Let’s look at an example of what I’m talking about.

Energy drives industrialized societies – homes, businesses, governments, and infrastructure. If you have no electricity, how will you run your lights, furnace, AC, phone, electric car, fill up at a gas station, etc.? How will you perform Internet-serviced fitness programs such as those mentioned above? Are you prepared? The failure of the power grid can be localized due to storms or regional due to a solar flare, EMP, or other event. Our current power grid is very vulnerable. Should a major failure occur, you would be back to the 1840s in the blink of an eye using wood for cooking and heating, and candle light for reading at night. Your day would be working during daylight and sleeping at night. You need look no further than the recent California storms in San Bernadino County where some locations received almost 10 feet of snow that stranded residents and broke power lines. Your electricity can go out at any time and could leave you in a very perilous situation. Every home and business can be affected. The figure below, illustrates the cascading effects of this process. Along with energy, telecommunications will shut down. Most people do not realize that cell towers are equipped with emergency generators, typically diesel. However, these generators have only a 24-hour supply. Unless those operating these cell towers have above ground or hand-pumped diesel tanks, the towers will shut down because gas stations will not run without power, which means that your cell phone even if charged, will generally only work for a 24–36-hour period after the power is gone. This is not something generally talked about in the news media, which will ensure that only those who pay attention to such problems will be prepared, which can lead to very dire consequences. And when this happens, good bye Internet fitness.

So, how would you do a follow along fitness program when you no longer have access to it? The power grid is vulnerable and a large solar flare could disable great portions of it. Thinking about natural fitness and the benefits it offers is important. Consider natural body exercises that you can easily transition to in event of or during an electrical blackout. Some of these include push ups, pull ups, jogging, sprinting, box jumping, lunges, split-squat jumps, dips, jumping jacks, toe touches, and many, many others, none of which require electricity to follow along with a trainer.

If you get caught and stranded in a large snow storm such as those recently in California and where power failed for several days, it would be necessary to be weaned from follow along with Internet fitness. While such fitness programs are fun and convenient, mix up your fitness program so you are better prepared for such an issue. I know what you’re thinking, that it will never happen. You should rethink your attitude. Also, try a wilderness fitness course such at that taught by SurvivalTrainingSchool.com, you will be glad you did. It is like I have said before, people who are more fit, perform better at everything, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Have a Happy and Healthy Day.

During the past seven years, I have vertically integrated a 1,200 acre farm in Colorado where we do everything on a from seed to sale basis, growing hemp organically with no chemical additives, weed or insect control. I have focused on field and greenhouse production, feminized seed, genetics, CBD extraction from the hemp flower, distillation, product formulation and labeling, and retail sales, as well as R&D.

On the extraction side, I have a patent pending on my layered extraction process and also extraction-facility design, which is a self-contained laboratory. Originally, I designed 6 different facility production capacities. However, due to the advent of new equipment, I have narrowed that to a 2,000 lb/day flower processing capacity and a 4,000 lb/day facility; the latter can be increased to 16,000 lbs/day. Within the process, I tossed everything aside and started from scratch. The end result was achieving an extraction level of 98% plus and generally 99%. This means that I can extract the flower and leave less than 1% of CBD, the essential oil, in the residual flower. As a matter of fact, the last few runs had 0% CBD remaining in the original flower. Revenue speaking, this will yield approximately $80,000 more per acre that what most extractors are able to achieve and, the 4,000 lb/day unit is capable of grossing a minimum of $45M per year with only a 20-25% operational cost, netting 75%+ of the gross. This is based on a five day work week, one shift per day.

The improvements in processing and facility design I have achieved can be put into a brief synopsis as follows:

1. Patent Pending Proprietary Extraction Process and Facility Design;
2. Less than 1% CBD left in residual, extracted flower (means $80k/ac more revenue returns);
3. Producing 60%+ CBD Content in Crude Oil;
4. Increased Capacity, Up to 2,000 Kg per Day (expandable to 7,250 kg/day);
5. Performance, Layered Extraction Process;
6. Rapid ETOH Displacement;
7. Reduced Chilling Time from 8 hours to 30 min with proprietary ‘super chiller’;
8. 30%-40% Greater Extraction Efficiency; and
9. A Self-Contained Extraction Platform that can Co-Locate with Any Grower.

