If you thought this was going to be a blog ranting about all the things that are wrong with the world, we’re sorry to disappoint you. And if you’re a tech geek who thought we were talking about some new technology, guess again – and get a dictionary – because that’s “bytes”, not “bites”. We are talking about the food you consume each day without a second thought. That’s the “bites” part we’re going to discuss.
So, what about the “reality” bit? Well, the meaning there is really two-fold – first of all, we don’t understand the “what” and “how” of the foods we consume, the consequence of which is that we are making ourselves overweight, obese, diabetic, etc. It’s a sad reality to be sure ….
Not the Whole Story
If you think all you need to know about food is how many calories it contains or its glycemic index, think again. Way, way more important is the effect of what you eat on your body’s internal chemistry or the metabolic environment, as we like to refer to it.
Think of all the food commercials you’ve seen that tout the “100-calorie snack pack” or “low fat snack” – they proudly proclaim these are low in calories and fat so therefore they promote these foods as perfectly “good” or “smart” choices. Or how about the amazingly popular probiotic yogurts – with beneficial cultures to support digestive health and berries or fruit with antioxidants? Again, low in calories and fat, so they HAVE to be healthy, right?
Well, that depends – for a majority of people the answer is probably NO. Why? Well, read on, we’re about to tell you what you don’t know about these so-called “healthy foods” that could hurt you!
Fat Burner or Fat Storer?
Everybody has their own unique metabolic environment that affects their metabolism. EVERY time you eat you have an opportunity to help make your body a fat burner or a fat storer (that’s the “reality”). And EVERYTHING you eat affects this (that’s the “bites”).
You’ve most likely heard of the hormone insulin. It’s a storage hormone released in response to eating, with carbohydrates having the largest impact on insulin secretion, protein having the second greatest and fat having little to no impact on insulin secretion. Each of us has a different level of insulin sensitivity. Insulin sensitivity refers to how well or poorly the body responds to the hormone insulin, based on genetics and lifestyle (diet and exercise). As an example – on a relative scale of best insulin sensitivity being 10, and worst insulin sensitivity – or resistance – being zero, you may be a 3 while your sister is a 9.
So let’s take our 100-calorie snack pack; if it’s low in fat AND low in protein (a huge surprise if there is ANY usable protein), then what’s left? Well, there’s only three macronutrients that make up food and if you’ve been reading our other posts you’ll know what those are … Bueller, Bueller? Ok we’ll remind you – Protein, Carbohydrates and Fat. So again, if there’s little to no protein and fat, what’s left? Carbohydrates!! Ding, ding, ding!
Now the interesting part – let’s say that 90% of this 100-calorie snack pack is carbohydrate – that’s 90 calories or around 22.5 grams. So what? Well this is what “they” don’t tell you and many “experts” say doesn’t count – for you, this could shut off your fat burning in its tracks.
Your body chemistry, your metabolic environment may be such that it can’t handle this amount of sugar (all carbohydrates break down into sugar in the end) and produces too much insulin that stops your fat burning cold! Your sister has a better insulin response so it may reduce her ability a bit but not shut it off completely – although if she keeps pounding down those snack packs, that may soon change …
Worse yet, too much sugar in the blood stream gets converted into triglycerides, which are stored as body fat. So that snack may be low in calories, but it’s the nutritional equivalent of a dirty bomb to your metabolism.
The same goes for protein and fat – your response to the amount of them is YOUR response, no one else’s. How much protein do you need to maintain and build nice, lean muscle? And how much fat makes your joints feel good, allows you to help burn fat and feel great? This is why planning a diet based purely on calories makes no sense.
The same can be said for diets that break down your diet into nice little percentages (like 15-20% from protein, 50-65% carbohydrates, 25-35% from fat). How does this help you figure out what works for you? It doesn’t! This is why NO ONE diet works for everybody – the diet “formula” is always the same for everyone who does diet “X” or “Y” but your body chemistry may or more likely, may not work within those guidelines.
