Workout nutrition is an age-old debate with tons of bro-science and bodybuilding message boards to prove it. From carbing up to fasted cardio, protein shakes and pre-workout snacks, there are hundreds of opinions claiming they know the way to enhancing performance, fitness and body composition. So what should you eat when you workout? It all depends on your goals, your workout, and your current health!

Here’s all you need to know about the role of workout nutrition—from a real food perspective (read: no candy-bar favored protein bars and shakes with chemical ingredients, macro or calorie counting slavery, and FitBit food-earning stepping included).

Workout Nutrition 101

There is no one size fits all approach to nutrition—or workout nutrition for that matter, but when it comes to getting the MOST out of your fitness in the gym, there’s no question that food matters…a lot. In fact, it’s been estimated that 80-90% of your fitness, performance, and body composition results are related to what goes into your mouth (or doesn’t go into your mouth) alone.

Without a cornerstone of nutrition, it’s as if you are trying to build a house without a foundation. Sure you can make a pretty white panel siding frame, and design Pottery Barn catalog worthy rooms, but without a solid foundation, all the pretty things or things you worked so hard to build won’t last.

So what does a “solid foundation” of good workout nutrition look like? While many people debate minute details (such as post-workout windows, nutrient timing, protein powders or fasted training), the 5 MOST important game changers when it comes to getting the most out of your personal workout nutrition plan are:

• Eating Enough
• Micro Nutrients
• Hydration
• Good Digestion
• Consistency

Let’s chat about these 5 Nutrition “Game-Changers” then talk about how to use them in the context of your personal fitness goals.

Eating Enough

Are you eating enough? A common roadblock many fitness enthusiasts run into is under-eating—especially those who tend towards the “clean eating,” real food or paleo philosophy as well.

It’s easy to get full on proteins, veggies, and some healthy fat, but in the same breath fall into the trap of accidental dieting. The result? Slowed progress, plateaus, slowed metabolism, impaired appetite, and spinning your wheels in the gym!

Food is fuel! If you are serious about reaching your fitness goals, it can be good to conduct a baseline assessment of yourself to see if you are eating enough.

Calories = Energy

For a quick, general approximation of “how much” you should be eating use this calculation:

• Multiply your current weight in pounds by 12 to 14 to get a baseline range of daily calorie needs
• Then add 100 calories to this number for every 10 minutes of moderate- to high-intensity activity (spin, CrossFit, strength training, boot camp, Orange Theory).

No matter whether your goal is to build strength, boost performance, lose weight or lean out, if you are under-eating, you can bet your bottom dollar, progress will stall. Keep in mind: calories are energy and nutrients, the good kind, and the more quality cals you consume, the better your bod can maximize your fuel. Additionally, remember these are guidelines, not the gospel. Every body is different, and depending on your health history, current health status and body type (ectomorph or hard gainer versus endomorph or easy gainer), individual needs will vary.

Proteins, Carbs & Fats

Once you establish a ballpark range of caloric needs, you can figure out the “just right” balance of proteins, carbs, and fats for you. General fitness recommendations include:

• Protein: 25-35% of total calories
• Carbohydrates: 20-50% of total calories
• Fats: The leftover percentage once proteins and carbs are determined

Keep in mind:

• 1 gram of protein = 4 calories
• 1 gram of carbs = 4 calories
• 1 gram of fat = 9 calories

So for instance, say you weigh 130 pounds and you workout in the gym five days per week and lead an active lifestyle with a combination of strength training, HIIT style boot camps, walking, and yoga. For best fitness, let’s do the math:

1. Figure Out Baseline Health Calorie Needs.
   • Multiply 130 pounds x 12 calories and 130 pounds x 14 calories. You will get a range of 1560-1820 Calories (as your baseline requirement range).
2. Figure Out Fitness Calorie Needs.
   • Multiply 100 calories x 6 (for the 60 minutes total of training you do most days each week). You’ll get 600 calories. Add 600 calories to your baseline numbers to get a target range of 2,160 calories-2,420 calories for your BEST health and fitness.
3. Figure Out Baseline Protein, Carb & Fat Needs.
   • For 30% Protein: Multiply 2,160: x 0.30= 648 calories from protein, then divide 648 by 4 calories per protein gram to get 162 grams of protein as your baseline.
   • For 40% Carbs: Multiply 2,160 x 0.40=864 calories from carbs, then divide 864 by 4 calories per gram to get 216 grams of carbs for a baseline.
   • For 30% Fats: Multiply 2,160 x 0.30=648 calories from fat, then divide 648 calories by 9 fat calories per gram to get 72 grams of fat as your baseline.
4. Eat Enough
   • Once you understand your baseline needs and find a rhythm for your body…PUT THE CALCULATOR AWAY.

While fitness and nutrition tracking apps can be helpful for ensuring you’re meeting your nutrient needs, more often than not, I find individuals who use these things religiously, feel attached to the numbers—more so than listening to our bodies.

There is a slew of other essential fitness game changers to consider when it comes to hacking your fitness nutrition (below). This is just the top of the iceberg to help keep you from overtraining. We will address more fine-tuned nutrient intake recommendations below for your unique goals (ie. leaning out, strength gain, performance or all-around general fitness) in the Nutrition Hacks section.

Micro-Nutrients

Eating enough is important, but eating ENOUGH quality, real foods matters more—at least for taking your health and fitness from good to great. True, macros are a piece of the equation (ie. proteins, carbs and fats), but not all chicken breasts, broccoli spears or sweet potatoes are created equal.

Moreover, many athletes and fitness enthusiasts tend to focus more on calories and macros, neglecting food variety and the micro-nutrients (i.e. the vitamins and minerals) that give your body the extra “umph” for power and nutrients.

For instance, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize the nutrition value difference in a meal consisting of a farm-raised Tyson chicken breast, microwaved frozen green beans, processed olive oil and white rice versus a pastured raised chicken breast, with sautéed dark leafy rainbow chard in coconut oil and a side of rich, orange butternut squash and cinnamon. Just to be clear: B-Vitamins,beta-carotene, calcium, magnesium, and essential (digestible) amino acids in the latter. In short: color=nourishment, and tons of vitamins and minerals that are often unseen if you are just focusing on counting your macro-nutrients alone.

Here are some of my favorite quality foods for fitness:

• Meat and Poultry. Beef and lamb, but also pork, chicken, turkey, duck and wild game like venison, ostrich, etc. Organic, pastured, grass-fed and/or free-range is always preferable. Natural means nothing.
• Pastured Egg Yolks. The albumin in egg whites is closely associated with autoimmunity and allergies.
• Organ Meats (especially liver). The most nutrient-dense food on the planet. If you don’t like the taste of liver, one good trick is to put one chicken liver in each cube of an ice cube tray and freeze them. Then, when you’re making any meat dish, dice up one chicken liver and add it to the meat.
• Bone Broth & Meat Broth Soups. Balance your intake of muscle meats and organ meats with homemade bone broths. Bone broths are rich in glycine, an amino acid found in collagen, which is a protein important in maintaining a healthy gut lining.
• Wild-Caught Fish. Especially fatty fish like salmon, halibut, sardines, mackerel, and herring. Wild is preferable. Aim for 1 pound per week in lieu of fish oil supplements or reach for a fermented cod liver oil.
• Starchy T ubers. Yams, sweet potatoes, yucca/manioc, winter squash, beets, carrots plantain, parsnips, etc.
• Non-starchy Vegetables. Cooked and raw. Especially dark leafy greens.
• Fermented Vegetables and F ruits. Sauerkraut, kimchi, beet kvass, coconut kefir, etc. These are excellent for gut health.
• Fresh Fruit. (1-2 servings/day). Especially berries and green tipped bananas.
• Traditional Fats. Coconut oil, palm oil, lard, duck fat, beef tallow and olive oil.
• Olives, A vocados, and Coconut (including coconut milk-no additives, coconut butter, unsweet coconut flakes).
• Ghee & Grass-fed Butter
• Sea Salt, Herbs & Spices.

What about protein powders? Protein powders are not essential, but they can help some fitness enthusiasts meet their baseline protein requirement needs, granted you need to choose a digestible, anti-inflammatory powder.

Unfortunately, most fitness nutrition shops and grocery store supplement shelves are adult candy stores with protein powders flavored like “Cookies & Cream” and “Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough” that don’t do anything but end up out the other end in the toilet, and disrupt your gut bugs.

Nevertheless, if you choose a quality formula, you can maximize performance.

See this article on “how” to choose the best powder for you, along with some of my faves here:

• Collagen Protein
• Equip Foods Beef Isolate
• Pure Paleo Beef Isolate
• Equip Foods Prime Plants (if vegetarian/vegan)
• Wild Foods Grass-fed Whey (if you tolerate dairy)
• Primal Paleo Perfection Beef Isolate

Hydration

It’s no secret hydration is essential for fitness performance. In fact, just a 3-percent fluid reduction in the body can cause a 10 to 20 percent decrease in performance. Read more about research on active dehydration.

However, adequate fluid intake is easy to overlook. Thirst alone is not the first indicator of dehydration, and for this reason, mindfulness with drinking water throughout the day is encouraged.

Moreover, find yourself super hungry—often—between meals, or feeling fatigued or run down? It could be a sign your body needs more water. The same organ that triggers hunger (your hypothalamus) also triggers thirst, and fatigue and power in your workouts are not always just related to sleep and recovery hacks, like saunas and mobility sessions.

A general rule of thumb for a baseline of adequate fluid intake is half your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 140 pounds, that’s about 70 ounces or almost 9 cups of water.

When you add your workout sessions and heat into the mix, add 16 ounces for every pound of bodyweight (fluid) lost. No need to weigh yourself though! Factor in at least 16-32 ounces more to your daily water intake if you lead an active lifestyle, and sip throughout the day.

Straight up water, or water infused with citrus or cucumber and mint, is best. (No, Bulletproof coffee does not count as hydration—in fact, coffee dehydrates you). In addition, add a pinch of sea salt to a glass of lemon water in the morning and sea salt your food to taste for electrolyte boosting power (sodium, potassium, and magnesium).

Sports drinks are not essential unless you are training for intense athletic activity, sweating a lot or working out in a hot climate, to replace extra lost electrolytes and maintain proper fluid balance in the body. Pass on the Gatorade in favor of a >homemade mix like this natural lemonade one.

