The "Sam Winkworth Story" You Never Knew About!

It’s taken me a long time to sum up the courage to write about this. It was a time of my life that I don’t like to think about let alone write about it and if I’m truly honest I’m really ashamed of what I did. I’m going back to the year of 2006 and it was a very dark time in my life. Only my brother and a few close friends know about what I did in the year of 2006, not even my parents know what I’m about to reveal, however I feel it’s the right time to talk about it and get it out there in the open. It was a time of my life where I seemed to be lost? I was 26 years old, young and impressionable and I wasn’t sure where I was going with my life. I was into my 4th year working as a personal trainer at Virgin Active in Bromley. Personally my training was going well, mentally I was happy (or at least I thought I was) and I had a huge client base so business was going well but somehow for me this wasn’t enough? I felt something was missing in my life. I’ve always had a burning urge to be the best at whatever I do and it was in the year of 2006 where I REALLY started to focus ALL of my attention onto training. I’ve always enjoyed lifting weights and I’ve always been naturally muscular (thanks to my dads genes!) but back in 2006 I was never satisfied with what I’d got, I always wanted more. Everyone would comment on how good I looked but I’d never listen to them, I always used to think they were just being nice so I made a decision back then that I wanted to take my training to the next level. I wanted to get massive and I wanted to compete as a bodybuilder. I decided to educate myself on what it required to pack on a huge amount of muscle and what it took to compete as a bodybuilder and it was during this time that I decided to train with another bodybuilder and another trainer at virgin active who was training for his first strongman competition. My intention was to enter some bodybuilding competitions. I started to REALLY get into the bodybuilding world. I would buy DVDs of “Mr Olympia” champions Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler to study how they’d eat and train to get their body shapes. I’d spend hundreds of pounds on bodybuilding supplements every month and Id train every day with my new bodybuilding buddies. All we’d do is talk about bodybuilding, nutrition and training programmes. I guess you could say that we were completely obsessed with it and we were quite literally living, eating and sleeping bodybuilding. When I look back on it, it seems really laughable how I was back then but at the time, that’s what I wanted. I was starting to become a bit obsessed with it, the more I read up around the subject of bodybuilding the more it was pointing to one thing and one thing alone.

Yep, in the summer of July 2006 I decided that I would take steroids. I’d like to say at this point that I wasn’t forced into taking them from anyone. It was completely my decision and my decision alone to take them. It started with a really basic course which saw some pretty good gains. I didn’t really get any side effects and I had gained inches everywhere which was awesome. I would never have got these muscle gains from conventional diet and training. My squat went from 150kg to a whopping 220kg and I was comfortably lifting 115kg on my bench press. I was buzzing! “Why didn’t I think of this sooner?” I thought. “Anyone that said that steroids are bad for you clearly doesn’t know what they’re talking about.” I convinced myself. Although the results were good, I STILL wanted more. I decided that, after trying out a relatively mild course of steroids that I was gonna try a monster course soon after that would get phenomenal results. I would take deca, dianabol and sustanon for 6 weeks, the number one goal would be to INCREASE MUSCLE to the absolute max and boy did I pack on the muscle. In 6 weeks, I went from 13.5 stone at the start of the course to a whopping 15 stone by the end of it! Yep I’d put on a stone and a half of muscle in 6 weeks and I was a MONSTER, I wasn’t particularly lean, quite fat in fact, but I didn’t care, I was HUGE! But it was AFTER this course when the problems with my health started. I started to get terrible side effects due to the horrendous pressure I’d put my endocrine system under over the last 6 weeks. For those of you that don’t know, when you take steroids you’re basically injecting testosterone into your system to help the muscle grow and repair at a rapid rate to allow you train MUCH harder and longer than what you’d normally be able to naturally. However this is synthetic testosterone, meaning the body hasn’t produced it naturally. The body is very clever. When this happens it thinks that there’s testosterone in abundance it so stops producing it naturally which obviously is a big problem when you come off it because you have zero levels of it. (Anyone that tells you that this can be sorted by taking more steroids clearly doesn’t understand how the endocrine system works, trust me I tried!). The hormones Cortisol & Estrogen then go sky high to compensate for this lack of testosterone which then leads to breakdown, which in my case was COMPLETE psychological breakdown. I started off with severe mood swings. My girlfriend at the time and best buddy told me that I was a different person since I started taking them and didn’t really want to be around me or know me during this time. I had become more short- tempered, aggressive and my sex drive had gone through the roof to the point where it had become ridiculous! One of the worse times in my life was when I completely lost it with my girlfriend (at the time) and completely smashed up my bedroom and pushed her down the stairs in a fit of rage. I had completely lost it. Like a wild animal. Luckily she was ok. I didn’t know what was happening to me. I’d become a monster, I didn’t recognise myself anymore? I didn’t know where to turn? All my buddies had disowned me and my girlfriend (at the time) finished with me. I don’t blame her, who would want to stick around that disgusting behaviour? With no where to turn and my endocrine system shot to pieces, the anger soon turned to depression and despair. I had reached rock bottom. Mentally, I had reached a very dark place and didn’t know how to get out. In the space of 6 months I had gone from a healthy, happy 26 year old to a desperate, lonely, unhappy one (and a messed up one at that!) I suppose you could call it a bit of a breakdown? Awesome. A break down at 26 when I should have been in my prime? That wasn’t right… One thing I did know was that I needed to get out of this black hole. I went to see several doctors and physciatrists to help me. One diagnosed me with clinical depression and asked if I wanted to take anything for it but I wanted to get out of this without medicine. Although they all tried to help in their own way, I knew deep down that it would be me, and me alone that could only get out of this. Life didn’t seem worth it anymore, I had contemplated suicide several times. My family tried their hardest to help me, especially my parents. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to over dramatize how I felt but this was more than just “feeling a little bit down” as anyone that’s had depression will verify. The only way I can explain it is that it felt like I was in an empty vessel moving through a still ocean. Nothing seemed to interest me anymore? I just seemed to be… existing… without a goal, without a purpose? And just so desperately unhappy? A horrible feeling that I hope I never have to experience again till the day I die. After weeks and months of trying to get back into normal life, each day I slowly started to feel abit better. The depression I was in was slowly starting to lift. I was keeping busy, trying to keep my mind off what had happened and eventually, after several weeks, I felt like I was starting to climb out of my black hole that id been in. So why am I telling you all this? Good question, after all, why would I divulge all this stuff about me. It’s not exactly what I’d call being a role model is it! And why would I tell you that I’ve done steroids in the past? Surely, I’d want to keep that hidden away from everyone right? Well you’d be right…up to a point. Trust me, I’m not proud of what I did back then but I guess I’m happy to share my experience with you because I wanted you to know when I reached the point when I wanted and needed to change. It was because of THIS experience that made me want to turn over a new health leaf… It was because of THIS experience that made me start my own journey back to health… And, ultimately it was because of THIS experience that made me want to help people do it the right way (and not take the wrong path like I did). This time of my life was a massive learning curve for me. I’d made a decision to take stuff that I shouldn’t have done and I paid the price massively for it. I hit rock bottom, severely compromised my health and lost everyone that I loved and cared for at the time and I knew that once I got myself back on track mentally that I’d never follow this dangerous path ever again. The end of 2006 would be the last time I did bodybuilding. My new goal in 2007 would be restoring health and has been for the last 5 years. In those years I have studied with some of the world’s best health experts, I’ve read over a hundred nutrition books and my whole philosophy towards training & nutrition has changed for the better. My own personal training and diet is primarily focused around regaining health. I have now reached my natural bodyweight, I look far more athletic and toned than I did back in 2006 and my body fat levels have been low throughout. After all, a healthy body cannot carry body fat!

