ARTIFICIAL SWEETNERS

Sucralose

Ever heard of Sucralose? Well Sucralose is the newest non-nutritive sweetener on the market. It is most well known for its claim to be made from sugar. It is used alone or found in Splenda and is 600 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar). When used alone, it provides essentially no calories and is not fully absorbed.

This artificial sweetener can be used for cooking, so it has rapidly become one of the most popular and highly consumed artificial sweeteners.

The most misunderstood fact about sucralose is that it is nothing like sugar even though the marketing implies that it is. Sucralose was actually discovered while trying to create a new insecticide!!!

 It may have started out as sugar, but the final product is anything but sugar and without going into the bio-chemistry of i…it is unlike anything found in nature.

If you read the fine print on the Splenda web site, it states that “although sucralose has a structure like sugar and a sugar-like taste, it is not natural.”

The presence of chlorine is thought to be the most dangerous component of sucralose. Chlorine is considered a carcinogen and has been used in poisonous gas, disinfectants, pesticides, and plastics. The digestion and absorption of sucralose is not clear due to a lack of long-term studies on humans. The majority of studies were done on animals for short lengths of time. The alleged symptoms associated with sucralose are gastrointestinal problems (bloating, gas, diarrhea, nausea), skin irritations (rash, hives, redness, itching, swelling), wheezing, cough, runny nose, chest pains, palpitations, anxiety, anger, moods swings, depression, and itchy eyes. The only way to be sure of the safety of sucralose is to have long-term studies on humans done.

Splenda is a product that contains the artificial sweetener sucralose, but that is not all.

Sucralose does have calories, but because it is 600 times sweeter than sugar, very small amounts are needed to achieve the desired sweetness so you most likely won’t consume enough to get any calories. The other two ingredients in Splenda are dextrose and maltodextrin, which are used to increase bulk and are carbohydrates that do have calories.

One cup of Splenda contains 96 calories and 32 grams of carbohydrates, which is often unnoticed due to the label claiming that it’s a no calorie sweetener. Because this is found in so many products and can be used in cooking, it can be possible to consume 1 cup or more each day. For people with diabetes, this is a significant amount of carbohydrates, and for people who are watching their weight, this can be a problem. Consuming an additional 100 calories a day can result in a weight gain of 10 lbs. per year!

Please spear some thoughts on this and think again before using any Artificial Sweeteners…they are “artificial”….therefore cannot be natural!

However do not panic! If you don’t eat sugar and don’t eat artificial sweetener doesn’t mean you are left with a bitter mouth! ….in fact there is ALWAYS a healthier alterative…the way to go when it comes to sweet tooth is STEVIA…never heard of it? Of course not! They do not sell it in the UK (It would be interesting to ask yourself why??? But I won’t go there!) But you can find it online, just google  Stevia Extract, and it comes in powder or liquid extract.

Stevia is totally natural as it is a plant extract and totally calorie FREE!

So as you can see…once again YOU have a choice…

Gym Love J

Dangers of Sugar

I really wanted to make an in-depth article on Sugar but I also wanted to keep it as easy to read and understand as possible….so as I was researching this article, I surfed the web and was surprised to find that the majority of the websites that mention sugar say that it is fine to eat in moderation!!!.Most of them say that your body turns all food to glucose regardless of the kind of food eaten, so whether you eat sugar, vegetables, or steak is irrelevant. 

Now to me this is pretty shocking!!!

First of all, it is true that your body converts all foods to glucose. 

However, there is an important difference between sugar and those other foods…..meat, fruits, and vegetables all have vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and amino acids when it comes to HOW your body react to them.

 Sugar has none of those things to assist in its digestion and absorption.  As a result, metabolizing refined sugar puts the body at a severe nutritional disadvantage.

Oh yes! I know! How many times have you heard…and said it yourself in fact…”Oh I feel weak I need some sugar!”…NO…you do not need sugar…lets have a look and understand why…

There have been many researches on this topic and science has now shown us several times that there is NO DOUBT, the sugar in our food is damaging our health far more than we can imagine.

Sugar is loaded into your soft drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks, and hidden in almost all processed foods, ketchup, sauces, cheese…everywhere!!. And now most infant formula has the sugar equivalent of one can of Coca-Cola, so babies are being metabolically poisoned from day one if taking formula.

No wonder there is an obesity epidemic!!!

Did you KNOW…???

A can of Coke contains:

Caffeine → it’s a DIURETIC which means you will wee free water

SALT!!! → 55mg of Sodium per can! It’s like drinking Pizza

So what happens when you intake so much salt and eliminate water? You get thirstier!

And of course SUGAR! Why so much sugar? Nobody wants to consume a salty drink!  Thats the amount of sugar that covers the taste of salt!

Oh yes the people behind this are pretty clever hey… I’ll leave it to you to judge.

