How hard is it to get the heart health benefits of a reduced carbohydrate diet? It isn’t that hard. Research from Univ. Cal Davis showed that dropping your carbs to 30-40% of calories will allow you to start yielding the benefits (e.g. lower triglyceride levels).  In the April 2008 issue of Men’s Health (page 50) I wrote a research blurb about one of these studies (see picture).

Let’s recap so far.

1. People eat away from their homes more than ever.

2. People are terrible at estimating the caloric value of foods.

How does that make you being overweight not your fault?

….you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out

Many of you may be wondering where I’m going with this. Here we go.

Restaurants and other foods serving places (those are places that call themselves restaurants but their food is so bad they shouldn’t fall into the “restaurant” category) have begun to do something very sneaky. In an effort to boost taste, flavor, and perceived value they have figured out ways to cram inordinate amounts of calories into “normal” looking foods.

This results in our inability of judge caloric value of foods even MORE detrimental to our health especially when you couple this with the fact that people eat out more than ever. Here are some really good examples (courtesy of Men’s Health):

Ruby Tuesday’s Turkey Bella Burger - Turkey burger. Must be healthy right? It even has portabella mushrooms. It also has almost 1200 calories! 1200 calories!!!! Are they serious? when should a burger ever have 1200 calories? Seriously, give me an example, Ruby?

Massive Burritos – There is a whole crop (crop or crap?) of Franchises popping up that serve massive burritos. I recently spoke with a friend of mine who opted for the lower calorie version (no rice or beans). It still ended up being ~800 calories!!!

Here’s another one

Boston Market Rotisserie Chicken (Dark Meat), Sweet Potato Casserole, and Market Chopped Side Salad - Good? Only to the tune of 1400 calories.

While I know that one would not call these items low calorie but I doubt anyone would guess that they are such high calorie. Also, I am not about giving people excuses for carrying around overweight. Poor eating and lack of exercises are the two main reasons and you have control over those things. But you may not have known about the insane caloric inflation that is going on at restaurants across the country.

But now you know.

You have not excuse for the extra fat around your midsection anymore (well you never did but it made a good title).

Have a great weekend (and be skeptical about caloric values when you eat out)

-Mike

Let’s say you’re a little overweight. Maybe you’re more than a little overweight.

Good news…it isn’t you fault.

Seriously. I’ve been thinking about this a bunch over the past week or so. What do people do more today than ever? Other than sit on their rear end.

Eat out.

People are always eating on the go.

We also know from studies done decades ago (some before I was even born!), that people don’t do a very good job of estimating the caloric value of foods. Let’s be honest. People are TERRIBLE at looking at a food, saying “Yeah that’s about 257 calories.”, and being accurate. So next time you look at that heaping spoon full of peanut butter and say “That’s about 2 tablespoon.”

STOP before suck down what is really ¼ cup.

Let’s recap so far.

1. People eat away from their homes more than ever.

2. People are terrible at estimating the caloric value of foods.

How does that make you being overweight not your fault?

….you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out

I was going to write about it but here on the NN Blog but I just read a post by Adam Campbell over at Men’s Health and he laid things out very clearly so I won’t rehash it. Click the link and read what Adam had to say:

Adam’s Take on The Biggest Loser

I should note that one thing that I think happened that Adam didn’t address was metabolism and I think this plays a big role. These people were used to consuming a large amount of calories. To some extent the more you eat the more your metabolism increases (to some extent). Then these people started exercising a TON. But they also started to severely restrict their calories (SEVERELY). I hypothesize that during the first week there was a period in which the contests’ metabolisms were way up and their intake was way down. This huge gap in intake vs expenditure caused huge weight loss for some people.

But this week their bodies responded (via a survival mechanism) in an almost supercompensation mechanism and their metabolisms were greatly down regulated. Thus the gap between intake and expenditure was much smaller.

I have a feeling that this coming week their weight loss number will increase again as their bodies adapt a little and go out of metabolic/caloric deprivation shock. We’ll see.

Now go read Adam’s Take on The Biggest Loser

So I came across a paper that found that men in China who go less than 5 hours of sleep a night or men that are overweight has lower testosterone levels. Now there is a good chance that you (as a man in American) are overweight (66% chance) and not getting more than 5 hours sleep. That’s a double downer for your T-levels.

So….get some sleep and lose that gut !

Back to work…

This is how many people think. That is why food companies work so hard to convince you that their products are good for you. Now I have no problem with them doing this as long as the product is really good for you. The dairy people are relentless marketers about the benefits of dairy. Yeah they went a little awry with the whole “lose weight, drink milk” stuff. But for the most part they are honest about the good (protein, calcium, etc) and bad (fat, saturated fat) about dairy and do their best to make products that emphasize the good and minimize the bad (low fat dairy or my favorite low carb/low fat dairy – I love calorie countdown chocolate milk).

