Overlooked Weight Loss Factors Pt 1: Eating with Others

(My Original Blog Post: http://nakednutritionnetwork.com/overlooked-weight-loss-factors-pt-1-eating-with-others/)
[caption id="attachment_2758" align="alignright" width="127" caption="One of the best books you'll read this year"][/caption]

There is always a lot of talk about diet and exercise when it comes to weight loss. Certain ratios of protein and carbohydrates seem to be important. Whether or not you need to be doing 4, 10, or 20 minute metabolic workouts is currently a much talked about topic. Last night I started re-reading Tom Venuto's "The Body Fat Solution" and the introduction got me thinking about the factors that are over looked in most weight loss programs. These overlooked areas (many of which Tom does an excellent job of covering in his book) are really the key to success.

As I have said before, losing weight is self isn't that hard. Keeping the weight you lost is difficult. What are the overlooked factors in both the areas of weight loss and weight maintenance that if you were to just pay a little bit of attention to could make all the difference? Over the next couple posts I'd like to explore some of theses with you to better your chances of permanent success and living a strong, fit, and healthy life.

Environment

I"m not talking about the feng shui of your dinner plate but factors that drive your eating environment. Researchers have identified 4 key factors in your eating environmental:

• Eating Atmospherics (Lighting, Noise & Music, etc)


• Eating Effort


• Eating with others


• Eating distractions.

For the most part I recommend that you do your best to control what you eat through proper planning and preparation which can take eating atmospheric influences such as "people will eat more in colder rooms and drink more in warmer rooms" (I didn't make that up) out of the equation as you just eat what you had planed regardless of the humidity level in the room.

But even with all the best planning in the world you can't (and wouldn't want to) eat alone; thus it is important to recognize the under the radar factors that come into play when eating with others. Combine this with the fact that a lot of eating in larger groups occurs at restaurants or parties where the food selection can be less than ideal and it is pretty easy to fall off the wagon.

Now, I don't have to work very hard to convince you that the presence of other people will influence both what and how much is eaten.  I'm sure you've had the experience where you were going to order one particular dish but the person you were with orders a different dish and you end up saying something like "oh, I'll have that to."

What I find really interesting is that research from Georgia State University shows that people can eat up to 33% more when eating with someone else compared to eating alone and that percentage increases as the size of the group increases. Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating, has also pointed out that the variance associated with how much is eaten in these group situations becomes smaller as the group get bigger; which basically means that people are more consistent about eating more food as the size of the group they are in gets bigger.

Here are some other stats from Dr. de Castro at Georgie State University. We eat more people close to use compared to just having random people around:

• Spouse - 22% more


• Family - 23% more


• Friend - 14% more

But we eat less around coworkers (16% less).

[caption id="attachment_2764" align="aligncenter" width="298" caption="Do you eat more with certain people?"][/caption]

While some may argue the exact percentages and statistics, go ahead as those don't matter as much to me. Look at the big picture. Are you unknowingly eating more around certain people? Are you unknowingly making different food choices when you eat with certain people. Just take a couple minutes today to think about this and apply it to your life. Recognizing these situations in your life and making sure that you don't succumb to under the radar influences will help you live a strong, fit, and healthy life while maintaining the body weight you want.

Ketogenic Diets - Effective, But Are They Healthy?

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/95TC3)
There has been a lot more QnA going on at the Naked Nutrition Facebook Page (If you haven't already, make sure to head over, click image below, and 'Like It') and so I'll start answering some of the questions in more depth here on the blog.

Today's question comes from Shawn and it is about the ketogenic diets and if they are healthy?

"I know that keto diets are effective for losing fat, but is it a healthy way of eating otherwise? After staying true to the WSFL diet for a while, I may have lost some weight, but I just don't feel like I'm giving my body what it needs to be healthy (specifically, enough vegetables; for one, I don't feel like I get enough dietary fiber on this diet, not to mention all the other good stuff veggies bring to the table). I'm completely off the starchy and grainy carbs, but do fibrous carbs actually prevent ketosis as well?"

Let me answer the second part of your question, then the first. The normal timeline of a ketogenic diet is a 2 week 'induction' followed by several phases (of in determinant length) with increased levels of carbohydrates. During the induction phase you would only take in <20g/d of carbohydrates. This is really the only time you would need to worry about monitoring whether or not you are in ketosis. You can monitor your ketotic status (I don't think ketotic is an actual word but you know what I mean) with Ketostix. During this time period you really do need to be careful about your carbohydrate intake and the ketostix are useful at monitoring your ketone production.

[caption id="attachment_2749" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Ketostix Bayer Reagent Strips for Urinalysis"][/caption]

After the two week period you can increase your carbs up to 50g/d. These carbs should come mainly in the form of vegetables so you shouldn't feel like you are restricting you vegetable intake too much because 50 grams of carbs give you...

• 12.5 cups of broccoli florets or


• 7 cups of cooked spinach or


• 1 head of cabbage or


• 7 medium size red bell peppers or


• 8 cups of cherry tomatoes

So the answer to the second part of your questions is...No, you don't need to restrict your intake of fibrous carb because as you can see from the list above it would require a lot of fibrous carbs to top 50 grams/day. You don't need to worrying about monitoring urinary ketosis beyond the induction peroid anyway, just monitor your fat loss.

Now to transition to the first part of your question regarding getting ample antioxidant and 'goodies' from vegetables.  1 serving of broccoli is acutally only 1/2 a cup so if you ate only broccoli you would be getting 25 servings of vegetables per day (not that I'm recommending eating only broccoli - the math is just easy with that as an example). The current recommendations for vegetable intake is only 5 servings (2.5 cups) per day!

My clients and other people that use Naked Nutrition always eat way more fruits and vegetables than are currently recommended even when on lower carbohydrate diets. Also Dr. Jeff Volek anecdotally told me once that the people whom participate in the low carb diet studies he runs at the University of Connecticut always find themselves eating more vegetables on the low carb diets compared to their normal eating habits.

As you transition away from weight loss to a diet maintenance phase you will increase your carbohydrate intake even more. I recommend that you do this by adding more fruits and vegetables as well as fiber rich grains (for breakfast and following workouts per the 6th Pillar of Nutrition). For more specifics on this transition check out my chapter in the Warp Speed Fat Loss Nutrition Manual called "Life After Warp Speed Fat Loss."

Dead-On Weight Loss Advice From an Unusual Source

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/1D5aV)
The other day on some social networking site (Twitter, Facebook, I don't remember exactly) someone made a post.  It post was titled "The Public Humiliation Diet." I had to read it. How could you not?

So I clicked the link.Where does it take me?

Deadspin.com (not necessarily a site I would tell my mother to read)

I read on.

The article was by one of the sites editors, Drew Magary, who has lost 60lbs in the last 5 months. Here's brief excerpt that describes his story and rationale for his diet.

I've struggled with my weight for my entire life. I went to hospital fat camp in seventh grade. I have stretch marks all along my sides and gut (fire belly!). I spend the majority of my day thinking about food, and that's unlikely to change anytime soon, even now. I love eating and have a hard time controlling myself when presented with cakes and pies and bags of Doritos. Oh, Doritos. Oh God, how I adore you. You hear about alcoholics who can't stop drinking until they're blackout drunk. I'm that way with food. I can't stop eating until I'm blackout fat.

So I needed to set some ground rules for myself to lose weight, ground rules that I felt were reasonable to follow for the rest of my adult life.

Here are 2  key strategies that Drew used to lose 2.5 toddlers worth of weight from his midsection (with my comments).

4. I never ate after dinner. 6 p.m., to be precise, because I eat with my kids. That may not be realistic for you. But there are plenty of people out there who advocate not eating too much at night. For me, it used to be that dinner was the start of my nightly eating. There'd be dessert. Then the after-dessert dessert. Then a bowl of cereal. Then shots of ranch dressing...This rule...I really stuck to. The only times I ate dinner late were when I was out with friends or whatever and had no choice.

