Archive for July, 2007

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Things I like eating

July 31, 2007

There is a lot of good generic nutritional advice that most people are aware of these days. Some common ones I am sure you have heard:

  • Eat less saturated fat
  • Eat less trans fat
  • Eat less refined carbohydrates
  • Eat less sodium
  • Eat less processed foods
  • Eat less deep fried foods

But what can we eat? Again, no doubt you are familiar with these:

  • Eat more fruits and vegetables
  • Eat fiber rich foods
  • Eat lean fish and meats

All good advice. Often the missing link between generic advice and the real world is putting recommendations into practice. So what are some simple meal/snack ideas that meet these recommendations?

Well, here are two ideas based on what I am currently eating:

  • Small bag of nuts. Buy in bulk walnuts, cashews, peanuts, almonds, pistachio, pecans, brazil nuts. Mix them all up and then divide into small portions – about a handful worth in each. Add one to your lunch box each day.
  • Fresh berries and plain yogurt. When you hear someone say all foods that are good for you don’t taste any good, serve them up some fresh berries. I keep some frozen berries (strawberries, blueberries and raspberries), defrost them and add yogurt.

Make eating foods like these a habit, and don’t be surprised if they help you meet your training and nutritional goals.

Posted in Diet, Fat Loss, Fitness, Food, Health, Nutrition, Weight Gain, Weight Loss, What I'm Eating | Leave a Comment »

The cost of protein

July 30, 2007

I was wondering exactly how much a protein costs. Every time I work out or exercise, I think of the best way to get protein, but what is the most cost effective way of getting it?

I decided to go to New Zealand’s cheapest supermarket and check out some prices and protein content of 31 different foods.

Before I show you what found I should discuss a number of (big) factors I did not consider:

  • quality / biological value of the proteins. This is a hugely important factor in nutrition. Eggs are one of the ‘benchmark’ foods because it contains all of the different elements that make up a protein, many other foods do not
  • carbohydrate content
  • fat content
  • convenience – this is why sport drinks and bars have become hugely popular. Many people can not be bothered grilling and eating a chicken breast – compared to munching away on a chocolate protein bar
  • micro-nutrient content / vitamins / minerals – If it ever swam, walked, or came from the ground or off a tree it is likely to be better than sources that did not
  • I also made sure the serving size was appropriate (the amount you would have to eat may be unrealistic in some foods, for example peanut butter is relatively cheap, but you would have to eat 9 teaspoons to get 10g of protein!)

Inclusion criteria was simple: A product that I have bought before for its protein content, or products that I regularly see or hear about people eating for their protein content.

Here are the results:

  • Food item / Cost per 100g protein (in NZD)
  • Calci-trim Milk / 4.02
  • Protein powder / 5.68
  • Baked Beans / 6.02
  • Edam Cheese / 6.40
  • Light Cottage Cheese / 7.40
  • Flavored canned Tuna / 8.47
  • Grilled Chicken Breast / 8.51
  • Protein Drink / 11.00
  • Almonds / 14.45
  • Egg – free range / 14.78
  • Beef Jerky / 15.30
  • Protein Bar / 16.00
  • One Square Meal / 22.10
  • Smoked Salmon Sushi / 27.33

Interesting to note:

  • there seems to be a pretty strong correlation between convenience and price – i.e ready to consume varieties tended to be more expensive than things you have to cook / prepare / mix up.
  • the spread of cost amongst the foods I checked was quite high – for example a protein bar was 4 times more expensive than calci-trim milk
  • also, dog food came in number one out of all the foods I checked – $1.92 per 100g ‘crude protein’ – half the price of the best human food!

Posted in Bodybuilding, Diet, Exercise, Fat Loss, Fitness, Food, Gym, Health, Nutrition, Supplements, Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Weight Training, What I'm Eating | Leave a Comment »

Choose your friends carefully

July 29, 2007

A new study on obesity and social environment shows we are heavily influenced by not only our family members but our friends when it comes to developing obesity.

Click on this link, then “Is obesity contagious?”

Reported results:

If your sibling is obese you have a 40% chance of becoming obese, your husband / wife means only a 37% chance, yet your friend increases the risk of you becoming obese by 57%.

Choose your friends wisely.

Posted in Diet, Exercise, Fat Loss, Fitness, Food, Health, Nutrition, Weight Gain, Weight Loss | Leave a Comment »

Do we need more statistics?

July 29, 2007

Have you seen the latest innovation to Aussie Rules:

Sports Stats

As a trainer I find this kind of information useful as it allows you to precisely work out what is required of your athletes during performance. It will be interesting to see the work rate of some of these athletes – 20km in a match is a fair bit of running.

But do these additional stats add anything to viewing the game? Some may think; who cares if a player has a lower heart rate if they lose by a record margin.

Baseball is a great one for excessive statistics. I think it may have something to do with the relaxed pace of the game, and the need for television networks to fill the gaps with something. It captivates you when you watch it – suddenly you become interested that the current batter has a .251 ERA switch hitting on Tuesday nights against left handed pitchers who have one parent of Mexican decent.

It will be interesting to see how this one evolves…

Posted in Exercise, Fitness, Health, Sport | Leave a Comment »

Take my advice, I’m skinny!

July 28, 2007

Marjorie Dawes of the famed ‘Fat Fighters’ once said:

“…and because it’s half the calories, you can eat twice as much!”

It makes me laugh on more than one level because it is probably just as nutritionally sound as some other bits of advice that people do follow. But if we don’t belong to Fat Fighters (or a similar organisation) and want some good advice, where do we turn?

