Diet Plans part two

Type O:
According to Dr Michael Lam type O people thrive on intense physical exercise and animal proteins. Unlike other blood types these people have a slightly higher acid base in their stomachs. Type O people can easily metabolize meats because they tend to have high stomach acid content. The success of the Type O Diet depends on the use of lean, chemical-free meats, poultry, and fish. Type Os don't find dairy products and grains quite as user friendly as do most of the other blood types. The initial weight loss on the Type O Diet is by restricting consumption of grains, breads, legumes, and beans. The leading factor in weight gain for Type Os is the gluten found in wheat germ and whole wheat products, which interferes with insulin efficiency and slow down metabolic rate. Another factor that contribute to weight gain is certain beans and legumes (lentils and kidney beans) contain lectins that deposit in the muscle tissues making them less "charged" for physical activity. The third factor in Type O weight gain is that Type Os have a tendency to have low levels of thyroid hormone or unstable thyroid functions, which also cause metabolic problems. Therefore it is good to avoid food that inhibits thyroid hormone (cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, mustard green) but increase hormone production (kelp, seafood, iodized salt).
Because of the high acidity stomach, Type Os should eat fruits of alkaline nature such as berries and plums..
Type Os should severely restrict the use of dairy products. Their system is not designed for the proper metabolism. If you are a Type O of African ancestry, you should eliminate dairy foods and eggs altogether.
Type A: According to JC Jones and Ryan Wallace After "the cultivation of grains and livestock changed everything" for humanity, this blood type developed based on "the need to fully utilize nutrients from carbohydrate sources." Thus, the type A diet plan emphasizes soy proteins, grains, and vegetables, restricts red meat. Type A people have a lower acid base in their stomachs so trying to break down meats is very difficult. For a type A person to get the best energy and to have the most efficient body they are as close to being a vegetarian than anyone else.
Type B: According to D'Adamo, this blood type possesses "potential for great malleability" and is associated with a flexible digestive system. Type B dieters can tolerate dairy products and can also enjoy meat and most produce. This plan restricts corn, wheat, lentils, tomatoes, and peanuts, while suggesting moderate exercise.

Type AB: As the name implies, this blood type shares characteristics with types A and B. Type AB dieters are encouraged to avoid meats but can safely eat tofu, seafood, dairy, and most produce. This plan suggests a mix of calming and rigorous exercises for a balanced fitness routine. Carbohydrates can be your friend if you have AB type blood.
Well, do you know your blood type? Depending on your blood type should dictate to you how you should be eating. Enjoy!

Diet Plans

Well it’s been a while since I have written anything for you guys to read and I think that this is a great subject to start with, diets.
Here we are getting ready to go into summer and most of you are looking in the mirror and telling yourself that it is time for you get into summer shape. Now you all know that my response to that would be that you should not have waited so long but never the less some of you would have just rolled your eyes at me and told yourself that you will just stop eating for a period of time to lose those extra pounds. UGH! You know just how to get to me, don’t you!
Well, this has been a subject of major concern since the beginning of mankind. (I even think that Adam and Eve struggled with it once they were kicked out of the garden). The question that I wanted to answer was if there is a way a person could eat, without making it a diet plan, but still give their body all the vitamins and nutrient it needs daily. I remember thinking to myself, “There are no two people alike. Some seem to be able to eat one way and it seems to work for them, while others seem to eat in that same way and their body don’t respond in the same way. I know some people whose diet consists of nothing but carbohydrates and they are lean and full of energy. Whereas I know some others that eat that same diet and boy they have problems from digestion to obesity. What makes them different? Is it their exercise levels? No they exercise pretty regularly. Is it their intensity levels? No they really hit it when they are here at Parker’s Place. Is it the time of day they eat? No, I have seen their daily logs and that seems to all be in line. Then what is it?
One day I was talking to a gym member and we started talking about the subject of diets and she brought up something that I thought was very interesting. Depending on your blood type should be the type of daily diet you should be on. WOW! That really makes a lot of sense when you think about it. If you have “O” type blood then your body can take certain things that an “A” or “AB” may not be able to. So I did some research and in my next blog I explain what I discovered.
First let us define what blood types are. Blood types are inherited from our parents and essential to how our bodies perform and react to outside stimuli. There are several forms of blood types and they are O-, O+, A-, A+, B-, B+, AB-, AB+ and each one of those types has specific characteristics that make them unique when it comes to how the body will break down the food that we consume. So in my next blog we will get into how each blood type responses to the food we eat and what your diet should look like given your specific blood type.

