My Top Lean-Body Foods to Build Muscle and Lose Body Fat

In most of my Lean-Body Secrets Newsletters, I like to provide a healthy snack or meal recipe that not only is delicious and healthy but also helps to get you closer to that hard-body appearance that everyone is looking for, while also, more importantly, improving your health for life. In this article, I'd like to give you healthy food ideas in a different way. This time, I figured I'd just give you some ideas of what I stock my fridge and cabinets with.

Remember, if you don't have junk around the house, you're less likely to eat junk. If all you have is healthy food around the house, you're forced to make smart choices. Basically, it all starts with making smart choices and avoiding temptations when you make your grocery store trip. Now these are just some of my personal preferences, but perhaps they will give you some good ideas that you'll enjoy.

Alright, so let's start with the fridge. Each week, I try to make sure I'm loaded up with lots of varieties of fresh vegetables. During the growing season, I only get local produce, but obviously, in winter, I have to resort to the produce at the grocery store. Most of the time, I make sure I have plenty of vegetables like onions, zucchini, spinach, fresh mushrooms, red peppers, broccoli, etc. to use in my morning eggs. I also like to dice up some lean chicken or turkey sausage into the eggs, along with some swiss, jack, or goat cheeses (preferably raw grass-fed cheeses when I can find them).

By the way, I'm talking about whole eggs, NOT egg whites. Always remember that the yolk is the most nutritious and nutrient dense part of the egg, so only eating egg whites is like throwing away the best part... and no, it's NOT bad for you because of the cholesterol... eggs actually raise your GOOD cholesterol. Try to get free range organic eggs for the best quality. Here's an entire article I did on the topic of whole eggs vs egg whites.

Coconut milk is another staple in my fridge. I like to use it to mix in with smoothies, oatmeal, or yogurt for a rich, creamy taste. Not only does coconut milk add a rich, creamy taste to lots of dishes, but it's also full of healthy saturated fats. Yeah, you heard me...I said healthy saturated fats! Healthy saturated fats like medium chain triglycerides, specifically an MCT called lauric acid. If the idea of healthy saturated fats is foreign to you, check out my healthy fats article

Back to the fridge, some other staples:
• Chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds - delicious and great sources of healthy fats.
• Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and yogurt - I like to mix cottage or ricotta cheese and yogurt together with chopped nuts and berries for a great mid-morning or mid-afternoon meal.
• Whole flax seeds or chia seeds - I grind these in a mini coffee grinder and add to yogurt or salads. Always grind them fresh because the omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are highly unstable and prone to oxidation, creating high levels of free radicals in pre-ground flax.
• Whole eggs - one of natures richest sources of nutrients (and remember, they increase your GOOD cholesterol so stop fearing them).
• Salsa - I try to get creative and try some of the exotic varieties of salsas.
• Avocados - love them...plus a great source of healthy fats, fiber, and other nutrients. Try adding them to wraps, salads, or sandwiches.
• Butter - don't believe the naysayers; butter adds great flavor to anything and can be part of a healthy diet (just keep the quantity small because it is calorie dense...and NEVER use margarine, unless you want to assure yourself a heart attack).
• Nut butter - Plain old peanut butter has gotten a little old for me, so I get creative and mix together almond butter with sesame seed butter, or even cashew butter with macadamia butter...delicious and unbeatable nutrition!
• Leaf lettuce and spinach along with shredded carrots - for salads with dinner.
• Home-made salad dressing - using balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and Udo's Choice oil blend. This is much better than store bought salad dressing which mostly uses highly refined soybean oil (full of inflammation-causing free radicals).
• Whole grain wraps and whole grain bread (look for wraps and bread with at least 3-4 grams of fiber per 20 grams of total carbs).
• Rice bran and wheat germ - these may sound way too healthy for some, but they actually add a nice little nutty, crunchy taste to yogurt or smoothies, or can be added when baking muffins or bread to add nutrients and fiber.
Some of the staples in the freezer:
• Frozen berries - during the local growing season, I only get fresh berries, but during the other 10 months of the year, I always keep a supply of frozen blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, etc. to add to high fiber cereal, oatmeal, cottage cheese, yogurt, or smoothies
• Frozen fish - I like to try a couple different kinds of fish each week. There are so many varieties out there, you never have to get bored.
• Frozen chicken breasts - very convenient for a quick addition to wraps or chicken sandwiches for quick meals.
• Grass-fed steaks, burgers, and ground beef - Grassfed meats have been shown to have as high as, or even higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids than salmon (without the mercury). Also, grass-fed meats have much higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) compared to typical grain-fed beef. I recently found an excellent on-line store where I buy all of my grass-fed meats now (they even deliver right to your door in a sealed cooler) - www.healthygrassfed.2ya.com
• Frozen buffalo, ostrich, venison, and other "exotic" lean meats - Yeah, I know...I'm weird, but I can tell you that these are some of the healthiest meats around, and if you're serious about a lean healthy body, these types of meats are much better for you than the mass produced, hormone-pumped beef and pork that's sold at most grocery stores.
• Frozen veggies - again, when the growing season is over and I can no longer get local fresh produce, frozen veggies are the best option, since they often have higher nutrient contents compared to the fresh produce that has been shipped thousands of miles, sitting around for weeks before making it to your dinner table.