In addition to the design, I have had proprietary equipment designed to work with the facility capacity that allows cooling to super-critical levels within 20-30 minutes. It’s been a lot of fun. As a result of all of this, I’m building my own facility in Oregon (some pics below). But, again, I apologize for the lack of posts and hope to stay more on top of things moving forward.

Your skin is the main boundary of the immune system and weighs about 25 pounds for the average adult. Essentially, the skin is ‘the wall’ that keeps out bacteria, debris, water, and solar radiation. It ensures that you system is closed and protected. While serving as a barrier it is also flexible, absorbent but not porous, and durable and strong enough to withstand a lifetime of wear. It is comprised of three layers – epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis, each serving a different function.

Epidermis
The epidermis is the outer layer of skin – the part you see. And, it’s the main barrier, the physical barrier for keeping out infection via bacteria and other sources. It also contains nerve endings to sense pain, as well as melanin-producing cells that give you your skin pigmentation.

Dermis
This layer is thicker than the epidermis and is the base for sweat glands, nerve cells, sebaceous glands (they produce the oil that helps cover our skin), and hair follicles. It is comprised mostly of collagen, reticular fibers, and elastic tissue that gives it flexible strength. This layer also includes efferent (control rather than sense) neurons that govern capillary dilation and lymph networks to help protect the body from infections from cuts, bites, scrapes and other injuries.

Advertisement: Kanbala (click on photo for more info)

Hypodermis (subcutis)
This is the deepest layer of the skin, underlying the other two layers. If you get a blister, this layer becomes exposed, which can be a problem. It is because this layer has even more immune-system tissue, fact cells (these provide insulation from external temperatures, padding from injury and storage of fuel for activities).

Endocannabinoid System in the Skin
The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is the sum of all the cannabinoid receptors and endogenous ligands (like anandamide) that bind to the receptors, as well as their biosynthetic pathways, and degrading enzymes. However, it’s not just the effects of this system short and long term or just the receptor to ligand binding. It’s more about homeostasis.

There is a mountain of evidence, termed anecdotal evidence and that is homeostasis related, that demonstrate positive results of phytocannabinoid treatment, i.e, plant CBD’s. These homeostasis-related conditions seem to have no known cause or cure. And for this reason, endocannabinoid modulation has proven to be highly effective for treatment of many diverse conditions. Of note is skin and hair growth.

Skin and hair growth
One of the better-understood roles of the ECS in the skin is hair production via hair follicles and the sebaceous glands associated with them. What is unique is that the latter have a high percentage of CB1 receptors, which are responsive to the endocannabinoid AEA (anandamide) and to phyto-cannabinoids like THC and CBC. Hair growth shows a negative correlation with activation of these receptors, so scientists believe that the ECS controls human hair growth via a negative feedback loop. This process is currently undefined thus, an ECS explanation is logical.

While most people are familiar with THC and CBD, there are many chemicals in marijuana that contribute to its diverse effects on the human body. These effects include protecting neurons from damage, pain relief, suppressing nausea and vomiting, and many more. Cannabichromene (CBC) is an important chemical in marijuana that demonstrates the complexity of how the cannabis plant works.

Immuno-stimulation
Although the ECS plays a very intricate and sophisticated role in the immune system, the precise mechanisms of its various roles are not well documented. However, we do know that ECS regulates (up and or down) the overall level of cellular activity in immune cells, and it also regulates the rate at which apoptosis, or programmed cell death occurs, which is a vital function of the skin and its ability to remain pliable, flexible, and youthful.
Additionally, the skin also is prone to inflammation and allergic reactions because it is often the first to meet foreign substances.

Due to climate, water, temperature, etc., the ECS plays a very robust role in the down-regulation of chemokines and cytokines that produce inflammation and the pain associated with it. Localized topical cannabinoid treatment of allergy-induced inflammatory responses (such as putting CBD on hives) diminished the symptoms of inflammation immediately, in a CB1 dependent manner, proving that cannabinoid receptors are involved in the negative feedback of painful inflammatory responses. A similar reaction occurs when CBD skin lotions are applied, which helps firm and moisturizes the skin due to ECS reactions that typical skin lotions cannot match. We’ll do an article later that gets more into the science of this phenomena.

