Carbohydrates and weight loss- not an either or proposition

Carbohydrates and Weight Loss- You Don’t Need Low Carb Diets

The era of the Atkins type low carbohydrate diets for weight loss are mercifully over, however many persist in the belief that dropping their carbohydrates is still a viable way to lose weight. It is important to acknowledge that even the most dedicated among us cannot diet strictly by severely restricting their carbohydrate intake for a prolonged period of time- our body simply is not designed for such long term deprivation of an important fuel source and as many who have tried it can attest- you will eventually succumb to overwhelming food cravings, overeat and regain all of the weight lost if not more. There are no secrets nor are there any magical ways to lose weight safely and efficiently. Proper weight loss must follow a sensible and realistic progression towards lifestyle change and must incorporate a comprehensive exercise plan that is both practical and possible in the long run. That being said contrary to popular opinion, you can indeed eat an adequate supply of naturally occurring high fiber carbohydrates and still lose weight the problems start when we substitute modern refined carbohydrates for natural ones.

Our Weight Loss Problems Come From Refined Carbohydrates

When it comes to the refined carbohydrates of today, our bodies still have yet to come to terms with the changes in food supply brought on by the industrialization of our food supply and our bodies are not designed to handle a large influx of carbohydrates at one time. You see in nature, all carbohydrates are very high in fiber and thus you really can’t consume too much of them at a time. However with the advent of the Industrial Revolution in the 19^thCentury to support an ever growing population we found a way to refine naturally occurring carbohydrates and to stretch the supply and in the process we were able to make once fibrous carbohydrate foods ‘light and tasty’ by removing significant amounts of the naturally occurring fiber during the refinement process. In doing we changed the glycemic index of the naturally occurring carbohydrate and created a product that our body does not really recognize. By changing the glycemic index of  carbohydrate food source not only does this affect the way that it is processed metabolically in our bodies, but it also makes it ridiculously easy for us to consume large amounts at one time.

Modern Bread As An Example Of A Healthy Carbohydrate Source Made Into An Unhealthy Food Product

Consider the eating habits of the average human before the coming of refined carbohydrate foods such as doughnuts, boxed cereals, packaged cookies and the host of refined flour products of today. Bread for example has been a staple in the diets of many cultures for thousands of years, however with the development of steel milling, the flour of today isn’t the stone ground flour of old, filled with fiber and much needed omega-3 and protein from the wheat germ. The combination of a higher fiber content, the healthy fats and interestingly enough, the larger surface area of stone ground flour served to slow the processing of the sugars in our body and thus there were no unhealthy insulin spikes from eating products made from these forms of stone ground flour. Today’s flour is so finely refined that the fiber content is significantly lower or non-existent even in the so called whole wheat varieties and the wheat germ and healthy fats are removed.

Bread Isn’t The Problem- Our Refinement Process Is The Problem

This is done to extend the shelf life of modern flour as the oils contained in wheat germ quickly spoil. The finely ground powder is also far more appealing than the course yellowish flour that our forefathers consumed, but sadly the increased surface area exposed to our digestive enzymes from such finely milled flour products increases the rate of conversion into glucose thus giving us an unnatural spike in our insulin levels as a consequence. Add to this the fact that breads were made mainly of only water, yeast and flour and you can see clearly that the multi-ingredient products that we see on the supermarket shelves are not in any way related to the breads that we have eaten without health problems for the past several thousand years- no matter how much they label it as ‘healthy’, ‘organic’ or ‘all natural’.

Before our food industrialization, and the slew of junk food carbohydrates that it spawned, metabolic diseases were nowhere near as prevalent as it is today. In non industrialized societies type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease are very rare indeed and we can thank our modern technology for our current state of affairs.

Continued here in Carbohydrates and Weight Loss-  You Don’t Need to Be Afraid Of Carbs

Kevin Richardson is the creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training 10 Minute Workouts and one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City. Get a copy of his free weight loss ebook here.

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Diet soda weight gain? Not only possible but highly likely.

Is Diet Soda Bad For You? Diet Soda Weight Gain.

In my early years in the health and fitness field, nothing changed the landscape as much as the onset of diet sodas. Even more popular than diet supplements, diet soda has become a ubiquitous addition to everyone’s attempts to lose weight- but is diet soda bad for you and can you end up with a weight gain from diet soda? Like so many others, growing up as a teenager in my native island of Trinidad, I saw diet sodas as a perfect solution to the problem of not having anything sweet in my diet while trying to get into peak shape. A sugar free, and almost zero calorie drink that I could have guilt and worry free seemed almost too good to be true and in the eyes of my bodybuilding coaches at the time, old timers all of them, it was.

