certainly welcome those times when I’m fired up and ready to go, but
I’ll never limit my output to such moments. I’d rather take pride in my work and realizing the positive outcome that will come in the future, than wait to feel a certain motivated feeling before I work. Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. 
Motivation isn’t
what puts one foot in front of the other. It’s discipline and work ethic
that keeps me going.
In other words, just because I don’t feel like doing something doesn’t stop me from doing it anyway. Remember that one said success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out, and I find that to be true, because sometimes we think too much before actually do something, and always end up not doing it. This "perfection" mindset is usually have a negative impact to our journey in improving and achieving progress, thus we need to alter this kind of mindset to "Just-do-it" kind of attitude, that will keep the wheel of improvement keeps on spinning. We do not want to lose the momentum, just like when we try to push a car, it is easier to keep the car moving while it is still moving compared to the effort of moving the car from a dead stop, which we all know require a lot more energy. 
