| Yes! Great comments, everyone ... | Week 3 of 12, Day 18 of 84
Great to hear the comments - Olivia was dead on. I'm not saying that shakes and bars are wrong, I'm saying that having them as your main source of food is wrong. Using them for those meals on the run or between meal snacks is a great idea.
The key themes are:
"when possible, use whole foods as a baseline for your nutrition" (note the "when possible" and simply as a baseline, not exclusively for all meals).
For trips, times when you're on the run, extra meals over your 3 main ones (or, to some people, they simple have 6 meals a day, without regard to something being a "main" meal) and, let's all be honest, when you're getting burned out on a strict nutrition regimen and need to satisfy the psychological craving for sweets ... that's when these can be great tools for fitness!
Thanks for all of the wonderful feedback, everyone!
Jeremy
posted by Jeremy on 4/17/2003 2:45:07 PM | | Friendly Advice | Week 3 of 12, Day 18 of 84 cont...
I see a LOT of people subsiding mainly on shakes and bars throughout the day. My friendly advice: when possible, use whole foods as a baseline for your nutrition. There simply is not reason why someone cannot consume 5 - 6 whole food meals per day. If you are taking in a large amount of protein, then adding some protein shakes here and there make sense, but for the most part, the bars and shakes are sugar and junk.
Now, I'm not saying that the bars/shakes aren't convenient and can't help out when in a bind. But that would be more like: meal / shake / meal / bar / meal ... i.e. at least three, solid, good, whole food meals, and then the shakes and bars used to augment this. I've seen quite a bit of shake / shake / shake / shake / shake ... etc.
Even the so-called "engineered" nutrition can't hold up to whole foods. It can supplement them (definition meaning add to above and beyond) but it should never replace them. Some reasons why a whole food meal would be superior to a shake or bar:
(1) enzymes - better digestion
(2) thousands of phytochemicals no bar or shake contains
(3) fiber (yeah, I know, some shakes and bars have fiber, but not many)
(4) satiation - a meal will satiate better than a shake or bar (i.e. help you feel full)
(5) utilization
(5) is important. What do I mean by utilization? Your body has a use it, store it, excrete it mentality. It'll either use the fuel, try to store it somehow, or send it on its way.
When you are consuming a protein shake that is 100% whey, that whey is being digested VERY rapidly. And unless it's right after a workout, this means a sudden flood of amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) into your bloodstream. Because your body maintains a "bank" of amino acids, the amino acid pool, in your blood and at a very consistent level, ingesting too many amino acids means, guess what - they get converted to sugars and used for energy or stored as fat. When you consume a whole food protein or at least a shake that has been smartly blended with more slower-release proteins, then your body has more chance of using the amino acids for what your goal is - to keep cash in the bank, so to speak.
Carbohydrate is an even larger concern. Most people are lured by supplement companies into thinking their shakes are superior because of the low sugar content. There are even some that have zero sugar. For this to be an advantage, you have to ask yourself why you don't want sugar in your shake. I can think of one reason: processed sugar lacks vitamins, minerals, fibers, and other "cofactors" used to generate energy from that sugar. This is why evaporated cane juice is superior to refined sugar - your body is supplied more material to process the sugar. The other reason most people avoid sugar is due to insulin and/or blood sugar. Excess sugar can cause a rapid rise in blood sugar, followed by a "crash" and increased fat storage, and can also trigger an insulin response. This is why people go for "complex carbs".
However, let's get back to that zero-sugar or low-sugar shake. Check the ingredients list. If it contains the word "maltodextrin" then you're in for a surprise. The shake has sugar, it's only a special type of sugar that the companies don't have to report. See, maltodextrin is several sugar molecules chained together. Therefore, it is technically a "complex carb" and doesn't have to be listed as a sugar. The reality is that your body contains digestive enzymes that break apart the maltodextrin chains by the time they reach your stomach - so in essence, maltodextrin enters your mouth, but pure sugar enters your gut. Maltodextrin actually increases blood sugar more dramatically and rapidly than table sugar! So unless you specifically WANTED this increase, for example, if you are using this as a post-workout shake, this again can defeat the goal of fat loss.
