The Diet That Works, Great Lessons from Caveman

This is an article from the Diet Solution Program which I use, as one of my references for my nutrition plan, that I give to my clients.

What is one thing cavemen knew much better than we know now? How to survive in the wild? Yes. But more importantly, they knew how to survive in the healthiest way possible. There were no diet programs in those days nor were there shelves full of diet books. What cavemen knew instinctively was exactly what the best diet that works for them.

Let’s all take a quick lesson from our ancestors and see which elements of their diet are tips we can begin to incorporate right way to lose unwanted body fat and improve our health.

1. Cavemen only ate what they could kill or find in the wild. By no means am I suggesting you begin to kill and hunt for your own food (we do have grocery stores now a days, thank goodness) but we still would benefit greatly by following this method in our own 21^st century kind of way. If the food on your plate is not something your fellow caveman friend could have hunted, gathered and found himself, chances are you shouldn’t be eating that food. For example, a plate of lean hamburger and vegetables, followed by fresh fruit is perfect (for you and your new friend) but add a piece of bread or some pasta and now you have confused your fellow cave friend. These are not foods that existed during those times and are foods we are much healthier without.
2. Cavemen only drank what they could find. Do you know what people have been able to find for centuries? That’s right, good old fashioned H2O (water that is). Water is truly the magic potion to weight loss and increased health. Unfortunately a great majority of people are walking around severely dehydrated and suffering from many negative side effects which could all be easily resolved by drinking more water. Hunger, headaches, constipation, and digestive discomfort are just a few of the many symptoms that can easily be resolved by a few cups of water. Make sure to drink half of your bodyweight in ounces of water each day (i.e. 200 lbs should drink 100 ounces).
3. Cavemen stayed active for a majority of their day. I know this isn’t exactly part of their Best Diet but it is an essential and integral part of fat loss and optimized health. Tell your new caveman friend that he has to sit in an office chair all day and then go home and sit on the couch for the rest of the night and he will look at you like you are crazy (not that he doesn’t already think you are crazy but this would make matters worse). Move, move, move. Movement doesn’t always mean formal exercise. Take the stairs to your office, walk the parking lot a few extra times, get up and walk around the office a minimum of once per hour, anything to prevent you from sitting all day long. Today if modern man even tried to keep up with the daily activity and regimen of a caveman, they would quickly fall over in exhaustion.

The Best Diet and the Best Lifestyle plan can be easily established by just modeling the daily activities and food choices of cavemen. Use this question today to establish your own caveman habits “Is this food or drink something I could have found in the wild thousands of years ago?” If the answer is no, don’t eat it and find yourself a food that is more natural. Of course, don’t forget to share with your new caveman friend!

I hoped you enjoyed this article and found it useful. If you want to learn more about the super effective Diet Solution Program click here.

Eric

Dempsey's Resolution Fitness

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Eric
Dempsey's Resolution Fitness

The Officer Fitness Bootcamp Delivers Results

The Officer Fitness Bootcamp continues to provide cutting edge results to those military officers who embrace and follow the proven program. This month's highlight is Clint, one of the captains in the bootcamp. He has done an amazing job and his results show the benefit of his labor. If you want to get amazing results in record time, increase your overall health & fitness levels and skyrocket your physical performance to new levels, the officer fitness bootcamp is for you. There is no secret formula. I show you the program and the path to success, you follow it and you achieve, attain and accomplish great things. If your interested in this program, it runs every mon-wed-fri from 6pm to 7pm EST. Contact me for more details.

Eric
Dempsey's Resolution Fitness

Is one macronutrient ratio the end of the road?

Part of any diet plan is the macronutrient ratio or the division of proteins, fats and carbs. The macronutrient ratio is what separates or defines many nutrition plans or diets. There is great confusion with this topic and many don't understand the pathway for long term nutrition. Because of the heated topic of which macronutrient ratio is best, there are division lines in various fitness and nutrition groups. Everyone thinks their way is best and each have their reasons why. Of course, I am no different.

