Insulin is a peptide hormone that is secreted by the pancreas.  Insulins main role in our bodies metabolism is to uptake glucose from the blood and store it as glycogen in the liver and muscles.  With this basic premise in mind there is a way for us to learn how to make insulin work with us, or understand how it can work against us with our dietary habits.

It is very important when undertaking a fat loss diet that insulin be managed very carefully.  This is one of the reasons that I’m a huge advocate of low-carbohydrate dieting.  The presence of insulin in the blood stream immediately stops fat loss in it’s tracks!!!  When insulin is present in the blood your body will no longer use fat as fuel.  So now you can see why it is especially important to keep insulin levels to a minimum while dieting for fat loss.  The best way to do this is to consume a low-carbohydrate diet.  Carbohydrates cause insulin secretion, not protein and fats.  There are certan quickly absorbing proteins that can cause insulin secretion to some degree, such as whey protein.  But nothing comparable to simple sugars, or even complex carbohydrates.  And since we keep our dietary fat intake higher during times of low-carbohydrate dieting, digestion of whey protein is greatly reduced by consuming dietary fats along with our whey protein shake.

So in a time of dieting insulin is definately our enemy.  For people trying to put on muscle mass insulin is quite possibly one of our best friends though!  Since insulin is a very powerful hormone that shuttles nutrients to muscle cells, insulin is one of the most, if not the most, anabolic hormone in the body.  Fat usage as an energy source is not a concern for a person trying to add muscle mass.  Therefore we can use insulin to our advantage during times of weight gain.  That being said there are key times that we want to raise insulin, but most of the day it’s still important to keep insulin levels to a minimum so we don’t store too much fat during this time period.  The only times we want to spike insulin levels during a time of weight gain are before a workout, during a workout, and the most important time is after a workout.  There are many reasons for this, and it will get surely get out of the scope of this article, but the main reason is to increase muscle recovery through activation of protein synthasis, quickly restoring lost glycogen stores,  and blunting the release of cortisol.

So as you can see depeding on what a persons goals are there are mechanisms that we can use to our advantage in one situation, but we may want to totally avoid during another situation, depending on what we are trying to acheive at that given time.  We can’t just clasify insulin as the enemy, because if your a person trying to gain weight it’s actually your ally.

Most of us know by now that we need to get a balance of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids in our diets.  A good way to do this is by using healthy oils to flavor or cook our foods.  What some people don’t know is that there is a “smoke point” of all cooking oils.  When you heat an oil to or beyond it’s smoke point you end up denaturing the healthy fats that are contained in the oil.

We’ll start with Olive Oil. In order to keep the healthy Omega 3 fats intact you need to make sure you purchase the right kind of Olive Oil.  There are many to choose from, and it can be a daunting task.  Always make sure you get cold-pressed Olive Oil.  If it is cold-pressed it will state it somewhere on the bottle.  The next thing you want to be sure of is that it comes in a dark bottle.  The darker the better.  Olive Oil is fairly sensitive to light and heat, so this is a must.  Also make sure you store it in a cool dark place.  When it comes to cooking Olive Oil is not your best choice.  The true “smoke point” of Olive Oil is still being debated, but we do know that it too low for cooking.  There is no point in cooking in an oil that is going to lose it’s healthy benefits.  Olive Oil is best used for flavor.  Salads are a great choice for Olive Oil.

Now if you are wanting to pan fry chicken or some other healthy dish your best bet would be Macadamia Nut Oil.  It has a much higher “smoke point” than Olive Oil, and you will still be able to reap all the healthy benefits while cooking with it.  Mac Nut Oil is also good to use as a supplement for Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids.  It’s not just good for cooking!  Mac Nut Oil almost has a perfect ratio of 1:1 Omega 3 to 6.  This is ideal for those of us who are health concious.

The only downside is that Mac Nut Oil can be a bit trickier to find.  The internet would probably be the best place to start.  People started buying up tons of Mac Nut Oil as the many benefits have become more known.  For quite some time there was a shortage, but it is slowly becoming more available.

When it comes to dieting a lot of people still have a hard time understanding the importance of meal frequency.  Almost all of us have been taught as young kids that you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Our ancient ancestors didn’t eat this way, it was more or less developed as our society progressed and we started going to school, or working real jobs.  It became more of eating before work or school, having a lunch break in the middle of the day, and then having a meal after you got home.  Our ancestors ate when they were hungry, or when they were able to gather food, which was at intervals throughout the day.

It also just recently occured to me that we all began by eating frequent meals throughout the day as infants.  My wife and I just gave birth to twin girls, and now I know the true meaning of eating throughout the day!!!  I’m a bit of a nutrition nut, so after my girls got here and we began feeding them it occured to me that this EXACTLY what I have always preached to people.  The human body was programmed from day one to eat throughout the day.