Finally, there is a simple issue of metabolism. Your body will burn more calories digesting whole foods than processed foods - that bar or shake has already been highly processed for you, so your body does less work. Eating the same calories in a whole food will in effect raise your metabolism and assist with your weight loss goals even further.
Here is an article I've written in the past about the nutrients in whole foods versus "engineered" nutrition products.
Whole Foods Champion © 2002 - 2007 Jeremy Likness
Anyone who has worked with me or received nutrition information from me knows that I am a champion of whole foods. I believe that when you pit whole foods face to face with any type of engineered food, whole foods will come out on top, any time. Instead of taking my word for it, I would like to place a whole food meal and a popular meal replacement shake into the ring. Let's watch as they duke it out and find out who comes out as the champion.
For the whole food meal, I chose a portion of chicken breast and broccoli with a medium sized orange. In order to compare to the engineered meal, I selected the following portions:
4.5 oz of chicken breast
1 cup of chopped broccoli, steamed without salt added
1 medium sized orange (2 5/8" diameter)
Let's start with some basics. The shake is only 280 calories (+/- 20% as allowed by the FDA - so it could really be 260 or over 300). The meal contains 323 calories, so we have about 40 extra calories in the whole food meal. Not bad, and we could always trim down the portion sizes if we really were concerned about those calories.
For protein, the shake has 42 grams and the whole food meal has 45. This can account for a few of the extra calories. If we look at the shake for this meal only, we see that the protein comes from whey-protein concentrate, calcium caseinate, milk-protein isolate, egg albumin, l-glutamine, and a few other, high quality sources. For this meal only, the shake has a far superior protein profile than the chicken. While the chicken is a complete protein, containing all of the essential amino acids, it does not contain the variety that the shake has. However, if you practice consuming a variety of different proteins throughout the day, you will achieve the same effect - eggs would provide the egg albumen, cottage cheese is a great source of casein, etc. The MRP wins this round, but only because we're looking at one meal, not the entire day.
For carbohydrate, the shake has 24 grams and the whole food meal has 25 grams. When we look more closely, we find that our whole food meal comes from quality, unprocessed carbs - the fruit and the broccoli. Even though some people complain about the "sugar" in fruit, oranges contain fructose, which a sugar that is released very slowly into the blood stream. Fructose is very low on the glycemic index (it is the lowest scored sugar), and provides steady energy over time. Not only are these quality, whole food carbs, but they provide a whopping 8 grams of fiber! Fiber slows absorption so your body can take in more nutrients, and has been shown in various studies to have many health benefits. Some studies imply that it may even assist with fat loss. The whole food meal gets points for this.
Our "engineered" shake, however, contains primarily two sources of carbohydrate: maltodextrin and corn syrup. Technically, maltodextrin is a "complex carbohydrate" because of the size of the molecules it contains. However, this is very deceptive. While companies do not have to report this as a sugar, enzymes in the gut quickly break it down to sugar and rapidly absorb it. In fact, if you consider maltodextrin along with all of the common sugars (fructose, lactose, honey, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, glucose, and maltose) it has the HIGHEST glycemic index over everything but maltose! This makes it a horrible carb that is ingested rapidly - too rapidly to provide steady energy over time. Corn syrup is another sugar. Because the shake does not even contain one gram of healthy fiber, and because the carbohydrates chosen are some of the worse possible "sugars" (even though they choose to report a low sugar content due to the technicality I mentioned with maltodextrin) this shake definitely loses the carbohydrate round.
Our whole food meal contains 5 grams of fat. Only 1 gram of this is saturated fat, leaving 4 grams of healthy, unsaturated fat. This amount of fat is not excessive and the unsaturated, healthy fat is an important aspect of nutrition. The shake contains only 2 grams of fat, and half of that is saturated fat. So while the whole food meal contains slightly more fat overall, both meals contain the same amount of saturated fats while the whole food meal provides healthy, unsaturated fats. It wins this round, by only by a narrow margin.
