Good Trans Fats vs. Bad Trans Fats - Great Read Hubbers!

Artificial trans fats-are one of the most prevalent poisons in our food supply;  but most don't know that healthy natural trans-fats DO exist. Read On....

I'm going to talk about something today that most of you have probably never heard... that there is a distinction between good trans fats and bad trans fats. There is some evidence that the good trans fats can help you with fat loss, muscle building, and even cancer prevention, while the bad trans fats have been shown to cause heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and the general "blubbering" of your body.

I'm sure most of you have heard all of the ruckus in the news over the last few years about just how bad man-made trans fats are for your health. If you've been a reader of my newsletter and my Truth about Six Pack Abs e-book program, then you definitely know my opinion that these substances are some of the most evil food additives of all and are found in the vast majority of all processed foods and fast foods on the market today.

 

In my opinion, man-made trans fats are right up there with smoking in terms of their degree of danger to your health. After all, they are one of THE MAIN factors for the explosion of heart disease since approximately the 1950's.

 

With all of the talk about trans fats in the news these days, I wanted to clarify some things, particularly regarding bad trans fats vs. good trans fats. If you've never heard of good trans fats before, let me explain in a bit.

 

The Bad Trans Fats

First, the bad trans fats I'm referring to are the man-made kind. These are represented by any artificially hydrogenated oils. The main culprits are margarine, shortening, and partially hydrogenated oils that are in most processed foods, junk foods, and deep fried foods.

 

These hydrogenated oils are highly processed using harsh chemical solvents like hexane (a component of gasoline), high heat, pressure, have a metal catalyst added, and are then deodorized and bleached. A small % of the solvent is allowed to remain in the finished oil. This has now become more of an industrial oil rather than a food oil, but somehow the FDA still allows the food manufacturers to put this crap in our food at huge quantities, even with the well documented health dangers.

 

These hydrogenated oils cause inflammation inside of your body, which signals the deposition of cholesterol as a healing agent on artery walls. Hence, hydrogenated oil = inflammation = clogged arteries. You can see why heart disease has exploded since this crap has been loaded into our food supply over the last 5 to 6 decades.

 

As time goes on, and science continues to unveil how deadly these oils really are, I feel that eventually they will be illegal and banned from use. The labelling laws were just the first step. In fact, certain countries around the world have already banned the use of hydrogenated oils in food manufacturing or at least set dates to phase them out for good.

 

However, keep in mind that as companies are starting to phase out the use of hydrogenated oils in processed foods, they are replacing them, in most instances, with highly refined polyunsaturated oils such as soybean oil, cottonseed oil, corn oil, etc, etc. These are still heavily processed oils using high heat, solvents, deodorizers, and bleaching agents. Even refined oils are known to produce inflammation in your body...a far cry from natural sources of healthy fats.

 

Don't be fooled by the new onslaught of foods claiming "trans fat free"... if they use heavily refined oils (even if they're non-hydrogenated), it's still pure evil for your body, and very inflammatory.

 

Once again, for the best results, your best bet is avoiding highly processed foods altogether and choose whole, natural, minimally processed foods. Your body will thank you!

 

The Good Trans Fats

Ok, after having trash talked the man-made trans fats, let me clearly state that there is such a thing as healthy natural trans fats. Natural trans fats are created in the stomachs of ruminant animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, etc. and make their way into the fat stores of the animals.

 

Therefore, the milk fat and the fat within the meat of these animals can provide natural healthy trans fats (best in grass-fed organic versions only).

 

Natural trans fats in your diet have been thought to have some potential benefit to aid in both muscle building and fat loss efforts. However, keep in mind that the quantity of healthy trans fats in the meat and dairy of ruminant animals is greatly reduced by mass-production methods of farming and their grain and soy heavy diets. Meat and dairy from grass-fed, free-range animals always have much higher quantities of these beneficial fats.

