By David Dubail

While owning a Miami personal training studio for more than 10 years, one of the biggest obstacles individuals face when starting a weight loss program is dealing with those awful sugar cravings. You make the move to pull out all the processed foods along with sodas and sweets, but then the side effects kick in. You experience mood changes, irritability, headaches, and those over so strong cravings for sugar. Your body seems to be fighting against you every step of the way. In reality, this is simply a natural part of breaking a sugar addiction.

The fact is, when you subject your body to high levels of sugar over prolonged periods of time, you’ll undoubtedly experience discomfort when pulling it out. Not only are you dealing with withdrawal symptoms due to sugar’s effect on the opioid receptors in the brain, but you’re also dealing with the side effects of detoxification. In short, there are numerous physiological changes going on throughout your body when you start restricting sugar intake.

While there’s no way to avoid the initial discomfort, there is however some tips you can use to shorten the process and improve your likelihood of sticking with it. The biggest mistake I see people making when trying to beat a sugar addiction is simply trading one form of sugar for another.

I’ve found the strategy of having my clients give up the cake, candy, sodas, and other junk foods and replacing them with other so called “healthy carbohydrates” to be less than optimal. Switching from white bread to whole grain bread for example seems to only prolong the suffering with sugar cravings.

As a Miami personal trainer, I think a lot of us initially recommend the “gradual” approach to weaning clients off sugars because it seems more reasonable. We don’t want to come across as being too militant with our approaches. The problem is sometimes this only makes things harder for the client in the long-run.

With the exception of plant sugars from vegetables (glucose) and moderate fruit sugar (fructose), I’ve found the best strategy is to remove all starches, grains, legumes, and dairy during the “sugar buster” phase of detoxification.

I recommend my clients follow a Primal Blueprint type diet with lots of lean proteins, greens, vegetables, nuts, seeds, healthy omega-3 fats, and moderate fruit. This will help to lower blood sugar levels, heal tissue at the hormonal glands, improve gastrointestinal function, and lower insulin levels.

Removing all processed and refined foods along with potatoes, bread, pasta, rice, cereals, and other starch sugars just seems to work best. If you don’t pull out the starches, the sugar cravings are likely to persist.

When you experience the strong sugar cravings in the beginning of a weight loss program, your body is trying to tell you something. These strong signals are caused by something I refer to as “toxic hunger.” This is a response to your body removing metabolic waste and toxins. What your body is desperately crying out for is micronutrients from live foods. The individual has literally starved him or herself at the cellular level even though they may have been eating sufficient calories from processed and refined foods.

A lot of dieters will cave in and find momentary relief by eating some sugar, but it’s only a quick fix. This is no different than finding momentary relief from nicotine-withdrawal symptoms by smoking another cigarette. The root problem with the addiction is still there and left unresolved. Let me be perfectly clear, there are no short-cuts to breaking a sugar addiction other than healing your body and conditioning it to use other energy substrates like fat.

The longer you’ve been on sugar and processed foods, the more time it will take to detoxify and rejuvenate the cells. Be patient with yourself but just know the body has an amazing ability to heal itself fairly quickly when you put in the right foods.

I recommend an “all out” approach to eating whole, natural foods for 30 days. Don’t just replace “bad carbs” with “healthy whole grains.” Pull out the starches and condition your body to fuel off fat instead of sugar. Within 30 days you can see dramatic changes if you push through the withdrawal symptoms and resist the temptation to cheat with just a little bit of sugar.

The withdrawal symptoms will be the strongest during the first 10-14 days. This is where you don’t want to be “dieting” per se. Instead, make sure you’re eating enough or it will be extremely difficult resisting the true hunger signals calling for energy and nutrients.

This is where a lot of individuals get tripped up. They think they have to eat less and go into diet mode when in reality they should be eating more! The difference will be they’re eating from natural foods that will provide nutrients to the cells.

Another quick tip is to consider the benefits of drinking straight black coffee. Moderation is essential as you don’t want to consume more than 2-3 cups a day. However, there is new research that shows the natural caffeine in black coffee can fill the opioid receptors in the brain that sugar once occupied. This is why coffee is so helpful with any addiction.

By following a diet with lots of lean proteins, greens, and vegetables along with performing regular exercise and getting adequate sleep, you can break a sugar addiction in as little as 30 days. What you’re actually doing is just getting the body back in balance and providing the necessary nutrients for optimal health and function.

Live foods hold the answer to breaking a sugar addiction but you’ve just got to give them enough time to heal your body. The strategies I’m giving you are not quick fixes that avoid the root of the problem. They will take some time but your success is ensured if you stick with it and simply commit to eating foods that heal.

Are You Tired Of Not Seeing Results?

