I had a conversation about this topic with a good friend of mine today and it reminded me of how many other people always have this same question…

The problem is that we’ve established (as you know from the thorough details in my Fat Burning Kitchen ebook) that regular pasteurized/homogenized milk is horrible for you…

We’re talking about the regular milk (no matter whether it’s skim, 2%, or whole) that you get at the grocery store — which is almost ALL from factory farms where the cows are kept in horrendous conditions, poor health, and fed the wrong foods.

Even if you find milk that is “organic” at your grocery store, it still has the problem that the homogenization process renders the fat molecules unhealthy within your body, and the pastuerization destroys beneficial enzymes that help the proper digestion of milk proteins and lactose. But we’ve also established that raw whole milk from grass-fed cows raised in a healthy manner, fed the correct foods, and treated right, is the ONLY source of healthy milk.

And no, despite the propaganda you’ve been fed, raw milk is NOT dangerous… not when it comes from a clean grass-fed farm operation certified to produce raw milk and with healthy cows. I’m living proof of that fact… I’ve been drinking 100′s and 100′s of gallons of raw whole milk for about 7 years now, and never once have gotten sick from it. Nor have any of the families and friends I know that have also been drinking it for years.

Certainly, if raw milk was “dangerous”, we’d all be dead by now or at least have been sick multiple times by now. Nope, not once! But the fact that raw milk is the only healthy milk is a problem for many people because they simply can’t find a farm in their area that supplies raw milk. btw, you can search your area on realmilk.com to see if any farms deliver in your area.

So I’ve come up with a possible healthy alternative if you can’t find raw milk and want a good cows milk alternative…

First of all, stay FAR, FAR away from soymilk! It’s a straight-up junk food.

There’s an entire article on my website dedicated to this topic of why soy is pure junk… http://www.truthaboutabs.com/soy-foods-make-you-fat.html

What about Rice Milk?

No! Way too much sugar and total carbs and almost ZERO protein. If you want to shoot your blood sugar through the roof, rice milk will do the job, and will pack on the blubber just as fast. Here’s the best option I’ve found…

It’s a new “Coconut Milk Beverage” that I’ve seen recently in the grocery stores here in the US. It seems to differ from the “coconut milk” that you see in cans simply that it’s diluted down more than canned coconut milk so that it’s not such a thick coconut cream.

Now as you know from reading my books and newsletters, coconut fat is one of the healthiest fats you can consume… Yes, it’s saturated fat, but research has proven that it is a very healthy form of saturated fat, and is mostly medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) including lauric acid, which supports a strong immune system. The flavored “coconut milk beverages” do have some added sugar, but still only have 9 grams of carbs per 8 oz, which is less than a glass of cow milk. But they also have an unsweetened version, which only has 1 gram of carbs. The only problem is that this “coconut milk beverage” only has 1 gram of protein too.

So here’s my solution…

get a good quality vanilla whey protein (sweetened with stevia instead of typical artificial sweeteners) and mix 3-4 scoops of whey protein into the entire half gallon carton of “coconut milk beverage”… possibly in a blender and then transfer to a new pitcher. Now you have a milk alternative that’s high in healthy fats (MCTs in this case) and also quality protein, with only 1 gram of sugar per 8 oz serving!

I still won’t give up my raw whole cows milk for this (since I do have access to a good raw milk farm)… but this coconut milk mixture would be the only option that I would actually drink if I couldn’t get my good raw milk.

What about almond milk? Actually, I don’t have a problem with this as long as it’s not heavily sweetened with added sugars or artificial sweeteners. I’ve occasionally seen almond milk that is unsweetened and only has 1 gram of sugar per 8oz, just like the coconut milk. I think adding the protein to almond milk would make a great mixture too and make it more balanced as a good healthy milk alternative.

Btw, one of the best whey proteins out there is a cold processed whey protein with ZERO artificial sweeteners from my friends at
http://ProGradeSupplements.net

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist Certified Personal Trainer
Founder TruthAboutAbs.com

My Comments: I share the same experience with Mike when it comes to raw milk. I’ve been drinking it now for over 5 years and get stares from family members & friends when I drink it. My sisters, mother and In -Laws just don’t catch on that I have not dropped dead from drinking Real Unprocessed Raw Milk. They all still drink store bought pasteurized milk because they have been conditioned to believe that it is safe for you. Tis life.  And as Mike wrote it is very easy to find quality raw milk these days if you go through a farm program like I do. I use TNG here in NYC and highly recommend it.

As far as soy, rice and almond milk I’ve never been a fan simply based on the taste.  The same goes for Coconut milk as I’m just not a fan of the taste. I will say that I do love drinking fresh coconut water right from the coconut which is readily available here in NYC year round here in NYC.