Don’t get me wrong! I’m still HUMAN! I still like a pizza, I LOVE cheesecake and I do like a p*ss up every now and then just like any other person does but I guess what I’m saying is that my main goal is to eat the way mother nature intended us to as much as possible, staying away from toxic, processed and I feel sooo much better for it. I feel in a much better place mentally now although I still have to be aware that I don’t over-do things (both with business and training). As you probably may have guessed by now that when I put my mind to something then I like to give it 100% so I can be prone to a bit of burn out as my adrenal glands aren’t as strong as they once were due to the steroids that I took. This is when the depression can slowly start to kick in again however I guess I can recognise the warning signs now and I’ve learnt to back off a bit when this happens. I’m sure they’ll be some people reading this who’ll be quick to judge me for what I did in which case I have no control over. I’ve already had abusive emails from what I thought were “friends” saying that I’m a fraud and telling me “how the hell can you preach health? Everyone knows you’re a steroid abuser?” This really saddened me when I read this, particularly as we used to be friends once apon a time however I understand that people will form their opinions which is fine however I DO believe that it’s often the people who have had EXPERIENCES in life that are in the best place to help others. After all, you can’t learn experience from a text book! I have learnt HUGELY from my experience and if my story has given people more of an insight about me and understand WHY I’m doing what I do and inspired people to change their ways because they’re unhappy (for whatever reason) then that makes me happy. Looking back, I’m really proud of myself for beating depression and changing my ways. I guess it comes down to this?

If you’re not happy , and you WANT to be happy then change SOMETHING! I hope my story has inspired you and I hope you don’t judge me too much  Thank you for taking the time to reading it Sam x

Why I’ll NEVER Use Whey Protein Powder!

Ok here’s my take on why most protein shakes are absolute horse shit and why I’ll never use whey protein or recommend it in any of my nutrition plans.

Yep, you heard me right, WHEY protein, that stuff that’s great for building muscle and supposed to be really good for you after a hard weight training session? It must be true because the supplement companies told you it was, right?

Well I used to think like this aswell. During my bodybuilding days I used to slug down 3 protein shakes a day like it was going out of fashion, that was until I researched the actual ingredients in these protein powders a while back and I was shocked at the actual truth. Not only are they full of sugar and chemicals but the “whey” protein that’s considered bad ass by top strength coaches & nutritionists, isn’t as good as we think it is.

