I was extremely self-conscious in my adolescent years for a number of reasons, but the major contributing factor was the amount of acne I had. I am sure a lot of it was due to the hormonal changes that accompany puberty, but my diet was certainly lacking nutrition. Your skin is an overall reflection of your health and what is going on inside your body. It is your body’s largest organ. Skin is an immune barrier that protects your insides and regulates your internal temperature.  If you want clearer, healthier skin, then cutting back on these foods is a great start.

Sugar – Sugar is NEVER good for the skin or the body. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. We get plenty of sugar from the fruits and vegetables we eat. Sugar triggers a process called glycation in the blood. Glycation occurs when a bond forms between a sugar molecule and a protein or a lipid molecule. These new molecules are called AGEs (advanced glycation end products). What these AGEs do is interfere with the cellular and molecular functions in the body, by releasing harmful by-products during the process of their formation. AGEs damage the substances needed to keep your skin clear (collagen, fibrin, elastin, etc). This causes clear skin to lose its firmness and elasticity, and before long, it’s not clear at all. An ideal substitute for sugar is stevia. Stevia is a sugar substitute which is several times sweeter than sugar. It has zero calories and a very low glycemic index.

Dairy – I am not against raw, grass-fed organic dairy. I think many people can thrive on it. This type of dairy is not available to the average consumer who instead opts for conventional dairy found at the supermarket (where the cows are injected with hormones and fed wheat and corn).  One glass of conventional milk is reputed to have a whopping 60 varieties of hormones!!  One such hormone, that is similar to testosterone, activates the oil glands present in the skin, providing the framework for an acne outbreak.  If you are unable to find raw, grass-fed organic dairy, then I would recommend you lose the dairy altogether and replace it with nut milks.

Fried Foods – This one is pretty cut and dried. It is one of the few bits of nutritional advice that I have heard throughout my life that hasn’t been disproved. If it is fried, stay away from it.  Vegetable oils, when heated, release free radicals in the body. Free radicals act like toxins and cause stress to the cells, which causes them to age much faster. Meaning that your skin ages faster. More blotches, wrinkles and spots.  The better option is to cook with coconut, olive or macadamia nut oil at a lower heat and choose to grill, broil or smoke instead.

Coffee – This is a very controversial topic. A lot of people require it to get through their day. Coffee is loaded with antioxidants. So there are definite health benefits. The problem arises when you are drinking several cups a day. Coffee contains polyphenolic compounds called tannins. Consuming too many coffee tannins can cause a blockage of the pores. This in turn can cause an outbreak of acne and result in dull, oily skin. It also causes dehydration and can make your skin look dry and rough. If you are looking for something to give you a little boost, try green tea instead.

Give these suggestions a try, and after a month or two, I am quite confident you will see a significant difference in the quality of your skin and your overall health in general.

I was a skinny kid. Really skinny. This was not by choice. I went to the doctor in my teens and asked him how I could put weight on. He said, “Eat more”. Me: “I do eat!!!” “Well Michael, you just happen to have a very fast metabolism. Eventually as you get older it will slow down and you will start to fill out”.

He was right. On my 23rd birthday I stepped on the scale and saw those three digits jump out at me. 200. I was ecstatic. I know what you are thinking. It is a nice problem to have. What about the majority of the population with average to slow metabolisms who find it a real struggle to lose weight? The good news is that you can speed up your metabolism and you can do it naturally. There is no need to starve yourself, take fat burners or get your stomach stapled. Follow these 4 rules and I guarantee that your daily caloric expenditure will increase:

Strength training is imperative if you want to increase your metabolism. This is non-negotiable. Muscle burns more calories at rest than anything else (50 calories per day per pound of muscle). By building lean muscle through strength training you will increase your levels of testosterone and growth hormone – hormones that play a vital role in sustaining lean muscle mass and a healthy metabolism. In addition to increasing metabolism just by building muscle, resistance training also boosts metabolism through a process called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption or EPOC, which refers to the amount of calories you burn after a workout. Most people think they can only burn more calories during a workout while their heart rate is up, but with strength training you get the benefits of both.

