In the last article we covered how many companies selling natural sweeteners such as stevia and monk fruit, knowingly or unknowingly cut their product with artificial sweeteners by 60% or as much as 100%.

They can do this because the only way to tell for sure is to do very extensive chemical testing.

Yet these artificial sweeteners can pose real health risks, from heart trouble to gut trouble.

And they're in about 99% of non-sugar sweetened products today.

But if it takes thorough chemical analytical testing to be absolutely sure it's natural, and you probably don't have access to that, what can you do to know what's real or not?

Well, there are a few ways.

We recently upgraded the sweeteners in our PerfectAmino Powder and PerfectAmino Electrolytes.

And in doing so we found out something quite disturbing.

We already knew some sweeteners labeled “Pure” or “All Natural” were often cut with artificial sweeteners to a degree, and we have always had to watch this.

But what we found out when researching natural sweeteners for our new formulation, and the amount of them that actually aren’t what they say they are, was surprising and somewhat scary.

It turns out, about 99% of so-called natural sweeteners actually contain artificial sweeteners in amounts as much as 60%, 80%… or even 100%.

And we want to make sure you know about this, why it matters, and what to look out for.

The body is a complex contraption, full of very exact systems, and a thousand different factors influencing its overall health and performance in one way or another.

But how do we separate out the important factors that allow us to measure our overall health and spot potential health troubles before they become a real situation?

There is something called Heart Rate Variability, or HRV, and it is a literal measuring stick for our health that we can use to monitor ourselves.

Whether we're into extreme sports and maximum physical performance, or trying to achieve optimal health for a long life, learning what HRV is, and how to use it, puts our health and performance in our hands.

This helps us spot trouble when it’s still a ways away, so we can handle it before it gets out of hand.

High stress levels are a leading problem in society today, with over half of Americans reporting they feel moderately to significantly stressed during the day.

This leads to depression and anxiety, as well as high tempers, and makes life much less enjoyable.

But it goes beyond that, because our mental stress levels affect our physical health.

Mental stress raises our cortisol levels, which in turn throws other hormones out of balance, lowers our ability to get deep, restorative sleep, causes weight gain, slows or prevents muscle building, and lowers our energy levels.

Stress also reduces our ability to recover from exercise and injury and lowers our overall health.

But while mental stress raises physical stress levels, this is not one-sided. Physical stress levels can raise and magnify mental and emotional stress levels.

In fact, our physical and mental stress levels work in tandem, each raising or lowering the other.

So what causes us to be stressed and how do we lower our overall stress levels?

How do we achieve a more even-keeled mood, more able to calmly face the challenges life presents?

How do we become the most alert and competent we can be mentally, while at the same time being able to relax when we need or want to, or when it's time to sleep?

And how do we raise our energy levels, improve hormonal balance, and increase our overall health?

Welcome to the Stress Series and 3 week challenge.

Well done on completing the 30 Day Lean Body/Lean Bulk Challenge!

While you may feel and look different on the outside... on the inside things are even more different.

We’ve balanced hormones and repaired or replaced trillions of cells.

We’ve removed fat not only from our fat cells, but from our organs such as our liver and kidney, where it can make them less efficient or prevent them from doing their job.

We’ve built lean muscle and, depending on where we started, changed our body shape.

We’ve improved digestion and the microbiome, the most important gatekeepers for our overall health.

We’ve improved our body’s energy levels, our endurance, and our body's ability to recover, burn body fat and build lean muscle.

And we've set ourselves up, if we maintain our current lifestyle, to stay lean and continue to add muscle.

And if we have some extra deserts and gain a couple of pounds... we're now much more physically and hormonally set up to lose that very fast, often within a couple of days.

In short… we’ve done a lot!

But what do we do now?

Welcome to Week One of the Lean Body/Lean Bulk Challenge!

In this article we cover what metrics to keep track of, dialing in your macros and workouts, and what to expect during week one.

In the first week of this challenge we have several things happening.

We’re trying to switch our diet so our bodies are getting what they need to build lean muscle without the excess calories or hormone-triggering foods that would cause fat gain.

With this comes restructuring our cells so they will use the foods we’re giving them properly and balancing or increasing hormone levels so our body will prioritize building lean muscle over body fat.

We’re addressing digestion, which is crucial to our overall health as well as building muscle, as we need our cells to receive all of the nutrients and vitamins we’re consuming.

You will be consuming a lot of whole food proteins, which your stomach is probably not used to receiving, and it will need extra help until it builds up enough stomach acid and enzymes of its own.

So make sure you’re taking your digestive enzymes with each meal during this.

We’ll also be working to dial in our exact macros.

And we may be experiencing some cravings.

Approximately 1.2 million Americans suffer a heart attack every year. That’s about 1 in 300.

But of those who die each year, about 50% of them have, but ignore, the warning signs that a heart attack may be coming.

In the last article we covered how cardiovascular disease, or heart disease, comes about in the first place.

In this article we go deeper into what happens here, what the aftermath is, what the warning signs are (which can be minutes, hours, days or even weeks beforehand), and what the best prevention is.

This is an important one.

Well done on completing the 30 Day Fat Loss Challenge!

This is no small achievement!

And while you may feel and look different on the outside... on the inside things are even more different.

We’ve balanced hormones and repaired or replaced trillions of cells.

We’ve removed fat not only from our fat cells, but from our blood vessels, where it can thicken our blood, causing more work for our heart.

We’ve removed fatty deposits from our organs such as our liver and kidney, where it can make them less efficient or prevent them from doing their job. (Not good.)

We’ve built lean muscle and, at least to a degree, changed our body form.

We’ve improved digestion and the microbiome, the most important gatekeepers for our overall health.

And we've set ourselves up, if we maintain our current lifestyle, for not only sustainable fat loss, but a long and healthy life.

In short… we’ve done a lot!

But what do we do now?

Are we done? Are we not done? Is there something else to help lose those last stubborn bits for the lean toned body we want?

Let's see.

Welcome to the final week of the 30-Day Fat Loss Challenge!

During this challenge we’ve had our ups and downs as cravings came and went and hormones began to balance.

But by Week Four things have evened out or soon will.

Energy levels rise, mood may become more even, sleep becomes more restful, digestion improves, and overall health rises.

And, of course, we’ve lost a significant amount of body fat.

Make sure to take new measurements to compare to your original measurements!

As always, if you need any help, be sure to reach out in the VIP Group so we can answer any questions and assist however we can.

But I want to quickly cover what’s happening in this final week.

As we near the end of the Fat Loss stage of this or any protocol, fat loss will slow.

We’re at or near our personal goal.

We might still have some extra fat, but it’s not coming off or it’s coming off very slowly — and frustratingly.

Also, we’re getting hungry. Not for sugar or junk food or more food when we’re already stuffed, but hunger as in our body needs more food.

At this point it’s counter-productive to carry on with Fat Loss, even if we have a bit more to lose.

Our hormones have re-balanced to the point that they’re functioning correctly.

Our cells have majorly restructured, cutting out their addiction to sugar, and becoming able to use fat and amino acids for energy more easily.

If this hadn’t happened, you wouldn’t have lost body fat.

But we’ve also built muscle, something that helped us with our fat loss and which is what will carry us over the finish line.

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.

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.