Avoid this by task, if you want to direct pounds

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I've discussed the variables that can boost or hinder the benefits of your exercise routine in a number of previous articles, and I'll summarize them again below, but this study is unique in that it shows how your choice of cool-down routine can affect your post-exercise appetite.

Jumping into the pool after strenuous exercise can feel heavenly, but according to these preliminary findings, you may want to reconsider taking that dip if you're trying to lose weight.

The study was limited to 10 participants, so it may be premature to draw concrete conclusions. But if you're trying to shed a few pounds, these recommendations may be worth considering.

The participants were evaluated three times. Each 40-minute run was followed by one of three different 20-minute cool-downs:

Immersion in cold water (59 degrees Fahrenheit) Immersion in tepid water (91 degrees Fahrenheit) No immersion; sitting resting

After each test, they were served a buffet breakfast and allowed to eat as much as they wanted.

Blood samples were collected to evaluate blood glucose, lactate, and the appetite-regulating hormones leptin and ghrelin.

Interestingly, after water immersion, the subjects:

Consumed an average of 80 to 108 more calories Consumed more carbs and protein Had reduced leptin levels Had increased ghrelin levels

Leptin plays a role in decreasing your appetite while ghrelin tends to increase it, so the changes in both of these hormones post-water immersion are indications of increased appetite, or reduced satiety.

Granted, more research is needed to confirm these findings, and it's possible that cold water immersion causes other metabolic changes that may counteract the slight increase in calorie consumption...

Not sure how I will apply results of this research personally though. In the summer months when I do my Peak 8 exercises I am drenched in sweat and typically find it very relaxing to jump in my in-ground outdoor pool.  Since I really don't need to lose any weight, I will likely continue the practice as I find it refreshing.  I will not even have the choice though until next May.

Aside from abstaining from a dip in the pool, there are a number of other pre- and post-exercise strategies you may want to keep in mind in order to boost your weight loss potential and optimize the health benefits of exercise.

Remember, exercise changes your biochemistry, and you can aid or hinder these beneficial changes, depending on what you chose to eat before and directly after exercise.

Let's review:

You may have heard that exercising on an empty stomach will help burn more fat, and there seems to be some truth to that, although it might not be appropriate for everyone.

Exercising vigorously when you're blood sugar is low could lead to dizziness and poor performance, and exercising while hungry can also lead to overeating afterwards.

Personally, I believe the best approach is to use some common sense and listen to your body. For example, if you feel weak or nauseous while exercising on an empty stomach, you may want to at least eat a small meal before exercising.

That said, the reason why fasting before exercise seems to work is because the fat burning processes in your body are controlled by your sympathetic nervous system (SNS). The SNS is inherently activated by exercise and lack of food. The combination of fasting and exercising maximizes the impact of cellular factors and catalysts (cyclic AMP and AMP Kinases), which force the breakdown of fat and glycogen for energy.

So, when you exercise on an empty stomach, you're actually forcing your body to burn fat.

However, as I just mentioned, fasting prior to exercise can reduce your performance. Fortunately, there is a better, and probably more efficient, way to boost fat burning without fasting.

A recent study published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise found that consuming 20 grams of whey protein 30 minutes before resistance training can boost your body's metabolism for as much as 24 hours after your workout.

It appears as though the amino acids found in high quality whey protein activate certain cellular mechanisms (mTORC-1), which in turn promote muscle protein synthesis, boost thyroid function, and also protect against declining testosterone levels after exercise.

In practical terms, consuming 20 grams of whey protein before exercise and another serving afterward will most likely yield the double benefit of increasing both fat burning and muscle build-up at the same time.

One of the worst foods you can eat prior to exercising is carbohydrates, as carbs will inhibit the SNS and reduce the fat burning effect of your exercise. Instead, this type of meal will activate your parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS), which promotes energy storage—the complete opposite of what you're aiming for.

Personally I do strength training three times a week and will typically consume a whey protein meal one hour before, one hour after, and three hours after, to provide the fuel for muscle growth. This is not as necessary for non-strength training exercises, however.

So, fasting, or even better, consuming high quality whey protein prior to exercise can boost fat burning. But equally important is what you do afterwards.

Again we find that sugar is at the bottom of the list.

In fact, consuming sugar (including starchy carbs that convert to sugar, and sugary energy drinks) within two hours of high intensity Peak 8 exercises will negatively affect your:

Insulin sensitivity, and Human growth hormone (HGH) production

Both of these factors are very important for optimal health and longevity.

Impaired insulin sensitivity (insulin resistance) is the underlying cause of type 2 diabetes and a significant risk factor for other chronic diseases such as heart disease.

Meanwhile, maintaining your HGH levels (which tend to drop off after the age of 35) will help keep your body strong and your health robust.