As population has increased, so too has the use of drugs among society. These drugs are those prescribed by the medical industry that generally are single-compound drugs. It is not that they are all bad because Western medicine has cured some conditions that were once fatal and, such drugs have even doubled the average life expectancy, especially in developing countries. This success has been hard fought through trial and error such that many believe that a compound will do exactly what research shows it will do. And, for single-compound pharmaceuticals, there is generally only one active ingredient, which will exert one specific reaction in your body. But what if the drug you took were a full-plant extract that had over a hundred compounds in it? How would it perform? The therapeutic use of cannabis belays the fact that single-compound drugs are always the most effective. Almost all studies indicate that whole-plant extracts produced much greater effects than single-compound medicines for the same conditions. Welcome to the world of health through cannabis.

Advertisement: Kanbala (click on photo for more info)

As an example, many drugs have one advertised purpose, but they also have a huge list of side effects that could occur and most of the side effects are deleterious to your health. The body is incredibly complex – more than three billion chemical reactions occur every second inside our bodies. Therefore, if a compound affects one part of the body it is highly likely to affect other parts as well. This fact separates cannabis from other categories of medicine – 113 phytocannabinoids are synthesized in one or two steps from the same originating compound – cannabigerol. They are all different molecules, but they are all incredibly like one another. Consequently, various phytocannabinoids work together and have a greater effect in modulating their respective pathways than a single cannabinoid would have by itself or, a single-compound drug. This is why the CBD’s from cannabis sativa work so well in healing. However, there is so much to learn – we have a very long way to go.

Synergy and the entourage effect
Because hemp was made illegal in the U.S. back in the 1930’s, most of the research on its health effects have been done in Israel. Researchers in Israel have conducted extensive and reputable research to determine if cannabinoids work together to increases their potencies – is it realistic or possible? Their findings clearly demonstrated that CBD, by itself, exhibits a bell-shaped dose response. This means that there was a meaningful effect when CBD was present in a very specific dosage window – this is typical of most drugs. However, when CBD was administered as part of a combination of phytocannabinoid-rich oil, the maximum effect of the CBD increased after it reached a plateau – it did not decrease as single-compound drugs did. The research was repeated and showed the same results. Therefore, it has spurred further research into the potential for widespread use of phytocannabinoids in the treatment of many different health conditions, and the prevention of many more.

Various phytocannabinoids, like the endocannabinoid system in mediating homeostasis, exhibit slightly different effects, which appears to bring equilibrium to the overall system through mediating many processes at once, which appears to prevent overloading any one part of the whole system at a given time. Currently, there is an increasing number of research studies ongoing and a huge amount of anecdotal support that demonstrate the efficacy of the use of a whole-plant cannabis extract, not only to heal maladies efficiently, but to also disrupt the status quo of big pharma.

Are you ready for the basic answer? There is not a clear winner between the two. Let’s look at why.

Coffee
A recent study by Harvard stated that those who drink 3-5 cups of coffee a day are generally less likely to die prematurely from certain diseases when compared to those who drink no coffee. The consumption of coffee has also been linked to some protection against Type 2 diabetes, as well as Parkinson’s disease and others. Another recent study stated that drinking about 8 cups of coffee per day reduces one’s chance of getting cancer. Also, you should note that this amount of coffee intake will flag you if you’re an Olympic competitor, so stay below the 8-cup level. Overall, coffee is a good, rich source of antioxidants.

Advertisement: Amazon (click on photo for info)
One of the downsides of coffee, particularly if you drink espresso types or boiled coffee is that some studies have shown that these types potentially raise cholesterol level, but only a little. And, if you have stomach and digestive problems/issues, coffee is more acidic than tea and can exacerbate these problems. In this instance, tea is likely a better choice for you.

When I developed the exercise protocol for deep-space astronauts for NASA, coffee was a concern because of its reputation for affecting bone density in a negative way sometimes reducing it as much as 4 percent. However, after multiple DEXA scans of program participants in the long-term protocol study, whose purpose was to keep bone density high and even increase it while in micro gravity during long-term space travel, we didn’t notice this to be an issue. Generally, weakened bones can lead to an increased risk of fracture such as in osteoporosis. If you are concerned about this, switch to tea and or discuss the issue with your physician.

