Post Workout Nutrition for Leaning Out

Summer is here!! Kind of......

In the past there have been several talks about cycling carbs towards post workout and how this can fuel performance and taste buds, but I have also lightly touched on the post workout meal being used for leaning out and balancing that bugger "insulin sensitivity."

In a recent post by Robb Wolf he discusses his way of leaning out after a mass gain experiment and how he used post workout nutrition to help burn the fat off.

"If you recall, I did a mass gain experiment about 9 months ago. Moved from 163-185. Strength was up, but I was pretty damn chubby. I have been following either CrossFit Football or Rutman’s ME-Black Box for training. For about 6 months I was still messing with some post WO carbs, typically about 50-70g depending upon the size of the WOD. Not surprisingly, my leaning out has been glacially slow. I thought back to when I just did cyclic low carb, what Poliquin had to say about leaning out (earn your carbs, be lean…) and I dropped to less than 50g of carbs per day with an occasional (once per week) larger carb meal that I just dropped in whenever. Result? Stunningly rapid fat loss. I’m about 178lbs but below 10% BF at this point. In general I’ve had 4 meals per day, large whacks of protein, just a little added fat and then loads of veggies. I have been using a post WO whey protein with coconut milk (40g protein, 20-30g fat) and I really like this.....I generally recommend against liquid food for fat-loss scenarios but as with all things, there are exceptions. Keep in mind, a low carb approach will NOT turn you into a CrossFit Super Star. It is however a nice approach to leaning out, getting healthy and not being a fat-ass for summer."

Heather and I are going through a similar process based off a different kind of carb cycling. I have already done it but she will be roughing her way through it starting today. It involves very low carbs to generate a shift in metabolism from sugar burning to fat burning. After which you cycle between high carb and low carb meals. The benefits and points that I like are that I can have massive carbs meals with variety and those meals help instead of hurt AND the only thing I really have to count is carbs rather than try to figure out ratios between carbs/pro/fat. It gives me a lot more freedom when the freedom is given. Tough part is only the beginning but really if you have been playing around with paleo or zone then its not that hard to tighten the belt. If you are a typical American on a typical American diet this could seem like coming off heroin...because...its extremely similar. So maybe for the next week or so be careful on how you approach Heather.....she may bite.... also if you see me with bruises are scars.....I fell down some stairs and I love my girlfriend very much =) *coughpleasehelpmesneeze*

Dont go SO nuts

I know in the past few weeks a few of you have recently heard me say that you should start alternating healthy fats not only for variety but overall health. I finally came across an article from the paleo newsletter on the topic so I thought that I would share it.

I have said before that peanuts/almonds/cashews should not be the fat staple but included once in a while. The reasons I was being told was "because______" and then it would be something science-y that I couldn't remember. No finally I have an answer from a great source.

Newsletter:

The Debate over the Safety of Legumes by Dr. Loren Cordain.

Legumes, such as beans, lentils, peanuts, and peas are ubiquitous in modern society. Even the Mayo Clinic's website labels legumes as "among the most versatile and nutritious foods available." As many readers already know, though, the Paleo Diet does not include legumes. To explain why, we'd like to share the following thoughtful question regarding whether legumes could have been a nutritional resource for our Paleolithic ancestors that would have been incorporated into our evolutionary heritage.

"Dear Dr. Cordain,

I have read your Paleo Diet books and some interviews with you as well, but I have a question the answer to which continues to evade me. If we are to eat as our ancestors, i.e. as nature designed (with which I completely agree), would they not have eaten legumes as long as they didn't experience immediate discomfort from doing so? I understand how raw peanuts or cashews (or their evolutionary predecessors) would not have been eaten as they were poisonous until cooked and would have caused distress, but what about such things as string beans or sugar-snap peas? These can be eaten raw with no immediate ill effect, regardless of lectin content, so wouldn't the ancestral equivalent of these foods have been eaten by Paleolithic man?

What would have dissuaded him? And as such, shouldn't we now be able to handle them? (As you can tell, I miss my beans. I'm also assuming there were Paleolithic equivalents). I've been kind of going on the theory that if you can eat it raw it's okay (because they would have)."

--Holly Schmaling

Dear Holly:

My feeling is that pre-agricultural hunter-gatherers would have been opportunists and would have consumed virtually all-edible foods. However, optimal foraging theory suggests that they would have tried to hunt, gather and fish foods that supplied the greatest energy input per energy expended. They also would have preferred readily digestible carbohydrate when animal foods were lean with little fat. Because legumes are only available seasonally, they would not have provided a staple food source until the development of agriculture. This means that humans would not have evolved the ability to cope with the "dark side" of legumes.

In general, most legumes are concentrated sources of both lectins and saponins. These toxic compounds serve to prevent predation by insects, fungi, bacteria and other organisms. The problem that saponins present for people is that saponins bind cholesterol in the gut membrane to create pores in the gut (intestinal permeability). While most dietary lectins are not toxic to humans, legumes and grains are the primary exceptions because legume and grain lectins can bind to gut tissue. While the entry of dietary lectins into peripheral circulation has been sparsely examined, is quite likely that all lectins capable of binding gut epithelial tissue can also enter into lymph/circulation.1-5

Intestinal permeability allows toxins and bacteria, from which the body needs to be protected, to breach the gut barrier and gain chronic access to the immune system. This abnormal situation may stimulate the confused response seen in autoimmune diseases when the body's immune system indiscriminately attacks healthy tissues and organs. It appears that the immune system has lost the ability to distinguish between the body and foreign invaders, such as microbe or food antigens. Approximately 33% of autoimmune diseases present with a leaky gut, and most autoimmune diseases have yet to be tested.

