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Water – A Great Way to Start the Day

March 10th, 2010

Recently, I’ve been really paying attention to my water consumption. Especially first thing in the morning.

Do you ever wake up with a dry mouth? Do you ever wake up feeling groggy? Do you have bags under your eyes when you get out of your bed?

If you answered yes to any of the questions, then your body is crying for more water.

Since we lose quite a bit of water when we sleep – or at least I do because I sleep with my mouth open, which means I lose water through breath vapor – it’s helpful to replenish your body’s water stores first thing in the morning.

My morning routine now sees me polish off 1 L of water before I do anything else. It’s amazing how good it makes you feel shortly thereafter and it really hits home the point that many of our fatigue and energy issues can be solved by drinking more water.

So go ahead, try it for yourself and feel the difference.

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The Olympic Athlete Diet

February 15th, 2010

skiierI was thinking about this topic over the last few days, especially since the Olympics kicked off and since watching an episode of the Biggest Loser last week.

Let’s start with the latter.

Last week on the Biggest Loser, the contestants spent some time at the US Olympic training in Colorado. They worked out with some of the US Olympians and then spent some time in the cafeteria learning from nutritionists of the US Olympic team.

And that’s where things went south.

The first thing these “nutritionists” showed the contestants was a big plate of white pasta and a side of white bread. They said that this meal would provide the necessary energy via carbohydrates that their Olympians needed.

Cringe!

Then, they showed the contestants a big hamburger, a salad, and a side of fruit. Wow, talk about bad food combining.

Anyways, I was amazed at how poor the quality was of an Olympic athlete diet. I certainly hope that most of the athletes have been eating like this.

This isn’t helped by the fact that McDonald’s is the MAJOR sponsor and OFFICIAL RESTAURANT of the Vancouver olympic winter games. How does that even happen???

So the few examples above tell us what some athletes are eating. But is that how athletes should really be eating for optimal performances?

I personally don’t think so.

Instead of eating white pasta and white bread (not great from a blood sugar and digestion perspective) why not choose a hypo-allergenic rice pasta or even a raw zucchini pasta?

Remember, wheat is a big issue for a lot of people. And they don’t even realize it.

Another important nutrition concept for olympic athletes to remember is the importance of eating lots of fruits and vegetables. Here are 3 reasons why they need to get their 5-10 servings per day:

Reason #1 – Fruits and vegetables provide more alkalinity

Athletes produce a lot of acid when training and competing. As a result, a more alkaline diet can be helpful in buffering some of that acid and providing an oxygen-rich environment that is needed for optimal repair and regeneration.

Furthermore, when the blood is acidic (for instance, due to an acidic diet and heavy training load) oxygen transport to the cells can become compromised because when the blood is acidic it becomes more viscous and doesn’t flow as freely. Blood needs to be at a pH of between 7.35-7.45 for ideal health and oxygen and nutrient transport.

Fruits and veggies are the fastest and easiest way to ensure this can happen.

Reason #2 – Fruits and veggies are rich in antioxidants

Physical exertion (oxygen consumption in general) produces a lot of free radicals in the body. These free radicals wreak havoc and need to be neutralized by antioxidants.

Berries and other dark pigmented fruits and vegetables are the greatest sources of antioxidants. Some research has even shown that an antioxidant-rich diet may be able to prevent exercise-induced muscle soreness.

Makes sense to me.

Reason #3 – Fruits and vegetables are water-rich

It’s no secret that athletes lose a lot of water through sweat. Aside from drinking liters of good quality water, fruits and vegetables can provide a lot of water along with phenomenal nutrients needed for optimal performance and recovery.

If you want more insight into how athletes should eat, then grab a copy of EATING FOR ENERGY – an entire chapter is dedicated to this subject.

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Milk Campaign That Made Me Sick to My Stomach

February 5th, 2010

I have nothing wrong with someone working hard to make a good living and I respect all the hard work that farmers put into their jobs.

