Vitamins - Are You Getting What Your Paying For ?

Are you really getting what your paying for in vitamins and minerals.
Big manufacturers know that you do not study chemistry and generally do not know the difference between Zinc Oxide, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Orotate or Zinc aspartate. they use that to their advantage by putting the cheapest form in the bottle. Did you know that Zinc or Magnesium bound to an oxide is absorbed very poorly, approximately only 5% is absorbed by the body. Sure its cheap but if your not absorbing it then whats the point. Amino acid chelate forms are not much better.
As soon as i give someone a absorbable form of Zinc such as orotate or aspartate they notice the difference within a week and verified via skin-folds namely the pectoral fold drops!
Don't be cheap with the simple stuff.
Magnesium is another classic case. When I give clients a topical form of magnesium or one which has 4 different chelates such as orotate, aspartate, fumerate and glycinate in a capsule their sleep improves, they feel less anxious and the abdominal fold and insulin sites namely the upper back and suprailliac reduce.
As a rule do not buy over the counter products as they are for the mass market instead buy practitioner only range as they have to get results so their clients improve otherwise they go out of business.
It costs alot of money to mass market some multi's which doesn't leave much for quality ingredients.
"But hey my favourite footy star takes them"

Food Sensitivities Can Slow Down Fat Loss

Food sensitivities can slow down fat loss.
If you have leaky gut which is a condition where your gut lining is compromised your food sensitivity list will be high.
What can be done about it?
Well the gold standard is the MRT test by Signet which detects your reaction to food based on a inflammatory response is unavailable in Australia. Its great because unlike IGg test it can predict foods that are not part of your consistent diet.
The IGg is widely available and detects your immune response to certain foods. The only problem is that it gives you false negatives. For example your could be sensitive to gluten but you have eliminated it from your diet so your body has not developed any antibodies to gluten therefore the IGg test will say gluten is fine for you when in fact it could well not be.
So knowing it gives you false negatives you can strategically heal the gut
However when most people actually write down what they actually eat they find that its hard to come up with more than 20 foods in fact the average is more likely to be 7 e.g. dairy, eggs, beef, chicken, gluten, broccoli, tomatoes, peanuts etc
So the IGg is great (provided you use a "GOOD" lab) for the group of foods you eat now. It takes approximately 2 weeks to develop antibodies to a particular food sensitivity so you could artificially do that to find out if specific foods will effect you.
As a rule if you have to be lean on a certain date eat the foods you plan to eat try to eat from a list of 20 foods then test yourself via IGg you may find if you just eliminate certain foods you will lose fat faster.
It would also be a good time to do a gut rebuilding protocol which involves a bunch of botanicals and 80g of glutamine a day for 21 days.
After which do the IGg test again you may find that you no longer are sensitive to certain foods but what sensitivity repeats itself lets say beef means you should stay away from on a continuous basis.

Write It Down - The Palest of ink is Better than the best memory

Weightlifting legend Tommy Kono said it best 40 years ago:
 "The palest of ink is better than the clearest of memories."

Can't believe how many people do not have a training diary!
Can't believe how many personal trainers never track anything
The argument usually goes that i know what weights I use in th egym
Yeah you know what weights you use because you've been using the same weights for the last 12 months or more!
The idea of the diary is for goal setting that's what you have to beat not do again
what tempo did you use? What rest time between sets? How many reps?
Incremental increases are what your after especially if you have been training for awhile
Progressive Overload, Try it

Mistakes I've Made But I Know Better

There are alot of ego's in the health and fitness industry.
Everyone's a guru.
But the best are always learning and improving and admit when new information makes them improve their methods. Its the practitioners who never measure, hardly update their knowledge but continue to profess their way is best is what you should be wary of.
It really cuts me when I make a mistake or don't get fast results with BioSignature.
But if you don't make mistakes you never learn.
For example doing estrogen protocols without verifying D3 status or making sure the liver needed a detox.
Not asking the right questions about a women's health
Giving someone a metallic cleanse  instead of a estrogen one
Misinterpreting the sub-scapular fold because I didn't realize its not just insulin that affects that site which influences my decision on how the client should eat
Why am I writing this? I want to be the best so I strive to learn more.
Now my success rate is far higher and what I recommend is more efficient than in the past
It should  be I've been doing this since 2008

Personally it took me 6 months to get 5.0% body-fat I can now get there in 8-12 weeks
There is no flaw in BioSignature but I realise you need to go beyond it and learn from other functional medicine resources, nutritional experts who get results and people who have a proven track record getting people in shape such as Francine Savard, Dr John Berardi, Charles Poliquin, Johnny Bowden etc
Everyone wants to be the guru and they want to tell you how good they are, I'm no different only difference is that I don't ever think I know it all and I love learning more
My holidays are around seminars and courses to learn more about the field of exercise,nutrition and supplementation.
 I'll let the results do the advertising!

Base Your Macro-Nutrient Ratio on Your Insulin Senstivity

Protein, Carbs and Fats what ratio is ideal for you?
From clinical experience people with high insulin sensitivity optimize their muscle to fat ratio on a higher carb macro-nutrient ratio i.e. 50% carbs, 35% protein, 15% fat. Moderate insulin sensitivity leads itself to more isocaloric eating i.e.30% carbs, 40% protein, 30% fat. Finally people with poor insulin sensitivity do best on  low in carbs i.e.50% protein, 35% fat, 15% carbs.
To minimize guess work get a 12 hour fasted insulin and glucose tolerance test along with tracking your sub-scapular and suprailliac skin-folds while following one of the above ratio's.
Just because you follow one of the above ratio's does not mean each meal must fit these ratio's as nutrient timing should be taken into consideration i.e you are more sensitive around workouts so it makes sense to eat more carbohydrates after to optimize your body composition

	Normal Insulin Sensitivity and Glucose Tolerance	Excellent Insulin Sensitivity and Glucose Tolerance
Fasted Blood Glucose	<100mg/dl	<70mg/dl
Peak Blood Glucose	<180mg/dl at peak	<130mg/dl
Time to Maximum Blood Glucose Level	30-60 minutes	15-30 minutes
Time Back to Fasted Glucose Level	30-60 minutes	60-90 minutes

Table referenced from Dr John M Berardi Article 'Massive Eating — Part II'
Meal Combinations and Individual Differences