Eating Right for Fitness

Did you know that turning the food pyramid upside-down is the key to normalizing your weight and optimizing your fitness? Indeed, this point was well made in Donal O'Neill’s film, Cereal Killers. By eliminating sugars and grains, and dramatically boosting his fat intake, O’Neill was able to dramatically improve his health. A slew of professional athletes have also switched from traditionally-recommended carb-loading to a high-fat diet, and are reaping the benefits in their careers. As noted by Steven Moore in his write-up of the film:7 “The film features a host of elite athletes and team doctors and nutritionists who are now either using the high fat diet or are advocating it for their teams. World Ironman Champion Sami Inkinen ditched his high-carb high-sugar diet for a 70 percent high fat diet with incredible results. He also only trains for half the time of his rivals because he’s adapted his body to run on fat... Donal says many athletes have been using the high fat diet for years but don’t want to talk about it publicly because they don’t want their competitors to know what’s behind their success. ‘Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson changed to the high fat diet and his body shape has changed incredibly – he’s now built like a tank. The US skier Bode Miller has gone low-carb and he dropped 18lbs.’” The ‘Healthy Processed Food’ Myth The fact is, you've been thoroughly misled when it comes to conventional dietary advice. It’s near impossible to maintain optimal health by stocking your fridge and pantry with processed foods and beverages—no matter what health benefits are claimed by the food manufacturers. Think a breakfast cereal can lower your cholesterol and keep your heart healthy? Or that 6-8 servings of whole grain will help you lose weight? Think again! Many doctors, nutritionists, and government health officials will tell you to keep your saturated fat below 10 percent, while keeping the bulk of your diet, about 60 percent, as carbs. Even diabetic organizations promote carbohydrates as a major component of a healthy diet—even though grains break down to sugar in your body, and sugar promotes insulin resistance, which is the root cause of type 2 diabetes in the first place! What they don’t tell you (probably because they don’t know it), is that these grossly flawed dietary guidelines are largely dictated by the processed food industry—not science. Nutritional science actually tells us this kind of diet is a recipe for weight gain and chronic health problems. Refined carbohydrates promote chronic inflammation in your body, elevate low-density LDL cholesterol, and ultimately lead to insulin and leptin resistance. Insulin and leptin resistance, in turn, is at the heart of obesity and most chronic disease, including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's—all the top killers in the US! Yet such evidence has been ignored or marginalized for the benefit of big business, which is focused on producing cheap foods with high profit margins. The federal government subsidizes the growing of grains and sugar (most in the form of corn, which is then turned into high fructose corn syrup), so that’s where the majority of profits are. I challenge you to read the labels of the processed foods and beverages in your kitchen right now and find one that doesn’t contain some form of corn syrup, soy, vegetable oil, or grain. These ingredients are everywhere, and all those refined carbohydrates and harmful processed fats are fuel for weight gain and a whole spectrum of associated health problems. Healthy Fat—It Does Your Body Good If you want to get back into the driver’s seat, so to speak, you need to ignore what you’ve been told is “healthy,” and take a fresh look at what actually works. In his film, O'Neill switches over to a diet where 70 percent of his calories come from healthy fat—most of it in the form of macadamia nuts (my personal favorite)—and the remaining 30 percent of his caloric intake is divvied up between protein and fibrous fruits and vegetables. Over the course of 28 days, O'Neill: Loses weight and body fat Increases his lean muscle mass Feels more energetic and improves his athletic performance Increases his resting metabolic rate Improves his blood pressure, cholesterol, and other measurements to the point that he no longer has any risk factors for heart disease, which he's genetically predisposed for His results also show the benefits of a high-fat, low-carb diet for athletes, as it results in higher, more sustained energy. This is a hallmark of ketogenesis, where your body is burning fat rather than sugar as its primary fuel. When your body burns fat, you don't experience the energy crashes associated with carbs, and this is of significant benefit for athletes. While the high fat diet worked for O’Neil it will likely only work well for you if you are one of the 80 percent of those with insulin resistance (diabetes, high blood pressure, overweight, taking a statin drug). If you aren’t insulin resistant it is fine to increase healthy carbs. How to Eat for Optimal Health The answer to run-away weight gain and most chronic disease states hinges on a) avoiding inflammatory spikes in blood sugar, insulin and leptin, and b) reversing insulin and leptin resistance. To do this, you need to: Avoid refined sugar, processed fructose, and grains. This means avoiding processed foods of all kinds Eat whole foods, ideally organic, and replace the grain carbs you cut out with: Moderate amounts of high-quality protein from organic, grass-fed or pastured animals (this is to ensure you're not getting the antibiotics, genetically engineered organisms, and altered nutritional fat profile associated with factory farmed animals). Most Americans eat far too much protein, which can be detrimental. To learn more, please see my previous article: The Very Real Risks of Consuming Too Much Protein. As much high-quality healthy fat as you want (saturated and monounsaturated). Many health experts now believe that if you are insulin or leptin resistant (as 80 percent of the US population is), you likely need anywhere from 50 to 85 percent of your daily calories in the form of healthy fats. Good sources include coconut and coconut oil, avocados, butter, nuts (particularly macadamia), and animal fats. Avoid all trans fats and processed vegetable oils (such as canola and soy oil). Also take a high-quality source of animal-based omega-3 fat, such as krill oil. As many vegetables as you can muster. Juicing your vegetables is a good way to boost your vegetable intake. Another "add-on" suggestion is to start intermittent fasting, which will radically improve your ability to burn fat as your primary fuel. This too will help restore optimal insulin and leptin signaling. There is simply no question or doubt in mind that intermittent fasting is the single most effective strategy to resolve your insulin resistance and junk food cravings. Bust the Myth of ‘Exercise Benefits in a Bottle’ Before It Starts In summary, there’s no getting around the fact that if you seek optimal health, you’re going to have to make bigger changes than adding another “souped-up” beverage to your shopping list. In fact, removing processed foods and beverages from your list is one of the first steps toward a healthier life. These changes do not need to be traumatically costly or time consuming however. In fact, you may find that eating a diet based on whole foods can save you money. This is definitely true in the long run, as health care costs can easily devour any savings you might get from buying cheap processed fare. Eating a high-fat, low-carb diet will help you shift from burning sugar to burning fat as primary fuel, and this has far-ranging health benefits, including weight loss and increased energy and stamina. As for exercise, high-intensity interval training is by far the most efficient and therefore the least time consuming. Super slow strength training is also an excellent choice, as it gives you both the benefits from weight lifting and the benefits from high intensity exercises. I also recommend avoiding sitting as much as possible, and making it a point to walk more every day. A fitness tracker can be very helpful for this. I suggest aiming for 7,000 to 10,000 steps per day, and this is in addition to your regular fitness regimen, not in lieu of it. There’s an explosion of fitness trackers coming and I would encourage you to consider getting one as they can also help you track your sleep and help you reach your eight hours. It is nearly impossible to change something that you aren’t carefully monitoring.