In this article I’m going to address the reasons why most protein powders are making you fatter, a waste of money and are detrimental to your health. I’m also going to tell you the only 2 powders that I recommend but bare in your mind that if fat loss is your goal then you don’t really need to worry about a protein shake.

So let’s take a look at some of the ingredients put in these “amazing super-duper” protein shakes:

First up, Whey Protein

There are 2 different types of whey protein, whey isolate and whey concentrate.

Whey Protein isolate is a by-product from cheese-making. It’s the clear liquid used after the milk has curdled and is often used to feed pigs. Those of you that read my blog regularly will know that I’m not a fan of cow’s milk. Humans aren’t designed to drink cow’s milk, baby cows are!



Not only is cow’s milk highly allergenic for most people but the process of refining whey protein isolate involves heat and acid treatment which kills off any friendly bacteria which would be good for your gut health. The treatment process also leaves the milk putrid (yep, you’re drinking putrid protein when you slug down that protein shake!) and hard to dissolve which is why manufacturers have to use additives to make it easier to mix.

Ever noticed that some protein powders are a bitch to dissolve? There are always lumpy bits in it that don’t seem to dissolve aren’t there! Well now you know why 

Whey protein concentrate could be considered a slightly better option than whey isolate. Unpasteurised whey protein from hormone free, grass fed cows, is better because it doesn’t go through the pasteurisation process however it’s still COW’S MILK and we can still get better sources of protein elsewhere without having to resort to whey.

Secondly, Sweeteners

Sucralose is a sweetener manufacturers use to give the protein its flavour and has exactly the same effect on your body as normal sugar does meaning it will play havoc with your insulin levels which is bad news if you’re susceptible to love handle fat in particular. Plus the fact sugar gives you diabetes and is also terrible for your health.

Acesulfame Potassium or Acesulfame K is another popular sweetener that manufacturers use. It’s also found in food and beverages aswell. It is 200 times sweeter than normal sugar so you’ll get all the same problems sugar will give you plus MORE!

The problem with Acesulfame is that there have been no long term studies done on it. Acesulfame K contains the carcinogen methylene chloride.
Long-term exposure to methylene chloride can cause headaches, depression, nausea, mental confusion, liver effects, kidney effects, visual disturbances and cancer in humans.

There has been a great deal of controversy to the use of acesulfame K but at this time, the Foods Standards Agency has not asked for any tests to be done on this sweetener.

Aspartame is also found in some protein powders and is a highly controversial sweetener; it’s been banned in several countries. Basically the liver cannot break aspartame down so it’s sent straight to the brain. Not only is this found in protein powders but also sports drinks, chewing gum, children’s food and loads of other stuff. There are over 92 different health side-affects from consuming aspartame. Horrendous food additive!

So basically the body has no use for any of these sweeteners in the body so in order to reduce their circulation, the body will dump them into your fat cells which will add to your toxic load which in turn will make you fatter. It’s as simple as that really.

Not only this but research is clearly showing that our bodies cannot cope with these sweeteners and are seriously damaging our health.

So what if I was to tell you that there are MUCH better alternatives to using whey protein? Alternatives that are free from all these additives and sweeteners and won’t compromise your health?

Would you be interested?

Well you should be because there is!

Protein powder made from rice or hemp is just as good as whey and in my opinion is better as you’re not consuming putrid milk! There are only a couple of powders I recommend and they are:

Sun Warrior Protein
And Vega Protein

Both are made from (non-soy) whole grain rice protein, are gluten free and have a complete amino-acid profile. I’m not affiliated with either of these products however I do believe that these are the cleanest protein powders out there at the moment and I have personally had good results using both.

Peace out and stop drinking cows milk! You're not a baby cow! :-)

SAM :-)

Why You Have A Fat Ass And What To Do About It!

Apologies for the bluntness of the title but I wanted to get your full attention.

So you’ve tried quite literally everything to get rid of it but nothing seems to shift that stubborn body fat from around your buttocks and thighs. Frustrating isn’t it especially when you eat healthily and always perform squats and lunges in your workouts. You’d think this would be enough to keep your butt in check wouldn’t you? I guess you’ve just put it down to genetics right? Well sadly it’s not. In this article I am going to address the reason why you have fat in this area and what to do about it, and to be honest it’s really easy to get rid of! (And no, it’s not doing MORE butt work in your training plan).

I must stress again though that this information does not apply to you if you are overweight. A normal Elimination Diet plan alone will see great fat loss results for you. This is for those of you that are generally already lean but have stubborn body fat and cellulite around the buttocks and thigh area.

Ok so what causes leg, arm & bum fat?

Any kind of stubborn leg, bum or arm fat can be put down to poor liver function. Your liver is struggling to detox estrogen properly and the fat cells from this part of your body have become more receptive to the hormone estrogen (hence why there’s more fat in this area).