This is great. I've written before about not eating after a certain time at night, not because of some magical fat burning property but because of the exact reason that Drew illustrated above - post dinner snacking. Drew was able to identify that for him, a huge caloric load was being consumed after he ate dinner. A simple way to curb that was to allow no wiggle room and just make the 'rule' that he wasn't going to eat after dinner.

Oftentimes, identifying a particular bad habit and making a hard and fast 'life rule' to stop it is a great way to instantly change your behavior for the best.

10. I made sure everything I ate was AWESOME. If I'm only getting three legit meals a day, they better be good. So I made sure of that. Did you know two slices of bacon only have 70 calories? Combine that with a fried egg and you've got a breakfast of less than 200 calories, far less than a bowl of granola. So I went the bacon route. I also learned to braise short ribs,  make my own pulled pork, make Thai steak sauces, and all this other crazy stuff because I wanted to lose weight and still enjoy what I was eating. None of this grilled-chicken-breast-every-night crap that NFL players do. I still love food and I LIKE it that way. (Note: This is not an exact quote as I editted out the f-bombs)

Diet foods or the foods that you eat when on a diet do not often conjure up images that make your mouth water. For whatever reason many people feel that the only way to eat healthy is by consuming the same bland food day in and day out. It does not have to be that way. You just need to learn to eat less of certain things that you love (like Drew did with Bacon) and cook differently (also like Drew did with homemade BBQ sauce) so the food that you do eat fits in with your plan.

I personally love cheese. There is no way that I'm cutting cheese out of my diet, even if my calories are low because I'm dieting down. A year or so ago I was teaching a nutrition course and got into a conversation with the class about this exact topic. They were surprised that I didn't recommend you eat low fat cheese,instead just less full fat cheese. Let's be real here, low fat cheese is disgusting. Maybe (let me repeat...Maybe) I'll use a low fat shredded cheddar cheese in a recipe but as a general rule reduced fat cheeses taste like rubber.

Why would you want to eat that? Wouldn't you much rather eat 1/2 an oz of delicious full fat Vermont Cabot Cheddar Cheese than suffer through a full ounce of fat free Kraft Cheddar cheese?

Losing weight needs to involve a calorie deficit, which will require you to eat less calories. It does not require that you deprive yourself of food that tastes good.

Take a look at your diet. Are you suffering through any meals? How can you make them better?

Here is the link to the  original article (again, there is a bunch of 'colorful' language in the post so if that bothers you then I wouldn't recommend clicking the link).

Post a comment and let me know your favorite delicious diet food or recipe.

Top 5 Most Popular Posts

(My Original Blog Post: http://nakednutritionnetwork.com/top-5-most-popular-posts/)
I recently went back and looked at all the past Naked Nutrition past posts to see what has been the most popular. I was surprised to see certain posts there (namely that the most popular post has nothing to do with nutrition) and certain posts NOT there. Here are the top 5 most popular posts of all time with some key nutrition (or exercise) nuggets from each of them

1. Tabata Protocol – Complete Exercise Guide

[caption id="attachment_2724" align="alignleft" width="446" caption="The Tabata Protocol was originally tested on Speed Skaters"][/caption]

It was surprising that my most popular post has been exercise related but understandable as the Tabata Protocol has reached such mainstream appeal that distance runners are even using it to improve their fitness levels. Here are 3 Key excerpts:

"A Tabata workout is a timed workout that is only 4 minutes long. It consists of 20 seconds of hard (intense) exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest, and then you repeat this 8 times. Seems simple but it is really tough."

"...in order complete a full Tabata, really complete it like in the study, you need to be in decent shape. Fortunately, you can work your way up to the full 20 seconds on/10 seconds off protocol by using different time variations.

• 10 seconds on, 20 seconds off x 8


• 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off x 8


• 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off x 8"

"Coach Robert Dos Remedios a.k.a. The Tabata Master also emphasizes the importance of intensity when completing a Tabata session. He jokes that if you can do 2 Tabatas after your workout then your training session isn’t tough enough or you aren’t hitting your first Tabata hard enough. He recommends adding a Tabata to the end of your workout as a great way of ‘finishing your body off.’"

You can read the rest of this post here.

2. Fast Safe Weight Loss – How To Lose 3-6 Pounds of Fat Per Week

With the popularity of the Warp Speed Fat Loss program it is no surprise that one of this site's most popular post centered around the the concept that it IS possible to safely lose more than 2lbs per week. Here are a couple key points about metabolic exercise.

"Since you aren’t on the Biggest Loser and probably can’t workout 5-7 hrs/day tweaking your metabolism so that you burn calories when you aren’t exercising is key."

"Go for time. Metabolic circuits are ’self regulating’ in that you do as much work as you can. Do as many sets as you can within a give time frame. 10 minutes is a good place to start."

"Do better each time. While there isn’t a target number of a sets that you should do, strive to do more sets/reps each workout. Push yourself to burn more calories each workout and you will be greatly rewarded by burning more calories after each workout."

You can read the rest of this post here.

3. Whey Protein Isolate vs. Whey Protein Concentrate

The popularity of this post really speaks to the lack of educational information there is surrounding protein powders. The Concentrate vs. Isolate question is evergreen and I"m glad that I could clarify it here for people. The difference between concentrates and isolates is really important for people from a digestive perspective. I recently helped a friend relief a good deal of digestive discomfort from switching protein powders.

"Protein concentrates. Protein concentrates are created by pushing the protein source (milk, whey, etc.) through a very small filter that allows water, minerals, and other organic materials to pass though. The proteins, which are too big to pass through the filter, are collected, resulting in protein powder. When this process is used to make whey protein concentrate, it yields a protein powder that is 70-80% protein and up to 5% lactose. People with lactose intolerance will have trouble consuming large amounts of whey protein concentrate."

"Protein isolates. This is the next step up in purification; the protein is purified again using more filtration or a technique called ion-exchange or cross-flow microfiltration. Protein isolates have very low levels of carbohydrates and fat and are almost exclusively pure protein. People with lactose intolerance usually don’t have trouble with whey protein isolates. Many companies that make whey protein isolates will certify that their product is lactose free or they add lactase (the enzyme that breaks down lactose) to the protein powder to help with digestion."

You can read the rest of this post here.

4. Female Body Breakthrough – Rachel Cosgrove’s New Book

I was not surprised to see that out of all the different books and resources that I have written about, Rachel Cosgrove's book 'The Female Body Breakthrough' is in the top 5. Why? Because it is easily the best training book for women written to date. Rachel is a great advocate for the proper way to women to develop the bodies that they desire. Her book is very comprehensive and she doesn't pull any punches about the hard work that is required to get the body you desire. My favorite quote beings "In order to look like a fox you need to sweat like a pig." Here is an excerpt from the post in which Rachel outlines what weight loss program for women SHOULD DO (weight loss programs for men should also do these things"

• "Metabolically demanding full body strength training program lifting challenging weights. This should be their priority workouts 2-4 days a week.


• Boost their intensity and drop the duration on their cardio sessions performing interval style workouts for no more than 30 minutes at a time.


• Fuel their body with healthy food every couple hours getting their metabolism revving.


• Focus on how her clothes fit and how she looks and feels and not on a number on the scale. Focus on Fat Loss, not Weight Loss"

You can read the rest of this post here.

5. How To Lose Body Fat Without Losing Muscle

When dieting the number concern that people have, aside from 'how fast can I lose weight' usually centers on preventing muscle loss. To do this you really need to reconcile the the differences between your body's objectives/problems and yours when your calories are low.

