Nell Stephenson's Blog, page 27

Five Food Groups?

Funny, I thought there were three:  carbohydrates, proteins and fats.  Apparently, I was wrong.  

According to the USDA, there are five: fruits, vegetables, grains, protein foods and dairy.  

And we should be mostly eating these foods, and avoiding empty calories, which, as per their site include “calories from solid fats and/or added sugars. Solid fats and added sugars add calories to the food but few or no nutrients. For this reason, the calories from solid fats and added sugars in a food are often called empty calories.”

I half agree.  Yes, on the added sugars, without a doubt.

But the ‘solid fats’?  Let’s read on.

“Solid fats are fats that are solid at room temperature, like butter, beef fat, and shortening. Some solid fats are found naturally in foods. They can also be added when foods are processed by food companies or when they are prepared.

Solid fats and added sugars can make a food or beverage more appealing, but they also can add a lot of calories.”

Ok; still on board with the sugars but the solid fats?  

No, not so much.  

Grass fed beef fat, coconut oil, and even grass-fed butter for those who follow a primal approach would then be swept into this broad category of foods to avoid along with corn syrup and hydrogenated shortening because they add a lot of calories?

So what’s their answer? 

“Many ‘foods’  that provide the most empty calories for Americans can be found in forms with less or no solid fat or added sugars. For example, low-fat cheese and low-fat hot dogs can be purchased. You can choose water, milk, or sugar-free soda instead of drinks with sugar. Check that the calories in these products are less than in the regular product.”

Ah!  Perfect. So all we have to do is go for low-fat hot fogs and sugar free soda and we’re back on the path to optimal health.

This the message we’re receiving from the USDA.

It’s such a mixed message.  

Their website tells us to check out campaigns like the “Let’s Move Initiative” and “Know Your Farmer Know Your Food”, and we see pictures of brightly colored veggies and fruit, all of which are on the right track, but then to group ‘fats that are solid at room temperature and are therefore high in calories and to be avoided’ with white sugar and products containing it really misses the boat.

While I agree that we shouldn’t be eating Crisco on a daily basis (or ever, actually), putting coconut oil and beef fat under a heading with white sugar is not only completely inaccurate, it makes all the other information provided by the source, which may be right (or at least, half right), lose credibility.

Reality check: there are, indeed three macro nutrient groups that we should be eating each and every day:  

Carbohydrates (fresh, local vegetables and some fruit, depending on how active you are and what you’re eating it with.. and when, with regard to exercise)
Fats (focusing on avocado, olive oil, some coconut oil and raw nuts (mostly walnuts, Brazils and macadamias in moderation) as well as the rich Omega 3s we get from wild salmon and black cod, for example
Proteins (from wild or naturally raised animals, who ate real food, too)

If you’re eating something that you can’t honestly fit into one of the three categories above, you’re eating something that’s probably not as healthy of a choice.

Cut the grains, the sugar, the soy…up the veggies and the good fats with proteins.   

It truly is that simple.

 

March Is National Nutrition Month. Let’s See What the USDA is Suggesting…

Oh, I know I am opening such a can of worms!  

But let’s have a little fun here.  

This week, the theme is going to be focused on recommendations from the USDA and breaking them down to see what, if any credibility they have and looking a little deeper into where the suggestions are coming from in the first place.

I’ve got a few specific topics in mind, but in the interim, what would you like to know?  

Or, perhaps there’s a piece of advice you got from your doctor or RD that’s just so inaccurate it’s laughable? I’ve got one that falls into the latter category.  

About eleven years ago, when I was at the end of my rope, just shortly prior to learning about Paleo, and just after receiving my third inaccurate diagnosis (which included IBS, Crohn’s and colitis), I was given a diet to follow the latest gastroenterologist I’d gone to see.  The recommendations were to avoid all vegetables (they’d be too hard to digest) and to mainly eat ‘easy to digest, bland foods’, like white bread, white rice, saline crackers and other low-fiber ‘foods’.

Can you imagine if I’d listened and continued to eat those pretend foods, just how sick I’d be by now?

Sheesh.

Ok, hoping off the soap box now, but you see the trend.

Reach out if you’d like to share, or have a burning question you’d like answered.

From ‘eating grains every day for a good fiber source’ to ‘drinking milk to help build healthy bones’, we’ll get into the nitty gritty a little bit this week, starting, as I mentioned above, with from where the recommendations are coming from and the idea that just maybe, there might be an ulterior motive to making such suggestions.