Good Digestion

Digestion is an often overlooked component of any fitness nutrition protocol. You can drink all the protein shakes, creatine or pre-workout supplements, multi-vitamins, post-workout carbs, or chicken and broccoli in the world, but if you are not digesting your food appropriately, then you are not going to maximize the nutrients you’re taking in.

Athletes and fitness enthusiasts are at higher risk for impaired digestion, primarily because exercise is a stressor to the body.

While it is a positive stressor, two things happen when the body is stressed:

1. Cortisol levels (stress hormones) go up
2. Stomach acid goes down

Since optimal digestion happens in a parasympathetic (rest and digest) state, elevated cortisol can impede with good digestion—especially directly after your workout. In addition, elevated cortisol suppresses stomach acid—leaving you more at risk for hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid).

For these reasons, a baseline digestive protocol for fitness enthusiasts includes:

1. Soil Based Probiotic
2. Pre-Biotic Fiber
3. 1 tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar in water or HCL Tablets with each main meal (to boost stomach acid)
4. Digestive Enzymes (optional, but recommended for maximizing digestion)

Also, don’t neglect digestive hygiene at meals! Instead of inhaling your chicken and sweet potato, or slamming down your protein shake, do these 3 things to maximize digestion:

1. Breathe. Pause for 1-2 minutes before meals to just breathe, and stimulate rest and digest mode.
2. Chew your food—really well (you don’t want to recognize that chunk of chicken as a chunk of chicken when you swallow it)
3. Prep your own food as much as possible. Food quality doesn’t just mean organic or non-GMO—the number of hands that have touched your food, or the length of time in storage in your fridge matter too. When you prep your own food, you know what oils and cooking practices went into the meal, as well as how old your foods are (for leftovers, consume within 3-5 days or freeze; for produce and meats, consume within 7 days)

Consistency

Lastly, but equally important: Consistency. The slow and steady wins the race when it comes to nutrition, and one or two days of “good nutrition” followed by five days of sporadic nutrition will not pay off. Fuel the machine. No, this does not mean “perfection,” but when trying a “new approach” to the way you eat, give yourself at least 3 to 4 weeks of consistency to see (and feel) the difference).

Q. What About Nutrient Timing? Does it matter when I eat? The short answer: No, for most fitness enthusiasts nutrient timing does not matter as much as you think. At least compared to considering what you eat consistently overall in a given 24-hour period.

Studies have confirmed that the “post-workout” window or “perfect time” for eating a post-workout meal really only matters if you haven’t been fueling up consistently or eating enough. Read about nutrient timing here.

In other words: Whether you eat 30-minutes after a workout or 2 to 3 hours after a workout is seen pretty much the same way to the body if you are meeting your daily energy needs (as discussed in point one).

Moreover, the food you eat today actually impacts tomorrow’s workouts and performance more than today’s, based on digestion and maximum power output since glycogen stores (energy for your muscles) are usually replenished within a 24 hour period (provided that daily energy needs are met). Nevertheless, eating around workouts is not a bad thing.

Generally, if you are eating regular, balanced meals and maybe one to two snacks each day to support energy needs, just time these accordingly around meals to allow for proper digestion before moving and grooming in your workouts (you don’t want to eat too close to your workouts and feel your sweet potato coming up; although some can tolerate simple-to-digest meals like a smoothie, protein powder in water, or banana).

For individuals wanting to maximize strength and muscle gains, a pre-workout meal of about 10-30 grams of carbs and 10-15 grams of protein. Some folks even do ok off of a dense serving of fat pre-workout, particularly endurance training athletes who actually run off fatty acids (not glucose) as the preferred source of fuel believe it or not.

Here are some ideas…

Pre-Workout Meal Ideas (2-3 hours before training)

Pre-Workout Snack (30-60 minutes before training if you just need a little something to tide you over)

If you tolerate healthy fats around workouts, you could also try:

Nutrition Hacks for Your Goals

What’s your why—the reason why you train? It’s vital to recognize your primary goal behind your fitness in order to align the right dietary approach to your training. After all, if your goal is to gain muscle and strength, but you are eating as if you are leaning out or fueling for a marathon run, then you are spinning your wheels.

The most common fitness goals include:

• Gain Strength/Muscle
• Lean Out/Lose Body Fat or Lose Weight
• Enhance Sport or Fitness Performance (ie. get faster, make the team, etc.)
• Be Healthy! (Enjoy Your Workouts, have fun, break up with the diet mentality & improve general fitness)

So why are you training? Here are some nutrition hacks for taking your fitness goals to the next level.

Gain Strength/Muscle or Gain Weight/Size Hacks

“I want to add 10 more pounds to the barbell or see some muscle definition.”

• Maximize Carbohydrates
• Adjust carbohydrate intake until you begin seeing “gains.” Carbohydrate needs may be anywhere from 40-50% of total daily calorie intake if you’re looking to add lean muscle.
• Fasting & Intermittent Fasting: Not So Fast:
  Fasting and intermittent fasting can work great for some, however, I generally see this as a better approach for those looking to lean out, more than build size. Moreover, guys tend to do better with these methods than women over the long term. Remember: if your goal is for size and strength, eating is your friend, not your foe.
• Just A Little Bit More.
  Putting on strength or size can feel daunting for us hard-gainers, but if you approach it with a simple, “I-can-do-this” mindset, and think about how you can add “just a little bit more” to what you currently eat for maintenance, it gets easier. Consider adding ¼-1/2 an extra serving of sweet potato with dinner, another tablespoon of coconut oil in your morning hash, or a liquid meal, like a smoothie, in addition to your three balanced meals to make it do-able. Baby step it up until you begin seeing the results you want.
• Optimize Digestion.
  If you’re not digesting your food maximally, then no matter how much you eat or add to your diet, it’s not going to stick. Conditions like SIBO, fungal overgrow, h and leaky gut can keep your body spinning its wheels.

Sample Meal Plan

Meal 1:

Training: 60–75-Minutes, weights & HIIT

Meal 2:

Meal 3:

Meal 4:

Meal 5:

Lean Out/Lose Body Fat or Lose Weight

“I want to tone up or lose those last 5 pounds.”

• Make Sure You’re Eating Enough Healthy Fats
  Low-fat dieting is so 1992! Healthy fats help minimize insulin secretion, detour glucose storage (sugar) and balance blood sugar levels over all. They also help keep you satiated and keep cravings—especially sugar cravings at bay. Balance is still essential (no need to go full on keto), but many people who have been spinning their wheels with a low-fat diet, or low calorie diet find that when fats replace some of the carbs they’ve been turning to, metabolism spikes and the body turns into fat burning mode, versus sugar burning mode.
• Eat Enough
  Speaking of eating enough, just because you’re leaning out, doesn’t mean you need to starve. Meeting your baseline and activity requirement range is still essential. The leaning out happens when you begin to tweak fats and carbs (as mentioned above). Be your own experiment, and if you’ve been doing the same thing, and expecting a different result, consider doing something different.
• Simplify.
  Simplify the foods you eat. Meat, veggies, some starchy tubers, healthy fats and herbs and spices go a long way. Many folks find that they begin eating more emotionally, thinking more about food or eat based on cravings when they have lots of variety in their diet, and a strategy some find helpful is picking 2-3 rotating breakfasts and lunches to keep things uniform and help them eat the balance they desire.
• Little Treats.
  More on the deprivation note, food is meant to be enjoyable! Not militant or something to feel morally guilty or good about. If you find yourself getting into diet mentality mode, what generally happens? We want what we can’t have. That said, pick one small treat to add to your daily rundown—such as a piece of 80-100% dark chocolate, cinnamon tea, coconut butter energy bite, or a scoop of homemade coconut ice cream to keep the diet mentality at bay.
• Intermittent Fasting.
  If can be a helpful strategy for some (not all) people. It entails fasting for 12-16 hours, and an eating window of 8-12 hours in a given day. It’s not necessary, but again, if you’ve been doing the same things and expecting a different result, then it could be worth a try in the short term. Above all, it still matters most that you are eating enough.

Sample Meal Plan

Wakeup

Training: 60-75—Minutes, weights & HIIT

Meal 2:

Meal 3:

Meal 4:

Meal 5:

Enhance a Sport/Performance

“I want to get faster, make the team or win the CrossFit Open.”

• Recover
  Recovery is just as important as training, if not more. Over-training is really under-recovery. As far as nutrition on “off days,” you may find you can actually eat more, or you’re hungrier—primarily due to the fact that cortisol levels are not as high. Listen to your body and treat recovery days like “workout days”—vital to your success.
• Eat Enough (Especially Carbs & Fats)
  Do I sound like a broken record? Athletes tend to be pretty good on the protein front, but fall short in the carb and fat department. Most “performance” training women do best with at least 100-150 grams of carbs each day, if not upwards of 200 if you are doing lots of high-intensity training. Extreme diets of any sort—super high fat, or super high carb are not recommended though as much as a balance of all three macros. If you are finding you’re performance is stalling, assess what you are currently doing and evaluate where your carbs and fats are. Tweak one or both accordingly to find your fit.
• Digest.
  Since your training is more demanding than the average Joe, digestion is even more compromised and stomach acid more suppressed with stress. Consider taking digestive enzymes with each meal, along with apple cider vinegar (1 tbsp in 2-4 oz. of water), and your daily probiotic and prebiotic (supplements and fermented foods) for baseline support. In addition, peppermint oil, ginger and turmeric are amazing spices and herbs to get in teas, supplement form or essential oils.
• Support Hormones.
  Amenorrhea is common in those who train hard. Lost your period? That is usually a sign that a.) you’re not eating enough calories, or carbohydrates/fats, and/or b.) you’re not recovering enough (sleeping enough, varying your intensity in your training or resting enough between workouts). You hold great power over your body’s balance and if you’re not having your period, your body is speaking.

Sample Meal Plan

Wakeup

Training: 90-120 Minutes, weights & endurance training

Meal 2:

Meal 3:

Meal 4:

Afternoon

Meal 5:

Before Bed

Be Healthy

“I just want to look good naked and/or make peace with my body, food and fitness!”

