The Ultimate Muscle Meal... a Salad on Roids

Hi there. It's Mike again from TruthAboutAbs.com. Today, I just wanted to share with you my special muscle meal of the week, and it actually comes in the form of a salad.

I know the ladies will love this idea, but for all of you guys out there that think eating a salad makes you less of a man... Well, you haven't tried the ultimate "salad on roids" yet!

Keep in mind that this salad is not low in calories. It's not low in fat. It's not low in carbs.

And guess what...that's the whole point! It's not low in anything, but it sure as hell is HIGH in everything under the sun that's good for your body... just about every vitamin, mineral, antioxidant, and phytonutrient on the planet! And that means your body will receive all the nutrition it needs to maintain optimal hormonal balance, function at it's highest capacity, keep your appetite satisfied for hours, and prevent any unwanted cravings.

Keep in mind that last point... when you fill your body with all of the nutrients it needs on a daily basis, you pretty much totally eliminate cravings! This happens because your body is satisfied and doesn't need to crave any more food, because it has all of the nutrients it needs.

I've experienced this myself. Years ago, I used to crave sweets ALL THE TIME. But now that I eat the balanced diet that I do these days, I can't say that I've had a craving in at least 5 years! No joke.

Alright, here's the recipe:

The Ultimate Muscle Salad

• approx 1-2 cups spinach leaves
• approx 1-2 cups mixed leaf lettuce
• shredded carrots
• 1/2 of a ripe avocado, diced
• 2 hard boiled eggs, diced (preferrably organic, cage free)
• 3 Tbsp chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• top with homemade dressing made of balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and Udo's Choice Oil Blend (3/4 of total liquid should come from the vinegar)

Mix it all together and you've got one delicious and ridiculously nutritious salad. For an extra shot of antioxidants, wash it all down with some homemade iced green/white/oolong tea lightly sweetened with the natural sweetener Stevia or a little touch of raw honey.

Alright, now let's look at the approx macronutrient breakdown:

Prot: 23 g., Carbs: 48 g., Fiber: 12 g., Fat: 45 g., Calories: 650

Now before you throw your arms up in disgust and call me crazy for recommending such a high fat, high calorie meal, keep in mind to scale back the portion sizes for your own caloric goal. The portions above are simply the portions that I use considering that my maintenance caloric intake is around 3000 calories/day. If your maintenance is 2000 calories/day, then scale back the portions accordingly.

Also, I don't care about the high fat content of this meal... because every last gram of the fat in this meal is VERY healthy... from the pecans, the olive oil, the Udo's oil, the fresh avocado... and yes, even the fat from the eggs is good for you!

How about the carbs? Well, out of a total of 48 grams, you've got 12 grams of fiber. That's a pretty good ratio. Also, the healthy fats and protein in this meal will slow down the carbohydrate digestion, giving you a healthy glycemic response and steady controlled blood sugar.

Alright, so you're probably also wondering why there isn't a larger amount of protein. After all, protein is all the rage with bodybuilders, right. Well, actually 23 grams isn't too shabby, especially considering 14 grams of that comes from the highly bioavailable protein from the hard boiled eggs. Also consider that this meal has a whole lot of healthy fats, which increases the utilization of your protein. This happens because your body does not need to use your protein for energy, and can instead use it for muscle building/maintenance, and all of the other various functions that amino acids are needed for in the body.

Overall, with this meal, you've got a great mix of healthy fats, good fibrous carbs, quality protein, and a huge diversity of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other trace nutrients.

If you enjoyed this idea today, feel free to fwd this link to your friends, family, and coworkers that might enjoy it. If you are not yet a free member of my Lean-Body Secrets Ezine, and would like to continue to get these special nutrition and workout tips by email, sign up here and receive over $50 in free fitness bonuses as well.

I'll be back in touch soon. In the meantime...train hard, eat smart, have fun, and enjoy life!

