Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Mark Ottobre started his journey to success as “The Fat Kid”. At school he
had the nick name and label of ‘Pork Chop’ and was told by a teacher that ‘out
of a scale of 1 to 10 in useless lumps he was an 11!’ At the age of 14 he fell
into the category of gym goers “trying to lose weight”. It wasn’t until the age of
15 that he was introduced to training and found the necessary tools to
transform his mind, body and life forever.
Today, Mark specialises in training both fitness champions and regular people
to achieve extraordinary body transformations in the shortest time possible.
He writes for Muscle Mag and Australian Natural Bodz magazines and has a
passion for teaching Personal Training.
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Special Thanks To…
Annamaria Ottobre
Kristine Coffey
DISCLAIMER:
All recommendations are made GENERALLY for people who are
looking to improve their physiques, live a healthy lifestyle and
increase performance. This information does not intend to or
attempt to, cure, prevent or treat any disease or illness. The
person receiving recommendations are taken on the basis that
they are healthy, free of disease and or illness. For any specific
dietary requirements, please see a qualified specialist.
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Preface
Firstly, thank you for taking the time to invest in your health. I am honoured
that you chose to download my program, Eat Your Way To Abs. I promise this
will cut through the crap and give you what you need to know in the shortest
time possible.
The Ebook
This ebook is based on the audio program and has been expanded to give
you more specific information. I have kept the question and answer format so
you can find what you are looking for easily and quickly. It was the most
effective way of designing the ebook so I could fit in as much relative content
as possible and communicate it in a practical, easy-to-use format. I would
recommend printing it out at officeworks if you want a hard copy version.
I sincerely hope you gain value from this program. Feel free to email my team
and I feedback at info@thealphabody.com
Mark Ottobre
June, 2010
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Table of contents
Strategies and Breakfast – I bet you don’t eat like this in the
morning! 6 to 9
Green Drinks – Why to have them and how to make them taste
great! 10 to 12
Pesticides and Toxins – The Insidious Two and what to look for 14 to 16
Corn, Sugar and Soy – I dig up research that will make you think
twice about what your eating 22 to 25
Eskimos & Ketosis –They have more in common than you think! 29 to 30
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What’s the first thing you explain about nutrition to a client?
There are only so many changes a newbie can make to their diet
in one week without feeling a little overwhelmed. To make the
change sustainable, I like to feed clients advice over a period of
time.
New trainers make the mistake of giving clients all the information
at once. This is not the most effective practice. The first piece I
explain is that the average person has been taught through
tradition ‘how, when and what to eat.’ And often it’s these traditions
that prevent us from achieving our goals.
After the mindset talk, I look to the nutrition plan, and first meal on
the agenda is breakfast. Until a client gets that right, they don’t get
any more nutritional advice. Getting breakfast right will influence
the food choices made for the rest of the day. Working with one
concept at a time until it’s an ingrained habit is the best way to
create lasting change.
A high protein breakfast could include some type of red meat, fish,
chicken or eggs. Most people think that’s strange. What I think is
strange is people have embraced milk, corn and soy as wonder
health foods when most people have some form of allergy to all of
these- yet they still have them for breakfast.
People will find when they follow this approach they won’t have
energy crashes straight after and need a ‘pick me up’ in the form of
a coffee or an energy drink. The truth is most breakfast choices,
due to their sugary nature cause people to have energy dips by the
time they make it to work.
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The other thing about a high protein breakfast is, the first thirty
grams of protein you eat for the day goes towards the immune
system which has benefits from a general wellness perspective.
What would you say to people who say they don’t have time
to eat in the morning?
They have more value on ‘what’s easy and convenient’ than they
do on their health. If they did value health more, they would wake
up an hour earlier with a smile on their face to cook a tasty
breakfast.
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The way I like to look at guilt is with my ‘equation’ analogy. Lets
start with…
People have to learn, they can’t take the bits they like and leave
the rest. They must accept the laws that govern the human body.
And when you look at things like that you don’t need guilt as a
motivator.
How come?
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food. This means your not stimulating digestive enzymes or firing
the metabolism.
In short, your body has to heat itself up to digest real food. Now
that’s true with real protein foods, however that is not true with
protein shakes. Your body doesn’t have to work for the nutrients as
it would if you were eating something like a steak.
A lot of personal trainers live off the ‘protein shake diet’. This
practice will often slow the metabolism.
