April 03, 2013 Comments 72 notes nutrition food health fitness diet calories video fat loss fitblr gym

Calorie Detective by Casey Neistat

Diet programs revolve around a proven principle: if you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. The calorie is the defining metric. And so, in the interest of public health, the Food and Drug Administration requires most packaged foods to list their calories, among other data, on labels. To help combat obesity in New York City, the Department of Health requires most chain restaurants to post calorie content on their menus and fines those who don’t comply. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, a national program will soon follow.

In theory, this is a valuable reform. But there’s one glaring problem. According to the F.D.A. and the city’s health department, no one verifies the accuracy of these calorie listings. The system essentially runs on an honor system. Food vendors can list whatever numbers they want, until someone (somehow) catches a problem and files a complaint. So, as an obsessive calorie counter myself, I wanted to find out: how accurate are these labels?

Let me try to explain my philosophy on eating out when trying to count calories or macronutrients in order to be accurate with your daily intake. It should be done sparingly, limited primarily to special occasions or social events. Whether the restaurant (or eatery) puts up the caloric content hardly matters as they are always, always, always inaccurate. There is always a margin of error, but just how big is the margin of error is really the question.

The best way to more precise with your daily intake is to prepare your food at home. This allows you the ability to weigh (by far the most accurate method) and control the exact portions. Now, I’m not saying that you have to be a religious in weighing your food, in fact, I hope that you wouldn’t ever feel like you always have to. However, you should try it out for a minimum of a few weeks to get an idea of the portion sizes that you should be consuming and the caloric content of those portions.

My last thought is that if you’ve never counted your calories, weighed your food, and prepared it yourself then you really have never known in a given day how much you’ve eaten. How could you? I talk a lot to people that are frustrated with being overweight, yet they don’t count their calories. When I ask why they will swear up and down that they “don’t eat that much” each day. Typically what I find out is that after having the person track their caloric intake for two weeks to a month that these same people come to realize that they truly had no idea how much they were eating each day and it’s usually a bit too much. Oftentimes this is due to what I call “mindless eating” or eating out of boredom and is easily corrected when you realize you’re doing it.

Resources on how to track calories and macronutrients? Check out this page.

March 19, 2013 Comments 50 notes organic food nutrition fitness health diet paleo science research article link

Nutristrength: An Objective Look at Organic Foods ⇒

Ask anyone around you and I’m willing to bet the majority will tell you that organic is somehow superior to conventionally grown crops. Whether it be the taste, the micronutrient quality, the overall freshness and safety, or the gaping hole it burns into your wallet, organic foods have been touted as “nutritionally superior” almost everywhere you look.

But is this true? Is there really any benefit from eating organic as opposed to conventionally grown crops? I hope this blog post will help shed some light on the topic and hopefully by the end of this, I’ll be able to answer those questions. Let’s jump right into it.

Most people preach going organic for the simple reason that there aren’t any synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, food additives, GMOs, etc. used when growing them [1]. Conventional crops, however, allow for growing out of season, greater resistance, and a much higher yield of crops.

Read more at Nutristrength

If you don’t think that “buy organic” is a marketing ploy to take more of your money then you need a serious wake up call. Don’t be sheep when it comes to your health.

Let the take away from the post be about how there is negligible difference in nutrient composition, but a major difference in price. Being healthy isn’t costly. Understand that you’re paying for the word “organic” being on a product.

Don’t like the article? Read the studies (like you should be doing) and develop your own opinions. Don’t be sheep.

Interview With Nutrition Expert Alan Aragon

October 10, 2012 Comments 81 notes fitness fitblr strength nutrition health strengthblr iifym alan aragon diet fat loss clean paleo vegan food science link interview bodybuilding powerlifting

Alan, what is your general philosophy on food sources regardless if the individuals is in a caloric surplus or deficit, the phrase “Clean Eating” is thrown around a lot. Could you shed some light on research or any information regarding utilizing different sources that may be considered bad and the impact it may/may not have on body composition?

You know that the cleanest food in the world is? Hydrogenated vegetable oil. It was originally developed for the purpose of making soap. Pretty damn clean, I’d say. On a more serious note, the “clean” label is very misleading when applied to individual foods. There’s no way a food can be judged in isolation from the rest of the diet. To give an example, most people would call celery a “clean” or healthy food, and ice cream a “dirty” or unhealthy food. In the far-fetched/hypothetical scenario of being forced to choose only one of those foods to survive on, guess which one would sustain your health (and ultimately your life) longer? Hopefully you chose ice cream over celery, unless you’re anxious to knock on Heaven’s door. The point is, labeling foods as clean or dirty ignores context, and ignoring context is just plain dumb. I think that’s it’s intuitively obvious that the diet should consist mostly of whole & minimally refined foods. But still, it’s not all that simple, since certain foods are significantly altered from their original state (i.e., whey protein powder), but still have positive impacts on health. I wrote an in-depth article on the “clean eating” topic here. It’s a long article but worth the read for anyone interested. I think it’s been very amusing to see the definition of “clean” vary widely according to highly subjective criteria.

Read more of the interview at Machine Muscle.

September 04, 2012 Comments 89 notes food nutrition fitness health organic iifym fitblr link article

Are Organic Foods Safer or Healthier Than Conventional Alternatives? A Systematic Review ⇒

Click the link above to read the study put out by Stanford University.

Organic food is not more nutritious than conventional food, but it does make people more pompous acting. Ever met someone that talks about eating only organic? Do they ever shut up about it?

Yes you are exposed to less pesticides eating organic produce, but guess what? Even with some organic produce you are consuming pesticides.. just at a smaller percentage. It’s not harmful to you either way, so I wouldn’t worry about it.

