Fitness Nutrition, Health and Wellness

It’s Time You Knew the Truth About Why You’re Fat!

Posted on July 4, 2016March 5, 2023 by Travis Wade

04
Jul

It’s Time You Knew The Truth About Why You’re Fat!

By Travis Wade

There are 2 thoughts when it comes to food. I hear the comment “Food is meant to be enjoyed”. Agreed. To a point. Alcohol is meant to be enjoyed as well. The other way to think of food is, the number one thing you are trying to accomplish with food is to get the nutrients your body needs. Hopefully you can learn to do both at the same time.

Let me start by saying it’s not your fault that you’re fat. Mostly. I’m not enabling here. Let’s say our society advertised for alcohol and we were told that it was healthy, nutritious, and makes us happy. Have you ever played the game one truth and two lies? Let me get back to this.

The Food Industry

A lot of people don’t realize how huge the food industry is. It is really, really, big business! The food industry wants your money and they hire people to make their food as highly addictive as possible. They’ve done very well. This practice is nothing new. We all know Coca-Cola used to put cocaine in their drink.

Then they advertise it very well. I heard once that if the food needs to be advertised then it’s not good for you. It sounds pretty accurate. So we have foods that are extremely addictive and are constantly advertised to us as being amazing. Then almost all restaurants offer genetically modified grains in the form of some kind of bread. Do you blame people for being fat?

The biggest addictions are sugar, salt, fat, flour, highly processed foods, refined carbohydrates, and almost all packaged foods have some form of these addictions. If you don’t understand what the word is, it’s likely one of the above in some hyper-addictive form or a toxin used to preserve the food to make it taste better.

Part of what makes these foods so addictive is their high glycemic index. When you eat high glycemic foods you get a sugar rush. It’s drug like and your mind relates to whatever you just ate as energy. When you start to lack energy you’ll need your fix. When sugar was compared to cocaine they found it lights up the pleasure centres of the brain 4 times as much as cocaine. Sugar isn’t the most addictive culprit. Flour is even worse with a higher glycemic index. On a side note, a rule of thumb is, if it can last forever on your shelf it’s not good.

Visceral Adipose Tissue

We need to talk about visceral adipose tissue (VAT). This is the fat stored around the belly area. It is a super fat. A hungry fat. A dangerous fat. When you eat high glycemic foods the energy goes into the VAT and then you’re hungry again. You eat more creating more VAT. It is a cycle that continues once you’re on it. It’s a very slippery slope.

Maltodextrin is a glucose attached to another glucose attached to another in a long chain of simple sugars. Maltose is two simple sugars attached to each other. The list of ingredients that is worse than table sugar is long and widely used in almost every package of food made. High fructose corn syrup is one of these that is sometimes disguised as “natural flavours” or just fructose.

I’m going to part with a secret I have kept my whole life. Please, no need to spread this around. I can’t stand watching a fat person eat sugar filled foods. It’s a lot like watching an alcoholic reaching for the bottle with a shaky hand. It’s really hard to watch and I want to help these people. “Food is meant to be enjoyed.” Agreed. To a point.

So how do you kick these incredibly overwhelming addictions? If you’re an emotional eater it is going to be very difficult to quit your addictions, especially during hard times. My best suggestion is to take it seriously like any other addiction and see an addictions counsellor. One resource I found is Jon Gabriel with The Gabriel Method. He is a good man that dealt with his emotional eating and now teaches others how to do it.

The first method I try is to get my clients to follow the 10 day detox by Dr. Mark Hyman. Pick a time when you’re ready and drop the bad stuff all at once, cold turkey. It resets your system and the cravings go away within just days. The hard part is figuring out how to eat properly and finding good food that you like and learning how to prepare it so it tastes good. I see great results and lots of weight loss. It’s an amazing place to start. No gimmicks, just healthy eating habits.

I wish you lots of health, love and happiness!

Travis Wade

The only holistic personal trainer in Edmonton

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Body Building, strength

What You Can Add To Your Workout To Improve It Immediately

Posted on June 13, 2016March 5, 2023 by Travis Wade

13
Jun

What You Can Add To Your Workout To Improve It Immediately

By Travis Wade

I didn’t have time to write an article this week. I know I’m a slacker. However, I want to refer you to an article on bodybuilding.com. I send this to every new client because I want them to know how to eat before during and after a workout. I wrote an article on that already, but here’s an article on what to have during your workout. I hope you enjoy it!

In 2006, Stephen Bird published a series of papers that paint a good picture of the hormonal changes that occur as a result of weightlifting, and how different nutritional interventions impact these changes. When taken together, these papers provide a picture of the difference between short-term—e.g. during or after a training session—and long-term changes in hormones.

