Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Sunday, March 20, 2016
The Cream of Fake Health Foods
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If we see something that says we can have all the flavours of something supposedly sinful like heavy (or in the EU double) cream but with an Nth of the calories - and in fact that that product will BURN fat and suppress appetite, what wouldn’t we pay for it?
How about 20bucks for 280g (about a pint)?
Recently i saw this post on a fitness challenge site by one of the participants:
"Leaner Creamer is the realization that a healthy alternative to fatty coffee creamers can exist"
Healthy? Healthier? Time for the Claims Check, Please.
First troubling bit: you won’t find the nutrient breakdown on the product site, but you can find it.
Creamer ingredients (14)Coconut Oil, Maltodextrin, Natural Flavors, Sodium Caseinate(A Milk Derivative), Mono, and, Diglycerides, Dextrose, Dipotassium Phosphate, Tricalcium Phosphate, Soy Lecithin, Silicone Dioxide.17% Proprietary Blend:Citrus Aurantium, Hoodia Gordonii Extract, Green Tea Extract.- See more at food facts:
You know, this does look remarkably like the ingredient list for flamable coffee mate or similar. IN fact about the only differences are the added supplements at the end, and the presence of some coconut oil.
Which on the health side, raises the question:
IF this is the same as regular (flammable)highly processed coffee creamer, how is it "healthier" than cream? Coconut oil (first ingredient) needs to be processed to become a powder that will dissolve like a fat when put in hot water: that's in part the role of the maltodextrin (type of sugar) and the fifth and sixth ingredients: mono and di glyserides as emulsifiers - these also make up some of the fat content. In other words fat from the coconut oil is extracted, and some of these other fats are put in. How much coconut oil is really left?
Note also that after the little bits of fat and sugar, there's flavourings. The third ingredient is flavouring - unnamed - who knows derived from what.
Then i looked to find the nutrient calorie info. Amazing reading
First off, the serving size is 1teaspon (5g of a 280g bottle) like a packet of "powdered creamer" for coffee. For 1 teaspoon it's listed as 10kcal. There are 17.5kcal in that amount of heavy cream. Half and half has 7.5! interesting, eh?
Looking
on amazon for non-organic sugar and coconut oil, it works out to about just under 2c for real coconut oil and just over 2c for maltodextrin - or 2.5c if using table sugar - per serving. Times 112 per container that's less than three bucks - retail.
So, LESS than 1/5 of this 5g serving (less than 1g) has these special bits in it. Let's round up and call it 1g to see what 1g of Citrus Auratium, Hoodia and Green Tea are supposed to do there.
Hoodia extract has just about nill evidence that it "tricks the body into feeling full" and if you were going to use it, coffee may be the last place you'd pay to have it. Why? Because caffeine IS a certified, verified by a ton of studies, appetite suppresant all on its own. Also - the fat in cream cues the body towards satiety (here's a post about fat tea using some cream and some coconut oil), so no need to play around with hoodia there. But how much is needed to have any effect? well, again: no science means who knows? Guesses anecdotally go from 1500-3000mg a day. A 60 cap bottle of 250mg pills can go for 20bucks - for unknown value. Just saying.
Green Tea extract (some more info here) - for it to have any sort of real fat burning effect, we're talking about isolating ECGC - the catachins in the green tea. And by the way, as with caffeine, some folks get heart palpatations from this stuff so approach with caution. What we do not know from this company is what the purity of the extract is. You may be paying for the sweepings of the tea house floor as 1/3 or less of that 1g of stuff in your creamer. In research studies, doses to have an effect OVER TIME included green tea with 690mg of Catechins total, of which 136mg were EGCG - but here, we don't know what makes up this extract.
One look at supplement shelves will show you how varied the amounts can be.
Fortunately there have been studies using just green tea, too, where the amounts of catechins are known - and that seems to work too - when calculating your costs).
Then there's Bitter Orange. another debatable component for fat burning. I love how WebMD describes its use: this stuff, and caffeine and st john's wort and "low calorie diet and exercise" may help with weight loss. That's like saying an iron nail and 3.50 will get you an americano at starbucks. Mind you other studies did not even find that. So of all this what do we have where we really can make any claims?
OF course the only way this really works is if the main ingredient of this 17% proporietary thing is green tea extract being close to a gram and then only the tiniest bits of hoodia and bitter orange.
That way the manufacturers can say they have these three ingredients, without saying amounts.
And then again, it's not likely they're using FDA approved labs (like the supplements i was quoting) to add their inredients either.
Metabolism claims??
"Further, it increases the body’s metabolic rate by removing stress on the pancreas,"
I have no idea what that means. Stress on the pancrease? that doesn't quite make sense.
It might be more sensible to say that coconut oil’s particular kinds of fats are used more readily for fuel almost like carbs rather than being stored (citric acid cycle and all that), but even saying that, metabolism is more complicated than that, but heck, the simple truth is, eating too much is eating too much - pretty much no matter what that source is.
Or if you’re trying to get leaner quicker, try a no-cal beverage like black coffee or green tea you can enjoy at near zero kcal’s and get the benefits of these real deals.
The fat in cream also has a satiety effect and a great mouth feel without additives. If you like dairy.
If you want the benefits of green tea extract, try exploring japanese green tea.
You can get some of the best in the world at teevana for the same amount as a pint of this stuff and you can reuse the tea leaves - from 20g of genmaicha i can get about five to seven liters (or seven big pots) - that's tea for about a week.
Or 20bucks can get two big jars of organic coconut oil - if you don't like the taste - don't get the extra virgin: it's pretty taste-neutral.
And sugar -well - if desperate you can get that for free where you buy your coffee.
And skip the hoodia/bitter orange.
I'm just testing the claims. and sadly, Coffee Creamer even with a literal pinch of hoodia added is still coffee creamer.
As per usual: whole real food is better and (unless super subsidized like sugar in the US and EU) cheaper than supplements.
Eat less; mostly plants, as Michael Pollan says. and Save your money - for more whole food?
just food for thought
mc
@mcphoo Tweet Follow @begin2dig
 |
| getting heavy about cream |
How about 20bucks for 280g (about a pint)?
Recently i saw this post on a fitness challenge site by one of the participants:
For all multiple cups a day coffee drinkers like me, I have your morning joe's new best mate!
Supresses appetite, taste delicious, and a healthier alternative to pounds of creame in your coffee!My favorite product of the week, Leaner Creamer!
"Leaner Creamer is the realization that a healthy alternative to fatty coffee creamers can exist. Leaner Creamer revolutionizes the cherished ritual of coffee drinking by adding the benefits of appetite suppression and weight-loss while you enjoy your java!"
Made with Hoodia extract, a plant native to the Kalahari Desert that tricks your brain into thinking it's full. Coconut oil easy to digest and it helps in healthy functioning of the thyroid and endocrine system. Further, it increases the body’s metabolic rate by removing stress on the pancreas, thereby burning more energy and helping obese and overweight people lose the weight. Green tea extract to increase metabolism and fat oxidation, inhibit fat cell development, and increase fat excretion!I love it, use it every day, taste great, stops me from snacking! Check it out!Wow! and i thought a pint of whole organic cream in the US at 5.60 was expensive. THis is 19.95 . For POWDER!
"Leaner Creamer is the realization that a healthy alternative to fatty coffee creamers can exist"
Healthy? Healthier? Time for the Claims Check, Please.
First troubling bit: you won’t find the nutrient breakdown on the product site, but you can find it.
Creamer ingredients (14)Coconut Oil, Maltodextrin, Natural Flavors, Sodium Caseinate(A Milk Derivative), Mono, and, Diglycerides, Dextrose, Dipotassium Phosphate, Tricalcium Phosphate, Soy Lecithin, Silicone Dioxide.17% Proprietary Blend:Citrus Aurantium, Hoodia Gordonii Extract, Green Tea Extract.- See more at food facts:
You know, this does look remarkably like the ingredient list for flamable coffee mate or similar. IN fact about the only differences are the added supplements at the end, and the presence of some coconut oil.
Which on the health side, raises the question:
IF this is the same as regular (flammable)highly processed coffee creamer, how is it "healthier" than cream? Coconut oil (first ingredient) needs to be processed to become a powder that will dissolve like a fat when put in hot water: that's in part the role of the maltodextrin (type of sugar) and the fifth and sixth ingredients: mono and di glyserides as emulsifiers - these also make up some of the fat content. In other words fat from the coconut oil is extracted, and some of these other fats are put in. How much coconut oil is really left?
Note also that after the little bits of fat and sugar, there's flavourings. The third ingredient is flavouring - unnamed - who knows derived from what.
Then i looked to find the nutrient calorie info. Amazing reading
First off, the serving size is 1teaspon (5g of a 280g bottle) like a packet of "powdered creamer" for coffee. For 1 teaspoon it's listed as 10kcal. There are 17.5kcal in that amount of heavy cream. Half and half has 7.5! interesting, eh?
Basic Real Ingredient Comparison
Of the total calories per serving (1 teaspoon or 5g) only .5g is fat. 5 fat calories. the other 5kcal are from carbs. That's the second, third and sixth ingredients: Maltodextrin (sugar) Sodium Caseinate (trace amounts of protein from milk but mostly a flavouring/texture "food additive") and more sugar. As said, basic coffee creamer. Free when you get a black coffee at a store.SO, what are you paying for at 20 bucks a pop? Analysis of basics:
There is Less than half a teaspoon of "coconut oil" and less than half a teaspoon of "sugar. “ in this stuffLooking
on amazon for non-organic sugar and coconut oil, it works out to about just under 2c for real coconut oil and just over 2c for maltodextrin - or 2.5c if using table sugar - per serving. Times 112 per container that's less than three bucks - retail.
