Hard Boiled Eggs, Quinoa, and Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients:

• Eggs (as many as desired)
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• Garlic, olive oil, and salt to taste
• Brussels sprouts (as many as desired)

Instructions for Boiled Eggs:

1. Put the eggs in a pot and cover with an inch of water.
2. Bring to a boil, turn off the heat, cover, remove from heat, and let them sit for 12 minutes. Drain.
3. Pour cold water over the pot in the sink and add ice.

Instructions for Quinoa:

1. Rinse quinoa, then put it in a small pot and turn the heat on low. Let it toast for a few minutes, stirring often. This brings out more flavor.
2. For 1 cup quinoa, add 2 cups of water to the pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat, cover, and let sit for 10-20 minutes, depending on how you like the consistency. Add garlic, olive oil, and salt to make it really tasty.

Instructions for Brussels Sprouts:

1. Rinse and trim Brussels sprouts
2. Steam for 20-30 minutes to desired tenderness

To adjust for your needs, have one to three eggs for protein, and ½ cup to 2 cups of quinoa. The portions depend on your body size, intensity of workout, and how close your workout is to your meal. It will take some experimenting to see what works best for you.

Note: All three items in this recipe can be prepped and kept for quite a bit.

Garbanzo Bean Salad with Deli Turkey, and Goat Cheese

OK, the picture is heavy on onion. I love onions! But you can use less if you like.

Ingredients:

• Garbanzo beans (1-2 cans depending on amount desired)
• ½ onion, chopped
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. For the garbanzo bean salad, I used canned beans that I rinse.
2. Cut up onion and add to beans
3. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and salt or pepper to taste. (Garlic goes great here as well.)

Deli turkey and goat cheese are plug and chug ingredients. Just add them to your grocery list.

As with the first meal, you can adjust protein by adding more or less turkey. You can adjust the carbohydrates by having more garbanzo bean salad. If you need more carbohydrates, you can always include some pasta in the bean salad.

Rotisserie Chicken, Baked Beans, Asparagus, and English Muffin

Rotisserie chickens are an easy way to get protein. Look at the ingredients. The more simple the better, as you can always spice things yourself. Canned baked beans aren’t perfect, but they are easy. Simply heat them up in a small pot and stir occasionally.

Break off the bottom part of the asparagus, rinse, and coat with olive oil. Lay them out in a pan then add salt and pepper to taste. Broil for 5 minutes, turn over, and roast another 5 minutes. When you turn them over, put the English muffin in the oven to toast. In 10 to 15 minutes you will have a full meal.

Add more protein to your diet:

The Skinny Guy’s Guide to Creative Protein

The post Adjust Your Meals to Fit Your Needs: 3 Quick and Simple Recipes appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Gain Progress on Fat Loss

One recent study caught my eye regarding female figure athletes. The researchers recruited women who were going to diet for a competition (figure, bikini, bodybuilding). This group was approximately in their late twenties and healthy. The cool thing about this population is that they are probably more adherent to their dietary restrictions when looking to cut down body fat than other people. A problem with most nutritional research is that self-reported nutrition intake has wildly variable accuracy. That’s a nice way of saying we stink at accurately reporting our food intake. This population of women, though, may be more accurate than normal. The results showed it—they lost significant body fat.

The study looked at the effect of hard dieting on hormones and recovery. Overall, the dieting group lost 12% of body weight and a little under 50% of body fat, on average. Following these women afterward, it took three to four months for hormones such as leptin, T3, testosterone, and estradiol to return to baseline.

In the study, the women reduced carbohydrate intake to get into a calorie deficit, ate plenty of protein, did resistance training using different body splits, and did some high intensity interval cardio as well as some steady state cardio. Sounds pretty straightforward.

There are steps you need to take to gain progress on fat loss:

• Decide on a meal structure
• Listen to your hunger
• Embrace a plateau as an opportunity to make an objective tweak to get past it

Create Meal Structure

Meal structure means that you have a plan for your meals. You know how many you’ll have, at what times you’ll eat them, and what they consist of. Grazing without definition is an easy way to stop losing weight. Decide what works based on your schedule. Does three meals a day fit into what you do? How about five or six mini meals? Or one meal and several planned snacks? You get to pick.

The reality is that it doesn’t matter so much. Whatever you pick will serve as a border. Let’s use three meals a day as an easy example.

If you eat three meals a day, and have nothing else between, you only need to plan for and track three things. If you stop losing weight, you need only to look at those meals and make adjustments. Compare this to eating when hungry and grabbing whatever you can get. Even if they are great foods, it leads to overeating.

Handle the Hunger

Unfortunately the “H” word is a scary thing. Hunger is seen as a bad word. No, you shouldn’t be starving all the time. But, to lose weight, you will experience hunger. Hunger in small and manageable amounts is a good thing. It’s your body saying “time for our next meal, when you get a chance.” About 30 to 60 minutes before your next eating time you should feel relatively hungry.

The problem happens when we overeat due to hunger. This happens for two main reasons. The first one is that we let it go too long. Hunger for periods over an hour can lead to being ravenous when we do find food. So, we overeat because we feel famished. The second reason is more emotional. As we feel hunger, it triggers us to eat right away and get rid of that feeling because we see it as a bad thing.

Meal structure and listening to your hunger go together.

Here’s an example from a gentleman I recently worked with. We decided, based on his schedule, that a meal structure for him will be three meals and one snack. The reason was because he would overeat at dinner because he would be overly hungry when he got home. We made his meal structure work for him by adding a planned snack, not a grazing snack. By adding some nuts and fruit at 4:00, it saved him from eating an excessive amount of food at his 5:30 dinner. It also made a difference mentally because he knew the snack was coming so being a little hungry didn’t worry him.

