Sitting is a major cause of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, back and neck pain. Researchers have found that sitting for more than half the day can double your risk of diabetes and cardiovascular problems. When you combine all causes of death and compare sitters with those who are more active, sitters have a 50 percent greater likelihood of dying. The scientific community calls this “sitting disease”.

Growing up, just about everyone I knew had a desk job. My mom, my dad, my friend’s parents. Being desk-bound 9 to 5 was the norm. Heck, my teachers barely got our of their seats to give us direction. To speak to them, I had to get up and walk over there myself. It has only become worse since. Whether you are using a desktop computer, a laptop, a word processor or even a typewriter, you are still sitting. The human body was not designed to sit around all day. I know what you are thinking. “I work out 3 times a week. So it is okay if I work at a desk job”. Wrong! Working out 3 times a week is certainly better than doing nothing at all, but if you spend most of your day sitting, it is not a defense. You can do much better.

We are not prisoners to our desks and cubicles; we can break free. Next time your cell phone rings, pick it up and walk somewhere. It doesn’t need to be a seated conversation. One of my clients has a timer by his desk that goes off every 15 minutes. As soon as it does, he gets up and walks around, gets a glass of water, or speaks to a co-worker. He goes out of his way to break up the monotony of sitting, anyway he can.

An office chair with back support and a padded seat may bring comfort to your lower back and rear end, but it can also lead to developing poor postural habits such as slouching. Instead, try using a stability ball or a stool without a back rest. Without the back rest, you are forced to sit upright. An interesting study that was published in the journal Diabetes found that most calorie burning actually occurs in the middle of the day, as opposed to when you exercise after work. The researchers found that brief and frequent muscular contraction during the day helps curb the risk of metabolic disease. A stability ball will help work out your abdominals and back muscles while improving your balance.

Some companies have redesigned workplaces to release employees from their chair-based isolation. One company in St. Paul, Minnesota encourages walk-and-talk meetings by taping walking tracks to its carpets. Another firm in Iowa discourages workers from sending e-mail to their colleagues nearby by creating “e-mail-free work zones”; computer networks can actually block e-mail to close-by desktops. Instead they were encouraged to get up and converse with their co-workers.

A tradition in the workplace that has really fallen off in recent years is the lunch break. We are consumed with productivity. Getting more done in less time and exceeding our quotas. Our brains need the break and a decent lunch hour gives us the opportunity to get up and walk around. Go to a nearby food court, grab one of those elevated tables and eat standing up. Taking even a half hour break by not sitting at your desk, will help boost your concentration and energy levels in the afternoon when most of us tend to crash. Avoiding taking a break will actually backfire and reduce your productivity.

Give some of these tips a try throughout the course of your day and you should see a difference over time.

You are never too old to start getting in shape and living a healthier lifestyle. Seniors make up the fastest growing age group in our population and that trend is expected to continue over the next several decades. What mystifies me is how little attention is paid to the 65 and over demographic when it comes to developing effective exercise programs.  The articles I read and the videos I watch are almost entirely geared towards people in the 20 to 40 age range. A big chunk of my clientele is comprised of seniors. Seniors are just as interested in their health and well-being as their younger counterparts. In fact, most of them are more concerned. While the 20 and 30 something’s are fixated with fat loss and adding muscle, my older clients are more concerned with maintaining their bone density and avoiding osteoporosis. Functionality and quality of life take priority over aesthetics.

These are some of the questions I am asked by seniors:

How do you put together a program for someone over 65?

When it comes to designing an exercise program, there is no one-size-fits-all approach; it should be tailored to your personal needs, regardless of your age.  If you have bad knees then squats are probably not for you, or if you have major lower back problems, dead lifts should be avoided. You should meet with a certified professional and get a thorough body assessment to determine your specific needs. Your doctor or health care provider may be able to direct you to some accessible and affordable training programs. Other options might include joining an older adult exercise group or learning to use some basic training equipment or machines that will target certain muscle groups that you would like to strengthen. If you are not able to get out, a personal trainer can design a safe and effective exercise program just for you that you can do in your home.

Is an exercise program really necessary?