So what to do? You need to find out what works for you – as an individual. Not what works for your sister, brother, aunt, friend, co-worker, husband, etc. YOU! And to do that, you need a scientific approach that takes you through a process much like an eye doctor does when he examines your eyes – where they try different strength lenses “formulas” until they zero in on your exact prescription.
Does such a system exist for diet? Yes ….. check out our video to see http://www.gototaltrainer.com/player.html
Looking for snacks that offer a good dose of metabolism-boosting protein? Here’s some of our favorites:
Chicken Caesar Wrap Mix 2 TB Bolthouse Farms Caesar Parmigiano Creamy Yogurt Dressing with ¼ cup bagged salad, 1 TB grated Parmesan cheese and 1 TB chopped tomatoes. Place 3 ounces cooked chicken strips (white meat) on top of one La Tortilla Factory Sonoma Carb Cutting tortilla. Place lettuce mixture on top of chicken to serve.
Protein: 26 grams
Carbs: 8 grams
Fat: 9.5 grams
Roast Beef Veggie Wrap Spread 1 TB low fat chive cream cheese onto one La Tortilla Factory Sonoma Carb Cutting tortilla Low carb tortilla. Add three slices deli-style roast beef (nutrition data based on Eating Right Roast Beef Deli-Style Luncheon Meat). Top with 2 TB sprouts,
½ TB chopped red onion, 1 TB diced tomato, and 1½ TB diced cucumber.
Protein: 26 grams
Carbs: 8 grams
Fat: 9.5 grams
Traditional Chicken Salad In a bowl, mix 3 ounces pre-cooked chicken (white meat) with 2 TB Trader Joe’s reduced fat mayonnaise, ¼ cup chopped celery and ¼ cup chopped onions.
Protein: 24 grams
Carbs: 5 grams
Fat: 6 grams
Mediterranean Tuna Salad In a bowl, mix 4 ounces chunk white albacore tuna with 2 TB Trader Joe’s reduced fat mayonnaise, 1½ TB sliced black olives and 2 TB chopped tomato and 2 pieces marinated artichoke hearts.
Protein: 24 grams
Carbs: 5 grams
Fat: 9 grams
Turkey Waldorf Salad In a bowl, mix 3.5 ounces pre-cooked turkey (white meat) with 2 TB Trader Joe’s reduced fat mayonnaise, ¼ cup chopped Fuji apple, ¼ cup chopped celery, 3 red grapes, halved, and ½ TB walnuts.
Chocolatey Oat Bran with Protein Powder Follow package directions to prepare one serving of oat bran via microwave or stovetop. (Nutrition data based on Mother’s Oat Bran.) Following cooking, add one packet TotalTrainer Metab*Assist Formula MS1 Whey Protein chocolate protein powder to oat bran. Mix well. Add Stevia or Splenda to taste – no sugar!
So in our last post on Body Chemistry, we began looking at a little known concept called “nutrient partitioning”. In fact we covered the first aspect — one that we have little control over called “Genetic NP” or genetic nutrient partitioning. This is our body’s personal, natural born ability to turn the foods that we eat into energy, specifically as it relates to the different macronutrients contained in the food we eat (protein, carbohydrates and fat).
Here in Part 2 we’re going to look at the second aspect –“Nutritional NP”.
The Rules Change
You can’t have a discussion about Body Chemistry without talking about hormones. You see, this is the greatest difference when talking about a properly constructed nutrition plan aimed at optimal health. Our endocrine system is the regulatory system for our bodies, keeping hormone levels in check via a very complex and tightly regulated range in the body. Many hormones work in a teeter-totter fashion; one goes up and a corresponding downgrade happens in a counter-balance partner hormone. For example, if testosterone goes up, estrogen goes down and vice-versa because the body (depending on your sex) likes to keep a certain ratio of each, to maintain normal bodily functions.
As people age, many start to experience ‘unwanted” changes in their bodies and health. How many times have you yourself said, or heard someone else say “when I was younger I could eat anything I wanted and stay thin or lean”? Indeed – the “rules” of your hormones and therefore metabolism DO change with age.