"First let’s look at why your body would breakdown muscle to use as fuel when dieting. There are three main reason.

• Body’s Problem: Needs energy.


• Body’s Problem: Needs enough amino acids to maintain important bodily functions.


• Body’s Problem: Energy is low thus needs to only keep around essential parts that require calories.

You have your own set of problems in regards to how your body acts when it comes to functioning on low calories.

• Your Problem: You want it to specifically use store fat to fill the energy void.


• Your Problem: You want the body to get amino acids from places other than hard earned muscle.


• Your Problem: Need to convince your body that lean muscle is essential."

You can read the rest of this post here.

Is there a post that isn't is the top 5 but it is your favorite? Let me know and I'll put together a 'reader' favorites list.

Fat Loss Essential- Protect Yourself From Yourself

(My Original Blog Post: http://nakednutritionnetwork.com/fat-loss-essential-protect-yourself-from-yourself/)
Yes, I'm back after a long blogging hiatus. My PhD studies combined with a lot of movement behind the scenes at Naked Nutrition has been just about all my time over the past several weeks but I should be back blogging on a regular basis now.



Last weekend I made a trip up to my alma mater, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, (which I have since learned made the list of America's 50 Most Expensive Colleges) as my little sister (who is slowly becoming not so 'little') was graduating. The weekend festivities were great, especially because I got to catch up with a lot of family that I hadn't seen in a while. One conversation was especially relevant to the Naked Nutrition Approach and knew I wanted to share with it you right away.

I was talking with a family friend about his sleeping problems and if he had been able to crack the insomnia code to get more sleep. He said he was getting better but hadn't reconciled the problem completely. He did say that the one strategy that had provided him the most benefit was a sleep journal. What he did was each morning, upon waking, he recorded that nights events - about when he fell asleep, when he woke up, how long he was up, when he fell back asleep, etc.

This was so powerful because he realized that he actually was sleeping more than he thought. Knowing this relieved a significant about of anxiety surround his insomnia.

I instantly saw this as a perfect analogy for compliance charts. I've written about the 90% rule and compliance here, here, here, and numerous other places and I keep bringing it up because it is a make or break strategy that I don't see enough people using.

Just as my friend was under the impression that he was hardly sleeping at all, I have never met something who didn't think there diet was better than it really was. Once my friend took the time to quantify his sleeping habits he was able to see the truth of the situation and then employ more strategies that were appropriate for his actual situation.

Until you take the time and quantify your nutritional compliance, you really have no idea how well or poor you are adhering to your diet. If you don't know how well you are following your plan then any adjustment or 'fixes' that you apply to your diet is essentially throwing darts in the dark at your weight loss target.

Do yourself a favor, save yourself a lot of frustration and this week take the time to track your compliance before you try any new exercise plans, diet modifications, or supplements.

Apple Cider Vinegar

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/ARAik)
Before we get into today's post I wanted to follow up on Monday's contest. In response to my "3 Foods To Always Stock in Your Cupboards" post

The winner is Petra with her post :

Unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan of most grains, but I do like oatmeal, so my cupboard is always stocked with oatmeal. In addition, I have raw nuts, mainly almonds and walnuts, and raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar. I don't know if it provides all the health benefits that I have heard about, but it makes a great vinaigrette when mixed with olive oil, garlic, herbs and spices.

(Petra - email me at support [at] nakednutritionnetwork.com and I'll send you the Fat Loss Edge Audio recording)


In regards to her question about apple cider vinegar...there are some amazing claims about this floating around the internet from its ability t0 slice open fat cells so that the fat drains out to and curing the flu (yes, the flu).

Most of the claims are completely unsupported and some are rather misleading. A perfect example of this is the claim that apple cider vinegar reduces cholesterol levels. The support for this uses one of my favorite tactics, the good ol' if it worked in rats then it'll work in humans justifications. Unfortunately if it works in rats, it does not mean that it will work in humans. Let's be a little reasonable here, even interventions that work in some humans don't work in all humans.

Back to the cholesterol issue.

WebMD.com summarizes this for us:

High cholesterol. A 2006 study showed evidence that vinegar could lower cholesterol. However, the study was done in rats, so it's too early to know how it might work in people.

So is apple cider vinegar good? Definitely. As Petra pointed out, it makes a great vinaigrette. For a while I was Balsamic vinegared out on my salads and apple cider vinegar is a good change of pace.

Despite all the unsupported claims about apple cider vinegar, don't let that turn you off completely from its health benefits as vinegar in general (not unique to apple cider vinegar) can slow the rate in which food leaves your stomach, helping your better control your blood sugar levels.

Also, in regards to salad dressings. I'm in the final stages of my first Naked Nutrition Cookbook and would love to include recipes from readers. If you have a salad dressing that you would like to have featured in the book post it below.

I look forward to your recipes and have a good one!

-Mike

3 Foods To Always Stock in Your Cupboard

(My Original Blog Post: http://nakednutritionnetwork.com/3-foods-to-always-stock-in-your-cupboard/)
Having healthy fat burning food on hand at all times is essential for success with your diet. In order to hit the 90% percent rule week after week you need to make your nutrition be automatic and delicious. If you are truly going to change the way that you eat for the rest of your life and adopt the Naked Nutrition eating plan as a permanent change and not just an 'I need to lose a couple pounds so I'll do this for a couple weeks' then eating delicious food is another must

Today I wanted to share with you 5 foods that I always make sure that we have on hand in our cupboards.

1. Quinoa - Quinoa is second favorite grain (second to oats - my favorite is the steel cut variety). This 'ancient' grain has found main stream popularity over the past couple years. In has all but replaced brown rice in my diet. Compared to brown rice quinoa has a lighter, nuttier flavor. In addition it one of the only grains that is a complete protein (meaning that it has all the essential amino acids). Plus, if you are a busy person you'll love quinoa as it cooks in half of the time it would take for you to make brown rice.

2. Walnuts - Walnuts are hands down my favorite nut. They contains a wide spectrum of health boosting fats, including the ever popular omega-3 fat alpha linolenic acid. Walnuts are great in shakes as they blend up and dissolve into your shake with out a trace (unlike almonds which often will settle to the bottom of the blender). If you aren't going to use walnuts in shakes, they go great on salads and you can crush them into a powder (they make a texture similar to moist corn meal), and stuff chicken breasts for a great twist on an old stand by protein.

3. Chickpeas - Like walnuts, chickpeas are very versatile. Whether you are eating them blended up with olive oil and tahaini in the form of hummus, added cold to your salad for extra fiber and protein, or in chili in place of black beans - Chickpeas are my favorite legume.

What else do you consider essential for your fat burning cupboard? Post below and the person with the best top 3 get a copy of my Fat Loss Edge Seminar Audio Recording.

Resource: In each issue of Strong, Fit, & Healthy I share with you 2 new delicious Naked Nutrition approved recipes - you can become a member and get instant access to the entire Strong, Fit, & Healthy archives here.

7 Personal Lessons for Losing Fat

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/oQ5EV)
There Are 7 Lessons From My Story That You Can Use Yourself To Lose Fat or Even Get Ripped Like I Did... - Guest Blog from Jason Ferruggia

I want to share these with you because even if you have a different personal history than I do (most of my readers are NOT bodybuilders), these 7 lessons are the keys to achieving any previously elusive fitness goal for the first time and I know they apply to everyone.

1. Set the big goal and go for it. If your goal doesn’t excite you and scare you at the same time, your goal is too small. If you don’t feel fear or uncertainty, you’re inside your comfort zone. Puny goals aren’t motivating. Sometimes it takes a competition or a big challenge of some kind to get your blood boiling.

2. Align your values with your goals. I understood my values and made a decision to be congruent with who I really was and who I wanted to be. When you know your values, get your priorities straight and align your goals with your values, then doing what it takes is easy.