• As If
  You know you don’t want to care so much about what you eat or what you look ike in the mirror. So practice the “as if” mindset—the pretend mindset, “as if” you were the girl you want to be—happy, healthy and thriving. The more you can imagine that you are her today, and think about embodying the mindset, decisions, and way she would speak to herself, the more you will become her.
• Balance
  No one ever did a study showing that balance—proteins, carbs, and fats—did a body good. Honestly, extremes (low fat, high protein, high fat, low carb, etc.) are not necessary for health if you’re eating a balance of all macronutrients and getting your fuel through real foods. Enough with extremes.
• Digest Well
  The gut is the gateway to health! If your gut is unhealthy, leaky or overgrown with bacteria, then chances are you will feel it—from bloating and constipation, to autoimmune conditions, unwanted weight gain or body fat storage, genetic diseases, thyroid conditions, plateaus in your fitness, skin breakouts, allergies—seriously, all health stems back to the health of your gut and digestion to nourish your body and metabolic processes for your daily life. Support healthy digestion with your daily probiotic and prebiotic supplements and foods, apple cider vinegar or HCL with meals, and herbal tea for good measure.

Sample Meal Plan

Wakeup

Training: 60-Minute Group Fitness Class

Meal 1:

Meal 2:

Meal 3:

Meal 4:

Before Bed

The post Paleo Nutrition for Athletes: What to Eat After Workouts & Other Hacks appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

What Is the Pegan Diet? While the Pegan (Paleo + Vegan) diet may sound like an oxymoron, it’s not. Instead, it is an “olive branch”—bridging the gap between two seemingly completely different eating mentalities (Paleo and Vegan) that are actually more alike than we think.

Based on the principles of eating “real food,” the Pegan diet is an approach that strips away the moralistic identities, stereotypes and food rules many people within the Paleo and Vegan food worlds create, instead encouraging us all to simply be…human.

Do as humans do and eat as humans were designed to eat, including:

• Tons of Fresh Vegetables (the main stars of your plate)
• Anti-Inflammatory Fats & Oils
• Raw Nuts & Seeds
• Some Fresh Fruits & Starchy Roots and Tubers
• Sustainably Raised Proteins

The Pegan diet recognizes that, although we live in modern-day Halo Top ice cream and Chic-Fil-A drive-thru times, the human body’s essential dietary needs have really not changed since the beginning of time. Just like plants have always needed water, sunlight, and rich soil to survive, and just like a Ferrari needs premium gasoline in the tank to go, the human body needs four main macronutrients for “thrival” (thriving + survival):

1. Carbohydrate
2. Proteins
3. Fats
4. Water

Preferably, all jam-packed with the best vitamins and minerals of course.

Pegan Diet Foods

What are the best sources of each of these macronutrients or food groups, the primary, least processed, sustainable versions?

Carbohydrates (Portion: ½ to ⅔ of your plate) – Dark leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, squashes, asparagus, green beans, sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots, beets, plantains, fresh fruits,(organic as much as possible, especially the “dirty dozen”). If grains and beans are desired, soaked and sprouted beans and Jasmine white rice.

Proteins (Portion: ¼ to ⅓ of your plate) – Organic, pastured, grass-fed and wild caught chicken, fish, beef, eggs, broths and organ meats.

Fats (¼ to ⅓ of your plate) – Coconut oil, ghee, avocado, coconut butter, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, raw grass-fed full fat dairy products (if dairy is tolerated, like yogurt, kefir, and grass-fed butter), raw (soaked) nuts and seeds.

Seriously, Even Animal Protein?! – Yes, even animal protein—complete sources of protein make up condiment-sized portions (about ¼ to ⅓ of the average Pegan plate for at least 1-2 meals per day, if not 3).

Obviously, the elephant in the room when it comes to Paleo and Vegan debacles is protein. Paleo people say, “Bring on the steak, bacon and eggs!” right? Whereas Vegan people say, “Meat causes cancer, makes me feel heavy and hurts the animals!” C’mon, can the two really see eye-to-eye?!

The Pegan diet preaches neither of these things. Instead, it says, stop arguing so much about who is right and who is wrong, and look to human body health and science.

The Pegan diet acknowledges that both Paleo and Vegan have benefits. Like a character strengths assessment for discovering your personal best strengths, it encourages humans to maximize the pros or top strengths of both Vegan and Paleo in order to feel, look, move and live your best life.

Vegan Diet Pros

Colorful – The primary foundation of the Vegan dietary philosophy is based on veggies. Before there were Tofurkey, 5-fruit smoothie bowls and Vegan donuts, there was dark leafy greens, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, eggplant, carrots, beets, parsnips, herbs, leeks, Brussels sprouts, squashes and beyond. Taste the rainbow.

Nutrient Dense Whole Foods – The traditional Vegan diet also acknowledges the importance of cutting out the Standard American Diet and building your diet on real, nutrient-dense (real) foods. Not just avocado toast, canned beans, Amy’s frozen dinners, Vegan tamales, and granola, but real, whole foods including veggies, PLUS healthy fats (olive and avocado oils, olives, coconut) and moderate amounts of soaked and sprouted nuts, seeds and beans.

Sustainability – Eat from the earth, love the animals and reconnect to the land. Tis the Vegan “way of life.” A traditional Vegan diet is keen to the GMO, hormone, antibiotic and pesticide laden farming practices of the modern day, and aims to support farmers and get back to “being human”—eating and connecting to the earth as it should be.

Simple – The Vegan diet is not rocket science. Eat real foods, mostly plants, is the motto. What’s so bad about that?

Paleo Diet Pros

Balanced – The Paleo diet is founded on balanced nutrition—eating proteins, carbohydrates, and fats in just right amount that your body needs to thrive.

Nutrient Dense Whole Foods – Like Vegan, Paleo is ALL about real, nutrient-dense whole foods. Before there was Paleo pizza, pancakes, cookies, crackers, french fries and chips, there was real, whole foods.

Sustainability – “Support your local farmers and sustainable agriculture!” Paleo advocates cry. – Reach for pastured, grass-fed, organic animal meats and even grass-fed raw dairy; organic, GMO-free produce; non-hydrogenated, non-industrial fats and oils.

Simple – You can’t get much simpler than just eating real food. Meat and fish, nuts and seeds, veggies, some starch, a little fruit, no sugar, lots of water. Spice it up with herbs and spices of choice and bada bing, bada boom, dinner is served.

Not Restrictive – Aside from cutting out the usual culprits, i.e. the standard american diet, Paleo eating is all about finding the best approach for your body—for some, that’s higher carb, others higher fat, and still others, somewhere in between.

Paleo also has a substitute for practically every old staple favorite, with anti-inflammatory ingredients if you cook and eat mindfully. While some folks run into the obstacle of building their new Paleo diet (or Vegan diet for that matter) on nothing but fun foods, you can integrate Paleo pizza, pancakes and chicken tenders into your plate with an emphasis still on veggies, healthy fats and sustainable proteins. Even moderate amounts of properly prepared rice and beans (soaked and sprouted) can be included.

Vegan Diet Cons

Low Veggie Intake – Despite the word “veg” in its name, many people’s Vegan and Vegetarian based diets still neglect vegetables, opting for fruit, grains, beans, soy, and nuts and seeds as the base of meals. Translation: no color, antioxidant, vitamin and mineral rich foods (only 1 in 10 Americans eats the recommended number of veggies—CDC, 2017).

Soy Consumption – Soy is considered an essential protein source for Vegetarian and Vegan diets, however, most forms sold in stores are highly processed (read: man-made) versions of the real, fermented type.

Soy contains phytoestrogens (plant components) that are structurally similar to the estrogen that we produce in our bodies. Phytoestrogenic plants can affect our own hormones by altering the levels of estrogen in our bodies relative to other sex hormones, disrupting the body’s hormonal balance and often resulting in a decrease in estrogen production and an increase in androgens—hello PMS, acne, mood imbalances breast cancer and inflammation.

Soy also inhibits the absorption of other nutrients, thanks to the phytates and lectins on its shell. While it may be tempting to argue that cultures all over the world have been consuming soy for centuries with no side effects, soy in America agriculture today is the most frequently genetically-modified crop and it usually comes housed with a host of endocrine-disrupting pesticides.

Processed Foods – The standard American diet still carries over into Vegan fare, including seed oils, sugar, refined flour, corn, additives, and grains. These foods comprise over 50% of the total calories consumed each day by people in the industrialized world. Think: packaged and processed Tofurkey, Seitan, frozen dinners, Wheat Thins, Kashi Krunch, pretzels, energy bars, oatmeal, ice cream bars, ramen noodles, and more.

Not only are they almost completely devoid of the nutrients our bodies (and our gut bacteria) need to function at their peak, but when consumed in excess they promote weight gain, inflammation, gut dysfunction, and contribute to nearly every modern disease you can think of.

Check the ingredients: if you don’t know what sodium dioxide is, or any other chemical, neither does your body.

Identity – For some, being Vegan becomes an identity. Like being a “punk,” a “plastic,” a jock, a mathlete, or anything else in high school. Being Vegan is more than just what you eat, for some, it’s who you are.

Sweets & Treats – Vegan pancakes, Vegan cupcakes, Vegan cookies, Vegan ice cream, Vegan chocolate, Vegan _____ (fill-in-the-blank). As long as it’s Vegan, it’s all good. Think again.

B-Vitamin & Zinc Deficiencies – After about 3-5 years of feeling good on a Vegan or Vegetarian diet, many people hit a wall—fatigue, bloating, dry skin, brain fog, skin breakouts, allergies, headaches, a slow metabolism.

And many times, a blood panel and other lab tests reveal these symptoms are related to deficiencies, specifically Vitamin B12 and Zinc—two essentials missing in most Vegan and Vegetarian diets since animal protein and organ meats are the richest sources of both. In fact more than 50% of all Vegan and Vegetarians are deficient in one or both of these.

B12 is also known as the energy vitamin and plays an important role in all things metabolism. Zinc is responsible for keeping your gut lining strong and digestion in tip-top shape, as well as regulating your metabolism.

Without these two foundational substances, “holes” or “leaks” in the foundation of health, energy, immunity, skin health, metabolism and digestion happen. While you can find these two vitamins and minerals in some plant sources (like beans and spinach), they are not nearly as absorbable as animal proteins due to anti-nutrient components that bind to the vitamins and minerals themselves, making them harder to digest.

