Getting Back On Track

So, the holidays are winding down, and in-spite of your best intentions, you over did it. It happened at my house, and chances are it happened at some of yours. No big deal. Really.

Plan A - Just get back into the swing of things and the weight and belly bulge will go down on its own. Go back to the Average Guys Diet and start from there. Keep doing what ever exercise you are/were doing. At least one hard weight work out and one hard interval session for cardio will do. This may take a couple of weeks or more, depending on out of control you got at the buffet table.

Plan B- Many of us, me included, like to get the holiday weight and bloat off as quickly as possible. For four to seven days, up-to about 10 max, depending on how over the top you went, Eat meat, beans, eggs, cheese, nuts, olive oil, non starchy vegetables, and fruits, and nothing else. Limit your fruits to 2 pieces a day or what ever is your minimum amount accord to the AGD . Every other day, do some type of full body workout. The "No excuses work out", Circuit training with weights, or even push ups and sit-ups combined with Interval training on a Bike. Mix and match as you wish. In one week, you should have dropped the holiday weight. Then its back to eating right, and exercising on a normal schedule. Like I said before, you got to keep doing it forever.

Average Guys Diet Revisited

Its been about a year since I last blogged for Average Guys and I think I'm over due. A lot has happened in the past year, and I am still dealing with some of the fallout of these changes. Along the way I kind of lost sight of what I was trying to convey. Recently however one of my office colleagues had a health issue. He's an Average Guy, and its guys like him who need this advice more than most.

Way back here I laid out the template for the Average Guys diet. Today when I look at it again, I think it stands up pretty well. That's not to say that its perfect, it isn't. Or that in light of today's economy that some changes and variations couldn't work just as well. Now, having read over it again I will say this.... If you can still afford to eat according to the original plan with out limiting your selections to hamburger and hot dogs, by all means feel free, and use these updates as needed or desired.

Generally speaking, the most expensive part of any higher protein, lower starch type diet is meat. My original recommendation was to divide your body weight by 10 to get the amount of meat/eggs/cheese your are supposed to eat everyday. In our cheap eating model you are going to divide your weight by 13 and round down any remainder. So in this case our 210lb guy would be eating 16oz of meat/eggs/cheese a day instead of 21. Since we are taking away 5oz of meat we need to add something back. That my something my friends is beans. Navy black, kidney, garbanzoand lentils, etc... Yes, the musical fruit. I can hear the paleo purists howl already, too bad. Beans have gotten humans thru some pretty tough times in history, and likely they will do it again. Both canned and dried bean will work, with dried being the most economical, but most time consuming. Four our example guy, since he is reducing his meat by 5 ounces, he is going to add 1 1/4 cup of beans , (.25 Cup per ounce of meat), to his daily plan. So chili con carne, sausage and bean casserole, even baked beans are back on the menu.

In doing this you no longer get to count beans as a vegetable however. So in dividing your weight by 30 to get veggie servings, our average guy would be eating 7 servings of mostly non-starchy vegetables.

Fruit servings are still weight divided by 70.

Still eat an ounce of nuts, nut butters or seeds everyday.

Add at least two tablespoons of fat from olive oil or real butter to you plan. This is important when eating the beans and vegetables to aid in digestion.

As before, the above are minimums that are too be eaten every day. If eating all of this you still want a biscuit or something, go for it, just don't stuff yourself to do it, and don't do it everyday. A serving or two of dairy is good if you digest milk. Plain whole yogurt or kefir is always a good choice, especially mixed with fruit. The plan isn't perfect and you shouldn't worry about perfection. The idea is to be on track most of the time, with allowances for special occasions and real life situations.

