5 Lifestyle Tips to Reduce Your Waist
by Jen Heath

So many folks are looking for a miracle program that has every nutrition and lifestyle choice under a microscope. Something to "guarantee" results, as it dominates all aspects of their life.

I have news: There isn't one!

Human nature and that thing called "life" make it impossible. The key to success doesn't involve placing your life in a petri dish for examination. It also doesn't involve making changes you aren't ready to make. Hasty decisions where you find yourself biting off more than you can chew are a recipe for disaster. And unlike grandma's brownies, this recipe won't have you winning a contest anytime soon.

Rather than concentrate on a million details that leave your head spinning, start by implementing these five simple tips. That way, each day can be completed with successes under your belt.

Yeah, that belt. The one that's going to be too big for you in a few weeks.

You can only shrink your waistline one notch at a time, and these tips are the way to do it.

1. Eat Your Greens and Superfood

As fitness oriented people who care about our health, we could all benefit from increased veggie and fruit consumption. One topic that isn't mentioned is the influence vegetables and fruits have on our acid to alkaline balance. The majority of folks are in a state of subclinical metabolic acidosis — including most of us.

We all avoid highly refined carbs, which have the greatest impact on acidity, but unfortunately, high protein diets also lead to a greater net acid load. This can negatively impact bone health along with cortisol, thyroid, and growth hormone levels. All of which can affect our ability to build muscle and burn fat. Dr. John Berardi touched on this with his Covering Your Nutritional Acids (and Bases) article.

If you want to monitor your alkalinity, you can go to any health food store and purchase saliva PH testing strips. You simply spit on the paper and it'll turn color based on the acidity or alkalinity of your saliva. Ideally, you want to stay slightly alkaline all of the time.

Lately, I've been using the PH paper, and I've found that with a high intake of alkaline veggies my PH is always on the alkaline side. Additionally, I've found that a serving of Superfood works wonders to positively impact PH. My baseline PH has increased in alkalinity ever since I've been regularly consuming Superfood.

To give you an idea, if you look at the chart below, you'll see spinach is the most alkaline veggie there is.

When tested with lithmus paper, Superfood raised my alkalinity in a fasted (or post-workout) state just about the same as mega doses of spinach. Eating spinach and other alkaline veggies is important, but mega doses can be unrealistic. Eat a moderate amount of them and supplement with Superfood.

It's a convenient supplement, and as far as I've found, the only greens supplement that doesn't have the taste of a barley field. Take two serving a day for maximum benefits.

Superfood helps support healthy PH levels.

2. Monitor Your Metabolism

The thyroid and sympathetic nervous system are the main regulatorsof your metabolism. The ease you have in losing fat is greatlyinfluenced by the vibrancy of your metabolism, which tends todecline the harder and longer you diet.

Both the thyroid and sympathetic nervous system also impact body temperature. Thus, you can get an accurate measure of your metabolic rate by monitoring your body temp. Here's a cheap, easy, and accurate way to check your basal metabolic rate without going to the doctor.

Use an oral thermometer and take your temp first thing in the morning before getting out of bed. Record these numbers for four or five days.

• 97.0 to 98.1 — Normal metabolic rate

• 95.5 to 96.9 — Metabolism reduced by as much as 15 to 20%

• 94.5 to 95.5 — Very low basal metabolic rate

If your metabolism is slightly suppressed, take a break from your diet and add 200 grams of carbs for a couple of days. If your metabolism is very suppressed, you'll need to eat at maintenance calories for a couple of weeks, maybe longer.

A few people will naturally have lower than normal readings all of the time — even when eating well. But drops in temp will still reflect negative changes in metabolic rate.

Also note that cessation of stimulant and excessive caffeine usage can also indicate a suppressed metabolic rate.

3. Get Your Sunlight

That sun-soaked tan the dermatologists have been warning us about for years may be healthy after all.

Recent evidence suggests vitamin D deficiency is almost an epidemic. Vitamin D is important because it isn't really a vitamin but a steroid hormone precursor. The major function of vitamin D is to maintain normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorus. By aiding in the absorption of calcium, it helps to form and maintain strong bones. But its effects go much deeper.

Ever wonder why you feel better in the spring than you do in the winter? Low vitamin D contributes to the seasonal chronic fatigue and depression that culminates as the "winter blues." Activated vitamin D in the adrenal gland regulates tyrosine hydroxylase, the rate limiting enzyme necessary for the production of dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. These all greatly influence our moods.

The same hormones involved in mood also regulate our appetite and fat burning potential. One study showed women with higher vitamin D levels lost more bodyfat in response to a hypocaloric diet (1). Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with insulin deficiency, insulin resistance, and many other disease states.

So how do we get more of this important stuff? Well, vitamin D is produced when we expose our skin to the sun. How much sun is enough? The old recommendations were 10 to 15 minutes of sunlight a month. New evidence suggests that 10 to 15 minutes per day is closer to the truth — even more if you have a dark complexion.

A recent study found that the majority of women living in southeast Texas had close to deficient levels of vitamin D (2). If you haven't been to east Texas, it's often hot enough to get a tan on Christmas day and most still had suboptimal levels.

The solution is to either get your sun or pick up a supplement. You might also want to have your levels tested. The correct test is 25(OH)D, also called 25-hydroxyvitamin D.

• Normal 25-hydroxyvitamin D values are 20 to 56 ng/ml.

• Optimal 25-hydroxyvitamin D values are 50 to 55 ng/ml.

The late winter average of vitamin D levels in the United States is only about 15 to 18 ng/ml!

If you want to supplement, there are two types of vitamin D supplements. There's vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), which comes from fish, eggs, organ meats, animal fat, and plant sources. And then there's D2 (ergocalciferol), which is found in fortified foods and some supplements. The D2, found in plants and made active by irradiation, is less biologically active.

Supplemental vitamin D is beneficial when you aren't able to get outside.

Vitamin D3 is the equivalent to the vitamin D3 formed on our skins from UV-B rays. Stay away from the synthetic D2, as it's been shown to have toxicity at higher doses. You'll only want to use 2,000 to 5,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day.

4. Low Carbs or High Carbs? Make a Choice.

Everyone knows that in order to lose fat you need to cut your carbs, right? Not so fast. Certain studies have shown that some people lose almost twice as much fat on high carb diets as they would on low carb diets. However, others will lose twice as much fat by doing the opposite and keeping their carbs low (3).

This is due to variations in insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance. In many ways, insulin and glucose have a stimulating effect on the body. In people that are insulin sensitive, carbs increase sympathetic nervous system activity (think natural amphetamine), which translates into a boost in metabolism.

However, the thermic effect of carbohydrate ingestion varies greatly between different people. Insulin resistant people don't get the same metabolic stimulating effect. But people that are more insulin sensitive often feel like crap on low carb diets for this reason. Their metabolism quickly drops like a rock in response to low carbs, while more insulin resistant people will enjoy greater energy and mental clarity.

So, how do you tell which VIP club you're in? If you feel like death after a few days of low carbs and find that you don't lose much fat, you're probably more insulin sensitive. You can likely succeed with a diet as high as 50% carbs. If you feel on top of the world, you're probably more insulin resistant and will do better keeping carbs to 30% or less.

If you're still not sure which group you're in, test yourself. After eating a fairly high carb diet (at least 150 to 200 grams) for three days, and going at least 24 hours without exercise, have 50 to 75 grams of medium glycemic carbs, such as oatmeal, for breakfast.

If after an hour, you feel sleepy and are hungrier than you were before eating, then carbs aren't for you. If you feel more energetic, then carbs are your new training partner.

You can take things a step further by asking for a glucose tolerance and insulin test from your doctor or doing one yourself, as outlined in Dr. John Berardi's article here.

5. Digestive Enzymes and Probiotics are Good!

The modern American diet is lacking in raw foods. Raw foods contain enzymes that help in the digestive process. Since we don't eat enough raw foods, supplementation is a great way to get the enzymes you need for optimum digestion. This is particularly true if you eat a lot of protein, since only 80% of whole proteins are absorbed!

Probiotics are bacteria which support the normal gastrointestinal balance of good and potentially harmful bacteria to help maintain a balanced, healthy internal environment. Using enzymes before meals and probiotics after can go a long way in ensuring digestive health.

From Ideas to Habits

You now have some nutritional and lifestyle tips that are more than just a repetition of the "little things" you hear all the time. Take them to heart and make practice of them. Remember, no all encompassing program is going to make you a lean and healthy person for the rest of your life automatically, especially if you try to do everything all at once.

Learning smart tips and making them every day habits is a sure-fire way to succeed.

About the Author

Jen Heath is an ACSM certified personal trainer, professional natural bodybuilder, and mother of four children. She runs a successful online coaching business, JenHeath.com, through which she helps women alter the course of their lives, and achieve the lean, muscular physiques they desire. You can also find her at FatLossPros.net.

References

1. Preliminary data about the influence of vitamin D status on the loss of body fat in young overweight/obese women following two types of hypocaloric diet.

2. Association of race, body fat, and season with vitamin D status among young women: A cross-sectional study. McKinney K, Breitkopf CR, Berenson AB.

3. Cornier MA Insulin sensitivity determines the effectiveness of dietary macronutrient composition on weight loss in obese women. Obes REs. 2005 Apr;13(4):703-9

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