Basic Nutrition

In order to lose 1lb of fat

through exercise you need to burn 3500 calories?

True

There is in fact 3500

calories in one pound

of fat!

Fat, Protein , Carbs, and

Alcohol all contain the same

amount of calories?

False

Fat has 9 calories per gram

Protein has 4 calories per gram

Carbs= 4 calories per gram

Alcohol= 7 calories per gram

Cardio is the best way to

raise your metabolism?

False

The most effective way to raise your metabolism is to increase muscle mass. The more muscle mass that you have the more calories you will burn at all times. Yes even while you’re sleeping!

Skinny people have a

higher metabolism then

Heavier people?

False

Believe it or not a heavier person will have a much higher metabolism than a skinnier person. Mostly because of the amount of muscle mass needed to support their heavier body mass. Once again muscle mass is the biggest driver of your metabolism.

Metabolism

and

Energy Balance

Very Little Gas (calories) Lots of Gas (calories)

The amount of fuel or calories you use in a

day is your metabolic rate.

What Happens to

the calories we consume?

60%-75% of all of

your calories are

burned simply by

living

15%-20% of your

calories are used

through the

thermogenic effect

of food

Only 10%-15% of

your calories are

used with daily

activity or often not

used and stored

15-20%

BMR- Stands for Basal

Metabolic Rate- It is the body's

basic requirements to sustain

vital non-movement related

physiological activity. BMR

accounts for over 70% of the

energy we consume each

day. So if you lied perfectly still

in bed all day 70% of our

calories you consume would

be used just to keep you alive.

Here is my current BMR estimation

BMR-2195 Calories

Between my basal metabolic rate of

2195 calories and my current activity

level being working out at least 5 times a

week and being active during the days

my caloric needs are approximately

3450 calories daily to maintain my

current weight and body fat%

With this knowledge about my current caloric needs I can determine in which direction I would like to take my body and make appropriate adjustments in order to reach my goals.

Let Me Show You How!

Let’s say I would like to my goal to be to lose 8 lbs in the next month.

Knowing that there is 3500 calories in one pound of fat I need to

create a calorie deficit through diet that would make sense for my

goal and also keeping in mind that I don’t want to lose more than 2 lbs a week to avoid losing muscle.

I would need to create a deficit of 7000 calories a week in order to

elicit the proper response from my body. With my maintenance

calories being 3450 calories per day I can simply reduce my caloric

intake to 2450 calories per day and this should net me approximately 2 lbs per week weight loss.

This of course is far from a perfect science and

although you have created a calorie deficit weight loss

can sometimes still remain stagnant. This is because all

foods are not created equally and they can often

determine whether or not your body chooses to release

the stored fat or not.

“You are what you eat!”

The macro nutrients that we will be

concentrating on are as followed:

Protein

Carbohydrates

Fats

Water

WHAT ARE MACRONUTRIENTS?

Macronutrients are nutrients that provide

calories or energy. Nutrients are substances

needed for growth, metabolism, and for

other body functions. Since “macro” means

large, macronutrients are nutrients needed in

large amounts.

While each of these macronutrients

provides calories, the amount of calories

that each one provides varies.

Carbohydrate provides 4 calories per gram.

Protein provides 4 calories per gram.

Fat provides 9 calories per gram.

This means that if you looked at the Nutrition Facts label of a product and it said 12 grams of carbohydrate, 0 grams of fat, and 0 grams of protein per serving, you would know that this food has about 48 calories per serving (12 grams carbohydrate multiplied by 4 calories for each gram of carbohydrate = 48 calories).

Besides carbohydrate, protein, and fat the only other substance that provides calories is alcohol. Alcohol provides 7 calories per gram. Alcohol, however, is not a macronutrient because we do not need it for survival. Duh!

WHY DO WE NEED CARBOHYDRATES TO SURVIVE?Carbohydrates are the macronutrient that we need in the largest amounts. According to the Dietary Reference Intakes published by the USDA, 45% - 65% of calories should come from carbohydrate. We need this amount of carbohydrate because:

Carbohydrates are the body’s main source of fuel.

Carbohydrates are easily used by the body for energy.

All of the tissues and cells in our body can use glucose for energy.

Carbohydrates are needed for the central nervous system, the kidneys, the brain, the muscles (including the heart) to function properly.

