Nutrition

From a plastic point of view, the human body is very versatile and can take on a whole range of different forms. Even people who roamed the halls of high school at a young age with an athletically built body eventually achieve what is known in the Anglo-American world as a "dad bod". ("Dad Bod" is an abbreviation for Daddy Body and describes a body with little muscle and a slight tummy bulge). Is this the pinnacle of human development today? Men who look like the apple-shaped guy from the Fruit of the Loom underwear commercials? Normal-weight people are the minority, while overweight and obesity affect about two-thirds of the U.S. adult population. Beyond the social stigma and functional limitations these obese people face, there is a well-documented link between obesity and a number of chronic health problems that have reached epidemic proportions over the past half century: Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, liver disease, heart disease, and certain cancers in addition to other less prevalent ailments (1).

Obesity is sometimes defined by the fat deposits that are most affected. For example, many women develop a "gynoid" appearance with fat deposits primarily located in the hips, buttocks and thighs and may also include "chicken wings" that hang down below the upper arms. Surprisingly, this type of obesity is less harmful than the so-called "android" type. By "android" we do not mean a fast-food consuming robot, but the typical man with a belly that hangs over his belt like a wide fleshy tie. These appearances are also referred to as apple-shaped and pear-shaped.

Visceral obesity (fat around the internal organs) is basically the same as truncal obesity, which is pretty much the same as "android" obesity. Some men have a big belly due to excessive amounts of subcutaneous fat with little visceral fat, but this is the exception rather than the rule. Furthermore, fat can also be deposited in certain organs and not just around them. The liver is a vital organ. If fat accumulates in the liver, it no longer functions properly and can send out inflammatory signals that promote disease and cause an altered hormone metabolism. There is a condition known as "non-alcoholic fatty liver disease", which affects up to a third of all American adults and describes metabolic impairments that occur as a result of a "fatty liver" (2).

So there are more than just cosmetic reasons why a slimmer waistline and healthy body composition should be the goal of every sensible person. A slimmer waistline and healthy body composition can help maintain or regain overall health and healthy metabolic function and prevent premature death. Visceral obesity is closely related to the metabolic disorders listed above that are associated with obesity and the role of chronic inflammation is believed to be a linking factor (3). Recent research suggests that the flora of gut bacteria, known as the microbiome, may play a significant role (4).

Although bodybuilders are amazingly adept at modifying their bodies and reducing both body fat and waist circumference to a physiological and anatomical minimum, the general public struggles with this. As things currently stand, gastric bypass surgery is recommended for severely obese people to achieve significant and sustained weight loss. Obviously, this involves high cost and high risk.

The power of fasting

Recently, several studies have reported the effects of individualized nutritional regimens rather than dieting on visceral obesity. Most diets focus on how much a person eats or perhaps the macronutrient ratio(carbohydrate: protein: fat), as is the case with the Zone diet, the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet and other ketogenic diet programs. These diets rely on restoring the body's sensitivity to the hormone insulin and reducing its fat-promoting properties by reducing the carbohydrate content of the diet and lowering the glycemic index or glycemic load. But there is a proposed solution that could be even simpler and is related to when a person eats. The concept of fasting is similar and relates to a period of time during which a person does not eat. Obviously, although this will help to reduce weight, it is not a long-term solution as the body will start to break down lean body mass to meet energy needs and both physical and cognitive performance will suffer. Prolonged fasting can also lead to suppression of immune function, bone loss, organ damage and eventually death (5). Nevertheless, the power of fasting can be harnessed in judicious doses to deliver many of the fat loss benefits without loss of lean body mass or compromised health. This has been demonstrated in animal studies and there is also a limited amount of human data (6). Unfortunately, there is no standard timing scheme, so this approach is still in its infancy.

Different terms including 'intermittent fasting' and 'alternate-day fasting' have been used to describe the regimens that have been used in published studies. Time-restricted eating involves limiting eating to a set number of hours per day, during which you can eat pretty much anything you want - but only within a four to eight hour window. Alternate-day fasting is exactly what it sounds like - you eat whatever you want one day and fast the next (consuming about 25 percent of maintenance calories on the fast days) (7).

