Eating for fuel is not a concept most people relish. Most people eat for pleasure purposes. They eat certain meals because they taste good or make them feel good. While this is fine in and of itself, if a person looks at food in this manner they will have a harder time losing weight when the time comes.

To the foodie, food is something they live for. They continually talk about how fantastic this food or that food is. They speak about the intense flavors they get when they eat certain items. They elevate food to almost God status.

To a bodybuilder, food is just fuel. It is something the body requires and really nothing more. This attitude is essential if you are going to survive eating nothing but chicken breast, brown rice and veggies. These things, while they can taste rather yummy when prepared properly, are not the most exciting foods in the world. However, they are all very effective at fueling the body. They help build muscle and burn fat.

This change in mindset is extremely important if you have alot of weight to lose. By having this attitude you won't really crave anything. Afterall, why would you crave one fuel over another? They serve similar purposes, so it wouldn't make any sense to crave one fuel over another. I will admit that it is probably alot easier to say than do.

I am one of the lucky people. I see food as fuel and nothing more. When people ask me what my favorite food is, I can never really give an answer. I look at food as something that keeps my body going from day to day. For the past 2 weeks I have eaten the exact same foods in the exact same order each and every day. This past week I dropped fruit from most of my meals. However, the meals are identical to what they were previously. It is just how I do it and it is working for me.

Thus, I suggest you try to change your mindset. Look at food differently and you may solve some of your nutritional issues.

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• How to Change Your Life by Changing How You Eat
• Eating for Fat Loss and Muscle Gain
• Eating for Mass
• Meal Timing Debate
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Do you workout hard and fail to see significant fat loss results? Are you eating clean but still can't seem to lose the gut? If this is the case, you are probably having an issue with your metabolism. Eating is one way to fix your metabolism.

Determine if You Have a Metabolism Issue

It is really quite simple to get an idea of how well your metabolism is working. Each night for 4 nights take your temperature right before going to bed. Write down what number you get. When you've completed 4 straight nights, average the numbers to determine your average body temperature. It should be very close to 98.6. If it is lower than that, you have an issue with your metabolism that needs to be fixed.

You've Got to Eat to Rev Up the Metabolism

The first thing you need to do in order to increase your metabolism is start eating. Most likely you've damaged your metabolism by restricting carbs for too long or by cutting your calories for too long. The body is amazing because it adapts quickly to these situations. If you do anything for too long it will get used to it and adjust accordingly. If you push up your cardio to an hour per session it won't be long before your body adapts and stops letting go of fat. The same is true of how you eat. If you have honestly been eating clean and you show a metabolic issue, you will need to eat more in order to stoke the metabolic furnace.

Eating to Fix Your Metabolism

Metabolic repair is definitely feasible. By eating more clean foods for a period of time (usually 2 to 4 weeks) and doing short, intense cardio sessions along with intense weight training sessions, your metabolism will kick in gear again. It is important during your training to keep the rest periods short. These things will assist in boosting your metabolism. Avoid long periods of cardio. In fact, keep your cardio sessions around 20 to 25 minutes.

Eat clean foods and lots of them. Include fruit because the insulin spikes it will cause will make you want to eat more. This is a good thing when you are trying to spike your metabolism.

Give this a try and let me know how it goes by posting a comment below.

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• Meal Timing Debate
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Do you really try to avoid eating the wrong things? Do you really know how your nutritional plan is affecting your physique transformation progress? My answer may surprise you. I doubt that you really try. I believe you think you try, but the reality is that you don't try as much as you think you do.

Most people think they stick to whatever program they've chosen. They believe that over the long haul an occasional cheat here or there isn't so bad. The reality is that cheat meals are, in my opinion, essential for continuing to lose fat. They help keep cravings at a minimum. However, most people cheat way more than they think. They don't realize it because they don't do the one thing they really should be doing–tracking their food intake.

When I first started tracking my food intake I found that what I ate was really surprising to me. I took in more calories than I thought and of the wrong kind as well. Once I began seriously tracking my food (and not lying to myself) I was able to start seeing some real progress on the nutrition front. I could make the adjustments necessary to get where I want to go.

Getting into shape is alot of work. Not only that, it is hard work. That's why most people don't do it. They just convince themselves that they have done things right and they complain about not getting good results. Some will even go so far as tracking their food intake, but leaving off important things like a Starbucks Frappacino or the candy they snuck behind someone's back. This will definitely sabatoge good results. I know because I used to be one of those people. Now I feel alot better about my eating. I feel better because I am not lying to myself any more. That makes all the difference in the world. Now cheat meals are planned ahead of time.

What do you think? Do most people try hard or not? Let me know in the comments area of this post.

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Low carb protein shakes are a Godsend for the low carb dieter. Most of us doing carb cycling have our protein requirements set pretty high and in order to hit our caloric requirements on low carb days we need to supplement with protein shakes. While I recorded a video for this, it did not come out well, so I am going to do my best to describe the shake and the preparation of it.

Mike's Low Carb Cherry Bomb

You need to collect up the following ingredients:

100% Whey (Cytosport) – 2 scoops

8 oz. of cold water

1/2 cup of frozen cherries

2 tbsp. of ground flax seeds

1 tbsp. of UDO's 3-6-9 Blend

In a blender, combine all ingredients. I use a VitaMix blender, so when I blend it I use the variable speed, starting it at the lowest speed. I gradually up the speed until I can switch it over to high speed. I let it blend until everything is liquified. I love the flavor of this shake. The combination of the chocolate whey and the frozen cherries is just really tasty.

Nutritional Information:

545 calories per shake
57.5 grams of protein
22.5 grams of carbs
24 grams of fat

It should be noted that 24 grams of fat may seem really high, but 20 grams of fat comes from the Udo's Oil Blend and the ground flax seeds, so the fat is from a good source. When going low carb the danger for men is that the testosterone levels will drop. Keeping the daily fat intake at about 100 grams will help keep the testosterone levels up.

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