In the next few weeks we’re opening the September 2010 Precision Nutrition Certification program.

Over 3 years in the making, the PN Certification is the synthesis of everything we’ve learned during the last 15 years of coaching and research in the nutrition field.

For elite fitness professionals, it’s based on my teaching at Eastern Michigan University as well as the work we’ve done with, and the data we’ve collected from, thousands of clients over the years.

And there’s nothing else like it, anywhere.

The first true nutrition certification for fitness professionals.

I’ve always felt that nutrition is the missing component in the fitness profession; without it, a client will simply not see results, and a coach will simply not be able to generate them.

But where would you go to learn the essentials of sport and exercise nutrition, and how to coach it?

Everything that exists is usually re-purposed material from clinical dietetics (i.e., feeding people in hospital situations) or is more suited to advanced academic study (i.e., post-graduate research).

Nothing, and I mean nothing, deals with the problem we face every day: how to use nutrition coaching to elicit marked improvements in health, performance and (especially) body composition in an exercising client.

We literally wrote the book on it.

So we literally wrote the book: finding no suitable textbook, we created one from scratch: “The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition,” a 500-page opus covering every aspect of the science and practice of nutrition coaching.

In addition, we’ve created a whole video lesson curriculum, a challenging exam to test your mettle, and in general, a contribution to the betterment of the fitness industry as a whole.

Basically, we’re going to do everything in our power to change the game. We’re out to train a new kind of fitness professional. And the certification is a massive step in that direction.

More details and pre-registration

If you’re interested in finding out more, we’ve set up a pre-registration page with some more info about the program.  There, you can also get on the waiting list.

We’re limiting next group to just 200 people, and since, in our last group, we filled every spot in less than 24 hours, the current spots will go quickly.  So everyone on the waiting list gets a 24 hour “presale” window to reserve a spot before we open it to the general public.

There’s no charge to be on the waiting list, so if you’re interested in the certification program I highly recommend you get on it, because your chance of getting a spot will be much, much better.

Click for more info on the PN Certification program, and to get on the waiting list.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Why offer a certification like this?

Because nutrition is THE missing component in the fitness and strength/conditioning professions.

If a training program isn’t accompanied by effective nutrition coaching, a client will get mediocre results — no matter how badly they “want it.”

The fact is this: exercise alone doesn’t work. Many very good trainers and exercise coaches are having their efforts wasted because their excellent training programs aren’t accompanied by a proper nutrition intervention.

And that’s not merely my opinion. For example, there is ample research demonstrating that in the absence of nutrition change, even very intense exercise programs with experienced trainers will yield an average of between 3 to 6 lbs of fat loss in 6 months time.

Think about that: a client would spend $3,000-$5,000 for 6 months with a personal trainer, only to lose a few measly, unnoticeable pounds of body fat.

That’s not good.

To give you a counter example, in our Lean Eating coaching program, clients average around 15 lbs of fat loss in 6 months.  That’s nearly 3X as effective.

In Lean Eating, we provide both exercise and nutrition coaching, and that’s the difference. But keep in mind: our coaching is 100% online. They get those results without ever meeting us in person.

If they work with a trainer while doing Lean Eating (which can help keep them from dogging it in the gym), they lose closer to 25 lbs of fat in 6 months.  That’s over 4X as effective.

So something is missing, and that something is nutrition coaching.

That’s why we developed the certification program: to teach exercise coaches to become nutrition coaches too.  Because once you can do it effectively, you can deliver results that are impossible with exercise alone.

Q. What do you mean when you say, “Exercise alone doesn’t work”?

I mean exactly that: exercise alone doesn’t work.

If a client doesn’t change their nutrition, nothing you do in the gym will matter when it comes to body comp change (fat loss, muscle gain) — and that’s what 95% of your clients are looking for, isn’t it?

Simply put, the last 25 years of published research show that, while exercise alone can promote VERY small changes in body fat and lean mass, those changes are almost negligible.

In fact, one published review, a meta-analysis of over 700 previous exercise studies done over 25 years, showed that about 6 months of supervised exercise programming will produce only 9lbs of weight lost.

If we assume 50% of that weight lost is fat (which is a safe assumption, based on the research), that means that clients can expect to lose around 4.5lbs of fat during a 6 month training program.

So, let’s assume a client meets with his/her trainer 4 times per week for $50 per hour. That’s $200 per week, $800 per month, and $4,800 for 6 months. All for 4.5lbs of fat lost? That’s a cost of just over $1000 per pound of fat lost.

After all that time and money spent, would an overweight client even notice a 4.5lb fat loss? Not likely.

Q. What results can I expect when I integrate nutrition coaching into my practice?

Again, let’s look at one comparator, the Precision Nutrition Lean Eating coaching program, which incorporates both exercise AND nutrition.  During the 6 month, online-only program, the average fat loss is around 15lbs.

And if you see the client in-person, i.e., use our exercise and nutrition system while coaching them in the gym to keep intensity up, we see see an average of 25lbs of fat loss in 6 months.  Top end results are even more impressive. Top performers are losing up to 50lbs in 6 months. It’s quite amazing.

So with 6 months of the right exercise and the right nutrition programming, supervised by a trainer, the cost per pound of fat loss can go down from $1000 per pound to $100 per pound.

That’s nearly 5X the fat loss and 10X the cost effectiveness.

Seriously, imagine how in-demand you’d be if you were a coach that could regularly deliver results like that.  Well, it’s absolutely possible. In fact, it’s what we should expect. But no one is teaching this stuff.

Nothing out there covers the specific problem: how to deliver nutrition coaching in a personal training or sport coaching environment.  And that’s why I wanted to do this certification.

I want to help create a new kind of fitness professional. One that helps coaches become body transformation experts, and one that helps clients get the kind of results they deserve.

The PN Certification is a massive step in that direction.

Q. What qualifies you to teach a course / offer a certification like this?

Well, for one I have pretty vast exposure to almost every aspect of fitness and nutrition. I’ve been:

• A student of nutrition, going on to complete my PhD in Exercise Physiology and Nutrient Biochemistry at the University of Western Ontario
• A teacher of nutrition at the University of Texas, Eastern Michigan University and the University of Western Ontario
• A competitive physique athlete, winning the Mr. Jr. USA title in 1995
• A personal trainer, running a successful training business in Miami
• A researcher with published studies in peer-reviewed academic journals
• An author of over half a dozen nutrition books and hundreds of mainstream articles in magazines like Testosterone, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Oxygen, etc.
• A nutrition coach to thousands of everyday folk and quite a few pro athletes and Olympic gold medallists

So apart from being qualified academically, I think I have a pretty unique perspective — one that’s very well-suited to teaching fitness professionals. I’ve seen the field of nutrition from more angles, both personally and professionally, then almost anyone else teaching nutrition today.

In addition, I’ve written chapters for other nutrition textbooks, I’ve created masters-level university courses on sport nutrition, and I’ve created nutrition certification material for other certifying bodies. So I have quite a bit of experience creating academic course material.

But most of all, I think I’m qualified to teach this because we’ve used and tested this very system extensively with our own clients here at Precision Nutrition.

Over the last 3 years, through our Lean Eating Coaching Program, we’ve been quietly conducting what I think is the largest body transformation research project in the world.

In 3 years we’ve had nearly 3,000 clients go through at least 6 months of coaching with us. Essentially a total exercise, nutrition and lifestyle intervention.

The purpose of the Lean Eating program is simple: help people lose fat, gain lean mass where needed, and completely transform their bodies.

Now, here’s the thing: since the entire program is online, we were able to collect data on everything. And I mean everything.

Because we don’t see clients in person, we can’t “eyeball” things. We need data. So we have detailed psychometric profiles on our clients. We track compliance and every measurable and relevant behavior. And, of course, we regularly collect photos and monitor body composition and performance outcomes.

And as a result of this rigorous data collection, I’m guessing that we here at PN know, better than almost anyone else in the world, which variables are most important to body transformation success.

Now, remember, I’m not talking what we THINK is correlated to success. I’m talking about what we ABSOLUTELY KNOW is correlated with success. Success here meaning compliance, consistency, and ultimately, fat loss and muscle gain.

It takes a long time to gather this kind of information, especially since no one in the fitness industry has ever done anything like it before. But now that it’s been gathered, analyzed, and tested, I believe it’s time to share it.

From there, the PN Certification was born.

Q. How does the PN Certification compare to other nutrition education options out there?

Well, for one, it’s based on real client data and our own coaching experience. We’re not really a certification organization. We’re coaches. So this is coming from first-hand knowledge that we use ourselves every day.

This certification is based on real client results, and a reliable and reproducible system for monitoring and achieving those results. That’s what you learn when you become PN Certified.

Two, it’s designed specifically for fitness professionals. So it’s for trainers, coaches, therapists and nutritionists working with people who exercise.

That’s very important, because most nutrition courses suffer from 1 of 2 problems.

Problem 1: They have little/nothing to do with exercisers looking for body transformation.
Most credible nutrition education today is meant for people looking to become professors, researchers (people who work at universities) or clinical dietitians (people who work at hospitals). So if you want to do any of that, you go to college, study for years and get a PhD or an RD.

Both noble professions. I got a PhD in the field myself, so I’m not knocking it. And Ryan Andrews, who co-wrote the textbook for the PN Certification, got his RD and worked out of Johns Hopkins. But neither of those roads teach you how to actually coach a exercising client through a body transformation.

That’s a very specific skillset, requiring both an understanding of the science of nutrition and — this is critical — a reliable system for coaching it.

So unlike anything else out there right now, the PN Certification does both of those things. It was designed from the ground up, specifically for the working fitness professional.

Problem 2: They’re, well, a joke.
I just Googled “nutrition certification” and found some 1000 or so results. Good God.

The situation is bleak, my friends. Of the non-university level nutrition certifications out there, I see plenty of shit, quite frankly. Weekend seminars, no exams, no studying. Lots of rubber stamping.

Some are more challenging, I’m sure, and probably a few are even worth the money. I don’t know — I can’t look at the Google results for very long before getting depressed.

I think I would sum it up this way: if you’re here, reading this, you’ve probably followed us for some time and you probably think a lot like us.

And so I suspect you will probably benefit more from the PN Certification than from any other non-university-level nutrition education you are likely to find.

That’s just my gut feeling, so take it for what it’s worth.

Q. How thorough is the PN Certification?

Very. To give you an idea:

I teach a masters level Sport and Exercise Nutrition course at Eastern Michigan University.

The course is part of a High-Performance Physiology masters degree program at EMU. And the PN Certification covers the very same material that my masters students learn as part of the EMU program.

So make no mistake, this isn’t some “Mickey Mouse” nutrition certification. It’s an elite certification based on grad school material.

Q. Will there be multiple levels of certification?

Yes, two. This is the first, Level 1, and includes the textbook, the online material and the online exam. Essentially, Level 1 certifies that you understand the theory.

With Level 1, we give you all the knowledge to begin incorporating sport and exercise nutrition into your practice immediately. You get our 500-page “The Essentials of Exercise and Sport Nutrition” text, our 100-page workbook, access to our online learning platform, complete with 17 video lectures, and more.

Then, once you pass the exam, you get a Level 1 certificate acknowledging your completion of the “theory” part of the certification program.

Some trainers and coaches will stop there. And that’s cool with me. With the Level 1 certificate, they’ll be as well trained in exercise and sport nutrition as my masters students.

Level 2 is an invitation-only program for students who pass Level 1.

The student is required to do an online internship, perform regular research reviews and client case studies showing that they can actually deliver results. Level 2 certifies that you can take the theory and apply it with clients all the way through a successful body transformation.

So, unlike other nutrition certification programs, the PN Certification has both a theory component (Level 1) and a practice component (Level 2). Those students who complete both levels will be among the best in the world at getting client results.

Q. Do I need to have a science degree to become certified?

No.  We assume no prior knowledge of biology, chemistry, etc, and so we don’t require a university degree.

Now, if you were terrible in science, expect this certification to give you trouble. But if you are generally comfortable with science and are willing to put your time in, you can learn this stuff, no problem.

Q. Once I’m PN Certified, will I be listed on your site?

Yes. And given our exposure online, that’s a big advantage for PN Certified fitness pros.

And as we grow our online coaching programs, that advantage will grow with it.

I’ll give you an example. Our Lean Eating coaching clients are often interested in finding a local trainer, one who actually knows what the hell they’re doing, to help them out with their new exercise movements, etc.

Now, in the past, we had no one to send them to. I can’t in good conscience just send them blindly in the typical local fitness club with their Lean Eating exercise and nutrition program in hand.

It would be a disaster. The trainer wouldn’t know what to make of our program, or they start criticizing it, or trying to change it. And the client would spend half their time trying to mediate between us and them. Not good.

So with the PN Certification we’re creating an army of fitness professionals who actually “get it.” Coaches who our readers, clients, and customers can trust.

What’s more, by being PN Certified, trainers and coaches will be part of a network of local professionals that WE trust, and that we can refer our own clients to.

Once you’re certified, you’ll have a professional profile in our new online directory of PN Certified Professionals, so you’ll be easy to find when people are looking for local help.

Q. Would nutritionists and dietitians benefit from this program as well?

Absolutely. In fact, I wish every dietitian would find their way to this program and get involved.

Although RDs have excellent training in all aspects of clinical nutrition, most dietetics programs don’t even offer a sport nutrition course. And if they do, the course is usually too general to be of any use in the field.

Trust me, I know, because I’ve taught in dietetics departments.

So just because someone has earned an RD or LD credential, that doesn’t mean they’re done learning. Indeed, the best dietitians, trainers, and strength coaches make life-long education an important priority.

And in my opinion, the PN Certification program would be a huge asset for every dietitian.

Q. Is the PN Certification program accredited by one of the national education boards?

No, it’s not accredited by any of the national education boards.

Q. What about those people specifically looking for national accreditation?

People come to PN to get certified because they want the best possible exercise and sport nutrition training – from one of the world’s most recognizable exercise and sport nutrition companies.

For those of you looking for some other end, like national accreditation (which means that the program has been reviewed by the US Government), give us a shout at pnn@precisionnutrition.com. There are other programs for that and we’ll be happy to point you to those types of certification programs.

Q. How long does it take to complete the Level 1 program?

The Level 1 program is self-paced. So as soon as a trainer or coach feels ready, they can take their certification exam online.

In general, I recommend studying 1 chapter every week. So, since the text contains 17 chapters, I’d study for about 4 months before writing the exam.

For the ambitious and those folks with a nutrition background, however, 2-3 chapters a week isn’t unreasonable.

Q. How about Level 2?

Once someone successfully completes Level 1, they can apply for the Level 2 program. And Level 2 should take about 6 months.

Since there is a 6-month online internship requirement, it can’t be done more quickly than that.

Q. What scope of advice will someone be able to offer clients after completing the course?

That’s a great question, and one we cover in depth in the course.

For now, it’s important to know that fitness professionals are allowed to make nutrition recommendations to otherwise healthy clients.

So even without the PN Cert, fitness pros are able to make nutrition recommendations. What we’re offering is a much better system for making those recommendations.

The only scope of practice that’s prohibited is MNT (Medical Nutrition Therapy), which means giving nutrition advice to treat or cure disease. You won’t be qualified to do this, and you should never attempt to, for a number of reasons. That’s a whole different field of study.

Q. When does the PN Certification program begin?

We’re using a cohort (group) model to accept registrations: the program begins on a specific day, everyone starts at the same time, and group size is limited.

This next PN Cert program begins on September 29th, 2010.  And there won’t be another cohort until some time in 2011.

Q. How many people are you accepting in the program?

To keep the program well-controlled, especially at first, we’re only accepting 200 people this time around. And I expect those 200 spots will fill up very quickly.

Q: How can people find out more?

To learn more about the course, and to get on the waiting list, which gives folks a chance to register early, 24 hours before the general public, they can visit this page here:

Click for more info on the PN Certification program, and to get on the waiting list.

Many muscles coordinate shoulder movement. If they don’t work together — or more likely, if some muscles are strong and some are weak or inhibited, they can’t work together effectively. The result: imbalance and eventually, injury.

Glug glug glug… ahhh.

Sorry, I was just finishing off a glass of dihydrogen monoxide.

Where did I get it? From a top-secret lab – okay, not so much… actually from my tap.

I’m sure many of you have caught on that dihydrogen monoxide is H₂O, or good old water. And according to media reports, it might be the next big weight-loss supplement.

Grab a drink and let’s talk.

What water does

Pretty much everybody has heard that their body is over 60% water. Thus, if you weigh 150 lb (68 kg) then 90 lb (41 kg) if you is water.

Why don’t you hear a lot of sloshing when you walk around with all that water? Well, even though water is in your blood and other bodily fluids that are liquidy, a lot of that body water is in your cells or attached to molecules like proteins and carbohydrates (1).

Water does seven main things in our bodies

• transporting;
• dissolving;
• cleaning;
• reacting;
• padding; and
• regulating temperature.

Transporting

Even though water isn’t coursing through your veins and arteries the way it runs through a river, it does transport things to and from the cells of your body, such as:

• nutrients and oxygen that are important for the cell to grow and repair itself
• important messages from hormones
• cell waste products, like carbon dioxide

Dissolving

As a toddler, perhaps you discovered a key function of water when you dropped mama’s sugar bowl, full of sugar, into the toilet bowl. (Or maybe that’s just my kid.)

Yep, you discovered that water is a solvent and it dissolves sugar as well as most things. Water is a nearly universal solvent.

The one thing water can’t dissolve are lipids (fats, oils, waxes, etc.) but your clever body can surround water-insoluble molecules with proteins so they can be transported in water.

Cleaning

Every time you wash your hands or take a shower, you take advantage of water’s function as a cleaner. While there’s no soap inside your body (unless you swear, perhaps), water flushes important filtering organs like the kidneys and liver that remove toxins from our bodies.

Reacting

Water is an important molecule of most of the body’s chemical reactions, but in some cases it has to be broken down, or hydrolyzed, during some chemical reactions. When sugar (sucrose) is digested into fructose and glucose, water is also a part of the reaction and is hydrolyzed.

Lubricating

Water is the major ingredient in body fluids that — even though icky — are very important to moisten and lubricate our bodies.

Even when we breathe, we need water-based lubrication, called surfactant. Otherwise each breath would feel like we’ve collapsed a lung. (One of the major challenges for premature babies is that they haven’t yet developed lung surfactant.) Joints and the digestive tract also need water-based lubrication to work properly.

Padding

You probably don’t think of water as padding or a shock absorber, but that is exactly what it does for your joints.

Your joints contain sacs filled mostly with water. When you jump, punch, fall or even move, these sacs prevent the two ends of the joint from smashing into one another. Between the vertebrae of your spine, water makes up the filling of your vertebral discs that allow you to bend, twist and jump without agony – just ask someone with degenerative back disease how important it is to have water in your discs.

Regulating

Going for a run up a hill during a July noon in Texas makes you appreciate water. You’ve probably already figured out that sweating buckets helps regulate your temperature.

Yet water does more than just make up sweat. Water in blood vessels at the surface of your skin can help get rid of heat from your body, kinda like how a radiator works. Cooling fluid (blood) goes from the engine (major organs, heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, etc.) to the radiator (skin) where heat can be dissipated.

Research question

Clearly (get it?), water is important stuff. But can it help us lose weight? That’s the question we address this week.

Dennis EA, Dengo AL, Comber DL, Flack KD, Savla J, Davy KP, Davy BM. Water consumption increases weight loss during a hypocaloric diet intervention in middle-aged and older adults. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2010 Feb;18(2):300-7.

Methods

Participants

In this study, the researchers recruited men and women between the ages of 55 and 75 years old that were overweight or obese (BMI between 25-40 kg/m2).

Researchers excluded recent yo-yo dieters. That meant the participants’ weight had to be the same, within 2 kg (about 5 pounds) for the last year or longer. Participants were also excluded if they had:

• a history of depression
• diabetes
• uncontrolled high blood pressure
• heart, lung or kidney disease
• a history of eating disorders

Process

Before the study started, everybody had to come into the lab twice: once to eat as much food as they wanted, and once to drink 500 mL of water and then eat as much as they wanted.

Researchers wanted to see whether people would eat less if they drank water before a meal. 12 weeks later, at the end of the study, the participants did the water-drinking test again.

Caloric intake

After the initial lab visits, researchers put all the participants on a diet that permitted 1200 kcal/day for women and 1500 kcal for men. Since the average male participant was around 90 kg, 167 cm tall, and 62 years of age this seems a bit restrictive.

What do I mean? Well, let’s look more at basal energy expenditure. This is the amount of energy that your body needs to be alive, and fuels things like breathing, your heart’s beating, and your cells absorbing nutrients.

Looks like the caloric allotment in the study fell a bit short.

Remember, these are calories needed to live if people are comatose — doing absolutely nothing but staying alive… no going for a walk, no standing washing dishes, not even getting up to go to the washroom. Just basic physiological functions are included here.

Water for weight loss

Everybody was on the same diet, but half the participants had the secret pre-meal supplement – 500 mL water.

Before each of their three meals, the water group drank 500 mL of water and then they could eat. There was no other difference between groups for the 12 weeks of the study.

Results

Eating fewer calories than you need causes weight loss; mostly fat but some lean body mass too.

Over the 3 months the water group dropped 4.4% body fat (from 39.9% to 36.5%) and 5.4 kg total fat while the nonwater group only dropped 1.1% body fat (from 41.0% to 38.9%) and 3.3 kg of total fat.

And remember the gluttony testing — you know, the one where the participants ate as much as they wanted with or without drinking 500 ml before eating — well, if they drank water before a meal, they ate less (about 50 kcal less), but only before the study started; after the 12 week diet, drinking water didn’t affect how much calories the participants ate.

One explanation is that everybody was eating less per meal without drinking water (541 kcal before and 506 kcal after the 12 weeks). Or there may be a certain amount of calories the body requires and it can’t be fooled by being filled with water.

Conclusion

Drinking water (500 mL or about 16 oz) before three meals a day while on a diet increases fat loss in overweight and obese individuals.

Doh! Haven’t we’ve heard this before? Yes and no.

Yes, nearly every diet plan or nutritionist will tell you to drink more water to help you lose weight and no, because this is the first scientific study that randomly assigned participants to comparison groups to see if water helps with weight loss and if so, how much more weight would be lost.

Why water helps with weight loss may be obvious. Not only does water make you feel fuller, so you eat less, drinking water also replaces energy-containing drinks like juice, soda pop, and vitamin water. People on average drink over 400 kcal/day in North America. Water may even increase metabolism.

A few years back, a study found that if you drank 500 mL of water, your body would use 24% more calories for 60 minutes after drinking water. The researchers figured that this was because of changes in osmolarity caused by drinking water and that your body has to expend energy to bring everything back in balance (2).

Bottom line

Drinking two cups of water before a meal will keep you hydrated, fuller, and may even boost your metabolism for an hour. And all you need to do is turn on your tap. Talk about convenience.

Before you go off to your favourite vitamin shop to try the latest weight-loss supplement, try drinking two cups (500 mL) before you sit down for a meal.

Oh, and make sure you’re near a toilet.

References

1. Sizer, Frances and Ellie Whitney. Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies 11th edition.  2007. Thomson Higher Education, Belmont CA.

2. Boschmann M, Steiniger J, Franke G, Birkenfeld AL, Luft FC, Jordan J. Water drinking induces thermogenesis through osmosensitive mechanisms. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Aug;92(8):3334-7.

As the first group starts writing the exam for the Precision Nutrition Certification (and as we open up the waiting list again for the next group, starting September 29th) I’ve been looking over some of the questions I’ve received from students over the last few months.

Today I thought I’d answer one question that has come up quite a few times, and it’s this:

“What resources do you recommend for learning how to be a better coach?”

That is a very, very good question. My bookshelf is crammed with texts from all kinds of different fields and subject areas; in my web browser I’ve got bookmarks to probably hundreds of different sites.

But rather than just post a massive laundry list, today I’ll share with you a half-dozen books that I’d highly recommend for any serious trainer or coach. In a future blog post, I’ll put together a list of recommended websites.

[Note: This is a list of books about coaching and influencing what your clients do outside of the gym, in the 165 hours you don’t spend with them — because to me that ability is the mark of a true coach. I may post my recommendation of exercise-related texts at some point, but that’s another topic altogether.]

Let’s get started.

The Power of Less

1. The Power of Less, by Leo Babauta

Truly an outstanding little book describing the author’s analysis of his own growth and change. If you want to understand how change happens and how new habits are actually formed in the real world, there isn’t a better book than this one. A short read, chock full of simple, practical — and often counter-intuitive — insight into the transformation process. We recommend it to all our Lean Eating clients, and if you want to learn how to coach people who are struggling with change, you’d do well to read it too.