When Good Hormones Go Bad There are no “Bad” hormones. Your body produces some 67 different hormones (with more being discovered as we speak) and they have very specific roles to perform in the body. So really, one is not better than the other, they’re just different.
That said, an over or under production of any single hormone can be a major problem. When it comes to Body Chemistry for optimal health, one of the most important hormones to watch is insulin.
Insulin is produced by our pancreas and released in response to blood sugar – or more directly to removing glucose (sugar) from the bloodstream. When we eat foods that raise blood sugar (carbohydrates, especially sugary ones), Insulin is also released to do its job. However, our Body Chemistry comes directly into play directly here. Do we produce a “normal” response in our production of insulin or are we “compromised” in our response, meaning we produce too much insulin?
In an optimal scenario, if blood sugar volume is “X”, then insulin response is “Y”. However, if insulin response in our body is “YY” or “YYY”, then problems can arise. The most well-known complication is diabetes – both Type 1 and Type 2.
Now, to be fair, insulin is important in also helping protein synthesis – so that the protein you eat after you exercise can enter the muscle cell, insulin helps open the gate. But, and this is a huge BUT, nothing shuts off fat-burning like elevated levels of insulin. High insulin levels will turn off fat burning in its tracks — period, end of discussion. This is exactly why, even if people (especially women) drop their calories and yet still do not account for their personal Body Chemistry and learn to manipulate their Nutritional NP, weight loss, an ideal healthy body composition and health will always be out of reach.
Dropping levels of testosterone, rising levels of estrogen (in men) or very low levels in women, and growth hormone levels also all can affect how your body looks, feels, and performs. It is important to use Nutritional NP in helping to counteract some of these effects in setting up an optimal health plan.
What Works for You, Works!
If you follow any “cookie cutter” diet that has you just track your calories, you’ll never come close to unlocking the potential of Body Chemistry because the vast majority of diet plans don’t even contemplate the need to consider you as an individual your specific needs. But it’s important to not just follow any diet plan, it’s essential to find exactly what works for you.
So, doesn’t it make sense to base your personal nutrition plan on what your body actually needs, rather than just x percent of this, y percent of that and z percent of the other or just flat out cutting calories? Body Chemistry MUST be respected! You need to know how your body responds to different levels of protein, carbohydrates and fat and it needs to be based on your body composition and daily needs.
Your protein levels need to support lean muscle growth and maintenance, energy levels and also are the building blocks for enzymes, blood, etc.
Carbohydrate levels could be high, moderate or low and anywhere in between. Too much, you’re fat. Too little and you may not feel your best.
Dietary fat needs to be at levels that support your hormones, cells and fat burning (yes we said fat burning). Don’t believe even half of what you’ve read about fat, it’s unbelievably maligned and misunderstood and again your needs depend on what your Body Chemistry dictates.
Have your other diets zeroed in on your specific needs? If not, they’re just guessing. In clothing terms, they want to put everyone in a blue shirt. But for each individual, there’s a blue shirt that works best for them. For your mother, it may be a size 6 light blue oxford. For your athletic son it might be an extra large electric blue UnderArmour T-shirt, and for your next door neighbor, maybe it’s a navy size 10 sleeveless tank. You’re an individual, with very specific individualized metabolic requirements. That’s why the TotalTrainer system is unlike any other diet program in the world. We help you figure out YOU – with a diet that is the ultimate in personalized, customized and optimized.
Mention the word “chemistry” and most people’s eyes rapidly begin to glaze over as they have flashbacks to the strange smelling lab in high school with the Periodic of Elements chart on the wall. But did you know that the answer to your quest for optimal health really relies on discovering your very own individual “body chemistry” and what makes it work?