Organic is not better than non-organic in regards to being more nutritious. The same goes for gluten-free being any better for you than foods containing gluten — the only exception here would be those people with a food allergy or celic disease being medically advised to avoid gluten.

Eat the food that fits your budget and nutritional goals.

edit: Please take note of this form if I have offended you.

July 11, 2012 Comments 362 notes quote motivation oscar wilde nutrition iifym health fitness food

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself.

- Oscar Wilde
April 02, 2012 Comments 909 notes fitblr fitness health nutrition recipe food food porn proteinpow proteinpow.com

Dark Chocolate Protein Muffins

This recipe brought to you by Protein Pow(d)er. Please visit the website for more fantastic recipes made with protein powder.

Ingredients

Blended together and baked in 8 muffin cases for approximately 45 minutes at 170 C (338 F):

  • 1/2 cup of liquid egg whites
  • 1/2 cup of goji berries
  • 1/2 cup of quinoa flakes
  • 1/2 cup of chocolate hemp protein powder
  • 1/4 cup of blueberry & apple puree for babies
  • 3 tbsp of chestnut flour
  • 3 tbsp of cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp of baking soda

Nutritional Profile

Per 1 muffin (out of 8):

  • Calories: 108
  • Protein: 13g
  • Carbs: 8g (34.9g sugars)
  • Fat: 2.8g (0.2g sat)
  • Fiber: 3.8g
March 22, 2012 Comments 62 notes fitblr fitness nutrition diet health paleo science gym food diet link article

The Paleo Manifesto, Pt. I: Idiot Ideology ⇒

Opening Comments

In keeping with the theme of evolution and nutrition, today’s article is going to be the first installment of a two-part series on the Paleo diet (also called hunter-gatherer, Stone-Age, or ancestral dieting). Even if you are not familiar with Paleolithic nutrition per se, you most likely are familiar with Atkins, The Zone, or South Beach, which are essentially less-strict versions of ancestral eating. However, given their differences, we won’t concern ourselves with them and will therefore just stick to looking at Paleo.  Part 1 will solely place emphasis on the Paleo diet and some of the inherent biases/contradictions it contains. Part 2 will strictly be reserved for a research review on the literature supporting the Paleo diet, wherein I will make some final comments and sum things up. My goal for today is to show you all why Paleo is a flawed and inflexible diet system comprised of ideologues who cement themselves in assumptions while blindly disregarding scientific literature that opposes their own views about nutrition. So, without further ado, let’s begin by taking a look at what Paleolithic nutrition actually is. 

Enter Paleo: Society’s Stone-Age Solution

In essence, the Paleolithic period – some 2-million years ago – marked the start of humanity, most notably, with the advent of stone tools in order to facilitate food consumption. During this time period, it is assumed that grain and sugar consumption (other than fruit) was virtually nonexistent, maybe except for occasional honey here and there. Taking this into account, Paleo dieters believe that the Paleolithic “style” of eating – i.e. a diet devoid of grains, starches, sugar and dairy – is best suited to our current genetics because we have changed little – if at all – since the emergence of agriculture and its products some 5,000-10,000 years ago. To quote Dr. Loren Cordain – “the world’s leading expert on Paleolithic diets” – directly from his book, The Paleo Diet: 

Literally, we are Stone Agers living in the Space Age; our dietary needs are the same as theirs.”

It is from this rationale that Paleo fanatics believe that obesity, diabetes and the other“diseases of civilization” are caused from the consumption of grains – or as they like to call them, “the double-edge sword of humanity” – because these diseases were not a problem back then when grains were unavailable. However, today, both an overabundance of grains and diseases are available. Therefore, no post-agricultural foods are to be consumed because they somehow contradict our genetic disposition. As extremist as this is, many people are taken in by this philosophy because it does offer a very logical explanation for the current health crisis we are now witnessing. What most Paleo nuts choose toforget is that we also did not evolve with television, computer, cars, etc. that lowers our energy expenditure and potentially leads to weight gain and certain diseases when combined with poor dietary habits. Yet, most of them continue to use these things on a daily basis; hypocrisy? I’ll let you decide. That’s another article for another time; today’s focus is strictly nutrition. 

Now, I have to say that I am in agreement with the idea that a diet which is full of McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, and other processed foods is not the healthiest diet to consume; no argument there. However, if you’re trying to debate that oatmeal, milk and a little bit of sugar here and there are bad for me, then Ihave a problem. But, before I get ahead of myself, let’s see if we can actually quantify what a “caveman” actually ate all those years back.

What did a Caveman Actually Eat?

In a few words: we can’t be sure and probably never will. However, even crazier than the people themselves are their claims that they, the Paleo proponents, actually know what a caveman ate. In one of the first papers talking explicitly about Paleolithic nutrition, authors Eaton and Konner provided some general ranges for the types of food sources a person might have eaten back then based off of some more recent hunter-gatherer societies which lasted into the late 20th Century [1]. Although this serves as a rough estimate for Paleolithic nutrition, one must keep in mind that a hunter-gatherer culture living in the 1960’s is extremely different from that of a Paleolithic society living hundreds of thousands of years ago. Any suppositions made from these observations are purely speculative and far from conclusive. Nevertheless, using these contemporary hunter-gatherer societies (living mainly inland and in semi-tropical climates), Eaton and Konner saw that anywhere from 20-50% of their diet was obtained from meat and anywhere from 50-80% of their diet came from vegetation. However, populations in artic regions – like that of the Eskimos – derive as little as 10% of their diet from plant-based sources. Therefore, if my calculations serve me right, the ranges of nutrients potentially run anywhere from 20-90% meat-based and anywhere from 10-80% plant-based. To me it seems as though there was not one single hunter-gatherer-type diet. In fact, a well-written review by evolutionary archaeologist, John Gowlett [2], argues that in no way there could have been only one “Stone-Age diet.” This is due to various geographical limitations, such as food variety and climactic changes, which would require various nutritional adaptations to be undertaken in order to survive in a given region. Therefore it can be determined that humans did not evolve eating any one type of diet, but rather an all-encompassing and extremely varied diet that would allow for adaptive survival given their geographic location/conditions. This is exactly what was seen in our more recent hunter-gatherer proxies. But does that stop the Paleo zealots from prescribing strict nutritional guidelines?   