Now let's consider vitamins and minerals. One of the big selling points for meal replacement shakes is the high amount of added vitamins and minerals. What most people don't realize is that vitamins and minerals "compete" for absorption into the bloodstream. Too much of one vitamin may cause a deficiency in another vitamin. Too much of certain vitamins and minerals can also lead to toxicity and harmful side effects. While I believe that whole foods are not as nutrient-rich today as they were years ago due to pollution and other factors, I still believe that a balanced multi-vitamin that takes into consideration interactions and lethal doses is the best way to go - most shakes simply contain generic "sprays."
If we look at our two meals, the whole food meal contains 15% of the daily requirement for calcium, while the shake contains 50%. If we were simply looking at quantity, the shake would win. If we look at quality, many studies show that vitamins and minerals bound to organic material ("chelated") are utilized much more effectively by the body than free form, "supplemental" vitamins and minerals. This may mean that more calcium will be utilized in the whole food meal, but we won't let speculation interfere with this contest. The whole food meal has about half of the iron as the shake. Of course, we know oranges are rich with Vitamin C. The whole food meal contains 200% of the recommended daily allowance for vitamin C, over 4 times the amount that the shake contains. It contains almost 50% of the RDA for Vitamin A, while the shake contains 40%. As you can see, the shake contains more of some vitamins and minerals than the whole food meal, but less of others. The company selling these shakes would make you think you're getting nothing from whole foods, but we'll have to call this round a draw!
Even more important is the amount and ratio of two critical minerals, known as electrolytes. The electrolytes sodium and potassium are key nutrients that the body uses. The interaction between these nutrients helps the body adjust water by pulling it into cells or pushing it into "extra cellular" space (outside of the cells). Too much sodium, and the water ends up on the outside, and "bloating" or "water retention" takes place. Too much sodium has also been shown to cause high blood pressure and possibly increase risk of cardiovascular disease. By examining the history of the human diet and understanding the relationship between these nutrients, it is believed that having an optimal ratio of sodium to potassium is critical for (a) normal blood pressure (b) optimal "heart health" (c) avoidance of water retention and (d) the proper flow of nutrients into your body's cells. Evidence points to the fact that daily potassium intake should be higher than sodium (twice as much or more) and that sodium should be kept to under 2500 milligrams per day.
So how do our contestants fare? Many people ask me how to get potassium into their diet. I tell them "eat whole foods." Which ones? Variety - instead of worrying about those foods, just add a variety of foods, and nature will take care of you. This particular whole food meal contains 1,037 milligrams of potassium (that's right, over a gram) and only 134mg of sodium. If you consumed 6 meals like this, you would still be consuming less than 1,000mg of sodium. This ratio is almost 10:1 and would more than make up for any extra sodium found in other meals throughout the day. Even supplemental potassium is limited to 99mg per tablet - this meal provides over a gram! The shake provides a modest 550mg of potassium to 330mg of sodium. While the ratio is fantastic, there is much less potassium and much more sodium than the whole food meal. The meal replacement shake loses this round.
Now let's talk about a few of the items that are unique to each meal. The shake contains partially hydrogenated canola oil, which is a processed fat. The process of hydrogenation produces trans-fatty acids. Trans-fatty acids have been shown to increase cholesterol, decrease the "good" cholesterol (HDL), interfere with liver function and interfere with your body's use of essential fatty acids. It also contains medium-chain triglycerides. In a current research paper in the National Strength and Conditioning Association journal (issue 23, pages 26-27, year 2002) Dr. David Fields found that MCTs might raise blood cholesterol and triglycerides, potentially increasing the risk of heart disease. The meal replacement shake definitely loses this round.
The shake also contains xanthan gum and cellulose gum. These are poorly tested but according to studies may not be absorbed by the body. Some gums are known to cause horrendous allergic reactions, but these particular gums are generally recognized as safe. It also contains the artificial sweetener, aspartame. This product was initially tested, but recently many consumer groups have raised doubts over the quality of the cancer tests conducted for this product. Many people have reported adverse behavioral effects (dizziness, hallucinations, and headaches) that have not been confirmed in controlled studies. There is no conclusive evidence either way, so why take the unnecessary risk?