Now onto protein powders: I’ll say this first before anything. Food first always wins! Even the best protein powders or supplements are highly processed. They would not come in a pretty packages if this were not true.

However after real food comes convenience and what you can actually implement in real life. This is where supplements shine because they can make for quick snacks and serve as in between bridges to real food.

ProGrade Protein shines here because it tastes great, is not as processed (cold processed) and does not contain artificial sweetners like aspartame ( a big plus) .

I’d love to hear your comments on this topic as it will serve everyone well to know what people do for milk (cow’s, goat’s, soy, rice, almond, coconut etc…)

As I’ve always maintained: What ever works for you is all that matters

As Always

Best In Strength & Health

Virgil Aponte

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Ok, so you’re working your butt off. You’re sweating. You’re hustling. You’re getting that exercise “high.”

Heck, not only are you now enjoying your workouts, but you want to learn more about how to make them more effective.

That’s great!

It never ceases to amaze me how most people don’t give their bodies a second thought.

They think they just go to the gym…walk on the treadmill…throw some weights around…go home and eat whatever…

Seriously, the human body is the most complicated piece of machinery on the planet.

Do they really think there’s ZERO science behind exercise?

Do they really think they can just eat whatever is in their fridge after working their butts off?

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Virgil Aponte

Truth About Six Pack Abs

Hello again

Here’s another great blog post from fitness expert Mike Geary

One thing I love about Mike are his tips on real food and how to use it for optimal health and fitness.

Now I personally don’t eat fish regularly because I simply don’t like the taste.

For that reason it’s vital that I try to get EFA’s from other sources like grass fed meats and supplements like Pro Grade EFA Icon:

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A tasty fish with MORE omega-3′s than salmon?

About 6 months ago, while I was on a trip in beautiful San Diego (the home of legendary Ron Burgundy), I was at a nice dinner with some friends and tried a type of fish that I had never tried before — sablefish (aka black cod).

I was so blown away at how delicious this fish was, and when I did a little research on the nutritional content of it, I found out that it had very comparable levels of omega-3′s, including EPA and DHA, as wild salmon…. and sablefish is also very rich in dozens of vitamins and minerals.

Sablefish is yet another one of those cold water fatty fish (healthy fats) from the far northern Pacific. Although it’s called “black cod”, supposedly it is technically not part of the cod family. Another bonus is that this particular fish is not being overfished, and populations in the northern pacific are very healthy.

The sablefish is basically a goldmine of nutrition and one of the tastiest types of fish I’ve ever tried… it literally melts in your mouth and has a sweet buttery flavor.

About 2 weeks ago, I found out that one of my friends who runs an online store selling grass-fed meats and wild fish (and other organic snacks too) has sablefish on their item list… you can find it here:

http://tinyurl.com/sablefish-blackcod

So I ordered a bunch of it, and just cooked up my first batch today. All I did was thaw the sablefish and then sautee it in a mixture of grass-fed butter, coconut oil, and a little bit of real maple syrup (and a pinch of salt and pepper)…

It only took about 4-5 minutes to cook and it turned out unbelievable!

Buttery, slightly sweet, and full of nutrition.

This is officially my newest healthy treat of a meal.

When I was ordering the sablefish from the online store, there was a 7.5-lb minimum of total weight to complete the order (since they ship you a sealed cooler, so it needs sufficient quantity to make shipping possible), so I ended up loading up on some grassfed beef and some other things…

But what shocked me was that I found that they also have this incredible healthy ice cream that’s made out of coconut cream, cashew cream, and a bunch of other organic ingredients…

http://tinyurl.com/health-ice-cream

To be honest, about 2 years ago, I was looking into producing my own version of healthy ice cream, but when I talked to a couple companies that would have done the manufacturing, I decided that I just didn’t want the hassle of trying to run a company that produced a product like ice cream.

So I was sort of shocked to find that this healthy ice cream I found had a very similar list of ingredients that I was planning on using. I ended up trying the cappuccino ice cream and the chocolate ice cream, and they are absolutely delicious!

They don’t use any refined sugar in the ingredients, but keep in mind that they still have sugar calories from the agave nectar that’s used to sweeten it, so this is not necessarily a low-cal dessert… it’s just non-dairy and uses all organic ingredients, including the cashew cream and coconut cream.

Next time I may just try their Goji berry ice cream too.

All of the varieties are here:

http://tinyurl.com/health-ice-cream

again, if you’re ordering from this store, you’ll want to shop around for some grassfed meats and wild fish too since you can only order with a total weight order of 7.5 lbs (to make the shipping worthwhile for them).

I hope you enjoy these delicious healthy treats I found!

I’m definitely putting that tasty buttery sablefish on my menu a couple times a month from here on out for sure.

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Virgil Aponte

So I actually went for a nice 2 mile run today.

Actually it was a tad less than 2 miles if you must know.