Motivational Interviewing

2. Motivational Interviewing, by William R Miller & Stephen Rollnick

Most trainers and coaches are utterly lost when it comes to talking to clients, or understanding how to help them change. Spend some time eavesdropping on a conversation between a trainer and a client in a commercial gym and you will likely hear either a) the trainer trying to impress the client by sharing everything he or she has ever learned about fitness in one breathless soliloquy, or b) the client talking about what they did last weekend.

That’s a shame, and a missed opportunity. Because few people realize how important the dialog between coach and client really is, and what a key role it plays in the transformation process. Motivational Interviewing is a very specific style of dialog designed to provide clients with a safe place to contemplate change — and all coaching, whether with elite athletes or with rank beginners, is about facilitating change. The truth is that, in general, the way you speak to your clients is either encouraging change or deepening resistance, and if you haven’t read MI, you’ll be surprised to learn that much of what you’re doing has the effect of actually making change LESS likely. Read this book and start using bits of it with clients today; if you don’t, you’re doing your clients a major disservice.

Crucial Conversations

3. Crucial Conversations, by Kerry Patterson et al.

Always pandering to a client is a sign of weakness in a coach. But so is berating them or being completely insensitive to their needs. A great coach must be able to hold clients accountable, and that inevitably means discussing difficult things (eating habits, behavioral patterns, problems with a spouse, compliance issues, etc.).

But how do you learn to call a spade a spade without offending someone — or more to the point, how do you actually deepen a relationship with someone while explicitly discussing things that they may prefer not to hear?

Crucial Conversations is the best book I’ve found on the topic, and I’ve read quite a number. The authors describe a step-by-step process, from recognizing when the discussion is getting critical (i.e., becoming aware of the emotions at stake) to being honest without being hurtful, to settling an issue and moving forward in agreement. Putting even just one or two of their techniques into practice with your clients will make you a far better coach.

The Blackmail Diet

4. The Blackmail Diet, by John Bear

This is a really hard one to track down, because it’s been out of print for so long. I just happened upon it a few years ago in a used book store and picked it up for $2 based on the name alone. What a title.

The book itself doesn’t disappoint. The author, a PhD graduate from Michigan State who had battled with obesity and dieting most of his adult life, has an epiphany: obesity is a problem best solved psychologically.

(Note: I disagree with that assessment, and of course I’m simplifying his position, but it’s quite true that coaches and people in general pay far too little attention to non-physiological factors involved in body transformation.)

So he comes up with a plan: he signs a contract with a lawyer and puts $5,000 in escrow (i.e., at the mercy of the lawyer and completely out of his control). The contract states that if in a year’s time he doesn’t lose 70 lbs, the lawyer is legally obliged to give all the money to the American Nazi Party. Well, of course, for most sane people that’s an entirely unacceptable outcome, and sure enough a year later he had lost the full 70 lbs.

He goes on to describe all kinds of similar weight loss experiments revolving around the same concept: people make a legally-binding pledge to either lose weight or face an unpalatable consequence. Now I’m not suggesting that you work this into your practice. But it’s a fascinating read for a coach, with two very important lessons: 1) when people have enough leverage on themselves, anything is possible; 2) clients have to make decisions and commitments when the motivation is high that will have lasting impact when the motivation wanes — which it inevitably will.

Influence

5. Influence, by Robert Cialdini

A classic collection of psychology experiments and anecdotes examining how influence actually works. Cialdini weaves a solid argument that people are hard-wired to look for very specific cues before they are convinced of something. Well, your clients will be examining everything about you and your practice, even in ways you might not have anticipated.

For example, people look for social proof before adopting a new idea; in short, they ask: has this worked for anyone else? I’m always shocked by how few coaches can demonstrate the value of their work, either with case studies, with before/after pictures, or better yet, by directly introducing a new client to an older one who has already gone through the process. I highly recommend picking up this book if only to understand the thought process your clients go through when evaluating your services. And as an aside: if you aren’t documenting your work with clients, start now; and if you are but want to generate more impressive results to show off, I’ve got the book for you:

The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition

6. The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition, by John Berardi & Ryan Andrews

As an author, I’m obviously biased, but if I may say so myself, this the only book on nutrition you will ever need. A completely new 500-page academic textbook that Ryan Andrews and I wrote from the ground up, because frankly nothing like it existed. I’ve spent the lion’s share of my academic and professional careers pulling pieces from the dozen or so different fields of study involved in body transformation, from molecular biology to food science to behavioral psychology, just to name a few. And this is the text I wish I had when I started my career.

To be an effective fitness professional — and by that, I mean to be able to help someone build their ideal body through exercise, nutrition and supplementation — you don’t need to master all of those fields. In fact, delving too deeply into any particular one of them at the exclusion of the others leaves you open to the hammer and nail problem (“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”). But you do need to master the PARTS of each of those fields relevant to body transformation.

That’s what the Precision Nutrition Certification is about: turning trainers and strength coaches into true fitness professionals — into elite body transformation experts. Because in the 3-5 hours you have with a client each week (if you’re lucky), you can either teach them to exercise or you can guide them to the body they never thought they could have. The two are very different things.

PN Certification opens Sep. 29th; how to get on the waiting list:

“The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition” is available only as a part of the PN Certification. If you want to learn how to help your clients with the 165 hours a week they DON’T spend in the gym with you — the mark of an elite coach — then I highly recommend you look into the Certification. On September 29th, we’re taking 200 new students, and it’s our last opening until spring 2011.

Click for more info on the PN Certification program, and to get on the waiting list.

I always get a good laugh when TV stars smugly state during interviews — interviews on TV — promoting their TV shows that they don’t watch TV and they don’t even own a TV.

Wait… what? So they’re on TV, promoting their new TV show, making a living from TV… and acting superior because they don’t watch the idiot box themselves?

Hypocrisy and the question of whether TV abstinence is morally superior aside, not watching TV might be the reason those stars are lean. (Well, that and the team of personal chefs and trainers.)

TV and obesity

We know that research links TV watching to obesity. But what’s the connection?

There are three main ways that TV could lead to obesity.

Connection 1: Sitting watching TV = not moving much

The most obvious is that if you’re watching TV you’re probably not doing anything else, so you’re less physically active. And for those of you who watch TV while working out, either you’re not paying attention to your workout or you’re not paying attention to your TV show.

For example, I met a nice little old lady who would come to her apartment complex gym and bike on the recumbent bike for an hour while watching Law & Order: SVU. Six months passed and she asked me why she wasn’t losing weight. I mentioned that she should try to make her workouts more difficult and maybe try walking on the treadmill, since she was able to do her current workout in her slippers.

Connection 2: More TV = more eating

People eat more food when they watch TV. You sit down with a bag of chips while watching your favourite show, and next thing you know you’ve eaten the entire bag.

Not only do you eat mindlessly, you start to associate TV watching with filling your face. Next time you sit down to watch, you think “I should be eating something.” Munch munch munch… uh oh, another bag bites the dust.

Connection 3: More food marketing = more eating

The last way TV could lead to obesity is different than the other two, because it lasts past the time actually watching TV.

TV, specifically TV commercials , can influence what we eat at other times. This is the basis of all marketing — affecting people’s choices.

Let’s say some evening you’re watching TV, and you see an ad for ice cream. Man, that looks good. Creamy, cold, studded with chocolatey nuggets…

An hour or so later, you turn off the tube and think Snack time! And what would go down perfectly? Why, ice cream of course! You’ve forgotten the commercial (at least consciously), but somehow you sure haven’t forgotten that tub of Haagen Dazs in the freezer. (By the way, make a mental note: If you feel any ice cream urges in the next few hours, ignore them.)

How bad could TV commercials be for our diet?

Well, the study for this week’s review addresses this question in a fun way: What if you just ate the foods you saw advertised on TV? What would your nutrition intake look like?

Mink M, Evans A, Moore CG, Calderon KS, Deger S. Nutritional imbalance endorsed by televised food advertisements. J Am Diet Assoc. 2010 Jun;110(6):904-10.

Methods

Researchers asked two questions:

• What food is typically advertised on TV?
• What’s the nutritional content of those foods?

Step 1: Watch TV

To answer the first question, researchers watched over 96 hours of American TV (ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC): 84 hours during prime time and 12 hours on Saturday mornings.

To give you an idea of the kinds of ads they might have been seeing, let’s take advertisements from the last Super Bowl (American football finals) as an example. Now, that wasn’t a part of the 96 hours but it’s the most prized ad time in the US. And it gives us a little slice (so to speak) of what the researchers might have seen.

Of all the ads, 24 were ads for food (I use the classification loosely). And, as you can see below, if you ate only food you saw in the advertisements you wouldn’t be getting a lot of nutrients. Calories yes, but not many nutrients. Here’s what was advertised in my Super Bowl example:

• Dr Pepper Cherry cola
• Snickers chocolate bar
• Taco Bell restaurants
• Papa Johns restaurants
• Emerald nuts & popcorn
• Michelob beer
• Select 55 beer
• Coke (2 advertisements)
• Denny’s restaurants (3 advertisements)
• Doritos chips (4 advertisements)
• Budweiser beer (7 advertisements)

Only the Emerald nuts & popcorn ad would give you a decent amount of nutrients without a lot of calories or unwanted sugar, fats, or processing.

Step 2: Food ad nutritional analysis

Most of us could look at that list above of Super Bowl “food” ads and feel pretty confident in saying there might be some nutritional imbalances there.

The researchers wanted to be a little more scientific, however, so they actually did nutritional analysis on the food.

They used the quantity provided in the ad (e.g. a quarter-pound hamburger with a slice of cheese and a bun, or a large-sized bag of chips). If portion size wasn’t obvious in the ad, the food wasn’t included in the analysis.

Researchers analyzed both nutritional content and the number of servings compared to the US Food Guide Pyramid.

Results

Although researchers watched 96 hours in total, they only analyzed 89.5 hours. Either 6.5 hours didn’t have advertisements (e.g. political debates for elections) or the scientists messed up their recording and didn’t record the hours (don’t you feel better that you couldn’t program your VCR?).

Good news: there were 116 public service announcements! Bad news: none talked about nutrition.

In the nearly 90 hours of TV there were 3,584 ads. 17% were advertising food in one way or another, but 56 ads had food that couldn’t be analyzed by the nutritional software.

How could this be? The food was too new, so it hadn’t been analyzed in a lab and added to the software database.

Generally speaking, I avoid new food, because it usually falls into the spray-on cheese food group, or “I Can’t Believe it’s Not Really Food!” category (even though it’s an unnatural hue of yellow).

Late Night with Sugar & Fat Show

This left the researchers with 677 foods. Here are the results. The chart below compares the actual daily servings of food components shown in the ads, versus the number of servings recommended in the USDA Food Pyramid.

Actual versus recommended servings of food types

The only group was close to the recommended levels was grain, with 8 servings in TV ads and 8.5 servings recommended.

Yes, the food pyramid might not be the best thing to compare to, but lets look at nutrients. You’d get 122% and 137% of the recommend daily value of cholesterol and saturated fat, respectively, for a 2000 calorie diet.

While you’re getting too much of some nutrients, you’d be running a deficit of other things. The chart below shows common nutrients such as vitamin A, B5, D, and E as well as important minerals. Most fell well below the RDA.

For instance, if you ate a diet composed of TV ad food, you’d end up with 35% of the recommended vitamin D, and 43% of the recommended fibre.

Nutrients by percent of RDA (100%) in advertised foods

Conclusion

A lot of TV… and a lot of sugar and fat

We know that TV marketing successfully influences food choices. Americans watch or listen to an average of 6.75 hours of TV per day. Every year they take in nearly 15,000 food ads, which rarely feature salads or Supershakes.

So it’s not surprising that people’s food choices are skewed to high-calorie, low-nutrient food. After all, food in TV ads would provide you with about 26 times the daily recommended servings for sugar and nearly 21 times the daily recommended servings for fat.

What to do?

The researchers of this study recommend that consumers should be educated about the bias of TV ads, in the nutritional recommendations, and in healthy food choices. They also suggest that the food industry should be educated about these nutritional imbalances, to help them move towards providing healthier products.

I may be cynical, but the food industry, just like any industry, is driven by economics. If they sell a product that makes them a lot of money — healthy or not — they will not stop producing it.

In fact, as David Kessler has pointed out in his book The End of Overeating, companies are perfectly well aware that they aren’t manufacturing broccoli smoothies — indeed, they purposely hire food scientists to figure out how to jam more sugar, fat, and salt into their products.

The researchers suggest that government policies change too, to restrict TV ads or include disclaimers in them, much like restrictions on tobacco advertising. While other countries (such as France, Thailand, China, Denmark, Finland, Malaysia, Korea, Romania and the Phillippines) have restricted food ads, I don’t know if having a disclaimer saying soda pop is high in sugar is going to make much of a difference to adult viewers.

Do we know all the factors yet?

An aside: People are concerned about sex and violence on TV too. Yet the murder rate’s gone down in the US since 1999, and I don’t hear too much about how sex is one of the top killers.

In any case, the Center for Disease Control in the US lists the top causes of death in 2007. The top three are heart disease, cancer, and stroke (cerebrovascular diseases) — all with a diet component.

Thus, I suspect we don’t know all the factors in what inspires complex human behaviour. Nevertheless, the circumstantial evidence tarnishing food ads is still pretty strong.

Bottom line

Be aware of your TV viewing habits and how these affect your food choices subconsciously.

Regardless of exactly how much food ads affect your purchasing and eating behaviour… should you really be glued to the set for 6.75 hours a day anyway? Couldn’t you be learning a foreign language, playing the guitar, or catching up on much-needed beauty sleep?

Last month we wrapped up our Jan 2010 Lean Eating coaching group.

And, at the time, we posted our Lean Eating for Men Finalists and Lean Eating for Women Finalists, each one in contention for the $20,000 is prizes for men and $20,000 in prizes for women.

The transformations we staggering.  Thousands of PN voters weighed in on who they thought was the best male and best female transformation in each group. And now it’s time we announced the winners.

However, before doing so, I’ve gotta say this.  Man, it was tough.

The last round of Lean Eating produced some of the most outstanding transformations – physical and lifestyle transformations – I’ve seen in my entire life.  We spent weeks painstakingly going through all of our finalists’ data, listening to the PN community, and scheduling long meetings with the PN Team.

(Our criterion for choosing the winner was based on measurement data, participation data, client attitude, coach feedback, community voting, and in-house voting as well.)

At the end, although we had dozens of potential winners, we had to choose.  There could only be two.

Our Lean Eating $10,000 Winners

Forum name – “bryancox”
Location – Saratoga, California
Age – 42
Starting weight – 206 lbs lbs; Waist size – 39 inches
Ending weight – 174 lbs; Waist size – 32 inches

His experience – You know, I thought the $10,000 would be the best reward.  However, the experience itself was worth far more than the money.  For me, Lean Eating was a physical, mental, and (maybe even) spiritual journey that has really fueled my enthusiasm for fitness, health and wellness.  Heck, I think my next career just might be in this industry.

I’ve  already referred several new PN members including a co-worker that is participating in the current female challenge.  This is an awesome program and I’m proud to have been recognized by the PN team and community.

Forum name – “KMisher”
Location – Arlington, VA
Age – 25
Starting weight – 160 lbs
Ending weight - 136 lbs

Her experience – This program has been life changing for me.  I finally feel like myself again. But even better than the physical transformation has been the mental transformation.  I now recognize when I am unhappy, identify the cause, and work towards change.

PN not only taught me how to make my own food, but my own happiness.  This is better than any amount of weight loss or money won.  You gave me myself back. I’m totally indebted!

As you can see from the grand prize winners above, the Lean Eating program is about helping real people make real transformations.  As we’ve said many times before, to participate in Lean Eating you don’t have to start out looking like a fitness model.  Heck, you don’t even have to end up looking like a fitness model.  Rather, the idea here is to become the best you possible.

Of course, as mentioned above, there were a lot of folks achieving their best selves in this last round.  Below, we’ve included just the runners up from the $40,000 contest.  If you’d like to see our entire list of finalists, check out our Lean Eating for Men Finalists and Lean Eating for Women Finalists.

Our Lean Eating $5,000 Winners

Forum name – “Paco”
Location – Mexico City, Mexico
Age – 37
Starting weight - 200 lbs; Waist size – 41 inches
Ending weight – 165; Waist size – 34.4 inches

His experience – I’d been following Dr Berardi’s work for years.  I owned all of his products.  I read them very carefully.  But I never fully applied the information.  Why?  I don’t really know.  But it no longer matters.  Because Lean Eating taught me how to make the change I wanted to make.

In the Lean Eating program I learned that we don’t have to wait so long to fully apply our knowledge.  That we don’t have to wait so long to be who we want to be and to live the way we want to live.  That what matters is not always how we look but how we feel.  And that we don’t have to mortgage our health to look and feel better.  This has been a great journey!

Forum name – “Typykka”
Location – Nokia, Finland
Age – 34
Starting weight – 161 lbs
Ending weight – 128 lbs

Her experience – I feel like I’m a totally new and different person that I was just 7months ago. On the inside and on the outside. On the outside, I love my new body.  I’m 34 and have 3 children.  But my physique is better than it was at age 24, before children. Wow.

But the greatest change happened between my ears!  My thoughts about food are healthy, instead of disordered.  And I’ve been 100% compliant with the program.  I was ready to follow the Lean Eating instructions at the beginning of the program.  But I wasn’t sure if I could.  Well, I did!

My whole life I’ve been unsatisfied somehow. I thought that I was a fat and ugly person.  But not anymore.  I actually like myself.  Thank you, Precision Nutrition!

Our Lean Eating $1,000 Winners

Forum name – “amoyers”
Location – Wickliffe, Kentucky
Age – 27
Starting weight – 229 lbs; Waist size – 39.5 inches
Ending weight – 177; Waist size – 33 inches

Forum name – “TransformationHereNow”
Location – Tucson, Arizona
Age – 43
Starting weight – 188 lbs
Ending weight – 150 lbs

Forum name – “bradypreston”
Location – Port Elgin, Ontario
Age – 24
Starting weight – 222 lbs; Waist size – 37.5 inches
Ending weight – 162 lbs; Waist size – 27.5 inches

Forum name – “theresavo”
Location – San Jose, California
Age – 49
Starting weight – 191 lbs
Ending weight – 159 lbs

Forum name – “GroundChuck
Location – Apex, North Carolina
Age – 32
Starting weight – 263 lbs; Waist size – 46.7 inches
Ending weight – 212 lbs; Waist size – 37.2 inches

Forum name – “Elky”
Location – Pickering, ON
Age – 22
Starting weight – 196 lbs
Ending weight – 160 lbs

Forum name – “Asim”
Location – Mississauga, Ontario
Age – 24
Starting weight – 195 lbs; Waist size – 38.8 inches
Ending weight – 150 lbs; Waist size – 30.4 inches

Forum name - “mpoushes”
Location - Grinnell, Iowa
Age – 30
Starting weight – 229 lbs
Ending weight – 188 lbs

Forum name - “Gaetan Brunet”
Location – Val Caron, Ontario
Age – 41
Starting weight – 292 lbs; Waist size – 49.2 inches
Ending weight – 242; Waist size – 39 inches

Forum name – “nazmoo”
Location – Melbourne, Australia
Age – 29
Starting weight – 171 lbs
Ending weight – 142 lbs

Are You Ready For Jan 2011?

As you can see from the photos and information above,the Lean Eating program is so much more than a weight loss initiative.  Sure, weight is lost.  A lot of it.  But, in the process, healthy habits are adopted, lives are changed, and our clients begin to realize their best selves.

If you’re one of the folks who has yet to participate in the LE program, we’ve got another round coming up in January of 2011.  And, truthfully, I’d like to see you involved.

Since the Lean Eating program typically sells out within hours of opening up, you can be one of the first to get a chance at registration by putting your name on the pre-sale list below.  Hope to see you in 2011!

Since humans invented fire, we’ve enjoyed the benefits of cooking food. However, cooking food has its drawbacks, including the development of carcinogens. Here’s how to prevent harmful chemicals while still enjoying that summer cookout.

Lacking criticism and judgement in your life?

No looks of scorn and disapproval?

You can easily solve this problem by having a baby. (Or, if you don’t want such a dramatic change in your life just for the sake of being socially judged, borrow a baby — preferably with the parents’ knowledge and approval.)

Confused?

All the parents out there completely understand what I’m talking about. You can chain smoke, eat a 1 million calorie super bacon PopTart burger while wearing Lady Gaga’s newest outfit and playing the bagpipes, and still get fewer looks of disdain than if you’re carrying a baby seemingly underdressed for 35°C (95°F) weather with humidity hovering around 95% or are trying to corral a screaming toddler at Funorama.

I guess this makes sense for the survival of the species, but as a society, are we worried about the wrong things?

The kids aren’t all right

Adults in industrialized countries are getting more and more obese, but so are children.

How bad is it?

• In Canada in 1979, only 3% of children between 2-17 years old were obese. By 2004, 8% of children were obese and 18% were overweight in Canada.
• In the United States, between the late 1970s and 2007/8:
  • Among children 2-5 years of age, obesity increased from 5 to 10.4%.
  • Among 6-11 year olds, obesity increased from 6.5 to 19.6%.
  • Among adolescents aged 12-19, obesity increased from 5 to 18.1%.

And overweight kids are getting relatively larger. A child over his or her ideal weight/size is more likely to be really heavy — not just carrying a little “baby fat”.

Baby food: Is it fit for babies?

Many regulations control the food we eat as adults. So you’d think that food for babies would also be strictly controlled and covered by more nutritionally stringent rules. Nope. Baby and toddler food is filled with excess salt and sugar, with new fun foods targeting toddlers.

There are regulations, but they have pretty big loopholes. For instance, in Canada the Food and Drug Regulations Section B.25.003 says that “no person shall sell infant food that contains a) strained fruit, b) fruit juice, c) fruit drink or d) cereal, if sodium chloride has been added to the food”.

Well, that sounds good. No salt can be added to strained fruit, fruit juice, fruit drink or cereal! (Not sure why you’d want salt on your apples anyway.) But here’s the loop-hole: you can add salt to other foods like snack foods and vegetable-based dinners, where it would make them more gastronomically stimulating.

Fun food

While deep-fried fish-shaped fish sticks may be fun foods, why doesn’t anybody ask the most important question – What type of fish is in this? Sorry folks, but “fish” is not an ingredient in the same way “mammal” is not an ingredient. Yes, waiter, I would like to order the mammal dish and could you make it in the shape of a cow?

How did this all start? Around the same time as the cotton ginny was invented, during the Industrial Revolution, baby food (mostly formula) became commercialized. By 1928, Daniel Gerber expanded the baby food market by selling canned strained peas, prunes, carrots and spinach, and beef vegetable soup that were advertised as superior to homemade.

Indeed, the baby food industry has thrived on the idea that manufacturers can somehow create baby food that is superior to what mom and dad could produce.

Why is sugar and salt bad?

Well, we probably shouldn’t have to explain this, but let’s look briefly at why sugar and salt is bad for small children.

Small children’s systems are still developing. That means the food they eat now has health consequences later. It also means that their systems may not be able to handle things the same way an adult’s can. For instance:

• Babies and toddlers’ kidneys can’t process salt as effectively as adult kidneys.
• Excess sugar and salt intake in childhood develops taste preferences that are hard to change as adults.
• Sugar has been linked to type 2 diabetes and immune system disorders (including asthma and allergies) in children.
• Sugar can cause tooth decay, even in infants, and that means big dentist bills later on.
• Sugar can affect the developing flora of children’s gastrointestinal tracts, which means lots of upset tummies.
• Sugar can affect children’s brain development, including creating/worsening mood and behavioural problems. (Translation: tantrums.)
• One study found that children eating a salty diet tended to drink more, including more fattening, sugary soft drinks — a double whammy.

This week’s review

This week’s review looks at a study that critically examined 186 different baby and toddler foods to see how much sugar and salt were in them.

Elliott CD. Sweet and salty: nutritional content and analysis of baby and toddler foods. J Public Health (Oxf). 2010 Jun 28. [Epub ahead of print]

Methods

The researcher went out and bought 186 baby/toddler foods from her local supermarkets, pharmacies, and department stores in Canada. These foods included pureed dinners, desserts, biscuits, cookies, fruit snacks, snack bars, yogurt and cereals.

She didn’t include infant formulas, cereals, or fruit/vegetable purées, because she was interested in baby/toddler food rather than infant food. Plus, single-food purées are usually simple foods with no added sugar or salt.