So what is in our whole food meal that isn't in the shake?
Broccoli contains ellagic acid, a phytochemical that has anti-carcinogenic properties. It contains Sulforaphane, another phytochemical that expedites the excretion of carcinogens from cells (in other words, it helps cells get rid of particles that may cause cancer). Broccoli contains phenethly isothiocyanate, which prevents hydrocarbons from interfering with DNA - in other words, it protects from cellular mutations caused by hydrocarbons. It also contains indole-3-carbinol, an agent that aids in the metabolism of estrogen. It can actually reduce the risk of breast cancer in women and for conditions in men such as gynomasticea, where the breasts and nipples of males are enlarged.
The orange is also rich with phytochemicals. These have been shown to resist cancer-causing chemicals, prevent harmful blood clotting, and avoid blindness. The orange contains a ton of healthy antioxidants, including the well-known Vitamin C. A few other antioxidants include Lycopene, polyphenols, phenolic acids, monoterpenes, and triterpenes. All have been shown to have positive benefits for general health and some even seem to prevent unhealthy conditions such as cancer and disease.
I hope by now you understand why I am such a champion of whole foods. No shake can compete with a whole food meal - as you can see, the shakes contain far fewer healthy ingredients such as phytochemicals, and far more unhealthy ingredients like hydrogenated oils. Whole foods are a fantastic source of vitamins and minerals, and maintain your sodium and potassium ratios in their proper proportions. I do believe that shakes are great for convenience, but I always advocate a protein-only shake (i.e. protein with low or no carbs, and no vitamin and mineral spray!) along with a whole food carb such as a piece of fruit. This way, you get the convenience of a shake combined with the health benefits of a whole food. Until the scientists discover every single component of whole foods, understand what each one does, and engineer the "perfect food" from this knowledge, I will continue to be a champion of whole foods. And as for a perfect engineered food, I won't hold my breath!
posted by Jeremy on 4/17/2003 11:58:59 AM | | Seder Dinner and heavy workout | Week 3 of 12, Day 18 of 84 cont...
Last night was our Seder dinner. For those not familiar with it, it is the traditional Passover celebration to remember how great and mighty the Lord was to free the Jewish people from Egyptian bondage.
It is a really powerful ceremony. There are special foods that are symbols of various events. For example, a roasted egg is a symbol of Gods people because the more adversity it receives - such as being heated, boiled, or roasted - the harder and stronger it becomes. There is a piece of vegetable that is dipped in salt and eaten to remember the tears shed that turned to tears of joy when the people were freed. I won't provide an exhaustive list, but it is amazing that this tradition has endured for thousands of years. Modern research suggests that taste and smell are powerful triggers for memory - this is why the smell of a particular cologne or cleaning agent, etc, can trigger powerful childhood memories. This tradition of a Passover meal combines a retelling of the story with various foods and their associated tastes and smells. What an amazing way to teach! I can imagine if I experienced this as a child, how just the simple taste of horseradish (a "Maror" or bitter herb) would trigger my memory of the bitterness of Egyptian slavery (Numbers 9:11 tells us to each the paschal lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs." Now I know every time I eat some flatbread, I'll remember how the Jewish people did not have time to let the bread rise before they began their amazing journey to the promised land.
Some may wonder - why practice Seder if I am not Jewish? The fact remains that Jesus Christ washed away our sins and purchased our salvation with His blood. He became the Word incarnate, so instead of works or adherence to the "law", we are saved through Him and Him alone. However, just because we are no longer bound to the Old Testament law does not mean that we can't benefit from its lessons. For example, while I don't feel anyone is going to Hell simply because they eat shellfish or pork (two forbidden items in the Old Testament) I think a lot of recent health information suggests that these meats are more of a health risk than the meats considered "clean". So does my salvation depend on not eating shellfish? No ... but I wager if God recommended that we don't eat them, there was a good reason, possibly for better health! The same goes with the Passover celebration. Many Christians don't realize it was this celebration that led to the practice of communion ... Jesus simply substituted the meal with His body (bread) and the Passover wine with His blood. By understand the original celebration, it not only teaches us the rich traditions that the children of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob have practiced for thousands of years, but it better helps us understand what Christ came to fulfill.
