I’m not trying to be a drama queen or wanting to scare you but the supplement company has a dirty little secret that they’re not wanting you to know about.

Consumer Reports just came out with a study where they found trace amounts of toxic metals inside many of the popular protein supplements.

EAS Myoplex Original Rich Dark Chocolate Shake ranked above the U.S. Pharmacopeia’s maximum limits for Arsenic and Cadmium.

Muscle Milk proved to be the worst of the bunch and had above recommended levels for Arsenic, Cadmium, LEAD and MERCURY.

Yep and we’re putting this stuff in our bodies everyday.

No Bueno.

So is this a reason why we should stop taking protein supplements, or any supplements for that matter?

To be honest, we should getting our daily protein intake from real whole foods, not protein supplements.

I only use protein supplements (not the ones listed in the Consumer Reports study) around 3-5x a week total.  Mostly post-workout.

It’s a shame when I see high school kids taking protein supplements because they learned from their athletic peers and bodybuilders that it’s the best way to build muscle.

An American Academy of Pediatrics study found that protein powders and shakes were the most commonly used supplements by those aged 12-18.

This is the age when they SHOULD be getting down proper eating habits and even though it probably won’t kill them, I firmly believe they should wait until they’re 18 before they start using supplements.

It’s also a lot cheaper to get your protein intake from whole foods compared to protein supplements.  Some cheaper and effective examples could be grilled chicken breasts, chocolate milk, scrambled eggs, salmon, etc.

You also don’t need to take in 40-50g of protein in one setting.  You’re body obviously can’t break that much protein down and absorb it all so the rest is converted to fat or excreted out of the body.

20-30g is the right amount of protein you’ll want to be taking in post-workout, I usually take in around 26g.

So if you’re like me and care whether or not you want to be poisoned by your protein shake then it’ll be a wise idea to sparingly use them and definitely not the ones I mentioned above.

The only protein powder I like to use is the naturally sweetened and pharmaceutical quality ProGrade brand.

Click Here to see my recommended protein supplement.

So let’s stop falling for the supplement industry’s dirty little tricks and we don’t have to pay them $2.7 billion a year.

But unfortunately there are still those people out there who won’t listen and would prefer to keep killing themselves but the choice is yours.

Going gluten free seems to be the latest and greatest fad when it comes to dieting.

I’m going to give you the low down today.

Gluten is is the composite of two proteins and is found in grass related grains. They commonly use it as an additive in a lot of today’s food products which can cause a lot of problems for people with coeliac disease.

Going gluten free looks to be hot now and what it involves is getting rid of any ingredients extracted from gluten-containing substances such as wheat, kamut, spelt, barley, rye, and triticale.

If you are really going gluten free I’d also eliminate most seasoning sauces since they employ a gluten based extract to thicken the liquid.

And since you’re at it you might want to get rid of oats since they’ve been most likely tarnished with wheat based products as they’re being processed in the factory.

Also, here are a couple of other substances which will contain gluten that you might not know about…

Ice Cream

Ketcup

Toothpaste

Beer

Lip Balms

Booze (all but some tequila, rum & vodka brands made of potatoes, rice)

So you’re basically trying to kiss goodbye  all the gluten products which will cause serious inflammation in your body.

What you can substitute for those gluten based foods?  You can instead use rice, sweet potatoes, millet, quinoa, yams, chia seeds, etc.

Everything sounds really nice and healthy so far, right?  I like to call some gluten-free products the unicorn of the nutrition.

When a new diet fad appears on the market it’s the big corporations job to be able to compete and to compete as cheap as possible.

So when they do create their version of the gluten-free products they get very sneaky and use something that’s going to make things worse.

Are you able to guess what they use? It is being fed to the animals we get our beef, eggs, milk, dairy, and just about each other product except vegetables and fruit from.

Yep, it’s corn. The most important ingredient that these big business food makers are filling gluten-free products with is corn… Which as we all know is inflaming and it’s showing up everywhere we turn.

Why do they do this, you ask?

Corn is simple and really cheap to mass produce and can be added to pretty much any food to form substance.

When somebody tells me they’re about to go gluten-free I always try to warn them to not go near processed, bagged or boxed stuff.  Instead focus on foods that haven’t been processed and are in a more raw form.

So in a nutshell, going gluten-free or at least reducing your gluten intake can definitely help cut down on inflammation (weight loss!) but you have to still be careful and read the ingredients list on the gluten-free products you buy…you might have just been tricked into eating the corn devil.

Hey everybody,

Nutrition is one of the biggest concerns of a lot of my clients simply because there’s so much information out there that nobody knows what to do.

So I wanted to make 5 easy nutrition things people can implement into their fat loss program to get results.

I often hear the infamous line that they know how to eat healthy but they just don’t want to do it.  But with these simple 5 things there really isn’t any excuse so I don’t want to hear it.

I’m going to jump right into this bad boy and if you want to improve your nutrition start with these 5 easy steps and I can ensure you you’ll start looking hotter with less chub on your body.