There were four groups of subjects in Bird’s study, organized by what they were allowed to drink during their workouts: water, essential amino acids, carbohydrates, or essential amino acids plus carbohydrates. Over 12 weeks, all the groups lost approximately the same amount of body fat, and the group that had the most complete workout nutrition (EAA + Carbs) packed on the most muscle.

Now let’s look at the acute changes that went with these big-picture changes. Researchers measured the amino acid 3-methyl-histidine in urine as a marker for muscle breakdown. As shown in the graph below, the group which drank only water (the placebo) had an increase in muscle breakdown 48 hours after its training session. There was no change for the groups that had essential amino acids or carbohydrates. The group that had the combination workout drink actually had a decrease in its 3-methyl-histidine levels after training.

What happened with cortisol? As you can see below, cortisol levels 30 minutes following exercise were increased by more than 50 percent in the group which drank water, but unchanged in the EAA group. Cortisol was decreased in both groups which had carbohydrates as part of their workout nutrition.

Think back to when I was explaining gluconeogenesis, the process in the liver that creates glucose from non-sugar sources to provide energy to parts of the body that need it. The body doesn’t need to generate its own sugar—a metabolically intensive process—when there is extra sugar from a sports drink floating around the blood stream. Thus, there was no increase in cortisol when carbs were present.

That short-term muscle loss and cortisol spike for the water-drinking group may seem significant, but don’t forget that all the groups gained muscle over the course of the study. The group that just drank water added almost four pounds of muscle over 12 weeks!

If you want to read the full article you can click here.

The bottom line is you’ll get better results from your workout if you add a fast acting source of energy and some branch chain amino acids to your workout.

I wish you lots of health, love and happiness!

Travis Wade

The only holistic personal trainer in Edmonton

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Fitness Nutrition, Health and Wellness, Weight Loss

The Benefits of Bulletproof Coffee

Posted on March 14, 2016March 5, 2023 by Travis Wade

14
Mar

The Benefits Of Bulletproof Coffee

Discover the secrets behind Bulletproof Coffee!

By Travis Wade

If you haven’t heard of Bulletproof Coffee yet, it’s a coffee recipe founded by Dave Asprey in 2009 and was featured on some very popular talk shows in 2014, causing it to gain a lot of popularity. Today, Dave has a number of New York Times best selling books: “Game Changers”, “Head Strong”, and “The Bulletproof Diet”.

A lot of people have been butchering the original Bulletproof Coffee recipe not knowing why the exact ingredients are in place. Some people that have heard about Bulletproof Coffee have been putting butter and coconut oil in their coffee hoping to lose weight. I’ve seen an intermittent fasting specialist talk about putting coconut oil in your coffee and skipping breakfast to keep your body in fat burning mode. As long as you’re not adding carbohydrates to your body you will be in fat burning mode; this is the basis of a keto-diet.

About Dave Asprey

I’m going to tell you straight up, Dave is the real deal and his recipe sounds way too tempting not to try. In this article, I’m going to tell you the real recipe to Bulletproof Coffee and why the ingredients are exactly the way they are. If you want to try it yourself you can order some with this link.

First, I have to tell you a bit about Dave Asprey: Dave’s not a doctor, he’s just a very brilliant man that had medical issues and learned how to overcome them. However, he is married to a doctor. He is also known as the original “Biohacker”. He is the man that coined the phrase “biohacking”.

Dave’s arthritis started at 14 and he was 300 pounds by the time he was in 4th year university. He had fibromyalgia, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, and brain fog. Today, Dave weighs 200 lbs. at 6’4” and all of his other symptoms have been relieved. The remedy to Dave’s health problems is rooted in fixing his microbiome.

In time, Dave learned the importance of meditation and travelled to Tibet to improve his skills in this area. On a mountain in Tibet, Dave was given some yak butter tea in a bowl and it made him feel so awesome he had to recreate it. Dave learned why the yak butter tea worked so well then came up with his own recipe and wanted to share it with the world.

The Bulletproof Coffee Recipe

The first component of the coffee recipe is the beans, which Dave grows in Central and South America. The problem with even the best brands of coffee in North America is the mold toxins in them. The mold toxin, which is a metabolite of the mold called a mycotoxin, accumulates in the brain and affects the gut biome. In fact, these mycotoxins are so toxic they are limited in the parts per billion, (not parts per million) in other countries. As a result, Dave makes sure his coffee is toxin free with his processing, before lab testing it for 27 different toxins. (That was last count, maybe more now).

The mold toxins cause side effects like the jitters and a crash after the original caffeine high wears off, alongside food cravings. These mold toxins are banned in other countries in Europe and Asia, but are not regulated as much in North America. This means, coffee companies sell their toxin free coffee in other countries that have better toxin regulations. This doesn’t mean they throw out their toxic coffee – they sell it to us here in North America.