The researcher looked at the Nutrition Facts labels, specifically examining the salt and sugar content reported on the label. A few months back I reviewed a study that found that labels sometimes aren’t accurate, so we have to keep this in mind with this study.

Results

Of the 186 baby/toddler foods surveyed:

• 63% had high sodium (>130mg/serving) or excessive sugar (more that 20% of calories/serving from sugar). Or both.
• 36 products listed sugar (or a sugar variant, like corn syrup and glucose) as the most abundant (first) ingredient or second most abundant (second) ingredient.

Salt

Of the toddler foods, Gerber Graduates for Toddler Lil’ Entrees (Chicken Pasta Wheel Pickups) had 550 mg sodium/serving or a little more than 1/4 teaspoon of salt. To put that into perspective, a Big Mac has 742 mg of sodium. Health Canada recommends that adults get no more than 1500 mg of sodium per day. So in one serving, a small child could get 1/3 the sodium recommended for a fully grown adult. Eek.

All in all, 12% of all toddler foods in the study had more than 130 mg of sodium/serving.

Sugar

53% of all foods in the study had more than 20% of their calories from sugar (which includes both added and natural sugar). No surprise that 87% baby food desserts were high in sugar, but so were yogurt nibbles (100%) and cereals (76%).

75 products (40% of the products) added sugar, corn syrup, cane syrup, brown sugar, dextrose, fructose, or some other sugar variant.

How much added sugar could there be? This is baby/toddler food. Since ingredients are listed in order of prevalence with the most abundant ingredient listed first, and the least listed last, we can get an idea of how abundant sugar is compared to other ingredients.

In 36 of the products, sugar (or sugar variants) were first or second on the list. Holy crap! The first ingredient is sugar!

Since sugar is higher up on the ingredient list there has to be more sugar than any other ingredient, so if you made an apple sauce with sugar as the number one ingredient, you need more sugar than apples. In adult terms, that would be like eating a medium apple — 182 g — with at least 183 grams of sugar. In more tangible terms that’s over 45 teaspoons of sugar, or nearly a full cup of sugar.

Hey kids! Wash those apples down with a cup of sugar!

These 36 high sugar food were targeted to babies, compared to the high sodium foods that targeted toddlers.

Conclusion

You would hope that as a society we would be more concerned about what our babies ate than adults, but it doesn’t look like it.

There isn’t a universal standard for how much sugar and salt babies and toddlers should eat, and baby/toddler food is not  healthier than adult pre-packaged food.

Processed foods aimed at babies and toddlers are likely to have more salt and sugar than your child should eat.

Aren’t there, y’know, rules?

Not as many as you’d think. There are few specific guidelines or regulations for baby/toddler food.

Nationally, Canada wants adults to eat less salt. Health Canada, a branch of the federal government responsible for the health and safety of Canadians has set goals to reduce adult Canadians’ salt intake. The goal for 2016 is to reduce salt intake by 30% to 2300 mg (about 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt), still well short of the desired 1500 mg/day, but hey, baby steps.

There are recommendations for sugar, too. According to the American Heart Association, adult women and adult men should limit daily added sugar to 100 and 150 calories, respectively.

Great for adults! What about babies and toddlers? Not so much. What happened to the old proverb: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?

Instead of trying to “cure” the health problems of obese adults reared on junk food, wouldn’t it be easier to start children off right, with real food that isn’t laden with salt and sugar?

Bottom line

Being a parent is a tough job. You’re constantly worrying about something. Has my baby car seat expired (yes, they now expire)? Now you’re thinking I have to move to Saskatchewan, open an organic farm and grow heirloom variety bumbleberries to feed Timmy?

Nothing that drastic. Here’s what we recommend.

1. Don’t assume anything. Yes, you’d hope that people wouldn’t feed garbage to children. But they do.
2. Read labels. This is good advice generally. As PNers you know to read labels, so do the same for your child, whether they’re a cooing baby or an enthusiastic 2 year old.
3. Feed your kid real food, just like you’d feed yourself. C’mon — should anyone eat deep-fried mystery fish nuggets, even if they are shaped like fish?
4. Make your own baby/toddler food. As PNers, you probably have a good relationship with your blender too. Do you really need a manufacturer to squish bananas for you, or cut things into little pieces? Grab a fork, mash up those peas and carrots, and save yourself money and worry (plus hauling all those little jars out to the curb on recycling day).

And maybe keep little Billy away from gumming the family boa constrictor.

References

1. Statistics Canada. Overweight Canadian children and adolescents.
2. Centers for Disease Control. Childhood Overweight and Obesity.

You only eat healthy, organic junk food, right?

Good. Me too. But wait a minute.

Is this healthy, organic junk food really better for us?

I mean, we know there are benefits to buying organic food from health oriented companies. For instance:

• We reduce potentially harmful chemicals coming into our bodies and being absorbed into the soil
• We support food companies that use sustainable energy and biodegradable packaging

So, buying healthy, organic junk foods is likely a better idea than buying the conventional equivalent… at least for the planet. And maybe for our health.

But really, despite the impact of environmental chemicals and conditions, right now heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are still our top killers. And these have a LOT to do with overall food intake patterns and body fat levels.

Junk food is junk food

When we are talking nutrition, body fat, and health – junk food is junk food. A treat is a treat. Does it really matter if it was made by Kashi or sweetened with organic cane juice?

Just because something is produced by a company that sounds healthy, distributes to Whole Foods, or is planted on an organic farm, doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t harm our health. The product might be loaded with sugar, refined flours and/or animal products (even too much of the natural sugars can wreak havoc in the body, see: All About Natural Sweeteners).

So, to get you thinking, I have a quiz. It’s time to compare food products.

I’m going to show you different food products and compare the ingredients. You can go through the categories and start thinking about which products are healthier for your body, and why.

Category: Cookies

Uncle Eddies Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies	Nabisco Chips Ahoy
Ingredients: Unbleached flour, organic evaporated cane juice, chocolate chips (no dairy, no refined sugar), soy margarine, organic brown rice syrup, vanilla, lecithin, unsulfured molasses, baking soda, unsweetened cocoa & sea salt, walnuts. Highlights: 10 grams of sugar per cookie 3 types of added sweeteners and white flour	Ingredients: Enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), semisweet chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, dextrose, soy lecithin), sugar, soybean oil, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, high fructose corn syrup, leavening (baking soda, ammonium phosphate), salt, whey (from milk), natural and artificial flavor, caramel color. Highlights: 9 grams of sugar per cookie White flour, hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors

Which is healthier? Why?

Category: Sandwich Cookie

Late July Organic Dark Chocolate Sandwich Cookie	Nabisco Oreo Cookies
Ingredients: Organic wheat flour, organic evaporated cane juice, organic palm oil, organic powdered evaporated cane juice with organic corn starch, organic whole wheat flour, organic cocoa, organic cocoa (processed with alkali), organic chocolate liquor, organic cocoa butter, organic brown rice syrup, organic evaporated cane juice syrup organic roasted barley, organic vanilla extract, sodium bicarbonate, soy lecithin, sea salt. Highlights: 9 grams of sugar per 3 cookies Mainly white flour, various added sweeteners	Ingredients: Sugar, enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), high oleic canola oil and/or palm oil and/or canola oil and/or soybean oil, cocoa (processed with alkali), high fructose corn syrup, cornstarch, leavening (baking soda and/or calcium phosphate), salt, soy lecithin, vanillin – an artificial flavor, chocolate. Highlights: 14 grams of sugar per 3 cookies Mainly sugar and white flour

Which is healthier? Why?

Category: Plain crackers

Late July Organic Classic Rich Crackers	Nabisco Ritz Crackers
Ingredients: Organic wheat flour, organic evaporated cane juice, organic oleic safflower oil and/or oleic sunflower oil, organic palm oil, sea salt, leavening (baking soda, cream of tartar), soy lecithin (an emulsifier). Highlights: 2 grams of sugar per 4 crackers Wheat flour is white flour	Ingredients: Enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), soybean oil, sugar, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, salt, leavening (baking soda and/or calcium phosphate), high fructose corn syrup, soy lecithin (emulsifier), natural flavor, cornstarch. Highlights: 1 gram of sugar per 4 crackers This cracker is a dough ball of white flour, oil, and sugar.

Which is healthier? Why?

Category: Wheat crackers

Back to Nature Crispy Wheats Crackers	Nabisco Wheat Thins
Ingredients: Unbleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), expeller-pressed oleic safflower oil, raw sugar (turbinado), defatted wheat germ, cornstarch, brown rice syrup, sea salt, malted barley extract, leavening (calcium phosphate, baking soda), natural turmeric flavor. Highlights: 4 grams of sugar per 8 crackers No whole grain flours	Ingredients: Whole grain wheat flour, unbleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), soybean oil, sugar, cornstarch, malt syrup (from barley and corn, salt, invert sugar, monoglycerides, leavening (calcium phosphate and/or baking soda), vegetable color (annatto extract, turmeric oleoresin), BHT. Highlights: 4 grams of sugar per 8 crackers A whole grain flour is actually the first ingredient.

What’s your choice?

Category: Candy/Nutrition Bars

Promax Nutrition Bar	Snickers bar
Ingredients: Promax™ Protein Blend (Whey Protein Concentrate, Calcium Caseinate, Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Concentrate, L-Glutamine, L-Leucine, L-Isoleucine, L-Valine), High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Non GMO Soy Protein Isolate, Yogurt Coating [Sugar, Fractionated Palm Kernel Oil, Nonfat Dry Milk, Yogurt Powder (Cultured Whey Protein Concentrate, Cultured Skim Milk, Yogurt Culture), Artificial Color, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Natural Flavor], Cookies (Enriched Wheat Flour, Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean And/Or Cottonseed Oil, Cocoa, Salt, Sodium Bicarbonate), Dutch Processed Cocoa, Canola Oil, Peanut Butter, Guar Gum, Oat Fiber, Non GMO Soy Fiber, Beet Fiber., Vitamins & Minerals: Dicalcium Phosphate, Magnesium Oxide, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin E Acetate, Ferrous Fumarate, Niacinamide, Zinc Oxide, Copper Gluconate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Biotin, Potassium Iodide, Cyanocobalamin Highlights: 28 grams of sugar per bar Lots of ingredients I wouldn’t let my kids eat	Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, lactose, skim milk, milk fat, soy lecithin, artificial flavor), peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, skim milk, butter, milk fat, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, lactose, salt, egg whites, artificial flavor. Highlights: 30 grams of sugar per bar Fewer ingredients than most nutrition bars, heavy on animal fats
Clif Builder’s Bar	Organic Food Protein Bar
Ingredients: Soy Protein Isolate, Chicory Syrup, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Palm Kernel Oil, Dry Roasted Peanuts, Organic Rolled Oats, Organic Soy Protein Concentrate, Cocoa, Vegetable Glycerin, Natural Flavors, Peanut Flour, Rice Starch, Inulin (Chicory Extract), Cocoa Butter, Salt, Organic Milled Flaxseed, Organic Oat Fiber, Soy Lecithin, Organic Sunflower Oil, Vitamins & Minerals: Dicalcium Phosphate, Magnesium Oxide, Ascorbic Acid (Vit. C), Tocopheryl Acetate (Vit. E), Ferric Orthophosphate (Iron), Beta Carotene (Vit. A), Zinc Citrate, Phytonadione (Vit. K1), Biotin, Niacinamide (Vit. B3), Calcium Pantothenate (Vit. B5), Potassium Iodide, Manganese Gluconate, Copper Gluconate, Sodium Selenite, Thiamin (Vit. B1), Chromium Chloride, Cyanocobalamin (Vit. B12), Sodium Molybdate, Folic Acid (Vit. B9), Riboflavin (Vit. B2), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vit. B6) Highlights: 20 grams of sugar per bar Basically this bar is processed soy, sugar and oil….with a dusting of synthetic vitamins and minerals.	Ingredients: Organic Almond Butter, Organic Brown Rice Protein, Organic Dates, Organic Agave Nectar, Organic Bio Sprouts™ – Flax, Organic Biodynamic™ (Demeter) Raisins, Organic Sesame Seeds and lots of love! Highlights: 22 grams of sugar per bar Simple ingredients, no refined sweetener until ingredient #4, “love” is one of the ingredients.

What is your choice here?

Category: Cereal – granola

Bear Naked Fruit and Nut Granola	Kellogg’s Low Fat Granola with Raisins
Ingredients: Whole grain oats, honey, canola oil, almonds, raisins (raisins, glycerin, sunflower oil), coconut, sweetened dried cranberries (cranberries, sugar, glycerin, sunflower oil), pecans, walnuts, maple syrup, oat bran, ground flax seeds, toasted sesame seeds. Highlights: 12 grams of sugar per ½ cup If you have trouble stopping at ½ cup, it’s probably because sugar and fat are the 2nd and 3rd ingredients.	Ingredients: Whole oats, whole grain wheat, sugar, corn syrup, raisins, rice, glycerin, palm oil, molasses, modified corn starch, almonds, salt, cinnamon, nonfat dry milk, high fructose corn syrup, polyglycerol esters of mono- and diglycerides, malt flavoring, niacinamide, zinc oxide, alpha tocopherol acetate (vitamin e), ascorbic acid (vitamin c), pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), reduced iron, guar gum, BHT (preservative), riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin A palmitate, folic acid, thiamine hydrochloride (vitamin B1), vitamin B12 and vitamin D. Highlights: 17 grams of sugar per ½ cup First 2 ingredients are whole grains, next 2 ingredients are sugar

Which one is healthier, why?

Category: Cereal – “for kids”

Envirokidz Organic Gorilla Munch Cereal	Quaker Cap’n Crunch Cereal
Ingredients: Organic corn meal, organic evaporated cane juice, sea salt. Highlights: 8 grams of sugar per ¾ cup Simple ingredient list, the bummer is that 2/3 of the list is sugar and salt.	Ingredients: Corn flour, sugar, oat flour, brown sugar, coconut oil, salt, niacinamide, yellow 5, reduced iron, zinc oxide, yellow 6, thiamine mononitrate, BHT, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, folic acid. Highlights: 12 grams of sugar per ¾ cup Oats? Coconut oil? This stuff is like a total health food. Some strange colors, though.

Which is healthier?

Category: Cereal – “for adults”

Nature’s Path Organic Optimum Strawberry and Yogurt Cereal	Kellogg’s Special K Fruit and Yogurt Cereal
Ingredients: Organic wheat bran, organic wheat meal, organic evaporated cane juice, organic puffed Kamut® Khorasan wheat, organic yogurt coated rice crisps (organic evaporated cane juice, organic palm kernel oil, organic non fat yogurt, organic brown rice flour, organic coconut oil, organic cultured non fat dried milk (organic skim milk, culture), organic soy lecithin, lactic acid, organic vanilla flavor, organic molasses, sea salt), organic oat fiber, organic psyllium seed husk, organic flax meal, organic oat bran, organic barley malt extract, organic freeze dried strawberries, organic whole oat flour, natural strawberry flavor, sea salt, tocopherols (natural vitamin E). Highlights: 13 grams of sugar per 1 cup A few grains and grain components provide some nutrition here, only 3 types of added sugar – not too bad compared to 16	Ingredients: Rice, whole grain wheat, sugar, berry flavored oat cluster (toasted oats [rolled oats, sugar, soybean oil, honey, molasses], sugar, rolled oats, strawberry flavored apples [dried apples, artificial flavor, citric acid, red #40, sodium sulfite], corn syrup, brown sugar, natural and artificial flavor, BHT), vanilla flavored crunch (sugar, toasted oats [rolled oats, sugar, canola oil (with TBHQ and citric acid to preserve freshness), molasses, honey, BHT, soy lecithin], rolled wheat, crisp rice [rice, sugar, barley malt, salt], corn syrup, polydextrose, honey, cinnamon, BHT, vanillin), high fructose corn syrup, fractioned palm kernel oil, salt, malt flavoring, nonfat dry milk, nonfat yogurt powder (cultured nonfat milk, yogurt is heat treated after culturing), whey, ascorbic acid, confectioner’s glaze, lactic acid powder, corn syrup, natural and artificial flavors, tapioca dextrin, distilled monoglycerides, soy lecithin, reduced iron, nacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamin hydrochloride, vitamin A palmitate, BHT, folic acid, vitamin D, vitamin B12. Highlights: 16 varieties of added sugar! Call Guinness. That has to be a record. 14 grams of sugar per 1 cup If adults think they are improving their health by eating this cereal, they are greatly mistaken

What’s your pick here?

Category: Ice Cream

Luna & Larry Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate Ice Cream	Haagen-Dazs Five Ice Cream – Chocolate
Ingredients: Organic coconut milk (organic coconut, water, guar gum), organic agave syrup, organic Fair Trade cocoa, organic Fair Trade vanilla extract Highlights: 15 grams of sugar per ½ cup Simple ingredients	Ingredients: Skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, cocoa processed with alkali. Highlights: 20 grams of sugar per ½ cup A bit heavy on animal fats

What do you think?

Category: Brownies

No Pudge Fudge Brownie Mix Original	Dr. Oetker Organic Brownie Mix Chocolate
Ingredients: Pure sugar cane, unbleached wheat flour, dutch cocoa, egg whites, cornstarch, wheat gluten, salt, baking soda. Highlights: Basically it’s a wad of sugar and flour. This product is marketing genius. What’s “no pudge” about a ball of sugar and flour?	Ingredients: Organic cane sugar, organic enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), organic cocoa, salt, baking soda. Highlights: Basically it’s a wad of sugar and flour. Why aren’t these called “no pudge?”

Which is healthier?

Category: Soda

Organic Blue Sky New Century Cola	Coca-Cola
Ingredients: Filtered carbonated water, organic cane juice, natural cola nut flavor, caramel color, tartaric acid Highlights: 40 grams of sugar per can	Ingredients: Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors, caffeine Highlights: 39 grams of sugar per can

Bottom line

I know you are cursing me right about now. Why? Because it will be much harder to rationalize any healthy, organic junk food consumption.

But trust me; it’s for your own good. You’ll thank me later.

If you’ve been diagnosed with “low hormones” or are experiencing symptoms of low hormones, what does that mean and how does that work?

In this video, naturopathic physician Bryan Walsh presents a basic overview of how some of the key controller hormones work. Here, he explains the fundamentals of the controller hormone system, and covers some of the most common causes of low hormone production.

Understanding hormonal pathways

Millions of men and women aren’t being properly treated nor managed for symptoms of hormonal imbalances. Knowing more about how hormone systems work can help you actively manage your health situation, and be a more informed consumer in discussions with your health care providers.

There is a common pathway for many of the “master controller” hormones, such as sex hormones (e.g. estrogen, testosterone, progesterone); thyroid hormone; and the adrenal stress hormone cortisol. Here’s how the pathway works.

1. The pathway starts in the brain with neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, or acetylcholine.
2. These chemicals stimulate a small gland in the brain known as the hypothalamus, which then stimulates another gland, the pituitary.
3. The pituitary then directs a particular gland, such as the thyroid or testes. That gland will then release its hormone(s) as directed, usually bound to a transport protein that helps to carry the hormone to where it’s supposed to go.
4. If the body doesn’t need all of this hormone, the excess can go to the liver, which along with the gallbladder’s bile, helps to excrete the excess through the large intestine for eventual disposal.
5. The body can also convert hormones into other things — either a slightly revised yet related molecule, or a new type of molecule with quite different properties (for instance, testosterone can eventually convert to estrogen).
6. Once converted, hormones then bind to a cellular receptor site. If it can do this effectively, it creates a cascade of events within the cell, known as a proteomic response. If this step doesn’t happen, there will be low hormone symptoms. In other words, even though there might be a lot of hormone circulating, and every other master controller gland is doing its job, if the proteomic response doesn’t happen properly, you’ll still end up with a low hormone response.

What happens when the process breaks down?

Defects can occur at any stage of this process.

1. Not enough neurotransmitters? You can’t stimulate the hypothalamus.
2. Hypothalamic or pituitary suppression can occur. The stress hormone cortisol, for instance, can suppress pituitary function. In fact, stress and inflammation are two of the most common causes for low hormone levels.
3. The gland itself (e.g. the thyroid or testes) may be unable to produce hormone(s) required. Often, though, we assume that the gland itself is the problem when in fact it may be higher up the chain.
4. Too much or too little binding protein can also cause problems. This is also very common.
5. The gastrointestinal detoxification system (liver, gall bladder, intestine) can be dysfunctional. This means hormones aren’t properly detoxified and excreted.
6. The conversion process can be faulty.
7. If the hormone doesn’t bind properly to the cellular receptor site (perhaps because the receptor is not working adequately) or can’t do its job once it gets into the cell, this can inhibit the hormone even though it may have reached its destination.

Thus, low hormone symptoms can have multiple causes. And many things can go wrong in this complex chain. If you’re experiencing symptoms of hormonal dysfunction, first things first.

Make sure you’re following a well-designed exercise program (incorporating at least 5 hours of physical activity per week), as well as a really good nutrition plan (The Precision Nutrition System anyone?).  Then, if the symptoms persist, look at the “big picture” and consider all the possibilities discussed above when seeking health care.

Carrying a lot of excessive body fat makes health, body composition, and athletic performance worse. But here’s the problem — collectively, we’re not very good at losing fat either. We need a better solution. Knowing how fat loss works may be helpful.

Before I did my Master’s degree, I had an impeccable memory. Dates, times, phone numbers, chemical processes and Latin names for anatomical parts were pretty easy.

My brother even once challenged me to memorize a list of 20 random items in 20 minutes — no problem. But that was BM, before my Master’s.

After my Master’s, my memory was never the same. Was it age? Maybe. But more likely it was stress and lack of proper nutrition.

Yup, memory, stress, and the food you eat are related.

Stress — of any kind — causes chemical stress in the body. Chemical stress includes the production of free radicals, aka reactive oxygen species, aka little molecular critters floating around rusting out your cells. (More on this below.)

Alzheimer’s disease has been linked to this oxidative damage. Antioxidants, found in food, seem to protect your body from free radical damage. One of those chemicals with antioxidant properties is vitamin E.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin (like vitamins A, D & K). Again, it’s an antioxidant (like vitamin C and β-carotene), and essential for neurological function.

You can find vitamin E in vegetable oils, nuts, green leafy vegetables, avocados, seeds, whole grains, tomatoes, apples and carrots.

You probably think of vitamin E as a singular thing. In fact, there is a whole family of vitamin Es. Four tocopherols (α, β, γ and δ) and four tocotrienols (α, β, γ and δ) make up the vitamin E family.

α-tocopherol is the family member that your body has most of, and that absorbs best. Since α-tocopherol is the only vitamin E family member found in blood (the plasma), scientists have done the most research on it (and generally people are more willing to give a blood sample than, say, a muscle biopsy).

But even though α-tocopherol is found in the highest amount in the body, it isn’t the best at counteracting free radicals; γ-tocopherol has the highest anti-oxidative capacity.

What are free radicals?

Every once and awhile you hear about a new superfood that’s high in antioxidants. Great! But why are antioxidants good?

Well antioxidants fight free radicals! Great… what are free radicals?

No, free radicals aren’t an unstable indie rock band or a fringe political group; they’re molecules. Free radicals are chemically unstable and very chemically reactive, which causes damage to your body… until your friendly neighbourhood antioxidant comes along and stops the chemical carnage caused by free radicals.

Where do free radicals come from?

Well, they don’t sneak in in the middle of the night. They can come from both outside and inside the body.

• External sources: Exposure to tobacco smoke, UV rays, pollution, radiation, ozone, and pesticides causes free radicals to be made in your body.
• Internal sources: Your body can trigger the making of free radicals too. Yup, the evil problem-causing free radicals can come from you in the course of normal metabolic or daily functions, such as:
  • exercising
  • using your mitochondria
  • using your phagocytes (white blood cells that chew up debris) — in other words, having an immune system challenge
  • having inflammation
  • stress

Research question

This week’s review examines a study that looks at the relationship between the antioxidant vitamin E and risk of Alzheimer’s. Could high levels of vitamin E in your blood reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s?

Mangialasche F, et al. High plasma levels of vitamin E forms and reduced Alzheimer’s disease risk in advanced age. J Alzheimers Dis. 2010;20(4):1029-37.

Methods

The scientists wanted to figure out if having low or high blood levels of vitamin E (all versions) could be correlated with Alzheimer’s disease in people over 80 years old.

Since this study was done in Sweden, the 232 participants were from Sweden. Researchers analyzed their blood for vitamin E, and then followed for up to 6 years to see if they ended up with Alzheimer’s disease. Pretty simple.