Step #1.  No More Sodas

I don’t care if it’s calorie free or if it’s the real deal.  Sodas are a huge cause for the obesity epidemic and it’s ridiculous how obsessed we have become with them.  A study in 2001 by the Alternative Medicine News Letter found those who drank regular soda and diet sodas gained the same amount of weight over time.  A lot of the time soda companies start using artificial sweeteners for the zero calorie drinks which still get absorbed by the body and interpreted as being sugar.  This causes hormonal releases that lead to weight gain.

So to keep it simple stop drinking sodas and stick with water or bagged green tea.

Step #2.  Eat A Healthy Breakfast Everyday.

I’m surprised by the amount of people who don’t want to eat breakfast in the morning because they don’t feel hungry yet or they say “my body isn’t ready to eat yet.”  Considering you haven’t eaten in the last 8 hours or so you’re body is already in a fasting state and if you have any desire to get your metabolism going again then you’ll want to eat a good amount of food.

And eating a highly processed cereal that “looks healthy” isn’t going to be the answer.  A good example of a healthy breakfast is 2 egg whites + 1 full egg, whole wheat toast and some turkey bacon or potatoes.  Research studies have also found those who ate a bigger breakfast actually lost more weight than those who ate no breakfast or a smaller breakfast.

Step #3.  Eat Your Fruits And Vegetables.

Yep your Mom was right.  Eating your fruits and vegetables is a great way to get your body the proper nutrients that it needs while also getting your carb fix.  It’s easy to get a carbs from potato chips, pasta, etc. but rarely you’ll find someone snacking on some celery and carrots.

Step #4.  Eat Something After Your Workout.

After you’re done with an intense workout (hopefully.) your body is aching for some nutrients to soak up.  This is the time to feed your body protein and some starchy carbohydrates.  There are a lot of protein shakes out there that will do the job, click here for one of my favorites.

After your workout and breakfast are the only real times you’ll want to eat starchy carbohydrates because you’re body is aching for them and they’ll be put to good use before they’re converted into belly fat.  A lot of the times I’ll have a protein shake with 20-30g of protein with a banana or a little bit of whole wheat pasta.

Step #5.  Take Fish Oil.

Fish oil contains the necessary Essential Fatty Acids that will help enhance the fat loss process.  Research studies have found that just by taking fish oil alone it’s participants lost fat.  So they burned fat without eating right or working out.  Oh yeah, it’s also really great for your joints.

I personally take an alternative to the fish oil and use krill oil instead which has found to be better at than the former at burning fat. Click here for my favorite EFA krill oil supplement.

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That’s it guys and gals.  If you’re having trouble getting on a healthy nutrition program then these are the 5 steps to make sure you get on the right road.  Don’t wait until the perfect time to get started, start taking action right now and get it done!

Hey everybody,

I went to watch the documentary Food Inc. the other day and was still blown away by the amount of information that most of the people in the United States don’t know when it comes to their food.

If you’re like me and enjoy a nice piece of steak and if you care if the cow it came from lived knee-deep in a pile of it’s on feces then you may want to look into checking out this film.

It breaks down how things really work in the food business.  Yes, it’s a business and a big one at that.

The film does touch upon the growing obesity epidemic which we all know is sweeping the nation.  But to be honest, I was really interested in the information that concerned me.

I was surprised to see the amount of crops that I ate that were genetically modified or sprayed down with pesticides.  This was stuff that really started getting to me.

Even the “healthy” chicken breasts and the eggs that I would eat virtually every day were most likely from a chicken plumped with hormones, stuffed into a cage it’s whole life that was so small that it couldn’t even move.

And I was eating this?

The little guy is starting to fight back but it can only last so long against the few mega-business corporations that rule the food world.

Monsanto, who genetically patents their soybeans do not allow farmers to even save the soybeans from the previous year.  They must buy their own soybeans every year and if there are any resisters to them then they can sue them if Monsanto’s soybeans overflow into their farm from a neighbors crop.

Ever heard of grass fed beef?

Cow’s have always naturally been fed grass up until recently.  Food businesses discovered that by using a cheaper grain, such as corn, they could get away with growing their cows fatter and faster than on grass.

And this corn is now in 80% of products including Splenda.  High fructose corn syrup is a pretty scary ingredient that is in a heck of a lot of processed foods.  This is because corn is cheap, it grows fast, it has a long shelf life and you can manipulate it so many ways.

I could go on and on about everything I’ve learned just from watching Food Inc. but I would be doing you a disservice if I ruined all the fun for you.

I know the HUGE impact it had on my life such as buying organic, locally grown, cutting back on meat (all grass fed) and spreading the word about drinking no soda or sweetened beverages.

Food Inc. is one of the those movies that we all need to watch, not just because it’s entertaining but because our lives and the lives of those around us may just depend on it.

Click here to order the DVD

And below is the trailer for the film…