Getting regular exercise slows down the biological aging clock.  If you train at least twice a week, you will see improvements in muscle growth, fat loss and bone density.  The stronger your muscles and joints are the better your posture and balance, making it less likely that you’ll suffer a nasty fall. A study at Tufts University found that older women who lifted weights for a year improved their balance by 14 percent. (A control group composed of women who didn’t lift weights suffered a 9 percent decline in balance in the same year.) From a psychological standpoint, as your muscular strength improves you will find that you feel more independent and confident. Picking up heavier objects, carrying your groceries to your car, and opening/twisting off the lid on a container will not seem like such a chore.

Will an exercise program help with my achy joints or will it make them worse?

One of the immediate benefits you will receive from consistent training is relief from arthritis pain. By strengthening the muscles, tendons, and ligaments around your joints, you can dramatically improve your range of motion. It can also cut down on pain by increasing the capability of the muscles surrounding an afflicted joint, easing stress on the joint itself. Arthritis sufferers should start with light weights and work up to heavier ones gradually. Start with a weight that allows you to do three sets of eight to 10 repetitions with moderate effort (6 out of 10). When these repetitions became easy, move up to a slightly heavier weight (2 or 3% increase).  Be sure to lift the weights slowly and evenly. Sudden jerks or bounces can damage cartilage. Your joints may complain at first, but they’ll thank you in the long run. Try to go through your joint’s entire range of motion. If bending the joint in a certain way causes too much pain, stick with movements that are more comfortable. Over time gradually push your joint until you regain its full range.

This is an exercise called the Bird Dog that I recommend doing daily for my clients in the over 50 crowd. It helps build strength and stability in the lower back, hips and glutes.

Should I still exercise if I have diabetes?

If you are among the millions of people with Type 2 diabetes, training can help you keep it under control. In one study of men and women with diabetes, 16 weeks of regular exercise provided dramatic improvements, comparable to taking medication. By training, you will improve the way your body responds to insulin and improve the way it uses blood sugar by prompting your muscles to store sugar for future energy rather than having it float around in your bloodstream where it does the most damage.

Continuing with last week’s theme on Obsessed with Abs ?, here are 5 more tips and 2 in-home exercises to get you there.

6. Eliminate anything white from your diet. That means white rice, white flour, white potatoes, sugar and all processed foods. Outside of potatoes, the nutrient profile in these foods is negligible–they will do you a lot more harm than good. Instead choose oatmeal, brown rice and sweet potatoes for your carbohydrate sources. They are slow digesting carbohydrates that your body can use as fuel, providing long term energy. They are also loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre. These foods leave you feeling fuller for longer, making you less likely to overeat.

7. Get a minimum of 8 hours of sleep per night. This may be the most important tip of all and yet it is the one most ignored. That doesn’t mean go to bed at 1:00 a.m. and get up at 9:00. Better to be in by 10:30 and get up 8 hours later or more, depending on your schedule. These are the hours when your body recovers mentally and physically from the rigours of the day.  By being awake during these hours you would be missing out on the crucial recovery benefits available to you. Study after study has shown that a lack of sleep leads to increased cortisol levels (stress hormone) leaving you fatter and more depressed than you were the day before. So get some sleep.

8 Minimize your sodium intake. Table salt will quickly add water retention to the abdominal region, so if you have a high-salt meal, expect to notice a difference the next day. If you must have salt with your meals, opt for sea-salt.

9. Drink more water. Drink at least half your body weight in ounces each day to remain truly hydrated and flushed of sodium. As an example, I weigh 210  pounds and therefore I try to drink at least 105 ounces of water daily.  If you are training intensely multiple days a week and using coffee to fuel your workouts, then you will probably want to increase that number by 10 to 20%. Coffee is a strong diuretic. So adjust your fluids accordingly.

10. Start performing some abdominal work. There are specific abdominal exercises that have been proven in numerous studies to target more muscle fibers than others. Try performing side planks and the stability ball roll out, shown below. Abdominal exercises may not be quite as important though as you have been led to believe in achieving a six pack. We all have abdominals, for the majority of the population they are just hiding under several layers of fat. You can do all the crunches you like, but if you are eating poorly, you are never going to see them. Remember this credo: “Abs are made in the kitchen”. So while these exercises will strengthen your core and build up your abdominals, if you truly want to see those muscles you need to fine tune your diet and get your body in a calorie deficit first.

For women to start seeing their abdominals, they will need to get down to approximately 15 to 17% body fat and for men somewhere between 10 and 12%. The side plank is one great exercise that  you can perform at home 3 times a week.