Have you been training for months, even years without achieving your best body? If you’re tired of not seeing those pounds fall off, it’s probably time to get serious about your nutrition once and for all! When there is a stumbling block on the path to losing weight or even reaching peak fitness, it’s almost always associated with poor nutrition.

The reality is all the exercise in the world won’t help with healthy weight loss if nutrition is not made a top priority. If you’re eating too much of the wrong things and skipping meals throughout the day, your metabolism will slow, preventing you from losing weight even with exercise and you have no one to blame but yourself.

On a daily basis, people in health clubs all over the world will ignore warnings that nutrition is 90% of their results. They will exercise for months, even years before they will ever make a true commitment to eating healthy. Unfortunately, it is for this reason that most people will fail when they attempt to get in shape or lose weight.

Fortunately at Elite Miami boot camp, we coach our members on some very good ways to make sure nutrition is addressed effectively along with your workouts. To lose weight or get in shape without resorting to unsafe, unhealthy fad diets, try these simple tips:

• Eat To Live – There’s no point going on a diet to lose weight if you can’t stick with it for the long haul. Rather than adopting a “plan,” try eating smarter. Limit intake of high glycemic carbohydrates, select whole grains and lean meats, eat fresh fruits and vegetables and steer clear of sugary foods.
• Portion Control – You don’t necessarily have to count every calorie for the rest of your life to
  get results. You do, however, have to stay within a healthy range of calories for you. Try to monitor your portions daily using your clenched fist as a guide.
• Change Your Belief System-You must establish a good relationship with the healthy way of living. Learning to love exercise and eating healthy is key to your long term success. Living healthy because you “want to” is very different than living healthy because you “have to”!
• Read labels – While it’s always best to avoid prepackaged foods, this isn’t always possible. When it’s a must, make sure to read labels to pick the healthier choices. There  are some decent options out there, if you look for them.
• Pick frozen foods with care – Frozen dinners are often a better choice than fast-food when you’re in a rush. Do, however, pick the smarter choices here. There are some great healthful frozen entrees on the market today. Read those labels to      find them. An even better choice as an emergency backup is our Meal Movement food delivery service, healthy pre-cooked, pre-portioned, lean meats, and snacks.
• Pinpoint your triggers – Everyone has a food they just can’t seem to stay away from. Figure out what your temptations are and try to come up with healthful alternatives. If your weakness is greasy, crunchy potato chips, a handful of nuts might      do the trick. Chocolate lovers might find low-fat, low-calorie pudding      does the trick just as well as a big candy bar.
• Surrounding yourself with like minded people who have similar goals, beliefs, and daily actions will be of tremendous help on your journey. Being a part of a great fitness community that provides fun, results-driven programming, supportive and experienced fitness experts, and variety will also be key.
• Education-Constant steady improvement through education is critical, strive to learn more and absorb everything you can.

“The Single Most Powerful Key To Your Best Body”

Study shows the value of a food journal and proves beyond doubt that the food journal can double your results!

“Keeping a food diary — a detailed account of what you eat and drink is a powerful tool in helping people lose weight, U.S. researchers confirmed on Tuesday” says Will Dunham-Reuters.

The study involving 1,685 middle-aged men and women over six months found those who kept such a diary just about every day lost about twice as much weight as those who did not.

The findings buttressed earlier research that endorsed the value of food diaries in helping people lose weight. Companies including Weight Watchers International Inc. use food diaries in their weight-loss programs.

“For those who are working on weight loss, just writing down everything you eat is a pretty powerful technique,” Victor Stevens of Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research in Portland, said in a telephone interview. The technique also helps hold dieters accountable for what they are eating, Stevens said.

The study involved people from four U.S. cities: Portland, Oregon; Baltimore, Maryland; Durham, North Carolina; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Their average weight loss was about 13 pounds (6 kg). But those keeping food diaries six or seven days a week lost about 18 pounds (8 kg) compared to 9 pounds (4 kg) for those not regularly keeping a food diary.

The average age of people in the study was 55. They were asked to eat less fat, more vegetables, fruit and whole grains, exercise 180 minutes a week, mostly by walking, attend group meetings, and keep a detailed food diary. Blacks made up 44 percent of the people in the study. The researchers noted that blacks Americans have a higher risk than whites for conditions linked to obesity including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Miami boot camper coaches  say, the ultimate body transformation secret is journaling!

USA Today reported on a similar study, just keeping a simple food diary can DOUBLE weight loss! Surprised? Shocked? How can spending 10-15 minutes per day writing help you transform your body in record time? Well, for me there are 3 good reasons for that…

Why Journaling Works Like A Charm

Accountability – you are forced to answer to yourself at the end of every day. And the person you want to let down least is usually you… So if you commit to journaling each day, you’ll quickly get tired of writing about poor results and start doing something about it. In addition if you have a personal trainer helping you they must see exactly what you’re eating daily!

