Monthly Archives: December 2010

Post Christmas – Recovery from Over Indulging…

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Hi – I hope that you all had a great Christmas day and Santa brought you what you wanted!!

Well Christmas dinner is over, done and dusted. And you’re feeling….well stuffed, over fed, pants too tight, got a good case of belly bloat going on and that furry tongue feeling that comes from either too much alcohol. too many sweet carbs or a mixture of both.

You mean there's more...

You know you should have followed the last post and eaten your Protein first but the honeyed veges looked too good, the egg nog was too plentiful and well you just let go and enjoyed youself. Another Christmas day come & gone and you feel a bit guilty and find part of your mind saying (again) never again..

Okay time to move past this, time to get back on track, tme to recognise that this was a temporary diversion and most of all time to repair some of the damage done.

So how to do this?

Firstly realise that letting go of your diet control once & a while is okay, just make sure that you climb back on the wagon.

Here’s how – your metabolism has been given a hiding, your digestive system has been stressed far beyond normal limits so you need to hit the ‘reset button’.

This little trick will do the what’s needed: Once Christmas day and the following one (Boxing Day here in Australia) are done then make a decision to stay away from all highly processed, high GI foods and focus on lean Protein, fresh fruit and fibrous vegetables. Add some healthy fats via nuts & avocado and you are well on the way to getting back on track.

You'll need lots of this...

This means waking up and having an omelette with some spanish onion and mushrooms in it and avoiding cereal & milk. It means grabbing an apple or a peach and some almonds for a snack, having big salads with olive oil dressing and chicken or turkey breast, it means avoiding breads, crackers or that the left over Christmas pudding, Pavlova or pie.

It means drinking a lot of water. A lot of water.

Eating like this will reduce the bloat, ease the stress on your digestive system and beat back those sugary carb cravings.

This works by allowing a number of things to happen – fewer carbs means your body has a chance to normalise & stabilise blood sugar levels after the havoc of the days just gone. Your pancreas gets a break and you insulin levels will drop also. Your body will release excess fluids (high sugary carbs creates water retention – and drinking extra water when eating lower carbs actually forces a situation where excess retained water is ‘let go’). High sugaery carbs also unleash the cravings monster and eating as described above will blunt these.

... and lots of these...

So December 27th or 28th get stuck into water and left over protein , veges and fruit. Pass on the potatoes, the bread and sweets, pie & cakes. Not only will you lose the bloat but you’ll feel better quicker and be back on track for a fit & lean 2011.

My best wishes for a Safe & Happy New Year – may 2011 be the year all your dreams come true!!

Try this Trick to Avoid Overeating on Christmas Day…

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Happy Festive Season to you & yours from me & mine!!

Look – we all know what is going to take place once the presents are opened, the hugs exchanged, and you and your family sit down for Christmas lunch – you’re going to eat too much, way too much.

If you’re like me, you vow every ear not to overindulge and every year you slip up. ( in my case it is particularly hard – Lynne is a gourmet class cook who loves to put on a huge spread for the family for Christmas and damn it she knows ALL my favourites!!)

The Calm Before the Storm...

The aromas of the Turkey, of the roast Pork, the leg of Lamb, the baked Ham; the sight of the salads, the roast vegetables, the fresh  prawns and sea food, then desserts – all of these combine to overwhelm even the best intentions and steeliest of wills.

So what to do?

How can we avoid eating until we are so full that we feel like the Michelin Man and need to have a lie down?

How can we avoid the latent guilt that comes up over the next few days and makes us feel bad about our lack of control?

It’s simple – apart from the most fanatical amongst us we really can’t… BUT there is one simple thing we can do that will give us at least a modicrum of control…

Eat your Protein foods first. (Hah!! You thought I was going to say use smaller plates, or drink a glass of water first, or chew on a chunk of cheese  – Nope – a very important part of Christmas is to celebrate and to let go – even if it is just a bit!)

Start off with the Ham or the Turkey, with the Pork or the Lamb or the Prawns – just eat your proteins first.

If you have been reading this blog for a little while  you’ll know that Protein foods not only fill you up faster, but they assist in the the secretion of the chemical messengers that let your brain know you are full.

