Archive for the ‘Diet & Nutrition’ Category

Exercises and Nutrition you Simply Don’t Like.

Monday, August 8th, 2011

Last time we looked at the problem of having [intlink id=”901″ type=”post”]too much work[/intlink] and how it really is a choice and an excuse not to achieve the results you are looking for.

And although that is an extremely common excuse these days, the self sabotaging doesn’t end there. So the excuse I want to explore with today’s article is the “I just don’t like it” excuse.

If you read my previous article [intlink id=”402″ type=”post”]How Hate Can Be Turned on its Head[/intlink] you’ll already know that working with an exercise you don’t like is often one of the most beneficial things you can do. If all you ever do is workouts you enjoy or you ‘like’ then you are almost certainly hindering your progress.

Generally people don’t like doing workouts because they are not very good at them or they feel uncomfortable while doing them. The reason for this is you will be using muscles that are lagging or your range of motion is not good enough. Therefore, by not improving these areas, you are drastically limiting your potential and likely making yourself more prone to injuries through muscular imbalances.

Training can be enjoyable at times and the sense of satisfaction at the end of a tough session is hard to beat, but if workouts were easy or comfortable, everyone would do them. But if they were comfortable then they wouldn’t be challenging for your body and so you are not giving your system any reason to respond and develop.

Similarly, when it comes to diet, if something is good for you and is really going to make a difference, then just suck it up and get it down.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard “I don’t like vegetables” or when you hear the veg intake it consists of only carrots or the occasional salad.

Occasionally I will recommend some kind of peri-workout nutrition in the form of a shake, or some kind of supplement if their lifestyle is making nutritional intake a problem. To then refuse to drink it due to not liking the taste is a poor excuse indeed.

Remember what you are training for. Remember how important that result is to you. Is it really such an issue to eat or drink the odd thing that doesn’t 100% agree with your pallet?

If you are not nutritionally fuelled, your workouts will suffer; your energy levels will suffer; your recovery will suffer. In short, your results will suffer.

I’m not saying all your meals have to be boring or bland. There’s no need to be forcing down chicken and broccoli for every meal. There is a world of variety available without eating garbage and if you have a bit of time, you can really make some exceptionally tasty options (I’ll be adding a few recipes in future articles). But if you are already using the ‘time is short’ excuse, don’t add another one if you have to use some kind of supplement. You can try out different flavours as you go, but if it is your only option, just get it down you. Saying you don’t like something and then chomping on a bar of chocolate, heading to McDonalds or starving yourself.

It may only feel like a ‘just this once’ moment, but these small moments can have huge effects on your results.

So always return to the emotional reason for making the change in the first place. Remember what you want to achieve and why. Think of how you will feel and what it will mean to you to achieve your new physique, to feel healthier, stronger or more vibrant. Remember those changes are for a lifetime and the thing you ‘don’t like’ will only last a few moments. Now ask yourself, which is of greater value to you? Feeling good about yourself or avoiding that one thing?

And just like your exercise choices, you may well find that, by trying foods you didn’t previously like, you may develop a taste for them long term. Then you get the results as well as a healthier pallet to go with it, so further improvements will come much easier in the future.

“I don’t like it” is a child’s response – be better than that! Be the best you can possibly be. So, until next time, when we will be covering another highly common excuse, go prep some greens to go with your next meal.

[intlink id=”979″ type=”post”]Part 4 – The Too Tired Excuse[/intlink]

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Playing the long game

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

It is interesting in looking at some of the search terms used when someone wants to know how to lose the pounds. One of the ones that comes up quite frequently is ‘lose weight fast’, which got me to thinking how astonishing it is that a three word search can be so wrong!

There are only three words yet every one of them is wrong.

Many of you will now be thinking, how can I know if it’s wrong or not? How can I know what the person was thinking? And the fact is, I can’t for sure, but that still doesn’t make the phrasing of that term any more right. In the end it probably is correct in that it will help find the site being looked for, but in respect of what they are looking to achieve it is wrong in every other way.

Let’s break it down:

Working from the end, we have the word ‘Fast’. This is a big deal for most people. They want results and they want them yesterday. No one wants to put in a long period of effort. They just want a magic solution that will get an instant result with little change on their part.

The problem is there is no such thing as magic and you cannot defy physics. Your body is composed the way it is and can only be changed at its pre-determined, optimal rate.

You may have heard the guideline of targeting 2 pounds of fat loss per week and there is a reason that is such a commonly quoted guide. For most people, that is the optimal rate. If you lose more than that you are likely sacrificing muscle tissue and in return you are jeopardizing  your long term success.

In very basic terms, the more muscle tissue you have (lean muscle mass) the higher your metabolism. That is a very crude way of looking at it, but the principle still stands. The higher your metabolism, the more you can eat and still lose weight. The more you can eat, the higher your metabolism (thermic effect), plus the more you can eat the more fuel there is for you, allowing you to train harder, giving you a higher calorie burn, which allows you to eat more and add more lean muscle mass. It’s an ever increasing cycle that ensures as you ‘lose the pounds’, fat is the thing that gets burned and leaves you looking toned or ‘ripped’.