Read the entire article at Dylan Klein’s Blog: A Science-based Approach to Nutrition.

February 07, 2012 Comments 204 notes food fitblr fitness nutrition diet fat health
Just what we all needed, a bacon flavored milkshake. The regular 16oz shake: Calories: 773 Fat: 40g Carbs: 89g Protein: 12g Don’t worry everyone because there’s a large 24oz size also: Calories: 1081 Fat: 54g Carbs: 126g Protein: 17g I’m all for fitting foods into my daily intake, but I’d have to be some sort of wizard to ever be able to do that in any sort of healthy way. Maybe run an ultra marathon and then max out every single lift known to man? Both come with a direct order of diabetes. Also, I will be getting one.. you know, for science.

Just what we all needed, a bacon flavored milkshake.

The regular 16oz shake:

  • Calories: 773
  • Fat: 40g
  • Carbs: 89g
  • Protein: 12g

Don’t worry everyone because there’s a large 24oz size also:

  • Calories: 1081
  • Fat: 54g
  • Carbs: 126g
  • Protein: 17g

I’m all for fitting foods into my daily intake, but I’d have to be some sort of wizard to ever be able to do that in any sort of healthy way. Maybe run an ultra marathon and then max out every single lift known to man?

Both come with a direct order of diabetes.

Also, I will be getting one.. you know, for science.

