Health

Health / Nutrition / Questions — 0 Comments
25
Aug 09

The Secret(s) to Fat Loss

Ang recently asked a question about her diet that I have been hearing a lot lately, so I decided to turn it into a post so everyone can benefit.

Ang asks:

…I’ve started on a whole food diet. …very little processed crap- whole grains, fresh veggies, fresh fruit and low fat meat/soy/legume alternatives.. I feel great, my energy is higher, but I still can’t seem to lose the weight!!! What to you recommend to boost my metabolism?? Is there a secret that I just don’t know about?

Before I get to the “secret” that Ang alluded to, let’s first clear one thing up. Weight loss, and FAT LOSS, are two very different processes. They get interchange by the media and so called “medical professionals” very freely, but we must understand that WEIGHT is somewhat irrelevant when talking about health. I personally am considered clinically obese, even though I maintain 10% body fat, am healthy and energetic, and haven’t been sick -except for the odd minor cold- for years. We know that muscle weighs more than fat, so if you have increased your activity levels and are building muscle, you may actually see an INCREASE in weight before you start to come down. Don’t let the scale discourage you.

Health is a broad term. It encompasses many variables, so using a single measure such as cholesterol levels, or weight, or bone density -though providing good baseline information- doesn’t necessarily translate into telling you how healthy you are, only how you compare to the rest of the people your age.

Now that that’s cleared up… lets get to the secret:

But first, lets talk about 3 simple factors that influence our body composition…

1) Thermodynamics. It is a physical law that an energy system (like your body) can only shed stored energy (bodyfat) if there is a negative energy balance. Basically, Energy In < Energy Out. If you aren't burning more than you're eating, all the dieting in the world will not help you lose fat.

2) Insulin. First, read this article on the Insilin Response. Next, think about this notion: Our bodies have been on this earth, in one form or another, for about 2 million years. We have only discovered how to cook and processes foods that were previously inedible, or scarcely available (SUGAR, grains, starches, soy, flours, rice etc.) in the last 10,000 years. That’s less than 1% of our existence on Earth! It’s no wonder why our bodies have problems with refined carbohydrates (sugar).

To put it simply, our bodies just aren’t ready for the high sugar, high energy foods that are ever-present in our Westernized diet.

Our bodies are still cave-people. We still live in the same genes as our nomadic ancestors. As humans, we would generally walk all day, settle down for the night, and have 2-3 hours before the sun went down to hunt what we could, and gather the plants, nuts, seeds, and if we were lucky, fruit in our immediate surrounding. Notice, no grains, no starches, and no rice. Humans can not digest these foods in their raw form, and in the case of potatoes, can be mildly toxic if not cooked.

To keep our insulin levels low, we need to mimic our paleolithic forefathers and try to eat as close to their diet as possible.

Which is:

Meats
Vegetables
Nuts and Seeds
Some Fruit
Little Starch
NO SUGAR

As you can see, the list doesn’t get restrictive until we get into the sugar end of the spectrum. The reason for this? You guessed it… INSULIN CONTROL.

3) Ratio. To keep our insulin levels low, we must eat foods that don’t stimulate a large pancreatic response, or in other words, avoid the sugars. To put it into perspective, 2 slices of bread (common to most sandwiches) contains about the same amount of sugar as 12 cups of broccoli. That’s a lot of fiber… yikes.

So how do you get energy without eating sugar?

Fun fact: Of the three macronutrients your body needs you to eat protein and and fat to live. If you stopped eating one of these essential compounds, your body would begin to eat itself, and you would eventually die from malnutrition. Carbohydrates however can conveniently be made from the protein and fat that you eat. So, you could, in theory never eat another carb and stay alive… you may not thrive, but will stay alive.

To keep your body full of energy, we need to make sure we are feeding our muscle’s energy stores (with glycogen) only enough to fuel our day to day energy needs, and not more. Excess energy intake gets stored in our body as fat (see step 1).

