2. Give up your need for control – Don’t expect so much from people, they will disappoint you.

3. Give up on blame – Don’t give away your power

4. Give up your self-defeating self-talk – We are the gardeners of our minds. Pick the weeds daily.

5. Give up your limiting beliefs – If you think you can’t, you’re right.  If you think you can, you have a shot.

6. Give up complaining – We all hate whiners.

7. Give up the luxury of criticism – Who the hell are you to criticize anyways?

8. Give up your need to impress others – Do you think anyone really cares or will remember minutes later?

9. Give up your resistance to change – The only thing in life that is constant is change.  Anticipate and deal with it.

10. Give up labels – Open your mind to different view points.  It’s the only way you’ll grow and learn.

11. Give up on your fears – It’s all in your mind.

12. Give up your excuses – What one man can do, another can do.

13. Give up the past – Stop looking backwards, forward is all that matters.

14. Give up attachment – This is about letting go of fear, fear of loss.  All “things” don’t really matter.

15. Give up living your life to other people’s expectations – Do what makes you happy… no matter how weird it is:)

A delicious way to make cheese for those that are allergic to dairy. This cheese tastes fantastic and can be used on your crackers, vegetables, sandwiches or whatever. More and more people are discovering they are allergic to dairy every year. Here is a very healthy, easy and tasty alternative.

Add a tbsp of olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon and garlic salt to your fresh nut pulp.
This nut pulp comes from making nut milk.
See the nut milk video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8y8ofnhZvM

Blend until creamy smooth in food processor.

A delicious way to make milk for those that are allergic to dairy. This milk tastes fantastic and can be used on your cereal, coffee, whatever. More and more people are discovering they are allergic to milk every year. Now here is a very healthy, easy and tasty alternative.
Soak nuts overnight
Blend 1 part nuts to 3 parts water
Strain in nut milk bag
Save nut pulp for nut cheese
Add a tbsp to fast of agave nectar and blend again or use Stevia
Could also add a tsp of vanilla extract or fresh vanilla pod seeds
Be creative and even try adding a pinch of cinnamon.

Enjoy!

Listen to the article here via podcast here.

Sometimes people feel pressure to drop the last 10 pounds I get that but if you are feeling this way with 10 days to go guess what?  It’s too late you procrastinator! 

You didn’t reach your goals because you failed to plan and failed to execute now live with that fact, accept that you will be 10 pounds heavier on said date and set a new goal with a proper freaking plan do not, I repeat do not resort to a god dam feeding tube what the hell is wrong with you?  I mean where are your loved ones to talk you out this madness?

If you are considering this please stop you obviously have other issues we need to tackle that are more important and that is what really  is the issue preventing you from achieving the healthy fit body you want for longterm results that last.

I don’t really want to single any one out here but who is usually going to be interested in something like a feeding tube diet anyways?

Brides!

Brides often feel the pressure of looking their best on their wedding day, purchasing a dress that is smaller than they are in hopes of achieving the body to fit into it while drinking wine 3 nights a week and eating out at restaurants twice a week.  

Telling everyone they are dieting yet sneaking chips and ice cream every other night thinking something like the cookie diet may be the way to go. Listen you can’t bullshit me I know the body and if you haven’t lost the weight it’s because you did’t put in the work.

While some of you reading this try to lose weight the healthy way focusing on long-term weight management, eating right and exercise, others attempt stupid crash diets going to extreme measures to shed those extra pounds.

“One such bride, Jessica Schnaider told ABC and The New York Times that she wanted to lose 10 pounds before her big day.  She went to Dr. Oliver Di Pietro in Miami Beach, Florida. 

In a release to CNN, Di Pietro says he’s brought the K-E diet to the United States from Italy.  The diet involves inserting a feeding tube into a patient’s nose that runs to the stomach for a period of 10 days. Patients do not eat any food, receiving their 800-calorie-a-day food supplements through a portable pump that they carry around.  

Di Pietro says in his statement that he began to offer this “diet” to some of his obese patients. According to his statement, the “goal was to help them ‘jump start’ a longer weight loss program, and all who participated enjoyed a safe and significant weight loss of between 10-25 pounds depending on sex, initial weight and whether or not they chose to stay on the plan the entire 10 days.”

I think Di Pietro is a hack and should be ashamed to call himself a health provider.  He’s just making a buck and is a loser in my books.

Art Caplan, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, describes this diet as “stupid” and “outrageous.”  He tells CNN that this is not the way feeding tubes were intended to be used.

According to Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Morgan Liscensky, “the FDA does not have any feeding tubes that are approved for weight loss.” Emory Bariatric Surgeon Dr. Edward Lin says there are risks associated with having a nasogastric tube or feeding tube.  He lists insertion trauma, septum damage, perforated throat, lung damage, and GI bleeding, as potential short-term risks. When it comes to leaving a tube down your esophagus for 10 days, he says, “you can cause esophagus stricture which is tight narrowing from scarring,” as well as put yourself at risk for pneumonia.

The original article in full is attached here but why read it?  Do you really need a long list of reasons why this is dangerous and stupid or did you make that connection on your own immediately?