Here’s how it works:

Your liver produces a hormone called “Sex hormone binding globulin” (yep, bit of a mouthful!) which is basically released into your system to help clear out any excess estrogen from your bloodstream. The liver is also responsible for removing toxins and chemicals from our diet but what happens is, that when we overwhelm our liver with toxins from things like sugar, wheat, dairy, processed food and alcohol, the liver can’t do its main job, it spends ALL its time dealing with all the toxins and chemicals and therefore can’t produce optimum levels of “sex hormone binding globulin” anymore.

With nothing to effectively ‘clean up’ the excess estrogen, your body has no choice but to dump it into your fat cells and the bad news for you woman is that you unfortunately store more fat in the lower body than men do.

So now that we understand what’s causing you to have a fat butt, legs or arms, or maybe it’s a combination of all 3 let’s talk about how we can sort it:

1) Start a toxic removal diet plan

The first thing you’ll need to do is start a 21 day toxic removal plan to allow the liver time to detox all the toxins and chemicals from your diet. All wheat, dairy, sugar, alcohol, caffeine and processed food will need to be removed and you’ll need to drink plenty of fresh clean water to help flush out the toxins quicker. Regular saunas will speed this process up as well. The detox will help your liver go back to doing its original job (which is to produce sex hormone binding globulin).

Eating plenty of cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, kale & cabbage will help to detox your estrogen more effectively. All these vegetables basically have high levels of indole 3-carbinol in them. Estrogen binds with these foods and is then excreted out of your system.

2) Supplement with indole 3-carbinol

The problem with trying to get the right amount of indole 3-carbinol JUST from food is that you’d have to eat a HUGE amount of vegetables just to get the required amount for it be to be effective, which is impossible.

Supplementing with indole 3-carbinol can be considered if you want to detox estrogen more effectively although your diet needs to be 100% nailed if you want to see results. Remember, you can’t out supplement a bad diet, you need to remove toxins first before you start supplementing with this. If you can’t clean up your diet first then this won’t work.

Depends on how badly you want to get rid of that stubborn leg & bum fat I guess? If you’re 100% committed to getting rid of it then this is how it’s gotta be for you.

3)Get a good night’s sleep

Getting a good night’s sleep between the hours of 10 and 6 will help repair your body but more importantly will help balance out your hormones so that you’re not so “estrogen dominant”. Get to bed by 10:30pm and get at least 8 hours sleep.

So there you have it, getting rid of that stubborn leg & bum fat is EASY, it just depends on how badly you want it. If you’re truly serious about it then follow the 3-step plan above to the letter and you will be well on your way to some sexy thighs and a pert ass! Bu only if you’re 100% committed. So what’s it to be?

Fat ass or pert ass? You decideeeeeeeee

Here’s to a fat free zone,

Sam Winkworth

Why You have Man Boobs And What To Do About it! (please don't read if easily offended!)

If you're a guy and have man boobs then you seriously need to man the hell up and read this blog before its too late for you! I'm deadly serious aswell!

(Girls you can also forward this onto your male buddies aswell!)

Read this and act NOW before its too late but Im just pre-warning again, please don't read if your easily offended)

So you've been trying to ignore it for a while now but it seems that your man boobs or "bitch tits" are slowly starting to get bigger? At first you ignored it but it seems that you're producing a pair of boobs that your missus and most chicks would be proud of!

But you can't understand it? You eat well, you train hard in the gym, you do extra press ups and bench press but they still seem to be there?

Well, sadly man boobs have nothing to do with a lack of exercise or poor nutrition but more to do with the fact that your male hormone testosterone is getting its assed kicked by the female hormone estrogen!

Yep, you're turning into a chick and soon you'll be having an overwhelming urge to buy shoes and go shopping! You may have also started to have "strange" thoughts about your best friend! How do you feel about that? ;-)

So why is your female hormone dominating your male hormone?

Regular beer drinking will give you man boobs. Your testosterone is being converted into estrogen so the more you drink the higher your estrogen levels will be.
The hops in beer are amazingly estrogenic aswell so regular drinking will have a womanizing effect.

Still fancy a beer?

I was reading some staggering research only the other day about the amount of dudes turning to cosmetic surgery to remove their moobs and I was disgusted at the male species!!!

Not because of the high stats but more because of the fact that dudes would rather go under the knife than sort them out through diet and lifetyle?

MAN THE HELL UP!!!

Another sign that you're turning into a chick!

What's also worrying is that skinny dudes are now starting to get bitch tits, whats all that about?

I fear for the male species I really do!

So how can you sort out your embaressing problem?

Basically, you need to manage your hormones better princess and do the exact opposite to what's currently going on in that "male" body of yours so you need to increase your testosterone levels and decrease your estrogen.

Firstly STOP DRINKING!

Pretty obvious this one but having written this article, I'll STILL be getting emails from dudes asking if its still ok to have a few drinks at the weekend!