Giving Up?

Giving up
Have you given up? Are you giving up?
Just the other day I had a member come into my office and tell me that the large sweat shirt I gave him was too small. He wanted to get an extra large shirt now. At first I was going to give it to him but then I remember, just a year ago he was complaining about his diabetes and that fact that he had to lose some weight and that he was sick and tired of wearing XL’s. What happened? Well in a nut shell, he lost the weight and his medications were reduced and he was feeling good, so little by little his OLD life style began to creep back into the picture. Now he is drinking those beers and soda’s again and over eating just like he did just a year and a half ago.
I asked him to sit down and just as he did that, the excuses began to fly. Everything from hereditary issues to family issues however, the best excuse he gave me was…he was content with being the way he was. I sat back and took a deep breath, as my blood pressure began to rise I got up and went to my closet and took out a XXXL and handed it to him. He looked puzzled and stated, “I wanted a XL not a XXXL.” He began to hand it back and I pulled my hand back and refused to take it from him. I stated, “Why stop at an XL. Soon enough the XL will be too small so let’s not play games here and just go to finished product.” I then wished him a good day and turned my chair around and got back onto my computer.
Ten minutes later he comes storming into my office, “You are a piece of work! Give me my large back! You are right, I was giving up. I have come so far and I have gone back to a lot of my old ways and I need to get back on track. You are right.” I turned around handed his old shirt back to him, took him out to the floor and had a great workout.
Are you giving up and just don’t realize it. Have you gone back to those old bigger cloths thinking that they are just more comfortable? Think about the consequences of you going back to your old habits. Is it really worth it? Think about it.

Time for change!!!!!