Mike Geary
Founder - TruthAboutAbs.com & BusyDadWorkouts.com

Lose Body Fat Naturally... without Rip-off Supplements

Hey there. It's Mike here and I wanted to talk in today's Lean-Body Secrets Ezine a little more about supplements and fat loss pills.

The fact is, I still get questions almost daily from people that are still being suckered into throwing away loads of money on worthless pills and powders due to the clever marketing behind the supplement and fat loss pill industry.

The questions come in all the time, such as:

"Mike, what types of supplements should I be taking to help me lose fat quicker?", or
"Mike, I heard about this new weight loss pill called ______ that claims I can lose more than 30 pounds in a month. Do you think I should try it?", or how about this one...
"Mike, my friend just told me about this new Mega-Mass-Gainer-8000-Nitric-Cell-Volumizer that's supposed to make me put on 20 lbs of muscle in just 3 weeks. They said to get it quickly because the feds are planning to make it illegal in a few weeks"

It absolutely blows my mind every day that so many people are willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for all of these completely bogus supplements and pills, but they aren't willing to invest as little as $29 on my Truth about Six Pack Abs book, which shows them exactly how to save thousands of dollars throughout their lives by never having to buy supplements again, and discovering the training strategies and nutrition secrets that actually get REAL fat loss results for LIFE!

Seriously, the only thing you could call a "supplement" that I've bought during the last 5 years is whey protein for mixing into my post-workout smoothies. That's it! That's about the only thing I'd even recommend including regularly. And to be honest, you could even do fine without that as well.

As for all of the new miracle pills that everyone asks me about....again, PLEASE don't waste any money on this stuff. This is exactly how the pharmaceutical and supplement industry makes billions off of people that are simply lazy and looking for a quick fix.

They take the quick fix pill or diet, might lose a few pounds, and they subsequently lower their metabolism by losing lean muscle. Then they gain back all of the weight plus more, in the long run.

So then when the next magic pill comes out, they buy that, make the pharmaceutical and supplement companies even richer, lose a little bit of weight again, wreck their metabolism again, eventually gain back even more than before, and go back to searching for another fad diet or magic pill.

This is an endless cycle that constantly goes on, and all that happens is these companies that promote this CRAP get richer, while the frustrated dieters get fatter. I'm serious, look at the stats...over the last 20 years, diet pills and supplements have exploded in popularity, while the population has simultaneously gotten fatter and fatter. Obviously, the pills and supplements have not solved the problem, and if anything, have only made things worse.

So what does work?

The ONLY way to lose body fat and get to a nice lean body composition and maintain it for LIFE, comes from these basic aspects:

• Make your health a priority. With everything you eat, drink, and do, think about whether it's helping or hurting your health, and only do the things that help.
• Eat a clean healthy diet made up of natural unprocessed foods regularly, and make this a habit. Avoid even allowing yourself to buy junk or processed foods at all. There's still a TON of delicious natural foods that can satisfy your cravings and give you great nutrition at the same time.
• Make regular exercise a daily part of your life. Every single day doesn't have to include an intense workout, but try to at least workout intensely 3-4 days/week, and then at least get out and walk or ride a bike or something that involves movement almost every day.
• Try to keep from getting stressed, and get enough sleep every night. No matter how tough everyone thinks they are and that they only need 4-5 hrs of sleep per night, the studies consistently show that 7-8 hours a night is best. If you're not getting that, you're creating a metabolic environment in the body that wants to store more bodyfat.
• And last, make sure you have the positive mental attitude where you know that you can actually achieve the body that you want. Believe me, I've worked with hundreds of people of all shapes and sizes, and I can attest that anybody can do it, but most people sabotage themselves with negative thoughts that they'll never be able to lose fat and their genetics has destined them to be overweight. That's a bunch of crap. You may never look like a fitness model, but anybody can get down to at least a reasonably lean physique if they do the right things consistently.

This mental aspect is more important than people realize, and I'll get into this more in future Ezine issues.

