Nell Stephenson's Blog, page 24
April 30, 2015
Stretching After Your Workout – Yes or No?
For many the end of a workout is the best part.
I fondly remember one private training client I worked with years ago who looked forward to the end of his workout. He’d collapse onto the stretching mat, feigning sheer exhaustion, claiming I’d pushed him past his limit. He’d then happily announce that he was doing his last set of ‘lie-downs’ for the day.
There are no two ways about it: stretching simply feels good. If it doesn’t, you may be pushing yourself past your limits. But is stretching after your workout really necessary?
If you asked me 20 years ago, I’d have blown it off completely. Not so much from a professional standpoint, but from a bit of naiveté. I used to be able to drive somewhere, go for a long run, get right back in the car, and stretch later – or maybe not at all – and not seem to notice any difference. Years later, when I sustained my first real injury, I really had to eat my words as I went through three months of no running with regular physio.
How important is it to stretch every single time you train?
The American College of Sports Medicine suggests “every workout must begin with a warm-up and end with a cool-down, as the cool down brings it back to its normal state. Time spent performing five to 10 minutes of low-intensity cardiovascular activity followed by stretching immediately after the workout will decrease muscle soreness and aid in recovery, both helping to prepare the body for the next workout.”
I agree completely. But, the reality is one’s schedule is often already so tight, the idea of tacking on an extra 10 – 15 minutes at the end of a workout can turn it into an all or nothing deal. If you find yourself not doing the workout because you feel you won’t have time to stretch, keep in mind that as long as you fit it in somewhere over the course of your regular Paleo diet and exercise regime, doing so after every single session may not be required.
Another reason to be flexible (pun intended) with your stretching routine, is you could be wasting your time and putting yourself at risk for injury, if you’re going through the motions of stretching after your workout and not doing it properly.
Don’t forget including other activities in your routine, such as certain types of yoga practice, foam rolling, and Pilates can all factor into a safe, healthy recovery protocol that keeps your movement patterns fluid and your body injury-free. Simply keeping the body moving and hydrated aids recovery by improving circulation.
Finally, what and when you’re eating plays a huge role in how much soreness or tightness you’ll experience. Even if you’re a top-caliber athlete, relying on carbohydrates as your main fuel will make you more likely to have soreness due to the accumulation of lactate, a by-product of carbohydrate metabolism.
By gradually shifting to rely on fat as fuel, you’ll completely nix all post-carb chow down sludge that feels like it’s stuck in every muscle fiber.
For anyone who’s not an athlete and thinks they’re not included in the population who should be stretching after your workout, think again – you may need it even more! Sitting all day long contributes to a host of physical issues, and even getting up each hour to stretch and walk around can help offset future damage.
Bottom line: make healthy eating and movement your priority and you’ll be able to find small windows of time when you can add stretching to your workout regime, before injury strikes and you’re forced to take a ‘time out.’
REFERENCES
https://www.acsm.org/access-public-in...
http://www.scientificamerican.com/art...
The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance by Jeff Volek, and Stephen Phinney April 1, 2012
April 29, 2015
Salting the Wound: The Role of Salt in Autoimmune Conditions
Sea salt for your veggies? Himalayan pink salt to top off that decadent, juicy, grass-fed steak? Or, perhaps a dusting of fleur de sel for that delicious little mouthful of amuse-bouche you’re serving at your dinner party?
No harm, no foul, right?
Somehow, word has gotten out that sea salt is a safe bet for anyone following a true Paleo diet regime. While sea salt, Himalayan salt, or even Hawaiian Black Lava salt may contain more minerals and be less refined than table salt, salt is still salt and most people eat too much of it. Currently, the dietary guidelines state that we should consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day (with 2,300 milligrams being the upper limit rather than the recommended level), yet the average American consumes 3,518 milligrams per day!
Whether it’s coming from adding salt to your food or eating highly processed foodstuff, the end result is the same: an increased risk of hypertension, bone loss, cardiac damage, and a greater chance of developing autoimmune conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis.
A recent study suggests people who eat at fast food restaurants have higher levels of inflammatory cells than than those who don’t. In the study, researchers found that giving mice a high-salt diet caused the rodents to produce a type of infection-fighting cell that is closely associated with autoimmune diseases. The mice on salt diets developed a severe form of multiple sclerosis, called autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
When someone has an autoimmune condition, their cells attack the body in the same manner they would attack an invasion of harmful cells.