January 30, 2012 Comments 1,334 notes picture funny food fitblr diet health nutrition
January 17, 2012 Comments 121 notes fitblr fitness health diet paleo bodybuilding food fat loss iifym
The above is a screenshot from a post that was written on someone else’s blog. I was linked to the post on Twitter this morning by someone. Obviously you can tell I’m a little stirred up by what I read. When I started The Spartan Warrior I made a vow to myself and everyone else out there that might come across my blog that this place would be a guiding light for the truth concerning nutrition and fitness. In my own way I am doing what I can to defend the rights of others to pursue the goal of a healthy lifestyle. The desire to expose inaccuracies and to promote the truth comes from a lifetime spent in an unhealthy state supported by unhealthy practices in my own life. I spent the majority of it overweight and unhappy. Then as the years went on I spent my time spinning my wheels trying every new diet, product, pill or fitness program that became available. Once I started to thoroughly study the science behind nutrition and fitness everything suddenly became crystal clear. Something that I deal with daily is a population of people that want to propegate information that is not entirely true. There are those that want to fearmonger food, claim their opinions concerning a diet as truth and push their own personal beliefs of what is healthy on to their readers. I just can’t let that happen. I can’t let the possibility of someone reading an opinion and believing it as truth without seeing the science and research behind both sides. The following sections that are in block quotes are pulled from the article that the screenshot above was taken from. Directly after each quoted section are my responses in bold. Everything in moderation? I don’t think so. This link points to an article written on The Huffington Post. The post that it is linked to included no scientific research or studies and is purely based on opinion. A wrong one at that. It is a common saying, but the philosophy of “Everything in moderation is OK” is, unfortunately, a myth. The philosophy of “Everything in moderation is OK” is not a myth. This is an extreme example, but hopefully you get where I’m coming from. (http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/) Weight loss is determined by calories in vs. calories out. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19246357) Should a recovering alcoholic have an occasional drink “in moderation”? Do you really think that is a good idea? Is it even possible, if someone had an addictive relationship with alcohol? Of course it isn’t. Is it ok for someone who is trying to quit smoking to have “cheat cigarettes” on the weekend? Do I even need to ask? Hold on just one second. You’re going to say that alcoholism (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001940/), a very real, abusive addiction that is something that to this day is vigorously debated as a disease is comparitive to eating a diet comprised of moderation? Wait, are you kidding me? You’re going to say that smoking cigarettes, which is also an addiction to tobacco/nicotine, is even relatable to eating foods you enjoy in moderation on infrequent occurences? You do realize that smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, can cause birth defects, respiratory and heart diseases.. right?  “Of the more than 2.4 million deaths in the USA annually, over 440,000 are caused by smoking.” (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/10566.php) Please show me how many deaths occur each year from someone eating processed foods in moderation such as grains, butter, poptarts, ice cream or anything else that they might enjoy. You know your relationship with food. Have you ever experienced an addictive relationship? Have you ever binged on junk food? If the answer is “yes”, then you may need to avoid a “moderation” approach to crappy food. Eat all the healthy food you want. I know that it is possible to eat healthy food like a ravenous beast and not have a weight problem, if it truly is healthy food prepared intelligently AND you exercise regularly. “Eat all the healthy food you want.” Thanks for clearing that up because I was unaware that if I ate 20,000 calories in surplus over my total daily energy expenditure that I would not gain any weight as long I “exercise regularly” and I intelligently prepare my food. You, sir, are some sort of wizard to be able to defy the laws of thermodynamics. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_thermodynamics)  I’m going to venture a guess that the majority of people that can’t stick to a diet is partially due to the diet’s restrictive parameters that create somewhat of a psychological break down regarding the relationship with food the dieter develops. Some so-called “foods” simply don’t have enough of a “positive return” to even be worth eating. This is especially true when those foods mess up all of the hard progress you’ve made resetting your taste buds. I’ve experienced this firsthand. I eat Paleo. After a couple months of eating this way (e.g., no sugars or processed food), natural fruit and natural nut butters tasted like dessert to me. They seriously taste like a sweet candy. But, if I ever slip up and eat some crappy desserts, my taste buds get overwhelmed. For a few days, fruit no longer tastes sweet enough for me. Food no longer tastes salty enough. Those junk foods and cheat meals sabotage your progress. They mess with your perception of taste and “fullness”. It is a proven psychological and physiological phenomenon. Apparently you’ve never eaten a pop-tart if you have no idea what a “positive return” from food is. Watch yourself in the mirror when you eat one. Pure elation. No sugars? I wonder what’s in fruit. It couldn’t be fructose or any sort of sugar right? “But, if I ever slip up and eat some crappy desserts, my taste buds get overwhelmed.” So, you slip up too and you don’t eat entirely paleo all the time. Do you know why? It might be because of what I said in the above paragraph about restrictive parameters. You are denying yourself something psychologically that you enjoy thus creating a very poor relationship with food that causes you to “cheat” or “binge” on foods you don’t normally eat at times. Junk foods and cheat meals actually don’t sabotage your progress in any way. Overeating, negativity, self-hate.. those are some of the major things that sabotage progress. Also, when a diet is comprised of a majority of whole foods with those “processed” foods being consumed in moderation it’s easy to not cheat or binge because you don’t feel restricted in the diet. There’s not a need to because it’s no longer cheating, it’s part of living a healthy lifestyle both physically and mentally. Also, on the topic of cheat meals, they can actually be beneficial to a diet if implemented correctly and if one is practicing more restriction in the diet than most people do on average. (http://www.livestrong.com/article/542505-the-art-and-science-of-cheat-meals/) “They mess with your perception of taste and “fullness”. It is a proven psychological and physiological phenomenon.” Where is the science and research to back this up? Come on. Any person that’s ever eaten a meal in their life can tell you with ease that a plate of protein and starchy carbs will fill you up more than a plate of skittles. Here’s the thing though: No one that preaches a moderate diet is saying to eat that entire plate of skittles. What hey are saying is that if you have a few skittles it’s not going to hurt you or your progress and can benefit your psyche in the long run. Take some advice from someone who has been there. I love food. I love desserts. Always have, even as a young child. But, I learned to reset my body to appreciate the natural sweetness and pleasure of real food like fruits, vegetables, etc. It is possible. And I learned that I simply need to avoid crappy processed food and cheat meals. Moderation doesn’t work for food that doesn’t deserve to be eaten in the first place. I attempted to not make this reply out to be some sort of a personal attack on you in any way, but you’re throwing around your opinions with no research or studies to back it up. Hopefully this long-winded rebuttal isn’t taken as a personal attack. Okay, I’m going to try and relate it to something else. Math. You can’t answer math equations based on your opinion of the answer. You actually have to formulate the correct answer through procedural calculation. However, if you backed up your opinion of what the answer is with a proven formula (research) and then show how it was done (studies) how could anyone discredit you? Unfortunately, you aren’t doing that. Lastly, I just want to say that I think the big take away from the original post I’m responding to as well as what I have said here should be to focus on the individual’s personal relationship with food. Yes, some people may need to cut out all processed foods due to their unhealthy psychological relationship with food, but that is absolutely, 100% not the case for everyone out there. Take some advice from someone who has been there. I love food. I love desserts. Always have, even as a young child. But, I learned to eat those things I love in moderation and have a diet that is comprised of a majority of whole foods. I don’t scapegoat any one macronutrient. I don’t restrict any specific foods. I don’t tell myself I can’t or I’m not able to. The only thing I watch out for is the quantity and the frequency in which I eat food. Not just processed foods, but all food. It is possible to love yourself and your food, but it’s up to you to try.

The above is a screenshot from a post that was written on someone else’s blog. I was linked to the post on Twitter this morning by someone. Obviously you can tell I’m a little stirred up by what I read.

When I started The Spartan Warrior I made a vow to myself and everyone else out there that might come across my blog that this place would be a guiding light for the truth concerning nutrition and fitness. In my own way I am doing what I can to defend the rights of others to pursue the goal of a healthy lifestyle.

The desire to expose inaccuracies and to promote the truth comes from a lifetime spent in an unhealthy state supported by unhealthy practices in my own life. I spent the majority of it overweight and unhappy. Then as the years went on I spent my time spinning my wheels trying every new diet, product, pill or fitness program that became available. Once I started to thoroughly study the science behind nutrition and fitness everything suddenly became crystal clear.

Something that I deal with daily is a population of people that want to propegate information that is not entirely true. There are those that want to fearmonger food, claim their opinions concerning a diet as truth and push their own personal beliefs of what is healthy on to their readers. I just can’t let that happen. I can’t let the possibility of someone reading an opinion and believing it as truth without seeing the science and research behind both sides.

The following sections that are in block quotes are pulled from the article that the screenshot above was taken from. Directly after each quoted section are my responses in bold.

Everything in moderation? I don’t think so.

This link points to an article written on The Huffington Post. The post that it is linked to included no scientific research or studies and is purely based on opinion. A wrong one at that.

It is a common saying, but the philosophy of “Everything in moderation is OK” is, unfortunately, a myth.