Alright, now the staples in my cabinets:
• Various antioxidant rich teas - green, oolong, white, rooibos are some of the best.
• Whole wheat or whole grain spelled pasta - much higher fiber than normal pasta
• Oat bran and steel cut oats - higher fiber than those little packs of instant oats.
• Cans of coconut milk - to be transferred to a container in the fridge after opening.
• Brown rice and other higher fiber rice - NEVER white rice
• Tomato sauces - delicious, and as I'm sure you've heard a million times, they are a great source of lycopene. Just watch out for the brands that are loaded with nasty high fructose corn syrup.
• Stevia - a natural non-caloric sweetener, which is an excellent alternative to the nasty chemical-laden artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharine, and sucralose.
• Raw honey - better than processed honey... higher quantities of beneficial nutrients and enzymes. Honey has even been proven in studies to improve glucose metabolism (how you process carbs). I use a teaspoon or so every morning in my teas. Yes, it is pure sugar, but at least it has some nutritional benefits... and let's be real, a teaspoon of healthier raw honey is only 5 grams of carbs... certainly nothing to worry about.
• Organic maple syrup - none of that high fructose corn syrup Aunt Jemima crap...only real maple syrup can be considered real food. The only time I really use this (because of the high sugar load) is added to my post-workout smoothies to sweeten things up and also elicit an insulin surge to push nutrients into your muscles.
• Organic unsweetened cocoa powder - I like to mix this into my smoothies for an extra jolt of antioxidants or make my own low-sugar hot cocoa by mixing cocoa powder into hot milk with stevia and a couple melted dark chocolate chunks.
• Cans of black or kidney beans - I like to add a couple scoops to my Mexican wraps for the fiber and high nutrition content. Also, beans are surprisingly one of the best sources of youth promoting antioxidants!
• Dark chocolate (as dark as possible) - This is one of my treats that satisfies my sweet tooth, plus provides loads of antioxidants at the same time. It's still calorie dense, so I keep it to just a couple squares, but that is enough to do the trick, so I don't feel like I need to go out and get cake and ice cream to satisfy my dessert urges.

Lastly, another thing that's hard to go wrong with is a good variety of fresh fruits and berries. The staples such as bananas, apples, oranges, pears, peaches are good, but I like to also be a little more adventurous and include things like yellow (aka - Mexican or champagne) mangoes, pomegranates, kumquats, papaya, star fruit, pineapples, and others. Also, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cherries are some of the most nutrient and antioxidant-dense fruits you can eat.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this special look into my favorite lean body meals and how I stock my cabinets and fridge. Your tastes are probably quite different than mine, but hopefully, this gave you some good ideas you can use next time you're at the grocery store looking to stock up a healthy and delicious pile of groceries.