In general it takes about 20 minutes from the time your stomach is full until your brain gets this message, but Protein has the ability to send get that message from your stomach to your brain much faster than other nutrients. Protein promotes feelings of satiety (feeling full & satisfied at the same time) better than any other food.

Start with this...

Eating your Protein first will prevents over eating because it helps you realize you’re well-fed and not starving!! Even better, Protein will not elevate your blood sugar as dramatically as high GI ‘fast’ carbs. A rapid rise in blood sugar (almost an instant hyperglycemia experienced at just about every Christmas Dinner) can actually make you feel more hungry by stimulating the hormone Ghrelin which is the ‘feed me more’ appetite stimulating hormone. Protein shuts down this hormone – a good thing!

Even worse a sugar ‘high’ actually switches off your ‘stop eating you’re full’ mechanisms so you get shaky and start shovelling food in – usually faster and faster, without even really tasting it.

Instead, protein keeps your blood sugars within a normal range so you don’t go through the rollercoaster highs and lows that make you feel even less satisfied.

So Protein first, then eat the high fibre vegetables (think brocolli, green beans, asparaghus etc). These too will add your sense of satiety so you feel full & satisfied.

Then it is open slather – go for the high carb, low fibre fare but you’ll likely find that your servings will be smaller and you will need less to satisfy your taste for them.

There you have it – a simple plan for Christmas that will enable you eat well, feel full & satisfied, indulge without bloating and more importantly not upset the cook by eating like a monk!!

I hope that you & your families have a great Festive Season, no matter what your spiritual beliefs.

May your God go with you!

Enjoy!

So Are Low Carb Diets Still Effective For Fat Loss?

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Hi welcome back!!

Low carb diets are back in the news again so it seeems timely to revisit them. Let’s be clear – cutting out ANY macronutrient group is a mistake, BUT certainly sub-types of macronutrients should be curtailed for health benefits and fat loss.

Say Low Carb & most fok think that this about all you can eat...

There is no doubt & lots of studies that prove that Low Carb diets result in weight loss (not just fat – more on this later) for those who follow the protocols correctly. The protocol, roughly speaking is eating less than 100 grams of carbs per day over an extended period of time. (in the Atkins phasing in period it is down to 20 or 30 grams)

The instinctive knee jerk from the popular press and most nutritionists is that low carb diets are bad for your health. A lot of these people who lost weight on these older style low carb diets became, in effect, skinnier fat people.

This is because shedding carbs usually involves water loss and if too severe for too long can also result in muscle being broken down for fuel in preference to fat – so you lose weight but end up percentage-wise just as fat as before. But with less muscle, a slower metabolism and rebound weight that is incredible to endure!!

The howls of outrage about the evils of low carb are based upon outmoded, and frankly decades old types of low carb diets. Originally Atkins cut out all types of carbs, but as the years went by they then developed the idea of ‘net carbs’ where eating fibre rich carbs was okay as these were nutritionally dense but calorie & more importantly sugar poor.

So the idea of low carb meaning no carbs at all is not only out of date and old fashioned but it is plain wrong. Likewise the idea that low carb means that you must eat loads of fat. The best low carb diets do NOT advocate an open slather approach to fat in your diet – they advocate eating lean protein wherever possible.

These days low carb means cutting out processed carbs, and eating your fill of fresh vegetables and some fruit. Eating low carb in this fashion supplies all of the nutrients that the nutritionists are concerned about you missing out when you eat ‘traditional’ low carb.

Not a lot of processed carbs here...

But there has been further research papers published recently that shows that folk on low carb diets did not lose a lot of weight.

Let’s talk weight first – the most beneficial thing for your health, if overweight, is to lose fat. Losing weight is a misnomer and a dangerous one. Many diets cause you to lose weight through water and muscle loss. The infamous detox & some shake only diets do this which is why the rebound weight gain is so high. Unfortunately when this happens you ahave less muscle, your metabolism has slowed and you find it harder to lose fat. And so it goes.