Blood Sugar Imbalances – A steady diet of acai fruit bowls, fruit juices and smoothies, grain-based diets, bars, shakes, fruit and low fat intake sends the body on a blood sugar roller coaster since its primary source of fuel is carbohydrates.

No food is innately bad, but when we lean too far right or left, away from balance, an imbalance can occur. Blood sugar imbalance symptoms range from feeling angry when hungry, low energy, cravings for sugar or caffeine, dependence on coffee to function, insatiable appetite, wired and tired at night, episodes of bingeing, shakiness or headaches before meals. Fat and protein are essentials to keep symptoms at bay.

Constipation & Bloating – Gas, bloating and constipation—“What gives?! I am eating healthy!” You cry.

Answer: often times, leaky gut. Grains, beans, and nuts all contain substances called anti-nutrients—specifically lectin and phytates. These components help plants and grains survive weather and predators in the wild, but when consumed in copious amounts, they wreak havoc on our gut lining.

Imagine if you were to swallow a pinball from a pinball machine—what would happen? It would ping around in your gut. The same thing happens with higher consumptions of foods that are unabsorbable. In addition, since Vegan and Vegetarian diets are often lacking in B-Vitamins, Zinc and amino acids (found in proteins), intestinal permeability (leaky gut), IBS symptoms and low stomach acid production are common. Stomach acid, in particular, is essential to promoting healthy digestion.

Poor Detoxification, Fatty Liver & Gallbladder Dysfunction – Low-fat diets can trigger gallbladder and liver dysfunction—inhibiting digestion and detoxification pathways. Your gallbladder is an organ that stores bile made from the liver (bile is a fluid that helps you digest fat).

When you eat healthy fats with a meal, your gallbladder releases stored bile to break down the fat so that your other fat-digesting enzymes can do their job. If you eat plenty of healthy fats, like coconut oil, fatty fish, avocados, ghee and olive oil, your gallbladder empties out pretty often. But what if your diet is mainly wheat, rice, beans, nuts, and corn, and contains almost no other sources of fat?

Unfortunately, the bile sits around in the gallbladder growing more and more concentrated. Eventually, cholesterol and other substances start to collect and may form painful gallstones, as well as put you at risk for toxic burden, low energy, and digestive difficulties.

Paleo Diet Cons

Low Veggie Intake – Similar to a Vegan diet, Paleo peeps aren’t much better. Bring on the eggs and bacon, maybe an iceberg or romaine lettuce wrap with turkey, and some broccoli or Brussels sprouts with dinner—still on the low side of veggies.

Conventional Meats – Tyson farm-raised chicken and organic, pastured chicken are two totally different birds. Conventional meats are the types of proteins associated with inflammation and disease in some studies. We eat what our animals eat and if our animals ate rat feces and diets equivalent to the standard American diet, we also eat Kibbles & Bits.

Additionally, many conventional meat production methods use antibiotics and hormones to promote animal growth and speed up the production time. Antibiotics are associated with alterations in gut microbiota destruction, leading to inflammation and increased risk for disease.

Ironically, most people never think that the same agents that fatten up meat animals (antibiotics, grains) will likely also cause weight gain in humans. Synthetic hormones are also associated with inflammation including colon and breast cancer, as well as insulin resistance (blood sugar imbalances).

While the U.S. government may claim both methods of animal production are “safe,” many other countries have banned such practices in meat production hinting at potentially one more reason the U.S. is the least healthy of all developed nations.

Even if your protein source says “natural” or “hormone free,” don’t believe everything you hear. The word natural is an unregulated term that means nothing more than, at one time, the meat, or other food sources (like Tropicana Orange Juice, or wheat bread) was natural.

Processed Foods – Packaged and processed foods exist in Paleo fare too. Paleo bars, shakes, jerky, crackers, and chips often take the place of real, whole foods because, after all, the label says Paleo.

The result? Not only can basing our diets on processed foods lead to nutrient deficiencies and low energy, but also sets the stage for digestive difficulties. Dry foods—like nuts, crackers, chips, bars, and jerky—without enough hydrating foods—like veggies, fresh fruits and water—can “dry out” the digestive system, leaving out hydrating fiber to push food through your gut.

Identity – Paleo is not your name, but like any diet, it can also become an identity (with morals attached). Want to try a chocolate chip cookie your grandma made, or eat some rice with your sushi? Only if you want to also feel guilt! Paleo identity sometimes takes on a life of its own, and regardless of how you feel when you eat certain foods, if the label says Paleo, you’re on board.

Sweets & Treats – Paleo pancakes, Paleo cupcakes, Paleo cookies, Paleo ice cream, Paleo chocolate, Paleo _____ (fill-in-the-blank). As long as it’s Paleo, it’s all good. Think again.

Nut Gut – Nuts and seeds are staples for most Paleo (and Vegan) diets. Bring on the almond butter, sun butter, almonds, pistachios, cashew butter, trail mix, almond flour bread, almond flour pizza crust, almond flour crackers, and everything in between.

However, eat too many nuts, and constipation is a common side effect. “I don’t get why I am bloated, gassy or constipated all the time,” #saidManyNutAddicts. Hello nut gut!

Nuts, like grains and beans, contain difficult to digest lectins and phytates on their outer shells (to protect them from predators and weather in the wild). When we ingest them frequently—and in larger quantities (such as more than a tablespoon or two of nut butter, or a closed handful of nuts for most folks)—it can lead to problems.

Accidental Dieting – Are you eating enough? When a person goes Paleo, many old staples of their standard American diet get the boot…as do many of the calories and energy dense foods they were eating.

It can be easy to fall into the trap of under-eating when you cut out bread, cereals, pasta, cheese, and other foods that may not have been providing you with nutrients, but more energy. Failing to replace these foods with nutrient and energy-rich food sources, like enough starchy tubers and root veggies, enough healthy fats and moderate portions of sustainable proteins can be easy to do.

The result? Low energy, feeling hungry all the time or complete loss of appetite, amenorrhea, unwanted weight gain or a slowed metabolism, and feeling like “Paleo is not working!”

Coffee Gone Water – Coffee is like water for some in the Paleo community—especially Bulletproof coffee, or “butter coffee.” Who needs to spend time cooking breakfast when you can start the day with a cup of Joe with a big dollop of butter and MCT oil to get going?

The problem? Missing out at least ⅓ of nutrients for the day (where are the greens?!). Not to mention, many folks run into caffeine dependence—training your blood sugar, insulin, energy and cortisol hormone levels to run off (and need) coffee to function or “feel normal.”

What happens when you don’t have it? Not feeling like “yourself”—no energy, headaches, sleepiness or fatigue, dragging at the gym or work, brain fog and beyond. Drinking coffee is not a bad thing, but dependence on coffee is.

Tummy Troubles – Just because a food is healthy doesn’t mean it’s healthy for your body—right now. While recovering from a former lifetime of eating the standard American diet, many people discover they are also in recovery—in their gut health.

Bloating, constipation and gas are still their norm—even though they are eating healthy! “What gives?!” they cry. Although the Paleo diet is a real food diet, if you have certain underlying gut problems—like bacterial overgrowth, SIBO, bacterial imbalance (Dysbiosis), leaky gut, food intolerances, parasitic, fungal and/or yeast infections—then the standard Paleo diet alone will probably not be the ultimate cure all, for helping reverse these conditions.

Often times people with gut issues discover they cannot tolerate certain inflammatory or pathogenic bacteria enticing foods like FODMAPS , nightshades (tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, chili powder, etc.), histamine foods (vinegar, fermented foods, cured meats, cheese, citrus, avocado, nuts, smoked fish) or other pro-inflammatory foods (egg whites, nuts, shellfish, dairy). No, you won’t be sensitive to all these, but Paleo diets don’t always take gut issues into account.

The Diet Bottom Line

When it comes to diets and nutrition, there is no one size fits all approach to which rules or guidelines you follow, but if you ask your body what it needs and wants to thrive upon, chances are (if it could speak), it would cry balance!

The Pegan diet philosophy is just that. Pegan aims to negate the cons of both Paleo and Vegan extremes while leveraging the pros that each dietary philosophy brings to the table. The result should be a win-win.

Above all, the Pegan diet is really no diet at all, at least the way we define diet in modern culture as being about weight loss, fat loss, and restrictive focus. Instead, the Pegan diet upholds the true meaning of the Latin word dieta which means: a way of life. Pegan stands for the way of life humans used to eat—before any labels, Paleo and Vegan cupcakes, Instagram and diet books existed at all.

The two primary questions to ask yourself when considering whether Vegan, Paleo, Pegan or my favorite of all, Just Eating Real Food, is right for you?

1. How does my body feel?
2. What signs and symptoms of imbalance and nutrient deficiency—if any—am I experiencing in my own skin? Such as hormone imbalances, fatigue, bloating, constipation, brittle nails or hair, etc.

The answers to both of these questions can then help you decide the essential nutrients that may be missing in your former die-hard Paleo or Vegan ways—letting go of the identity or rules you may have wrapped up in either, and instead consider the simplicity of just eating a balance of real food.

Pegan Meal Plan

What could a day in the life of eating Pegan look like for you? Let’s try 7!

Remember these 4 things:

• Build your plate around your veggie superstars
• Add in 1-2 servings of healthy fats
• Add at least a condiment-sized portion of protein with MOST meals
• Avoid inflammatory foods as much as possible (most grains, foods that make you feel bloated, gassy or constipated, processed and packaged foods)

I have a number of recipes and suggestions on my site, Dr. Lauryn, including a pumpkin muffin, and simple Paleo swaps for the standard American diet so, make sure you check them out if you need more ideas.

The post A Comprehensive Pegan Diet Guide and 7-Day Meal Plan appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Before anyone accuses me of being some crazy ‘Paleo guy,’ remember I started consulting in the nutrition field before Paleo was cool, back in the late 1990s. But as a rationalist and a scientist, it makes sense to look at remaining (or recently remaining) hunter-gatherer populations for some of the best evidence of not only how humans have eaten over the course of our progression as a species, but also how this affects health, and what we should be doing now.

Existing hunter-gatherer populations can provide valuable insight into what we have evolved to consume.