Results

Age

After all the analysis was done the researchers found that the people who had Alzheimer’s were slightly older (86.2 years old on average) than the ones that didn’t have it (84.6 years old on average).

Vitamin E

When doing a straight comparison between the people who ended up getting Alzheimer’s and those who didn’t, there was no difference in the blood levels of any of the vitamin E isomers.

Of all the isomers, only low blood levels of β-tocopherol could possibly be related to Alzheimer’s. I say possibly because statistically the results are inconclusive (for those interested, p=0.055 comparing β-tocopherol in control and Alzheimer’s cases).

To try to make things a bit clearer– and/or if you’re a skeptic — to have a more publishable paper, the scientists did another type of analysis: they compared the 25% of the people with the highest vitamin E levels with the 25% of the people with the lowest vitamin E levels and looked at how often each group got Alzheimer’s.

This second analysis did show something interesting:

People in the high vitamin E group for tocopherols (all four α-δ) were less likely to have Alzheimer’s than people in the low tocopherol group. Same results for tocotrienols and total vitamin E (all isomers).

So while in general, a straight comparison didn’t show much of a link, being in the top 25% for every isomer of vitamin E meant you were less likely to have Alzheimer’s.

Conclusion

This study is different than most studies looking at vitamin E and Alzheimer’s disease, because it looks at all eight isomers of vitamin E. Most studies only look at α-tocopherol, since it’s the most abundant.

From this study it seems that having high levels of all versions of vitamin E in your blood reduces your risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease by between 45-54%.

A few downsides to this study:

• There weren’t that many people in it (only 232); it was over a pretty short period of time (6 years); and they didn’t look at how much vitamin E everybody was eating.
• Having more participants would give the study stronger statistical power — in stats more people is better.
• Because the study duration was only 6 years it’s possible that there were people with undiagnosed Alzheimer’s in the control group.
• By not knowing how much vitamin E people ate, we don’t know if pre-Alzheimer’s causes a drop in vitamin E or if less vitamin E triggers Alzheimer`s. In other words we don’t know if the vitamin E is a cause, correlation, or effect.

Bottom line

Even though this study shows a link between vitamin E and Alzheimer’s, we don’t know whether eating more vitamin E will prevent Alzheimer’s.

So before you start chowing down vitamin E supplements (especially ones that are just a single isomer), simply add a little more nuts, seeds (and fresh/cold-pressed nut/seed oils), green leafy vegetables, avocados, whole grains, tomatoes, apples, and carrots to your diet.

And spit out that cigarette!

References

1. Sayre LM, Perry G, Smith MA.Oxidative stress and neurotoxicity. Chem Res Toxicol. 2008 Jan;21(1):172-88.
2. Monastero R, Mangialasche F, Camarda C, Ercolani S, Camarda R. A systematic review of neuropsychiatric symptoms in mild cognitive impairment. J Alzheimers Dis. 2009;18(1):11-30. Review
3. Burton GW, Traber MG. Vitamin E: antioxidant activity, biokinetics, and bioavailability. Annu Rev Nutr. 1990;10:357-82. Review.

If you frequent the PN Member Zone, you’ve probably seen Kate Kline’s name pop up. She’s one of the coaches for the 2009 Lean Eating Alumni group, and a longtime PN’er.

As a former state champion runner, Kate has first-hand experience with high level performance. After an injury took her away from running, she focused more on strength training.

A graduate of Arizona State University, Kate studied it all — exercise, wellness and psychology. Then she went on to become a certified strength coach through Charles Poliquin’s PICP and a trainer through the ISSA. After all the school days were over, Kate went to work alongside coach Krista Schaus.

Kate’s ambition is to inspire people to set their goals high and push themselves beyond self-limiting perceptions. She’s a firm believer in mind and body interaction and her philosophy is that you must train both to be successful.

Mind and body interaction? Is Kate some sort of hippie? Let’s find out. I tracked her down for responses to the following 11 questions.

1. What are the top 3 things you see people do to mess up their nutrition?

Right on, let’s start this off on a positive note!

Nah, this is a good question, since “mistakes” are really just opportunities for learning. Here are my top picks:

Mistake 1: Trying to change too much at once rather than focusing on making small, progressive changes over time.

Developing good nutrition does not happen after waking up one day and deciding to follow some “diet” where you eat the same prescribed foods day in and day out. Rather, it’s about developing successful dietary habits that are life-sustaining.

This is what the Lean Eating Coaching Program is based on. And it’s why Lean Eating clients are so successful in their transformations.

Mistake 2: Trying to make things too complicated.

The “Make It Simple” concept illustrates this brilliantly.

Mistake 3: Failing to address the role that emotional, psychological, and socio-cultural factors have in eating behaviors.

People don’t just eat because they are hungry. If that were the case, we probably wouldn’t have much obesity. Emotions and environment have a huge influence on food choices and are often the most significant limiting factors that need to be addressed.

2. How has your perspective on nutrition and exercise changed over the years?

Through my own experiences and through my work with hundreds of clients, I’ve learned the significant influence that one’s thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs have in shaping his or her overall success with any endeavor.

The mind is an incredibly powerful tool, often forgotten! A simple change in mindset or thought process can produce dramatic positive changes. The brain really is the “powerhouse” of our bodies!

3. What is your favorite quote?

I have two favorites.

“Believe, focus, achieve.”
–Krista Schaus

This short, yet powerful quote was introduced to me by Krista Schaus, and it has become the philosophy of Defining Edge. Take special note that believing is the first step in it all!

“Feel the fear… and do it anyways.”
–Susan Jeffers

This has been a life-changing one for me. The opportunities, knowledge, insights, and growth that have resulted from facing my fears and embracing change are absolutely incredible.

Now I make it a point to do at least one thing that “scares” me each week, and I challenge my clients to do the same.

4. What are the top 3 things you see people do to mess up their exercise?

Mistake 1: They do the same thing over and over again, failing to incorporate the all-too important principle of progression into their program.

Whether your goals are health, body composition, or performance related, if you want continued results, you have to find ways to keep challenging yourself.

Mistake 2: They choose something they hate doing for energy expenditure work.

If you hate it, you won’t do it! Find an activity that you enjoy that keeps you active. If you hate running on the treadmill, then don’t! Go rollerblading. Take a group exercise class. Get outside for a hike. Play soccer with your kids. Belly dancing? The options are endless!

Mistake 3: They underestimate their capabilities (this goes right along with #1).

Don’t be afraid to push past the comfort zone! It’s usually in the “discomfort” zone that we achieve the most significant feats of fitness and strength. And nothing beats that feeling of accomplishment after pushing through a hard challenge!

5. What gets you out of bed every day?

Life! The prospect of another amazing day!

I look at each day as an opportunity. An opportunity for growth, challenge, excitement, knowledge, connections, laughs, and love.

I am so thankful for my family and friends; for the opportunity to reach out to others working in an industry that I am so passionate about; and for a healthy body that allows me to pursue my passion for fitness and performance.

But let’s keep it real. Eight years ago I was suffering from severe clinical depression and had a very different outlook on life than I do today. When did the switch flip? When I decided that I was worth being healthy and happy. That I wanted to change and when I finally believed that I could change.

Are you seeing a pattern here?

Now Kate, finish the following sentences.

6. Fast food is…

Whipping up a SuperShake. Grabbing a handful of nuts and raw veggies. Going into my fridge or cooler for some pre-cooked chicken breast and broccoli.

It’s fast. It’s easy. It’s affordable. Oh, and it does good things for my body.

7. The key to my health success is…

Making health a priority and nutrition and exercise as passions.

8. My 3 favorite forms of exercise are…

1. Strength training
2. Sled dragging
3. Sprints/hill running

9. My 3 favorite foods are…

1. Seafood, with halibut and opakapaka being my top picks right now
2. Steamed spinach (or really any green vegetable)
3. Chocolate SuperShakes …..with extra cocoa powder

10. I usually shop for my food at…

Trader Joes, Sprouts, Whole Foods, Sunflower Market, Safeway, and Costco (in order of frequency – I wish it could all be done at just one store!).

11. My favorite supplement is…

BCAAs and a good recovery drink. I have a pretty challenging training regime and I notice a significant difference in recovery without them.

To learn how to get into the best shape of your life with Kate’s help, click here or here.

When I heard Chad Waterbury was releasing a new fat-loss workout – for both athletes and recreational exercisers – I was intrigued. Chad’s known for his awesome workout programs; programs that combine intense lifting, high intensity circuits, and low intensity recovery work. Basically all the stuff we recommend here at PN.

However, when I also heard that his new program – called Body of F.I.R.E. – is the exact program he used to help Ralek Gracie defeat Kazushi Sakuraba at the Dream 14 (a big-time MMA event), I knew this workout would be something special.

So, first, I begged Chad to send me a copy of the program so I could try it myself. (One week down and it’s awesome). Next, I asked one of our resident ass-kickers (and MMA enthusiast), Krista Scott-Dixon, to spend some time with Chad, talking training, fighting, and Body of F.I.R.E. Check out the interview below…

–JB

Over 10 years ago, my best girlfriend and I watched grainy VHS tapes of the first Ultimate Fighting Championships. It was an obscure activity known only to martial arts nerds. On weekends, we’d put a few mats down, or strap on the boxing gloves, and go at each other with zero skill but lots of enthusiasm.

Now, that best friend competes internationally on Canada’s grappling team (and works for PN). I’m working on my purple belt and teaching beginner women how to choke each other out. And even your grandma knows what MMA is.

And maybe, like sexagenarian MMA fighter Skip Hall or late-50s brown/black belt owner of Modern Combatives, Lily Pagle, grandma’s working on her kimura skills too.

In the first UFC, then-unknown grappler Royce Gracie choked out Ken Shamrock in under a minute. Since then, the Gracie family has become legendary as the First Family of Asskicking.

Royce’s dad Helio Gracie, and his brother Carlos Gracie, developed Brazilian jiu-jitsu and brought it to the sweaty masses. Now, Royce’s nephew and Helio’s grandson Ralek Gracie is carrying on the family tradition.

In his recent fight with Kazushi Sakuraba, Ralek Gracie won by unanimous decision after three gruelling rounds.

Ralek Gracie

This probably isn’t a surprise, but cage fighting/MMA is hard work. You need the skills to survive both striking on your feet and rolling around on the floor.

Truly, the adrenaline rush of competition is hard enough to manage. It’ll suck your oxgyen before you even step into the cage. Then, once you’re in there, it’s hard to punch, kick, and hold your opponent in any and every position — standing, upside down, tied into a pretzel. And, of course, that person is fighting back!

So, next time you’re in the mood for a hard workout, try sprinting up a hill. But make it interesting. Recruit a raging bear to chase you. Then, throw a guy over your shoulders to increase the resistance. And ask him to punch you in the face all the way up the hill.

That’s the level of intensity MMA athletes experience. And it’s a level of intensity that demands elite fitness. How do you get that elite fitness? Chad Waterbury knows.

He’s the strength & conditioning genius who prepared Ralek to endure the gut-wrenching, lung-busting three rounds. And this week, he’s releasing his new conditioning program, Body of F.I.R.E.

I caught up with Chad and asked about his trade secrets. Here’s what he told me.

Chad Waterbury

How did you get started?

At age 14 I picked up my first weight. From that point on it’s been my passion to find the most effective ways to build and transform the human body. Whether it’s a professional athlete or just a regular person who wants to look better on the beach, it’s been my mission to help people get the body and performance they want in less time than they thought possible.

What’s your general approach to training?

After 14 years as a professional in this field, my approach to ultimate fitness is simple: stimulate the maximum number of muscle fibres in order to generate the highest metabolic cost with each workout.

I use full body workouts, explosive tempos, and minimal rest periods to generate the strongest metabolic and hormonal response that exercise can create. I’ve found that full body workouts with short rest periods yield the best results across the board. I’ve experimented with every other approach imaginable and they all fall short when the goal is athleticism.

What do MMA athletes need?

The key to training MMA fighters is to give them the tools they require to excel at their style of fighting. I don’t train a striker the same way I train a jiu-jitsu person. They require different approaches with different training strategies.

MMA: The total package

With that in mind, an MMA fight is the ultimate test of athleticism, and that’s why I enjoy the challenge of working with fighters. Other sports generally focus on only one or two fitness qualities. A marathon runner only needs endurance. A powerlifter only needs maximal strength.

But an MMA fighter has to be the total package with high levels of power, endurance, and mobility that coalesce into one machine.

• Power is built with explosive tempos.
• Endurance is developed with short rest periods
• Mobility is enhanced with challenging, full range of motion lifts and body weight exercises.

Individualizing the approach

From a training perspective, a coach must quickly identify where there are weaknesses. That’s why it’s important to put each fighter through a thorough assessment first.

Some fighters are naturally strong. Other fighters have plenty of endurance but lack the necessary strength to excel at the sport. A strong fighter typically lacks endurance and mobility. An endurance animal usually has enough mobility, but lacks the maximal strength he or she needs.

Balancing training & recovery

Managing fatigue is the most important component to a fighter’s training plan. They have to do so much work on any given day that they constantly toe the line between performance enhancement and fatigue.

As a coach, I know that I have a very limited amount of time to develop the fitness qualities a fighter needs. In a best case scenario a strength and conditioning coach will get three intense and productive workouts per week from a fighter.

It’s important to fit as much as you can within those three workouts in the shortest time possible. The last thing you want to do is wear down fighters and limit their technical performance, endurance, or power in their striking and grappling sessions.

The trickiest part of training fighters is learning to manage fatigue, and dealing with their injuries. Fighters are constantly pushing the envelope of recovery, and they’re always tweaking joints. So there’s a delicate work/rest balance that you must find very quickly.

Additionally, being well-versed in soft tissue treatments and proper joint mechanics are crucial when working with fighters. I use many therapy regimens such as muscle stimulation, active release, and volcanic clay packs, just to name a few.

Bodybuilding vs sport conditioning

Bodybuilding is about developing specific muscle groups to unnatural proportions without regard for anything else. A fighter, on the other hand, must develop his or her entire body in balance so it performs as a single entity.

One of the biggest differences between training for show versus training for sport is rest between exercises. My fighters don’t rest during their entire workouts with me. If a fighter can only do ten minutes worth of continuous work, that’s how long the core of the workout will last at first. From there, I’ll build up the fighters’ work capacity until they can train at a high intensity for 30 minutes without rest.

Fighting requires non-stop, full body effort. Therefore, a fighter’s strength and conditioning program must follow suit.

With bodybuilding, or general fitness, such extreme levels of non-stop activity aren’t required, so there’s no reason to focus on it.

However, I think it’s wise for a weekend warrior to mimic many of the training principles I use when training a fighter. Why?

1. First off, most people want to lose fat. When you train with short rest periods and fast tempos, you’ll burn more calories and fat during and after your workouts. Research supports that statement.
2. Second, full body workouts will generally yield the best results for fitness buffs. Training that way induces a larger hormonal response because you’re creating a big metabolic cost by stimulating all of the major muscle groups at once.

How I got into MMA training

For two years I designed and implemented the strength and conditioning program for Rickson Gracie’s Jiu-Jitsu Center in Los Angeles. While there I developed good relationships with many top fighters and instructors. Word travels fast and one of the instructors, another MMA fighter, told Ralek that he should hire me to train him for his fight against Sakuraba.

Before I started training Ralek, I honestly didn’t know much about him, since he’d had only two professional fights, both in Japan. So I watched his fights to get some perspective of what I’d be working with.

I noticed two things right off the bat. First, he has incredible jiu-jitsu skills. Second, he was very weak. That’s typical of many jiu-jitsu fighters who avoid strength training for fear of becoming slow and stiff.

In essence, Ralek was like a Nascar driver who was trying to win the Daytona 500 with a Honda Civic. He had all the skills to excel, but he needed a machine with more horsepower. Nevertheless, I could tell that he had a solid physical structure, and given his age, I knew he’d respond well to the program I had in store for him.

Chad training Ralek

My challenges

It was a challenge to prepare him for Sakuraba because I only had 8 weeks from the time we started. Generally, a 12-week program is necessary for the proper development, peak, and tapering. But it worked out well, even with the time constraint.

After the fight, Ralek said that it’s the first time he felt like his body could do what he wanted it to do. But this is just the beginning for Ralek. Wait until you see the power and explosiveness he has for his next fight.

I enjoyed the challenge! Eventually, any expert in his field wants to be challenged. For me, the ultimate challenge is developing an MMA fighter because every fitness quality must be developed to an elite level.

It’s easy to develop high levels of endurance, and it’s not too tough to make a guy super strong if he doesn’t need to do anything else. But when you must develop supreme levels of explosive strength-endurance with tons of athletic mobility, it poses a significant challenge.

That’s why I enjoy working with fighters. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

What’s next on my “fight card”

I’m very excited about my latest project. It’s a complete training and nutrition program that burns fat and builds athleticism faster than any other program I’ve ever designed.

It’s called Body of F.I.R.E. and I’ve had everyone from average folks to elite athletes like Ralek Gracie use the program with incredible results. The fastest way to burn fat and get in shape is with full body, intense, resistance exercise, hence the acronym.

I also want to move away from one-on-one training in order to open up time in my schedule so I can help MMA schools develop and integrate more effective strength and conditioning programs. Schools are popping up all over the world, but many old-school training philosophies are holding back fighters from developing their ultimate potential.

I’m thrilled to be part of this growing sport, and happy to embrace the new challenges it offers to me as a strength and conditioning coach.

To check out Chad’s new program:

If you’re looking to get lean and strong you have to fuel your body.  And that’s the point of this upbeat Canadian fitness and nutrition show, Body Fuel.

Hosted on the Men TV network, Body Fuel investigates the ways in which food and supplements can interact with our body chemistry to create powerful, athletic, and sculpted bodies.

And each week on Body Fuel, I host a short segment called Ask Dr John. In this segment I tackle a host of important, frequently asked questions about food, fitness, supplements, health, and performance.

In this week’s episode, I answer the following question:

“Can eating meat increase my risk of cancer and other diseases?”

For more information about eating for optimal health:

• Check out the Precision Nutrition System

It’s been said that gluttony is overcome only when someone has a “full soul” and derives pleasure from passions that come from simple pursuits in life. What are you missing by over-indulging?

Is there a secret ingredient in olive oil?

Recently there’s been a lot of talk about the near-mythic “Mediterranean diet” and how it can keep us healthy. What makes it special? Is it the olive oil?

What is the Mediterranean diet?

First, the name “Mediterranean diet” is misleading.

There are many local cuisines in the Mediterranean region. Mediterraneans as a group don’t all eat the same things. Indeed, many have wandered off the path and into the local fast food joint.

And as you can see, the “Mediterranean” involves many very different countries.

As photographer Peter Menzel documented in his project Hungry Planet, diets are pretty different across this region. Here, the Manzo family of Sicily (top) versus the Ahmed family of Cairo (bottom). (You can see more of what the world eats here.)

But I guess everything needs a name and “Mediterranean diet” probably evokes exotic fantasies of sun-kissed olive groves and eating fresh-caught fish while wearing an impeccably tailored white linen suit. Or it sounded better than “If you want to live to 100 than you should eat this way diet”.

Regardless of the name, the highlights of the diet are:

• mostly plant-based food (beans and legumes, vegetables, fruits, whole grains)
• eating fish and poultry at least twice a week
• eating primarily olive oil
• limited red meats and sugars (although judging from the bottles of soda in the photos above, that’s changing)

So what makes this diet supposedly so good? Is it the lack of red meat? Or the ample vegetables? Or the quarter-cup of olive oil a day?

Well, my Greek grandma lived to 96 years old without any signs of Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease, high cholesterol or high blood pressure and her motto was “You need enough olive oil or the food isn’t tasty.” Enough olive oil meant a good half-cup in her vegetable stew.

If you look at the list above, nothing is too surprising… until you look at the amount of fat in the diet. Up to a whopping 40% of the calories in the Mediterranean diet come from fat (which should have been a clue that a low fat diet might not work out too well in the long run). And most of that fat is olive oil.

Olive oil breakdown

What actually makes up olive oil?

The chart below shows the fatty acid composition of olive oil.

• Palmitic acid and stearic acid are saturated fats (S)
• Palmitoleic acid and oleic acid are monounsaturated fats (M)
• Linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acids are unsaturated fats (U)

As you can see, oleic acid usually makes up the bulk of olive oil, generally around 55-80%, while linoleic acid is usually about 4-20% of olive oil. You can also see, by the way, that olive oil has a notable proportion of saturated fats — palmitic and stearic acids together usually make up around 15%.

Fatty acid composition varies depending on processing and type. Extra-virgin, cold-pressed olive oil — the good stuff — is basically made by mashing olives. Don’t be fooled by impostors that are chemically treated and heat-processed!

Does NOT count as “health food”…

Yeah, I’m pretty sure my gramma would flip out at the idea of olive oil margarine.

Polyphenols

So, one explanation for olive oil’s health benefits may be the fatty acid type. But another component, polyphenols, may actually be the key to what make olive oil so special. Polyphenols are plant-based antioxidants. In olive oil, tyrosol and hydroytryosol are the two major polyphenols.

This week, I review a study that tries to see whether polyphenols are the magic bullet of the “Mediterranean diet”.

Konstantinidou V, et al. In vivo nutrigenomic effects of virgin olive oil polyphenols within the frame of the Mediterranean diet: a randomized controlled trial. FASEB J. 2010 Jul;24(7):2546-57.

Methods

Ninety men and women between the ages of 20 and 50 years old were randomly assigned into one of three groups. People that were very physically active (>3000 kcal/day), obese or had other possible confounding risk factors (diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, celiac) were excluded.

• Group #1 followed the Mediterranean diet, including virgin olive oil.
• Group#2 followed the Mediterranean diet, including washed virgin olive oil. (Yes, washed. More on that in a sec.)
• Group #3 followed their normal diet with no changes (control group).

Washing oil: beyond Shout it out!

Washed virgin olive oil. Um, what?

My first thought when I read this was How do you wash oil? I can’t wash oil out of my shirt!

In a cycle similar to your washing machine, researchers washed the olive oil by mixing it with water (10% water-oil solution) at 70°C while shaking for two cycles, and then cooled it to 40°C for 20 min with more shaking. Then they put it through a spin cycle (centrifugation) to separate the water from the oil. Just to make sure the oil was squeaky clean – hmm, I guess that wouldn’t happen with oil – they did the whole cycle five more times!

So what the heck did they wash out of it? Polyphenols. Unwashed virgin olive oil has 328 mg/kg polyphenols while the washed virgin olive oil has only 55 mg/kg (about 17% of the unwashed oil).

I do wonder what else was lost.

Three months later

Researchers took several measures before and after the study. Some, you’ve probably heard of, such as:

• BMI
• blood pressure
• lipid profiles
• blood glucose

Others, not so much:

• IFN-γ (interferon gamma)
• MCP-1 (monocyte chemotactic protein-1).

They also measured changes in how active genes were, or gene expression. When genes are more active, they make more mRNA that eventually becomes functional proteins (like INF-γ). Why not just measure the protein? Technical problems, mostly. For now it’s way easier to find out if there are changes in mRNA compared to proteins.

INF- γ and MCP-1

The proteins INF- γ and MCP-1 can tell us whether someone might develop atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).(1)

INF- γ is a key player in immunity. Too much INF- γ has been linked to autoimmune diseases, such as lupus or multiple sclerosis, and diseases caused by auto-inflammation, such as atherosclerosis.

MCP-1 is the siren call for monocytes, so monocytes go to MCP-1. The problem is that monocytes have low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), aka “bad” cholesterol.

Where does MCP-1 come from?

MCP-1 is a protective substance. Sometimes, that’s good… in the right amounts, and at the right times. Sometimes, that’s not so good.

For instance, if you’ve cut yourself, then the damaged cells of your dangling finger make a bunch of MCP-1 to save you from the viruses and bacteria trying to invade your body. (Good.)

But if the cells lining your artery walls have been irritated or damaged, they make MCP-1, which then causes more problems in the end. (Bad.)

If artery cells just made a bit of MCP-1 and that was the end of it, it wouldn’t be a big deal. However, once a monocyte goes to an atherosclerotic lesion, it releases MCP-1 so more monocytes come. Monocytes dump their LDL-C into the lesion, making it bigger.

Don’t be surprised if you see an anti-MCP-1 drug on the market in the next 10 years or so, since they actually have genetically modified mice without MCP-1, who don’t get atherosclerosis. (One small problem… you need to make sure you don’t cut yourself.)

Results

Well, kind of underwhelming.

