The Sugar & Fat Connection

By: Bob Hines

A few years ago, I was sunbathing on a beach in the Mediterranean with a couple of friends of mine. They were locals and were showing me the sights and sounds of their town.

Along the beach was a young guy with a head-turning physique. The most noticeable part of his physique was undoubtedly his abdominals. This guy had a serious six pack.

I thought he would make a good model for a couple of shots, so I went over to talk to him. As I got closer, I noticed a remarkable thing. This man was not a "young" man; he was at least 45, if not more. How did he manage to have such a chiseled six pack at his age?

THE LEGEND
My buddies knew this guy. He was a legend on the beach for his physique as well as his "sexuality"! I was very interested to know how he got such a six pack, especially since from all accounts, he had his shredded abs "all year round".
"Simple", he said. "I never touch sugar."
Of course I didn't think it would be as simple as that. Surely he did hundreds of hours of cardio, watched what he ate and had a physically demanding job.

Apparently not! Though he did sort of watch what he ate, he was certainly no nutritionist and looking at his leg development, he was no body builder either; assuming that body builders look to build a "complete" physique, in proportion.

The "legend" as we shall call him, was adamant that if you want a ripped set of abdominals, you must cut out ALL sugars from your diet permanently.

To be honest, I thought him a bit odd at the time, as I knew better and didn't think that he could put his abs down to just cutting sugar.

WAS THE LEGEND RIGHT?
The more I read, the more I experiment, the more people I train and the more I live, I feel that the words of that young-old man on the beach had a certain wisdom.

You may go through life following this diet, this cardio regime, this guru, that book but do you actually ever sit down and calculate how much sugar you are consuming?

Sugar is in almost everything you eat these days and it is THE main cause of body-fat storage and you not being able to get a decent set of abs. You don't believe me? Try for yourself.

First of all, write down all the sugar you consume every day. You must include known as well as hidden sugars. By known sugar I mean things like cans of Coke, which contain as much as 20 spoonfuls of sugar, cups of tea, pastry and chocolate. Hidden sugar is in many other things such as fruit, processed foods and even something as healthy as a bag of mixed fruit and nuts.

In today's society, we live from one meal to the other on sugar. No wonder our Pancreases are packing up and diabetes rates are sky high. Think about it, with all this sugar consumption, you are asking your Pancreas to come into action every few hours to secrete muscle hormone and lower blood sugar levels. Is it any wonder that it gets tired and gives up on you?

GIVE IT UP – TOTALLY
This will be difficult, but I absolutely promise you, it will be worth it. You will feel tired, moody and low on energy at first, but don't give up. Just on the other side, lies a healthier, more energetic and more likeable you. What's best, you will really start to lose the body fat that just doesn't seem to want to go.

This is especially true for those over 30. Do you feel like you are getting fatter without changing anything in your diet or regime? This is your metabolism slowing down and one sure way of reversing the trend is to cut out sugars.

You have 2 choices, the hard or easy way. The easy way is to slowly reduce your sugar intake (but you must do it more and more every day). The hard way is to see those abs in your imagination and want them bad enough. STOP ALL SUGAR INTAKE.

Sugar is not healthy. Modern man is HOOKED on sugar but you really need not be. If you are diabetic or have a medical condition, please seek the advise of your doctor first. Otherwise, cut out all sugars from this minute and believe me when I say you will feel like a new person in a few weeks.

HOW TO GET STARTED
Cut out all obvious sugars at first. This means no more soda drinks of any kind. No Coke, Pepsi, lemonade, sprite, tango and so on. I would also suggest not "diet" drinks either. This is not due to their sugar but the fact that diet drinks have other negative health indications. Remember you are trying to look and be healthy.

Cut out all sugary fruits. Yes, I know this sounds like bad advice, but just trust me on this. No prunes, apricots, plums, bananas, apples, pears, grapes etc. Same goes for all fruit juices which are invariably full of old fruit and lots of sugar.

It goes without saying that you should also not be going near any chocolate, pastry, cane sugar and so on. Use your common sense and start reading labels. Words like cane sugar, raw sugar, syrup, glucose, fructose, honey, molasses, and so on all mean SUGAR. Milk has sugar in it, so stay away from that too.

Getting complicated, isn't it? Can you start seeing just how sugar-ladened our diet really is? Everything has sugar in it. The easiest way is to cut out all obvious sugars and then start label-reading.

WHEN WILL YOU SEE RESULTS?
I absolutely GUARANTEE that if you cut out sugars, you will start seeing a dramatic reduction in body fat within days. If you are heavily sugar-dependant, you may notice a big drop in energy levels. You can either add some sugar such as bananas to your diet or just live with it.

After a few days, you will notice that your stomach looks flatter and leaner, especially in the mornings. Continue with the regime and if possible, try and not eat too late in the day either.

The idea here is to start going from one meal to another without sugary breaks in the middle. If you want to have something in between, drink plenty of water or have some black or herbal teas – no sugar obviously!

We are so wrapped up in our lives that we never sit down for a few minutes to take a look at our "real diet". You may reduce this carb or have this supplement or buy the latest exercise machine, but do you really see a difference? I bet not.

I can honestly see why that guy on the beach was so insistent that without cutting out all sugars, you will be very hard-pressed to have a "full" six pack and one that's there all year round.

Having given this very simple advice to many of my clients, I can assure you that it works every time. You will be surprised at its effectiveness. I certainly am, even now!

One last point for you to remember is that this has to be a permanent change in your lifestyle, not just a fad. If you truly believe it to be a permanent change for the better both aesthetically and internally, then you will stick to it and believe in it. Once you start with it, you will see that sugar-eating is really nothing more than just a habit. Like many other habits, it can be broken instantly with a strong mind.

You've got yourself used to that sweet tooth of yours. STOP IT NOW. Sugar does you absolutely NO GOOD at all. Stopping the consumption of sugar will do your every bit of good:

• More energy
• Better teeth
• Less chances of disease
• Better-looking body
• No cellulite

Do you need any other reasons? Start now.

Please note that you may want to start "reducing" sugar intake and not dramatically cut it, working your way towards cutting it out. If you feel ill or dizzy, re-introduce some sugar and go slower.