Carbohydrates can be stored in the muscles and liver and later used for energy.

Carbohydrates are important in intestinal health and waste elimination.

Carbohydrates are mainly found in starchy foods (like grain and potatoes), fruits, milk, and yogurt. Other foods like vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and cottage cheese contain carbohydrates, but in lesser amounts.

Fiber

Fiber refers to certain types of carbohydrates that our

body cannot digest. These carbohydrates pass through

the intestinal tract intact and help to move waste out of

the body. Diets that are low in fiber have been shown to

cause problems such as constipation and hemorrhoids

and to increase the risk for certain types of cancers such

as colon cancer. Diets high in fiber; however, have been

shown to decrease risks for heart disease, obesity, and

they help lower cholesterol. Foods high in fiber include

fruits, vegetables, and whole grain products.

WHY DO WE NEED PROTEIN TO SURVIVE?

According to the Dietary Reference Intakes published by the USDA 10% - 35% of calories should come from protein. Most Americans get plenty of protein, and easily meet this need by consuming a balanced diet. We need protein for:

Growth (especially important for children, teens, and pregnant women)

Tissue repair

Immune function

Making essential hormones and enzymes

Energy when carbohydrate is not available

Preserving lean muscle mass

Protein is found in meats, poultry, fish, meat substitutes, cheese, milk, nuts, legumes, and in smaller quantities in starchy foods and vegetables.

When we eat proteins, our body breaks down the protein that they contain into amino acids (the building blocks of proteins). Some amino acids are essential which means that we need to get them from our diet, and others are nonessential which means that our body can make them. Protein that comes from animal sources contains all of the essential amino acids that we need. Plant sources of protein, on the other hand, do not contain all of the essential amino acids.

WHY DO WE NEED FAT TO SURVIVE?

Although fats have received a bad reputation for causing weight

gain, some fat is essential for survival. According to the Dietary

Reference Intakes published by the USDA 20% - 35% of calories should come from fat. We need this amount of fat for:

Normal growth and development

Energy (fat is the most concentrated source of energy)

Absorbing certain vitamins ( like vitamins A, D, E, K, and carotenoids)

Providing cushioning for the organs

Maintaining cell membranes

Providing taste, consistency, and stability to foods

Fat is found in meat, poultry, nuts, milk products,

butters and margarines, oils, lard, fish, grain products

and salad dressings. There are three main types of fat,

saturated fat, unsaturated fat, and trans fat. Saturated

fat (found in foods like meat, butter, lard, and cream)

and trans fat (found in baked goods, snack foods,

fried foods, and margarines) have been shown to

increase your risk for heart disease. Replacing

saturated and trans fat in your diet with unsaturated

fat (found in foods like olive oil, avocados, nuts, and

canola oil) has been shown decrease the risk of

developing heart disease.

1 Piece of Cheese Cake 1 Apple

510 Calories 65 Calories

32 Grams of Fat 0 Grams of Fat

43 Grams of Carbohydrates 17 Grams of Carbohydrates

30 Grams of Sugar 13 Grams of Sugar

9 Grams of Protein

Packed with vitamins

And mineralsEnjoy your fry!

As you can see all of our macronutrients have a place in our diet.

The important thing to remember is balancing our diet and not over

consuming any one single macro.

A diet that strips away an entire macro group is a sure fire way to failure. Each and every macro plays an important role in our bodies.

What’s more important is eating the right amount of food for your

current activity levels.

An athlete will demand more calories, carbs, and protein than someone who works in an office environment.

Their diet would need to be designed to meet their needs just like

your diet should be tailored to your specific daily activities.

Why is water so important?

The 5 functions of water in our body

Cell life

Chemical and metabolic reactions

Transport of nutrients

Body temperature regulation

Elimination of waste

Cell life

Water is a carrier, distributing essential nutrients to cells, such as

minerals, vitamins and glucose.

Chemical and metabolic reactions

Water removes waste products including toxins that the organs’

cells reject, and removes them through urines and faeces.

Transport of nutrients

Water participates in the biochemical break-down of what we eat.

Body temperature regulation

Water has a large heat capacity which helps limit changes in body

temperature in a warm or a cold environment. Water allows the

body to release heat when ambient temperature is higher than body temperature (1). The body begins to sweat, and the

evaporation of water from the skin surface very efficiently cools the

body.