In 2003 I was once sitting in the room with a friend and we were talking about what we really wanted to do in this life. What was our dream? What did it look like? How could we make it happen? After talking for just a few minutes it was good to find out that his dream and my dream were practically one in the same. We wanted to open up a place in Central New Jersey that could help people fight the battle of obesity. You see his family was fighting that battle in a big way and so was mine. The problem was that we had good paying jobs and we did not know if we focused enough and dedicated enough time to make this happen. I had felt for years the Lord calling me to do something like this. I remember sitting down with him and going over the details of what this gym would look like and after spending many hours of talking and dreaming, we looked at each other and asked the question, “are we serious or, once I leave your home, will we just go back to our normal mundane lives, really not trying to make a difference in anyone’s life but our own?” That night before leaving we swore an oath that we would follow this dream through to its end where ever we lived.
To make a long story short, a few weeks later I receive a call from my friend’s mother and that call changed my life forever. Tommy (my dear friend), at age 26, had died in a motorcycle accident. He hit a bus head on and died instantly. When I was listening to his mother tell me what happened I was devastated and at a loss for words. This was one of the hardest funerals I ever had to go to. However, while sitting in the audience I remember what we had said and from the moment I got into my car I never looked back at my old self and began the process of transforming my life and live our dream. Thus, Parker’s Place was born.
In the spring of 2004 I opened up Parker's Place and my purpose was to bring a place where people could come and feel accepted as they fight the battle of obesity. I wanted this place to give people the ability to get the personal training they wanted and at a modest cost. I wanted people to feel as though they belong to not just a health club but a place where people really cared for their health and well being and over the last 10 years, according to what I have been told, many feel that this has happened.
There is another segment of the population that are just afraid to enter into a health club because they are just too afraid to face the public. They are the morbid obese and that population is getting larger every year. In 2007 I started a program where I take people 50 pounds or more over weight and help them change their life styles. This program is called the Parker's Place Weight Loss challenge and since its inception it has had 7 classes go through the program totaling 162 people and the retention rate throughout the program has been 95% and the average weight loss has been 70 pounds. Lives have been changed because of that program and on so many levels it has taken a life of its own.
In 2011 Parker’s Place did something that implemented something else that has allow it to help even more people. In 2011 Parker’s Place became a 24/7 gym and through the process of hard knocks we finally understood that we could not be everything to everyone and there are people in the community that did not have 9-5 jobs and could not fit the conventional schedules in their lives and those people still needed a place where they could come and workout. Also in 2011, Parker’s Place opened its doors to other personal trainers and for a nominal fee they bring their people in and train them here. Everyone wins! The trainers get to do what they do best and don’t have that big time costs associated with their business. The member wins because they get that person they always wanted and the club wins because it is being utilized.
In 2013, Parker’s Place increased its presents on social media and began putting positive uplifting messages as well as daily exercises on its Facebook page. With all that going on I began to see an upsurge in the demand that was being put on Parker’s Place and I my vision for expanding became clearer and clearer. In 2013 I began to see that I needed more room for more equipment to satisfy that need but I had no room to put it without getting completely overcrowded and very little room for members to operate comfortably.
Well, to make a long story short and without going into too much detail, effective May 1st, 2014 Parker’s Place will be relocating to a bigger facility in Oconomowoc Wisconsin, so that it can meet the demand it has been given. Whereas through this whole process I have seen God’s hand moving, my prayer is that I can stay in the center of His will. I ask all who pray if they could pray for me as I open at this new location.

The game olan

The Game plan

Ok so here you are out many months after you achieving your fitness goal and you haven’t done anything but sit and relax and now you look at yourself and all that weight you had taken off and told yourself that you would never see again has now come back. Wait! It has just not come back but for good measure you have gain an additional amount of weight that well you are telling yourself you need to finally get rid of.
So you try every diet in the world only to find out that they don’t work. Let me repeat, THEY DON’T WORK!!!!! So now what do you do? A year back you had really been in really good shape and you remember how you did it but you are just not motivated to go back to those extremes. So what to do? What to do?
Well, let me first start out and tell you that the only way you are going to lose those unwanted inches is by using the fuel you have consumed and there is no other way to do it but activity. Dear I say exercise? I know I just turned some of you off but there really is no other way to keep it off. If you stop eating eventually you will either die or you’ll start eating again and more than you did prior to your binge. Remember one thing though, it is not the foods fault that you got the way you are. Food is not our enemy. Ok so let’s get to the game plan….
As you all know I keep things simple and this is no different. Exercise should be part of your life, not your life, so I suggest no more than 30 minutes a day in the gym that is all. So here is how I would break it out and I am giving you the formula that has helped may lose hundreds of pounds and get in better shape.
Week 1
Monday: Get to the gym and sit on recumbent bike for 30 minutes and then go home.
Tuesday through Friday: repeat Monday

Week 2: Begin to introduce weights back into your program

Monday: Now get on that recumbent bike for 10 minutes and then go to the treadmill and walk for 5 minutes. Then begin to introduce weights back into your 30 minute program. Today do chest work only.
Tuesday: Same warm up and then today is back work only
Wednesday: Same warm up then do a leg workout
Thursday: Now I want you to do 15 minutes on the bike and then give me 15 minutes on the treadmill. Let’s see if we can’t get a good sweat on the treadmill to make it worth the trip.
Friday: Same warm up as Monday and then abs work for 30 minutes
Saturday and Sunday Take off