3. Do the math. Stop looking for magic. A lean body does not come from ONE "magic" type of exercise or one "magic" type of food or food group, it’s the calories burned vs calories consumed that determines weight loss or weight gain. Don't get me wrong - the strength training is crucial for optimizing body composition, and you might do better by decreasing the calories consumed, whereas I depended more on increasing the calories burned, but either way, it’s still a math equation. Deny it at your own peril.

4. Get social support and social accountability. Support and encouragement from your friends can help get you through anything. Real time accountability to a training partner or trainer can make all the difference.

5. Be consistent. Nothing will ever work if you don’t work at it every day. Sporadic efforts don’t just produce sporadic results, sometimes they produce zero results.

6. Persist through difficulty and self doubt. If you think it’s going to be smooth sailing all the way with no ups and downs, you’re fooling yourself. For every sunny day, there’s going to be a storm. If you can’t weather the storms, you’ll never reach new shores.

7. Redeem yourself. Non-achievers sit on the couch and wallow in past failures. Winners use past failures as motivational rocket fuel. It always feels good to achieve a goal, but nothing feels as good as achieving a goal with redemption.

Note from Mike: This is flat out great advice. #6 and #7 are my favorite of the bunch and are rarely talked about.

Additional Resources from Jason

Two years ago I decided to start experimenting on a large number of my clients and coaching group members. I wanted to see if I could create an athletic based muscle building system and help average guys get the same kind of results elite athletes get from their training. The only difference is the average guy doesn’t have the genetics, recovery ability or schedule of a professional athlete. But they all want to look like them.

So I took it upon myself to create the ultimate system that would help Average Joe’s and weekend warriors get a little bit closer to looking and performing like Reggie Bush or Georges St. Pierre.

I know how to help skinny guys get jacked. That’s old hat to me. I can do it in my sleep. As long as someone listens and does what I say they will pack on size.

But Triple Threat Muscle is a little different. Not only is the program focused on size gains, but also the development of explosive power and unrelenting endurance. So you get the jacked, muscular physique and the athleticism to go with it.

Get Triple Threat Muscle now and save $30. Click Here to Get Started Now

In the process of updated my Naked Nutrition for Fat Loss Program - It is going to be so much more comprehensive.

Bodybuilding.com delivered my order in less than 24hrs! Wow

just answered some rapid weight loss diet questions in regards to carbohdyrates http://readnow.at/18mm3

Testing out ping.fm. Hope you're having a great weekend

We're Moving!!!

Well my wife and I aren't moving (yet). But this blog is. The entire contents of this blog have been moved over to a new site --> http://blog.nakednutritionguide.com

If you have subscribed via RSS feed don't worry about changing your feed or re-subscribing as I've already taken care of that for you. Head over to the new blog's home and let me know what you think!

This will be the last post here at the blogger account so if you have linked to the blog on your blog or webpage please update the link to http://blog.nakednutritionguide.com

See you over there,
Mike

Video Friday - Bob Paris

I'm going to be traveling tomorrow for Memorial Day Weekend so I thought I'd post the video for Video Friday early.

Bob Paris is one of my favorite bodybuilders of all-time. He isn't a mass monster. Bob has the kind of physique that many men would aspire to - symmetrical, proportional, and not over the top. Today's video is a great as it is one of Bob's posing routines. If you have read Bob Paris' book Gorilla Suit then I highly recommend that you check it out. It is one of the few good books written on bodybuilding.

Tags: bob paris, bodybuilding, youtube, good books

Rooibos - Better Than Green Tea??

I've been getting a lot of emails lately about Rooibos tea. People are wondering what it is and if it is better than green tea (especially because a talk a bunch about Green Tea in Your Naked Nutrition Guide).

Rooibos (pronounced Roy-bus) isn't necessarily better than green tea but it is good. Rooibos comes from a South Africian legume. It is naturally caffeine free and brews up a dark rich red cup of tea. Rooibos is also loaded with antioxidants. Many of the health claims surrounding Rooibos tea and Rooibos extract are from animal and cell culture studies and thus should be taken as suggestive and not definitive.

While reading up on the research regarding Rooibos, I found a study that showed that Rooibos tea inhibited the activation of the COX-2 enzyme in human cells. The COX-2 enzyme is a major gateway for inflammation. Aspirin, Advil, and DHA (one of the fatty acids in fish oil) all also exhibit anti-inflammatory actions through inhibiting COX-2. This research is interesting as it suggests that Rooibos has anti-inflammatory properties.

So should you throw out your green tea for Rooibos?? Nope. Drink them both. Because Rooibos tea is naturally decaffeinated and Green Tea is naturally caffeinated they both can find a place in your day. Green Tea in the morning and Rooibos at night. Plus they both contain different types of antioxidants so drinking them both will give you a nice blend of antioxidant in your diet.

On a completely different note - NSCA Strength Coach of the Year Robert Dos Remedios has just launched a blog and website - www.CoachDos.com

Tags: rooibos tea, green tea, anti-inflammatory, health, nutrition

Black Cohosh - uber Supplement For Women or Not?

One of the most popular supplements for females is Black Cohosh. Black Cohosh is a member of the buttercup family and was originally used by Native Americans. Black Cohosh is now commonly sold as a dietary supplement with the claim of increase estrogen production/action. As a result Black Cohosh is popular among women under undergoing menopause.

However, a recent study from the Annals of Internal Medicine showed quite the opposite result. 351 women ages 45-55 who had reported getting hot flashes at least twice a day were given 1 of 5 treatments. The treatments ranged from 160mg of Black Cohosh to multi-herbal mixtures containing 200mg of Black Cohosh to Estrogen replacement therapy, to nothing (placebo).

After 1 year none of the herbal treatment groups had any reduction in symptoms while the estrogen replacement therapy group did.

Tags: supplements, black cohosh, estrogen, menopause

Workout Music - myTunes Part II

My last entry prompted a lot of messages into my inbox wondering what else is on my training muscle playlist. Here are some more songs that will boost your workout intensity.


Blood Pressure - LOX
Where the Hood At (Remix) - DMX
There It Go (The Whistle Song) - Juelz Santana
Last Ones Left - Tupac
Bump Heads - Eminem feat G Unit
So Much Pain - Tupac (this is hard to find)
Is That Yo Chick - Memphis Bleek, Jay-Z, Twista
Trill Recognize Trill - Bun B
Touch It (Remix) - Busta Rhymes & DMX
Rite Where You Stand - Gangstarr & Jadakiss
Wu-Gambinos - Wu-Tang Clan
Certified Gangsta - Jim Jones
It's Mine - Mobb Deep feat Nas
Triumph - Wu-Tang Clan
I'ma Hustla - Cassidy
Blaze of Glory - Bon Jovi

...now that's good music.

Tags: workout music, ipod

Workout Music - myTunes

I've mentioned it previously on this blog that I currently workout at one of the gyms on the Penn State campus. It has A LOT more equipment and space that when I worked out in our basement in Vermont but I would give anything to be back in the basement with a wobbly squat rack, 450lbs of weight, 1 olympic bar, and two plate loading dumbbells. It was low budget but the atmosphere was amazing. Fast forward to now. The gym is full of fancy machines, guys in polo shirts talking on their cell phones between sets, other guys talking to girls during sets of dumbbell curls (I'm not making that up!), and the music...don't get me started.