Elimination of water

Water is an effective lubricant around joints. It also acts as a shock absorber for eyes, brain, spinal cord and even for the fetus through amniotic fluid.

Water is at the center of life. This is why nobody can live more than 3 to 5 days without any water intake.

Now for the meat and potatoes

Well the potatoes anyways!

Yes, Sugar (Potatoes)

is what makes us fat!

Sugar

Highly addictive, horribly debilitating, unfortunately pervasive, and

freaking delicious.

If I had to point to ONE culprit to our country’s expanding waistlines

and rapidly deteriorating health, it would be sugar. The amount of

havoc sugar and sugar substitutes have wreaked on our nation is

horribly depressing. Fear not, as I’ve come up with the perfect solution!

Eat less sugar if you want to live longer.

The end.

Just kidding, there’s so much more to this story than that.

I’m sure you probably have a lot of questions about sugar:

Is sugar THAT bad for you?

Fruit has sugar! Is fruit bad for you?

Are certain kinds of sugar better or worse for you?

Can you really get addicted to sugar?

What about sugar alternatives that are used in drinks like Diet

Coke? What about natural sweeteners?

Let’s nerd out about sugar and find out what you can do to kick

your sugar habit and get your life back on track.

This might be the most telling statistic relating to sugar, especially when that close to 70% of America is overweight with a THIRD of the nation obese:

1822: Americans consume 45 grams of sugar every five days, or the amount of sugar in a can of coke.

2012: Americans consume 756 grams of sugar every five days, or 130 POUNDS of sugar a year.

As we have grown as a country (in more ways than one), sugar has continued to play an increasingly more prominent role in our food. It’s not just sugary foods like candy and cookies either, but sugar has made its way into practically EVERYTHING we eat.

Unfortunately, it’s not just sugar that’s killing us, but scientifically manufactured “sugar” as well.

Now, we all know that correlation does NOT prove causation, so let’s dig into the science behind why sugar is ruining our bodies.

What happens in our body when we eat sugar?

When you consume sugar, your body has two options on how to deal with it:

Burn it for energy. WEEEEE!

Convert to fat and store it in your fat cells. BOOOOO!

Depending on your genetic predisposition, your body might be better equipped to process sugar as energy, or you might be more

likely to store it as fat. Think of this like you think of people with faster

metabolisms vs. people with slower metabolisms.

Problem is, there’s a LOT more room for fat storage, and a lot less room to burn the sugar as energy.

So, we have this sugar in our body and blood stream. What happens

next?

When your pancreas detects a rush of sugar, it releases a hormone

called insulin to deal with all of that excess sugar.

Insulin helps regulate that level of sugar in our blood; the more sugar

in the blood stream, the more insulin is released. Insulin helps store

all of this glucose in the liver and muscles as glycogen and in fat

cells (aka adipocytes stored as triglycerides).

Now, oftentimes our body struggles to get that balance right (with

us putting way too much sugar in our system very quickly). TOO

much insulin is released, which ultimately results in our blood sugar

dropping below normal levels.

This is called hypoglycemia, essentially a sugar

crash: Our bodies respond by telling us: WE WANT

SUGAR.

So we cram sugar down our throats and the process

starts again.

Unfortunately, the more often this process takes place

(the more sugar you consume), the more severe the

blood sugar spike is, and the more insulin is required. This

means it becomes easier and easier to skip using sugar

as energy, and go straight to extra insulin and fat

storage.

This is best explained by this three minute video, which is definitely worth watching: Why You Got Fat:

So, I should just eat less sugar?

Now, you might be thinking: I’ll just eat less sugar and won’t have this issue, right?

Well, that’s a good start, but that’s only half of

the battle. You see, our bodies actually

process certain types of carbohydrates in a

very similar way to processing pure sugar.

Believe it or not, there is an entire area of

scientific research on how our bodies process

certain foods.

You’ve probably heard of the Glycemic Index, and its lesser known associate: Glycemic Load.

The Glycemic Index is the calculation of how quickly a particular

type of food increases one’s blood sugar level, on a scale from

1-100 (100 being pure glucose). Harvard researchers have found

that things like white bread, french fries, and other

simple carbohydrates have nearly identical effects on our blood

sugar as glucose.

Generally, the more refined (processed) the food, the more

likely it’ll be to get converted quickly to sugar in our body for

processing.