Sprint/Interval training is a superior metabolism booster. It focuses on alternating periods of high-intensity exercise with periods of low-intensity exercise. For fat loss this style of training has been proven to be superior to any other style of training. And it gets you in and out of the gym faster (30 minutes or less) with an increased metabolism. Much like strength training, interval workouts increase growth hormone levels, which aid in building muscle mass and, subsequently, the increased metabolic effects seen when we build muscle. And it increases the release of fatty acids. Interval training also increases EPOC, the same way as strength training does.

Exercise in the morning. The morning is a great time to elevate your metabolism for the next several hours. The quicker you start, the quicker your body will begin to elevate your metabolism the rest of the day. If you’re unable to get a strength training session in first thing in the morning, try going for a brisk walk. Or if you work in a building, ditch the elevator and take the stairs. The more sets of stairs the better. This will give your body the signal to increase your metabolism.

A healthy thyroid is vitally important to determining your metabolic rate. When it receives a signal that something is off kilter (excessive exercise, extreme low calorie dieting) it immediately slows down your metabolic rate and goes into survival mode. “Your body doesn’t know the difference between dieting and famine.” It is also not a big fan of stress either. It is extremely important to get stress levels under control to avoid lowering your calories too much.

You can support a healthy thyroid by eating iodine and selenium-rich foods like seaweed, kale and Brazil nuts. These minerals play important roles in overall thyroid function. You can improve your digestive health by eating fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi and pro-biotic yogurts.

Muscle mass, movement, and a healthy thyroid are the keys to a healthy, fast metabolism.

We know what insulin resistance is. We know how it occurs, typically through poor lifestyle choices. But what we don’t know is how to reverse it. The good news is that it is quite possible. Sometimes drug interventions are needed, but for most, a diet and exercise regimen is enough to reverse the process. The key is eating in a way that balances your blood sugar. By doing this you will reduce inflammation and oxidative stress which will improve your liver’s ability to detoxify, and this is the key to preventing and reversing insulin resistance.

You will need to eat a diet that is based on “whole foods”, meaning stay out of the aisles and stick to the perimeter of the grocery store. The foods you should be eating are high in fibre, preferably rich in colourful fruits and vegetables, and very low in sugars. You should minimize flour. Include plenty of omega 3 fatty acids, olive oil, beans, nuts, seeds, cold water fish and lean cuts of meats. All of these foods help prevent and reverse diabetes and insulin resistance. This way of eating turns on all the right gene messages, promotes a healthy metabolism, and prevents premature aging and age-related diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

Here is a list of five behaviours to follow that will immediately improve insulin sensitivity and reverse resistance:

1. Eat protein every day for breakfast. Eggs, meat, nuts and seeds. Protein is brain food and what you put in your body first thing in the morning will set up your hormones and neurotransmitters for the rest of the day.
2. Eat small protein snacks in the morning and afternoon, such as a handful of almonds or a piece of cheese. You should eat something every 3 hours to keep your blood sugar and glucose levels normalized throughout the day.
3. Stop eating high glycemic carbohydrates, as they raise blood sugar levels sky high. Anything over a 50 glycemic index is off limits. The best rule of thumb is to avoid eating anything white. The more colour in your foods, the better. Think thin skinned berries and dark leafy green vegetables.
4. Eat high-quality protein, especially fatty, cold-water fish like salmon, halibut, herring, sardines and all types of shellfish. Cold-water fish, such as salmon and halibut, contain an abundance of beneficial essential fatty acids that reduce inflammation. Always buy wild. Avoid any packaging that says farmed. If you are not sure, ask the person working behind the counter.
5. Exercise is critical to improvement of insulin sensitivity. It helps reduce body fat, and central body fat (midsection), the most dangerous kind. Regular exercise will help prevent diabetes, reduce your risk of complications, and even help reverse it. Ideally you should perform 30 to 45 minutes of walking every day. Walking after dinner is a great way to reduce your blood sugar. As your fitness improves, more vigorous exercise is needed to reverse severe insulin resistance or diabetes. You should work at 70 to 85 percent of your target heart rate, which you can find by subtracting your age from 220 and multiplying that number by 0.70 to 0.85. This could be accomplished by performing 3 to 5 weight training sessions per week. Think compound multi-joint movements (squats, dead lifts, pressing and rowing variations) that work the entire body. These exercises elevate your heart rate to max levels.

