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NUTRITION
PALEO DIET
Our cravings for calorie-dense foods -- such as: Fats, Sweets, and Starches -- is the legacy of our Paleolithic ancestors. The Paleolithic human sought these foods because they ensured positive survival in an environment in which these food types were scarce. These cravings betray us in our modern world, where calorie-dense foods are abundant and inexpensive. In today's society, most people DIE from CALORIC EXCESS which is manifested as OBESITY. Obesity leads into various other medical complications such as: metabolic syndrome, hypertension (High Blood Pressure), and Cardiovascular Disease.
FUNDAMENTALS of the PALEO (HUNTER-GATHERER) DIET:
1. Eat whole, natural, fresh foods -- Avoid highly processed and high Glycemic Index (GI) foods
2. Consume a diet high in fruits, vegetables, nuts, lean cuts of meat
3. Increase consumption of LEAN proteins (i.e. chicken, salmon, tuna) If you are going to eat beef, try and stick to the lean cuts of red meat (cuts with the words "Round" or "Loin" in the name are usually lean
4. Increase consumption of Omega-3 Fatty Acids from fish, fish oil, and other plant sources
5. Avoid TRANS FATS entirely and greatly reduce your intake of SATURATED FAT
6. DRINK LOTS OF WATER (you should be drinking some right now!!!)
PROTEIN(S)
· Flank Steak
· Chicken
· Tuna
· Turkey
· Eggs
· Peanuts / Almonds
· Peanut or Almond Butter
VEGETABLES
· Bean Sprouts
· Leafy Greens (Spinach/Mixed Greens)
· Avocado
· Broccoli
· Carrots
· Tomatoes
· Celery
FRUITS
· Blueberries
· Blackberries
· Raspberries
· Strawberries
· Apples
The Problem with Vegetarianism
All historical/anthropologic evidence points to the fact that "hunter-gatherers" were omnivorous. Strictly vegetarian diets are difficult to follow and are not neccesarily associated with BETTER HEALTH. Many current vegetarians would be more appropriately labeled "BREAD-itarians." Modern vegetarian diets often rely heavily on processed carbohydrates, such as white rice, potatoes, flour, and sugar. All of these ingredients are directly correlated to the increase in cholesterol.
...and for thoes that hopped on board this PETA-bandwagon...
"My ideal is a return to the garden of Eden where even the animals are
vegetarian."
-Andrea Reed, Louisville Fund for Animals
"The smallest form of life, even an ant or a clam, is equal to a human
being."
-Ingrid Newkirk, PETA
...are you serious...???
Everyday millions of animals take the lives of other animals in order to SURVIVE. The “greatest generation” at least according to Tom Brokaw, didn’t have the luxury of being sheltered from death. They did not have refrigeration, there were but a few mortuaries, and a scarce few more hospitals in those days, and they were all located in major metropolitan areas. To them death and killing were always a vital, essential, and common daily occurrence, whether you were a participant or merely a spectator. Conversely, in today’s society we are afforded with all sorts of medical advancements. There are slaughterhouses, mortuaries, and a plethora of hospitals that aide Americans in insulating them from the necessity of death and/or killing. Children nowadays grow up never understanding just where it is their food comes from, and when a grandparent dies all you remember is a casket as it lowers into the ground. Western civilization seemed to have decided that killing, killing anything at all, was increasingly hidden, private, mysterious, and dirty.
How is it that death has become demonized, and why do “we” fear it so much? I think this question strikes to the core of how sheltered the American Way of Life has become. Today, if you were to slaughter an animal for meat you would take it to a slaughterhouse and pay some butcher to slaughter it. If you were to slaughter a cow, you would lose your appetite.
Eating healthy isnt hard to do. You just have to commit to it (something Americans struggle with immensely). Eat your berries/veggies and supplement it with plenty of good old-fashioned "animal flesh" (preferrably humanely slaughtered).
All historical/anthropologic evidence points to the fact that "hunter-gatherers" were omnivorous. Strictly vegetarian diets are difficult to follow and are not neccesarily associated with BETTER HEALTH. Many current vegetarians would be more appropriately labeled "BREAD-itarians." Modern vegetarian diets often rely heavily on processed carbohydrates, such as white rice, potatoes, flour, and sugar. All of these ingredients are directly correlated to the increase in cholesterol.