For more information on fish oil in the prison system visit these links:
• http://www.amenclinics.com/blog/28/supplements-decrease-violence/
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18358242
• News report: http://www.3news.co.nz/Fish-oil-and-vitamins-reduce-
violence-in-prison-inmates/tabid/372/articleID/145682/Default.aspx
• http://www.insidershealth.com/article/new_study_aggressive_behavior
_reduced_significantly_by_taking_fish_oil/4028
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What’s more interesting is that political and health experts in the
US estimate they could cut the US health bill by 50% by issuing
each citizen 3 grams of fish oil a day. That would be interesting
and the biggest study you could conduct on any supplement.
Personally, I don’t think it’s that magical though.
Many obese clients are depressed, and therefore have poor will-
power. If you can increase Serotonin naturally it will help the client
be compliant to your advice. If the client is in a better frame of
mind than when they previously met you, the client is more willing
to comply to your advice. (Coach Charles Poliquin taught me that)
Another plus about fish oil is that its relative inexpensive for what it
does.
But for now, to summarise, if you can get a good green drink you
are going to be able to bypass something like a vitamin mineral
supplement (even though you could still take it as well). Green
drinks cut a lot of corners because it gives you a wider variety of
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vitamins and minerals. Make sure that you buy a green drink that
is organic. I get mine through here
http://us.cpoliquin.com/?Click=1512 (this is also where I get my fish
oil)
Green drinks are convenient. I like to have one to two drinks a day.
I find it better than taking lots of pills. And as for clients, lets face it,
they won’t want to take lots of pills and can sometimes be turned
off from supplements because of this.
They taste ok, however I have a trick to improve the taste without
adding sugar. I add something called stevia to my green drinks.
(Stevia is covered in my book,
http://www.thetruthaboutsupplements.com)
This makes it just a bit sweeter and takes the bitter edge off.
Stevia has no calorie and it’s supports alkalinity in the gums. It’s
not an artificial sweetener, it’s a natural sweetener derived from
the Stevia plant.
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If there are any complaints about taste, that’s how I would solve it.
I would never use artificial sweeteners, lets just say the jury is still
out about artificial sweeteners, and what is out, isn’t favourable to
be consuming them on a daily basis.
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As the saying goes, ‘our genes loads the gun and our environment
pulls the trigger.’ So if we constantly eat the wrong things and have
a certain gene that creates ill health, we will pay the price.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jsCnahh8Pwc/SOrvBQtjvoI/AAAAAAAA
OaQ/hm6NR_mYHeI/s400/collage4.jpg
(I didn’t want to place the photo in the book itself as the image can be
disturbing)
Hormones tell the body where to store the fat. Hormones are
manipulated through, food, supplements and (believe or not) our
mental attitude.
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For example, if I eat 2000 calories a day and I get those calories
from lean proteins, vegetables and omega 3’s and you on the
other hand go to a fast food restaurant and you eat 2000 calories
were not going to end up with the same physiques are we?
Hell, toxic is still being defined! I mean, anything can be toxic, even
water if you consume it in high enough amounts. And so long as
the ‘scientific’ community approaches pesticides and chemicals in
our environment with ‘still to be defined terms’ our grandchildren
will be the ones to pay.
The numbers, three and seven mark if BPA has been used. The
numbers are supposed to be found in the triangle, which is not
always easily found, even to someone like myself, who is
conscious of these things.
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The numbers are suppose to be found in the triangle, not always the case
Pesticides are they same, you simply don’t know how much
pesticides have been used and if they are harmful. So you need to
assume or buy organic.
One thing that everyone should know about organic food is that it
may not be anymore nutritious for you. But that’s not why you buy
organic, let me explain…
Yes, this MIGHT have some truth, HOWEVER- that’s not why you
buy organic food. The reason why you buy organic food is so
you don’t buy the pesticides, it’s not anything to do with which
one is more nutritious.
Nutrient value of food comes back to the quality of the soil it comes
from. It’s assumed the nutrient value of soil from an organic farmer
would be higher compared with a non-organic farmer. However, at
best, this is still an assumption and its based on the fertilizer the
farmer uses, not the pesticides. But again, this is not the reason to
buy organic.
The government and the press are notorious for employing spin-
doctors. This is exactly what they are doing with the organic food
issue.
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When it comes to organic food, budget seems to be the main
issue. As a general rule to save money, where possible buy all
thin-skinned fruits and vegetable organic. Thick skin fruits and
vegetables aren’t as important to buy organic as the thick outer
layer can be pealed away, along with the harmful pesticides.
For the most part, I would make an effort to buy organic. You have
to remember, fat cells store toxins. Pesticides are toxins so they
are going to be stored.
The three items that are sprayed the heaviest are Coffee, Butter
and Strawberries. I would always do my best to buy these products
organic when available.