We all know those people who look like they are approaching their 60th birthday while they are still in their mid 40’s. They are overweight with wrinkly sagging skin, thinning hair and typically have very low energy. If you were to spend a few days with these people and watch what they eat, the reason for their premature aging would become clear. Too much sugar in all forms (fructose, sucrose, glucose, galactose, lactose and others) will inflict serious damage to your body and speed up the aging process. To understand how excess sugar destroys your body inside and out, here is a crash course on insulin.

Insulin is a hormone that is secreted by the pancreas (an organ that lies behind your stomach) primarily after eating carbohydrates. It secretes insulin when you eat other foods too, but not to the same extent. When we eat carbohydrates they are absorbed into the bloodstream, they elevate your blood glucose levels and this elevation is detected by the pancreas. It then secretes insulin to help the body process the blood glucose. In a relatively healthy body, insulin will bind with receptors on your cells. When a cell has insulin attached to it via the receptor, the cell activates other receptors acting like a messenger to absorb glucose from the bloodstream into the cell to be used for energy. This occurs in a healthy body with strong insulin sensitivity.

When pasta, bread, cookies and donuts are staples in your diet, you will find yourself running insulin all day long. When you eat like this over several years, your cells will eventually become resistant to the normal effects of insulin. They will struggle to absorb glucose from the blood to use for energy. Your pancreas is forced to go into overdrive to produce more insulin. Despite the excess insulin trying to do its job, the cells still do not respond and accept the glucose. This results in excess sugar floating around in your bloodstream, with nowhere else to go. It is called insulin resistance.

The negative health effects of insulin resistance are numerous. In addition to fat gain or obesity, your triglyceride levels will increase leading to arteriosclerosis and heart disease. Your body will begin to produce free radicals leading to chronic inflammation and disease. Insulin resistance when maintained over several years will ultimately lead to type 2 diabetes, which will affect just about every aspect of your health.

The good news is that insulin resistance is reversible. You can become insulin sensitive again and reverse the aging process. I’ll show you how in Part 2 of this blog next week.

Last week I told you that your body needed carbohydrates in order to function optimally, and that if you chose not to eat any, after a period of time your body would undergo a process called gluconeogenesis where it breaks down protein stores (muscle) and converts them into glucose (carbs) for energy. And I said that I would provide you with a list of the top carbohydrate choices to add to your diet for optimal energy, leanness and muscularity. In my experience, these are hands down the best options.

Oats – Oats are a great carbohydrate source for weight loss. They stand out because of their impressive fibre content and chronic disease-busting powers. Oats contain a special kind of fibre known as beta-glucan, which has been extensively researched for its many health-promoting properties. Beta-glucan is especially notable because of its abilities to reduce total and LDL (bad) cholesterol. In fact, oat consumption has been associated with a drop of 5 percent and 7 percent in total and LDL cholesterol, respectively. Oats help with weight loss because they are full of dietary fibre. One cup of oats contains about 8 grams of fibre and that is 1/3 to 1/4 of your daily requirement. Oats have a tendency to stick to your gut lining, meaning they can help keep you fuller longer between meals, leading you to eat less over the course of the day.

Berries – When most people think of carbs, they think rice, pasta, potatoes, and grains without acknowledging that fruits and vegetables also fall into this category. Berries are chalk full of antioxidants, especially anthocyanins, that protect your body from chronic illness. As far as fruit goes, berries are low-glycemic, so you can eat a few handfuls of them and satisfy your sugar cravings without your blood sugar going through the roof. High blood sugar leads to fat storage.

