Category Archives: Diet
Vitamin D – Is a Supplement Enough?
Vitamin D has gotten a lot more publicity in recent years as a MUST TAKE supplement.
It is key for mineral absorption, especially the absorption of Calcium, which means strong bones!
Research has also shown that Vitamin D may help protect us against osteoporosis, high blood pressure, cancer and a few autoimmune diseases.
The vitamin plays a huge role in cell growth, neuromuscular and immune function and the reduction of inflammation (which means less risk for disease and better overall health!).
So because we’ve discovered how incredibly important Vitamin D is to our health (and the fact that most of the population is DEFICIENT in it), everyone and their mother’s uncle recommends that you take a supplement to get enough.
But is that supplement really as good as natural sources?
Even the bottle boosts its health benefits.
Yes and no….boy I bet you love that answer!
Yes because it is Vitamin D that our body can use. It is the vitamin that we need and we can get it in the doses that we need. And the supplement does work as well as the natural source.
But a slightly bigger NO not because of the supplement itself, but because of what it means if you actually NEED the supplement.
We should get Vitamin D from foods, such as fish and eggs, and from sunlight.
We should be eating enough whole natural foods and getting in enough outdoors time that we get plenty of sun (it really only takes 20-30 minutes).
For many of us though this isn’t as easy as it would seem. So we turn to a supplement.
Which if we are trying to eat well and be active, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I know in Boston it was SUPER HARD to get in a proper allotment of sun each day. BUT I still ate super clean and did what I could do get outside when I could.
So to make sure I got enough Vitamin D, I took a supplement.
BUT I didn’t use a supplement to excuse a bad diet and inactivity.
Let’s face it…If you eat crap, don’t go outside and have fun and be active, then you aren’t going to be healthy no matter how many supplements you take.
So yes…a supplement can be great if you have a healthy base and really try to get as much natural Vitamin D as you can, BUT no it isn’t good if you supplement while still living the same crappy lifestyle.
Because honestly….there is so much more than Vitamin D that you are missing out on if you eat crap, are inactive and never go outside and play!
I mean think about it…If you are eating crap food, not only are you not getting enough Vitamin D, as well as other essential vitamins and minerals, but you are also getting a TON of bad for you, inflammation causing crap like vegetable oils and added sugars.
And if you aren’t going out in the sun every day not only aren’t you getting Vitamin D, but you aren’t getting a lot of the benefits that usually go along with an active outdoor lifestyle.
Let’s face it…people who usually get out in the sun every day are the same people who are more active and an active lifestyle has health benefits like improving your cardiovascular health and bone density.
On top of that, being out in the sun can really really improve your mood.
Stressed? In a bad mood?
Maybe getting a bit more outdoor time is the answer.
So to sum all of this up…YES a supplement can be a very good way to help you get adequate amounts of Vitamin D, but NO it is not a magic pill.
If you want to be truly healthy, you need to do all that you can to get Vitamin D from natural sources – healthy food and sunlight.
Vitamin D supplementation is something that you turn to only when you can’t hit the required amount while doing your best to live a healthy lifestyle.
Would you rather….
So yesterday at work one of the other trainers asked me a few “would you rather…” questions.
One was about which piece of equipment I would choose from the gym as a weapon if a zombie apocalypse happened…
And the other was about which I would rather give up, nuts or dairy.
Which got me to thinking, isn’t a healthy lifestyle really all about “would you rather?”
I mean think about it…If you could eat whatever your favorite food is every day and look and feel great and be healthy, wouldn’t you? Would you really eat vegetables or cut out gluten and processed foods if you didn’t have to?
Probably not.
BUT that isn’t reality.
The reality of it is you are always playing a sort of “would you rather” game. Would you rather eat that pint of ice cream and feel crappy later or eat a natural, whole foods meal and feel energized and good later?
Would you rather eat pizza and chips and not perform well or eat a burger without a bun and a salad and get in a great workout?
I personally would rather eat well and feel great, be healthy and perform well. That is why I eat well most of the time. Plus I do find that I enjoy all of the whole natural foods that I eat. I love grass-fed beef and fish and fruits and veggies (especially cauliflower for some reason haha).