What about fruit and fruit sugar? Let’s find out!!

What surprising foods containing sugar?

So, we’re learning that sugar is bad for us.

That’s nothing new, and it’s not a shock to companies that

manufacture food. For that reason, companies have

started to disguise the sugar in their foods, so it’s not as

apparent how much sugar you are consuming. Here’s a

quick list of what sugar can be listed as on a label:

Agave nectar, Brown sugar, Cane crystals, Cane sugar,

Corn sweetener, Corn syrup, Crystalline fructose, Dextrose,

Evaporated cane juice, Organic evaporated cane juice,

Fructose, Fruit juice concentrates, Glucose, High-fructose

corn syrup, Honey, Invert sugar, Lactose, Maltose, Malt

syrup, Molasses, Raw sugar, Sucrose, Sugar, Syrup.

Why do they change the name of sugar? Because nutritional

labels are required by law to list their most prominent

ingredients first. By putting two or three different types of sugar

in the food (and calling them each a different name), they

can spread out the sugar across three ingredients and have it

show up much further down the list! Tricky tricky tricky!

To be sure, READ THE LABELS OF FOODS THAT YOU CONSUME!

If you’re curious how much sugar you are consuming, check

out SugarStacks.com, which gives you a simple visual aid as to

the amount you’re pumping into your body through surprising

meals.

What about fruit sugar?

Ahhhh, the great “is fruit sugar bad for you” debate…

Honestly, I’m quite torn on fruit and fruit sugar. I’m a big fan of

the Paleo Diet, and I know a LOT of fruit can contain a lot of fructose

(and thus a lot of sugar).

That being said, I believe the consumption of fruit can be beneficial.

When you consume fruit, you are not only consuming fructose (in its

natural state), but also consuming fiber and lots of vitamins and

minerals. Yes, fruit can have an effect on your blood sugar, it IS

sugar. But generally fruit will cause less of a blood sugar spike

compared to nutrient-void table sugar or high fructose corn syrup.

Along with that: Fiber is an important part of a balanced diet (ask your bowels), and fruit can contain a lot of it!

Here’s my official stance on fruit: Consume fruit that has a low glycemic index/glycemic load to reduce blood sugar spikes and insulin secretion. Consume organic fruit when possible.

If your main goal is weight loss, and you need to keep your carb intake low, minimize fruit consumption and instead load up on vegetables.

However, if your choice is between processed foods, sugary drinks, candy, or fruit…GO WITH THE FRUIT.

What about fruit juices?

So, we’ve established that fruit can be healthy if consumed properly.

Unfortunately, fruit juices don’t really fit into that bill. Here’s why: When you consume fruit juices like orange juice, apple juice, or cranberry juice, the juice is squeezed, giving you all of the juice but very little of the fiber or nutrients that get left behind in the process.

For this reason, many fruit juices should probably be called “sugar water.”

Here is a typical amount of sugar for four popular beverages

Orange juice - 21g of sugar

Apple juice - 28g of sugar

Cranberry juice – 37g of sugar

Grapejuice - 38g of sugar

For reference, a can of teeth-rotting, insulin-spiking, fat-inducing Coca-Cola has 40g of sugar.

Want to know an even worse offender? Naked Juices! The “Green Machine” variety, with “NO SUGAR ADDED” and promised to be “ALL NATURAL” has 28 grams per serving…and there are TWO servings in those little tiny bottles. That means when you consume one small bottle of this “healthy” smoothie, you’re getting almost 60 GRAMS of sugar.

Brutal. Shame on you, Naked.

If you’re going to eat fruit, get it in FRUIT form, not juice form.

If you’re going to drink juice, squeeze it yourself, and even then consume it in small quantities.

What about sugar alternatives?

There are a few main sugar alternatives that I want to cover, and allow you to make up your own mind:

Honey - Is Winnie the Pooh onto something here? Is honey a better alternative than regular sugar? The appeal of honey is that it’s not just fructose or glucose, but a mixture of all sorts of compounds, minerals, and more. A study comparing honey to various types of compounds resulted in good results for the sticky stuff: “Overall, honey improved blood lipids, lowered inflammatory markers, and had minimal effect on blood glucose levels.” Along with that, honey resulted in a lower blood glucose spike in rats compared to other types of sugar.