Other groups are not so moral (ohhh…moral. That’s a strong word. I can only imagine the emails I will get after the rest of this entry). Today I’m talking about chocolate. There is a ton of hoopla about healthy chocolate. Everyone wants to know about the health benefits of chocolate.

“Did you hear that chocolate is healthy!?”

“I know I can’t wait to have a whole case of oreos!”

Let’s get real here. Green Tea is healthy. Green Tea Ice Cream…not so much. The same goes for chocolate. Coco is loaded with antioxidants and has a long list of potential health benefits.

But we don’t like coco.

We like candy.

What is being done all over the chocolate industry is that companies are using science to highlight one aspect of their product that has potential health benefits and they forget to mention the other aspect of the same product that could be bad for your health.

Exhibit A – Hershey’s Extra Dark: Pure Dark Chocolate

Look at the antioxidant comparison. Dark chocolate has more ORAC (basically antioxidant activity) than blueberries, raspberries, grapes…This is amazing (read with sarcasm).

“If blueberries are good because of their antioxidants then dark chocolate must be even better?“. Right?

Ummm….Let’s look a little deeper.

Exhibit B: Nutrition Facts

 When we look at the nutritional information we find that the one serving of dark chocolate that gave us all that ORAC also gives us 8 grams of Saturated Fat. That’s 40% of your daily intake. So where is the health benefit?

Think about it Good (high ORAC) vs Bad (high saturated fat). How do the health benefits net out? I would score it like this

ORAC = +5

8g Saturated Fat = -20

Overall Health Benefit = -15

Doesn’t seem so healthy after all does it?  Coco may provide health benefits. But chances are if you are getting your coco via commercial chocolate products then those health benefits do not exceed the negative health impact from other components of the product.

Be a smart shopper. Don’t get sucked into the marketing hype surrounding food.

Have a good one,

-Mike

by Mike Roussell

Note: Download the new Naked Nutrition Monthly pdf Newsletter featuring this article here

Holiday weight gain happens to everyone, right?

Not you.

Not this year.

Let’s make this year different. Instead of spending the whole month of January trying to lose the weight that you put on between Thanksgiving and New Years, why don’t you spend that time losing the weight that you have been carrying around for the past 5 years. In order to do this you are going to need to put a stop to holiday weight gain.

Research has shown that on average Americans are gaining weight each year – most of this weight gain occurs between October and February. Have you been gaining weight slowly over the past several years? Do you always gain a little weight during the holidays, promise yourself you’ll lose it after the first of the year but never really get around to it??

It’s okay, be honest.

The best plan is a proactive one. Let’s not put the weight on in the first place. Below I have outline 5 extremely simple steps that will help you prevent holiday weight gain.

1) Pre-Eat – The worst thing you can do is go to a holiday party on an empty stomach. This is setting yourself up for complete and utter disaster. Pre-eat before you go with a small amount of food that will increase your feeling of fullness, prevent cravings, and slow the digestion of any foods that you do eat when you go out. My top pre-eating foods are:

• Small Salad – This has been consistently shown in scientific studies to reduce the amount of food you eat in the subsequent meal.
• Small bowl of Vegetable Based Soup – This has also been shown in scientific studies to reduce the amount of food you eat in the subsequent meal (Note: Not cream based soups).
• Apple & String Cheese – This is my personal favorite (probably because I love string cheese). The apple provides fiber and volume while the string cheese provides fat and protein. These components will signal your body that you are full and they will also slow down digestion (making you feel full longer).

2) Skip The Crackers – Most holiday parties are LOADED with breads, fried and breaded ball of cheese, meat, or vegetables, and crackers. Just say no. Loading up on these starching carbohydrates will send your blood sugar levels for a ride. This, along with the lack of fiber in these foods, will make you eat tons of them….honestly when was the last time you ate just one cracker? Exactly. Skip the crackers.

3) Shrimp, Cheese, and Veggies Please – Okay so since you aren’t allowed to eat the crackers what can you eat? Shrimp, cheese, and vegetables (no not the fried ones). Just about all holiday parties have these items. Broccoli, carrots, and whatever other vegetables that are sitting near the ranch dressing are fair game. Don’t stray away from the shrimp or cheese. These foods will provide fat and protein (remember they help with fullness). Once when I was about 10 years old, I went to my mother’s work Christmas party. I promptly sat down next to the shrimp platter and ate just about whole thing. Let’s put it this way…I ate so much shrimp that children were never invited to the Christmas party ever again (but I digress).

4) Watch Where You Stand – Whatever you do don’t be like me when I was 10 and sit next to the food. If there is food in infront of you then you are going to eat it even if you are not hungry. Take a small plate pile on some broccoli, carrots, cheese, and shrimp (notice no scallops wrapped in bacon) and go start a conversation on the other side of the room. This tip can cut down your food consumption by at least 50%.