If, however, you go the other route and ‘lose weight fast’ then you will drop muscle tissue, lowering your metabolic rate (again over simplification to avoid the technicalities) meaning you have to eat less to be in a calorie deficit, which lowers the thermic effect (further reduction in metabolism) and gives you less energy for exercise and daily activities, lowering your calorie expenditure. So you then have to eat even less to continue losing weight. And the cycle continues.

The problem with the latter route is, it is in no way infinite.

Eventually you would run out of calories to eat.

So in other words, a more measured approach would be optimal for burning fat, improved body composition and keeping the fat of long term.

Not only that, but there is the issue of skin. Your skin is amazingly elastic, but it can only cope with change at a fairly slow rate. If you put on weight too quickly, your skin can’t keep up and you tear the skin (stretch marks) so similarly, if you lose the pounds too quickly, your skin won’t keep up and you end up with loose skin, which is far from attractive and a long way from looking toned or ripped.

Just remind yourself how long it took you to put those pounds on in the first place and realize that it will take a good percentage of that time to take it off if you want it to stay off and to ensure it is fat you are losing, leaving you looking trim and toned, rather than ‘skinny fat’.

Looking at the second word in the phrase ‘Weight’ – Is it really weight you want to lose?

Let’s imagine we have a female who is a size 20 dress size. Regardless of the weight, if it was possible to instantly change her shape to a more toned (zero flab) shape, suddenly slimming her down to a size 8 dress, yet the weight on the scale stayed exactly the same, do you think she would be complaining that she still weighed too much?

From the feedback I’ve had from some women, the answer might still be yes. But that is more because there is something ingrained in a lot of girls as they grow up that the scale is king. The fact is, scales tell you very little due to the fact they weigh everything – Bone, water, muscle, fat etc. And it doesn’t account for how in proportion these things are.

And because muscle weighs more than fat, then a loss of muscle tone would look better on your weighed result than a loss of fat. Similarly, improving your muscle tone and losing fat could end up with you weighing the same or even more, but looking so much better.

Have you ever heard the phrase “Use it or lose it”?

As you get older your body will adapt to whatever stress and strains you give it. If that is simply the odd walk, run or sports activity, but you spend a large amount of your time sitting at a desk or in front of the TV, then your body will do what it can to make life easier for itself and as muscle tissue is quite a heavy thing to carry around, it’ll drop the muscle as fast as possible. So what can often happen is you stay the same weight as you get older, but you look worse and worse as time goes on.

Why? Because the composition making up that weight is changing. You may have dropped a few pounds of muscle but added a bunch of fat and water to make up the weight.

So if someone in their 40s turns round and says smugly “I weigh the same as I did when I was 20” so what? Do they look the same? And if not, who cares?

So for most people, when it comes to losing weight, what they actually want to do is lose fat. Weight has little to do with it.

Just one last way to think of it – If you could lose 10 pounds in 5mins would you want to?

If you answered yes, then go get a saw and chop your arm off, that’s at least 10 pounds right there. Is that really what you meant when you thought about losing 10 pounds?

So finally, let’s look at the first word in our phrase – “Lose”.

Whilst this might be the true intention (to lose weight, lose fat, lose the pounds, lose water retention etc.) it is a poor choice of words and puts the focus in entirely the wrong place. It puts your mind in a place where it is focusing on the problem. You are now thinking of, in this case, the fat and what you think about most is ultimately what you’ll go towards. A better way of looking at it is to think of what you want. You want to [intlink id=”487″ type=”post”]tone up[/intlink], you want to get ripped, you want to get lean, you want a flat stomach etc etc.

If you can focus on what you want to achieve rather than what you don’t want, the chances of you getting there is so much higher.

So as you make your plans for a new, improved, physique, think of where you want to be long term. What you actually want to achieve. And take as long as is optimal to get there. Even if you have a short term goal, like a wedding, a party or a holiday, you should never be dieting or training at the expense of your long term results. There will be another event along soon enough that will then be your focus. But if you’ve gone about things the wrong way this time, chances are you will have added even more fat than you have now and slowed your metabolism in the process, making it much harder to lose the pounds of fat you have added all over again.

Your results should be forever not just for next month. Play the long game and never have to panic about how you are going to lose the pounds you want in time for the next event ever again.

Personal Training Coaching Nutrition and Fitness Glasgow

About the Author:

[intlink id=”11″ type=”page”]Mark Tiffney[/intlink] is a certified Personal Trainer, Nutritionist, Fitness Instructor & Life Coach. (REPS Registered) with over 8 years experience in the sports, health,  fitness and exercise field.