While it is very common to drink coffee during the early morning and late afternoon, a great many drink it during late evening or at night, either to get the stimulated feeling or stay awake at their jobs or for other reasons. For myself, drinking it after about 4:00 pm will keep me awake. Thus, you need to recognize what drinking coffee does to you personally. After all, it is a stimulant and if you’re sensitive to it, you can become over stimulated, anxious or as my friend says, catch the jitters. This may be due to its effect on high-blood pressure since for those who have high-blood pressure drinking too much coffee can spike it. Also, some doctors will recommend against drinking coffee if you have heart or potential heart disease problems because these conditions slow the breakdown of caffeine, especially if you have more than about 2 cups per day.

As a note, if you’re going to be traveling on an airplane and don’t want to get up to use the bathroom every 30 minutes or so, you may want to reduce your coffee intake before the flight since it is a diuretic – it purges water from our body. Thus, avoid too much coffee since it may dehydrate you, which could be particularly troublesome if you live on the coast or inland and head to the mountains at high altitude for skiing and other recreational activities.

In addition to the coffee, there are all kinds of fancy additives such as flavored creams, etc. that you can add to your coffee, as well as all kinds of sweeteners; these should be limited if you’re worried about calories.
The average amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee versus tea is (data provided by Mayo Clinic):

Coffee	Drink Size Ounces (mL)	Caffeine Content (mg)
Brewed	8 (237)	95-165
Brewed, Decaf	8 (237)	2-5
Espresso	1 (30)	47-64
Espresso, Decaf	1 (30)	0
Instant	8 (237)	63
Instant, Decaf	8 (237)	2
Latte or Mocha	8 (237)	63-126

Tea	Size in Ounces (mL)	Caffeine Content (mg)
Brewed Black	8 (237)	25-48
Brewed Black, Decaf	8 (237)	2-5
Brewed Green	8 (237)	25-29
Ready to Drink (bottled)	8 (237)	5-40

Tea
Ask any health buff and they will go on and on about the long list of health benefits from drinking tea, especially herbal teas. As with coffee, tea is rich in antioxidants. But for tea there are health claims that says it will help prevent hardening of blood vessels as well as fight inflammation, help you sleep and so forth. Generally though, people who drink tea, seem to have a lower risk of heart disease and related strokes, as well as better brain health. Like coffee, those who drink 2 or more cups of tea per day appear to have a lower risk of age related memory decline. And, as we discussed about bone density for coffee drinkers, tea drinkers ten to have a slightly higher bone density and less bone loss. However, it should be noted that the advantage here ends if you’re a regular fitness buff since your exercises and overburden pressures related to them, greatly strengthen bones making if difficult if not impossible to distinguish bone density issues from drinking tea or coffee.

Advertisement: Dr Herb-al (click on photo for info)
Other benefits state that tea has some anti-aging properties. This was determined by looking at the individual cells within participants and it was observed that those who drink more tea overall had a younger biological age associated with the cells.

So, there are good benefits from drinking tea as well. But, one of the very worst benefits of drinking tea, unless it’s the herbal varieties, is that tea stains your teeth significantly more than coffee. Tea also contains tannins. Tannins are a class of compounds in tea, especially black tea, which tend to have a bitter flavor and astringent properties. Teas high in tannins can be described as tannic. Tannins are naturally occurring and common and are an important component of red wine as well. They are also responsible for the dark color in some streams, as they are found in leaves and wood, and are released as organic matter breaks down. The name “tannin” originated in the historical use of these compounds in tanning animal hides to make leather. In tea, tannins are a type of antioxidant, which interferes with the absorption plant-based iron from foods like greens and beans. Generally, drinking tea versus coffee with a meal results in almost double the reduction in iron absorption from tea versus coffee, i.e., 60 vs 30 percent for tea versus coffee.

There are also those among us who could be sensitive to the caffeine in tea, due to its biochemical individuality, despite that it is lower in caffeine than coffee (see caffeine content in tables above). One of the biggest cons against tea use is the fact that a great many people who use teas, use too much sweetener per cup, whether sugar or honey, it doesn’t matter. Sugar is the enemy of weight loss so, if you’re a tea drinker, take care to sweeten with moderation. And, like coffee, tea can be enjoyed hot or iced – both still contain the antioxidants from the original bean.