Salt escalates the immune response by causing enzymes to produce more helper T-cells. These T-cells then create inflammation and drive autoimmune diseases.
While the researchers in the study stated that salt was clearly not the sole cause of autoimmune conditions, it’s one cause that can easily be controlled: how much salt comes from what we’re eating.
If you’re coming from a background of eating highly processed, overly salty foods, there will be a transitional period after cutting salt from your diet. Expect food to taste bland while your taste buds adapt, but once they do, get ready for a whole new world of taste sensations. Enter the flavors of delicate herbs, enticing spice blends, and the simple, pure taste of food.
Often, people transition to Paleo living as a means to treat a vast array of health issues, many of which include some degree of inflammation in the body. A true Paleo diet is an easy way to reintroduce natural, fresh food to the body while eliminating highly processed, inflammatory foodstuffs. By adopting this way of living, you’ll create a balance far more conducive to promoting gut health and overall body healing.
Eating food that is good for you and tastes fantastic is not an exclusive option. When following a true Paleo regime, delicious, healthy food is a given!
Feed your soul and nourish your body. Just. Eat. Food.
REFERENCES
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12...
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutrition...
April 28, 2015
Eat In Season: The Benefits of Eating Spring Produce
One of the key components of following a true Paleo diet regime is to eat foods that are readily available to you in your immediate surroundings. After all, it’s not as though our ancestors were sitting behind their laptops wearing amber-lensed glasses, selecting the type of fish they’d like to have caught for them thousands of miles away and then shipped on dry ice in time to pair with some wild truffles sourced from equally far away.
Bad joke perhaps, but you see where I’m going with this. We’ve made it far too easy to procure foods that may indeed be very healthy to eat, but begin to lose their appeal when we factor in the huge carbon footprint associated with them. In particular, there’s simply no reason to wander into Whole Foods in December and purchase a pint of blueberries from Chilé when we’re spoiled with a bountiful assortment of produce here in Southern California.
In addition to making the most sense for the planet and keeping consistent with what a Paleo diet is really all about, eating in season makes sense for our own health and enjoyment of food itself. One fruit that makes the perfect example is an ordinary tomato.
In season from June to November in L.A., they’re not too tricky to grow in your own backyard or terrace. There’s nothing like a homegrown, rich, ripe, juicy tomato. Packed full of lycopene and antioxidants, and shown in studies to help lower total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, a garden-fresh tomato can be sheer heaven. Yet the number of people who have never experienced this incredible flavor because they’ve only had a chance to try the exact opposite – tomatoes that were picked far too early, flown in from around the world, and stored in temperatures so cold they turned mealy – is astronomical.
Focusing on what’s in season in your neck of the woods is simply the best way to go on all fronts.
One way to figure out which foods are available in your area is to become a frequent customer at your local farmers’ markets. Make it a point to get to know the vendors, find your favorites, and ask them questions. You’ll expand your culinary library, open up a whole new world of health benefits, and please your palate all at the same time. Some of my favorite spring foods in L.A. include artichokes, asparagus, avocado, broccoli, cauliflower, Swiss chard, and Meyer lemons.
Another handy resource is the Russ Parson’s Seasonal Produce Guide, which helps you do your homework online prior to planning your meals for the week, based on what’s available right in your own backyard!
Click here for my Paleoista Meyer Lemon Swiss Chard recipe!
REFERENCES
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tn...
April 27, 2015
Skip the Supplements: Get Your Vitamins and Minerals Through Food
Your current morning routine: multivitamin, fish oil, calcium, Vitamin D, and iron. Oh, and don’t forget a good antioxidant blend and some Coenzyme Q10.
Wait! There’s also a B complex and some green powder for good measure.
And if we want to get into more specific vitamins – let’s take pre-menopausal women – for example, we also need to add some black cohosh, evening primrose oil, and yam cream.
Which takes us to a grand total of seventeen supplements. Which, no joke, is not uncommon to find these days. In fact, in 2013, Americans spent $28 billion on supplements!
Why are we doing this?
It’s my belief that at least in part, it’s the allure of being able to swallow a pill in order to treat, prevent, or completely cure a wide range of health issues and concerns.
Admittedly, the concept is quite appealing. Overweight? Just take this pill. Feeling low on energy? Swallow that serum. Looking to stop the signs of aging? Ah, there’s a cream for that, too!