If you have a stability ball, the stability ball roll out is also an excellent choice.

I want abs! If only it were as easy as the fitness magazines would have you believe. Every magazine I see on the stands claims that their articles can get you there in record time. Titles like “30 days to a washboard stomach”, “Abs made easy”, ” Crunch your way to a six-pack”.  They sound great and they sell lots of magazines, but these catch phrases are very misleading. Unless you are one of the 2 or 3% of the population with naturally paper thin skin who can eat french sticks dipped in maple syrup for breakfast and store those carbohydrates for energy rather than fat like the rest of us, it is going to take hard work and a lot of patience to get there. But it is very doable.  If you are serious about seeing your abs, follow these tips as gospel and I promise you will get there.

1. Figure out approximately how many calories you burn on a daily basis. The vast majority of us burn around 10 times our body weight in calories just by sitting around on the couch doing very little. This is your basal metabolism–the amount of calories your body requires to exist. Then factor in your activity levels such as weight training, cardiovascular exercise, walking, etc. There are some tools available like Fitbit that can help you determine these numbers. Once you have an idea of what you burn, start cutting back by 300 calories a day to create a deficit. Give that a try for the first couple of weeks and use your bathroom scale and/or a mirror as your guide. If you are not seeing the results that you want, cut back another 100 calories.  You should lose 2 lbs a week at most. Make changes in small increments and avoid extremes.

2. Start lifting weights. Weight training speeds up your metabolism and puts your body in a constant state of repair. In order to repair broken down muscles, your body requires excess calories.  For every pound of muscle you add to your frame, your body will burn an extra 50 calories each day. Muscles need calories in order to exist. So start lifting weights 3 times a week (Mon, Wed, Fri). Stick with compound multi-joint movements. Presses, rows, squats and lunges are in; leg extensions, bicep curls and lateral raises are out. Keep the rest periods short and make sure you are finished in no more than 45 minutes. If it takes you longer than that, you are not training, you are making friends.

3. Get out and start walking. A trick I learned from a colleague a number of years ago is that “fasted” walking can accelerate fat loss. Get up first thing in the morning, have a big glass of water to get rid of any hunger pangs (I like carbonated water because the gas gives me the feeling of being full) and go for a one hour walk, preferably out in nature if you have that option. It is great for the mood. The premise behind fasted walking is that first thing in the morning your body is more prone to use stored adipose tissue (fat) to fuel your walk. I did this every morning for a month a few years ago and after 30 days I was significantly leaner, most noticeably in the midsection. Try doing this on days when you are not strength training.

4. Start performing sprints. The term sprints applies to any activity where there is an all out effort given for a specific amount of time followed by a specific period of rest. I use a stationary bike and I start with a 4 minute warm up at an easy pace to get the blood flowing to the working muscles. Then I perform 12 all out sprints at a 1:1 work to rest ratio (if a 10/10 effort is running for your life then work at a 9/10). In my case that is a 30 second all-out effort, followed by a 30 second cool down at a 1/10. Forget about target heart rates. The primary benefit of performing sprints is that they speed up your metabolism over the long haul. Don’t concern yourself with the amount of calories burned during the session. The harder you work, the more calories you will burn in the next several hours after your session. This is where the real fat loss occurs. The other benefit is that you will probably build some muscle while you are at it.

5. Eat more protein. The amino acids in protein are the building blocks of muscle. Aim to get 0.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight. For a 200 lb man that is an intake of 16o grams of protein a day, which can be accomplished easily. There are 50 grams of protein in a 6 oz chicken breast, so after consuming one breast you are already a third of the way there. There are a number of benefits from boosting your protein intake. When comparing the 3 macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins and fats), protein requires by far the greatest effort from your body to digest and absorb it. This greater workload causes your body to burn more calories, thereby speeding up your metabolic rate. High protein diets are known for their fat reducing benefits. One reason they work is that eating a lot of protein reduces hunger. Protein is very filling and when you eat more of it, you are more quickly satisfied, eating fewer calories in total.

You are probably wondering where all the fancy ab exercises are and how you are ever going to build that six pack without them. Ab exercises are the smallest part of the equation. We will get to that next week.

In my last post I outlined 5 supplements that are commonly taken. While they do have some benefits, they are entirely optional. This post discusses the 4 supplements that I take every day and consider an absolute necessity.