As we mentioned in our previous post, The Calorie Conundrum – Part 1, we’ve been brain-washed that the whole world of dieting and losing weight can be summed up as just a matter of simple math. As that two part series showed, it’s not quite that simple …
But what does losing weight or gaining muscle have to with chemistry? PLENTY! It is actually at the root of the miracle of metabolism. So, what the heck is metabolism? Well, by definition it means “change” and is the name given to “the collection of chemical reactions necessary for energy transfer and body function.” Although your metabolism influences your body’s basic energy needs, it’s your food and beverage intake (nutrition) and your exercise activity that ultimately determine your body’s composition (are you a fat storer or a fat burner?).
Everything you eat or drink is processed by your body and converted into energy. During this complex biochemical process, calories in food and beverages are combined with oxygen to release the energy your body needs to function. Your metabolism acts like a fuel manager in your body, even when you’re at rest, because your body needs energy for all its “hidden” functions, such as breathing, circulating blood, adjusting hormone levels, and growing and repairing cells. Your body requires a certain number of calories to carry out these basic functions. This is known as your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and is influenced by a number of factors:
• Your body size and composition. Bigger people or those with more muscle burn more calories, even at rest.
• Your sex. Men usually have less body fat and more muscle than do women of the same age and weight, burning more calories.
• Your age. As you get older, the amount of muscle tends to decrease and fat accounts for more of your weight, slowing down calorie burning. Of course we know this is a variable that we can help to change with the proper nutrition and exercise plan!
Energy needs for your body’s basic functions stay fairly consistent and aren’t easily changed. Your basal metabolic rate accounts for about 60 to 75 percent of the calories you burn every day. What else affects your metabolic needs? Well, a couple of other factors determine how many calories your body burns each day:
• TEF (technically called the Thermic Effect of Food). Digesting, absorbing, transporting and storing the food you consume also takes calories. Each type of macronutrient takes energy for the body to break down. Proteins have the biggest effect on TEF, requiring up to 30% of the energy taken in just to break it down and make it usable in the body. Carbohydrates are second, taking some 10% energy usage (of course the type of carbohydrate, fibrous or sugar-based differs greatly in this equation). And then dietary fat requires little energy to be digested and converted, some 2-4 % in TEF.
• Physical activity. Physical activity and exercise — such as playing tennis, walking to the store, chasing after the dog and any other movement — account for the rest of the calories your body burns each day. Physical activity is by far the most variable of the factors that determine how many calories you burn each day but remember, it is exercise, and the type of exercise you perform that has the greatest impact here. Physical activity and exercise should never be confused as meaning the same thing – their effect on the body and most importantly, on hormones, it vastly different. A critical but relatively unknown part of the whole metabolic equation is something called “nutrient partitioning”.
This can further be broken down into two categories: Genetic NP and Nutritional NP.
Genetic NP is quite simply the luck of the draw. Due to genetic factors, the rate and action taken on the three macronutrients by the body differs greatly from person to person. Case in point – almost everyone has known the person who can eat burgers, fries and cokes and snack on candy bars seemingly with no end and still be skinny! Contrast that with people who just “look” at a piece of chocolate cake and they gain five pounds faster than you can say “Oprah!”. This, in part, is due to Genetic NP. Although our great Constitution of the United States tells us we are ALL created with equal rights, nobody told the gods of genetics that. Some people get the luck of the draw and some don’t; it’s just a harsh reality of life. However, it does NOT mean you are going to be a favored son or daughter forever because even the lucky ones age and hormone levels change. Alternatively, if you haven’t received the god’s genetic favor, you are not banished to the Land of the Overweight and Obese for the rest of your natural life either.
In Part 2, we’ll show you how by learning your Body Chemistry and manipulating your Nutritional NP, you can thumb your nose to the gods of genetics and gain optimal health!
In Part 1 of this important topic we discussed what a calorie was and how the “weight loss” world has misinterpreted its use as the be-all/end-all in the battle of the bulge, and how this mathematical over-simplification leaves out the very important context of food’s impact on body chemistry and your metabolism.
In Part 2, we’re going to address several factors that must be considered to have an intelligent discussion about nutrition, diet, and changing your body composition for the better.