Unfortunately, that line of thinking is more in keeping with that of someone living in fantasyland, rather than on Planet Earth.
There is, quite simple, no quick fix, cure-all pill.
Another factor in this line of thinking is the idea that taking these tablets can perhaps offset the poor quality “foods” many chose to ingest for one reason or another.
As if eating a Big Mac is cancelled out by taking a multivitamin!
Here’s the deal: there are certain situations in which taking a vitamin is an important part of a plan to achieve health, but generally speaking, we truly can get all we need from real, fresh, unadulterated food.
When I work with clients online, I don’t prescribe supplements. For one thing, I’m not a doctor. And, since I’m not working directly with lab data, it would be foolish of me to guess what someone may need based solely on symptoms without seeing data from a recent blood draw or saliva collection.
Referring back to the example I gave before, a woman about to go through menopause does not necessarily automatically need to self medicate from the shelves of Whole Foods.
To do so is not only a potential waste of money, it could cause damage. Yes, the herbs are natural, but if you don’t know that you need them in the first place, why risk it?
Go to a naturopath or functional medicine doctor and have some testing done if you’ve been following a true Paleo diet regime and are still not feeling great.
The answer is not ‘a Paleo diet doesn’t work’, nor is it ‘just take supplement X.’
Address your own concerns accurately and then you can safely determine if you do need to supplement with anything.
Now what about general guidelines for how to get all we need from food?
Let’s start with some popular micronutrients people feel they need to supplement with:
Likely, the most frequently asked question is how one can get enough calcium without consuming dairy. A cup of low fat milk has 314 mg/cup while a cup of collard greens has 375. Guess which one is more alkaline? And guess which one is very acidic and pulls calcium from the bones, leading to osteoporosis over time? That’s right, milk! Pass the greens, please!
Fiber. How can you possibly meet your quota without cereal grains? Vegetables actually provide an average of 7 – 11 times the amount of fiber that cereal grains offer. A cup of oatmeal provides 4 grams. A cup of artichoke hearts has 10.3 grams with none of the awful side effects experienced after consuming anti-nutrients. Steam those artichoke hearts and toss ‘em up with some olive oil and lemon!
Vitamin D. First of all, don’t just jump on the bandwagon and assume you need it because you’ve heard others who live nearby are low. Get tested first! Then, if you find you don’t need it, spend your fifteen minutes in the sun a few times per week in order to allow your body to facilitate production of this essential vitamin that acts like a hormone in the body.
Fighting a cold? Head straight to the pharmacy for zinc tablets, right? Scratch that. Head straight to the fishmonger instead, as oysters are one of the best foods sources of this immunity boosting mineral.
I could go on for days.
Everything we need, we can find from nature in its purest form, which we can absorb far more easily than a pill or powder.
Save some money and preserve your health by relying on what Hippocrates said, and ‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.’
REFERENCES
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/dec/...
http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/sho...+
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/art...
http://thepaleodiet.com/paleo-answer/
April 23, 2015
Fun in the Sun! Paleoista Tips to Prevent Sunburn
Oh, the glory days of a lazy, summer Sunday afternoon.
There’s not a single thing I’d rather do on a hot, sunny Southern California day than hit the beach after a nice, long run. With the sound of the surf, the warmth of the sand, and the heavenly sun on my skin just a mere ten minutes from home, it’s paradise.
Unless, of course, you’re still doing what I, and likely millions of others, used to.
I’d purposely go bake in the sun, going way beyond the fifteen minutes a few times per week recommended for our Vitamin D supply. Instead, I would get dangerously close to that foolish, unhealthy idea that I’d “burn first and then tan.”
Fortunately, my mother was religious about applying sunscreen all throughout my early childhood days of playing at the beach and racing on swim team. And by the luck of the draw, my skin happens to tan and not get sunburned, so I was able to get away with being a bit naïve when it came to protecting myself from the sun in my teens and twenties.
You may likely have done something similar yourself, or at least have a friend or family member who did. Hopefully, they had a chance to wise up before something terrible occurred…like skin cancer.
Did you know an estimated 73,870 new cases of invasive melanoma will be diagnosed this year, and roughly 9,940 people will die of melanoma in the U.S. alone? Melanoma accounts for less than two percent of skin cancer cases, but causes the vast majority of skin cancer-related deaths.
