Posts Tagged ‘lose fat’

You’ve worked hard all week, you deserve a night off.

Friday, October 28th, 2011

When you spend enough time with people who have similar goals, you start to see patterns emerging. One that I have become more and more aware of is the idea of the ‘night off’.

Most people work hard all week and when the weekend comes, they naturally feel deserving of a break from being strict, healthy or sensible. And if that is what keeps you going through the week, then you should be free to make that choice.

However, I am reminded of something Anthony Robbins once said, that ‘people spend their entire week wishing it away in order to get to a 2 day period, during which they do things to their body that stops them from remembering it’.

And I’m sure, if that doesn’t apply to you, you know of people who it does.

Chances are (being on this site) you have a goal, be it fat loss, muscle building or toning, and you want to achieve. And hopefully, if you have read my other posts, you have an emotional attachment to that goal.

But often even the most driven people continue with the idea that, if they push hard all week and eat healthy, they earn the right to splurge. Maybe it’s just one night per week or a couple per month.

However, what I would like people to understand is that one night per week isn’t simply the sum total of that night.

A few drinks and junk food on a Friday usually leads to poor sleep, dehydration (which puts a strain on the activity of your liver – compromising its ability to mobilize stored fats)  and a long lie.

Activity levels on Saturday are then, like it or not, at a lower level. Your system is still working hard to reset (so digestion and fat burning remain compromised).

Then there is the craving for fried food or more savory junk food. That, in turn, leaves you feeling poor for most of the day with the idea of eating something nutritious or healthy being the furthest thing from your mind.

You may try hitting the gym, but your level is not at its usual standard. You might laugh it off gaining lots of sympathy from those who have been there before, but that isn’t getting the work done and is simply a sub-standard session.

You probably haven’t consumed enough water to fully re-hydrate.

Later you may prepare a higher quality meal, but either over eat (mistaking thirst for hunger) or not eat enough, as you still feel a touch fragile.

At night you may consider a ‘hair of the dog’ remedy to carry you through, when actually an early night would be preferable.

Come Sunday, you may feel better, but given your sub-optimal Saturday, chances are you are still not firing on all levels.

That whole process could go on to affect a further 2 or 3 days. I’ve seen people destroy and entire week from with one night.

If that is what you choose to do, great. Just do it in the knowledge that one night is not just the sum of its intake. Its effects on your progress can be exponentially higher. Only by accepting that can you truly determine if the benefits outweigh any losses to your progress..

So next time you reach for that ‘one’ glass of wine, that ‘one’ beer, that ‘one’ pizza slice. Just remember it is not just the calories you are consuming that count, it is the total effect on your system over the subsequent hours and days.

A malteser may only be ’11 calories of naughyness’, but the hormonal effects are so much more and that should be considered before you justify its consumption.

Make informed choices not those justified through emotional logic or advertising.

If you truly want to change or progress, then make your choice and don’t compromise.

But what do you think?

Too strict?

Do you find you can overcome the ‘hangover’ effects and get straight back on track?

Or is this something that has been holding you back and you have just been kidding yourself?

Comment below and let me know.

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Posted in H.I.I.T. | 7 Comments »

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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Posted in Diet & Nutrition, Exercise, General | 2 Comments »

So what is a ‘Fat Burning Zone’?

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

I was recently presented with a question on the ‘Fat Burning Zone’ as part of a forum discussion and my response ended up being an article in itself, so I thought I’d post it here in case someone else finds it useful.

The tone is a little rambling and it may not be all that structured, but I was just letting go, because it’s one of those ‘trueisms’ that just keep appearing again and again and one I thought there was more common knowledge about these days.

The original post read:

“I have been fat burning for 2 months now and seem to be wondering sometimes if I am wasting alot of time for nothing. I have lost about 1 st in this time from 18.7 down to 17.7stone, and need to get to 15 stone. I was in a bad accident 1 yr ago and when I came out of hospital with my shoulder and leg in casts I continued on my normal diet of pasta ect and not taking into account the amount of cal’s I am not using compared to what I did before my accident and this made me put on at least 2 1/2 stone over the year. I knew I shouldnt be eating as much but it was so hard not to due to the bordem .

