Nutritionists Gone Wild!!!

Do you dig this blog???

Just a little favor to all you avid Street Smart Nutrition readers. If you have a blog or a website it would be greatly appreciated if you would put a link on your site to this blog. We are getting more and more new visitors everyday and your links can help increase that.

Thanks so much,
Mike

P.S. Are you coming to the JP Fitness Summit??

The Price of Convenience

Americans are all about convenience.

*TiVo let's you watch TV when ever you want.

*Cell Phones allow you to talk to anyone when ever you want.

*The internet allows you to find out any information you desire at the click of a button.

*Heck, I know researchers that will only use a scientific journal article if they can get it online because the library is too far away.

We, as Americans, really excel at convenience when it comes to food. But food is interesting because convenience can come at an immediate price or a delayed price. Most people pay the delayed price without even realizing what they are doing.

Let me explain...today I found myself on the other side of campus, without any food, and it was meal time. I headed over to the school Creamery (not for ice cream) as they have a small place that sells food. I was hungry and had a couple options.

Whole grain turkey sandwich or Chips

Choosing the chips would be result in paying a delayed price for convenience as they were very inexpensive but eating them would 1. Make me feel crappy in about 10 minutes. 2. Contribute to clogging my arteries 3. Be essentially wasting calories. I guess #1 is an immediate price but 2 and 3 can be very detrimental if repeated over the long term.

The whole grain turkey sandwich was a better long term option but it was also almost 5 bucks (what a rip off!) With the turkey sandwich I would pay the initial high financial price of convenience but over the long term would not suffer the consequences of potato chip consumption.

Do you see how everything has a price? I actually didn't chose either option and instead got some mixed nuts and a little locally made beef jerky.

Many people complain about how eating healthy is expensive but will go out and by a crappy lunch everyday. Yes, if you want convenience then eating healthy is expensive over the short term. However, if you want convenience and you don't want to pay a financial price (initially) then you will most likely pay with your health in the long term.

The answer to this problem is easy. Plan, Cook, and Prepare you meals ahead of time. Healthy food, bought in bulk, and prepared ahead of time are in fact not that expensive over the short term or long term.

Think about your nutrition? What price are you paying?

Tags: nutrition, convenience food, potato chips

Back & Legs at the Arnold Classic....Are You Serious???

This past weekend was the Arnold Classic, one of the biggest events in the bodybuilding /Fitness Industry. Victor Martinez was the winner of the Men's IFBB Event but I think the most incredible part of the show was Warren Branch. The lats and legs on this guy are incredible and a little freakish. Take a look at the picture...



Seriously...the lower lat, inner, and outer thighs on this guy are incredible. The best part is the Warren isn't into traditional "hypertrophy" training. He trains with Johnny Jackson (bodybuilder/powerlifter) and they lift heavy and hard. Granted I'm sure that many of you will say..."But he's on steroids". True. But that doesn't take away from all the hard work he puts in to look the way he does.

How's your training? Have you been stuck lifting weights for 12-15 reps for what seems like forever?? If so consider dropping your reps down to 3-6 range and be prepared for magic!! Plus, lifting heavy stuff is fun.

Have a great day.

-MR

Tags: bodybuilding, Arnold classic, warren branch, legs, back, hypertrophy training

Nutrient Timing Seminar

Just wanted to remind and encourage everyone to attend the JP Fitness Summit, it is going to be a killer event. I'm mentioned before that I'll be speaking there along with Alwyn Cosgrove, Chad Waterbury, Charles Staley, and several more all-stars.

The topic of my talk will be nutrient timing and I'll be discussing the following:

*Why you probably should have carbs in the morning.

*The workout nutrition shake that was shown to pack on 10 pounds of muscle while allowing users to simultanously drop body fat.

*Do carbs during your workout prevent fat loss?

*How to use different proteins throughout the day for maximal benefit.

*and a whole lot more!!!!


I hope to see you there. I'll also be releasing the new Your Naked Nutrition Guide at the Summit. This won't be available to anyone else until several weeks after the event.

I've Launched a New Site

In preparation for the launch of the new Your Naked Nutrition Manual - www.NakedNutritionGuide.com has been launched. Check it out and let me know what you think.

-Mike

The Problem with Losing Weight

As I've mentioned previously over the past several months I have diligently been working on the Your Naked Nutrition Guide - A results driven all encompassing manual for nutritional success. I have also included in this a couple chapters at the beginning on mindset, planning, and goal setting. In this section I pose the question

"What are the negatives of achieving your goal?"