Ancient Amish Secret Ingredient

Well friends and neighbors I have just come back from a week of vacation, err, intensive research that is, in Lancaster County PA. And I am here to tell you the real secret of the Amish. Now lets not kid ourselves, the Amish do live with out many of the modern conveniences most folks consider necessities, like electricity and cars. And yes, the do travel about on bicycles, scooters, foot, and horse and buggy. The Amish also eat, a lot. I personally witnessed a petit young woman eat a rather large sausage, potatoes, cabbage, a couple of large rolls with butter and jam, a large whoopee pie and a quart of home-made root beer. She didn't even burp. After which she promptly went back to work. Had I eaten that much I would have needed a nap. Rather than approach the young woman I asked an Amish Matron, who was not so petit, what made Amish cooking so good. At first she looked at me with the kind of look a woman gives a man when he has said the wrong thing, then she softened, a little. "Young English", she said with a bit of accent, "Care we, for them that our cooking eat". After which she turned her attention to things far more pressing then my questions. (PA Dutch Grammar can be exemplified by the following sentence. Johnny run the stairs up, looked the window out, and saw the street coming down with the soldiers.) Like most things Amish there were no frills, or fancy explanations, just the simple truth. The people who are providing the food, care about what it is they are feeding the people who eat it. A quick glance at the ingredient list of Amish goods is a lesson too. I am a big fan of the potato chips, Ingredients; Potatoes, lard, salt. Pretzels, Ingredients - flour, water, salt. The bread - flour, milk, butter, salt. All made daily. You won't find any polysorbate, red dye number 6 or any other unpronounceable ingredient. Just real food, made by people who care.

Saturated Fat, Tempest in a teapot.

                               Fat     SFA
4oz 85/15 ground beef broiled  11.9   4.5
2 oz scrapple                   8     2
eggs whole x2                  10.6   3.2
2 chicken thighs skin on       19.2   5.4
olive oil 2.5 tbsp             33.75  4.75
almonds 1 oz                   14.4   1.1
Plain Whole Yogurt 1cup         7     5
Totals                        104.85 25.95

According to conventional wisdom, and popular advice, we should get no more than 10% of our calories from saturated fat, based on our projected caloric needs. My projected caloric requirements are about 2400 Cal. per day which gives me a daily allotment of 26 grams of saturated fat, out of a total of 106 grams total fat based on the recommendations of Willet and Skerrit (EAT, DRINK, AND BE HEALTHY). Now 26 grams of saturated fat doesn't seem like much, but when you look at what I ate above, 26 grams of Saturated fat goes quite a ways. The above values come from calorieking.com

Now to be honest I didn't measure and weigh my fruits, vegetables, or beans, I'm just not that concerned about counting calories right now. But for completeness I also ate cantaloupe, grapes, a nectarine, a peach, blueberries, chic peas, a big salad, broccoli, spinach, and a couple of scoops of whey protein powder.

Lets call the case against saturated fat what it really is, a thinly veiled political war on eating meat.

Beans and Biscuits

My great-grand parents, Henry and Mena Bennett, whom I called Poppy and Mom-mom, observed most of the twentieth century. They survived two world wars, the great depression, Korea, Vietnam, Water-Gate and disco. Even in my earliest recollections of them, they were already old. Intellectually, I know they were once young, I just never knew them that way. Most of my memories of them revolve around Fishing, working in the garden, and making home made ice cream. I did as a matter of course stay with them, particularly in the summer when I was out of school. The garden had all sorts of vegetables, and a bean patch that would have made Thoreau proud. They were not fat, and actually would probably be considered skinny by todays standards. I can still recall what they ate for breakfast every day, Corn flakes with milk and sugar, biscuits with butter and jam, coffee with cream and sugar. Every day. Being a woman of her generation, my great-grand mother used real butter and cream, real sugar, lard and gold medal flour to make her biscuits, and made her own jam. Lunch, especially this time of year as berries and other fruits become available locally, was often a piece of freshly baked pie or short-cake. I can still picture in my mind, Mom-mom standing at the sink in a plain house dress capping and slicing strawberries with the smell of short bread in the oven. How eagerly I waited for the cast iron skillet containing the short bread to be pulled from the oven. And the still warm biscuit to be topped with a generous scoop of sweetened strawberries and topped with clotted cream. Few things can match such childhood memories. The dinner I remember most often was biscuits and beans. Might great grand father loved lima beans. From a big pot with a big piece of fat pork came the beans served in blue agate bowls. My great grand mothers biscuits ( My grand mother has commented that my great-grand mother made biscuits every day for more than 60 years) and stewed tomatoes rounded out the meal. They would cut small pieces of the pork and mix it with my beans, and butter my biscuits. The stewed tomatoes were not my favorite, but I ate what was in front of me and didn't complain. Perhaps it was the love with which she made everything, but nobody could cook like my great-grand mother. The most simple foods had a flavor and a comforting effect that no gourmet meal can touch.