Fat loss is as simple as figuring out how much energy YOUR body needs to maintain a high level of activity, but not eating a surplus of energy. We do this by figuring out personal food quantity. I recommend getting yourself a copy of The Zone: A Dietary Road Map to Lose Weight Permanently by Dr. Barry Sears.

I don’t usually like to advocate a so-called “fad” diet, but if you do your research, the way Dr. Sears has, you will realize that there is sound science behind the Zone.

The zone is not a diet in the traditional sense. It is more of a rationing system. A way of quantifying how much food, and in what ratio, you need to function optimally, and to stave off disease. I will be writing a post in the future dissecting the zone a bit more, but I would strongly recommend picking up a copy of this book and trying out “zoning” for at least 3 weeks (usually how long it takes your body to adapt to a dietary change). Figure out your block prescription and weigh and measure your meals for at least a week so that your eye can develop a sense for what your personal macronutrient ratios are.

A key step to success with this eating system is getting over your fear of FAT. As I stated before, fat is essential to our survival, and is required for many vital bodily processes. (Fun fact: You brain is made up of 70% fat, and the fatty myelin sheath is what facilitates fast neuro-processing… so eating fat may make you smarter?) Fat is what makes you feel full, and satiated, which is the reason most “diets” fail… you feel hungry all the time (re-read my post on the insulin response for why this happens in high carb, low fat diets).

Are you ready for the secret to fat loss?

The truth is, you already know it, and you learned it in kindergarten: You are what you eat.
So eat REAL food, the way your caveman ancestors did, which coincidentally, keeps your insulin response low, and trains your body to begin using stored body fat for energy… and once that is used up, dietary fat in a process called ketosis (more on this in a future post).
You will get a long way toward your goal of fat loss by just cleaning up what you are eating, eliminating the grains, rice, pastas, breads etc., that require processing for us to digest, and cause an insulin spike. If you want to fast track these results, you will start figuring out your ”zone blocks” so that you’re only feeding your body enough to stay active, and lastly, make sure you keep your activity up, and continually try new things like CrossFit to keep that pesky law of thermo dynamics in check.

Health — 0 Comments
7
Jul 09

The Law of Attraction

I used to work as a Fit Model for Lululemon Athletica. For those of you who don’t know, or have never heard of Chip Wilson, he is man behind the Lulu brand, and is an awe inspiring guy. (Men, lets take a moment to thank him for bringing us the Yoga Pant).

My reason for mentioning Lululemon is a blog post Chip wrote in March 2009 about the Law of Attraction. Here is a little of the post:

The Law of Attraction simply says that you attract aspects, qualities and people in your life that reflect the type of person who you are.

Alcoholics attract alcoholics
Athletes attract athletes
Thieves attract thieves
People with integrity attract people with integrity
Liars attract liars
People who know how to make money attract people who know how to make money
Empathetic people attract empathetic people
Goal setters attract goal setters
People who take on sole responsibility for how their lives turn out attract the same
Complainers attract complainers
Health attracts health
Sickness attracts sickness

… you get the picture.

Framed another way, the Law of Attraction can be used as a question to ask yourself whenever you find that the goals you have set for yourself are not being met:

“Am I attracting the type of people that will help me reach my goal(s)?”

The point to take home here is that if the Law of Attraction holds true, then perhaps the sinking feeling many people feel when they look in the mirror and realize they aren’t seeing the gains and fat loss they expected, could be due to not having the right kinds of people around for support.

We often feel as though the road to a healthier, fitter body is a journey of personal struggle. The key word there being personal, as in all by yourself, and oftentimes this is the case and it can feel overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be this way however.

Surround yourself with people that live the lifestyle you want.

A key reason for getting the right people in your life is for feedback purposes. Most people have a hard time stepping back, and examining themselves with unbiased eyes. Take a look at your close circle of friends. Are they being honest with you? If you were to ask them some very personal questions like: What can you always count on/never count on me for? Would you get a useful answer, or would they lie to you to save your feelings?
Setting up a solid circle of friends, of people who you respect and admire, will allow you to gain more constructive feedback.