Where's the other 17 dollars worth of retail product coming from?
The rest are little bits of stuff to give it the colour/flavour of cream and then there's the "17% proprietary blend" that includes "Citrus Aurantium, Hoodia Gordonii Extract, Green Tea Extract"So, LESS than 1/5 of this 5g serving (less than 1g) has these special bits in it. Let's round up and call it 1g to see what 1g of Citrus Auratium, Hoodia and Green Tea are supposed to do there.
Hoodia extract has just about nill evidence that it "tricks the body into feeling full" and if you were going to use it, coffee may be the last place you'd pay to have it. Why? Because caffeine IS a certified, verified by a ton of studies, appetite suppresant all on its own. Also - the fat in cream cues the body towards satiety (here's a post about fat tea using some cream and some coconut oil), so no need to play around with hoodia there. But how much is needed to have any effect? well, again: no science means who knows? Guesses anecdotally go from 1500-3000mg a day. A 60 cap bottle of 250mg pills can go for 20bucks - for unknown value. Just saying.
Green Tea extract (some more info here) - for it to have any sort of real fat burning effect, we're talking about isolating ECGC - the catachins in the green tea. And by the way, as with caffeine, some folks get heart palpatations from this stuff so approach with caution. What we do not know from this company is what the purity of the extract is. You may be paying for the sweepings of the tea house floor as 1/3 or less of that 1g of stuff in your creamer. In research studies, doses to have an effect OVER TIME included green tea with 690mg of Catechins total, of which 136mg were EGCG - but here, we don't know what makes up this extract.
One look at supplement shelves will show you how varied the amounts can be.
Fortunately there have been studies using just green tea, too, where the amounts of catechins are known - and that seems to work too - when calculating your costs).
Then there's Bitter Orange. another debatable component for fat burning. I love how WebMD describes its use: this stuff, and caffeine and st john's wort and "low calorie diet and exercise" may help with weight loss. That's like saying an iron nail and 3.50 will get you an americano at starbucks. Mind you other studies did not even find that. So of all this what do we have where we really can make any claims?
Prices for the rest of the 1g for those 112 servings
If we just divided these supplements into common ways they're bottled- 400 mg of GTE by now is 14 bucks for 250 caps or 6.272 for 112
- 400 mg hoodia is 18.99 for 180 caps or 11.82 for 112
- and
- 170 mg is 9.49 for 60 - so need to double this - say 20 for 120 18.66
OF course the only way this really works is if the main ingredient of this 17% proporietary thing is green tea extract being close to a gram and then only the tiniest bits of hoodia and bitter orange.
That way the manufacturers can say they have these three ingredients, without saying amounts.
And then again, it's not likely they're using FDA approved labs (like the supplements i was quoting) to add their inredients either.
Metabolism claims??
"Further, it increases the body’s metabolic rate by removing stress on the pancreas,"
I have no idea what that means. Stress on the pancrease? that doesn't quite make sense.
It might be more sensible to say that coconut oil’s particular kinds of fats are used more readily for fuel almost like carbs rather than being stored (citric acid cycle and all that), but even saying that, metabolism is more complicated than that, but heck, the simple truth is, eating too much is eating too much - pretty much no matter what that source is.
BOTTOM HEALTH and Cost LINE:
From the ingredients we see that this is pretty much coffee creamer powder that costs 8 bucks for 340g or, 6.22 - less than a third of what this stuff costs. Even the dairy derivative sodium casinate is present.You are in other words PAYING THROUGH THE NOSE - for those UNKNOWN amounts of UNKNOWN quality supplements that are but for the green tea of dubious benefit for weight loss or satiety.
Alternatives:
If the concern is to be “healthy” - decrease ingestion of chemicals and increase ingestion of whole foods. Like real cream or real coconut oil.Or if you’re trying to get leaner quicker, try a no-cal beverage like black coffee or green tea you can enjoy at near zero kcal’s and get the benefits of these real deals.
As for better fat burning and satiety?
Well, the types of fats that lead to fat burnding from coconut oil will also be found - pending the season - in organic milk/cream - along with other types of fat burning fats like CLT. So if you like dairy, organic cream is not unhealthy.The fat in cream also has a satiety effect and a great mouth feel without additives. If you like dairy.
If you want the benefits of green tea extract, try exploring japanese green tea.
You can get some of the best in the world at teevana for the same amount as a pint of this stuff and you can reuse the tea leaves - from 20g of genmaicha i can get about five to seven liters (or seven big pots) - that's tea for about a week.
Or 20bucks can get two big jars of organic coconut oil - if you don't like the taste - don't get the extra virgin: it's pretty taste-neutral.
And sugar -well - if desperate you can get that for free where you buy your coffee.
And skip the hoodia/bitter orange.
Bottom Bottom Line: we’re suckers for a quick fix,eh?
We are trusting creatures, especially when folks are selling things that sound great. If we're affluent enough, we'll buy it and try it.I'm just testing the claims. and sadly, Coffee Creamer even with a literal pinch of hoodia added is still coffee creamer.
As per usual: whole real food is better and (unless super subsidized like sugar in the US and EU) cheaper than supplements.
Eat less; mostly plants, as Michael Pollan says. and Save your money - for more whole food?
just food for thought
mc
@mcphoo Tweet Follow @begin2dig
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Sunday, September 12, 2010
Kill the Big Pill: Body Comp Change is Complex, not Single Factor
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What does body comp change take to succeed? There's a UK surgeon, Nick Finer, who says it's too hard for seriously fat people to lose weight because we just keep adjusting homeostatically to the weight we're at. Now i've seriously questioned this before (see: set point theory is crap). But Finer's solution for body comp success? Gastric Bypass. One gets the impression that he'd like roaming NHS trucks to pull the overweight over into the vans and gut clamp 'em on the spot. Cheap fix. Consequences? A few. Enduring effectiveness? Maybe not so much (interesting discussion of this report on obesity discussion). No successful, enduring change it seems, is so simple. We must, it seems, be willing to get a bit more complex.
Make it as simple as possible, but not simpler
- attributed to Einstein
Indeed, as other professionals, like Susan Roberts of Tufts, suggest from actually working with people when they're conscious rather than innert and knocked out on an operating table as so much plumbing, our engagement with food is complex - involving yes homeostatic components (the physiological us), but also hedonic components (the social/psychological us) - and the multiple factors of the one can and do affect the multiple factors of the other (discussed here in change is pain).
So if we are such complex systems (and we are) how likely is *ANY* single factor solution - whether Pill or Clamp or Diet - to succeed? As complex systems, the body comp solutions that last and endure and have positive long term effects seem to be the ones that respect this complexity. And they are the ones that take work, and a readiness to engage what it takes to change.
Consider Arnold's advice (yesterday's post) that a champion will want to do "anything it takes" to achieve their vision (or goal). Ok, one might say, great to talk about bodybuilding - the hotbed of drug use. Sure. Let's say that's so. But one still cannot *just* pop a pill and, ta da, succeed. Arnie describes spent five hours in the gym a day, one of which was posing practice, another flexibility work, the rest, working working working. Success takes reps - lots of them - to succeed. And success means also practice on a variety of levels. For arnie, he had a head game, posing, movement, weights work, training plans. All of that took reps. Multi-factor.
And success also takes a willingness to confront failure, learn from mistakes and keep going. Arnie notes it in his video, but so do all the writers on talent of late like the Talent Code
and Talent is Overrated
: the neurological role of making mistakes and figuring out what went wrong and correcting those errors is a key factor in getting better, improving performance. Enter the Coach to help figure these things out. Pat Summitt, below, is just one example of a great coach who, in her case, helps her athletes succeed as scholars and bball players.
Learning from mistakes, by the bye, in body comp is we can see very different than so-called yo-yo dieting where one keeps doing the same thing - sticking to a diet, losing weight, and then as soon as off the diet, regaining the weight, so pick another diet - and getting nowhere. That doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results has often been given as the definition of insanity.
So, given that enduring success (a) takes practice, (b) using errors for feedback on refining prcess and (c) in particular is Multi Factor, what are the components of success in body comp?
If someone asked me "hey mc, newly precision nutrition level 1 certified person, taking Arnie's Champion attitude, i'll do anything it takes to change my body comp. What does it take? Just tell me," i might be inclined to say:
Ok, it the key factors are time, patience, perseverance, some ongoing self-love, social support, and coaching/knowledge (food later: we have to plan for success first).
Strategies for Enduring Change
Time
Time is probably the biggie. Why? well, we can get that one pretty easily: physical change takes time to affect. But more than that, the biggie about enduring change is behavioural as well as physiological, and that means changing habits. IT takes both time and lots of reps to create new habits; we're rewiring the brain. Literally. Especially if what we're doing around food is often already habituated as a stress response, i'll say again: change is pain on the brain.
How Prep for Time: Once up for this notion of Taking Time, then having strategies to support new practice of change, and having support to persist with these changes is pretty key. Are strategies in place? Is the social support system in place?
Strategies for Time Change: Approaches like Precision Nutrition has several strategies for change: the precision nutrition system,
overviewed here; their lean eating program with daily support, discussed here, and their certified coaches for one on one support. Martha Beck's Four Day Win 
has step by step strategies for building up food practice habits and supporting some self-love in the process. Brad Pilon's Eat Stop Eat has very simple strategies: stop eating once a week.