Embrace the Plateaus

Using the above example, the gentleman lost 10 pounds before we changed his meal structure. Just “doing better” by avoiding some late evening sweets and adding in some cardio worked for a bit. But weight loss stopped. It stopped for over a month until we had a conversation. First, let’s look at one thing. Fat loss stopped for a month after losing 10 pounds and he remained the same weight. Does that sound bad? Not to me. The way I look at it, he maintained a 10 pound weight loss, and that’s awesome.

So, a plateau is actually a great thing; it means you are maintaining.

Of course, a plateau that goes on too long can be discouraging, and will eventually lead to gaining some weight back. But, if we use it as an opportunity to be objective, it’s just a road sign. A warning to change direction a bit to keep you going.

The key word is “objective.” The opposite would be an emotional decision, like spending $400 on diet food and supplements. Or doing the cabbage soup diet. You get the idea.

Here are a few actionable steps:

• Pick a meal structure and track it daily. It’s a yes or no question. Did you stick to your meal structure? If you had a peanut between meals, the answer is no. However small the unplanned food was, be objective.

• Create different meal structures depending on the day. Weekends can be different from work days. Plan accordingly. One way to avoid weekend food issues are to have less meals or snacks.

• Track your meals. Have a piece of paper with a vertical line down the middle. Track meals or snacks on one side that leave you hungry too soon before your next eating time. This method of tracking will help you tweak the meals by adding carbs or protein, for example. Or you may want to discard the combination all together and try something else.On the other side of the paper, track meals that worked perfectly. They left you feeling great and hungry for only a little while before your next eating time. Start to look for trends, like the amount of carbs, protein, and fats, on average. For me, if I don’t have a starch at my meal, I’ll be hungry too soon. This side of the paper can be called “my perfect customized meal plan.” Congrats, you now have what nobody else can give you. The exact things that work for you.

Understand What It Means for You

Whether you are a figure competitor or someone who needs to fight to keep weight off, it’s all difficult. Without having a meal structure in place, a plan to be objective, and a good sense of what hunger means, things will fall apart. This is why the well-meaning advice of eat less and move more doesn’t work. Yes, we need to do it, but how? You’ll be amazed about what you will learn about tracking your meal structure. Most of us eat more often than we think. Be objective, learn how to listen to your body, and good things will to happen.

Reference:

1. Hulmi, Juha J., Ville Isola, Marianna Suonpää, Neea J. Järvinen, Marja Kokkonen, Annika Wennerström, Kai Nyman, Markus Perola, Juha P. Ahtiainen, and Keijo Häkkinen. “The Effects of Intensive Weight Reduction on Body Composition and Serum Hormones in Female Fitness Competitors.” Frontiers in Physiology 7 (2017). doi:10.3389/fphys.2016.00689.

The post What to Know Before You Can Lose Weight appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

They are believed to help prevent muscle loss during calorie deficits, which makes them especially important to dieters or those going into periods of fasting. A recent study¹ touted the benefits of BCAAs in regards to maintaining lean mass in a calorie deficit when compared to a calorie matched dose of carbohydrate. To quote the authors:

“… our data suggest that under hypocaloric conditions, those who participate in heavy resistance training can maintain lean mass and muscular performance by utilizing a BCAA product pre- and post-workout.”

Dueling Scientists

However, in the same publication was a letter to the editor that contested many points of this study.² Shoenfeld, Aragon and Dieter asserted that the statistical methods in the study may have been flawed. They argued that what is called a t-test can lead to biased results. They also cited inconsistencies in the data reported. Fat loss was reported as .05 kg, yet it was actually 5%.

From the original study, a sample dietary card for a subject during an off, non-workout, day. Click to enlarge.

The authors of the study responded by saying that their method is time-tested, was approved by peer review, and that any statistical analysis is subject to error. The authors did note that the graph about fat loss had been labeled incorrectly, and that it should have been body fat percentage, not kilograms.

Change in muscular strength following 8 week study period as determined by 3-RM back squat and bench press. BCAA group received BCAA product while the control group received 28 g carbohydrate/electrolyte mixture at the same time. 

Schoenfeld et al also contested that the resting metabolic rate data was conflicting. When someone loses weight, their metabolic rate goes down. In the results, resting metabolic rate dropped for BCAA group, but no data was reported for the carbohydrate-only group. The carbohydrate group lost more weight, so it should have shown a reduction in resting metabolic rate greater than the the BCAA group, which did not lose as much weight.

The authors responded by saying that individual differences made the data difficult to see trends, and that a larger subject pool would have been helpful.

Who Wins?

My point here isn’t to nitpick this individual study and the challenges that were presented by Schoenfeld et al. I want to highlight a few takeaways:

Nutrition research is really complex. Data has its flaws, as does the statistical analysis. Each study usually only looks at a single, specific population. In this case, young adult, resistance-trained males.

Change in muscular endurance following 8 week study period as determined by repetitions to fatigue at 80 % of estimated 1-RM on back squat and bench press.

For experienced lifters and dieters, experimentation with supplements is fun. Most people just need to have a reasonable exercise program, and an attainable way to reach a calorie deficit. Worrying about a small potential muscle loss during resistance training is such a minute detail. Do the work consistently, then perhaps worry about the 1% differences.

Never take a headline from a study as gospel. As the authors of the contested study rightly stated at the end of their response:

“Is this the seminal study on BCAA supplementation, body mass, and resistance training? By no means. However, what this study does is add to the knowledge base and present other research scientists the opportunity to mimic or expand on our methodology and results to determine what the data collectively says about this specific question.”

In the end, science is a collection of the totality of quality evidence. One headline shouldn’t change everything. If multiple studies come out replicating results, it’ll start to raise eyebrows. Focus on what you know works, and be cautious about changing course due to one finding.

How to break through the he-said, she-said:

The Dark and Bewildering World of Fitness Studies

References:

1. Dudgeon, Wesley David, Elizabeth Page Kelley, and Timothy Paul Scheett. “In a single-blind, matched group design: branched-chain amino acid supplementation and resistance training maintains lean body mass during a caloric restricted diet.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 13, no. 1 (2016): 1.