1 Month: Now you should be getting into a routine that should last you a while.
Monday: Let’s start with 5 minute warm up on treadmill or bike and then go hit the weights. Today is a great chest day so let’s get that going. After the workout let’s get bake on the treadmill and run for 10-15 minutes then go home. Your chest workout should not take any more time than 15 minutes (without talking to you friends and neighbors)
Tuesday: Let’s start with the same cardio and then let’s get some back work in then finish the same as Monday.
Wednesday: Yes, its legs day!!!!! Make this as enjoyable as possible. Start by getting on treadmill with an incline of at least 10 and go for 10 minutes then hit those legs like they have not been hit before and then end with a 5 minute cool down on treadmill or bike.
Thursday: Great day for Shoulders so go ahead and hit them and first give me 10 minutes warm up and at the end 5 minute cool down.
Friday: Let’s make this your cardio do. Turn on that music, make that television louder, get focused and give me 30 minutes of hard, sweat off the brow, heavy breathing cardio.
Saturday and Sunday: days off. Enjoy your weekend!

That one month routine should last you a few months before we will need to change it up a little. Notice how the gym does not become your second home but just s stop off place to get what your body so needs to do… exercise. Now stop screwing around and go get it done.

The effects of Detraining

I was reading an article the other day that was emailed to me by a friend and after reading the article I thought it best to write my thoughts out and share it with everyone who reads this. Now the article dealt with biking and what physically happens to a person when they physically put the bike up for the season however I want to expand upon that and discuss the implications of what happens when after getting yourself in better shape we decided to take time off or we feel as though we have made it and we decided to relax. In a nut shell there are some good points and some bad points of taking time off after working really hard to get yourself in good shape but let’s just go thru the process that everyone and I mean everyone, goes thru when they stop working out. So here we go.

So here you are, you’ve reached your goal and your feeling pretty good about your success. Now you feel as though you want to take some time off and enjoy your new found freedom and life.

Day 1: This is the day after all of your success. You feel good and strong and self confident. You feel as though you just concord the world and everybody can see that and complements you on your new you. Now your body is now in a repair mode and for the next three days your body is repairing itself. All the muscular damage you may have done is now being repaired and the process of it returning to normal has begun. On the average in three days your muscles have had time to fully recover; muscle carbohydrate stores (glycogen) have been topped up, muscle fibers damaged during hard training is being fully repaired, and favorable metabolic changes in the muscles have had time to occur.

1 week: Now you are thinking about going back into the gym and actually you should or at least get active again. This is important because this is the time when most begin to really fall off the wagon and begin the process of going back to their “other” life. Now you are beginning to forget about the hard work it took for you to get to where you were and in some cases you don’t want to have to revisit there. However I will tell you, your body is use to if not accustomed to that level of activity (exercise).
At this time because of the time you have taken off, you are beginning to put back on some weight. Now not much, no more than 5 to 10 pounds but it is not too noticeable as of yet. Also pertaining to your heart, you begin to feel sluggish and your heart is not pumping as efficiently as it did just a week earlier. This is due to the inactivity and the fact that your heart has not needed to work too hard. But mentally you are thinking that everything is still feeling alright and you have not lost too much of your fitness. Your cloths are still fitting pretty good and mentally you still feel OK.

1 month: Now your old life style is back in force and full in swing. All that working out and all the trimming and all that drive has driven away from you now. You are beginning to see those bulges again and those skinny clothes aren’t fitting as they did just a few weeks ago. Your afraid to get on a scale because you know that you have gained back some of that weight you took off and told yourself that you would never go back to. Well, unfortunately the reverse process has really taken hold now and what you were able to do just a few months ago, you can’t even come close to now. Why is that?

Well, you muscles are no longer as efficient as they once were. The biochemical pathways that you had developed to help your muscles burn the fat efficiently have deteriorated and now they are back to the way they once were. On top of that your muscle mass has deteriorated. This is not good, not good at all.