Too Much Fructose Creates a Metabolic Disaster in Your Body

Now…If your diet was like that of people a century ago, you’d consume about 15 grams per day… Amazingly, 25 percent of people actually consume more than 130 grams of fructose per day!

Making matters worse, all of the fiber has been removed from processed foods, so there is essentially no nutritive value at all. And the very products most people rely on to lose weight—the low-fat diet foods—are often the ones highest in fructose.

It isn’t that fructose itself is bad—it is the MASSIVE DOSES you’re exposed to that make it dangerous.

Why is fructose so damaging?

1. Your body metabolizes fructose in a much different way than glucose. The entire burden of metabolizing fructose falls on your liver. This is NOT the case with glucose, of which your liver breaks down only 20 percent. Nearly every cell in your body utilizes glucose, so it’s normally “burned up” immediately after consumption.

So where does all of this fructose go, once you consume it?

On your thighs!! It is turned into FAT which means more fat deposits throughout your body.

2. People are consuming fructose in enormous quantities, which has made the negative effects much more profound.

3. Fructose tricks your body into gaining weight by fooling your Metabolism—it turns off your body’s appetite-control system. Fructose does not appropriately stimulate insulin, which in turn does not suppress ghrelin (the “hunger hormone”) and doesn’t stimulate leptin (the “satiety hormone”), which together result in your eating more and developing insulin resistance.

4. Fructose rapidly leads to weight gain and abdominal obesity

One of the more recent findings that surprised researchers is that glucose actually accelerates fructose absorption, making the potential health risks from HFCS even more profound!!

You can now see why fructose is the number one contributing factor to the current obesity epidemic…

…read full article on www.ilariapetrucci.info 
(includes 75 reasons why we do NOT need Sugar!)

 Gym Love

Ila

I was going to write an article on de-hydration this week but changed my mind after I got involved in a discussion last weekend about the differences between Weight Loss and fat loss.

Is there a difference I hear you say?

It is extremely important that I clarify the difference between weight loss and fat loss and believe it or not there is a big difference.

I remember reading the article below some time ago and I think it pretty much summarize it all:

“I mean sheesh, anyone can lose weight, all you have to do is eat birdseed and arugula with a side of grapes”…now I know what you are thinking…Arugula what? Yes I wasn’t sure either so … I googled it…it is just a type of salad! It’s green.

Now ….STOP!!! I bet it already crossed your mind to add the following to your shopping list:

-Birdseeds
-Arugula
-Grapes

I am not going to be able to stop you if that is what you decide to do but take some time to read what follows before you make that decision.

My advice to you is that take your time and be patient, far too often I see too many people wanting amazing results with very little effort on their part, so again…be patient!

If you want to be successful in your fat-loss journey don’t be in a rush, allow yourself to relax, allow your body to adapt to the changes and accept your new healthy and balanced regime, it takes time your, body need to trust you and the food you are consuming.

You need to be looking at creating a small negative energy balance (300-500 calories MAX), which is something you’ll be able to stick to long-term, rather than the ever- so popular crash dieting strategies sold to us by so called weight loss experts on TV and in all those magazines.

These magic potions and diets aren’t realistic. A 900Kcal per day diet isn’t realistic; the liquid diets are not realistic either!

Why Crash Dieting Doesn’t Work

Crash dieting is unlikely to work long-term for various reasons:

First of all the motivation for rapid weight loss is short-term because it centres on a quick-fix mentality. This invariably leads to the nightmare roller coaster ride of emotions that the yoyo dieters or “crash dieter” often falls into… determination to diet, rapid weight loss, weight-loss plateau, loss of determination, return to old habits, depression, rapid weight gain, depression, guilt, new determination to diet, rapid weight loss and so it goes on…Its extremely frustrating to go through all this and it creates an ENOURMOUS amount of stress for the body which is completely UNNECESSARY.

After all, do you want to be in shape only temporary? Of course not and to sustain this new you there has to be a lifestyle change. Stop looking for these shortcuts that don’t exist!

A little bit of maths…there are 3,500Kcal in a pound of fat…(yes that’s right! )…which mean to lose ONE POUND of FAT you have to burn 3,500Kcal. This explains why fat loss requires time and patients’.

Now, our body cannot only fuel on fat,..It will always be a ratio of fat and carbohydrate (that’s why carbohydrate are so important to fuel your workouts)…and the ratio depends on the type of workouts activity you do.

Now let’s look at water loss or weight loss:

When losing weight its inevitable that water will make up some of the weight loss. No matter how we lose weight or how long the weight loss takes, everyone will lose water.