2. Dieter, Brad P., Brad Jon Schoenfeld, and Alan A. Aragon. “The data do not seem to support a benefit to BCAA supplementation during periods of caloric restriction.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 13, no. 1 (2016): 21.

The post The BCAA Fight Is Far From Over appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Fish oil is a perfect example of the lifecycle of most supplements. Initial hype, exciting studies, large sales, better studies tempering excitement, and perhaps certain dangers are uncovered. The hype has died down a bit regarding fish oil and a daily dose to help prevent cardiovascular disease. Unfortunately, a brand new study highlights the dangers of the supplement industry in regards to what you are actually getting in the bottle.

This is the fatty acid (FA) content of 3 of the top selling fish oil supplements in the US (DS1, DS2, DS3). The data is presented as a percentage of total FA for any sample by weight. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are the omega-3 fatty acids, the desirable stuff. (Source: Science Direct)

The study looked at three popular brands of fish oil that were purchased from a retail store. They had two major findings:

1. The fish oil contained saturated fats. Up to 36% of the oil was a blend of different saturated fats. Fish oil is taken for its omega-3 content. Saturated fats, while a complicated issue, certainly don’t behave like omega-3 fats.
2. The over the counter brands had oxidized lipids, while prescription quality omega-3s did not. This means that the fish oil you purchase at the store is very likely to have oxidized lipids, which can be harmful to your health. It can contribute to the so-called bad cholesterol having negative effects in your artery.

The researchers took small dense LDL particles, which are culprits in heart disease, from human volunteers. When these particles are oxidized, they become dangerous to us. The fish oil from supplements exceeded the recommended maximal amount of oxidation of the LDL particles. The oils from prescription omega-3 fatty acids passed the test.

There are several takeaways here:

1. Sucking down fish oil pills, while already a questionable practice, may have a whole different issue of regarding what is in the bottle.
2. It’s hard to be sure what the best brand is, because a lot depends on storage and source. It appears best to take prescription level oil, if warranted by a medical professional.
3. Eat a variety of fish 2-3 times a week and as always, whole foods are a preferred source of nutrients.

Reference:

Mason, R. Preston, and Samuel C.r. Sherratt. “Omega-3 fatty acid fish oil dietary supplements contain saturated fats and oxidized lipids that may interfere with their intended biological benefits.” Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, December 21, 2016. doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2016.12.127.

The post Why You Should Doubt Fish Oil appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Science Weighs in on Leucine

Research has been done to study the retention of muscle mass in older adults. It’s important for older adults to be above the current RDA requirements of 0.8g/kg/day, and the type of protein consumed is important as well.

A current study looked at the intake of leucine in 20 men aged between 65 and 85. Leucine is a primary regulator of muscle anabolism, or in other words, you need leucine to help build muscle. The study was of short duration, just five days, but included specific data from muscle biopsies obtained from the participants to measure protein synthesis in the muscle.

The researchers had the men consume a RDA protein diet of 0.8g/kg/day, and some of the men consumed a higher protein diet of 1.2g/kg/day. For the first two days each group took a placebo in place of leucine supplementation. For the last three days the men took a leucine supplementation. The amount of leucine was 5g per meal. A bout of resistance training was done during placebo timeframe as well as during the leucine supplementation.

As we age, our protein requirements go up. 

The results did show an increase in protein synthesis in the muscles tested with leucine supplementation as compared to placebo. The results were similar for the RDA protein group and the higher protein group. Resistance training in both situations increased protein synthesis.

Leucine supplementation of 5g at each meal did improve muscle protein synthesis compared to not having leucine, albeit not a huge effect. When resistance training was added, both leucine and placebo groups did have relatively higher protein synthesis. The leucine group increased muscle building regardless of whether the diet was the RDA protein guidelines or higher.

Look at the Bigger Picture

Every study is just a piece of a puzzle. They are only part of the bigger picture because as we age, our protein requirements go up. During adulthood we must fight to maintain or increase muscle mass. Instead of 0.8g/kg/day of protein, aim for 1.5g/kg/day if you are an older adult or are an active younger adult. Plug a few days of your diet into a nutrient database and assess where you are. Resistance training is absolutely vital to help stimulate muscle growth and help use the protein you are ingesting.

Regarding leucine, supplementation may be a viable option if your muscle mass is suffering and resistance training and protein intake alone are not helping. However, it may be helpful to know which foods are higher in leucine, so you can try these food sources first:

• Chicken
• Soy tempeh
• Beef
• Pork
• Cheese
• Nuts
• Peanuts
• Fish and shellfish
• Beans

Protein and Training Are Key

It is possible that perhaps a decline in muscle as we age can be mediated by a prescription to your local sushi restaurant instead of a cocktail of medications. Of course every situation is different, but at some level we all must do resistance training and eat high quality protein.

Feel better as you age:

Facing the Second Half of Your Fitness Life

References:

1. Landi, Francesco, Riccardo Calvani, Matteo Tosato, Anna Martone, Elena Ortolani, Giulia Savera, Emanuela D’Angelo, Alex Sisto, and Emanuele Marzetti. “Protein Intake and Muscle Health in Old Age: From Biological Plausibility to Clinical Evidence“. Nutrients 8, no. 5 (2016): 295. doi:10.3390/nu8050295.

2. Murphy, C. H., N. I. Saddler, M. C. Devries, C. Mcglory, S. K. Baker, and S. M. Phillips. “Leucine Supplementation Enhances Integrative Myofibrillar Protein Synthesis in Free-living Older Men Consuming Lower- and Higher-protein Diets: A Parallel-group Crossover Study“. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 104, no. 6 (2016): 1594-606. doi:10.3945/ajcn.116.136424.

