What Does Omega 3 Fish Oil Do For the Body?

Omega 3 fatty acids can be found in the following fish, Salmon, Mackerel, Menhaden, Herring and Sardines. Most western diets do not consist of enough omega 3. Omega 6 is the predominant fatty acid in the western diets, which when in the body, causes inflammation. The ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 should be 4:1. In most cases, most peoples' diets consist of about 20-40:1 (3). The human body cannot produce omega 3 so has to consume it. Due to this fact, more and more people are supplementing with omega 3 fish oil.

Omega 3 fish oil has been thoroughly researched and is one of the only dietary supplements to be highly regarded by the medical world. Omega 3 has been clinically researched and has been proven to help bring down inflammation throughout the body. The body turns omega 3 fatty acids into prostaglandins that are primarily anti-inflammatories (3).

By not keeping tabs on inflammation, the body can start to break down, through the process of free radical damage to the body's cells. For example, free radical damage can cause the arterial walls to degenerate allowing the bad LDL cholesterol to attach the artery walls. This causes the build up of plaque and can help the blocking process of the artery.

Omega 3 has been shown, through several clinical studies, to help improve the symptoms of patients with furred up arteries along with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple-sclerosis and almost any disease that involves inflammation (2).

It is not just about bringing down inflammation. Omega 3 can help with improving hair and skin and are beneficial to candidiasis, eczema and psoriasis. Omega 3 also helps in aiding the transmission of nerve impulses and are needed in normal development and functioning of the brain (1). That is one reason why walnuts have been known to be called brain food as they have a higher amount of plant based omega 3 in them than other nuts.

Omega 3 has also been shown to help reduce body fat, while helping gain lean body mass. At the 2003 American College of Sports Medicine Annual Conference, fish oil was shown to improve the body's resting metabolic rate (RMR). Increasing the body's RMR, your body will burn more calories at rest, even when you are sitting in the car or behind a desk.

I would highly recommend taking in more omega 3 fish oil. It can take time for the body to make good of the fish oils properties. It should be a few months before you see or feel any real affects. As Brian St. Pierre states, "I hardly even consider this a supplement, this should almost universally be in everyone's diets".

References

1. Balch, P.A. Balch, J.F. Prescription of Nutritional Healing, 3rd Ed, New York, NY: Penguin Putman Inc, 2000.

2. Mohan, I.K. "Oxidant stress, antioxidents, and essential fatty acids in systemic lupus erythemetosis," No Journal, 56 (1997), 193-198.

3. Strand, R. D. What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You, Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Inc, 2002

4. St Pierre, B. (2009) Top 5 Supplements (online) Available at: http://thefitcast.com/top-5-supplements (Accessed 13th October 2010).

42 fat loss steps for the next 42 days

Lose 14lbs + of fat in 42 days following 42 simple steps - 1 for every day

There are many things you can do to lose body fat.  I have listed below 42 steps to help you achieve fat loss in 42 days.  These are very easy, simple changes and even if you input some of them you will see a change, although, if you input all of them, you would see a massive difference in your figure/physique.

So here is my list:

1.     Drink more water

2.     Eat more vegetables

3.     Eat smaller, regular meals

4.     Cut out sugary food

5.     Cut out bread, pasta, white potatoes and rice

6.     Eat more fruit

7.     Stop doing long duration, steady state aerobic exercise

8.     Start lifting heavier weights

9.     Add circuit training to your workout routines

10.  Be consistent in your fat loss pursuit

11.  Increase the intensity of you workouts

12.  Eat healthy fats

13.  Eat more protein based foods

14.  Drink green tea

15.  Get walking more

16.  Get more fiber in your diet

17.  Take a probiotic

18.  Do High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

19.  Introduce Tabata workouts

20.  Stop eating fast food

21.  Plan your meals

22.  Do weekly food shops

23.  Buy clothes that you want to fit into

24.  Read food labels

25.  Take a before and after photo

26.  Set goals and time frames

27.  Avoid Trans Fats and high fructose corn syrup

28.  Start taking anti-oxidents and minerals

29.  Take body fat and circumference measurements

30.  Get plenty of sleep

31.  Change your lifestyle

32.  Tell friends and family

33.  Eat smaller portions

34.  Find out how many calories you need

35.  Don’t starve yourself

36.  Avoid alcohol

37.  Keep a food diary

38.  Use scales in the kitchen

39.  Eat breakfast

40.  Eat more nuts and seeds

41.  Do multi-joint weight exercises like squats, deadlifts and military presses

42.  Follow the PT On Demand Fat Loss Series

10 things you can start doing today for long-term fat loss

Fat loss is a long term process.  Making and keeping good habits will aid in the reduction of body fat.  See my ten steps you can implement to get rid of body fat once and for all and keep it off.