 

One such natural trans fat that you may have heard of is called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and has been marketed by many weight loss companies. Keep in mind that these man-made CLA pills you see in the stores may not be the best way to get CLA in your diet. They are artificially made from plant oils in a manner similar to hydrogenation, instead of the natural process that happens in ruminant animals. Once again, man-made just doesn't compare to the benefits of natural sources.

 

Here's a great site I found that I use to order all of my healthy grass-fed beef and other free range meats.  The service is impeccable and they deliver right to your doorstep in a sealed cooler. It's worth it to know that you and your family are actually eating meat that's good for you instead of the normal grocery store junk.

 

Now that all of your labels should be listing grams of trans fat, keep in mind that if a quantity of trans fat is listed on a meat or dairy product, it is most likely the natural good trans fats that we've discussed here (*I only recommend grass-fed meat or dairy). Otherwise, if the quantity of trans fat is listed on any processed foods, it is most likely the dangerous unhealthy crap from artificially hydrogenated oils, so stay away! 

 

One more important note about food labels and trans fat listings... keep in mind that food manufacturers are allowed to label a food "trans fat free" if 1 serving size contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat.  So you may see some products with hydrogenated oils as one of their main ingredients, but if they make the serving size small enough so that it contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving, they can label it as trans fat free... now that's BS!  just another example of our broken system!

 

Source: Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

The Hidden Truth About "Reducing Your Cholesterol"

You may be surprised at the REAL causes of heart disease -- and it's NOT saturated fat or dietary cholesterol

We all know that heart disease is one of the leading killers of people around the world, particularly highest in countries such as the US and Australia.

 

However, did you know that there are several medical studies worldwide that clearly show that higher cholesterol levels in the body actually increases longevity instead of decreasing it?

 

Yes, you heard that right! People with high cholesterol have been statistically shown to live longer and healthier than people with low cholesterol in several studies. There are multiple references for this phenomenon in Shane Ellison's controversial book, The Hidden Truth about Cholesterol Lowering Drugs, Dr. Uffe Ravnskov's (MD, PhD) book entitled The Cholesterol Myths, as well as Sally Fallon and Mary Enig's book, Nourishing Traditions.

 

So why in the world are the pharmaceutical and medical industry pushing for practically everyone on the planet to "lower their cholesterol"? Well, the first, and more innocent answer, is flawed medical studies from decades ago that have been accepted as fact and never fully analyzed for their validity. Another answer is that this practice of recommending that half of the damn planet takes a cholesterol lowering medication (such as statin drugs), regardless of whether they truly have any real risk for heart disease, creates insane multi-squillion dollar profits for the drug companies.

 

As a perfectly absurd example of how doctors have been wrongly influenced by the drug companies... about 8 years ago, I was a perfectly healthy 28 year old, in great shape, exercising daily, eating a balanced healthy diet full of antioxidants and quality nutrition, no smoking, and with no real risk factors for heart disease, and just because my cholesterol level has been consistently measured over 200 for my entire life, my doctor recommended I consider using a cholesterol lowering statin drug.

 

Consider how outlandish this scenario is! The drug companies have hypnotized doctors into prescribing unnecessary prescription drugs to healthy young people with perfectly normal cholesterol levels that just happen to be over this arbitrary number of 200 that they've come up with. Luckily, I refused to be a guinea pig and fork over my hard earned duckets for potentially dangerous drugs, and decided to start researching this whole cholesterol and heart disease connection myself. Consider also that my father, who is now over 60 years old, has had cholesterol levels slightly over 200 his entire life also (just like me), yet he is perfectly healthy at his ripe age of 60.

 

High Cholesterol is NOT the Villain!

As time goes on and scientists continue to learn more about heart disease, it has become quite clear over the recent years that inflammation within the body (NOT cholesterol levels) is what causes plaque build up in the arteries and eventual heart disease. Inflammation can be caused by many personal factors such as stress, smoking, viruses, consumption of refined and/or hydrogenated fats (man-made trans fats), an imbalance of omega-6 polyunsaturated fats to omega-3 polyunsaturated fats in the diet, excess refined sugars in the diet, etc.

