Tag Archives: Nutrition

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I've made a few additions to the site so I figured I'd give some space to touch on them a bit:

Release of "Let's Sharpen Our Bullshit Detectors!" - finally!

Mouse on over to the sidebar or the "Free Fitness Industry Guidebook" tab to download your copy!  No email address, you won't get added to any unwanted newsletters, just click to download.

This one has been a long time in the making and I'm already thinking forward to something much larger.  I must have cut out at least 20 pages of material just to trim it down to a reasonable size.  In any case, I put a fair amount of time into this one so please let me know what you think once you get through it - and if you enjoyed it pass it along to a friend.  I encourage sharing.

Next on the chop block: "The Virgin Diet" by JJ Virgin

Tactful title, don't you think?

Tactful title, don't you think?

This one is going to be a lot of work.  I've only gotten through the first 2 chapters so far and there's a lot to learn as well as a lot to critique already.

The premise is that the root of all our weight woes is food intolerance.  A lofty claim with a lot of smaller parts that each need to be addressed.  I was spoiled by Harper's books since he would provide references to many of his claims - no such luck here.  I foresee a lot of time exploring PubMed in my future.

I'll probably be needing to get some outside help on this one, so if you are or know anyone who would be a good source for information on:

  • Gut bacteria
  • IBS
  • 'Anti-nutrients' such as gluten and lectin
  • Inflammation

and would be willing to help out, let's get in touch!

Openings for Online Training

There's another shiny new tab at the top - I'm opening up some time to take on a few more online clients, hooray!

While in the past I've taken clients for almost any goal, I'd really like to start fine-tuning and tailoring my approach.  I'm looking for beginner clients - ones who don't have a ton of experience with training and exercise, maybe having never even stepped foot in a gym!

Since it's fairly niche, I'm always looking for other online providers to refer out to if someone who inquires isn't a good match.

In any case, that about wraps up my announcements for now!  Let's close out with one of my favorite puppy videos:

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I wish I could start this post with more inspiring news than 'nothing has changed.'  Unfortunately, reporting anything other than complete and utter lack of any progress would involve a lot of creative truth-bending.

I'm about 1 month into this process.  I've done pretty well on a few fronts - taking a multi-vitamin and fish oil 3 times a week, drastically cutting my diet soda intake close to zero, and actually exploring a few new food options.  (Tea, nectarines and apricots, as I have discovered, are delicious)

However, as noble as these small changes are, they circumvent the problem I have of just eating too much to lose weight.  This is where my post from last week about learning my hunger cues is supposed to come into play.  I just don't have it down yet - I think in this regard my previous experience with intermittent fasting has actually done me a disservice.  It's really easy to just not eat for a period of time, then eat basically until I can't.  No real hunger cues aside from 'if you eat another bite, you're probably going to regret it in about 30 seconds.'  That one is pretty easy to listen to.

I'm realizing I should have thought this part through much more than I did before beginning.  I was feeling pretty arrogant after my last successful attempts, and thought I could just go for it.  What I didn't take into account is that 'eating clean' is a fairly new concept for me to implement into my life, as well as the concept of listening to my stomach.  It was pretty foolish to assume that I could just adopt a ton of changes at once seamlessly and flawlessly.  I may be a 'fitness professional,' but that doesn't mean I find this stuff easy to follow either.

(Funny aside - every client that I've spoken to about how much I miss Diet Coke (oh God do I miss diet soda) has seemed surprised and even a bit appalled that I of all people have a problem with something generally deemed 'unhealthy.'  It blows my mind that people see me in a light of a super-healthy person, or someone who simply follows good eating dogma with no problems.  And of course always finds exercise enjoyable and easy.)

On that happy note, here is my lack of progress in numerical and visual form:

WLC3

photo 1 photo 2 photo 3 photo 4

On Cheating

People often ask me what I do for 'cheat days' when dieting.  I don't really like that concept in general.  To me it speaks of tight restriction for most of the week, with one day where you just bomb out and really let loose.  Scheduling in a 'fuck it' day doesn't seem like a healthy, sustainable, long-term plan to me.  What if you go out for a friend's birthday on a Wednesday, but your cheat day is Saturday?  What if it's your anniversary the same week as Christmas?  What if you're on a 3-day vacation? Etc, etc.