BUT there are those cheat days when I WOULD RATHER indulge and even risk feeling super crappy the next day than eat healthy.
Eating well is a choice and sometimes it isn’t always an easy choice. When you are stressed or pressed for time or put into situations where the EASIEST thing to do is cheat, you are more tempted to just give in without really thinking about the consequences of your choices (and how you will feel tomorrow about them).
Eating well and working out isn’t easy (yes it is easier for some people than for others), but it is a choice.
So think about it…What would you rather do?
Are you healthy?
So what does “being healthy” really mean?
Is being healthy NOT being sick?
I mean cause really just because you aren’t sick doesn’t mean you are healthy.
So then what is HEALTHY?
Is it having all of your vital stats fall within that “healthy” range set out by the medical community?
I mean is that really healthy if the person eats crap all day yet has supposedly falls within the healthy ranges for cholesterol and blood pressure and such!?!
Ehhhhh…doesn’t sound healthy to me.
They might look healthy on paper, but frankly I don’t think that is any guarantee that they won’t be plagued by illness or die at an early age.
Eating crap is eating crap. And frankly, I think it will come back to bite most people.
So then…what is “being healthy?”
Honestly, I don’t have an answer for you. And neither does anyone else.
That is why people are so confused about what diet or exercise program to follow – there are studies used to say that almost a bazillion different things are healthy!
So how do I judge when I’m being healthy?
Well I took a look at all of the evidence and picked a side.
I choose to pick the side of eating whole natural foods – real foods. I choose this diet because it seems most logical to me.
People have called it a “fad diet,” but as someone said in “The Perfect Human Diet” documentary that I watched last night, “It then is a 2 million year old fad.”
We evolved the way we did because we ate meat. Our systems are adapted to eat whole natural foods.
So processed foods? Foods that we only started eating with industrialization?
Those are not whole natural foods. Those are NOT foods we were meant to eat.
Those to me aren’t healthy.
And there are people who will site studies saying I’m wrong and that my diet is a fad.
Really!?!
You are going to call my diet a fad when there haven’t been any early vegetarian human fossils found? You are going to tell me that I should eat grains when humans didn’t eat grains until recently!?!
HA!
I have the whole of human evolution behind my beliefs…How many years are behind yours!?!
And yea…now some of you will say…”Well we didn’t have science then”….or “We didn’t know any better”….or “We lived way shorter lives back then.”
Yea we didn’t have science…we ate what didn’t kill us. Just like all animals seem to eat what is right.
I mean if a study came out today saying we should feed lions grains are you really going to believe it?
And yea…we did live shorter lives. We didn’t have medicine back then to keep people alive. We also now don’t have to contend with a lot of the dangers that they did!
And don’t get me wrong, I think science helps us learn a lot and even better ourselves.
But please don’t use it to tell me that grains are healthy and natural animal products aren’t.
We use grains to fatten animals…Maybe…Just maybe then grains really are at the heart of the problem.
Anyway, one last little factoid before I get back on topic, which was mentioned in The Perfect Human Diet….
Look at cattle feed nutritional info….the feed used to FATTEN cattle. It recommends low-fat, moderate protein and high carb.
Think about who else recommends a diet set up this way….
OH! The food pyramid! That is where I’ve seen this diet before! And guess who came up with the food pyramid orginially?
POLITICIANS!
So yea…I chose my side.
And once I picked that side, I tested it and realize just how much freaking better I felt day in and day out while eating, living and working out that way. So because I felt better than I’d ever felt before, I decided that I was being healthy.
Feeling energized and strong day in and day out to me is feeling healthy.
Not having to down 50 cups of coffee to make it through the day to me seems healthy.
Not feeling bloated. Or sluggish. Or winded at the slightest exertion….
That to me is healthy.
Being able to constantly achieve greater and greater fitness goals because I’m fueling proper, sleeping enough and not overtraining.
That to me is healthy.
Feeling GOOD.
That to me is healthy.
I honestly sort of believe that we can FEEL when our body is in order especially when we’ve cut out all the crap.