Have you ever thought of this? Over the past couple months I've dropped a bunch of extra weight. Living the life of a graduate student had been taking its toll on my physique (I know excuses, excuses). As a result a good bunch of my clothes don't fit. My pants sag off my waist, I need new belts, and my button down shirts need to be tapered...this isn't something that most people consider.

What about birthdays? It seems like we are always having mini birthday parties in the lab. This means cake. It is awkward refusing birthday cake at a party, standing there drinking water while everyone else enjoys the fluffy sugar laced baked goods. It makes you sort of an outcast...have you considered having to deal with these social situations?

What about drinking? An all to common occurrence is getting a drink on Friday after work. What will you do in these situations? Say no and not attend? Does that make you antisocial? Will you go but not drink and just have a diet coke instead? That's fine but be prepared to be on the receiving end of some ribbings from your buddies.

Most of the time we talk about food and training....but learning to deal with social pressures and stick to your plan regardless of the birthday parties, happy hours, and telling the waitress exactly how you what your food prepared ("Hold the fries, double the steamed vegetables, and I'll have the dressing on the side.") is extremely important. This can be the hardest part for many people.

So don't forget to look at the whole picture. What is it really going to cost to reach your goals?

Tags: goals, weight loss, success, nutrition

Protein Bar or Candy Bar???

The world of "protein bars" is probably the most misleading and ingenious marketing idea ever. Most of the bars are loaded with sugar and low quality protein but since they are protein bars and not candy bars companies mark them up 100-200%. Plus they usually taste like garbage.

I was at the super market yesterday and found myself very hungry (it is never good to go to the market hungry). I went over to where they sell the protein bars and was extremely disappointed. Of course there were not Metabolic Drive bars (my first choice) but they didn't have any Greens+ bars either.

Here's what I did find...I won't mention the company name because it is too embarassing. The bar contained 360 calories. The first ingredient was a protein blend but the next three ingredients were corn syrup, brown rice syrup, and high fructose corn syrup. The bar had 51 grams of carbs, 25 of which came from sugar. Oh yeah it also contained partially hydrogenated soybean oil. Total crap.

The moral of the story is that it is extrememly important to read the labels before you purchase "health food" items.

Video Friday - JUMP! (Again)

What a day! I wrote a whole paper on iron metabolism then it got erased from my computer (I accidentally saved it in the temporary folder) so I had to rewrite the whole thing this afternoon...ugh

On the the video. I'm not sure why I've been so into amazing vertical leaps but this video is awesome (Thanks to the diesel crew for putting me on to it).

Deadly Left-Overs

Proper planning is probably THE key to nutritional success (aside from application of planning). An integral part of the planning process is cooking food ahead of time. However if not treated properly these pre-cooked meals can be a fertile playground for all kinds of food borne pathogens and bacteria dying to make you feel like Bill Murray in Osmosis Jones.

To prevent this from happening I recommend that you follow the 2 Hours - 2 Inches - 4 Days rule.

2 Hours - Within 2 hours of cooking you should refrigerate or freeze the food.

2 Inches - If you have made a stew or chili don't store it in the pot you cooked it in. Store the food at a maximum depth of 2 inches to allow for fast cooling.

4 Days - If the leftover have been in your refrigerator for more than 4 days then it is time to get rid of it. This means that if you cook chicken on Sunday by Wednesday it is time to cook some more. Don't try to cook chicken for the whole week unless you are going to freeze it.

Follow these tips and stay pathogenic bacteria free.

No Video Friday - Read a book!

Yesterday on T-Nation an interesting article from John Berardi was published. The article was a collection of speculations that John was making about different issues. He quoted some amazing statistics:

58% of the US adult population never reads another book after starting high school (this includes graduates and non-graduates).

33% of US high school graduates never read another book after high school.

42% of US college graduates never read another book after college.

70-80% of US households haven't purchased any books in the last year.

70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

57% of new books are not read to completion.

Do you fit in these statistics? Growing up I wasn't a huge reader but know I can't find enough time to read all the books I want to read. Jim Rohn always says it isn't the book you read that matters but the book you DIDN'T read.


So on a quest to read more books I've embarked on a speed reading course called "Eye-Q". I do it everyday (or every other day if I forget). In just over a week I have increased my reading speed by 400 words per minute (550 words per minute if I push it but I don't comprehend as well).