Although there were differences in the traditional blood measures, they weren’t dramatic. Over 3 months:

• Total cholesterol, HDL-C and LDL-C and INF-γ all decreased in the Mediterranean diet with virgin olive oil.
• There were no changes in the control and Mediterranean diet with washed olive oil.

The decrease in HDL-C goes against the idea that olive oil increases HDL-C, and that increase is part of the reason olive oil protects against atherosclerosis.

No change in MCP-1, which is a bit odd considering how well it seems to correlate to atherosclerosis.

Gene expression

The big headline for this study is “The Mediterranean diet and olive oil modifies genes.” This is misleading, because the genes haven’t been modified; however, the gene activity (or expression) has changed. The difference is similar to saying you’ve changed a recipe when all you did is make more.

Of the 48 genes they looked at, a subgroup of genes linked with inflammation were less active in the Mediterranean diet with olive oil compared to the control. One of the genes was the gene responsible for making IFN-γ, which makes sense, since there was less IFN- γ protein.

Conclusion

The big finding in this study was that the Mediterranean diet with regular virgin olive oil decreased the activity of inflammatory genes, but the Mediterranean diet with washed olive oil (no polyphenols) didn’t change these genes compared to the control group.

The researchers thus concluded that polyphenols are what make the “Mediterranean diet” effective.

While this is statistically true, the real story is that the Mediterranean diet — with or without polyphenols — does reduce inflammatory gene activity — just not enough to be considered “real” statistically. Basically, the Mediterranean diet with polyphenols is a bit better than without, but when you compare it to the control, that bit better makes it statistically significant.

Do polyphenols hold the key Mediterranean diet? Yes and no. Yes the Mediterranean diet group with polyphenols (olive oil) had reduced inflammatory gene activity more than without polyphenols. And no because the Mediterranean diet without polyphenols still reduced inflammatory gene activity.

Bottom line

Polyphenols do help reduce cardiovascular risk, but you can’t guzzle some polyphenols, eat whatever you want, and expect to be safe from a heart attack. You still need to eat along the lines of the Mediterranean diet to get the full health benefits.

And don’t try to convince your Spanish or Lebanese grandmother that olive oil margarine should go into the stew.

Reference

1. Gu L, Okada Y, Clinton SK, Gerard C, Sukhova GK, Libby P, Rollins BJ. Absence of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 reduces atherosclerosis in low density lipoprotein receptor-deficient mice. Mol Cell 1998;2:275-281.

Well, it’s come and gone: the Lean Eating Coaching Program is now full.

As in previous groups, both the men’s and women’s programs filled within hours.

To those who didn’t get in: we try to keep things very close-knit, so that we can give every client the help they deserve. That said, we’re working on expanding to allow more clients next time. So hang in there, and make sure you’re on the waiting list. Our next coaching program will launch in January 2011, and I hope to see you then.

(And if you want to get a head start, be sure to read the Precision Nutrition System and the Gourmet Nutrition cookbook.)

To all clients who will be starting Lean Eating for the first time: welcome! You’ve just taken an important first step, and as excited and nervous as you may be, my first piece of advice to you is this: keep calm. We have many months together and lots to do, but this process works one day at a time.

So today, your job is simply this:

Log in your Lean Eating Homepage for the first time. There, you’ll find your first few tasks to complete.

See you in the program,
-JB

Last year we started the Lean Eating Coaching Program, where we coach small groups of men and women for 6 months using the Precision Nutrition System and help them achieve the best fat loss results of their lives. And the results, to date, have been nothing short of remarkable. Over 10,000 pounds of fat loss. And lives changed in the process.

This time around, we’re doing something extraordinary. We’re offering $40,000 in prize money – $10K for the best male body transformation, $10K for the best female body transformation, and $5K for each of four runners, up, two men and two women.

And while this prize money will go a long way toward getting you motivated to change your body, there are THREE THINGS that must come first: the 3 keys to a successful body transformation.

Check out this video to find out what they are:

Here are the links to register for the July 2010 program:

Register for the Lean Eating Coaching Program For Men

An intensive group coaching program for guys looking to get leaner and stronger than ever before.

Work directly with the best nutrition coaches in the world to completely transform your body. We give you the training program, we teach you how and what to eat — and we’re there to answer any questions, concerns and curiosities you may have along the way.

If you’re a man between 18 and 65, have got some fat to lose, and want to get lean, healthy, and strong, this is the program for you.

Quick note for those who signed up for the waiting list and patiently waited for the Lean Eating Coaching Program to reopen and accept new clients:

It’s time.

Check your inboxes: the link to the special registration page has been sent, and you can now reserve a spot before we open to the public tomorrow.

[You didn't think we'd publish it here, did you?]

Not on the waiting list?

We’ll release any available spots that aren’t reserved by the waiting list to the general public on Tuesday, July 27th at 10AM EST. Right now I don’t know if there will be spots available, and if there are, how many, but I’ll send an email out to newsletter subscribers and post on the blog letting everyone know one way or the other.

More about the Lean Eating Coaching Program

In case, you don’t know what we’re talking about, the Lean Eating Coaching Program is a small, private group coaching program designed to help clients lose fat the Precision Nutrition way — the right way, and for life. We run it once or twice a year, and accept only a small number of new clients each time.

Oh, yes, and we also guarantee results and offer $40,000 in prize money for the best transformations in the group.

Here are a few links to get you up to speed:

• The official Lean Eating for Men page
• The official Lean Eating for Women page
• A short intro to The Lean Eating Method
• Some more info on the $40,000 Body Transformation Contest
• Men’s Photos, finalists from the last Lean Eating program
• Women’s Photos, finalists from the last Lean Eating program
• “How To Lose 70lbs & 20% Body Fat,” an interview with ylr, our last Lean Eating for Men $10,000 grand prize winner
• “How To Lose 40lbs & 20% Body Fat,” an interview with Cynergy, our last Lean Eating for Women $10,000 grand prize winner

If you’re finally ready to lose fat and be stronger and healthier than you’ve ever been, we can show you how once and for all, and we’d love to have you a part of the program. Keep an eye on this site Tuesday at 10AM EST, because any available spots will go quick.

- JB

8 lessons on change and body transformation from our Lean Eating Coaching Program.

We’re getting set to launch the next Lean Eating Coaching Program (registration opens Tuesday July 27th, then that’s it for 2010), and as I looked through the photos of clients from the last Lean Eating program (men’s, women’s), I thought it would be worth sharing some of the lessons we teach in the program, because:

1. You can use them too, right now, whether you’re in the program or not,
2. Some of them run against conventional wisdom (but conventional wisdom isn’t doing much for the physiques of North Americans these days, is it?), and
3. If you use them, you will be leaner, stronger and healthier than you ever thought you could be.

Simple as that. Many of them aren’t about “nutrition” per se, and there’s a reason for that. You can learn the in’s and out’s of what to eat in our other blog posts and articles. Lean Eating is about actually changing, and so is this post.

Keep an open mind, read them all the way through, and ask yourself honestly: “how many of these am I actually doing?” If you really want to lose fat, then at the end, I suggest you pick one lesson and start using it right away.

Let’s get started.

1. Measure what you want to improve.

In Lean Eating, we keep data on everything clients want to improve. Wanna lose weight? Step on the scale. Wanna be more precise and lose fat? Get out the calipers and measure body fat. Wanna fit into your skinny clothes? Try them on once in a while. Wanna feel better? Then every few weeks, actually ask yourself how you’re feeling, write it down, and review it every few months.

Basic stuff right? Bullshit. I work with professional athletes and teams, I consult with major gym chains on their personal training practices, I work one-on-one with clients from all walks of life from all over the world. And believe me: practically no one does this. In fact, sometimes I feel like we’re the only ones who really do this stuff, and the reason is because it works! There’s an old saying you’d be wise to follow: “What gets measured gets done.”

2. Take photos.

Admit it: you care — at least a little, and maybe a lot — about how you look. And that’s okay! In fact, it’s healthy and normal. Who doesn’t want to look great? Well, for the same way you’d measure weight loss if you want to lose weight, you better take photos if you want to look better. In Lean Eating, it’s built into the program: every few weeks, you step in front of the camera and snap a few photos.

Understand that it’s normal to not be totally at ease about taking photos of yourself at first. Just know that it’s a) a very important step toward self-awareness, without which you simply cannot change, b) the best way to document your hard work, and c) possibly the most motivating thing you will ever do for yourself.

(And remember, everyone starts in the same place: out of shape. Take a look at the Men’s and Women’s “before” photos from Lean Eating; think they were comfortable taking those shots? Then look at the “afters” and think about how they felt then.)

3. Do something every day.

One of my colleagues once put it best: if something is important, do it every day; if it’s not important, don’t do it at all.

Bingo.

Change happens only when you slowly tear down old habits and build new ones in their place. That has to be daily, in my experience. In fact, that’s one of the reasons exercise alone doesn’t work — doing something 3 times a week isn’t enough to build a new habit. That’s also why personal training isn’t very effective (unless it combines nutrition and daily habit building, like we teach in our Precision Nutrition Certification.)

Instead, in Lean Eating, you have something to do every day. A workout to do, a lesson to read, a habit to practice, fellow clients and coaches to chat with. If you want to get in the best shape of your life, ask yourself, “What’s one thing I could start doing every day?”

4. Make it easy.

To do something every day, you have to make that “something” easy enough that you’re 100% confident you could do it every day for 30 days. That often means scaling your ambitious plans way back.

Unfortunately, most people bite off way more than they can chew. They commit to working out an hour a day, eating four healthy meals, cutting out chocolate, running a marathon, cooking more, waking up earlier — nothing less than a complete overhaul of their lives. Maybe they’re able to do it all for 3 days, a week, some people even a little longer perhaps. But inevitably, they miss a day, then two . . . then it all falls apart. They lose confidence, feel guilty, beat themselves up, and go back to doing exactly what they were doing before: nothing. All or nothing.

Instead, make it easy on yourself, way easier than you think at first. Instead of eating 4 healthy meals a day, eat 1 healthy meal a day and give yourself permission to leave everything else the same. Can’t commit to that for 30 days? Hell, eat an apple a day. Or take fish oil each day. Or switch from your morning latte to a green tea, or water. Instead of working out an hour a day, how ’bout a 10-minute walk? Is that too much? What about a 5-minute walk?

“JB, don’t be ridiculous, that’s not going to do anything,” you might think. But that’s just your ego talking: you don’t want to look foolish or admit that something so easy might be all you can muster right now. All I can say is: stop that. That kind of thinking will keep you stuck exactly where you are. Let go of your ego, accept where you are, and commit only to something so easy that you could do it without thinking for at least 30 days straight.

[Note: the principle is valid no matter how advanced you are, too. I have elite athletes training 2 hours a day wanting to jump immediately to 4 hours. Why not start with another 15-20 minutes at first? Again, put your ego aside.]

In Lean Eating, we despise “all or nothing” thinking. Instead, we commit to “always something” — no matter how small at first.

5. Practice only one habit at a time.

In the Lean Eating Coaching Program, we have clients work on just ONE habit at a time. Often they find this frustrating at first, because they expect to be able to do everything, right away. But that’s just ego-driven impatience, and unfortunately change doesn’t work that way.

Numerous studies show that people are typically quite successful when they limit their change to one behavior at a time, for say 3-4 weeks before introducing a new one. BUT: introduce even 2 new behaviors at once, and the failure rate is nearly 100%.

That’s a tough lesson to learn. In fact, one of our $10,000 grand prize winners actually complained that the one thing he wished was different about Lean Eating was this one-habit-at-time thing — why couldn’t we have taught him all this stuff at the beginning?!!

Well, because then he would have failed.

Again, put your ego aside, and change your expectation: people can only change one behavior at a time. So pick one — anything positive will do — and give yourself permission to leave everything else in your life as-is, at least for now. There will be plenty of time for the rest, trust me. People overestimate how hard change will be, and underestimate how long it will take. Stick to one habit at a time, and you’ll get there.

6. No “wondering & worrying” questions.

Ah, another tough lesson to learn. Change is an uncomfortable process, always. You leave what you know (your habits, your lifestyle, your environment) and by trying something new, you take a tentative step into an unknown and uncertain place.

So the first thing clients do is try to resolve that tension, try to make it “certain” again, by asking all kinds of frenzied questions and working themselves into a panic:

• “What about this supplement, or that?”
• “What do you think about this theory / guru / article I read / study that was published?”
• “What about when (unforeseeable future event) happens — what do I do then?”
• “What about (rare, irrelevant and highly unlikely situation) — what do I do in that case?”
• etc., etc.

In Lean Eating, we call these “wondering & worrying” questions, and we have a strict ban on them, because although they’re well-intentioned, they don’t reduce anxiety at all. In fact, they do the exact opposite, whipping people into a froth of nail-biting and distracting them from the only two questions that matter:

1. What should I do today?
2. How do I do that?

The first question is asking for the next step, the “right now.” That’s the only thing you should concern yourself with, because it’s the only thing you can control. The second question is asking for clarification and instruction, so that you can do what you need to do properly.

Those are the only two kinds of questions that lead to calm, focused action. They’re all we allow our clients to ask, and they’re all you should be asking too. So next time you find yourself asking a question about fitness, take a second and think, “Am I focused on what to do right now? Or is this just wondering and worrying?”

7. Get a little help from your friends.

We call this “social support” — and it makes all the difference in the world.

Who you have in your social circle — and what they do, and how they think — will have an almost magnetic pull on who you are. In fact, there is interesting new research showing that obesity spreads almost like an epidemic. The people in your life will forever be pulling you, even unconsciously, toward being just like them. As another of my colleagues likes to say, “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.”

That’s all well and good, except when it comes time to change, because as you change those same people will be pulling you back to the way you were — usually not intentionally or maliciously, just . . . just because. They can’t help it.

When it comes to fitness and fat loss, the same applies. Now this doesn’t mean you need to scrap your friends and family and beg the local yoga teacher to adopt you. It just means that as you start to get in shape, you better get some other like-minded people in your life, or you’ll soon be putting the pounds back on faster than you lost them in the first place. I’ve seen it time and time again.

That’s why Lean Eating is a group program, with a social component to it: you can interact daily with people who are just like you, chasing the same goals as you. No matter where you are in the world, no matter where you’re starting, you will find people in the group just like you who get where you’re coming from. That reassurance, and even the mere realization that you aren’t alone in this, exerts a new sort of magnetic pull — this time, though, toward the life you want and not the one you’re leaving behind.

So take the opportunity to join groups or befriend new people who are doing what you want to do: maybe yoga or spin class, a friendly team sport league, even reconnect with a fit friend you maybe haven’t talked to in a while. Anything. Because if you don’t, beware the subtle but powerful pull back to where you were.

8. Be accountable to someone.

As much as you need to be picked up when you’re down, as much as you need be helped and supported from time to time, as much as you need some positivity in your life . . . you also need someone to kick your ass back into gear when you’re slacking, and help you snap out of the simple laziness that we all fall into from time to time.

In Lean Eating, that person is your coach, whose job it is to stay on top of you as much as it is to support you. If you miss a day, okay, fine; miss two, and we’re on you. If there’s a legitimate problem, we’ll help find a solution; if there’s just an excuse, we’ll call “bullshit” and get you back to being honest with yourself again.

Everyone needs someone to hold them accountable, especially in the beginning of a new process that they’re unfamiliar with. So who is that person in your life right now? Who challenges your excuses? Who helps you get back on track?

Who are you accountable to?

***

There you go, 8 lessons you can use right now to change your body, and ultimately your life — courtesy of the Lean Eating Coaching Program.

Pick one, and put it to use today, because that’s what it really takes to change.

-JB

John M. Berardi, PhD CSCS
Chief Science Officer
Precision Nutrition Inc.

Want to be a part of Lean Eating? Here’s how:

In just a few days, we’re opening the Lean Eating Coaching Program to a small number of new clients. If you’re interested in being a part of the group and working with us directly, I strongly recommend you join the waiting list by adding your name and email below, because if past experience is any guide, the available spots will sell out within hours, and this is the last time we’ll be accepting new clients this year. By adding your name to the list,you’ll get a chance to register for one of the spots 24 hours before the general public — since spots are so limited, we like to reward the people who want it the most, because they typically make the best clients.

It’s almost here: registration for the 2010 Lean Eating Coaching Program opens on July 27th, 2010! We’re getting ready to accept a small number of new clients into our renowned Lean Eating Coaching Program, and we’re also putting up $40,000 in prize money for the best transformations in the program. If you’re interested, we strongly recommend you put your name on the waiting list below, because spots in the program typically sell out within hours and we won’t be accepting new clients again until early 2011.

Learn more about the Lean Eating coaching program and the $40,000 contest . . .

A great feature of our Lean Eating Coaching Programs is the body transformation contest we run for men and women: every 6 months, we give $40,000 in prize money away for the best body transformations in the program.

Well, we just finished one of those contests – click here to get involved in the next round, starting in a few weeks – and now we need your help choosing the winners.

There’s $10,000 on the line for the top male body transformation and $10,000 for the top female body transformation. Plus, there are four $5,000 prizes available. Two go to the male runners up and two go to the female runners up.

Over the last week or so, the coaches and I have spent countless hours poring over physique photos, weight loss numbers, body composition data and participation records in order to choose a handful of finalists.

We’ve had a helluva time narrowing it down. Dozens upon dozens of folks have changed their bodies, and their lives, in spectacular ways. I can’t be more sincere when I say that the changes I saw in the men and women of this last cohort (both the physical and the mental/emotional) are among the most amazing I’ve seen in my entire career.

So at this point, I’m reaching out to all our PN readers. I need your help in determining the one man and one woman most worthy of the two $10,000 grand prizes.

Our Female $10,000 Finalists

These women came in all shapes and sizes, from all parts of the globe, and from all walks of life. Check out what they were able to accomplish in just 6 months of eating and exercising properly.

And remember, with Lean Eating coaching, there are no crash diets, no Biggest Loser-type bootcamps, no full-time chefs, no full-time personal trainers. These are real women adding fitness into their lives one step at a time, building on each day’s successes, and learning how to maintain what they’ve accomplished for life.

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #1

Forum name – “Typykka”

Location – Nokia, Finland

Age – 34

Starting weight – 161 lbs

Ending weight – 128 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #2

Forum name – “TransformationHereNow”

Location – Tucson, Arizona

Age – 43

Starting weight – 188 lbs

Ending weight – 150 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #3

Forum name – “seadie”

Location – Toronto, Ontario

Age – 26

Starting weight – 179 lbs

Ending weight – 151 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #4

Forum name – “AES01″

Location – American Fork, Utah

Age – 39

Starting weight – 170 lbs

Ending weight – 139 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #5

Forum name – “PPJAM”

Location – Topsfield, Massachusetts

Age – 55

Starting weight – 212 lbs

Ending weight – 181 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalst #6

Forum name – “Nicki”

Location – Atlanta, Georgia

Age – 28

Starting weight – 172 lbs

Ending weight – 146 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalst #7

Forum name – “Cheribob”

Location – Naperville, Illinois

Age – 52

Starting weight – 207 lbs

Ending weight – 182 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #8

Forum name – “theresavo”

Location – San Jose, California

Age – 49

Starting weight – 191 lbs

Ending weight – 159 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #9

Forum name – “Elky”

Location – Pickering, ON

Age – 22

Starting weight – 196 lbs

Ending weight – 160 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #10

Forum name – “KMisher”

Location – Arlington, VA

Age – 25

Starting weight – 160 lbs

Ending weight – 136 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #11

Forum name – “mpoushes”

Location – Grinnell, Iowa

Age – 30

Starting weight – 229 lbs

Ending weight – 188 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #12

Forum name – “nazmoo”

Location – Melbourne, Australia

Age – 29

Starting weight – 171 lbs

Ending weight – 142 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #13

Forum name – “sugarmom1996″

Location – Monroe, Michigan

Age – 46

Starting weight – 181 lbs

Ending weight – 165 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #14

Forum name – “Krissea13″

Location – Manalapan, New Jersey

Age – 40

Starting weight – 136 lbs

Ending weight – 124 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #15

Forum name – “maloneka”

Location – Portland, OR

Age – 32

Starting weight – 162 lbs

Ending weight – 136 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #16

Forum name – “yokity”

Location – Berkeley, California

Age – 27

Starting weight – 129 lbs

Ending weight – 110 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #17

Forum name – “sm0001″

Location – Philadelphia, PA

Age – 29

Starting weight – 145 lbs

Ending weight – 127 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #18

Forum name – “thundakitty13″

Location – Houston, Texas

Age – 42

Starting weight – 121 lbs

Ending weight – 105 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #19

Forum name – “jenemke”

Location – London, Ontario

Age – 30

Starting weight – 141 lbs

Ending weight – 126 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #20

Forum name – “annemarie”

Location – Vancouver, British Columbia

Age – 51

Starting weight – 165 lbs

Ending weight – 144 lbs

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

How To Vote

When casting your vote, it’s important to remember that we’re not rewarding the best bodies per se. We’re rewarding the best transformations. Indeed, in the Lean Eating program we don’t expect folks to start off looking like fitness models. Heck, we don’t even expect folks to end up looking like fitness models.

Rather, we’re simply looking for winners who’ve made the most dramatic changes in their own bodies, starting wherever they were at the beginning of the program. (And, as you’ll see, folks started all over the place.) Truly, the Lean Eating Coaching Program is for men and women of all shapes and sizes. And your vote should reflect who you think created the most dramatic changes over the course of the last 6 months.

To cast your vote for the top female transformation, click here. You’ll be taken to a specific discussion thread in the Precision Nutrition Member Zone where you can vote for who you think deserves the $10,000 prize.

Want to be part of the next Lean Eating Coaching Program, transform your body and maybe even win $40,000?

If you’re looking to change your own body, I highly recommend you get on the waiting list for the next Lean Eating Coaching Program, because we only run the program twice a year and spots sell out in hours.

Registration for our next group (and last for 2010) opens to the general public on July 27th. But those motivated enough to put themselves on the waiting list get to register on July 26th, 24 hours before everyone else.

If you’re interested in transforming your body, like these clients have, then put your name on the list below — because as always, spots are first come, first serve, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

A great feature of our Lean Eating Coaching Programs is the body transformation contest we run for men and women: every 6 months, we give $40,000 in prize money away for the best body transformations in the program.

Well, we just finished one of those contests – click here to get involved in the next round, starting in a few weeks – and now we need your help choosing the winners.

There’s $10,000 on the line for the top male body transformation and $10,000 for the top female body transformation. Plus, there are four $5,000 prizes available. Two go to the male runners up and two go to the female runners up.

Over the last week or so, the coaches and I have spent countless hours poring over physique photos, weight loss numbers, body composition data and participation records in order to choose a handful of finalists.

We’ve had a helluva time narrowing it down. Dozens upon dozens of folks have changed their bodies, and their lives, in spectacular ways. I can’t be more sincere when I say that the changes I saw in the men and women of this last cohort (both the physical and the mental/emotional) are among the most amazing I’ve seen in my entire career.

So at this point, I’m reaching out to all our PN readers. I need your help in determining the one man and one woman most worthy of the two $10,000 grand prizes.

Our Male $10,000 Finalists

These guys came in all shapes and sizes, from all parts of the globe, and from all walks of life. Check out what they were able to accomplish in just 6 months of eating and exercising properly.

These 20 guys lost nearly 800 lbs, which amounts to about an average 40lb and 10% body fat loss during the 6 month program! And remember, with Lean Eating coaching, there are no crash diets, no Biggest Loser-type bootcamps, no full-time chefs, no full-time personal trainers.

In other words: these are real guys adding fitness into their lives one step at a time, building on each day’s successes, and learning how to maintain what they’ve accomplished for life.