Now usually this should not be a big deal but if you’ve been reading my blog you know I’m not a big fan of long distance running.

Now I would not really call 2 miles long distance but it is a lot more compared to when I run the Miller Ave Super Hill

So why the change?

I simply got up this morning and really did not want to do stairs, hills or body weight training.

I knew I did want to work out outdoors as the air this morning was really cool, fresh and clean (well at least clean for New York)

I took a nice deep breath and decided to hit the McKarren Park track in Greenpoint Brooklyn.

So what’s the point to all this?

The big point is sometimes you need to change things up sometimes because your workouts can become stale.

I decided to go for a run but it could’ve been anything else

Take a hot yoga class

Go for a long walk

Go hiking

Go for a bike ride

Play 3 on 3 Basketball

Play Wiffle Ball

Get the point

Whatever your goals may be you will have to change things up from time to time to keep progressing

And of course remember to eat right and get plenty of sleep.

Eating Right is Easy When you can use your favorite foods:

Every Other Day Diet

I hope this experience can give you some ideas when things get stale or boring with your current workouts.

Virgil Aponte

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If it’s one thing I’ve learned over the years as a fitness professional is that timing is a vital component to your success. From when you eat your meals, when you work out, when you go to bed and even when you skip workouts or have your cheat meals.

The human body focuses on a timing system that actually revolves around your night/day cycles. During the day your body secretes activity hormones like cortisol to give you energy As the day comes to a close cortisol levels drop and your body prepares to release recuperation hormones like growth hormones.

In fact if you’d like a nice legal dose of growth hormone each night make sure to get to bed a little after 10

Most people skip this vital dose of growth hormone by going to bed after 12 and doing things like watching TV or using the internet.

Here are some ideas to take advantage your bodies natural timing mechanisms:

1. Eat immediately after your workout: The storage hormone insulin is very active after your workout and will actually shuttle calories into muscle cells rather than fat cells. The main reason for this is due your muscle stores being depleted.

2. Get to bed by 10:30 and wake up around 6AM (or when the sun comes up): A very simple way to improve your natural production of every hormone in your body is to be active when it’s light and resting when it’s dark out. Improving your hormonal profiles goes a long way in optimizing fat loss, muscle building and even your mood and health.

Your diet also plays a key role in manipulating your hormones.

My favorite over the last few years has been Jon Benson’s Every Other Day Diet:

It’s easy to follow and he’ also an expert at exercise programing which also goes a long when it comes to optimal hormonal profiles.

Virgil Aponte

First a quick note to let you know what Joel Marion’s Cheat Your Way Holiday Edition is on sale only till Thursday.

After that the prices doubles: Cheat Your Way Thin Holiday Edition

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And next I just wanted to say thank you for being a loyal newsletter subscriber of mine.

If it wasn’t for you I would not be able to do what I do.

So thank you, thank you and thank you.

I wish you and your family all the best during this during this holiday and of course thought out the rest of the year.

Now onto Thursday.

There is more than a big chance that many of you will be having a super amount of food that day.

Now I’ve taken different approaches to my holiday meals.

They go from fasting the day before until my big meal and to just eating normally and then just treating the Thanksgiving dinner as a super cheat meal ala Joel’s Cheat Your Way This System:

Another big part of course is to amp up your workouts during this time.

Now many of you will even be off work so you have no choice but to get your workout in.

Now if you are not going to skip meals or fast then simply stick with your regular eating plan and more than likely you won’t even feel like gorging on turkey day. And if you do then it’s just a cheat meal. Of course make sure to say no to left overs and get back on track on Friday.

With that in mind here’s a great breakfast recipe from my friends at Pro Grade Nutrition.

This will help you stay on track and get you a nice does of protein with your morning meal.

Delicious Protein Pancakes Recipe

Thanks to the protein in the recipe your blood sugar won’t go crazy like it can just by eating a huge stack of pancakes with sugary syrup. Nope, this recipe will fill you up, nourish your body and give your metabolism just the boost it needs.

Get the recipe here:

http://ProGradeSupplements.net/prograde-pancake-recipe.html

Be sure to let me know how you like it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Virgil Aponte

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I started using Krill Oil because it was much simpler to take them as opposed to taking fish oil tabs or what I believed was better: Cod Liver Oil.

The reason I chose Cod Live Oil is because it was the closest to eating fish I was ever gonna get.

Now I still believe in getting the food first then going for supplements.

Always keep that in mind.

If you can get your EFA’s from fish like salmon then go for it.

Fish and me just never mixed that’s why I went with Cod Live Oil for a long time till Krill Oil came along.

Krill supps have no taste and all you need is 2 a day

http://progradesupplements.net/omega-6-fatty-acids-and-chronic-inflammation.html

Do yourself a favor and learn about this supp as it’s a keeper in my book

Virgil Aponte

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