So where does that leave us? Do we really need to cover ourselves from head to toe with sun-proof clothing, a big, floppy hat, and a masque of pure zinc oxide anytime we venture into the great outdoors, even if your version of the great outdoors is an urban jungle with little sun exposure?
Surely, our ancestors got some serious sun exposure, didn’t they? How did they avoid getting sunburned?
For one thing, they had a complete ozone layer. And, they didn’t have the pollution we do today. When factoring in these details, it becomes clear that this may be one case where we can’t simply mimic what, if anything, they may have done to remain sunburn-free.
But just how safe is it to spray down with a host of noxious chemicals, which, by the way, can help further destroy ozone if you’re using a brand with CFCs or HFCs? What effect might those have on our bodies? Isn’t there a better way?
Actually, yes.
First of all, it’s worth noting that we don’t, in fact, need to stay out of the sun all the time. We need sunlight to synthesize Vitamin D, which is not just any old vitamin. It’s an essential compound which acts like a hormone in the body, often resulting in its being classed in a category all its own. Get your levels tested, however, before you zip off to Whole Foods and stock up on extra tablets. No need to waste money if you’re getting enough Vitamin D in the first place!
By changing what you eat, you can actually help protect yourself from the inside out. You can boost your “internal sunscreen” by consuming anti-oxidants and beneficial fats that are found in abundace on a Paleo diet. These strengthen skin cells, helping to protect them from sun damage. Eating lots of vegetables, fish oils, and some low glycemic fruits such as blueberries, raspberries, and Goji berries are great options.
Prepare your skin by getting small amounts of exposure regularly as you approach the summer season to give it time to adapt.
You can make your own topical sunscreen spray with a simple mixture of Vitamin C powder and water. FDA approved, no, but look at everything the FDA does approve and then decide if that matters to you anyway.
See a reliable dermatologist once per year to do a thorough mole map to see if anything looks suspicious.
With a little preparation, spending time in the sun can once again be seen as a healthy option to enjoy all summer long!
REFERENCES
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/en...
http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer...
http://www.epa.gov/ozone/science/q_a....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-fran...
April 22, 2015
Earth Day: Go Green with Paleo
Before I adopted a Paleo diet regime, I was a vegan. I chose to eat a vegan diet for two reasons: I wanted to figure out how the food I was eating was making me sick (If only I knew how much sicker I was making myself by eating all the faux meat and soy- or gluten-based products of vegan fare!), and I loved animals.
I thought that somehow not eating animals or using any animal products would be the best way to support their humane treatment.
Little did I know, boycotting all meat and animal products, regardless of the source, doesn’t actually do anything to help the cause. It also means boycotting those small farmers and local ranchers who are trying to provide these products in the right way. Further, I had no idea that being vegan isn’t actually the best way to support a healthy planet. The World Wildlife Foundation even pointed out that production methods for meat substitutes can be energy intensive and the products tend to be highly processed.
In light of today being the 45th Earth Day, I thought it fitting to write a post on how Paleo living is actually the most conducive way to be green and for each of us to do our part in reversing some of the damage we’ve done to our precious Mother Earth as the collective human species.
What can each of us do to pay it forward and keep our planet healthy?
In addition to the obvious, such as driving greener cars, using sustainable, recyclable materials instead of plastics, and doing your best to use natural energy sources, you can also do your part to contribute to a healthier planet by simply following a True Paleo regime:
Focusing on local, seasonal produce makes a huge dent in our carbon footprint.
Incorporating animals raised in a natural environment rather than in an inhumane factory where they’re force-fed items they’d never naturally ingest. Grass-feeding animals does not actually worsen environment because it ‘releases excess carbon into the atmosphere’. In actuality, grass-fed animals eat a naturally occurring substance that does not have to be farmed and will never require pesticides of any kind.
Avoiding grains, many of which come from large-scale grain production facilities, also helps to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we release into the air.
Staying away from chemicals used by Big Agro that contaminate food is better for the environment. Grain production for cattle feed is often touted as the cause of deforestation, habitat loss, and species extinction. Virtually all their agricultural systems depend on crude oil, including planting, harvesting, processing, packaging, and transportation. More evidence outlining the importance of eating locally and in season, and nixing the whole concept of transporting foods over long distances in the first place!