The problem I have is 2 of my friends have gave me conflicting info and both of them are fitness instructors. I am 28 and 1 of my friends says I should be doing 60% of my max H/R for 1 hr a day which is about 115-116 beats per min…… well i now do 1hr 45 a day at this rate and I do feel the difference….. AND…

My other friend says i should be working at around 135-140 for 1hr for the best fat burning

 

I know how the fat burn process works ect, like you only burn sugar for the 1st 20 mins then u burn fat but I dont know what H/R’s to stick to”

My Response read:

“I’m going to try to answer this, but talk of a ‘Fat Burning Zone’ really drives me crazy because it adds confusion where there should be none (as you have clearly found out).

First of all, there is no magical heart rate where you suddenly start burning fat. You are always burning fat and carbohydrates (or glycogen) in every activity. What shifts is the balance between the two (or the focus). The slower and more laid back the pace, the more your body uses fat as its primary fuel source. As the intensity of your activity increases your energy source switches from Aerobic to Anaerobic and the fuel source becomes primarily carbohydrates (I’ll stick with that term as it is the macronutrient you consume and so will recognize it more freely – I don’t want to over confuse with the actual internal process).

However, even when carbs become the primary fuel source, your body will still be burning fat, just a much higher percentage of carbs.

The so called ‘fat burning zone’ is the zone that you work at where you are burning the most calories before reaching the point where this change in emphasis occurs (and it’s usually – though not always – around 60-70% of your Max HR).

There are several problems with that though:

1) The max HR calculation of 220-age is a huge generalization. Even the person who came up with it has since been quoted as saying it was just a theory and he didn’t expect people to take it so literally. That calculation can be vastly off. First off, women can usually get the heart rate higher than men during exercise (if at the same level of fitness).

Also, someone who is physically fit can raise their heart rate much higher during exercise (safely) than someone who is new to physical fitness. Therefore, if you are going to aim for this magical zone it would probably be best to use PRE (Perceived Rate of Exertion) as your guide [on a scale of 1-10 (10 being flat out) how hard are you working?] and you would aim for around 6-7/10 which is slightly out of breath but still able to hold a conversation without the sentences getting broken up.

2) Is burning fat during exercise the best solution? – Have a think about this. Your body will react to the demands you place on it. So, for example, if you lift weights, what you are actually doing is breaking down muscle. Your body then reacts by building that muscle back stronger than before in order to cope with that demand.

If you burn fat, therefore, what does your body do?

It tries to cover that demand for the future by trying to store more fat. Now if you keep pushing for longer each time and continue to train, that may not be a problem. But you can’t increase your output indefinitely. There are only so many hours in the day. And when you stop increasing your output level your body’s improved fat storing ability will catch up with you. And if you were to stop altogether, you would probably end up putting on more fat than you had to begin with. Therefore, if fat burning is your goal (as apposed to endurance running) then wouldn’t you be better teaching your body to store the nutrients you want it to and to let it realize the one thing it can do without is fat?

As a comparison – Imagine the physiques of an Olympic 100m sprinter and compare to that of a marathon runner. Which would you prefer to achieve?

Most people go for the sprinter, because they look more ‘toned’. That is because, whilst long distance runners are ‘skinny’ they still generally have quite a high body fat content and what they have lost is actually muscle tissue. The reason is that is what makes them more efficient long distance runners. (muscle weighs more than fat, fat is easier to carry around and is an acceptable fuel source, so that’s what is sticks with).

3) Calorie Balance – When it comes down to it, the only thing that matters when burning fat is the calorie balance. If you are burning more calories than you are consuming you will lose weight (and fat) if you are consuming more than you burn you will not (and may add weight). Therefore, the more calories you burn the better. Now, if you were to go out and go for a nice gentle stroll for half an hour the percentage of fat burned over carbs would be huge. The ratio is greatly in favor of fat burning at that level. If, however, you were to go and bust a gut sprinting for half an hour you would be burning more carbs than fat.