By current standards they did everything wrong. They ate butter and pork fat. They ate sugar and white flour. They ate fried foods, remind me sometime to tell you about her clam fritters. And in spite of all that they lived to ripe old ages with out succumbing to heart disease or diabetes. They lived quietly and with a deliberateness seldom seen today. How much did they know about how to live that we failed to learn?

Average Guys Guide #10 plan B

The alternative plan for Spring Training for the Average Guy, cleaning it up to look better nekid, or close to it.

The Definition Diet

Unlike plan A, there is no measuring, weighing or counting of anything. The diet goes like this; eat as much meat, eggs, cheese and green vegetables as you want, just don't stuff yourself in the process. The only exceptions to the green vegetables are red peppers, summer squash, mushrooms, and cauliflower. So if its not on the above list don't eat it, no exceptions. Now you can add butter, oil, avocados and cream to make your food taste better, and for cooking. You can drink water, coffee, tea, wine and hard liquor (Max of 3 drinks total per day for men, 2 for women). Again, no exceptions - Not even diet soda or crystal light. Spices and seasonings of all kinds are fine as long as the don't have any type of sugar or starch in them. Thats it. If you don't see it mentioned, it isn't part of the plan. I may seem to repeat myself here, but people always seem to say but what about ...., If it isn't on the list the answer is no, you can't eat it or drink it. Not for the next 6 weeks. For the first few days, you might feel a little rough, suck it up. In six weeks you can accomplish what the plan A guys are going to take 12 weeks to do. But like most things in life there are trade offs. So you'll just have to console yourself for the next 6 weeks with delmonico steaks, broccoli with cheese sauce and Jack Daniels or Cab Sav for dinner.

The workout requirements for plan b are the same as for plan A. Though I would recommend the Circuit Training option over the strength training and cardio combination. I recently came across a good collection of routines for this program in a book called the "Abs Diet - Get Fit Stay Fit". Its an interesting assortment of workouts using a variety of equipment that can be adapted easily. While the routines are certainly not strength focused, they will meet the bill for fitness and fat loss.

Average Guys Guide #10 plan A

Spring Training for the Average Guy, cleaning it up to look better nekid, or close to it.

The Neutral Diet

I call this the neutral diet because it is not high or low in anything. There will be some extremists who say that it's too much/little protein, or too many/too few carbs or too much/too little fat or too what ever. To all of them I say b*llsh*t. Now there are a couple of assumptions built in to the neutral diet. The first being that you are willing and able to do hard exercise 3 or 4 days a week. The second is that you are willing and able to plan and track your eating. Lastly, that you are at a body fat level that would be considered "healthy" by the ACSM. This means 15-24% for males, 22-31% for females. If you are fatter than this you can still use the basic template, just don't do the refeeds. If you are leaner then this it may not be enough calories and cause you to stall or lose lean mass.

The set up is simple. Your weight in lbs. equals the number of grams of carbs. Divide your weight in lbs. by 3 to get the number of fat grams, and multiply your weight in lbs. by 0.7 to get your grams of protein. Recalculate your diet with every 10 lbs of lost weight. To move from fat loss to maintenance ,add 200 calories to your day, in weekly increments. in a balanced manner. This set up provides sufficient carbs to fuel your work outs and avoid muscle glycogen depletion, adequate protein for muscle building and repair, and adequate fat to maintain hormonal tonus and provide satiety. While that sounds all sciencey, it means this, your won't "bonk" during your work outs, you shouldn't lose lean muscle, your hormone levels shouldn't get all crazy, and your food can still taste good.