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #1

Forum name – “Paco”

Location – Mexico City, Mexico

Age – 37

Starting weight – 200 lbs; Waist size – 41 inches

Ending weight – 165; Waist size – 34.4 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #2

Forum name – “amoyers”

Location – Wickliffe, Kentucky

Age – 27

Starting weight – 229 lbs; Waist size – 39.5 inches

Ending weight – 177; Waist size – 33 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #3

Forum name – “bryancox”

Location – Saratoga, California

Age – 42

Starting weight – 206 lbs lbs; Waist size – 39 inches

Ending weight – 174 lbs; Waist size – 32 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #4

Forum name – “bradypreston”

Location – Port Elgin, Ontario

Age – 24

Starting weight – 222 lbs; Waist size – 37.5 inches

Ending weight – 162 lbs; Waist size – 27.5 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #5

Forum name – “GroundChuck

Location – Apex, North Carolina

Age – 32

Starting weight – 263 lbs; Waist size – 46.7 inches

Ending weight – 212 lbs; Waist size – 37.2 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #6

Forum name – “hassanz”

Location – Redington Beach, Florida

Age – 21

Starting weight – 183 lbs; Waist size – 35.2 inches

Ending weight – 160; Waist size – 28.5 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #7

Forum name – “morrison”

Location – London, Ontario

Age – 29

Starting weight – 244 lbs; Waist size – 43 inches

Ending weight – 201 lbs; Waist size – 36 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalst #8

Forum name – “Asim”

Location – Mississauga, Ontario

Age – 24

Starting weight – 195 lbs; Waist size – 38.8 inches

Ending weight – 150 lbs; Waist size – 30.4 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #9

Forum name – “gavinharibo”

Location – Wales, United Kingdom

Age – 32

Starting weight – 194 lbs; Waist size – 40.5 inches

Ending weight – 170; Waist size – 34 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #10

Forum name – “scalato23″

Location – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Age – 33

Starting weight – 194 lbs; Waist size – 39.5 inches

Ending weight – 164 lbs; Waist size – 32 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #11

Forum name – “mkwall”

Location – Denver, Colorado

Age – 31

Starting weight – 252 lbs; Waist size – 42.8 inches

Ending weight – 207 lbs; Waist size – 35 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalst #12

Forum name – “tw”

Location – Vancouver, British Columbia

Age – 47

Starting weight – 298 lbs; Waist size – 53.3 inches

Ending weight – 248 lbs; Waist size – 45.7 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #13

Forum name – “steeveleech”

Location – Orlando, Florida

Age – 37

Starting weight – 231 lbs; Waist size – 41 inches

Ending weight – 204; Waist size – 34 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #14

Forum name – “Gaetan Brunet”

Location – Val Caron, Ontario

Age – 41

Starting weight – 292 lbs; Waist size – 49.2 inches

Ending weight – 242; Waist size – 39 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #15

Forum name – “jimichanga”

Location – Hutchinson, Kansas

Age – 31

Starting weight – 232 lbs; Waist size – 43.7 inches

Ending weight – 194; Waist size – 35 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #16

Forum name – “ylr”

Location – San Francisco, California

Age – 41

Starting weight – 208 lbs; Waist size – 36.7 inches

Ending weight – 180; Waist size – 32.8 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #17

Forum name – “Reslpsa”

Location – Arlington, VA

Age – 29

Starting weight – 242 lbs; Waist size – 41 inches

Ending weight – 204 lbs; Waist size – 33.9 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #18

Forum name – “jsargevt”

Location – Meredith, New Hampshire

Age – 37

Starting weight – 223 lbs; Waist size – 43.7 inches

Ending weight – 190; Waist size – 37.7 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #19

Forum name – “Bharris”

Location – Kelowna, British Columnia

Age – 20

Starting weight – 191 lbs; Waist size – 37.2 inches

Ending weight – 169; Waist size – 32.3 inches

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Finalist #20

Forum name – “CWilson”

Location – Mississauga, Ontario

Age – 43

Starting weight – 252 lbs; Waist size – 43.2 inches

Ending weight – 210; Waist size – 36.6 inches

How To Vote

When casting your vote, it’s important to remember that we’re not rewarding the best bodies per se. We’re rewarding the best transformations. Indeed, in the Lean Eating program we don’t expect folks to start off looking like fitness models. Heck, we don’t even expect folks to end up looking like fitness models.

Rather, we’re simply looking for winners who’ve made the most dramatic changes in their own bodies, starting wherever they were at the beginning of the program. (And, as you’ll see, folks started all over the place.) Truly, the Lean Eating Coaching Program is for men and women of all shapes and sizes. And your vote should reflect who you think created the most dramatic changes over the course of the last 6 months.

To cast your vote for the top male transformation, click here. You’ll be taken to a specific discussion thread in the Precision Nutrition Member Zone where you can vote for who you think deserves the $10,000 prize.

Want to be part of the next Lean Eating Coaching Program, transform your body and maybe even win $40,000?

If you’re looking to change your own body, I highly recommend you get on the waiting list for the next Lean Eating Coaching Program, because we only run the program twice a year and spots sell out in hours.

Registration for our next group (and last for 2010) opens to the general public on July 27th. But those motivated enough to put themselves on the waiting list get to register on July 26th, 24 hours before everyone else.

If you’re interested in transforming your body, like these clients have, then put your name on the list below — because as always, spots are first come, first serve, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

If you’re looking to get lean and strong you have to fuel your body.  And that’s the point of this upbeat Canadian fitness and nutrition show, Body Fuel.

Hosted on the Men TV network, Body Fuel investigates the ways in which food and supplements can interact with our body chemistry to create powerful, athletic, and sculpted bodies.

And each week on Body Fuel, I host a short segment called Ask Dr John. In this segment I tackle a host of important, frequently asked questions about food, fitness, supplements, health, and performance.

In this week’s episode, I answer the following question:

“What’s the best diet for losing fat and gaining muscle?“

For more information about eating right for your body type:

• Check out the Precision Nutrition System

Gluttony has traditionally been defined as a “sin of immoderation” linked to earthly excess. Here’s why “going medieval” may actually be relevant to modern eaters seeking leanness, health, and a better relationship with food.

One day a long time ago I fell off my bike.

In front of a high school.

At 3:05 pm.

As hundreds of students streamed out of the school.

Not only did I injure my pride, I injured my back. Within days of the accident I had a herniated disc. (On the bright side, it happened pre-Youtube – how many high schoolers would’ve had that up by the end of the bus ride home?)

After dusting myself off, getting on my bike and pretending nothing happened, I figured my pride would heal and didn’t give it a second thought.

A couple days later I was standing in the lab doing experiments. One moment I had no pain at all and the next I was lying on my desk in the most intense pain I’ve ever felt — worse than giving birth. Within 15 minutes, I went from completely functional and pain-free to nauseatingly pain-riddled.

For nearly 10 years I had recurring back pain. I tried everything: ice, heat, physiotherapy, chiropractics, yoga, medication. (Note to the cruel stockperson, yes you, putting back medication on the bottom shelves in drug stores is not funny.)

About three years ago I saw an article on Dr Stuart McGill, a back researcher (spine biomechanist to be exact). Since I knew Dr McGill as a faculty member from my days as a grad student at the University of Waterloo, I was particularly interested in the article that lead me to reading Dr. McGill’s book Low Back Disorders.

Funny thing was that even though Dr McGill’s lab was directly below the lab I was working in for my masters (you know, the one where I ended up lying on my desk) and I knew he researched back pain, I never sought out his help — help that would have saved me years of back pain.

This week’s review is going to be a little different, because it’s a review of a review instead of a review of a study. In it, McGill reviews the research to date, and what it tells us about the role of core musculature in back pain and dysfunction.

S McGill. Core Training: Evidence Translating to Better Performance and Injury Prevention. Strength and Conditioning Journal. Vol 32(3):33-45 (June 2010).

The core

We’ve all heard about the core, and how it’s important for everything from back pain to sexy abs. But what is it, exactly?

You think you know? Name all the muscles that are part of the core.

Abdominal muscles– rectus abdominis (the six pack), transverse abdominis (muscle underneath the six pack), obliques; internal & external (muscles on either side of the six pack)
Lower back muscles – back extensors and quadratus lumborum
Upper back muscles – latissumus dorsi (lats)
Psoas muscle – muscle that runs from the front of the back to the upper leg

The quadratus lumborum (QL) is probably the most important muscle for back health you don’t know about. It’s attached to each the vertebra of your lower back (lumbar vertabra), your rib cage, and your hip (pelvis) and it’s involved in bending your body to the side (lateral flexion), but for the most part doesn’t change in length too much. By being attached to every vertebra, the QL provides support to each vertebral joint and seems to have a unique ability to stabilize the lower back.

The core acts as a support system to your spine. When we move, all the muscles of the core contract at the same time (co-contraction) to buttress (Dr. McGill’s word) the spine.

How to train the core

Training the core is where most people get into trouble, because they try to train the core like any other body part — with heavy weights, or a full range of motion. However, the key to core training for a healthy back is muscle endurance (not strength) and stability (not mobility).

In most day-to-day things we do, and the sports we play, the core’s job is to stop movement.

For example: You open your car door — your core stops your spine from twisting as you pull the door open with your arm. You kick a soccer ball — your core stops you from keeling forward.

Pause for a moment and think about what that implies.

You want your core to be stable and resist movement. So why are we stretching, overbending, and turning ourselves into pretzels?

Core exercises you should do

There are four exercise Dr McGill prescribes for back health: Modified curl-up, stir the pot, side bridge and bird dog.

1. The modified curl-up is different from a regular curl up because one leg is bent while the other is straight; the hands are under the lower back and only lift the head and neck.
2. Stir the pot is a plank-type exercise done on a stability ball with the added challenge of stirring the pot (moving your arms as if you’re trying to stir a large pot). If that is too hard you can just do a plank on the ball or even on the floor.
3. Side bridge is a side plank from the elbows.
4. Bird dog starts on all fours, like a dog. You lift the opposite arm and leg, focusing on stiffening the core. To make this harder instead of just lifting your arm and leg straight up and down, make squares at the top of the movement.

Here is a video demonstrating and explaining these exercises.

Keys to the exercises:

1. Keep the tightening (isometric) part of the exercise to 10 seconds and add reps to progress in the exercises.
2. Maintain form – once you can’t keep your spine tight, stop.

Stretching for a healthy back?

While lower back stretching is a no-no, certain stretches to keep the hips mobile are important.

Hamstrings: The key to hamstring stretching is to bend only at the hip only and not the back. A good hamstring stretch that supports the lower back is to lie on your back and lift one leg up, keep the knee slightly bent and use a belt around your foot to pull the your lower leg toward your chest. Don’t worry — you don’t have to be Gumby. If you can get your leg perpendicular to the floor you’re doing well.

Hip flexors (front of hip): Lunging with your hands over your head stretches the hip flexors (muscles in front of the hip), but remember to keep your back straight and torso upright, the front shin perpendicular to the floor, the rear knee pointed down and focus on stretching the front of your hip (squeezing the glute of the rear leg will help).

Conclusion

Your core’s most important function is to stabilize your back and it works by simply cocontracting the muscle that makes up the core. No movement happens.

Stretching your lower back goes against what the core is trying to do – stabilize (the opposite of flexible/mobile/instable). Avoid stretching your lower back and bending at the spine; stretch the muscles around your hips and bend at the hip rather than the back.

Muscle endurance, not muscle strength, is what is important for back health. I’m not saying you shouldn’t train for strength, but that since your core muscles have to keep your back protected for hours at a time, endurance should be your goal for protection.

You might think you’re too advanced for these exercises to help, but you’ll be surprised, since most people train strength and not muscle endurance. If you are currently having back pain, go to a doctor before starting these exercises.

Bottom line

Whether you’ve had back pain in the past or not try these four exercises — modified curl-up, stir the pot, side bridge and bird-dog — every day for the next few weeks. You have nothing to lose but some pain and spinal instability.

And check out Stu’s work at BackFitPro.com.

References

1. Fenwick CM, Brown SH, McGill SM. Comparison of different rowing exercises: trunk muscle activation and lumbar spine motion, load, and stiffness. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Aug;23(5):1408-17.

2. McGill SM, McDermott A, Fenwick CM. Comparison of different strongman events: trunk muscle activation and lumbar spine motion, load, and stiffness. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Jul;23(4):1148-61.

3. Sánchez-Zuriaga D, Vera-Garcia FJ, Moreside JM, McGill SM. Trunk muscle activation patterns and spine kinematics when using an oscillating blade: influence of different postures and blade orientations. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2009 Jun;90(6):1055-60.

4. McGill SM, Karpowicz A, Fenwick CM, Brown SH. Exercises for the torso performed in a standing posture: spine and hip motion and motor patterns and spine load. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Mar;23(2):455-64

5. Fenwick CM, Brown SH, McGill SM. Comparison of different rowing exercises: trunk muscle activation and lumbar spine motion, load, and stiffness. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Mar;23(2):350-8..

6. Moreside JM, Vera-Garcia FJ, McGill SM. Trunk muscle activation patterns, lumbar compressive forces, and spine stability when using the bodyblade. Phys Ther. 2007 Feb;87(2):153-63.

7. Grenier SG, McGill SM. Quantification of lumbar stability by using 2 different abdominal activation strategies. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2007 Jan;88(1):54-62.

8. Brown SH, Howarth SJ, McGill SM. Spine stability and the role of many muscles. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2005 Sep;86(9):1890; author reply 1890-1.

9. McGill SM. Low Back Disorder: Evidence Based Prevention and Rehabilitation (2nd ed) Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishers, 2007.

On July 27th, we’re finally opening registration for the Lean Eating Coaching Program to a small group of new clients.

And we’re giving away over $40,000 in prize money as an added  incentive to those in the program.

For those of you who have been waiting patiently, now’s the time to get on the early registration list…

And for those of you unfamiliar with Lean Eating, here’s a summary of what it’s all about:

• Research-driven fat loss coaching, PN-style
• Two dedicated programs: one for men and one for women
• 100 students per coach, max
• Complete exercise and nutrition instruction
• Private support from world-class coaches
• $99 down, $99 per month
• Results guaranteed: the program works or it’s free

Lean Eating is the most sophisticated fitness coaching program in existence. Over the last 3 years, we’ve helped more than 3,000 men and women completely transform their bodies – and their lives.

If you want to lose fat and be healthier than you’ve ever been, I strongly recommend you consider Lean Eating right now, because a) it’s far and away the most effective method you’ll find anywhere, and b) spots are severely limited and you won’t have another chance this year.

To learn how you can get involved, click here…

If you’re looking to get lean and strong you have to fuel your body.  And that’s the point of this upbeat Canadian fitness and nutrition show, Body Fuel.

Hosted on the Men TV network, Body Fuel investigates the ways in which food and supplements can interact with our body chemistry to create powerful, athletic, and sculpted bodies.

And each week on Body Fuel, I host a short segment called Ask Dr John. In this segment I tackle a host of important, frequently asked questions about food, fitness, supplements, health, and performance.

In this week’s episode, I answer the following question:

“When trying to build muscle, I eat a few whole eggs every morning.  Is this dangerous or am I ok?”

For more information about eggs and nutrition:

• Check out the Precision Nutrition System

Since last week’s article reviewing my visit to a cattle feedlot was released – I’ve received some passionate feedback.  And I welcome all of it.  I’m far from being an expert about feedlots and how animals are being raised for food.

The two main types of feedback I’ve received include the following.

Feedback type #1:  Praise from the meat industry

For the record, I’m not a meat industry advocate.  I’m far from it.  With that being said, let me clarify a few points:

1) My article was based on one visit to one feedlot in Colorado.  And they knew I was coming.  I didn’t anticipate a tour of the most deplorable feedlot in Colorado.  No organization shows you their worst.  But maybe this is a glimpse of things to come.  Maybe these types of operations are beginning to change for the better.  Then again, maybe not.  There are countless other feedlot operations that exist.  I don’t know what they are like.

2) I didn’t write the article so the masses could rationalize eating a big burger.  And I don’t want to be used as a bargaining tool by pro-meat/pro-feedlot organizations.  Feedlots have been involved in despicable and reprehensible acts.

3) Don’t let my article be the final say on how you view animals raised for food.  Request farm visits.  See where your food comes from.  Talk to experts.  Read books.  Visit websites.  Listen to podcasts.  Keep challenging yourself to learn about food.  That’s what I’m trying to do.  That’s why I wrote the article.

4) I don’t know how animals feel being kept on a feedlot.  Based on my observations of animals in general, I’d imagine they are extremely fearful.

5) I’m confident that the amount of meat consumed by the average American (222 pounds excluding marine life) is excessive.

6) I’m confident that a highly plant-based diet is the optimal way to eat for human health and preserve our natural resources.

To help balance my perspective on how animals are treated, I stay open to many different resources.  Here are some that I’ve found to be the most honest and informative:

Website: Mercy for Animals
http://www.mercyforanimals.org/investigations.aspx

DVD: Earthlings
http://www.earthlings.com/

Book: Eating Animals
http://www.eatinganimals.com/

DVD: Death on a Factory Farm
http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/death-on-a-factory-farm/synopsis.html

Book: The CAFO Reader
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780970950055

DVD: Food, Inc.
http://www.foodincmovie.com/

Online presentation: 9 Nutrition Realities
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/members/showthread.php?t=12212

After reviewing these, you’ll be able to understand that the way animals are treated in food production varies tremendously.

Feedback type #2:  Negative feedback from vegans/animal advocates

The animal advocates and vegans, a group I more strongly identify with, has taken my article extremely negatively.  To them, let me clarify a few points:

1) It’s thanks to animal advocates and vegans that any type of progression has been made in the animal welfare movement.  It’s because of you that feedlots are starting to make some of the improvements I discussed in the article.  It’s because of you that people are starting to think about these issues.  It’s because of you that I am who I am today.

2) The article wasn’t meant to cover if it’s right or wrong to keep animals in captivity and use them for meat.  The article wasn’t mean to cover the details about how the use of animals for food impacts our water, soil, and food supply.  It was simply a recap of one day on a feedlot in Colorado.  To learn more about the various issues related to animals in food production, see the resources listed above.

3) There are many activists and organizations who dedicate a great deal of their lives to exposing harmful practices towards animals when it comes to food, and I admire them.  It’s thanks to them that my awareness has been raised.  My article was not written to undermine them.

4) My goal with the original article was to enter the feedlot experience with an open mind and convey my thoughts in writing.  I wanted to begin opening communication lines between vegans and feedlots.  I did my best to accomplish that.  Some may think I was striving so hard to neutralize my vegan views that my tone actually became biased in favor of meat.  If that’s how you read it, I apologize.  That was unintended.

5) Finally, the truest indicator of what we believe in and care about is best exemplified in how we live – and I live a 100% vegan lifestyle.  Remember that.

So, let’s keep discussing these issues.  Let’s keep communication lines open.  Certainty is static; it does little but endlessly reassert itself.  Challenge your beliefs.

Meat eaters, find a vegan to chat with.  Vegans, find a meat eater to chat with.  Let’s all do our best to live a life that minimizes harm to other beings, the planet and our bodies.

I’ll close this the same way I do with every one of my emails:

“One of the greatest opportunities to live our values – or betray them – lies in the food we put on our plates.” – Jonathan Safran Foer

Recipe for muscle growth: Lift heavy thing. Eat protein. Sleep. Repeat.

The market is filled with pills. Pills to lose weight. Pills to lower cholesterol. Pills to suppress appetite and pep you up. Pills to chill you out and make you happy so you don’t eat. Pills that prevent you from digesting fat… and in the process, possibly requiring a change of pants.

Some of the more effective pills for weight loss are also the most dangerous. They’ve been pulled off the market because people abused them using the “If one is good, then 25 should be fantastic!” logic. Some of the more effective pills for lowering cholesterol also do a host of other nasty things, although they have cool names and should probably be served with most fast food combos.

We’re always looking for a pill that’s better, badder, and more belly-busting — the superpill that’ll solve all our problems. We imagine this pill being very sciencey and sophisticated.

But what about a boring old multivitamin pill? Could it help you lose weight… and make you and your doctor happy?

Diet, malnutrition and weight loss

For the most part the medical community only promotes vitamin supplementation for pregnant women to ensure proper fetal development, believing that everybody else can and does hit their essential nutrient mark with healthy eating.

However, last week I reviewed an article that found that most weight loss diets are severely deficient in most essential vitamins and minerals. John reviewed an article that found most people are lacking essential nutrients. And people eating the standard Western diet… oy. (For more information, see All About Nutrient Deficiencies.)

You’re probably thinking, Big deal, so I have some vitamin and mineral deficiencies. But I don’t have scurvy. I’m not losing my hair. I can see… if I squint.

So who cares?

Well, your nutritional deficiencies might be preventing you from losing weight and improving your cholesterol levels. Yes, that’s right: If you don’t have enough vitamins and minerals, you might not be able to lose fat or get healthy. Now I’ve got your attention.

What does cholesterol do?

When you get to a certain age your yearly doctor’s check-up involves getting your blood lipid profile. Then instead of chatting with your friends about the new single hottie that moved in next door you talk about your cholesterol levels.

I can imagine a reunion show with cast of Friends having this conversation at the coffee shop.

“My LDL is too high,” says Chandler.

“Really? My HDL is in the toilet,” responds Rachel, adjusting her elastic waistband pants, and sipping her Central Perk coffee spiked with Metamucil.

Meanwhile Phoebe is burning her results as a sacrifice to the cholesterol gods.

Joey turns to his bottle of statins. “How you doin?”

Laugh track.

Cholesterol’s had a bad rap recently. But you need cholesterol to stay alive. It’s part of some really important things like:

• the sac (membrane) that keeps your cell’s insides on the inside;
• your brain and nervous system tissues;
• certain hormones like estrogen and testosterone (steroid hormones); and
• vitamins A, D, E and K.

If cholesterol is so great, why bother controlling it?

Cholesterol: the good, the bad, and the risky

For one thing, we’re not necessarily as concerned with cholesterol — a fatty, waxy substance — as we are with the lipoproteins that transport cholesterol. You see, fat-based cholesterol isn’t a very good traveller in water-based blood. It needs a ride through the bloodstream from something else.

Lipoproteins, as their name implies, are proteins that can carry lipids (fats), sort of like those floating inner tubes you get at water park rides. What we’re actually looking at in cholesterol tests are levels of these lipoproteins.

Usually, when you get basic blood lipid tests done, the tests measure three things:

• Low density lipoprotein (LDL), aka “bad cholesterol”, brings cholesterol from your liver to cells throughout your body (to be incorporated into the membrane). If you have too much LDL and the right underlying conditions (such as inflammation), LDL can stick to your arteries’ insides, pile up, get inflamed, and start causing problems like hardening of the arteries (arthrosclerosis) and coronary heart disease.
• High density lipoprotein (HDL), aka “good cholesterol”, goes around and brings wayward cholesterol back to the liver for safe disposal.
• Total cholesterol, which is LDL + HDL

There are other types of lipoprotein particles as well, such as very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and chylomicrons, but these aren’t usually measured as part of standard blood testing.

The test may also give you a ratio of HDL to LDL. This is useful because a high total cholesterol may be from high LDL or high HDL — so it’s helpful to understand what the breakdown is.

What do the numbers mean?

Here are some tables to help you sort through the numbers you get from your doctor.

For more, see All About Cholesterol.

Li Y, Wang C, Zhu K, Feng RN, Sun CH. Effects of multivitamin and mineral supplementation on adiposity, energy expenditure and lipid profiles in obese Chinese women. Int J Obes (Lond). 2010 Jun;34(6):1070-7.

Methods

The goal of this study was to figure out if taking a multivitamin would change bodyweight, energy expenditure and lipid profiles (i.e. cholesterol). There was no change in diet or exercise! I had to read through the study twice to make sure I didn’t miss the diet and exercise section, but there is none. Remember this; it’s important.

The researchers in this study used 96 women that were obese (BMI >28), and randomly put them into one of three groups for 6 months:

1. Placebo group
2. Calcium-only supplement: 162 mg of calcium
3. Multivitamin and multimineral supplement

Table 1 below is a list of what was in the multivitamin and multimineral supplement.

What fancy multivitamin did they use? Centrum. Yup, nothing particularly cutting edge or fancy about it, just your grocery store pharmacy shelf Centrum.

Results

These women were in their early forties, mostly inactive (80%) and with a BMI hovering around 30. In other words, there was a lot of room for improvement in their health.

This is where the study gets really interesting.

Multivitamin = fat loss

With no diet or exercise intervention, on average the multivitamin group:

• lost 3.4 kg (7.5 lb) of weight;
• decreased their BMI by 1.4;
• decreased their waist circumference by 2.4 cm (~1 inch); and
• dropped 2.8 kg (6.1 lb) of fat.

Woah.

The calcium group lost 0.8 kg (1.76 lb) of fat over the 26 weeks, but there was no difference for weight, BMI or waist circumference.

How could you lose weight if you didn’t change how many calories you took in or used? It’s impossible, so how did the multivitamin group lose weight & fat?

Women who took the multivitamin saw an increase in their resting energy expenditure (the amount of calories they used while lying in bed). Yup, their resting energy expenditure went up by 53 kcal/day — not fantastic, but this was with just taking a multivitamin once a day. No exercise or other stuff. After 26 weeks that works out to 9682.4 kcals.

Multivitamin = more fat for fuel

Scientists can use a respiratory quotient (RQ), based on how much oxygen and carbon dioxide you use, to figure out if you are burning more carbohydrate or fat for energy.