My last thought is that I want you to think back to how many times over the years you had the idea that you wanted to get back into shape, and maybe even started exercising and eating right for a little while, but eventually went right back to the negative habits. Think about why you abandoned your good intentions and gave up, and then figure out why you're NOT going to give up this time.

I hope this email has helped you realize that supplements, miracle pills, and diet fads will NEVER work in the long run. You may lose some fat for a few weeks or months, but in the long run, these are all a waste of money, unless you adopt the right lifestyle to maintain a lean body for LIFE.

If you haven't picked up a copy of my Truth about Six Pack Abs book yet, do yourself a favor, and use the money you would have wasted on your next bottle of pills or powder, and discover the program that will get you lean and ripped for the rest of your life, not just the next 2 weeks!

I'll be back in touch soon with more Lean-Body Secrets. I also have a couple great lean-body recipes coming up over the next few weeks that I think you'll enjoy, so hang on.

Sincerely,

Mike Geary
Founder - TruthAboutAbs.com

Killer Workouts in 10 minutes or Less!

If you've followed some of my previous blog entries and Ezines, you know that I'm a big proponent of mixing into your training routines some very brief but very intense workouts. I think this training style really revs up your metabolism and gives your body (and your joints) a break from long grueling workout routines that can be boring as well.

Sometimes, I just run over to the park and do a really intense workout with bodyweight exercises and wind sprints in as little as 10 minutes. It feels really invigorating and you're left with a much fresher feeling than when you've labored through a typical hour long workout.

Based on these concepts of short intense workouts and the fat burning hormonal response and metabolism increase you can see from routines like this, I've created a new site that you might want to check out:

http://BusyDadWorkouts.com

Go check it out now. The workout programs are killer and great for people that have a hard time finding time to workout.

Mike Geary
Founder/Owner - TruthAboutAbs.com & BusyDadWorkouts.com

Energy Drinks - Do They Give You Energy or Just a Fat Gut?

Alright, today I have a little rant on energy drinks...

I receive a ton of questions about all of these new "energy" drinks that have hit the market over the last few years. They seem to be all the rage, especially with the youth, and they promise you the world with outrageous claims of all of the super energy that you are going to have, and how you'll be crushing the competition.

So a couple questions arise:

Are these "energy" drinks really any good for you?
Do they actually increase your energy?
Do they really have some sort of magical energy formula?
Will they help you lose weight?

First of all, let's look at what most of these energy drinks are usually made of. Most of them are simply carbonated water loaded with gut-fattening high fructose corn syrup, caffeine, the amino acid taurine, and some crappy vitamins added for show to trick you into thinking there's something healthy about these concoctions.

Let's start with the high fructose corn syrup. Well, here we've got empty calories that will go straight to your belly fat, and that are actually even WORSE for you than plain old refined sugar.
Ok, so you say that they have low-sugar or sugar-free varieties as an alternative to the HFCS-laden energy drinks. Yes, but now you have the problem of the harmful chemicals in the artificial sweeteners.

Another problem with artificial sweeteners is that there are some researchers that believe artificial sweetener use leads people to inadvertently consume more calories and gain more weight in the long run. I won't go into the details on that because that would fill up an entire discussion by itself. Just trust me that artificial sweeteners and artificial chemicals in food in general, are all bad news for your body!

What about the caffeine? Well, first of all, caffeine doesn't in itself provide "energy". Technically, the only substance that actually provides energy is calories (from carbs, protein, and fat).
However, caffeine can be an aid for livening or waking some people up, by means of stimulating the central nervous system. Keep in mind though, if you're a regular coffee drinker, you're probably addicted to caffeine and probably wouldn't receive too much benefit from the caffeine in an energy drink.

Besides, instead of caffeine added to some carbonated drink, I'd rather get my caffeine from a natural source like green, white, or oolong teas, which actually provide healthful antioxidants too!

Now what about that so called magical blend of taurine and B-vitamins that they load into these energy drinks? Well, big deal...you can get taurine in almost any protein source. And the vast majority of those B-vitamins are simply coming right out into the toilet in your pee.