Does that mean you are more likely to burn more fat walking than sprinting for the same period? Absolutely not! In fact, even though you are burning more carbs than fat whilst sprinting, you are still burning more fat than you would be walking, you are just burning WAY more carbs. But over all, what you are doing is burning vastly more calories and that is what will help you achieve that deficit.

My last point is going to be about weight though – you say that you have lost 1stone and NEED to get to 15stone. Why? What is so magical about 15st?

Are you competing in a boxing competition?
Are you a jockey?
Are you doing some kind of activity that has a weight restriction?

If yes, then your comment is perfectly valid. However, if it is because you were 15st in the past when you looked good, that is not a valid reason. If you stuck your arm in a tractor’s wheel and ripped it off you would probably lose the weight you wanted to, but I’m guessing that’s not the look you are going for (But then maybe I’m just out of touch with the ‘in look’ these days).

However, if you were to add a little muscle (say 5lbs) and drop another 15lbs of pure fat, I think you’d find you’d look a lot better than you wanted to. But you will only have lost 10lbs more. The thing is, weight is not the issue – the amount of fat on your body is (remember, muscle weighs more than fat). I refer you back to the 100m sprinter and the marathon runner physiques. The marathon runner will weigh much less than the sprinter, but which physique looks healthier and more ‘toned’?

So in summing this up, my suggestion is to forget about fat burning zones.

When you go to train, with whatever you are doing, do it with an intensity befitting the results you want. If you are looking to burn fat and you have 40mins available, then work at an intensity that is befitting 40mins of HARD WORK. Push yourself and don’t leave anything in the gym (or on the track). If you have 20mins work even harder to squeeze the most out of your session. If, on the other hand, your goal is to run the London marathon, then train for endurance, forget the scales and just work on your technique and progression.

If you train hard and your diet is right you will get the results. At the end of it all, results are all that matters. Find what works for YOU and do that, even if it goes entirely against what the ‘science’ says ‘should’ work.

I hope that is of some use to you.

Rant ends.”

Hopefully that clears up a few issues and maybe clarifies some of the confusion regarding the subject and will allow for a more informed choice when it comes to your training regime.

Thanks, as always, for taking the time out to read my ramblings and I truly hope you are finding them useful.

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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Posted in Exercise | 1 Comment »

How do you run?

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

It’s simple isn’t it? One foot in front of the other at a brisk pace!

But that’s not really the issue here.

Every commercial gym in the land is lined from wall to wall with treadmills. Running is the most calorie intense of the CV stations, so if you want to burn lots of calories, get on that treadmill, you are told.

But there is a road outside the gym, couldn’t you just run on that? It’s free and at least you feel like you are getting somewhere rather than putting in all that effort and not actually moving.

So why then are there so many treadmills in these gyms? And why are they always full? Even on the occasional bright summers day we are garnished with in the UK it is still common for people to be taking their summer stroll or jog on the mechanical device, under the air conditioning in front of a big screen TV.

Surely it’s just a question of taste? After all, it’s the same thing and you get the same results, so whatever feels more comfortable should be fine.

For many the advice would be that is not the case. Fitness advisors will often sing the praises of the treadmill over road running.

Road running is a heavy impact activity which can cause long term damage to your knees. Treadmills are cushioned to absorb the impact so it is a much safer option. You don’t have to deal with the weather, running in the wind & rain (despite the fact the forecast said bright sunshine for the next 3 days). The surface is even and true. And you don’t have to be mindful of your own safety from muggers after your ipod or inattentive drivers when you cross the road.

Yes, treadmills are the way to go – technology over antiquated methods are clearly the more sensible option.

Well lets look at this a little deeper.

What happens when we run?

Firstly we extend one leg out in front of us using our quadriceps (thigh muscles). We then bring the foot down and make contact with the ground. At this point the posterior (rear) muscles take over pulling and flexing the leg in order to propel us forward as the other leg extends out to repeat the sequence.

So very simplistically, when we run we are constantly performing leg extensions followed by leg curls, working the muscles on both sides of the leg while at the same time expending energy and working our heart and lungs.