Furthermore, I have to mention that mycotoxins are also found in grains. People and cows eat the grains and breast milk/dairy products have mycotoxins. Also, antibiotics are a mycotoxin. Dave, myself, and a lot of medical professionals believe antibiotics are way overused and should only be used in emergency situations.

Grass-fed Butter

The second component of Dave’s recipe is the grass-fed butter. There’s 3 ingredients in the butter that are important and that’s why it’s necessary for it to be grass-fed. In fact, Dave stresses the importance of not cheaping-out on proper butter. The first ingredient is saturated fat, the preferred energy source of the brain and body and an anti-inflammatory.

The second ingredient is butyrate or butyric acid, named after butter because that’s where it’s most commonly found. Butyrate is used to help increase good gut flora. Lastly, the third ingredient is CLA, or conjugated linoleic acid, which is commonly used as a weight loss supplement.

Plus, the antioxidants in the coffee and the ketones from the fat are anti-inflammatories. All in all, this whole combination turns down the bad and turns up the good bacteria. In a nutshell, this is one of the greatest things you can do to improve your overall health, performance, fat loss, and disease prevention.

Brain Octane Oil

Finally, the last component of Dave’s Bulletproof Coffee is “Brain Octane Oil”, also known as C8 oil. There are 4 different medium chain triglycerides: C6, C8, C10, and C12, named for their length of their hydrocarbon tails. You’ll find all 4 MCTs in coconut oil, with C12 being the most abundant at 52% and C8 being the rarest at 5.5%. Dave’s C8 is triple-distilled in an oxygen free environment. Dave doesn’t give away all his secrets but he says if you get your C8 anywhere else you’ll get what he calls “disaster pants”. As you can imagine, it’s not good. That is all.

C8 and Weight Loss

C8 is the key ingredient for people who want to lose weight. This is because its metabolized and used by the body a lot more efficiently than other fats. C12 is a longer chained fat. C12 will go through the liver and is stored there as fat that can be used when necessary.

On the other hand, C8 metabolizes a lot like a sugar, as it easily breaks down into ketones for your brain and body to use immediately. With 2 tablespoons of C8 and the absence of any carbs, you will immediately go into full ketosis in about a half an hour.

When I first started taking C8 I didn’t drink coffee and I put it in my soup. I remember one morning when I actually felt it kick in. My brain just felt like I snapped out of a day dream and was ready for the day.

Plus, you’ll think better and clearer without the crash you normally get with coffee and you won’t get hungry. The C8 puts you into ketosis and you’ll stay there until you eat carbohydrates. Better still, the butter is another source of fat that staves off hunger. As a result, if you drink Bulletproof Coffee in the morning, by lunchtime you may or may not be hungry. Coffee just happens to be another appetite suppressant.

Perhaps best of all, Dave also learned how to manipulate the microbiome to lose weight. C8 is an anti-fungal and works together with the coffee to induce a healthier microbiome. Thin people have more bacteroidetes and less firmicutes while obese people have the opposite.

Scientists have conducted studies where they put bacteroidetes in obese people, causing them to lose weight. While, on the other hand, they put firmicutes into skinny mice, causing them to gain weight. In short, C8 decreases the firmicutes, and the antioxidants in the coffee feed the bacteroidetes, (these are the 2 main types of bacteria in the gut).If you’re interested, you can have your own levels tested at viome.com.

How to Become Bulletproof

In Dave’s New York Times best-selling book “The Bulletproof Diet”, he talks about foods you need to avoid to heal your body and to lose weight, as well as those you need to incorporate. Click here to view the Bulletproof DIet Road Map. Plus, if you want to try Dave’s Bulletproof Coffee, you can click here.

In next week’s newsletter, I will talk some more about the microbiome. I hope you liked this article and, if you did, then please forward it, like, and share. If you want more help with your health and fitness journey, contact me and I will help you.

I wish you lots of health, love and happiness!

Travis Wade

The only holistic personal trainer in Edmonton.

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Body Building, strength

Strength Training Tips

Posted on January 25, 2016March 5, 2023 by Travis Wade

25
Jan

Strength Training Tips

These are the strength training secrets the strongest men in the world keep!

By TRAVIS WADE

I first got interested in strength training about fifteen years ago. The gym was still full of people who were into bodybuilding or athletes. I admired the heavy lifters in the gym because they weren’t all show. So this is the story of how I became one of the strongest guys in the gym.

When I decided to start strength training, I hired a strong personal trainer because only a strong personal trainer knows how to strengthen properly. I learned a lot of strength training tips from him and I worked hard.