...and for thoes that hopped on board this PETA-bandwagon...
"My ideal is a return to the garden of Eden where even the animals are
vegetarian."
-Andrea Reed, Louisville Fund for Animals
"The smallest form of life, even an ant or a clam, is equal to a human
being."
-Ingrid Newkirk, PETA
...are you serious...???
Everyday millions of animals take the lives of other animals in order to SURVIVE. The “greatest generation” at least according to Tom Brokaw, didn’t have the luxury of being sheltered from death. They did not have refrigeration, there were but a few mortuaries, and a scarce few more hospitals in those days, and they were all located in major metropolitan areas. To them death and killing were always a vital, essential, and common daily occurrence, whether you were a participant or merely a spectator. Conversely, in today’s society we are afforded with all sorts of medical advancements. There are slaughterhouses, mortuaries, and a plethora of hospitals that aide Americans in insulating them from the necessity of death and/or killing. Children nowadays grow up never understanding just where it is their food comes from, and when a grandparent dies all you remember is a casket as it lowers into the ground. Western civilization seemed to have decided that killing, killing anything at all, was increasingly hidden, private, mysterious, and dirty.
How is it that death has become demonized, and why do “we” fear it so much? I think this question strikes to the core of how sheltered the American Way of Life has become. Today, if you were to slaughter an animal for meat you would take it to a slaughterhouse and pay some butcher to slaughter it. If you were to slaughter a cow, you would lose your appetite.
Eating healthy isnt hard to do. You just have to commit to it (something Americans struggle with immensely). Eat your berries/veggies and supplement it with plenty of good old-fashioned "animal flesh" (preferrably humanely slaughtered).
FAT LOSS (pay attention all you "FAD DIET"
It seems everyone wants (or needs) to lose weight, but with all the information out there it just gets more and more confusing for the average person to know what to do? Let’s back it up a little and start from the basic understand of how fat loss happens in a simple and easy manner. Once you can master the basics, that is probably 90% of where all your results will come from!
Fat loss first and foremost is a hormonal event, the right hormones telling the body to release the stored “energy” in the fat cells to burn off. It is also important to know that there are also fat “storing” hormones that act in the opposite way, triggering the body to store “future energy” into the fat cells. The body triggers these hormones through many different stimulus like food, drink, exercise, stress and sleep. Fat cells are just the body’s emergency storage tanks afterall. If we didn’t have fat cells, we wouldn’t have survived the famines of the past. It’s a built-in survival mechanism that is getting all the wrong signals today. The body wasn’t designed around constant intake of food, especially the processed and high in sugar kind. (as that is not something that naturally grows on trees!)
So we know that fat loss is hormonal. Also fat loss occurs when oxygen is present, what is known as aerobic. (which means “with oxygen”…don’t get all happy yet all you daily joggers) The other stage is called anaerobic (which means “without oxygen”). Anaerobic training is also known more commonly as “strength training” (which you can tell by the lactic acid burn). Here’s where people get confused when it comes to exercise. Most people think that by doing aerobics you burn all the fat you want. Well if that was the case, obesity would of been taken care of in 1986 and your gym aerobic instructors wouldn’t have an average BF% over 25%. Who ever said you are guaranteed to burn fat? What about stored glycogen? Plus if you can burn fat in an aerobic state, well aren’t you in an aerobic state all day long (minus brief times of anaerobic activity) including sleeping?? So here’s the breakthrough, you have the ability to burn fat all day long! The only thing left is the hormones and whether they are saying “empty the storage tanks” or “here comes some more” to the fat cells.
The Fat loss hormones were are going to focus on briefly are insulin, glucagon, and growth hormone (GH). Insulin is a fat storing hormone, while glucagon and GH are fat burning hormones. If insulin is present and elevated, the other hormones go down (this is an important relationship to realize). Another hormone called cortisol (stress hormone) is a muscle breakdown hormone….and that is not something we want in our fat loss quest. Below are just quick and easy bullet point on how to maximize the fat burning hormones and minimize the muscle breakdown/fat storing hormones (don’t think all muscle breakdown is bad, you need to break down and rebuild the cells it’s when you have excessive breakdown and minimal rebuilding that is the issue as that will lead to a loss of muscle).