Leafy Greens –  Leafy green vegetables need to be incorporated into your diet. Broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower and brussel sprouts give you the most bang for your buck. They are much lower in carbohydrates than starchy carbs, but they offer a ton of health benefits. Much like oatmeal, they are loaded with fibre keeping you fuller for longer between meals without all the extra calories. High leafy green intakes are associated with a reduction in cardiovascular disease, blood pressure and overall cancer risks.

Yams & Potatoes – You might be surprised to read this, but potatoes are a fantastic carbohydrate option. Potatoes contain what is called a “resistant” starch. This type of starch won’t get absorbed into the bloodstream, meaning that it doesn’t have an impact on your blood sugar levels. When resistant starch breaks down it produces butyric acid, which is a good bacteria in your gut that promotes a healthy digestive system and keeps you lean.

Quinoa – Until about 10 years ago, I had never heard of this seed. Quinoa is loaded with health benefits. It is the ideal grain to eat if you have decided to go gluten free. It is full of fibre and rich in iron, B vitamins, phosphorus, vitamin E and magnesium. It is a great source of plant protein for vegans because it is a complete protein, meaning that it has all 9 essential amino acids.

Carbohydrates are always an interesting subject. When you are trying to lose fat, timing your carbohydrate intake is a very important factor. Try to keep your starchy carbs to a minimum in the morning and afternoon and get most of them later in the day. Stick with protein and fat and combine them with leafy green vegetables and thin skin berries during the hours that you need to be most alert.

Carbohydrates get a bad rap. When we want to lose weight they are always the first thing to go. “If I could just stop eating carbs I would lose weight.” “I am addicted to carbs.” These are the common phrases I hear from clients, friends and family alike. The truth is, your body needs carbohydrates to function. If you choose not to eat any, after a period of time your body undergoes a process called gluconeogenesis where it breaks down protein stores (muscle) and converts them into glucose (carbs) for energy. What your body is essentially doing is eating itself in order to survive. You can lose a lot of body fat this way, but you will end up losing a lot of muscle too. It is far from ideal.

If you want to include carbohydrates in your diet (which I highly recommend you do), then you need to identify the right ones, while eliminating the fat-storing, insulin-spiking ones. Carbohydrates can be broken down into two categories: complex carbs (good) and simple carbs (bad). Complex carbs are great because they are loaded with fibre. They move through the digestive system slowly, keeping you fuller for longer, making it less likely you will need to snack in between meals.

Simple carbs break down quickly into glucose once they enter the body. This leads to a surge of sugar into the bloodstream, followed shortly by a sugar crash. It is that feeling you get after you eat a big meal and all you want to do is take a nap. Not long after you will start to crave these simple carbs all over again. It is a vicious circle. Best to keep these to a minimum with one exception. That is fruit. Fruits are considered a simple carbohydrate, but they are loaded with nutrients and fibre as are complex carbs, which makes them a good carb to eat throughout the course of the day.

Next week, I will provide you with a list of the best carbohydrates that you can add into your diet to keep you lean, healthy and strong, going forward.

I had a great discussion with a colleague of mine about setting and accomplishing goals. My focus had always been on the end goal. It would be at the forefront of my mind. This mindset rarely seemed to work for me. From our conversation I came to realize that the key to success in any area of my life will not come from setting grandiose outcome goals. The key is setting short term, attainable process goals that down the road will lead me to where I’d like to be.

If I have a client who wants to lose 15 lbs. over the next 6 weeks, she really can’t control whether or not she will lose that 15 lbs. What she can do is control the actions she will take each and every day to get closer to her outcome goal. These small behaviours are process goals and if you set the right ones you will do everything within your power to achieve them.