 

Here's a quick and dirty of how it works in general. Cholesterol is a healing substance within the body (among many other important functions), and responds to arterial inflammation by getting deposited in combination with other substances, forming "plaque" as a healing agent on the artery lining.

 

Levels of inflammation in your body can be measured with what's called a CRP test (c-reactive protein). The accuracy of this test still has room for improvement, as it can vary depending on the time of day and other factors, but it is a much better indication of heart disease risk than a cholesterol test (which is practically useless for determining heart disease risk).

 

Another more important test than cholesterol levels for heart disease risk is a test for serum homocysteine levels. The next time your doctor wants you to get blood cholesterol tests, request CRP and homocysteine tests instead. He/she should be well aware of the validity of these tests if they are up to date.

 

Basically, if you have significant internal inflammation, this plaque will be deposited as a healing agent regardless of whether you have high or low cholesterol. On the other hand, if you don't have excessive inflammation, high cholesterol levels just keep circulating without getting deposited on the artery linings. Therefore, it is more important to control inflammation rather than trying to artificially "lower your cholesterol" with possibly harmful drugs. 

 

Lowering your cholesterol doesn't attack the root of the problem (what is actually causing the inflammation in you). Lowering your cholesterol does nothing except to make the drug companies rich, and possibly leave you with a whole assortment of possible negative side-effects.

 

Also keep in mind that "lowering your cholesterol" can have detrimental effects on your hormone balance as cholesterol is one of the building blocks for hormone production. 

The good news is that preventing heart disease is about living a healthy lifestyle and controlling inflammation, not about throwing down a dangerous drug pill everyday.

 

Controlling your inflammation to prevent heart disease is as easy as reducing the stress in your life (try deep breathing exercises, meditation, yoga, etc as well as preventing stress in the first place by keeping a calm demeanor), maintaining a healthy weight, eating a high-antioxidant, highly nutritious unprocessed diet (as recommended in my Truth about Six Pack Abs program), and avoiding smoking, trans fats, junk foods, and other causes of heavy free radical production in the body.  Also, if you want a great tasting supplement drink that was designed to control inflammation, try this Superfoods Cocktail, which has 76 high-antioxidant superfood ingredients that help to control inflammation in your body (and it tastes amazing too).

 

I hope this article has given you some helpful info about the real causes of heart disease and not the propaganda that has been shoved down your throat for years, based on flawed medical studies from 40-50 years ago, making drug companies filthy rich.

 

If you or anyone you care about is currently taking statins, or if you just want to learn more about cholesterol and the controversy that is revolving currently around statin drugs, please read the book The Cholesterol Myths.

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

Unique Lean-Body Workouts For Time-Crunched People: Super-Fast 'Mini-Workouts' To Do At Home Or The Office

This Might Be The 'Weirdest' Workout Set-up You've Ever Tried In Your Life!

 

Warning: this style of workout is WAY different than anything you've ever tried before and may result in a dramatically leaner, stronger body so that your friends no longer recognize you in a matter of weeks!

 

Alright, I exaggerated about your friends recognizing you, but this workout is still great for busy people that always use the excuse that they don't have time to go to the gym, or even for the normal gym rat to try out for a few weeks to break out of a plateau.

 

Please keep an open-mind and don't worry so much about what other people think, because this is quite different and you may get some funny looks, but you'll get the last laugh with your new rock hard body! To be honest, most people are too self conscious to try something like this. If that's the case for you, then that's your loss

.

Here's how it works (these workouts can be done at home or even in your office):

Instead of doing your traditional workouts of going to the gym 3-4 times a week and doing your normal weight training and cardio routines for 45-60 minutes at a shot... with this program, you will be working out for just a couple minutes at a time, several times throughout each day, 5 days/week.

 

This actually SAVES you time compared to typical 45-60 minute gym workouts 3 days a week.

 

Why are "Mini-Workouts" Beneficial?

