Common Sense Living

I was thinking… always dangrous, right?

Everyone thinks exercise means running or going to the gym. I never liked running much, and since my daughter was born, I don’t have time for the gym. But that doesn’t mean I don’t get plenty of exercise.

I was cleaning my beach today. We had another major algae bloom and let me tell you – that is some back breaking work. I need one of these harvester things But I was thinking -

I was building my muscles

I broke a good detoxifying sweat

I got plenty of vitamin D

Some of you play volleyball. Some of you golf, or garden, or bowl, or walk the dog. You don’t really need some fancy workout program for basic healthy exercise.

Now toning and advanced stuff, I guess you might want something a little more advanced, but for the most part – get out and do something you like to do.

So then, while I was cleaning up my emails, I ran across an article that Jon Benson sent me that I never published. oops. It was a pretty good one too – and its on the topic of exercise and your brain. So here it is…

Exercise And The Brain
Jon Benson
———————————————————————-

If you ever needed another good reason to exercise, I’ve got one for you:

Exercise makes your brain bigger.

Actually this isn’t entirely accurate. To be more specific, exercise was found to increase brain size slightly, but far more important to increase “spatial reasoning.”

This is the ability to recognize patterns, remember phrases, numbers, and so-on. This was discovered by researchers at the Universities of Chicago and Pittsburgh.

It is also one of the most important factors to the prevention of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

My mom suffered with dementia the last ten years of her life. But unlike most dementia patients she was fully functional thanks to exercise. She drove and had a mind that was unbelievably sharp right up until an accident injured her beyond the ability to exercise.

After that, she mentally went downhill rapidly. Thankfully, she passed in peace… and she had ten wonderfully active years thanks to her willingness to take up weight training at the age of 71.

She eventually walked up to 3 miles per day and trained in the gym 3 days per week.

That kept her mind sharp, along with fish oil and N-Acetyl L-Carnitine, a wonderful brain nutrient.

Once again, we see the power of exercise. It increases the QUALITY of your life.

Quantity is no where near as important to me as quality.

Your brain will thank you, as will the rest of your body.

One of the best ways to start exercising when you are over 40 is by using the routines covered in “Fit Over 40″.

This book profiles 53 different men and women, age 40 to 80, all sharing their workouts, nutrition plans, and mental empowerment techniques.

It is a MUST-HAVE for anyone wanting to begin exercising or improve their level of fitness after the age of 40.

For a free fat-burning course from Fit Over 40, go here –

 Free Fatburning Course

By fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson

I took a big, huge, massive sigh of relief today.

Finally… the FDA did something right when it comes to bogus “magic” diet-fatburn pills.

A panel of experts reviewed Vivus Inc.’s new wonder-pill “Qnexa” today.

They gave it the thumbs-down.

Why?

Oh… pesky little reported side-effects like… (are you ready for this?)…

Heart Attacks
Stroke
Increased Risk of Suicide (yikes!)
Memory/Concentration Loss

You know… “minor” stuff like that.

GEEZ. What the hell are these drug companies thinking?

Oh, right…

Quick-Fix =
Big-Bucks

Got it.

So, I am going to believe that YOU are much smarter than the morons who tried to get this drug past the FDA.

I’m going to assume you want a solution to this obesity pandemic and your own fatloss issues (if you have them) that do NOT involve risking your life for a thinner you.

“Oh, Marge… she looks so thin in her casket…”

THIS IS NOT A GOOD EULOGY! : )

Listen: I get it. I really do.

I’m an athlete and we are always looking for tricks to help increase our performance. But your body is simply too smart for these fatloss-pills people are trying to pass off as “a break-through medical discovery.”

Nonsense… more like heart-breaking medical waste of time.

One day… perhaps even in my lifetime… someone will invent a chemical that actually works to shed bodyfat without harming the body. That will be a great day for all of us.

Even so, I can all but promise you that this chemical will have its nasty side-effects and/or be limited in duration or power.

Nothing, repeat NOTHING you can pop in your mouth will give you the JOY that managing your dietplan and bodyweight can give you.

NOTHING!

It’s one of the greatest feelings in the world.

And here’s a fantastic clue for you: The reason we want to be thin is because of the FEELING it gives us. Most everything we do is based on feelings.

Quick-fixes negate the most powerful thing about feelings: Earning the right to have them!

Think of it this way: Would you feel more alive and powerful if you climbed a mountain or if you took a helicopter ride to the summit?

Sure, the helicopter is easy… but which is more personally rewarding?

Think of your own body transformation goals as your personal mountain to climb.

No helicopters… just really good guides (I volunteer) and solid climbing tools (like a great real-world dietplan, solid workouts that work WITH your schedule, and realistic but exciting goals.)

Your goals will become your base camps along your summit of your personal journey to the best you possible.

Color me silly, but I think that sounds FAR more empowering and rewarding that popping pills.

As you probably know I wrote one of the top books in the world on “real-world” weighttloss (spelled that way so the spambox won’t eat your email… : ) I made this dietary System as easy as possible… but NO plan is “easy” and there is NO quick-fixes out there without serious pricetags.