The post Is Leucine The Key to Retaining Aging Muscle? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Just spend more time focusing on your mind. Give yourself extra time to be quiet. Take a class on meditation or mindfulness. All easy things to say, but quite difficult to do in the real world. Let’s take a look at some recent studies on the elements of these things. This will highlight just how many ways the same thing can be achieved. Just like lifting weights, there is a lot of “same but different.” Once we see the different options, we’ll discuss how to actually implement them, while still maintaining your schedule of work, family, and Game of Thrones.

It Won’t Work If You Don’t Do It

Our first study¹ looked at an internet-based mindfulness program and a writing program. The mindfulness group had online modules that consisted of reading, exercises to do, and audio to listen to. The program included things like breathing exercises, walking and sitting meditation, and certain yoga poses. The group was encouraged to practice their exercises or focus 30-45 minutes a day, most days.

The writing group was asked to write for about 20 minutes a week. They were specifically tasked with writing about stressor related emotions, which has been used in the past. However, they also included writing projects that were positive prompts, such as “what has become better since…”.

Modest improvements, if any if any at all, were reported by these groups. Yet the thing that struck me was only 39% of the participants completed the mindfulness modules, and 70% completed the writing project. So most people dropped out of an online module requiring almost daily effort, and almost 30% dropped out of a weekly writing project. Sounds like a small return for a relatively big time commitment.

If a benefit exists, maybe it’s not from an online program (at least as it was designed), and maybe something less intensive and overwhelming is required for a beginner.

Experience and Effectiveness

Another recent study² looked at long-term practitioners of meditation. It showed that intense meditation can actually change brain activity during sleep. They used two styles of meditation. One was Vipassana style, which focuses on being less reactive to emotional responses. The other group did Metta meditation, focusing more on love and peace for others.

Increased low frequency activity was noted during a specific sleep cycle in both meditation groups compared to controls. The functional significance of this isn’t as important as the fact that two types of meditation actually changed brain activity. Like anything else, different styles can produce similar results if you actually do it.

This study was particularly well done because it didn’t just use college students with no experience (no disrespect). It used people who have been practicing meditation for at least 3 years, with an average of over 15 years of meditation training. The authors noted that the brain activity changes went up relative to experience. Those who were better at meditation got more changes from each meditation session. While this could be discouraging, I look at it as proof that it works, and even a small amount of consistency can go a long way.

Reducing Pain in the Mind

Yet another recent study³ looked at mindfulness training and pain. 34 subjects were used, half who had moderate to severe pain. The experimental group went through a 6-week mindfulness program including sitting and walking meditation, Hatha yoga, and other informal tips and exercises.

After the 6-week program, the experimental group had a significant decrease in reported pain compared to the control group. The authors noted that a change in perception helps us deal with pain in a different manner. Instead of reacting, it becomes more of an observation that can be dealt with. It makes sense that pain can control our emotions and, just as in physical therapy, we need some mental therapy as well. The authors even used brain scans to show an increased area of activity of the brain connected to emotional reactivity and how it can be redirected.

Make Mindfulness and Meditation Priorities

The first study we reviewed here highlighted an important fact. Nothing can work if you don’t do it or believe in it. Start small, track results, and either continue or find something a little different. The second study involving experienced meditators used 8 hour sessions. Not many of us can do that, but shorter sessions consistently undertaken could go a long way.

In strength training, we discuss tension. In a pushup, your body requires a certain amount of tension to keep proper posture. This level of tension is much less than say, a max bench press. The way stress and commitments can rule our lives sometimes is the equivalent of our mental tension being at a maximum bench press.

I’m not an expert in meditation. I’m simply a nutrition and fitness professional who sees on a daily basis what life can do to sabotage our wellbeing. Having an awareness of the different disciplines of mindfulness and meditation will hopefully encourage you to explore different options.

Here are a few ways that I’ve implemented mindfulness and “stress reduction” strategies for myself:

• I used to bring my phone on walks with my dogs. Instead of enjoying the moment outdoors, I was checking email. Once I stopped this, I enjoyed it much more and it helped bring me down from the day. I even noticed we have stars in the sky. It doesn’t have to be a walk with a dog, but having something you do each day to disconnect you for a bit can be a great routine.

• I started taking baths with Epsom salt to help muscle soreness. Like the dog walks, I would have my phone around. I ditched it, and just enjoyed the quiet. My wife is doing the same thing after a long day. She was having upper digestive issues, and just a simple bath brought her stress levels down enough to fix it.

• Quiet time in my home gym in “corpse” pose, lying on the ground. Just lying on my back for 10 minutes after foam rolling or a few stretches. Focusing on breathing and just the pure quietness. It’s amazing how refreshing it can be, on par with a short nap.

Meditation, mindfulness training, and stress reduction all are related, but I understand they are totally separate and expansive disciplines with much to offer. The recent research shows the benefit of doing something to train your brain and keep it healthy. Without a strong mental game and managed stress, a training program or diet cannot be as powerful as it should be.

When looking at new year’s resolutions, I understand the diet and exercise folks. But what are you going to do this year on the mental health side of things? As Ben Stiller’s character in Dodge Ball says as he’s reading the dictionary upside down, “I like to break a mental sweat, too”.

More on the relationship of mental and physical states:

The Thanks Giving Zone Boosts Performace

References:

1. Kvillemo, Pia, Yvonne Brandberg, and Richard Bränström. “Feasibility and Outcomes of an Internet-Based Mindfulness Training Program: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.” JMIR Mental Health 3, no. 3 (2016). Accessed November 12, 2016. doi:10.2196/mental.5457.

2. Dentico, Daniela, Fabio Ferrarelli, Brady A. Riedner, Richard Smith, Corinna Zennig, Antoine Lutz, Giulio Tononi, and Richard J. Davidson. “Short Meditation Trainings Enhance Non-REM Sleep Low-Frequency Oscillations.” Plos One 11, no. 2 (2016). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148961.