Trust me, anyone who has gone to a clean whole foods diet can now recognize how crappy they actually felt when they ate all of the processed junk.
So I challenge you to ask yourself, “Are you really healthy?”
Do you actually feel good day in and day out?
One Simple Change
I frankly think that developing a healthy diet is simple.
People make it seem like it is super complex. Heck companies want people to think it is complex so they can sell supplements and weight loss products and processed foods that supposedly have all these health benefits.
But honestly, you really only need to remember one thing when it comes to eating healthily – eat whole, natural food!
Cut out all the crap!
Don’t worry about freaking supplements even if they were on Dr. Oz. Don’t worry about your micronutrient intakes. Don’t worry about exactly how many fruits or vegetables you eat or how many omega-3s you are getting.
Don’t worry about doing a diet with 20 bazillion different rules! Make one change first!
Just cut out all of the processed crap!
If you started focusing on just eating natural foods, so things that spring out of the ground and aren’t processed…aka usually have a short shelf life unless frozen, your healthy and the way you feel will improve exponentially.
Just by starting to even cut out one processed thing a day, like the crackers you eat for a snack (even if they are supposedly “healthy” crackers), you will be cutting out a ton of crap from your diet.
Processed foods are loaded down with vegetable oils and sugars. I mean take a look at any nutritional label on any pre-packaged food at the grocery store. I bet there are a ton of things listed in the ingredients that you’ve never heard of.
AND I bet all of them have way more sugar than you expected…but then again you were probably more worried about the fact that they were supposedly advertised as low-fat or “all-natural,” right!?!
But seriously, those pre-packaged foods can do some damage.
Here we are worried about the amount of saturated fat in an animal product and yet people are consuming a TON of simple sugars and vegetable oil (which is SUPER bad because it causes inflammation because it contains a horrible ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s) in all of the processed crap out there!
Anyway, the point is if you cut out processed, pre-packaged foods and focus on eating whole, natural foods, you will instantly cut out a TON of bad things.
Once you do that and have a good diet baseline, then start looking at ratios and exactly what natural foods are best and how you react to gluten, dairy and carbs, in general.
Don’t make it complicated to start!
At work we constantly talk about getting back to basics. And that is exactly what you’ve got to do here. Don’t make a ton of changes and complicate your diet.
Make one simple change and get back to the basics – eat whole, natural foods!
Paleo is a joke
I LOVE talking about diet and exercise.
I LOVE when people find out I’m a trainer and then ask me a ton of questions.
I LOVE when people ask me about my diet or exercise program.
I HATE when people tell me they’ve started doing Paleo and then tell me about the latest Paleo baked good they made.
Are you a sucker for Paleo products? HELLO! People are making money off of you…they don’t care about your health!!!
To me Paleo and baked good (aka sweets) can’t legitimately be used in the same sentence unless you are saying you’ve switched to Paleo and only eat baked goods on cheat days now.
Paleo baked goods…those three words combined like that make me want to scream.
Paleo has become a joke.
The whole point of Paleo or Primal is to eat WHOLE, NATURAL FOODS. To eat meat, fruits and vegetables and cut out all of the processed crap and sugar.
The whole point of Paleo is to make you healthier and reduce the inflammation in your body.
The whole point of Paleo is NOT to make a less bad for you version of traditional baked goods.
If you are TRULY doing Paleo you aren’t eating freaking Paleo muffins or Paleo pie or pizza.
You aren’t baking with almond flour or using a ton of honey or maple syrup to sweeten things. You aren’t buying “gluten-free” processed products.
Why AREN’T those things truly Paleo!?!
Because they totally miss the point!
It’s true…nothing is ACTUALLY paleolithic, but the point of the diet is to cut out all of the crap and eat naturally raised products!
For example, the reason the Paleo/Primal diet tells you to cut out grains is because of the inflammation grains cause which is what causes cholesterol to build up in the arteries and cause heart problems.
Grains also contain phytic acid, which hinders your body from absorbing many vitamins and minerals.
Guess what also contains phytic acid?