Be sure to pick up a copy of my book The Truth about Six Pack Abs, which introduces you to the entire comprehensive training and nutritional program that will turn your body into a lean, sexy specimen that others will envy!

By Michael Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

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Tips on How to Get Abs

Have you ever wished that you have that rock hard six pack abs you always see on TV? A lot of us don't like to spend too much time in the gym; because it's just way too time consuming. Is there actually an easier way to acquire that six pack killer body that you want, without spending too much time doing it?

Actually, there are some easy and simple tips that would help you get six pack abs. Firstly, watch your food intake level. Avoid eating at all cost while watching your favorite television program. Why? You need to be mindful of your consumption. You tend to overeat when you're watching the television since your focus will be on the program.

Another important fact is that you do not skip breakfast. There is a reason why breakfast is regarded as the most important meal of the day. Your metabolism is accelerated and fat starts to burn right when you wake up. Therefore you need enough food to give you the energy for your daily tasks. By skipping breakfast, your mind tends to compensate the next meal by eating a lot more than you really need to.

I know a lot of you are afraid of the word fats, but there are some fats that are supposedly good for you. Fish oil, flaxseed oil, as well as extra virgin olive oil are all healthy fats that you should consider consuming.

Are you drinking enough water every day? The standard recommended consumption of water per day is 8 to 10 glasses to keep you hydrated. However more water would help regulate fat burning and your body metabolic process, therefore don't be shy to pass the 10 glasses threshold, as more water you consume the better it is for you. If you enjoy drinking milk, choose skim milk instead of full-fat milk. These are healthier alternatives and also it does not clog your arteries.

A diet is considered incomplete unless you have some form of exercise routines in your daily lives. Sometimes doing a hundred sit-ups is not the most efficient way to build that six pack abs. Although your focus is on building abs, do not ignore the other part of your body! Cardiovascular exercises are also exercised you can do to build your six pack abs. These exercises help increases your stamina as well as your heart condition, while rapidly promoting fat burning, which is what you should really aim for. Shred the fat, and eventually, your six pack abs will show. You need not only limit yourself within the gym, try taking a walk outside at some point.

Sleep is usually least appreciated in an exercise regime, bare in mind that sleep helps repair you muscular system by decreasing stress hormone levels, therefore you ought to get that minimum seven to eight hours of sleep!

And last, a lot of us fail at being consistent. No matter how effective and useful your regimen is, without consistency, it will sum up to nothing! Always stick to what you've previously planned to do, and soon enough you'll reap what you sowed. The secret on how to get abs are easy, as long as you stay committed and do whatever necessary! CLICK HERE!

Build Six Pack Abs Without Sit Ups

Sit-ups used to be the only way that many people thought you could get toned and defined abs. Now we know that this is not the only way on how to get six pack abs, as there are many other more effective exercises that will still give you the definition and the illustrious six pack abs, if not better than sit ups.

If you want to understand how to get abs that are flat and sexy, you need might want to consider doing Pilates. That is a form of exercise that is named for Joseph Pilates and it focuses on using your "powerhouse" to work the muscles of your body. When you learn to do Pilates, you will learn how to focus on your movements and control your breathing to help you get toned abs and maximize the motion and workouts from each movement.

Not only doing Pilates will answer your question on how to get the abs you want, they will also help tone your entire body throughout. Even if the Pilates program that is designed to target your abs, it will still tone all of your other muscles at the same time. You get to have a firmer, leaner, and toned body, not just toned abs.

Pilates is not only a great way to learn how to get toned abs, but you will be surprised at how effortless your workouts will be. Unlike doing countless sit-ups to reach your goal, you won't be repeating the same movement, and repeating might stress your back. Instead, all of your muscles will be used in controlled movements that will give you an incredible overall workout.