Including regular physical activity as part of a Paleo diet lifestyle further reduces the demand for driving cars and the associated toxins released getting from place to place.
Finally, although this might be more in keeping with a generally civil approach to life than specifically for Earth Day, pay it forward and promote peace. Even I, certainly very dogmatic at times, don’t feel the need to convince people to adopt a Paleo diet by telling them they’re wrong for eating fries, breads, and ice cream
Do your part to protect our planet, and join in with more than 1 billion people who participate in Earth Day activities each year.
REFERENCES
http://paleoleap.com/vegetarianism-ba...
April 21, 2015
What Foods to Eat Before and After a Workout
Nothing like a ripe banana first thing in the morning to fuel your run! It makes perfect sense to rely on this natural, pure source of carbs to fuel your 30 minute jog, doesn’t it?
Not exactly.
While a banana is indeed natural, it is far from being the best thing to fuel your morning workout, despite perhaps making you feel energized from the sugar.
So, what should you eat prior to an early morning sweat session?
While there are many factors to consider, let’s begin by separating those who are doing morning activity into two categories: those who need to fuel and those who don’t.
If you’re just starting an exercise regime and you’re doing a workout that’s not very long or intense, you don’t need to eat anything first. In very basic terms, if you’re not supplying your body with sugar, there’s nothing else for your body to use as fuel but fat.
Even the leanest have enough fat to get through a workout. If you begin your day burning fat rather than carbohydrates, you’re doing the best possible thing you can do to set yourself up for steady energy all day long, assuming you eat a proper Paleo diet. Look at it this way: the body wants to take the path of least resistance. If sugar is readily available and work isn’t needed to tap into fat stores, guess which path is taken? And guess which path our brains are conditioned to think we need all day long?
Now, what if you didn’t eat anything and went straight out for your run or to spin class? Sorry, brain, no sugar is available, so you’d better tap into some fat!
But is this the case only for short, easy activity?
Not by a long shot! We can train our bodies to become extremely efficient at using fat as fuel, even for long, intense workouts. What does this mean for endurance athletes or highly conditioned CrossFitters, for example?
A few things.
First of all, this is not to say if you’ve trained on carbohydrates for years that you should decide tomorrow to go out for a four hour ride with an empty stomach. It’s not going to work and you’ll likely experience that all too familiar ‘bonk’. However, what you can do is begin to wean yourself off of carbs by beginning to implement some fasted training sessions.
I’ve changed my own Ironman fueling regime quite significantly over the years from being heavily reliant on carbohydrates to becoming fat-adapted enough to swim, ride and run at high intensities for extended periods of time using a protocol more aligned with fat burning.
More and more research continues to demonstrate how higher (healthy) fat and lower carbohydrate approaches are more conducive to better overall health. To follow a Paleo diet regime on a daily basis but then mix it with a high carbohydrate approach is simply not as synergistic as having all of your eating aligned.
Strength training or CrossFit sessions done in a fasted state are also shown to elicit better results in terms of results and recovery compared to pounding down an artificially flavored protein powder shake before a session. So, we see what we shouldn’t be doing (eating lots of sugar) and where we should be heading, but what about in the interim, during what one might refer to as an “adaptation phase”? Is this to say we shouldn’t have any carbs?
No, not at all. The idea isn’t to become only reliant on all fat and no sugar at all; rather, it’s important to have both pathways available. The brain does need a little bit of glucose to function, but the key is to remember the brain can use ketones to supply this essential fuel.
So, over time, the goal is to train the mind and body to rely on fat, not carbohydrates. This will help you become not only an athlete who can perform and recover better, but also a human who is lean with great energy levels all day long, who will not likely fall prey to diabetes, obesity, or worse.
You might follow an approach that I used for years for endurance, which was to include starch (mostly yams) the night before a long session, drink a homemade smoothie in the morning using fresh egg, banana, and coconut water, and then following the non-Paleo, gel-fueling protocol. I’ve always been candid that the gel I used for years was the sole non-Paleo thing in my diet and it drove me nuts that I was using a man-made product that embodied the antithesis of everything else I ate and suggested others eat.
To this end, I began fiddling around with fasted training and continue to develop a protocol which allows long, intense training to occur. With this approach, I’ve had better results than I’ve ever seen before, less soreness caused by lactic acid build-up, and none of that awful carb-crash feeling.