Commitment
Body comp change does take a pretty constant level of commitment - that's the patience and perseverance - where, as arnie says, his happiness is that every rep was one more leading to his goal. So what are the reps in body comp? In a way we get to count the done and the note done. Here, the reps are often as much what one does do - eat right, exercise - as what one doesn't do - skip the multiple cookies for just one; skip the extra helping.
Prep & Strategies for Committment: Celebrating the Reps of the Done and the Not Done: how about keeping a log as one might for exercising to track not calories, but all the times we've said Yes to the right things, and One Less to the "wrong"?
Self-Care and Support
It will take some self-love and self-support - to care about and for oneself and be as gentle with oneself as one would with a best friend - to see the scale weight fluctuate up and down, but to trust the trend to be heading down. If it's not heading down after two weeks of New Practice, awesome to have an expert in your corner for guidance and support.
The main message here is time, patience, self-love, support and balanced guidance: when engaging in body comp change, that's a long term committment - even if one only has the proverbial five pounds to lose - and that that's ok. It's like a long term relationship - there are the ups and the not so ups. But being in for the long haul with ourselves is ok: we have the rest of our lives.
After all, if something takes months rather than weeks or a year rather than a month, presumably we have a few more years after that to enjoy the fruits of our labours? That so sounds like it kinda sucks that it's not now and today, or "in just 60 days" and it's not that one can't do extreme programs and get some results acceleration (and be exhausted), but our bodies do kind need the long view.
We're cyclical
Another thing i've been learning about is another "well that's obvious" - is that body comp is cyclical, and our own cycles are different from each others' There are times when we have more energy to give to change and maintenance than others. The winter when it's colder we may put on more fat to stay warm, or that may be the time we really peel it off - working out to stay warm. This is another reason to say it takes time to do body comp work: part of the process is learning our cycles, and by learning them we can tune them.
Food?
Intriguingly, with all this talk of commitment, "getting on a diet" may be less important than heuristics
about food and some basic food knowledge. Michael Pollan puts it well in Defence of Food
: eat less; mostly plants.
Precision Nutrition has a few more heuristics: eat protein at each feeding; get veggie variety at each feeding; get good fats in during the day; skip useless calories drinks of all kinds like juice and pop; save starchy fast carbs till you deserve them - post workout. Eat Stop Eat says eat less daily, and stop eating once or twice a week for about 24 hours. There's also the "change one thing diet" - commit to one less meal in front of the tv for a week, then maybe two less - it's part of the long haul: pick *one* thing to change, commit to that and build up success from there. As Martha Beck suggests, develop strategies that you believe will be successful, and then make that one even easier. Build successes.
Folks like Georgie Fear have created recipe books that make following these heuristics delicious and fun. Hers is called Dig In and it's great. Georgie's site also has TONS of free recipes, too.
Gourmet Nutrition vol. 2 is a lovely book of recipes (hit the free sample download) likewise tested for flavour and sitting well with good eating habits. And once we know what to look for in good food, we can start to assess food recipes for ourselves. If you find another source you like, please post it in the comments.
Take Home: We need MultiFactor Strategies for the Long View.
Arnie's view of success is that each rep takes the champs closer to their goals. Implicit in each rep is that it's part of a plan for success, and that plan is multi-factorial, complex (not complicated). Arnie got that winning is not just about lifting big, but moving well, attitude, balance, timing, etc. Why would our own body comp change goals be less complicated?
So how can we help each other to take the long view, and celebrate that anrie-esque joy that each rep is one step closer to the vision we have of ourselves?
Part of that success is getting that taking a single factor approach is likely doomed. I once read that the reason that most small businesses fail is that they don't plan for success. Martha Beck in the Four Day Win concentrates vigerously on planning each action for diet success ahead of time; Precision Nutrition likewise takes pains to emphasis progressive practice of habits before thinking about individualization. Good coaches likewise work with a us based on where we're at with stages of change. But in each case, there's respect for the fact that we're talking about change, and that's a multifactorial thing that requires DYNAMIC multifactorial approaches.
So when considering a new practice - and body comp change is just such a practice - ask: does that thing i'm looking at respect the complexity that is me? does it recognize the physiological, social and psychological parts of the process? Does it have plans to address each of those parts? If not, change that one thing?
If you need a hand, the above are some great starting points. If you'd like some one on one guidance beyond the PN forum for instance, a list of coaches certified in multifactorial nutrition coaching is here. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
- attributed to Einstein
Indeed, as other professionals, like Susan Roberts of Tufts, suggest from actually working with people when they're conscious rather than innert and knocked out on an operating table as so much plumbing, our engagement with food is complex - involving yes homeostatic components (the physiological us), but also hedonic components (the social/psychological us) - and the multiple factors of the one can and do affect the multiple factors of the other (discussed here in change is pain).
So if we are such complex systems (and we are) how likely is *ANY* single factor solution - whether Pill or Clamp or Diet - to succeed? As complex systems, the body comp solutions that last and endure and have positive long term effects seem to be the ones that respect this complexity. And they are the ones that take work, and a readiness to engage what it takes to change.
Consider Arnold's advice (yesterday's post) that a champion will want to do "anything it takes" to achieve their vision (or goal). Ok, one might say, great to talk about bodybuilding - the hotbed of drug use. Sure. Let's say that's so. But one still cannot *just* pop a pill and, ta da, succeed. Arnie describes spent five hours in the gym a day, one of which was posing practice, another flexibility work, the rest, working working working. Success takes reps - lots of them - to succeed. And success means also practice on a variety of levels. For arnie, he had a head game, posing, movement, weights work, training plans. All of that took reps. Multi-factor.
And success also takes a willingness to confront failure, learn from mistakes and keep going. Arnie notes it in his video, but so do all the writers on talent of late like the Talent Code
and Talent is Overrated: the neurological role of making mistakes and figuring out what went wrong and correcting those errors is a key factor in getting better, improving performance. Enter the Coach to help figure these things out. Pat Summitt, below, is just one example of a great coach who, in her case, helps her athletes succeed as scholars and bball players.Learning from mistakes, by the bye, in body comp is we can see very different than so-called yo-yo dieting where one keeps doing the same thing - sticking to a diet, losing weight, and then as soon as off the diet, regaining the weight, so pick another diet - and getting nowhere. That doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results has often been given as the definition of insanity.
So, given that enduring success (a) takes practice, (b) using errors for feedback on refining prcess and (c) in particular is Multi Factor, what are the components of success in body comp?
If someone asked me "hey mc, newly precision nutrition level 1 certified person, taking Arnie's Champion attitude, i'll do anything it takes to change my body comp. What does it take? Just tell me," i might be inclined to say:
Ok, it the key factors are time, patience, perseverance, some ongoing self-love, social support, and coaching/knowledge (food later: we have to plan for success first).
Strategies for Enduring Change
Time
Time is probably the biggie. Why? well, we can get that one pretty easily: physical change takes time to affect. But more than that, the biggie about enduring change is behavioural as well as physiological, and that means changing habits. IT takes both time and lots of reps to create new habits; we're rewiring the brain. Literally. Especially if what we're doing around food is often already habituated as a stress response, i'll say again: change is pain on the brain.
How Prep for Time: Once up for this notion of Taking Time, then having strategies to support new practice of change, and having support to persist with these changes is pretty key. Are strategies in place? Is the social support system in place?
Strategies for Time Change: Approaches like Precision Nutrition has several strategies for change: the precision nutrition system, overviewed here; their lean eating program with daily support, discussed here, and their certified coaches for one on one support. Martha Beck's Four Day Win has step by step strategies for building up food practice habits and supporting some self-love in the process. Brad Pilon's Eat Stop Eat has very simple strategies: stop eating once a week. Commitment
Body comp change does take a pretty constant level of commitment - that's the patience and perseverance - where, as arnie says, his happiness is that every rep was one more leading to his goal. So what are the reps in body comp? In a way we get to count the done and the note done. Here, the reps are often as much what one does do - eat right, exercise - as what one doesn't do - skip the multiple cookies for just one; skip the extra helping.
Self-Care and Support
It will take some self-love and self-support - to care about and for oneself and be as gentle with oneself as one would with a best friend - to see the scale weight fluctuate up and down, but to trust the trend to be heading down. If it's not heading down after two weeks of New Practice, awesome to have an expert in your corner for guidance and support.
Prep for self-love: Do we celebrate the Wins of Change, let's call them? whose your buddy who's there for you? where's your on-call expert to reality check what you're doing?
Strategies for self-love and support: Finding a friend can be hard, since one's current posee might not feel one with a person's committment to change. There are however quite a few diet forums on the web for folks in similar situations to oneself. Again, this is why i dig precision nutrition: the forum is a huge asset since not only experts but folks in exactly the same place as ourselves who have been through it, are going through it, are there.
A note on Threat Reduction and Diet: In z-health Sustenance, we also talk about change as being percieved as a threat. Being in a threat place is not an optimal place to support performance change. Threat means our nervous system, responsible for all sorts of hormonal interactions, perceives a threat to our very survival. Interest in shedding calories is the antithesis of being in a threat place. So we need strategies to help support change that lets us reduce the threat response so we can get to a place to work on performance. Without that, how likely are performance oriented strategies like diet change going to be?
Likewise, each stage of change
, too, may take slightly different strategies. Finding support/expertise for those changes may be key.
