Last week I posted on our facebook wall asking what your top nutrition questions were. Well here are your questions answered to the best of my professional ability. Now do not take my responses as the end all be all. Question everything, use what is useful and get ride of what is useless!
Will a cheat meal once a week throw off my goals if I am sticking to a well balanced, clean diet? No. Look a diet is a way of life and if you become extremely hard on yourself when you eat a “cheat meal” you will become extremely stressed out and in the long run that is much worse. Stop listening to everybody and freaking out that having junk food once in a while will destroy your body because guess what...IT WON’T. The human body is extremely adaptable and strong, having a cheat meal or two every week won’t make you fat. Eating food that you shouldn’t be eating on a consistent basis will make you fat. Stick to healthy foods 90% of the time and you’ll get to enjoy your body and life to its fullest. Freaking out and feeling guilty about food choices is more unhealthy then a cheat meal. So stop.
Should I even worry about calories if I’m eating healthy foods? Yes and no. I wouldn’t lose sleep over it. Now you may ask another professional this same question and they will say yes you should. I don’t like to overcomplicate diets as I feel the best diet is the one the suits your lifestyle the best. And there is no ONE best diet. Eating healthy quality calories is what matters most. 2,000 calories from pop tarts or 2,000 calories from qualtity protein, fats and carbs its a no brainer. Stop following strict guidelines that take away your sanity and energy. Simplfy it. Stop obsessing over every little thing. There are more important things in life to be concerned with than wasting time on tiny things like a calorie.
How much dairy is too much? I’m not a fan of dairy you buy at the grocery store and that is my opinion. Most people should remove dairy from their diet because our wonderful government has made it illegal to consume raw milk and that milk must be pasteurized well by pasteurizing the milk it makes it extremely inflammatory and allergenic. Pasteurization also causes key vitamins, enzymes and minerals to be lost. Plus pasteurized dairy is produce in some dirty milk factories. Plus how they treat animals in this industry is disgusting but thats not for here. The best milk if you can find it is raw, fresh milk. Pasteurized, homogenized milk has also been shown to promote heart disease, obesity, autoimmune disorders and many other health conditions. 75% of the world’s population is lactose intolerant. Dairy can cause a lot of problems (acne, skin problems, bloating etc.) and it can also screw up recovery. I read a recent study that calcium in pasteurized milk has been damaged by the manufacturing process and is not absorbable by the human body. Why is it that the United States consumes the most dairy on the planet but the rate of osteoporosis is at an all time high. But what I do recommend is eating REAL cheese as it is a quality protein and healthy fat and I know I just said don't eat dairy but this doesn't have the whole lactose and lactic acid ordeal.
How many calories should I eat? It all depends on your goal. Trying to gain weight eat a lot trying to lose weight eat less. Simple.
Feelings on chipotle? It is the most amazing thing on earth and if you are trying to gain weight eat 3-4 burritos a day or learn how to use a crock pot and eat for the week!
If I’m going to splurge and have a few drinks what is my best choice of alcohol? Don’t splurge #1 alcohol consumed in a binge manner wrecks havoc everywhere on the body. That being said research has shown that moderate hold on let me say that again MODERATE alcohol consumption can improve insulin sensitivity, lower triglyceride concentrations and improve glycemic control. Also studies have shown that moderate drinkers live longer by protecting against arthritis, cancer, depression etc. I won’t go into the whole hormones and training and alcohol as that wasn’t the question. But I will say that the negative effects of alcohol on testosterone and recovery has been grossly exaggerated by mainstream fitness. Its all the junk people eat in conjunction.
Good choices of alcohol include dry wines, cognac, gin, rum, scotch, tequila, vodka and whiskey all have little to no carbs. Don’t drink bottom shelf as drinks should be enjoyed so drink what you like just don’t over consume, drink in moderation and enjoy life.
What’s the deal with CLA? I don’t know what the deal is with CLA but I can tell you what CLA is. CLA is an isomer of linoleic acid. It ca be found naturally in meat and milk and it is a polyunsaturated fatty acid. I won’t go into the biochemistry of it as that will most likely bore most of you. All I’m going to say is the CLA has shown to be a potent anti-oxidant, anti-carcinogen and anti-catabolite and it can also enhance your immune system. A deficiency of CLA in ones diet may be a factor in weight gain. Even though there has been a number of positive research findings regarding CLA a lot of new studies have failed to show any real significant benefits when supplementing with CLA. Reading the research you would need to most likely consume at least 500g of fat (mostly saturated) each day (over 4,500 fat calories a day) to match the intake to the levels used in studies. So I would just make sure you are getting in plenty of healthy fats daily and suggest not wasting money on just a CLA supplement.
Thoughts on glycemic load? Never really gave it much thought till I was asked this question. All glycemice load is, is a number that estimates how much food will raise a person’s blood glucose after eating it. One unit of glycemic load approximates the effect of consuming one gram of glucose. It accounts for how much carbs are in a food and how much each gram raises blood glucose levels. Ones glycemic load is based on the glycemic index and is simply defined as the grams of avaiable carbohydrate in the food times the food glycemic index divided by 100. And this is why I never gave it much thought. Its annoying and mentally draining. Now prepared to have your mind blown watermelon has a high glycemic index but does not contain much carbs therefore it’s glycemic load is low. So my thoughts now are is that this stuff is confusing and plays into what I said earlier don’t over complicate things. Glycemic load is typically used for those with metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance and extreme weight loss. A GI under 55 is low and a GI of 70 is high. While a GL under 10 is low and over 20 is high.
Bet most of you have heard brown rice is better then white rice well guess what it’s not. Brown rice contains phytates which is located in the bran of rice (brown rice) making nutrients of the rice unavailable for humans to utilize. Brown rice has an awesome nutrient profile but it’s useless. White rice not much nutritional value besides carbs but is handled by the body more effectively. Rice also contains trypsin inhibitor, trypsin simply strips protein down to amino acids so the body well its not that simple but a trypsin inhibitor (found in rice...brown rice...in the bran...) inhibits the breakdown of protein into amino acids. White rice causes no harm nor benefit. All it is is an awesome carb source (does cause a insulin response as do all carbs) and can act as a vessel for other nutrients. If handle carbs well eat white rice! But it has a high glycemic index!!! Don’t start.
So my thoughts are don’t freak out about it. Make smart eating choices.
Well there are the questions you asked and I answered! Remember these are my opinions and thoughts based on my experience and studies. Question everything I said. If you would like any of the studies just ask. If you have any other questions on training, nutrition or how you can just be more awesome please do not hesitate to ask! We are here to help you!
It's that time of year when people start to look back at what has happened the year before and what they want to happen in the year ahead. Most people make the mistake of putting forth a new years resolution that is unrealistic. Let's face it, if you haven't worked out in 10 years, the odds of you training 7 days/week in about the same as you winning the lottery. So don't make some crazy resolution like this, instead make a resolution that you are going to make one attainable "resolution" per week. Week One could be to join a gym. Week two could be to go to that gym 2x/wk. Week Three could be to clean up your awful diet a little bit. After 52 weeks of these little victories, you will be surprised at just how much you have been able to change your life.