 

When All Is Said And Done, Just Eat Food!

Ah… what a way to spend the morning. I’ve just gotten back from a lovely, aerobic ride along PCH.  

Two and a half hours was the extent of it today as I’m in full taper mode for next week’s LA Marathon.

I opted not to do the ride fasted, for no other reason than I didn’t ride first thing and I wanted to enjoy a nice breakfast with my husband before he headed out on his training ride for Ultraman (just a slightly different fueling protocol during his ride!).

About two hours after eating my breakfast of baked yam, shredded left over turkey, 1/2 an avocado and some finely torn raw kale (along with two cups of green tea), I was ready to go and enjoyed a steady state, aerobic 40 miler on water.

That’s it.

Then, when I got home, I hydrated first (water…again) followed by a ripe banana mashed with two soft boiled eggs, and soon, it’ll be time for lunch which will be whichever veggies and proteins and fat I’ve prepared and have waiting for me in the fridge.

Would I have used or needed some fuel during the ride if I’d been going for a longer ride?  Absolutely.

But here’s the main gist of the theme of the whole last week in which I’ve been posting about some common myths and misconceptions in the world of fueling for endurance:

Mostly, eat food.   And, if you’re training or racing for endurance events, you may need to rely on some form of ‘sports nutrition product’, perhaps a carbohydrate gel or some salts for some of your long sessions, but do your best to minimize consumption by training your body to become fat-adapted and using real, whole food as much as possible.

And, if you’re not one of the small percentage of humans who opt to go long (yes, many may view those of us who are as a strange breed), you probably don’t need any of it at all.   

I don’t use any of it in my off season when there are no workouts exceeding 2 1/2 hours.  Food, water, rest and  sleep are the perfectly Paleo way to approach fueling for endurance!

 

Pre-Loading on Sports Drinks?

Last week, during an initial consultation with a client based in Holland, I began the call with the typical Q&A.

I like to get a sense of the background of each person I work with and learn a bit more about how they learned about Paleo, what their health concerns are, nutritional background as well as fitness or racing goals and so on.

This was a young man who’d been placing top five in his age group, but felt his nutrition might be the missing link.

When he reviewed the current protocol, it was similar to what I hear a lot of …and it’s more or less the same advice you’ll get in any running, triathlon or any sports magazine for that matter.

He was consuming a lot of refined, processed carbs, both in training and in racing as well as in day to day eating, as we are told, as endurance athletes, that we need to do.

But what struck me in particular was what he does prior to the race, for several days in terms of hydration and ‘preloading on electrolytes’.

He drinks bottles and bottles of gatorade for two to three days prior to racing his event, which is the half-iron distance of 70.3 miles of swimming, biking and running.

While this might make sense at first glance; adding some extra sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium to the body to ‘stock up’ on what we’re going to lose through sweat, consuming mass quantities of Gatorade is not exactly the best way to go about preparing the body nutritionally for the main event.

We can leave the fact that the Gatorade brand, despite probably being the most popular brand worldwide, and despite the fact that Gatorade’s research institute foots the bill for many studies telling us to keep downing the salts and focus on the big picture:  if we eat properly, (ahem, as in, a True Paleo regime), we actually end up eating the proper amounts of electrolytes as well as every other nutrient we need.

In fact, we also get them in the proper ratios!   The Standard American Special is high in sodium and low in potassium, while paleo is just the opposite.

So does that mean we don’t need to replace the salts at all?

Some studies are leaning that way.  One book in particular that’s worth reading is Tim Noakes’ Waterlogged.

In a nutshell, the book’s jacket sums it up: “Tim Noakes sets the record straight, exposing the myths surrounding dehydration and presenting up-to-date hydration guidelines for endurance sport and prolonged training activities.”

At the same time, we must factor in  sweat rate, ambient conditions, body size, fitness level and ability to acclimate.

And simply downing copious amounts of water is not the way to go, either, as then you can put yourself at risk for hyponaturemia, which can be fatal.

So what’s the safest thing to do?

One option is to measure your sweat rate in a laboratory but even then, the results and advice will vary based on the technician’s skill and unique methodology.

You can also check your own hydration by weighing in before and after a training session, seeing how much weight you’ve lost and replacing fluid at the rate of 1.5 L of fluid for each kilogram of body weight lost.