Aside from saving you time at the gym, the other main benefit is hormones!  ...More growth hormone release (aka, the "youth hormone"), and less cortisol production.

 

The reason for this is that some studies show that growth hormone can be stimulated with as little as a couple 30-second "bursts" of extremely high intensity exercise such as sprinting, and multiple "mini workouts" per day provides more opportunities to trigger growth hormone release rather than just one longer workout per day.  And these shorter workouts will never cause the harmful cortisol release that longer workouts can cause.

 

How to do "Mini-Workouts"

The program will consist of only bodyweight exercises done for about 2-3 minutes, 6-8 times per day, throughout each day. Now obviously if you work a normal office job, you are going to have to not be shy about doing a few exercises in your office and having your cube-mates watch you. Actually, I've found that some people that have tried this have actually gotten their co-workers to join them!

 

If you have a private office, then you don't have to worry about anybody watching you. If you work from home, or are a stay at home mom, there's no reason you can't fit these in throughout the day while at home. If you end up having a busy day with meetings and so forth, and can only fit a couple of these 2-minute workouts in, then so be it, but try to get as many done each day as you can.

 

If you're on a normal 9-5 office schedule, I recommend doing your 2-minute workouts every hour, on the hour, with the exception of lunch. For example, you could try 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, and 4 pm.

 

Some of the bodyweight exercises that are the best to focus on are:

• bodyweight squats (and variations)
• push-ups (and variations)
• forward, reverse, or walking lunges
• up & down a staircase if one is available
• floor planks (holding the plank position from forearms and feet)
• floor abs exercises such as lying leg thrusts, abs bicycles, etc.
• one-legged bodyweight Romanian deadlifts

This list is not fully comprehensive, but I wanted to keep it relatively simple. If you know other good bodyweight exercises, you can add those to your routine also. If you want to keep it real simple and don't want to get down on the floor for anything, you can stick to squats, lunges, and push-ups and still get great results.

 

The good thing about these workouts is that you do enough in 2-3 minutes to get your blood pumping, heart rate up a bit, a large portion of your body's muscles worked, and body temperature raised. However, it's usually not enough to break a sweat in only 2 or 3 minutes, so you don't have to worry about sweating in the office or where ever you may be. At most, you might just get a little moist on the skin.

 

Here's an example workout routine at home or the office (adjust the reps up or down based on your capabilities):

Mon/Wed/Fri
9 am - 10 push-ups/15 bodyweight squats, repeat 1X for 2 sets
10 am - plank holds (hold the planks as long as you can taking short rest breaks for a total of 3 minutes)
11 am - 5 push-ups/10 bodyweight squats, repeat for 4 sets
1 pm - plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes)
2 pm - 8 push-ups/12 bodyweight squats, repeat for 3 sets
3 pm - plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes)
4 pm - max push-ups/max bodyweight squats in one set (no repeat)

Tues/Thurs
9 am - 6 fwd lunges each leg/6 rev lunges, repeat 1X for 2 sets
10 am - one legged bw Romanian deadlifts (RDL) 6 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat 1X for 2 sets
11 am - 3 fwd lunges each leg/3 rev lunges, repeat for 4 sets
1 pm - one legged bw RDL 3 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat for 4 sets
2 pm - 5 fwd lunges each leg/5 rev lunges, repeat for 3 sets
3 pm - one legged bw RDL 10 each leg/floor abs for 30 sec (no repeat)
4 pm - max fwd lunges each leg/max rev lunges in one set (no repeat)

 

In order to progress on these workouts, you could either add 1 or 2 reps to each set per week, or you could progress to more difficult versions of each exercise each week (for example, close grip push-ups, one leg raised push-ups, squats with arms raised straight over head, etc.).

 

The above routines are just a couple examples of how you can use this very unique style of training. Use your creativity and come up with your own. Think about what you've accomplished with these 'mini' workouts completed throughout each day... You've increased your heart rate and pumped up your muscles 6-8 different times throughout each day, burning a lot of extra calories and stimulating your metabolism.