The beneficial impact of a low-carb post-exercise meal on your insulin sensitivity was recently confirmed by a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology. And hghmagazine.com clearly explains how consuming sugar/fructose, including that from fruit juices, within this two-hour window will decimate your natural HGH production:

"A high sugar meal after working out, or even a recovery drink (containing high sugar) after working out, will stop the benefits of exercise induced HGH. You can work out for hours, then eat a high sugar candy bar or have a high sugar energy drink, and this will shut down the synergistic benefits of HGH. 

… If you miss reaching HGH release during working out, you will still receive the calorie burning benefit from the workout. However, you'll miss the HGH "synergy bonus" of enhanced fat burning for two hours after working out.

This is an extremely important fact to remember if you want to cut body fat and shed a few pounds.

So, to further reduce body fat while enhancing your insulin sensitivity and promoting HGH production, you'll want to eat a low-carbohydrate meal within that two-hour window.

One of the explanations for why a low-carb meal after exercise works is because carbs prevent the production of the hormone somatostatin. One of the primary purposes of this hormone is to inhibit the production of human growth hormone. So, by reducing somatostatin, you're not hindering HGH production.

Fitness expert Phil Campbell further explains how you can maximize your HGH production by limiting sugar intake for two hours post exercise, in this article on HowToBeFit.com.

Since I've just discussed HGH, I want to remind you that there is only ONE specific type of exercise that promotes the production of HGH in your body, and that is high-intensity interval training such as Peak 8.

Virtually all exercises -- certainly most conventional cardio or standard aerobics -- fail miserably when it comes to increasing growth hormone. Peak 8 exercises, however, are proven to boost natural HGH production.

Peak 8 type exercises can also dramatically improve your cardiovascular fitness and fat-burning capabilities in a fraction of the time. For more in-depth information about Peak 8 exercises, please see this previous article, as it is very important to perform these exercises properly.

Clearly, if you decide to use the only type of exercise that will increase growth hormone, then it would be a shame to wipe out this great fantastic benefit with foolish food choices like sugar/fructose/carbs.

Now, there is a minute group of elite and professional athletes who are actively competing and therefore less concerned with increasing growth hormone than with performance. For these athletes, consuming some carbs, preferably dextrose-based, during the two-hour recovery phase is probably a good idea in order to improve their recovery time.

But for the average person, forfeiting the benefits of HGH is both unnecessary and unwise.

View the original article here

Warning: Please Avoid feeding this to your children

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You probably know that manganese is an essential nutrient, but were you aware that when consumed in excess, manganese becomes a potent neurotoxin?

Studies on miners and steelworkers, for example, have shown that excessive exposure to manganese can cause manganese poisoning, Parkinson's disease, and Wilson's disease, for example.

Manganese occurs naturally in soil and can therefore be present in groundwater to a greater or lesser degree. Hence some people who drink well water could be exposed to higher naturally-occurring levels of manganese.

But there is another source of manganese that many people are completely unaware of, which may be even more significant than groundwater, and that is soy infant formula!

Soy formula is frequently used when a baby is allergic to milk, or if the parents are somehow convinced that soy is a healthier alternative. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth, because soy formula could easily be considered one of the most DANGEROUS food products on the market…

I always recommend breast feeding, if at all possible, but if you can't, please educate yourself about the dangers of soy formula!

This is such an important issue because so many mothers end up using formula in lieu of breast feeding or after breast feeding for a short time, not realizing just how bad most formulas are for their baby's health, particularly soy formula.

I've been concerned about this for a long time, and my team has now been working on an infant formula for an entire year. We still have about another year to go, but once we're done we should be able to offer the best commercial infant formula available in the US.

Yes, researchers have found that soybean plants absorb manganese from the soil and concentrate it, so that its use in soy-based infant formula can result in as much as 200 times the level found in natural breast milk!

Such high concentrations can wreak havoc on your baby's immature metabolic systems.

I rarely talk about absolutes but this is one instant where I will say: NEVER give your child soy formula. (I guess the only exception would be if there was a catastrophe and soy formula was the only food source temporarily available to keep your baby alive.) 

Because just like this latest study confirms, high concentrations of manganese, such as those found in soy formula, can lead to brain damage in infants and altered behaviors in adolescents.

In the study reported by Science Daily, researchers discovered that higher concentrations of manganese in groundwater significantly lowered the IQ of the children who drank it, even though the levels were below current guidelines.

A total of 362 children, aged six to 13, living in homes with individual or public wells were examined to test cognition, motor skills and behavior.

Science Daily reports:

"The average IQ of children whose tap water was in the upper 20% of manganese concentration was 6 points below children whose water contained little or no manganese.

The analyses of the association between manganese in tap water and children's IQ took into account various factors such as family income, maternal intelligence, maternal education, and the presence of other metals in the water.

