Full Strength LIFE

How to Overcome the Resistance of The Lizard Brain

Yesterday Seth Godin blogged about how the "Lizard Brain," sabotages your success—why people say one thing and reliably do another.

The lizard brain, as he calls it, is very real. He just doesn’t call it by name, I will.

A small almond shaped nodule at the base of your brain, the "Lizard Brain" is the primitive emotional center of your brain called the amygdala. It’s holds emotional memory which helps you react to your environment without having to "think about" them.

When you’re at risk of being eaten by a hungry lion, it’s terrific at triggering fear and thus saving your life. The Lizard Brain is not so helpful for running your life, day to day. You’d never want to put it in charge of your diet or anything that requires planning or self-restraint.

This little saboteur, the amygdala is implicated in the inability to maintain a healthy diet as well as achieving all manners of fitness goals. When this “lower mind” takes charge of your actions you’ll do just about anything without thought of repercussion.
 
Can’t figure out how the heck you just ate that entire box of cookies? You ate one, then looked down to find an empty box. What happened?

Your amygdala, aka lizard brain happened.

With this primitive "lower mind" control center taking you over from time to time, how do you ever manage to achieve any success? How do you get focused, stay on track, gain control of your life?

Simple. Focus!

Fortunately, we human beings have a lizard brain, we aren’t one.

We have something else which is essentially the opposite of the lizard brain. We have an amazing and powerful “focus control center” that can provides us access to incredible powers of concentration and helps us to produce just about any outcome “we put our minds to.”

This “higher-mind” powerhouse of self control is called “The Prefrontal Cortex” and it’s in many ways what makes us human. It enables us to generate forethought, keep us moving toward goals, and is the master of self-control.

The PFC is the key to overcoming entropy, breaking through resistance and staying the course—it puts your Lizard Brain on ice. 

Want to achieve extraordinary success?

The real question is not, “How do we resist succumbing to the lizard brain?,” but rather “How do you super-charge, strengthen and activate your Pre-Frontal-Cortex?”

This is something you can do and must do if you want results—for when you’re focused, clear and strong you can achieve anything.

There is a way you can eat, think, move and be that will keep you free from the lizard brain trap and propel you to an entirely new level of success and satisfaction.

Tune in Monday to StartStrongMonday.com for my special
“5 Tips for a Strong, Focused Mind that Breaks Thru the Resistance of the Lizard Brain.”

Click here to Read StartStrongMonday.com

Subscribe and you'll receive the tips Monday.

AM Cardio on an Emptry Stomach: True or False [FAQ]

I received a question today from one of my Inner Circle members, Steve. He asked about the rational--whether he should be doing cardio on an empty stomach in the AM or not?

Here's Steve's Question:

Is there a way to ask Shawn a brief question? I want to know if he would recommend eating a snack prior to morning workouts. In ABSolution, he recommended an empty stomach.

Is this still his philosophy?

Thanks for all your help and Happy New Year!

Steve...

My answer in audio follows:

The short version for text answer is...

Yes! I still believe it to be an advantage for fat-burning. It's admittedly over-hyped, like most similar advantages but it does help burn a greater percentage of calories from fat.

I think Tom Venuto has done a masterful job of supporting my argument here.

The one thing, as you'll hear in the audio FAQ, I suggest (and practice) eating something before a morning strength workout and going into cardio on "E"mpty.

Without the 150-200 calorie snack before a Strength workout you'll lose strength and intensity and your workout will suffer too much.

Hope this helps!

Red-Hot Fat-Loss, Literally!

Get Ready for a Hot, Spicy Bowl of Weight-Loss Coming Your Way Soon.

In the continuing search for the weight-loss magic-bullet, a New Study suggests that the compound that gives red pepper it’s signature heat, capsaicin, may help prevent diabetes like symptoms in obese people.

“Our data suggest that dietary capsaicin may reduce obesity-induced glucose intolerance by not only suppressing inflammatory responses but also enhancing fatty acid oxidation in adipose tissue and/or liver, both of which are important peripheral tissues affecting insulin resistance,” wrote the researchers, led by Rina Yu from The University of Ulsan in South Korea.

With the latest reports indicating over 300 million obese adults worldwide, and over 25% of the US population, the market potential for drugs and nutritionals interventions which can lessen the damaging impact of obesity related inflammation disorders, which include  type-2 diabetes, heart disease, insulin resistance and liver disease is, for lack of a better word, enormous.

What does this mean to you?
For starters, expect to see a radical increase in the use and marketing of “natural red chilly pepper” (aka capsaicin) in weight-loss supplements. It’s the sort of natural ingredient that can create good traction in the minds of people because it’s “natural” and the connection to “heat” or being “red hot” plays on the strong correlation we have with “burning” away fat; however inaccurate this connection is.

You can also expect to see the miracle red-pepper power leak into food positioning, with an added emphasis on anything even remotely spicy, like chili. Yes, I think you’re likely to see, if not a full-on “chili weight loss diet,” a strong hint that eating chili (and similar foods) is conducive to weight loss.

All this will occur even though this study was not about weight-loss nor done in humans. It was a mice study and the results have not recreated in humans.

My Advice on How to Apply This…
I’m sharing this for both your entertainment and to strengthen your “marketing deflector shield” for the onslaught which is likely to follow. I find that more informed means more rational and less likely to be caught in the trap of a skillful marketer.

As for red-hot peppers, I like spicy food—especially after a “big night out” or when I have a cold—and I’m prone to believe there is something in red peppers that’s good for us. Just the same, I really doubt that eating a load of dried rep-pepper extract is going to lead to radical weight loss or instant good health.