I would say that 99% of my clients, male and female, want to lose fat, whether that is for improved sports performance or to look good in a dress, if you’re one of my female clients.

Most people, not just my clients find it hard in what they can do to start the process of long term fat loss.

Here are my top 10 points, which you can implement straight away for long-term fat loss:

1. Cut down on sugary foods

When trying to lose fat, you really want to try and cut out sugary and processed foods.  Processed foods, such as cereals, crisps, biscuits etc tend to be high in sugars, unhealthy fats and also have large amounts of salt in them. 

By cutting these foods out, not only will they help in the process of fat loss, you will also become healthier.  Foods like these push up your blood sugar levels and can make you become insulin resistant over time, which can then develop into type 2 diabetes.  By cutting these types of foods out, you will have to eat more fruit and vegetables. 

2. Drink more water

The liver converts stored fat to energy. The liver has other functions too, but this is one of its main jobs.

Unfortunately, another of the liver's duties is to pick up the slack for the kidneys, which need plenty of water to work properly. If the kidneys are water-deprived, the liver has to do their work along with its own, lowering its total productivity. It then can't metabolize fat as quickly or efficiently as it could when the kidneys were pulling their own weight. If you allow this to happen, not only are you being unfair to your liver, but you're also setting yourself up to store fat.

3. Eat more regular meals throughout the day

Every time you eat, your metabolic rate increases, which gives the body fuel to start the process to burn fat calories and aid fat loss.  When you skip a meal your metabolic rate drops, meaning that fat loss stops and fat gain increases.

4. Stop performing long duration, slow, steady pace cardio and aerobics. 

The more aerobic training you do the more efficient you make your body at storing body fat.  The body is stubborn and doesn’t want to burn body fat so it eats up your muscle instead, immediately destroying your metabolism.  This leads me onto number 5.

5. Introduce high intensity, short duration cardio or circuits into your next workout

Try this next time you’re in the gym, it will save much more time and be a ton better for fat loss: Use an airdyne bike, rower, spinning bike or treadmill

2 min – Easy Ride

1min – Hard ride

1min – Easy ride

45 sec – Hard ride

1:15 min – Easy ride

30 sec – Hard ride

1:30 min – Easy ride

15 sec – Hard ride

1:45 min – easy ride

6. Fill up on protein based foods

The next most important food to be eating is lean protein throughout the day.  You can get this from foods like chicken, lean beef and fish.  Try and replace carbohydrates with protein-based foods. 

By increasing your protein intake, you will lower your insulin response, which in turn helps you keep body fat off.  Protein is harder to breakdown in the body than both carbohydrates and fats.  This means that our body has to work harder, which requires more energy, and we get this energy from stored body fat.

7. Eat more fruit and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are greater in volume, which have a fulfilling effect, yet they are relatively low in calories.  We have stretch receptors in our stomach, which sends signals to the brain and tells us we are full up.  Match this to other foods, such as a pizza; you would have to eat a massive amount of fruit and vegetables in one sitting to match the same calorie intake as that of the pizza, and yet it is quite easy to eat a large pizza to ones self.  So you can actually eat a higher volume of food and still lose fat.

8. Introduce weights into your workout routine

Start lifting weights, to you women, not the pathetic little 1 and 2 kilo weights.  Seriously, performing big multi-joint movements like squats, deadlifts and military presses will increase your lean muscle mass, which will increase you metabolic rate and increase fat loss, even at rest.

9. Set yourself goals

Give yourself something to aim for; it could be getting ready for your holiday, getting into a new dress or shirt.  Set yourself date milestones, short and long term.  Also, set goals in exercise sessions to help keep the intensity up so you don’t slack off from your fat loss workouts

10. Monitor your progress

Take regular measurements of your weight and body fat, then from that work out your lean mass and your fat mass.  From this you can ensure that you are losing fat not muscle.  This will also mean you can see if you are staying on the right track.

Lose Body Fat and become healthier for life

As a nutritional advisor, I have read, heard and tried many different ways to help me lose body fat.  I am a competitive natural bodybuilder.  This requires me to become very lean, getting my body fat down in the region of 3%. 

