My Nutrition Revolution Evolution: From Grape Soda to Grapeseed Oil

Every day until I started high school, it was grape soda and doughnuts after school or practice. My family friend who would take care of me after school put a blanket on me as I passed out on the "Archie Bunker" chair after watching Scooby Doo and other classic cartoons.

I often woke up with headaches. I was lethargic at times, even though I was constantly playing sports after school, be it football, baseball or basketball. I was a three-sport jock dumping the wrong fuel in my system.

Back then, I, as well as my family, lacked the knowledge we now have of the Glycemic Index. I encourage everyone to find a copy of one online, print it out, post one copy on your fridge and keep another in your wallet for when you dine out.

I know now that if I eat a plain baked Russet potato, the glycemic index is 98 (out of a possible score of 110;); not good for somebody who burns carbs way to quickly. A plain baked potato for me is all-too quick burning octane. I've got to add some sour cream (hopefully organic) to it to slow my oxidation rate. The quicker the oxygen burns the food up, the more likely I will feel lethargic later from exhausting my energy supply.

Up through college, I ate anything that I could lay my hands on in order to gain weight, as I entered college weighing 140 pounds, standing at 6-ft tall.

I became friendly with a powerlifter who taught me to stack layers upon layers of bread in between peanut butter and honey. I would watch this squat, adrenal-charged powerlifter fold a whole pizza in half and almost swallow the whole thing in one bite.

So I scarfed down multiple plates of pasta and pizza and always, as per the suggestion of my powerlifting friend, ended my meals chugging four glasses of milk for the extra calories.

I finally started getting a little bulky and no longer felt self conscious about my stick-figure frame. But for the first time, I was also fighting a mini battle of the bulge. On a family trip to Hawaii in my senior year of college, my sister taunted me: "You've got lovehandles."

I would never go back to that burrito place and order that again -- I try as much as possible now to eat organic meats -- but the experience turned me back into an omnivore.

It only makes sense that my body naturally gravitated back towards meat consumption. In 2006, I discovered METABOLIC TYPING. Through MT, it was determined that I should feel free to eat liberal amounts of grass-fed beef and other rich protein and fatty foods. No, it wasn't the Atkins Diet; I still consume 30-40% of my caloric intake in the form of carbohydrates.

Determining what your body prefers to burn for fuel is priceless. Doing this will provide you with rock steady energy all day. It will keep you calm, focused and healthy.

I also have recently discovered further sources of holistic nutrition to determine my Metabolic Type, which isn't new; it's been around for at least 5,000 years. The ancient yogis in India developed Ayurvedic medicine, which consists of three main constitutional types (Vatta, Pitta, Kapha).

I visit an Ayurvedic practitioner in town who told me to stay away from spicy and citrus foods because they just add more fuel to my rapidly-burning fire. Makes sense. Ayurveda and food-allergy tests are great supplements to finding out what your Metabolic Type is.

Now, I'd be hard pressed to be able to pinch and inch on my midsection. Hardly a drop of flour in my diet, no refined and unsprouted grains except for oatmeal and quinoa flakes in the morning. Very little processed food; nothing my body doesn't like.

My blood sugar is steady Eddie. My energy is constant. I have discovered my true self a lot more by staying positive and energetically- efficient.

I hope everyone in the U.S. discovers how to eat for their specific needs and learns to cook with healthy oils like coconut oil and grapeseed oil. And I hope there will be a lot less people one day pounding bottles of grape soda.

To have me help you determine your Metabolic Type, visit HealthExcel's website and enter my name and adviser number: Judd Handler; JH868. Call Judd at 858.442.6861 for more details.

Daily Healthy Living Tips

New Year's Healthy Living Tips

Winter has arrived. You're tempted to stay warm by eating fattier comfort foods and cranking on the heat, hibernating watching movies, being sedentary like a bear.

How then to get leaner during the holidays and winter?

Don't go Insane with a Diet

Allow yourself to cheat every once in a while. If pizza is your favorite guilt food, eat one slice per week. You'll end up going crazy if you eat only tofu and carrots everyday. If you enjoy artery-clogging fatty meat like brisket for example, eat only a fist-sized portion.

Find alternatives to foods laden with saturated fat and cholesterol; though keep in mind not all saturated fats and foods that have cholesterol are bad for you, such as coconut oil, excellent to cook with as it stays very stable at high temperatures.

Try eating a Mediterranean diet of lean fish, green salads, nuts, and fruits and vegetables, hummus, and whole-wheat pita, olives and olive oil. (Don't cook olive oil at higher than a medium flame, as it will alter the chemical properties of the oil for the worse.)

Eat More Often!