Upon examination however it turns out that the folk who ate low carb had one or more of the following failings:

1) They cut carbs but kept their alcohol consumption at their regular level. Alcohol, as we’ve noted in other posts, kills fat loss.
2) They didn’t eat lean meat & protein but went the high fat route. Again not the way to lose weight nevermind about fat.

Not lean - High Protein should not mean high fat!!


3) For a number of people dropping back to 100 grams of carbs was not really going low carb, just dropping their own carb intake lower. 100 grams of carbs is considered moderate in most studies.
4) At the other end were the folk who declared all carbs bad and so deprived their bodies of not only the preferential fuel source but also a lot of needed nutrients.

So what is the right way to use a low carb diet?

Well firstly you should view it as a lower processed carb diet – not a low carb one.
When followed properly, a lower processed carb diet sees you eat more lean protein to supply your body the nutrients to build new lean muscle. The amino acids from protein sources can also be used to provide your body with some of its energy needs.

Couple this with a moderate intake of healthy fats, a lowered alcohol intake and you have a solid basis to lose fat.

As you’ve heard me say before – carbs are not the enemy but we tend to eat not only too many carbs but too many of the wrong types of carbs. In the main eating high GI, highly processed carbs leads to fat gain.

So doing something as simple as replacing half of your current processed carb intake with low GI un- or lightly processed carbs may very well help you to begin to lose fat.

This is why a lower processed carb diet may be beneficial to you is because it forces you to stop eating all the processed simple carbs that usually contain a lot of calories but not a lot of nutrients. And we know that a lack of needed nutrients leads to cravings and increased hunger which leads to more eating which leads to…

By eating a greatly reduced amount of processed carbs you also re-train your body to adjust the way it utilises the calories. Add to this the increase in lean protein with good fats and your body will become more efficient at functioning with fewer sugars. Also by lowering processed carbs it becomes easier to use up the stored carbs and fat you are carrying around.

Following a low processed carb diet is an effective way to lose fat, to learn to eat in a healthier manner by choosing better foods and training your body to use the nutrients differently and more efficiently.

The original low carb approach had a lot to recommend it but the true value lies in a low processed carbs diet. This is the one that works.

Have you followed a true low carb diet before? Were you successful with it?
Let me know in the comments section below…

New study shows that being even a kilo of fat overweight can shorten your life!!

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Hi – Welcome Back!!

If you are 20 lbs (9 kg) or more overweight not only is your metabolism broken but a new study reports that even one extra kilo raises death risk.

The American Cancer Society has just released a study which involved about 1.5 million people.
Its findings? Aim to get slim and stay there.

This is one of the largest studies ever undertaken that looks at weight and the correlation between the two.

Way over a few pounds overweight...

The surprise is that you DONT have to be classed as obese to raise the chance of dying prematurely. Just being overweight carries an increased risk of early death.

The contribution of overweight to early death has been controversial up until now with the majority opinion being that a little extra flesh on your bones is not necessarily a bad thing. There has even been some research (including a somewhat controversial 2005 study by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) that concluded being overweight didn’t raise the risk of death) and suggested that a little pudge has little effect on overall longevity or mortality.

I think that this idea of a ‘little extra reserve’ helps you prevent becoming ill is a hangover from the old days when food was scarce. In the West this has been as recent as during WWII.

Not anymore! Because of its size ( the researchers pulled together 19 separate studies that ranged in length for 5 – 28 years in length) and the diversity of the studies included it would seem that the research provides strong evidence against the notion that it’s okay or even a good thing for your health if you are overweight.

The researchers excluded those who developed cancer, smoked or has heart disease so the focus would be on weight. The conclusion of this latest study (remember 1.5 million people!) was that otherwise healthy but overweight white adults were 13 per cent more likely to die during the time they were followed during the study than those whose weight was in an ideal range.

This conclusion was published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine and is similar to those of three other large studies suggesting that there is no an increasing and large (no pun intended!!) body of evidence that supports the finding that being overweight, even if not obese, is associated with an increase in the risk of death.

