"Cooking is probably the most important thing you can do to improve your diet. What matters most is not any particular nutrient, or even any particular food: it’s the act of cooking itself. People who cook eat a healthier diet without giving it a thought. It’s the collapse of home cooking that led directly to the obesity epidemic."
Science n Stuff: Fiber Decreases Glycemic Response in Whole Kiwis, Mate
A recent study analyzed whole kiwifruit and its effects on blood glucose levels. I like reading articles like these because they actually look at the whole food, rather than it’s consecutive parts (e.g. vitamin C or fructose).
The kiwi is roughly 80% dry matter available for carbohdyrate digestion as either fructose, glucose or sucrose. The other 20% consists of dry cells walls and protein, respectively. Interestingly enough, eating a whole kiwi results in the the dietary fiber to swell to four times it orginial digestion, at least in vitro. This study actually shows the benefitcal effects of whole fruit consumption and glucose entry into the blood stream as dietary fiber decreases the rate of diffusion by about 40%, that is, the time it took glucose and fructose to enter from the gut into the bloodstream was reduced by 40%! Cool stuff!
They also note that 100g of kiwifruit, which is just over 1 whole kiwi based on this, equals 5g of glucose (1 teaspoon). However, facts like these overshadow the more important take away from this article: fiber + fructose lows the glycemic response. Most people are worried about the fructose itself and you should if you are drink fruit juices, and smoothies that take away the fiber. These fruit juices are not better for you—don’t consume them.
Eat whole foods!
"Cooking is the great divide between good and bad eating."
"Someone consuming a Nutri-Grain bar in the morning, a Subway Chipotle Chicken and Cheese sandwich for lunch, and a DiGorno pepperoni pizza for dinner, for instance, will have ingested a total of sixty-eight nonfood additives (not including vitamins and minerals) that until recently no human being ate"
Intermittent Fasting: A complete Review by Dr. John Berardi
Experiments with Intermittent Fasting
If you are interested in leaning out, managing those food cravings or just want to experiment with intermittent fasting (IF) then I suggest you check out the link above. Dr. Berardi has very extensive review and personal experience with IF that will answer any questions and hopefully get you started!
Diets for body weight control and health: the potential of changing the macronutrient composition
Abstract: At the beginning of the last century obesity and type 2 diabetes were treated quite successfully using low-carbohydrate diets. Following the discovery of insulin, the carbohydrate content of the diabetic diet became more liberal, as glycaemia and glycosuria could be controlled, more or less well, with hypoglycaemic medication and insulin treatment. Later, saturated fats and high-plasma cholesterol concentrations were implicated in cardiovascular disease and since then high-carbohydrate diets have become synonymous with ‘health’ and have been conventional nutrition doctrine for the past 40 years. In spite of this, the prevalence of some non-communicable metabolic diseases have increased to epidemic proportions and have led an increasing number of researchers in the fields of medicine and nutrition to challenge the validity of present-day dietary guidelines. There is increasing evidence that diets with a lower, or even very-low, carbohydrate content can help overweight and obese individuals to lose and maintain lost weight, diabetics to control blood glucose with more ease and prevent the development of diabetic complications, while at the same time improving blood lipid profiles and biomarkers of cardiovascular risk. The present review considers the evolution of our diet and questions whether high-carbohydrate diets are indeed synonymous with health.
Questioning the high-carbohydrate diet—I like this.
Science and Health: Did you Know…
It takes 2-5 times more energy to break down protein (thermogenic effect of food) than fats and carbohydrates.
The level of cooking (steaming vs grilling) can actually increase the absorptive capacity of nutrients in that food. For example, the beta-carotene in sweet potatoes is better absorbed in cooked than raw sweet potatoes (kinda obvious there, who wants to eat a raw sweet potato?).
Humans lack a desaturase enzyme in their tissues to create a carbon-carbon double bond in fats (past carbon-9 actually), therefore, long-chain fats like linoleic acid (omega-6 fat) and linolenic acid (omega-3 fa) are essential—we must consume them in our diet.
The first vitamin to be clinically defined was thiamine (B1) in 1911.
Whey protein stimulates the release of insulin from your pancreas, and insulin actually acts as an anabolic hormone to aid in muscle recovery and growth (it’s actually the amino acid leucine found in whey protein that causes the release).
A low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet (or ketogenic diet) can increase HDL levels and decrease triglyceride levels—improve dylipidemia levels in overweight and obese individuals.
Lipoproteins (VLDL, LDL, IDL and HDL) that transport cholesterol and triglycerides in our bodies actually prevent bacterial, viral and parasitic infections, protect against pathogen-induced tissue damage and present toxins to the immune system that help trigger antibody release.
Glutamine, Medium-chain Triglycerides (MCTs), exercise and colostrum (found in milk) are effective at treating “leaky gut syndrome.” They increase gut integrity by increasing IgA.
Grass-fed beef contains a trans fat called Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA)…Oh no! However, CLA is a healthy trans fat that has been shown to have antiviral, antibacterial, weight loss and thermogenic effects!
Your liver can hold roughly 50-120 g of glucose (stored as glycogen), which is about 1/4 of a pound.
Our body can make fat (in the liver and adipose tissue) from carbohydrates, and this fat is called palmitic acid—this is the same saturated fat found in animal fat and many people consider to be toxic.
Krill Oil is esterfied into phospholipids where as most fish oils are packaged in triglycerides. The esterifed krill oil makes it better absorbed in the gut—one benefit of taking krill vs fish oil.
Vitamin D is required to absorption of calcium, however, a majority of the population is vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D is best obtained via sun light, but can be obtained in the diet. Best sources are fatty fish (salmon, mackerel) and fish liver (cod liver).
Can Cardio Cause Heart Disease?