Above, I mentioned the iron uptake issue. This isn’t a problem with the consumption of iron found in meats – fish, poultry, and beef. For those who are on a vegan diet, simply consume more iron rich plants – green leafy vegetables, as well as vitamin C. The latter is found in abundance in citrus, cauliflower, peppers, broccoli, strawberries and other vegetables. Additionally, herbal teas are not listed here because they lack caffeine to a large extent, but they are soothing and relaxing as well.

In Summary
Drinking tea or coffee is highly individual. I drink both, on the tea side mostly herbal and, I stay away from black teas due to staining of the teeth – drinking tea or coffee through a straw can help negate this staining. But, that is just a choice on my part. And, face it, most of us drink coffee and or tea because they both taste good and we like the buzz from the caffeine, as well as the relaxing, soothing feeling we get, especially from teas. They help get you going in the morning, give you a little energy boost in the afternoon to finish the work day, and help to keep you awake at night for those very long night shifts – yes, I’ve done those too. In fact, in the military there was a time when we were so shorthanded and worked 36 hours on and 36 hours off – coffee was a mainstay to remain alert on these long shifts. As a rule of thumb, cut your caffeine intake 6-8 hours before bedtime for a better sleep. But, most of all, whether you drink coffee and or tea, enjoy the beverages and the benefits they offer.

Click on photo for more info.

When you think about it, given all the controversy surrounding marijuana and hemp, those two words represent millions of collective hours of effort and hard work by those in the hemp and CBD industries, and they represent the chance for not only healing but, protection. That protection is from addiction to pain killing drugs, which has become rampant within most collegiate and professional sports as athletes turn to these drugs to rid themselves of pain or conceal it and reduce the related inflammation before they step into the arena or field of play.

Thus, world regulatory bodies are coming around to the scientific truths surrounding cannabinoids like CBD and, it’s a step in the right direction. People around the world recognize the therapeutic benefits of CBD, which is proving to be almost a miracle drug in some respects, but it’s not a drug, it’s a full plant extract. Anecdotal evidence of its healing power are piling up daily – from autism to cancer and from psoriasis to pain relief.

Whether you’re a pro athlete, gym rat, or average fitness buff, you know that the day after an intense workout can be accompanied by stiffness and sore joints. You name it, and most have tried it, i.e., to relieve pain; hundreds of ways and methods in which most fall short. Whether it be aching muscles, sore back, sore neck, or sore feet anti-inflammatory drugs have been the norm for treatment- Ibupropin, Motrin, or Tylenol, as well as ice baths and Swedish showers. But, step aside drugs, a full-spectrum, plant extract is performing much better – CBD.
While all of the drugs listed above share the common goal of relieving pain and inflammation, CBD is now proving to relieve muscle aches and pains, limit inflammation, and boost post-workout recovery efforts of our immune system. The effects of CBD are powerful and now being experienced by people from all walks of life, whether the young, elderly or pro athletes.

As a practicing martial artists and instructor of brutal hand-to-hand combat techniques, I can testify to the effectiveness of CBD. It helps you heal and recover after such brutal practice and competition. Whether before a workout, brutal training session, competitive match, or after, CBD helps you recover quickly. You’ll feel better faster. One thing to remember is that if you decide to use CBD, purchase it from a reputable source where it has been legally grown, undergone federal testing methods, and that has been alcohol, not CO2 extracted. Much more information about CBD is given on the www.savehumanitynow.com website. Happy recovery. And, no, CBD will not make you high; it’s and extract with almost no THC.

If you wish to achieve success with your 2018 health and fitness goals, you must write them down and pursue them actively. It is a proven fact that success follows such actions, whether in business or personal life.

The real power of setting goals is derived when your write them down. As a matter of fact, you have a 95% chance of obtaining your goal(s) if you write them down – only 5% if you do not. This is the reason many people fail in their health and fitness resolutions every year. We resolve it in our minds, but because we do not write our resolutions down and follow them, they are seldom realized. It is sort of like retirement, many people often think of it, but what action is being taken to succeed and have enough funds when you do retire?