To get six pack abs will require you to get rid of substantial excess fat, you need to learn how to do cardiovascular work to burn calories. You can do both the cardiovascular workout and the pilates on the same day three to five times per week or you can alternate between types of workouts every other day.

Exercise fads come and go so quickly that it is hard to know which ones can work for you and which ones are just money marketing ideas. When you search for "how to get toned abs", you will find all types of crazy techniques and new takes on the same old routines. Ultimately sit-ups are sit-ups, no matter where or how you do them. They work the muscle that is responsible for giving you the six-pack look but you need much more than exercises that show you how to get one muscle toned. For an all round workout that will give you toned abs and a toned body, consider using Pilates.

Whether you believe that sit-ups are the key to great abs or it is just easy to take a time to do a series of sit-ups when you have a little time, they won't give you the flat stomach you want. Doing sit-ups on a slant board is more difficult that doing them lying flat but they still don't give you a versatile workout. Placing weight on your abs while you do sit-ups won't make them work any better, either. If you really want to learn how to get toned abs, consider looking for a program that gives you versatility.

How To Get Your Best Abs

If you are looking for the best method on how to get your best abs, then you will need a comprehensive plan that will thoroughly affect every aspect of your fitness regime. Quick advice, forget about ab machines, or any other machines for that matter that have promised you the abs!

Truth is, getting abs can be simpler and safer! As long as you understand that it takes concrete exercises and whatever knowledge you'll need about getting ripped abs.

Getting the best abs for many of us means obtaining that well defined and toned six-pack abs look that comes from the rectus abdominal muscle. The creases in that particular muscle will give it the six-pack or washboard appearance that so many of us long for. There are also two other abdominal muscles, including the external and internal obliques and the transverse abdominals. If you want to know how to get your best abs, you will have to work on all three muscle groups.

When you are looking for information on how to get your best abs, you will find that there are many opinions as to whether you should work your abdominal muscles more frequently than other muscles of your body. Some experts believe that the smaller muscles need to be worked every day while the larger muscles of the body need time to rest between workouts. You may end up more confused than ever about how to get your best abs ever. The best approach is to only work abs every other day but do cardiovascular training on the other days. Not only will this contribute to your overall fitness and health but it will also help burn fat and gives you a flatter stomach. Only then your abs will be allowed to show through.

Almost any program that teaches you how to get your best abs is going to include crunches. This exercise directly works the rectus abdominals, giving your abs the best six-pack definition of a well-toned stomach. Bicycling and reverse crunches are also effective exercises for this muscle.

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You will also want to use exercises that will show you how to work your obliques which are responsible for a defined waistline. These muscles are on the sides of your waist and are engaged whenever you do activities that have a twisting motion. Using the bicycle exercise will engage both the rectus abdominals and the obliques, making it one of the most popular exercises for working the abdomen. For the most effective bicycle workout, find a demonstration online or on an exercise video rather than relying on written directions since the form is extremely important to successful exercising and preventing injury.

Core exercises will not only provide you with the information on how to work the entire abdominal area but will help you exercise your entire torso at the same time. Muscles in your body help support each other and also give you an overall toned appearance rather than just focusing on one body area. Core exercises include planks and ball rollouts.

If you head to the gym to find the equipment that will only show you how to get the best abs you can get and you ignore the rest of your body, I guarantee you won’t be as happy as you thought with your results! You'll find yourself being disproportionate rather than fit and good looking. Therefore you should never ignore the rest of your body, or find an exercise routines or workout routines that will help you build muscles overall.

 A good exercise program should also show you how to get your best abs while achieving overall fitness and toning. When choosing an exercise program, make sure it includes a warm-up, core exercises, cardiovascular work, and a cool-down period that will give you everything you need for a healthy, fit body.