Basically I try to make the process as stress-free as possible.  When an occasion arises where I will probably need to off-track my diet a tad, I simply do so.  When nothing particularly special is happening, I don't.

Now, this works for me because I don't have the world's most active social life, so typically this evens out to two or three less-than-ideal meals per week.  If you have social events every night of the week, this probably wouldn't work so well.

Just because it works for me (well, at least for maintaining weight!) doesn't mean it will work for you - I'm just hoping to give you some good ideas.

Thanks for reading, as always leave me any questions or comments below!

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I'm coming to realize I probably should have planned this whole 'clean eating' thing out a bit better.

You may have noticed that I've always included 'clean' in quotations - I've always thought the notion was a bit odd.  But the idea that I would have NO FREAKING IDEA what makes a food clean or not didn't occur to me.  I assumed it would be like the old saying regarding pornography "I can't quite explain it, but I know it when I see it."

Unfortunately, that is not the case.  I've come across way too many definitions and way too many food items that don't seem to fit in a clear category.  Let's take some examples of what 'clean eating' is from various people:

"If you don't recognize the ingredients, don't eat it"

Well, being a person who is very interested in nutrition, some of the more mystifying ingredients are things I'm actually familiar with.  Xanthan Gum?  Sure got some in the cabinets.  Citric Acid?  Yeah it's in most fruits.  Dextrose?  Mmmm sugarrrr.  So for some foods that would most definitely not be considered 'clean,' this strategy doesn't work.  Not to mention several items I can think of (such as PB2) that have simple ingredients, but are most definitely processed.

"If it has a nutrition label, don't eat it."

Bottled water has a nutrition label.  A lot of meats have nutrition labels.  I can buy a bag of apples that have a nutrition label on it.  Steel-cut oats have labels...etc.

"If it was made in a plant, processed or manufactured, don't eat it."

What about coconut flour?  Almond flour?  Even wheat flour?  Besides fresh produce, I don't know how many foods fit under this definition.  Most meats were processed through a factory of some sort.  Your albacore didn't jump out of the ocean into a tin.  How much process is too much process?  Bringing up the previous example of PB2, the process is pretty simple - they press the roasted peanuts to get the oil out so most fat content is removed.  Is that too much of a process?  Which brings me to the next point -

"If a process was done to remove nutrition from the product, don't eat it."

What about skim milk?  1% milk?  Pasteurized milk at all?  0% Greek yogurt?  Peeled shrimp?  Peeled oranges?

"If your ancestors didn't recognize it, don't eat it." 

I'm pretty sure our ancestors didn't recognize the modern-day banana.  Or peanut butter.  Or almond milk...etc.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhgh!

If you couldn't tell, I've had a frustrating week of eating.  Here are some items on my list of contention.  I have down the big ticket items, but I'd like to hear any input as well:

1) Quest Bars - I've given this a tentative no.  Big hit to my pre / post workout / dessert / anytime, really snacks.

2) Greek Yogurt / Dairy in general - I've been eating this, and I'm pretty sure I'll continue to include it.

3) Dark Chocolate - I might just need to include this for my sanity.

4) Almond Milk - I LOVE almond milk, but there is no doubt it's been processed.  But is it too much processing?! WHO THE HELL KNOWS.

5) Protein Powder - I'm eating all of this anyway, processed or no.  Like 25% of my protein intake consists of protein powder, and I am unwilling to give it up!

ProteinPowder

Not pictured: 2 other bins - totaling 10 bins of protein powder between me and Luke. <insert some bro joke here>

Incidentally, there is also another Layne Norton video that talks about basically the experiment I'm about to do: clean eating vs. calorie and macronutrient counting.

Personally, I like his definition of 'clean' food best: food you spray with windex before you eat it.

Anyway, I've basically come to the conclusion that the phrase 'clean eating' means absolutely NOTHING definitive.  I suppose it's just a way for people to have a new buzzword for eating healthy.

But even 'healthy' is a word that's up for debate.