The philosophy of “Everything in moderation is OK” is not a myth. This is an extreme example, but hopefully you get where I’m coming from. (http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/)

Weight loss is determined by calories in vs. calories out. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19246357)

Should a recovering alcoholic have an occasional drink “in moderation”? Do you really think that is a good idea? Is it even possible, if someone had an addictive relationship with alcohol? Of course it isn’t. Is it ok for someone who is trying to quit smoking to have “cheat cigarettes” on the weekend? Do I even need to ask?

Hold on just one second. You’re going to say that alcoholism (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001940/), a very real, abusive addiction that is something that to this day is vigorously debated as a disease is comparitive to eating a diet comprised of moderation?

Wait, are you kidding me? You’re going to say that smoking cigarettes, which is also an addiction to tobacco/nicotine, is even relatable to eating foods you enjoy in moderation on infrequent occurences? You do realize that smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, can cause birth defects, respiratory and heart diseases.. right? 

“Of the more than 2.4 million deaths in the USA annually, over 440,000 are caused by smoking.” (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/10566.php)

Please show me how many deaths occur each year from someone eating processed foods in moderation such as grains, butter, poptarts, ice cream or anything else that they might enjoy.

You know your relationship with food. Have you ever experienced an addictive relationship? Have you ever binged on junk food? If the answer is “yes”, then you may need to avoid a “moderation” approach to crappy food. Eat all the healthy food you want. I know that it is possible to eat healthy food like a ravenous beast and not have a weight problem, if it truly is healthy food prepared intelligently AND you exercise regularly.

“Eat all the healthy food you want.” Thanks for clearing that up because I was unaware that if I ate 20,000 calories in surplus over my total daily energy expenditure that I would not gain any weight as long I “exercise regularly” and I intelligently prepare my food. You, sir, are some sort of wizard to be able to defy the laws of thermodynamics. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_thermodynamics) 

I’m going to venture a guess that the majority of people that can’t stick to a diet is partially due to the diet’s restrictive parameters that create somewhat of a psychological break down regarding the relationship with food the dieter develops.

Some so-called “foods” simply don’t have enough of a “positive return” to even be worth eating. This is especially true when those foods mess up all of the hard progress you’ve made resetting your taste buds. I’ve experienced this firsthand. I eat Paleo. After a couple months of eating this way (e.g., no sugars or processed food), natural fruit and natural nut butters tasted like dessert to me. They seriously taste like a sweet candy. But, if I ever slip up and eat some crappy desserts, my taste buds get overwhelmed. For a few days, fruit no longer tastes sweet enough for me. Food no longer tastes salty enough. Those junk foods and cheat meals sabotage your progress. They mess with your perception of taste and “fullness”. It is a proven psychological and physiological phenomenon.

Apparently you’ve never eaten a pop-tart if you have no idea what a “positive return” from food is. Watch yourself in the mirror when you eat one. Pure elation.

No sugars? I wonder what’s in fruit. It couldn’t be fructose or any sort of sugar right?

“But, if I ever slip up and eat some crappy desserts, my taste buds get overwhelmed.” So, you slip up too and you don’t eat entirely paleo all the time. Do you know why? It might be because of what I said in the above paragraph about restrictive parameters. You are denying yourself something psychologically that you enjoy thus creating a very poor relationship with food that causes you to “cheat” or “binge” on foods you don’t normally eat at times.

Junk foods and cheat meals actually don’t sabotage your progress in any way. Overeating, negativity, self-hate.. those are some of the major things that sabotage progress. Also, when a diet is comprised of a majority of whole foods with those “processed” foods being consumed in moderation it’s easy to not cheat or binge because you don’t feel restricted in the diet. There’s not a need to because it’s no longer cheating, it’s part of living a healthy lifestyle both physically and mentally.

Also, on the topic of cheat meals, they can actually be beneficial to a diet if implemented correctly and if one is practicing more restriction in the diet than most people do on average. (http://www.livestrong.com/article/542505-the-art-and-science-of-cheat-meals/)

“They mess with your perception of taste and “fullness”. It is a proven psychological and physiological phenomenon.” Where is the science and research to back this up? Come on. Any person that’s ever eaten a meal in their life can tell you with ease that a plate of protein and starchy carbs will fill you up more than a plate of skittles. Here’s the thing though: No one that preaches a moderate diet is saying to eat that entire plate of skittles. What hey are saying is that if you have a few skittles it’s not going to hurt you or your progress and can benefit your psyche in the long run.

Take some advice from someone who has been there. I love food. I love desserts. Always have, even as a young child. But, I learned to reset my body to appreciate the natural sweetness and pleasure of real food like fruits, vegetables, etc. It is possible. And I learned that I simply need to avoid crappy processed food and cheat meals. Moderation doesn’t work for food that doesn’t deserve to be eaten in the first place.

I attempted to not make this reply out to be some sort of a personal attack on you in any way, but you’re throwing around your opinions with no research or studies to back it up. Hopefully this long-winded rebuttal isn’t taken as a personal attack.

Okay, I’m going to try and relate it to something else. Math. You can’t answer math equations based on your opinion of the answer. You actually have to formulate the correct answer through procedural calculation. However, if you backed up your opinion of what the answer is with a proven formula (research) and then show how it was done (studies) how could anyone discredit you? Unfortunately, you aren’t doing that.

Lastly, I just want to say that I think the big take away from the original post I’m responding to as well as what I have said here should be to focus on the individual’s personal relationship with food. Yes, some people may need to cut out all processed foods due to their unhealthy psychological relationship with food, but that is absolutely, 100% not the case for everyone out there.