You have to make sure that your process goals are realistic. Setting a goal of making it to the gym twice a day 7 days a week is probably not attainable for 99.9 % of the population. Setting a more modest goal of performing 3 weight training sessions a week, followed by a couple of 45 minute walks on off days is much more doable.

Process goals shouldn’t be anxiety provoking. They need to be goals that you feel you can accomplish on a daily basis without having to turn your life upside down. Let’s say a client comes to me seeking fat loss, one process goal I would set with her would be to eat 5 servings of fresh fruit and vegetables over the course of each day. It is a realistic goal that over time will produce favourable results.

Once you put this new mindset into action, you need not feel disappointed if you don’t meet a long term goal in record time. The idea of setting and focusing on process goals is one that you can apply to every area of your life whether you are trying to get healthy, wealthy or wise. Enjoy the process and the rest will follow.

I know what you are thinking. What could I possibly be doing wrong? I work out. I get really sweaty. I have a shower and I go home. What more do I need to be doing?

Unfortunately, it is not that simple. As soon as you get off the gym floor, there are some optimal behaviours that you need to develop in order to get the max benefits from your workouts. In my first 5 years of training, I followed none of these suggestions and my results were indicative of that. Here is a great opportunity to learn from some of my mistakes.

You don’t refuel after your workout. This is crucial. Even with all the information out there touting the benefits of post workout nutrition, so many people don’t bother to eat or drink anything until several hours after they train. If you work out from 3-4pm, don’t wait until dinner at 630pm to start feeding your body what it needs to begin the recovery process. You should eat or drink within 30-60 minutes of your training session. Make sure to include protein (20-30 grams), a small amount of fat, and some complex carbohydrates to replenish your energy stores. Greek yogurt, whey protein, oatmeal, yams and potatoes will all do the trick.

You keep working out after the workout is over. Save the heavy snow shoveling, branch cutting and weed pulling for another time. Post workout you want to relax and give your muscles time to recover. Further strain just prolongs the recovery process. Take a nap and then go for a walk after dinner.

You stay in your training clothes. Who doesn’t shower and change as soon as they are done their workout? Strangely enough, a lot of people stay in their same sticky, sweaty training gear for hours after they are done. Regardless of whether you can shower right away or not, change your clothes, socks, and shoes immediately to keep your muscles warm and loose. This promotes good circulation, which aids the recovery process after a workout.

You sit on your derriere for extended periods of time. It’s easy to convince yourself that you earned the remaining hours of the day on the couch with a box of pizza after you spent the last two hours at the gym. Don’t subscribe to this. Very light activity is an excellent recovery tool. It keeps blood flowing which aides in recovery and repair. Just don’t overdo it. Focus on standing more than sitting. Lots of walking and moving around. Avoid moving heavy loads.

Fat loss is my job. Over 90% of my clients come to me because they want to lose weight and drop fat.  There is no shortage of fat loss advice on the Internet. Google search engines are flooded with requests for it. Some tips are great, while others are complete b.s. My objective is to help you wade through all the crap that is out there and zero in on what really matters.  Here are 5 fat loss tips you need to avoid entirely:

Weigh in everyday to keep yourself on track –  Your weight will fluctuate from day to day in response to several factors. Primarily from fluid intake/excretion and bowel movements. A better way to gauge your progress is to keep the variables as constant as possible. Pick a day, once a week to weigh yourself. Let’s use Sunday. Weight yourself in the nude, first thing in the morning on an empty stomach after you have come out of the shower. This will give you a much more accurate picture of where you are at and you will avoid the highs and lows that come from stepping on the scale all day long.

Cut out gluten – Unless you suffer from celiac disease or have been tested gluten intolerant, there is no evidence that suggests removing gluten from your diet will help you lose weight. Removing it from your diet will keep you from eating a lot of breads and pastas, but there are plenty of gluten free alternatives that are just as calorie dense and are a lot more expensive because they say “gluten free” on the front. Be mindful of falling into this trap unless you have a legitimate reason to avoid it.