Most alcohol is sugar in its simplest form so not only will you be making your tits bigger but you'll also be working on your love handle fat which is directly correlated to your your carb intake. ALL alcoholic beverages are disgustingly high on the glycaemic index which means the body will deal with it just like any other carb thats high in glycaemic load - AND STORE IT AROUND THE LOVE HANDLE AREA!

Oh and by the way, when you drink you PHYSICALLY CANNOT burn bodyfat for 3 days afterwards did you know that? When you drink, the alchol is converted into a substance called acetate and your body will use acetate for fuel instead of fat so the bigger your piss up the more you'll be using acetate for fuel. So all those muppets that think "they'll work off their hangover with a good session" the following morning aren't actually burning fat and won't be for quite some time after!

Not good huh!

Secondly, you need to clean up your diet and supplement with zinc as zinc has been shown to increase testosterone levels. Most guys are deficient in zinc so supplementing with it for a while will help to melt the moobs!

Organic nuts & seeds will also restore natural zinc levels.

Eating fibre like milled flax seed and plenty of cruciferous vegetables (like broccoli, cauliflower, kurly kale, white cabbage & water cress) will help to bind to estrogen and will help with the removal of it via excretion.

Thirdly, start doing intense weight training

Intense weight training will help to jack testosterone levels. Keep the workouts REALLY short (no longer than 30-45 mins but work HARDDD!!!) and steer clear of very long runs as these will increase cortisol levels and LOWER testosterone! EXACTLY what you DON'T want!

And thats it!

Its time to take action guys, man up and start managing your hormones better or I'll soon be asking you out on a date sexy!

Peace out ;-)

Sam

Why I Won't Drink Tap Water!

Are you one of these people that are led to believe that our tap water is safe to drink? It's clean, refreshing and healthy right? Of course it is, after all, if it was dangerous or deemed "unsafe for human consumption" then the goverment would intervene wouldn't it?

Or would it?

I too thought exactly like this but having recently researched this controversial topic extensively, I've been alarmed at our tap water content here in the UK.

The practice of making our water "safe" to drink actually involves adding a huge amount of highly poisenous chemicals to it and there is growing research now that these chemicals are the cause of major health disorders.

Below are just a few of the chemicals found in our water although this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to drinking water contaminents:

Chlorine - Liquified chlorine is added to water to help kill off bacteria and micro-organisms. It acts as a disinfectant however Chlorine is highly poisenous to the human body (particularly when injested over a long period of time) and can cause serious cell damage. In one research study on rats, chlorine was added to their water supply and as a result the rats developed tumours in the liver, kidneys and intestines. Despite chlorine being a leading cause of bladder & rectal cancer and asthma, the government continue to treat our water with it.

Flouride - Adding flouride to water was a government scheme set up in the 1940's. Nothing to do with killing off bacteria but to actually help prevent tooth decay. Yep, it was the governments genius idea to solve the problem of tooth decay on mass by adding it to our water supply however there is no data to support its effectiveness in the fight against tooth decay.

FUNNY THAT! Proper Diet is ALL thats needed to prevent tooth decay?!!!?

Only 10% of the UK's water supply is flouridated (mainly the west midlands and north-east) despite the growing evidence and research that the science behind this mass medication programme is highly controversial to say the least!

The current water companies that flouridate their supply are:

Anglian Water Services Ltd
Northumbrian Water Ltd
South Staffordshire Water plc
Severn Trent plc
United Utilities

There is now growing evidence linking flouride to a whole host of health disorders.

Its actually proving very difficult to explain the terrible long term effects flouride has on the body in this short blog so take a look at this BAD ASS report by The National Health & Resource Center over at http://www.all-natural.com/fleffect.html

I was dumbfounded when I first read this especially the fact about 'fluoride being added to the drinking water of prisoners to keep them docile and inhibit questioning of authority, both in Nazi prison camps in World War II and in the Soviet gulags in Siberia.'

Flouridisation has now been banned in all other European Countries by the way!

Lead - As well as all these toxic contaminents, water HAS to pass through lead pipes. The problem with this is that these pipes are often very old and rusty and date back to the victorian age so by the time your water gets to you, its likely that its picked up a load of lead along the way. Injestion of lead is particularly harmful to children and can result in learning difficulties.

Bacteria That survives the treatment - Giardia and Cryptosporidium are bacteria that can survive the chlorine treatment and have been a thorn in the water supplys backside for well over a decade now. These little super bugs have become resistant to chlorine and can lead to widespread outbreak of gastrointestinal disease.

OK, so how do you protect yourselves from all these chemicals in your water?

Its clear that tap water is not safe for drinking consumptiom and bottled water isn't much better either due to the xenoestrogens(although I still think its a better choice than slugging back 3 litres of tap water a day! Evian is the best and once youve used a bottle once just chuck it away. Don't keep refilling it!)

Home water filtration is most probably your best bet. This will help to remove contaminents used during the treatment of tap water.

Ive been a bottle & tap drinker for several years now although knowing what I know now, I shall definitely be looking to move towards home water filtration this year!

(Oh by the way those BRITA filters are crap? Don't be a tramp and get a proper one!)

