ATL Fitness Club Featured Blogger Jasmine Parr Says, "Treat Your Body Like a Temple, Not a Dumpster!"

Momma always said life was like a box of brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli and salad! Didn’t she? Does that not sound appealing? I wish momma had started me out on more vegetables, instead every second of the day I yearn for something sweet. I am a self-admitted sugar ADDICT! I say that last sentence with the utmost serious tone. Mount Everest… sure. CrossFit “Angie”… sure. Marathon…sure. No sugar…. Houston we have a problem! My horrible eating habits as a kid continue to sabotage me from seeing the results I really want! Its like I take 2 steps forward and 3 back. I know I’m not the only one with this problem! So how does this happen and what can we try and do about it?!

Dr. Robert H. Lustig has done extensive research on this topic and by his theories we were born this way. Think about before agriculture; back then our only source of sugar came from fruit. Now a days sugar and high fructose corn syrup are cheap to refine and are found in everything!! Could you eat 10 oranges at a time? The answer is probably no. This is because it has natural fiber that slows our consumption down, but I bet I could eat several candy bars or pints of Ben and Jerry’s. Thus this leads to another researched area of sugar addiction. Dr. Eric Stice has used functional MRI scanners to learn how our brain reacts to sugar. He says, “sugar reacts to our brain in a special way that is reminiscent to drugs like cocaine”. It hits the same reward regions in our brain and a chemical called dopamine is released, just like in drugs or alcohol. The worse thing is that with continued use we need more of it to create the same effect and stimulation for our brain. Eyyy yiii yii!!!

What have we gotten ourselves into! The only resolution for me is to now resist everything that has refined sugar and is processed. This way I know there are no hidden sugars in it! Also when you feel a craving coming on do some burpees! It sounds funny and a little ridiculous but I promise it will help control your food intake and cravings. Lastly, be mindful of what you are putting into your body! We need to start treating our bodies like a temple, not a dumpster!! Let’s do this!!

Here's to Achieving the Look,

--Jaz

References: “Is Sugar Toxic?” CBSNews. CBS Interactive, n.d. Web. 21 Aug. 2012.

Junk n' Stupor: ATL Fitness Clubs 7 Foods to Avoid

The hardest part about eating clean is educating yourself about the foods that are truly "healthful" choices, and the ones that are just, well... garbage.

So ATL Fitness Club (with the help of our friends at Shape Magazine) is sharing with you this list of what NOT to buy during your next trip to the grocery store. Here's what Shape calls the 7 Foods a Nutritionist Would Never Eat:

1) Rice cakes. These may only have a few calories and give you that "crunch" you're craving, but they'll also send your blood sugars on a roller coaster ride.

2) Fat-Free Salad Dressings. Yes, they are fat-free, but they can be LOADED with sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and all kinds of synthetic ingredients that make the nutrition label look like a page from your chemistry textbook!

3) Seitan. Okay many of us may not even eat this (or know what it is) but we're just putting it out there. Seitan is a meat substitute which is made entirely of wheat gluten. Eating too much of this could cause you to develop a sensitivity (or even an intolerance) to gluten.

4) Shark. Sure, we know that eating fish (certain kinds) will give us a healthy dose of Omega-3 fats, but this type of seafood in particular should be avoided. Why? Because shark meat has extremely high levels of mercury.

5) Refined and Re-fortified grains. This includes most cereals, pastas, and rice products...and you should steer clear of them not only because of the extremely high carb content, but also because the naturally-occurring fiber, vitamins, and minerals are usually removed and replaced with synthetic versions. Gross, who wants to eat lab-manufactured mac & cheese?!

6) Sugar-Sweetened Drinks. Yes, we're talking about soda, fruit juice, sweet teas, and lots of energy drinks! Cutting these out of your diet will SIGNIFICANTLY reduce your sugar intake for the day, not to mention disrupt your body's inflammatory balance (which is totally necessary for efficient recovery from your workouts).