If you want to do things right and improve your life why don’t you consider doing it the fun way  without nose tubes.

It takes more work than a feeding tube down your throat and hiding it in your purse I’ll tell ya that right now but at the end of the day you’ll have your body you want because you gave an effort that earned it and you’ll have the muscle to keep it and the  knowledge on how to keep it going and achieve an even higher level if you want to.

Contact Vitality Fitness Studio and talk to us about our “Bulging Brides” and “Ghastly Grooms” packages that are short and sweet geared to one goal, which is looking your best on your wedding day for those pictures that last forever. Listen to the article here via podcast here.

We spent the better part of our day today gaining a new life experience.  We had our first professional photo shoot done at Aresenik Photography in Oakville and it was a blast!

We were both a little stressed (maybe nervous) as we didn’t know what to expect and have been up many late nights recently with Logan as he has been very sick…  I mean ambulance to the hospital, seizure type of sick but that is a story about focus and what really matters for another time. He is doing much better this morning by the way.

We arrived late as I missed my exit but it all worked out.  They started with me while they worked on Sheri’s hair and markup for about 90 minutes.  If you’re thinking of not taking that option, don’t.  You will not be nearly as happy with the shots.  As for the guys, shave, gel your hair, do some pushups and we’re as good as we’re going to get.

First I pumped up of course and applied some gel baby oil, which I didn’t even know existed but worked great.  After flexing my abs for 5 minutes straight I knew this was going to be a long day.  Flex, smile repeat for 5 hours is an ab workout and a half by the way.  I’m glad I did my abs 3 days ago and not yesterday or I would have been in trouble.

When Sheri was ready to shoot I was happy to take a break and relax for an hour.  Sheri by the way was up all night with Logan and was more nervous than me but within 30 seconds I saw the natural smile and model come out.  I’m not just saying this for brownie points but she is a natural and will be doing this again!

We then continued to shoot, change, shoot, change all day long and at the end I hope we came out with some winning photos that we can use in the future.  The whole idea behind this photo shoot was business motivated and 3 fold.

1) Motivate ourselves to achieve photo shoot ready status not wasting the $1000 investment and know what looks like what 10 days before the show.
2) Network with a top industry photography, which has already yielded about numerous business prospects.
3) Acquire a professional portfolio of shots to be used for future marketing efforts.

This is the reason for a photo shoot I believe and not just to say “Hey look at me.”

I am all about business and unless you learn to leverage your efforts for monetary gains with thoughtful and entrereprenural actions you are wasting your time and all the awards and ripped abs amount to shit.

I’m looking forward to sharing some photos with you all later this week.

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The fact is fat loss requires you to be in an aerobic state with the right internal environment present to allow fat to be used as energy.

An aerobic state is described as simply meeting the oxygen demands of the body.  If you are sitting and sleeping you are in fact in an aerobic state.  There are optimal fat burning zones but this does not negate the fact that you can be burning fat all day and night.

By the right internal environment I refer to having the right nutrition on board and that your hormones are in balance.  When hormones are in optimal amounts and balanced, the body is ready to play the music of life. Like an orchestra when some of the players muck up, the body can’t make beautiful music without all of its hormones being working together.  In addition to the sex hormones, optimal levels and balance of two other minor hormones can keep you dancing to the music.

Melatonin puts us to sleep and keeps our immune systems strong

Melatonin keeps the body in tune with the circadian rhythm, rising with darkness and falling with light. It is melatonin that makes you yawn and feel compelled to sleep when it gets dark, even if you do not want to. Melatonin keeps the rhythm for the body to maintain its balance with the rest of nature and adapt to changing environmental conditions.

Degeneration and aging-related diseases such as arteriosclerosis, autoimmunity, weak immune system, and cancers are promoted by the de-synchronization of the hormonal system, and its loss of rhythm.

When we stay up late with the lights on, night never comes and the whole melatonin-prolactin cycle is thrown off. It is at night that the body recuperates and regenerates tissues and organs, and restores glycogen reserves. When melatonin levels stay low, this body maintenance can not take place. This is why it is so important to go to bed close to the time darkness settles in, and to sleep in a room that is completely dark. We have learned to fight the signal from melatonin that it is bedtime, especially in the fall when darkness comes so early. We fight it and turn on even more lights to keep ourselves awake, ignoring the signals our bodies give us. The result of such actions is a body in a state of melatonin deprivation long before we reach the age of thirty-five.

When the body is able to produce the needed amount of melatonin it can directly kill many different types of cancer cells. Melatonin is a naturally produced cytotoxin that easily induces death in tumor cells.  Supplemental melatonin is available at health food stores and online. A healthy pineal gland produces 2.5 milligrams of melatonin every twenty-four hours. The ideal supplemental level for anti-aging is 1 to 5 milligrams up to 20 milligrams a day for cancer protection.

Human growth hormone is the ultimate anti-aging hormone

Human growth hormone (HGH) has a bad reputation because of its abuse by athletes. Now people think that if they supplement with it they will turn into Shrek. This is not true and too bad since it is HGH that keeps us looking and feeling young, trim and fit well into what people consider to be the years of old age.  I for one am going to be all over it when I get old enough to need it.