What to Expect From Lower Ab Workouts

If you have made the commitment to get a trimmer, more muscular waistline, the next important step is to find the perfect lower ab workouts that will make your goal not only an attainable one, as well as an injury free and enjoyable one. However, for the majority of people, this fails to be the answer to their waistline problems. If you begin and end with the idea that hundreds of crunches every day will get you what you are looking for, then you are hyping yourself up for a major disappointment.

Many magazines will have lower ab workouts featured that are guaranteed to get you into a bikini by summer, in six weeks or some other unrealistic time frame. Obviously, not everyone will get there using the same amount of time to form a beach body and chances are you may not be able to get the same results as someone else. This is one of the biggest reasons that individuals don't ever reach their goal of losing weight or getting that perfectly toned body. It's important for you to know what lower ab workouts can, and can't, do for you.

First of all, there are such things where you can turn fat into muscle. You have to burn fat off by giving your body fewer calories to burn so that it will burn stored fat. If you have a layer of fat covering your abdominal muscles, then all of the lower ab workouts you can do won't help. That stay true until you finally get rid of the fat layer, till then you will never have a toned stomach and you won't develop six-pack abs, or rather you won't see the six pack abs. To burn fat, you have to do aerobic and/or cardiovascular training that will burn fat overall. There is no way to target one area where you will lose the weight.

Once you have lost the excess, then you can consider which lower ab workouts will give you the results you want in the shortest time possible. Any exercise that involves lifting your legs above your body, like reverse crunches or bicycling, will actively engage your lower abdominal muscles. Any exercise you do should be controlled and focused so that you are working the muscles you want to improve. Stop immediately if you are feeling pain in your back, because you are most likely doing something very wrong and you risks running yourself injured. While working out, If you feel your muscles in a different part of your body working, again you might be doing it wrong. Movements of the body have to be concentrated and focused, make sure you feel the muscles in your lower abdominal area are actively engaged in these exercises.

There are many types of lower ab workouts that are designed to teach you control of your movements, as well as your breathing while you work out. Being aware of both is important in achieving the results you want. The quality of the lower ab workouts you do is more important than the number of repetitions you perform. You should never rely on momentum to carry you through an exercise. If you are too tired or are not advanced enough to get through the move without losing the ideal form, then stop. You will only put yourself at risk of injuries and you won't benefit from the exercise.

Lower Ab Workouts You Can Do At Home

If your schedule is as demanding as most people's are these days, you probably don't have much time to go to the gym for lower ab workouts. Still, most of us long to have those chiseled stomachs that look so great on the beach or in your everyday clothes. Slender waist and flat stomach are the most important characteristic that defines a fit body. Luckily, there are lower ab workouts that you can do at home that is as effective as those you can do at the gym.

First of all, you have to look at the overall approach needed to get you a firm, flat stomach. Lower ab workouts alone aren't enough to get you the shape you long for. Proper nutrition with all the protein, antioxidants, and fiber needed for a healthy digestive tract and the immune system play an important role as well. Consistent aerobic exercises are also needed to keep your circulatory system strong.

It is important to understand that lower ab workouts are not meant to get rid of excess fat in your abdominal region and it will not replace the fat with muscle. Weight loss has to come first before toning and definition can be attained. The best lower ab workouts are those that include each of these aspects and focus on overall fitness of your body.

Your abdominal is part of your "core", which includes all of the muscles in your trunk and pelvis area. When you do exercises for your core, you strengthen all the muscles in a way that keeps them working together. These are the muscles that you need in order to perform exercises as well as normal daily activities. Lower ab workouts that focus on strengthening all of the core muscles will make you stronger and help prevent you from getting injuries during your workouts.

One of the best types of lower ab workouts you can do at home are by using a stability ball. This is not only a good way to exercise your core muscles, but it also requires little financial investment for equipment. Many traditional exercises can be performed on a stability ball, causing less stress on your back and neck muscles and also causing you to engage other muscles to balance the ball while you work out.

Some example of what you can do with a stability ball:

Pelvic Tucks
Sit on the ball with your feet about hip-width apart on the floor in front of you. Roll the ball forward, pressing your heels into the floor while you "tuck" in your pelvis. Roll back to starting. Do in sets of 12.