How many people take advice from Oprah? She has some supposed expert on her show advocating their diet which just helped her lose 20 pounds (again). Suddenly thousands think they have found the answer. It just shows how desperate some people are to lose weight.

When it comes to nutrition people seem to judge advisers solely on their physique. If they are a ‘good’ body shape then they are an expert. People who are in shape are deemed to have knowledge when it comes to nutrition, because a good physique is the main factor people think about with respect to food.

When someone is giving you advice ask yourself: Is the advice I am getting educated advice, or based on a study of one? Your friend may be attributing their success in body composition to the one habit that in fact is the most detrimental to their health and body composition.

The other factor we need to consider is our goals – are they purely aesthetic? You can be slightly overweight and a lot more healthy than someone who is ‘slim’, so consider the goals and health status of the person giving the advice. This may be where my fellow students got it wrong – just because it is a good idea for an elite endurance sportsman to consume something does not make it necessarily so for you.

Posted in Diet, Fat Loss, Food, Nutrition, Weight Gain, Weight Loss | Leave a Comment »

Enjoy your exercise

July 27, 2007

Have you seen this?

Wii Fitness in Canada

At first it may seem a little strange, but it does address one neglected aspect of exercise prescription: It must be fun.

As I have mentioned before, the best designed program in the world will not work if you can not do it, but also enjoy it. Unless you are incredibly motivated you are not going to do an exercise program that you do not enjoy, so this is a great idea.

One day we could go on the net and have a game of virtual tennis, soccer etc as our exercise – as long as it was realistic it would be fun I think.

Posted in Exercise, Fat Loss, Fitness, Gym, Health, Uncategorized, Weight Loss | Leave a Comment »

Don’t judge a book by its cover

July 26, 2007

Being fit and slightly overweight is a lot more healthy (less chance of disease) than being the correct weight, but not fit. There was more evidence out today backing up this theory:

Waist circumference study

Taking your own waist circumference is pretty easy:

Stand upright and relax. Measure the narrowest point between your bottom rib and belly button. Make sure the tape is kept horizontal, and is tight without depressing the skin.

You are deemed ‘high risk’ if you are over 102cm (men) or 88cm (women).

Posted in Anthropometry, Diet, Exercise, Fat Loss, Fitness, Gym, Health, Nutrition, Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Weight Training | 2 Comments »

Muscle strength

July 25, 2007

Ever wondered why some people in the gym are ‘big’ but not strong, or vice versa?

It’s because there are two factors determining strength:

  • the size of the muscle
  • the efficiency of neural pathways to that muscle

Most people only consider the size, and it is true that the bigger the muscle the more force it can produce. However, if the neural pathways (basically transmissions from brain to the muscle itself) are not trained then that muscle will not function maximally. Which one do you want to train? Are you a sports person who wants to get faster, or a bodybuilder who wants to put on muscle?

Think of it this way: If size was all that mattered in athletic performance then all bodybuilders would be the best weight lifters, sprinters, soccer players, sumo wrestlers, and sportsmen in the world. But they aren’t.
Why is this important? Because the different aspects are trained in significantly different ways.

Consider the differences in the training variables of ‘training intensity’ and ‘rest periods’:

Training intensity:

  • For size: 60-80+%
  • For neural efficiency: apx 50% (e.g. power movements), or 90-100% (max lifting), or apx 25% (e.g. plyometrics).

Rest intervals:

  • For size: 1-2minutes
  • For neural efficiency: 3-5+minutes

Next time you work out you can at least make sure these two variables match your desired training goals.

There are lots of other variables that you need to consider that I have not even mentioned here, namely: Volume, duration of sessions, training splits, periodisation, total number of exercises, how often you train, and specific exercises. Perhaps a later blog…

Size and neural efficiency in training do overlap of course – and that’s why sports people go through ‘bulking up’ phases then sports specific phases in their training. At the end of the day you could be incredibly neural efficient, but not have much mass to use or vice versa. The point is you should at least vary between these two systems, placing most emphasis on what it is you are trying to achieve.

Posted in Exercise, Fat Loss, Fitness, Gym, Health, Nutrition, Recovery, Uncategorized, Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Weight Training | Leave a Comment »

Carbohydrate addicts

July 24, 2007

So if you are one of the people who just can’t bear the thought of eating a burger without a bun, then I have found a solution!

Check this out.

“It’s not your fault”

I am not so sure about this one.

Does anyone drinking a can of coke think it is good for them?

If you start smoking and get addicted is “it not your fault” also?

Posted in Diet, Fat Loss, Fitness, Food, Health, Nutrition, Smoking, Weight Loss | 1 Comment »

Fast food

July 24, 2007

When I was in California a few years back I discovered In-N-Out Burger. As well as the usual fast food burgers and fries etc they sell three of their burgers ‘Protein style’, which essentially is the burger wrapped in a lettuce rather than a bun. It tasted great and using information on their Internet site I see that this reduces the amount of calories/ kilojoules by over 35% compared to the bun style burger. That is quite a lot.

A basic homemade ‘protein style’ burger recipe that I like to have is:

Lettuce, sliced tomato, gherkins, slice of Edam cheese, egg, tomato sauce, vegetarian (or meat if you like) pattie.

Messy, but good.

If you are totally addicted to the bun, then try using only half of it as a starter…

Posted in Diet, Fat Loss, Food, Nutrition, Weight Loss, What I'm Eating | Leave a Comment »

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