 

Even though each "mini" workout was a very short duration, you've accumulated lots of repetitions for almost every muscle throughout your entire body, and you didn't even have to break a sweat during any of the "mini" workouts. And there's hardly any excuse for not being able to take a 2-minute break once per hour and do a couple of exercises.

 

Another benefit of this style of training is that now you don't have to devote any time before or after work to going to the gym because you already got your workouts little by little throughout the day. You've now got some extra free time on your hands!

 

Try this type of time-efficient workout routine out for 3-4 weeks and then go back to your normal gym routines. I think you'll find that it was a great way to break out of a plateau and stimulate new results in your body. You can try mixing in a cycle of these "mini" workouts every couple of months to keep things fresh.

 

Keep in mind that this is only one method of training and doesn't mean that you should only stick to this method for eternity. You will hit a plateau on any given training method, so I'd recommend just rotating it into your arsenal of various training methods. And by all means, don't worry so much about what other people think...have the courage to try something a little different. In the end, you'll be the one laughing back at all of the "blubber-bellies" at your office that are giving you funny looks while they eat their donuts!

 

Feel free to email this link on to any friends or co-workers that you think would like to try these types of unique quick daily workouts.  Heck, try to get your co-workers to do these with you if you can!

 

Source: Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

The TRUTH About Potatoes, Glycemic Index, And "White Foods" - Friend Or Foe For Fat Loss?

I'd like to start a little discussion today about carbohydrates... and in particular, "white foods" as well as potatoes. One reason I wanted to mention this is because so many health and fitness professionals trash talk potatoes about being a bad carbohydrate choice because of the high glycemic index. Some even say such ridiculous things as "avoid any and all white carbohydrates".

 

Ok, now while I certainly agree that white bread and refined white sugar are two of the worst things we can be feeding our bodies, I definately don't agree with avoiding any and all "white carbohydrates". Now I know all of the buzz lately has been about colorful foods and the protective antioxidants that they contain. They tell you to focus on colors and stay away from white.

 

"White Foods" aren't necessarily always the enemy

It's true that colorful foods are great, but it is a big mistake to specifically avoid white foods! There are plenty of white foods that have specific nutrients that are hard to find elsewhere. Let's look at a few examples...

 

Onions & Garlic

What about onions and garlic? They are both white and they are chock full of protective phytonutrients, vitamins, and trace minerals that aren't easy to find elsewhere in a normal diet... such nutrients as allicin, quercetin (an important flavonoid), chromium, and other unique anti-inflammatory nutrients.

 

In fact, onions are so powerful for our health, that one study of centenarians (people that live to over 100 years old) identified that a common thread of these amazingly healthy individuals was that they ate a lot of onions throughout their lives.   And we also know that garlic is one of the most powerful substances for a strong immune system, among other qualities.  

 

Cauliflower

Another example of something white that is great for you is cauliflower. Cauliflower is loaded with vitamin C, fiber, minerals, and special compounds such as glucosinolates and thiocyanates, which are specifically abundant in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage.  And a little-known fact is that some of the compounds in cruciferous vegetables help to combat other estrogenic compounds in our food supply and environment and can help prevent excess belly fat.  So eat up on that cauliflower!

 

Mushrooms

Not many people realize this, but surprisingly, even white mushrooms have high levels of unique nutrients and antioxidants. White mushrooms are high in a couple types of antioxidants called polyphenols and ergothioneine.  And some types of mushrooms, such as portobella mushrooms, are surprisingly good sources of Vitamin D.

 

Potatoes

Now that also leads us to another example - white potatoes (which by the way, can also be found in red, yellow, purple varieties, etc). Many health professionals claim that potatoes are a bad carbohydrate because they are thought to have a high glycemic index. First of all, if you understand that glycemic index is not necessarily the most important factor in choosing your carbohydrates then you're well informed.