… For co-author Donna Mergler, "This is a very marked effect; few environmental contaminants have shown such a strong correlation with intellectual ability."

The authors state that the amount of manganese present in food showed no relationship to the children's IQ."

As if that wasn't bad enough, there are a number of other factors that make soy formula an even more dangerous option.

One of these factors is the fact that fluoride can increase manganese absorption, so if you mix the powdered- or concentrated soy formula with fluoridated water, you're worsening matters even further!

Fluoride and manganese interact in a number of ways through various pathways.

For example, fluorides can cause zinc deficiency which in turn can cause damage to your brain by altering your manganese levels.

This is because fluorides act as a TSH (thyroid-stimulating-hormone) analogue, and along with iodine, zinc and selenium are also controlled by TSH. And when you're deficient in zinc, the manganese levels in your brain become altered.

Another significant issue is the estrogen in soy.

A soy-fed baby receives the equivalent of five birth control pills' worth of estrogen every day! These babies' isoflavone levels are typically anywhere between 13,000 to 22,000 times higher than in non-soy fed infants.

Unfermented soy is not a healthy option for anyone, but when you're feeding soy to an infant, you're really setting the stage for a number of health problems.

Dr. Kaayla Daniel, author of The Whole Soy Story, points out thousands of studies linking soy to malnutrition, digestive distress, immune-system breakdown, thyroid dysfunction, cognitive decline, reproductive disorders and infertility—even cancer and heart disease.

For more information about the many ways soy can damage your health – and certainly your baby's, if you're feeding them soy formula – please review this recent report.

It's also worth noting that at least 91 percent of soy grown in the US is also genetically modified (GM), and this too can have serious health effects.

Not only is the soy loaded with toxic pesticide, the plants also contain genes from bacteria that produce a protein that has never been part of the human food supply. Hence, GM soy has been linked to an increase in allergies.

Disturbingly, the only published human feeding study on GM foods ever conducted verified that the gene inserted into GM soy transfers into the DNA of our gut bacteria and continues to function. This means that years after you stop eating GM soy, you may still have a potentially allergenic protein continuously being produced in your intestines.

Even more frightening is the potential for GM soy to cause infertility in future generations, which has been evidenced by recent Russian research.

Soy-based formula also typically includes cornstarch, cornstarch hydrolysate (remember, any corn derivatives are also suspect of being GM), tapioca starch, or sucrose instead of lactose.  

(Did you know that many infant formulas actually have MORE sugar than a can of soda? Do you really feel comfortable giving your precious newborn a can of soda for EVERY meal?  If not, then it would sure seem best to avoid them ALL like the plague.)

All these things considered, it's truly shocking that soy formula is even allowed on the market.

One of the best gifts you can give your child is to start out their life with a sound nutritional foundation, and the best way to do this is by breastfeeding. In fact, statistics show a clear correlation between feeding infants artificial formula and increased infant mortality within the first year.

It's important to realize that there are at least 400 nutrients in breast milk that are NOT found in formula. Of course, the healthier that a new mom eats, the healthier her breast milk will be, too.

While any amount of breastfeeding is better than none at all, it is clearly to your advantage, and best for your baby's health, to breastfeed exclusively for at least the first 6 months. Then, at the age of 6 or 9 months, you can begin to supplement with solid foods (while still continuing to breastfeed as well).

What exactly does your baby stand to gain by being breastfed?

Lower risk of respiratory tract and middle ear infections Lower risk of eczema Lower risk of obesity Added protection against heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and allergies Improved brain function and immune system function

There are benefits to mom, too. The main ones are a reduced risk of chronic diseases like cancer, a faster return to your pre-pregnancy weight, and increased bonding between you and your baby.

There are certain medical conditions that can prevent a woman from breastfeeding, however the majority of women are able to breastfeed successfully. If you need help, contact a lactation consultant in your area for tips and support. You can also visit La Leche League, which is a phenomenal resource for breastfeeding moms.

If for some reason you're not able to breastfeed, or you have adopted a baby, your next best option is to make a healthy infant formula using raw milk. You can find homemade formula recipes here.

As I stated at the beginning of this article, we're also in the process of producing the finest infant formula on the market. I'm hoping to have it available in about a year.

First and foremost, do not give your child soy formula or other unfermented soy foods.

As for manganese in your well water, your best bet is to use a high quality filtering system using activated carbon. A well designed activated carbon filter system is the simplest, most convenient, and most user friendly option to purify your drinking water.

A good system will likely consist of multiple filter cartridges; one to protect the carbon from larger contaminants in the water, and another containing carbon designed to remove trihalomethanes – a dangerous disinfection byproduct. Some systems also contain a backup carbon filter to ensure that all contaminants have been filtered out. 

For more information about filtering systems and water quality, please see this previous article.

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