Your #1 enemy, sugar and all it’s hiding places (drinks, sauces, dressings, etc). If it has a label, read it and see what sugars you are really getting, as everything you put into your mouth counts! Why is sugar bad? Because sugar will be quickly absorbed into the blood which cause a spike in your blood sugar and with that spike the body releases insulin to take care of it (shuttle excessive blood sugar into the fat cells for storage!). So like I tell my clients, every time you put sugar into your mouth just tell youself “I don’t feel like burning fat for the next 3-4 hours” as that is exactly the hormonal signal you are giving it. Remember also when insulin is high, glucagon and GH go down (this is important to remember especially at night)
So let’s recap, for fat loss we want:
1. Minimal insulin levels thoughout the day (no high levels/spikes except during the post workout window when the insulin sensitivity is maximum, it goes into muscle not fat)
2. Maximum Glucagon (which is directly inversely proportional to insulin levels)
3. Maximum GH (which is controlled by insulin, exercise response and sleep)
4. Keep Cortisol in check (you will have some, but excessive will lead to muscle loss)
For Insulin control (and max Glucagon response):
* Keep levels low by not eating sugar or foods that quickly break down into the bloodstream (processed foods, breads, cereals, pasta) Just say to yourself everytime you are about to put sugar in your mouth, “I don’t want to burn any fat for the next 3-4 hours”...as that is exactly what you are telling your body with your hormonal response from the ingestion of sugar! (Already said that above but I want to drive the #1 important point home!)
* Have protein with every meal (as that will slow down the digestion of any sugars). Also protein intake stimulates the release of glucagon.
* Improve insulin sensitivity with glycogen draining exercise (resistance training) which will in turn reduce your insulin resistance (which is one of the biggest reasons for obesity and a serious increase of risks for many other diseases including heart disease, cancers, diabetes, accelerated aging and more!)
For max GH response:
* Most of your daily GH is released in the first couple hours of sleep at night (75%) . Keep your insulin levels low (which means no big meals or sugar 2-3 hours before bed) and get to bed by 10pm to get the maximum response. So get your sleep, your body will thank you. People shorting themselves on sleep will also be hindering their fat loss efforts and may lead to more weight gain from improper hormonal responses (which can also trigger cravings!)
* Exercise with Intensity (for fast twitch muscle recruitement, not slow twitch), whether it is resistance training with short rest periods or doing interval training like sprints. Short burst of anaerobic intense exercise (lactic acid burn) will in turn signal the body to release GH. Long aerobic activities (jogging, etc) will NOT. (The old argument of look at the body composition of a sprinter vs the marathon runner…the sprinter has more muscle and very low bf%, the marathon runner has little muscle and a higher bf% even if they look smaller) See the role of lactate in exercise induced GH response.
* Exercise in a fasted state has also shown to increase GH levels (again make sure you have enough energy to get through the workout, a small meal may be needed 1-2 hours prior if the activity it too intense)
Minimize excessive Cortisol:
* Keep all intense strength or cardio exercise under 45min (remember we want to increase the intensity in a short period, not the duration). Anything longer will just start wasting muscle as fuel.
* Practice relaxing throughout the day, don’t stress out over things that mean very little in the long run (ask yourself will this really be important in 1 week, 1 month, 1 year). Get perspective on things in your life, and detach from things that really don’t matter. Smile more, take deep breaths throughout the day, get out in nature, find your passions in life, etc. We are too stressed out and our body was only meant to use stress in short bursts (fight or flight response) not all day long events.
So if you can master these small steps, you will see tremendous changes. Remember that fat loss is an all day event! So eat and live your life that way! Don’t worry about how many calories you burn doing something, because that is not the point. Worry about what you eat all day and how your hormones are going to react to it. Eat the foods your body was meant to eat and live the active lifestyle your body was designed for….and you will have increased health, look great, feel great and hopefully live long and stay active.
IN SUMMARY
1. Remember that 85% of fat loss is nutritional based (not how many calories you can burn doing something) and you have the ability to burn fat all day long if your hormones tell your body to do so.