This is determined by:

1. Which exercise is selected

2. The diet (Nutrition) – for example, a too low carbohydrate diet may increase water loss

3. Calorie intake – lowering calorie intake too much will cause more water loss

4. Body composition of the person – the amount of protein and carbohydrate stores before new diet

The water weight loss comes from a net loss of protein and carbohydrates especially during the first few weeks of a reduction in calories.

On reducing calories the body needs to rely more on energy within the body and thus breaks down protein and carbohydrate for Metabolism.

When these nutrients are metabolised (used for energy) water is released.
Fat stores do supply a little of the energy but, at first a good proportion comes from protein and the limited stores of carbohydrates within the cells.

For fat loss the trick is to reduce losing water weight as much as possible so the body is forced to burn more body fat stores.

Here come the tips:

1. Consume small portions of high quality protein at each meal
2. Reduce food intake gradually and count calories (where are the calories coming from?)
3. Do NOT starve yourself or go on a crash diet!
4. Train for strength so to increase muscle (The amount of lean muss we have will determine how fast our metabolism is)
5. Lose weight slowly no more than 2 pounds per week…PATIENCE IS KEY

And that is all the tips from me today…until next time…

Enjoy your workouts!

Gym Love

Ilaria

Understanding Protein

The Importance of Protein

Protein is a part of every cell in your body; it is the most important nutrient as no other nutrient plays as many different roles in keeping you alive and healthy.

I cannot stress enough on the Importance of Protein in so many different areas…for the growth and repair of your muscles, bones, skin, tendons, ligaments, hair, eyes and other tissues is proven since a very long time.

Without it, you would not be able to produce the enzymes and hormones and antibodies you need for Metabolism, digestion and other important processes such as healing…in fact did you know that when you have an infection, you should eat more protein because it helps create the antibodies your immune system needs to fight disease!

If you are injured, you may need more, as well, to help your blood clot and make repairs.

Protein & Diet

Even from this brief introduction you can see just how important protein is and it should now be obvious that our diets should contain high levels of protein, considering its very important role within the body.

However, this may not reflect what you have been told before.  In fact as you may be aware, government recommendation for protein intake per day is equal to 0.75g per kg of body weight.

For example if you are a female of 60kg in weight then your protein intake would be as followed:

60 x 0.75 = 45g of Protein per day

You should be able to work out yourself by now that this is highly inadequate considering the role that protein plays within the body!

In fact to be more realistic a 60Kg woman would need at least double that figure!

Obviously we are all individuals and there is not a “One rule for all”, but to recommend a minimum level for an average person (not an athlete) wanting to maintain muscle tissue and prevent catabolism (tissue breakdown), a more realistic level would range around 1.5g per kg of body weight per day.

Protein Summary

So as you can see Protein isn’t only for athletes and especially isn’t only for muscle building…Protein is for EVERYTHING! To summarise:

• Anti bodies which consist of protein are essential in helping our bodies fight and resist diseases
• You use up protein in everyday living just to keep your body running smoothly
• Everyday we lose protein in the form of hair, skin and nails
• Protein is supplied to the body to help heal and repair injuries
• For growing children protein is needed for growth of the entire body
• If you have an operation protein is needed to help build your body back to fitness

Gym Love

Ilaria Petrucci

When is the best time of day to do your aerobic exercise?

I am going to answer a question that I get asked allot…recently one of my good friends asked me the same question so I decided to write up an article about it and hopefully shed some light on this matter.

The answer to “When is the best time to do your aerobic exercise” is…ANYTIME!

The most important thing is that you do some form of cardio.  Any type of continuous cardiovascular exercise, such as walking, jogging, stair climbing, or cycling, sustained for at least 30 minutes, will reduce body fat no matter when you do it!

However, if you want to maximise the benefits from every minute you invest in your workouts, then you should get up early and do your cardio before you eat your first meal.

There are some major advantages to exercising early in the morning on an empty stomach…

When you wake up first thing in the morning, before you eat your levels of muscle and liver glycogen (stored carbohydrate) are very low.  If you had your dinner at 7 pm and you wake up at 7am, that’s 12 hours without food.

During this 12-hour overnight fast, your levels of glycogen slowly decline to provide glucose for various bodily functions that go on even while you sleep.  As a result, you wake up in the morning with depleted glycogen and lower blood sugar – the optimum environment for burning fat instead of carbohydrate

So how does this actually work?

Carbohydrate (glycogen) is your body’s primary and preferred source of energy, when your primary fuel source is in short supply, this forces your body to tap into its secondary or reserve energy source; body fat.

If you do cardio immediately after eating a meal, you’ll still burn fat, but you’ll burn less of it because you’ll be burning off the carbohydrates you ate first.

We NEVER burn 100% fat during ANY activity…it is always going to be a combination of fat and carbohydrate for fuel, but depending on WHEN you exercise, and HOW, you can burn a greater proportion of fat relative to carbohydrate.