• If your RQ is 1 then you’re only burning carbohydrates.
• If it’s 0.7 you’re only burning fat.
• Usually you’re somewhere in between.

With the multivitamin supplementation the women’s RQ dropped from 0.81 to 0.78, meaning that they were burning more fat at rest.

Multivitamin = better cholesterol

Not only did the multivitamin group lose weight, they ended up with:

• more “good” HDL-C (1.4 from 1.0) and
• less “bad” LDL-C (2.6 from 3.3).

Their HDL-C levels went from poor to better and their LDL-C levels bordered on ideal for people at risk for heart disease.

The calcium group had some improvement in HDL-C levels (1.3 from 1.0) getting to the better category, but no change in LDL-C.

Conclusion

Obese women taking a multivitamin for 26 weeks without any changes in diet or exercise lost 3.4 kg and improved their cholesterol levels.

How can a multivitamin can lead to these outcomes?

• First, obese people have lower levels of vitamins and minerals in their blood and these nutrients are less easily used (lower bioavailability). Reproducing the study with lean, healthy people might show different results.
• Vitamin B₆, B₁₂ and chromium have been associated with less weight gain over 10 years. Not all that surprising since B₆ and chromium are involved in metabolism (B₁₂ is a bit harder to explain since it is involved with keeping nerves and blood cells healthy.)
• Vitamin D deficiency is common in obese people, and plays a role in cardiovascular health.
• Our intestinal bacteria can actually play a huge role in regulating metabolism, digestion, and nutrient uptake. If we’re nutrient deficient our GI health suffers.
• Improvements in cholesterol levels with multivitamins are probably because of the same reasons that there is weight loss — improvement in metabolism.

Bottom line

This isn't enough, but it might help

1. If you want to lose weight, don’t starve your body. That causes nutritional deficiencies and sub-optimal metabolism.
2. Instead of eating almost nothing, and/or relying on nutrient-poor “diet” foods, you should be eating more nutritious food with fewer calories and supplementing your diet with a multivitamin to help you lose weight. Don’t rely exclusively on a Fred Flintstone or Centrum to make up for a poor diet, though.
3. Make each calorie count — consume foods that are high in vitamins and minerals. For more tips on how to do this, see All About Dietary Displacement and the “superfood” list below.

Further reading and resources

All About Vitamins and Minerals

For reference, here’s PN’s list of “superfoods” — foods that give you a lot of nutritional bang for the buck. Also check out the Healing Foods Pyramid from the University of Michigan’s School of Integrative Medicine. Of course, there are many more “superfoods” than these… but this is a good start.

By now, most PN readers are familiar with Ryan Andrews. Simply put, he’s a nutrition stud.

I’m serious.  The guy has earned nearly every nutrition and exercise accreditation available.

• A nationally ranked bodybuilder from 1996-2001, check.
• Registered and Licensed Dietitian, check.
• Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach, check.
• A Masters in Nutrition, check.
• A Masters in Exercise Physiology, check.
• Johns Hopkins trained expert coach, check.
• PN Lean Eating coach, check.

Despite this very impressive resume, I’ve gotta level with you.

Ryan’s CV doesn’t tell the whole story. You see, there’s something more you need to know about Ryan.

And that’s his not-so-secret fascination with plant-based foods. In essence, Ryan eats an exclusive plant-based diet. Animal foods are left off his menu.  For a variety of reasons.

So, when Ryan called me one day, excitedly announcing an exclusive invitation to visit one of Colorado’s largest cattle farming operations, I was intrigued. A vegan visiting a cattle farm, huh?

Would it be a smooth, fact-finding mission?

Or would I be getting a call to bail the dude outta some local jail?

Well, read on to find out…

My trip to Magnum

My day at the cattle feedlot got off to a rough start.  Maybe it’s because I wore my “Have You Hugged A Vegetarian Today Shirt.”  Bad move on my part, I guess.

What I didn't wear to the feedlot

No, I’m just kidding.  I didn’t wear my vegan shirt.

And my day at the Magnum Feedyard in Wiggins, Colorado got off to a great start.

It all began at a restaurant in Hudson, Colorado, called the Pepper Pod.  That’s where I met two new friends: an animal science instructor and a student from Colorado State University, who escorted me up to Wiggins to get an exclusive tour of the Magnum Feedyard.

We met at the Pepper Pod, then up to Wiggins.

During the 75-minute drive, a lot was going through my mind.

For starters, this visit had been 6 months, and quite a few emails/phone calls, in the making.

You see, very few people in the nutrition world are ever allowed to visit feedlots.  In fact, some of my favorite authors have written entire books about feedlots without ever being granted permission to see one in person.  So I had to “work it” pretty hard to get this kind of access. And was really excited.

However, despite my enthusiasm for the opportunity, I was a little worried.  I mean, everything I’d read about feedlots suggested that they’re horrible, dismal places where thousands of sick cows are crammed in tiny pens, being force-fed corn while standing in steaming piles of their own feces.

As someone concerned with animal welfare, what would I do if faced with this sight?  Would I run for the gates, throw them open, and let those poor cows free?  Was I man enough to do that?  Would I just go home with my tail between my legs?  Or would I see something totally different, totally unexpected?

Arriving at Magnum Feedyard

With all these emotional and philosophical thoughts running through my head, I wasn’t prepared for the first thought that hit me when we arrived at Magnum – one of the 14,000 beef cattle operations in Colorado.

“Oh, god, the smell.”

Yes, the first thing I noticed when I arrived was the smell.  And no, it wasn’t fear.  I smelled manure. I guess I should have expected it.  After all, I was standing among 20,000+ steers and heifers.  Duh, welcome to farming, Ryan!

The Magnum farm

In the U.S. there are 2.2 million farms. 98% of them meet the USDA definition of a “family farm.”

The USDA considers a “family farm” any farm where the majority of the business is owned by the operator and his/her relatives. Steve Gabel, president of the Colorado Livestock Association, owns Magnum, and runs it with his family.

So, Magnum fits this criterion and is thus considered a “family farm”.

This is me and Steve Gabel, owner of Magnum.

So if Steve’s is a “family farm,” what’s a “factory farm”?

Well, the term “factory farm” isn’t actually used in the agricultural community.  So, in essence, it’s slang that was coined by skeptics of the cattle industry.

The agricultural community actually calls large animal feeding units “CAFOs.” CAFO means Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation. A CAFO has more than 1,000 animal units, and 1 beef cow = 1 animal unit.

For the record, 75% of all beef in the U.S. comes from CAFOs.

And, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, CAFOs “congregate animals, feed, manure and urine, dead animals, and production operations on a small land area. Feed is brought to the animals rather than the animals grazing or otherwise seeking feed in pastures, fields, or on rangeland.”

So, Magnum fits the criterion of a CAFO.  When it started in 1993, Magnum had 4,500 cattle. Now they have 22,000. And operations are managed with 8-13 employees (depending on the time of year).

Magnum houses 22,000 cattle

But, wait a minute!  Magnum is a family farm.  And Magnum is a factory farm.  How can it be both?

Well, they were started and are run by a family. But they also congregate more than 22,000 beef cattle.  So, they meet the definition for both categories.

Of course, that makes clean and tidy, black and white judgments about cattle operations harder to make.  Trust me it’ll get harder in a minute.

What Magnum cattle eat

When animals arrive at Magnum, they are usually 7 – 9 months of age.  During their first four days, they receive 100% grass feed to help maintain rumen health.

Wait a second!  Don’t all feedlot cattle get 100% corn?  With maybe a sprinkling of soy mixed in?

Uh, nope.

There are five different rations used at Magnum, comprised of seven ingredients, including corn, soy, alfalfa, straw, and wet grain distillers (by-products of the ethanol industry).  And these feeds range from 0% corn to 50% corn.

Here are a few pics of the different feeds:

A wet distiller, corn-based.

One of the rations is corn-based.

One of the rations is grass-based.

Feed is delivered by a truck three times each day. And, interestingly, as noted above, corn doesn’t comprise more than 50% of any of the feed ration.

Wait, wait.  What about all those reports of sick cows being stuffed with corn?

Well, folks, at Magnum anyway, there’s no such thing as an “all grain” cattle diet.  In fact, the diet of the cattle at Magnum never exceeds 50% corn.  And often, it’s much, much less.

This is the feed truck that makes its rounds three times per day.

This is where all the feed ingredients are mixed in the back of the truck.

As many animal nutrition experts know, too much grain in a cow’s diet can result in rumen acidosis. That is why, at Magnum, the animals’ diets are formulated by nutritionists bi-weekly.  This helps them maintain the correct feed for a given pen of animals.

Of course, the goal at Magnum is to feed cattle efficiently. They want the biggest weight gain for the fewest pounds of feed, in the most economical way.  And, at Magnum, they do a good job of efficiency.  Cattle are normally kept on the feedlot until around 12 to 15 months of age.  This means they’re kept for between 150 and 240 days.  During this time they gain 500 to 600 pounds.

Per day at Magnum, the cost per head of cattle is $2.10. Grab you pen and paper folks, multiply $2.10 by 22,000 cattle. Lots of money, every day.

Growth-promoting hormones are used in feedlot cattle as it increases efficiency. These are naturally occurring hormones that are regularly metabolized by the body. Most cattle don’t get antibiotics. And if they do, they need it. Further, they won’t be sent to slaughter until 21 days after antibiotic administration, since it takes that long for the antibiotic to clear the system.

Organic feed

According to Magnum, organic feed doesn’t seem to increase meat quality or safety.  Research doesn’t really support the idea either.  But, organic feed does allow consumers another option (i.e. organic meat vs. non-organic meat).  And organic farming practices may have some benefits for the planet.

Of course, in today’s farming climate, less than 1% of American cropland is certified organic. If a lot more was, it would require a lot more composted animal manure. Fortunately, Magnum is on the right track (with composting) if this pattern were to take hold.

Grass-Fed, Free-Range

Sure, some folks think grass-fed, free-range is better.  But, as any good PN reader can attest, it’s a heckuva lot more expensive.  And, at the end of the day, Magnum is competing for the protein food dollar. Mainstream America is currently buying conventionally fed meat from cattle, so, feedlots keep producing it.

It’s also important to know that if we continue to eat 200+ pounds of meat per person per year in the U.S., grass-fed isn’t really an option.  There’s not enough land.

But it would be an option for meat eaters if we reduced overall meat consumption. Is that something our nation is willing to do?  Maybe.  In time.  Right now, however, it doesn’t look like it.

What about E. coli?

E. coli (or Escherichia coli O157:H7) is a natural occurring pathogen in the digestive tract of cattle, but can be minimized through production practices, i.e. clean living conditions.

E. coli serogroups O26, O111, O145, and others have become a public health problem, accounting for 37,000 illnesses and 30 deaths in the U.S. alone.

Among critics of the “factory farm” model, there’s a large concern about E. coli contamination.  Many suggest that feeding cattle a high grain-based diet can increase e-coli in the gut.  And cross-contamination with meat makes for, not only sick animals, but sick people.

However, there doesn’t seem to be a relationship between feed and harmful E. coli contamination.  Indeed, studies reveal no difference in E. coli O157:H7 prevalence or numbers between cattle fed grain vs. grass. And there are no studies that show superiority for one system vs. the other.

So it seems like this concern is more of a cleanliness issue, not a feed issue.

Cattle care

Speaking of cleanliness, Magnum wants the cattle to be clean and comfortable.

I know, I know, I can see my animal welfare comrades shaking their heads – - but think about it. From a profit standpoint, if animals aren’t comfortable, they aren’t going to eat. If they don’t eat, they don’t grow. If they don’t grow, they won’t be much use to the dude wanting to buy a big steak.

Lots of feedlot cattle were males born on dairy farms. You can tell them by their black and white color.

Also, technology is improving the way cattle are treated. Many cattle are tagged with identification and tracked.This tracking allows farmers to know a host of things like: the length of time the cattle have been there, their health history, their previous feed, their current feed needs, their current health, and any notable health or welfare concerns.

Magnum even has guys riding on horses around pens called, well, “pen riders,” who check cattle for problems. An animal nutritionist even comes on site every couple weeks to check how the cattle are feeding. If anything looks out of the ordinary, a session with the vet is likely. Sick animals are taken to a “hospital” pen and given care.

Newsflash: Let’s face it, most people in North America haven’t been to a doctor since their mom took them before high school graduation. Further, most humans acquire “feed” from the Cocoa Puff and Pop-Tart aisle.

My health care is better than yours.

Yes, what I’m trying to say is that Magnum Feedyard cattle receive better health care than many North Americans. They get regular vet appointments and a simple diet that is nutrient dense.

Ok, I think we can all agree the living conditions are debatable. But before you rag on feedlot health care, how do your habits compare?

Waste at Magnum

Magnum recently started composting manure and mortalities (i.e. cattle that don’t make it). It’s gotten more expensive to send deceased cattle to processing plants that manufacture pet foods, so this was the next best option.

Plus it’s more sustainable.  And the cattle don’t end up standing around in piles of their own feces.  Whew!

The Holiday Inn

Have you ever been to a Holiday Inn? That’s kind of like Magnum. They are a hotel for cattle. Profit increases as occupancy increases.

But there’s a slight difference. Upon checkout from the Holiday Inn you get a free newspaper, a mint, and a shuttle to the airport. When you checkout from Magnum, you get a one way shuttle to the slaughterhouse.

Nearly every week, a truck picks up cattle and transports them to a meat packing plant. This is where cattle are harvested and the carcasses fabricated. It’s important for the cattle to be transported quickly and calmly. The more stressed the animal, the lower the quality the meat.

95% of the steers and heifers from Magnum are sold to two packers, both in Colorado, JBS Swift in Greeley and Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan. The meat from these cows makes its way nationwide.

Conclusions

I was tired of talking about, reading about, and hearing about feedlots. Especially when many of the accounts were from people who had never been to a feedlot in their lives.

So, when I was given this sort of rare access, I jumped at the chance to check one out for myself.

The sign you see when leaving Magnum.

And, I have to say it.  If my experience at Magnum is representative of other cattle farms, all those accounts of the dismal, depressing, disastrous cattle conditions seem to be exaggerated.

No, I’m not going to start eating meat again.

However, if I did eat meat, my visit to Magnum would have made me feel great about eating non-organic, non-grass-fed beef.   Seriously.  I can’t imagine the quality of meat would be substantially better with organic and grass-fed.  Nor can I imagine the living conditions would be substantially better for the cattle.

Now, to be clear, we don’t require meat in our diet.  And I don’t think we should be using cows for food, doesn’t matter if the cattle are kept on a feedlot or chilling in a waterbed listening to John Tesh. But that’s my own value system and I’m well aware that 97% of people in the U.S. eat meat on a regular basis.

However, considering the amount we procreate in the U.S. (there’s a birth every 8 seconds and a death every 12 seconds); and the amount of meat we eat (222 pounds per person, per year – not including marine life); and the small amount of money we’re willing to spend on food (we spend 9.6% of our disposable income on food, the lowest in the world. India spends 53%, Venezuela 34%, Italy 26%, Japan 19%, France 16%); feedlots have it right.

People want meat.  And Magnum’s feedlot system is dialed in.  They’re producing safe and cost-effective meat in, arguably, the most cattle-conscious way (short of opening up those pens and letting them run free).  Rock on Magnum.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Travis Hoffman (http://ansci.colostate.edu/), Steve Gabel (http://magnumfeedyard.com), Julie Moore (http://cobeef.com), and Morgan Gaither. Many people in the nutrition world are never allowed to view a feedlot. Travis, Steve, Julie, and Morgan were all very accommodating, and I was treated with the utmost respect.

References

Disposable income spend on food: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/CPIFoodAndExpenditures/Data/table7.htm

EPA (2007). “Animal Feeding Operations-NPDES Frequently Asked Questions.” Retrieved May 2, 2010 from http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/faqs.cfm?program_id=7

USDA ERS (2009). “Farm Household Economics and Well-Being: Glossary.” Retrieved May 2, 2010, from http://www.ers.usda.gov/BRIEFING/WellBeing/glossary.htm

Marler Blog. http://www.marlerblog.com/2010/04/articles/lawyer-oped/the-usda-should-declare-that-all-illness-causing-shigatoxin-producing-e-coli-are-adulterants-and-ban-them-from-the-meat-supply/

Dimitri C & Effland A (2005). Milestones in U.S. Farming and Farm Policy Amber Waves. Washington, D.C., USDA Economic Research Service and USDAERS (2010). Structural Characteristics, for All Farms, by Farm Typology, 2008. Agricultural Resource Management Survey, USDA Economic Research Service.

Mead PS, et al. Food-related illness and death in the United States. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol5no5/mead.htm

USDA-National Ag Statistic See: www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2007/Full_Report/Volume_1,_Chapter_1_US/st99_1_012_013.pdf 12,098,990 out of 16,098,910 are fed in operations greater than 1,000 head, or 75 %. The remaining balance are either grazed or raised on smaller feedlots with capacity under 1,000 head.

Last week, I brought you confessions from our women’s Lean Eating Program coaches.  The LE women shared some awesome exercise and nutritional wisdom that you can put to work for you immediately.

Now, it’s the men’s turn.  In this article they tell us their secrets, and how they use their PN knowledge and habits to stay on track.

Remember, I asked them three questions:

• What have you learned from hard experience? (And what do you still struggle with sometimes?)
• Fill in the following sentence: “Despite being an ‘expert’, I still…”
• What was your lousiest workout?

Ryan Andrews – Coach, Lean Eating Program

From experience, I’ve learned…

Exercise with a higher purpose in mind.

…that to eat and exercise a certain way each day, I need a purpose beyond how I look.

Being able to divert my focus with eating towards bettering the planet, animals and my health gives me powerful incentive. When I get too wrapped up with how food/exercise makes me look, I become preoccupied and selfish.

…that whenever my daily eating habits aren’t going well, the problem never has to do with food/eating. The problem has to do with my life.

Whether it’s eating too much, eating too little, obsessing about food, or eating lots of non-nutritious food, something in my life is out of balance and is manifesting itself via food habits.

…that if I’m not hungry enough to eat a real food like broccoli or lentils, I’m really not that hungry.

Enough said.

Despite being an expert…

…I still have the same food temptations as other North Americans.

Therefore I focus on eating enough nutritious food each day — it kills cravings.

…I still get a pleasure response from sitting on the couch with a bag of chips watching TV.

Therefore I don’t keep chips in the house and don’t have cable/satellite TV.

One time, for instance, I was watching the TV show Scrubs on DVD. I purchased a big bag of heavily oiled and salted popcorn (but gosh, it was organic). 6 episodes later, the bag of popcorn was gone, and I felt like I had swallowed a bowling ball.

Let’s just say my GI tract didn’t like me for about 24 hours.  And I think I drank about 3 litres of water after all the salt.

Big bags of popcorn + Scrubs on DVD = bad memories.

…I still have only 24 hours each day to get things done.

Therefore I take ownership of my days and get done what I need to get done.

My worst workouts

The worst workout I ever had was the one I stressed about ahead of time. And the worst workout I ever had was the one I tried to make perfect.

Warning: Do not watch this with a giant bag of popcorn in hand.

Jason Bonn – Coach, Lean Eating Program

From experience, I’ve learned…

…that I need to assess how I feel rather than how I look.

To me this is a much better indicator of whether I’m on track with things.

My eyes can play some serious tricks on me when I look in the mirror or at pics, but my sense of feeling never changes. This is true not just acutely (for example, when I overeat at a meal, or have certain foods/combination of foods, etc.), but also chronically (i.e. following certain protocols).

…that I need to focus on parasympathetic activities.

In addition to environmental things (i.e. traffic), I’m always in a “go, go, go” mode — it’s the New Yorker in me!

Plus, I’ve always loved to push my body to its limits. It’s ironic, because I’ve always understood the need for balance and have always advised others to do so, but never did it. It wasn’t until injuries and fatigue started piling up (shocker, huh?) that I began to take action.

Luckily, we know that rest and recovery is just as important as time in the gym, so I have lots of suggestions for ways that stressed-out and hard-working Lean Eating clients can chill out. And I’ve got time-saving tips like All About Eating on the Go.

…that I sometimes overeat when I read while eating.

Therefore I… ummm… sometimes still read when I eat!  Seriously, I’m still working on this one, but it is getting better. Silly little tactics, like picking shorter things to read, have helped. Considering I was at a point where I’d sometimes read things for a second time, this is progress.

The funny thing is, it’s only with reading things in print. If I’m in front of a computer, I won’t overeat. Other distractions like television, rodeo clowns, etc. don’t faze me one bit either. So why don’t I just not put anything in front of me? If only it were that easy!

Despite being an expert…

…I still become too preoccupied with my personal nutrition/exercise.

At times I simply have to put things in perspective by either thinking of past events or undesirable situations that could happen. Basically, it’s the “Worse things could happen” mindset.

Having nutrition/exercise be a major part of my life is where I’m at most of the time, but there are times when it borders on obsession. In the past, things like the gym opening late, meetings running late/sitting in traffic with me starving, etc. would affect me. Now, not so much. But it does happen at times.

My worst workout?

Honestly, I never really had one workout that just went kaput.

However, I want to kick myself in the ass whenever I let my ego take over. This often results in crap form and/or doing too much, both of which lead to aches, injuries, suboptimal results, etc.

"You're The Man! Go lift that 500 lbs! Yeah buddy!"

Roland Fisher – Coach, Lean Eating Program

From experience, I’ve learned…

…that no matter how good a theory is, things either work for me or they don’t.

For a very long time I believed that low carb eating was the best way to go. In spite of several weeks of low energy, poor results, moodiness, and poorer sleep I pressed on with fewer than 50 g of carbs a day.

I thought: Most clients do well with low carb;, I just need to wait it out and my body will “switch”… right? Wrong!

My workouts suffered, my body composition suffered, and I felt enormously better after a “cheat meal” of pasta or potatoes. If I’d actually observed and respected my outcomes, I’d have been enjoying carbs a lot sooner than I did. I learned to recognize that some folks are good carb burners. Plus, my clients got better results when I got “present” enough to respect outcomes.

(For more on carb burning and body type, see All About Eating for your Body Type.)

…that despite being rather experienced with nutrition and fitness, I’m still a sucker for breakfast cafés.

So I schedule things heavier in the morning to keep busier at those times that I want to go. Also, when I do in fact go, I share my meal when I can.

Despite being an expert…

…I still sometimes struggle with body image.

I’m very small for six feet.  For a couple or years straight, I wasn’t able to train; and now I’ve got a reduced training load. This resulted in 35 lbs of muscle lost and much more difficulty in managing body fat levels. When I slip from being present and accepting I wonder where the athlete went.

This state is rare and doesn’t last long, but it still shows up from time to time. The cure for that ailment is simple enough, though. Acceptance and presence is only a few breaths away for me when I notice I’m in a negative mode.

My worst workouts

The worst workouts I have ever had were the ones that I could not do. I have had many injuries sustained outside of the gym and not having the privilege of training is very hard to accept for me.

However, these experiences have given me a lot of knowledge and empathy for what my Lean Eating clients go through.

Roland can help you work around injuries... no matter what they are.

If you’re looking to get lean and strong you have to fuel your body.  And that’s the point of this upbeat Canadian fitness and nutrition show, Body Fuel.

Hosted on the Men TV network, Body Fuel investigates the ways in which food and supplements can interact with our body chemistry to create powerful, athletic, and sculpted bodies.

And each week on Body Fuel, I host a short segment called Ask Dr John. In this segment I tackle a host of important, frequently asked questions about food, fitness, supplements, health, and performance.

In this week’s episode, I answer the following question:

“What can I do to get the muscle building benefits of a high protein diet without the risk of becoming too acidic?”

For more information about dietary acids and bases:

• Check out the Precision Nutrition System

Yoga: It can relax you, enlighten you, help keep you from falling down, protect your heart, put the brakes on overeating, and just maybe give you a yoga booty. Om.

Since I left home years ago, my dad routinely asks me if I’m eating healthy. Every time he’d call to see how I was doing, he’d tell me to make sure I made myself a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice every morning… until I told him you should avoid juice and eat the whole fruit. He now tells me to make sure I eat an orange every morning.

Is it that simple?

If I just follow my dad’s advice to eat an orange a day, do I cover all my nutritional bases?

Though I know my dad’s heart is in the right place and I find his advice endearing, it’s obvious that an orange a day — or even an apple — isn’t enough to meet all my nutritional needs.

But how do you know if you’re meeting your nutritional needs?

Nutrients: How much do you really need?

There’s a lot of talk of “eating healthy”. Your parents (like mine) probably ask if you’re “eating healthy”. Friends tell you, “That much protein isn’t healthy”, while eating a doughnut.