Agriculture as the Bane of Health

At the time of the invention and rapid uptake of agriculture around 10,000 years ago, people’s height decreased and health suffered.¹ We tend to think having an abundant supply of food would preserve health and performance, but the opposite appears to have taken place. Higher-grain diets were not ‘healthier’ by any means than the preceding diet based on tubers, leaves, berries, fruits, nuts, seeds, meat, and eggs, and the relatively scarce addition of grains and legumes. Palaeolithic man did eat grains and legumes, just not in large amounts.

A diet based on a few staple crops provides less variety of nutrients than one based on hunted and foraged foods. This had the effect of leaving people malnourished and more susceptible to diseases; a situation exacerbated by closer living conditions and zoomorphic infections transmitted by farm animals. While it was previously thought that the shift towards agriculture allowed for an increase in population related to improved health, it is now generally recognized that there was a reduction in individual physical health with the abandonment of a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

Until relatively recently, hunter-gatherer groups have subsisted healthily (notwithstanding mortality from infectious diseases, warfare, or predation unrelated to diet). These populations have a significant absence of metabolic disorder on a typically lower carbohydrate diet than one promoted recently by government agencies and public health organizations.

Hunter-Gatherer Macros

The Inuit population has, by necessity, utilized a low-carbohydrate diet for millennia. Their traditional diet contains a significant amount of protein (approximately 377g of protein per day), equating to around 47% of the daily calories, with 46% coming from fat, and carbohydrate providing a mere 7% of calories.² Aboriginal diets in Australia have also been extensively studied, are similarly low in carbohydrate, and promote the maintenance of lean body weights and minimized insulin resistance. When Aboriginals transition to a modern Western diet high in carbohydrate and refined fats, the incidence of metabolic disorders, obesity, and diabetes rise markedly. Interestingly, even a temporary reversion to a traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle causes ‘striking improvements’ in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism.³

Hunter-gatherer populations prioritize consumption of fatty tissue (such as bone marrow and organs) if able, to avoid spoilage of nutrient-dense organ meat, and to provide the maximum amount of calories (and micronutrients) while avoiding the dire metabolic consequences of protein over-consumption.⁴

This is congruent with both the hunter and scavenger-dominant theories of human food acquisition, especially as both hunting and predator-confrontational scavenging are likely to have provided a large amount of the food for early humans.⁵ Fresh kills by both hominids themselves and other predators would have provided organ tissue and bone marrow—both high in fat (and fat soluble vitamins), with the relatively lean tissue of wild game meats being a secondary fuel source to the fattier, and thereby more calorically and nutritionally dense tissue of organs and bone.

There is considerable variation in the macronutrient content of hunter-gatherer diets. In one study,⁶ 229 hunter-gatherer diets from around the world were analyzed using plant-to-animal subsistence ratios. A high variance in carbohydrate intake was found (approximately 3%-50% of daily calories). This variance is related to what is available based on climate and geography, and carbohydrate intake is inversely associated with latitude. In extremes of latitude (such as the Northern Tundra environments) higher proportions of animal derived foods, protein, and fat are consumed due to the relative abundance of large game-animals and scarcity of carbohydrate containing foods. In comparison, higher carbohydrate foods such as fruits, tubers, and grains are more plentiful closer to the equator.

However, the authors of this study noted that independent of the local environment, the range of energy intake derived from carbohydrate in most hunter-gatherer populations is significantly lower than the current minimum dietary recommendations. The recommended minimum amount of carbohydrate for modern humans is higher than the intakes of any of the hunter-gatherer populations studied. This begs the question: Have we, in the last 50 years, discovered a better diet than the one we evolved to eat over many millennia?

Adjust Your Carbs for Genetics and Activity

Any rational approach to this topic could not conclude that we have suddenly ‘happened upon’ the best diet for the human being in such a short time. Animals (and remember we are animals) co-evolve with the environment around them and develop appropriately to match this. So rather than assuming that an incredibly high carbohydrate intake is best for most people, we should instead look at the evidence from our forebears and from free-living humans in the wild now. Perhaps the best diet for most people, most of the time, is one that is between around 3% and 50% carbohydrate, with the large variation accounted for by genetic (ethnic) predisposition and activity. In other words, eat an appropriate amount of carbohydrate for your ethnic (and therefore genetic) background and according to your energy requirements (i.e., the more you move, and the higher the intensity of that movement, the more carbohydrate you are likely to tolerate and benefit from).

By taking an approach that recognizes the ‘activity dependent’ nature of carb requirements and our genetic tolerance to carb intake (or as I have coined it a ‘Carb Appropriate Diet’ approach) we can avoid needless debate of which diet is better, high-carb or low-carb, and instead focus on what works best for individuals.

Why do all diets seem to work, to some extent?

Behind the Diet Curtain

Photo courtesy of Woodlouse via Flickr | CC BY_SA 2.0

References:

1. Mummert, Amanda, Emily Esche, Joshua Robinson, and George J. Armelagos. “Stature and Robusticity during the Agricultural Transition: Evidence from the Bioarchaeological Record.” Economics & Human Biology 9, no. 3 (2011): 284-301. doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2011.03.004. 

2. Sinclair, H. M. “The Diet of Canadian Indians and Eskimos.” Proceedings of the Nutrition Society Proc. Nutr. Soc. 12, no. 01 (1953): 69-82. doi:10.1079/pns19530016. 

3. O’Dea, Kerin. “Westernisation, insulin resistance and diabetes in Australian aborigines.” The Medical Journal of Australia 155, no. 4 (1991): 258-264.

4. Speth, John D., and Katherine A. Spielmann. “Energy Source, Protein Metabolism, and Hunter-gatherer Subsistence Strategies.” Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 2, no. 1 (1983): 1-31. doi:10.1016/0278-4165(83)90006-5. 

5. Domínguez-Rodrigo, Manuel. “Hunting and scavenging by early humans: the state of the debate.” Journal of World Prehistory 16, no. 1 (2002): 1-54.

6. Ströhle, Alexander, and Andreas Hahn. “Diets of Modern Hunter-gatherers Vary Substantially in Their Carbohydrate Content Depending on Ecoenvironments: Results from an Ethnographic Analysis.” Nutrition Research 31, no. 6 (2011): 429-35. doi:10.1016/j.nutres.2011.05.003. 

The post The Anthropological Argument About Carb Consumption appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

While there are best practice guidelines for various desired outcomes, there is a large degree of individuality between the prescriptions for individuals. This variability is dictated by practitioners’ biochemical individuality, metabolic typing, or other circumstances. At this point in time, there is no accepted way to determine the macronutrient ‘tolerance’ of an individual, except in those cases where a specific diet is required due to a disease or disorder (such as a ketogenic diet for epilepsy).

What Determines Your Carb Tolerance?

In clinical practice, carbohydrate intake is often adjusted the most, because of its non-essentiality.¹ Because carbohydrate is not essential, and yet can be extremely beneficial, we need to be able to evaluate better what the differences in response to this macro may be. Due to its nature as an almost exclusively fuel-providing substrate, we know that carbohydrate intake rests upon two major factors:

1. The activity level of the individual: Including latent activity from habits, nervous and ‘constitutional’ behaviours, work-type, and exercise intensity, frequency, and volume.
2. The metabolic tolerance to carbohydrate: Dependent on genetic predisposition, exercise/activity levels, and dietary and medical history, especially where these factors may contribute to a tendency towards insulin resistance.

The difficult part for anyone is to try to figure out their unique tolerance to the macronutrients. One could begin by counting calories and macronutrients and adjusting these to attempt to find an optimal range of intake, but this is often tedious, ultimately unsustainable, and is unnecessary for most people. On the other hand, a ‘step-wise’ restriction of certain food types can be enormously helpful in finding a level of carb intake that meets your metabolic tolerance and activity-based requirements.

Do the Simple Things First

But before we even think of getting down to the minutiae of nutrition, we can make great strides toward achieving our health and performance goals simply by focusing on three simple words: natural, whole, and unprocessed.

People overcomplicate nutrition and rush into using diets with extreme restrictions or excessive supplementation, when minor changes applied with consistency will give the best long-term results. Small and consistent changes are also easier to implement and integrate into your daily routine, and can more easily become positive habits that ‘stick.’ Conversely, doing more than what is necessary to achieve your goal is a wasted effort and can be counterproductive in the long-term.

A good way to start is to simply eat a diet that is at least 80% natural, whole, unprocessed food, ad libitum (in other words, eat as much as you desire). Don’t get me wrong, I don’t say this because I’m some naturalistic devotee. More so, the emerging evidence simply points to ‘natural’ (however abused the word has become) diets offering benefit without the need for calculated calorie restriction or macro manipulation. While critics may point to a relative paucity of research on diets that emphasize whole, unprocessed foodstuffs (such as the paleo diet), there is emerging and compelling evidence for the beneficial effects of real-food diets.

If the only thing you do to your diet is eat real, natural, unprocessed food, the rest may take care of itself.

The Emerging Science of Paleo Diets

Paleo, as an example, while often derided by orthodox dieticians and medical practitioners, has a growing body of evidence which suggests compelling benefits.

Satiety 

A paleo meal may provide greater satiety than a standard meal based on best practice dietary guidelines,² best practice diabetic meal plan,³ and the Mediterranean Diet.⁴

Cardiometabolic Risk Factors

Paleo diets reduce cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin, and blood pressure:^{5, 6}

• A randomized, controlled trial featuring nine men and 25 women found that a paleo diet resulted in lower blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and higher HDL cholesterol than the reference diet over two weeks. No differences were noted for intestinal permeability (‘leaky gut’), inflammation or salivary cortisol (a marker of stress).
• A randomized cross-over trial featuring ten men and three women demonstrated that paleo diets have a lower glycemic index and are lower in total energy compared to a diabetic diet. The paleo diet resulted in lower HbA1c (a measure of average blood sugar levels), triglycerides, blood pressure, and higher HDL cholesterol.