Salt tablets as well as other ‘sports nutrition’ electrolyte products abound these days, too; some more less malicious than others; some include sorbitol, a low calorie sugar alcohol which allows the product to take shape of a perfect circle, and ‘fizz’ like an Alka-Seltzer tablet… but, by the way, sorbitol is also used clinically as a laxative and cause significant GI distress.

It’s all so confusing, isn’t it?

Just take a step back and consider how, if you rely on real foods, eaten in a balanced manner,  you’ll provide your body with the correct supply of all it needs, in the correct proportions.

This is not to say that if you’re racing in 105 degrees tomorrow and you’ve been taking salts all along you should change your game; rather, just consider what you’re putting into your body, where the information is coming from and how valid it really is.

And, if you want to ‘load up’ on something for a few days before the race, why not make some bone broth and sip that?

Pre-nourish your muscles, mind and soul with something real, rather than sucrose (table sugar), dextrose, citric acid, natural flavor, sodium chloride (table salt), sodium citrate, mono potassium phosphate, and flavoring/coloring ingredients.

Even better, some Gatorade flavor variations use brominated vegetable oil as a stabilizer.

Want to pre-load up on some electrolytes in the right balance?

Cantaloupe makes a great choice for potassium, Spinach is a superb source of calcium, seaweed provides chloride and leafy greens and nuts provide magnesium.

Balance.  Real Food. Simple.

Rethinking “Carb Loading”

Load up on bagels, bread and sports drinks the day before a race.   Eat all you can at the pre-race night pasta party. Finally, when you cross that finish line, it’s time to down the cookies and more coca cola in order to replenish those glycogen stores.  You deserve it,  you’ve earned it, right?

Oh, my.

I don’t know if this sort of advice could possibly be more antiquated… or erroneous!

Not only is loading the body with grain-based items a bad idea from a gut-health standpoint, the body simply doesn’t store these carbohydrates as efficiently as it would if the carbs were a) sourced from actual food and b) eaten in small doses, balanced out with other real foods that should comprise the bulk of your eating (veggies, wild proteins and fats).

In other words, even if you don’t follow a particularly Paleo eating regime and you happen to be an endurance athlete,  it would still behoove you to simply add small amounts of yam or sweet potato or other starchy veggies and high glycemic foods to your meals for a few days leading up to the event (depending on how long the event is), rather than just forcing in as much pasta, bread, bars and Gatorade as possible the day prior.

While it may seem to ‘work’ for some people, insomuch as they don’t wake up with a terrible stomachache (or worse), consider that unless you can absolutely, honestly say with complete sincerity that you feel strong, focused, light, lean and energized during the whole entire race, your pre-fueling regime may need to be tinkered with a bit.

For me, the days leading up to Ironman involve significantly more ‘feet up and resting’ that normal, but rather than lying around eating dates, yams, bananas and honey, I continue to eat predominately veggies, wild proteins, fats and just add some starch to each meal.

Like a 1/2 cup or so.

Recall that eating starch with some protein in small quantities after a workout allows for more rapid delivery of carbohydrate from the gut into the muscles and liver to be stored as glycogen.

Similarly, when we eat an appropriately sized portion of Hawaiian Blue Sweet Potatoes (my fave when in Kona!) to a wild greens salad with grilled Ono, or a sautéed garlic spinach dinner with seared Mahi, we create nourishment for the body and up the fuel stores for the big race to come.

It’s worth mentioning that energy levels during this time period during the last few days of taper sometimes leave a lot to be desired. For one thing, you’re forcing rest to an otherwise very active body and for another, you’re adding starch to the mix, which, under any other circumstance than getting ready for a race, would make no sense.

It always proves to be worth it, though; come race day you’re chomping at the bit and raring to go with springs in your legs!

Take away message- ditch the pre-race pasta, sports drinks (more to come on this topic, too!) and the idea that we should stuff it all in, in vast quantities.

All we need is a little yam and banana along with our real food which, in combination that some fasted training has been incorporated in order to make fat burning easier, decreasing the need for carbs in the first place, will pave the way to a PR.

Here’s a sneak peak into Pocket Paleo Workout; a recipe for Blue Sweet Potato Hash, a must-eat for those long, grueling rides and runs!

 

A Better Whey to Recover

How many people do you know who feel they need to recover from a workout with a smoothie made with a whey- based protein powder?

And how many of those people differentiate between recovering from a six hour Ironman training ride and a one hour strength session in the gym?