Fortunately, I have Maximus. Maximus is my red 8GB iPod Nano. I currently have 86 songs on my Training Music playlist with more songs being added everyday. Here are some of my current favorites:

Ebonics - Big L
Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
Hoody Hoo - TRU
The Ruler's Back - Jay-Z
Diamonds Is Forever - Jay-Z
Tell Me Where to Go - E-40
Break Ya Neck - Busta Rhymes
Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi
Deliverance - Bubba Sparxxx
Built this City - Diplomats
Quiet Money Anthem - AZ
Black Repulbican - Jay-Z & Nas
Blackout - DMX
Keep It Thoro - Prodigy (from Mobb Deep)
Why We Thugs - Ice Cube
Let's Go - Trick Daddy
Paradise City - Guns and Roses


Have a great weekend! Remember to take time to plan your meals this weekend. It will greatly improve your chances of success.

Tags: ipod nano, workout music, weight training

Plan Your Nutrition Ahead

A key component to nutritional success throughout the week is making your nutrition a no brainer. When I was in Washington DC at the Experimental Biology conference I came across a poster presentation by the graduate students of Brian Wansink (the author of Mindless Eating)

They were reporting the results of a study that showed how people think they make ~15 food decisions a day but in reality they make >200. Whether or not these numbers are accurate is debatable but you get the point. We make a lot of decisions about food whether we like it or not.

This is why planning your meals ahead of time is so important. It takes all the thinking out of nutrition for the week. In the morning you get up, pull your pre-prepared meals out of the refrigerator or freezer, put them in your mini cooler and you're off. No cooking, portioning, or thinking.

Take the time on Sunday to cook and prepare your meals. You will find that your nutrition is much more consistent and you'll stay on track during the week as a result. Here's a picture of what I grilled up this past Sunday.




If you want more information about nutrition planning and strategies for success check out my new manual Your Naked Nutrition Guide.

Resveratrol Does Damage Control

Resveratrol is one of the hottest up and coming antioxidants. Resveratrol is a polyphenol that is most notably found in grapes and red wine. For a long time many people believe that red wine was a superior type of alcohol because of its high resveratrol content. Recently I co-authored a scientific manuscript in which we found that resveratrol has little to nothing to do with the increase in "good" cholesterol found with moderate red wine (or any alcohol for that matter) consumption.

Regardless of resveratrol's lack of influence on HDL cholesterol it has been shown to have powerful anti-aging and anti-inflammatory effects in animal and in vitro studies. This is where I see the main problem with Resveratrol research to date. There is a complete lack of direct human data. The amounts of resveratrol being given to mice and rats in the animal studies far exceeds the amounts one can consume by drinking red wine. Resveratrol supplements are now becoming more popular and those dosages are more comparable to the ones used in animal studies.

Most recently I came across a new study from the Journal of Applied Physiology in which researchers found that when human endothelial cells were exposed to oxidized LDL cholesterol (oxLDL) particles (these are thought to be one of the molecules that begins the cascade of events leading to heart disease) in the presence of resveratrol. The oxLDL had a decreased ablilty to cause the generation of reactive oxygen species. Reactive oxygen species are molecules turned rouge that fly around our system causing cellular and DNA damage until are quenched by anti-oxidants. From this research is seems that resveratol can protect against oxidative damage by

1. Quenching reactive oxygen species
2. Slowing down the cellular machinery that produces reactive oxygen species

This is just another feather in the cap of resveratrol and with data like this being produced every month you can bet that resveratrol will have a central role in the prevention and treatment of many diseases in the future.

Tags: resveratrol, heart disease, antioxidants, DNA damage

Crockpot Questions

On a previous edition of Max-Out Radio I featured a recipe remix using a crockpot. Crockpots are a great tool for busy people as you can prepare the food ahead of time, leave it to cook during the day, and then when you get home your house smell great and dinner is ready. Here are some questions I received from a listener regarding using crockpots.


Can you prepare the food the night before? Yes, definitely. That is the beauty of using a crockpot. You can prepare all the food, put it in the crockpot liner, and stick it in the refrigerator until it is ready be used.


Is it only a matter of an hour or two longer cooking time if you do so? Yes. Because I leave the crockpot in the refrigerator over night it is a little cold and that may require a little longer cooking. What I do is remove it from the refrigerator when I get up and just put it on the counter. When I’m ready to leave the house I'll put it on the base and it is usually cooled down to room temperature (or close to it)


Does the crock-pot have a timer so you can put it to turn on itselfe, say 3 hours after you left home? They do have timers usually 8 and 10 hours. If you leave it longer than that then they will just go into warm mode. So if you are out of the house for 11 hours it won't matter.

What people are saying about Naked Nutrition

The launch of Your Naked Nutrition Guide has definitely generated some buzz. Here are some links to what people some people are saying:

http://forums.jpfitness.com/showthread.php?t=25142


http://alwyncosgrove.blogspot.com/2007/05/six-pillars-of-naked-nutrition.html


http://tonygentilcore.blogspot.com/2007/05/your-naked-nutrition-guide.html


http://billhartman.blogspot.com/2007/05/get-naked-nutrition-now.html

Tags: Naked Nutrition

It is time!

After months and months of writing, rewriting, planning, and drafting...Your Naked Nutrition Guide is now available at

http://www.NakedNutritionGuide.com

Click on the link and go pick up your copy.

Get "Naked".....Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the day that I know many of you (by the volume of emails in my inbox) have been waiting for. Yes, Your Naked Nutrition Guide will be available tomorrow at NakedNutritionGuide.com.

I was up late last night formating the bonus workout plans from Alwyn Cosgrove, Nate Green, and Jimmy Smith. This is a dynamite package that will allow you to stop with the nutritional guess work and get results.

10:00am EST Tomorrow.

See you there (figuratively of course)

I'm Hungry...How 'bout 1,000 calories?

I've had this article sitting in my bookmarks for some time now and thought I should post it. "Hungry Girl" (someone who blogs for Yahoo!) complied a list of +1,000 calories entrees that are served at various food joints. It is pretty scary and definitely worth reading.

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


Attack of the 1,000-Calorie Entrees!
Posted Mon, Feb 26, 2007, 6:00 am PST


Think salads are safe? That grilled always equals guilt-free? Even healthy-sounding entrees can be cleverly disguised diet disasters! Here are some of the worst offenders, courtesy of your pal HG.

SALAD INSANITY

Bob Evans Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad
(1,108 calories, 63g fat, 2,741mg sodium, 63g carbs, 7g fiber, 43g sugars, 40g protein)

Fruit, nuts, and sliced chicken...on lettuce? This salad sounds wholesome enough. But don't be fooled! Bacon, bleu cheese, and gobs of Italian dressing all play a part in this salad's pitiful nutritionals. Over 1,100 calories for a salad?! We're on to you, Bob.

Hardee's Southwest Chicken Salad
(1,100 calories, 83g fat, 1,910mg sodium, 59g carbs, 4g fiber, 6g sugars, 29g protein)

Yes, Southwest chicken salads are delicious, but one with 83 fat grams is embarrassing. You may as well have a fat hamburger and a giant order of fries. Sheesh!

Bob Evans Chili & Cheese Taco Salad
(1,381 calories, 72g fat, 3,263mg sodium, 182g carbs, 23g fiber, 30g sugars, 42g protein)

Aha! Another salad sure to screw up your day, courtesy of Bob Evans. This one's slightly more suspicious sounding, with a double whammy of chili and cheese right there in the title. Mounds of cheddar and sausage chili smothered in avocado ranch dressing make this plate of fatty goo one you don't wanna mess with!

Chili's Mesquite Chicken Salad with Dressing
(1,050 calories, 69g fat, 3,110 sodium, 56g carbs, 11g fiber, 58g protein)

You might have guessed that their famous Baby Back Ribs are bad for those battling the bulge (and you'd have guessed right), but a mesquite chicken salad, too?!? Yep. Layers of bacon and cheese, complete with a thick blob of fat-packed ranch dressing, all adds up to over 1,000 calories of horribleness.