Take some advice from someone who has been there. I love food. I love desserts. Always have, even as a young child. But, I learned to eat those things I love in moderation and have a diet that is comprised of a majority of whole foods. I don’t scapegoat any one macronutrient. I don’t restrict any specific foods. I don’t tell myself I can’t or I’m not able to. The only thing I watch out for is the quantity and the frequency in which I eat food. Not just processed foods, but all food.

It is possible to love yourself and your food, but it’s up to you to try.

Easy Mode Dieting (EMD): Better Body Composition Using Moderation

January 09, 2012 Comments 219 notes diet easy mode easy mode dieting emd fat loss fitblr fitness food health nutrition iifym

There are a lot of questions and concerns that surface when talking about dieting in general. Then once you start talking about eating foods you enjoy in moderation while dieting it seems like people can only see that concept in black or white. Well, that’s the exact problem. Moderation is not black or white.. it’s a combination of both.

Dieting for fat loss is fairly simple. The basic principles are as follows:

  • The key to losing weight is a caloric deficit.
  • The key to better body composition is eating the right food.

Let’s make a definition for “right food” first.

Right Food:

An assortment of foods that gives your body an adequate amount of macronutrients and micronutrients that are not able to be produced on it’s own in the body. Once the two requirements of adequate amounts of macro and micronutrients are met any additional food that is consumed may be deemed acceptable as long as the rules of the desired direction of body composition (fat loss, muscle gain, etc) are adhered to.

What does that definition say in it’s simplest (although this requires extensive explanation) form?

The “assortment of foods” for better body composition that should be consumed fall into these three rules:

  1. Protein for the building and repair of body tissues plus it produces enzymes, hormones, and other substances the body uses.  It regulates body processes such as water balancing and nutrient transportation. Prevents one from becoming easily fatigued by producing stamina and energy and also is beneficial in the health of skin, hair and nails.
  2. Fats to keep hormonal balance, protect organs and absorb nutrients.
  3. Carbohydrates to provide body with extra energy, fiber and to protect muscles.

Once those three goals are met if your desire is to lose weight then your goal should be to adhere to a caloric deficit that is under your TDEE [total daily energy (caloric) expenditure]. However, if the caloric deficit is too steep muscle loss can happen as well as unwanted developments in hormonal levels and metabolism efficiency. If the desire is muscle gain then the requirement would be a caloric surplus over your TDEE without pushing the surplus into a degree which can cause rapid fat gain. However, small amounts of fat gain often occurs with any caloric surplus when building muscle, but the degree at which fat is gained varies person to person.

At this point you might have a few questions. I will do my best to answer what I feel would be the most common to surface.

  • What is a TDEE and how do I calculate mine?

Let me explain that your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is also referred to as your maintenance caloric intake level. Oftentimes you will hear someone say to make sure to eat below your maintenance level when talking about weight loss. What that means to make sure you are eating less than you are outputting. It’s the classic energy in versus energy out.

There are so many different ways through calculations, graphs, charts, formulas and methods for obtaining this information. The simplest way I have learned to get a good estimation for your TDEE, or what you know now is also called your maintenance calorie intake level, is to take your bodyweight and multiply it by 14 to 16 calories. This range of values will give you your estimated TDEE.

  • Where does the calculation of multiplying bodyweight by 14 to 16 calories to get your estimated TDEE come from?

Instead of just copy and pasting the full article that is comprised of scientific detail that Lyle McDonald has written on why those are the most accurate values for ESTIMATIONS of your TDEE, I would ask that you actually go and read his article yourself titled: How to Estimate Maintenance Caloric Intake - Q&A

Are you feeling overwhelmed with calculations yet?

If no and you are wanting to follow a more detailed approach to your diet where you would track the details like calories and macronutrients so that you could fit some of those “dirty” foods you love into your diet then you should head on over to http://www.thespartanwarrior.com/iifym to spruce up your knowledge on the If It Fits Your Macros philosophy to dieting.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by calculations and details then I assume this would be your next statement and question:

  • I don’t want to track my calories or macros. What do I do?

This might sound easier to you since you won’t have to do any calculations, but in reality this can actually be harder. The reason for this being a more difficult process is due to the degree of variables that you will now be experiencing. You will not know exactly how much you are eating each day. You will not know how much of what macronutrient you are eating each day. You will not be able to determine your proper TDEE based on the amount of food you are consuming and your weight changes. Without tracking your intake and how it effects your body you are going to put yourself in the position to rely solely on guesstimations. 

Trust me when I say that I don’t blame you for not wanting to track every detail. Honestly, sometimes even I get tired of tracking everything I eat, but I do it because it’s what I’ve become accustomed to and I enjoy understanding the fine details.

Okay, so you still don’t want to track your calories or macros, huh? Well, that’s fine.

Let me introduce you to what I have named, Easy Mode Dieting.

Easy Mode Dieting

1. Consume an average amount (think just a little bit bigger than the size of your fist) of lean protein at each meal.

ex:

  • chicken
  • beef
  • fish
  • eggs
  • whey

2. Get 2-3 servings of fibrous vegetables each day.

ex:

  • broccoli
  • dark green leafy vegetables (spinach, kale, etc)
  • cauliflower
  • peppers
  • tomatoes
  • asparagus

3. Get 1-2 servings of fruit each day.

ex: 

  • berries
  • apples
  • avocado
  • bananas
  • kiwi
  • grapefruit

4. Drink 1-2 glasses of water with each meal and in between meals.

5. Include small amounts of food that contain starchy carbohydrates, fats, protein, fiber, etc.

ex:

  • sweet potatoes
  • white potatoes
  • quinoa
  • brown rice
  • milk
  • oatmeal
  • almonds
  • beans
  • cottage cheese

6. Include small amounts of “dirty” foods that you can enjoy in moderation.

WARNING! This is the step that is by far the easiest and most frequent for a person to mess up when trying to diet without tracking the details. What I mean by small amounts and moderation is that if you consume the things you enjoy in small portions on infrequent occasions then you’ll be just fine. It really is that simple. The problem resides within one’s ability to practice moderation.