Fat Loss

In a two-year, randomized, controlled trial, post-menopausal women lost more fat at six months and had lower triglycerides at six and 24 months.⁷ Ten healthy post-menopausal women ate ad libitum (eat as much as you want) on a paleo diet for five weeks. Average calorie intake was reduced by 25%, and average weight loss was 4.5kg, along with reduced waist and hip circumference, blood pressure, fasting glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL cholesterol (fat in the liver – a marker for metabolic disorder was also decreased).⁸

Diets that emphasize real, whole foods are also likely to:

• Provide increased amounts of a complex array of both primary and secondary nutrients
• Provide prebiotic, gut-supporting fibers and resistant starches without increasing glycemic load in a disproportionate manner
• Reduce glycemic load in total
• Preserve fat quality
• Provide ample amounts of all macro- and micro-nutrients
• Aid auto-regulation of calories

Eat Well Before You Fiddle with Numbers

The absolute priority for any change in diet should be to focus initially on the quality of food eaten, not just quantities. Many people will find that simply applying a greater focus to eating a diet that is based almost exclusively on natural, unprocessed foods will not need to be any more restrictive or prescriptive. Take a look at your plate next mealtime. Is it covered by at least 80% natural, unprocessed food?

If your goal is simply to be healthy, perform well, and be in great shape, save yourself the stress and hassle of calorie counting. Unless you’re looking to beat Usain Bolt’s record later in the year, you may get what you desire by simply focusing on the compendium of foods you eat, rather than fastidiously logging food diaries and weighing your foods.

Simplicity rules, and that should be the place to start. If you need to fine-tune further, that option is always available to you.

Beyond the marketing, there’s a reason most diets work:

Behind the Diet Curtain

References:

1. Westman EC. Is dietary carbohydrate essential for human nutrition? The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2002;75(5):951-3.

2. Bligh HF, Godsland IF, Frost G, Hunter KJ, Murray P, MacAulay K, et al. Plant-rich mixed meals based on Palaeolithic diet principles have a dramatic impact on incretin, peptide YY and satiety response, but show little effect on glucose and insulin homeostasis: an acute-effects randomised study. The British Journal of Nutrition. 2015;113:574-84.

3. Jönsson T, Granfeldt Y, Lindeberg S, Hallberg A-C. Subjective satiety and other experiences of a Paleolithic diet compared to a diabetes diet in patients with type 2 diabetes. Nutrition Journal. 2013;12:105.

4. Jonsson T, Granfeldt Y, Erlanson-Albertsson C, Ahren B, Lindeberg S. A paleolithic diet is more satiating per calorie than a mediterranean-like diet in individuals with ischemic heart disease. Nutrition & Metabolism (Lond). 2010;7:85.

5. Masharani U, Sherchan P, Schloetter M, Stratford S, Xiao A, Sebastian A, et al. Metabolic and physiologic effects from consuming a hunter-gatherer (Paleolithic)-type diet in type 2 diabetes. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2015.

6. Frassetto LA, Schloetter M, Mietus-Synder M, Morris RC, Jr., Sebastian A. Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2009;63(8):947-55.

7. Mellberg C, Sandberg S, Ryberg M, Eriksson M, Brage S, Larsson C, et al. Long-term effects of a Palaeolithic-type diet in obese postmenopausal women: a 2-year randomized trial. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2014;68(3):350-7.

8. Ryberg M, Sandberg S, Mellberg C, Stegle O, Lindahl B, Larsson C, et al. A Palaeolithic-type diet causes strong tissue-specific effects on ectopic fat deposition in obese postmenopausal women. Journal of Internal Medicine. 2013;274(1):67-76.

The post Simplicity Rules: Start Your Diet with Natural Food appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Our intake affects our metabolism and training. That training, in turn, affects hunger and hormonal factors, which then affect intake. Our environment, genetics, and psychology play a part at both ends of the equation. It’s the same math, the same two sides of the same equation, but it’s a whole lot messier than “eat less, move more” makes it sound.

Humans in general don’t prefer messy concepts. Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, we’re willing to travel far and work hard when we have clear, simple direction: “Follow the yellow brick road.” Many diets provide that direction by breaking down the whole chaotic mess to a single, magical rule. Sometimes the rule works, but if it fails to get us where we want, we’re left with only two options: give up or double down.

The paleo diet is a useful illustration of this point. It can be a great diet, but some people diligently eat only “paleo-approved” foods and still don’t see results. Let’s take a peek behind the curtain and see if we can’t figure out why.

The Magical Premise: Too Good to Be (Completely) True

The magic claim of the paleo diet is simple: we’re sick and weak because “modern foods are at odds with our genetic makeup.”² Eat in accordance with evolution, and you’ll be healthy. No need to count calories or engage in long, boring gym sessions. Easy.

The paleo diet centers around restriction, forbidding cereal grains, dairy, starchy vegetables, legumes, salted foods, fatty meats, and sugar because they are “too modern” for the human genome and are therefore bad. These foods and the compounds in them, things like gluten, lactose, omega-6 fats, sugar, additives, and anti-nutrients, are blamed for everything from depression to diarrhea.

When we dig into the details, though, some things don’t quite add up:

• Some of our model ancestors weren’t actually all that healthy.³
• Health, stature, quality of life, and life expectancy varied wildly throughout history, despite our ancestors’ access to organic, free range, GMO-and-RBGH-free, raw, lean beef.⁴
• Some people have already developed adaptations to modern foods like dairy, and even those with clear sensitivities sometimes adapt with repeated exposure, suggesting our bodies are more flexible than we think.^5,6
• Grains, sugar, and starchy vegetables have been in our diet for far longer than dairy, inviting a question: why haven’t we evolved out of the need for a paleo diet, and how long until that happens?⁷
• Whole grains are either anti-inflammatory or neutral and are a key part of many healthy diets.^8,9
• A diet without some level of processing was never sustainable, and farmed food, organic or not, is substantially different from its wild variants.¹⁰ No grocery store is truly paleo.
• Some foods, diets, and all effective supplements aren’t paleo, yet they consistently correlate with good health and improved athletic performance.¹¹

Pay Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

Remember in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy finds out the wizard isn’t actually magical at all? His wondrous illusions are the result of levers and switches hidden behind a curtain. The characters are dismayed, but I see something different in that scene. The smoke and sound effects may not be a wizard’s work, but they’re still impressive. If you get the results you need, does it matter that the cause is mechanical and not magical?

The same lesson applies here. The premise of paleo is shaky at best, but the diet has worked for a lot of people. It’s just that the reason it works is a boring, mechanical one: the calorie balance equation.

First, let’s take a look at how the paleo diet reduces the “calories-in” half of the equation:

• The paleo diet restricts the most common carbohydrate sources in the standard American diet and, unless fully replaced, you’ll simply take in fewer calories.
• Switching to paleo from the standard American diet almost inevitably increases protein intake. Protein leaves you feeling fuller longer than carbs.¹²
• The planning and preparation required to keep one’s paleo purity puts up a barrier to casual eating and makes us mindful of what we’re doing. In the same way, many people who start counting calories will lose weight even when they don’t intentionally try and do anything with that information.
• Avoiding added sweeteners, flavorings, and hyper-palatable comfort foods may remodel our expectations and help break negative food habits and cravings.

Switching from a junk diet to paleo also improves the “calories-out” end of the equation:

• Protein takes more energy to digest^1,13 and supports muscle gain¹⁴ when paired with effective training, which improves metabolism (slightly) and allows for greater output in sport or the gym.
• Nutrient deficiencies are surprisingly common.¹⁵ Replacing Twinkies and mystery meat with fruits, vegetables, lean meats, nuts, and seeds may provide these missing pieces, improving health and allowing us to move more.
• Many people take on other lifestyle habits along with “going paleo,” including increased physical activity, better sleep, and stress management.

Pulling the Right Levers

It’s also easy to see why some people who take a paleo approach fail to see results. 

Sometimes, it’s a failure on the “calories-in” side of the equation. Replacing doughnuts and pancakes with “paleo-approved” doughnuts and pancakes instead of fruits, vegetables, and lean meats is pointless. It won’t reduce intake, change food habits, or address micronutrient deficiencies. The same goes for replacing the lost carbs with bacon and nut butters, foods so tasty and calorie-dense they’re usually used for weight gain.

On the other hand, failing on the “calories-out” end of the equation could be just as detrimental. Trying to control intake without improving output is a halfway measure that’s unlikely to be successful. Some high-volume athletes will suffer in the gym after switching to a paleo regimen (meaning less calories burned) unless they actively take in enough fruits and starches to keep up. Supplements are not paleo by definition, but even some paleo gurus will admit their place when they improve work output and help you stick to the diet.

There Is No Magic Shortcut

After pulling back the curtain and discovering the Wizard’s secret, Dorothy shouts “You’re a very bad man!” Sheepishly, he replies “No my dear, I’m a very good man. I’m just a very bad wizard.” Like the wizard, a paleo approach can be a very good diet. But it’s not magical. Evolution and nature hold no shortcuts. 

1. Gropper, Sareen Annora Stepnick., Jack L. Smith, and James L. Groff. Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism. Canada: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2009. 

2. Cordain, Loren. The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Foods You Were Designed to Eat. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011. 

3. Fodor, J. George, Eftyhia Helis, Narges Yazdekhasti, and Branislav Vohnout. ““Fishing” for the Origins of the “Eskimos and Heart Disease” Story: Facts or Wishful Thinking?” Canadian Journal of Cardiology 30, no. 8 (2014): 864-68. doi:10.1016/j.cjca.2014.04.007. 

4. Holt, Brigitte M., and Vincenzo Formicola. “Hunters of the Ice Age: The Biology of Upper Paleolithic People.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 137, no. S47 (2008): 70-99. doi:10.1002/ajpa.20950. 

5. Gerbault, Pascale, Mélanie Roffet-Salque, Richard P. Evershed, and Mark G. Thomas. “How Long Have Adult Humans Been Consuming Milk?” IUBMB Life 65, no. 12 (2013): 983-90. doi:10.1002/iub.1227. 

6. Szilagyi, Andrew. “Adaptation to Lactose in Lactase Non Persistent People: Effects on Intolerance and the Relationship between Dairy Food Consumption and Evalution of Diseases.” Nutrients 7, no. 8 (2015): 6751-779. doi:10.3390/nu7085309. 

7. Henry, A. G., A. S. Brooks, and D. R. Piperno. “Microfossils in Calculus Demonstrate Consumption of Plants and Cooked Foods in Neanderthal Diets.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108, no. 2 (2010): 486-91. doi:10.1073/pnas.1016868108. 