Vitamins are best obtained naturally from a real food source, not artificially added to some carbonated drink. Your body just doesn't use fake sources of vitamins as readily as natural sources from real food.

So as you can see, in my opinion, I give all of these energy drinks a big time THUMBS DOWN! If you remember, in an ezine issue a couple weeks back, I gave you my special Geary-formula... pre-workout energy drink that you can make yourself at home.

Well, I hope today's email cleared up some of the confusion about these energy drinks that are being so heavily marketed. I'm simply looking to protect you from all of these supplement scams that are ripping people off left and right these days.

Once again, the real secrets to full body leanness and getting rid of that stubborn belly fat comes from a naturally healthy nutrition plan and a smart, progressional training program as found in my Truth about Six Pack Abs Program

As usual, feel free to fwd this to anyone you know that would enjoy it. If you received this as a fwd and would like to continue to get these weekly email fitness tips, go to TruthAboutAbs.com to sign up and receive over $50 in free fitness bonuses as well!

I'll be back in touch soon. In the meantime...train hard, eat smart, have fun, and enjoy life!

Mike Geary
Founder - TruthAboutAbs.com

Beer Belly or Rock Hard Abs?

In today's issue of Lean-Body Fitness Secrets Ezine, I'm going to answer a question I get quite often. Many people find that they can stick to a reasonably healthy diet during the week, but think that they're totally blowing everything on the weekends.

Below is a question I just received recently from a customer and some ideas I came up with for him. I think you'll get some good ideas from this on how to deal with the issue of not letting the weekend wreck your whole program.

Q: "Hi Mike, I haven't emailed in a while, so I wanted to update you. I haven't missed a workout yet and I just finished the third week on your program. I am feeling pretty good, and can already see a bit of a difference in the mirror. I'm still far from a 6 pack, but I'm making progress and I'll definitely get there.

I would give myself a grade of B-, because during the week I do very well with my routine and diet, but on the weekends I drink too much beer (empty calories) and my diet suffers a bit with eating out and weekend activities. But all in all it is going well, and I think I'll be a great success story for your testimonials. If you have any nuggets of wisdom or just any suggestions on how to deal with the weekends, I'm all ears."-Brandon, Saint Louis, MO

A: Good to hear from you Brandon, and it sounds like you're on your way. I can fully relate to your issue of doing well on the weekdays and then drinking a lot of beer and eating late night junk on the weekends. Here's what I've done over the years that helps to keep the lbs off while still enjoying the weekend social scene that involves alcohol and eating out.

If you're gonna drink, try and keep it to light beers or hard alcohol mixed with something non-caloric. Those are the options that would do the least caloric damage, but realize that you're going to take in a TON of extra empty calories any time you drink more than a couple alcoholic drinks.

Also, you're probably going to end up at restaurants and bar situations where everyone is getting deep fried bar food. In this case, whatever you can do, ALWAYS avoid anything deep fried. My best option is I get a burger or grilled chicken sandwich and replace the fries (I call them devil sticks) or potato chips (which are also deep fried) with some sort of steamed veggies or a side salad. That way you eliminate the most evil portion of the meal (the fries) but you still enjoy your burger (which isn't really all that bad) or your chicken sandwich.

Also, if you're doing things right 5-6 days/week, don't stress too much over a bad day or two on the weekends, as long as you keep your calories reasonable and always avoid anything deep fried and any sodas as well. As I've said before, anything loaded with trans fats (like deep fried food) or high fructose corn syrup (in sodas) are the absolute worst things you can put in your body.

If you're serious about your body and health, these should never be consumed, not even occasionally. Trans fats and HFCS are the only two items that I'm a stickler on personally. I'll eat as much of anything and everything else, at least occasionally, like pizza, burgers, ice cream...you name it! But I'll never even touch a HFCS-laden soda or something deep fried in trans fats. They are pure poison in my mind.