If you are interested in having your diet evaluated or having a meal plan prepared for your body type, fat loss or muscle building goal or are looking for general help with your training of fitness goals, please contact Mark by emailing:

info@designsonyouself.com

Mark is also currently offering one to one [intlink id=”8″ type=”page”]Personal Training[/intlink] & Coaching sessions in Glasgow.

To arrange a free consultation, please call 0141 41 60 348 or email info@designsonyourself.com
(c) Dynamic Core Solutions Ltd

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What is the best way to ‘Tone Up’?

Friday, November 5th, 2010

Whether you are looking for that Toned Female Body, Athletic Male Physique, Beach Body or any other kind of shapely figure involving improved muscle tone, there are a number of cliches that often get tied to them. And some are so common they should really get their own T-shirt.

The one that I hear constantly (especially from female trainers) is

‘I don’t want to get muscular, I just want to tone up’.

It’s a phrase that get’s used so frequently yet it is one that is so badly understood. So I really wanted to write something to try and clarify the issue once and for all.

Not only that, but rather than explain this another thousand times over the coming year, I can now just point people here and save the oxygen for more productive outputs.

The first thing about the phrase above is that it is almost an Oxymoron. To define toning and try to exclude muscle is just plain wrong. The word tone generally refers to colouring or shaping something to give it a different texture or feel. In this case that something is muscle tissue and therefore must, by its very definition, refer to doing some kind of muscular alteration work (i.e. resistance training).

But I think I should back up a little.

The big first question needs to be, ‘what do people mean when they say they want to tone up?’

I think the big problem is that toning means different things to different people, as it probably should. If you were talking about adding some tone to a photo, for example, one person might think that means adding definition and sharpness, another might think that is adding deeper shadows, brightness or colouring. And in essence they would both be right.

With muscle toning though, I feel the most common image is that of sleek, slender, firm and shapely figures.

No bulk, no flab and certainly not an almost skeletal, anorexic look.

The problem is that there is a common misconception that, to achieve that look, the type of training required is low weight, high rep work and it is one that just refuses to go away.

One reason for this might be that the sensation achieved is one where the muscle being worked burns in a way that it feels like it is getting a great workout, the muscle is getting stretched and ‘toned’ but without the bulk generated by heavy lifting.

Now don’t get me wrong, lifting with any weight to a point of lactic build up and muscular fatigue is going to cause some kind of muscle strengthening. But lifting in this way is far from the most efficient or effective way to do it.

I get the feeling that what most people think they are doing here is ‘hardening’ up that area. For example, I will often see girls bicep curling with 2-3kg dumbbells (or less!!!) thinking that it is going to firm up and ‘tone’ their upper arms.

Well I’ve got news for you girls. That wobble in your upper arms is FAT, pure and simple and no amount of bicep curling or tricep extensions are going to burn that fat off. Yes, you might strengthen the muscle behind the flab a little, but until you burn off the fat, through a negative calorie balance, you are never going to see it.

It’s a bit like the quest for a 6 pack. Many people will do constant crunches, sit ups, reverse crunches, oblique crunches etc. in the hope of ‘flattening’ their tummy. Yet it is the layer of fat over the top that is stopping that 6 pack from showing and by doing all those sit ups, at best you are building up a little muscle there, which in turn pushes the fat out further, making you look worse. At worst, you are screwing up your posture by causing an imbalance in your core muscles leading to back pain and even severe injury.

But I digress.

The fact is that to tone, you need to do two things. You have to burn off any fat covering the muscle belly and you have to have a muscle there to show. How you ‘shape’ that muscle is another matter, but the fact is that being ‘toned’ is having defined muscles. Big or small they have to be visible.

In searching for a definition of toning I found this one:

“Tightening or Firming of the muscles”

And I think that is an acceptable definition for most people. But unless you can see that muscle, then it doesn’t matter how tight or firm it is, it will make very little difference.

So what is the right answer?

Well there is no ‘right’ answer. There are simply methods that have been proven to work and then differing opinions on how to apply them. Fortunately, however, there are some key elements that are generally agreed upon.

First there is the use of compound movements.

Any multi joint movement is going to utilize more energy than a single joint movement – therefore it will burn more calories.

It will allow you to move more weight – therefore it will cause a greater stimulus to your muscles.

It will utilize more muscles – therefore you can work various muscles at once, saving time in the gym and getting a greater return.

The list goes on. But the thing to take away from that is that the core part of your workouts should involve multi joint (compound) movements, such as squats, deadlifts, pressing movements (Bench Press etc) and rows. That doesn’t mean go running to your gym and start doing these next time you are there, as there are down sides.

The fact that these movements are multi-joint means there is a greater degree of complexity to the movement and as a result, risk! So before you go loading up the squat bar, make sure you know what you are doing. Speak to someone who REALLY knows what they are talking about (not someone who THINKS they do) and get these movements right.

Another thing to keep in mind is that these movements are very taxing on your nervous system and as such, require more recovery than single joint movements. As such, training with these movements every day should be avoided and even one full day of recovery may not be enough (sometimes 3 or 4 can be required or in extreme cases a full week).