Macronutrients – The Three Amigos Although most people know the term “calorie”, very few understand that everything they eat falls into three distinct categories, and in most cases, is a combination of two or all three. Think of them like the Three Amigos – hardly ever alone and each with a talent or job that helps the body out as a whole. They are quite simply:
1) Proteins
2) Carbohydrates
3) Fats
Each one of these is called a macronutrient. As discussed in Part 1, they all have a caloric value that when added together from the foods you eat is equal to the total sum of all calories. However, and this is a very BIG however, they each have a “personality”, just like the Three Amigos – they are not all the same and can’t be treated as such. That is why the “calorie is a calorie” concept makes no scientific sense.
You’ve probably heard that carbohydrates can be “complex” or “simple”, referring to how quickly or slowly they can be digested and turned into usable energy in the form of glucose (sugar) in the bloodstream. Here’s the rub: “complex” carbohydrates contain more fiber (think brown rice, oatmeal, broccoli, etc.) that slow down how quickly blood sugar rises as compared to things like table sugar, white flour, etc. – and more importantly, how much of the hormone insulin is secreted to rid the bloodstream of sugar. The more insulin, the less fat burning you are capable of – so obviously 50 grams of complex fiber-rich carbohydrates and 50 grams of simple carbohydrates do not produce the same response, EVEN THOUGH the calories may be the EXACT SAME!
Comparing this effect across protein, carbohydrates and fat makes an even greater impact on the above and therefore your metabolic response is NOT the same for all foods with the exact same caloric values – period.
Feel the Burn, Baby! Most people use this phrase in relation to exercise. But did you know that each of the Three Amigos, uh, macronutrients, has a different “burn rate” when digested? Yes, it’s true! Eating protein for example can raise your metabolic rate anywhere from 14-30% JUST by having to digest it.
This is called T.E.F. or the Thermic Effect of Food. It takes energy to produce energy and in the case of our food, it takes energy to breakdown the nutritional composition of foods into smaller units that our body can assimilate and use (protein in a steak is broken down into amino acids, for example). This action creates heat and all three macronutrients produce some heat, to various extents. But, and this is the key point here: these chemical reactions are not the same. Therefore, again, three foods of EQUAL calories will NOT produce the same amount of heat in the body – therefore causing different results.
Regular, Premium or Diesel? The food you eat provides the energy you need to function. Think of it like the fuel you put in your car. There’s nothing “wrong” with any of the different fuels you but in your car (regular, unleaded, premium, diesel) but no one type of fuel is meant to work with all engines of all cars. Just try putting diesel into your made-for-premium BMW and see!
Like cars, we humans have different fuel needs. Some of this is genetic and it’s referred to as “nutrient partitioning”, which is a fancy way of saying that each of our bodies has a different way of handling the three macronutrients to some extent or the other. Hey, when your father said life wasn’t fair, he was right! Some of us can handle copious amounts of carbohydrates and stay thin or lean, while others gain weight (let’s be honest, fat!) from seemingly very small amounts. It’s incredibly unfair but it’s the way it is.
More importantly though, our environment — that is what we put into our mouths and our lifestyle (couch potato or athlete) also manipulates our nutrient or what we like to call “fuel partitioning” abilities. How does this happen? Through our self-regulatory hormonal system.
You see, all men may have been created equal, but all metabolisms definitely are not. Our endocrine system, that complex interactive network of chemical messengers that include our Hypothalamus, Pituitary, Thyroid, adrenals and our sex glands can get out of whack due to our aforementioned environmental impacts. Thus, the foods we eat can help manage and correct some of these imbalances or they can accelerate their negative impacts. And this is all regardless of the fact that we may be following the calories in, calories out model!
A Better Approach So, now that we understand what calories are and are not, what’s the answer for maintaining a healthy weight/body composition?
Well, it’s not an easy answer. What you now realize is the key to sustained, permanent weight loss is a healthy metabolism. Secondly, there are more aspects to this whole game than a simple calories in/calories out math equation. And thirdly, you are your own biological individual, so you need to figure out if your body is a regular, premium or diesel engine, and then feed it the right fuel type.