Waistline Chops
Roll out on the ball until your belly button is centered over the ball. Bring your hands together over your head. "Chop" to the left side by rising up gradually on the ball. Then chop to the right. This works the obliques that give you a trim waist. Do these in sets of twelve, left and right.

Crunches
Crunches will not give you great abs all by themselves, but they are still an important part of many lower ab workouts. Using the stability ball to do them will allow you more range of motion. Start with your belly button centered over the ball and hands behind your head. Keep elbows out as you lift up from the ball. Strive for slow, controlled movements instead of doing more reps.

Remember, attaining that toned and defined body requires the consistent workout, as well as a balanced nutrition eating habit!

How to Build Abs For Busy People

This style of workout is different than what you've been doing, it will result in a considerably leaner, stronger body! This workout is great for busy people that have always used the excuse that they don't have time to hit the gym, or even for the normal gym rat to try out for a few weeks to break out of their routines.

Please keep an open-mind because most people are too self-conscious to try something like this. If that's the case for you, then that's your loss. Need not worry so much about what other people think, you might get the occasional sneer, but you surely you'll get the last laugh when you showed them your newly acquired rock hard six packs.

Instead of doing normal weight training and cardio routines for as long as an hour at one go, you'll be breaking them down to a few times throughout the day, for only a couple of minutes. You need to do for 5 days a week, but it's easy since it's only for a couple of minutes, and the best part is you can even do it in your office!

This bodyweight exercises can be done for about just mere 2-3 minutes, up to 8 times a day. Instead of having your colleagues laughed at you when you perform, persuade them to join you instead! It might actually turn your work out into something like a bonding session with your colleagues, fun time.

Some of the bodyweight exercises that are the best to focus on are:
• bodyweight squats (and variations)
• floor planks (holding the plank position from forearms and feet)
• floor abs exercise such as lying leg thrusts, ab bicycles, etc.
• one-legged bodyweight Romanian deadlifts
• forward, reverse, or walking lunges
• up & down a staircase if one is available
• pushups (and variations)

This list can still be expanded, but let's keep it relatively simple for now. If you do know of other bodyweight exercises, you can also add in those. What you really want from this is to get your blood pumping, with just 2 minutes work out your heart rate will be up a bit, and most of your body's muscles worked. Most of the time just mere 2 minutes exercises won't break a sweat for you, therefore don't worry about sweating, you'll get moist on your skin at the most.

Here's an example workout routine you can do either at home or at work (adjust the reps up or down based on your own capabilities and time):

Mon/Wed/Fri
9 am - 10 pushups/15 bodyweight squats, repeat 1X for 2 sets
10 am - plank holds (hold the planks as long as you can taking short rest breaks for a total of 3 minutes)
11 am - 5 pushups/10 bodyweight squats, repeat for 4 sets
1 pm - plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes)
2 pm - 8 pushups/12 bodyweight squats, repeat for 3 sets
3 pm - plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes)
4 pm - max pushups/max bodyweight squats in one set (no repeat)

Tues/Thurs
9 am - 6 fwd lunges each leg/6 rev lunges, repeat 1X for 2 sets
10 am - one legged be Romanian deadlifts (RDL) 6 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat 1X for 2 sets
11 am - 3 fwd lunges each leg/3 rev lunges, repeat for 4 sets
1 pm - one legged by RDL 3 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat for 4 sets
2 pm - 5 fwd lunges each leg/5 rev lunges, repeat for 3 sets
3 pm - one legged by RDL 10 each leg/floor abs for 30 sec (no repeat)
4 pm - max fwd lunges each leg/max rev lunges in one set (no repeat)

In order to progress on these workouts, you could either add 1 or 2 reps to each set per week, or you could progress to more difficult versions of each exercise each week (for example, close grip pushups, one leg raised pushups, squats with arms raised straight overhead, etc.). Click Here!