Last week I finished 2 books and 2 more books on tape. This week I have pick up a couple more. This is what's currently on my list for the weekend.

Under the Bar
The Magic of Thinking Big
My Unfinished Business

What are you reading this weekend? What is the book that you haven't read that will make a huge difference in your life??

Tags: books, Jim Rohn, Speed Reading, dan kennedy

The Sh*t is about to hit the fan...literally

The FDA has done it! They have approved the over the counter sale of the weight loss pill Xenical. The drug is being sold under the name Alli. Please understand that Alli, Xenical, Orlistat (what ever you want to call it) is NOT the miracle pill.

Do you remember olestra? Companies put it in potato chips for a while because it was a fat that couldn't be absorbed. Products containing olestra become unpopular really quick becasue if you aren't absorbing the fat it still has to go somewhere thus diarrhea became a common symptom of potato chip eaters.

Alli works the same way but instead of eating chips you will take a pill. It will run you about $2 a day. Imagine paying $2 a day for diarrhea?

One study on the 60-milligram dose of orlistat that GlaxoSmithKline plans to make ended with 46 percent of participants losing at least 5 percent of their body weight over six months, compared to 26 percent of those taking a placebo.

So the people using the pill lost 5% of their bodyweight in 6 months. That's terrible. That means if you weight 200lbs you'll lose 10lbs in 6 months! Just commit 12 weeks to Alwyn Cosgrove's Afterburn II and you'll probably lose almost double that! Double the weight loss in half the time. That's what I'm talking about.

I really think this diet pill is going to be a flop. Initially it might be popular but the side effects are just nasty. The fact that it is 1/2 as potent as the prescription version isn't that meaningful because people will just double the dosage when they find that out.

The real answer to weight loss is solid nutrition and weight training. Not a fat blocking pill.

Here's a story on from CNBC

Tags: alli, fda, weight loss pill, weight loss drug, olestra, xenical

Nutrition Tip from Dr. Lonnie Lowery

Here's a great tip that I just read over at T-Nation.com from Dr. Lonnie Lowery. If you are not familiar with Dr. Lowery I recommend that you google him or look up his articles over at T-Nation. He is definitely one of my nutritional mentors.

=================
Eat or Shrink!

Eat on a schedule regardless of hunger! Simply divide the number of needed daily macronutrients (protein, carbs, fat) by six meals and that's what's needed every two to three hours. Eat them or be a shrunken flabby-man. Period!

===================

This is a great tip especially when it comes to packing on muscle. If you wait until you are hungry then you have waited too long. Something else that I've started doing this week when I have two lifting sessions in one day is slip on a BCAA or Protein drink throughout the day. This can help boost recovery, protein synthesis, and if you are using protein boost your calories.

Tags: nutrition tip, Lonnie Lowery, muscle growth, testosterone nation, t-nation.com, BCAA

Get Rid of the Negativity

One of my favorite books is Psycho Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz. If you haven't read it I highly recommend that you pick a copy up. It has been the secret weapon of thousands of successful people throughout the 20th century (i.e. Vince Lombardi, Jack Nicklaus, etc).

I subscribe to the free Psycho Cybernetics newsletter and it is great. The Psycho Cybernetics foundation is now run by Matt Furey and Matt sends out killer emails several times a week that really make you examine your life and habits to ensure you are functioning at your highest level. Here's a quote from today's email that I wanted to share with you.

"Truth is, if you aren't surrounding yourself with people and information designed to lift you UP - then by law you'll be pulled further down. You must continually feed your mind good thoughts and good ideas. If you don't, you'll end up with a garden full of weeds. "

Are you constantly working to build yourself up?

-Mike

Tags: books, matt furey, self image, psycho-cybernetics

Max-Out Radio and Meal Planning

The latest episode of Max-Out Radio has been published. This episode was great as I had TWO guests. Dr. Chris Mohr came back on the show this time joined by Jayson Hunter CSCS, RD. We talked about keys to meal planning, how to put together meal plans, and the new incredible software they created called Meal Plans 101. This is definitely a show you want to check out.

At the beginning of the show I talk about a controversial study regarding arachidonic acid supplementation for increased muscle growth.

Here's the direct download link for the show

The Blind Leading the Blind

I occasionally lurk around the bodybuilding.com forums since my post yesterday was about nitric oxide supplement I thought highlighting some of my findings would only be fitting.