As part of this, include one free meal a week, and one carb refeed every other week. Now, about free meals. These are not an excuse to go face down in a buffet until they call the cops to escort you out. Generally speaking I recommend this meal be eaten out with out worrying about your diet. Have a dessert and fried food if you like. Just don't gorge your self. The refeed is a bit more structured. In these, double the amount of carbs you eat for one day, while keeping the fat and protein level close to normal. Many people use refeeds to indulge in candy, pop-tarts, and pancakes with syrup. All of which are fine, as long as fat and protein levels are maintained.

The associated work out plan I recommend for this is three circuit training sessions a week using alternating routines, or two full body strength training sessions with some type of interval training done on two other days. If you don't know which way to go, try one for a month, then try the other the next month. See which one you prefer, or even continue to alternate on a monthly basis. Fred Fornicola has two excellent examples of circuit training on his blog.

Dumbbell Routine

PHA

Interval Training is explained here.

Keep this up for three months and you can drop enough fat to need smaller pants.

Colpo and Eades, they're both wrong.

I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about the recent Internet dust up between Dr M Eades and A Colpo. Two very bright individuals with strong ego's. Each with a vested interest, for very different reasons, in the existence, or lack there of, of a metabolic advantage in very low carb ketogenic diets (VLCKD). The basic problem for each of them is that each of their arguments can be, and have been negated. There are a number of studies that categorically find that any and all weight loss is a matter of caloric balance. There are other studies that find the exact opposite. To assert that there is a universal advantage to VLCKD's, is to invite a "black swan". In other words, all it takes to negate the argument, is a single person for whom the advantage does not exist. The same holds true for the opposite argument, one person who shows a metabolic advantage on a VLCKD, negates the argument that caloric balance is all that matters.

So what are we left with? A paradox? Not quite. 

Each argument assumes that the only independent variable is diet. When dealing with human beings however, things like diet do not exist in a vacuum. One of the big, if not the biggest variable in determining if someone will show a metabolic advantage with a low carb diet or not, is insulin sensitivity. If you are resistant to insulin, and/or have hyperinsulemia, then I have little doubt that carbohydrate restriction will allow you to eat more calories and still loose weight, then would be possible on a standard high carb low fat diet. Hence the existence of a metabolic advantage. If, however, you are insulin sensitive, a low carb diet will not affect your weight loss or gain beyond caloric balance. --No metabolic advantage. (In fact I've seen two studies that show that insulin sensitive people do better on low fat diets) 

So what we really should be asking is how do we tell who is going to derive the most benefit from low carb diets. If you and your doctor are willing, go and have some lab work done. A standard lipid panel, A1C, and fasting glucose, would get the job done. The standard lipid panel is going to provide you with your HDL and triglyceride numbers. Ideally when you divide your triglyceride number by your HDL number it should be less than 2, 3 is ok but not great, 4 is not good, and 6 is really not good. Your fasting glucose should be less than 100, and your A1C less than 6. Depending on where you are in your progression with insulin resistance, the Tg/HDL ratio will be the first place it will show, followed in order by high fasting glucose and then elevated A1C. If your glucose is over 126,and/or your A1C is over 7, you probably have or are well on your way to diabetes, and your doctor has probably already scheduled you for more tests. If any of the following apply to you, you can benefit by cutting down on your carb intake; fasting glucose is over 95; A1C is 6 or more; TG/HDL ratio is above 2. The farther you are from these values, the more you need to cut your carbs. If you are diabetic, or very close, then you may need to down to less than 50g of carbs, if you are just a little off, then somewhere between 100 - 150g will probably do the trick.