Without limiting the amounts a person may eat on any of the non-fasting days, it sounds like these diets are structured to promote epidemic binge eating disorders. However, the limited research on this topic seems to show that even when people eat more on non-fasting days, the additional amount is not that much higher than normal and becomes less and less over time, and food intake eventually tends to level off at the normal daily calorie intake (8). This means that the calories "avoided" by fasting can be more or less subtracted from the weekly calorie intake and fasting on alternate days can lead to a significant calorie deficit over time.

Most studies cited on alternate-day fasting showed an average weight loss of 6.5 percent over eight weeks (9). Intermittent fasting involves a less extreme variance in calorie intake but still appears to lead to a reduction in calories consumed each week. Both approaches appear to maintain lean body mass, while most of the weight loss can be attributed to a reduction in fat (10). In addition to the long-term caloric deficit that accumulates during fasting days, there also appears to be an increase in the release and utilization of stored fat, an adjustment in metabolism and physiology to utilize stored reserves (fat) to a greater extent and more efficiently, and a positive change in cardiovascular markers of health that suggest further health benefits (6, 7). For people who want to lose "belly fat", these diets may be the optimal solution. Animal and human studies show that fat loss is the same for both approaches, with little or no loss of lean body mass.

The Mediterranean diet, olive oil and insulin sensitivity

The aforementioned optimizations can be easily integrated into most diets and nutrition plans. The first thing you should do is make wise food choices, even if you are allowed to eat whatever you want. Animal studies show that intermittent, phased food intake induces fat loss while maintaining lean body mass and is associated with changes in brain chemistry that may combat a slowdown in metabolic rate often seen with calorie restriction while avoiding hunger issues (11). In terms of these "wise" food choices, following the Mediterranean dietary style appears to be an option. A key component of the Mediterranean diet is olive oil, which is rich in the monounsaturated fatty acid oleic acid. Three diets were compared in a study that followed 11 insulin-resistant people with a family history of type 2 diabetes (12). The diets, which each subject followed for 4 weeks before moving on to the next diet after a short break, were rich in saturated fat, monounsaturated fat or carbohydrates. All the diets considered contained only 15 percent protein and were designed to maintain body weight. In the end, it was clear that the high-carbohydrate diet (65%) had the least benefits and caused a redistribution of body fat towards the abdomen. This has particular relevance for men who experience "android" fat distribution when they gain weight.

The diet rich in olive oil produced better insulin sensitivity and lower adipokine levels. Diets rich in saturated fats have been reported to reduce insulin sensitivity (13). Adipokines are fat cell hormones that increase calorie burning, suppress appetite (leptin) and improve insulin sensitivity (adiponectin) in a healthy person. However, when fat cells become excessively large or resistant to regulatory signals, the levels of these adipokines increase in an unhealthy way. This is why studies looking at obese people see reductions in these adipokines, and this is a positive change, unlike the same change in a lean person.

Imagine a person shouting to get their point across in a discussion by speaking louder and their message is clearer when they speak louder. And now imagine a person who is hard of hearing who can only follow a conversation when someone is shouting and even then cannot understand everything properly. If the hard of hearing person gets a hearing aid, the conversation becomes quieter - not because the speaker doesn't want to communicate, but because the ears work better. With weight loss or a better diet, adipokines no longer have to "shout" so loudly in obese people. More exciting than the changes in the lab reports, however, was the discovery that the olive oil diet prevented the fat redistribution toward the abdomen that was observed with the high-carbohydrate diet. This suggests that a low-carbohydrate diet with added olive oil in conjunction with intermittent fasting or fasting on alternate days may be best for reducing abdominal fat.

As with any diet, this could be the "one" diet or a diet that is not tolerated. Certainly the early research regarding these "when" diets versus "what" or "how much" diets is promising. Incorporating lessons already learned - such as reducing carbohydrates, limiting saturated fat consumption and incorporating olive oil - could increase the power of these programs in terms of promoting health and reducing waist size. The convenience of watching the clock, rather than the calorie count, certainly has its own charm.