Yes, and to drive the nutrients to the cell which will happen
naturally when you eat. When you eat anything, a small amount of
insulin will be secreted. That’s what diabetes is; the pancreas can
no longer produce insulin. Insulin should not be viewed either as
good nor evil.
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To answer the question directly, insulin is needed to store fat from
a chemical perspective. In the fat cells there are ‘free forming fatty
acids’ which can be used as energy and triglycerides. Think of the
triglycerides as the ‘storehouse’. Triglycerides are free three
forming fatting acids bound together by a glyceride molecule
module. For that chemical process to take place, insulin is needed.
Once its bound it can be stored.
When you eat foods that cause your affect blood sugar to rise,
insulin will get secreted to combat the rise in blood sugar. Insulin’s
job is to keep blood sugar stable. Neglecting to keep a balanced
blood sugar throughout your life will result in wearing out your
pancreas. This is called diabetes type two, commonly associated
with obesity.
Many young males have been led to believe that the best way to
gain weight is to consume high carbohydrate, sugary foods, such
as ice cream, lollies or chocolate bars. These high sugary foods
increase the rate of aging. It also makes you more likely to be
insulin resistant when we want to be insulin sensitive (basically we
secrete less insulin to do the same job). It’s not a sound way to
eat.
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and had a hard time selling ‘a semi-starvation diet plan’. Every
time you hear someone say a ‘calorie controlled plan’, it basically
means semi starvation diet. Don’t buy into it.
To train hard and recover properly you need to eat correctly. The
wisdom is in eating the right foods that have the correct hormonal
effect on the body. The hormonal effect should minimise insulin
secretion.
Never
I would also like to go on the record and say, in all the years I have
put together plans for bodybuilding contest in which I need athletes
body fat as low as 4%, I have never counted calories. Go on The
Alpha Body or The Truth About Supplements and see the people
I’ve trained and the results they have achieved. Not once did I
count a single calorie in any of them.
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To paraphrase Jonny Bowden, a world-renowned nutritionist, eat
things that are hunted, fished, gathered and plucked. If you can
succeed at getting your clients to eat things that are hunted, fished
gathered and plucked instead of processed junk, and you manage
to inspire them to do it for two months, they would change their
physiques. And you won’t need to count calories.
Females are interesting. The best way to put it is, they are well
read on the wrong information.
The unfortunate thing for a lot of females is that they believe that
‘eating less equals weight loss’, and that’s the only way they know
how to do it. The problem with this approach is that they will
eventually bomb out and crash, binge on the closet bucket of ice
cream or block of chocolate and then repeat it all over again. It’s
simply not sustainable nor is it effective.
That’s why you see females stuck in yoyo dieting patterns. In there
memory, they only know one strategy for losing weight, that’s to
not eat, or to eat less. They can’t stick to it – but it’s the only thing
they know that gets the result they want. Its ugly, its brutal, but
they have pressure on them from their peers, boyfriend and
society in general to get ‘in shape’ and look ‘sexy’.
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She wants women to be empowered, and that’s a noble goal we
can all agree on. However there is nothing empowering about an
overweight, unhealthy individual, male or female. They have
serious health problems. Its not a matter of self acceptance- it’s a
matter of health!
Both camps have issues, and further more, both camps have
serious health problems.
Then they walk past a guy like me, who’s eating 3 full eggs, a
steak with a quarter of an avocado and think I’m eating too much
fat. My question is who taught you what to eat? Who told you the
muffin is a healthy option? If you dig deep enough it comes
back to what the food industry wants you to believe. This is a
concept I discuss in my seminars.
The number one goal that I would give to all females is to simply
meet their protein requirement each day. I would not allow any
question until that one goal is met. This would be done in
conjunction with meeting their fish oil requirement daily.
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This approach works extremely well because it shifts focus on the
foods they have to eat, this gets them away from thinking about
the foods they cant or shouldn’t have. You never want to
disempower people by saying you can’t eat this or you can’t eat
that.
Most of the time you really have to analyse the line of thought
when it comes to food choices. People are far too emotional when
it comes to choosing foods and wrap emotional meanings around
healthy and unhealthy foods. This story better explains;
This is unfortunately the mentality of some people, they don’t get it.
They think, ‘just a little bit wont hurt be’. They’re delusional.
Speaking generally, females are much worse offenders than
males, or at least they have more ‘exceptions’ to the health rules.
You have to teach them, ‘everything counts.’