 

While a generalization can be made that most low glycemic index carbohydrate choices will help you lose body fat easier than high glycemic index choices, it is not all that it's cracked up to be. There are many other factors that determine how your body will react-to and process the carbohydrates you ingest, such as glycemic load and also how you combine the high GI food with other foods such as protein, fiber, and fats, which all slow down absorption of the ingested carbs.

 

For example, using glycemic load as an example... it is known that watermelon has a high glycemic index. However, the glycemic load of a normal serving of watermelon is just way too low for your body to start packing on body fat just because you ate a high glycemic index fruit. You would have to eat such an enormous quantity of watermelon just to get enough grams of carbohydrates to have any negative glycemic effect, that it is just non-sensical.

 

Not to mention that watermelon is also a great source of vitamins, minerals, and lycopene. There's just no reason to avoid it simply because it has a high GI.  My point is... candy bars, cupcakes, and donuts make you fat... NOT watermelons, carrots or potatoes... French fries excluded of course.

 

Also, as i mentioned, food combinations are important in how your body processes the carbohydrates and the associated blood sugar and insulin response you receive. For example, if you mix a high glycemic index carbohydrate with an extra source of fiber, healthy fats, or even certain proteins, many times the blood sugar and glycemic response will be slowed down considerably by the way you combined the food.

 

Alright, so back to my point that white potatoes are actually a healthy carbohydrate as long as you eat them in the right form... and please don't ruin them by deep frying them into french fries either! French fries are one of the most evil things ever invented for your health, but only because we ruin them by soaking them in a scorching bath of trans-fats in the deep fryer from the hydrogenated oils that are typically used.

 

Keep in mind that potatoes contain so many vitamins and minerals that the list is way too long to even try. 

 

One Warning though about potatoes:  Please note that potatoes do contain low level toxins called glycoalkaloids (it's the plant's protection mechanism) that are concentrated in the skin, so it is a good idea to always peel potatoes before making any dishes with them.  

 

Will 7-9 potatoes per day make you fatter?

 

On the topic of potatoes not being so bad after all, I don't remember where I saw this referenced, but I recently saw a particular study that had participants eat something like 7-9 whole potatoes per day for several weeks.

 

At the conclusion of the study, the potato eaters had actually consistently lost weight!  I'd venture a guess that the reason the people lost weight is that they were probably so full from eating all of those damn potatoes, that they actually consumed less calories than normal! An average sized potato only has about 100-120 calories, and I can surely imagine you'd be full constantly from eating 7-9 potatoes each day. 

 

Of course, this does NOT mean that french fries are okay to eat!  Those will only make you fat, and the trans fat will lead to an early death.  Seriously... fries are one of the most deadly foods in our food supply.  Plus, deep fried potatoes build up dangerous acrylamides from the frying oil reacting with the starch, and these compounds are carcinogenic. 

 

Anyway, back to the 7-9 whole potatoes per day... Now I would never recommend going to those extremes, but my point is that an occasional potato a couple times a week is not going to hurt your efforts to get lean, especially if you combine it with some other fibrous vegetables and maybe a healthy fat and some protein. On that note, I have one of my favorite recipes for you, using potatoes.

 

Geary's Lean-Body Potato Side Dish

• Desired quantity of baby potatoes (I like to use this mixture I found recently at a health food store... it is a mixture of white, red, yellow, and purple baby potatoes)
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 1 yellow pepper
• 1 or 2 onions
• a couple cloves of garlic, finely chopped (or mashed garlic from a jar, organic preferably)
• 1 or 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, grass-fed butter, and/or virgin coconut oil (sometimes I mix a bit of all 3)
• a little salt and pepper to taste (I like using a sea salt instead of normal commercial salt)

Cut the baby potatoes into slightly smaller pieces and place in a steamer until soft all the way through. Slice up the peppers and onions into strips and add with the chopped garlic into a pan with the olive oil and/or butter and/or coconut oil. Cook the peppers, onions, and garlic until tender, and then add the steamed baby potatoes. Stir it all together and serve. This is a delicious and healthy side dish that goes great with chicken or red meat.