But the fact remains that these are the type of exercises you want to be including in your routine as soon as possible to get the best results.

As for weights and rep ranges, these will vary wildly from person to person. Remember, we are not all designed the same, there are short people, tall people, people with short limbs, long limbs, people who are naturally strong, naturally flexible, can easily burn fat, can easily build muscle, those that struggle to burn fat, people with limitations in their range of movement, people with poor posture or muscular imbalances and then there are other genetic factors that you could be blessed or cursed by.

However, as a general rule, I would consider 15 reps to be extremely high and would advise most people to be working at 12 reps or less for the majority of their training. Personally I prefer keeping below 6 reps for most exercises of this nature as I feel it is easier to stay focused on each rep at that range, whereas going for 8 reps and above can cause a lack of concentration, especially in the middle of the set, which leads to sub-optimal performance and a higher risk of injury.

I can already hear the screams of resistance!

“Below 6 reps is strength training!”

“Lifting that heavy (as would be required for a 6 rep or less maximum lift) will cause bulking!”

Etc. Etc.

Well let me just address this quickly. For the girls worried about adding mass by lifting heavy – get over it! It is simply not going to happen. 90% of women do not have nearly enough testosterone in their system (or put another way, they have too much Estrogen) to cause bulking no matter what weight you are lifting and even if you do have a the rare tendency to bulk, it is not going to happen overnight. If adding muscle size was that easy, body builders (and most male trainers) would be taking things much easier. Adding muscle is extremely hard and happens over a period of months & years, so if things start to go a way you don’t like, then just back off a little and alter what you are doing.

Secondly, big gains will generally only occur if your diet allows it. So if you have your diet in check (which I’ll come to in a minute) there should be no question of huge muscle mass occurring as the focus of your diet should generally be to lose fat.

Lastly, this notion that below 6 reps is for strength, 6-8 is for hypertrophy and 8+ is for either endurance or toning is really getting old and far too over used. Yes there are studies showing that the rep ranges described are ‘optimal’ for the results described, but that does not mean there is something magical that happens at those levels to create that change. Again, a lot is down to diet, much is down to genetics and it also matters how those weights are lifted.

If 6-8 is the ONLY way to achieve muscle hypertrophy, then have a look at Olympic lifters. They generally train with only compound movements in the 1-3 rep range. So they should be strong, but not big right? Well show me a small power lifter!

The bottom line is, for most people, lift big and lift powerfully for the most bang for your buck and if you are still set in your ways about lifting in only the ranges described above for each associated result, then off you pop and get on with it and don’t bother me with your short range, limited view of training.

Besides there are also studies showing lifting in the higher rep ranges cause almost as much strength gains as lifting in the lower rep ranges (especially in recreational lifters).

There is much more to it that that and there is a lot of tailoring that should be looked at from person to person, but covering all the bases is far too great a topic to cover in one article. If you need help on this, then I strongly suggest you find a fitness professional, coach, personal trainer, to help you optimize your workouts. It is an investment you will get huge returns from (and if that ‘professional’ starts going on about how you ‘must’ lift in the high rep ranges for toning, find yourself a better coach).

Though, I will be covering more specifics on this topic in future posts, so just keep checking back for more information.

As for the diet – again specifics are beyond the scope of an article like this, but there are two elements that are key for most people.

To burn fat you MUST be in a calorie deficit. How that is best achieved will vary wildly from individual to individual, but this Physics and cannot be worked around. If you are not in a calorie deficit, you are not going to achieve the losses you are looking for to uncover those toned muscles.

Secondly, you must have enough fuel to achieve the workouts. You can’t run your car without petrol and you can’t run your body without fuel. So severe calorie restrictions are out, as you will end up burning more muscle tissue than fat and your workouts will suffer. Also, that restriction in calories requires you to ensure you get the correct nutrients to keep functioning properly. So lots of fibrous veggies, no low carb dieting (so Atkins is a no no) as you need carbs to give you energy. Also, no points based diets. Your diets have to be balanced. So if you are on any kind of points based diet, get off it fast!They don’t work – Period! Yes you might see short term results, but in almost 100% of cases, the weight will come back with interest and while you may get smaller, you will not be getting ‘toned’.

Again there is much more to it than this and I will go into the elements of diet in greater detail in future articles.

But what I really want you to take away from this are the following points:

  • Ladies, don’t be scared to lift heavy – you are NOT going to turn into the hulk as a result and it will help you tone.
  • Get your diet in check – your diet determines the effect that your training will have and your results depend on getting this right for YOU and your body type.
  • Use compound exercises – this doesn’t mean never use isolation exercise, but the foundation of your workouts should always involve multi joint movements.
  • Get informed advice – If you want the most out of any workout, exercise or diet you should be carrying it out correctly and in a way that suits your genetic make-up, body type, hormonal reactions and lifestyle. You can achieve that in one of two ways. Trial and error or get the information from someone who has done the research for you. Either way, make sure you work on what works for you and not what works for someone else. You are an individual, treat yourself as one.
  • And above all, take action. You now have many of the tools to go and get started, so don’t continue to procrastinate. Every day you are not moving forward is a another day you are away from achieving your targets, so go and get started!