Going out and eating that little bit of chocolate counts. Putting that
dash of milk and teaspoon of sugar in your coffee counts. The
biggest problem is that people view these behaviours as ‘normal’
when there not. Society has deemed it normal to add sugar to
coffee, though refined sugar the way modern society consumes it
is an abnormality. Its not the way the human body was designed to
eat speaking from an evolutionary perspective.
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Advice that I would give to trainers is, don’t be naïve to clients.
Realise that they are probably eating more junk than they are
telling you. Don’t set down rules, get them to give you their goals
and tell them how to do it. Be honest and use the equation analogy
as I suggested earlier. Challenge their thinking and what is
‘normal’ to eat.
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In fact, in studies conducted with mice found the combination of
sugar and fats cause strong addictions in the brain when the foods
were removed. When the researches gave the food back to the
mice, they found the mice would gorge themselves.
These tests have also been done on sugar alone, and again the
result has shown that the mice show ‘addictive like’ behaviours
and withdrawal symptoms from sugar.
Another study, conducted with rats, gave the subjects the option of
selecting a water substance with sugar or a water substance with
cocaine. Researchers found that the rats selected the water
substance with sugar over the cocaine! Now, even though the
researchers say that ‘it should not be applied directly to humans’, it
does open the door to many topics of discussion.
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I would point out that sugar does have the potential to be
addictive in humans. In fact I believe there are many millions of
people around the world who are addicted to sugar. But of course
you can’t diagnose that as a sickness – until it’s too late (Obesity
and Diabetes.) I have heard many people say they have
‘withdrawal symptoms’ giving up their favourite sugary treats.
Surprising to some, this is not uncommon.
This is why I would conclude that refined sugar (in any form) is the
biggest problem with what people eat. If we can agree, that it is
indeed an ‘addictive like substance’ then how can it be ok to only
have a ‘little bit’ for someone who is struggling with weight loss or
dissatisfied with their current level of physical results. Can the
alcoholic have a ‘little bit’ of alcohol? No! Can you give a drug
addict a ‘little bit’ of drugs? No! So to give a food addict a ‘little bit’
of a sugary treat? You know by the time you look away that packet
of Tim Tams is as good as gone! It’s just not an effective practice.
Since the caveman era our genes have only evolved around 2%,
yet our environment and foods have evolved tremendously.
Basically, our bodies are the same, but now we have iphones (our
environment has changed.)
If you are looking for weight loss – cut the sugar and replace it with
lean protein foods. Things like chocolate bars, sports drinks, soft
drinks don’t play a nutritional part in your diet. These foods are
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calorie dense but nutritionally void. You want to be eating the exact
opposite. You want to be eating nutritional dense, calorie void
foods. These foods are things like green vegetables.
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live in a much more toxic environment compared with that of fifty
years ago.
Some people who look at the world through a straw believe that
supplements are excessive and not needed. They say things like
‘we can get everything from food.’ That may have been true fifty
years ago but that certainly isn’t the case today. In fact I have
research supporting the argument that our soil has been declining
in nutrients since 1936.
Its been estimated, that one tomato from the 1950’s equals twenty
tomatoes today. Not sure if that is 100% true, however its food for
thought.
If you can source organic food from a farm that uses more than 3
minerals, I congratulate you and hope you keep this practice for
many years to come. However, this is the exception, for the
majority, (myself included) supplements are just far more practical.
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have conservative health organizations saying this, you know it
must be bad for you.
In a twist of events, between 1910 and 1911 the light bulb became
affordable due to William David Coolidge improving the method of
making the tungsten filament. This refinement finally made the light
bulb cost practical. This meant the use of candles decreased
which hurt business for Proctor and Gamble.
The idea ‘why don’t we cook with it’ brought the product shortening
to the market. At the time it was a revolutionary product. As Crisco
first Ad in 1912 points out, “you can fry fish in Crisco, and the
Crisco will not absorb the fish odour! You can then use the same
Crisco for frying potatoes without imparting to them the slightest
fish flavour.”
You cant blame Proctor and Gamble, how were they to know it
would have serious ramifications on human health on a global
scale. They were just two guys in business.
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As a part of Crisco’s marketing they made a recipe book. The
book-contained recipes from lobster mornay to cookies, show
casing the versatility of the product.
So now you know the history, needless to say, you would be best
off avoiding these products. If you’re going to use fat, make sure
its not synthetic. Synthetic fats have no place in a healthy, well
balanced diet.
The good thing about trans fats is that they have a very long shelf
life and they’re dirt-cheap!
The very first form of trans fatty acids was actually shortening.
Now most people born after 1985 wouldn’t have a clue what
shortening is. But if you ask your Mother (or Grandmother), they
will probably have shortening in the cupboard from when they were
little that still hasn’t gone off.