ALMONDS!
So when you eat your normal serving of 1/4 cup of almonds you are fine…BUT a pizza made from almond flour!?!
That is a ton more than the 1/4 of a cup you should be eating.
And that means a TON OF PHYTIC ACID!!
You cut out grains because someone doing the Paleo diet told you to, BUT you didn’t understand WHY you were supposed to cut out grains. So you end up making your freaking Paleo almond crust pizza and get the exact crap that the Paleo diet is supposed to help you eliminate from your diet.
AH!
So because most people don’t really UNDERSTAND the point of the Paleo diet…because people don’t really understand why the diet has them cut out certain foods…because people just do it because their friend lost weight doing it…People end up destroying the diet and eating crap that is disguised as being “Paleo.”
Basically, don’t tell me you are doing Paleo or Primal if you are going to tell me about the latest cookie, pie, pizza, muffin or WHATEVER that you just made.
Don’t tell me you won’t eat cheese or rice because it isn’t Paleo and then freaking go eat gummy worms because they are gluten-free.
Don’t tell me you don’t eat beans (which you probably don’t even realize you don’t eat because they contain phytic acid) and then go eat farm-raised salmon or coconut milk with a ton of extra additives.
Come on!
Understand why the heck you are doing something! Farm-raised salmon is just about the WORST thing you could possibly eat!!!! It is like Paleo 101 that you eat NATURALLY RAISED animal products!
And if you are going to buy something like coconut milk, READ THE FREAKING LABEL.
Ok…deep breath…I’m done.
Now all of you recent Paleo bandwagoners…go ahead and tell me why I’m wrong…I dare you.
My way or the highway?!?
So I definitely have solid views on nutrition, but I actually don’t vocalize them as much as you would think considering I rant and rave all the time about them here.
If someone asks me my opinion, I will tell them what I personally think.
Like yesterday, the volleyball girls asked me about post-exercise nutrition.
My answer? Eat a lean protein source and a simple carb. Those will be quickly absorbed by your body and used as fuel.
When asked what counted as a lean protein source or simple carb, I answered…
Turkey, chicken, whey protein, rice, potatoes, fruit.
Notice I didn’t say no gluten. Notice I didn’t say no protein bars. (Heck notice I didn’t even say, “Well honestly, I don’t even worry about pre and post workout nutrition…That is something that really only a top few elite competitors/athletes/bodybuilders need to worry about…That the most important thing truly is to eat a whole, natural food diet throughout the day and make sure you are eating when you are hungry!)
I simply listed things I believed are good – things that I would eat.
When asked specifically about bread or gluten or processed foods, I usually say, “Well I don’t believe in eating those things, but there are other people who do x, y and z and it works for them.”
I will almost always present the other side. (Except of course for here where I get to rant about the other side! YESSSS!)
Because it isn’t up to me what you choose. I can provide you with information about my reasons for my decisions, but I can’t tell you what is right.
Because it is a gamble. There are literally thousands of studies and people on both sides of the fat/gluten/carb/vegetarian fence.
Which side you decide to pick is ultimately up to you.
I’ve picked a side and am constantly doing research to make sure that I know WHY I make the decisions that I do.
Anyway, the reason I thought about all of this is because I’m writing up a “10 Healthy Lifestyle Tips” for this Heart Healthy Expo Jeff and I are going to tomorrow.
I was reading through a lot of the different heart-healthy tip things online and I couldn’t bring myself to provide people with recipes or tips that included canola oil and other such crap as healthy.
So below are the 10 Heart Healthy Lifestyle Tips I came up with. I managed to make the tips stay pretty darn mainstream WITHOUT going against my beliefs. I didn’t say not to eat whole grains…I just most definitely didn’t say to do it!!!
- Eat whole, natural foods and cut back on processed, pre-packaged food items. Processed foods are loaded with sugars and bad fats that cause inflammation.
- Use healthy fats such as olive oils, coconut oils and naturally-raised animal fats INSTEAD OF canola and soybean oils, which cause inflammation because they are loaded with omega-6s.