I have talked about this before. What are your goals in health and fitness? They should be clear targets of what you want to achieve and when, such as, not losing weight, but a specific amount. For example, I want to lose 20 pounds and weigh 115 pounds by March 28, 2018. Your goals will help you become motivated because they will focus your efforts and keep you headed in the right direction. Done properly, your goals will create a ‘vision’ of what you want to be like in terms of your health.

But, goals are not achieved through assmosis, in other words, they take work to accomplish. How much do you want to lose that 20 pounds? You must be driven and setting goals will help you be that way, especially since they help you become more efficient with your time because of their specificity.

So, set you goals and write them down – this is the most effective way to obtain success with them. Why? Because you have created an action plan to accomplish them.

Don’t say I want to work out 3 days per week – specific is terrific – specify the three days per week you will work out, i.e., I will workout on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday! Thus, you ensure success – one outcome at a time. Work off priorities by determining what aspect of your goals is priority A, versus B, versus C.

Your goals will attach action to outcomes by breaking your health and fitness resolutions into manageable, daily steps. So, by writing down and focusing on a few ideas at a time, you prioritize and concentrate your efforts. As an example, have you written down a training program to follow, or designed one on MyWorkout. You are in the gym and falling behind. What do you do? Work the largest muscle groups first – they are priority A – so that you burn the most energy and get as much done as you can within your time window. Next time, try to manage your time better. By taking action to burn the most calories utilizing the larger muscle groups, you’ve taken a significant action to obtain your goal.

Therefore, do not fail in your resolutions in 2018. Write them down, make a plan, write a program, stick with it and succeed. Best of luck in 2018 on all of your resolutions. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018!

So, I just wanted to give you a few tips.

1. Don’t just say you want to work out, that’s too general. Set specific days you’ll train/workout in the gym each week.
2. Create a workout program so that when you go to the gym, track, or field, you’ll have a daily recipe for success – this will keep you from wandering around from one piece of equipment to another and wasting valuable time.
3. Make reasonable and achievable goals – take small steps and be persistent. Just get started.
4. If you miss your workout today, don’t fret, go tomorrow, but do not make a habit of skipping your workout times.
5. Choose exercises that you like to do for your program or, design your program using our ‘my workout‘ system. It’s quick, easy, and scientifically based to help you achieve your goals.
6. Watch what you eat. Try to eat healthy and avoid sugar except once or twice per week.
7. Stick with it because your goals will be long term, not for only 2-3 weeks. Remember, it’s simple, get started and slowly increase your intensity.

As you go through the holidays, give some thought next week to what you really want to accomplish with your health and fitness; make plans and get started the first week of the new year.

From all of us at My Health and Fitness – the New Year will be your year – we wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!

The severe restriction of carbohydrates puts the body in a state of ketosis. In this state, the body increases conversion of fat by the liver into compounds known as ketone bodies. Normally, the brain uses primarily glucose as energy, but when carbohydrates (and thus glucose) are limited, ketone bodies can instead be used as an alternative energy source, which is the case in this diet.

Advertisement: CytoCharge (click on photo for more info)

Yes, the brain can use these ketone bodies and the fat needed to produce ketone bodies generally comes from stored body fat or excess sources from your diet.

The Ketogenic/Athletic Diet is not for Everyone
This diet will help you lose weight, but you must carefully consider that it is a diet therefore, it is meant to be very short term. Also, you must consider what your or your clients goals are and what he/she/you hope to achieve.

Findings published in the Annals of Internal Medicine illustrate that low-carb diets (such as the ketogenic diet) are better for losing weight than low-fat diets. The reason for this is because a ketogenic/athletic diet helps suppress appetite due to high fat and protein intake; both provide greater satiety than carbohydrates.

One thing you should note is that the adjustment period of the ketogenic/athletic diet in the beginning can be difficult. Generally, hunger pangs and cravings are substantially heightened. In other words, it takes a little getting used to. This is because there is a metabolic change that occurs when following this diet, as opposed to a more balanced diet.