All the Time in the World; With a little (self) Love in Your HeartA note on Threat Reduction and Diet: In z-health Sustenance, we also talk about change as being percieved as a threat. Being in a threat place is not an optimal place to support performance change. Threat means our nervous system, responsible for all sorts of hormonal interactions, perceives a threat to our very survival. Interest in shedding calories is the antithesis of being in a threat place. So we need strategies to help support change that lets us reduce the threat response so we can get to a place to work on performance. Without that, how likely are performance oriented strategies like diet change going to be?
Likewise, each stage of change
, too, may take slightly different strategies. Finding support/expertise for those changes may be key. The main message here is time, patience, self-love, support and balanced guidance: when engaging in body comp change, that's a long term committment - even if one only has the proverbial five pounds to lose - and that that's ok. It's like a long term relationship - there are the ups and the not so ups. But being in for the long haul with ourselves is ok: we have the rest of our lives.
After all, if something takes months rather than weeks or a year rather than a month, presumably we have a few more years after that to enjoy the fruits of our labours? That so sounds like it kinda sucks that it's not now and today, or "in just 60 days" and it's not that one can't do extreme programs and get some results acceleration (and be exhausted), but our bodies do kind need the long view.
We're cyclical
Another thing i've been learning about is another "well that's obvious" - is that body comp is cyclical, and our own cycles are different from each others' There are times when we have more energy to give to change and maintenance than others. The winter when it's colder we may put on more fat to stay warm, or that may be the time we really peel it off - working out to stay warm. This is another reason to say it takes time to do body comp work: part of the process is learning our cycles, and by learning them we can tune them.
Ever considered an energy log? When do workouts feel great? when is energy more up or more down than usual? does it correlate to anything else in our days?
I've been finding sleep is a great indicator/corelator of differences, and being lazy about logging it's why i like things like Zeo for logging those subtle differences in quality of sleep, or occasionally monitoring my heart for HRV to see if i'm more pooped than not?
Food?
So where's the food in all this?
Intriguingly, with all this talk of commitment, "getting on a diet" may be less important than heuristics about food and some basic food knowledge. Michael Pollan puts it well in Defence of Food: eat less; mostly plants.Precision Nutrition has a few more heuristics: eat protein at each feeding; get veggie variety at each feeding; get good fats in during the day; skip useless calories drinks of all kinds like juice and pop; save starchy fast carbs till you deserve them - post workout. Eat Stop Eat says eat less daily, and stop eating once or twice a week for about 24 hours. There's also the "change one thing diet" - commit to one less meal in front of the tv for a week, then maybe two less - it's part of the long haul: pick *one* thing to change, commit to that and build up success from there. As Martha Beck suggests, develop strategies that you believe will be successful, and then make that one even easier. Build successes.
Yes but what about the Food?
Gourmet Nutrition vol. 2 is a lovely book of recipes (hit the free sample download) likewise tested for flavour and sitting well with good eating habits. And once we know what to look for in good food, we can start to assess food recipes for ourselves. If you find another source you like, please post it in the comments.
Take Home: We need MultiFactor Strategies for the Long View.
Arnie's view of success is that each rep takes the champs closer to their goals. Implicit in each rep is that it's part of a plan for success, and that plan is multi-factorial, complex (not complicated). Arnie got that winning is not just about lifting big, but moving well, attitude, balance, timing, etc. Why would our own body comp change goals be less complicated?
So how can we help each other to take the long view, and celebrate that anrie-esque joy that each rep is one step closer to the vision we have of ourselves?
Part of that success is getting that taking a single factor approach is likely doomed. I once read that the reason that most small businesses fail is that they don't plan for success. Martha Beck in the Four Day Win concentrates vigerously on planning each action for diet success ahead of time; Precision Nutrition likewise takes pains to emphasis progressive practice of habits before thinking about individualization. Good coaches likewise work with a us based on where we're at with stages of change. But in each case, there's respect for the fact that we're talking about change, and that's a multifactorial thing that requires DYNAMIC multifactorial approaches.
So when considering a new practice - and body comp change is just such a practice - ask: does that thing i'm looking at respect the complexity that is me? does it recognize the physiological, social and psychological parts of the process? Does it have plans to address each of those parts? If not, change that one thing?
If you need a hand, the above are some great starting points. If you'd like some one on one guidance beyond the PN forum for instance, a list of coaches certified in multifactorial nutrition coaching is here. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Ryan Andrews of Precision Nutrition: The PN voice of Reason and Wellbeing Education
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I've said before how much i like the Precision Nutrition program (review) for a bunch of reasons: as an approach to eating, it's based on nutrition habits not calorie counting. These habits act as a baseline to help one learn what and how our bodies respond to different foods in different circumstances. It's also got a great approach to health and well being in terms of getting sufficient movement happening.
But one of the things i have celebrated about PN in particular is the forum, which really means the people and the interaction with people offered there. This is a model of great forum interaction made up of just super folks. And the folks from PN are full participants along with folks just wanting to learn a healthy way to get to understand ourselves and food, students and professionals from all walks of life. As resources there are professional trainers from a rich variety of backgrounds, scientists, nutritionists, body workers, physicians, it's an amazing mix of expertise and experience. The quality of the interaction is first class, polite, convivial, witty, knowledgable and respectful. If you hang out on forums at all you'll appreciate how exceptional this sounds. It's par for the course here.
Personally, i've connected with lots of great folks at PN over the several years i've hung out there, learning about nutrtion and working out. Georgie Fear and Mike T. Nelson have contributed to numerous posts here. Roland Fisher, trainer extraordinaire i've mentioned often and you'll see his comments from time to time on the blog. Carter Shoffer's approach to peri-workout drinks on the PN forum is second to none, and he has a way of coming up with great analogies for difficult concepts - he's one of the guys that makes the Forum such a great place to be.
If we accept that leadership comes from the top and leadership sets the tone, then getting to engage with John Berardi a bit more this year shows that that niceness and professionalism does come from the team lead. His unflagging optimism about folks getting healthy with balanced food and workouts with the best of science and practice is inspiring.
More recently i've had the pleasure of interacting a bit more with the guy who's become literally "the Voice of PN" - Ryan Andrews is the person doing the voice overs for the forum tutorials, and more recently for the Precision Nutrition online Certification materials. He's also the author of 99.9% of PN's incredible and well researched "All About" article series. One of the assets of of getting PN is access to the forum, and access to the forum includes these practical/research summaries on everything from Cholesterol to Creatine; from Sleep to Protein to BCAAs to Fish Oil to - well anything to do with nutrition health and well being, pretty sure there'll be a PN All About article there.
I aksed Ryan if he's be willing to have a wee chat about who he is and how he's come to connect with PN, and a bit about his own approach to food and life. He agreed. The following is our discussion. To kick things off, here's Ryan's signature:
What are some of the trends in nutrition that are well let's say scary on the one hand or exciting on the other?
think ROland Fisher said something like but a child asks for stuff all the time, too, and it wouldn't be smart to deliver on that request all the time. So, what's it mean to "listen" wisely, shall we say, and how have you seen this go south?
Speaking of bombarding, could we talk a wee bit about popular voices on food right now? Michael Pollan for instance - very popular guy; great presence as part of food inc, very critical of what he calls nutritionism. This is Precision NUTRITION - what's your response to Pollan-ism, let's call it?
Cool, can you offer a couple of examples of science knowledge meeting reality where you seen this happening? that someone would recognize it as the two places coming together?
. 
Thank you very much, Ryan.
Related Articles:
This post is an interview with Ryan Andrews, Education director of Precision Nutrition. Ryan walks the talk, all the way down. He brings a careful, thoughtful eye to a wide range of issues in nutrition practice. As you'll see, he's a pretty exceptional person, with a life time's passion for wellbeing, blending good nutrition, health and fitness practices and thoughtful awareness of the choices we make within those practices.
I've said before how much i like the Precision Nutrition program (review) for a bunch of reasons: as an approach to eating, it's based on nutrition habits not calorie counting. These habits act as a baseline to help one learn what and how our bodies respond to different foods in different circumstances. It's also got a great approach to health and well being in terms of getting sufficient movement happening.But one of the things i have celebrated about PN in particular is the forum, which really means the people and the interaction with people offered there. This is a model of great forum interaction made up of just super folks. And the folks from PN are full participants along with folks just wanting to learn a healthy way to get to understand ourselves and food, students and professionals from all walks of life. As resources there are professional trainers from a rich variety of backgrounds, scientists, nutritionists, body workers, physicians, it's an amazing mix of expertise and experience. The quality of the interaction is first class, polite, convivial, witty, knowledgable and respectful. If you hang out on forums at all you'll appreciate how exceptional this sounds. It's par for the course here.
Personally, i've connected with lots of great folks at PN over the several years i've hung out there, learning about nutrtion and working out. Georgie Fear and Mike T. Nelson have contributed to numerous posts here. Roland Fisher, trainer extraordinaire i've mentioned often and you'll see his comments from time to time on the blog. Carter Shoffer's approach to peri-workout drinks on the PN forum is second to none, and he has a way of coming up with great analogies for difficult concepts - he's one of the guys that makes the Forum such a great place to be.If we accept that leadership comes from the top and leadership sets the tone, then getting to engage with John Berardi a bit more this year shows that that niceness and professionalism does come from the team lead. His unflagging optimism about folks getting healthy with balanced food and workouts with the best of science and practice is inspiring.
