75% to 80% of all wellness and fitness is about Nutrition and Rest
- Nutrition
- Rest
- Fitness
Nutrition
You can not out train poor nutrition!
The two keys to nutrition are maintaining even blood glucose levels or insulin levels and quality of what goes into your mouth.
Insulin
This is the key to losing weight and to building lean muscle.
Most things turn into glucose during digestion and the body loves glucose. The problem is when it gets too much glucose or glucose too soon.
Some things that spike insulin
- Sugar, all types it doesn’t matter what you call it. Honey, Agave, stevia, etc
- ALL GRAINS, pastas, flours, breads, etc
- Adreniline
When the body sees that there is glucose in the blood stream it releases insulin, which tells the cells of the body, “hey open up and take in the fuel.” If there is too much glucose the body ignores the insulin, which causes the pancreas to make and release more. The body then says hey there is too much glucose in the blood store it. Bam it is put in the fat closet.
The other problem with this is that the body begins to inflame. Things start to swell up and the body doesn’t like that.
The spike in insulin:
- Stores as fat
- Creates an energy crash
- Opiates and adrenaline are released in the blood, which feels good but then disappears quickly. This leaves you in a funky brain fog as well as sleepy and hungry
- Screws up concentration and performance
- Sets up cellular inflammation
The most important part of any nutritional behavior is quality foods that don’t raise blood sugar or insulin more than is absolutely necessary.
Artificial sweetners have been proven to spike insulin and create a need for more calories.
Is whole grain, quinoa, buckwheat, really not good for you?
YES!
Processed flour/grains metabolize as sugar as fast as sugar does. This means with in 2 hours the excess sugar in your system will be stored as fat.
Whole grains have a shell surrounding them that is a protection mechanism for the seed to protect it from stuff. The body is not happy when it has to break that protection mechanism down. There is an endless amount of medical proof that grain is the leading cause of disease in the world!
The 3 macro nutrients
- Carbohydrate
- If grains are bad then what is a carbohydrate i. Fruits and vegetables
- Protien
- NOT SOY
i. It raises your estrogen
ii. If you can handle it eat MEAT if not have whey protein
iii. If you are not going to eat meat then a dense protein is okay but not optimal (tempeh and tofu)
- Fat
Fat does not make you fat
Excess sugar and insulin make you fat
Fat is good as long as it is unprocessed. Processed fat straightens out and then it cannot be used properly in the cell membranes. It screws up receptor behavior and it creates oxidation in the body. (Think the body is rusting)
Whole fats are great they also have more energy per gram.
Fat 9 calories per gram
Protien and carb have 4
Now, the last bit of bad news, beans and legumes are not your friend
They:
- Destroy intestinal flora and cilia which will lead to cellular inflammation
- Bad/poor nutrient uptake
- Poor waste elimination
- Adreneal fatigue
- Compromised immune response
Beans and Legumes are high in protein and potassium as well as other micronutrients, but you are hurting your digestion by eating them. If it has to be soaked it is dangerous. Why do people feel bloated after eating them, or have gas? Your body doesn’t need or want them
Now, what does someone eat
Meat, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds
Olive oil, coconut oil…
For those that are happy with their weight eat just like that at least 3 times a day and you will feel amazing. For those that want to lose weight have only 50-100 grams of carbohydrate a day until you reach or almost reach your target (healthy weight).
Rhonda Cohen asked about cabs and amounts for fruits and vegetables...The truth is at first it doesn't matter as long as you start eating them instead of breads grains etc., later if you are trying to lose weight you eat 50 to 100 grams of fruits and vegetables, if you are trying to maintain weight eat 100 - 150 grams of "carbs" from fruits and veggies.
ReplyDeleteMost of your calories (which don't bother counting because you need to eat alot) should come from protein and fat. If you want to know exactly how many carbs you are consuming Atkins did a carb counter book that you can find new at any bookstore for $5. Remember to count only fruits and veggi carbs right now and no bread grain pasta sugar....
hi Adam,
ReplyDeleteI tried no grains/no milk for 2 weeks this summer and felt awful and lost energy and weight and wasn't happy. What did I do wrong? And by the way, how are you? thought of you today at Platoon some silly people were trying to do headstands! Still miss your great yoga sessions! Hope you are well and happy!