All “diets” don’t work for everyone, in fact most don’t work, period. But what if you looked at the situation in a new light, understanding that you contain a unique chemistry set inside of you? Yes, your Body Chemistry could unlock the benefits of not only permanent weight loss or as we like to refer to it as “optimum body composition”, but could also improve your metabolism (as opposed to damaging it) and improve health outcomes such as blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar levels, etc.?
We’ve been lied to when it comes to weight loss. We’ve been told it’s all about calories and that there’s a very simple mathematical formula for weight loss.
It’s of course this: Weight Loss = Calories In – Calories Out.
The “experts” tell us that 1 pound of fat = 3,500 calories.
The thinking goes if Sally wants to lose 1 pound of fat in a week (7 days), her “Weight Loss Formula” would be:
(Calories In (1000 per day) – Calories Out (1500 per day) = required Calorie Deficit for Weight Loss of 500 calories per day
1 pound Weight Loss = (500 calories/day DEFICIT x 7 days) = 3,500 calories.
Hooray! In one week she loses one pound! Right? Now, just keep doing that over and over each week and Sally will lose 52 pounds in a week – right? And keep it off, right?
Not so fast ….
A Lesson in Calories
Talk to any seasoned marketer and they’ll tell you in order to sell anything, the message has to appeal to a 5th grade education level. That’s why the health community at large has decided that teaching Amercians about something called “metabolism” would be too complex, too hard for us to grasp. A mass market needs a simple, singular approach that can be broadcast and drummed into our little craniums (that’s your skulls people), like a mantra and voila! We have the “calories in, calories out” solution.
This really got going in the late 1940’s and has been embraced and endorsed ever since. That means for most of you reading this article, this is all you’ve ever known about “weight loss”….
A calorie is a unit of heat content or energy. What does that have to do with food? Well, in point of fact, not much. The term calorie was not even used in reference to food until the late 1800s, applying more to the study of thermodynamics.
A bomb calorimeter is an instrument designed to measure the potential energy of organic substances, including food. The food produces heat, which is absorbed by water surrounding the bomb. The rise in water temperature is then measured, reflecting the total calories (heat energy) given off from the food. Calories represent the potential energy the body gets from food.
When it comes to the foods you consume every day in one form or another, there are values placed on each MACRONUTRIENT as follows:
1) PROTEIN yields about 4.6 (4) kcal per gram
2) CARBOHYDRATES release about 4.2 (4) kcal per gram
3) FAT provides more than double, at 9.4 (9) kcal per gram.
Weight Loss Formula 101 – What’s Wrong?
Now, taking into account you understand what a calorie is, and the mathematical values that your daily food consists of above, what, if anything, is wrong with the formula? After all, mathematical formulas are what our universe is built on, and they are constant in producing expected results consistently.
However, when we apply the Weight Loss Formula to 100 different people all trying to lose “weight,” all taking in the same amount of calories, WHY do they get different results? If the formula is so easy and straightforward, why can’t we predict EXACTLY to a tenth of a pound their exact and expected weight loss? Why do all the “diets” out there always make sure they put the “results not typical” on their advertisements and also things like “lose 2 to 5 pounds per week”? Surely they can do some very simple math themselves, right? So what’s the problem?
Maybe it’s because you haven’t been told the whole calorie story or as it relates to metabolism, or indeed ANY of the story. Given what we’ve discussed above, look at what renowned doctor and expert in nutrition and metabolism Dr. Michael Colgan says on this topic:
“Calories are a measure of the amount of heat produced when you burn food in a crude instrument called a bomb calorimeter. Your body is not a bomb calorimeter. It doesn’t burn anything. It works by controlled nuclear power.
Unfortunately, the calorie fable, taught to children to keep things simple, has become a pervasive adult belief in Western Society. Even some dumb health professionals still adhere to it. Causes endless problems for scientists trying to explain anything to the public about food, energy, or control of body fat.”