As for working out, just follow the general guidelines in my book and the routine I set up for you, and make changes as described in the book when you start to plateau. Also, enjoy the good weather and get outside a couple times a week to do wind sprints. This is one of the easiest ways to get rid of the fat. It doesn't matter if you can't handle all out sprints just yet, but just run as hard and as fast as you can for 50-100 yard dashes, rest 1-2 minutes, and repeat 5-10 times. It's one of the best workouts you can get in only about 10-20 minutes total. Mix those a couple days/week with your normal strength training routines on other days and you'll be kicking a** in no time flat!

Alright, that's all for today. Brandon (from above) is just one of my great customers who is now motivated like crazy after reading through my Truth about Six Pack Abs Program. Because of the fact that he's armed himself with the knowledge and motivation to do it, he's well on his way to enjoying a lean, rock hard body for life!

Check out what some other customers from around the world are saying about this Program - Truth About Abs Testimonials

I'll be back in touch soon with more body-changing tips and strategies.

Stay Lean,

Mike Geary
Founder - TruthAboutAbs.com

Morning Pre-Workout Energy Concoction

In today's Lean-Body Fitness Secrets Ezine, I wanted to tackle a question that I received recently from a subscriber. I've had similar questions from several people, so I thought this might be of interest to you. It has to do with pre-workout energy drinks, and morning workouts on an empty stomach.

Q: "Hi Mike. I was hoping you could give me some advice about my morning workouts. Because of my busy day, I find that the only time I can realistically squeeze my workouts in is in the mornings before work. My problem is that if I don't eat anything, I have no energy during my workout and I feel really weak and sluggish. On the other hand, if I eat even just a bowl of cereal or bagel, I end up getting cramps during my workout. Any suggestions you have, I would really appreciate. Thanks,Brian F., Calgary, Canada"

A: First of all, if you're really serious about getting lean for good, I'd recommend ditching the bagels and cereal altogether unless they are truly high-fiber whole grain varieties. Otherwise, they are just empty refined carbs that will only add blubber to the old belly!

Another topic that this brings up is whether doing your morning workout on an empty stomach is really a good idea or not. Some people swear by morning cardio on an empty stomach as a great way to burn fat, since you don't have any immediate carbohydrates in your system. From my experience though, and working with hundreds of people who have tried this, I haven't really seen good results with empty stomach morning workouts.

Personally, when I tried a month or so of morning empty stomach workouts, it resulted in a loss of lean muscle, which I believe ultimately lowered my metabolic rate, making it easier for my body to store body fat in the long run. Again, for me (and others I've talked to) morning empty stomach workouts backfired big time, although some people claim it has worked wonders for them. I guess you won't know if it works for you unless you try it.

Back to Brian's question about how working out in the morning on an empty stomach leaves him weak and sluggish, whereas eating some cereal or a bagel gives him cramps during his workout...here's my solution to the problem:

Try getting just a small amount of carbohydrates and protein in liquid form when you wake up. Shown below is my own little concoction...you can call it "Geary's pre-workout energy serum". This is 10x better than any ripoff energy supplements or any other crap that the supplement companies will try to lure you into paying top dollar for.

My pre-workout drink will give you the energy to make it through your workout, plus it will help reverse the catabolic state you are in upon waking in the morning, where your body is breaking down muscle tissue in order to supply other areas of the body with necessary amino acids.

My suggestion is to try mixing about 6 oz of an unsweetened iced tea mixture (preferably green, white, oolong, or rooibos teas) with about 6 oz of a PURE berry juice (about 20 grams of carbs), and about 15-20 grams of a non-denatured whey protein powder. You can also add a teaspoon or two of coconut milk as that will add some quickly digestible medium chain fatty acids (healthy fats) for immediate energy for the workout.

For the juice, try to find a PURE berry juice such as blueberry, blackberry, or even a pure pomegranate or cherry juice. Make sure they do NOT contain apple or grape juices.