If anyone has the opportunity to attend a Seder celebration, I strongly recommend it. Traditionally, this is done in the home with the family and the roles are played out by family members, but it was nice to have a group church meeting (I think 120 attended!) to learn about the ritual which is not an integral part of Christian worship.
I really wanted to make yesterday a yellow day when I didn't get home until 9:00pm. "It's late ... I need rest." This is what my thoughts were. But then another, more intriguing thought entered my mind. I've stayed up late many nights watching videos. If I had a very interesting video to watch, what would my thoughts be at 9:00pm? They would be, "Okay, I'll stay up a little late ... this is interesting, and I can always catch up on sleep later." Okay, so where do we go from there? Simple ... we realize that HEALTH should be a much higher priority than some video. So I realized, if I can stay up late to sit on my duff and watch television, I can CERTAINLY stay up late to exercise!
The cardio portion was INTENSE and I definitely earned my green. It went like this:
2 min @ 4.7 mph
4 cycles of:
1 min @ 5.7 mph
1 min @ 6.7 mph
1 min @ 7.7 mph
1 min @ 8.7 mph
Then a "high point" at 9.7 mph. This was all done on a 0.5 incline. Not bad for a bald white guy, eh?
I then had my "auxiliary" workout, which involved:
Knee raises
Parallel leg raises
Full leg raises
3 sets of good mornings
Forearm flexions
Forearm extensions
Calf raises
By the time it was over, I was drenched in sweat, and I felt great. It was well worth it, and I was ecstatic that I had made the right choice: the choice for my health, and had not succumbed to the silly little mind games that would have me drinking beer and watching TV all day long.
Looking forward to another green day ... nutrition was much more in control yesterday.
Peace and love,
Jeremy
posted by Jeremy on 4/17/2003 7:15:23 AM | | Gooood morning bloggers! | Week 3 of 12, Day 17 of 84
Well, I had to make yesterday yellow because, well, I'm an honest guy. It was really just a random pretzel grab and probably not too damaging in the long run, but it is a deviation from the plan and I have to be honest ... if 4 weeks doesn't show great results and half of my days are yellow, well, then we know where the problem is, don't we?
It's hard for me to gain razor focus, but it doesn't bother me. Sounds strange, almost defiant, but there's a good reason for this. As a father, I am walking a balance beam. My health is the most important thing I can give to my children, because not only does it help me interact and spend time with them, and keeps me around to enjoy them, but it also sets an example for them to follow later in their own lives. And I'm HEALTHY now ... that's what's so fantastic. Yellow days or not, I eat nothing but healthy foods (hey, a few pretzels are my nemesis, but when did a pretzel kill anyone? LOL) and I exercise. That's what's important .... so why the yellow? Why be on some regimen at all?
The truth is that I'm ready to trim down the ole love handles. And to do that means nutrition. Pure and point blank, any time I've manipulated my body composition either to gain mass or lose fat, it has always been 90% the nutrition that has accomplished the goal. To be honest, raising the protein content, lowering the carb content, increasing flaxseed oil intake and zig-zagging is the KEY for my body. However, I'm trying something new now but it's not going to be a good experiment unless I stick to the plan. The plan is eating less protein than I'm used to (which so far hasn't stalled any muscle gains, that's for certain) and practice food combining.
Okay, I digress. Back to the ... er, "I'm not worried about yellow" part. I've reached low bodyfat several times in my life - the pictures across the top testify this fact - and each time it has not been a walk in the park. In fact, it was the hardest thing in my life to do. MAINTAINING low bodyfat after reaching it never was hard - for example, I've stayed under 9% body fat for half a year at a time - but getting there has always meant razor sharp focus, a mental game, discipline, no room for error, and in all honesty making those little abdominal muscles my TOP priority.