The realization that calories in vs. calories out equation doesn’t work and isn’t legit is not a new discovery. Max Rubner author of The Laws of Energy Conservation in Nutrition, published back in 1902 said:
“The complicated mechanism of the body must be taken into consideration, and the ways it takes to reach its goals are not always the straight paths envisioned in our calculations.”
The reality is weight management and ideal body composition is not achieved merely from counting calories. There are other factors involved that you need to understand so that you can take control of your life and health.
Stay tuned …. Part 2 of the Calorie Conundrum is next!
Most Americans have an obsession with “weight.” Namely, they want to lose it. In having coached hundreds of clients, predominantly women, in nutrition and exercise, the number ONE goal on their minds is “to lose weight.” They talk about their “goal” weight – usually something like losing 20 pounds for an upcoming wedding, high school reunion or Christmas Party, or fitting into their size four little black dress again.
It’s at this point that I generally ask them a simple question that produces some of the most awesome facial contortions and a look of “what the heck?” written all over it. The question: “If we can get you from your size ten dress back down to a size four and you don’t lose a single pound, would you be happy”?
Most people think we’re either kidding or that this is a trick question. No, we assure them, we’re quite serious. You see, our society is obsessed with body WEIGHT when they really should be paying attention to their body C-O-M-P-O-S-I-T-I-O-N.
You see, the definition of weight goes like this: “In science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force on the object due to gravity.” Hmm… doesn’t seem to mention anything about your health or wellness here….
In fact, if we took you to the surface of the moon today, you would weigh only about 1/6 your total current weight. Eureka – we just solved America’s “over-weight” problem! Now we just have to move America to the moon! But even on the Moon, although you weigh only about 20 pounds (down from your Earth weight of 120 pounds), you still have to wear the size ten dress for your walk on the moon … and you still have the SAME amount of body fat you had back on earth.
So, how is it possible to go down three dress sizes and yet potentially not lose a single pound? The ticket, once again is your C-O-M-P-O-S-I-T-I-O-N. Namely, the amount of lean mass or muscle you carry, and the amount of body fat or adipose tissue you carry makes this possible.
We have many clients who have made a 20 pound or more CHANGE in their composition (having gained muscle mass and lost body fat) in equal proportions or near equal. So, looking at their progress through the weight-obsessed diet world, an example of someone losing only 4 pounds in 3 months would hardly be seen as a success. However, looking at it from a different lens – one based on a healthy metabolism (which is the greatest predictor of health) – and we see this same person gained 16 pounds of muscle and lost 20 pounds of pure fat – hence only a FOUR pound “weight loss” but radically changing their entire look while at the same time improving their metabolism and overall health.
Lean mass or muscle:
• Increases your metabolic rate
• Provides stability for your body
• Increases your strength and endurance
• Increases your ability for proper hydration (muscle is 72% water)
• Improves bone mass due to being able to handle heavier weight-bearing stress
• Improves your shape, accentuates the “tone” of the body
Excess body fat, on the other hand:
• Decreases your ability to stay properly hydrated
• Causes excess “drag” on the body as fat is “non-force producing” – it’s just along for the ride!
• Can lead to joint and back problems due to too much stress not being supported properly
• Is treated as inflammation by the body, namely fat stores secrete influential pro-inflammatory chemicals, messengers that contribute to low-grade inflammation, diseases, and pain
Body Composition and Metabolism – A Better Gauge
Reducing your body weight alone should not be your goal. Let’s stop obsessing with our old enemy the scale and start using it as educational tool in our arsenal of personal health!
How can we use it as a tool? By using it in conjunction with regularly measuring our body fat levels as these together will help you determine what’s happening with your body composition. And as you start to change your composition for the better, your metabolism will improve, creating a cascade of beneficial effects (higher caloric burn rate, improved energy, better sleep, improved cognitive abilities, improved immune system, etc.).
You will start to shift away from this unhealthy obsession towards a new and clearer understanding of the effects that proper nutrition, exercise and supplementation are having on your individual metabolism. Losing 20 pounds may be your goal, but without measuring WHAT you’re losing (muscle or fat), you can damage your metabolism and all the benefits mentioned above are reversed and you’ll be worse off than when you began the “diet.” When you learn and respect your personal “Body Chemistry,” your personal balance of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, then you will have unlocked your Metabolic Fuel Formula and your obsession with weight will be a thing of the past ….