HGH is released by the pituitary gland and is beneficial for the brain, cardiovascular system, immune system, aerobic capacity of blood and tissue, and body and bone composition. Problem is by the time we turn 30 we are producing only 20% of what we were when we were children.  It enters the blood stream in bursts during sleep, especially the deep sleep that occurs after midnight. It’s also produced during exercise provided the exercise is done on an empty stomach.

Symptoms of HGH deficiency are wrinkled or sagging skin, thinning bones, loss of muscle strength, accumulation of body fat, decreased heart function, lowered immunity, thinning hair, decreased stamina and vigor, depression, anxiety, and fatigue. It is great for weight control and re-shaping the body with loss of belly fat, the area associated with increased risk of heart attack, diabetes and the number #1 enemy of the 6 pack.

IGF-1 is produced in response to growth hormone, and as a result it is a marker for HGH. Since natural HGH is released in surges and has a very short life span in the body, it is not practical to measure HGH levels directly. Because much of HGH is used by the body to produce IGF-1, which has a fairly long lifetime in the body, tests for HGH levels rely on the amount of IGF-1 present.

Supplements of IGF-1 are readily available from online nutritional outlets. Significant amounts of IGF-1 are found in colostrum, the liquid from the first two milkings of a cow after calving. Colostrum is a tremendous immune system booster and conveys a wealth of health benefits. Another way to provide the body with growth factor is by taking chlorella which contains a substance called Chlorella Growth Factor (CGF). Chlorella is also rich in chlorophyll and nucleic acid.

So not only is sleep necessary for a proper balance of hormones but a well rested body has less stress and subsequently lower cortisol levels, which I have written about before.  Cortisol is known for it’s fat adding properties especially to the abdominal regions.  On another more practical level, good luck trying to eat well, prepare your meals in advance and lift and run with any amount of intensity when you are dragging your ass.

Bottom line is that you have got to schedule in and look at sleep as just as important, if not more, than getting in that extra 1-2 hours of cardio a week.

I came across these tips this morning from my good friend Jim Estill’s Blog.  Some, if not all of them struck a cord with me as I can relate to every one of these points when dealing with clients and their struggles.

1. Never lose sight of the ultimate goal, and focus energy on short-term objectives.
By short term objectives I mean “meal to meal”.  I just had my egg white, rice, onion and jalapeño omelet now I am focused on nothing else fitness related except my next 12 o’clock meal (it’s 9am now).  The focus is to eat nothing and simply drink water until the next feed.

2. Set a personal example with visible, memorable symbols and behaviors.
One of the reasons to enter into a fitness contest is to walk the talk.

3. Instill optimism and self-confidence, but stay grounded in reality.
Although I appear to be 100% focused on fitness I still have other interests and challenges.  I have a real estate holdings company with 8 properties and growing, a loving partner and son that need my attention as well to schedule in fun things to do together. Fitness at the end of the day is about what benefits it brings into your life not just the act of or being fit.  What does being fit bring to you in terms of feelings of happiness, energy and accomplishment the really spills over to make everything else better.  Never forget that.  Fitness isn’t everything just the vehicle in which we drive up that mountain called success.

4. Take care of yourself: Maintain your stamina and let go of guilt.
This one business point is actually talking directly about fitness.  Forget what you have or haven’t done in the past and commit to a higher level today.  After all, working 16 hours a day takes stamina.

5. Reinforce the team message constantly: “We are one- we live or die together.”
I try to install this in my clients.  The fact that we are working on their goals together and that I take them on too.  When you fail to follow the plan not only are you letting yourself down but your letting your team down too.  Hopefully, this encourages one to do better and simply follow the plan.

6. Minimize status differences and insist on courtesy and mutual respect.
This one is a no brainer.  My clients are everything and I would not be where I am today if I was not afforded the privilege of surrounding myself with winners all day long for the last 15 years.

7. Master conflict- deal with anger in small doses, engage dissidents, and avoid needless power struggles.
I have a picture hanging in the studio that reads.  ”Balance does not occur in the absence of hardship.  A great peace is attained when one learns to calm their mind in the midst of a adversity.”  This is so important in today’s sleep deprived, stressed out world.  Hardships or challenges are coming and are to be expected.  You must learn to anticipate and react in a problem solving and efficient manner to skip right through them and stay the course.  No excuses.

8. Find something to celebrate and something to laugh about.
Feeling happy and relaxed is not only the best way to live but actually keeps endorphins high and cortisol levels (the ab fat magnet) low.

9. Be willing to take big risks.
Set a goal that scares you.  If it doesn’t, you will not be motivated to achieve it.  This is just a voice in your head telling you that you may fail.  Ignore that voice as just the act of trying makes you a bigger winner than those that don’t.
“If you hear a voice within you saying, “You are not a painter,” then by all means paint…and that voice will be silenced.” –Vincent Van Gough

10. Never give up-there’s always another move.  
Always, always, always there is another day and chance to do and be better.  Never forget that.  Be strategic, step back, brainstorm, plot a course and work the plan.