“Chronic Cardio” might cause Heart Disease. For all those “cardio warriors” out there—might need to cut back
How To Lose Weight: The Real Math Behind Weigh Loss
I agree with:
- Getting away from the 3500=1 lb myth. I hate this idea because it assumes our body is a lab experiment and that hopping on a treadmill, entering our weight and then watching a machine (that really isn’t even accurate) tell us how many “Calories” we burn running is an effective way of “burning” fat. Sorry your body has no clue that 3,500 calories = 1 lb body fat, all it knows is that it needs to keep using whatever you have stored away for energy. And the most readily available source is actually not fat, but glucose in the form of muscle glycogen (stored sugar). Most people are “sugar burners” rather than “fat burners” because they constantly supply their body with glucose, they will use glucose because a hormone, insulin, is around preventing the release of fat so it can be used as energy (insulin blocks lipases—enzymes that release fatty acids from stored body fat, among other things). This does depend on many things—how long you exercise, the intensity and what you ate before you starting exercising.
I disagree with:
- Pouring in more water into the bucket causes you to gain more weight. This is just another way of saying that the more calories you consume than you burn equals weight gain or calories in = calories out. Personally I am against the entire calories in equals calories out and counting calories for weight loss (here is are my thoughts: Not All Calories are Created Equal). The analogy of pouring water into a bucket and having a leak at the bottom is cleaver and thoughtful, but honestly our bodies don’t really work like that. The timing of the calories (i.e. time of day), how much and most important the quality of the calories—that is are these calories coming from processed foods like Twinkies (RIP), and pizza or are these calories coming from almonds and salmon. Quality matters, not so much calories. This has been shown a lot in low-carbohydrate versus low-fat diets. Yancy, et al. found that compared to a low-fat group over a 24 week period, a low-carbohydrate group lost more body fat even though the low-carbohydrate group consumed slightly more “average” calories per day (1,502 calories vs 1,461 calories) In fact, they also found that the low-carbohydrate group decreased their triglycerides and improved their HDL (“good” cholesterol) more than the low-fat group. I do think at some level calories matter, but deciding to buy a snack because it has a “100 calorie” label on it is a bad reason to buy the snack. Buy a snack for the nutritional value or quality of the food rather than the calorie count.
Yancy et al. “A low-carbohydrate, ketogenic Diet versus a low-fat diet to treat obesity and hyperlipidemia.” Ann Inter Med. 2004; 140:769-777.
Be the Food Skeptic if….
“Made with real fruit”…because we won’t accept fake fruit, it tastes like plastic!
If a food makes claims like these, then I would not buy them or consider an alternative:
- “Fortified with..”
- “Natural”
- ”____% less fat/sugar”
- “Fat-free; reduced-fat”
- “No added sugar”
- “Contains real fruit”
- “wholesome”
- “healthy”
It’s funny that people listen to the food they buy for nutrition advice. In reality they are buying lower quality, highly processed crap that doesn’t make their situation any better!
In fact I wouldn’t even suggest buying foods that have claims like these on the box because most likely they are a processed food!
Eat the Whole-Egg for Crying Out Loud!
Source: SuppVersity
You throw your yolks away? Tis tis!
If you are ordering an “egg-white omelet” think again, those yolks actually hold a lot of nutritional vale. And NO the cholesterol won’t give you heart disease. EAT THE WHOLE EGG! Come on people!
Pre-WOD meal: the sauce
I have been messing around with my pre-WOD meals recently trying to find something that can keep me going. Recently I have been super ketogenic (that is high fat/low-carb), keeping my daily carbs below 100g. But most of my carbs will come around my WODs, usually before. I have been experimenting with what I call my Pre-WOD sauce:
- 0.5-1.5 cups applesauce
- 2-3 tablespoons MCT oil
- 5 g BCAAs (2:1:1 ratio)
1 g Glutaminebetter post-WOD than pre-WOD- Dash of Stevia
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
MCT = Medium-chain triglycerides
I will usually double (maybe triple) my dose of applesauce or even add in some raw honey to give it a little more carbs around my workout if I know that it’s a longer WOD, or if I am doing extra strength in the beginning before my MetCon. Personally, I think you need to fuel to perform and with WODs that are short, intense (i.e. MetCons) people will see better results if they have some carbs around. MCTs will also help as they are metabolized pretty quickly—and can be used for fuel during the WOD. The MCT oil is absorbed fast, and can get into the circulation a lot faster than its counterpart—Long-chain triglycerides (LCTs) [1]. LCTs are those monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs/PUFAs) found in olive oil, animal fats and fish oils. I know a lot of people who consume nuts and nut butters before a workout (MUFAs) and these are okay, but you can do a lot better with MCT oil.
If you have any background in Crossfit/Paleo then you will know that MCTs are found in coconut oil. This is great! But, the level of MCTs in coconut oil is pretty small compared to the highly concentrated MCT oil. Therefore, I suggest buying the MCT oil (it costs $14.00 on Amazon).
A few more points to make…
- If you are CFE (endurance) then I would cut out the applesuace completely. MCT oil will do just fine, and if you are training on a ketogenic diet you should be good to go!
- MCT oils can give you nausea, and loose stools (ewww!) so don’t go drinking it straight from the jar. Go easy at first—1-2 tbsp should be okay.
- BCAAs can be replaced by whey protein (20-25g) pre-WOD.
- If you are overweight/obese you might want to consider keeping the applesauce out (and honey) as you might be more insulin resistant [2], wait until you reach a healthy body weight. Exercise does increase insulin sensitivity [3, 4, 5] so overtime you can start introducing these high-glycemic carbs back in.
Play around with your pre-WOD meal. I will usually consume this 45 mins before my WOD, but I have a pretty tolerable stomach so some might need to push it out to like an hour or 1.25 hrs.