Several of my coaches surmised that if the brain perceives what is being consumed as sugar, then the body will respond with a concurrent spike in insulin levels; An insulin spike that thus sets in motion the body’s fat storage mechanisms and a potential for weight gain. At the time, I was not completely convinced by his argument but I heeded their advice nonetheless- after all, I had seen first hand what their personal training clients looked like and they had dispelled many a myth I had held in the past about health and fitness so I saw no reason to distrust their instincts.

Diet Soda Weight Gain- Studies Show That Diet Soda Can Increase Insulin Levels

As the years went on, studies indeed began to surface that even though there is no actual glucose in a diet soda, the body still secretes insulin in response to consuming what it perceives as a sugary  drink, much in the way that Pavlov’s dog would salivate at the sound of a bell after being fed a tasty treat every time a bell would ring. So in the end, the old timers were indeed on to something!

I would also add that diet sodas are just about as artificial a food product as is humanly possible and thus in no way could ever be a natural part of a human diet. My belief has always been that processed foods always create problems in the human body and our growing obesity epidemic here in the United States and in developed countries continues to highlight the fact that our modern food products are not compatible with our physiology. It’s hard to compare an apple, which we as humans have evolved over the course of over countless thousands of years to harmoniously derive essential micronutrients, carbohydrates and fiber with a diet soda. The term ‘diet’ may be a great marketing tool to help us not be wary of a potential long term health hazard but the more we reflect on where we are and where we are going as a species the more obvious it becomes that such food products are best avoided. Our great-great grandparents didn’t have soda of any kind, much less the diet variety and they also didn’t have problems with obesity and the slew of preventable diet related diseases that come with it.

Diet Soda And Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is estimated to affects one in five women over the age of 50 in the United States and among the potential causes is a high dietary phosphorous intake. Phosphates have been shown to deplete calcium and are considered a factor in osteoporosis. Where would such high levels of phosphorous come from- you guessed it- carbonated beverages. Other countries (usually poorer ones) where the populations does not consume as much dairy products or supplemented calcium as we do here in America do not have such alarmingly high rates of osteoporosis as compared does the U.S. and other developed countries. One theory lays the blame on squarely on America’s number one drink- soda, and its kissing cousin, the highly fashionable diet soda.

Diet Soda Long Term Weight Gain From Reinforcing The Bad Habit Of Consuming Sugary Drinks

There are other behavior related reasons why diet sodas can bring about weight gain and are bad for you without even touching on the health questions raised by the long term ingestion of artificial sweeteners and that is the fact that it prevents a progression towards healthy eating habits. I have in my own personal training practice that clients who trained consistently and avoided the use of diet soda had an easier time making the transition toward consistently better eating choices than those consuming diet sodas regularly (the same applies for those that drink high levels of caffeinated beverages as well- but that’s another article.) In order to stop consuming a particular food it is important that we learn to forget about it and replace their tastes with those of healthier varieties. By keeping diet soda in your diet that switch away from needing something sweet on a regular basis never has a chance to go away and thus it becomes all the more difficult to eat well on a consistent basis.

Even among my clients that ate well but still consumed diet soda, they never seem to make as much progress in terms of weight loss and body fat reduction as the ones that cut them out completely- an interesting piece of information for anyone serious about getting into their best shape.

Diet Soda Is Not Part Of A Long Term Strategy For Getting In Shape

It may not be a scientifically validated double blind study, but it is what I have seen over the course of almost twenty years as a personal trainer- and it makes sense. Being able to make good food choices requires a gradual movement away from things that are simply not good for you, and by drinking diet soda, you are continue the behavior of accepting that sugary taste as something positive as opposed to working to accustom yourself to the tastes of foods that are indeed good for you.

Get a copy of Kevin’s free weight loss ebook here!

Kevin Richardson- celebrity Personal Trainer New York City is the creator of Naturally Intense™ High Intensity Training, a lifetime natural bodybuilder, head of Naturally Intense™ Personal Trainers NYC and one of the most sought after personal trainer in NYC.

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Slow down to lose weight!

Want A Simple Way To Lose Weight- Eat Slowly!

Over my many years of studies in both traditional Easter medicine and traditional Japanese martial arts, the idea of eating your food slowly has been a recurring theme for weight control and optimal health. I think everyone is familiar with how often children are admonished to chew their foods slowly, and now thanks to recent research we know that this age old health tip does indeed have merit.