- Cut back on sugar and consume more complex carbohydrates especially fruits and vegetables, which are rich in vitamins and minerals that protect our health.
- Cook more meals. No matter how healthy the restaurant meal supposedly is, it never measures up to a home-cooked meal. Even with our busy schedules and long workdays, we can fit in time to cook. It just takes some planning. Find meals, like casseroles and crockpot recipes, which allow you to make huge portions all at once so that you have leftovers for all those busy days when you don’t have time to cook!
- Plan in some “me time.” Too much stress can negatively impact our health. It is important to take some time each day. This can mean going for a walk with friends, reading a book or anything that allows you to relax for even just 5 minutes at the end of your day.
- Get more sleep! Those who average five or fewer hours of sleep per night have a far higher incidence of “silent” heart disease. In a study done, 27% of those who slept five hours or less per night developed calcifications that can signal heart disease after five years, compared to just 6% of those who slept an average of seven hours or more.
- Do 30 minutes of low intensity aerobic activity (walking, hiking, swimming, chasing after your kids on the playground) 2-3 times per week. Low intensity aerobic activity helps to strengthen our heart and burn fat.
- “Sprint” once a week. To sprint means to do short, intense activity once a week where you get your heart rate up and then let it recover before you go again. The intensity of your sprint will be dependent on your fitness level. A sprint should be between 8-20 seconds of intense work followed by a long period of rest (2 to 5 times the amount work).
- Lift weights! Too often we ignore weight training when it comes to heart health, but strength training is important! Resistance training has been shown to decrease heart rate and blood pressure while improving cholesterol levels and glucose metabolism. All of which result in a healthier heart! Add in weight training 2-3 times per week.
- Skip the two a days! More time in the gym doesn’t always equal better health. Overtraining can actually have negative effects on your health. Your workouts don’t need to be more than an hour especially if they are super intense. So don’t worry about how long you workout for – focus on your intensity!
NOTE: I am not ashamed of my beliefs, but I do believe that sometimes if you are too vocal upon first conversation with someone who you can actually get them to shut down and complete tune out all of the good stuff you are saying. Sometimes if you ease people into the unknown they are more accepting of the things you have to say!
The missing pieces
So often we talk about losing weight/being healthy/getting stronger/being in shape in terms of the diet and exercise program that we need to follow to achieve our health and fitness goals.
Depending on your specific goal, you may even be told that diet is 80% of the battle.
But is it really that simple?
Are diet and exercise really the main players in the healthy equation?
Yes…and…No.
Yes, if you follow a well-developed diet and exercise program, you most likely will hit a lot of your health and fitness goals.
BUT, these goals may be more easily realized AND easier to maintain IF you get some of the other pieces of the puzzle in order.
The amount of stress you have and the amount of sleep you get both affect your hormone levels, appetite and level of fatigue.
Too little sleep and too much stress can cause your body to not only try to hold on to fat, but also to feel hungry and overeat.
Holding on to fat!?! Overeating and feeling hungry when you really aren’t!?!
HMMMM…Maybe sleep and stress need to be a part of our program…..
And not only can too little sleep and too much stress cause you to hold onto fat and overeat, but both can also make you feel fatigued which can lead to crappy and/or skipped workouts!
Sound familiar? Skipped a few workouts recently or have you seen your numbers slowly declining even though you KNOW you aren’t overtraining?
Maybe you aren’t getting enough sleep OR maybe your body is just too stressed!
And if all of this wasn’t bad enough…let’s face it….they both also really affect your self-control.
Tired? Stressed? Where do most people turn for comfort?
FOOD!
And usually BAD food.
That doesn’t sound very good for your health and fitness goals…
So maybe diet and exercise aren’t enough on their own. Maybe you do need to consider your sleep and stress levels.
I’m not saying to change jobs to lessen your stress level. BUT it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t start to plan in some “me time” to help you unwind every once in a while so that you don’t turn to food.
I’m not saying to start sleeping in and going in late to work, but every once in a while maybe try to take a nap or sleep in instead of forcing in that extra hour of work that realistically you COULD do at some other time. If you really do create a time management schedule, you may just find you DO have more time that you could use for sleep than you originally thought!