The less you are overweight, the smaller the risk increase but there is still an increase regardless.
I have a couple of issues with the study though – they used the body Mass Index – a measurement of obesity based on a formula using weight & height – which as we all know does not allow for a person’s levels of activity or more importantly take into account the amount of lean tissue that they are carrying. Overweight begins at a BMI measurement of 25, obese at 30 and morbidly obese at 40.

Most world class sprinters and other sportspeople are classified as obese by the BMI when clearly they are not…

By any standard the BMI is not an accurate predictor of individual obesity. However when applied over a wide subject group it is a tolerable ‘rule of thumb’.

There was a correlation between the findings on early mortality and the BMI of the subjects – basically the higher your BMI (the more obese the subject) the higher the increase in early mortality. Compared with subjects whose BMI was in the ‘normal’ range,, those who were overweight had a 13 percent increase in early death. If the BMI classified the subject as obese then the risk increase range was from 44 to 88 per cent. The morbidly obese for those who were obese carried a 2.5 times increase in the likelihood of their dying prematurely.

So what is the take away from all this?? (well cut down on take aways for a start…)
Recondition your metabolism so that it is burning fat and use the information provided here to shift your body from overweight to lean.

Back soon…

Is there a Correlation between Obesity and low Fruit & Vegetable Intake?

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Hi Welcome back!

Well is there a correlation between low Fruit & Vegetable & High Obesity rates? It certainly seems so…

The USA’s (& by extension the Western world in general) Fruit and Vegetable Intake has now become a Major Chronic Public Health Issue.

Vegetables in Bowl

Hmmm... looks like we don't these very much at all!

In November 2010, The Produce for Better Health Foundation has just released its ‘State of the Plate’ report and the results are a shocker!!

Back in 2000 the USA Health Department (with other government agencies) set targets for fruit & vegetable consumption. Targets that have been sorely missed…Back then the goal was to get every American eating an average of 5 – 13 servings of Fruit & Vegetables every day.

The averages, according to the State of the Plate are 1.13 cups of vegetables and 0.68 cups of fruit every day. A long way away from the targets… In fact only 6% of people hit the vegetable target and 8% for the fruit intake. In plan terms over 90% of the American public do not eat enough fruit & vegetables on a regular basis. The reality is that the average American eats 2-3 servings a day combined!

Despite a positive rises in fruit & vegetable consumption by under 6 year olds and in the 6 – 12 year old groups (Fruit 11% & & 7%, Veges 3% and 2% respectively) 13 – 17 year old reduced their consumption. As did the men 45-54 and women 55 and older…No group increased consumption by more than 5%.

These results are in spite of enormous advertising and public education programs run by groups like the National Fruit & Vegetable Association. Obviously newer and more effective programs need to be developed.

Not only is this frightening, but it highlights what must surely be a looming chronic public health issue. It is well accepted by now that by including fruits and vegetables as major components of a healthy diet there is a reduction in the risk of chronic diseases such as stroke, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and even certain types of cancer. Fruit & Vegetables also help reduce body fat because they are high in nutrients and fibre, but low in calories.

Out of the top 10 states with the highest rates of obesity, eight of them had the lowest per individual consumption of vegetables and fruit. There seems to a direct correlation between the amount low / no or unprocessed carbs consumed and the amount of obesity present. Plainly, as a general rule, the fewer fruits & vegetables you eat the fatter you are.

too tight jeans

Not enough Fruit & Vegetables being eaten here!!

With obesity related health care costs of an estimated $147 Billion (more than the GDP of some countries!!) in 2008, the USA is spending around 10% of its total outlay on healthcare in this area. I know that here in Australia that our spending is also on the rise…It seems like a high price to pay for not eating your Fruit & veges….

But it gets worse – it is unlikely that even the 8% who hit their 12-15 servings a day are not eating a wide enough variety of colourful fruits and vegetables to get all of the necessary vitamins and minerals for good health. No wonder Doctors are regularly suggesting people take a multivitamin every day – something unheard of a decade ago.

What can you do? Follow the information being put out here on this blog – move more, eat less processed foods and increase your lean protein, fruit & vegetable intake.

Fruit is a Healthy Food but does it make you FAT?

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Hi Welcome back!!