CRIMES AGAINST CHICKEN

McDonald's Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips (10 piece)
(1,270 calories, 66g fat, 3,100mg sodium, 92g carbs, 0g fiber, 77g protein)


Premium Breast Strips? That's just a fancy way of saying fried chicken fingers! Call 'em what you want, Ronald, but your Chicken Selects are a clucking MESS! And you KNOW people dip those things in your sugary BBQ sauce or creamy honey mustard, too. And those just take this already offensive meal FAR over the edge.

P.F. Chang's Orange Peel Chicken
(1,151 calories, 47g fat, 127g carbs, 61g protein)

Here's another seemingly healthful offering. Chicken "tossed with chili peppers and fresh orange peel" -- how bad could that be? Upon closer inspection, we uncovered that this particular chicken dish contains both Kung Pao and Sichuan sauces, two notoriously high-cal condiments. By the time this bird hits your plate, it's dragging more than eleven hundred calories with it. Yeech!

Macaroni Grill Honey Balsamic Chicken
(1,220 calories, 67g fat, 2,750mg sodium, 94g carbs, 10g fiber, 57g protein)

Think choosing poultry over pasta at Macaroni Grill will keep you fitting into your skinny jeans? Not if this dish is any indication. Here's a little tip: Instead order something called Pollo Magra (Skinny Chicken), and save yourself more than 900 calories and over 60 grams of fat!

Chili's Monterey Chicken
(1,170 calories, 71g fat, 3,530mg sodium, 70g carbs, 8g fiber, 72g protein)

Yet another of Chili's calorically challenged chicken dishes. Their Monterey Chicken, a cheese, bacon, and BBQ sauce smothered entree, packs in an alarming 1,170 calories and more than 70 grams of fat. Gross!


BROCCOLI BEHAVING BADLY

P.F. Chang's Beef with Broccoli (dinner portion)
(1,120 calories, 65g fat, 38g carbs, 93g protein)

Come on, Chang! Beef with Broccoli is one of those Asian entrees even WE were sure we could safely chew! But it just isn't so. P.F.'s meat 'n mini trees are suffocated with sugar, sauce, cornstarch, and oil. That's just wrong.

Ruby Tuesday Fresh Chicken & Broccoli Pasta
(2,061 calories, 128g fat, 109g net carbs, 13g fiber)

Yikes! It's official; we have a winner (well, actually a loser). This dish has broken the calorie barrier, racking up more than any other on the list. Chicken and broccoli were clearly assaulted over at Ruby T, and emerged as a freakishly fattening entree with more than 2,000 calories and nearly 130 fat grams! How on Earth can Ruby T's get away with this?!


GRILLS GONE WILD


Macaroni Grill Grilled Salmon (Teriyaki)
(1,290 calories, 81g fat, 6,600mg sodium, 79g carbs, 5g fiber, 57g protein)

Record highs were reached on the sodium scale the day this dish was born. There's nearly three times the daily recommended allowance of the stuff swimming around with this salmon. And even if we could get past the icky amounts of salt, we're deeply offended by the crazy calorie and fat counts attached to this simple grilled fish dish. Yikes!

Macaroni Grill Grilled Pork Chops
(1,800 calories, 107g fat, 4,950mg sodium, 92g carbs, 8g fiber, 115g protein)

Yep, a third entree on our thou-cal-plus list from those maniacs at Macaroni Grill. This one contains more than 100 grams of fat and a horrifying 1,800 calories. Uhh, pork, the other white meat?! Not in this case...


AFTERNOON OFFENDERS

P.F. Chang's Lo Mein Combo (lunch portion)
(1,740 calories, 122g fat, 98g carbs, 55g protein)


If you think ordering up the lunch portion keeps you safe out there, you are sadly mistaken. Chang's downsized order of Lo Mein includes beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, and enough fat and calories to feed an entire family. Can you even IMAGINE how many calories and fat grams the dinner size packs in?!

Burger King TRIPLE WHOPPER Sandwich
(1,130 calories, 74g fat, 1,160mg sodium, 51g carbs, 3g fiber, 11g sugars, 67g protein)

And rounding out our list is a true triple threat. This BK burger's a royal mess of a meal. But then again, would you expect anything less from a TRIPLE WHOPPER?!

Tags: 1, 000 calorie meals, yahoo, eating out, triple whopper

Move or Your Fat Cells Will!

I've got bad news....You can't ever stop exercising....Well, you can but you'll get fat.

What am I talking about? A recent study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology made rats run for about a month and a half increasing their distance such that the last week they were running 9km/d. The rats were then forced to be sedentary from anywhere between 5hours-7days on either a controlled diet or eating as much as they wanted.

The rats on a controlled diet had an increase in abdominal fat independent of food intake. The rats that ate as much as they wanted had an increase in fat cell number. Usually our fat cells just fill up - this is the better option because once a fat cell is produced it never goes away.

This study is interesting. Because it was done in animals it should be taken with a grain of salt. However, what are the implications of these findings?

*It could possibly mean that running is an even worse form of exercise than I previously expected. It would be interesting to have seen a group that did weight training but have you ever seen a rat trying to deadlift...not pretty.

*These findings could also caution us against overeating during periods of being sedentary as it could possibly result in fat cell hyperplasia (increase in numbers).

If anything this is a glowing recommendation for life long exercise and not a quick fix approach followed by being sedentary and overeating.

Tags: fat, weight gain, running, weight training, rats

I'm a knucklehead!

If you have tried to subscribe to my blog via the RSS feeds on the right hand column of the page but were unsuccessful I'm sorry. Last night it came to my attention that when you click the "add to google" or "add to yahoo" chicklets that you get subscribed to Max-Out Radio and not the blog. I've fixed the problem and do apologize.

-Mike

No More Trans Fat in KFC Chicken - Does it Matter?

It is official. KFC has eliminated the trans fat from their chicken as reported by Healthday.com

KFC restaurants announced Monday that all 5,500 of its U.S. outlets have stopped using artery-clogging trans fat to fry chicken, the Associated Press reported.

...I'm sorry did they say that KFC has "stopped using artery-clogging trans fat"? So KFC isn't going to clog your arteries?? The problem here isn't trans fat in KFC chicken, but the entire KFC menu. Trans fat is a hot issue and it has become a political agenda for some people. I'm not saying that we shouldn't get rid of trans fat but aren't there more important things from a big picture stand point? You know like getting crack off the streets.

Plus, this news story is a little misleading as the only prodcuts that aren't going to contain trans fat is the chicken

"...its non-fried items -- including pot pies, biscuits, macaroni and cheese, and some desserts -- still contain trans fat."

Tags: KFC, trans fat

Fat Loss Q & A

Here is a good fat loss Q & A from my most recent article on T-Nation.


Q: When dieting down and finding that fat loss progress has stalled, how long a time period would be recommended for slightly ramping up caloric intake?

Would a week's time be sufficient to jump start the metabolism again? Or would more time be needed than that or, possibly,less?


A: If your fat loss has stalled (defined by caliper, girth, and scale) for 3 weeks then it is time to test a change in your program.

I would try to add an interval session to your training week and see if that gives you the boost you need. Otherwise add ~300 calories/d for 3 weeks and see if that gets you going again. If you start losing fat again don't drop your calories back down until your fat loss stalls again.

Of course you won't want to increase you calories like we've discussed until you've hit the lowest caloric intake you feel comfortable with.

So if you start at 3000 calories and eventually make it down to 2000 calories but then your fat loss stalls at 2000 calories, one of the things you can test is what happens when you increase to 2300 calories.


-Mike

Tags: fat loss, increase calories, weight loss plateau

Video Friday - Steve Cotter

Coach Dos Remedios told me about this Steve Cotter video when I was at the Fitness Summit two weeks ago. When he was describing it I didn't believe him...but its true. Check it out and you'll be just as amazed as I was.