There is a lot of information available on the theory of fat loss.  There is some very good information and some very out dated and bad information.  It has taken me a while to write this article, as I wanted to really research this area and give you the best information from the best trainers, coaches, nutritionists and doctors in the industry. 

As you can see, I am talking about fat loss, not weight loss.  This goes along with our series outline of fat loss.  Weight has always been the norm to see results when exercising and dieting.  We would rather you do circumference measurements and look at clothe sizes, as these are better indicators of fat loss.

This is not just a fat loss program, it is a way to becoming healthier, helping reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular health problems, cancers and diabetes, along with many other degenerative diseases.  This is not a quick fix diet; it requires a change in mentality that you are going to eat like this for life.  We want you to lose excess body fat and keep it off and in the process become healthier.

The healthy for life eating programme

Eat five to six times a day

The nutrition plan is based on eating 5-6 times a day.  Nutritionists have implemented this for a while now.  Mike Roussell has this as one of his 6 Pillars of Nutrition.  By eating 5-6 smaller meals a day, you will fuel the body with only what it requires over the next few hours, supplying your body with a constant supply of high quality nutrients.  By having multiple meals throughout the day, you are able to control insulin and blood sugar levels, which is really important for fat loss and overall health.  By doing this, you are able to keep your body sensitive to insulin, which can lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Cut down on sugary foods

When trying to lose bodyfat, you really want to try and cut out sugary and processed foods.  Processed foods, such as cereals, crisps, biscuits etc tend to be high in sugars, unhealthy fats and also have large amounts of salt in them. 

By cutting these foods out, not only will they help in the process of fat loss, you will also become healthier.  Foods like these push up your blood sugar levels and can make you become insulin resistant over time, which can then develop into type 2 diabetes.  By cutting these types of foods out, you will have to eat more fruit and vegetables. 

Eat more fruit and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables should make up the cornerstone of our diet.  Fruits and vegetables are packed with higher amounts of nutrients, such as antioxidants, vitamins and minerals (1).   Fruits and vegetables are greater in volume, which have a fulfilling effect, yet they are relatively low in calories.  We have stretch receptors in our stomach, which sends signals to the brain and tells us we are full up.  Match this to other foods, such as a pizza; you would have to eat a massive amount of fruit and vegetables in one sitting to match the same calorie intake as that of the pizza, and yet it is quite easy to eat a large pizza to ones self.  So you can actually eat a higher volume of food and still lose body fat.

Fruit and vegetables are also lower on the glycemic index and they have less impact on your blood sugar levels compared to foods such as starches, grains, potatoes and rice’s.

Drink plenty of water

Water can really help in the process of losing body fat.  Water helps transport toxins out of the bodies cells and supply the body with fresh nutrients, minerals etc (1).  Drinking water can have a fulfilling effect on the body.  When people feel hungry, they can mistake it for being thirsty.  Drinking water can alleviate this. 

People tend to reach though for a sugary drink, high in calories when they are thirsty.  This is such an easy, but bad way of consuming calories and can have a massive effect on increasing total fat mass.  Really try and prevent drinking calories.  If you have beverages such as tea and coffee, refrain from adding in sugar, milk and cream.  This can boost total calories and negate the benefits these drinks can have.

Fill up on protein based foods

The next most important food to be eating is lean protein throughout the day.  You can get this from foods like chicken, lean beef and fish.  Try and replace carbohydrates with protein-based foods. 

By increasing your protein intake, you will lower your insulin response, which in turn helps you keep body fat off (2).  Protein is harder to breakdown in the body than both carbohydrates and fats (2).  This means that our body has to work harder, which requires more energy, and we get this energy from stored body fat (4). 

Leave starchy carbohydrates to the morning

Really try and keep starchy carbohydrates, such as oats and rice to breakfast or earlier in the day.  In the morning the body’s liver and muscle sugar levels are lower and the body is better at handling starchy carbohydrates as it has improved insulin sensitivity earlier in the day.  As the day goes on, reduce the amount of starchy foods and eat more protein based foods, fruits, vegetables and food that have healthy fats in them.  View the example meal plan in the ebook. 