The biggest reason for smaller, more frequent meals is efficiency.  Your body is only going to use what nutrients it needs at the times that it needs them, and anything that is left over is either going to be stored as fat for later, or excreted as waste.  With frequent meals the body can better utilize the nutrients you are taking in, and therefore less fat storage will occur.  Insulin spikes are another reason to eat more frequently.  Our goal is to keep insulin levels from surging and then plummeting throughout the day.  Insulin is a hormone that is released to shuttle nutrients to cells throughout the body, and when we have large spikes in insulin we tend to shuttle any unused calories into fat cells.  The more stable we can keep our insulin levels the less fat we will attain.

Frequent meals also have an effect on metabolism.  Think of your metabolism as a fire.  In order to keep that fire burning you need to keep adding fuel to it, and in this case our fuel is food.  You have to keep “feeding the fire” so to speak.  When you eat only three meals a day, and often I see people who only eat twice, then you never really get the metabolism going.  Your body is always wondering when the next meal is going to come, so now your body is constantly in survival mode and just trying to conserve as much energy as it can until the next meal comes along.

So how frequent is frequent?  In a perfect world I would like to see my clients eating every 2 hours, but I know that can be a bit cumbersome for most.  More realistically I would like to see clients eat a small meal every 3 hours, but never any longer then 4 hours between meals.  We are not talking about 5 course meals here.  For a person on an 1,800 calorie weight loss plan this would equate to roughly 6 meals consisting of 300 calories per meal.  In other words they are small meals.  So if time is your excuse, there is no excuse.  You can spare 15 minutes out of every three hours of your day to get a meal in.  It will no doubt take planning, but it can be done.  Especially since we now have Meal Replacement Powders that can be used for a couple of those meals.  There really is no reason you can’t get a balance of your protein, carbs, and fats in every 3 hours.

As with working out this is a LIFESTYLE!  It is something that becomes second nature.  My body is so programmed, that if I even consider going longer than three hours without food it thinks it’s starving.  There is no way I could go back to eating three square meals per day.  At first it seems like a chore, but after you have done it for as long as I have it will just become second nature, and you will wonder why you ever thought it was so hard.  It will just be a way of life, and your body will thank you for it.

How many times have you dieted down, and then all of the sudden it seems like you just hit a brick wall?  Don’t worry it happens to all of us.  Your body is resistant to change, and sometimes we have to look a bit deeper into our diets, and what we might be doing wrong.  Now some people take the approach of working out even more.  I mean if you lost the first 20-30 lbs. by working out for an hour each day, then you surely working out for two hours a day will produce even better results, right?  WRONG!  More is definitely not better, especially when it comes to working out.  Despite what many people think, if you overtrain you could quite possibly end up looking much worse!
So if working out more is not going to do the trick, then what do you need to do?  Well 99% of the time it revolves around your diet.  I know, I know, you have been watching everything you eat.  For the first time in your life you have actually stuck to your diet plan, and haven’t even as much as thought about stopping by the nearest drive-thru.  Your diet is spot on, but the weight just isn’t coming off.  I’m here to tell you that it’s still your diet.  You may think your diet is perfect, but let’s take a closer look.
You’re probably getting tired of eating your morning egg whites, and the only way you have found that allows you to choke them down is to throw some salsa on top.  Well that’s fine when you first begin your diet, because just cleaning up the foods you eat has allowed you to lose a lot of weight.  But now that your body has stopped responding to your diet and exercise program, something has got to change.  We have to do something to trick your body into losing even more weight.  Unfortunately that means the food is about to get even blander that it already is (just what you wanted to hear).  Hey if it were easy everybody would have six pack abs!
Let’s assume your diet as it pertains to macronutrient breakdown is on point.  There is no need to make a huge overhaul to your diet plan.  Let’s also assume for the sake of this article that your workouts are intense, you’re consistent and never miss a day, and you are doing everything that needs to be done while you’re in the gym.  It’s time to drop the condiments out of your diet, and begin eating even more cleanly than you already are.  We all do it.  We get so sick of the same boring foods that we add some flavoring to make it more palatable.  We add ketchup or bbq sauce to our chicken and turkey, we add salsa to our egg whites, we marinate our meat in some delicious marinades we found at the store, or we use steak sauce to our lean and flavorless steaks.  Therein lies your problem!!!
Most of the condiments mentioned above are mostly sugar.  Even though you read the label carefully, and convinced yourself that it’s “not that bad”, it is.  These condiments are keeping you from achieving the physique you have been working so hard towards.  All the sugar in these items adds up!!  Sugar is your absolute enemy when dieting.  Fat is not the enemy, complex carbs aren’t the enemy, and protein is not the enemy.  Sugar is your ultimate enemy when you’re dieting.  Now that you have reached a plateau it is time to get rid of them to lose that last little bit of stubborn fat.  Certain spices and rubs are fine, but be very careful of what you are putting on your foods.  When I diet I tend to use a lot of fresh ground pepper.  I know it’s that the best way to season food, but it’s better than nothing.