I hope this has been of use and has clarified many of the misconceptions on toning. If you have gained anything from it or have any comments or queries on this topic, please post them below.

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What came first, the cholesterol or the egg?

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Over the years I have heard many ‘truths’ about the consumption of eggs. In 1988 we were all advised to fear eggs by that time UK minister for health Edwina Currie. We were told that “Most of the egg production in this country, sadly, is now affected with salmonella”. This has since been shown to be nothing more than scaremongering and the facts are that, during that period, of the 30million eggs sold there were only 26 cases of salmonella.

So we were free to eat eggs again. Right?

Well maybe salmonella isn’t the big issue it was claimed to be, but what about heart disease? After all, egg yolks contain high levels of cholesterol and high cholesterol causes heart disease, so eggs are still out of bounds for anyone who has any interest in looking after their health & fitness levels as well as their longevity.

Is that the truth? Is that what people believe? Well, given that I ended up having the exact same conversation last week, about this very subject, twice in the space of 2hrs, I thought it might be time to put a few truths out there for general consumption.

So where did this link come from?

Early studies of eggs have show that eggs do indeed increase cholesterol levels in the body and these studies are the basis of the link to heart disease that has now become the accepted truth. And the fact is that these studies are perfectly true in their conclusions. However, it is worth noting that these studies were conducted by the makers of breakfast cereals in an attempt to show their product as the healthier option when choosing your morning fuel source. That fact alone should lead to some level of suspicion as to the validity of the statements.

As I stated earlier, the facts of the study are perfectly valid and accepted. However, the conclusions are far from truthful. What these studies failed to point out is there are different types of cholesterol within the body. There are LDLs (Low Density Lipoproteins) or BAD cholesterol as well as HDLs (High Density Lipoproteins) Good cholesterol. What is important to know is it is not so much the levels of these cholesterols that are the issue, but the BALANCE.

High levels of LDLs = Bad
High levels of HDLs = Good

And what the aforementioned studies failed to mention is what the resultant balance of each of these types of cholesterol was when eggs where consumed.

Well the cholesterol found in eggs is of the LDL type, so it must be that right? Well not quite. Eggs also contain carotenoids, Vitamin A, Vitamin E and choline (which has been shown to REDUCE cholesterol levels) so it should not simply be taken at face value that this is the case (as has been the case for so many years)

What does the research show?

In recent years a number of studies have been done to test the actual effects on the body through the consumption of eggs and the results are rather interesting.

According the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Vol 281 which tested a total of 37,851 men aged 40 – 75 and 80,820 women aged 34 to 59 (all free of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia or cancer) there was “…no evidence of an overall significant association between egg consumption and risk of CHD (Chronic Heart Disease) or stroke in either men or women.”

A Kansas State University study published in the Journal of Nutrition in 2001 showed that the absorption of cholesterol from eggs is reduced by lecithin (which is also found in eggs). The researchers found that lecithin (a type of fatty acid) interferes with the uptake of cholesterol in the intestine.

In 2007 a study of 9500 people reported in the Medical Science Monitor found that eating one or two eggs every day did not increase the risk of heart disease or stroke among healthy adults. The study also noted that eating eggs may actually be associated with a decrease in blood pressure.

A University of Washington study concluded that people with and without high blood cholesterol levels are better off if they eat 2 eggs a day.

A University of Connecticut study also showed that a group of men in the study who ate 3 eggs per day for 12 weeks while on a reduced carb, higher fat diet increased their HDL (that’s the good one remember) by 20% while their LDL (Bad) stayed the same. Whereas the group that ate egg substitutes (egg whites) saw no change in either.

I could go on, but I think you get the point.

In the end egg consumption has been shown to have little influence on serum cholesterol levels, but it does affect the body in many other ways.

The type of cholesterol being produced is altered by the regular ingestion of eggs. As well as the 2 different types of cholesterol (LDLs & HDLs) there are also numerous forms of LDL cholesterol. According to Maria Luz Fernandez (Dept of Nutritional Sciences, University of Connecticut) the types of LDLs being associated with a 3-fold increase in Chronic Heart Disease risk is a smaller, more dense and more highly concentrated than other forms and is characterized by both its high vulnerability to oxidation and greater ability to enter arterial walls. Egg consumption has been shown to increase the amount of larger, more ‘buoyant’ LDL particles, described as “less artherogenic particles” (Fernandez 2006). Therefore, the increase in the number of larger LDL particles lowers the number of the harmful small LDL particles in the bloodstream, reducing the risk of Heart disease.