1. Fish Oil – Everyone should take a daily dose of high quality fish oil. Over the last several years fish consumption has dropped dramatically, a lot of which is due to high mercury levels in fish. It is just not safe to eat the amount of fish that we once did. With conventional farming practices we are not getting the amount of omega-3 fatty acids that we need from our beef and poultry. Our omega-6 to omega-3 intake should be at a 4:1 ratio. When we eat conventional beef and poultry purchased from the grocery store we are looking at closer to a 40:1 ratio. Excess omega-6’s in the blood stream lead to inflammation which is a cause of just about every disease known. So supplementing with fish oil can help balance out our levels and ward off inflammation. Fish oil is used for a wide range of conditions. It is most often used for conditions related to the heart and blood system. Some people use fish oil to lower blood pressure or triglyceride levels (fats related to cholesterol). Fish oil has also been tried for preventing heart disease or stroke. The scientific evidence suggests that fish oil really does lower high triglycerides, and it also seems to help prevent heart disease and stroke when taken in the recommended amounts. It is also great for your hair, skin and joints. Ironically, taking too much fish oil can actually increase the risk of stroke. One tablespoon a day in liquid form  is recommended over capsules. Nutrasea and Carlson’s are both excellent choices.

2. Vitamin D – Our bodies need vitamin D in order to absorb calcium and promote bone growth. Too little vitamin D results in soft bones in children and fragile, brittle bones in adults. We also need vitamin D for other important body functions. Vitamin D deficiency has now been linked to breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, heart disease, depression and weight gain. Studies show that people with higher levels of vitamin D have lower risks of disease in general.  Vitamin D supplementation is more necessary for those living where regular sunlight is limited for several months of the year. Recently, new treatment guidelines have called for higher doses than normally recommended. I would recommend taking doses as high as 3000-4000 IU daily, eaten with a meal with a considerable fat content such as eggs, in the morning. Vitamin D is more efficiently absorbed in the presence of fat.

3. Greens Drinks – Whether you are active or not, greens drinks are something that everyone should be taking daily. Think about your meals over the past week and try to recall how often they consisted of multiple servings of fruits and vegetables. Probably a lot less than you think. I am not advocating taking a greens drink in place of eating broccoli and berries. We should eat real food as much as possible, but there are times when life gets hectic and getting that much produce in our bodies is difficult and that is where greens drinks come in, as an insurance policy. A quality greens powder will provide 6 to 8 servings of fruits and vegetables in a concentrated powdered form. Ignoring all the antioxidants and phytochemicals, the most beneficial aspect of taking a greens drink is that it will keep your pH levels balanced. If your gut is too acidic, you will have an extremely hard time absorbing all the nutrients you ingest in your body.  Ideally you want your pH levels to be at a 7 which is neither alkaline or acidic. A greens drink will help get you there.

4. Protein Powders – This is a tricky one. First and foremost we should all be eating real food whenever possible. I will choose a chicken breast or a piece of wild salmon over a scoop of protein powder any day of the week. However, if you are strength training, protein powders are a fast and convenient way to kick start the repair/recovery process that much quicker. There are literally hundreds of protein powders on the market to choose from. Egg-based, dairy-based, plant-based and even meat-based. Yes, companies have actually started extracting the proteins from meat and turning them into powders. I have been taking a scoop or two with me to the gym for years and using them after my workout. I am convinced they have helped me get stronger and recover from my workouts that much faster. What you should avoid when looking for a high quality protein powder are fillers. If it takes you more than a second or two to pronounce the ingredients on the back of the container, then don’t bother. Unfortunately the majority of powders that are on the market are cheaply made and are loaded with chemicals and artificial sweeteners. The powders I buy have 2 or 3 ingredients on the back: cocoa and stevia or vanilla bean and stevia. That way I know exactly what I am putting in my body and I don’t have to go to Wikipedia to try to figure it out. I recommend Kaizen (they make great whey and egg-based powders), Vega and Sun Warrier (both are great vegan options).

For many, pulling into the parking lot of your gym is a moral victory in itself. When you are out of shape, the thought of going into a gym and trying to look like you know what you are doing is pretty daunting. What should I do first? Should I stretch? Go for a run around the track? Or maybe head to the bench press and get the ball rolling. As the saying goes:  “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail”. Walking around aimlessly in a gym sampling all the equipment is not going to get you the results you want. So what should you do?