It is worth noting that while salting foods is not part of the traditional Paleo diet approach, when one follows a more fat-adapted approach for exercise, it becomes significantly more important to add some electrolytes.
Bottom line: follow a True Paleo regime, give your body time to adapt, do your research and allow yourself to transition into what will prove to be a life-long, sustainable way of living.
Lean, fit, and fat adapted versus chubby, sleepy and low energy with a higher risk of diabetes, obesity and other related illness? Sounds like a no-brainer to me. For all of us, athlete or not, becoming fat adapted is the path to take in order to promote optimal health and avoid the risk of the many health concerns that plague our society today.
While you’re transitioning to this Paleo lifestyle, the balance can be found via eating real foods, no matter if you’re an endurance athlete, a yogi or a weekend warrior. Try out the recipes in Pocket Paleo: Workout to make the transition a little easier.
REFERENCES
http://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.co...
The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance, by Jeff S. Volek, PhD and Stephen D. Phinney, MD, PhD, 2012
April 20, 2015
Getting an Energy Boost Without Caffeine
Feeling sluggish in the morning? Just stop off at Starbucks and grab a quadruple espresso with some Splenda.
Fighting the urge in the afternoon to take a nap an hour after lunch? Pop over to the café next door for a non-fat, icy, blended number to provide a little pick me up.
Since neither of these are high in fat or calories, what’s the harm? Don’t they make for good options between meals when your energy has hit a bit of a lull?
Not so much.
While some caffeine can be acceptable as part of a healthy Paleo diet regime, it can easily be taken out of context and abused.
It’s one thing to enjoy a black espresso with your balanced breakfast; it’s a different story if you’re either trying to skimp on calories or rely on the wrong type of fuel to power through the day.
Instead of trying to come up with creative ways to remedy a lack of energy after it occurs, how about taking the high road and being proactive about it, preventing a blood-sugar dip in the first place?
If you fall into the first camp – skimping on calories in an attempt to adhere to an arbitrary number you came up with, such as ‘women shouldn’t eat more than 1,200 calories/day for weight loss’ (pardon?) – it’s no wonder you’re flagging by 11 am.
Intermittent fasting, which includes everything from periodic multiday fasts to skipping a meal or two on certain days of the week can promote some of the same health benefits that uninterrupted calorie restriction promises. This can easily be a part of your own Paleo diet regime. When done properly, you’ll set yourself up to function optimally on fat as your fuel, which is completely the opposite of someone who’s just trying to go low on calories.
Waking up hungry and having half a bagel and jam and a coffee with skim milk and Sweet & Low is indeed a meal low in calories. But, it’s also low in nutrient density, high in refined carbohydrates (yes, even with the fake sugar) and does nothing more than to create a blood sugar spike, then a crash which, if not fed, will result in the urge to curl up under the desk for a snooze.
Which is, precisely, one of the most common reasons people feel they need to have more caffeine.
Once this happens in the morning, the likelihood of a repeat performance after lunch is high, only now there’s a greater likelihood of choosing too much of the wrong type of food since by then, you’re ravenous.
So, 30 minutes and a plate of pasta with cream sauce and some bread and butter (because it looked good) later, you’re full and sleepy, but you’ve got to head back to the office.
No, thanks!
The other important thing to take into consideration is the glaringly obvious – how much sleep are you getting. Too many of us make the bad choice to work late, get up early, or both…until it comes back to bite us in the butt! Anytime someone claims they only need five hours of sleep per night, I get a little suspicious.
Do everything you can to make sleep a priority. Don’t eat too late. Don’t bring your laptop to bed or watch TV late into the night. Make your bedroom the perfect sleep haven by creating total quiet and darkness. Then, when you’ve gotten in your eight hours, wake up and workout. Get your blood moving early in the morning in order to maintain consistency and reduce chances of a post-work flake out.
And then, the most important part: choose your first meal of the day wisely. Go for poached wild salmon on greens with olive oil, a veggie omelet with avocado, or a grass fed steak, eggs and pepper sauté.
Hydrate, too, and then when your tummy begins to rumble several hours later, have another meal.
With constant steady energy and a rested mind and body, don’t be surprised if you don’t even think about heading over to that coffee shop two or three times per day anymore.
And, if you do, opt for a green tea. Yes, it still has some caffeine, but it’s balanced out with L- Theanine, a compound that helps to promote relaxation, modifying that jolt you’d feel if you’d have gone for a quad espresso.