Clarity – As you journal you get a better idea of what you’ve done and what you need to do to achieve your health & fitness goals. You are constantly reminding, reviewing and re- planning which gives you a clear path to follow. You’re not left guessing and procrastinating.

Motivation – Keeping a daily record is great because anytime you feel down you can very quickly flick through your journal and see how far you’ve come; instantly giving you the self- esteem boost you need to keep pushing towards your goals.

That’s a powerful combination!

Have Your Own Body Transformation…Start Journaling Now!

Our easy to use nutrition program gives you the tools necessary to design your own weekly meal plans that meet your performance and nutritional needs by telling you the best foods to eat to reach your specific goals. Not only that but using a journal such as this is the only way your personal trainers and coaches can see what you’re eating every day. Without this coaches are blind and realistically cannot help you achieve the optimum results you’re looking for!

If you’re exercising and not losing weight, it’s time to ask yourself why. As you can see the nutrition journal is a very powerful tool and has the potential to double your results!

beautiful landscape of Patagonia, Chile.

 The view is breathtaking.

]]> http://elitemiamibootcamp.com/patagonia-chile.html/feed 0 http://elitemiamibootcamp.com/beth-lost-an-amazing-20-lbs.html http://elitemiamibootcamp.com/beth-lost-an-amazing-20-lbs.html#comments Sun, 04 Mar 2012 18:22:54 +0000 David Dubail http://elitemiamibootcamp.com/?p=1348 This is how Beth looked before she came to Elite Miami Bootcamp.

Look at her now. Beth lost 20lbs and has never looked better.

Beth’s new lean & mean physique has given her the confidence

to compete in several marathons.

 Wow!!!! Great Job Beth. You look amazing!

Elite Miami Bootcampers, Dave & Dan, flexing their muscles all over Italy.

Looks like these two could hold up the Leaning Tower. Or maybe not.

Great Pics guys. Glad you had an amazing time!

Sharon’s Before

Sharon’s After

Sharon lost 14 lbs of fat, gained 3 lbs of muscle & lost 8% bodyfat.

Great job Sharon! You look like a million bucks.

You can also watch her story here

Looks like Gene is havng a relaxing good time, but where’s the wine?

Great pic Gene!!! Keep on livin’ it up.

First, let’s talk about exercise. Elite Miami Bootcamp knows that exercise is a must to increase your metabolism. There are no magic pills or potions. There are two components to exercise that are crucial to boosting and then maintaining your metabolism. These two components include strength training and high-intensity cardiovascular exercise. Strength training is essential to build muscle. The more muscle tissue you have, the more active your metabolism is. Muscle is metabolically active, so it requires calories even at rest. In fact, adding just one pound of muscle can burn an extra 30-40 calories per day. Just think if you add 10 pounds of muscle, you could be burning an extra 300-400 calories a day a rest. You are also burning calories during your strength training session as well as up to 4 hours after your workout. All of this extra calorie burning for only 30-45 minutes of weight training 3-5 times a week, is well worth it. In addition to boosting metabolism, strength training will make weight control easier as we get older, decrease body fat, and increase lean muscle tissue. Metabolism begins to slow slightly after age 25 for men and women. It declines around 4 percent per year if you are active compared to 10 percent if you are sedentary. In women, there can be a notable drop in metabolism due to a decrease in estrogen around 40-50. Following the recommended 3-5 cardio sessions per week and 3 strength training sessions, will help slow this effect tremendously.

The second component of exercise that Elite Miami Bootcamp feels is essential to boosting metabolism is high-intensity cardio. Like strength training, cardiovascular exercise, preferably high-intense cardio, not only burns calories during exercise as well as allowing your body to burn calories for several hours after exercising. The combination of high-intensity cardio intervals and a strength training routine gives your body an even bigger post-work-out metabolic boost. Interval cardio training is very effective for maximizing metabolism, so make sure to alternate the intensity of your cardio program. This prevents your body from adapting to the same exercise routine and keeps your muscles tuned to taking on different workloads. Of course, the hour you spend in the gym is not the only time you should be moving. Make a constant effort to stay active throughout the day by walking whenever possible, doing yard work, playing with children, etc.