 

I hope you've enjoyed this little topic today about potatoes, healthy carbohydrates, glycemic index, and my killer healthy potato recipe idea!

 

If you enjoyed this article today, feel free to share this page with your potato-loving friends, colleagues and family.

 

Source: Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

The TRUTH About Good Carbs, Bad Carbs, Low vs High Carbs, And All Of The Carb Confusion

With so much talk, confusion, and controversy in recent years about "carbs", I wanted to give you my take on good carbs vs bad carbs, low carb vs high-carb, and all the other "carb confusion" out there.  I'll also show you some of my favorite healthy carbohydrate choices, and exactly why they are better than other choices.

First of all, although I'm not a "low carb" extremist, I do believe that one of the main reasons so many people struggle to ever lose any body fat is that (regardless of complex vs simple carbs) they are over-consuming processed grain-based or sugary carbohydrates such as:

• cereals
• pasta
• rice
• bagels
• muffins
• breads (even whole grain varieties are not ideal if you're looking to lose body fat & prevent digestive system damage)
• sodas (loaded with sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup)
• juices (way too much fructose and total sugar without any of the fruit fiber)
• candies
• crackers

It is extremely hard to lose body fat if you're overconsuming any of these types of carbohydrates (even if you workout very hard).  In addition to causing wild blood sugar swings and insulin surges which can promote body fat deposition and throw your hormonal balance out of whack, eating too many carbs also increases your appetite and cravings, leading you to eat MORE calories overall compared to if you ate a higher percentage of fat.
Note that I didn't include potatoes in the list of processed carbohydrates. Despite the trash talking they get from many fitness professionals, I think whole potatoes (not fries or chips!) are a nutrient-dense healthy food in general, although the skins of potatoes do contain mild amounts of toxins.

Even carbohydrate sources that most people think are "healthy" usually are just excess calories that don't really deliver a whole lot of nutrient density... and many types of breads and cereals pretend to be "whole grain" with clever marketing while in reality the first ingredient in them is refined flour, which is just going to shoot your blood sugar through the roof.

However, even "whole grain" products have been shown to have just as much of a massive blood sugar impact as refined grains in many cases, particularly when it comes to wheat products.  And unfortunately, whole grains are also bad because it's generally the bran portion of grains that contains the majority of gut-damaging antinutrients that can inflame your digestive system or prevent absorption of certain minerals by your body.

What does "low carb" vs "moderate carb" vs "high carb" even mean?
According to expert Nutrition author Chris Kresser, below are the differences between low, moderate, or high carb ratios compared to your total calories.  Keep in mind that the average person eating a modern western dietconsumes a massive 50-60% of their calories from carbs.

• Very Low carb = lower than 10% of total calories (Good for therapeutic uses such as cancer treatment, Diabetes treatment, Alzheimers & other conditions)
• Low carb = 10-15% of total calories  (good for weight loss, blood sugar control, digestive improvement, and Diabetes control)
• Moderate carb = 15-30% of total calories (good range for the average person to maintain weight, balance energy, balance hormones, etc)
• High carb = greater than 30% of total calories  (Good for people that want to GAIN weight, gain muscle, or are high level athletes)

Personally, I tend to cycle between the low-carb group and the moderate-carb group depending on the day of the week, so I range between 10% to 30% of my daily calories from carbohydrates.  I've found this is where I feel best and perform best.  If I go "high-carb" like the average American, I pack on body fat VERY fast, and it's not fun.  I try to keep high-carb days to only 1 day per week, aka, my cheat day.

Note:  If you consume 2000 calories per day, then that means 200 calories, or approx 50 grams of carbs for the day would be 10% of your total calories.  For me, because of my height and high activity levels (I'm a big skier, mountain biker, hiker, swimmer, etc), my daily maintenance is more around 3000 calories, so that would mean 75 grams of carbs would represent 10% of my calories (75 x 4 = 300 calories from carbs).  On most days, I'd estimate that I get between 80-100 grams of carbs total, which is equivalent to 1 piece of fruit, 1 sweet potato, some various veggies throughout the day, along with a little bit of honey in my tea, and a little bit of coconut sugar in my coffee.