Sensitivity

As with most things in life, there are those who are more sensitive to dietary cholesterol than others. Such people are termed “hyperresponders” and again, the general rule was therefore to reduce the amount of cholesterol (including eggs) from their diet. (This generally included the elderly as a matter of course). However, whilst such sensitivity has been shown to increase LDL cholesterol from the consumption of eggs, studies have also shown that eggs also increase HDL cholesterol, keeping the LDL to HDL ratio constant, which is important as it is this ratio that determines your risk of heart disease which, in this case, shows no increase to the risk.

The exception to this, though, would be individuals already at risk of developing cardiovascular disease. At risk individuals would include smokers as well as diabetics. Quershi et al. (2007) found long term egg consumption to be “detrimental to glucose tolerance”. Generally, diabetics and those already at risk of cardiovascular risk should always be conscious of their dietary cholesterol intake, including egg consumption.

So now we’ve covered the risk of heart disease, what benefits do eggs have?

Well quite a lot actually:

The average egg contains around 60mg of potassium, at least 5 B vitamins, Vitamin D (which most people are highly depleted in), Vitamin E, Vitamin A, Choline (as already mentioned), Phosphorus and Zinc.

Eggs are also beneficial in that they contain mono-unsaturated & polyunsaturated fats including omega 3 & omega 6 essential fatty acids (Fats that are ESSENTIAL to our health and wellbeing and are far too important to be dealt with in the limited space of this article)

Eggs also contain lutein and zeaxanthin (two similar carotenoids which act as antioxidants and are important for eye health and may also play a role in reducing oxidation of LDL cholesterol.)

In a nut shell (or in this case, an egg shell) eggs have only 75 calories, 5 grams of fat, no trans fats, are high in protein and contain 13 essential vitamins and minerals. They have been described by experts as ‘nature’s most complete food’ and should be considered an essential part of a healthy diet.

Does that mean you can go out and eat as many whole eggs as you like?

Well nothings ever that simple is it?

If you look at the breakdown above, one egg contains 75 calories and 5g of fat. As one gram of fat is equal to 9 calories, that means one egg contains 45 of its calories from fat. That’s 60% of the calories coming from fat.

With any client I have worked with I would never recommend a diet higher than 35% fat (usually less than this to start with, depending on their body type and specific goals) for the simple reason that anything higher (whilst sticking to a desired calorie intake level) would not allow for the required protein intake for maintenance or development of lean muscle tissue or would cause a severe carbohydrate restriction, which is also unbeneficial (but the subject for another debate).

Further, fat has the lowest thermic effect on the body (the amount of calories burned during digestion) meaning that it is more likely, in large quantities, to cause storage of fat.

Yes fats have their place in a balanced diet and many types of fats (EFAs) are ESSENTIAL in a healthy diet. But 60% fat is excessive. It is for that reason alone that I would recommend either consuming eggs as part of a meal that returns the balance back in favour of proteins and carbohydrates or mixing whole eggs with egg whites. A good starting point would be to use 2 egg whites for every whole egg (though again this will depend on body type & goals to determine correctly)

Not all eggs are equal

I would just like to quickly make the point that I am only endorsing the consumption of free range eggs here.

You’ve heard the adage “you are what you eat” and it is so very true. However it is also true of chickens and as a result the eggs they lay. Chickens are designed to roam free & peck at high quality, fresh grains. They are not meant to be crammed into cages or barns and fed steroids to make them bigger & antibiotics to keep them healthy due to the unhealthy nature of their imprisonment. You will only receive the full benefits from your eggs if you get it from a natural source and that means free range.

You can possibly add to the effect by obtaining the ‘Omega 3’ variety (meaning that omega 3s were added to the diet of the chickens producing the eggs ‘slightly’ increasing the omega 3 content).

Trust me; it is not worth the small cash saving achieved in purchasing anything but free range. If nothing else, you will feel more satisfied and less likely to want to eat more with better quality nutrition which should ultimately save you more money.

In conclusion, if you were restricting your egg intake on the often quoted basis of 3 eggs per week, I hope I’ve managed to put your fears to rest and that eggs will now become a greater part of your diet. Believe it or not, I have only touched on the benefits eggs can have to your training, dieting or general health and in today’s age of convenience foods, high sugar contents, processed ready meals etc it is nice to know that there is a nicely packaged, easy to prepare and very versatile food available to you.
One last tip – most foods, when consumed in high levels, can cause you to develop an intolerance to them. Whilst the evidence on this is a little vague regarding egg consumption, it would probably be a good idea to cycle off eggs every now and then, especially if you are consuming them at a level greater than 2 per day. Usually a simple 4-6 week change in diet removing eggs completely will be enough to reverse the trend and allow you to start experiencing the full benefits of egg consumption when you cycle back on again.

So the next time you reach for that sugar loaded cereal box in the morning or a ready meal for dinner, stop for a moment and consider the benefits of a freshly made omelette filled with healthy ingredients (spinach, onion, mushrooms, berries, peas, peppers, tomatoes etc. – take your pick the list is huge) Boil a few and put them in the fridge as a healthier snack than chocolate or crisps and take them with you along with some fruit if you don’t think you’ll have time to stop for a prepared meal. Scramble them and add smoked salmon mushrooms and asparagus or poach them and add to a fresh salad. You can add spices, garnishes or stick them in a blender with fruits and berries for a more balanced juice.