6 months: At this point you are no longer that person you want to be and you are fully back into your old life. You have gained all if not even more of your weight back. You may have tried to go back to the gym a few times but with no avail, your motivation is just not there and now you have lost all that confidence you once had. You feel embarrassed to tell people what happened to you just 6 months earlier and in some cases you may not even ever bring it up in any conversation and if someone does you are quick to change the subject.

Not good! At this time your circulatory system is even worse than it was before you started exercising the first time. Your heart is working harder than it has ever worked before and your musculature system is depleted to a point where you can do none of the things you could do just six month earlier.
1 year: At this time you want to try again but this time you want to make it stick. ‘THAT’S IT THIS IS FOR LIFE!” I hear a lot but what people don’t realize is that it will be twice as hard to get to the same point as you did one year prior. Your body has put in place some safety features that will not allow it to lose the weight or get yourself in good shape as it once did. Your body is going to hold onto the fat longer and this will be frustrating because you will be putting in the work and seeing little success. All the while you will be putting a huge strain on your heart to pump like it once did a year ago and that in itself can be damaging. When you gained all the weight back and you lost all your fitness, your heart had to work really hard, again, just to keep you alive. Now you’re asking it to push even harder, think about it. Can you say potential stroke?

However, the good point is that at this time, with you coming back, there is hope but you need to be smart about it and have a realistic game plan and most importantly, make this your final time. Finally make this part of your life… forever. In my next blog I will discuss the game plan.

Bad days

We all have them. They are a part of life. The question that we should be asking ourselves is not when will they be going away but, what are we learning in the midst of them. Have you ever heard the phrase, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”? There is truth to that on so many levels.

I know of a person who over the last several years had just not had a really good life. According to him there have been glimpses of day light but shortly thereafter to find himself back dealing with issues and pressures that many will probably never have to deal with or understand. He told me that it has gotten to a point now that when he has a good day he almost dreads it because he knows that on the other side of it will be an equally bad day. The question he constantly asks himself however is, “What am I learning from this?” He tells me that in every situation there is a lesson that he needed to learn but the biggest lesson that he is learning is that he is not really in control but God is. I would roll my eyes every time I would hear that but this is what he shared with me…

A few years back his family went through a major health issue, cancer, which almost took the life of his wife but did take the life of his mother. At that same time his financial situation was bleak at best and he almost lost all of his possessions including his house. Just to add insult to injury as his families health was failing and his business was struggling to stay open and he finds out that through an error with his bank his house had the potential of going into foreclosure which destroyed his credit rating and he lost all of his credit. He tells me that at one point he just broke down and cried. He did not like life and really began to feel bad for his kids. Why? Because if his life was this bad for him he could not imagine his kids having to go through this pain and survive.

He then tells me that 15 months later things began to change for no real reason. The bank mailed him a letter and approved his “Making Homes Affordable” application and his family illnesses were getting better. He did lose his mother to the fight but his wife is fine now and his business was saved. When I asked him what he did to get on the other side of these issues all he did was say, “I really did nothing but pray that some people would come along side me and help me through them and every time I prayed… they did.”

At the time I met with him he had just come from achieving another personal mile stone and was very happy with his results. He tells me that when we are happy and have no problems it is easy to praise our Maker but is that real praise or is it selfish and conditional. “Hey God, as long as I am happy and things go my way, I will praise you but if they don’t, are you really in control?” Does this attitude sound familiar? Don’t we all feel that way most of the time? But have we ever learned anything through good times? I know I haven’t.

I just saw him the other day and he tells me that he is now faced with even greater trials. I wonder how God will work him through these and what lessons he will learn while going through them. I can honestly say that as weak as he thinks he is, when many look at him, to them he looks very strong. I can only hope that he gets to the other side of his issues and rejoices at the blessings that have to be on the way. Remember this, for every bad day that we go through there is an equally and opposite effect… a good day.