Please note however, there is a difference between friends who make you want to BE good, and friends that make you LOOK good. Your friends should not require you to look a certain way, or buy certain material things. They should require more from you. They should require excellence from you, because their excellence is what ATTRACTED you to them.

The self-help sections of most major book stores are lined with books about positivity, living in the now, and of course, the Law of Attraction! Do you need to go out any spend a fortune on books and spend countless hours reading to move towards excellence? I would argue no. All you really have to do to make huge changes in your life is to take an inventory of the people around you and make sure they are helping you be excellent.

Some simple ways to do this:

Set some goals

Goal setting is one of the most powerful, yet simple tools you can use to achieve the results you seek from life. Goal setting can be used for tasks as small as grocery shopping, to as big as choosing a partner in life. Goal setting also allows you to evaluate the people around you. It will serve as a litmus test to see who in your life is encouraging you to achieve your goals and be excellent, and who is filling your life with negativity and mediocrity.

Ask for feedback

A person who feels they are living a mediocre life is a person who has not asked for feedback. How can you expect to improve yourself if you don’t know what needs to be improved? This hearkens back to having quality people in your life, because it is difficult to see yourself the way the world sees you.
Make sure that the people around you will not only add positivity to your life, but will also help you see yourself, your flaws, be honest with you, and finally help you move towards your goals by providing quality feedback.

Pose some tough questions

Once you have set your goals, quality controlled the people close to you, and made sure they will be honest with their feedback, it’s time to ask some them some tough questions. (Beware, the answers may not always be what you want to hear, but they will provide some very usefully information).

Choose 5 people you respect and admire and ask them the following questions:

What can I always be counted on for?
What can you never count on me for?
What is one personality characteristic you think I can improve on?
If we were stranded on a island in the ocean, and getting off the island required 100% teamwork, would you want me on your team?

The road to self improvement, and reaching your goals will obviously require more work than what I have listed here, but these are good first steps on the road to excellence.

Diet / Fats / Health / Nutrition — 0 Comments
12
May 09

Diet: Another Four Letter Word

It seems these days that any mention of the word diet brings a common look of skepticism from whoever you’re talking to. Why has this happened? Is it because the market is over-saturated with fad diets? The fact that the diet section in the book store is slowly consuming more and more floor space? Or is it because so many of these so called “diets” simply don’t work?

Popular media is filled with reports on “the newest health study”, and ” the latest health product”, and the sad truth is that we eat it up. We have become lazy as a society, and are always looking for the next magic pill that will make us look better, or feel more healthy. The hard to swallow (no pun intended) reality is that there is no magic pill, and healthy eating can be achieved only through smart choices and hard work.

The general vibe I get from people when talking about nutrition and their diet is a feeling of being overwhelmed, and understandably so. It is hard not to feel overwhelmed by today’s health crazed media constantly feeding us study after study after study all based loose correlations and bad science.

I am here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be so difficult. You may not know it, but your body knows exactly what is and isn’t good for you. Acne, allergies, diabetes, heart disease, cancer… the list is long on human ailments that have been linked to a Western diet that is high on carbohydrates and refined sugar. A short search on Google Scholar reveals study after study showning that cultures with diets that have remained relatively unchanged for hundreds if not thousands of years show little to no signs of most common Western diseases. Could it be that perhaps our brains have gotten too smart, and left our bodies in the evolutionary dust? I would argue yes.

If we look at the time line of human existence on Earth (roughly 2 million years), modern agriculture, cooking, and food production practices have only been around for about 10 000 years. That’s less than 1% of out time on this planet. Taking this into consideration, it should come as no surprise then when our radically changed diet causes all kinds of diseases to pop up. Our bodies simply haven’t had time to adjust. Though we may be sending people into space with our brains, we are still living in caveman bodies, and it is for this reason of slow digestive evolution that I advocate a Paleolithic way of eating.

Meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and NO SUGAR!

Pretty simple.

Don’t be fooled by the four letter word, this is not a diet in the modern definition of the word. This is the way your body wants to eat. It is the way we have evolved to eat. It requires no special foods, no book you must follow, has no late night infomercials, and no easy payments of $49.99. All it requires is a choice. A decision to choose not to eat products that aren’t food. Everything you really need to know about diet, nutrition, and food is summed up in these simple words:
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT.

Feed your body crap, feel like crap. Simple.

Eat real food.

Diet / Health / Nutrition / Questions — 0 Comments
20
Mar 09

Milk. Part 2

Continuing from Part 1 on Milk…

Just as our diet affects our health and performance, the diet of our dairy source is equally important. Cows belong to a class of animal called ruminants, meaning they poses an organ called the rumen that digests grasses by initially softening it before is is regurgitated and chewed again for further digestion.

The key ingredient in the process of creating good quality meats and dairy from cows is grass. Grasses are the natural food source for cows, and the reason they have rumens. Modern factory farming however, has decided to go over the head of nature.

Factory farmed dairy cows are now fed mixtures of corn, soy, grains, and other “high energy” feed stocks to make sure the cows are producing as much milk as possible, for as little money as possible. A major problem with this diet is that many non-grass foods (such as soy and alfalfa) contain compounds that mimic the actions of the female hormone, estrogen. While these can cause cows to produce more milk than they normally would (and thus increase profit per animal), some studies have called into question possible impacts on animal health and nutrient content of the milk.

Also, a major issue with cows eating mostly a grain based diet has to do with the cow’s biology. As I mentioned before, cows have an organ called the rumen, that functions to break down cellulose in grass into simple sugars through a mixed process of mechanical churning, and a symbiotic relationship with plant digesting microbes. The problem comes with the fact that these microbes perform best in a pH neutral environment, like the one created in the rumen when cow saliva mixes with fermenting grass. When cows are feed too much grain, the pH balance in the rumen turns acidic, and the bacteria that break down cellulose can no longer do their job, and bacteria that can survive in an acidic environment flourish and begin eating the walls of the rumen. This is where all the antibiotics come in.

What does this mean for human?

Humans have an acidic stomach for a reason, to kill harmful bacteria. It is a safety mechanism that evolved partly because of our taste for meat. Because cows that eat grass grow bacteria that thrive in a pH neutral environment, most bacteria that was left on the meat after slaughter could not survive in our acid stomach. It was a fine balance.

Does the problem now become evident?

Factory farmed cows, which are fed a net acidic producing diet of grains, grow bacteria in their rumens that THRIVE in acidic conditions. This means that any bacteria that is left on the meat when we eat it can no longer be killed by our acidic stomachs.

The message to be taken away from all this info is do your research, and look for high quality sources of meat and dairy. There has been a movement recently back to pasture, or grass-fed beef, and many small farms are beginning to raise cattle again as the demand for high quality meat grows. A Google serach is your best bet to find grass-fed beef in your area.

The issue of factory farming and it’s effects on the health of our society is no stranger to controversy. Corn surplus, a high demand for dairy, and cheap antibiotics have all contributed to the relatively recent decline in nutrition and quality of a food source that has been a staple of the human diet for hundreds of thousands of years.

Michael Pollan talks extensively about the corn and dairy industry’s intimate relationship and how it is degrading out standard of living in his excellent book The Omnivore’s Dilemma. The book is also a must read for anyone concerned about what they are putting in their mouths (read: EVERYONE).

Diet / Health / Nutrition — 0 Comments
14
Mar 09

The Insulin Response

You have just finished a long hard day at work, and return home to a familiar smell wafting from your kitchen. Someone has prepared your favourite meal for supper, fettucine alfredo. You serve yourself a heaping portion and proceed in devouring it, barely slowing to enjoy the pasta in all it’s creamy glory. You finish your plate, and are left thinking that if you ate another morsel, you may explode! However, only a few short hours later you have a craving for something sweet? A cookie perhaps?

