Dr. Nathan Harten
How to lose fat with exercise Part 2
So to burn more fat you need to work at lower intensities in the “fat burning zone” right??
This is probably the number one exercise myth that despite it’s lack of evidence never seems to be truly debunked.
You still even see on the cardio gym equipment to this day heart rate graphs of the optimal zone to burn fat, implying that if you stick in this low zone you’ll lose more weight.
I am hoping that the evidence I am about to show you will debunk this myth once and for all. Continue reading
Slow the ageing process with a V8 metabolic engine
March is a month of mayhem in Adelaide. With the festival coming and going and the V8′s long gone from our streets, I have sensed a great deal of fatigue in those who have tried to keep up with the frenetic pace.
It is like we need a tank of that high octane fuel to get us through to Easter!
However, with a few simple tweaks of our metabolic engine we may be able to develop a machine powerful enough to see us through these busy times with plenty of energy in reserve. Continue reading
How to lose belly fat with exercise
Which exercise is best for the waistline?
I often get asked this question when people are keen to shed a few kilos from around the midrift. Many people think that to lose the gut you need to exercise it, therefore crunches must be the way to go. This myth has been around for many years and is totally unfounded, you simply cannot spot reduce fat by exercising that region! What’s even worse is that crunches are potentially a very damaging exercise to your spine, but that’s another blog in itself (if you’re interested, Scott Wood has a good blog about this topic which you’ll find by clicking here).
However, there is some good science about the best form of exercise to reduce the waistline and shed those extra kilos.
So which diet works best? – Part 2
In my last blog post I outlined the importance of treating our dietary changes as only ONE aspect of the four pillars to our health. These changes should be lifelong behaviours rather than searching for a quick fix.
However the scientific evidence of the most appropriate changes to our diet can guide us in our journey for weight loss and better health.
When we start to look at these studies, some interesting patterns appear as to the most successful ways to lose weight….. Continue reading
So which diet works best? – Part 1
I googled “diets” the other day and the first page I came across was a list of diets from Wikipedia. There in front of me was over 100 diets each name more obscure than the next!
It’s not a wonder that the consumer gets awfully confused about the best way to eat, jumping from one diet to the next, hoping that the next one on the list is the magic pill they’ve been looking for. Continue reading
Sleep Deprivation: a road to diabetes
Did you get less than five and a half hours sleep last night?
There have been many times where I have, through meeting work deadlines, having a good night out with friends or through the “joys” of parenthood, and I have not given it a second thought.
That is until I discovered what it is doing to my health. Continue reading
Worlds Best Cereal
As a child I hated breakfast cereal.
At the end of every bowl I had to resist the urge of bringing it back up! But still I persisted cramming it down because I knew how important the first meal of the day was for me.
However, last year I came across a high protein, gluten free cereal called the World’s Best Cereal (or WBC for short) developed by Dr Damien Kristof and I thought I’d give a go. And now I even have my own recipe to share. Continue reading
Get cool to lose weight?
Damn it’s cold outside! This was my thought as my knuckles were becoming numb on a frosty Adelaide Hills’ morning on my regular run!
We are all no doubt struggling through some of these colder months, so I thought this was the perfect time to talk about how our body’s natural warming system could possibly be a way to keep ourselves from putting on weight.
Scientists our now discovering that a type of fat storage tissue called Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) is more important than we first thought.
In fact only 50g of BAT can account for up to 20% of someone’s daily energy expenditure!
So what is this BAT and how do we get more of it?
Build a bigger brain through exercise!
Today’s Western lifestyle is toxic for our brains.
The continual stress of rushing around, meeting deadlines, feeling guilty about not spending enough time with the family and poor sleep habits elevate levels of a hormone called cortisol in our bodies. While this hormone can actively destroy our memory faculties, some surprising research has shed light on a simple way to correct this decay. And it’s not what you might expect. Continue reading
Walking for well-being
A recent post by a colleague, Scott Wood, highlighted that if you want to lose weight you need to do more than just walk.
Walking uses four times as much energy as sitting on a couch, however, when we factor a 30 minute walk into our whole day the increase in energy expenditure is no more than what we would get from not eating a banana.
While skipping the banana would be the easier option, I believe there is much more to walking than just the calories burnt. Continue reading