3. Su, I-Wen, Fang-Wei Wu, Keng-Chen Liang, Kai-Yuan Cheng, Sung-Tsang Hsieh, Wei-Zen Sun, and Tai-Li Chou. “Pain Perception Can Be Modulated by Mindfulness Training: A Resting-State FMRI Study.” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 10 (2016). Accessed November 17, 2016. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2016.00570.

The post Do It and Believe In It appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

However, I am a big believer in home-cooked meals being superior to eating out. There are several popular services that can fill the need of having home cooked meals without the time commitment. Should you give them a try? It depends.

Dinner Conversation

Before I get into some popular options, my hope for this article is to create a discussion. I want to hear from you. At what price point is a meal service worth it? How much money can you budget for a meal service, and will it improve your quality of life? Is this something to do only for busy times, or all the time?

Let’s start with the options that provide the most service and work our way down.

Do you want to eat delicious food like this but are too busy to cook? Perhaps a meal service is right for you. [Photo courtesy of Pixabay]

Option 1: Fresh Meals Almost Every Day

What It Looks Like: 2-3 meals per day delivered fresh at least five days a week.

Cost: Prices vary, but are usually in the $15-25 per meal range. Price depends on how fresh the food is, and where it comes from. Meals can cost well over $1,000 per month, and that is for one individual.

Pros and Cons: You get amazing food with no decision making or time commitment. You can literally have a perfectly designed meal plan with no effort. Besides the price barrier, a con is that you may not like all of the meals. Also, it gives you little flexibility in terms of going out to lunch or traveling. Many providers want a commitment, so stopping and starting can be somewhat of a hassle. Nonetheless, count me in for this if one of those emails about being a descendent of a Prince in Nigeria comes true and I get my inheritance.

Option 2: One Meal a Day Delivered Fresh

What it Looks Like: Picking only one meal, usually lunch or dinner, delivered.

Cost: In the $15-25 range, the value depends on how fresh the food is. Price can also vary because of bulk delivery. If an entire office or household is getting meals, it may be cheaper to purchase in bulk to save on delivery charges.

Pros and Cons: You still must prepare two meals every day. If you can prep for two, you can usually do three without a lot more effort. That being said, if lunch is particularly difficult at the office, it’s nice to have it delivered on a schedule. This service is also helpful if you work late and want dinner ready when you get home.

Example: Dine In 2Nite

Option 3: Frozen Meals Almost Every Day

What It Looks Like: Three meals per day delivered frozen or ready to heat up at least five days a week.

Cost: Usually $8-15 per meal.

Pros and Cons: Nothing beats fresh food, but there are companies that come close. As with the fresh meals delivered, you are paying for decisions to be made for you. Frozen meals allow you to store and use them as needed, like if you go out of town or have more time to cook on a particular week.

Example: Freshology

Option 4: Ingredients Sent to You That Get Prepared in Your Kitchen

What it Looks Like: You still have to cook the food, but all of the ingredients come to you fresh with instructions.

Cost: Usually about $40-50 per person, per week for 3-4 meals. You still need to do breakfast and snacks on your own, and most people use this option for dinner.

Pros and Cons: Convenience. There is usually no big contract, and you can store the ingredients for a bit if you can’t cook it right away. There is less food waste because you only get the ingredients what you need. It also saves time on shopping for groceries. The big con is that you still have to cook.

Example: Plated and Blue Apron

Option 5: Delivered Groceries

What it Looks Like: Groceries at your doorstep after you’ve picked what you like online.

Cost: Depends on amount of food purchased, but usually a $10-15 delivery fee.

Pros and Cons: Some stores offer grocery delivery services. However, it’s an involved operation due to maintaining temperature on perishable items. I wouldn’t want to be last on the delivery line. Someone has to be home to accept delivery, or delivery drivers need to have access to a cooler outside that can keep your food safe. Online inventory can sometimes be outdated.

Example: Safeway’s grocery delivery service

Option 5: Grocery Store Picking Services

How it Works: Some stores now offer a picking service where you fill an online grocery cart and the food gets assembled for you at the store. All you have to do is show up and pay for your bags.

Cost: Charges vary, but usually a $0-10 service fee.

Pros and Cons: This service is inexpensive and saves time. If you are the type of person who likes to go to the store daily for fresh produce and protein, this may not work. However, if you bulk shop, or if you can’t stand the hassle of wandering through the aisles, simply pick out the items online and stop by after work to grab your haul.

Example: Kroger and Walmart

Weigh Your Options and Your Bank Account

The bottom line for any of these services is that it must make sense financially. Consider how much you make per hour at your job. Your meal service should be less than 50 percent of that amount. If it takes you five hours a week to prepare food, and you make $20 per hour, you can spend $50 a week on a meal service.

A grocery store pickup may be the best option if you work a full schedule and are short on time. Instead of spending an hour at the store, let someone else do the work. You’ll be in and out in five minutes. That’s almost free labor. Reduced stress at a bargain.

Remember, the primary reason to use these services is to reduce stress and create more time. Run the numbers, and pick a couple of the different levels of service that make sense for your situation. Do a trial, and see if you like the food first. After that, examine if it is a long-term option. Perhaps it is a seasonal thing. Either way, we have more options than ever before.

Have you tried a meal service? Drop a line in the comments and tell me about your decision-making process, and if any of these options have worked for you.

For the days you don’t use a meal service:

The Minimalist’s Guide to Eating Well on a Budget

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A recent report in Nature¹ looked at data from the 2012 US National Health Interview Survey and analyzed data looking at the use of meditation. Take the report for what it is, an analysis of secondary data of people answering questions in a survey. However, I found it interesting that only 5.2% of people surveyed have used meditation in their lifetime. 4.1% have used meditation in the past 12 months.

According to the data, the most likely user of meditation is a white middle aged female with a college education that is single and consumes alcohol and smokes. Anxiety, depression, and stress were some of the top reasons people meditated.