But…

I can’t stand when “associations” or “lobbyists” of farmers spend millions of dollars marketing GARBAGE to our youth about the supposed benefits of their product.

The most recent example is a campaign of TV milk commercials developed and paid for by the Prairie Milk Marketing Partnership (PMMP) – that’s a subtle name – touting the benefits of NEVER STOPPING DRINKING MILK!

It’s absolutely absurd.

These milk ads have been specifically targeted toward teenagers, predominantly girls, based on the TV shows during which they air. The sad part is that milk-pushing organizations like the PMMP are marketing bad messages and essentially brainwashing people who don’t know better.

As a result, these youngsters grow up believing a lie – that daily consumption of cow’s milk is actually good for us!

Nothing could be further from the truth.

To show you some of the nonsense that these ads and the website are dispelling, I’ve copied an image from the NeverStopMilk.ca website.

milk

Just in case you can’t read the so-called FACTS ABOUT MILK that this campaign is promoting, here they are listed again. I’ve also added my commentary after each of these “facts”.

The calcium in milk can actually help you lose weight by encouraging your body to use fat as a source of energy.

=> What on earth does that even mean? How does that make sense? I’m not sure how calcium helps you burn more fat? Try exercising a little.

Feeling tired? Milk can give you an energy boost!

=> How?

Milk can make you glow (but not in the dark). Drinking milk brightens your smile and keeps your eyes bright, and the proteins in milk help your hair shine and build stronger teeth.

=> I can’t believe they’re actually allowed to make these claims!

Milk makes you strong. The proteins in milk help to build your muscles.

=> Ah, the oldest trick in the book. This is the one statement that has led millions to believe that we should drink milk.

Milk is natural and contains 16 essential nutrients that nourish your entire body. Drink daily!

=> Opium is natural too. Most foods contain 16 essential nutrients (and even more). But let’s not forget to drink milk EVERY day.

Milk builds strong bones. By the age of 20, 90% of your bone mass will be built. 90 percent!

=> Milk doesn’t build strong bones. If it did, would countries that drink the most milk also have the highest rates of osteoporosis?

Can’t sleep? Warm milk can help you get your zzzzz’s.

=> There are other ways of getting the relaxing mineral – magnesium – into your body before bed. Plus, dairy has been associated with nightmares and increased incidence of bedwetting – mainly because it’s an allergenic food.

What’s My Beef with Milk?

Now, reading this you might be wondering why I keep bashing milk. After all, I totally dismantle it in my book, Eating for Energy, as well as in several other posts on this blog.

The truth is that I don’t have a HUGE  issue with cow’s milk itself. I just don’t believe that it does our body good. Once you understand the science of milk and how it interacts with the human body, it just doesn’t make much sense to drink it – certainly not every day.

At the very least, if you drink cow’s milk, make sure it’s raw.

My real issue is with the MONEY-HUNGRY ORGANIZATIONS that are pushing incorrect information on the masses.

What’s been happening is really a mass brainwashing of society into truly believing that milk is good for us. But hey that’s the power of “credibility” and “social proof” – we’ll save these powerful marketing concepts for another post.

In this most recent milk campaign, the PMMP, which includes the 1188 dairy farmers represented by Dairy Farmers of Manitoba, Dairy Farmers of Saskatchewan Inc. and Alberta Milk, is obviously reinforcing this message yet again…

Never stop drinking milk!

That’s pretty powerful.

My hope for you is that these kind of campaigns make you sit up and think. Because it’s only through education and awareness that we can begin to make change.

How about this one…

Think before you drink???

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Food For Thought – Wild vs. Domestic Animal Diet

January 18th, 2010

A little food for thought for you today. Now, I talk about this topic in my book, Eating for Energy, but I thought I would bring it up here as well.

When explaining to people the benefits of eating more natural raw foods (as opposed to heavily process garbage) I often ask them to think about wild vs. domesticated animals.

I ask them…

“How many wild animals do you know of that suffer from obesity or any other ‘human-like’ disease?”