I start all of my clients with a controversial ratio of 50% protein, 30% fat and 20% carbs. Other nutrition / diet plans use very different ratios. Crossfit uses the zone diet ratio of 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. Alot of bodybuilding type ratios are in the 40% protein, 40% carbs and 20% fat. The popular south beach diet rotates through phases of ratios. Are any of these ratios wrong? There really are pro's and con's for every ratio and ratio plan.

So having said all that, is there any one ratio that is the end all -be all. My answer is no there is not. You will make progress using just about any of these ratios and for that matter, any plan out there - for a brief period at least. That's where the confusion and problems truly reside.

I believe that if a person who is not exercising regularly and is not following any type of nutrition plan adopts any nutrition/diet plan and any exercise plan -then they will make initial progress. The progress comes from a change in your eating and activity habits alone. It really doesn't have anything to do with the type or label of the plan. This lasts for a couple weeks, sometimes longer but then the party grinds slowly to a halt as your body adjusts to the changes. Then people quickly enter what they say is the plateau stage. You keep grinding away at your new plan and your working hard but nothing seems to happen or at least nothing good. You get frustrated and then burned out and ultimately give up. This is a common thing that happens to a bunch of people and you probably know what I mean. Yes, I have a solution for this problem but it's not what we are talking about right now. More on that later.

Back to the macronutrient ratios. I start my clients as I said earlier, on a 50/30/20 plan. I have found through years of trial and error on myself and many others, that this will work initially and beyond for most people. But it is not the end of the road. Most people face their greatest challenge adopting any nutrition plan. So after you have changed your bad habits to good habits and have your ratios in place, then you can worry about changing your macronutrient ratio. For some people this takes weeks (usually takes around a month to make or break a habit), for some people it takes months and some never get to the initial plan ever.

What happens when you get the initial plan going and are doing well? Where do you go from there? There are many more phases in my nutrition plan and I adopt new techniques all the time for those who require different things. There are many factors involved with this. A couple of these factors are your metabolic type and your organ type just to name two. So now I offer a simple metabolic typing quiz and organ body type quiz. They aren't high speed and you probably already know the answers if you think about it for a second. Some people need more protein, more carbs and more fat than others. Some people need different ratios for different meals at different times of the day. One basic ratio change that I tell all new clients is that I recommend that they change the 50/30/20 ratio for breakfast and post workout to 50% carbs/30% protein/20% fat for those two meals only and then return to the 50% protein/30% fat /20% carbs for the remainder of their meals.

Once a person has a grasp on their macronutrient ratio plan then they can look at advanced stages such as carb rotation, depletion and loading cycles and the list goes on. But you have to have a foundation in place first. Long term nutrition planning takes time and perseverance. You can't jump ahead and skip stuff for long term success. I train people to adopt lifestyle changes and implement long term habits that you continue forever. This is very different from a short term fix for you 10th high school anniversary party coming up in 3 weeks. I try to stay away from that type of stuff.

So don't skip ahead. Build your nutrition foundation with whatever plan you decide to follow and stick with it until you have established good habits and then look at making changes. You need a macronutrient ratio plan to start with and once you have it in place there are many different paths to adjust to when the time is right. Get the basics in place and then make changes.

If you want more info or have questions drop a comment or email me.

Train Hard and Eat Right,

Eric
Dempsey's Resolution Fitness

Roasted Red Pepper Chicken and Avocado Salad

Looking for a cool salad to fill you up this summer? Here's a delicious recipe from my partners over at Prograde Nutrition for you.

Roasted Red Pepper Chicken and Avocado Salad

1 medium ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 bag (10 oz.) torn romaine lettuce (about 10 cups)

2 cups shredded cooked chicken

1 medium tomato, cut into wedges

1 small cucumber, sliced

1/4 of a medium Vidalia or Walla Walla onion, chopped

½ cup Red Pepper

1/2 cup Light or Fat-free Italian Dressing

¼ cup Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

Toss avocados with lemon juice in large salad bowl.

Add lettuce, chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions; mix lightly.

Add dressing; toss to coat.

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Serve immediately.

Hey, if you like that one they've got 196 more! Seriously, Prograde has a really cool 197 Healthy and Delicious Fat Burning Recipes ebook for just $4.95!