What is a small portion? Think a serving size. Look at the nutritional information on the side of the box and look at what it details out as a serving size. With your best judgement follow that guideline for the amount. It may seem small at first compared to how you’ve been eating it before hand, but believe me.. down the road when you are sticking to a diet that is better for your overall health then those small portions become big and incredibly important. The following are examples of what many in the nutrition and fitness industry have deemed “dirty” foods.

ex:

  • poptarts
  • bowl of cereal
  • Ben & Jerry’s ice cream
  • baked lays chips
  • cookies
  • anything that basically tastes like you shouldn’t be eating it all the time

Are you getting the big picture yet?

As long as your diet is comprised of 85% whole, nutrient dense foods then it will not matter what you eat for the other 15%. 

The Easy Mode Dieting guideline is:

Eat what you should eat, when you should eat it. Eat fibrous fruits and vegetables. Drink enough water to stay hydrated. Fit in small portions of those “dirty” foods you enjoy on infrequent occasions. Moderation are king.

The title of “Easy Mode Dieting” comes from the concept of being easy to understand, easy to follow and easy to see results as long as a moderate approach to dieting is kept in mind. For anyone that would like to try another style to dieting with alternative philosophies and other details besides EMD or IIFYM then I would highly recommend checking out either LeanGains by Martin Berkhan or Cheat Mode by Kurtis Frank.

December 22, 2011 Comments 227 notes fitblr fitness nutrition diet food recipe proteinpow

Chocolate Protein Cake with Vanilla Protein Frosting

This recipe brought to you by Protein Pow(d)er.

Cake Ingredients

Blended together and baked at 180 C (356 F) for ~30 minutes on a round cake mold.

  • 1/2 cup of greek yogurt (Total 0%)
  • 3/4 cup of liquid egg whites
  • 1/2 cup of adzuki beans (or black beans - always canned and unsalted)
  • 3/4 cup of chocolate whey protein
  • 1 tbsp of cocoa
  • 1/8 cup of vanilla whey protein
  • 1 small banana
  • 1/4 cup of pea protein (consider using coconut flour instead)
  • 1 tbsp of fitness fiber (or psyllium husks)
  • 1/8 cup of quinoa flakes (or oats)
  • 3/8 cup of nuts and seeds (optional)

Frosting Ingredients

Just blended together and added to a ziplock back with the nozzle at the end.

  • 1/2 cup of vanilla casein
  • 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt (same as above)
  • 3 tbsp of water

Nutritional Profile

Per 1/4 of the cake and frosting.

  • Calories: 207
  • Protein: 26g
  • Carbs: 17g (3.4g sugars)
  • Fat: 3.5g (0.5g sat)
  • Fiber: 4.5g
November 15, 2011 Comments 111 notes fitblr nutrition food iifym diet

What is IIFYM? ⇒

IIFYM stands for If It Fits Your Macros. The means basically, eat right, but don’t get all caught up in the whole ‘clean vs dirty’ food debate that seems to still go on. If you want to eat whole grain bread, oats, brown rice, etc. etc. Then do it. If you want to eat white bread, white rice, and pop tarts, as long as it fits in with your other macronutrients and your goals in terms of caloric intake then it isn’t going to make much of a difference in the long run. It all comes down to personal preference. 

So, basically don’t get into the whole “If I have ice cream I’m going to get fat” or, “I’ll never have pizza again” mentality. If you want it, you can have it, just make sure it fits your macros.

This is not a diet. This is a way of life.