At the same time, I read a book called “The Naked Warrior.” Pavel Tsatsouline explained the different aspects of strength training in that book. I also read many articles on strength training and learned a lot from my own experiences. In the years to come, I hired many personal trainers and read books on the subject. However, at the time, it took me about 4 months to become one of the strongest guys at the gym.

We did a powerlifting routine and I learned how to put a program together. After that, I hired a few other strength training coaches and they helped me with a few more powerlifting concepts. I learned a lot of tips that instantly increase strength and mastering these techniques while you strength train will improve your lifts too.

I think Mr. Miyagi from “The Karate Kid” said, “All strength comes from learning to use the power from within.” Karate people are like that. Here are a few tips expanding on what I think he was trying to explain.

Pushing

One of the first exercises I ever did when I was a kid was the push-up. I didn’t have equipment in my room so I did sit-ups and push-ups. Grip the floor during a push-up. When pushing, twist the hands out. Feel it in the shoulders.

Unilateral Strength Training

I got into unilateral (one-sided) exercises for a while because they are great for the core. You always have to stabilize with your core when you do unilateral exercises. Grip your free hand during a unilateral strength training exercise. I still use unilateral exercises on a regular basis for the same reason; they are great for stability of the core and other accessory muscles that stabilize.

Your Feet During Strength Training

When I first started strength training, my first focus was the squat. I thought squats were the true test of strength and I still believe that. Squats are known as “the king of all exercises.” They seem to take the most out of me when I do them. Grip the floor with your toes to strengthen your squat. Barefoot is best for optimal force transfer and balance.

Your feet have many proprioceptors. Proprioceptors are nerves that send messages to the brain. They feel around for balance and detect where you are in space. You always see a tight rope walker barefoot because of proprioception.

What happens at the feet happens exponentially at the chest and shoulders. If you have cushiony shoes, it can influence your balance just a smidge at the feet, which will sway your whole body enough to ruin your lift. While strength training, the less you have under your feet, the better.

Strengthen Inter-Abdominal Pressure

Tense your abs to increase the power of any strength training exercise. It’s called intra-abdominal pressure, and it’s where all strength originates. The pelvic floor is where we have our kegel muscles and sphincter muscles. We have the diaphragm at the top, the transversus abdominis acting as a girdle around the whole mid section, obliques on the sides, the quadratus lumborum in the back, and rectus abdominis in the front. There are other muscles in this area that contribute, but the ones I have mentioned are the leading players.

I remember reading in “The Naked Warrior,” Pavel talked about how you contract all of these muscles to increase the pressure in the stomach area. He said, “It’s like you are blowing up a balloon, and the balloon starts in the stomach and expands out to the arms or legs, depending on the exercise you are doing.”

When I was talking to a yoga instructor who mentioned her plethora of past injuries, I asked her about injury prevention. She said the number one way to prevent most injuries is to strengthen your core muscles.

I read an article a powerlifter wrote about improving his lifts. He said it took him a bit to figure it out, but when he started increasing his core strength, his lifts got way better. Most of these core suggestions are in our personal-training textbook as well. You can imagine if your core is like a tree trunk, you will be able to lift a lot of weight.

Pavel Tsatsouline also said to tense the glutes to increase any exertion. I think this is also part of increasing intra-abdominal pressure. When you squeeze the glutes you clamp the pelvic floor. I have followed Pavel’s advice, and it works.

Lifting

Pre-tense the muscles before lifting weight. Arm wrestlers do this. For example, during a deadlift, the bar should come off the floor as slow as possible; never jerk the bar up. Increase abdominal pressure; tighten pelvic floor, abs, and diaphragm. Feel the abdominal pressure first and then feel that tension radiate outwards from the middle of your body. Squeeze your grip strength and tense all the muscles before you start your lift.

Breathing in Strength Training

Are you the strongest when you are breathing in, breathing out, or holding your breath? The order is you’ll be your strongest while holding your breath. You’ll be weakest when breathing out. It comes back to the abdominal pressure required on every lift. It’s like bracing yourself when you are about to take a punch in the stomach. When you hold your breath you will be your strongest because you can clamp down with your core muscles the hardest.

When you take a breath before your lift, never exhale or inhale all the way; approximately 50%. If you breathe in too much, you won’t be able to brace, and if you breathe in too little, you will run out of oxygen.

I know this isn’t a program or strength training guide; that’s a whole separate article with a lot to it. That’s actually a book. I will write that book after the one I am writing now. Until then, if you need a program or details on strength training, you can contact me, and I will help you out.

I wish you lots of health, love and happiness!

Travis Wade

The only holistic personal trainer in Edmonton

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