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That’s why these unhealthy inventions exist. Firstly, to make the
food industry more profits, secondarily to cheaply feed a growing
population.
If you can tick all those boxes, then it depends on how lean you
actually want to be on what else you need to cut out.
People always expect me to say, ‘cut out saturated fats’ but I don’t
think that’s the real problem. The body can at least digest and
utilise saturated fats.
That’s open for a debate. I’m not going to quote any numbers
though I will say when choosing between low fat products and full
fat products, I would always choose the full fat. When something is
low fat, its high sugar which is much worse.
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There is no such thing as an ‘essential’ carbohydrate. However,
essential fatty acids and essential amino acids make up the
framework of a healthy body.
The big fallacy is, people think they need carbohydrates to survive.
You don’t. Most people overeat them believing they are being
healthy when they should be eating a steak.
No. Being in ketosis isn’t bad for you provided you are a healthy
person with a working pancreas.
As the story goes, the restaurant simply changed the name and
people no longer through a fit whilst reading the menu.
People have confused the two terms. Robert Atkins (Atkins Diet)
tried to change the term to lipolysis so people would stop getting
confused between ketosis and diabetic ketoacidosis. It is an
unfortunate thing that healthy people think ketosis is dangerous,
they have just misinterpreted the terms.
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Of course I mean ‘meet’ and not ‘meat’, but that is to say, your
protein requirement needs to be met with real meat, fish or chicken
and not protein shakes. Shakes are just not the same.
You can train hard, but if you don’t back it up with protein, muscle
won’t grow. Many times I’ve had huge success with bodybuilding
clients just increasing how much protein they consume in a day.
The other piece of advice I will give is to check your ego when it
comes to eating. Guys who think ‘eating a lot’ is eating three full
eggs and a piece of toast for breakfast are kidding themselves.
Below is a table of how much protein is in each food per 200 gram
serving. I made this table to give to clients so they could do the
maths themselves.
(Note to reader: You can download the excel version from the
page you download this book.)
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(Referenced from www.calorieking.com.au)
With this said, I have never worked with percentages like ‘The
Zone Diet’ would. I just make sure that people meet their protein
requirement daily first of all. Then I ensure they consume a quality
fish oil and meet a fibre goal. The other essential part is to drink
enough water daily.
Provided the above is met, they get the next level of advice. This is
where I look at how much carbohydrate’s they are having and
manipulate them based on their goals. The lower the
carbohydrates consumed, the more protein they need to have. I
use that as a general rule, not one set in stone.
I have two clients who are classic examples of this. If they don’t
eat pasta, they lose too much weight. So it can happen, it’s just
rare.
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Research presented about high protein diets being negative is
simply not objective.
The only research that you will find showing that a high protein diet
is ‘bad’ is in research conducted on people who already have an
existing kidney condition or consuming poor quality proteins such
as processed meats.
Also, one really needs to define the term what is meant by ‘a high
protein diet’. Because a vegetarian would have you believe that if
you eat a steak a day, that’s a high protein diet, when it’s not even
close.
The other caveat with a ‘high protein diet’ is that you need to
define the foods. In the China Study, they looked at diets with
processed meats such as hot dogs and hamburgers. I don’t call
that a high protein diet, I call it a junk diet!
A diet like this might be high in ‘protein’ but it’s also very high in
toxins, sodium, trans-fats, etc. You can call fried chicken a protein
food, but we both know fried chicken isn’t the same as skinless
grilled chicken when it come to protein and health. That’s the
problem with looking at the world through a straw. You see what
you want to see.
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Final thoughts…
You will never create change in your life, or anyone else’s until you
take responsibility. You need to be responsible for taking fish oils,
meeting protein requirements, waking up that extra hour earlier to
make food and do it with no excuses and a smile on your face.
To the Personal Trainers, never let any client say ‘I didn’t lose
weight because you didn’t give me the right advice.’ You have to
give them the right advice. And in personal training you have to
assess to some degree, what clients are eating. People can train
five or six days a week but if your still eating junk, results simply
wont follow.
The other part is accountability. Get someone you trust to hold you
accountable to the goals that you want to make a reality to ensure
it gets done. I structured my Alpha Body Mentoring program
purposely to offer this service at a minimal price so those that need
it can take advantage. (Visit http://www.thealphabody.com)
Finally, make one change every week and see your body as a
long-term project.
The biggest thing with any ‘diet’, which in French means lifestyle,
is if you blame a diet for your lack of results – you will never
achieve anything. Take responsibility of what you choose to
eat.
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