If this sounds like a familiar situation, fear not, for this is the work of insulin, the bodies Master Hormone. Sounds menacing doesn’t it? Insulin has earned this title, as it is the key player in both the processing of carbohydrates, and the body’s inflammation response due it’s control over what gets into and out of cells. Inflammation is an underpinning element in many diseases and immune deficiencies. Control your insulin response, and you can help control inflammation.

Fun fact: Carpel tunnel syndrome is an inflammatory response to insulin resistance.

Back to carbohydrates. When we eat a meal rich in carbs, blood sugar levels increase as the carbohydrates are broken down into their basic components – sugars. As blood sugar levels increase, insulin is released in response. Insulin is a storage hormone which moves glucose (sugar) from the blood into the muscles and fat cells for use as energy. In order to visualize this relationship better, take a look at the picture below.

insulin-response-to-carbohydrates2
The red and green shaded boxes point out the discrepancies between the peak blood glucose and peak blood insulin levels. This creates a lag in the time it takes for both processes to reach normal levels again (red box).

It is this lag time in normalization of insulin levels which gives us those sugar cravings after carbohydrate rich meals. This is because blood sugar levels are normal but we still have insulin present in the blood and that insulin needs something to do – without sugar to store it gets bored! So it has the effect of asking the body for more sugar. That’s why we get hungry even though we just ate a few hours ago.

If you read my post on triglycerides you will remember that carbohydrates get broken down into simple sugars (glucose) for use as instant energy. When your cells have absorbed all the glucose that they need, a process that is facilitated by insulin, the gatekeeper hormone, the excess is converted to glycogen via the liver. Glycogen is insulin’s antagonist in that it releases fatty acids from storage in response to protein and hunger, and acts to normalize energy levels.

Insulin is also very important for muscle gain (many bodybuilders artificially inject insulin to gain mass), but if you are constantly causing an insulin response by consuming lots of carbohydrates, you run the risk of developing insulin resistance.

Like many processes in out bodies, insulin has an effectiveness threshold, a level at which our bodies perform optimally. The mechanism is analogous drug tolerance, and why drug addicts never again reach the pleasure if their first high with out significantly increasing the intake levels. Our bodies are very quick at adapting to over stimulation, and if insulin is constantly in your blood stream, your cells develop a resistance. Your body tries to counter act this by pumping more insulin into your blood stream.

Why is this bad?

When too much insulin is in your blood stream, and resistance occurs, nothing gets into or out of your cells. This means that all the glucose from the carbs you keep consuming is turned directly into glycogen. Since glycogen stores have limited space in your muscles and liver, the extra glycogen is converted to fat, which has unlimited storage space (especially in the abdomen and love-handles). Furthermore, with nothing getting into, and more importantly, out of your cells, your body can not get at the fat it has already stored for use as energy, and thus tells you to eat more carbohydrates. It’s a vicious cycle, but one that you can get out of.

You have to learn how to control the insulin response to some degree. If you can decrease the amount of sugar you dump into our blood, thereby decreasing the size of the peak in blood glucose levels, the insulin response will decrease accordingly. By leveling off the peaks and valleys in insulin during the day you’ll be able to exit that ‘hunger rollercoaster’ that plagues millions, and reduce your risk of developing insulin resistance.

So how do I manage my insulin levels?

  • Lower your carbohydrate intake and CUT THE SUGAR! I can not stress this enough. If you want to lose fat, and increase your insulin sensativity, this must be your first step.
  • Choose your carbohydrates wisely. Leafy green plants, and other vegetables that are high in fiber do not trigger a large insulin response.
  • Eat carbohydrates in conjunction with fats and protein. Both fat and protein do not cause much of an insulin response and will slow it’s release.
  • Get some good sleep!