A sensible eating plan should consist of eating several small meals a day, say four or five. Combined with daily moderate-intensity exercise, eating more often throughout the day will speed your metabolism into overdrive. Some still think that the less often you eat the better for you. The exact opposite is true. If you're only eating twice a day, or spacing your meals five hours or more apart, your metabolism shuts down and body fat is preserved, not burned.

Replace fatty cuts of meat with fish, which is virtually free of saturated fats, contains heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids, is loaded with protein and low in carbohydrates.

Which Carbs Should I Eat to Stay Lean?

If you're going to eat carbohydrates, eliminate simple carbs, that is, anything with refined sugar or anything containing white flour. Try to eliminate flour in general as simple sugars will weaken your immune system.

To successfully avoid colds and flu during the winter, you should have your immune system running at optimal levels. This means avoiding simple carbs, as excess insulin spikes will weaken your immunity. The sugar might also exacerbate allergy symptoms.

So avoid doughnuts, white bread, and sadly, yes, bagels. Choose 100% whole wheat bread instead of white bread and brown rice instead of white. Eating foods with flour and processed or refined sugars will spike your insulin production levels, eventually resulting in a loss of energy and an increase of stored body fat.

So if you are hungry for carbs, try lots of vegetables and complex, slow-burning carbs like whole grains.

Unless you plan on hopping on a treadmill right after you eat a piece of candy, the unburned sugar will be stored as fat. If you know you're going to exercise at say five in the afternoon, eat some brown rice (along with a balanced protein/fat source) a couple hours earlier to fuel your workout. Although brown rice is a healthy alternative to white rice, if eaten late at night, it will be stored as fat for your body to use as energy. So if you're hungry late at night, try to eat something that is comprised mostly of protein. Speaking of protein�

...Was Dr. Atkins Right?

The late Dr. Robert Atkins is the most controversial doctor. Atkins advocated a high-protein, low-carbohydrate approach to weight loss. His book, Diet Revolution, became one of the 50 bestselling books in history. Atkins was right in the sense that our bodies don't store excess protein as bodyfat, as carbohydrates do (excess protein is secreted through urine). For people who are obese and don't exercise, the Atkins diet will help them shed significant weight. But life is too short to deny yourself of tasty carbohydrates. Your body prefers carbohydrates as a primary source of fuel. Much of the weight loss for the Atkins diet is from water. If you're on a very high-protein, low carb diet such as the Atkins diet, you will immediately gain weight if you have a portion of pasta, rice or other complex carbohydrate. If you exercise regularly, you will need to eat some carbs in order to have enough energy to perform. The Atkins diet worked for some, most likely because those people were born with protein-dominant metabolic types.

But for most people (those with mixed carb and protein-dominant metabolic types, or a heavily carb-dominated type), the Atkins diet, turned out to be just like all other tens of thousands of come and go fad diets.

The Universal Law of Thermodynamics and Exercise

Carbohydrates, fats and proteins react differently in your body, but what weight loss all boils down to is the Law of Thermodynamics. Simply put, you will gain weight (fat mass) if you consume more calories than you burn. So how do you burn calories?

Set an initial goal for yourself of performing moderate-intensity aerobic exercise three times a week and resistance training two or three times a week. Eventually you will get hooked and want to increase the exercise frequency.

What if I hate running?

Then don't run. Unless you're a well-conditioned athlete, your heart rate should not exceed (when first starting an exercise program) 70 percent of your theoretical heart rate, which is 220 beats per minute minus your age times 70 percent. There are other formulas for figuring your target heart rate, but this is the simplest. Not sure what your heart rate is while working out? Go buy a heart rate monitor (sold at sporting goods stores for approximately $80) and exercise at an intensity that is between 55 and 70 percent of your target heart rate. Remember to warm up and cool down for five minutes each. Initially, strive for 25 minutes of continuous aerobic exercise (including warm up and cool down).

Your metabolism will skyrocket when you add resistance training to your aerobic exercise regimen. One pound of muscle burns approximately 35 calories a day, compared with five calories a day for one pound of fat. How do you turn fat into muscle? Resistance training. The elderly and women need resistance training to prevent osteoporosis and build bone density.

Not sure how to get started with a resistance training program? Consult a personal trainer. You can also use your own body weight to build up strength, increase bone density, increase your metabolism and lose fat, however, getting motivated to perform these exercises on your own is a problem. It's best to train with a fitness professional or exercise with a fitness-savvy friend.

Don't forget to breathe!

The Hebrew word for breath, "Neshima" and soul, "Neshama" derive from the same root. Breathing properly helps us connect to our souls. Inhale and expand your rib cage and belly. Exhale the stale air and carbon dioxide out by deflating your belly when you breathe out. If you want to be on this Earth for a longer period of time and see your children and grandchildren graduate, get married and have their own children, then change your lifestyle. The most honorable, charitable and selfless act you can do is to adopt a healthy lifestyle so that you will be with your loved ones for a longer (and higher quality) period of time.