Anyway, sleep and stress ARE two other things you should consider when trying to create a healthy lifestyle. Diet and exercise AREN’T the only pieces to the puzzle.
Eating Well…Eating Out
I hear it time and time again…”I can’t eat well because I eat out all of the time.”
HA!
That is simply another excuse people use to allow themselves to continue to eat food they know is bad for them!
You can in fact eat very healthily even while eating out.
While it isn’t ideal, it is most definitely doable! There are always healthy options…they just aren’t always the options you WANT to eat. But if you make an effort and really look at the menu instead of just ordering the first thing that looks good because you are hungry, you may find that there are even more healthy options out there than you realized!
Restaurants are starting to listen to make menu options for the health conscious individuals.
I was super excited when Ryan showed me Panera’s new healthy menu options!
I don’t ever eat Panera anymore. I had it recently when I made a car trip to Indiana with my Mom to visit my sister and we got Panera bagels and mochas for old-time sake. But before then I literally hadn’t visited Panera in years.
For one, I didn’t feel their food was as good as it used to be and two, it had become too sodium laden and un-primal eater friendly.
But now there are actually Primal and healthy options there! And while they aren’t actually on the menu, they are available.
Why Panera chose to make a “hidden menu” for these healthy options is beyond me. Hey…at least they are providing some great breakfast and lunch options though!
Anyway, check it out! A little research can turn up some really great options. Eating out doesn’t have to mean sacrificing your healthy lifestyle (unless of course it is a cheat day!).
What are your favorite and healthiest restaurant meals?
P.S. While I do believe you can eat well at restaurants, I don’t think they really substitute for home cooked meals. But it is good to know that if you are in need of a meal that there are places out there you can easily go to!
Dr. Oz – GRRRRRR
So on Wednesday of last week, I did a lunch and learn talk at a local business with another trainer from Innovative Results.
We talked mostly about mindset, but we did touch on some basics of dieting. We talked about eating whole, natural foods. We talked about cutting calories, but making sure that we don’t cut out too many. We talked about making small changes over time so they actually take root.
And at the end a woman raises her hand with a question…a question about supplements that she saw on Dr. Oz.
UGH! (I wanted to throw up my hands and roll my eyes. I don’t have a problem with Dr. Oz just the fact that everyone DOES exactly what he says like mindless drones.)
She wanted to know what we thought about some green coffee bean thing and raspberry ketones. She said, “Dr. Oz says that these two things will help you lose weight.”
The only thing I could say back was, “KISS…Keep it simple stupid.”
hahaha! YES!
She looked at me in confusion.
I just simply explained that I didn’t even want to get into discussing those supplements. That the MOST IMPORTANT thing if you want to lose weight is to eat whole, natural foods.
First you have to get the macronutrients in order before you start thinking about the micronutrients.
Green coffee beans or whatever the heck they are, aren’t a magic pill!!!! There may be some new study saying they can help AID with weight loss, but trust me, if you want real results, you have to do real work and eat REAL food.
Let’s face it….Dr. Oz has a TV show. He wants to talk about new trends, new fads…It is what keeps people tuning in!
I can’t blame him! I love researching and experimenting (I mean shoot I tried the potato diet just to see what would happen!)
The problem with it is…He has power. He has credentials and a TV show that reaches millions. He is a well-respected medical figure, and rightly so!, so people believe whatever he says. If he says raspberry ketones have health benefits, people run out to buy them.
Stop being drones!!! Use your brain!!!!!
Really you think some green coffee bean is going to solve all your problems!?! I mean if you look at most of the boxes with the supplements or extracts the boxes even tell you, “take along with a HEALTHY diet and exercise program.”
What do you really think makes you lose weight!?! The green stupid bean or the healthy diet and exercise program!?!
AH!
GRRRR Dr. Oz!
Stop making people think dieting is so complicated!
Keep it simple stupid!
If you have the healthy diet on lock…If your macronutrient breakdown is in order THEN maybe think about experimenting with green coffee beans and all that jazz!
Man Bicep 