Although exercise is crucial, attention must be paid to diet and nutrition. That does not mean to “go on a diet”. The word “diet” often implies cutting back on calories. This can actually backfire on people in two ways. First people cut back too much and that sets them up to binge the next day, which can damage your metabolism. The second problem with cutting back calories is that your body reacts to this decrease in calories by slowing its metabolism in order to conserve energy stores. The key to a diet that will increase your metabolism is to determine how many calories you should be consuming and then pay attention to the type of calories consumed. Despite what many nutritionists think, all calories are not created equal. The calorie-is-a-calories theory only takes in to account the total energy in food, and does not account for the energy that is required to process it. For example, up to 30 percent of calories from protein are burned through the digestive process, compared to just 8 percent of carbohydrates, and 2 percent of fats. This is known as the thermic effect of food. The key is to eat complex carbohydrates such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. It takes more energy for the body to digest and process calories and nutrients from healthy foods than sugary and refined foods. By eating a low-fat healthy diet, you are asking the body to work harder and burn more calories to turn food into energy, the process of metabolism. Avoid processed and refined foods, as they are the culprit to our obesity epidemic. Just remember that processed food has already been processed and that does not leave any work for your body and metabolism, and so they are just stored as fat almost immediately unless they are burned off.

It is not only important to eat the right type of foods, but also at the right time. To start the day, it is essential that you eat breakfast. This gets your engine started for the day and without breakfast, your metabolism will be in slow motion all day. Throughout the day, it is essential you eat small meals every 3-4 hours. Eating three large meals a day is terrible for your metabolism because you have three peaks in your blood sugar/insulin response and the rest of the time you are in a valley that is not good for your insulin response. The key is to make sure each meal is well balanced and contains the right amount of protein, carbohydrates, and a small amount of fat. It is also essential to drink at least 8-10 glasses of water everyday, possibly more if you work out intensely and/or drink caffeinated beverages. Elite Miami Bootcamp’s final recommendation that is crucial for maximizing your metabolism is to get enough sleep. Only you know how much sleep your body requires, but not getting enough sleep will drain you and in turn slow your metabolism.

As you can see, the ways to increase metabolism is through diet and exercise. Just like an engine, the better we take care of our metabolic engine through proper diet and exercise, the better our metabolism will run; keeping us healthy and looking good.

1. Accept Responsibility- Learn to take charge of your own behavior. Remember that you are the only person that can achieve the results you want. Realize that there is no magic pill and it will take effort on your part.

2. Develop an Action Plan- Identify your problems as develop specific solutions to solve the problems. If a solution is not working, reevaluate and develop another solution until you find one that works for you.

3. Practice Forgiving Yourself- Think positive and don’t let negative thoughts enter your mind. Don’t ever think that a bad breakfast or lunch, etc has blown the whole day. Always remember that the next meal is a new meal and it does not have to be until tomorrow to be a new day. Remember, mistakes will happen and learn to refocus on the long-term goal.

4. Find Accountability- The best way to succeed is to hold yourself accountable to another person. Enlist the help of a friend, family member, personal trainer, or nutrition consultant that you can rely on to help you when you are weak. Support from others will help keep you on track.

5. Learn How to Cope with Stress- In today’s society, everyone has stress, and the healthiest people are those that know how to deal with their stress. Exercise is an excellent way to get your frustrations out. Going on a walk or lifting weights can work wonders on your mental state.

6. Keep a Food and Activity Journal- “That which you wish to improve must be measured”. It is so important to establish the habit of tracking everything you eat as well as all the physical activity you do. You will find that when you are able to see your progress, you will be less likely to fall off the wagon.

7. Enjoy Every Bite- Pay attention to everything you eat and enjoy the moment. It should take you at least 20 minutes to eat a meal. Slow down and savor every bite. Also, establish ways to prevent mindless eating such as staying away from the TV or a magazine while eating.

8. Avoid Tempting Situations- At least until you are comfortable with your healthy lifestyle, it may be best to try to avoid situations that could sabotage your goals. Whether it is all you can eat buffets, certain restaurants, parties, etc, avoid the situation until you can learn to control your eating behaviors at these establishments.

9. Wait it Out- If and when a temptation arises, first ask yourself if you are actually hungry. Chances are you are not even hungry, and more than likely you are thirsty for some good ole’ water. If it is a craving, establish ways that you can talk yourself out of it. Try to distract yourself by taking a walk (with or without a dog), calling a friend, or doing some housework or other work. If the craving is still there, consider a piece of fruit or a healthier version of whatever you are craving.

10. Perform Regular Assessments- Every 6-8 weeks, review your goals and what you have achieved. It is important to have a baseline at the beginning to track your achievements. Remember, healthy weight-loss takes time. Plan to lose 1-2 pounds per week. Set realistic goals that you can achieve within 6-8 weeks so you do not get discouraged. Then reset your goals with each assessment.

Follow these 10 tips from Elite Miami Bootcamp and you will be on your way to losing weight once and for all. Just remember to learn from your past mistakes and try to avoid making the same ones in the future. Achieving weight loss goals requires time and effort, but the payoff is well worth it. Even small weight losses will reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arthritis, as well as many other diseases. Always remember to eat a balanced diet with lots of vegetables, fruits, protein, complex carbohydrates, as well as a small amount of fat. Stay motivated and fight the battle against obesity in America.