7) Grits. Sorry, Southern Belles and Cowboys...this one is on the DO NOT EAT list! Grits is just another word for "processed corn leftovers." Not many of us enjoy the idea of leftovers in the first place, let alone the remnants of genetically modified products like those yellow cobs o' corn. Furthermore, grits dishes tend to be jam-packed with cream, butter, cheese, and all kinds of other unhealthful stuff we could definitely do without when trying to Achieve The Look .

So there you have it. 7 foods to remove from your vocabulary, your grocery list, your pantry, and most of all, your belly!

As some anonymous person once said, "Your stomach shouldn't be a wastebasket."

--The ATL Fitness Club

ATL Fitness Club Says, "Abs-olutely NOT" (to the Ab Machines at Your Local Gym)!

One of the oddest-sounding lines we spit out at friends and ATL Fitness Club gurus the most is that, "Abs are made in the kitchen."

We swear by this philosophy, and we will continue to say it until we can convince everyone to avoid the ab machines at your local gym (like the Plague).

Truth is, you can do all the crunches and sit-ups and Ab Lounge and Ab Roller exercises you want...especially if your sole purpose is to strengthen your core .

But if you're on a mission to shrink your waistline or wake up tomorrow with a 6-pack, ab exercises are definitely NOT the answer.

So here's what we mean by "Abs are made in the kitchen" ... It means that your diet, IN CONJUNCTION with your workout routine, is truly what will give you that marvelous mid-section.Our friends at Fit-Geek say the same thing ( http://fit-geek.com/2012/02/reader-qa-to-crunch-or-not-to-crunch/ ). We're not saying you shouldn't work on your abdominal muscles ever, we're just saying that until you lose the fat on top of your abs first, the results from all your bicycle sit-ups and medicine ball crunches will never become visible in the mirror.

Moral of the story? If you want to have a rockin' body with a flat stomach , you must first CHANGE THE WAY YOU EAT. Not only will you improve the way you feel, your body will start to show you the rewards of eating clean (and training mean, of course).

So what are you waiting for? Remove that fast food and processed stuff from your diet, start doing more cardio, and you will be well on your way towards Achieving The Look.

--The ATL Fitness Club

ATL Fitness Club New Products & Merchandise NOW AVAILABLE!

ATL Fitness Club now has 8 products / merchandise available for purchase!

Here's a look at our new stuff...

And to place your order go to our web site: ATLfitnessclub.com .

Here's to Achieving The Look!

--The ATL Fitness Club

Green Coffee Bean Extract Supplements from ATL Fitness Club Coming Soon!

Doctor Oz was raving about them, and so is ATL Fitness Club!

We're talking about Green Coffee Bean Extract supplements ... and they will soon be available for you to purchase from your fitness friends at ATL Fitness Club .

So what is GREEN COFFEE BEAN EXTRACT , exactly? Well Dr. Oz refers to them as a " fat burner in a bottle ."

In his TV segment featuring this supplement, Doctor Oz discusses a recent study from (what he refers to as) "the world's largest scientific society." This study observed test subjects who took GREEN COFFEE BEAN EXTRACT with a 2,400 calorie diet (each day).

The test subjects lost more than 10% of their body weight and 16% of their total body fat while taking the green coffee bean supplements for just 12 weeks... That's an average of 17 lbs. per participant, with ZERO side effects!

Okay so how does GREEN COFFEE BEAN EXTRACT work?

Dr. Lindsey Duncan (a Naturopath Doctor) explains this in 3 ways on Doctor Oz 's show :

1) Green coffee bean extract causes the body to burn glucose and sugar.

2) Green coffee bean extract slows the release of sugar into your bloodstream, which keeps fat from building up in the body.

3) Green coffee bean extract has a synergistic effect on the body, which helps burn AND block fat, without any side effects.

If you don't believe us, then you can check out Doctor Oz 's video here: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/miracle-pill-burn-fat-pt-1

And when you're ready to purchase your own bottle, simply go to our site and reserve your own for just $24.99 by clicking here: ATLfitnessclub.com .

It's about that time...for you to burn the fat and Achieve The Look!

--The ATL Fitness Club