Tags: steve cotter, youtube, pistols, kettlebells

Starbucks, Naked Nutrition, & Things I Can't Stand

It is pretty crazy around here with the semester ending and the launch of Your Naked Nutrition Guide coming closer everyday. Here are some random thoughts for today. Be prepared for some rambling as I'm not sure where this post is going.

Vente Coffee at Starbucks - I was very tired this morning and passed a Starbucks on my way to drop off some exams at the University Grading Center. On my way back I stopped in. Upon walking in the door you truly realized that this place is not about coffee but atmosphere. It made me think about gyms. Have you ever trained at a really great gym? I'm not talking about a place with great equipment but great atmosphere. Great gyms, like Starbucks, are not about the weights or equipment. They are about the atmosphere. Back to the coffee. I ordered a vente (why don't they just call it a large) of whatever the blend of the day was, no cream or sugar. Whoa! Those things are huge! Carrying around that massive coffee for the next hour or so made me feel like I was broadcasting to the world that I was over tired and trying to overcome it by self medicating with caffeine. Five hours later I'm still rev'd up.

Naked Nutrition - My inbox has been flooded over the past week with people asking about when YOUR NAKED NUTRITION GUIDE is going to be released. Very Soon. I'm going away this weekend to a scientific conference and when I get back things should be finalized with the webpage and various other tasks that are slowing the release. I appreciate your patience.


Things I can't stand - It is amazing that in one day I had two interactions with two separate people regarding the number one thing I can't stand. I can't exactly get into the details of my interactions as these people may stumble upon my blog but here's the theme.

It drives me nuts when people are so set in their ways about a topic or idea that they refuse to even entertain the idea that they are wrong or an alternate approach would work.

Mike Boyle has a great quote regarding this: "People don't want to hear new ideas, they only want to hear shit that validates the stupid they are already doing."

I work very hard to be open to all kinds of nutritional ideas and approaches but my number one turn-off it people who have "figured it out" and are not interested in any other opinions or approaches.

Tags: starbucks, Naked Nutrition Guide, rant, turn offs

Video Friday - Fitness Summit & Dave Schmitz

The video of today is from the JP Fitness Summit this past weekend. Dave is an awesome guy with a lot of great stuff to say. Here's a little taste of his energy.



P.S. This was around 8:30 in the morning. He was still working people out a 8:00pm...the guy is a machine!

Tags: band training, dave schmitz, jp fitness summit, exercise

Whole Foods Protein Powder Reviews

I'll have more on what when down at the JP Fitness Summit in the upcoming days. Here is a review that I received from a avid Street Smart Nutrition reader regarding several of the protein powders found at Whole Foods. Enjoy!


All these protein powers were taste-tested with the following smoothie ingredients:

1.5 cups vanilla soy milk
.3 cup acai paste
.5 cup frozen raspberries and blueberries
.3 cup green tea

(Blended for 30 seconds in electric blender)

Here's a short review:

Brand: Biochem Sports
Product: 100% Hemp Seed & Whey Protein Isolate
Protein per serving: 25 grams
Flavor: Vanilla

Comments: The hemp sounded interesting, and is organic, but the whey made it taste totally gross! The consistency was definitely thicker than my standard protein power, the delicious Whole Foods 365 Brand of Vanilla soy protein (24 g protein).


Brand: Peaceful Planet "The Supreme Meal"
Product: Quinoa, Millet and Amaranth, non-GMO pea protein isolate
Protein per serving: 17 grams
Flavor: Vanilla

Comments: The flavor was mild, with hints of the grains, like oak aged chardonnay. The consistency on the tonque felt like a suspension, with tiny protein-power granules grating around. Overall, a wholesome earthy powder. I woudl definitely try it again, or spring for a canister and bake with it.

Brand: Soytein
Product: Non-GMO Isolated Soy Protein
Protein per serving: 14 grams
Flavor: Vanilla

Comments:Sort of unappetizing, kind of like whey. An odd taste for a soy powder product. Not memorable, definitely would not try it again.

Brand: Nature's Life: Super-Green Pro 96 Soy Protein Power
Product: Non GMO Identity Preserved Soy Protein Isolate
Protein per serving: 25 grams
Flavor: Vanilla

Comments: No notable flavor, a little grainy in consistency, but not chunkiness or lumps, very smooth blend. Not sweet. A good neutral soy product. Left wondering what Identity Preserved soy isolate is. I would buy this again.

JP Fitness Summit - Day 1

I'm back from day one of the summit getting ready to go over my Nutrient Timing talk for tomorrow. Today was great and very informative. Here's a run down of the talks in order of appearance:

Lou Schuler - This was an amazing way to kick off the summit. Lou talked all about Fitness/Muscle magazines, how they lay out their magazines, and what effect that has on content. He also discussed how to go about getting your writing into magazines. Lou is a great guy (with a great blog).

Alwyn Cosgrove - Alwyn gave his Real World Fat Loss talk. His talk is interspersed with amazing before and after photos of clients from his facility. Alwyn has a very practical and effective approach to getting his clients lean fast. Basically harder work is better and you get done faster.

Coach Dos Remedios - Dos is the NSCA Strength coach of the year. I again was riveted by the information he had to share. Dos can get 100 football players in and out of the gym in 50 minutes with no assistance - Amazing. The premise of Dos's talk was his new soon to be released book. It was a great preview and I picked up some strategies that I am going to apply to my training starting this week.

Zig Zigler - No this isn't the famous salesman. Zig's talk was all about the feet and how foot problems can lead to other imbalances higher up the body. All in all pretty interesting.

Chad Waterbury - Again, a great talk. I love Chad's methods. He spoke about the nervous system and then started discussing some of this new theories about how to maximize hypertrophy via maximal motor unit recruitment. Chad has talked about training and the CNS before but this was totally new. We spoke about this new theory a bunch after his talk - cool stuff. Again I have some new strategies that I am going to apply to my own training this upcoming week.


Other things from today:

*Finally got to meet Lisa Holladay who edited Your Naked Nutrition Guide.

*Met and chatted with "Coach Mike" (from Precision Nutrition) a bunch. He's a very smart guy.

*Talk about smart guy's I was floored by Bill Hartman today (and he hasn't even spoken yet!). He diagnosed my shoulder problem in less than 3 minutes. He is truly is the smartest man in fitness.

*Also got to meet and speak with Nate Green a bunch. Nate is a great up and coming guy in the industry.

That's all for now. Gotta go over my talk.

Blogging from the Summit

I'm in little rock! Got in last night. The airline travel was poor as usual but I had a bag full of homemade protein bars, beef jerky, and mixed nuts. I'm off to get some breakfast but will see if I can post some updates from JP's computer at the gym.

-Mike

Lift Strong and Blog Neglect

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Little Rock (AR) for the JP Fitness Summit. Hopefully I'll be doing some blogging from the event (that would make this blog very cutting edge). When I get back I promise to update more regularly.

On a different note the Lift Strong eManual has been on sale for 1 week and almost 10,000 dollars has been raised for cancer research. If you haven't ordered a copy head over to www.LiftStrong.com

-Mike

Naked Nutrition - It Has Arrived!

More info to come....

Duh!

Quick entry...hopefully I'll be back later today as I have something interesting to write about.

I just sat down to read a journal article on binge eating and how it effects food intake patterns. The paper starts with this sentence:

"Children who report episodes of binge eating gain more weight than do children not reporting binge eating."

Not to be rude but....duh! Talk about stating the obvious!

Anyway...the much awaited project Lift Strong has been released. All proceeds go to charity. Check it out at LiftStrong.com

Free Resources (Seriously, you don't even have to give your email)

Here are a couple free resources that have come into to my attention over the past couple weeks. You don't even need to give out your email address so they are really FREE - Just download

The Cut Diet 2 Right Click and Download

Gourmet Desserts - click the link scroll to the bottom and download.