5) Its NOT All or Nothing – So let’s say you don’t listen to the above four tips. You go to a party on an empty stomach, you eat a whole sleeve of ritz crackers, you sit at the hors d’oeuvres table, and eat more than you know you should. This is not the end of the world. As I mentioned before – I’ve done it. The important thing is what you do the next day. Don’t say “Ugh, I ate so much last night. I’ve ruined my diet. I might as well not worry about my nutrition until after the New Year.”

Don’t do that.

Instead say “Hmmm…so I ate a bunch last night. I should have listened to Mike’s tips. That’s okay. Mistakes happen. I’m going to eat what I planned to eat today and not miss any training sessions for the rest of the year.” That is how you need to talk to yourself. It happened. Vow to do better. Get back on track and move on.

There you go. My 5 simple steps to prevent holiday weight gain. Now go out and put them into action.

Men’s Health Book of Power Training….SOLD OUT.

I just went onto Amazon.com to get it and look what I found (right-click the image for a big version)

It won’t be available for 2-4 Weeks!

“This item will arrive after December 24th”!!

There are a couple used copies for sale. My piece of advice is that if you wanted a copy for Christmas then you better start looking because it looks like the Men’s Health Book of Power Training will be harder to find this December than a new Nintendo Wii

BTW – I just sent out the latest Naked Nutrition Monthly PDF newsletter. The featured article is Prevent Holiday Weight Gain – 5 Simple Steps. Check you inboxes.

For you non subscribers…Shame on you!…but seriously. It will be available tomorrow.

Tip: High-protein/low-carbohydrate diets are often low in calories because food choices are strictly limited, so they may cause short-term weight loss (Adopting a long term lower carbohydrate nutritional plan is not that restricting. At first when your carbs are very low, yes you are restricted, but as time goes on you increase your calories and introduce more carbohydrates – just not lots of starches or sugars) . But a reduced-calorie eating plan that includes recommended amounts of carbohydrate, protein, and fat will also allow you to lose weight (The recommended amount of carbohdyrates is too high for a good weight loss plan. Yes, you will lose weight with this type of eating but no, it isn’t your best (or fastest option)). By following a balanced eating plan, you will not have to stop eating whole classes of foods, such as whole grains, fruits, and vegetables—and miss the key nutrients they contain. You may also find it easier to stick with a diet or eating plan that includes a greater variety of foods (When you correctly adopt a lower carbohydrate eating plan you don’t stop eating fruits OR vegetables. The risk of nutrient deficiency with low carb diets is merely speculation by low carb haters. No study has shown nutrient deficiencies associated with lower carb eating).

There are lots of nutritional myths out there that are constantly misleading people into following low calorie high carb diets or convincing people that they can eat as much saturated fat as they want. While doing some hunting around on the web a couple days ago I found a report by the U.S. Government talking about Weight Loss and Nutrition Myths. This report, produced by the National Institute of Health was supposed to be “setting the record straight” but in reality most of what they said was confusing or crap – I think after that statement I have guaranteed that I will never get awarded a NIH scientific research grant

Let’s look at my favorite – I’ll put my (sarcastic) comments in BOLD.

Myth: High-protein/low-carbohydrate diets are a  healthy way to lose weight.

Fact (It is funny that they use the word “fact” here because most of what they say isn’t “fact” as ALL): The long-term health effects of a high-protein/lowcarbohydrate diet are unknown (Okay, so where are the long term studies on ketchup?) . But getting most of your daily calories from high-protein foods like meat, eggs, and cheese is not a balanced eating plan. You may be eating too much fat and cholesterol, which may raise heart disease risk (Ummm…not really. When you reduce your carbohydrates the “lipid metabolism” game changes and your body becomes much better at processing saturated fat and cholesterol).

 You may be eating too few fruits , vegetables (Again, no. On low carb diets when you are limited to only 50grams of carbohydrates the only carbs you are allowed to eat are fruits and vegetables), and whole grains, which may lead to constipation due to lack of dietary fiber. Following a high-protein/low-carbohydrate diet may also make you feel nauseous, tired, and weak (For about three days, eating ample calories and help make your body’s transition to using fat and not carbs as a fuel easier). Eating fewer than 130 grams of carbohydrate a day can lead to the buildup of ketones (partially brokendown fats) in your blood (I would like to meet the person that eats 130grams of carbs a day and has measurable ketones in their urine. Try eating 20-50g of carbs a day then we can talk about ketosis). A buildup of ketones in your blood (called ketosis) can cause your body to produce high levels of uric acid, which is a risk factor for gout (a painful swelling of the joints) and kidney stones (This is such a misleading statement that I almost can’t bring myself to comment. The moderate appearance of ketones found in the body due to low carbohydrate dieting is just that moderate – it is no where near the levels needed to produce damage. This statement is misleading and just false when talking about low carb diets). Ketosis may be especially risky for pregnant women and people with diabetes or kidney disease. This statement is from left field.  Since when are we talking about  pregnant women, diabetics, or people with kidney disease?  Do you know what’s not risky? Monderate urinary ketones found in people on low carbohydrate  diets.

 Tomorrow, we’ll look at what the government recommends instead…this should be good