“Why is that so many of our domesticated cats and dogs are falling prey to the same conditions that plaguing humans (think diabetes, cancer, obesity, etc…)?”

It’s an idea that many people haven’t spent much time thinking about. But there is a very simple reason that animals, that are taken from the wild and domesticated, begin to demonstrate human-like diseases.

Look the crap they’re being fed. Actually, the owners are the ones to blame. I know many dog owners who feed their dogs donuts, pizza, and other horrific foods!

Come on people!

Where on this earth, since the beginning of time, have animals been able to access processed foods?

Try never.

In one of the best nutrition books that I’ve ever read, Enzyme Nutrition, Dr. Howell discusses several experiments in which the transition of wild animals to a domesticated diet has negative consequences.

In one experiment, wild dogs were taken off their primal raw diet and fed a domesticated “dead” food diet. Now, before this happened, wild dogs did not produce salivary enzymes (like amylase) because they did not need to. Their diet was already enzyme-rich because they ate “raw” flesh.

However, once the dogs began feeding on the domesticated food, they begin producing salivary enzymes within less than 24 hours!

It was their body’s way of compensating for a lack of natural living enzymes in the feed.

Now, this may not seem like a big deal but the problem is that each animal/human has a finite number of enzymes that their bodies can produce. Once this limit is reached, it’s good night Charlie.

That’s just one reason why it’s important to eat more raw foods – so you can spare your body’s inherent enzyme stores.

It’s also interesting to note that wild animals don’t cook their food.

We do.

Who seems to be healthier?

Animals also get more fresh air, exercise much more, and probably have a great social network than most humans.

Nonetheless, the fact remains that animals eat what’s right for their bodies. 95% of humans don’t.

We eat what food companies tell us to eat. Not because it’s good but because it’s what makes them the most money.

Just something to think about.

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Settling for Good Enough

December 14th, 2009

The other week, my girlfriend wrote a great post on the topic of being satisfied with being “healthy enough”. You can read it here. It’s a really great piece.

I’d like to follow up where she left off and continue the discussion mainly because my diet of late has not been the greatest. I guess my excuse is that it’s the holiday season and we’re surrounded by chocolates and other temptations.

Normally, my “moderation” mentality would kick and say “Ok, you’ve had a few chocolates, now it’s time for some greens.”

But it hasn’t recently.

I think part of the problem is that I’m settling for being healthy enough.

I don’t have any health issues. I still workout 6 days a week. And other than a slight drop in my energy levels, I feel “ok”.

But the reality is that that’s a real travesty!

And it’s not just me. There are millions of people who are going through the same thing. I’ve seen with my own eyes with thousands of personal clients that I’ve worked with.

But what really tears me up is that I KNOW how to eat well – yet I’m walking the talk right now. That’s an internal battle I deal with every day and it’s not a lot of fun.

I guess part of the problem is that I have very high standards for myself and if I’m not being congruent with those standards then I might as well as throw in towel – at least temporarily.

My subconscious knows that even if I don’t eat that great for a month or so, my body is resilient enough to withstand the “storm”.

That kind of belief can lead to serious problems. Settling for good enough, or healthy enough, if JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

I shouldn’t accept it and neither should you.

It’s really a dangerous place to be. Neither too healthy nor too unhealthy. Just smack in the middle. Riding the wave of mediocrity.

But that’s not what I’m all about. That’s not what Eating for Energy is all about. That’s not anyone is about.

It’s only by allowing ourselves to settle into poor habits that we begin to feel defeated and think “oh, what’s the point? I’m just going to fall back into my old habits anyway.”

We don’t chances because we fear failure. We don’t want to start eating healthy because if we were to slip back that would be terrible.

But I’m here to tell you (and myself) that eating well is not taking a risk. Sure there’s the temporary pain of removing your favourite addictive foods like coffee, chocolate, and many others, but the rewards are just too good to ignore.

So don’t settle for mediocrity. Don’t settle for “healthy” enough. If you don’t feel fantastic, then that’s not good enough!

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