Agave Nectar: This is the most recent darling of the fake “healthy food industry.” Unfortunately, despite the fact that it comes from a cactus (which is natural!), this stuff is so processed and refined, and contains an absurd amount of refined fructose (90% fructose and 10% glucose). Also, the process to create this stuff is similar to the process used to create high fructose corn syrup.

Aspartame: So, many people have switched to diet soda because they heard regular soda can be bad for you. I would guess that 90% of diet sodas out there contains aspartame, a laboratory-created sugar alternative. NutraSweet also contains aspartame and should be avoided. Studies on this stuff have proven inconclusive and wildly different. Although some studies cite an increased link with aspartame and cancer, I believe more research needs to be done. Even still, I have made the decision to avoid aspartame until more conclusive studies surface.

Sucralose is an artificial sweetener that is non-caloric as the body

struggles to break it down. Sucralose is approximately 600 times

as sweet as sucrose (table sugar), and thus can be consumed in smaller quantities to get the same desired “sweet” effect as

sugar. Sucralose is available in things like protein powders, Splenda,

and other products reliant upon remaining low-sugar or low-

carb. Allegedly, sucralose has a negligible effect on blood glucose

levels.

Stevia is a naturally occurring sweetener from the Sunflower family. It

is approximately 300 times sweeter than table sugar, and allegedly

has a lower effect on blood glucose levels. As you can read about

here, Stevia has had an interesting history in the United States (for

political reasons), but appears to have been used in Japan and South America with minimal adverse effects.

Saccharin is another artificial sweetener, created back in the

late 1890s, that is much sweeter than table sugar and thus is

consumed at lower quantities. It was linked to increased risk of

cancer within laboratory rats and labeled as dangerous by the

US, though this label was removed in 2000 due to the fact that

the results couldn’t be replicated in humans. That being said,

more studies need to be conducted.

If you’re going to eat sugar, get it from fruit or naturally occurring sweeteners. With that being said, to minimize the

effect on your blood sugar, minimize sugar consumption across

the board if your primary goal is weight loss.

Can you get addicted to sugar?

Is this stuff addictive? Short answer: YES.

Long answer: Sugary foods can be as physiologically addictive as many drugs. You can legitimately become addicted to sugar and sugary foods.

Study about sugar

In most mammals, including rats and humans, sweet receptors evolved in ancestral environments poor in sugars and are thus not adapted to high concentrations of sweet tastants. The supranormal stimulation of these receptors by sugar-rich diets, such as those now widely available in modern societies, would generate a supranormal reward signal in the brain, with the potential to override self-control mechanisms and thus to lead to addiction.

In other words: We are not genetically designed to consume the amount of sugar that we are currently eating. For that reason, our brains get that ‘happy feeling’ from sugar and it can override the “I’ve had enough” mechanism.

It’s why your concentration goes to astray when you

eat a chocolate chip cookie and there is an additional plate of them in front of you. Suddenly it’s

the only thing you can think about until you’ve eaten

them all! Or you eat a Peanut M&M, and suddenly

you’ve polished off a family-sized bag.

Do this repeatedly, and like Pavlov’s dog, your brain

will start to anticipate this sugar rush and get

prepared for it…even when you’re merely thinking

about food!

Now back to the “meat and potatoes” analogy

Here comes the beef!

Simply put, there is no miracle weight loss pill, drink, and yes I’m

going to say it……..fasting is stupid!

Losing weight is actually pretty simple if you’re willing to actually

commit and educate yourself on doing so. And I’m not talking about reading magazines or watching infomercials at 5 a.m.

Losing weight can be simple if you simply follow a few rules and of

course consistency is paramount.

I’m not going to throw anymore technical information at you, I’m simply breaking it down into it’s simplest parts.

Are you ready?

Weight loss begins by creating a calorie deficit and more simply put,

eating less food than our bodies are burning.

Here are my general rules and we will go over them in some detail.

1. Long term weight loss is achieved by making lifestyle changes and

not from dieting. Don’t diet…..DO make changes that will stick.

2. All (here’s the dirty word) diets are not created equally and a 1200

calorie diet may work great for Jill Shmoe but Joe Shmoe will likely do

more harm then good on the same calorie set.

3. Less is not always more. I’ll explain in a minute.

4. Don’t remove entire macro’s from your diet. (No Carb, rrrrrrrr!)

5. Make small changes and don’t try to do it all at once. Build up to it!