Average Guy's Guide #4

So, how ya doing so far? You're probably wondering when the miraculous transformation is going to start. Well, it ain't. This here is not some get ripped in 90 day type of program. This is about building a foundation of strength and health, one brick at a time. There are plenty of books and websites that'll promise you the moon,take your money, and leave you right where your are now, looking for a real answer. The real secret to strength and health is there ain't no secret. Its about eating right and getting regular exercise, for the rest of your natural life. Sorry to bust your bubble. Thats right, the pursuit of health and strength is not something you do for a little while and then you're done. Nope, to continue to reap the benefits of eating right and exercising, you got to do this forever.

So, Back to the eating right part. Protein, protein, protein. In case I was too subtle, PROTEIN. Forget all the nonsense you hear about the dangers of a high protein diet. Unless you have been diagnosed with kidney disease, a high protein diet is better than good for you. How much protein? I am so glad you asked. Since I am in The U.S., I will answer in pounds and ounces. Dive your weight in pounds by 10. That is how many ounces of meat/fish/foul you should eat everyday. Notice I didn't say grams of protein, this is how many ounces of meat you should put on your plate. A piece the size of a deck of cards is about three ounces. So if you weigh 210 lbs, that would be 21 ounces or seven decks of cards of meat. Such non meat items as eggs and cottage cheese can be used as well. Each large egg is one ounce of meat, a half cup of cottage cheese is 4 ounces.

Your mother was right, about vegetabels anyway. After protein, vegetables are the most important part of your diet. A serving a vegetables is about a cup raw. To get the number of servings you should eat divide your body weight in lbs. by 30. Round Up any decimal point to the next whole number. This is how many servings of vegetable you should eat everyday. One serving can be of root vegetables (carrots, beets, potatoes etc), and beans (navy, kdney etc) can be substituted for a serving as well. People who are carb sensitive may need to do an either/or on the root vegetables and beans.

For servings of fruit divide your body weight in lbs by 70, and round up as before. If you are carb sensitive stick to berries, apples, and citrus, and avoid tropical fruits (bananas, mangos).

Eat one ounce of nuts or seeds (almonds, walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds etc) or two table spoons of nut butters everyday.

The above are minimums. Divide it up over 3-4 meals and a snack or two. You can eat more if you like.

What about Pasta, cereal, and bread? Here is the deal. Fill your plate with the protein, vegetables and fruits first. If on any given day you have the choice between pasta and a potato, pick the potato. As long as you eat your minimums of the meat, vegies, fruits and nuts, you can eat what ever else you want, just don't stuff yourself to do it. I eat dairy almost everyday in the form of yoghurt, or milk in my protein shakes. I go to community dinners where spaghetti is served. I just make sure I eat meatballs, sausages and salad in sufficient quantities to go with it. BBQ's are easy, just stick to the ribs, chicken, beans, and fresh fruits. Everyday isn't going to be perfect. Life sometimes gets in the way of our best efforts. The object is to be on track 90% of the time. If you blow a meal, or a whole day for that matter, just get back on track the time you eat. Again, its not about being perfect, its about making progress and doing better over time.

NOTE: The above diet is based on a post Made by David Maurice in the Hard Gainers Round Table. To see the original diet as posted you will need to join the round table.

Lifting for Lymphoma

Dave Tate writes about an up comming project by Alwyn Cosgrove that is for a very good cause.