1. Before you pick up a weight, go for a run or do any type of high intensity training, you need a thorough warm up. I’m not talking about stretching. We can get to that later. You need to prime the major muscle groups that you plan on using before you start putting any type of strain on them. This is a dynamic warm up. Use movements such as wall slides, band pull aparts, inchworms, duck unders, and marching with high knees. This gets the blood flowing, clears waste from your muscles, brings fluids to your joints, and opens up your body. Research shows that warming up with dynamic stretches, which actively move your joints through a full range of motion will enhance muscular performance. A dynamic warm up should last a minimum of 5 to 10 minutes.

2. Make sure you know which exercises you plan on performing before you walk into the gym. Performing different exercises in a random order will not get you the results you are looking for. I recommend performing the exercises that require the most amount of muscle activation first. Begin with compound multi-joint movements. Squatting and deadlifting variations will require the most amount of energy and a near maximum effort, so attacking these first is the best course of action. Rowing and pressing movements (pushing and pulling) would come next, followed by isolation or assistance exercises. These are movements that work smaller muscles at only one joint.  They are typically used for bulletproofing your body from injuries and straightening out imbalances. They are best left for the end because they require the least amount of effort.

3. Track your progress. Who can possibly remember the exact number of sets, reps and exercises that they performed from one session to the next? I have a good memory, but for me to remember every variable from my last training session is not going to happen. Buy a small notebook and start charting your progress. Write down all your sets, reps and the corresponding weights for each exercise and I promise you will get stronger a lot faster.

4. Forget about how much weight Joe Schmoe or Jane Doe is moving in the rack next to you. The #1 thing you must remember is that you are only competing with yourself. There is no track, no ice rink and no baseball diamond. Just you and a piece of equipment that you are applying force to. Your goals should be to improve upon what you did in your last session and that is it. Whenever I stray from this philosophy, my progress hits a rapid decline. Don’t fall into this trap.

5. Make a point of stretching out your entire body for a minimum of 15 minutes post workout. This goes against the conventional wisdom that my generation grew up with. Stretching was always performed before an activity and not after because we thought if we stretched first we would avoid injury. When you perform any type of resistance training you are shortening the muscle, so lengthening it prior to training is not going to have the desired effect. If anything, it will hinder the potential force output that you are trying to achieve. What you should do is warm your muscles up by increasing blood flow to the muscle groups you plan on using (refer to point 1 above).

By lengthening your muscles at the end of a training session, you are improving overall circulation. When you enhance the rate of blood flow to your working muscles you also increase the rate of recovery, because your blood carries essential nutrients to help your muscles repair and grow while at the same time removing waste by-products that are no longer needed. It is also a great natural way of cooling down your body temperature and lowering your heart rate. It is not recommended that your heart rate drop suddenly from an 8 or 9 out of 10 to a 2 or 3. It should be brought down at a gradual pace.

The chance of experiencing back pain over the course of your lifetime is extremely high. Somewhere in the 90% range. What varies is the severity of the pain. Most people will experience a tweak, a muscle pull or a light spasm. Then there are more serious cases where disc herniations come into play. These can be extremely painful and affect your ability to lead a normal life. Getting up out of the bed and getting ready for work in the morning can seem like a job unto itself. I can’t offer any medical advice, but I can offer some pro-active measures based on my own first hand experience in stretching and strengthening the spine and its surrounding areas to prevent discomfort and to improve your current condition.

Sleep on your side with your knees pulled towards your chest. It is easier on your spine. You would be surprised how many people sleep on their back or on their front. Sleeping on your stomach puts a tremendous amount of pressure on your discs. If you absolutely cannot fall asleep any other way, then place a pillow underneath your hips. The elevation will ease the pressure.

Build up your muscles in your hamstrings and your glutes (butt). Show me a person with back pain and I will show you a person with a flat posterior. A lot of this can be genetic, but it also comes from a tendency to ignore building up the muscles we can’t see in favour of the ones we can. The disproportionate amount of men I see performing pressing variations vs. pulling/rowing is staggering. When we have weak glutes and hamstrings they are not able to fire properly and perform the functions that they should. So other muscles such as the spine have to pick up the slack and overuse leads to inflammation.

Make a concerted effort to watch your waistline. Extra pounds, especially in your midsection, can make back pain worse by shifting your center of gravity and putting strain on your lower back. If you lose ten pounds, the pressure you feel on your spine will lessen noticeably. That goes for your knees too.