References:

1. O'Neill S, O'Driscoll L. Metabolic syndrome: a closer look at the growing epidemic and its associated pathologies. Obes Rev 2015; 16: 1 - 12
2. Abd El-Kader SM, El-Den Ashmawy EM. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The diagnosis and management. World J Hepatol 2015; 7: 846 - 58
3. Johnson AR, Milner JJ, et al. The infammation highway : metabolism accelerates inflammatory traffic in obesity. Immunol Rev 2012; 249: 218-38
4. Cavalcante-Silva LH, Galvao JG, et al. Obesity-Driven Gut Microbia Inflammatory Pathways to Metabolic Syndrome. Front Physiol 2015 Nov 19; 6: 341 (11pp)
5. Getaz L, Rieder JP, et al. Hunger strike among detainees: guidance for good medical practice. Swiss Med Wkly 2012 Sep 17; 142: w13675 (5pp).
6. Horne BD, Muhlestein JB, et al. Health effects of intermittent fasting: hormesis or harm? A systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr 2015; 102: 464-70
7. Patterson RE, Laughlin GA, et al. Intermittent Fasting and Human Metabolic Health. J Acad Nutr Diet 2015; 115: 1203 - 12
8. Hoddy KK, Kroeger CM, et al. Safety of alternate day fasting and effect on disordered eating behaviors. Nutr J 2015 May 6; 14: 44 (3pp)
9. Varady KA, Bhutani S, et al. Alternate day fasting for weight loss in normal weight and overweight subjects: a randomized controlled trial. Nutr J. 2013 Nov 12; 12(1):146 (8pp)
10. Klempel MC, Kroeger CM, et al. Alternate day fasting (AFD) with a high-fat diet produces similar weight loss and cardio-protection as AFD with a low-fat diet. Metabolism 2013; 62: 137 - 43
11. Gotthardt JD, Verpeut JL, et al. Intermittent Fasting Promotes Fat Loss with Lean Mass Retention, Increased Hypothalamic Norepinephrine Content, and Increased Neuropeptide Y Gene Expression in Diet-Induced Obese Male Mice. Endocrinology 1015 Dec 14: en20151622 [Epub, ahead of print]
12. Paniagua JA, gallego de la Sacristana A, et al. Monounsaturated fat-rich diet prevents central body fat distribution and decreases postprandial adiponectin expression induced by a carbohydrate-rich diet in insulin-resistant subjects. Diabetes Care 2007; 30: 1717-23
13. von Frankenberg AD, Marina A, et al. A high-fat, high-saturated fat diet decreases insulin sensitivity without changing intra-abdominal fat in weight-stable overweight and obese adults. Eur J Nutr 2015 Nov 28 [Epub ahead of print]

Here's what you need to know...

1. This four step plan takes care of the big nutritional issues first and then narrows things down according to the needs and goals of athletes.
2. The first step is to remove the obvious junk that can get in your way.
3. Supposedly healthy foods make fat loss harder despite claims about their health benefits.
4. Although controversial, the vast majority of people lose body fat when they eliminate wheat, dairy and fruit juices from their diet and replace these foods with better alternatives.
5. Choose functional supplements to improve your training performance and speed up your recovery. Everything else is based on filling individual gaps and meeting individual needs.
6. Losing fat and fueling hardcore workouts doesn't have to involve calorie counting. Keep it simple and make adjustments as needed.

NFL Muscle

It's great to work with NFL athletes. They are used to being trained and they perform at their best in this environment. They do what you tell them to do, they get results and they say thank you.

These guys don't want to be inundated with science and complex plans. They want something that works, they don't want it to be a chore and they want results. If you think about it, this is exactly what most people want. There are times and places for more extreme and complex diet plans, but the majority of exercisers can modify their diet to focus on building muscle or losing fat without the process taking up half of their lives. When I recently helped an NFL athlete who needed to lose fat, I realized that most of the advice I gave him will work for pretty much anyone. Here's the plan I put together for him.