More recently i've had the pleasure of interacting a bit more with the guy who's become literally "the Voice of PN" - Ryan Andrews is the person doing the voice overs for the forum tutorials, and more recently for the Precision Nutrition online Certification materials. He's also the author of 99.9% of PN's incredible and well researched "All About" article series. One of the assets of of getting PN is access to the forum, and access to the forum includes these practical/research summaries on everything from Cholesterol to Creatine; from Sleep to Protein to BCAAs to Fish Oil to - well anything to do with nutrition health and well being, pretty sure there'll be a PN All About article there.
Ryan Andrews: "PN isn't about dieting.
PN is about helping people find what works for them."
PN is about helping people find what works for them."
Ryan D. Andrews, MS, MA, RD, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, ACSM-HFS, CISSN Director of Education - Precision Nutrition ---Healthy Food Bank --Compassionate CooksCan we touch on your training? The formal path you've taken with respect to nutrition work?
I did my undergrad in exercise science. I did my graduate degrees in exercise science and nutrition. When I arrived at grad school, I quickly realized that to have any impact in the nutrition world, I needed to become an RD. If I didn't get the credential, I would have always felt limited to what I could recommend to people.Can you talk a little about the RD? That's a biggie in terms of qualifications. But it's also a qualification i've seen met with considerable skepticism of late as people being wedded to the high carb world that is the Food Pyramid.
A RD spends at least 4 years studying nutrition, then does a 6-12 month nutrition internship, then must pass an exam, then does continuing education each year. In the past, I think RDs felt like they had to follow the governments advice about eating. But now, more RDs are starting to question old science and challenge strategies that aren't working. I know some RDs who are bright, cutting edge, and really help people get healthy. I alsoNo argument there. So moving away from the formal to the personal: one of your first tags on the PN bio is that you were a competitive bodybuilder. My sense of competitive bb is that there's a lot of time spent starving and feeling like crap. is this an incorrect view?
know some RDs who are boring, outdated, and don't know how to help people
eat (and can't eat healthy themselves). I guess most professions are like this, huh?
So why bb, and why competitive bb?When preparing for a contest, you are hungry and feel like crap. When trying to put on mass, you are always full and feel like crap.
I discovered weight training when I was 13 years old. I discovered healthy nutrition when I was 14 years old. I became fascinated with the ability to alter these to alter my body.Where did bodybuilding and nutrition intersect for you?
They always went together. Ever since I had my first training partner at age 14 - a discussion about training was always followed up by a discussion on eating.Sounds like you've had an interest in nutrition from your undergrad days - how did that happen?
I was interested in nutrition before college. I remember thinking how amazing it was that I could actually study exercise/nutrition after high school.OK, this is even more atypical. When your friends asked what you wanted to study and you said "food" how'd you describe the interest? Did you also like cooking at this point?
At this point, it was about nutrition science. People knew I was in shape and competed in bodybuilding. I was always known as the "nutrition and exercise guy." It's interesting looking back, because I actually knew very little about food, culture, farming and cooking. Only about science.You've written about not stepping on the scale much, and being a vegetarian who has his diet rather dialed in. How long did it take you to get that setting for yourself?
I'm always making adjustments and evolving. After bodybuilding, I was really able to listen to what my body needs, and treat my body well, instead of always forcing it to extremes. I know when I am making healthy decisions in my life. Seeing a number on the scale doesn't serve any purpose to me.Since this parameter *is* such big deal with so many of us, do you find that you're working to help folks find your perspective around the scale? For folks who are concerned about that number - or need to demonstrate a number for their sport, what is a suggestion you'd make to either group?
In terms of food decisions, when did the vegetarian (or is it vegan?) approach kick in for you? would you care to talk a little bit about that for you, your decision process? Your challenges?With everything related to nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle, it's about helping the person find what works for them. What works for me doesn't work for everyone. I do think that a lot of people feel like they 'need' a scale to have success with health - but really, I try to remind them that daily behaviors are what matters. We know what to do to be successful - the scale shouldn't dictate how we feel about ourselves and our habits. Even with bodybuilding, the scale didn't matter much. It was about how I looked in the mirror and how I felt about my physique. I would challenge everyone to think about how the scale impacts their life - and how it benefits or harms your decisions.
I was taking an "ethics in research" class during grad school. We were discussing animal research. I realized I wasn't very comfortable with using animals in research. I talked to my lab partner about this and she asked if I ate meat. I told her yes. She informed me that I was killing animals every day. I had never made that connection before. Meat was always just XX grams of protein. That's it. So, from that moment forward, I haven't consumed meat. The more I learned about animals being used in food production, the more I wanted to eat plant-based. I transitioned to a 100% plant-based diet over the next couple years (empahsis mine, -mc).That's cool that it took time to make that total plan move. Now that you're there, how long has it been? i ask because many people float back and forth, and a consistent non-meat approach over time is still pretty rare.
I haven't consumed meat for over 6 years. I haven't consumed any animalWhat is your biggest challenge when it comes to nutrition practice?
products at all for over 4 years.
Remembering what my values are when it comes to nutrition. Sometimes in our society, it's easy to forget and go with the masses.John talks about every two years doing the get shredded thing - do you have a similar walk in the desert?
No. Restrictive diets don't lead to anything positive for me. They mess with my head and end up making me disregard my body.That's very interesting. Are there any other ways you find that you listen to your body? i guess i'm thinking about movement, pain/injury etc?
I always allow wiggle room with my workout schedule. If I feel run down and fatigued, I take time off. If I feel full of energy and loose, I'll do extra workouts. If any movements feel awkward and/or painful, I do something else. I used to force things, and this led to pain/injury.How did you get SO involved with Precision Nutrition?
I've been following JB since I was 19 years old. Fast forward several years to when I was at Hopkins, I collaborated on a few projects with JB. We worked together well and got along. We did some articles for T-nation and some presentations for the NSCA. From there, I ended up wanting to transition away from Maryland, and JB offered me a job with PN.What are some of the features that have appealed to you, and that keep you involved?
PN isn't about dieting. PN is about helping people find what works for them. We provide a basic foundation, and then guide people through the outcomes based decision making process. Is it working? Or is it not working? Then make adjustments. PN is open-minded and progressive. I find those qualities essential. Also, PN has some of the most interesting and bright people I've ever met.That really resonates with what i've found too from the participant side. Folks on the forum tend to stick around long after whatever body comp challenges we've worked through, too. It's cool.
What are some of the trends in nutrition that are well let's say scary on the one hand or exciting on the other?
Nutrigenomics. It's fascinating and exciting, but opens a new level of "information overload" that North America probably can't deal with right now [see Berardi's interview with field leader Dr. Ahmed El-Sohemy here or here -mc].Have you seen folks general knowledge about food get worse or better?
It's weird. I've seen knowledge about calories and nutrients get better among the general population, but I've seen peoples knowledge about how to actually eat and listen to their body diminish.Really? since "listening to the body" seems to be a theme here, let's make sure we're on the same page for this. I remember you posting about eating now when you feel hungry - listening to that. And i
think ROland Fisher said something like but a child asks for stuff all the time, too, and it wouldn't be smart to deliver on that request all the time. So, what's it mean to "listen" wisely, shall we say, and how have you seen this go south?
We talk about it more here on calorie countingThis kind of thinking about food, relationships to food, what that means for the body, getting to grips with that, seems to lead to your title at PN is as director of education. What does that mean?
It comes back to what we REALLY want, what we value. Sure, eating donuts and sitting around might bring temporary pleasure - but it doesn't REALLY feel good. It leads to low energy, mood swings, bloating, disease, the list goes on. When we crave fruit - eat fruit, enjoy the fruit, stop just before being fully content, and move on. Once we start selecting whole foods, unaltered, our hunger and satiety cues recalibrate.
I am involved with educating people. I help with articles, presentations, coaching, certifications, courses, etc.Part of this work is the new Precision Nutrition Certification. Let's talk about that for a sec. There are existing certs out there - the CSCS and similar organizations also certainly have big chunks of their exams on nutrition for athletics. What did you want to do differently with the PN certs?
We wanted to keep it real. We wanted to provide textbook knowledge and then connect it with real world eating.Is that the main gap in current nutrition training?
Yes. There is a gap between science and real world eating. And there is a gap between science and where actual food comes from.As part of support for addressing this gap, the level 1 cert has put together an awful lot of resource from content to content types including a fat textbook, voice over slides, workbook, a discussion forum where the PN team is very responsive. When did you decide to do this and how did you decide to to in this way?
It was in the works for a couple years. JB and I collaborated and took it one step at a time.Let's talk about the text book for a second. How did y'all figure out the degree of complexity or not that you wanted to get into to make the content simple enough without being too simple?
It was helpful for JB and I to reflect on our educational experience and real world coaching experience. We focused on the items that are useful in both areas.How will folks know what to expect from a PN certified coach? I guess i'm asking about this because it seems that when stuff comes from organizations that sound generic like Candian College of Sports Medicine (there is no such thing - i just made that up, dear reader), it sounds a bit more authoritative than "precision nutrition" cert - than something effectively associated with a brand. One might think of such a coach "oh great: they know how to sell PN - i need someone who knows about nutrition; i don't want to eat 6 times a day" you know?
We want to empower PN certified coaches. We want to give them the knowledge base to help people with eating and health. Trainers are bombarded with nutrition questions, and having this certification will help them feel confident about responding.
