Interested in trying the TurboCharged program for yourself? Here’s your chance – we’re giving away one FREE copy of the book! Details at the bottom of the post…

In part one of my interview with health expert and TurboCharged author Tom Griesel, we spoke about the different types of carbohydrates and how the body processes them, along with the best foods to eat to help prevent excess fat storage.

Next up, I wanted to get into the nitty-gritty of his program, which stems from the Griesel’s belief that by learning to work with your body and feeding it the correct type of foods, you can automatically improve the way it functions and looks.

Here we chat more about role of exercise in his healthy lifestyle plan, along with how he can help ‘Turbocharge’ your body’s fat burning abilities to radically improve your body (and mind) in a short period of time.

Photo credit: Superskinnyme.com

In your book, ‘TurboCharged,’ you talk about helping people make the switch from using sugar to fat as fuel for the body. Can you elaborate on that?

There are two fuels that our bodies will use: sugar or fat (three if we include alcohol). We are also in either a fat-storage or fat-burning mode, depending on what types of food we choose to eat.

By eating a diet more in line with our ancestral or evolutional adaptations, and avoiding a constant stream of concentrated carbohydrates and the subsequent insulin release and fat storage they promote, our bodies become accustomed to using more fat—including our body fat for our energy needs.

Without our diet increasing the hormones that store excess sugar as fat, we are then able to use our own body fat for energy, as well as being better nourished.

Another important point is that most “sugar burners” will convert lean body mass into sugar for energy instead of sourcing their body fat due to an easier conversion process and a preference for sugar. Loss of lean body mass is the main cause of diet failure and recidivism.

Give us a quick overview of a ‘day in the life’ of the program.

First, more water is consumed, particularly first thing in the morning, to ensure adequate hydration needed for normal body processes. Metabolic waste is meant to be eliminated through the kidneys. When the kidneys can’t handle the job due to inadequate hydration, the liver is forced to do the job (definitely not optimal).

The morning is the most important time, because we usually use about a quart of water for normal respiration and metabolic function overnight while we are sleeping.

Water is also not sipped but used in larger quantity to fill the stomach. Doing so has the same effect as various bariatric surgeries. Satiety hormones are released when the stomach is full. Many studies confirm this happens with food, liquid or a combination of the two.

Next, when we are actually hungry, we choose a food that is more in line with our ancestral diets: fruits, leafy greens, non-starchy vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, eggs, meats and seafood (all high nutrient per calorie and mostly moisture-rich).

Meals are also very simple with just a few different ingredients and often just one item (mono-meals). This speeds digestion, eliminates common digestive problems, and most importantly, increases fat burning by greatly reducing the release of insulin—the fat storage hormone—which can be triggered by large meals or combinations of foods.

Engaging in low-to-moderate activity as much as possible is encouraged, along with one-minute periods of strength training three to five times each day, stress reduction techniques and a good night’s sleep.

Can you share one of your favorite tips for readers who want to start incorporating healthier habits into their day?  

Thirst and hunger are often confused. This is probably because our natural diet always consisted of very moisture-rich foods that supplied water and nutrition at the same time. Today, many people confuse thirst for hunger and eat when they should be drinking water. Choosing the wrong foods or beverages when this happens only compounds the dehydration problem.

And, finally, as a long-distance runner, I’ve got to ask: How does exercise come into play in your plan?

Exercise is good for us. However, too much exercise is just as bad as too little, particularly if losing excess body fat is the goal. Exercise is a very inefficient way to manage caloric intake and lose excess body fat.

In fact, when a reduced-calorie diet is being implemented, less exercise is better than more and low-intensity activity is better than more strenuous exercise. This is because the combination of reduced calories and strenuous exercise such as aerobics results in the loss of lean body mass due to the inability to source body fat quickly enough to adequately fuel the activity. This is particularly true for sugar burners whose bodies would rather convert protein to sugar rather than using their excess fat.

Light resistance exercise, for about one minute, three to five times per day is sufficient to maintain (and in some cases build) lean body mass while dieting. On a normal calorie intake, when performed regularly with intensity, it is sufficient to build and strengthen without creating excess stress.

All stress, good or bad, results in the release of catabolic (muscle-wasting) hormones and is best avoided. Loss of lean body mass from any cause, including strenuous exercise, triggers primal survival mechanisms that will cause anxiety and feelings of hunger until the lean body mass is returned. When faced with this situation, eating a typical diet will result in most of the weight regained being fat, not muscle.

GIVEAWAY:

One KineticFix reader will have the chance to win his/her very own copy of the book. (Open to U.S. and Canada residents only).