"Out of all my experience, N.O. Shotgun is by far the best. It's got arginine-ethyl-ester, creatine-ethyl-ester, glutamine-ethyl-ester....Pretty much everything in it is -ethyl-ester, so you know it has a very fast delivery system."

My favorite part is "so you know it has a very fast delivery system". Really? I wasn't aware that -ethyl-esters automatically increase the speed of nutrient delivery (said with extreme sarcasm)


"The taste is horrible, but the product is well worth the money."

Why would you want to pay lots of money and ingest something everyday if it tastes horrible? It isn't like this guy is drinking androgens.

"I did, however, have many problems with taking this product. Instead of creatine-ethyl-ester or creatine-gluconate (like most other pre workout products have), this product just came with outdated creatine monohydrate, and lots of it. Along with that, the digestive problems were horrible. 2 hours after taking it I had massive diarrhea, and stomach cramps like no other. The taste doesn't help much either...."

Honestly this post gets more entertaining the more this person writes. I love how he refers to creatine monohydrate as "outdated" as if it doesn't work anymore.

Please, let this post serve as a warning about fitness and nutrition forums. They should mainly be treated as entertainment unless you know the person giving out information is a reputable source.

Tags: forums, bad advice, nitric oxide supplements

Supplements to Avoid

The following was going to appear in my upcoming project "Your Naked Nutrition Guide" but I decided to leave it out and instead wanted to share it with you now. Enjoy!!


Arginine / Nitric Oxide Supplements – If you have opened a fitness magazine anytime in the past several years then I am sure that you have come across these products that claim to
enhance nitric oxide production…
which increases blood flow to your muscles…
resulting in greater nutrient delivery…
and eventually greater muscle growth.

While that is a nice story it just doesn’t work that way. The main ingredient in most of these products is arginine or some arginine derivative. If you were to open a biochemistry text book you would see that yes arginine is a precursor for the production of nitric oxide so theoretically arginine would be a good amino acid to supplement with, theoretically. But it just doesn’t pan out in the real world. There are a couple problems here. The first problem is that when ingested arginine can go to all kinds of places in the body and be used for a myriad of different functions other than nitric oxide production. The second problem is that in research has shown that in order to get an appreciable increase in nitric oxide production a person would need to continually consume an inordinate amount of arginine throughout the day. This is a problem because excessive arginine consumption (the kind needed to see increases in nitric oxide production) lead to terrible gastrointestinal complications.

So if these products truly don’t work then why are the consistently on the best sellers list of sports supplements? I have know idea. It must be really clever marketing. But please don’t be fooled. Nitric Oxide supplements can cost up to $60 a month to use. This stuff is truly snake oil. Save you money for basic or performance enhancing supplements…or even better – real food!

Note: In "Your Naked Nutrition Guide" I outline what I consider to be basic and performance enhancing supplements.

Tags: supplements, muscle growth, nitric oxide, arginine

Drugs for fat dogs....are they serious???

The FDA has recently approved a drug for the treatment of obesity in dogs. It looks like this drug acts like Orlistat (a drug for humans) and decreases the absorption of dietary fat.

Honestly this is out of control. People not only can't control their own eating habits but overfeed dogs has become such a problem that we drugs for it!! Stop feeding your dog table scraps. Here's the article from health day. I'm really shocked by this.

----------------------------

U.S. Approves First Drug for Obese Dogs
Not a remedy for overweight people, FDA warns

THURSDAY, Jan. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Recognizing that overeating isn't limited to beings with two legs, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first prescription drug to manage obesity in dogs.

Pfizer's Stentrol (dirlotapide) reduces appetite and a dog's ability to absorb fat, the agency said. The FDA cited surveys showing that up to 30 percent of U.S. dogs are overweight and about 5 percent are obese (more than 20 percent above ideal weight).

Overweight pets, like people, are at higher risk of health problems ranging from cardiovascular conditions and joint problems to diabetes, the FDA said.

To discourage use of the medication by people, Stentrol's label will warn that the drug is not intended for human use, should be kept away from children, and may cause adverse reactions in people, including abdominal pain, diarrhea, headache, nausea and vomiting.

Tags: dogs, FDA, obesity, overweight dogs

The Media is reporting inaccurate information!!!