When carbs are reduced and fat and protein consumption increase, hunger is decreased because of satiety, i.e., you feel full because of fat and protein intake, much like eating a steak. This leads to fewer calories consumed overall. And, fewer calories consumed generally results in weight loss. I have put clients on this diet many times; not one has failed to drop a significant amount of weight. What is nice about this short-term diet is that not only do you lose weight, a big proportion of that weight loss is fat loss.

Advertisement: Silk (click on photo for more info)

Some argue that this weight loss could just be because of high protein intake, but I have not found that, as a formally trained scientist, to be the case. Others argue that when starting such a diet the first time, that weight loss comes from loss of water and, once again, I have not found this to be true if the diet is done properly.

Fats, Proteins, and Cholesterol Profile
Many believe that by consuming more fat and protein, without carbs, that your cholesterol profile will increase with this short-term diet. You’re in luck because this diet has been shown to improve blood lipid profiles significantly in both healthy and obese men. Also, it is quite likely that older clients may be more interested in improved health rather than losing a few inches around the waist.

Let’s look at cholesterol a little. One of the key indicators of heart disease is triglyceride levels, which are, unbelievably, not affected by fat intake. It is carbohydrate consumption that drives triglyceride levels, not fat.

A healthy cholesterol profile has high HDL (high-density lipoprotein) level and low LDL (low-density lipoprotein) and triglycerides. Therefore, one of the best ways to increase HDL levels and reduce triglyceride levels is to eat healthy fats, including saturated fats.

The consumption of dietary cholesterol does not have a detrimental effect on blood cholesterol values and you should note that cholesterol is a carrier compound – not a fat molecule. Studies have noted differences in cholesterol parameters depending on whether the subject maintained a low-fat or high-fat diet. The utilization of high-fat diets resulted in improvements to HDL levels, as well as a reduction in triglyceride levels, both of which are good indicators of low cardiac risk. Now, I’m not telling you to go out and eat fat, fried foods like fried chicken. Eat responsibly.

Does the Athletic/Ketogenic Diet Always Work?
Bear in mind that this is a very short-term, significantly carb restrictive diet. Consequently, it will not fit everyone goals. For example, suppose you or your client wish to build lean muscle mass. If you do, this diet is not appropriate for that because building mass and sticking to a high-fat diet counteracts each other. Think of it like driving a car, it’s like pressing the brake and accelerator at the same time. This is because carbohydrates are needed to build muscle mass because it is glycogen (stored in muscle and the liver) that strenuous training, as well as the promotion of insulin response, which allow amino acids and glucose to enter muscle cells and initiate the process of muscle protein synthesis. If you need to lose weight quickly, get on the diet and once the weight is lost, go back to a more normal diet and then, get back into your muscle-building program.

There are problems with this short-term diet. The following is a partial list of the issues: Additionally, due to the nature of the ketogenic diet, these issues may arise:

Decreased Stamina: When first beginning the diet, there is usually a noticeable adjustment period of about 10 days depending on the person in which you’ll notice a reduction in your physical capacity. This is normal. Over time, the body becomes more efficient at producing and utilizing ketone bodies, which, along with other adaptations of metabolism and dietary considerations, will result in a reasonable return to normal levels of physical performance.

Bad Breath (Keto breath): A high concentration of ketone bodies in your system will generally result in breath with an unusual smell. Your breath may smell anywhere from fruity to acetone/chemical like. The latter is more normal because acetone is one of the ketone bodies produced from the conversion of fat, however, it is not volatile or dangerous when the body make it.

Food Diversity: Initially is can be difficult to determine which food(s) may satisfy you or your client. Thus, you should explore more n the beginning, it can be difficult to figure out which foods can satisfy your client. Try some low-carb or what we call negative carb veggies such as celery and fats such as pepperoni, bacon, or sausage. You can try any of these, especially bacon dipped in chocolate; dark is best since it’s lower sugar and doing so makes the diet more palatable.

Mood Swings: Are you one of those types who get irritable if you don’t eat? Well, this diet can have a similar effect on some people. When you are restricted severely from carbs and sugars the endorphins they produce are removed and generally replaced by feeling on edge or down right irritability. Hence, bacon dipped in chocolate.

Advertisement: Amazon (click on photo for more info)

If you or your client have diabetes, you must consult a physician before embarking on this diet. For those with diabetes, this diet is not a cure and you need to determine if you should even attempt it thus, seek medical advice first.