Check it out here: http://dempseysresolution.getprograde.com/prograderecipebook.html

Yours in health,

Eric

Dempsey's Resolution Fitness

PS - If you've been on the lookout for simple and nutritious meals then look no further than http://dempseysresolution.getprograde.com/prograderecipebook.html

Is Your Workout Effective Based Upon Time Spent?

When you go to a gym, you see diehard people in there every day just tearing it up. These people never miss a beat and come hell or highwater, they don’t miss their workout. The funny thing is that they spend hours in the gym every day and they usually never really look much different. They may already look great or they may not but they really never look much different.

So how can that be? Someone who spends 2-3 hours a day in the gym should be a freakin ninja badass. Or so you would think. I see countless people in the gym everyday who fit this description. My point is if your going to do some really hard work and a lot of it, shouldn’t there be a big payoff somewhere in regards to how you look or perform? I say yes, there should be a big payoff for your efforts.

Another popular training method that doesn’t work well is the “how many calories can I burn in an hour” plan. 700-800 calories in an hour of spin class is a big selling point for spin. Then if you went and did another hour on the treadmill, you could burn maybe another 300-400 calories. Sounds good right?

A common issue that I have with clients, which is the same issue as with the eternal gym goers, is that they go beyond the structure of my program and do more exercise while not putting the same level of effort into their nutrition plan. It is very common for people to work out super hard for 5-6 days a week and not really go anywhere. I’ve always told everyone that you can never out train your nutrition plan and win.

When you do too much exercise and don’t eat right, it actually has the opposite effect of what you would think. You end up storing more fat or keeping the fat you have and you minimize your performance enhancement. Pounds might come off from lean body mass loss but the fat stays on to hold you back. Now through attrition and time, people do eventually make progress. But the amount of effort put forth with time vs. the payoff is a very poor ratio. Some people are just genetic weirdo’s and this whole concept doesn’t apply. They could screw up everything and look like a superstar. They are the exception.

Unfortunately, too many people are wasting much of their day working out very hard and not getting the results they should. You would be better served by spending the additional hours, wasted in the gym, by working on your meal plan, actually making grocery lists, shopping & buying the food, preparing and eating it.

My program covers all of the bases of strength & conditioning, targeted fat loss cardio and nutrition. It is proven through dozens and dozens of people over years of consistent results. You don’t need to do more exercise and eat less – you just simply need to put your efforts into following the proven program.

How does 5% bodyfat loss in a week sound? How about 8-10% bodyfat loss in a month? Does it sound far fetched? I have had dozens of men and women get these types of results month after month. What secret thing did they do? They simply followed the plan and put all of their efforts into the plan and nothing more.

So if you are tired of countless hours wasted in the gym and want to actually make real progress now instead of much later, if at all, then join the winning team.

Become part of the tribe of people who want to operate in the band of personal excellence and begin the journey.

Next Bootcamp at smith fitness center starts on July 6th at 0915am. Bootcamp at the house is open enrollment - start any time. M-T-W-T 7pm-8pm.

Eric

Dempsey’s Resolution Fitness

Why You Need Endurance AND Strength

No sh*&, there I was, 1994, about a mile off the coast of Waikiki, Oahu, finishing the PADI Rescue Diver Course. We were on a large boat, finishing our open water rescues. I was the last one to go. The dive instructor told me to do a headcount, so I did and I came up one person short. Oh geez, I thought, here we go.

The seas were getting rough and choppy and the wind was picking up as the clouds grew dark. We had one person missing. I knew I was screwed. The instructor said "ok rescue diver, where is the missing person?" I took the binoculars out and scanned the seas around the boat, gradually looking further out in a circular pattern around the boat. About 500m out from the stern of the boat, I saw something in the swells. Yup sure as shi*, there he was! I thought surely they are gonna drive the boat closer to him so I can get him. Nope! Ok big sarge, in you go. Damn!