Cmack
cynthia
ReplyDeleteI takes about three weeks for the guts to heal there is a good book called "clean" by Alejandro Junger and Amely Greevan. It talks about gut lining, and how it heals. The only difference I would add, and this is just my take, is don't have any of the sweetners that it says you can have or quinoa and don't worry about the non red meat thing. Go ahead and eat red meat, I like it because it has more branch chain amino acids so it is easier for the body to make what it needs.
okay now what did you do wrong...? my guess is that you didn't have enough dense protein, preferably something that swims, flys, and runs, and not enough fat. During that 3 week gut rehab that I mentioned earlier you will fell lethargic, grumpy, foggy and you will probably feel a performance drop. I also like it if people take out grains, sugars first and then try dairy. However, I like dairy and once your gut lining is healthy most peoples bodies respond really well to dairy.
the amount you need if your active is about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight and approx. 75% of your overall food intake should be fat and protein, the rest carbs (fruits and veggies). This will shift if you are trying to get more performance or change your body composition and if your gut heals you may need less protein but not much less.
Ps about platoon I miss those/you guys also.
have fun and give it a full 3 weeks while expecting it to be grumpy. On another post I will tell everyone why it is so hard to quit sugar and grain physically, metabolically, emotionally and chemically.
First off I think we need to do a spelling lesson. GreevEN, honey, GreeVEN. Secondly I have a point to add. I was thinking about how ayurveda, the ancient science of life from India, uses white rice as an easy to digest food, and never really brown rice. They even use it in their main 'detox' dish, kitchari. I was thinking about how when I eat brown rice and also "whole grain" oatmeal (ie steel cut oatmeal, the "good for you" kind marketed by brands) I now get itchy nose and swollen tongue that I notice (because I so rarely eat it) and basically can feel my tissues itching on the inside (imagine what's happening in the gut lining...). There is probably some wise cognition from those Indians, ayurvedic masters, about how white rice is actually less toxic. And today we are sold, "eat Whole Grains!" in every magazine (wondering who is subsidizing that - Big Agro?). All I know is that I, who am not as hardcore as you on diet and get a bit annoyed by the extremism, have noticed I get itchy/irritated by whole grains! Not to mention I am starving and freezing from no protein if I don't eat the protein/fat and try to just have something like rice/oatmeal! It makes some sense: plants don't have claws or teeth so there are phytonutrients in the husks to make animals and birds NOT eat the seeds. The jury still out but I am fascinated by how white rice - in moderation, I mean small portions - may be better. I don't buy that an insulin spike of white rice once or twice a week is worse than the husks of the whole wheat. I may change my mind next week but just adding to the debate...... with real time real body reporting live from the front lines.
ReplyDeleteAlso my jury is still way out on the ethical toll of all of this but I appreciate the difference in my body. Thanks for the props on the book. Agreed: some red meat prob fine.
:(
ReplyDeleteam already grumpy just reading what I have to do! Thanks for the thorough response. If you are ever back in this area, please let us know!
white rice is better because it has fewer anti nutrients and if it is polished white rice it has no phythates.
ReplyDeleteAnti nutrients, the food goes in and goes without all that is needed to create a building block for the body so the body has to cannabalize itself or other foods to make it useable. If you are building a house in an established neighborhood andtake one houses countertop and one of their doors someone elses toilet, everyone suffers, same with anti nutrients.
Phythates surround a grain and it is a poison that is designed to keep that grain from germinating and usually needs soil and water in the right mixture to break it down. Well in the body, it gets broken down but irritates the gut destroying the lining and the cillia allowing for a slew of complications that we will get into in another post.
Sorry about spelling your name incorrectly Amely. However, you need to make sure your gut lining is healed before trying to have rice however I find it to be very hard on the body and not nutriently dense enough to put in my mouth. Also, have you tried a blood glucose strip after eating it.