This should come as no surprise to anyone that has been reading my blog for sometime now. But yet again the media has twisted the message from scientific research to make a good headline. This proliferation of inaccurate information is terrible! This is the latest (that was actually on the Yahoo homepage so lot's of people are getting bad information).

"Grape juice seems to have the same protective effect against heart disease as red wine, French scientists said on Wednesday."

WRONG!

Apparently they don't have Medline in France. This conclusion is a huge stretch and actually the opposite is probably true. I have recently written a review article (soon to be published) on the different effects lifestyle changes can have on HDL (or good cholesterol). This included looking at the effects of red wine (and other alcohols) on cholesterol and other predictors of heart disease. Several studies compare wine vs. wine extract (essentially just the antioxidants) or wine vs. grape juice and the wine always has the greatest effect.

"But Schini-Kerth, whose research was partly funded by Welch Foods Inc which is a leading producer of grape juice, said little information is available on the levels of polyphenols in grape juice."

That's an interesting disclosure. I'm not against food industry funded studies only when crazy claims are made to make their products look better. I can only imagine Welch's marketing campaign now.

"The scientists were studying cells from pigs, which provide a good model for studying human cells."

This is another important piece of information. The researchers were studying pig cells in a dish. Not human cells. Not even pig cells in a pig. These findings should be taken with a big grain of sea salt! Especially because prior research in live humans has shown that the alcohol is the important part when it comes to modifying cholesterol levels and heart disease risk factors.

Here's the link to the article.

Tags: wine, heart disease, polyphenols, misinformation

Great Cooking Tips from Eating Well

I just came across this great mini article over at eatingwell.com. This is the great food magazine that I spoke about on the most recent issue of Max-Out Radio.

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Think Like a Chef
You don't have to be a short-order cook to create meals in a hurry, but we can all learn some culinary wisdom from those who can prepare hundreds of meals in a single day. Follow these short-order steps to make healthy meals easy.

1. Relax, put on some music and pour yourself a cup of tea. A composed cook is a more efficient one.

2. Read the recipe through ahead of time so you know everything that’s going to happen. Take a minute to imagine doing the steps.

3. Lay out your prepared ingredients in bowls. Having everything at your fingertips means the dish will come together faster. Cutting an onion before you start to cook is actually a time-saver; cutting it after the cooking has already begun wastes time—you have to take the skillet off the heat, then heat it back up when you’re done chopping. That being said, remember that quick cooking is about getting maximal results in minimal time. So, for instance, if a recipe calls for cooking an ingredient first, make use of that cooking time to get other prep work done.

4. Room-temperature vegetables cook faster than cold ones. While we don’t advocate letting meat, poultry, fish or dairy sit out, we do let our vegetables come to room-temperature so they will sear quickly, cook evenly and blend more readily with other ingredients.

5. Substitute carefully. Although some substitutions seem obvious, they can be tricky business. A ruined dish is a waste of time. See The Well-Stocked Pantry.

6. Measure accurately. Nothing wrecks a quick-cooking sauté like a double portion of flour or an overdose of salt.

7. Work in a bigger bowl than you think you need. Ever seen someone try to make tuna salad for four in a cereal bowl? Get out the big bowls—you’ll avoid a mess on the counter, and you won’t have to transfer contents to bigger bowls once they become unwieldy.

8. Do messy work in the sink. Stir batters, coatings and spice mixtures in bowls set in the sink. Spills are simply washed down the drain.

9. Turn up the heat. While you shouldn’t sauté onions in butter over high heat (the butter solids will burn and the onions will then stick and scorch), you also shouldn’t do so over low (the onions will just wilt and turn greasy). Don’t be afraid of higher temperatures—within reason. If you’re minding the skillet, the ingredients will not burn.

10. Always have towels and oven mitts at the ready. And make sure they’re dry. Wet mitts conduct heat right to your hands.

11. Clean up as you cook. Put things in the dishwasher while you’re waiting for the onions to soften, or wash the cutting boards and mixing bowls while you’re waiting for the tomato sauce to come to a simmer. Always put each tool back in the same place—so you will know exactly where to find it next time. Aim to start and finish with a clean kitchen. (Don’t be afraid to recruit help from the ranks of those who will be eating what you cook.)

12. A watched pot always boils. Pay attention to the dish as it cooks; don’t just set a timer and leave it. All timing guidelines are just that: guidelines, not laws. Pay more attention to visual and olfactory cues.

Tags: cooking tips, food, recommendations