Keep in mind that I'm usually against drinking fruit juices because I believe you need to eat the whole fruit to reap the benefits, as you're missing out on the fiber and other nutrients when you just drink the juice. However, I've found some of these pure berry juices at whole food or natural food markets and they contain some fruit puree and a couple grams of fiber per glass, so I think they are ok for the purpose of this pre-workout drink.

I've found that this type of pre-workout liquid mixture gives people the needed energy to make it through their morning workouts without cramps, while also helping to prevent the excessive muscle catabolism (breakdown) that might occur during an empty stomach morning workout.

If you haven't read my internationally selling book, The Truth about Six Pack Abs, featuring over 100 pages of my full training and nutritional system for getting lean ripped flat abs for life, click on over today and pick up a copy. You won't regret it! Besides, summer is coming up quick, and you want to look good right?

Also, if you're looking for a good Mother's Day gift, check out the Butt, Hip, and Thigh Makeover DVDs produced by my good friend Joey Atlas. These DVDs are always a hit with women trying to shape up that butt.

Til next time...

Stay lean,

Mike Geary
TruthAboutAbs.com

Outdoor Workouts Get You Ripped for Summer; Special Mangoes

It's Mike again from TruthAboutAbs.com with more tips for a lean healthy body for life.

Just a quick couple of tips today to help get you started on your summer beach body. With summer right around the corner here in the US, the weather is starting to warm up and people are flocking outside after being cooped up all winter.

Now that it's getting nice outside, why not take some of your workouts outdoors, instead of the stuffy old gym? Your workouts also don't have to be long drawn-out 2-hour events in order to get a great metabolism boosting, muscle sculpting workout.

Here's an idea for an outdoor workout that literally takes me 10-15 minutes, but has me drenched in sweat and pumped up by the end...

There's a little playground and a softball field at the end of my road. So on a nice day, if I decide I just want to get a real quick outdoor workout in, I run over to the field, spend a couple minutes limbering up, and then... depending on how I feel, do about 10-15 minutes of the following exercises with almost no rest in between:

• 50, 75, or 100-yard wind sprints
• pushup variations
• walking lunge variations
• bodyweight squat variations
• box jump, squat jump, or lunge jump variations
• pullups on the playground monkey bars
• mountain climbers on ground

Sometimes I'll rotate through all of these exercises and sometimes I'll just pick a couple of them and just keep alternating. Whatever I choose, I keep the intensity as high as I can to really maximize the time that I'm out there. Believe me, if you do this at a high speed clip, you'll get a killer workout in as little as 10-15 minutes, and then you can get back home and get on with your life.

Even if you're not in super shape right now, you can just take it at a little lower intensity to ease yourself into it. It's worth it! Working out in the outdoors and breathing in the fresh air definitely has a stimulating effect, and some studies I've seen have indicated that you possibly burn more calories exercising outdoors compared to indoors. So give it a try!

"I Need My Mangoes!"

Do you happen to know what character made that quote from a certain 90's sitcom? He's my favorite sitcom character of all time! You guessed it...my man Kramer.

Alright, why am I talking about mangoes? Yellow or "champagne" mangoes, that is... and they are the best thing I've found in years!

The only reason I mentioned yellow mangoes in this post is just to let you know about these healthy delicious little treasures that I've discovered. I don't know if they are available in your local grocery stores or organic markets, but I've found them at several stores near me, and these things rock big time!

Yellow mangoes are smaller than normal mangoes, easier to peel and eat, sweeter than normal mangoes, and chock full of nutrition! The yellow mangoes that I've seen all seem to come from Mexico, and I only see them available usually between April and June, so I'm assuming that's when they are in season in Mexico.

If you can find them in your local stores, give them a try...they are definitely my new favorite fruit! Just be sure to let them fully ripen for max sweetness...wait until they are soft and the skin just slightly starts to wrinkle.

That's all for today, Mike. I'll be back soon with more Lean-Body Fitness Secrets.

Stay Lean,

Mike Geary
TruthAboutAbs.com