If you want to build a strong healthy body, proper nutrition is a keystone for your success. What constitutes proper nutrition? Great question! Unfortunately for John Q. Public, greatest challenge is not a lack of information, but too much information. If you study "experts" you will find endless contradictions and false conclusions that create uncertainty, and leave most people confused and clueless. We are in an information frenzy that makes it hard to know which way to turn.

On any given day you can walk into a bookstore and find several books on best-seller list, prescribing totally different solutions for proper nutrition. One expert tells you to cut out carbs, another tells you to eat more carbs, next tells you to eat more protein, while another tells you to eat less protein.

With this nightmare of mixed messages, no wonder why millions of people are left in dark on which plan to follow. This month's newsletter is dedicated to share some basic fundamental truths for optimal nutrition for decreasing body fat percentage, increasing energy and building muscle. Let's get started.

1. Don't Starve Yourself - This is one of most common misconceptions and mistakes most people trying to lose weight make. If your trying to shed fat, drastically decreasing your caloric intake in an effort to lose weight or get "cut" is almost as destructive to achieving your goals as eating large amounts of ice cream and fried foods for every meal! Studies show this type of dieting actually decreases your basal metabolic rate, which is last thing you want to do if you are looking to lose weight and decrease your body fat percentage. On this type of diet, most of weight you lose is not fat - it's lean body mass. You are actually keeping your fat and burning your muscle!

2. Eat At Least Four Meals A Day - By eating four to six small healthy meals a day, properly spaced, you will burn fat at a faster rate. The traditional "three square meals" is antiquated advice that will slow down your metabolism and increase body fat storage. Studies have shown, eating four to six small meals a day promotes optimum food absorption, stable blood-sugar levels, and increases your metabolic rate. A meal can be as simple as a serving of fruit or vegetables, a small baked potato, a cup of yogurt, or a meal replacement shake.

Did you know that over 90% of all women and over 80% of all men are dissatisfied with some aspect of their bodies? Of all of body parts and muscle groups, guess what number one complaint area is? By title of this month's newsletter, I'm sure answer won't surprise you. Having a flatter stomach and ripped midsection was at top of majority's wish list.

Your abdominal area is your visual center. In studies of eye movement, it is a fact that our eyes are drawn back to middle of any object we are looking at. On human body, this means that main focus and visual emphasis is on abdomen. So remember, when you are in a bathing suit, no matter how impressive your other body parts may be, peoples eyes spend more time on your abs than any other region. Since men carry a large supply of fat cells in this area compared to women, this type of visual emphasis can be a scary thought for male species!

This month's newsletter is dedicated to show you several things you can immediately incorporate into your diet and exercise program to make your visual center more attractive this summer. Let's get started.

There is a lot of controversy and conflicting opinions on whether or not you should use weight while training your abs. One school of thought is that you should not use weight and just do more repetitions. The reasoning behind this opinion is that if you use weight, you will build muscle mass in your waist and it will not be tapered. When you have a ripped, narrow waste it tends to make your other body parts appear more impressive. Most bodybuilders do not use weight in their ab training routine.

Another school of thought is that you should use weight to train your abs. The reason for this opinion is tiny increase in circumference of your waist is well worth visual improvement that incorporating weights into your ab exercises will provide, and really helps you put finishing touches on your waist. If you chose to use weight in your ab program, use a light amount.

Other areas where there are conflicting opinions are how many sets and reps of each exercise you should do, and how many times a week you should train your waist. If you are a beginner who has been training for at least one month, do three sets of each exercise to muscle failure. Keep going until you feel burn and can't do another rep. If you are at an intermediate or advanced level, do four sets of each exercise to muscle failure.

Some people believe that abs can and should be trained every day or every other day. I used to agree, but after reviewing some pretty convincing research, I have to change my stance. Your abs are a muscle, just like every other muscle group and need proper amount of rest and recovery for maximum results. Train your abs twice a week like every other muscle group and give them at least 72 hours rest before you train them again. For my clients whose personalized program has them training waist three times a week, cut it back to two for maximum results.

Your midsection is made up of four muscle groups, rectus abdominus, obliques, serratus, and intercostal muscles.

The rectus abdominus is row of washbord-like muscles in center of your midsection. When someone talks about a six-pack of abs, they are referring to well-defined rectus abdominus muscles. The rectus abdominus is primary muscle you use when you are doing a sit-up or forward crunch. They pull your chest towards your pelvis.

There are several great exercises you can use to train your rectus abdominus. Like several other muscle groups including lats and pecs, certain exercises focus on upper section of muscle group and certain exercises focus on lower section.