Be extreme at first for 6 weeks allowing the body to heal and optimumly perform then add it back and see how it makes you look, feel and perform and I will put money on the fact all three of those indicators will be worse
Now I feel like everything I've been trying to eat right is wrong. Seriously, whole grains and beans are bad?
ReplyDeleteOne thing to clarify, I find soy helpful with PMS symptoms.
Diane/Mom
ReplyDeleteSoy is can be helpful with PMS because it raises estrogen, but in a funky way. I find (with clients not myself cause then I would be millionaire if I were a guy with menstral cycles) that sunlight and a vitamin d supplement work better, because they both help stabilize all your chemicals. If you are doing sunlight and Vit D that already and still have funky PMS, we see that most often once the gut lining heals so do PMS symptoms and cycles.
As far as grains being bad for you, look at diabetes in the country and even those that have it and follow the USDA guidelines, get worse where as those that follow Paleo nutrition (Dr Loren Cordain) get better.
Also look back at Amely's response how after cleaning things up when she tries to have oatmeal or whole grains her body begins to itch. That is a histamine response to poisons in the grain, whether it is phythates or gluten or a host of other crap that goes into the system.
We also see that if unhealthy people only change their nutrition they lose weight and put on some lean muscle mass. This also shows that fitness is a supplement to getting healthy where as nutrition is the foundation. Without nutrition you will get stronger but you wont get healthier.
I did the cleanse from CLEAN and I would say that I stick to the Paleo diet that Adam suggests 97% of the time.
ReplyDeleteI've been an athlete my whole life and have also suffered from asthma just the last few years. Doing the cleanse, restoring my intestinal health and cutting out grains and sugar has completely transformed my body and health. It's AMAZING.
I quit taking my asthma pill once a day as well as my twice-a-day inhaler a few months ago and I feel great.
I will say that on the rare occasions that I do consume grain and/or sugar I feel AWFUL and my performance/speed/accuracy gets downgraded to laughable. I feel like I can get away with a tiny bit of sugar without noticeable impact but man, it's not much at all, and it can only be sugar, not grains. Grains kill me.
All this has transformed me into a super strong physical monster. I never thought I could be this strong and have so much energy. It's a fun experiment and I have made some of the minor adjustments Adam discusses -- over time I have needed a little less protein. I'm sure he'll get around to discussing water intake, salt intake as well as IF (I find that IF really makes me feel better) and those things seem to be important components over time.
My man, pots and pans. Online and on fire. Keep up the good word, Tick. Someone has to get it out there. There is still the ultimate question of how to commit people to living life. Everyone has some idea of what is needed to be healthier or more fit, even if they don't have the above details, yet they still refuse to adapt and overcome set social patterns. In our business this can be very frustrating. I can accurately say that if 100 people get nutritional counseling or education 98 will fail to heed and use it. In my opinion, we need to attack behavioral traits to get people on the path to long life. In the end it is a up hill battle, that has put us in the area of an lethal chronically obese populice. We have lost our warrior mentality and THAT is what we need back. When you coming back brother, I think you will like the changes we are making?
ReplyDeleteMike Smaltz
ReplyDeletemike is the founder of platoon fitness in Philly and he was a mentor of mine that got me to think about a of a bunch of this stuff.
Mike, I think I would like the changes you guys are making. I talk to mike "ham samwhich" once a month and we all sound like we are on the same page, but we should be because we have one goal in mind and that is to provide the best product to our clients. I am not concerned with what I used to tell people and having had been wrong or less educated. The more I learn the more my product evolves, and you guys are the same. So, have fun and thanks.
P.S. Your mom
Adam, I plan on trying this as soon as I consume the rest of my regular food. I just wanted to ask about a few foods, so I can be sure we're on the same page. Are the following ok: organic fruit juices, gluten free peanut butter, eggs, and skim milk? Also, what do you do for calcium if you can't do dairy? I know your bones strengthen by weight training, but I don't feel like that would be enough. Thanks,
ReplyDeleteBurton Saunders