But here is some data that really stood out to me.

Over 63% of people meditating said that it helped a lot with their issues. Yet only 34.8% of users reported it to their healthcare provider. There is a large disconnect going on here.

Meditation, which comes in many forms, has been shown to help with mental health issues, anxiety, blood pressure, and many other conditions. Any stress related condition can certainly use meditation as a tool. To me, even just having quiet time can have a huge impact, yet how many of us actually take the time? Have you ever bought a diet book, and like me, flipped right to the supplement section? We have this supplement that is proven to work, it just takes time and practice. Yet, almost nobody does it and even if we do it’s kept a secret even from healthcare providers for perhaps a fear of judgement. On the flip side, healthcare providers should be advocating for it more.

In a frantic world of smartphones and deadlines, the best tool for health can perhaps be a form of mindful relaxing.

We’ll need to explore different forms of meditation and practical ways to implement it in your life that will complement a training and nutrition program. Sounds like a topic for another article.

Reference:

1. Cramer, Holger, Helen Hall, Matthew Leach, Jane Frawley, Yan Zhang, Brenda Leung, Jon Adams, and Romy Lauche. “Prevalence, Patterns, and Predictors of Meditation Use among US Adults: A Nationally Representative Survey.” Scientific Reports 6 (2016): 36760. Accessed November 12, 2016. doi:10.1038/srep36760.

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In a report that just came out¹, researchers measured potential sleep debt in young men. The subjects were able to sleep up to 12 hours for over a week, followed by one night of being awake, and another night of sleeping up to 12 hours. Not a bad study to sign up for.

The scientists were looking to measure how much the subjects normally sleep versus how much they could sleep if uninterrupted by life. Using this difference, say 7 hours of sleep normally versus 9 uninterrupted, we can predict how much sleep debt you may be in. Since individuals vary in how much sleep is required, this could be a rough method to determine the magic number for sleep on an personal basis. I use the range of 7 to 9 hours, but being able to be specific would be ideal.

The researchers found that it takes around 4 days of sleeping-in to bring you back to normalized levels after even 1 hour of sleep debt (or not sleeping to optimal level). It was a decent study because they also tracked blood markers. After catching up on sleep, cortisol was slightly lowered, glucose metabolism slightly improved, and thyroid function was slightly better. Small improvements but it was a short duration study using only young males. It gives hope for future studies.

Measure your sleep debt to calculate how much sleeping-in you’ll need to fix it.

Using a laboratory like the researchers did is an expensive way to track sleep. A takeaway here is that we can estimate your optimal sleep levels using sleeping-in or a vacation as data. Sleeping in one day isn’t a great measure, because you can be in such a big sleep debt that you will overcompensate. If there is a time in your life (hopefully a vacation) that you can sleep as much as you want for more than 3 or 4 days, this will work. After 4 days your sleep should normalize, so if you slept 12 hours the first night, 9 the second, 8.5 the third, and 8.5 the fourth, you will know that 8.5 hours of sleep is optimal. Anything you get under that number is sleep debt.

The researchers also controlled for food, alcohol, and general lifestyle factors. Outside of a laboratory, we don’t realistically have that luxury; nonetheless we can gather some data on ourselves. It’s a big challenge to get enough sleep in this world. However, we can’t cheat our biology. Go to bed!

1. Kitamura, Shingo, Yasuko Katayose, Kyoko Nakazaki, Yuki Motomura, Kentaro Oba, Ruri Katsunuma, Yuri Terasawa, Minori Enomoto, Yoshiya Moriguchi, Akiko Hida, and Kazuo Mishima. “Estimating Individual Optimal Sleep Duration and Potential Sleep Debt .” Scientific Reports 6 (2016): 35812. Accessed October 27, 2016. doi:10.1038/srep35812.

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Recently, I experienced this sleep deprivation cycle first hand. My wife found a stray dog in the parking lot of the grocery store, and we took him in. Let’s hope it isn’t a 15-year foster. Given the fact that we already have three dogs, my sleep has suffered. I have been waking up more often, and my sleep has been dipping under seven hours.

As a side effect, I’ve noticed I’m far hungrier. My usual breakfast doesn’t hold me over. One night, I had three bowls of chili, and was still looking for more. Usually one bowl would have kept me happy. I also started to include bench press in my workouts for the first time in years, so perhaps that has something to do with increased hunger. Stray dogs and bench press are bad for your health. You heard it here first.

The Science of Being Tired

When we don’t sleep enough, good food choices become difficult from both a psychological and physiological standpoint. Our mind is tired, and coming home from a long day at work makes cooking dinner and exercising difficult. Being trapped in an office, fueled by caffeine, and staring at pastries is tough enough. Doing it when you’re tired also causes our bodies to be hungrier. So we get hungrier and snacking becomes more desirable.

Shift workers are most often the subjects of research into the effects of sleep deprivation, because of the marked increase in obesity and metabolic complications seen in this group. There are many hypothesized reasons shift workers see these issues: lack of access to quality food at night, increased hunger during day time, and a broken circadian rhythm are a few.

Researchers attempt to recreate these conditions to isolate causes. In one study¹ with an impressive study design, young adult males were basically shacked up for 11 days and forced to be sleep deprived. One group slept four hours a night, the other group got six. Meals were given, and snack opportunities were had, but the participants were not allowed to eat whenever they liked. Core temperature was continuously monitored rectally to track circadian rhythms. I hope these guys were well compensated! The researchers tried to gain insight on hunger levels related to circadian cycles to understand more about shift workers.

The group allowed four hours per night reported higher hunger levels, less satiety (feeling full), more consumption, and less satisfaction from meals than the six hour a night people. Both groups certainly had negative changes, but in this study, it appeared dose-dependent. The less sleep, the worse it was in terms of eating.

Two of the biggest factors for weight loss are portion control and having set meal times. This becomes increasingly difficult when we need to eat more to be full and we are less satisfied with meals. This leads to more snacking, and since we are tired, the decision to snack becomes easier.