That said, I have some “rebel tricks” to share with you today… and they won’t put you six feet under before your time.

Just click on the page below and then click on “Articles”… then you’ll see it. It’s the first article, “3 Diet Secrets Revealed”.

Go here:

Video Plus Articles Homepage

You can’t sell this stuff in a bottle… but it works to get the bodyfat off and keep it off.

Remember:

Don’t Quit… Get Fit.

Sincerely,

J O N B E N S O N

—-> SPECIAL NOTE: On the article page above, be sure to read until the bottom. If you like that article you can now just click a button and share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, or any number of cool sites.

The button looks like this:

P.S. If you pick up my dietplan (on the article page above) you’ll find in the Member’s Area three supplements that actually DO work to help you burn-off-fat… but they do not work like magic. They work like they’re supposed to: Realistically, and without harming your body. I take them. So should you.

By fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson

Another good article appeared recently in the fitness section of MSNBC.

Since you’re busy, I’ll do a quick summary of the article — the good stuff, the bad stuff, and what you need to do today to get started…

First, you need to know this…

And this will probably shock you…

Rarely, if EVER, do you need to suppress your appetite!

The real secret is to increase your metabolism… the rate at which your body uses food for fuel.

Then being hungry is a good thing… as long as you’re eating the right foods at the right time.

My “Favorite Foods” plan is a great way to do this…

My “Favorite Foods” Dietplan revealed < == click.

But let’s say you want to curb your appetite at night…. that’s the time most people really lose it on a dietplan. Even on a plan that ASKS you to eat frequently like mine, there are times where night-time cravings need to be put to sleep.

So use these tips from the article to ease the urge to eat at night:

1. Protein First

As I say in my dietplan, “Rise and shine with protein.” What does this have to do with night-time cravings you ask?

Everything.

Set the body up to use your own fat-stores for fuel by eating protein in the morning and your appetite FOR fatty foods goes way down during the day and the night. Protein is “thermogenic”, meaning it helps increase your metabolism. It also acts as a natural appetite regulator.

Notice I said “regulator” and not “suppressant.” That’s because you only need to regulate your appetite, no matter how much bodyfat you desire to drop.

I show you how here:

My “Favorite Foods” Dietplan revealed < == click.

Cool, right?

2. Go For The Grapefruit

In a study at the Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego, people who ate half a grapefruit with each meal lost an average of 3.6 pounds in three months. That doesn’t sound like a lot (and it isn’t) but that’s ALL they changed.

It doesn’t matter for our purposes… we want to lower insulin at night. Why? Insulin is not only dangerous for your health in excess but it also can cause a LOT of fat storage if secreted too much at night. Enter the lowly grapefruit.

A great snack, especially if you have a few bites of lean protein with it.

3. Smell This!

This is a trick I didn’t know about until recently.

Smelling food can trick your brain into thinking you’ve eaten.

A recent study found that those who inhaled peppermint in scent form every 2 hours at (get this) 2700 calories LESS per week than they normally did.

Let me put that in perspective: That’s a fatloss of more than half a pound a week… from sniffing peppermint!

Vanilla also works. You can keep vanilla-scented drops or even candles around the office and take a wiff every few hours.

How easy is that?

The Bad Part

The MSNBC article goes on with advice like “eat potatoes” and “eat just a little bit of fat”, both of which are nonsense.

Potatoes may fill you up, but they are still starch – and starch should be consumed on your “off” days.

Potatoes are especially bad due to the higher-than-desired glycemic index of 85 (anything over 50 is too high.)

You also need dietary fat… and not just “a little.” You need a moderate amount to stay healthy and keep insulin regulated.

Olive oil and even coconut oil are excellent sources, as are naturally occurring fats in fresh fish, grass-fed beef, farm-raised chicken and whole eggs.

The rest of the article is common sense stuff: Workout, eat dense food that requires you to chew a lot (tire out the jaw muscles and you naturally eat less), etc.

The top 3 are the real winners.