Through no fault of their own, athletes to weekend warriors to those participating in HITT tend to follow many of the same recommendations perpetuated by the media (as in: drink whey-based recovery drinks) including the misconception that we all need to drink a pre-made ‘recovery shake in a box’.

Often, these contain whey (often touted as being the very best type of protein powder), and sometimes added sugars, both real and artificial, flavors, also fake as well as other ingredients sometimes unidentifiable as food.

Perhaps my favorite example is the idea that good old chocolate milk makes a great recovery drink option.

First of all, if you’re recovering from a strength session, what you’ll need to repair and recover is vastly different from recovering from a long endurance session.

I go in to a lot more detail in Pocket Paleo, Workout, but suffice it to say that an hour long strength training session, ideally done in a fasted state, relies on a different fueling system compared to being out on the bike for six hours.

Neither scenario are such that whey is a requirement.

Rehydrating is always priority number one (stay tuned for an upcoming post this week on just how much), and then, refueling.

But if you’re keeping your True Paleo regime day in and day out to the best of your ability, why throw a package of chocolate milk or a powder, such as this example of one of GNC’s products made with Whey, Artificial Flavors, Sodium Chloride, Acesulfame Potassium, Sucralose, Soy Lecithin, Potassium Citrate into the mix?

How about…food?

One of my favorite recovery drinks for my endurance training sessions is made following an easy recipe including natural sugars from fruit (after an endurance session is one of the few times high glycemic carbs make sense), such as a ripe, spotty banana, easily digestible proteins like chilled, soft boiled eggs (or raw, farm fresh, if available) and a host of my favorite anti inflammatory spices like ginger, turmeric and cinnamon.

There is a time and place whereby you may not be able to find farm fresh eggs, or you may be traveling, and it is in this scenario when I’ll use a protein (made of egg and beef); however the take away message here is not to feel the need to have protein powder as a supplement (that phrase always makes me giggle a little, too; as if one of the three macro nutrients could be an after thought) on a day to day basis after every single workout, regardless of type, duration and intensity.

Do your training, recover with real food and then, when your body tells you it’s time, eat your next True Paleo balanced meal consisting of veggies, fat and protein, sourced humanely, and with as much variety as you can possibly implement.

Real food= clean fuel = optimal performance!

 

Top Myths in Fueling for Fitness and How Paleo Eating Can Help

Last week, I focused on National Heart Month, with blog posts on what Paleo foods help to promote heart health.

Actually, let me rephrase; all Paleo foods help heart health!  I simply chose some of my favorites to illustrate a balance of fats, proteins and carbohydrate to outline how following a Paleo regime is far from following a restrictive ‘diet’.

It’s unlikely that anyone who already has implemented a True Paleo regime was surprised to read that wild salmon, grass fed meat and avocado are conducive to promoting heart health, so hopefully the message was shared a bit to teach friends, colleagues and family a little more about what Paleo really is compared to what the media hypes it out to be.

On the flip side, some of the posts this week might be a bit more controversial in the sense that I’m going to be writing about some of the most common myths we see in the field of how to fuel for fitness, from endurance training to Cross Fit sessions and how many of the products we’re told we ‘must have’ are not only not necessary, they’re harmful.

From depending heavily on refined carbohydrates to ‘needing’ a whey-based recovery shake to consuming far too much sodium to replace what was lost in sweat, my goal this week is to help set the record straight and show, once again, how a real Paleo regime honestly does fuel the body for any type of physical endeavor.

Tune in each morning and feel free to email me during the week if there is a specific question you have for this week’s theme on Paleo fueling for workouts.

Meanwhile, check out Pocket Paleo Workout (on both iTunes as well as amazon) for some basics along with fifty recipes to fuel your every workout, whether you’re a triathlete like me, a yogi, a pilates aficionado or Cross Fitter; all bases are covered!

 

In Vino Veritas … et non est sanitas

The saying arises from the belief that alcohol releases inhibitions…at least the first part of the saying, to which I took the liberty of adding to.

But there is health in wine.

From a factual standpoint, wine does indeed offer many health benefits and in particular, for the heart.

Here’s a snippet of some of the most relevant as they pertain to this last post written for February’s National Heart Month which ended yesterday, thanks to Food and Wine:

Moderate wine consumption, the definition of which varies depending on the source:

Reduces Heart-Attack Risk.  Moderate drinkers suffering from high blood pressure are 30 percent less likely to have a heart attack than nondrinkers
Lowers Risk of Heart Disease.  Red-wine tannins contain procyanidins, which protect against heart disease. Wines from Sardinia and southwest France have more procyanidins than other wines.
Raises high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the “good” cholesterol
Reduces the formation of blood clots
Helps prevent artery damage caused by high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the “bad” cholesterol
Produces changes in blood pressure

All of the above are the sole reasons to raise a glass and make a toast.   Nothing to do with the mouth feel, viscosity, flavor profile or compatibility with a grass fed carpaccio with truffle oil.  Nope, not at all.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s about time to ingest a bit of resveratrol.  (Keeping in mind that I’ve scheduled this post in advance; I’m not really drinking a glass of wine at 6 am, in case you were wondering).

Skol!

Eat Chocolate. Prevent Heart Disease.

But before you head to the low-bar ‘chocolates’ found at the check out area of nearly every store (even those not selling ‘food’..but that’s another story…), keep in mind that there’s a huge difference between those and the real deal:  raw, dark chocolate.

That’s the one that can help prevent against heart disease and cancer…and you’re not going to get that from eating a Snickers Bar.

Three studies of note which focused on this topic include:

Michelle Roberts, Cocoa nutrient for ‘lethal ills’ (BBC NEWS: 2007/03/11)
Mark J. Payne, W. Jeffrey Hurst, Kenneth B. Miller, Craig Rank, and David A. Stuart, Impact of Fermentation, Drying, Roasting, and Dutch Processing on Epicatechin and Catechin Content of Cacao Beans and Cocoa Ingredients (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2010 58 (19), 10518-10527)
Bayard V, Chamorro F, Motta J, Hollenberg NK. Does Flavanol Intake Influence Mortality from Nitric Oxide-Dependent Processes? Ischemic Heart Disease, Stroke, Diabetes Mellitus, and Cancer in Panama. (Int J Med Sci 2007; 4(1):53-58.)

Some important findings:

A flavonoid in chocolate, epicatechin, seems to lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes by relaxing blood vessels and improving blood flow.
Roasting and alkalizing lowers these excellent nutrients;  there is a noticeable loss of epicatechin when heated above 158 °F.  Why roast?   Consumer demand; raw chocolate tends to have a slightly bitter flavor which, unfortunately isn’t what most sweet-toothed shoppers are interested in.
An interesting study done by researchers from Harvard Medical School found that Kuna Indians living on the islands drink chocolate as a staple part of their daily diet and have lower rates of heart disease and cancer compared to other people living on the mainland in Panama who don’t drink nearly as much chocolate and have higher rates of these diseases.

Need a good recommendation?  One of my faves is the Xochipilli 100% bar.  Alternatively, I’ve found raw, 100% ‘baking’ chocolate in the aisle at Whole Foods- fair trade, nothing added… that’ll do!

Eat Fat. Protect Your Heart.

Yes, you read that correctly. Eating fat can help protect your heart and keep it going strong for the long haul.

But before you try to convince yourself that this is an all-inclusive, as in ‘all fat’, hold on just a sec.

We’re talking about good fat, of course.  The type you’ll get when you eat olive oil, avocados, wild salmon and the like…not so much the type you’d get if you were to partake in deep fried yam chips or grass-fed butter-laden Paleo-ish treats.

Even doctors of the Western Medicine persuasion agree that ‘good fats’ are ‘cardioprotective’.

When followed properly, the fats eaten in a True Paleo regime are half monounsatured and one-quarter each saturated and polyunsaturated.

And as discussed in last weeks posts on nuts, the oh-so-important ratio of Omega 3:6 is critical in keeping this  balance intact.   Omega 3s help thin the blood, prevent fatal heartbeat irregularities and help to lower blood triglycerides (The Paleo Diet, Revised Edition, by Dr. Loren Cordain, PhD, 2011 p 31)

No need to weigh out how many grams of avocado slices you’ll eat, nor use the tablespoons to measure your cold pressed extra virgin olive oil (with the exception when one is new to this eating approach, only insofar as it’s a good way to get familiar with what portions look like with regard to the other macros).

Rather, just focus on getting your good fats from a variety of sources and create a balance in that manner.

Eat avocado every day. And olive oil. And eat wild salmon often.

On the flip side, eat raw nuts less often.

Approaching the regime in this manner can create a feeling of less ‘restriction’ and more variety with endless options, which is key if you’re planning on doing this indefinitely.

Bring on the guacamole! (And crudites, of course, rather than crappy corn chips!)

Eating the foods found in the naturally anti-inflammatory Paleo approach