September 15, 2011 Comments 345 notes tips foodfacts fitblr nutrition science food diet fat
Whole Eggs vs. Egg Whites Let me set the story straight for everyone. We all need to understand the truth about eggs and why you SHOULD eat the yolk. They’re called incredible, edible eggs for a reason. pamo: evolutionisiternal: shreddingtheexcess: mybonesbleedforyou: skinny-junkie: skip the yolk! EGG WHITES ALL THE WAY! I adore boiled egg whites with black pepper!   I HATE the yolk! hahah & I love the egg whites (: so much facepalm. yolks get you yolked, brother. Bwahahahaha! I had half a dozen scrambled eggs for dinner. Delicious. What’s the REAL deal with eggs? You’ll hear many people state as fact that you shouldn’t eat whole eggs and that you should just stick to eating the egg whites due to the yolks in eggs containing fat and cholesterol. Well, guess what. They’re absolutely right when it comes to the nutritional makeup of the egg, but they are 100% wrong in telling you not to eat the whole egg. Back in the 70’s they started with the whole “cholesterol is bad!” argument and systematically pushed to limit intake of any food with cholesterol. Fast forward 40 years and we’ve discovered there is bad cholesterol (LDL) and good cholesterol (HDL). Egg yolks are good cholesterol, the kind you want and the kind your liver already produces (more on this later). Thailand did a study and found that adding one whole egg to your diet a day increased the HDL levels of the participants. They pushed further and even with a diet of six eggs a day, saw no increase in LDL (bad cholesterol). From the Thai study: OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between continuous egg consumption with Thai life-style dietary and serum lipids of healthy young people. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Fifty-six participants with an average age of 35 were enrolled. In an experimental method of cholesterol intake, all participants were fed an additional egg per day to their basic diet. This project ran for 12 weeks. RESULTS: The 12-week egg consumption significantly increased serum total cholesterol by 0.27 +/- 0.15 mmol/L (10.43 +/- 5.80 mg/dL) (p < 0.05). The HDL-cholesterol (HDL-c) increased significant by 0.55 +/- 0.06 mmol/L (21.80 +/- 2.25 mg/dL) (p < 0.001) while the total cholesterol (TC) decreased as the HDL-c ratio was 0.94 +/- 1.1 (p < 0.001). No significant changes were found in LDL-cholesterol (LDL-c) and triglyceride levels. The present study showed that small serum LDL-c changed in response to change of egg consumption. Additionally, 12-week egg consumption also resulted in an increasing HDL-c level. CONCLUSION: In the majority of healthy adults, an addition of one egg per day to a normal fat diet could raise HDL-c levels and decreased the ratio of TC toHDL-c. Therefore, egg consumption might benefit blood cholesterol. Egg yolks are good cholesterol and fat. Simple. Furthering the importance of eating the whole egg - egg yolks are high in choline. Choline, generally only found in fatty foods and foods high in cholesterol, is thought to be extremely important in the livers proper ability to handle fat. So by diligently avoiding all foods containing cholesterol, you could be setting yourself up for some serious health problems. Chris Masterjohn has the long and complex answer as to why this is. The majority of the micro-nutrients are also in the egg yolk. The yolk is really the much healthier part of the egg and if you were going to just eat whites or yolks, the yolks would be the much better choice. Not that there is anything wrong with the white, it’s got the protein, so just eat the whole food and be healthy! The only people who typically eat just egg whites are bodybuilders needing just the protein and no other micro/macro-nutrients when they are on a major cutting/caloric deficit cycle prior to a show. Long story short, anyone telling you egg yolks are bad for you is still living off 40 year old information and probably isn’t your best source for health advice.

Whole Eggs vs. Egg Whites

Let me set the story straight for everyone. We all need to understand the truth about eggs and why you SHOULD eat the yolk.

They’re called incredible, edible eggs for a reason.

pamo:

evolutionisiternal:

shreddingtheexcess:

mybonesbleedforyou:

skinny-junkie:

skip the yolk! EGG WHITES ALL THE WAY!

I adore boiled egg whites with black pepper!  

I HATE the yolk! hahah & I love the egg whites (:

so much facepalm. yolks get you yolked, brother.

Bwahahahaha! I had half a dozen scrambled eggs for dinner. Delicious.

What’s the REAL deal with eggs?

You’ll hear many people state as fact that you shouldn’t eat whole eggs and that you should just stick to eating the egg whites due to the yolks in eggs containing fat and cholesterol. Well, guess what. They’re absolutely right when it comes to the nutritional makeup of the egg, but they are 100% wrong in telling you not to eat the whole egg.

Back in the 70’s they started with the whole “cholesterol is bad!” argument and systematically pushed to limit intake of any food with cholesterol. Fast forward 40 years and we’ve discovered there is bad cholesterol (LDL) and good cholesterol (HDL).

Egg yolks are good cholesterol, the kind you want and the kind your liver already produces (more on this later). Thailand did a study and found that adding one whole egg to your diet a day increased the HDL levels of the participants. They pushed further and even with a diet of six eggs a day, saw no increase in LDL (bad cholesterol).

From the Thai study:

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between continuous egg consumption with Thai life-style dietary and serum lipids of healthy young people.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: Fifty-six participants with an average age of 35 were enrolled. In an experimental method of cholesterol intake, all participants were fed an additional egg per day to their basic diet. This project ran for 12 weeks.

RESULTS: The 12-week egg consumption significantly increased serum total cholesterol by 0.27 +/- 0.15 mmol/L (10.43 +/- 5.80 mg/dL) (p < 0.05). The HDL-cholesterol (HDL-c) increased significant by 0.55 +/- 0.06 mmol/L (21.80 +/- 2.25 mg/dL) (p < 0.001) while the total cholesterol (TC) decreased as the HDL-c ratio was 0.94 +/- 1.1 (p < 0.001). No significant changes were found in LDL-cholesterol (LDL-c) and triglyceride levels. The present study showed that small serum LDL-c changed in response to change of egg consumption. Additionally, 12-week egg consumption also resulted in an increasing HDL-c level.

CONCLUSION: In the majority of healthy adults, an addition of one egg per day to a normal fat diet could raise HDL-c levels and decreased the ratio of TC toHDL-c. Therefore, egg consumption might benefit blood cholesterol.

Egg yolks are good cholesterol and fat. Simple.

Furthering the importance of eating the whole egg - egg yolks are high in choline. Choline, generally only found in fatty foods and foods high in cholesterol, is thought to be extremely important in the livers proper ability to handle fat. So by diligently avoiding all foods containing cholesterol, you could be setting yourself up for some serious health problems. Chris Masterjohn has the long and complex answer as to why this is.

The majority of the micro-nutrients are also in the egg yolk. The yolk is really the much healthier part of the egg and if you were going to just eat whites or yolks, the yolks would be the much better choice. Not that there is anything wrong with the white, it’s got the protein, so just eat the whole food and be healthy!

The only people who typically eat just egg whites are bodybuilders needing just the protein and no other micro/macro-nutrients when they are on a major cutting/caloric deficit cycle prior to a show.

Long story short, anyone telling you egg yolks are bad for you is still living off 40 year old information and probably isn’t your best source for health advice.