The 4 Step Diet

These steps can be used by anyone who wants to clean up and realign their diet:

Stage 1: Ditch the obvious junk:

You don't have to tell anyone that sweets, cookies, soft drinks, junk food, fast food and too much alcohol will ruin your body or at least hinder your progress. Well, maybe you do need to.

This is because there are plenty of advertisers out there telling you that this junk is okay in moderation.
These people also like to say that there is no such thing as "bad food" because they obviously define as food anything you can swallow that won't kill you instantly.

Well, they are wrong.

Every time an overweight person consumes what we will classify as "obvious junk", that person either takes a step back or temporarily halts their progress. And since many of these foods have addictive potential, moderation quickly goes down the drain.

If your goal is to lose fat, keep that fat off and increase your performance, then you need to leave this dietary junk out of it. Yes, there are a lot of diet plans out there that encourage the consumption of cheat foods, but these compliant plans have the same long-term success rate as Weight Watchers.

Maybe it's time to grow up and stop giving yourself a food reward every time you complete a workout session. Sure, a few skinny kids and users of large amounts of steroids might get away with eating junk for a while, but try staying lean in your 30s or 40s when you're eating like a spoiled fat kid every weekend.

Like a good strength and conditioning coach, a nutrition coach must first fill the cracks in the foundation and then build a stable structure. This is easy because usually the athlete knows damn well the things they eat that they shouldn't. And you know that too. Oddly enough, it's human nature to keep making these obvious mistakes until someone tells you not to. And that's why I say now: don't.

Step 2: Cut out the less obvious junk:

After eliminating the obvious junk, it's time to cut things down further. What is "less obvious junk"? These are foods that are often thought of as healthy, but really aren't.

Sometimes they are the "better bad" choice: things that still hinder your progress, but not as much as the original bad foods. These are also the types of foods that are the subject of much debate in the field of nutrition. I refer to many of these foods as "supposedly healthy foods". With these foods, the health benefits are touted right on the package: low-fat, fat-free, low-carb, gluten-free, high-fiber, organic, whole grain, etc. But low-carb foods can be high in calorie density and overloaded with the worst types of dietary fats, and fat-free foods are often sugar bombs or bursting with processed flour. Sugar is gluten-free. Breakfast cereals for kids are "high in fiber". And all of this will still make you fat.

You know this, but when fat loss is the goal, often IQ often drops faster than body fat percentage.

But let me get to the not-so-obvious stuff. Here's what I've had my NFL guys eliminate from their diet that may surprise you:

• Wheat
• milk
• Fruit juice

The wheat issue is controversial - but not among those who want results and simple rules. So a simple guideline is to cut out all wheat-containing foods or greatly reduce their consumption. The anti-wheat doctors and Paleo advocates will bore you to death with studies showing that polypeptides bind to the morphine receptors in the brain - the same receptors that opiates bind to - which means you will experience strong cravings for these foods, eat too much of them, and throw your natural appetite-signaling mechanisms out of gear.

They'll go on to list dozens of nasty-sounding effects, some of which seem to be true and some of which may be a bit exaggerated. But this much is true: the health benefits of this particular grain are largely non-existent - you don't need it and it will probably do you more harm than good.

Maybe it has more to do with the FODMAP diet, or maybe it has to do with the fact that most wheat-based foods are packed with the same stuff that can lead to something called toxic hunger. It doesn't matter. The simple rule is the same in all cases: does it contain wheat? If so, don't put it in your mouth. Incidentally, even if you don't have celiac disease, following a gluten-free diet can help you eliminate most of the stuff that made you fat in the first place, as long as you don't fall for those supposedly healthy foods. If your body fat is stubborn, or if you're losing control around food and you haven't eliminated wheat from your diet yet, give this a try. The same goes for milk and fruit juice.

It can take between 5 and 28 days to get rid of the "addiction" to these foods. Nutritionists and behavioral psychologists refer to this as the "don't be a wimp" stage and recommend 3 servings of "stick it out, princess" until the bad habits fade and unnatural cravings subside. Out there in the real world, this works for 90% of people. Let the nerds throw their studies around like monkeys throw their feces. We will focus on simplicity and results.