2. Eat whole natural foods (not processed..if it wasn’t around 100 years ago, you don’t need it!), avoid all sugars (foods and drinks), have protein with every meal
3. Train your fast twitch muscles with resistance training 2-3x a week and do 30-60min of “active lifestyle” based movement daily (not going to call it cardio). Go have fun doing whatever! (play tennis, go walking/hiking, ride a bike, enjoy what you do!)
4 Stop stressing out, take some deep breaths, get outside to relax and get your 8hrs of sleep.
Now what if there was something else you could do to decrease insulin resistance and improve GH response to exercise and sleep? Hey how about something that also helps the health of the gut, gives increased brain function, improves the digestive process and liver function (which is an important organ for fat burning)? What if there were loads of studies linking benefits for disease prevention and anti-aging? Hmmmmmm…..could that be Intermittent Fasting?? Wow….look how everything starts to nicely come full circle!
aficionados)
It seems everyone wants (or needs) to lose weight, but with all the information out there it just gets more and more confusing for the average person to know what to do? Let’s back it up a little and start from the basic understand of how fat loss happens in a simple and easy manner. Once you can master the basics, that is probably 90% of where all your results will come from!
Fat loss first and foremost is a hormonal event, the right hormones telling the body to release the stored “energy” in the fat cells to burn off. It is also important to know that there are also fat “storing” hormones that act in the opposite way, triggering the body to store “future energy” into the fat cells. The body triggers these hormones through many different stimulus like food, drink, exercise, stress and sleep. Fat cells are just the body’s emergency storage tanks afterall. If we didn’t have fat cells, we wouldn’t have survived the famines of the past. It’s a built-in survival mechanism that is getting all the wrong signals today. The body wasn’t designed around constant intake of food, especially the processed and high in sugar kind. (as that is not something that naturally grows on trees!)
So we know that fat loss is hormonal. Also fat loss occurs when oxygen is present, what is known as aerobic. (which means “with oxygen”…don’t get all happy yet all you daily joggers) The other stage is called anaerobic (which means “without oxygen”). Anaerobic training is also known more commonly as “strength training” (which you can tell by the lactic acid burn). Here’s where people get confused when it comes to exercise. Most people think that by doing aerobics you burn all the fat you want. Well if that was the case, obesity would of been taken care of in 1986 and your gym aerobic instructors wouldn’t have an average BF% over 25%. Who ever said you are guaranteed to burn fat? What about stored glycogen? Plus if you can burn fat in an aerobic state, well aren’t you in an aerobic state all day long (minus brief times of anaerobic activity) including sleeping?? So here’s the breakthrough, you have the ability to burn fat all day long! The only thing left is the hormones and whether they are saying “empty the storage tanks” or “here comes some more” to the fat cells.
The Fat loss hormones were are going to focus on briefly are insulin, glucagon, and growth hormone (GH). Insulin is a fat storing hormone, while glucagon and GH are fat burning hormones. If insulin is present and elevated, the other hormones go down (this is an important relationship to realize). Another hormone called cortisol (stress hormone) is a muscle breakdown hormone….and that is not something we want in our fat loss quest. Below are just quick and easy bullet point on how to maximize the fat burning hormones and minimize the muscle breakdown/fat storing hormones (don’t think all muscle breakdown is bad, you need to break down and rebuild the cells it’s when you have excessive breakdown and minimal rebuilding that is the issue as that will lead to a loss of muscle).
Your #1 enemy, sugar and all it’s hiding places (drinks, sauces, dressings, etc). If it has a label, read it and see what sugars you are really getting, as everything you put into your mouth counts! Why is sugar bad? Because sugar will be quickly absorbed into the blood which cause a spike in your blood sugar and with that spike the body releases insulin to take care of it (shuttle excessive blood sugar into the fat cells for storage!). So like I tell my clients, every time you put sugar into your mouth just tell youself “I don’t feel like burning fat for the next 3-4 hours” as that is exactly the hormonal signal you are giving it. Remember also when insulin is high, glucagon and GH go down (this is important to remember especially at night)
So let’s recap, for fat loss we want:
1. Minimal insulin levels thoughout the day (no high levels/spikes except during the post workout window when the insulin sensitivity is maximum, it goes into muscle not fat)
2. Maximum Glucagon (which is directly inversely proportional to insulin levels)
3. Maximum GH (which is controlled by insulin, exercise response and sleep)
4. Keep Cortisol in check (you will have some, but excessive will lead to muscle loss)
For Insulin control (and max Glucagon response):
* Keep levels low by not eating sugar or foods that quickly break down into the bloodstream (processed foods, breads, cereals, pasta) Just say to yourself everytime you are about to put sugar in your mouth, “I don’t want to burn any fat for the next 3-4 hours”...as that is exactly what you are telling your body with your hormonal response from the ingestion of sugar! (Already said that above but I want to drive the #1 important point home!)