However, on a treadmill this is not the case. On a treadmill, we extend our leg as we would normally, but upon connecting with the belt of the treadmill, it takes over and rather than propelling our bodies forward with the posterior leg muscles, the belt does this work for us by pulling the foot backwards. Essentially, as far as our leg muscles are concerned, we are doing half the work we usually would and we are only using the anterior (front) muscles to do it.

Since the uptake of pedometers over recent years, 10,000 steps per day has been a much hyped goal for improved health in most people. So imagine if you were to take those 10,000 steps on a treadmill. That would equate to 5,000 leg extensions on each leg with little effort being exerted by the posterior chain to balance that out. This means, firstly, less calories burned due to fewer recruited muscles and secondly, the imbalance is likely to cause stress, particularly to the knee.

This goes somewhat against the argument that treadmill running is safer than outdoor running as far as your joints are concerned.

But there’s more to consider:

According to a study by the University of East London (1998) the hip flexion angle increases significantly (particularly in women) when running on a treadmill. Hip and knee flexion angles have to increase to bring the hip through the stride causing a tightening and fatigue of the hip flexor muscles. As a result technique alters automatically to counter this weakness causing poor form. This fatigue and substitution pattern can also cause knee pain, compounding the issue of the imbalanced muscle development.

Further, if your goal is to become a better runner (perhaps you have decided to run a charity race or even a marathon) then specificity is extremely important. Simply put, when training for any specific event, your training should match your goal as closely as possible. The physical differences already mentioned (surface type & elements such as the wind) mean that training on a treadmill does not in fact mirror the road running involved of these events.

Not only that, but the simple elimination of elements such as the wind makes for a significant decrease in your workload (as much as 10%) meaning the workload is less efficient and in turn will burn fewer calories.

The uneven surfaces are also a contributing factor in this and can further be of benefit to your balance and neuromuscular conditioning, which is critical to your development as a runner as well as increasing that all important calorie burn.

Another inequality shows up in stride length. There are varying opinions on whether stride length is generally different when running on a treadmill as apposed to outside. One of the few detailed studies on this came up with some very interesting results. It would appear that, whilst experienced runners increase their stride lengths when running on a treadmill, inexperienced runners do the exact opposite and shorten their stride length when compared with running on the road.

It does make sense that experienced runners will utilize the additional energy they have available from the belt taking some of the workload, where inexperienced runners will shorten their stride as a result of apprehension due to the moving parts of the machine.

Whatever the reason though, it is clear that the techniques employed to run on a treadmill do not equate to those utilized when running on the road.

To add more fuel to the fire, researchers have also found that when the foot lands on the belt of a treadmill, the foot, ankle and shin, become temporarily part of the belt and move backwards from the centre mass of the body at the same speed (which makes sense). However, this means the shinbone is not as upright as with normal running and is forced into a greater range of motion, which in turn can lead to stress of both the bone and it’s supporting muscles (causing a tight feeling often referred to as shin splints or worse)

All the above is not to say running on a treadmill should be avoided entirely. As a means of warming up or an occasional CV workout it is as good as any other you might find in your gym. Also, for rehabilitation or corrective training, running in front of a mirror can be most useful in ensuring good foot placement and action.

Also, during the winter months in particular, the risks involved with running outside may well outweigh the benefits, in which case using a treadmill would be a good alternative to avoid losing ground on your training.

However, if you are training specifically for running I would suggest a good set of running shoes appropriate to your feet & running style (advice can be obtained from your local running shop) and head outside.

If your concern is burning calories and you would rather stay indoors, I’d suggest you would get more benefit from circuit style training where a good balance of muscle groups can be catered for. You can get your heart rate up just the same and ensure opposing muscle groups are equally worked, which will not only burn more calories in the long run, but will help prevent injury and make you functionally fitter.

Yes, impact is a concern for road running, but if you gave a good pair of running shoes, that should be limited. I would still advise varying your routine and like all things exercise related, keeping a healthy balance to your training.

In short though, treadmills have their place, but the next time you go to get on one, stop and have a look outside. There’s a whole world out there to explore, places you miss in your every day commutes. Why not get out there, get some fresh air in your lungs, some vitamin D and all the additional benefits associated with road running? At least you’ll feel like you’re getting somewhere

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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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