Precision Nutrition Strategies click the link scroll to the bottom and download.

Have a great weekend.

Tags: free, ebooks

Video Friday - Hippies Teaching Biochemistry

I first saw this video as an undergraduate and was very happy to see it on youtube (thanks Dr. Eades for pointing me to it). It is a human depiction of protein synthesis. My favorite parts are the high energy bond breaking. The tRNA and GTP chats are awesome! Enjoy! Oh yeah. You can skip though the lecture part if you want.

Tags: protein synthesis, video, youtube, hippies, biochemistry

More on Beef

Here is a question that was posted in the comments section of my previous entry on beef

Q: This is interesting info, but I'm a little confused. What would you recommend that the package should read when buying meat in a supermarket? Anything with a "select" label?

Do you have to pay attention to the cut of meat or just the grade?

Also, how much red meat do you think is an acceptable part of a healthy diet?

A: I do recommend that you purchase SELECT grade beef whenever possible but this can be a problem as depending on where you shop SELECT is hard to find. In fact the supermarket where I shop every week, Wegmans, only carries CHOICE. They actually boast with signs and labels saying that they only carry best beef grade - CHOICE. Best for who? If you were going to go for taste then PRIME would be the best as it is the fattiest and if you were going to go for lean protein then SELECT would be the optimal choice.

It is important to pay attention to both the cut and grade. I am far from a beef expert. After my meeting with the beef guy my beef I.Q. increased about 300%. but Top Round, Eye of Round, and Bottom Round are all good lean choices. Most of the time you can just look at the beef. I always aim to select the cuts with less marbling (or visible fat within the meat)to reduce the fat content (I'm not anti-fat but with red meat it can add up quick!).

How much red meat to include in your diet isn't a predetermined number. You shouldn't restrict your consumption of lean red meat but for variety sake (taste and fatty acids) I wouldn't eat meat exclusively. I normally have red meat at least 4 times a week. It really depends what is on sale at the market that week.

Tags: beef, red meat, supermarket

Brief Thoughts on Beef

I love beef! There is no way getting around it, red meat rules! However, picking the right cuts of meat can be a little confusing. Chicken is easy - boneless skinless chicken breast and the occasional whole chicken or split chicken breast. but did you know that there are 27 cuts of beef that have fat contents ranging between that found in chicken thighs and chicken breasts?



All this beef talk comes from a meeting I had today with a gentlemen that works in the meat lab here at PSU (cool title huh?). Here are some take home points.

*Red meat comes in grades from fattest to leanest. Prime, Choice, Select, Standard. Standard is so lean (and "gross" according to my meat guy) that you will never find it in a retail setting. Most stores stock Prime and Choice. Select maybe hard to find.

*Bottom Round, Top Round, and Eye of Round are all essentially of the same leanness and can be cooked in similar manners.

*Of those three cuts top round has the potential to have more marbling (read "fat") so just make sure to look at the meat before you buy it.

*Shoulder cuts are good for crockpot cooking as the meat will fall apart.

That's all I have for today. Quick and Practical!

-Mike

Tags: beef, steak, grades, fat, chicken

Differing Views on Macronutrient Intakes

I just had a very interesting conversation with a group of my fellow nutrition graduate students. A friend of mine was leafing though a nutrition magazine that I get and was surprised to see a recommended intake of 0.5g protein/lb bodyweight.

Grad 1: "Isn't that a little excessive"

I chuckle..

Me: "You don't want to know how much I eat then"

Grad 1:"How much do you eat?"

Me:"Anywhere from 1.25-1.5g/lb."

Grad 1:"What! That's a lot of protein. How can you eat that much? Do you eat 6 times a day?"

I chuckle again..

Me:"Yes"

Grad 2:"You don't need that much. You only need .8g/kg"

oh god...here we go

Me:"No...I only need .8g/kg to survive. But is that optimal? No. I use extra protein calories to displace carbohydrate calories as they are less insulinogenic (amongst other things) this allow for a more favorable body composition."

Grad 1 & 2 "hmmmm"

Grad 3:"But that is bad for your kidneys."

Ding Ding Ding...It was only a matter of time until that came up.

Grad 1: "That's actually not true." - I knew I liked this guy.

Me:"Exactly. That has never been show to be true. It IS true in renal patients."

Grad 3:"Well, I would like to see some longer term studies first."

oh lord....

Grad 2:"Well what would you estimate your macronutrient breakdown to be?"

Me: "I don't have to estimate. It is 40/30/30 on workout days and 30/40/30 on nonworkout days."

Shock spreads throughout the room that I know that off the top of my head.

Grad 3:"Why do you change you intake on different days?"

Me:"The short answer is I replace the calories that I would normally consume during my workout with protein and some calories from vegetables on nonworkout days."

Grad 3:"Well, why are you consuming the below the required 45% of calories from carbohydrates? You need at least 125g of carbohydrates to for your body to function properly."

Me:"That isn't true either. You don't need any carbohydrates to function. Your body works just great on 20grams a day. You might be tired for the first two days until your body adjusts but then you'll be all set."



This conversation when on some more but you get my point...

Tags: protein intake, graduate students, calories, macronutrient, workout nutrition

Video Friday - 300 Workout

The 300 Workout is the hottest video in the fitness industry right now. It is pretty interesting. Definitely worth watching.

Tags: 300 workout, youtube

The Transition from Eating Like Crap

Often times people experience what I call the "flip of the switch". This is the sudden enlightenment that occurs one day when you realize that you diet is full of garbage, you're 30lbs heavier then you were 10 years ago (that 3lb per year weight gain doesn't seem like a lot but it adds up), and your health is gradually going down the drain. Usually when people flip the switch they become very motivated. This can result in a total dietary turn around in the course of 24 hours.

Another senario might be you've been on vacation for a week, ate a lot of garbage, and now it is time to return to your clean eating (See Nutritionists Gone Wild).

Unfortunately, this can be a huge shock to your system. The best way to easy yourself into or back into eating good clean foods is to give your body a little digestive support. I recommend you do this through the use of probiotics and ginger tea. I have written extensively about probiotics previously and I find that ginger tea can be best used following a meal to also aid in digestion.

So don't let the initial pains of good eatin' send you back to the Big Macs and treat your GI track well as it was once said "I'd take a good set of bowels over brains anyday" (or something like that).

Tags: probiotics, diet, vacation, ginger

New Article Published on "the good" cholesterol

I'm back in the swing of things after my ice cream cake eating escapades in Hawaii. I was just made aware that a scientific article I co-authored with my doctoral mentor Dr. Penny Kris-Etherton has been published in the new Journal of Clinical Lipidology. I know you're probably thinking clinical lipidology...yawn. But this article is actually very practical as it has to do with lifestyle interventions to increase HDL-C a.k.a. the good cholesterol. Unfortunately, I don't currently have access to check out the published pdf but here's the abstract and link. Enjoy!!

Volume 1, Issue 1, Pages 65-73 (March 2007)

Effects of lifestyle interventions on high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels

Michael A. Roussell BS, Penny Kris-Etherton, PhD

This review summarizes intervention studies that evaluated the effects of lifestyle behaviors on high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. Current diet and lifestyle recommendations beneficially affect HDL-C. Individual lifestyle interventions that increase HDL-C include: a healthful diet that is low (7–10% of calories) in saturated fat and sufficient in unsaturated fat (15–20% of calories), regular physical activity, attaining a healthy weight, with moderate alcohol consumption, and cessation of cigarette smoking. Combining a healthy diet with weight loss and physical activity can increase HDL-C 10% to 13%. When combined with interventions that beneficially affect other cardiovascular disease risk factors, this increase in HDL-C is expected to contribute to a overall reduction in cardiovascular disease risk.

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.