The less sleep you get, the poorer your food choices are likely to become.

An excellent review of the existing literature² highlights many of the hormonal changes that result from sleep deprivation relating to hunger and poor health outcomes. I love this line in particular:

“Chronic circadian misalignments not only influence sleep but also influence several other systems including the immune system, appetitive hormones, and energy balance.”

We are tired, sick, and cranky people! Go to bed. 

The review highlighted several interesting developments in hormone research. Our gut is connected to our brains more than we know. The hypothalamus secretes orexin, which is involved in the sleep and wake cycle as well as energy balance. It helps activate parts of the nervous system that give the brain feedback on energy balance by monitoring things such as blood sugar and leptin levels. A lack of orexin leads to obesity in animal models, due to decreased activity. Even though appetite goes down in these studies, the lack of activity leads to weight gain. This orexin system is one way the brain keeps tabs on energy balance, and it does so by also including the hormones ghrelin and leptin. As we become sleep deprived, ghrelin increases and leptin decreases. This isn’t desirable, because ghrelin increases hunger, and leptin helps decrease it.

Essentially, when we lack sleep, our communication from brain to gut is disturbed, and this cascades into other hormones misfiring. Long term sleep deprivation makes these problems even worse. I give this information not to make you think about your ghrelin levels at night or talk about your orexin feedback loop at the water cooler. Rather, understand that there are physiological changes in your body when you don’t get enough sleep.

Tips to Hit the Pillow Harder

What can we do about this? We live in a time where it’s almost a badge of honor to work more and sleep less. Extra-large coffee and energy shots. When I moved from New York to Utah, I was determined to get there as quickly as possible because I hated driving that big truck. I popped caffeine pills, drank Mountain Dew, and slapped myself to keep awake. I have no idea how I made it in a day and a half. In fact, I can’t drive more than four hours anymore without becoming sleepy. I used up my “stupid decisions” quota.

But you’ll be more productive and much happier if you get seven hours of sleep or more. Being tired and having no energy becomes the new normal for us, until we break out of it. With a happier attitude, more productivity, and normalized hunger levels, making changes to your diet will be much more attainable. There are several important changes you can try.

Eat What You Know

One study³ noted that “…novel foods are found to have lower expected satiation than familiar foods and expected satiety ratings have been shown to increase the more familiar a food becomes.”

The more familiar you are with a food, especially when you know that it will keep you satisfied, the better the outcome. Going with a new food may lead you to eat more because it didn’t give you the sensation of being full. There is a whole area of study where scientists look at expected satiety and how we react to foods we know and do not know. If you expect that the meal will keep you full, it has a better chance to do just that.

I’m not advocating eating the same thing day in and day out. That gets boring. But certainly a breakfast can be a rotation of three options that you know and like. Picking one or two meals and making them a little boring for a while can help with eating less and not being hungry all the time.

Have a Tracking System

Without a system, how do you know what your body is doing? I have people I work with track sleep, over 7 or under, and rate how each meal keeps them full or not. You can begin to see correlations. If you sleep more on the weekends, for example, see how that changes your reaction to the same meal.

Data is helpful in lowering the intimidation factor for change. If you get 5 hours of sleep a night, getting 8 seems daunting. However, if you track hunger and sleep, and get 5.5 hours of sleep by making a few sacrifices (Game of Thrones on DVR, or move to the west coast to catch NFL night games earlier), you can see the improvements on paper. Perhaps those changes are good enough for now. Change enough to get results, and you can always do more at a later time.

Diet and workouts suffering? Start tracking your sleep, and you’ll probably find a correlation.

Try Supplements 

Magnesium is my first line of defense, especially the brand Natural Calm. It mellows you out enough to help you go to sleep. It isn’t too powerful, and it can help a small amount. Melatonin would be next. Try a small amount to see if it can induce sleep. Perhaps once you get in the routine of sleeping better, you may not need a supplement anymore. I chose these two because they are well-studied and have minimal negative effects. Perhaps a visit with a doctor can help you explore other options.

Change Your Routine

Some things in life are unavoidable. If you have a newborn, sleep can be hit or miss, and there isn’t too much you can do about it. But some things can be controlled. Cutting television short, getting home from work on time (which you can when you have more sleep, because you’ll be more productive), and preparing chores in advance on off days can help with more free time to get to sleep. Look for time “leaks” in your day, and I am quite confident we can add a half hour or more to devote to sleep.

You Can’t Be Fit With Bad Sleep

We can’t “hack” sleeping less and doing more. At some point, it bites us. Starting a nutrition program or exercise routine is a great idea. But it all starts with sleep. It is the catalyst that makes every other change possible. Portion control, meal times, food quality, exercise intensity, and hunger are all altered by how much sleep we get. Losing weight requires a caloric deficit. Not sleeping makes us hungrier. That’s a nasty combination.

It sounds almost too simple to be true. Get more sleep, get better results. Sleep isn’t something we can buy, inject, trade, or binge on periodically. It has to be consistent and in the right amounts. Our lives really do depend on it.

Do you close your eyes and nothing happens?

It’s Time to Skip the Bedtime Wine: 5 Tips for Better Sleep

References:

1. Sargent, Charli, Xuan Zhou, Raymond W. Matthews, David Darwent, and Gregory D. Roach. “Daily Rhythms of Hunger and Satiety in Healthy Men during One Week of Sleep Restriction and Circadian Misalignment.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 13, no. 2 (2016): 170.

2. Shukla, Charu, and Radhika Basheer. “Metabolic signals in sleep regulation: recent insights.” Nature and science of sleep 8 (2016): 9.

3. Forde, Ciarán G., Eva Almiron-Roig, and Jeffrey M. Brunstrom. “Expected satiety: application to weight management and understanding energy selection in humans.” Current obesity reports 4, no. 1 (2015): 131-140.