Increase overall movement and exercise. If your back is hurting, you may think the best way to get relief is to limit exercise and rest. A day or two of rest may help, but more than that may not be beneficial. Moving around will enhance blood flow, delivering nutrients to surrounding tissues and promoting healing.  Walking and swimming are low impact, non-intrusive forms of movement that put negligible amounts of pressure on the spine. Regular physical activity regardless of how minimal can help ease inflammation and muscle tension.

Men, take your wallet out of your back pocket, especially if you already have a pre-existing nerve root irritation from disc herniation (sciatica). The sciatic nerve originates in the brain and runs all the way down into your feet. If the disc shifts and material is seeping out, the chances are quite high that it will be pressing against this nerve. As it works it’s way down to your feet, this nerve passes through your buttocks, so having a thick wallet there, especially while you are sitting, will only serve to cause further irritation which can be extremely painful. It can feel as though someone lit a match down there.

One exercise I recommend to strengthen your back and glutes is the bird dog. It doesn’t require any equipment and is something you can do easily right in your own home. Here is a video that shows you how to do it.

Continued from last week…..

6. Microwave Popcorn- Sure, popcorn is low in calories and high in fibre. It is also extremely high in sodium and a chemical called diacetyl that has been linked to Alzheimer’s in a number of studies. A much better choice is to buy your own kernels and pop them over the stove. Then you can add whatever flavouring you like. Coconut oil is a great alternative if you are not a fan of butter.

7. Low Fat Salad Dressings- Next time you buy a container of one of these at the grocery store, take a look at the ingredient list. It is about a mile long and aside from sugar and sodium, I doubt you have heard of any of them. You are much better using extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemons and drizzling that over your salad. Now you are getting great monounsaturated fats from the olive oil and the alkalizing/pH balancing (gut health) effects of the lemons without all of the added chemicals and the sugars.

8. Fat Free Flavoured Yogurt- Just because the label says fat free doesn’t mean that it is healthy. It means that it is highly processed. Dairy is supposed to have fat in it. At some point health professionals got the idea that saturated fat would be the death of us all. So they decided to introduce fat free alternatives and replaced the richness and flavour that fat provides with sugar. One 12 oz. serving of fat free flavoured yogurt can have as many as 30 grams of sugar per serving. That is more sugar than you will find in most chocolate bars! Lose the sugar and buy the full fat plain yogurt and if you need something sweet to put on your yogurt, throw some strawberries on top.

9. Dried Fruit- Dried fruit is convenient and it is loaded with fibre, vitamins and minerals. What you may not know is that companies add sugar crystals to make it taste better and sulfur to make it last longer on the shelves. So now you are eating candy and chemicals with a few antioxidants mixed in. Opt for real fruit whenever possible. An alternative would be to buy frozen fruit and mix up a smoothie if you are short on time.

10. Gluten Free Products- Gluten is a protein found in wheat. Some people can digest it and others can’t. Gluten is not an epidemic and it is not a life or death health risk for the majority of the population. Next time you see a product labelled gluten free don’t assume that makes it healthy.  Most gluten free products use corn starch, rice starch or potato starch for fillers and these starches rank high on the glycemic index and therefore are not desirable. Anything that is processed and packaged is always a lesser alternative to eating whole foods, whether gluten free or not. The best gluten free foods don’t need to be labelled.  If you need a snack, stick with fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.

There are many misconceptions about which foods are healthy and which ones are not. Our beliefs are primarily shaped by what we read and what we hear, and advertising plays a huge role in this. If you grew up watching advertisements pushing ‘low fat’ foods and ‘whole grains’, then the chances are that these will be the foods your value system deems to be healthy. Advertisements are geared towards persuading consumers to purchase their products, not looking out for your health and well-being. Here is a list of foods that I highly recommend you avoid even if conventional wisdom says otherwise.

1. Reduced Fat Peanut Butter- This is not the route to follow if you are looking for a way to reduce calories. Reduced fat peanut butter has almost as many calories as the full fat version, and it is loaded with added sugars, excess sodium and partially hydrogenated oils. When you consume products like this you are replacing heart-healthy fats with fancy sugars that offer no nutritional value. Stick with the all-natural full fat version.