Firstly no matter what the food is if you eat more than your body requires then you’ll eventually slow your metabolism and store the excess calories as fat.

Regular readers will know that certain types of food are more pre-disposed to easier storage as fat than others, but in the main too many calories in = more fat stored in your body.

Fruit is great on a fat loss program!

I have heard some so-called weight loss (notice not fat loss!!) ‘gurus’ say that you should avoid fruit to drop weight.

Their rationale is along the lines of:
Fruit contains fructose. Fructose is a type of sugar. Sugar is bad for weight loss therefore you should eliminate fruit from your diet when you are trying to lose weight (or fat)

Now fructose is a fairly unique sugar – it does not appear to trigger insulin surges, nor does it seem to create the energy ‘slumps’ most sugars do about an hour after ingesting them. Fructose also can only be metabolised in the liver, whereas all other sugars can be metabolised by any cell in the body. This means that during glycogenesis – where your body converts glucose to glycogen for storage in your muscles and liver – glucose tends to by-pass the liver and go directly to the muscles to top up their glycogen stores. Any excess is then shunted into fat storage. So fructose is great for topping up liver glycogen stores, but not so great for muscle stores.

Why does this matter? Well an important part of losing fat & reconditioning your metabolism is exercise. Exercise depletes glycogen stores (primarily) in the muscles and this needs to be topped up. There is a window of about an hour after you finish strenuous exercise where you can direct nutrients directly to your muscles – in other words what you eat during this hour will be preferentially used for muscle repair and glycogen replacement.

Glass of choc milk

Just about the perfect post workout drink!

So the smart folk take in lean protein and make use of this window by taking in simple carbs as well. This window is the only time that you can safely eat simple carbs whilst trying to lose weight. Believe it or not chocolate milk (low fat preferably) has just about the ideal ratio of carbs to protein for this muscle repair.

But having an egg and a piece of fruit will be less effective in repairing your muscles. Fruit remains important in our quest to recondition our metabolism and to lose fat because most fruits are low on the Glycemic Index and contain a reasonable amount of fibre, phytonutrients, vitamins and antioxidants. Fruit tends to be a nutrient dense package with a relatively low calorie count attached. Fruit is a great way to hold off sweet tooth cravings and is handy to carry around with you during your day.

On top of that because fructose is liver specific it will not be stored as fat unless excessive calories are ingested from large amounts of fruit. This last point is important because fructose has a different metabolic path from glucose it does not have the same feedback mechanisms and so excessive eating of fruit can lead to an increase in fat storage. Mind you it takes a lot of fruit…

Fructose from fruit should not be confused with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) which is an artificial sweetener that you can find in just about every processed food on the planet. HFCS is made by processing corn syrup to increase the level of fructose to between 42% and 55% of the total sugar, with the balance being glucose. Because of its long shelf life, HFCS can be found in just about anything these days, including sodas, salad dressings, breads, and cookies.

The fact that HFCS is only found in heavily processed foods should probably be your first clue that it’s not likely to be good for us. Critics of this ‘Frankenstein’ mix say that people who eat a HFCS-heavy diet have a greater risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and coronary heart disease. These results may not be 100 percent conclusive, but more and more studies are coming to light that suggest cutting out HFCS can only lead to better health.

Here are some of the types of fruit that are an acceptable part of any fat loss regime.
• Kiwi Fruit
• Berries – Blueberries / Strawberries / Raspberries / Blackberries
• Apples
• Pears
• Avocados
• Stone Fruits – Plums, Mangoes, Cherries
• Paw Paw, Papaya
• Citrus fruits – Grapefruit, Oranges, Mandarins, Lemons, Limes Pomegranate
This is not an exhaustive list – really it is up to you which fruit you eat. The old adage about an ‘apple a day’ does indeed seem to hold up.

Try to concentrate on this fruits with a higher fibre content (remember TEF) but in general unless you are overindulging enormously then fruit will do nothing but good for you in your fat loss quest.

So eat your fruit as a part of your fat loss fuel and don’t forget you low GI veggies as well!

See you soon – don’t forget to comment, Tweet or Face Book us!!