Insanity defined

Ok, so I'm a moron. For reasons I can't quite explain, even to myself, I once again tried a low calorie, high carb, low fat diet. Go ahead, laugh. I deserve it. For some reason, the diet gremlins got to me and said, Ya know, "This time it will be different". Riiiiight!. I had my fasting glucose down in to the mid 80's. Then, in less than 5 days of this nonsense, while eating less than 2000 calories, my sugar hot up to well over 100. The part that confuses me the most about my own behavior, is that I wasn't unhappy with what I was eating or feeling deprived or anything. This need I have to occasionally self sabotage, is most confounding. Its also not like I haven't done this before with the same results. But because I'm insane, what else could possibly explain this behavior, I keep going down this same path expecting it to lead some where new. I guess at some level, I had thought that because I was engaging in daily exercise that I would be able to handle 300! g carbs a day. Never mind the fact that I sit at a desk 9 or more hours a day. Perhaps its all the marketing that we are exposed to all day everyday. Its difficult to ignore the message that is being broadcast that high carb, low fat, is how we are supposed to eat. If people like me who know better can succumb to the pressure, how should we expect the general public to fare? This time my misadventure was short lived. Thanks to my glucose meter, I was able to see very quickly where this was leading. The experience of doing "everything right", and seeing the results quickly go the wrong way, was a metaphorical two by four to the back of the head. I can only imagine what would be my fate if I hadn't tested my own glucose. If nothing else I did gain some insight into why many people diagnosed with T2 give up and eat whatever they want. Marketing is a powerful tool, and the high carb/lowfat cult are beating our asses with it. We in the carb control arena need a better message, and a better way of delivering it. Blogs and message boards are great, but that is basically just preaching to the choir. Dean Ornish has a colum in Newsweek. Bob Greene and Dr Oz are regulars on Oprah. The closest thing the low carb community has to national exposure are the Drs Eades on PBS . PBS vs Oprah, is it any wonder we can't get the word out?

X-Files

Can I substitute Vegetables for the fries? This has become the most common question I ask when I go to Restaurants. A simple yet effective way to eliminate useless carbs and grease from my diet. As part of my job, my presence is often required at business lunches, and being able to gracefully order and not create too much of a fuss is an important skill. At the generic chain restaurants, Apple-bees/Ruby Tuesdays/etc, which are often the venue, avoiding "white" carbs and grease is problematic. At the White Linen Tablecloth places that we attend, its rather easy. I often notice how the less expensive the establishment, the more food they serve per dollar spent. A big ass burger with a truck load of fries and a beer is 10 bucks. A steak with a salad, a side of veggies and a "Luncheon Sized" Manhattan, straight up of course, is 25 dollars. In the modern American sense of value,the cheaper meal is a better value. Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoy a beer and a burger as much as the next person, but, at what point did quantity become a substitute for quality? Is a slab of ground beef and processed cheese food really comparable to broiled tenderloin topped with roquefort, just because its cheaper? I cannot afford to spend $25 a day on lunch. Which is why I pack my lunch on most days. There are however many people who spend $10 everyday at these food factory's and suffer the consequences.

The advertising for the cheap food places says nothing about the quality of the food, its all about the quantity. Post WW2, I could understand the appeal of this sort of thing, just coming out a long period of national deprivation and all. But now, damn, what drives this whole mind set? The richest nation in the history of the world eats like a starved beggar at a banquet, eschewing quality, and simply gorging like there is not going to be a meal tomorrow

The conspiracy nut in me sometimes goes into overdrive. A fat, well fed, if sickly populace, is easy to manage and unlikely to rebel. Have we been sold down the path of cheap food to divert our attention away from what the government is really doing? Was the real lesson of the French revolution that you can do what ever you want as long as the peasants have plenty to eat? Hmm. One of the most common complaints I hear, and have myself, about eating a reduced carb, and nutrient dense diet is the expense. If everyone suddenly had to pay the real cost of producing food, with out government subsidies and fake fillers etc, how fat do you think the populace would be a year from now? How much unrest would there be in the streets? How much difference is there between cattle feed lots and modern corporate America? Keep the Animals from moving to much, feed them energy dense grain based food, and shove them full of medicine because the food is bad for them. I see striking ! parallels. Scully and Mulder, where are you when your nation needs you most??

Article on T-Nation

I'm not a citizen of T-Nation, and disagree with 80% of what is written there, but there are times when very smart people write articles that end up there. This is one of those articles. 27 Nutrition Facts