Can You Still Train if You’re on a Ketogenic/Athletic Diet?
The answer to this question is yes. This is because fats can be used as a fuel source for longer duration, low-intensity activity, making the diet suitable for athletes such as ultra-endurance athletes. Thus, is you’re a runner, especially a marathon runner, train away (think marathon runners). Even if you’re not, you may still train, but will need to decrease the intensity level because stored fat is converted to usable energy. But, the body doesn’t convert this fat readily to glucose so it needs to compensate with the production of ketone bodies. Consequently, you’ll lose the edge during high-intensity workouts while on the diet.

The problem is, when training very hard in a fasted state, some muscle may also be devoured during this training period, as amino acids from muscles can also be converted to glucose. There is some evidence that supplementing with branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) before and/or during fasted exercise may decrease the degree to which catabolism occurs, primarily as fat oxidation is increased (common on a keto diet).

Because of all of this, you need to look at why you’re doing this diet and what your goals are. Keep in mind you or your client’s performance needs. For the average fitness buff, the training is generally not strenuous enough to be affected in the keto state, what some term as the fasted state. However, if you have a speed-strength or high-intensity level athlete such as a ball player, sprinter, power lifter, martial artist, etc., and who requires fuel for maximal power output, training in keto state will generally reduce (somewhat) performance and results. So, if you’re looking to improve your one-rep max (1RM), don’t look for help from this diet while on it. For a short boost, try a 4-ounce glass of purple grape juice about 20-30 minutes before a major workout, but this can only be done about once per four days to remain true to the diet.

So again, do the diet first, drop the weight you want while performing endurance type activities such as runs, biking, etc. then, go back to your normal regimen to build those muscles. You’ll likely be pleasantly surprised at the definition you have once you drop the stored fat!

Watch Your Electrolytes
Electrolyte deficiency is a common problem on a normal diet since most people simply do not monitor their electrolyte levels. On this diet and other low-carb diets, electrolyte deficiency is more of a concern. This is because the removal of certain foods from the diet generally result in an insufficient intake of electrolyte minerals. An example is potassium found in bananas. Consequently, you need to look at substitutions for electrolytes into this diet. This is important because when starting the ketogenic diet, the body will drive fluid out of your muscles to obtained more glucose stored in the muscles. One of the better ways to circumvent this is to increase electrolyte intake for two weeks prior to beginning a ketogenic diet with foods such as nuts (magnesium), avocados and bananas (potassium), salt (sodium), etc.

Ketogenic diets have been around for a while and there are three main types: standard (SKD), cyclic (CKD), and targeted (TKD). It’s worth investigating them to determine which is best for you or your client. The SKD is the basic reduction of carbs while moving into consumption of fats and proteins and is the basic one most ascribe to.

The CKD is an advanced diet used primarily by bodybuilders to continue losing body fat, while at the same time keeping metabolic health and avoiding muscle loss. This diet generally involves following true ketogenic principles for a few days at a time (3-5 days), then alternating with higher carb days (1-2 days). This is the diet I put my pro athletes on. It is often conducted in phases. As an example, during the first phase, high-carb days may only include about 50 grams of carbs daily, but during subsequent carb-loading phases, this number can jump to 500 grams per day. Note that a typical high-carb phase consists of 1-2 days of high-carbs, i.e., re-feeding the body, and should only be employed if the workout sufficiently exhausts muscle glycogen during the previous five days of low-carb eating.

The TKD involves “targeted” nutrition, which is a period during the pre-workout phase. This type of keto diet works by consuming 25-50 grams of rapidly digestible, high glycemic index food 30-60 minutes before a workout. Glucose-containing foods such as bread and pasta are great because they facilitate glycogen storage in muscles. Many athletes will do fine on a SKD or CKD. But, bodybuilders who want to train as hard as possible may find the TKD worthwhile. Just remember that not every athlete needs or benefits from these diets.

As a rule, the ketogenic diet is viable and not difficult to stick with for a little while. Most people get great results from it, but, as I said before, it isn’t a good fit for everyone. Should you decide to try a ketogenic diet monitor energy and electrolyte levels then, make small adjustments as needed. If you need help, feel free to contact the author.