Step 3: Replace the above junk with better stuff.

Replace bread, cereals and pasta with rice, potatoes, quinoa, oatmeal, buckwheat and starchy vegetables.
Replace milk with unsweetened almond, coconut or cashew milk because you're not a newborn baby. Replace your juice with water because you are no longer 7 years old. Replace the supposedly healthy foods with food you cook yourself. Don't follow a Paleo diet but eat your meat, veggies, eggs and coconut oil.

Step 4: Supplements to boost performance and fill gaps.

Similar to food choices, the advice on supplements involves three stages.

1. skip the supplements for kids

If your supplement selection resembles that of a teenager who just walked out of a mall supplement store, it's probably crappy. If you're spending your money mainly on things that contain the letters "NO" or your pre-workout supplement consists of nothing but stimulants, then you're doing something wrong. If your favorite brand is a multi-level marketing operation, then you're beyond help. Get rid of the things that don't really work, or that do little, and focus on truly effective supplements that will benefit any hard-training athlete.

2. build the foundation

The foundation is the nutrition around the training. To ensure the best possible gains from your workouts, you need to fuel, protect and recharge your muscles right before, during and right after your workout. My NFL guys all start with a good and comprehensive pre-workout supplement that contains a blend of high quality carbohydrates, protein hydrolysates, citrulline, betaine and a mineral blend, as well as a high quality protein powder, both of which are customized for training and play. We won't talk about other supplements until this area is covered. For some, we stop at this point as this is all they need.

3. fill in the gaps

It's perhaps not so surprising that professional athletes often rely on fast foods. My NFL athletes replace these foods with high-quality protein bars that they eat before and after practice or a game. Many of these athletes suffer from poor sleep, which is why we give them GABA. I have most of them take 2000 to 5000 IU of vitamin D. Most also use a multi-mineral supplement and fish oil capsules. If they don't feel like eating fruits and vegetables, they get superfoods like greens and others.

At this point, it's all about filling in the nutritional gaps and meeting individual needs. They may only need one or two additional supplements or no additional supplements at all.

Bonus: Easy food preparation for athletes

Here's an easy way to prepare healthy meals quickly. First, buy a large slow cooker. Slow cookers come in small, medium and huge. Get the largest one as you will be preparing several meals in one pot. You will need a slow cooker with a timer so that it stops cooking and switches to keep warm when you are away.

Dinner

1. Get a gigantic mountain of meat: beef, a dozen chicken breasts, a turkey breast, a couple pork loins, etc. If it had to die for your dietary needs, it's good enough for you. Season the meat with salt and pepper and throw it in the crock pot.
2. Get some veggies, chop them up and throw them in the pot. Frozen vegetables work too.
3. Dice a few potatoes and add them to the pot.
4. Add the liquid. I recommend any kind of broth: beef, chicken or vegetable broth.
5. Herbs - use whatever you have on hand. Dried herbs are fine. Or refine the meal with tomato paste.
6. Turn the stove on in the morning on a low setting for 7 to 8 hours. After that, get everything done that you need to do: Work, school or whatever.
7. By the time you get home, the meal will be ready. Save the leftovers for later.

Breakfast

1. Put a cup or two of oatmeal in the slow cooker before you go to bed. Add three cups of water for each cup of oatmeal.
2. If you want, you can add a few bananas, apples or a bag of frozen berries or peaches.
3. Set the timer on very low to 7 hours and go to sleep.
4. When you get up the next morning, mix one or two scoops of protein powder into your hot, ready-to-eat porridge. Save the leftovers as you have just prepared breakfast for the next few days.

Simplicity wins

No counting calories or macronutrients here. For most hard-training athletes, this is not necessary. Just follow the basic guidelines and you'll figure out how to fine-tune things over time.
It works for the best NFL athletes and it will work for you too.

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/simple-diet-for-athletes
by Chris Shugart | 01/29/16