Fat can be healthy and beneficial too

Like carbohydrates, there are also different types of fats, unhealthy, such as trans fatty acids, which can be found in processed foods and healthy fats, such as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats found in nuts, seeds and fish.  Healthy fats are a great benefit to the body (1).  Try and steer clear of fats that are solid at room temperature e.g. butter and lard.  Margarine is not a good alternative to these either as it is full of trans fatty acids to help it stay solid at room temperature.

Omega 3, which can be found in oily fish, linseeds and walnuts, has been clinically proven to help reduce the risk of developing heart disease and also improves brain function.  A Monounsaturated fat, such as olive oil has been shown to help the body breakdown stored body fat.  Fat is a very important aspect of a healthy lifestyle and helping reduce body fat. 

Conclusion

The information above is no magic pill that will help lose body fat in an instance.  By following the guidelines above not only will you lose body fat, you will also feel healthier and have a lot more energy.  This is no special diet, this is just healthy eating and the benefits you can get from following an eating pattern of 5-6 meals a day full of fruits, vegetables, lean cuts of meat, fish and avoiding starchy carbohydrates later in the day will leave you looking better and feeling better.

References

1.      Beachle, T.R., and Earle, R.W. Essentials of Strength and Conditioning, 3rd ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. 2008

2.      High Protein Intake Enhances Protein Synthesis During Low-Carbohydrate Diets: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 90: 5175-5181. 2005

3.      MacWilliam, L. Nutrisearch Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements. 4th ed. Northern Dimensions. 2007

4.      Moderate Protein Diet Helps Sustain Weight Loss: Journal of Nutrition. 139: 514-521. 2009

Should we be eating like our great ancestors?

I have written before that if you want to become healthier, lose body fat and get stronger we should follow a more natural diet. By this I mean, eating what could be hunted e.g. fish and animals or picked from the ground, nuts, seeds, vegetables etc.

The Paleolithic ear went from 2.5 million to 20,000 years BC. The Paleo Diet is meant to work with our genetics to help us become fitter, stronger and healthier. The Paleo Diet is primarily made up of protein based foods, so anything that can be killed would make good eating. In modern times, the best place would be from grass fed animals and wild fish, rather than the factory farmed animals and fish.

The other part of the diet is made up from a mix of fats (saturated and mono and poly unsaturated fats). Today these sources would come from olive oil, coconut oil, nuts and seeds and the different oils and also fish oil. There are carbs in the diet too. These would come from vegetables, fruits and then yams and sweet pototaoes (orange or purple).

The Palio Diet can be followed by anyone, but it does need some discipline. As you can see, foods such as bread, pasta and rice’s are off the menu and considering that the majority of people's diets, are made up of these foods, it may be hard. It isn't a coincidence that people I know that eat a very natural close to the ground diet are leaner and healthier than their processed carb  eating counterparts.

Clients that I have trained who have taken to eating like this, have seen incredible results too. I have had clients who have lost 3-4% body fat in a about 5 weeks. They have lost a lot more fat off the mid-section and feel healthier too, less sluggish during the day and sleep better.

The Paleo diet is not just good for getting rid of body fat it has also shown remarkable promise for metabolic derangement, neurological degeneration (including Parkinson's, Huntington's, and Alzheimer's diseases) and autoimmune disorders. There is clinical data on the reversal of osteoporosis and the related problem of sarcopenia (muscle wasting).

Robb Wolf who states

"The underpinning of all these diseases is inflammation resulting from a diet and lifestyle at odds with our Paleolithic genetics. The Paleolithic approach is like shotgun art: you blast all angles of the inflammation spectrum. From hyperinsulinemia to managing n-6/n-3 fatty acid, to decreasing intestinal permeability due to grains and legumes.

This allows the complex cellular signaling pathways to come back into a healthy and optimized state. This is good, whether you're trying to build muscle or avoid cancer."

I have been eating like this for more than a year now. I do have oats for breakfast, but all my other carbs come from fruits, vegetables and sweet potatoes. I consume about 9-13 portions of fruit and vegetables a day. I also drink plenty of water, about 4-5 liters a day. Don't get me wrong, I do slide off the bandwagon and have my cheat days, but thats where it ends. I am only human :)

If you really want to become leaner, lose weight, healthier then I would recommend trying this way of eating out. Eat what mother nature has been providing us for the last 2.5 million+ years and I can pretty much guarantee you will feel and look better. It may be a chore, but it depends how much you want to achieve your figure/physique goals.

For more information on Robb Wolf and his new book The Paleo Solution you can click here http://robbwolf.com/