* Have protein with every meal (as that will slow down the digestion of any sugars). Also protein intake stimulates the release of glucagon.
* Improve insulin sensitivity with glycogen draining exercise (resistance training) which will in turn reduce your insulin resistance (which is one of the biggest reasons for obesity and a serious increase of risks for many other diseases including heart disease, cancers, diabetes, accelerated aging and more!)
For max GH response:
* Most of your daily GH is released in the first couple hours of sleep at night (75%) . Keep your insulin levels low (which means no big meals or sugar 2-3 hours before bed) and get to bed by 10pm to get the maximum response. So get your sleep, your body will thank you. People shorting themselves on sleep will also be hindering their fat loss efforts and may lead to more weight gain from improper hormonal responses (which can also trigger cravings!)
* Exercise with Intensity (for fast twitch muscle recruitement, not slow twitch), whether it is resistance training with short rest periods or doing interval training like sprints. Short burst of anaerobic intense exercise (lactic acid burn) will in turn signal the body to release GH. Long aerobic activities (jogging, etc) will NOT. (The old argument of look at the body composition of a sprinter vs the marathon runner…the sprinter has more muscle and very low bf%, the marathon runner has little muscle and a higher bf% even if they look smaller) See the role of lactate in exercise induced GH response.
* Exercise in a fasted state has also shown to increase GH levels (again make sure you have enough energy to get through the workout, a small meal may be needed 1-2 hours prior if the activity it too intense)
Minimize excessive Cortisol:
* Keep all intense strength or cardio exercise under 45min (remember we want to increase the intensity in a short period, not the duration). Anything longer will just start wasting muscle as fuel.
* Practice relaxing throughout the day, don’t stress out over things that mean very little in the long run (ask yourself will this really be important in 1 week, 1 month, 1 year). Get perspective on things in your life, and detach from things that really don’t matter. Smile more, take deep breaths throughout the day, get out in nature, find your passions in life, etc. We are too stressed out and our body was only meant to use stress in short bursts (fight or flight response) not all day long events.
So if you can master these small steps, you will see tremendous changes. Remember that fat loss is an all day event! So eat and live your life that way! Don’t worry about how many calories you burn doing something, because that is not the point. Worry about what you eat all day and how your hormones are going to react to it. Eat the foods your body was meant to eat and live the active lifestyle your body was designed for….and you will have increased health, look great, feel great and hopefully live long and stay active.
IN SUMMARY
1. Remember that 85% of fat loss is nutritional based (not how many calories you can burn doing something) and you have the ability to burn fat all day long if your hormones tell your body to do so.
2. Eat whole natural foods (not processed..if it wasn’t around 100 years ago, you don’t need it!), avoid all sugars (foods and drinks), have protein with every meal
3. Train your fast twitch muscles with resistance training 2-3x a week and do 30-60min of “active lifestyle” based movement daily (not going to call it cardio). Go have fun doing whatever! (play tennis, go walking/hiking, ride a bike, enjoy what you do!)
4 Stop stressing out, take some deep breaths, get outside to relax and get your 8hrs of sleep.
Now what if there was something else you could do to decrease insulin resistance and improve GH response to exercise and sleep? Hey how about something that also helps the health of the gut, gives increased brain function, improves the digestive process and liver function (which is an important organ for fat burning)? What if there were loads of studies linking benefits for disease prevention and anti-aging? Hmmmmmm…..could that be Intermittent Fasting?? Wow….look how everything starts to nicely come full circle!