Next up in our series – “The Calorie Conundrum” – it’s all about calories in/calories out, right? Not even close ….
The average American is living in an unprecedented time in America. We are struggling through the worst economic times since the Great Depression. Meanwhile, 7 in 10 Americans are struggling with their health, and are overweight, obese or diabetic. But what does one have to do with the other? Well, there are a number of interesting parallels …
All Americans aspire to greater things – that is what has made our country great for more than 200 years and the “promised land” for so many around the world. We want a better life for our children and there’s nothing wrong with that.
The problem though is that American itself and individually has gotten away from its fundamentals and its cost us. If you take a simplified example of building financial wealth, the equation would look something like this:
Wealth = (revenues – expenses) + revenues from savings investment
However, at ALL levels in America, from the Federal Government, State and local down to the average citizen, the overriding equation has become:
Wealth = revenues + as much credit as I can get + ignoring my expenses + living beyond my means
Formula One worked well for many, many years and created the great nation we had. But ignoring the fundamentals of finance has now created a gigantic problem: Everyone wants the “quick fix,” the scheme that allows us to get rich quick, and with the added bonus of little-to-no effort and zero risk.
How is that working for us? We are a nation under incredible debt, our economy is weak and many American’s dreams of giving our children a better future than we have is now in jeopardy.
A direct parallel can be drawn to what has become of the nation’s health in the past 40 years or so and particularly in the past 20. While our consciousness of health has been raised through various forms of the media, our fundamentals have become poor. Like our nation’s economy, we have enormous debt (in the form of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease) and the trends are all on the rise.
Looking back in our own recent history, the formula for health looked like this:
Health = A good nutritional base (little to no processed or junk food) + physical work and exercise
Today however, that equation is more like:
Disease = Poor nutrition (an abundance of processed or junk food) + hormonal problems + lack of physical work and exercise
It doesn’t take a genius to see the effects – just take a look around you the next time you are at the mall, in the airport, or at the beach. And that’s only what you can SEE. Beneath the surface our present lifestyles have set in motion the cascade of metabolic problems that have led to the aforementioned disease states.
As with your wealth and retirement plans, your health really comes down to you. You will be the direct beneficiary or victim of the decisions you make.
Progress starts with a good plan. So in the case of building wealth, you would be smart to engage the services of a seasoned financial planner, who would advise you on a logical approach to get you from here to retirement and exactly what that entails.
They’ll want to know where you’re starting from and what resources you have to work with – i.e. your income (revenues), your expenses (so they can set up a budget) and then target “x” amount of savings that would have to be re-invested at “y” percentage to reach your retirement goal.
If you told your financial planner that you make $75,000 a year but spent $200,000, don’t really like to save money as it cramps your “style” and oh yeah, don’t like to work much but still want to retire by the time you’re 50 (and you’re currently 42), they’d either dump you as a client or tell you to go to Vegas and bet it all on black!
So when it comes to our health, WHY do we think we need to take some random, sporadic approach that encompasses only one portion of the health equation and better yet, preferably allows us to apply little to no direct effort ourselves and think we’re going to get to our end goal of vibrant health?
A real approach to better, long term health would be based on education. If you know how something is supposed to work, the “plan” and how the pieces fit into place seems much more reasonable.
A new fundamental health paradigm would look like this:
Great Health = Nutrition + Exercise + Body Chemistry + Coaching
First, the body works as a cohesive unit – so an effective health plan should be holistic. Second, an education in the fundamentals of nutrition, exercise and body chemistry is needed. And third but most importantly, it has to be tailored to you as a bio-individual. Like a snowflake, no two individual’s metabolisms are the same – so why would the cookie-cutter calorie-counting plans or exercise DVDs work for everyone? You already know the answer – they don’t!
In our next blog post, we’ll break these key components down.