Speaking of bombarding, could we talk a wee bit about popular voices on food right now? Michael Pollan for instance - very popular guy; great presence as part of food inc, very critical of what he calls nutritionism. This is Precision NUTRITION - what's your response to Pollan-ism, let's call it? Pollan is great. As people focus on the science and details of eating, we tend to eat worse. I think if we can join our scientific knowledge of nutrition with real world eating and culture - we'll have all bases covered, and really be able to achieve optimal health.
Cool, can you offer a couple of examples of science knowledge meeting reality where you seen this happening? that someone would recognize it as the two places coming together?
Example #1: "Wow, it seems like eating omega-3 fats is really good for my body. And gosh, omega-3 fats are found in flax seeds and hemp seeds. I'm going to start eating those in salads or on oatmeal."And related to food combinations, would you like two moments to talk about your take on Paleo?
Example #2: "Protein dense foods seem to be great for muscle mass and body
composition. I'm going to prioritize things like beans and greens each day
to ensure I get protein."
And one more again in the more popular/populist voices on food: Taub's good calories bad caloriesI don't really have any strong feelings on Paleo eating. No matter what, I think a diet based on whole, unprocessed foods is essential. But I've come across too many guys using "Paleo eating" as an excuse to eat a platter buffalo style chicken wings or get 2 big macs without buns. That ain't Paleo. I really like what Jack Norris has to say about it.
. He makes some excellent points and gives us some things to think about.
I don't think whole, unprocessed carb dense foods like grains and beans are resulting in health problems.For yourself, Ryan, how are you working out right now?
For the past few years, I've been doing more full body resistance training
and conditioning.
I'll do Monkey Bar Gym workouts 3-4 times per week
monkey bar gym tour with founder John Hinds
I'll also do a yoga class 1-2 times per weekYay on the no car. And with your own eating?
Other than that, I bike and walk each day since I don't have a car.
I don't like to spend too much brain power on my own eating. I already think about it enough with my coaching and job. Thus, simplicity rules.
I'll sometimes prep food in bulk. Stuff like brown rice, quinoa, lentils, or split peas for the week. Otherwise, I just prep food as I go.
I hardly ever carry food with me, as my job allows meals to be at home. If I'm going to be away, I just stop at a grocery store or healthy restaurant.
Most days:
-after my AM workout I'll have a super shake (with greens, fruit, nuts, etc.
Just like here: pn's super shake creations
If I am hungry later in the AM I'll have a slice of sprouted grain bread with some peanut or almond butter and some cut up veggies or salad
-Early afternoon I might have some roasted garbanzo beans and a piece of fruit
-For dinners - I'll rotate between veggie burgers, bean burritos, yams/potatoes, rice/beans, pizza, stir-fry's, big salads with aduki beans....stuff like that.
I drink lots of tea and water during the day -In the winter, I eat more grains, beans and cooked foods. In the summer, I eat more raw veggies and fruits and salads.A big yam for dinner, Ryan? This approach on the surface may seem a little un-PN's habits of protein and greens and fats at each feeding.
My meals aren't very "typical." I might have a big yam for dinner - that's it. Or a bowl of beans. Really basic stuff.
The way I eat works for me and my goals. And that's what PN is about. PN is about giving people a foundation and then helping to guide them in finding a strategy that works for them and their goals. Something that gets results and can be sustained.When you're not being Director of Education, what are you up to?
The way I eat is 100% PN.
I help at an organic farm. I am a newsletter editor for the American Dietetic Association. I do a lot of Monkey Bar Gym style workouts. I read lots of non-fiction. I help in the Boulder School Lunch Program. I like to go outside and bike, walk, swim. I really try to challenge myself to live a better life each day and figure out how to make the world a better place to live.A lot of folks would ascribe these kinds of principles to a religious or spiritual belief system. If that's not too personal, is that the case here, or is this the evolving Zen of Ryan?
I don't really follow any specific religion. Most organized religions don't appeal to me because it creates barriers between groups. One of my favorite quotes is by the Dalai Lama - "My true religion is kindness." I do my best to follow that religion.If there's one thing you'd like people to hold onto about nutrition, eating, what would it be?
Take a few minutes each day to think about the repercussions of your food choices. Think about how they impact the planet, your health, animals, workers, and so forth. Then make sure you are living in line with what you value.
Thank you very much, Ryan.
Related Articles:
- b2d nutrition article index
- Where Calorie Counting may fit in
- what's a whole protein or whole food?
- Georgie Fear on digestive enzymes...
- A minute with mike on protein timing
- 8lbs of lean mass in one hour
- change in diet is hard
- help with motivation in food practices and beyond
- human support helps with food practice change
- real cacao chocolate cake.
- balsamic vinegar - for that getting more from less eating.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
mc's balsamic vinegar diet: fat loss xtreme taste delight
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Diets as a regular approach to body comp, as opposed to good nutrition practices, are bad. They're evil. They show no respect for the complexity of us as humans. They say if you just eat this magic way you'll get the body you want. They have no respect for the neurological trespass that radical changes can invoke when broached without preparation or understanding: that for someone struggling with weight for a long time, it's rarely just about the food.
We see proof of this all the time: we know that folks who diet can get stuck in a cycle of deprivation/retaliation. Martha Beck describes this practically split personality response to the diet (a code word for denial) in here fabulous book about approaches to getting one's head right for food change in The Four Day Win.
In Beck's approach, one's way to "thinner peace" as she puts it, is by helping one's self prep for the kind of changes to habits a shift in food consumption really triggers, and offers strategies to help get ready for the change.
I've written about the cost of change before: we are rewiring ourselves, literally, both hedonically
(our habits for pleasure/satisfaction/sufficiency) and homeostatically (what hormones for instance get triggered when to say "you're hungry; go get carbs). I really like Susan Roberts' approach to this shifting of "instincts" as getting one with what's going on inside and having some mercy towards oneself that there are reasons we're so driven to consume, and that changing these takes time.
It's just not only about the food (as i've said before).
And folks here know that my favorite approaches to getting knowledgable about nutrition is precision nutrition (why), and that i'm also intrigued with eat stop eat as a complementary strategy.
All good.
So where does balsamic vinegar come into it?
Well, whether you're getting set to make weight as an athlete or getting ready for a special event, or just want to kick start the sanity of a diet with some self-inspiration, there are times when one may wish to crash diet. Pray these are rare. Here's my own example: i'm getting ready for an event; i was away for more than a week on the road and ate terribly. And i know how to manage road food, so won't go into why this week was a bust, but i've been paying for it since, and i want to get back to the right weight for the event. Shallow, but there it is.
So, what's the best way to do this? Well i don't know, but the way i do it is to turn to Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss Diet. McDonald offers the same caveats: a crash diet is a short-ish term thing; it is not a way of life, but there are times (not one's life) when drastic measures may be appropriate.
By drastic, we're talking what's usually known as a Protein Sparing Diet, with a few mods. The best part of the book is really the discussions around how to figure out how long to be on this, how to come off it, and how to gage what you need, why, and strategies to optimize your *short term* practice of this.
The diet part is largely getting your daily protein requirements from very lean sources (including protein powder), doing a multivitamin and calcium, doing your algae or fish oils to get the right fats, and eating all the greens you want. Leafy greens don't really add up calorically to a hill of beans. Well, literally they don't.
We're getting closer to the balsamic
Just eating a piece of protein is not so filling. However, what i've been finding is that raw leafy greens from salad greens to baby spinach, and throwing in some sprouts, is not only overwhelming to the eye (as in, 'that's a lot of food'), it's also slow going to chew. And that's great!
Normally, i'd put olive oil and balsamic on a set of veg like this, but that oil is too dear right now since it's fat i'm trying to burn, so for the first time i've been exploring well, what about just the balsamic? Oh wow.
Now, when i say balsamic here, i mean some really nice balsamic (what is balsamic?).
Getting Intrigued
Yes, like everything else made in the world, we can Get Intrigued about a particular food product. There are various types of balsamics just as there are wines and olive oils. Having had the pleasure to travel to spain at one point i got to try a bunch and learned about this incredible condoment. This is aged, pressed grapes. It's sweet and clean and oh so nice with just a hint of tartness. And also as with all things, the most expensive doesn't always mean the best either. There's a supermarket brand in the UK - selfridges - which is very very nice. And surprisingly another supermarket, waitrose, makes one too, that rivals more name brands. To my taste anyway.
AND the best thing is, it works on its own without the olive oil's fruity complement. Drizzle some of the really nice stuff on this stack of leafy greenery and it goes from a mouth full of fodder to something really quite delicious.
There are probably tons of chemical reasons for why the vinegar part of the balsamic is reacting with the lettuce to begin to cook it, and react with it, but oy, let me tell you, it's a way to make that plate of greens desireable.
Slow Down, Chew: create taste sensation and lasting delight
WHich brings us to two other great food tips we hear all the time: chew the food a lot, and eat slowly. Why? well, the mastication process brings out the flavours of the foods, and if you have a variety of greens and sprouts and balsamic notes on a plate, squishing, crushing, chewing those leaves cracks open their flavours. And heck, if you're on such thin gruel as this calorically, making a meal last as long as possible is also a good thing.
Indeed, concentrating on the food, tastes and flavours is another rewiring step that has been shown apparently to help people eat less. On this diet, no problem, one is eating less BUT in doing so, we're learning habits to carry back to Sane Eating to continue to get more from less.
Tucking Into Tastes.