8. Masters, R. C., A. D. Liese, S. M. Haffner, L. E. Wagenknecht, and A. J. Hanley. “Whole and Refined Grain Intakes Are Related to Inflammatory Protein Concentrations in Human Plasma.” Journal of Nutrition 140, no. 3 (2010): 587-94. doi:10.3945/jn.109.116640. 

9. Lefevre, Michael, and Satya Jonnalagadda. “Effect of Whole Grains on Markers of Subclinical Inflammation.” Nutrition Reviews 70, no. 7 (2012): 387-96. doi:10.1111/j.1753-4887.2012.00487.x. 

10. Raymond, Ruth D., Cassandra Moore, and Kelly Wagner. “Crop Wild Relatives.” Crop Wild Relatives. 2006. Accessed June 09, 2016. 

11. Buford, Thomas W., Richard B. Kreider, Jeffrey R. Stout, Mike Greenwood, Bill Campbell, Marie Spano, Tim Ziegenfuss, Hector Lopez, Jamie Landis, and Jose Antonio. “International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Creatine Supplementation and Exercise.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 4, no. 1 (2007): 6. doi:10.1186/1550-2783-4-6. 

12. Paddon-Jones D, Westman E, Mattes RD, Wolfe RR, Astrup A, Westerterp-Plantenga M. “Protein, weight management, and satiety.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2008;87:1558S–61S.

13. Westerterp-Plantenga, Margriet S. “Protein Intake and Energy Balance.” Regulatory Peptides 149, no. 1-3 (2008): 67-69. doi:10.1016/j.regpep.2007.08.026. 

14. Campbell, Bill, Richard B. Kreider, Tim Ziegenfuss, Paul La Bounty, Mike Roberts, Darren Burke, Jamie Landis, Hector Lopez, and Jose Antonio. “International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Protein and Exercise.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 4, no. 1 (2007): 8. doi:10.1186/1550-2783-4-8.

15. Moshfegh, Alanna, Joseph Goldman, Jaspreet Ahuja, Donna Rhodes, and Randy LaComb. “WHAT WE EAT IN AMERICA, NHANES 2005-2006. Usual Nutrient Intakes from Food and Water Compared to 1997 Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin D, Calcium, Phosphorus, and Magnesium.” 2009. Accessed June 9, 2016.

The post Behind the Diet Curtain appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I say eat a rainbow of whole foods every day.

Different nutrients impart different colors to fruits and vegetables.

End the Restrictive Cycle

I remember back in the day when I started doing Jane Fonda-style aerobic workouts. It had nothing to do with form or engaging muscle groups. It was all about how many reps you could do for maximum burn and pain. As athletes and coaches, we now know that a solid rep executed with perfect form is more important than number of reps.

This number-focused mindset can rear its ugly head with nutrition, too. From a psychological perspective, anything that leads to a feeling of restriction or excess typically does not offer a positive long-term outcome. More often the reverse happens, causing people to bounce from over-restricted tendencies to excessive eating patterns. In the dieting world, this has been coined as “yo-yo dieting.” One of its most common symptoms is calorie counting.

When Calories Control You

When I first started a paleo lifestyle a little over four years ago, there were a few things I really struggled with, and counting calories was at the top of my list. I was shocked to learn just how engrained calorie counting had become in my daily thinking and decision making. I realized my mind was programmed to pay attention to the numbers of calories first and foremost.

I have to admit, I stored up a lot of random knowledge about calorie counts for the foods I loved. But I grew to see that most of those foods were not even real foods, but processed, packaged poison. I also realized the knowledge I gained by counting calories was often the deciding factor of what foods I ate, more than nutritional content. I was sad to realize this was how I was living.

Count Colors, Not Calories

Today I have a simple guiding principle: I try to eat at least two platefuls of an organic, whole-food rainbow every day. Instead of counting calories, I count colors. Five different colors a day is my goal. Many times I am lucky to have that with each plateful.

Food has become like art mixed with a seasonal scavenger hunt. My search for colorful foods to keep my plate interesting and fun has led me to try new seasonal and native foods. Here are a few examples of colorful meals that are also perfect for winter months and great for families or large groups.

Bone Broth Carrot and Butternut Squash Soup

Yield: Serves 4-6

Prep time: 45 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 quart bone broth
• 1 butternut squash, diced
• 2lb carrots
• ½ can full fat coconut milk
• 2 Tablespoons of melted coconut oil
• Pink Himalayan salt
• Fresh ground black pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and place diced squash coated in the melted oil on tray. Bake for 30 minutes until soft to touch and slightly brown.
3. Meanwhile, begin to heat bone broth on stove, adding sliced carrots.
4. Once done, add the cooked squash to the broth.
5. Cook soup for about 20 minutes or until carrots are fork soft. Remove soup from heat.
6. Using an immersion blender or hand mixer, mix soup into a nice creamy consistency, adding coconut milk and spices to taste right in the soup pot.
7. Serve hot and enjoy.

Paleo-Perfect Slow Cooker Stew

Yield: Serves 6

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 10 hours

Ingredients:

• 3lb stewing meat of choice
• 1lb carrots, chopped
• 1lb mushrooms
• Small head of red cabbage, chopped
• 2lb baby onions
• 1 large can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup water or red wine
• Fresh thyme
• 5 cloves of garlic
• Pink Himalayan salt
• Fresh ground black pepper

Method:

1. Place all ingredients in slow cooker.
2. Add spices to taste. Cook for 10 hours on low. Once done, turn off and enjoy with a side salad.

You’ll Also Enjoy:

• 7 Simple Ways to Get More Greens in Your Diet
• A Week of Healthy Dinner Recipes to Support Your Workouts
• 2 Tasty Tidbits to Get Your Best Results From Paleo
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photos 1, 2 and teaser courtesy of Shutterstock.
Photo 3 courtesy of V. Capaldi.

The post Count Colors, Not Calories: 2 Recipes for a Colorful Plate appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Give Your Body What It Needs

I am not into counting calories, fat grams, or macros, nor do I believe you must in order to gain weight. Your body is already innately wired to know what it needs. Your body will tell you if it is or is not getting enough through symptoms like indigestion, satiety or hunger, weakness or fatigue, and strength losses.

But mindfulness about fueling your body is crucial. It all comes down to giving your body the three main macronutrients it needs on a daily basis:

• Protein
• Healthy fats
• Carbs (veggies, fruits, starches)

If healthy weight gain is your goal, then aim for the following ballpark amount of these macronutrients:

Protein: Eat protein with every meal, anywhere from 4-10 ounces. Exact amounts depend on your gender, current size, and digestion. This could amount to:

• 1lb of meat per day (grassfed beef/bison, organic chicken, pulled pork, etc.)
• 2-3 pasture-raised eggs or organic chicken sausage with breakfast
• 1-2 scoops of a quality sourced protein powder on a workout day

> Healthy Fats: >Fat is no longer a four-letter word. In fact, healthy fats promote better digestion and a revving metabolism. They decrease inflammation for better healing and recovery between workouts and help you maintain optimal brain function.

Reach for 1-2 servings with each meal to get a bigger bang for your daily intake buck. Fats are dense sources of energy, so one serving might look like:

• 1-2 Tbsp raw almond butter, coconut butter, or sunflower seed butter
• Half of an avocado
• A fistful of raw nuts/seeds

Other good sources include nitrate-free bacon, unsweetened shredded coconut, grass-fed butter, hemp or pumpkin seed oil, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, or avocado oil.

Carbs: Carb consumption makes a huge difference when it comes to putting on healthy weight via a paleolithic template. Starchy vegetables and a moderate intake of fruit are your best friends. Eat more sweet potatoes, potatoes, carrots, beets, squash, parsnips, pumpkin, and tubers, along with bananas, berries, apples, and other seasonal fruit.

At each meal, aim to include:

• A protein source (serving size: 1-2 palm sizes)
• 1-2 fats (serving size: spreads & oils=1-2 thumb sizes, fistful nuts/seeds, ½ avocado)
• And carbs (a starchier carb + veggies) with your main meals (serving size: this ebbs and flows, depending on rate of weight gain you desire)

Meal examples:

• Banana and raw almond butter with some turkey or chicken sausage and power greens
• Diced butternut squash in your morning egg, bison, and kale hash for breakfast
• A large Japanese sweet potato diced up in a hearty spinach salad, topped with chicken or tuna, avocado, roasted veggies, and some oil and vinegar
• A large Garnet sweet potato topped with coconut butter, grilled salmon, or flank steak, with a side of steamed broccoli
• 2-3 eggs overeasy with spinach and mushrooms, plus 2-3 slices nitrate-free bacon and half of an avocado
• 8oz grass-fed burger with a homemade roasted sweet potato or Idaho potato ‘fries’ drizzled with olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. Serve with sautéed greens.
• Smoothie recipe: 1 cup unsweetened almond/coconut milk + 1 serving quality protein powder + handful frozen berries or half a banana + 1-2 Tbsp raw almond butter, coconut oil, or coconut butter + heaping handful spinach

Get Comfortable With Carbs

Carb intake doesn’t have to be complex, but it is a crucial component of weight gain with paleo. It’s important to experiment and find what works for you. Here are a few tips for healthy carb intake:

• Remember Your Goals: Play around with the amount you consume to fit your goals and the rate of progress you want to see.
• Don’t Forget Starch: Incorporate a starchier carb source with each meal until you find you’ve reached your goal.
• Experiment With Grains: Some people (especially athletes) find they are able to tolerate some properly prepared grains, particularly before or after workouts. These include white rice, Basmati rice, steel-cut oats, and quinoa (pre-soaked to remove gut-irritating phytates prior to cooking). Stick to one grain source as one of your carbohydrates every day or every other day.
• Avoid Nutrient-Poor Grains: Continue to steer clear of pasta, flour, enriched breads, and other gluten-based products. A whole-foods approach is optimal for health, digestion, and lean muscle gains, as opposed to more fat gains.
• Don’t Forget Your Veggies: Veggies are unlimited carbs on any paleolithic template, regardless of your goals. They ensure you get in the host of vitamins and minerals you need for optimal health. Variety is the spice of life, and there is a rainbow of colors to choose from. Take a hint from Popeye and eat your greens, which will improve your power and recovery from workouts. Try any combination of kale, chard, spinach, collards, and power greens.