The last time I approached this endeavor culminated in an event that disturbed me to the core. My son was playing a lot of basketball, and my wife asked him, "Why don't you have Dad come out and play or watch?" His reply was that he didn't want to "bother" me because he knew I was so focused on my training and needed my sleep, etc.
Now that is point where every father has to pause and say, "What have I done?" Because, make no mistake, as much as I like being lean, there is NO excuse to have my children feeling like training comes before them. An important part of my life? Yes. But so important I'd not want to see my own son play basketball? Uh-uh. Sorry. No go.
So the past several months were an attempt to piece my life back together with the same priorities. I'd traded addiction to drugs and alcohol and cigarettes and food for an addiction to training! So the first thing I did was put my children FIRST. This meant training had to shift. No more first thing in the morning, because I was getting irritable at night trying to get to sleep at a decent hour. I also had to break myself of the NEED to train above all else.
So ... my solution? I went on a 14-day juice fast and did a lot of prayer and reading of Scripture. No exercise. After that prayer, I felt called to run, so I stopped weight training and went through a period of several months doing nothing but running. My body took the obvious hit from this sacrifice - I lost substantial muscle mass and my metabolism crawled to a halt - but the runs were not as intrusive, there were only a few per week, and the rest of the time was spent with my children and focusing on God.
After about 6 months of this, I decided to start weight training again. My son was interested in a program so we began training together. This was an incredible combination because I came closer to him than I've ever been - that was "our hour" to really bond and share things. Sometimes my daughter would come down, too, and pretend workout on the Swiss ball or with light dumbbells. The whole family would get together and it was a very fun occassion.
So now I've come full circle. I think I've separated weight training and reconnected it as a passion and something I enjoy, but not as a vain pursuit or some obsession that would alienate my children. Don't get me wrong - I don't think bodybuilding in and of itself is vain. I love doing it, that's why I still do it. And when someone is going to prepare for a competition, this is a sacrifice they make - like ANY elite athlete would make - and they must create and CONTROL that obsession to drive them through to victory. See, with me, I wasn't controlling the effort - I was letting the effort control me! And that's the difference.
So here I am, now, back on track, ready to train, but not ready to ever put training back in front of my children. And what's so ironic is that the decisions I've made that put me in yellow were all psychological and none of them were threatening. I mean, seriously, the decision to grab a preztel here or eat an extra portion there - those are all mind games, those are all about control. See, I'm playing a mind game with myself and pulling the trump card as an excuse - oh, I don't want to OBSESS over the food. In reality, by breaking down and eating foods not on my plan, I'm actually giving in to a worse obsession!
Everyone has this point in their program where they realize they can succeed. What may seem odd to many is that this can be very scary - the knowledge that you can take control of and change your entire life can be intimidating. And here I am - I've found my balance, I've incorporated my training so it doesn't threaten the time that I spend with my children and often helps bring me closer to them by involving them. I have a great job and I am comfortable in a church that feels like home. And I've found Christ, my savior, who makes all things possible.
So now, here I am, afraid of success. See, when we put our lives on autopilot, we make it "easy". It's really harder on ourselves - the guilt, the frustration, the feeling of being trapped - but that routine is such an easy mold to fill, and going through the motions such an easy dance to choreograph. But when we take control, when we choose which bite passes our lifts or when we'll lift a weight and even how much we'll lift - suddenly we are at the helm. And while we have full control to steer our lives into success, we also have to face something scarier: decisions! Instead of deciding to just "go with the flow", suddenly we have the power to create our own success. We must make the decision to succeed, and not settle for second best. We must choose to live.
So here I am, after a nice little spell of yellow days, looking inside, and realizing ... it's all there. It's a blessing. I'm blessed. Now it's time to stop drifting, and start deciding. Start controlling. Now it's time to choose.
I choose to live.
Remember, God loves each and every one of you. And so do I.
Jeremy
posted by Jeremy on 4/16/2003 7:28:35 AM | | BAH - pretzels | Week 3 of 12, Day 16 of 84
... not the pretzels fault, only mine. Lack of focus. BLAH!
-J
posted by Jeremy on 4/15/2003 6:34:34 PM |
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