Perhaps when one is so calorically restricted, creating savoriness and sweetness and just flavourfulness is truly a great practice to develop - chewing goes a long way; seasoning takes that a bit further - and while perhaps motivated by a keen focus on fat burning for the moment, for whatever short term necessary evil goal requires this (or possibly it's an aesetic rather than aesthetic one), these are useful habits to take back towards as said that sane eating (i mentioned precision nutrition if you're not sure what that looks like - here's a free ebook of most of it).
So if you find yourself in a place where you need to get a fat drop happening fast, by all means, consider the Rapid Fat Loss Diet, and bring the good quality Balsamic to the table.
And when you get a head start on where you need to go - really the time limits discussed in the book are IMPORTANT - to look at refeeds, duration, etc, and just stopping it - there are some great approaches, as said: pn, eat stop eat. All good, all sane, all healthy habits based.
Personally, i can hardly wait to get back to real eating, but balsamic and loads of leaves has been a revelation.
Related Links
Note:
A reminder, too, that Brad Pilon's free teleseminar is Feb 24 - the free slides that just got mailed around about calorie cutting for weight loss related to height and only height is worth the sign up alone. That's a head spinner. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
We see proof of this all the time: we know that folks who diet can get stuck in a cycle of deprivation/retaliation. Martha Beck describes this practically split personality response to the diet (a code word for denial) in here fabulous book about approaches to getting one's head right for food change in The Four Day Win.
In Beck's approach, one's way to "thinner peace" as she puts it, is by helping one's self prep for the kind of changes to habits a shift in food consumption really triggers, and offers strategies to help get ready for the change.
I've written about the cost of change before: we are rewiring ourselves, literally, both hedonically
(our habits for pleasure/satisfaction/sufficiency) and homeostatically (what hormones for instance get triggered when to say "you're hungry; go get carbs). I really like Susan Roberts' approach to this shifting of "instincts" as getting one with what's going on inside and having some mercy towards oneself that there are reasons we're so driven to consume, and that changing these takes time.It's just not only about the food (as i've said before).
And folks here know that my favorite approaches to getting knowledgable about nutrition is precision nutrition (why), and that i'm also intrigued with eat stop eat as a complementary strategy.
All good.
So where does balsamic vinegar come into it?
Well, whether you're getting set to make weight as an athlete or getting ready for a special event, or just want to kick start the sanity of a diet with some self-inspiration, there are times when one may wish to crash diet. Pray these are rare. Here's my own example: i'm getting ready for an event; i was away for more than a week on the road and ate terribly. And i know how to manage road food, so won't go into why this week was a bust, but i've been paying for it since, and i want to get back to the right weight for the event. Shallow, but there it is.
So, what's the best way to do this? Well i don't know, but the way i do it is to turn to Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss Diet. McDonald offers the same caveats: a crash diet is a short-ish term thing; it is not a way of life, but there are times (not one's life) when drastic measures may be appropriate.By drastic, we're talking what's usually known as a Protein Sparing Diet, with a few mods. The best part of the book is really the discussions around how to figure out how long to be on this, how to come off it, and how to gage what you need, why, and strategies to optimize your *short term* practice of this.
The diet part is largely getting your daily protein requirements from very lean sources (including protein powder), doing a multivitamin and calcium, doing your algae or fish oils to get the right fats, and eating all the greens you want. Leafy greens don't really add up calorically to a hill of beans. Well, literally they don't.
We're getting closer to the balsamic
Just eating a piece of protein is not so filling. However, what i've been finding is that raw leafy greens from salad greens to baby spinach, and throwing in some sprouts, is not only overwhelming to the eye (as in, 'that's a lot of food'), it's also slow going to chew. And that's great!
Normally, i'd put olive oil and balsamic on a set of veg like this, but that oil is too dear right now since it's fat i'm trying to burn, so for the first time i've been exploring well, what about just the balsamic? Oh wow.
Now, when i say balsamic here, i mean some really nice balsamic (what is balsamic?).
Getting Intrigued
Yes, like everything else made in the world, we can Get Intrigued about a particular food product. There are various types of balsamics just as there are wines and olive oils. Having had the pleasure to travel to spain at one point i got to try a bunch and learned about this incredible condoment. This is aged, pressed grapes. It's sweet and clean and oh so nice with just a hint of tartness. And also as with all things, the most expensive doesn't always mean the best either. There's a supermarket brand in the UK - selfridges - which is very very nice. And surprisingly another supermarket, waitrose, makes one too, that rivals more name brands. To my taste anyway.
AND the best thing is, it works on its own without the olive oil's fruity complement. Drizzle some of the really nice stuff on this stack of leafy greenery and it goes from a mouth full of fodder to something really quite delicious.
There are probably tons of chemical reasons for why the vinegar part of the balsamic is reacting with the lettuce to begin to cook it, and react with it, but oy, let me tell you, it's a way to make that plate of greens desireable.
Slow Down, Chew: create taste sensation and lasting delight
WHich brings us to two other great food tips we hear all the time: chew the food a lot, and eat slowly. Why? well, the mastication process brings out the flavours of the foods, and if you have a variety of greens and sprouts and balsamic notes on a plate, squishing, crushing, chewing those leaves cracks open their flavours. And heck, if you're on such thin gruel as this calorically, making a meal last as long as possible is also a good thing.
Indeed, concentrating on the food, tastes and flavours is another rewiring step that has been shown apparently to help people eat less. On this diet, no problem, one is eating less BUT in doing so, we're learning habits to carry back to Sane Eating to continue to get more from less.
Tucking Into Tastes.
Perhaps when one is so calorically restricted, creating savoriness and sweetness and just flavourfulness is truly a great practice to develop - chewing goes a long way; seasoning takes that a bit further - and while perhaps motivated by a keen focus on fat burning for the moment, for whatever short term necessary evil goal requires this (or possibly it's an aesetic rather than aesthetic one), these are useful habits to take back towards as said that sane eating (i mentioned precision nutrition if you're not sure what that looks like - here's a free ebook of most of it).
So if you find yourself in a place where you need to get a fat drop happening fast, by all means, consider the Rapid Fat Loss Diet, and bring the good quality Balsamic to the table.
And when you get a head start on where you need to go - really the time limits discussed in the book are IMPORTANT - to look at refeeds, duration, etc, and just stopping it - there are some great approaches, as said: pn, eat stop eat. All good, all sane, all healthy habits based.
Personally, i can hardly wait to get back to real eating, but balsamic and loads of leaves has been a revelation.
Related Links
- Edeli: a great place to get beautiful olive oils if you're in the UK (no relationship to this company; just like their stuff)
- respect the fat
- whole proteins/whole grains
- glucomannan for satiety, fiber and no cals
- optimizing HIIT for fat burning
- When you can't HIIT, do what?
- what the heck is sustenance??
- MOTIVATION - what it might be and how to get more of it.
Note:
A reminder, too, that Brad Pilon's free teleseminar is Feb 24 - the free slides that just got mailed around about calorie cutting for weight loss related to height and only height is worth the sign up alone. That's a head spinner. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Monday, January 4, 2010
Possibly Why the Drudge Report (part of it anyway) points to b2d as the answer to fat loss.
Follow @mcphoo
Tweet
Words fail me. begin2dig has been sited on the Drudge Report (a political, not a known to be physical, blog) as an alternative to fat loss surgery. Goodness.
The post reads
NoGov4Me at 2010-01-04 06:23 AM
THe main post itself seems to have been about someone getting surgery to lose weight - though what the surgery is is a bit of a mystery:
And so if someone from there finds their way here, allow me to point out a few pages that may help unpack what this kind general pointer may have meant.
First: weight loss is hard. The reason? Trying to lose weight is often more about our wiring and habits (very deep wiring) than about food. Oh sure that comes into it, but we're so flexible as systems we can make useable calories from a very constrained set of resources. So some resources necessary are people - have written about that here - supportive and knowledgeable people. Other resources are getting some knowledge about how we are wired around food can also help. See the discussion/resources on "food and change" here. Likewise resources on sustaining successful change here.
Second, part of the knowledge for success can certainly be about food itself. Here's why i've found precision nutrition successful in this education. From there as a base line, other actual eating plans may beckon depending on goals. Here's a wee review of some to consider if you scroll down this post from habits on down.
Third, learning about how the body actually uses foods can be empowering to begin to understand why less or more is necessary or not. Here's a whole whack of resources about fats, proteins, carbs and the such like in terms of the little we know about them. The stuff on fat is my fave. it's amazing.
Fourth, another part of the equation is understanding how physical activity supplements but doesn't run weight loss. Diet first; action second. But that action is so valuable for us as brains with bodies. Action helps reduce stress around things like those habitual cravings, helps us sleep better, helps support change (here's 10 tips for destressing too). Here's some discussions about the roles of fitness in well being.
Finally
Bottom line, i'll say it again, weight loss is not easy. If it were obesity wouldn't be an epidemic. I agree with the discussions that show we evolved for scarcity not abundance. And i agree that a good part of the problem is that what is abundant in the west is cheap subsidized crap based on corn and spuds rather than greens and food goodness. So staying lean (being in the minority now) requires rewiring, knowledge to support better eating choices, and a certain level of affluence to afford those choices - and the knowledge of how to make using those healthier ingredients practicable rather than mythically out of reach (see part two on precision nutrition for resources there, and here's a free ebook overview of same).
So thank you, nogov4me, for pointing folks to b2d. Hope the above may be a bit of what you were thinking about when you did so.
And heck if you're here looking for help yourself, i do nutrition coaching via email too.