In a study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, seventeen healthy male adult volunteers were observed to see whether eating the same meal at different speeds would bring about  any differences in hormonal response. For the study, volunteers were given a serving of ice cream and made to eat the same amount at different speeds. Blood samples were taken to measure both insulin and gut hormones and what they found was that the volunteers released more hormones that made them feel full when they ate the ice cream in 30 minutes as opposed to five minutes. The two particular hormones released glucagon-like peptide-1 and peptide YY are key components to signaling feelings of perceived satiety and fullness and thus leads to eating less.

Several Studies Confirm That Eating Slowly Decreases Caloric Intake & Risk Of Being Overweight

Several other studies back this claim, including a very large scale survey published in the British Medical Journal. For this survey 3287 adults (1122 men, 2165 women) ages ranging from 3 to 69 years old participated in reports on cardiovascular risk from 2003 to 2006. The results found that those who self reported consuming their foods quickly and eating until they were full had three times the likelihood of being overweight when compared with others that ate at slower paces. Another randomized study of 30 women published in the American Dietetic Association found that participants reported greater feelings of satisfaction and consumed less calories when they ate at a slower pace compared to when they ate quickly.

Our Fast Food Mentality May Be Doing Us More Harm Than We Know

The ancient wisdom of eating slowly and enjoying your foods can indeed help you eat less and thus should be considered a simple and effective method of weight control but it also raises some questions about common practices that might be contributing factors to our obesity epidemic. Given the ever increasing numbers of children that are overweight in the United States and the small alotment of time given to children for lunch breaks in public schools one cannot help but wonder just detrimental this practice is to the health of our children. For adults the idea of eating on the run and for that matter the whole idea of fast food and rapid eating may be more of a problem than we think. So eat slowly and enjoy your meals!

Related Articles:

Controlling Your Eating Habits

Best Way To Lose Weight- Eat A Healthy Breakfast!

Kevin Richardson- celebrity Personal Trainer New York City is the creator of Naturally Intense™ High Intensity Training, a lifetime natural bodybuilder, head of Naturally Intense™ Personal Trainers NYC and one of the most sought after personal trainer in NYC.

Guilt over eating the wrong foods only makes you more likely to keep eating them!

Is It Beneficial To Beat Yourself Up After Eating Junk Foods?

Guilt \ˈgilt\: noun
1 : the fact of having committed a breach of conduct especially violating law and involving a penalty; broadly : guilty conduct
2 a : the state of one who has committed an offense especially consciously b : feelings of culpability especially for imagined offenses, sin or from a sense of inadequacy : self-reproach
3 : a feeling of culpability for offenses

Guilt. In many ways food has become the new sin the Western world, one that justifies self torment and lowers self esteem everyday. You have that extra slice of chocolate cake, the glass of wine at the company party or the applepie at the family holiday dinner and in the moment there is no mistake that you do enjoy it. Sometimes rich and fatty foods can be almost sinful for lack of a better word, but you feel absolutelyterrible afterwards, and you really wish that you had not eaten the foods that you had. The guilt for some can be overwhelming, but the question remains, are these feelings of guilt really helpful? The answer is a resounding no! In fact what we know of human behavious is that the more you beat yourself up about eating something that you feel that you shouldn’t have the more likely you are to keep eating it! Interesting cycle, and one that has helped most of us stay locked in a constant and unsuccessful struggle to improve our eating habits.

Understanding Our Patterns Of Food Consumption

The first step to understanding the harm that guilt inflicts upon us when we associate it with food is to understand our patterns with regard to food consumption. Know thy enemy and know thyself and in a thousand battles you will never be in peril. These words written by a Chinese sage thousands of years ago apply just as much to war as it does to behavior modification as it is only through an intimate understanding of ourselves that change can be effected. Most simply make the resolution one day that they will no longer eat unhealthy foods and as valiant as this may be it is almost always unsuccessful. If it were that easy then weight management would not even be an issue and as most can attest this simply isn’t the case.

It Is A Mistake To Believe That Our Slips Are Caused By Lack of Willpower

To change the way we eat requires something far more than a resolution or diet, there must instead be an unrelenting commitment to a very real change in lifestyle. For this to happen we have to divorce ourselves from the destructive perspective that somehow there must be some form of atonement for any failures that occur while we are on the path of change . It is human nature to believe that when a ‘wrong’ is committed, that some form of guilt is required, usually  followed by some form of penance as well. The problem is that when the ‘wrongdoing’ comes from eating something that we believe we shouldn’t nothing positive comes from it and it can be the starting point for lifelong eating disorders as one of our most basic acts as human beings is defiled by what we perceive as a lack of willpower.

Over the course of my career as a personal trainer I have seen so many men and women suffer tremendously from this way of thinking and the sad part is that society itself plays a large part in reinforcing feelings of guilt and failure in those that are struggling to control their weight. When people stray from their perceived perfect eating plan by eating something that falls into the category of forbidden, they tend to fall into a downward spiral of self hatred and disgust. This self inflicted form of  flagellation is followed by a resolve to either exercise more, diet harder or employ some extreme method to compensate for the ‘damage’ done by their indulgence. Sadly this is an all too familiar refrain for most people today.

 
Guilt Has No Place In A Healthy Mind and a Healthy Body

 
Physiologically speaking, there isn’t anything that can be done to compensate for a slip in one’s diet. Nothing at all. What is done is done and any attempts to try to undo the past are wasted exercises in magical thinking.  You eat something and there is nothing that you can do to reverse the fact- the universe does not have a rewind button and so we must simply move on. By wallowing in guilt we only bring ourselves closer to the likelihood of developing an eating disorders or at the very least lose some of our self respect. None of this has anything to do with the intended goal of living better and healthier lives in healthier bodies. Instead the slips must be looked upon as what they are; learning experiences that teach us more about ourselves since every slip holds the information necessary to help avoid their continued reoccurrence. With this attitude in mind, guilt no longer has a place in our relationship with food.

Guilt Makes You More Likely To Keep Eating The Wrong Foods 

If you decide that you are no longer going to eat unhealthy foods, your new attitude only serves to supplement your original behavior where eating unhealthy foods were acceptable. Behavioral psychology reinforces what  many of us have learned through objective observations;. namely that the very habits that we seek to change resurface because they are not fully forgotten. New and old ways of thinking co-exist as opposing impulses that will always be in competition unless steps are taken to disarm undesirable attitudes. Simply put, the more you beat yourself over the head about eating that piece of cheesecake, the more you help yourself recall the image of you eating it and the harder you are making it for yourself to forget about eating cheesecake.

What needs to happen is a gradual shift in eating patterns over time where new foods replace old foods. In time the new foods stay at our primary level of consciousness and the desire for the old ones simply fades away. This leads to a true definition of health; one where we want the foods that are good for us as opposed to avoiding bad foods because we know they are bad for us. Disarming those attitudes requires a fundamental change in perspective, a change that comes only with time and patience. It is only when you are able to enjoy foods that are good for you that you will be able to break the cycle. In the meantime, do your best not to eat the wrong foods, but if you do just keep going and don’t look back! Have a wonderful and guilt free holiday season!

NYC Personal Trainer Kevin Richardson is the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a lifetime drug free bodybuilding champion and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™. His high intensity 10 minute workouts have been helping people get better results in less time for the past 19 years! Get a copy of his free weight loss e-book here!

Junk Foods

The Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise TM works on a basic principle that foods that historically have been natural parts of the human diet are the best choices that can be made in terms of not only health improvement, but also in terms of achieving peak physical condition. All other foods fall into the category of junk foods, in that they have not been shown to have adverse effects on human health and performance. Many of these foods include foods that people often associate as being healthy, and so it is a good idea to check through the listing to ensure that you are on the right track.

Foods such as dairy products and soy products are not recommended, nor is what is commonly termed junk food. Junk food contains high levels of refined sugar, white flour, trans fat and polyunsaturated fat, salt, and numerous food additives such as monosodium glutamate and tartrazine; at the same time, it is lacking in proteins, vitamins and fiber, among other healthy attributes. It is unfortunately popular with manufacturers because it is relatively cheap to manufacture, has a long shelf life and may not require refrigeration. It is popular with consumers because it is easy to purchase, requires little or no preparation, is convenient to consume and has lots of flavor.

Consumption of junk food has been associated with obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and dental cavities, and will have a strong impact on your performance and the results you will see from the Naturally Intense System. While many nutritional sources will say that junk foods can be part of a balanced diet, and many dieting systems employ a ‘cheat meal’ occasionally, it is my experience that that complete avoidance gives way to better long term health and allows you achieve what many refer to as ‘the look’ on a permanent basis.
Our goal is to foster a sense of the body being sacred, and a perspective where the idea of ingesting a food that could be in some way harmful, unnatural or toxic to your body is simply unacceptable. Through a changing of the body’s nutritional requirements, and proper nutrition through personalized dietary guides, we have had outstanding success in helping individuals stay off these foods and developing this very view. As hard as it may sound in the beginning, though, we ask that you do your utmost to avoid them.

Excelsior!

 
Celebrity personal trainer NYC, Kevin Richardson is an award winning health and fitness writer, natural bodybuilding champion and the creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training™. Get a copy of his free weight loss ebook here.