Now we’re into Week Four of the 30-Day Fat Loss Challenge and we need to pull back for a moment and see where we're at.

For some, if there was significant insulin resistance to overcome, we may still be getting over the last of our cravings.

For others, we’re past that, but our hormones are still re-balancing.

In either of these cases we’re losing body fat the whole way, but we have more to go and we should continue.

But depending on how much body fat we had to lose at the start of this, some of us may have already achieved our goals... or at least, fat loss has slowed and hunger has returned.

And we need to know what to do when we hit this point, whether now, or a few weeks from now.

Because carrying on with the same macros after this point will cause us trouble.

The ability to fully digest and absorb protein determines our body's ability to not only burn fat, but to keep it off afterwards.

It also affects our energy levels, hormones, inflammatory response, ability to build lean muscle, and overall health.

Even more, when protein digestion goes, along with it goes the ability to protect ourselves from harmful microorganisms.

Everything hinges on protein digestion.

So, understanding exactly how digestion works, and how to keep or get it working, is very important.

There is something called Metabolic Syndrome. And while you may or may not have heard of it, about one third of the US population has it.

And almost 90% of us are somewhere on our way to it.

It's a group of symptoms occurring together that show a lowered functioning in the overall processes within our body that keep us alive, healthy and doing well.

And it can lead to:

• Aches and pains
• Weight gain
• Poor recovery
• Lowered immune function
• Weakness
• Low energy
• Depression
• Heart disease
• Insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes
• Stroke
• Liver and kidney disease
• Sleep trouble or apnea and much more.

As only about 12% of the population of the US are metabolically healthy as of ten years ago… it’s something that is important for us to understand so we know both what is happening, and also what to do about it.

There is an idea that saturated fats raise cholesterol and so blood pressure, and this isn’t the case.

Your body needs saturated fats. About 25% of each of your cells are made from saturated fat. And they wouldn’t function without it.

Even more, it’s necessary if we want soft, healthy skin.

But there is another type of fat which has been confused with saturated fats, and which is very destructive: Trans Fats.

We aren’t hearing as much about them today, but they exist in many processed foods and we need to check for them as they cause inflammation in the blood vessels that does lead to high blood pressure.

So let’s see what these are and what they do.

It’s summer time, and if you plan on getting out into the woods or into the mountains, then it’s important you know how to spot ticks and remove them, or prevent them from getting onto you in the first place.

Because their bite can potentially carry harmful bacteria that causes Lyme Disease, Spotted Fever, and a series of other illnesses.

This doesn’t mean you need to be scared at all. Far from it. 

It just means that you need to be informed.

You need to know what they look like, where to look for them, and what to do if you find one.

Or, better yet, how to prevent them from getting onto you in the first place so you can have a safe adventure and enjoy the outdoors without worry.

In this article we're going to refresh on what we've learned, and then go over the Longevity Protocol to help reverse Biological Aging, and increase Lifespan and Healthspan.

To summarize, your body is made of 10’s of trillions of cells. It’s nothing but cells.

And the health and longevity of these individual cells determines how long you will live healthy, strong, with high energy and doing the things you want to do.

Many people consider that the weakening of bones is a natural part of aging, and this is true... in part.

But that doesn’t mean this can’t be slowed or even reversed.

Right now, about 44 million people in the US have low bone density. This usually starts to occur after the age of 50, however, more and more, it’s occurring earlier and earlier.

And it doesn’t have to be this way.

In this article we’re going to cover what actually causes lowering bone density, and how we can prevent and even reverse this, achieving strong bones that last.

The effect that energy drinks and high levels of caffeine have on our bodies, our health, our sleep, our stress levels, our mood, our anxiety levels and our hormones is much more than most people think.

When continued over time, these can have a very significant impact on our long-term health and our body’s ability to function at optimal levels, not to mention our ability to lose fat and gain muscle.

And considering many people who drink these are in their teens or twenties, when their bodies are still developing, the damage they do there can be far worse, leading to acute or even chronic health conditions in the future.

Stress, whether it’s physical, mental or emotional, can lead to:

Delayed healing responses in the body, a nervous system that is always “on,” worsened mood, inability to relax or fall asleep, decreased mental alertness or lowered ability to “think,” hormonal imbalances, cravings for sugary foods, and high cortisol levels which increase mental stress, lower our energy levels, and make it harder to lose weight, build muscle or recover fully from the daily load we put on our body

It doesn’t matter much “where” the stress comes from, as any point of stress triggers the same reactions in the body. And stress from any one of these three areas (physical, mental or emotional) raises stress in the other two areas.

But, just as stress in one area creates stress in another area, with each point of stress making the overall worse, it also works in the opposite direction.

Each point of stress we remove lightens the load overall and makes it easier to deal with the other points of stress.

It’s very simple. Let’s see where we’re at!

When our digestive ability is weak, we don’t get all of the nutrition from foods we eat. This is because food, including proteins and minerals, must be fully broken down by stomach acid in order for our body to be able to use it.

In fact, poor digestion of protein is one of the largest causes of muscle loss as we age: our digestive system isn’t working as well as it was when we were younger, and so not enough protein is being broken down for our body to use.

But it’s not just our cells that need this nutrition.

Specific bacteria in our colon are responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation of the neurotransmitters serotonin and GABA, the happy, calming neurotransmitters.

We know that toxins are harmful to our bodies.

They stress our nervous system, raise inflammation and cortisol in the body, mess up our hormones, damage or kill cells, contribute to many diseases including cancer, and even cause trouble for our unborn children, disrupting the process by which both their nervous systems and immune systems form.

But how do toxins stress the body? How do they raise inflammation? And how can we prevent this?

I wanted to talk a little about inflammation.

Because, outside of very obvious causes, such as an injury or infection, few people know what actually causes it in general.

And even fewer know what to do about it beyond taking a pain-killer.

When we’re talking about inflammation, we’re talking about a symptom, not a cause. A symptom that does have a cause.