Greetings!  

It is SPRING!!!!  I am so excited.  I ran the bleachers today.  What an amazing feeling to have the SUN shining and actually being able to FEEL its warmth!  :)  The bleachers were still a little wet this afternoon, but I made it.  I cannot wait until it gets a little bit warmer and we all can meet at the track for some bleacher FUN!  It felt so great to be outside.  It was 47 when I was running errands, so I think that we have made it through another winter!  Spring and warm weather is coming!  The world will begin to grow again!  Finally! 

I read a book this weekend that was very interesting.  The title is Why We Get Fat, and what to do about it.  The author is Gary Taubes.  He has also written the book Good Calories, Bad Calories,  This book is featured in this month's Readers Digest as well.  If you see the one with bacon and eggs on the front, pick it up and read the article. He will tell you the same things that I tell you about grains and sugar, and he gives you the research to back it up.  The amazing thing is back in the 1800's scientists were doing research on nutrition and they would have told you the same exact thing. 

In the 30's in America, the calories in/calories out theory was born.  Much as I suspected, it is not the whole truth.  Balancing the exact amount of calories that you eat with the calories you burn is extremely difficult.  And eating as little as 20 extra calories per day (ONE PERCENT of the daily recommended caloric intake) will make you 100 pounds overweight by the age of forty.  So how is it EVER possible for anyone to not get fat.  You have to be 99% accurate every single day of your life.  Well, Taubes argues that the calories in/calories out theory is not scientifically sound.

He argues that it is your hormones, not the "calories" that you are eating that is making you fat.  One hormone over all others - insulin.  When insulin is in your blood stream, you are very likely to be storing what you just ate as fat.  Want to lose that fat?  Then, keep insulin under control. 

Grains, sugar, starches, breads, pastas all stimulate the release of insulin, and usually in very high amounts.  If you ever feel like you could keep eating these foods and never get satisfied, then you know how well insulin works.  All of the foods that I listed above, digest very quickly, they get into the blood stream very quickly and they raise your blood sugar very quickly.  Insulin comes to the rescue (because high blood sugar is toxic to the body) and gets that sugar out of the blood and into your fat cells very quickly as well, so you want to eat more!  It is a vicious cycle. 

The more fat cells you have, the quicker you will be hungry again because all of those cells are sucking in more and more of that sugar.  It is your fat cells that is taking all the energy from the food you eat.  That could be the reason that you have no energy.  That could be the reason that you are not eating very much, but you are still gaining weight.  Your fat cells are sabotaging you.

The way to fix it.  Stop eating sugar.  All sugars.  Even the sugar that is in fruit.  Eat protein, fat and veggies.  If you are frustrated and have not been able to lose the fat that you want, this might be a good option for you.  Protein and fat do not have an affect on insulin being released, so you can eat that until you are satisfied.  No more being hungry.  I know that it sounds extreme to give up all sugars, but if you really want to get the results that you have been working so hard for, other changes may be necessary.  This is not your fault.  You are not necessarily over eating each day.  Your body is working against you.  You can make it work for you again. 

I know that this sounds like the Atkins Diet and that has gotten a lot of really bad publicity, but the science backs it.  I can show you a million articles about how eating saturated fats will help lower your cholesterol and increase overall health and a million that will show you how eating grains will increase your risk for heart disease.  Fat is not the problem, sugar is.

This diet is not necessarily for everyone.  If you are not overweight, you do not have to worry as much.  Your body is not working against you like it is in some of the other women.  Every body is different, and we have to figure out what works for you.  Age could be part of the problem.  Estrogen could be another part.  There are so many factors, but what we do know is insulin is driving the fat gain. 

Are you sick of being frustrated and want to try what Taubes suggests?  Let's set up a group.  Let's get some of this weight off.  In my opinion, there is no good reason to work so hard in boot camp and not see the fat loss that you want.  Let's work together.  It is not the easiest diet to be on, but if it works and we can make the changes that we are striving for in our bodies, then it will be worth it...right?!?!!?  Want to give it a shot?  Let me know.  Let's do an experiment, and you can be the test subjects!  Sounds like fun to me!

Have a wonderful evening.  Love, Emily 

P.S. If you have not joined the MyLeanBody Boot Camp on Facebook yet, please do so.  Julia and Heidi were so kind to create it for me.  :)