My take on it is that the majority of people struggling to lose body fat would do much better following these types of carb guidelines:

1. Reduce or eliminate your grain-based carb products in the diet (cereal, pasta, rice, crackers, etc) and focus more of your diet on healthy grass-fed and/or free-range meats and eggs, grass-fed raw dairy or fermented dairy (kefir and yogurt), nuts, and TONS of vegetables and fruits (for most people, keeping fruit to 1-2 pieces per day is best). 
I understand that it's very hard for most people to give up entirely their breads, cereals, and pastas.  But don't worry, just save the grain-based carbs for no more than a 1-day per week "cheat day", and most people can still do just fine if you're not gluten intolerant or Celiac.
2. Instead of the grains for most of your carbs, try getting most of your carbs from vegetables, sweet potatoes, and a variety of whole fruits and berries (NOT fruit juices, which remove the beneficial fiber as well as other essential parts of the fruit).
3.  If you're going to eat any grains at all, focus on sprouted grains if you can, or sourdough on the occasions that you absolutely need to have bread.  Since sourdough bread has been fermented, some of the antinutrients have been broken down, and even the gluten is thought to be at least slightly more digestible in a sourdough bread.
Note on wheat germ --  although wheat germ is a nutrient dense food (compared to the nutrient-poor starch portion of wheat), beware of the gluten in wheat if you have any intolerance.  Many people have wheat/gluten intolerances and don't even realize it.  It could be worth it to get tested to see how your body is handling wheat.
If you are choosing sprouted grain breads, make sure that it's 100% sprouted grain, and not regular flour as the main ingredient followed by a portion of sprouted grains.  Sprouted grains are healthier than "whole grains" because the sprouting process deactivates many of the antinutrients that can cause digestive problems and prevent certain minerals from being absorbed.
4. To replace the void if you're used to consuming lots of bread, pasta, cereals, and other carb sources... try filling that void with more healthy fats such as nuts, seeds, avocados, coconut oil, olive oil, olives, grass-fed butter and cream, aged cheeses, nut butters, as well as healthy proteins such as grass-fed dairy and meats, whole free-range organic eggs, etc.
Healthy fats and proteins go a long way to satisfying your appetite, controlling proper hormone and blood sugar levels, and helping you to make real progress on fat loss.  Consuming more healthy fats instead of carbs also helps to transition your metabolism into a "fat adapted metabolism" instead of being a "carb burner" like most people.  Having a "fat adapted metabolism" gives you more stable energy levels, stable blood sugar, balanced hormones, and more.  On the other hand, being a carb-burner gives you more energy spikes and dips, blood sugar swings, and cravings.
With all of that said, even when I'm eating a low-moderate carbohydrate diet, here's one of my favorite carb sources that is high in fiber as well as tons of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants:

Sweet potatoes or yams
I always choose the orange varieties instead of the white varieties of sweet potatoes for more carotenes. One of the problems with sweet potatoes is the time it takes to bake a sweet potato for 1 to 1.5 hrs.

I cook my sweet potatoes in a different way that only takes 5 minutes and they come out delicious... and no, I would NEVER use a microwave (We talk more about why never to use a microwave to cook your foods in this article).

The easiest and quickest way I've found to cook up a sweet potato is to slice it up into thin slivers and put it into a pan that you can cover with a lid.  I add a touch of butter, virgin coconut oil (beneficial medium chain triglycerides), and about 3-4 Tbsp of water and simmer with a covered lid for about 5 minutes. 

When the sweet potatoes are soft, then add a little cinnamon and maybe a touch (no more than a teaspoon) of real maple syrup (if you want a little more sweet flavor) and you're all set with a delicious healthy carb side dish to go with any meat dish.  Add a side salad and you've got the perfect lean-body meal plan.

Source; Mike Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer