Nutrition
Do not fear catabolic hunger. Hunger is not your enemy. Fitness model Jeremy Scott talks about the three basic mistakes that beginners often make with intermittent fasting.
Since I started practicing Intermittent Fasting, I no longer eat a traditional breakfast or anything else before 11am.
Over the past few years, I have worked with numerous people who wanted to try Intermittent Fasting. They practiced this diet in different ways. Some have shared their stories with me, while others have inquired about the basics to see if Intermittent Fasting might be for them. When I first started Intermittent Fasting I wanted to get as slim as possible. A year later, my goal was to gain more muscle mass while maintaining the definition I had...and I achieved my goal of increasing my weight from 83 kilos to 90 kilos with the help of Intermittent Fasting.
You read that right. Getting really defined with the help of intermittent fasting was quite easy. But you can also build quality lean muscle mass with the help of this nutritional approach. I am living proof of this.
How did I achieve this? By avoiding making the 3 most common mistakes that I see numerous other people make when they dive into the world of Intermittent Fasting.
Don't get me wrong, as with everything else, this is a learning process. The biggest benefit of Intermittent Fasting for me was that I was able to live my life more freely and with fewer restrictions compared to my previous "Tupperware meal every 5 hours".
Here are the 3 most common basic mistakes you should avoid if you want to be successful with Intermittent Fasting.
Mistake #1 - You're afraid of being even slightly hungry
We all get hungry. It's just part of life. Whether you're practicing Intermittent Fasting or eating out of a Tupperware bowl every 2 hours, you're going to be hungry from time to time.
I remember hearing this phrase years ago when I was trying to build muscle: "If you're hungry, it's already too late." This idea is based on the concept that your body goes into some crazy catabolic state when you start to feel intense hunger pangs.
However, I can assure you from personal experience that it's perfectly fine to be hungry for a few hours. Your muscles will not disappear immediately. I am living proof of this - as are hundreds of others out there who are practicing intermittent fasting and carrying around a reasonable amount of muscle mass.
I'm 188 centimeters tall and weigh an average of 90 kilos (or more) all year round. I have been eating this way for years and have been steadily building quality muscle mass during that time. I usually fast once a week for a full 24 hours to completely cleanse my body. And guess what - my muscles are still fully intact.
Trust me, all the gains from your hard work won't just disappear if you don't eat for a few hours. The truth is, your digestive system also needs a break from digesting food every second of the day.
You can go 16-18-20-22 or even 24 hours without food. Your body is an amazing machine that can and will adapt to different situations. Short-term fasting for say 16 hours will not cause any significant muscle loss. There are numerous scientific studies that clearly prove this.
I also typically train in a fasted state - no food before training, depending on the day and the type of training session. Sometimes I even allow a few hours after training before my first meal.
However, I usually eat something within an hour of training. What I'm getting at is that being hungry is something normal that is perfectly fine. Don't be afraid of hunger. Think of your body as a fat-burning blast furnace. This blast furnace burns until you start shoveling food into it. This could help you to overcome this fear.
Mistake #2 - You eat junk food most of the time
No diet plan - whether it's intermittent fasting or a standard bodybuilding diet plan with 6 to 8 meals a day - will be successful in the long run if you're eating processed junk. They say you can't build a million dollar body with one dollar meals and that statement is 100% true. If you're struggling to lose fat while following an Intermittent Fasting eating plan, chances are you're having some issues with the quality of your macronutrients or the quantities of those macronutrients you're eating. You can't eat 2 packs of Oreos during your first meal after the fasting phase and think that's okay just because you've been fasting for 16 hours and are now starving.... That's not how it works.
With any eating plan, the best thing you can do is just start. If it runs, swims, flies, grows in the ground, eat it. If it's in a cardboard box or plastic wrapper, don't eat it. This works with virtually any diet plan and Intermittent Fasting is no exception. I'm not saying you have to jump head over heels on the Paleo bandwagon right now, but eating meat, vegetables and healthy fats typically works quite well for me and my clients. Intermittent Fasting is not a free pass to eat junk all day long just because you eat that junk within a shorter window of time. As with anything, what you eat is important - eat clean, quality whole foods and you'll look like Rambo, eat massive amounts of sugar-laden junk and you'll look like the typical everyman. I'll reiterate at this point: there is NO diet plan where you can eat mostly junk food and still look good - eating fresh, clean, whole foods will help you reach your full potential. At this point, however, it should also be mentioned that a couple of cookies or a slice of pizza won't kill you - as long as you eat these things in moderation.
Mistake #3 - Watching the clock - and waiting for the next binge
Let's say you start with the standard 16-8 Intermittent Fasting approach. Fast for 16 hours and eat for the remaining 8 hours. If you sleep 8 hours a day and stop eating 4 hours before going to bed and wait 4 hours after getting up until your first meal, then you will only be awake for 8 hours of your fasting phase. In reality, this is not such a long time without food and fasting is, in a sense, all about learning to go without food.
I don't want to get too philosophical here, but there are a lot of things you can learn about yourself, your commitment and your drive when it comes to regular fasting or fasting as a lifestyle. However, many beginners become people who are constantly watching the clock, just waiting for their next opportunity to eat again because they are worried about "starving". You will not starve. Your body can go for days without food.
In reality, you are either bored or fixated on a meal. If you focus less on the 16 hour window and more on your job, your training, your family and your life, then you will have an easier time with intermittent fasting from the start. If you just sit there watching the clock, waiting and thinking about food, you will only drive yourself crazy and increase the feeling of wanting to give up. In the beginning, it will be a hard transition to go from eating every 2 hours from getting up to going to bed to an intermittent fasting approach where you don't eat for hours at a time. Trust me, after a week you will get used to it. Just live your life.
Schedule your time for things that really matter - life is about more than food preparation, washing Tupperware bowls and eating every 12 minutes. You will probably quickly find that you will be much more productive with intermittent fasting than with your previous eating plan.
At this point it should be mentioned that you don't necessarily have to fast for a full 16 hours every day. If it is only 14 hours one day, this is still a good start. Maybe you are busy at work or traveling with your family and don't eat for 18 hours...Intermittent Fasting is designed to make your life easier and more efficient and transform you into a lean, defined being with a sexy body.
Intermittent Fasting is not meant to hold you hostage to the clock or a dietary regimen. That's the beauty of it - don't keep looking at the clock - plan your fast. Eat when the fasting phase is over. It's about making intermittent fasting something that fits your life and not the other way around. You now have the flexibility to make these choices and not become someone who is constantly watching the clock for fear of losing muscle, going into a catabolic state, or whatever fear you associate with a skipped meal. I hope that those of you who decide to dive into the world of Intermittent Fasting do so wholeheartedly. Intermittent Fasting has taken my body to a whole new level, which has also been the case from a health perspective.
I feel like a rock star and I am stronger, healthier and happier than I have ever been in my entire life. Having the flexibility to travel, attend events, work out or do whatever I want to do without having to worry about my meal prep or getting into a catabolic state is worth more to me than anything else.
Intermittent Fasting is not for everyone. Try it out and remember to start simple and gradually go deeper as you become more familiar with the Intermittent Fasting lifestyle.
Source: https://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/intermittent-fasting-beginner-mistakes
Deciding which protein to use at what times and for what reasons can be a difficult task. This article aims to shed some light on the differences between the properties and uses of the two most important proteins in a bodybuilder's arsenal. These two proteins are, of course, whey protein and casein, which are also known as fast and slow digesting proteins. This article will look at the properties of these proteins and try to highlight what is important to the user.
Facts and myths
So you have a choice between whey protein and casein or between fast-digesting and slow-digesting protein. Many bodybuilders swear by either whey protein or casein and believe that one of these proteins is superior to the other.
However, these people are completely wrong. Either they don't understand the scientific literature or they simply want to make an impression by making a point. Either way, these people are misleading others and I can assure the reader that such a view will ultimately lead to sub-optimal results.
To get the most out of protein supplementation, you need to use both types of protein in the right way at the right times. To get the most out of these two types of protein, it is important to know a little more about their specific properties.
Whey protein
Whey is a by-product of cheese production. When cheese is made, a thin liquid remains. This liquid is whey, which contains less than 1% protein. This liquid is concentrated and dried, resulting in whey protein powder. Whey protein is considered a fast-acting, or more accurately a fast-digesting protein. But what exactly does "fast" mean?
Fast refers to the time it takes for this protein to be fully metabolized, or more specifically, the time it takes for it to be digested, absorbed into the bloodstream, absorbed into the body's tissues and fully utilized.
The two dominant processes here are the formation of new protein from the individual amino acids formed during the digestion of protein or the oxidation to urea and possibly glucose. Urea is the main component of urine, while glucose is the basic human unit of carbohydrate. With whey protein, it takes less than half an hour before almost everything you have ingested circulates through your veins.
Amino acid levels in the blood reach their maximum sometime between 20 and 40 minutes after consumption. Within about an hour, the lion's share of the whey protein consumed will have gone through one of the different metabolic pathways - either protein synthesis or oxidation.
This is a good thing, as muscle growth depends on the balance between protein synthesis and protein breakdown. If the synthesis of new muscle protein is higher than the breakdown of muscle protein, then there will be a net increase in muscle mass.
With whey protein, it only takes 40 minutes for the blood levels of amino acids and protein synthesis to reach their maximum value and less than two hours after consuming a portion of whey protein, both values will return to their initial value. This is surprisingly fast compared to its counterpart casein or even complete protein foods.
Casein
Casein is considered a "slow" or more correctly a slow digesting protein. If you consume casein, you will reach maximum amino acid levels in the blood and maximum protein synthesis after about 3 to 4 hours.
However, the maximum amino acid levels in the blood do not even come close to those of whey protein. On a scale of 1 to 10, the maximum blood amino acid levels of whey protein would be 10, while casein would only achieve a meager 2.
But here is the real highlight. This behavior of casein is not a bad thing, but a good thing. Casein dramatically reduces the rate of protein breakdown and muscle growth, as mentioned earlier, is dependent on the ratio of protein synthesis to protein breakdown.
As you can quickly see, debating whether whey protein or casein is better and which of the two you should rely on exclusively makes no sense if you want to reap the maximum benefits of these proteins. To maximize muscle growth, you need to both increase the rate of protein synthesis and slow down muscle breakdown. You would be foolish to ignore either of these options.
What is the best way to combine the benefits of whey protein and casein?
Many readers will probably think that you should simply mix whey protein and casein to get the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. This is due to casein's unique property of coagulating in the stomach, which means that not only casein but also other proteins present in the stomach are digested more slowly.
You can think of it as if you were trying to run through a lake of tar. It wouldn't be particularly easy and you would only be able to move very slowly. Casein does the same with whey protein and other proteins. So you can think of casein as a kind of binding gel.
This simple fact would therefore neutralize the most important and greatest advantage of whey protein: the ability to quickly flood the body and its systems with a large amount of amino acids and thus stimulate protein synthesis.
Some readers may now think that it would be best to avoid casein or only use casein before going to bed and instead consume whey protein throughout the day in order to continuously flood the body with a maximum amount of protein. Unfortunately, it's not that simple and such an approach would actually be counterproductive.
As scientific studies show, it is not the high amount of amino acids circulating in the blood that stimulates protein synthesis. Rather, it is a strong increase in the amount of amino acids circulating in the blood that is responsible for stimulating protein synthesis. However, this increase in the rate of protein synthesis is only temporary and the rate of protein synthesis will fall back to its initial value around two hours after such an increase, even if the concentration of amino acids in the blood remains very high.
However, it is interesting to note that even if the amino acid levels in the blood are very high and the protein synthesis rate begins to fall again two hours after its initial increase, a further increase in the amino acid levels in the blood will stimulate an increase in the protein synthesis rate again. It appears that an increase in blood amino acid levels always stimulates an increase in the rate of protein synthesis, regardless of the initial amino acid level.
So the bottom line is that it's not about simply consuming x,xxx kcal or xxx grams of protein to saturate the blood with the maximum amount of amino acids all the time. Rather, it is about confronting the body with sudden and sharp increases in blood amino acid levels in order to stimulate protein synthesis and increase the rate of protein synthesis. For this reason, it is important to know the differences between different types of protein supplements.
If certain products emphasize how much of a certain amino acid has been added, or how the amino acid profile has been altered, then that is secondary. The amino acid profile becomes interesting when comparing different protein sources. Whey protein and casein, which are both made from milk, have quite similar amino acid profiles, with a few differences. It is therefore better to focus on the main protein source of a product in order to know whether this product will stimulate protein synthesis or slow down protein breakdown.
Of course, a high protein intake is an important prerequisite for building high quality muscle mass. However, it is important to find the right balance. If you consume so much protein that you have chronically high amino acid levels in your blood, then protein synthesis will never reach its maximum, as there will be no or only rarely a significant increase in the concentration of amino acids in the blood.
As a result, a large proportion of the protein you consume will not be used to build muscle protein or other body proteins, but will simply be burned for energy. Claims often made that excess protein is simply excreted by the body are, of course, absolute nonsense. The body is designed to use all the macronutrients it receives as efficiently as possible and any macronutrients that cannot be used for something else are either burned to provide energy for the body or converted into fat and stored in fat cells.
On the other hand, of course, you should not consume too little protein, which would hinder muscle building by shifting the protein balance towards muscle breakdown.
One strategy for maximizing protein synthesis while minimizing protein breakdown
From all the information about whey protein, casein, protein synthesis and protein breakdown, with a little creativity we can create a plan that should help maximize muscle building.
We know what we need to increase the rate of protein synthesis and reduce protein breakdown. We know that whey protein is the most effective product for increasing protein synthesis rates and that casein is the most effective product for reducing protein breakdown. And we know that we can't use these two proteins together because casein neutralizes the primary benefits of whey protein.
However, we have another weapon in our arsenal that is often forgotten by athletes who are overly fixated on supplements: whole foods. Proteins from whole foods are generally digested quite slowly. This means that, like casein, they provide a constant flow of amino acids into the bloodstream. However, most whole food protein sources do not coagulate in the stomach like casein and therefore do not slow down the digestion of other proteins to the same extent as casein.
The first step is to forget everything you know about the classic timing of supplements. It's perfectly fine to take whey protein at times of the day other than before and after training or right after waking up, and you should do so.
Step 1: Whey protein should be consumed shortly after a meal consisting of whole foods.
This creates an environment that is very conducive to muscle growth. By consuming the whole food meal, you will reduce the rate of muscle protein breakdown because, on the one hand, a slow influx of amino acids into the bloodstream begins and, on the other hand, if the meal contains carbohydrates, the carbohydrates supplied cause an increase in insulin levels, which reduces the rate of muscle protein breakdown.
Insulin is the hormone that regulates the rate of protein synthesis. By increasing the release of insulin before consuming a whey protein shake, you prepare the body for a strong anabolic response. Ideally, the increased insulin levels caused by the carbohydrates in the full meal reach their maximum value at the same time as the increased amino acid levels in the blood caused by the whey shake.
After the whey protein has been completely absorbed by the body, the amino acid levels in the blood will fall again, but they will not reach their starting point, as the increase in amino acid intake caused by the consumption of the complete meal is still maintained. This simple step therefore makes it possible to effectively increase the rate of protein synthesis while reducing protein breakdown.
Step 2: You should consume casein two hours later
By consuming casein, we want to ensure that the amino acid levels in the blood are maintained at a low level in order to continue to prevent protein breakdown. This level should not be too high so that we can later achieve a dramatic increase in blood amino acid levels again, as the degree of increase in the rate of protein synthesis is directly related to the degree of change in blood amino acid levels.
Step 3: Repeat the whole process.
You should alternate a full meal with a whey protein shake followed by a casein-based meal.
At first glance, this may sound quite expensive, as you need a relatively large amount of protein powder per day. Of course, there are ways to modify this approach. However, what you should not do under any circumstances is to reduce the size of the whey protein drink, as the degree of increase in the rate of protein synthesis is directly dependent on the degree of increase in amino acid levels in the blood. Less whey protein therefore means a lower increase in amino acid concentration and consequently a lower increase in the rate of protein synthesis, which results in a lower anabolic effect.
One way to reduce the costs somewhat is to replace the casein-based meal with a protein-rich meal made from whole foods. This can achieve a similar effect.
Summary
In summary, casein is a slow-digesting protein with anti-catabolic properties that prevents protein breakdown, while whey protein is a fast-digesting protein with anabolic properties that increases the rate of protein synthesis but does not inhibit catabolism.
Since casein and whey protein cannot be used simultaneously without neutralizing the anabolic benefits of whey protein, specific timing of these two proteins is required to both maximize muscle building by increasing protein synthesis rates and minimize muscle breakdown by reducing protein catabolism. Incidentally, this strategy is particularly effective in the context of a calorie-restricted diet.
Q: I recently read an article entitled "Rapeseed oil for healthy cooking". Is canola oil really as healthy as olive oil and coconut oil?
A: The fact that everyone believes canola oil is the new messiah in nutrition represents a triumph of marketing over fact similar to other marketing hypes such as claims that goji berries can cure cancer and regrow hair.
Fred Pescatore, MD, author of The Hamptons Diet and one of the best nutrition experts I know, calls canola oil an "ugly" oil. "The modern methods for processing canola oil are what make canola oil so ugly," he says. The oil is removed from the seeds using a mechanical pressing process and a solvent at high temperatures, after which it is further purified, bleached and gum removed, each of these steps requiring high temperatures and chemicals. Unrefined rapeseed oil contains about 10% omega-3 fatty acids, which acquire a disgusting and rancid odor due to the high temperatures during processing. This smell must be neutralized or masked by a deodorization process and this process converts a large percentage of the omega-3 fatty acids into trans fats.
And this is the "healthy" stuff they use to replace saturated fats? even if this were not the case, rapeseed oil would be a poor choice as an oil for cooking, as you should never heat omega-3 fatty acids to high temperatures. "The rapeseed oil you usually find in supermarkets has been refined, heated and completely destroyed," says Pescatore. "Yet even some of the most sophisticated health writers write about this product as if it's healthy, when nothing could be further from the truth."
"I would never use this oil," Pescatore concludes.
I agree with him.
The truth about blood type diets
Q: Is there any truth to these so-called "blood group diets"?
A: The answer is...maybe.
I wish I could give you the short answer I gave to this question a few years ago: "Diets based on your blood type are nutritional astrology!" But the truth is that I'm not as sure as I was then that this is just hokum, even though the way many people interpret this topic is pretty garbage.
Here's a quick summary of the theory: there is a chemical reaction between your blood and the foods you eat that is brought about by a group of proteins called lectins. According to Peter D'Adamo, author of the book Eat Right for your Type, what happens when you eat foods that contain lectins that are not compatible with your blood type is that these lectins target specific organs and begin to stick blood cells together. This is not life-threatening, but it does affect your well-being.
According to Michael Lam, MD, MPH, 95% of the lectins you ingest from food are broken down by your body, but the remaining 5% are not. These remaining 5% enter your bloodstream and can have different reactions with different organs. If you've never heard of this stuff, here's the short version:
- Type 0 is the high protein, meat-eating type.
- Type A is the typical tofu-eating vegetarian
- Type B and AB are mixed types who can eat almost anything
Of course, the whole thing is a bit more complicated, but these are the basics. There has been some research - including by Laura Power, Ph.D. - regarding the influence of blood type on diet, and it appears that blood type may be one of the determining factors in what foods are best for a given person. But there are more than a few caveats here.
First of all, there are more than the four blood types you read about in popular science nutrition books. In reality, there are about 20 different subgroups of people with blood type A alone. These subgroups have important differences and do not react in the same way to certain foods.
The second problem is that blood type is only one of many factors. For example, I have seen more than one type A person who felt bad on a vegetarian diet. And even if your blood type should be fine with dairy, you could suffer from a lactose intolerance that makes the whole thing irrelevant.
Thirdly, people who use blood type as a serious diagnostic tool and nutritional planning aid take far more than just your blood type into account. Naturopath and physician Dekker Weiss, NMD, a supporter of blood type theory, told me that he does all sorts of additional testing besides blood typing to figure out how to optimally personalize nutrition for the best results. My personal opinion is that using just four blood types as a basis for overall diet planning is pretty thin, and I think most supporters of this system will agree with me here. Even D'Adamo, who popularized the whole topic in the first place, offers an intensive seminar for experts to show how to use this system correctly.
And Laura Power, who did the research I mentioned, has developed what she calls the eight "biotypes" based on the blood group data. I myself like to use the blood group story as a party trick. If someone tells me they are a big meat eater and feel good with this, there's a good chance they have blood type 0. It almost always works.
Stress fighter, fatigue killer
Q: Is Rhodiola worth a try or is it nothing more than hype?
A: Rhodiola is actually quite a good thing.
Rhodiola Rosea is a plant that grows in cold climates such as the Alps and Iceland. It's known as an adaptogen, which means it can improve your mood when you're feeling low and calm you down when you're aroused. An adaptogen is like a thermostat that regulates the temperature in a home. An adaptogen is used to improve mood, reduce stress and combat tiredness and fatigue.
And the research on the subject is promising.
A review published by the prestigious American Botanical Council in 2002 concluded that numerous studies conducted with Rhodiola show that Rhodiola helps prevent fatigue and reduce stress. According to Dr. Andrew Weil, it also improves immune function and increases sexual energy.
A placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind study examined the effects of Rhodiola on physical capacity, muscle strength, speed of limb movement, reaction time and alertness in healthy volunteers. The results documented that Rhodiola can improve endurance training capacity. (Int. J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab; 14(3): 298-307, 2004). Another study investigated the effects of Rhodiola on 40 students during a stressful exam period. The most significant improvements were observed in the areas of physical fitness, mental fatigue and neuromotor tests. Significant improvements in general well-being were also observed in the Rhodiola group. The respectable Physicians Desk Reference for Herbal Medicines says, "Rhodiola may be helpful in relieving mental and physical fatigue and improving endurance exercise performance and general well-being."
The recommended dosage is 50 to 200 mg per day. You should be careful to buy rhodiola from a source with a good reputation and not some clown from a TV commercial.
Sweet!
Q: In your book The 150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy, you mention Lo Han, a sweetener. What is it all about? I've never heard of this stuff before!
A: Lo Han is the name of a sweetener extract from the Luo Han Guo plant that grows in the mountains of southern China. This is also known as Luo Han Guo and Luo Han Kuo. Lo Han has a vanishingly low glycemic impact, is much sweeter than sugar - about 250 times sweeter - and can be used in both hot and cold foods, which means you can use it in baking and cooking, and you can add it to coffee or tea.
Commercial Lo Han products such as Lo Han Sweet provide around 2 kcal per serving.
From hungry to horny
Q: Are there any foods that act as aphrodisiacs?
A: I wish there was such a thing.
Beer bellies and bad foods
Q: Are there specific foods or dietary regimens that result in more fat accumulation in the belly area? And can beer lead to a beer belly as it causes fat to be preferentially stored in the abdominal area?
A: Are there foods that cause fat storage in the abdominal area? Yes: Foods with too many calories and too much sugar. Is that enough of an answer for you?
Okay, seriously, that's a good question and here's the answer. When you spike insulin levels, as you do with high-sugar foods or highly processed carbohydrates, you increase the likelihood of developing insulin resistance. Insulin resistance almost always goes hand in hand with a big, fat belly. In fact, the following is a "low-tech" test for insulin resistance: If you walk towards a wall, does your belly hit the wall in front of you? A man with an abdominal circumference of over 100 cm and a woman with an abdominal circumference of over 88 cm will almost always suffer from insulin resistance. You can alleviate insulin resistance with a low-carb diet. It's not just sugar and carbohydrates that make you fat, but they dramatically increase levels of the hormone insulin, also known as the 'fat storage hormone'.
You could eat 10,000 kcal a day in the form of coconut oil and you'd be fat as a horse, even though coconut oil contains no carbohydrates. And you can be fat as a barrel and carry most of your fat around on your back or your thighs, your hips and your butt. However, if I were trying to avoid a life preserver around my midsection, the first thing I would cut back on would be sugar and processed carbs. And as for the beer belly, although many types of beer contain massive amounts of carbohydrates, it is believed that beer may contain estrogen-like compounds that could promote fat storage around your midsection.
However, if you drink a six-pack of beer every night, the calories alone will cause you to store fat. Remember that the term beer belly wasn't chosen because the term steak belly was already taken.
By Jonny Bowden
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/question-of-nutrition-7
Q: What's the final word on saturated fat?
A: As with many topics, the answer to this question depends a lot on who you ask. Since you asked me, I'll give you my opinion on the subject, but you can be sure that if you ask a Stepford Wife Dietitian, you'll get a completely different answer. Of course, you probably wouldn't be reading my column if you were the type of person who listens to these idiots.
For years, the main argument against saturated fat has been that it raises cholesterol levels, which in turn causes heart disease. But the importance of cholesterol as a primary risk factor for heart disease is increasingly being questioned. And the fact is that saturated fats sometimes raise cholesterol levels and sometimes don't, and it may well be that they ultimately play no role at all.
In 2008, there was a two-day conference organized by the American Society of Bariatric Physicians in conjunction with the Metabolism Society in Arizona on the topic: "Saturated Fat and Heart Disease: What's the Evidence?" I attended this conference, which featured some of the brightest scientists studying this topic, and I can summarize the answer to the question "What is the evidence?" in a few words: "There isn't much."
In my opinion, the "fate" of saturated fat in the body depends entirely on what else you eat. If you're on a high-carb diet, the consequences of saturated fat can indeed be devastating, but if you're on a low-carb diet, it's a completely different story.
"When carbohydrate intake is low, insulin levels are low and fat is processed more efficiently," says Jeff Volek, PhD, RD - one of the leading scientists in the field of nutritional comparison. "When carbohydrate intake is low, you burn those saturated fats to fuel the body and produce less saturated fat."
So eat less carbohydrates and a lot less sugar and it could be that the amount of saturated fat you consume doesn't matter. One reason I think saturated fats have been demonized is that a lot of the research on diet and disease has lumped saturated fats in with trans fats. Trans fats were not an issue until recently, and for decades scientists conducting nutrition studies did not differentiate between saturated fats and trans fats. But why does it matter? Because man-made trans fats really are the devil's spawn. They clearly increase the risk of heart disease and stroke and are responsible for 30,000 premature deaths a year, according to Harvard professors Walt Willett and Alberto Ascherio.
Another reason that saturated fats have such a bad reputation is that many of the saturated fats people consume come from unhealthy sources. Fried foods are not a particularly good way to "enrich" your diet with fat. The same goes for highly processed, hormone-treated meat. The saturated fats from healthy animals - like grass-fed cattle or lambs - or the saturated fats in organic butter or egg yolks are a whole different story.
I have yet to see any convincing evidence that saturated fats from whole food sources like the ones I just mentioned have even a single negative effect on heart disease, health or mortality - which is especially true when these foods are consumed as part of a diet rich in plant foods, antioxidants, fiber and all the other good stuff you can eat as part of a diet with controlled carbohydrate intake. What's the verdict? While there may be certain cases where saturated fat can be a problem - people with the ApoE4 gene, which makes them more susceptible to Alzheimer's, seem to benefit from avoiding too much saturated fat, for example - most people who follow a healthy diet with moderate calories that is low in sugar should have no problems with saturated fat from whole food sources. Of course, this won't stop these diet dictators from continuing to tell us that a low-fat diet prevents heart disease, but new facts have rarely interested the American Dietetic Association until now!
Is honey really that healthy?
Q: Some people claim that honey is a very healthy food. Is it really that good for us or is honey just sugar?
A: Well, those are two separate questions:
- Is honey good for you?
- Is honey just sugar?
I'll deal with the second question first. From your body's perspective, honey is just sugar.
In terms of glycemic impact - how quickly a particular food raises your blood sugar levels - it doesn't make much difference whether you eat regular table sugar, unprocessed raw sugar, brown rice syrup, cane sugar, honey or any other variety of sugar, which incidentally includes the latest craze in the supposedly healthy food market called agave nectar syrup, which is even worse than high fructose corn syrup in terms of its composition. So if you're trying to reduce your sugar intake, honey counts here. The first question - is honey good for you? - is a bit more complicated and also depends on your definition of honey.
If by honey you mean the junk you buy in the supermarket in those cute little plastic bottles that look like a teddy bear, then the answer is almost certainly 'no'.
If by honey you mean raw, unfiltered, unheated, unpasteurized organic honey, then the answer is "maybe".
Even though both types of honey will spike your blood sugar levels to the same extent, this does not mean that they are nutritionally identical. Raw, unprocessed honey that comes straight from the comb contains a range of nutrients and enzymes and is a wholesome, albeit very sweet, food. If you don't have problems with your blood sugar, you can use honey wisely for sweetening. In general, "the harder the better" applies to honey. The extent of crystallization (the hardness) determines the level of active nutrients and heat-sensitive enzymes. Some types of honey are even sold with parts of the comb in the jar. Real honey contains flavanones, flavones and flavonols, which are known for their antioxidant activity.
Remember that processed honey, like the stuff from the bear bottle, is just another highly processed food that has been stripped of all the good ingredients and is nothing more than a sweet, golden-colored liquid that's about as good for you as sugar-coated cornflakes.
Fake "Health" Foods
Q: What is a food that dedicated athletes eat, but are better off not eating? In other words, I would like to know what widely available, supposed health foods are.
A: I thought this was an excellent question to ask my panel of experts and not one of them hesitated to offer an opinion on this - all of whom are good, by the way.
Gregg Avedon, who is one of the most successful fitness models in the world, mentioned sports drinks like Gatorade or Powerade. "These drinks are designed for endurance athletes and professional athletes who are burning calories like crazy and depleting their muscle glycogen stores very quickly and in a big way, and yet average fitness enthusiasts who train in the medium to low intensity range drink these drinks without thinking twice."
Nutrition expert and exercise physiologist JJ Virgin, PhD, singled out energy bars that are often overloaded with chemicals and sometimes even trans fats and high fructose corn syrup. Gina Lombardi, host of the Discovery Channel program Fit Nation and author of the book Deadline Fitness picked baked chips. "High in sodium, chemicals and processed carbs!" she noted.
Top New York fitness trainer, model and personal trainer Angie Lee chose fruit juice. "Way too high in calories and sugar and makes it harder for people to control their liquid calories," was her observation. In my opinion, the judges' award for junk with purported health benefits goes to Jamba Juice's smoothies.
Most of these high-carb, high-calorie, high-glycemic nightmares will send your blood sugar levels skyrocketing faster than a border collie on methamphetamine. Example: The banana berry smoothie with 112 grams of carbohydrates and 480 kcal. Don't be misled by these fake fitness foods!
The truth about coffee
Q: Is coffee good or bad. It seems like the experts can't make up their minds!
A: It's not that we can't agree on the facts about caffeine, it's that reasonable people can come to different conclusions about what those facts mean. It's much like any other area of life from politics to economics. So let's take a look at some of these facts. There are some interesting facts about coffee: Coffee is a very good source of antioxidants. In a comparison of the antioxidant properties of different beverages, coffee was ranked in the top tier along with tea and grapefruit juice (1).
A 2001 study published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry concluded that coffee contains significantly more total antioxidants than coconut, green tea, black tea or herbal tea. A study published in 2006 concluded that coffee could inhibit inflammation and thereby reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and other inflammatory diseases in postmenopausal women. Two of the antioxidants responsible for the health benefits of coffee are chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid. Both are powerful antioxidants and coffee beans are one of the richest sources of chlorogenic acid in the world.
More facts: Caffeine increases exercise tolerance in patients suffering from heart failure. According to the Nurses Health Study, two to three cups of coffee could reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease. Coffee reduces the formation of gallstones in men and could protect against alcohol-related liver disease. And let's not forget the social benefits of coffee: what would all those people who meet online do without meeting for a coffee to get to know each other in real life?
So is coffee good for you? Let's look at some more facts. Scientific research has shown that even one or two cups of coffee can increase the risk of early miscarriage during a normal pregnancy. Three or more cups of coffee a day can seriously exacerbate PMS symptoms and the amount of caffeine contained in two to three cups of coffee can increase systolic and diastolic blood pressure for at least one to two hours.
So what are the conclusions? Many of my friends in the health world seem to think that coffee is one of the big bad wolves of the modern diet and claim that it can contribute to adrenal burnout, inner restlessness and reduced sleep quality and can seriously increase blood pressure in people susceptible to this.
While it's obviously better not to overstimulate yourself by consuming 19 cups at Starbucks a day, I think that coffee is a perfectly acceptable beverage to consume within reason and has more benefits than drawbacks. The slight increase in blood sugar from caffeinated coffee is a bonus for athletes who can use that blood sugar as an energy source for their muscles. This is one of the reasons that small amounts of coffee before a sporting event are considered performance enhancing. One thing to think about: coffee is one of the most heavily pesticide-treated crops. If you have the choice, you should go for the organic variety. But as with most things, the dose makes the poison. If you need coffee to stay awake, it's probably not so good for you. If you drink a few cups of coffee and it doesn't keep you awake unintentionally or make your hands shake, then you have nothing to worry about.
Natural appetite control
Q: Are there any foods that can help control appetite while dieting?
A: There are two ways that I know of that can help control appetite naturally. One is careful control of blood sugar fluctuations and the other is eating high-volume, low-calorie foods.
Cravings are the biggest enemy of any diet and nothing increases cravings more than a roller coaster of blood sugar. You know what it feels like: you eat something high in carbs, your blood sugar shoots up, insulin is released and removes the sugar from your bloodstream until your blood sugar is lower than when you started and now you're ready to kill someone for a bagel.
Interestingly, you never get those cravings when you eat steak and broccoli, do you? That's why choosing really low-glycemic foods is so important. I had a breakfast that consisted of beans and I wasn't hungry for hours afterwards. Anything low-glycemic - vegetables, eggs, beans, etc. - should work. And make sure you're getting enough fat in your meal. This will keep you fuller for longer and is a surefire way to control your appetite (who wants to eat when they're full?). If you stick to the lower end of the glycemic scale, this should help you control cravings and excessive appetite.
High-volume foods are things that fill you up while providing very few calories. These foods usually contain a lot of water. These include foods such as watermelon, cucumber and, of course, soup. For reasons not yet fully understood, the combination of liquid and the typical hearty taste of soup is an appetite killer.
You can combine the best of both worlds - low-glycemic, high-volume meals - by choosing soup that's loaded with vegetables, meat or beans. Other appetite-reducing, high-volume foods include pumpkin and guava, both of which are loaded with fiber and will fill you up very well. There's no great science to back this up, but drinking green tea throughout the day can also help. In addition to having a thermogenic effect, there is anecdotal evidence that around five cups a day can significantly help with weight loss.
Eating for bigger muscles
Q: What is your personal favorite high-protein recipe that would be good for a bodybuilder?
A: I asked my friend Gregg Avedon this question. Gregg has been on the cover of Men's Health more times than any other fitness model and he's also a much better cook than I am. He gave me one of his favorite recipes from his book Muscle Chow.
Post-Workout Egg Salad Sandwich
- 6 hard-boiled eggs (2 whole eggs and 4 egg whites) *
- 1 heaping tablespoon of mustard
- 1 portion of fish oil
- A pinch of black pepper
- Some smoked paprika
- 2 slices of Ezekiel bread
- 50 grams of raisins (only for after training)
Preparation:
- Mix the eggs, egg whites and mustard in a large bowl. Use a potato masher to break everything into small pieces.
- Add pepper and paprika and mix well.
- Spoon the egg salad mixture onto a slice of bread and place another slice of bread on top.
- Serve the raisins as a side dish to help replenish your muscle glycogen stores more quickly.
* You can increase the amount of protein(and calories) by using 6 whole eggs instead of 2 whole eggs and 4 egg whites.
And if you insist, here's my own (much less creative) favorite high-protein snack:
- Pour a can of tuna into a bowl
- Add a stick of diced celery
- Add a handful of whole or chopped almonds
- Season everything with lemon pepper, sea salt and turmeric and mix well
References
1 Pelligrini, Seafini, et al "Antioxidant capacity of Plant Foods, Beverages and oils Consumed in Italy Assessed by Three Different Assays", Journal of Nutrition, 133: 2812-2819, September 2003.
Measure your belly!
Q: I've read that your waist size can be the best indicator of your overall health. Is this true? If so, what are the guidelines here?
A: For years, we nutritionists have used a low-tech method as an indicator of insulin resistance: a waist circumference of 100 cm or more for men or 88 cm or more for women. If your waist circumference exceeds this value, then you can bet your life savings that you are suffering from insulin resistance and are on your way to even bigger problems.
Interestingly, these abdominal circumferences are the exact numbers that a recent study correlated with double the risk of death compared to smaller abdominal circumferences - less than 86 centimeters for men and less than 71 centimeters for women. Each 5-centimeter increase in abdominal circumference increased the risk of death by 17% for men and 13% for women. Previous research showed that the same figures - 100 cm for men or 88 cm for women - were an indicator of a higher risk of stroke. I don't usually like terms like "the best indicator of overall health" because there are so many interwoven factors that come into play, but if there is such a thing as a best indicator by far, belly fat would be a hot contender for the title. Not all body fat is created equal. The fat stored around the hips, butt and thighs, also known as subcutaneous fat because it's just under the skin, may drive you crazy and make your jeans burst, but it's not nearly as dangerous as the other type of body fat - belly fat, which is stored around the midsection and is also known as visceral fat. The latter is a metabolic nightmare.
Stored deep inside the abdomen, it is a metabolically active fat that directly increases the risk of all kinds of health problems, including metabolic syndrome and diabetes. In the study mentioned above, scientists examined data from nearly 360,000 Europeans who were followed over a 10-year period. The men and women with the largest waist circumference had twice the risk of premature death compared to people with a smaller waist circumference.
This was true even when all other risk factors such as smoking and alcohol consumption were eliminated. "There are not many simple individual characteristics that can increase the risk of premature death to this extent," said study author Tobias Pischon, MD, MPH.
So yes, belly fat tells you a lot about your health. It may not be the best indicator of overall health by far, but it's pretty darn close.
Fighting water with water?
Q: What's with this new study showing that drinking extra water in the morning can help with water elimination?
A: Don't get too excited. As one reporter correctly pointed out about this study, "the effects are small and the study results are preliminary." But there is evidence that water can help burn a few extra calories, and since the benefits of water for other things are so numerous, you should definitely drink enough water if you don't already. And if you don't already, you'd be an idiot and probably not even reading this column. Here are the facts: German scientists studied calorie consumption in 14 healthy and normal-weight men and women. Within 10 minutes of consuming 500 ml of water, the subjects' metabolic rate increased by about 30% and reached its maximum after 30 to 40 minutes.
Interestingly, there was a difference between the sexes - the increase in metabolic rate in men involved more fat burning, while the increase in metabolic rate in women involved more carbohydrate burning. 30% may sound like a lot, but when you consider that the resting metabolic rate of a 70 kilo person is about 1.2 kcal per minute (about 75 kcal per hour), a 30% increase in metabolic rate is only 20 kcal. Consuming an additional 1.5 liters per day would equate to an additional 17,400 kcal of calories consumed per year, or about five pounds of fat.
That may not be a huge weight loss, but here's the interesting part: water is needed for almost every metabolic process in the body. It flushes waste products and toxins out of the body. It helps lubricate joints and keep skin fresh and moisturized. And it helps prevent water retention - even if this is a bit of a paradox. So you need to drink water anyway, and if it helps you lose an extra half pound a month, that's a nice bonus.
For you trainers with weight loss clients, I have a formula. There is absolutely no science to support this formula, but I have found that it works really well for most people: Take your current weight in pounds, divide it by 2, and drink that many ounces of water per day (converted to the metric system, this is roughly body weight in kilos * 35 ml of water). For a person weighing 80 kilos, that would be about 2.8 liters.
Drinking this much can't hurt and could help you considerably.
Secondary hormones
Q: People talk about all the hormones in poultry, milk, etc. Is this something to worry about? The bottom line is that all hormones are large proteins. Aren't they broken down into their individual amino acids during digestion anyway?
A: Where did you read this propaganda? Carbon monoxide is just a simple mixture of carbon and oxygen and yet you don't suck it out of the tailpipe, do you?
The hormones used in livestock farming in many countries can have all sorts of effects on the body, none of which have been fully studied and none of which are likely to be really good. And it's not just the hormones. These poorly treated animals are pumped full of antibiotics and fed an unnatural diet of grain that makes them sick and shifts the balance of their fats towards the pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids.
So even if you're not a supporter of animal rights, you should still avoid the meat available in supermarkets like the plague for selfish reasons. Grass-fed and humanely treated animals should be the meat of choice, as they are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and CLA, which can help you lose fat, and don't contain antibiotics or hormones that you don't need or want. If you are taking hormones, you should get them from a doctor and know what you are taking. Do you really want to take the hormones that are given to cattle?
Less oil, more T
Q: As a weight-training man who wants to build bigger muscles, what foods can I eat to lower my estrogen levels naturally?
A: My question to you is how do you know what your estrogen levels are? And if you don't know how high they are, how do you know if they need to be reduced? All men naturally convert small amounts of testosterone into estrogen - just as women naturally produce some testosterone in their bodies. In general, if you have a large amount of testosterone - either because your body produces a lot of testosterone or because you have a nice cooperative doctor - your estrogen levels will also be slightly higher, as some of the extra testosterone will be converted to estrogen. Too low estrogen levels are not desirable either, as estrogen has some important protective benefits. But of course oestrogen levels should not be too high either.
The fact is that without a blood test, preferably done by a doctor who knows a lot about hormones, there is no way to know what your estrogen levels are. And, at the risk of sounding like a teacher, I'd like to point out that it's never a good idea to tweak your hormones without medical supervision. In fact, it's a pretty stupid idea.
There's nothing wrong with using testosterone, but trying to figure out the right dosage without a blood test and smart monitoring is about as smart as trying to hit the dartboard blindfolded in a crowded pub. You might hit the target, but you're more likely to hit something/someone else. If your estrogen levels are indeed too high, your doctor may suggest a low dose of an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase is the enzyme responsible for converting testosterone to estrogen. One way to reduce this conversion is to inhibit this enzyme. I don't know of any foods that you could eat that have an anti-oestrogen effect, but I do know of some foods that you should avoid - including soy. If you don't want to give up soy completely, then you should at least eat less of it. The phytoestrogens found in soy can be helpful for some people in certain cases, but if you're a man worried about high estrogen levels, the last thing you want is more estrogen in your diet - even if it's the weaker versions like the estrogen derivatives found in soy.
That is, of course, unless you have a strange desire to grow man boobs.
Good food at the airport
Q: I often find myself in airports that are flooded with fast food restaurants and gift stores. Where can I get some protein and healthy fats here?
A: Airport food used to be a nightmare, but it's gotten a lot better. I see all kinds of restaurants and snack bars where you can find chicken salad, sushi, cheese & nuts and all kinds of good stuff. Something else you can take anywhere would be beef jerky and a bag of mixed nuts.
Less acid
Q: I've been hearing a lot lately about the acid-heavy American diet. But what does acid-heavy mean in this context and what harmful effects does it have?
A: Acidic and alkaline/basic are represented by the Ph scale, which ranges from 0 (extremely acidic, like battery acid) to 14 (extremely alkaline). A Ph of 7 is considered neutral and the Ph of the blood is usually kept in a very narrow range between 7.35 and 7.45, preferably 7.40, which is a touch towards the alkaline side of the scale. Please read the following carefully as it has important implications for both general health and bodybuilding in particular.
Since I know most readers care more about bodybuilding than general health (okay, I'm kidding), I'll cover that part first. As you get older, you lose some muscle mass - even if you train with weights to maintain your muscles. One reason you lose muscle has to do with nitrogen, which, as you get older, is broken down at a faster rate than you can consume it. And the reason this happens is due to a slow change in kidney function, which results in an acidic state of the blood. And as you probably know, you can't build new muscle without a positive nitrogen balance.
From a health perspective, this is the same acidic state that contributes to a loss of calcium, which ultimately leads to osteoporosis. This is further exacerbated by a high sodium to potassium ratio in the Western diet, but that's another story. A diet rich in animal foods, grains and sugar shifts the blood's pH slightly towards the acidic range. This slightly more acidic blood pH also contributes to reduced muscle strength, increased levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) and a loss of calcium, as well as a loss of zinc, magnesium and other important minerals.
What can you do about this?
The answer is simple: eat more fruit and vegetables. The problem is not animal products per se, but the imbalance between highly acidic foods (of which we usually eat a ton) and alkaline foods (of which we eat too little). "Balancing animal products with fruits and vegetables is the key to keeping blood Ph levels in the slightly alkaline range," says bodybuilder and USDA scientist C. Leigh Broadhurst, PhD.
A 1995 study by Remer, T., and F. Manz titled "Potential renal acid load of foods and its influence on urine pH." published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association 95 (7): 791-797) examined the acidifying and alkalizing effects of foods. Raisins and spinach were particularly alkalizing, but all types of fruits and vegetables will help establish a healthy acid-alkaline balance.
By Jonny Bowden
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/question-of-nutrition-5