The post Sleep as a Catalyst for Fat Loss appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

BCAAs are supposed to help prevent muscle from being used as fuel during intense exercise, and help mitigate muscle soreness. I read the research some years ago, and decided to try it. If you’ve ever taken unflavored BCAA powder, it tastes like a skunk smells. Instead, I chose a pill form. A hippo would have trouble swallowing those things. They were huge.

My then girlfriend (now wife), got in the car and we drove to the gym. At a stoplight, I asked her to open the jar and give me a few of those BCAA pills. I was going to work out and stay in an anabolic state. I tried to swallow the first one, but it lodged in my throat and I started choking. I threw up all over myself, turned the car around, and went to get ice cream instead. Best workout of my life.

The Underwhelming BCAAs

Pill-swallowing problems aside, branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) are a good example of a supplement that over-promises and under-delivers. A recent study¹ showed no difference between BCAAs and carbohydrate supplementation in terms of muscle soreness and performance between heavy squat workouts. The study had its limitations, but it showed no positive impact from BCAAs, despite being funded by a company that sells them.

One shortcoming of the study was that it didn’t equally match the carbohydrate content or calories for each group. In other words, the higher calorie content of the carbohydrate group may have helped its results compared to the BCAA supplement. While far from a perfect study, it showed a real world example of taking the supplement. If BCAAs lived up to all the hype, the results would have jumped off the screen regardless of being equally matched to carbohydrate.

Studies like this one really drive home the fact that unless your workouts are on point, sleep is optimal, and overall food intake is of the right amount and quality, 1% won’t matter. BCAAs are just one example of many that could possibly make a difference for the highest level of athletes, but less so for the rest of us. Often a supplement will have a great result in a study so it blows up the market. It is wise to give it some time and further study to see if a larger pool of data confirms this. Most of the time, it won’t hold a candle to regular food.

Look at Your Whole Routine Instead

I understand the emotional decision to believe in something that will work instantly. It takes courage to take an objective look at the realities of your current routine. Most times, you’ll find that the fundamentals can use some work before you need to worry about supplementation.

Look at your training:

3 Guiding Principles for Every Athlete

Look at your coaching:

Move Well First: A New Path for Coaching Fitness

Reference:

1. Kephart, Wesley C., Petey W. Mumford, Anna E. Mccloskey, A. Maleah Holland, Joshua J. Shake, C. Brooks Mobley, Adam E. Jagodinsky, Wendi H. Weimar, Gretchen D. Oliver, Kaelin C. Young, Jordan R. Moon, and Michael D. Roberts. “Post-exercise Branched Chain Amino Acid Supplementation Does Not Affect Recovery Markers following Three Consecutive High Intensity Resistance Training Bouts Compared to Carbohydrate Supplementation.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 13, no. 1 (2016). Accessed September 17, 2016. doi:10.1186/s12970-016-0142-y.

Headline photo credit: J Perez Imagery

The post Do BCAAs Live Up to the Hype? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

This analysis looked at a total of 27 studies. They combed through the data and had three main conclusions:

1. Studies with supervision had better adherence then ones without.

This is why I have a career as a nutrition coach. In regard to weight loss, I’ve rarely met someone who was missing basic knowledge. Misguided, perhaps, but nonetheless they know what they should do. Taking action and staying on track has always been the issue.

2. Programs with social support had better adherence.

Programs with friends, family members, a buddy system, or group-type support have a better chance of success. According to one of the studies included in the analysis, people with social support had a 37% higher chance of maintaining weight loss.

My take is a little bit different. In my coaching, I don’t use groups or a mandatory buddy system. I’ve tried, and it wasn’t well received by the people who hire me. Many of my colleagues, however, have great success with it. I think the most important thing is that friends or family members are, at the very least, not against you. Neutral or positive attitudes from the people around you are essential. When someone deliberately tries to throw off your adherence, success is quite difficult and can become frustrating.

3. Nutrition alone has better adherence than exercise alone.

The authors had a couple of comments on why this may be. One was that self-reported nutrition intake has quite a few limitations. Of course we all eat perfectly, minus the donuts, wine, cookies, and two-pound burgers. Right?

The other comment was that nutrition interventions can see better and quicker results than with exercise alone. This, in turn, leads to increased adherence. When someone asks me what percentage of fat loss is diet and which percentage is exercise, I just say, “Yes.” You need both. In general, nutrition changes help speed weight loss, and exercise helps with maintenance of weight loss and muscle retention.

Find your Own Approach

This entire meta-analysis highlights the fact that having supervision, group support, and a focus on nutrition consistency are the three most important factors. The actual ‘what’ to do is secondary. This is why we see results with so many different approaches. Paleo, for example, has many followers who claim to have had dramatic changes and have kept those changes for some time. You can argue about the approach, but there are many authorities, guides, and coaches who teach paleo methods. There are also many forums and exercise groups that eat the same way.

We have discussed the three things the meta-analysis said are most important— and paleo checks all of those boxes. We love to argue whether paleo guy had beans or not. (I’m pretty sure he didn’t have paleo muffins, but that’s another article.) The same can be said for vegans and low carb supporters, among many others.

But the individual merits of each nutrition plan aren’t the point. Each of these groups have guidance, the support of other members, and a focus. Perhaps instead of arguing which nutrients to exclude, we should study what actually gets people to do it, and keep doing it. This meta-analysis points out that too often we focus on the wrong things when talking about fat loss.

More on fat loss:

Starving on a Full Stomach

Reference:

1. Rogers, Marla, Mark Lemstra, Yelena Bird, Chijioke Nwankwo, and John Moraros, “Weight-loss Intervention Adherence and Factors Promoting Adherence: A Meta-analysis.” Patient Preference and Adherence PPA, Volume 10 (August 12, 2016): 1547-559. Accessed September 4, 2016. doi:10.2147/ppa.s103649.

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