  I was surfing some weight loss sites today to see what kind of information is being peddled out there today. I had to shake my head. A well known health publication was still blasting banners about cholesterol – even though current research indicates that cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease. What’s up with that? Oh yeah – they’re advertiser supported. Duh! Big pharma runs a zillion ads in this publication. Another ad for a popular information site asks, which is lower in calories – and shows a glass of orange juice, and a glass of pop. Ounce for ounce, juice does have more calories. But your body doesn’t see it that way. This simple comparison does not account for nutrient value, or how your body responds to the chemical additives and unnatural sugars. That’s why calorie counting as a diet aid is usually misguided. It’s why people are guzzling gallons of zero calorie pop and not losing an ounce. But this very popular information provider gives you the impression that it’s better to drink the pop than the orange juice. From here, I was led to one of their weight loss blogs. This blog stated ‘weight loss since 2000′, but the picture of the author showed a definitely overweight woman. Should you be taking advice from someone who doesn’t know how to lose weight? From there, I clicked on a link that led to one of the bogus ‘how I lost weight using 2 free products’ sites. Sigh…. You’ve got to be tired of chasing your tail. Aren’t you? Listen. There is one proven way to lose weight and keep it off. It’s called a healthy diet, and exercise. That sounds like a death sentence, doesn’t it? Actually, it’s quite the opposite. It’s your ticket to living life. See, that same diet that will help you lose weight will also keep your blood pressure down, cut your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and a whole slew of other chronic diseases, protects your vision, keeps you thinking clearly, keeps you looking and feeling younger longer, and in general will keep you out of the nursing home longer. OK, now do a search for healthy eating. Now that sounds like a death sentence! Vegetable juices, greens, seeds, tofu, soy, Special K. I especially love the raw foods people. Are you serious? I did actually find good articles here -  http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_eating_diet.htm and here – http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_weight_loss.htm Ellie Krieger’s Healthy Recipes on the Food Network look really good. I have to try that cherry vanilla oatmeal. I wish we could get rid of the big soyjoy commercial on that site – since you and I both know that soy has turned out to be a really bad thing. Have you noticed that I don’t run many ads here? You know why? I don’t want ads running here for something I do not believe in, and do not endorse. Do you know how ad servers work? My article might be about how bad soy is, but because the word soy is used – ads for soy products would show up. How confusing is that?  On one side I would be talking about how bad it is, and over to the right, there’s links to go buy soy products. In keeping with that same line of ethics, Rebel With a Fork is also not advertiser supported. Just pure information and great recipes. There is a small membership fee to help cover expenses, but you can try it for 10 days free. If you’re tired of buying all this stuff that doesn’t work and you’re ready to actually do what’s proven to help you maintain a great thin & healthy body – I hope you’ll at least give it a try and let me know what you think. I think its a breath of fresh air, but I’m a little biased Visit Rebel With a Fork >>>

I was surfing some weight loss sites today to see what kind of information is being peddled out there today.

I had to shake my head. A well known health publication was still blasting banners about cholesterol – even though current reasearch indicates that cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease. What’s up with that? Oh yeah – they’re advertiser supported. Duh! Big pharma runs a zillion ads in this publication.

Another ad for a popular information site asks, which is lower in calories – and shows a glass of orange juice, and a glass of pop. Ounce for ounce, juice does have more calories. But your body doesn’t see it that way. This simple comparison does not account for nutrient value, or how your body responds to the chemical additives and unnatural sugars.

That’s why calorie counting as a diet aid is usually misguided. It’s why people are guzzling gallons of zero calorie pop and not losing an ounce. But this very popular information provider gives you the impression that it’s better to drink the pop than the orange juice.

From here, I was led to one of their weight loss blogs. This blog stated ‘weight loss since 2000′, but the picture of the author showed a definitely overweight woman. Should you be taking advice from someone who doesn’t know how to lose weight?

From there, I clicked on a link that led to one of the bogus ‘how I lost weight using 2 free products’ sites. Sigh….

You’ve got to be tired of chasing your tail. Aren’t you glad you found me? Listen. There is one proven way to lose weight and keep it off. It’s called a healthy diet, and exercise. That sounds like a death sentence, doesn’t it? Actually, it’s quite the opposite. It’s your ticket to living life.

See, that same diet that will help you lose weight will also keep your blood pressure down, cut your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and a whole slew of other chronic diseases, protects your vision, keeps you thinking clearly, keeps you looking and feeling younger longer, and in general will keep you out of the nursing home longer.

OK, now do a search for healthy eating. Now that sounds like a death sentence! Vegetable juices, greens, seeds, tofu, soy, Special K. I especially love the raw foods people. Are you serious? I did actually find good articles here -  http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_eating_diet.htm and here – http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_weight_loss.htm

Ellie Krieger’s Healthy Recipes on the Food Network look really good. I have to try that cherry vanilla oatmeal. I wish we could get rid of the big soyjoy commercial – since you and I both know that soy has turned out to be a bad thing.

Have you noticed that I don’t run ads here? You know why? I don’t want ads running here for somethng I do not believe in, and do not endorse. My article might be about how bad soy is, but because the word soy is used – ads for soy products would show up. How confusing is that?  On one side I would be talking about how bad it is, and over to the right, there’s links to go buy soy products.

Oh, and you might notice that Ellie uses salt in every recipe. You might be shocked. The truth is, most people do get too much salt, but those of us who do not eat packaged foods may not be getting enough salt. Salt is actually one of the 4 electrolytes that our bodies need to function properly.

Low salt? Low carb? Soy? High protein? Raw foods? Vegan? No wonder everyone just gives up.

The real solution is simple. A balanced diet of real foods.

Of course to do that, you have to make your own food. But don’t get scared here. It’s really easy. Just hop on over to Rebel With a Fork, sign up for your 10 day free trial and try some of the brain dead simple recipes for yourself.

Tasting is believing.

The proof is in the pudding – so to speak…