I hope this article has lifted the lid somewhat on the dangers of drinking tap water and I hope it has given you some clarity on a somewhat controversial topic!

Take control of your own health because the water companies and government sure as hell won't, I promise you that!

Here's to a toxic-free summer!

Peace out :-)

Sam

** Apple Shapes Take Note! ** Why You Have Stubborn Bellyfat And What To Do About It!

Why Your Body Stores Fat Around The Belly

Getting rid of your stubborn bellyfat has absolutely NOTHING to do with your diet or lack of exercise but much more to do with whats going on with the stress hormones in your body. The number one reason why people store fat around the belly is because of the stress hormone cortisol.

Fight and flight.

Millions of years ago our bodies were designed to cope with danger. If a sabre tooth tiger was chasing us or if we were fighting with another "early man spear thrower" then we needed to react quickly to these situations. When the brain thinks you're under danger it triggers your adrenal glands (which sit on top of your kidneys) to release adrenaline and cortisol.

Fast forward to modern day life and most of us now live under chronic stress but this will come from money worries, deadlines, relationships, just to name a few so the body can't distinguish between these and sabre tooth tiger so it will react in the exactly the same why as its always done....fight or flight.

So your body sees mental stress and physical stress as EXACTLY the same and will deal with it in EXACTLY the same way

So due to modern day stress, your body ALWAYS thinks its under attack so it will ALWAYS be realeasing adrenaline and cortisol to help cope with the perceived danger.

Adrenaline helps with mental alertness and cortisol's job is to increase levels of fat and sugar in the bloodstream to help with physical exertion. However, unless you're doing something physical then all that extra sugar and fat thats been released into your blood stream has no where to go and has no option other than to be stored as fat.

After a stressful event, your adrenaline will come down very quickly although your cortisol will remain high for quite some time after the event, usually upto 2-3 days. This is because your body thinks you should be refueling after your fighting or fleeing so your appetite will typically increase.

This is fine if you've been running for your life or scrapping with fellow spear throwers, your body will clearly need to refuel after this but if you're sat at a desk making stressful phonecalls all day then continous refueling is hardly appropriate or deserved is it!

So because your body "thinks" that you need to refuel after your stressful event then you will typically crave more carbohydrates and fats which will of course lead to increased bodyfat levels, particularly around the belly ad waist.

Why the belly and waist?

The reason why your fat targets the belly and waist is because its closer to the liver where it can quickly and more easily be converted back into energy if needed.

How To Manage Your Cortisol Better

So now that you understand alittle bit about why you have stubborn bellyfat, lets talk about how to get rid of it....permanently!

Identify Your Chief Stressors

You need to lower your cortisol if you want to remove that stubborn fat from around the middle so you need to address what's stressing you out! This is the most important step you'll EVER DO. If you don't do this then none of the points below will make a blind bit of difference.

Identify your chief stressor in your life and eliminate it or find a way of managing it better.

This Has to be a lifestyle change. It might be a relationship, problems at work, money troubles,whatever it is, either ELIMINATE it or manage it better. I think you know what your chief stressor is so address it!

What and how to eat

Your goal is to regulate your blood sugar levels so eat foods that have little affect on insulin. Stay away from bread, pasta, cakes, anything that will cause a blood sugar swing. Stick to lean proteins (like chicken, turkey, fish, lamb, beef) and plenty of fresh vegetables. Go easy on the fruit aswell! Focus on clean carbs like quinoa & sweet potatoes but go easy on 'em! Cook in coconut oil whenever possible as this will help with carb cravings.

Supplements to help with stubborn bellyfat

When you are constantly stressed then you're body will typically draw on more nutrients (and into its reserves) to help you out so it will be likely that you will be nutrient depleted.

Taking magnesium, zinc, a good quality fish oil and a multi vitamin (along with vitamin C) can help although remember that you can't out supplement a poor diet so make sure your diet is spot on if you want to see a result.

There are certain herbs that can be useful for lowering cortisol aswell. Siberian gingseng, rhodiola and tulsi tea can be taken after 3pm but NOT licorice root as this helps to elevate cortisol and should only be used if you have adrenal exhaustion (which is where you've stopped producing cortisol completely - PROPER BURNOUT!!!).

Be patient aswell! It normally takes up to 3 months for your body to start responding to changes in your diet so dont expect an immediate response! Remember, you've been out of balance for a while now so you need to give your body a chance to repair. Use this time to CHILL THE HELL OUT ASWELL! :-)

The Best Exercises For You

Keep your workouts REALLY short! 15-30 mins max! This is to stop cortisol becoming too high. Strength training and metabolic sessions are ok. Jogging or any workouts that are longer than an hour will trigger a huge cortisol response which is the exact opposite of what you want so avoid it. (By the way guys, I REALLY don't have a problem with jogging, Im personally running an ultramarathon this year so please dont think I'm saying jogging is crap, but if your goal is lose that bellyfat then this is how it's gotta be for you!)

Walking, yoga and tai chi are also great for lowering cortisol aswell.