REFERENCES
http://www.scientificamerican.com/art...
April 17, 2015
Balancing Blood Sugar: What Foods to Eat and When to Stay on an Even Keel
Learning which foods to eat and which foods to avoid is only one part of the picture when opting to adopt a Paleo diet.
Food timing and the balancing of macronutrients to regulate your blood sugar is just as important as knowing how to formulate the perfect Paleo breakfast.
A couple of runny eggs cooked in coconut oil with a hefty serving of fresh, local greens and some avocado on top rather than that tired old, low calorie approach of a cup of corn flakes and skin milk is an outstanding way to nourish your body and brain to start the day after your morning workout.
But then what?
When should the next meal be, and what should it consist of?
Within my own journey through Paleo living over the last decade, I’ve made some significant changes in my own eating regime as well as that of my clients, all the while staying within the context of avoiding grains, dairy and legumes, and focusing on good fats, wild proteins and a sizeable amount of leafy greens.
First off, make sure to balance your macros.
Some people may find they feel best eating something closer to the protocol of a Zone Diet, roughly 40/30/30. I created my own blend of a Paleo diet plus the Zone diet which I followed for quite some time, for example, until I researched more about becoming fat adapted and opted to up the fat percentage to as high as 80% on days following hard training blocks and then reducing to about 50% on other days.
Being fat adapted, by the way, is certainly not particular to athletes. In fact, busy executives, stressed out moms and frankly, anyone interested in achieving better mental focus would benefit from this approach.
However,, this certainly doesn’t mean you’ve got to move from your current routine that you’re used to and comfortable with to a higher, good-fat plan in one fell swoop.
This is where the balance comes in, and rather than feeling like you’ve got to become obsessive about weighing and measuring every last ounce of pasture-raised turkey, just use the Paleo template I presented on the Dr. Oz Show to create your own Paleo meal. Fill up your plate with veggies, add some good, clean protein and follow it up with a nice dose of fat such as olive oil or avocado as well as coconut oil.
When we eat this way, not only are we more satiated, we do a better job at absorbing all the nutrition from the great foods we’re eating and experience a solid, constant energy and balanced blood sugar that lasts us for several hours, until the next time we need to refuel.
Then, when lunchtime rolls around, use the same template for meal # 2.
Now, where does snacking come into the picture?
There is conflicting information in cyberspace about this topic. Is snacking between meals bad? Or is it better to have another meal of the same formulation mid morning and mid afternoon?
Here, it depends on how active you are and how well you’re doing at emotionally removing yourself form the idea that eating fat is bad and will prevent you from losing that extra fifteen you’ve been carrying around.
For someone who’s already quite fat adapted, and has perhaps learned how to properly implement intermittent fasting (“IF”), there’s no need to add snacks, even for the most athletic and active of us.
On the flip side, if you’re easing your way off of functioning on a low-fat, low-cal eating plan on which you were struggling on a daily basis with that awful insulin roller coaster effect, you may be better off adding that mid morning snack, which is really just another addition of the same exact meal template as described above.
Now, to the most confusing part: what about how eating factors around exercise? Don’t we need to carb-load or carb ‘back load’?
Not necessarily; again, it depends on how efficient the athlete has become at using fat as their primary fuel.
I spent years as a Paleo endurance athlete with the misconception that I needed to rely on extra yam, banana and other starchy or high glycemic albeit natural foods to prep for as well as recover from those long training days.
But it all takes time.
If you’re an endurance athlete who’s still eating a high percentage of your calories from carbs, even if they are Paleo-approved, you’d fare quite well to allow your body to become less dependent on them. Not only will you find performance improves, but so does recovery.
In the interim, while you’re still using carbohydrates, you may still opt to follow the recommendation of eating roughly a 4:1 ratio of higher glycemic or starchy carb with an easily digestible protein source in preparation for a long event or training session. Some good examples include a ripe banana mashed with a soft-boiled egg or some boiled yam with sliced turkey.
Meanwhile you can begin to help your body shift by incorporating some fasted sessions into your training you help create the change.
My advice to you: mind your macros, stay on track with timing, and most importantly, give your body time to adjust. If you feel off for a few days, know that this is part of the process and don’t sell yourself short by opting to eat a bagel with jam because you think you ‘need some carbs’ to even out your blood sugar.