To enter:
1. [Mandatory] Leave a comment below telling me why you want to get TurboCharged on Tom’s program
2. [Optional] Tweet the following, “I want to win a copy of ‘TurboCharged’ from @KineticFix and @TurboChargeDiet wp.me/p3iGmO-cT ”

I will randomly pick a winner on Thursday, June 13. Good luck!

Photo credit: Stack.com

In the battle of the bulge, carbs often hold enemy status.

But, as it turns out, to carb or not to carb isn’t the real question when it comes to weight loss; what matters more is the type of carbs you’re consuming.

Why? Well, not all carbs are created equal when it comes to how our bodies process them, say health experts Dian and Tom Griesel, authors of TurboCharged, a lifestyle plan that claims to help people “quickly lose excess body fat and keep it off.”

Are you among the 75% of adults who consume less than three servings of veggies per day?
Photo credit: Turbocharged.us.com

The problem is this: All carbs are converted to blood sugar, which is then converted to either glycogen (short-term energy) or body fat (long-term energy).

Eat a steady stream of carbs, and your glycogen tank is always topped off, so your body never dips into its fat stores.

The solution? A diet rich in what the Griesels term ‘diluted’ carbs (fruits, veggies, etc.), which are much more moisture-rich and nutritionally-dense than traditional ‘concentrated’ carbs, which tend to mess with our systems.

To learn more, I sat down with Tom Griesel about this carb conundrum. The first half of our interview is below.

Tell us, why have carbs gotten such a bad rap?

Perhaps because all carbohydrates are traditionally lumped into a single category, or alternatively considered as either simple or complex. However, the fact is that there are simple and complex carbohydrates (starches and sugars) and also concentrated and diluted carbohydrates (grains and fruits/vegetables), and each has a different effect after consumption. Also, foods are rarely eaten by themselves—and combinations of foods, including carbohydrates, have different effects on our digestive and hormonal systems when compared to eating a single food alone.

So is there such a thing as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ carbs?

We believe the biggest differentiator is in concentrated carbohydrates vs. diluted or naturally moisture-rich carbohydrates. Concentrated carbohydrates have a different hormonal effect than naturally moisture-rich and fiber-rich carbohydrates. In addition, processed foods usually contain significant amounts of carbohydrate along with a totally unnatural combination of ingredients.

Why do specific combinations (e.g. sugar/fat) take more of a toll on our bodies?

Sugar/fat combinations or starch/fat combinations are not found in nature. They are a very recent (from an evolutionary standpoint) artificial addition to our diets. We are now eating stuff that was never available prior to the last 50 years or so. This combination has been found to be the most likely to result in fat storage (think potato chips, french fries and donuts).

These combinations are common in almost all popular processed-food products consumed today, and the typical American diet is built around them. Our bodies are just not adapted to process these combinations without problems. We are unwittingly participating in a huge dietary experiment that is obviously turning out badly, based on the rapid rise in almost every chronic ailment known.

Tell us why you attribute the consumption of grain to the rise of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other significant illnesses.

Some societies have been eating grains for a while (about 10,000 years or so, which is actually very short from an evolutionary perspective), but the time period for most humans has been much less. Grains are what we would classify as concentrated carbohydrates.

Grains also score very low on a nutritional value-per-calorie basis when compared to leafy greens, non-starchy vegetables and fruits that humans evolved eating over hundreds of thousands of years. Grains provide a concentrated form of calories but few nutrients compared to other readily available choices (that we are better adapted to process).

It is important to understand that there is really not much of a difference in the way our bodies process them regardless if they are whole or refined. They are all broken down quickly into sugar. This concentrated form of sugar, even in what would be considered relatively small amounts, will cause a spike in blood sugar levels.

And why is this spike in blood sugar problematic?

High blood sugar levels signal the body to release insulin to stabilize the situation. Most of the excess sugar is converted and stored as body fat, particularly in people who regularly consume a steady supply of carbohydrates throughout the day. Excess concentrated carbohydrate consumption is the cause of metabolic syndrome.

Are there any particular foods we should eliminate from or add to our diet for better overall health?

It is now widely believed that almost everyone has sensitivity to wheat, wheat products and other products containing gluten, which cause gastrointestinal problems even without any diagnosis of celiac disease. Between intestinal damage, causing decreased nutrient absorption and low nutrient content, a grain-based diet leaves many people fat yet malnourished.

The very best choices are moisture-rich, nutrient-dense foods: fruits, leafy greens, non-starchy vegetables, nuts, seeds, some tubers and legumes, eggs, animal proteins/fats, fish and other seafood (meat and fish are over 60 percent moisture content prior to cooking). Avoid processed foods.

Stay tuned for part two of our interview in which Tom discusses the role of exercise in his healthy lifestyle plan, along with how to ‘TurboCharge’ your body’s fat burning abilities…