The list goes on and on. (Though please don’t ruin it by frying them in oil).

Bon appetite!

Mark.

Mark Tiffney is a certified Personal Trainer, Nutritionist, Fitness Instructor & Life Coach. (REPS Registered)

If you are interested in having your diet evaluated or having a meal plan prepared for your body type, fat loss or muscle building goal or are looking for general help with your training of fitness goals, please contact Mark by emailing:

 

info@designsonyouself.com

 

Mark is also currently offering one to one Personal Training & Coaching sessions in Glasgow.
To arrange a free consultation, please call 0141 41 60 348 or email info@designsonyourself.com
(c) Dynamic Core Solutions Ltd

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The Big Fat Debate! – Butter V Margarine

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Saturated fat is bad for you, Butter contains lots of saturated fat, therefore butter is bad for you!

Margarine on the other hand has much less saturated fat, no cholesterol and on top of that it spreads much easier.

That is certainly the information I was brought up on and seems entirely logical. Margarine manufacturers are always telling us about the low cholesterol levels, the fact that despite being much healthier they have managed to make it taste just as good and these days it’s even an excellent source of Omega 3, the latest buzzword in health food marketing.

As for butter, well it sits there in it’s foil wrapping next to the packets of Lard. You can’t spread it on your bread without tearing it to pieces and there’s nothing else in it to entice you. It’s just butter. A big lump of saturated, artery clogging fat.

So where did it all go wrong for butter?

Butter has been part of our diet for centuries. According to www.dairygoodness.ca “Butter’s origings go back about 10,000 years to the time when our ancestors first began domesticating animals. The first reference to butter in our written history was found on a 4,500 year-old limestone tablet illustrating how butter was made”, but earlier this century the number of autopsies performed in America was increased and a startling discovery was made. The number of people dying as a result of heart disease was much higher than previously thought. Scientists had also found a link between high cholesterol and heart disease and one of the biggest causes of high cholesterol was saturated fat in the diet.

As a result the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) recommended a reduction in saturated fat intake and Government guidelines were issued accordingly. This lead to the influx of the low fat, high carb diet.

The implications of these guidelines is a topic for discussion all by itself. Suffice to say, this trend to go ‘low fat’ was probably one of the biggest factors in pushing consumers away from butter and looking for lower fat alternatives. Enter margarine.

Margarine tubs flood the supermarkets with their big bold claims gracing their packaging,

“Less than 1% fat”
“Zero Cholesterol”
“Tastes like butter”

But is it that straight forward?

If you stop and take a look at the ingredients list you will note on most margarines that it is primarily made from soybean oil. Soybean oil has the lowest amount of heart friendly monounsaturated fats of all oils. It also has the highest ratio of Omega-6: Omega-3 fatty acids (a balance that has been highlighted recently as needing to be redressed drastically in most western diets).

So why is this oil used? Quite simply, it’s cheap.

Not only that, but regardless of which oil is used, the fact remains that it is an oil. Liquid at room temperature (Saturated fats are solid at room temperature) so in order to make this unsaturated fat more solid for the purpose of spreading, it is hydrogenated. A by product of this process is the formation of Trans fats. Trans fats have been found to be just as bad, if notworse than saturated fats when it comes to heart disease.

Margarine has been shown to not only increase LDLs in the body (Bad Cholesterol) but it also lowers HDLs (Good Cholesterol). It has also been shown to lower the quality of breast milk in pregnant women and has been shown to decrease immune response.

To top it off, it is also usually more expensive than butter.

But what about the healthier margarines?

Since the benefits of the low fat diet have been put into question, and the problems of Trans fats have started to become more a part of the consumer conscience, a number of ‘healthier option’ margarines have hit the shelves with claims to:

“Lower Cholesterol”
To have “No Trans Fats”
And to be “Fortified with plant sterols which appear to lower LDLs (Bad Cholesterol)”
And to be “an excellent source of Omega 3”

Let’s take a look at a couple of examples of these claims:

I Can’t Believe it’s not butter claims to have “Zero trans fats” but if you have a look at the nutritional information you will find the following:

Per 14g serving

Kcal – 90
Total Fat – 10g
Saturated Fat – 2g
Polyunsaturated Fat – 4.5g
Monounsaturated Fat – 2.5g

Cholesterol – 0mg

The FDA allows manufacturers to make the “Zero Trans Fats” claim as long as each seving of the product has less than half a gram of trans fat in a serving of 14g. This equates to up to 3.5% fat by weight. Take a look again at the fat break down – 2g + 4.5g + 2.5g = 9g of Total fat, but the total fats are listed as 10g. The reason for this is there are trans fats making up the rest, but as they are allowed to claim “Zero trans fats” on the front of the packet, they are hardly then going to list them on the rear.