When you do your cardiovascular exercises in the morning, not only do you burn the fat during the session, but the fat burning process lasts for hours after the workout session.

Interval Training (HIIT)

This happens especially with speed intervals training (the beloved HIIT Training you MUST have heard about!) workouts as it boost Metabolism naturally.  However be careful not to do speed intervals training for too long or too often as it could be counterproductive to your goal as if your Nutrition is not Optimum (not enough complex carbohydrate to fuel your workout) there is also a greater risk of muscle breakdown (we cannot burn 100% fat remember? Therefore if there isn’t enough glycogen available the body will break down muscle. FACT.)…or as I call it…Muscle Suicide.

So…MIX IT UP…longer low intensity sessions and few short high intensity to give your body the kick it needs!

If you exercise in the evening you still burn the fat during the workout but as soon as you go to sleep at night, your metabolism slows down rapidly – it is significantly lower than during any other time of the day, so you would not benefit from an evening workout as much as the morning.

The other reason why you should do your fat burning exercise in the morning is getting it out of the way early and carries with you that feeling of accomplishment all day long!

Promote that endorphins release in the body as they create a natural “high” Endorphins not only improve your mood and release stress but also relieve pain.

Now wouldn’t that be a great start to the day…

And also let’s face it…when you put off any task you consider unpleasant, it hangs over you all day long, leaving you with a feeling of guilt, stress and incompleteness and you are more likely to “blow off” an evening workout if you are tired from a long day at work! (mental tiredness or physical)

The second best time to do it would be immediately after weight training.  Lifting weights depletes muscle glycogen and has a similar effect as morning cardio on an empty stomach (please note you DO NOT want to go for a hard weights session without some carbohydrate in your system).

I know what you are thinking….” I am not a morning person”  Well I think you should ask yourself “when have you decided that?”…You decide you are not a morning person and guess what?…Now you won’t be as that is what you have been telling yourself!

I can sleep in too like you wouldn’t believe…But I get up anyway because I know the effort is worth the results.

With my goal that I am clearly focused on, I’m committed to my morning cardio and training without fail.

Make a commitment to yourself to do it for just 21 days.  Once those 21 days are up you will already be feeling so much better and before you know it, early morning cardio will your new habit; you’ll be leaner, your metabolism will be faster and you’ll feel fantastic all day long! :0) Sounds awesome to me!

Now are you a morning person?…I’ll leave that for you to decide.

Gym Love
Ilaria Petrucci

Ilaria Petrucci 

N.A.B.B.A (National Amateur Bodybuilders Association) Certified Personal Trainer

Nutritional Expert:
British Complimentary Medicine Association & Complimentary Medical Association Advanced Diploma in Optimum Nutrition

Introduction

Fitness and healthy living has always been Ilaria’s passion, however she wasn’t always in the shape she is in today.

After gaining weight during her first years of college, Ilaria realized that she needed to make a change. Looking for a quick fix like many, Ilaria jumped from one diet to another experiencing the frustration on “not getting there” or even worst…getting there quickly…and going back to the old weight three times quicker! Only with more frustration and a lower Metabolism that she started with in the first place! Eventually Ilaria came to a hard realization… in order to become healthier and achieve the “tone” body she always wanted… there was no magic pill or magic quick fix diet that was going to do this “for her”…

“The first step I had to take was to make a CHOICE. There is very powerful “magic” that happens when you make a CHOICE TO CHANGE. The magic is that once you take that the decision of what you want…it is already done! It is just a matter of allowing yourself the time for people to see it too.

It is about being WILLING TO CHANGE, leaving the  past behind and whatever it is that is holding you back and DECIDE to move on. And LOVE yourself just the way you are RIGHT NOW.”

Quoting one of her favourite speakers, Will Smith, she continues “Do not EVER let anyone tell you, you can’t do something. You have a dream, you got to PROTECT IT. You want something? GO GET IT. Period”.

I believe our thoughts create our future and that we really do become what we think we are…

My passion for Fitness and for People continues, and in my journey and I want to help as many people as possible to achieve their goals, whatever that might be.

I believe in educating my Clients through the correct Training techniques and the correct Nutrition for them to be able to design their own healthy lifestyle according to their own individual needs and preferences.

You will never hear me talking about “diets”…it is about Nutrition, this is what your body needs.

The only diet that works is the mental diet – dieting from negative thoughts

Final Word

Ilaria Petrucci is a top Personal Trainer, Fitness Model and Nutritionist who has changed peoples lives up and down the country with her seminars, boot camps, personal training and nutritional support.

Ilaria has a very tough approach to her training and has adopted a very unique style when it comes to personal training…the end result being some very happy clients!

We are very proud to have Ilaria as part of Team Muscle and know her expertise in nutrition and fitness will help you our members in the quest for a healthier lifestyle.

Deepak Bhangu
Head of Operations