2. Sushi- Eating a lot of white rice and negligible amounts of protein is not my idea of a healthy meal. White rice is a very high glycemic carbohydrate. Foods that are high-glycemic promote a more rapid increase in blood sugar and an increase in insulin, followed by a rapid drop which can trigger appetite, leading to the need to eat more. If you are looking for a healthier alternative, go with sashimi and some edamame to dip it in, sans rice. If that doesn’t appeal to you, try ordering your sushi ‘nurato’, where the fish is rolled in cucumber instead.

3. Granola- There is a reason why granola tastes so good. It is loaded with sugars, unhealthy oils and it is extremely high in calories. If you really enjoy have cereal in the morning, then swap your granola with rolled or steel cuts oats. They don’t take long to make and if you need something sweet, throw some berries on top or sprinkle on a bit of stevia.

4. Diet Soda- This is one of the biggest offenders. Diet soda is calorie free, but research shows that it is not fat friendly. One study found that the more diet sodas a person drinks, the greater their risk of becoming overweight. Other research shows that artificial sweeteners can disrupt the body’s natural ability to regulate calorie intake based on the sweetness of foods. Our bodies are not designed to digest and assimilate artificial sweeteners such as sucralose, aspartame, acesulfame potassium. If you want a drink you can enjoy without the added sugars and chemicals, buy some lemons and limes and put them in your ice water or club soda. Or try some unsweetened ice tea.

5. Egg Whites- Nature did not provide us with eggs so we could throw away the yolks. Egg yolks will not raise your cholesterol. More than half the protein in an egg is found in the yolk. While egg whites do have protein, they are lacking all the essential nutrients like choline, which helps with brain development, and fat soluble vitamins A,D,E and K and minerals such as zinc, phosphorus and selenium that are found in the yolk. So get rid of your egg whites and egg substitutes and start eating whole egg omelettes without the worry.

Continued from last week, here are five more reasons you are struggling to lose body fat:

6. You are eating too many processed foods. Eating highly refined grains like white bread, chips, cookies and sweetened drinks like fruit juices and soda pop spike insulin and cause inflammation in your body. Inflammation is highly correlated to body fat. Eating too many processed foods limits your ability to lose weight. Try getting the majority of your snack foods from fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. They are all high in antioxidants and eating them will actually help you lose body fat. Nobody ever got fat on apples and almonds.

7. If you really want to lose fat, you need to train short and intensely. If you are spending more than an hour in the gym, then you are making friends. Study after study has shown that people who participated in high intensity regimens lost more fat than their low intensity counterparts. The harder you train, the more calories you will burn both during and after your workout. My advice is to get into the gym (or wherever you train) and work as hard as you can for an hour, stretch and then get on with your day.

8. You are not performing the right exercises. It is impossible to spot reduce–doing 100 triceps kickbacks followed by 100 biceps curls every morning will not make your arms any slimmer. They may inflame your elbow joints, but they won’t do much else. You need to choose exercises that activate the most amount of muscle as possible. Multi-joint, compound movements. Squats, lunges, presses, rows and plank variations are a must. These exercises will give you the most bang for your buck. If you still want to perform some isolation exercises that work the smaller muscles, save those for the end of your workout when you are running on fumes.

9. You are constantly stressed out. Too many family commitments, deadlines, bills and jobs can take their toll on everyone after a while. A little stress is healthy–it motivates us to get up in the morning and accomplish what we need to in order to be happy and productive. But when we get overstressed, we tend to reach for comfort foods that are higher in fat and overall calories. That is just a small part of the equation though. Just as with a lack of sleep, our bodies produce excess cortisol (stress hormone) when our stress levels are high, making it much more difficult to lose fat. Cortisol increases the amount of fat your body clings to and enlarges the fat cells that you already have. You need to find healthier outlets for stress. Going for a long walk, reading a book, turning on some music that you enjoy. Meditation is another healthy form of relaxation you can try that has made a real comeback in recent years. Many people swear by it.

10. You are not drinking enough water. Numerous studies have shown that not drinking enough water can derail your weight loss efforts. I recommend that all my clients have a full glass of water before every meal and another at the end. Besides keeping you hydrated, it is a great litmus test for hunger. Often we think we are hungry when we are actually dehydrated. So if after a meal you still feel hungry, try the pre and post glasses of water and chances are you won’t be hungry any longer. Drinking cooler water can actually speed up your metabolism because your body has to work a little harder to bring that water up to its core temperature.

Hope that helps !