Over time, your energy will soar, your mind will become sharper than ever before and your body will become leaner than you might have thought possible.
Clearly, it’s worth the wait!
REFERENCES
http://www.zonediet.com/shop/books/th...
April 16, 2015
Dealing with Cravings, Sweet Tooth, and Other Unhealthy Eating Habits
There’s not a one-size-fits all approach to eating.
Believe me, I would absolutely love it if everyone understood how bountiful and delicious long term Paleo living can be when implemented properly. With a focus on local, fresh, in-season produce, any and all herbs and spices your heart desires, satiating, rich fats like avocado and olive oil, and hearty proteins like grass-fed meats and wild fish, eating in this manner is hardly what comes to mind when most people think of the word ‘diet’.
But the reality is that there are many misconceptions about what the Paleo diet is and as the Paleo movement grows, so do the various interpretations of what it’s all about.
What it is about: eating in a way that we allow our bodies to function optimally and as a result, we thrive!
What it isn’t about: lining up all the ingredients of the typical, highly processed Standard American special and poking holes in it to see where we can weave in almond milk, coconut flour and honey and dates to create high-glycemic, highly-processed concoctions that are perhaps slightly less offensive that their original counterparts.
In my experience with clients, it’s the latter approach that tends to occur more often than the former and the work is begun from a standpoint of feeling restricted and skeptical about the fact that ‘I can’t have this and that” and “what will I use to sweeten/thicken things” and “how long do I have to do this?”
While I recognize that there is no ‘right’ approach to getting started in terms of diving in 100% versus easing your way into it (so long as you arrive there and give it a fair try for at least one month) the chances of long-term success decrease if we don’t change the behaviors about food right along with the very foods we are eating.
The body needs time to adjust to anything new and an eating regime is no exception.
There is without a doubt a transitional phase during which it’s totally normal to feel a little ‘off’, but to not see it through can be a huge setback in and of itself.
Let’s use the ‘sweet tooth’ example, as it’s likely one of the most common.
“What can I put in my tea if I am not supposed to use honey/sugar/splenda/aspartame anymore” and “what can I eat after dinner since I need something sweet” are two questions I’ve probably been asked hundreds of times.
Here’s the deal: how about weaning yourself off of the idea that you ‘need to sweeten’ in the first place?
Now, hear me out; this is not to say that you can never again enjoy some frozen grapes on a hot afternoon or devour a decadent piece of raw, dark chocolate after dinner… it’s the feeling that you need to have the sugar that needs to be addressed.
When I hear the word ‘cravings’, I suspect a blood sugar crash, first and foremost. Many people don’t eat enough in the earlier part of the day, and the calories they do tend to eat often come from refined carbohydrates. How about if, instead of wondering what you can find to get sugar into your mouth, you address why you’re experiencing cravings for that taste in the first place?
If you revamp your breakfast of low-fat cereal and skim milk and, instead, eat a rich meal with a nice whollop of fat from avocado and coconut oil and, what the heck, some pastured, uncured bacon now and then (now and then being the operative words, people… not every day!) along with your veggies and farm fresh eggs, you’ll fill your boots to keep you going strong well into the afternoon with no blood sugar issues to speak of.
And then, when it’s time to eat, it’s a gentle feeling of a rumbling tummy that provides the reminder that it’s time for another meal. Perhaps this one might be a wild greens salad with some wild, local pan-seared fish, more avocado, olive oil and steamed veggies instead of what might’ve occurred if you’d been on that darn old insulin roller coaster.
When your body is nourished with this lovely, balanced energy, your mind is sharp and the idea of sugar becomes less and less appealing until it’s ultimately a non-issue.
I’ve personally changed my own diet over the years – even within the parameters of a Paleo diet – simply by experimenting more with macronutrient ratios and specifically including more fat and less fruit.
Even as endurance athletes, we can train our bodies over time to become less reliant on the carbs we’re led to believe we must rely so heavily upon.
And for anyone who doesn’t happen to fall into that category, healthy Paleo living with an emphasis on upping the fat a bit can help expedite weight loss and promote greater energy levels all day long.
So if you’re feeling the urge to sweeten, or any other food cravings that simply feels less-than-healthy, take a look and make sure you’re following a sound Paleo diet approach, based on the principles of true Paleo living.
Nell Stephenson's Blog