Usually all this talk of “eating healthy” is very vague and subjective. However, one way to measure, aka quantify, the “healthiness” of your diet is by examining its vitamin and mineral content.

The US government has figured out the rock-bottom amount of essential vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) needed for a healthy diet. They used to use recommended daily allowances (RDA); now they’ve moved to a new term: reference daily intake (RDI). RDI isn’t optimal; it’s just the baseline that you need in order to prevent malnutrition. That’s important to remember!

The American Dietetics Association recommends:

A few years back John wrote about a study that analyzed 70 people’s diets and there wasn’t a single person meeting all their nutritional requirements. Wow.

Obesity & nutrient deficiency

Since most obese people eat more food than lean people, you’d think that this extra food would give them more nutrients. Therefore obese people would have much fewer nutritional deficiencies but that’s not so. Overweight and obese people are over 80% more likely to have micronutrient deficiencies compared to lean people.

This week’s review looks at a study that may explain some of why overweight people are more likely to have micronutrient deficiencies.

Calton JB.  Prevalence of micronutrient deficiency in popular diet plans. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2010 Jun 10;7(1):24.

Methods

In this study the researcher looked at suggested diet plans from four well-known diets: the South Beach diet, the Atkins for Life diet, the Diet Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and the Best Life Diet.

He asked:

If you followed a given diet perfectly, what percentage of the RDI of 27 essential micronutrients would you get? Would you get all the vitamins and minerals you need?

• The South Beach Diet replaces “bad” fats and carbs (like trans fat and white bread) with “good” fats and carbs (like olive oil and whole grains). You could liken it to the Mediterranean diet.
• The Atkins for Life diet is a low-carbohydrate plan with a maximum of 20 grams of carbohydrates a day.
• DASH is a diet developed at the Mayo Clinic to reduce high blood pressure and limits sodium to about 3000 mg a day.
• The Best Life Diet comes from from Oprah’s trainer Bob Greene –  it’s a low-fat diet plan.

The researcher analyzed 15 meals from each diet to see how many essential micronutrients the plan contained, then calculated each diet plan’s content of these micronutrients using the US Department of Agriculture Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. The micronutrients included were:

Results

Let’s pretend that you haven’t read the title of the research article.

None of the four diets provided the RDI for all 27 micro-nutrients. Actually they barely meet the requirements for half the micro-nutrients.

In order of nutrient value:

1. The Best Life Diet has the most sufficient levels of micronutrient requirements. If you followed the Best Life diet perfectly, out of 27 micro-nutrients, you’d get 100% of 15 micronutrients. But you’d lack 12 micro-nutrients. Yup, this was the best diet of the four as far as getting your nutrients.
2. Second was the DASH diet, which provided sufficient levels for 14 of the 27 micro-nutrients.
3. Atkins offered 12 of the 27.
4. The South Beach Diet was way behind. It provided sufficient amounts of only 6 micronutrients. Six! If you include micro-nutrients that were over 90% RDI then you can get to 9 micro-nutrients.

Deficient nutrients

Across the board, all diets were miserably deficient in chromium. How bad was it? Eleven percent of RDI was the highest score, from the Best Life Diet. Bah, who needs chromium anyway? Well, if you’re trying to lose weight you might want some, since it helps with glucose and fat metabolism. Chromium isn’t particularly hard to find in food. It’s in broccoli, potatoes, whole grains, meat, apples, green beans, bananas, onions, tomatoes and lettuce.

Vitamin B7

Vitamin B7 (aka biotin) was the next most deficient nutrient with only the Body for Life diet reaching 90% RDI. The other diets were around 7-12%.  Vitamin B7 forms carboxylases (enzymes for glucose formation, leucine metabolism, making energy and making fat and for copying DNA). Again Vitamin B7 is found in a lot of foods. Green leafy vegetables, whole grains, salmon, avocado, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, almonds, eggs, cabbage, onions, cucumber, cauliflower, berries, halibut, oat and walnuts are all sources of Vitamin B7.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E was also deficient in all the diets. DASH provided the most Vitamin E at 52% RDI. There are actually eight chemical family members that are covered under the name Vitamin E: four tocopherols, fat soluble alcohols with Vitamin E, and four tocotrienols. Alpha-tocopherol is what is mainly found in blood and tissues. Vitamin E works as an antioxidant, helps cells talk to each other, and helps immune cells work. Raw sunflower seeds, roasted almonds, olives, and spinach are good sources of Vitamin E.

Vitamin B5

Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) is in mushrooms, cauliflower, broccoli, seeds, greens, tomatoes, berries, eggs, yogurt, squash, corn, cod, split peas, lentils, avocado, sweet potato and whole grains. In this study the diet closest to getting 100% RDI was DASH (72%). Among other functions, Vitamin B5 is important for making cholesterol, steroid hormones and neurotransmitters.

Iodine

Iodine was also well below 100% RDI (around 34% on average), but since most salt is supplemented with iodine I doubt iodine deficiency occurs in real life in the Western world. In coastal areas around the world, people who eat seaweed also get iodine. Iodine is important for thyroid function.

Vitamin D

Another micronutrient that was deficient in the diets was Vitamin D, but since your body is designed to make Vitamin D when you’re exposed to the sun I don’t think this is an issue in the summer months.

How many calories would you need to hit 100% RDI in all micronutrients?

I guess for fun the researcher decided to see how many calories you would need to eat to get to 100% RDI for all micronutrients with each of the four diets.

Even though the Best Life Diet was sufficient in the most micronutrients you’d need to eat 20,500 calories to meet all your micronutrient requirements! You’d basically be eating between 5-10 times the calories you need to maintain your weight.

Atkins dieters need the most calories, 37,500, to reach micronutrient sufficiency and The South Beach needed the least, at 18,800 calories.

Conclusion

Popular diet plans, including medically reviewed (DASH), have some major micronutrient deficiencies with the biggest deficiencies happening in chromium, Vitamin B7, Vitamin E, Vitamin B5, iodine and Vitamin D.

Though the researcher recommends a multivitamin, you should take his advice with a grain of salt since he is the CEO of a company developing a multivitamin. (Although, don’t throw out the advice completely. A multi-vitamin is a good backup plan in certain situations).

My advice is either track your micronutrients with a nutritional program or consult with a professional to review your intake. By doing so, you’ll be able to focus on getting your micronutrients from whole food instead of a multivitamin, since there are many chemical compounds covered by one vitamin name, and since your body is better at absorbing nutrients from whole food.

Don't rely on these to meet your requirements.

Bottom line

Whether you’re eating to maintain or to lose weight, make sure you’re getting the micronutrients you need from whole food. Eating more brightly coloured fruits and vegetables will help you get the nutrients you need without many more calories.

Last week I brought you some True Tales from The PN Trenches, and kicked off some confessions from one of the Lean Eating Program coaches… me.

I also reminded you of JB’s commitment to a junk-free house — for more on this, see All About Kitchen Makeovers.

This week, let’s check in with the coaches of the women’s Lean Eating and Lean Eating Alumni program.  Again, these women are “experts”, right?  They always look and feel fantastic, and they always do everything perfectly, right?

Yeah, right.

I asked them three questions:

• What have you learned from hard experience? (And what do you still struggle with sometimes?)
• Fill in the following sentence: “Despite being an ‘expert’, I still…”
• What was your lousiest workout?

Time for some unvarnished truth. Let ‘er rip, ladies!

Kate Kline - Coach, Lean Eating Alumni Program

From experience, I’ve learned…

…that thinking — or over-thinking — can be destructive.

I have a natural inclination to think too much, too often, and/or too far ahead. I’ll often over-analyze simple things or catch myself thinking about what’s happening next month or even 3 years from now.

The result?  Stress and anxiety.  My work, sleep, training, and diet are negatively affected. I end up feeling like utter crap.

Now, when I start to get the urge to think too much or anticipate the future, I try to turn that part of my brain off immediately and instead switch my focus on that day only and how I can make the most of that  day — that moment, even. When I do that, it feels like a stack of bricks was lifted off my chest and life suddenly becomes a hell of a lot more enjoyable.

From this, I’ve learned to teach my Lean Eating Alumni clients how to focus on moving towards their goals in small, manageable ways each day, and how to build routines that will help them get there.

…that I have to do what works for my body.

I went through the whole fitness media compulsion/blog-reading/program ADD phase.  What a waste of time and energy.

I can’t just go read “Franny Fit’s” blog and expect to get the same results if I just copy her diet and training.  Boo!  How come? Oh, because I’m Kate Kline. Duh!  I’m not Franny Fit. My body is unique to me.

… that I like to train… a lot.

I’ve had to learn the hard way the importance of rest and listening to my body.  The times when I’ve ignored important signals or didn’t schedule adequate recovery time, my body responded by forcing rest upon me.  And not just a couple of days either.

…that I’m a creature of habit.

I like to stick to my routines.  Change kind of freaks me out.  Years ago, my good friend Krista Schaus told me to “Feel the fear… and do it anyways”.  I took those words to heart. The opportunities, knowledge, insights, and growth that have resulted from facing my fears and embracing change are absolutely incredible.

Now I make it a point to do at least one thing that “scares” me each week. And I gently encourage my Lean Eating Alumni clients to face their fears too — and emerge victorious!

Despite being an expert…

…I still have days where I wake up feeling discouraged and/or unmotivated.

You know, the “I feel like sh*t days.”  I know that during these times, I need social support, so I reach out.

This PN community is the cornerstone of my network.  I can “stop by’” anytime and receive encouragement, motivation, and advice.  Thanks, guys.

My worst workout…

The absolute worst workout I ever had was when my shorts split while squatting.

I had my headphones going and was so focused that I didn’t even realize it at the time.  After walking around the gym for a good 20 minutes, finally someone had the guts to tell me there was a tear in my shorts and my undies were showing.  Face palm.  After leaving the gym mortified, I decided to look at the positive — I must be growing that booty I want!

Then there was the day that I dropped not one, but two 45-pound plates on my toe.

Shortly after I proceeded to warm-up on the lat-pulldown machine. When I took out the pins to set the weight, the bar fell from above onto my head, almost knocking me out.  It was definitely not the kind of “hurts so good” workout I had in mind!

Look out!

Krista Schaus - Coach, Lean Eating Program

From experience, I’ve learned…

…not to assume I know it all.

No matter how long you’ve been in this game, don’t assume you know everything.

Assuming I “know it all” has been one of my biggest mistakes through my many years of striving for improved health, physique and performance.

And when I found new concepts, protocols or knowledge about nutrition (or training), I wouldn’t realize that this showed that I didn’t know it all (or that “knowing it all” wasn’t even the point)… instead, I’d think, “Well, now I know it all!”

Hello, is that EGO who entered the room?

Well after enough times I finally figured out that the more you learn, the less you know.

I now see my knowledge and experience as a pencil dot, and the available knowledge and experience as a factory of pencils. (To be fair, I think my pencil dot is pretty big and bold!) I have a lot to learn, but the knowledge I have already helps people in many ways. Thus, be aware of your strengths and your value but be open to learning about your obstacles and limitations too.

So I am excited and proud of what I have learned and experiences I have gained but I am more excited about what I knowledge and experience are waiting for me to gain.

This attitude also keeps an open mind – you must be open to the fact that what you know now can change and that you can be right one minute and wrong the next.

If clients put themselves in our hands, they have to learn to trust us and open themselves to the knowledge that we have. And we learn from one another.

…don’t deal in absolutes.

I come from a hard-ass history which also means I will bang my head against a wall a few times before I figure out that it hurts, it’s dangerous, and I shouldn’t do that any more. However, once I “get it” I really get it, and will tell everyone and anyone loud and clear not to do that – until I discover I was again wrong (see above).

So, I’m the type of person who used to say “always” or “never”. For example:

• “NEVER do cardio in the morning because it’s bad for your adrenals.”
• “ALWAYS do squats in your workouts.”

That’s the past for me now. It’s hard to work for PN and people like Dr. John Berardi and be that closed-minded for long. And after working with so many clients, I now realize that each client has unique needs, abilities, and limitations.

…fad diets don’t work. Real life change — which includes building good habits — does.

In the mid-1990s, I was a police officer growing a cruiser butt.

But rather than increase my activity and improve my nutrition habits (which I thought were perfect, of course), I thought I would check out some silly dietary tactics. I experimented unsuccessfully with everything from Atkins to “Stop the Insanity” stuff.

Luckily I was saved in the late 1990s by mentors who taught me proper nutrition for body and sport, and by habits that have come to be known as PN and the Habit-Based Eating plan (such as JB’s 7 Rules of Good Nutrition). Now, I use these same habits to help all our clients meet and exceed their goals.

Despite being an expert…

…I still will easily eat half a jar of peanut butter in a few minutes.

Therefore I ration my servings to 2 tbsp max at a time, and usually opt for cashew or almond butter, which don’t have the same power over me.

…I still prefer chocolate over sex.

Hey, I am NOT the only one!!

My worst workout…

…was with Ralph Celio at his Toronto private training center, preparing for the 2005 Powerlifting Commonwealths. We did pause squats and speed squats, pause benches and speed benches; pause deadlifts and speed deadlifts… for three hours!

I think I died and was reborn during that workout. It still gives me anxiety attacks.

But that workout earned me a lot of mental and physical toughness. And for many months afterwards, I kept busting through plateaus. Many of the Lean Eating workouts will do the same for our clients — the training teaches them that they can accomplish a lot more than they realize… even if they’re cursing at the time!

The food that challenges even a strongwoman

Erin Weiss-Trainor - Coach, Lean Eating Program

From experience, I’ve learned…

…be motivated to change for yourself to be the best you – not to be someone/something else.

Don't let this rule you.

When I first started working towards changing my body, my motivation seemed to come from wanting to look or be like someone else. Whether an image in a magazine or someone in my life I was a little “envious” of, it took a while for me to focus on just being my best me.

I think I came to truly understand what this was all about when I trained to compete in a physique competition. I had no real desire to compete or get on stage, but simply wanted to see “what would happen if…” I followed the plan to a tee because at the end of it, I wanted to see how far I could go with my body if I gave it all I had.

Seeing the end result, I came to the realization that I will never be or look the same as someone else. I now know that my “best body” will only ever look like me, and so now I focus on working with what I have and what I can be vs. going after someone else’s best body.

…to stop looking so hard for progress and let go of specific expectations.

It took me a while to figure out just how subtle and slowly changes in health and body composition can happen.

The more you go looking for them and focus on them, the more elusive they seem to be. It inevitably leads to feeling like “this isn’t working” and giving up on the process before you’ve even given it a real chance.

When you have a good plan, stick to it with strong consistency and compliance, and then stop trying to assess all the time whether it’s working or not. Yes, check in to make sure things are moving in the right direction, but leave expectations behind and just go with it.

…don’t let numbers define your success.

Changes don’t happen in a predictable way, nor are they defined well by numbers. It’s self-defeating to have it in your head that X will change by Y amount in Z time, or that you’ll look a certain way at a given body fat or weight.

…it’s not worth compromising nutrition long-term to achieve a perfect body or measurement.

I always thought that if I got to a certain weight/body comp that I would look or fit into clothes a certain way, and life would just be awesome.

As nice as it was to see lower numbers on a scale or drop down a clothing size, getting really lean kind of sucked. I couldn’t eat the healthy foods I really wanted and I turned into someone I was not.

And to be honest, no one could even really tell that I was 5 lbs lighter or 3% leaner than I was! Even to myself, I didn’t look as different as I thought I would.

Now I rarely step on the scale or take measurements. I can tell by the what I see in the mirror and how my body feels. And by keeping my food choices based on those that help me looking, feeling and performing at my best, I’m happier and healthier… despite what the numbers say.

Despite being an expert…

…I still want more after I’m done.

Especially sweet or decadent foods, but even healthy foods. I find it very easy to eat more than I need.

So I have to be very mindful of portion sizes and limit what I put on my plate. Or just say no to foods I know will leave me with uncontrollable cravings for more.

Having calorie awareness, consciously eating less than I want to, and saying “no thanks” more often than “yes please” has been the key to staying lean.

…I still have a really good appetite and could easily eat twice the amount I eat just to feel remotely full.

My hunger between meals doesn’t change relative to how much I eat at meals. I’ve learned to work with when I’m most hungry, eating more frequently early in the day and to be okay with some hunger.

…I still cave to the “last chance” mentality.

If given the opportunity to have something I don’t normally eat, I easily fall victim to feeling like I need to get my fill. Like I won’t have another chance ever again.

So I’ve learned not to be overly restrictive with my food intake on a day to day basis so that I don’t feel like I may never get the chance again. I’m able to have some or not, based on whether I really want it, not because I don’t want to miss out.

Because I know how anxious this makes me, we don’t push restriction on our Lean Eating clients either. We teach people how to eat to meet their needs and get healthy and lean, without feeling deprived, afraid, rigid, or controlled.

My worst workout…

I’d say in general, the worst workouts I have are the ones when my kids were really little and I’d try to work out at home.

They were terrible sleepers and very attached to mommy, so I’d often find that I’d start a workout when they were down only to be interrupted mid-training. I did many a lunge and squat holding on to a kid, or with one in a carrier, or I’d lay them on the floor or baby chair, trying to rock them with my foot while I pulled off a set or two.

I have lots of solutions now to share with busy parents!

We’re looking for 60  men and women who live in the US to participate in a really cool project we’ve got going on. If you live in the US and are willing to participate, here are the details.

The goal

The project we refer to above is designed to look at the effect of a specific nutritional supplement on joint pain and range of motion.  This supplement has been designed to reduce pain and inflammation while lubricating joints and helping them move more easily and through a greater range of motion.  Therefore, if you suffer from joint pain, this is something you might want to try.

The supplement

This supplement – which will remain anonymous throughout the course of the project – is a commercially available joint care product. It has been proven safe and effective in numerous trials. However, we simply can’t tell you which brand it is because of required anonymity.  What we can tell you is this. Should you participate in the project, we’ll mail you all the supplements you need for the protocol, free of charge.

The protocol

To determine how your joints feel and their range of motion, you’ll be required to fill out a series of questionnaires based on your experiences without an exercise challenge, during an exercise challenge, and the next day after an exercise challenge.   Should you participate, we’ll ask you to fill these questionnaires out once a week for a few weeks in a row.  In addition to filling out these questionnaires, you’ll also be asked to take 1 capsule per day (i.e. the recommended dose) of the supplement mentioned above.

So, here’s how the protocol would look:

First week of the project (July 5th-July11th):

• Note: no nutritional supplement required this week
• First thing in the morning on Monday, fill out questionnaire
• After filling out questionnaire, perform 30 minute exercise challenge (any time during day)*
• Immediately after exercise challenge on Monday, fill out questionnaire again
• First thing in the morning on Tuesday, fill out questionnaire again
• Continue with your normal exercise for the rest of the week (no further questionnaires this week)

Second week of the project (July 12th-July 18th):

• Note: begin taking recommended dose (1 capsule daily) of the nutritional supplement
• First thing in the morning on Monday, fill out questionnaire
• After filling out questionnaire, perform 30 minute exercise challenge (same time as last week)*
• Immediately after exercise challenge on Monday, fill out questionnaire again
• First thing in the morning on Tuesday, fill out questionnaire again
• Continue with your normal exercise for the rest of the week (no further questionnaires this week)

Third week of the project (July 19th-July 25th):

• Note: keep taking recommended dose of the nutritional supplement
• First thing in the morning on Monday, fill out questionnaire
• After filling out questionnaire, perform 30 minute exercise challenge (same time as last week)*
• Immediately after exercise challenge on Monday, fill out questionnaire again
• First thing in the morning on Tuesday, fill out questionnaire again
• Continue with your normal exercise for the rest of the week (no further questionnaires this week)

Fourth week of the project (July 26th-August 1st):

• Note: keep taking recommended dose of the nutritional supplement
• First thing in the morning on Monday, fill out questionnaire
• After filling out questionnaire, perform 30 minute exercise challenge (same time as last week)*
• Immediately after exercise challenge on Monday, fill out questionnaire again
• First thing in the morning on Tuesday, fill out questionnaire again
• Continue with your normal exercise for the rest of the week (no further questionnaires this week)

Fifth week of the project (August 2nd-August 8th):

• Note: keep taking recommended dose of the nutritional supplement
• First thing in the morning on Monday, fill out questionnaire
• After filling out questionnaire, perform 30 minute exercise challenge (same time as last week)*
• Immediately after exercise challenge on Monday, fill out questionnaire again
• First thing in the morning on Tuesday, fill out questionnaire again
• Continue with your normal exercise for the rest of the week (no further questionnaires this week)

Last measurement days (August 9th and 10th):

• Note: discontinue use of nutrition supplement
• First thing in the morning on Monday, fill out questionnaire
• After filling out questionnaire, perform 30 minute exercise challenge (same time as last week)*
• Immediately after exercise challenge on Monday, fill out questionnaire again
• First thing in the morning on Tuesday, fill out questionnaire again

*The exercise challenge is dependent on the area of your joint pain.  If you have elbow or shoulder pain, it would be an upper body challenge and if you have knee or ankle pain, it would be a lower body challenge.

You can participate if

• You live in the US
• You are between 18 and 70 years of age
• You weigh 200lbs or less
• You currently exercise at least 3x per week
• You have regular pain in one (or more) of the following joints: ankle, knee, shoulder, or elbow
• Your joint pain is chronic and the most recent flare-up has lasted at least 1 month
• You are willing to avoid NSAIDS and other analgesic medications during the course of the project
• You are willing to perform the “exercise challenge” 1 day per week for the duration of the project
  • This “exercise challenge” would be in addition to your regular exercise program
  • This “exercise challenge” would last no longer than 30 minutes
  • This “exericse challenge” would consist of either an upper or a  lower body challenge
• You are willing to fill out a simple questionnaire:
  • One morning per week for the duration of the project
  • Immediately after the weekly “exercise challenge” for the duration of the project
  • The morning after the weekly  “exercise challenge” for the duration of the project
• You are willing to take the recommended nutritional supplement with breakfast each day
• You are able to send us your questionnaire responses at the end of each week during the project

You are not eligible to participate if:

• You weight more than 200lbs
• You are allergic to eggs
• You are pregnant or breastfeeding
• You are currently taking methotrexate or immunosuppressive medications
• You are currently taking glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, or MSM
• You use NSAIDS or other analgesic medications during the project duration
• You are unwilling to perform the exercise challenge weekly
• You are unwilling to fill out the required questionnaires and return them to us weekly
• You intend on changing your diet/training program in a major way during the course of this project

Timeline

We need all 60 men and women enrolled by June 25th at the latest, which gives you about 9 days to contact us and let us know you’re in.  Once enrolled, we’ll send out the free supplements and the questionnaires.  The official measurement period begins on July the 5th and wraps up August 10th.  (See outline above for specific dates).

Risks

There are minimal risks associated with participating in this project. The exercise challenge and questionnaire process poses minimal risk.  And the supplement, as indicated, is commercially available, tested safe, and widely used.

Benefits

There are a few benefits associated with your participation.

• First, you get free supplements.
• Second, you get to assess your joint pain and range of motion.
• Third, you get to take a supplement designed to improve your joint health and range of motion.
• Finally, you get to contribute to the body of knowledge out there with respect to improving joint pain/range of motion.

How to get involved

So, if you meet the criterion above and you’re interested in participating, here’s what I need you to do:

1) Email us at research@precisionnutrition.com. This is how you can let us know you’re in.  Note: in your email, please state the following:

• Your full name
• The full address and phone number of where we can ship your product
• Confirmation that you’ve read the criterion above and are 100% eligible to participate
• Confirmation that you’ve read the risks/benefits and give your consent to participate

So, your email should look like this.

“Hey Precision Nutrition, I’m in.  I would like to participate in the joint pain project.  My name is Joe Smith.  You can ship my product to 1234 Joint Pain Way, Madison, WI, 89012.   My contact number is 555-123-4567.  I have read the criterion in the blog post and I am 100% eligible to participate.  Also, I give my informed consent to participate.  Thanks.  Joe”

2) Once we hear from you, we’ll follow up to let you know that you’ve been approved.  We’ll also send you your questionnaires and your supplements.

Please note: we’ll be contacting all applicants around the 28th of June, when all responses are received. So if you don’t hear from us before then, don’t get antsy. I promise we’ll be in touch around the 28th.

Also note: the project is first-come, first-serve.  So, if you really want in, and you meet our criterion, let us know right away.  We expect interest to be high.  So don’t miss out by waiting too long to contact us.

Questions

If you’re serious about participating and have any questions, please email us at research@precisionnutrition.com.  You can also contact us at this address to let us know you’re interested in participating.

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