-----

So there you have it. My advice is to alternate between nuts and other kinds of fats and even between different kinds of nuts themselves. My rotating list includes: cashews, pecans, walnuts, olives, avocado, almonds, peanuts, almond butter.

Any questions please post them in the comments page and I will get back to you.

Pre/ Post Workout Meals

Here are some good Pre/Post workout meals that I found in the latest addition of the Paleo Diet Newsletter. If you are not a subscriber of it, you should be. Everytime I get one in my email there is always something useful or interesting to read. Enjoy!

"The following are some of my favorites. For a complete listing of why these are favorites, review sections on what to eat before, during and after training around the time of a training session in The Paleo Diet For Athletes.

• 
  Natural, unsweetened applesauce with plain egg white protein powder and a sprinkle of salt


• 
  Baked yam with hard-boiled egg whites (I'll give the yolks to the dogs as I prefer a light meal of protein and carbs only if workout session is going to follow immediately and I don't have time to digest the fat) and again, a touch of table salt


• 
  Bananas - either fresh or sliced, and then frozen. There's not a time I enjoy a banana more than after a workout session! (usually Robb Wolf has suggested banana and chocolate milk as a great post workout meal, as well as sweet potato and applesauce with sprinkled cinnamon.)


• 
  Pineapple - again, right after a workout is a perfect time for this fruit. Pineapple (and papaya and mango) contain bromelain, an enzyme that aids in digestion and helps to settle the stomach. That's quite handy for those hard sessions when you've pushed your limits, and ended up feeling a touch of nausea!


• 
  Dried fruit - the best time to eat this higher-in-sugar snack is right after a session when your muscles are screaming for carbohydrate to repair and refuel for your next session.


• 
  Cantaloupe - a great source of potassium, even higher than bananas!

Finally, I can't omit the essential: the recovery drink recommended in Paleo For Athletes, "Homebrew." It's superior to anything you're going to find commercially available, and it contains fruit, protein and salt. You'll never tire of it, as you can always vary which fruits you use to keep it interesting. "

Eat Your Lungs Out While Getting Leaner

I know a lot of you don't have the time to read the amazing book Good Calories, Bad Calories, and honestly I don't blame you. But overall it is one of the most important books on our shelves today. Harry Pre-puberty and Twilight emo vampires shouldn't be on your summer reading if you know whats good for you. But there are some break downs of what it in this book. I have attached an article to break this down. The book is fracking long...I'm not gonna lie. Gary Taubes spent like 7 years doing research and went all the way back into what went wrong with the human diet. How far back? He brings up evidence of human diet before we even landed in America (we meaning....I'm not going to get into that). Many of you don't know this, but I have a BS in Creative Writing which means I like to read books, write essays and stories and I would never, EVER want to write a bibliography like this book has. But it is, like I said, probably one of the most important books you could/should read. It breaks down whats wrong with our Big Brother controlling our food, the experiments we have run on ourselves as humans, all of the myths of foods and more. It DOES NOT tell you what to eat though. You should be able to read between the lines. I will give you a hint though if you ask nicely (COUGH*meanveggiesseedsnutslittlestarchsomefruitnosugarnobread*SNEEZE).

This article was taking from a body building website that bashes CF pretty regularly and are interested more in aesthetics than performance and especially health. If you watch what the interviewer says in response to Gary says its pretty fun. He becomes completely stumped and shocked. Want to go a step further and read some more funny stuff, read the discussion page and the bottom and what some people say about eating. Its a HOOT!

Enjoy....and learn something....

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_interviews/eat_your_lungs_out_while_getting_leaner

Balance

Pretty interesting article. There needs to be a balance between eating healthy like we have for/since the beginning of our creation, exercise and the newly developed, horrific, processed, chemical added, delicious, addictive, inflammation giving, disease forming, life ending food that we have made up in the past 200 years.
Basic take home point: eat like you're suppose to (healthy: lean meats/veggies: seeds/nuts: little fruit/some starch: NO SUGAR) but occasionally you can add some of the wonderful American diet to your mix and of course exercise..... some how.... some way...

Article:

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/fast-food/the-dean-karnazes-diet/#more-1484

Got to love it

My momma forwarded this to me....interesting....

Baby Carrots
The following is information from a farmer who grows and packages carrots for IGA, METRO, LOBLAWS, etc
The small cocktail (baby) carrots you buy in small plastic bags are made using the larger crooked or deformed carrots which are put through a machine which cuts and shapes them into cocktail carrots - most people probably know this already.
What you may not know and should know is the following:
Once the carrots are cut and shaped into cocktail carrots they are dipped in a solution of water and chlorine in order to preserve them. (this is the same chlorine used in your pool).
Since they do not have their skin or natural protective covering, they give them a higher dose of chlorine.
You will notice that once you keep these carrots in your refrigerator for a few days, a white covering will form on the carrots. This is the chlorine which resurfaces. At what cost do we put our health at risk to have esthetically pleasing vegetables?
Chlorine is a very well-known carcinogen, which causes Cancer.. I thought this was worth passing on. Pass it on to as many people as possible in hopes of informing them where these carrots come from and how they are processed.
I used to buy those baby carrots for vegetable dips.
I know that I will never buy them again!!!!
Confirmed by Snopes:
Snopes.com: Baby Carrots ..... Are baby carrots made from deformed full-sized carrots that have been soaked in chlorine? ...--> Contaminated Food --> Carrot and Shtick Carrot and Shtick Claim: Baby carrots are made from deformed full-sized carrots that have been... ....carrots that you buy in grocery stores come from deformed crooked big carrots. They are put through a machine to become small cocktail carrots. This part... ..I think after reading this we will all start making our own carrot sticks out of fresh carrots and keep them in the fridge (a few at a time), right?....
Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:22:59 GMT http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/carrots.asp