All the best of the new year!
mc Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Words fail me. begin2dig has been sited on the Drudge Report (a political, not a known to be physical, blog) as an alternative to fat loss surgery. Goodness.The post reads
NoGov4Me at 2010-01-04 06:23 AM
THe main post itself seems to have been about someone getting surgery to lose weight - though what the surgery is is a bit of a mystery:
Of the 3 comments on the post, nogov4me - a member of the drudge community it seems - simply provides the above URL to b2d as the response. Goodness.After spending the majority of her 48 years trying, and failing, to slim down, Veronica Mahaffey was still 50 pounds overweight -- not morbidly obese by a long shot, but still far from the size she wanted. Worried about her health, she called a San Diego weight-loss surgery clinic last spring and asked for help.
She was told no.
Her experience may soon be shared by thousands of Americans.
Ultimately, she got the surgery through a clinical trial of one of several new weight-loss procedures. Now 10 pounds from her goal weight of 135, she says she looks better, feels better and is confident she'll no longer have to fight her weight.
And so if someone from there finds their way here, allow me to point out a few pages that may help unpack what this kind general pointer may have meant.
First: weight loss is hard. The reason? Trying to lose weight is often more about our wiring and habits (very deep wiring) than about food. Oh sure that comes into it, but we're so flexible as systems we can make useable calories from a very constrained set of resources. So some resources necessary are people - have written about that here - supportive and knowledgeable people. Other resources are getting some knowledge about how we are wired around food can also help. See the discussion/resources on "food and change" here. Likewise resources on sustaining successful change here.
Second, part of the knowledge for success can certainly be about food itself. Here's why i've found precision nutrition successful in this education. From there as a base line, other actual eating plans may beckon depending on goals. Here's a wee review of some to consider if you scroll down this post from habits on down.
Third, learning about how the body actually uses foods can be empowering to begin to understand why less or more is necessary or not. Here's a whole whack of resources about fats, proteins, carbs and the such like in terms of the little we know about them. The stuff on fat is my fave. it's amazing.
Fourth, another part of the equation is understanding how physical activity supplements but doesn't run weight loss. Diet first; action second. But that action is so valuable for us as brains with bodies. Action helps reduce stress around things like those habitual cravings, helps us sleep better, helps support change (here's 10 tips for destressing too). Here's some discussions about the roles of fitness in well being.
Finally
Bottom line, i'll say it again, weight loss is not easy. If it were obesity wouldn't be an epidemic. I agree with the discussions that show we evolved for scarcity not abundance. And i agree that a good part of the problem is that what is abundant in the west is cheap subsidized crap based on corn and spuds rather than greens and food goodness. So staying lean (being in the minority now) requires rewiring, knowledge to support better eating choices, and a certain level of affluence to afford those choices - and the knowledge of how to make using those healthier ingredients practicable rather than mythically out of reach (see part two on precision nutrition for resources there, and here's a free ebook overview of same).
So thank you, nogov4me, for pointing folks to b2d. Hope the above may be a bit of what you were thinking about when you did so.
And heck if you're here looking for help yourself, i do nutrition coaching via email too.
All the best of the new year!
mc Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Sunday, December 20, 2009
B2D Nutrition Article Index: All things Foodish on begin2dig
Follow @mcphoo
Tweet
begin2dig has a lot of posts about topics in nutrition, from discussions around nutrients (how does fat and fat burning work; what are carbs) to supplements (and quality of same), to what do various body fat percentages really look like to how rewiring the brain may be a critical part for diet success. To get a feel for b2d's take on nutrition, here's an index of articles organized from nutrients to nutrition resources. Hope this provides a useful reference point for your nutrition explorations.
Fat:
Respect the Fat: An overview of Fat Burning Goodness
Brown Fat: New Improved Single Factor Thinking
We're Happy happy Happy With our Fat - or maybe not
"Lean Muscle "- muscle is lean - do you mean lean mass?
Green Tea - good for more than what ails ya - facilitating fat burning
Carbohydrates
What's 100% whole wheat? and what is it vs sprouted wheat? or sprouted anything?
Carbohydrates: the New Fat
Carbs or Protein before Bed? Not what you think
Protein
How much protein - no really - for muscle gain, maintenance
What's a whole protein? and why how should/can we have them?
Optimal Protein Blends - for carnivores and vegetarians alike
A Minute with Mike: BCAA's, Leucine, or Plain Old Whey - does it make a difference?
Nutrient timing *may* make difference - for strength, body comp, muscle fiber...
The Pump: What is it, Does it Work and if so How and for What Kind of Muscle Growth?
Farmed Salmon: Health and Environment Concerns. Dam
Diets
Eating: Rewiring our Instincts for Sure Fire Weight Loss
Habits and Alternatives: one step at a time dieting (within critique of P90x) (including references to Precision Nutrition, Lyle McDonald, M.Beck, and a cast of thousands)
Supplements
Supplement Curmudgeon: Does that DO anything for you?
Is what's on the label really in your supplement?
Creatine, Beta Alanine, Citrulline malate, and more b2d
Dealing with (a wretched) Cold
The Raw and The Cooked of Enzyme Supplementation
Weight Loss & Exercise
More on Exercise without Diet doesn't produce Weight Loss
Exercise doesn't work - without diet - really
Athletic Bodies: which one is you(r desired shape)?
P90X Critique Part 2 0f 3 - WIll you really "get ripped"?
Nutrient Timing
Nutrient timing *may* make difference - for strength/mass development
Minute with Mike (2 ), Post Workout Recovery Window: real or myth?
Approaches to Nutrition
What the Heck is Sustenance? Review of the Z-Health 9S Sustenance
Rewiring Habits - support for lean eating (part of a Critique of P90X )
Set Point Theory is Crap: We are Only What We Eat
Review of the "Science" claims of the Warrior Diet
Human Support is KEY for Good Eating/Diet Success
Resources
Precision Nutrition. The best source to Learn about one's self and food
Georgie Fear's Dig In: The new easy, fast, tasty, satisfying recipe book: DIG IN
Farmed Salmon: Health and Environment Concerns. Dam
Food Inc.: the unbearable lightness of the food industry
Fitness Geek Book Recommendations
Images and Approaches: Real People making Real Changes with Real Support
Athletic Bodies: which one is you(r desired shape)?
Reflection/Critique of P90X review (in Three Parts)
Motivation as Skill: a Functional Definition of same Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Fat:
Respect the Fat: An overview of Fat Burning Goodness
Brown Fat: New Improved Single Factor Thinking
We're Happy happy Happy With our Fat - or maybe not
"Lean Muscle "- muscle is lean - do you mean lean mass?
Green Tea - good for more than what ails ya - facilitating fat burning
Carbohydrates
What's 100% whole wheat? and what is it vs sprouted wheat? or sprouted anything?
Carbohydrates: the New Fat
Carbs or Protein before Bed? Not what you think
Protein
How much protein - no really - for muscle gain, maintenance
i like this piece - cuz i'm not crazy about the conclusions. That mainly protein may well be overdone if you're talking about muscle gain, which is different than using it for diet to feel fuller on less. There's also a difference between protein synthesis and protein absorption. They are not the same. And in particular, why creatine and load may be more important than protein for *gaining* beyond what ya gain just with exercise.
What's a whole protein? and why how should/can we have them?
ever wondered this? especially if you're a vegetarian? how get a whole protein from bread and beans? or what's a super bean as a whole/complete protein?
Optimal Protein Blends - for carnivores and vegetarians alike
Nutrient timing *may* make difference - for strength, body comp, muscle fiber...
The Pump: What is it, Does it Work and if so How and for What Kind of Muscle Growth?
Farmed Salmon: Health and Environment Concerns. Dam
Diets
Eating: Rewiring our Instincts for Sure Fire Weight Loss
Habits and Alternatives: one step at a time dieting (within critique of P90x) (including references to Precision Nutrition, Lyle McDonald, M.Beck, and a cast of thousands)
Supplements
Supplement Curmudgeon: Does that DO anything for you?Is what's on the label really in your supplement?
Creatine, Beta Alanine, Citrulline malate, and more b2d
Dealing with (a wretched) Cold
The Raw and The Cooked of Enzyme Supplementation
Weight Loss & Exercise
More on Exercise without Diet doesn't produce Weight Loss
Exercise doesn't work - without diet - really
Athletic Bodies: which one is you(r desired shape)?
P90X Critique Part 2 0f 3 - WIll you really "get ripped"?
Nutrient Timing
Nutrient timing *may* make difference - for strength/mass development
Minute with Mike (2 ), Post Workout Recovery Window: real or myth?
Approaches to Nutrition
What the Heck is Sustenance? Review of the Z-Health 9S Sustenance
Rewiring Habits - support for lean eating (part of a Critique of P90X )
Set Point Theory is Crap: We are Only What We Eat
Review of the "Science" claims of the Warrior Diet
Human Support is KEY for Good Eating/Diet Success
Resources
Precision Nutrition. The best source to Learn about one's self and food
Georgie Fear's Dig In: The new easy, fast, tasty, satisfying recipe book: DIG IN
Farmed Salmon: Health and Environment Concerns. Dam
Food Inc.: the unbearable lightness of the food industry
Fitness Geek Book Recommendations
Images and Approaches: Real People making Real Changes with Real Support
Athletic Bodies: which one is you(r desired shape)?
Reflection/Critique of P90X review (in Three Parts)
Motivation as Skill: a Functional Definition of same Tweet Follow @begin2dig
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