My advice for overcoming or resisting excess body fat is to eat well, exercise and create a powerful, life enhancing relationship with food. Diets may be necessary along with various levels of intervention along the way. A Lifestyle, the ultimate destination for us all, is earned not purchased.

More Facts About Red Chili Extract  
Used in folk medicine as a remedy for rheumatism for centuries, capsaicin intake has been linked to inhibiting the growth of pancreatic cancer cells, as well as a growing body of science suggesting it may cut fat and energy intake when added to the diet. Some experts recommend caution, however, as high intake of hot chilies has been linked with increased risk of stomach cancers in the populations of India and Mexico.

How to Build the Perfect Meal in a Nutrition Shake

I've been in the performance nutrition field for nearly 20 years now and that is inclusive of the invention of the very first ever nutrition shake--or "Meal replacement shake" if you prefer. I don't. Never have liked that term--sounds so technical.

As you might guess, I'm a fan of nutrition shakes. They've played a vital role in my life, and health, strength and fitness levels. I believe and rely on them. And I encourage others to do the same--to embrace the benefit of complete, balanced, integrated, convenient and hopefully delicious nutrition.

The down-side or challenge with this commitment to nutrition shakes is that there's a hell of lot more imitation nutrition shakes out there. Those profit focused people and companies that tell a story but can't back an ounce of truth up. In fact, they are more the norm than the exception.

As you might imagine my problem had become clear: How can I support a form of nutrition / food that is more crap them cream? I could not do it. A few years ago I was left without a decent quality, great tasting nutrition shake to either support or enjoy.

That's when I decided: If I can't find it, if not one else is willing to invest in excellence, I will make it. What began with the code name, "The $5 Nutrition Shake," in reference to my "nothing but the absolute best" approach, became Full Strength, without question the world's finest and only Premium Nutrition Shake.

It wasn't easy or fast. Over a million dollars and 12 months we're invested in the creation of a product that most companies toss together in a weekend but the results actually exceeded even my lofty expectations. It's a truly amazing, premium product that will have you feeling as great as it tastes in minutes, for hours.

And you don't have to just believe me--as I'm the character who created it. One of the world's most respected institutions for the research of nutrition and the human body, The University of Oklahoma, has confirmed Full Strength. In one of the most comprehensive studies ever done on a nutrition shake, Full Strength added to daily nutrition--with NO DIETING involved--produced stunning results in just 10 weeks.

The results of what has become to be known as "The Oklahoma Study" showed that in just 10 weeks, adding Full Strength every day (with no calorie restrictions) produced results rarely seen in performance supplement research, including:

• 83% Greater Weight Loss
• 66% Greater Body Fat Loss
• 55% Increase In Lean Muscle
• 44% Greater Energy Levels

        * In comparison to exercise alone.

And, so as to ease your mind, this is a study which has undergone the most rigorous of investigation prior to being published in two of the most prestigious (and discriminating) journals in nutrition.

To download the full study on Full Strength go here. Warning, this is a big-time real science study in publication--not the common pseudo science stuff that masquerades as clinical research for most.

If you'd like a quicker, easier look at the study results, you can check them out here, first.

In the midst of all the hocus-pocus that permeates the supplement business, all the infomercial junk and online trickery, there it has to be affirming that there is a company and people who are willing to make something real, something great and keep on fighting to make a real difference in your life.

Here's to Your Life @ Full Strength!

The Gaping Hole in Cheerios Cholesterol Health Claim

Boldly emblazoned on the front panel of a Cheerios box you will see the claim: “Clinically Proven to Reduce Your Cholesterol”

Next time you’re walking (or running) down the cereal isle of your grocery store get a good look at a box of Cheerios for it’ll be the last time you see any such aggressive words across the front—for this health claim is about to change.

General Mills, the maker of the breakfast classic, Cheerios (and the 8 other candy-coated varieties) just received a letter from the FDA demanding they remove all product claims regarding cholesterol reduction for these are statements which positions Cheerios as a drug.

“Failure to correct the products marketing may result in injunction or product seizure.” The letter goes on to add.

    The label includes the statements:

• "you can Lower Your Cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks"

• "Did you know that in just 6 weeks Cheerios can reduce bad cholesterol by an average of 4 percent? Cheerios is ... clinically proven to lower cholesterol…”

While as you can imagine, this is no joking matter if you’re General Mills, I find myself a wee bit gleeful for I’ve been wondering when someone was going to drop the hammer on Cheerios for this obviously aggressive marketing stance.

After two decades in the nutrition industry I know the difference between scientifically substantiated structure function statements and desperate marketing that makes drug like claims—and this is the latter; a drug claim.

Now, I’m all for health promoting nutrition and would prefer the government have a minimalist role in regulation—as little as is reasonable—but this sort of wordsmithing is careless and cavalier. This is dangerous territory they’re treading in here making such bold claims.

* NEW * Birth Control Shot for Men--Side Effects Include Muscle Gain, Fat Loss, Elevated Sex Drive...

A just published study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) reports that monthly injections of Testosterone produced a nearly 99% effective birth control rate in men between the ages of 25-40.

When I caught this story this morning on The Today Show I nearly fell out of my chair. I was like, "Gee Mr. Science, you don't say... testosterone injections can make a man sterile? You don't say."

Let me see if I get this: Take man, add testosterone and no more babies!

And the real good news is you get all this with a few minor side effects like increased lean muscle mass, added strength, greater energy, higher sex drive and an overall good outlook on life.

Are you kidding? Give up babies and deal with all that? Hummm....

How much did you say this costs?

Kidding...

I'm on the lookout now for the next scientific breakthrough to come from this group in China. Perhaps something as profound as smoking pot gets people high or eating 37 Twinkies a day makes people fat.

It's sure to be a stunner.

Now, please excuse me I've got to go be rendered sterile.