Further, have a look at the ingredients list. These include:
Vegetable Oil Blend (Liquid soybean oil, [we’ve already seen why this is bad] liquid canola oil,hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil) plus numerous other ingredients including ‘artificial flavors’

So what about the “Great Source of Omega 3” claim?

Well, lets have a look at the content in Flora’s Omega 3 Plus margarine:

The ingredients list shows 1.8% fish oil (180mg per 10g portion) if you consider that it is generally felt that 500mg should be the recommended amount of fish oil in a daily diet and that a 4 oz portion of Wild Salmon contains over 1230mg of Omega 3, suddenly the words “Great Source” seem to lose their significance. So if that is your reason for going the margarine route, perhaps supplementing might be a better route?

But then there’s the plant sterols lowering our LDLs. That’s got to be a good thing right?

Well perhaps. It is true that plant sterols appear to lower LDLs by around 10% however there is some question as to whether they may have some negative effects on the heart independent of lowering LDLs.

The fact is these extra ingredients are just that, ingredients. What you should remember is that Margarine is processed, manufactured substance as compared to butter which is one ingredient – butter (sometimes with added salt). There is no getting around the fact that Margarine will always be a laboratory produced product and added with the ‘good’ ingredients are the colours and preservatives all used to make it look like butter. (That yellow sheen doesn’t come naturally)

One thing to keep in mind is the human body is a highly sophisticated machine that is very good at evolving to its environment. That said, evolution is a very long process and doesn’t happen over night. As stated above, butter is a natural substance that has been around for thousands of years and has become a dietary staple, margarine is less than 100 years old, a drop in the ocean of evolutionary development, and is therefore not something our bodies are accustomed to dealing with during the digestive process.

But what about the saturated fat? What about the heart disease?

As the saturated fat in butter is naturally occurring, it has generally been agreed by experts that a small percentage of saturated fats are beneficial to a healthy diet.

At the turn of the century, heart disease in the western world was rare. By 1960, it was our number one killer. Yet during the same time period, butter consumption had decreased to less than a quarter. So it is clear that, whilst it remains logical to control portion sizes, butter itself is not the be all and end all of the argument.

Not only that but butter also contains a huge list of nutrients essential for your body’s growth, repair and well being. It has been shown to increase the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods. It contains antioxidants, which can help to offset free radical damage to cells. It is a source of Vitamin D, Calcium & Selenium. It also contains conjugated linoleic acid which is thought to help maintain lean body mass, prevent weight gain and may reduce the risk of certain types of cancer.

So it’s not the big bad monster it has often been though of and in fact has a lot going for it.

(For a fuller list of the nutrients contained in butter check out http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/skinny.html#butter)

I would, however, suggest that you stick to Organic and preferably Raw butter as the non-organic alternative is highly susceptible to persistent organic pollutants, a class of toxic chemicals that are attracted to fatty tissues in substances like milk. They are hereditary and so passed from mother to calf and originate from the eating of contaminated feed. According to Horizon Organic’s Marketing Director Gwen Scherer, “Organic butter avoids such contamination.”

But, if you should watch your portions, how much is too much?

Well 7% Saturated fat is considered healthy even for high risk candidates, with 11% recommended the cut off for most people. So for a women consuming 2000 Kcal per day, 24g of Saturated fats would be considered acceptable. Whereas for a weight training male consuming 4500 Kcal per day, 55g would be acceptable and anything under 35g would be considered very low.

Given the fact that butter has also been shown to aid in the development of lean body mass, weight trainers and body builders would do well to air towards the upper extremes. But remember, everyone is different and what works for most may not work for you.

The purpose of this article is not to give a definitive answer, because there isn’t one. It is simply to point out the flaws in general perceptions and give you new information to help you make informed decisions that benefit you. Anything that has one ingredient is usually going to be a better choice over one that has 20+ and has been processed in a factory. However if you must go the margarine route, read the labels and the ingredients and make your choice on the facts rather than the advertising hype.

So now you are allowed butter again, the only choice is what to put it on? If your answer is white bread or even wholemeal bread, you may want to reconsider. But, that’s a topic for another day. Might I suggest using it for cooking, especially with eggs, to add flavour?

Lastly, once you have worked out your portion sizes, I’d suggest you keep an eye on this, at least for a while. For a week at least, portion out your daily amounts the night before to get a feel for how much your portion is. Then when you reach for the butter you can see how much of this you are using. Otherwise it is all to easy to get carried away.

This is something I go into more detail with my clients on when helping them create their weekly menus and I feel it is critical to get a good understanding of portion sizes early on as you will be surprised just how wrong you are when you estimate things.

For now though, rejoice in the fact that eating healthy doesn’t always mean deprivation. Have your butter and enjoy it guilt free as part of your healthy eating lifestyle. And smile if the buttercup tells you that ‘you like butter’.

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