I had to strip down to wet suit, fins, mask & snorkel and my weight belt - thanks. I jumped in and began finning my way to the body which was face down and lifeless bobbing in the growing swells. It was a helluva swim as the waves were getting big and I was getting nervous and smoked in the current. I made it to the diver and went through the drill. Fortunately, the scripted act for the diver was for him to be unconscious with no assistance. Thanks again. I flipped him over and began rescue breathing while towing him back to the boat while shedding his equipment. This was far more difficult than the swim out to him obviously. This guy was about 6'4 and must have weighed 250lbs plus.

After great effort, we made it to the diver platform on the boat. Ah another dilemma! The waves were lifting the tailend of the boat out of the water and smashing the boat back down. So there was a real possibility of me and him getting squashed by this huge boat. Never mind the big propellers whizzing past my head with each rise and fall of the boat. So timing was everything! When the boat smashed down in the water, I rolled old boy onto the platform and jumped back avoiding the next smash of the stern. Then I quickly climbed up onto the boat and continued rescue breathing while moving the diver to the rear deck.

I finally got the ok signal from the instructor that the drill was over. He said he was pleased with my performance and that I did very good under the harsh circumstances - which I wasn't pleased about, seeing everyone else did their drill 20 feet off the stern, in sunny, calm seas. So needless to say - I was smoked and exhausted. But I was happy that I did the hardest rescue drill with the biggest dude and made it. We returned to the dive shop and I was awarded my rescue diver card and certificate. I was glad that was over. But I started the Divemaster course the next day, so it was only temporary relief.

That was one of the most physically tasking events of my life and I have been a couple places and done a couple things in my time. The only way I was able to do it at all was because of my fitness program. I was on a vigorous 2 part endurance and strength & conditioning program. My endurance training allowed me to go the distance and complete the swim, the strength & conditioning training allowed me to manhandle the body and move him up onto the boat, while dealing with his scuba gear. Had I been lacking in either area, I would have failed the drill. Aside from the swim itself and towing the man back to the boat, I executed swim sprints and about a dozen exercises while getting him up onto the boat. Deadlift, squat, row, curl are a few examples.

So while it's popular to do the endurance stuff, it's only part of a complete program. That's why I am a supporter of having total body power, strength and endurance as part of any program. It's the only way to truly achieve operational readiness for any physical encounter, in a functional environment, based upon daily life / real world activities. Lift heavy and run fast and you'll always be successful.

Eric
Dempsey's Resolution Fitness

The Sunday Concrete Butt Kicking

Eric

Dempsey's Resolution Fitness

5 Annoying Things I See In The Gym

Anyone who has gone to any gym for any length of time, has seen things that just bug the crap out of you. So I'll give you 5 out of a zillion. I know you have your own so feel free to share in the comments. They are usually hilarious. Here are 5 in no order.

1. Reading a book on a cardio machine while moving slow.
2. Wearing one of the old vinyl sweat suits or a hooded sweat shirt and sweat pants while doing cardio in July. -Morons!

3. Doing the crossfit workout of the day and not knowing how to do half the exercises but trying valiantly anyway with your best guess. Almost a cool guy.

4. Putting 500lbs on the bar in the squat rack and then not going all the way down but feeling cool cause you think you squatted 500lbs, when you really didn't even pull off a partial rep. -see this all the time. Tough guys!

5. Rico Suave looking around in the mirror until some girls show up, then after kissing his biceps, he does a brutally impressive set of arm curls, usually with very poor form. - Idiot. Oh yeah I'm secretly jealous.

Yeah the twilight picture had nothing to do with the post. I'm just looking forward to seeing the next movie. Anyone want to go see the next movie with me?

Let me know what your biggest gym pet peeves are. Leave a comment and Holla!!!!!!!!!!

Eric
Dempsey's Resolution Fitness

Don't Blame Oprah For Belly Flab

"I must have a slugghish thyroid, just like Oprah."

Well, that MIGHT be true. But chances are it's not.

Chances are your thyroid is just fine.

Want the hard science on that to know for sure?

Here's an aweome article on the subject from my partners over at Prograde Nutrition.

http://dempseysresolution.getprograde.com/hypothyroidism.html

Yours in health,

Eric
Dempsey's Resolution Fitness

PS - You may have the same problem as Oprah, but you probably don't. Click that little link below to find out.

http://dempseysresolution.getprograde.com/hypothyroidism.html