Condiments to watch out for (but not all):
-          Ketchup (yes even “low carb” or “low sugar”)
-          Salsa
-          Salad Dressings
-          Steak Sauces
-          Marinades
-          Certain “fancy” Mustards
-          Low Fat Mayonnaise/Miracle Whip

Items to season with:
-          Black Pepper
-          Crushed Red Pepper
-          Rubs
-          Mrs. Dash
-          Salt Substitutes (potassium chloride)
-          Garlic (actual garlic, not garlic salt)

When it comes to protein requirements, there can be a lot of conflicting information out there.  Some would like people to believe that a diet high in protein will wreak havoc on your kidneys and liver, but this is just not the case.  When studies are done on healthy individuals, especially those who lead an active lifestyle, there is not one shred of evidence that a high protein diet will harm either your kidneys or your liver. 

There is a diet theory that is referred to as the “Caveman Diet”.  Essentially this diet follows the basic premise that Dr. Atkins brought to the forefront.  The idea of the “Caveman Diet” is simply this.  Millions of years ago human beings did not have a diet consisting of baked potatoes, breads, pastas, cereals, or any other starchy carbs as we know them today.  The only nutrients they had to survive on were animals meats and berries!!!  That’s it!  So the theory says, if we ate only animal meats and berries since the beginning of time, and that’s how the human body adapted, then why wouldn’t it work for us??

There is some validity to the Caveman Diet.  Essentially there are three main Macro nutrients, and they are Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fats.  Out of the three there are only two that we truly need for survival.  Believe it or not, you can go the rest of your life without eating a single gram of Carbohydrate and survive.  Even though it is a Macro nutrient we do not need Carbohydrates for survival.  However, we do have to ingest Proteins and Fats!!!  Your body is able to create blood sugars by using Proteins in a process called gluconeogensis.  Gluconeogensis is a rather inefficient way to make blood sugar, but all it really means is your protein requirements will have to increase.

So where am I going with this?  I want people to understand that high protein diets are not harmful to us, and in fact may be healthier.  As far as we know our bodies were created to survive on high protein.  Since the Atkins revolution there have been many studies on high protein diets and it’s effect on cholesterol, triglyceride levels, liver/kidney damage, and fat loss.  Most of the studies reveal that these diets have a POSITIVE impact on all the above with little or no impact on the kidneys are liver.  That being said, when one attempts such a diet, saturated fats need to be kept to a minimum, and replaced with healthy fats such as Omega-3, -6, -9.

Now don’t go home and throw out all the carbs in your pantry just yet.  I’m not trying to convey that Carbohydrates are evil.  I don’t think that at all.  As a matter of fact I think the RIGHT TYPES of carbs are part of a well balanced nutritional plan.  What I do want to convey is that I believe that most people don’t take in nearly enough protein (or healthy fats for that matter), and ingest entirely way too many carbs.

When I create a diet plan for somebody, I start everybody out with at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.  Regardless of gender, goals, activity levels, etc.  This is a bare minimum in my opinion.  Now when it comes to weight loss or weight gain I will alter that persons Fat and Carb intake depending on their goals, metabolism, and body type.  In fact when I coach bodybuilders I will start them out at 1.5 grams of protein per pound, and may possibly increase that to 2 grams of protein per pound.  Obviously a bodybuilders protein requirements will far exceed your casual gym goer, so this is a unique situation.

Regardless of a persons goals, nutrition will be the deciding factor of how successful a person is in reaching their goals.  Whether your goal is to gain muscle, lose fat, participate in a triathalon, or just increase your quality of life, nutrition is going to be the cornerstone to achieving the results you desire.

Even though nutrition can seem like a scary, complicated subject, it really is nothing to be intimidated by.  There is a lot of conflicting information floating around out there, but in the end it all comes down to balance.  Fad diets come and go by people who use marketing to get rich off uninformed consumers.  There is no such thing as a perfect diet out there.  It doesn’t exist.  And despite what people may think, there are really no hard and set rules when it comes to nutrition.  Genetically we are all different, and we all respond to foods in our own way.

The best advice I can give is to do what works for you.  This will require some experimenting, but in the end this has to be something that fits into your current lifestyle, something you will be able to stick to, and most importantly something your body will respond to.  I will get more in depth on this subject in the future, but for now balance is key. 

We all know to cut the junk out, and eat food that is as fresh as possible.  This will require some time, and planning, but the results will speak for themselves.  Eat small, frequent meals throughout the day.  I like to see people eat 6-7 meals a day, but if they can only get 5, I will take it.  Our bodies are more efficient when we eat this way.  Get a good balance of protein, complex carbs, fruits, and veggies.  It’s all about food choices and how we make them.

This is just the basis, so stay tuned for more detailed info. in the future.