Exercise more to lose weight – In order to lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit. There is no debating that. Exercise will help get you there, but you can’t out-exercise a bad diet. It doesn’t work. All the scientific evidence reveals that diet alone is actually more effective than exercise when it comes to weight loss. You will need a combination of diet and exercise to get results over the long haul, but running a 10K in under an hour is not an invite to hit the McDonald’s drive-thru.

Eat a low fat diet – Avoiding foods that contain fat is a bad idea. While fat has twice as many calories than protein and carbohydrates, it is also very filling and takes a lot longer to digest leaving you much less likely to overeat. Low-fat diets, with less than 30% of calories coming from fat, have a lousy track record when it comes to fat loss.  No fat and low fat products are typically loaded with refined sugars, while foods that are high in naturally occurring fats (nuts, seeds and avocados) have been shown to be beneficial for fat loss because they improve insulin sensitivity. Like anything else, just make sure not to overeat them.

Focusing strictly on calories – The types of food you eat will have a great impact on your hunger levels throughout the day which can affect your ability to create a calorie deficit. Eating a 300 calorie poppy seed bagel isn’t a good idea because it’s made from refined carbohydrates, which raises blood sugar levels, makes you hungry again and leads to overeating. You are better off eating a 300 calorie 3-egg omelette with cheddar cheese and diced vegetables. The protein, fat and fibre in the omelette will keep you fuller longer and leave your blood sugar levels stable. Calories are important, but food quality is equally as important when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off.

“How can I not be losing any weight, I am barely eating a thing”. “I skip breakfast and lunch and just have a salad for dinner”. These are common misconceptions held by people who want to lose fat. I hear them all the time. They are not completely false. If you are eating like a bird, you will lose weight, but the weight loss from fat will be minimal and the weight loss won’t last for long either.

When you dramatically cut your calories back for an extended period of time you are turning your metabolism against you. People who do this end up causing damage to their metabolism and they are unable to achieve any significant fat loss regardless of what they do. I understand the thought process behind it. Logic would dictate that if you cut your food intake back by 500 calories per day, cutting it back by 1000 must be twice as effective, right? The body doesn’t quite work like that.

Our bodies have evolved over millions of years without a lot of change. Humans would go long periods of time without much food. They would hunt, catch their prey, feast, and then go for extended periods with minimal intake. When the body would go through these periods of famine, it would slow down its metabolism and hold onto fat stores in order to survive.  Have you ever noticed when you go on a diet, typically the first week or two the results are amazing? You will lose anywhere from 4 to 7 or even 10 lbs? Then in the weeks following you are lucky to lose a pound? This is your body’s survival instincts kicking in.

The good news is that there is a way around it. You can manipulate your metabolism by the foods that you eat. It is referred to as the thermic effect of food, which is the energy expenditure required above your resting metabolic rate due to the cost of processing food through use and storage. Some foods require little to no effort to break down and store and others require a lot. On average, a person uses about 10% of their daily energy expenditure just digesting and absorbing food, but this percentage changes depending on the types of food you eat.

Protein takes the most energy to digest (20-30% of total calories in protein eaten go to digesting it). Next is carbohydrates (5-10%) and then fats (0-3%). If you eat 100 calories from protein, your body uses 20-30 of those calories to digest and absorb the protein. You’d be left with a net 70-80 calories. Pure carbohydrate from processed foods (excluding fruits, vegetables and whole grains) would leave you with a net 90-95 calories, and fat would give you a net 97-100 calories.

That is why high protein diets combined with copious amount of fruits and vegetables are so effective at helping people lose weight. Think protein and fibre. When you eat whole foods like steak, chicken, fish combined with broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, your body turns into a veritable furnace. If you didn’t have enough reasons to avoid processed food when trying to losing weight, add reduced thermal effect of food to the list. Processed food takes less energy to digest and absorb compared to whole foods, so 100 calories of processed food ends up being more net calories than 100 calories of whole food. The next time you decide to lose weight, focus on the foods listed above.