Get To Bed By 10.00pm

If you've been in fight and flight mode for a while then your body is craving rest. This is when your body repairs itself, let me put it another way the more time you spend sleeping then the more recovery time your body will have. PERIOD!

Get to bed by 10.00pm no later. You know how the old saying goes: "The hours that you get before midnight, then every hour after midnight is worth double." Between the hours of 10pm & 2am is when your body repairs itself. Between the hours of 2 and 6am, psychogenic repairs occur so make sure your asleep during this time period!

So there you have it guys, try implementing the steps above and I guarantee you'll start to see improvements with your stubborn belly fat. Be patient and remember, fat in this area has to be addressed with lifestyle changes if you want to see long term results. Good luck and heres to a stress free life :-)

Peace out :-)

Sam
07817403398

www.evolutionbootcamp.com

The Toxic Age And Why Your Doctor Is Making You Sicker (PART ONE)

Ever get the feeling when you visit your doctor that you actually know more about nutrition than them? Let me put this another way, when you look at your doctor do you think that this is a person following the healthy lifestyle? A person that is truly living and breathing optimum health? Someone that is practising what they’re preaching?

I think it’s fair to say that most of the doctors I’ve visited are the exact opposite to this. Sadly, most look overweight, stressed out from all the long hours they do and their knowledge on nutrition appears extremely limited. OK, not ALL doctors are like this but the harsh reality is that the majority are.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not Doc bashing here, I think they do a great job primarily. Their knowledge on medication is second to none at the end of the day they’re trying to help us which is a good thing right?

But (and there’s always a but right!)

Are we truly any better off with medication?
Is medication making us healthier or sicker?
Have we forgotten how to heal our bodies naturally?

In this article I’m going to address some of these burning questions and hopefully give you more clarity on what’s going on underneath the surface of the medical profession:

The cold facts

There’s a valid reason why doctors knowledge on nutrition appears limited.
By law, no med schools HAVE to have nutrition on their syllabus. It’s not a requirement. So, knowing this, only 25% of all med schools have a nutrition program on their syllabus.

In 9 years of studying medicine a doctor on average receives 2 HOURS of nutrition education. Yep you heard me right, 2 hours. So, in all of those 9 years of study, only 2 hours are dedicated to nutrition and even then, the exam at the end of it is optional, so they don’t have to take it if they don’t want to.

Is medicine helping or hindering?

Let’s look at the facts:

In the last 100 years:

- Cancer has risen from 3% to 30%
(¼ of ALL deaths are cancer related)
- Diabetes has risen from 0.1% to 20%
- Heart disease has risen from

Between 1974 and 1997 there has been a 300% rise in brain disease (Alzheimer’s etc.)

When doctors went on strike

Research shows that when doctors strike, there’s a reduction in death rate:
In the year 2000, doctors in Israel decided to go on strike; demanding increases in pay. Before long, morticians began to notice a bizarre trend.

“The number of funerals we have performed has fallen drastically”. — Hananya Shahor, the veteran director of Jerusalem's Kehilat Yerushalayim burial society.

The longer the doctors' strike continued, the more the death rate fell. In some locations, the death rate dropped by an astounding 50%. Unfortunately, the doctors eventually stopped their strike, and the mortality rates returned to normal again.

In 1976 in Bogota, Columbia, there was a 52 day period in which doctors disappeared altogether except for emergency care. The "National Catholic Reporter" described "a string of unusual side effects" from the strike. The death rate went down 35%. A spokesman for the National Morticians Associations said, "It might be a coincidence but it is a fact.”

He also tells about an 18% drop in the death rate in 1976 when doctors went on a strike in Los Angeles County. After the strike, the death rate returned to pre-strike levels.

When we stop interfering with medicine, there seems to be a reduction in death rate.

In the UK, medical errors account for an estimated 40,000 deaths each year and have officially become Britain's third biggest killer behind cancer and heart disease.

Something’s going wrong down the line. The human body is an amazing piece of machinery and it’s not really designed to get sick. Way back in the cave man days they seemed to do just fine without medicine so why have we become so heavily reliant on it over the years? Have we forgotten that with the right nutrition and lifestyle that our bodies can heal naturally?

It’s clear from these statistics that we’re not getting healthier, we are becoming sicker and medication doesn’t appear to be working.

Now the most common reply I get when I talk about how we’re getting sicker is “well, we’re living much longer now than at any point in history. Our life expectancy is much higher now than before so we must be healthier as a result.”

Well here’s the thing…

Yes, there’s no denying the fact that we are definitely living longer (not by much) but I can assure you it’s not because we are healthier.

These “extra years” are hardly quality years though are they? Yes diseases are being caught earlier these days but most people will spend those “extra years” albeit drugged up.

Also, life expectancy increases when infant mortality rates decrease. With better sanitation procedures, infants die less than when they did over 100 years ago so life expectancy increases.

So, to come back to the title of this article “Is your doctor making you sicker?”