Chronic high blood pressure, prolonged exposure to low level stress, and lack of sleep all impair tissue sensitivity to insulin. Understanding the relationship between insulin and glycogen is important for understanding why fat loss while maintaining a high carbohydrate diet is nearly impossible. Hopefully you now have a better grasp on what happens when you eat that twinkie, and why saying “it goes straight to my hips” is not just a figure of speech.

If you have further questions, head over to the Ask a Question page and leave one.

Fun fact: Have you ever noticed how long distance runners, while usually very trim, never really get “six pack” abs? This is because the layer of fat around the abdomen is typically cause by increased cortisol levels, a stress hormone that is triggered by lack of sleep and over training.

Common Interest / Health / Questions — 0 Comments
13
Mar 09

Can you determine your economic status by how healthy you are?

Brandon, who writes Coachbjl’s blog, recently asked me:

Can you determine your economic status by how healthy you are?

In my opinion, the answer to this question is NO, because health is independent of socioeconomic status (SES).**

Eating well, and being conscious of your health should be a top priority in everyone’s life. If you agree with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it is easy to see how failing to satisfy the needs of good food and health will cause a major weakness in your personal pyramid.

We live in a world in which obesity has reached epidemic proportions. With more than 1 billion adults overweight (at least 300 million of them clinically obese), this extra bulk is a major contributor to the global burden of chronic disease and disability. Often coexisting in developing countries with under-nutrition, obesity is a complex condition, with serious social and psychological dimensions, affecting virtually all ages and socioeconomic groups.

We as North Americans pride ourselves on being part of the developed world and having the resources to feed our population. It is sad that the way we have chosen to feed these people is with refined corn products such as high fructose corn syrup, and meat that has been so pumped full of antibiotics that it’s slowly destroying our immune systems. Combined this with an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and it is easy to see why obesity rates are exploding across all socioeconomic levels.

Figuratively speaking, yes everyone eats, but most of them eat crap!

To get back to Brandon’s question, just as economic status doesn’t determine health, health can’t determine your economic status. It works similar to trying to judge SES by looking at the clothes someone is wearing, or the car they are driving. Almost impossible in today’s credit supported, culture of stuff.

What health can determine or at least positively affect however, is a person’s happiness.

A healthy body, fueled by good food is an excellent vehicle for fun. You will be able to take part in more experiences, not miss out due to illness, and living your life upright and able instead of overweight and in a chair.

If you are worried about how to finance your new healthy way of eating, consider this: An apple cost less than a bag of chips, water is free, and when you stop spending money on cheap carbohydrates which have little food value, and only make you feel more hungry. You will have all that money to spend on good quality protein and fats.

** In the developed world.

Health — 0 Comments
8
Mar 09

What is health to you?

A simple question: What is health?

Many people find this quite difficult to answer however. Health is not a single faceted topic, and there are many variable that come into play. Being a student of CrossFit, I know that this questions has been researched in depth, and the brains behind the program are beginning to provide an answer. I will dig deeper into this topic in future posts, but I would like to leave you with a few ideas to consider.

1. Your body is a machine. Your environment + Fuel provide inputs. The machine does work, and the resulting output is power of some force.

2. On the microscopic level, every cell in your body is made up of molecules that provide the platform for life. All of these molecules are not however, created equal. The saying “you are what you eat” is holds very true, and it is safe to say that the quality of the food you are eating is just as, if not more important than quantity ingested. (For more on this check out the book Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health, by Gary Taubes).

3. To put it in perspective, take the Porsche 911 as an example. Arguably one of the most well designed cars in the world. The reason this car can achieve the power and performance that is does is due to the quality of the parts used to build it. The lightest and best materials, combined with the newest technologies all working together to produce a beautiful automobile. If, however we were to fill the gas tank of our Porsche with diesel fuel, all the aluminum and carbon fiber in the world isn’t going to make this car run and better.

Something to think about next time you’re reaching for that box of processed chemicals that so quickly gets labeled food. Is this good fuel for your machine? Did your body evolve to process this twinky? Is this even food?