Well, you have some of the facts now. I’ll let you decide…

What’s happened to us? Why are we getting sicker?

I believe that we’ve fully entered a new age.

The Toxic Age.



Toxins and chemicals have been polluting our environment at an alarming rate. Think of the most remote place in the world, the polar ice caps right through to the amazon rain forests. We have successfully polluted EVERY part of our planet. There isn’t anywhere in the world that is free from pollution.

Our food and water is currently more toxic than it’s ever been in our history and we are now the most contaminated species on the planet.
We spray our crops with an alarming amount of pesticides. From seed to supermarket the average seed is sprayed over 20 times from 20 different pesticides and we stuff our livestock full of antibiotics and steroids for no reason other than to bulk them up quicker for market day.

We are experiencing the birth of the toxic age.

We’re in it right now.

So how does this affect us I hear you say? Surely the body can cope with all these toxins?

Well, a lot of so-called health experts and “professors” will have you believe that the body is perfectly designed to deal with these toxins and that we don’t need to go on “detox” diets to sort this out.

Well, I agree with this up to a point. One of the liver’s roles is to detoxify any nasty’s coming in but what happens when they’re coming in at an alarming rate? (i.e. too many for the liver to deal with?)

You see, the more polluted your body is, your body is more likely to hold onto water. When the liver and digestive system are compromised your body will store the chemicals in fat cells. If you're VERY polluted then you will be fatter and unhealthier.

If there was a small amount of toxins coming in then yes you’re liver could probably just about cope but the problem is this:

No one is doing anywhere near “small amounts of toxins” and we haven’t for a while now.

The reality is that most peoples livers are overwhelmed with chemicals and toxins from our food on a daily basis and these toxins will build up over a period of weeks, months and decades so your liver never really has a chance to properly detox these nasties from your system.

And it doesn’t stop there; most of these toxins have a very negative health effect on the body.

Pesticides



Let’s take pesticides as an example. Pesticides used by commercial farms that are sprayed on our crops to help them grow.

Pesticides are designed for one thing and one thing alone.

TO KILL pests right?

So who’s to say over a period of years, decades they’re not going to do the same to a human being?

And it just so happens that there’s now very strong and alarming research linking pesticides to Parkinson’s disease.

Some pesticides are also designed to make these crop pests infertile so they stop reproducing. It just so happens that male infertility has gone up dramatically over the last 100 years as well.

You don’t need to be a rocket science to work out that ingesting pesticide is bad news – for ANY species on this planet! It’s poisonous.

Preservatives & Processed food



Most of the food we see in our supermarkets these days has been denatured. Anything tinned canned or packaged has some kind of preservative in it to preserve its lifespan. Even the pre-packed meats and fish that you see have been treated with chemicals so that they last longer.

Cereals, breads, anything tinned that you might consider to be healthy (like tinned tuna) would all come under this category. Sugar has also found its way into pretty much EVERYTHING these days. We have become a fast food nation. We live our lives at 100mph and want everything quickly, even our food. We very rarely find the time to cook our food how it should be.

Basically, any food that has been processed before it gets to you, or any crop that has been sprayed with chemicals, then the nutritional value will decrease. This means on a cellular level, your body won’t get enough nutrients and will eventually become sick. Sick cells lead to sick organs, sick organs lead to a sick system, a sick system (e.g. digestion, cardiovascular, hormones) leads to more sick systems and sick systems lead to a sick body which leads to the body breaking down which in time, results in disease.

Medication cannot stop this from happening. Medication is a disease management. Doctors can only help when your body is broken. Disease is the end result of a body that’s been sick for quite some time.

A doctor is happy to label conditions and offer prescriptions, but cannot offer any sound protocols on burning fat or how to heal with wholesome foods.

What can we do?

Now before you get your knickers in a twist, I’m not suggesting for one minute that we should all come off our medication and slag doctors off for the rest of our days but simply understand that with the right lifestyle and the right nutrition then our bodies can heal ourselves naturally without the aid of medication.

Removing chemicals from our diet, eating organically whenever we can and eating the way Mother Nature intended us to eat is a start. Although taking control of your health is more than just sticking to a diet. It means asking questions like "What lifestyle would suit me better?" It means no longer seeing the doctor as "the go-to guy" for your health but more as a partner to help find the best healing process for you.

In part two of this article, i'll be talking about how we can achieve all of the above and before you say eating organically is expensive and eating healthy is really boring and it feels like you’re denying yourself then you should definitely read part two of this as this will apply directly to you.

Here’s to a healthy toxic-free 2012,

Sam Winkworth – the south east’s leading fat loss coach

PS - Because you have this article, I'd like to offer you a free nutrition & lifestyle consultation (worth £56) with me based in Tonbridge, Kent. The training system I use with all my paying clients is designed to bring about great results in health, wellbeing & weight loss and what's more I guarantee results or you don't pay me a penny!

Simply call 07817 403398 or email sam@evolutionfitnessandnutrition.com to secure your place but hurry though, places are offered on a first come, first served basis and places fill quickly!!!