Snack Strategically

Weight gain philosophy typically suggests you should never be hungry. But that mentality can make eating feel like a chore – so much so that you begin to resent eating at times, primarily out of the discomfort of constantly being full.

While you should not go hungry, eating does not have to be like pulling teeth. Some people find they have more success by eating three larger meals each day, with 1-2 smaller snacks or protein shakes tossed in there. Others prefer to spread out their meals to a consistent 5-6 meals each day, eating a moderate portion at breakfast, lunch and dinner, coupled with some higher-calorie snacks between meals.

Here are some examples of high-calorie snacks to help you meet your weight goals:

• Handful of raw nuts/seeds
• Homemade trail mix (mixed nuts, dried fruit & coconut flakes—no added sugar) or Paleo granola
• Banana with almond butter or cashew butter
• Almond/coconut milk + protein powder
• Half an avocado or homemade avocado ‘pudding’
• Chicken or tuna salad made with primal/paleo mayo
• 1-2 spoonfuls of nut butter or coconut butter
• Leftover protein (can add some avocado on top)
• RXBar or Larabar
• Homemade nut/seed crackers with guacamole, Paleo hummus, nutbutter, grass-fed butter cubes, or grass-fed cheese
• Celery sticks with nut butter and raisins or dried cranberries
• Raw grass-fed cheese, yogurt, coconut yogurt, and possibly even raw, grass-fed milk (depending on your tolerance levels for dairy)

Focus on getting the majority of your intake at your main meals. Let snacks tide you over between meals if you find you have some room in your digestive system to take in a little bit more. Be strategic and find what works for you.

Don’t Dismiss Protein Powder

Protein powder is not paleo, strictly speaking. Cave people didn’t have tubs of powders back in their day. However, keeping an 80/20 balanced philosophy in mind (i.e. not ‘perfect’ paleo), protein powder can be a great addition to your weight gain efforts around your workouts.

Here are two ideal ways to use protein powder:

• Post-workout: Shake up 1-2 scoops in some water, coconut water (a great way to add more carbs in for the day), almond milk, or coconut milk to feed the machine with an easy source of instant calories for the body.
• In a smoothie: Protein powder is a good addition to your morning breakfast smoothie or snack smoothie, as liquid foods are more easily digested and can aid in preventing over-fullness during the weight gain efforts.

Look for brands without artificial sweeteners and the least ingredients possible. Experiment to find the right powder that cooperates with your body. It shouldn’t leave you running to the bathroom every time you drink it. Some varieties I like:

• Wild Whey by Wild Foods
• Collagen-Whey Protein blend by Natural Stacks
• Rebuild Whey by Revive-RX
• Bison-Egg protein by Paleo-Pro

Hemp protein powder is another good option. As for supplements, Natural Stacks has a BCAA line that is great for supporting muscle gains for your pre-workout routine. And you cannot go wrong with a quality fish oil or cod liver oil to support muscle building, metabolic function, and recovery. Otherwise, save your money on all those supplements that claim they are the golden ticket to success.

Listen to Your Stomach

A healthy gut is crucial to digesting all the nutrients and caloric load you are taking on during weight gain. If your digestion is impaired, then you will either not absorb the foods you are eating or feel miserable due to indigestion, bloating, or constipation. There are several measures you can take to better digest and absorb your food, despite the discomfort of fullness during weight gain. These include:

• Chew your food. Really chew it. You shouldn’t be able to recognize its original form before you swallow each bite.
• Drink lots of water throughout the day – at least half your bodyweight in ounces plus approximately 16-20 ounces around your workouts.
• Take a quality probiotic – 1-2 times per day.
• Consider digestive enzymes and HCL supplementation. Consult with a nutrition therapist, holistic practitioner, or another professional for guidance.

Break Through Walls

And, ultimately, believe. Regardless of your conceptions about paleo, the one tried-and-true fact is that it is, at its core, all about eating real food. By putting these pieces in place, you may find that, instead of running into that same old wall you have been hitting as a so-called hard-gainer, weight gain becomes easier and even enjoyable.

You’ll Also Enjoy:

• Top 10 Foods to Gain Muscle Mass
• A Paleo Primer: Benefits, Limitations, and Misconceptions
• For Skinny Young Guys: 3 Programs to Bulk You Up
• New on Breaking Muscle Right Now

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post How to Gain Weight on the Paleo Diet appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

My parents’ “gym” was life. It was the same way with my grandparents. To think getting outside and playing with your kids or moving and lifting everyday objects is the newest craze in fitness actually sounds ridiculous when you sit back and think about it. There’s absolutely nothing new about this type of organic lifestyle.

An Organic Way of Life

During my recent time in Ecuador I learned so much about the true meaning of organic, beyond what the dictionary and marketing tell us. In Ecuador, organic farming comes from the heart. It is not a way of farming so much as a way of life.

My trip to Ecuador showed me organic is more than a method of farming.

In this sense, organic is about being one with nature, not just about how food is grown. As the pre-packaged, processed lifestyle has become the norm, we’ve lost sight of this simple way of living, and hence when we see it is something new. My trip taught me that a truly organic life is what we were given at birth. It has nothing to do with consumerism. During our trip, we asked why the farmers choose an organic lifestyle. The answer was universal: they see it no other way.

Taste Food for What It Is

This understanding makes the organic concept within food far more meaningful. Recipes are often filled with ingredients that mask the flavor of the food and make it less nourishing for our athletic endeavors. Processed food is about making food taste like what you want. Eating consciously, and eating organically, is about tasting food for what it is. Since my conscious-eating life began over four years ago, I find my cooking style is less complex. Creating meals is all about the marriage of ingredients that allows each to come into its own.

Vegetables and fruit are huge in my clean-eating life. I only buy organic and try to stay local as often as possible. This marriage of herbs, fat, and roasted veggies is my favorite way to prepare food during fall and winter months. I love to cook vegetables until they are slightly charred to allow the caramelized sweetness come through. Lining a cookie tray with parchment paper makes clean up a breeze and great for batch cooking as well.

Herb-Roasted Veggies

Roasting root vegetables with herbs is a simple way to support your clean-eating lifestyle.

Ingredients:

• Organic vegetables (Some of my favorites: onions, sweet potato, carrots, fennel, garlic, and asparagus)
• Fat of choice
• Fresh herbs (Some examples: parsley, thyme, basil, mint, cilantro)
• Pink Himalayan sea salt
• Fresh ground pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Prepare vegetable to your liking by slicing, dicing, or cubing.
3. Mix in desired fat. This may require melting the fat first and tossing the vegetables with the melted fat.
4. Grab cookie tray and line with parchment paper.
5. Add tossed vegetables on tray.
6. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
7. Add either chopped or whole herbs on vegetables.
8. Place in oven for 20 minutes, then check. Continue to cook to desired doneness. On average, charred is about 40 minutes.

You’ll Also Enjoy:

• 5 Simple Ways to Avoid GMO Foods
• A Week of Healthy Dinners to Support Your Workouts
• Rosemary Garlic Truffle Oil Sweet Potato Fries (Recipe)
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photos courtesy of V Capaldi.

The post Beyond Food: The Real Meaning of Organic appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The thinking goes like this: agriculture makes us chronically ill and is out of sync with our biology, so let’s abandon our current agricultural diet and eat like our ancestors did over 10,000 years ago and get healthy, right? Abandon grains, legumes, and dairy, and eat mainly meat, supplemented with vegetables, fruits, and some nuts and oils.

It’s myth-busting time. Archaeology, anthropology, evolutionary medicine, and science just don’t support what advocates of the diet tout. It has no basis in science at all. And it’s not even what we ate over 10,000 years ago.

Myth 1: Paleolithic People Ate Meat Galore

We have no known anatomical, physiological, or even genetic adaptations for intensive meat consumption. But we do have adaptations for plant consumption. Carnivores make their own vitamin C. We can’t. We have to eat plants to obtain vitamin C. Our digestive tract is longer than carnivores because we take longer to digest our food, especially plant matter. As omnivores, we don’t even have the specialized teeth that carnivores have for shredding meat. In other words, while we can digest meat, our bodies have adapted more to a plant-based diet.

“Paleolithic people couldn’t be picky as meat would have been hard to find in some areas, if it could be found at all.”

If we did actually manage to catch and kill meat 10,000 years ago or manage to scavenge another animal’s kill, the meat would have been very lean with little juicy flesh on the animal, and we would have eaten the organs (offal) and marrow – the whole animal. We didn’t eat fattened domestic meat and nice prime cuts that can be found at the supermarket or the butchers. While many paleo advocates promote the eating of the whole animal, the reality is many followers don’t practice this and only eat juicy first-class cuts. Paleolithic people couldn’t be picky as meat would have been hard to find in some areas, if it could be found at all.

Myth 2: Our Ancestors Avoided Legumes and Whole Grains

Stone-grinding tools from 30,000 years ago (a long time before the onset of agriculture, some 20,000 years ago) have been found from northeastern Europe to the central Mediterranean, like a mortar and pestle used to grind up seeds and grains. Measurements from the micro-fossilized tooth plaque or dental calculus of paleolithic people show grains including barley, legumes, and tubers. In fact, archaeologists found there was an abundance of plant remains. Other studies have shown consumption of leaves and bark, much like the diet of a chimpanzee. When was the last time you saw that on your paleo café menu?

Interestingly, if you look at what the longest-living cultures on the planet eat (Okinawa, Japan; Loma Linda, California USA; Sardinia, Italy; Ikaria, Greece; Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica), you may be surprised to find it is not what modern “paleo diet” authors recommend. These cultures eat a diet that is 70-80% plant based, and includes legumes, grains and dairy.

Myth 3: Our Modern Foods Are What Our Ancestors Ate

Besides the fact we now know what our ancestors ate from the micro-fossilized remains in their teeth, every single food you see on every publication or book about the paleo diet is actually a domesticated food. They are all products of farming and agriculture and are the product of the Neolithic agricultural transition.

The foods you know currently are absolutely nothing like the wild foods of 10,000 years ago. In fact, you wouldn’t recognize those wild foods as being edible or palatable because since that time they have been altered genetically and bred to be more easily consumed, tastier, and without toxins. We have radically changed these foods through farming to suit our needs. So in other words it’s unattainable to eat like our ancestors did.

“It is simply impossible to even remotely eat like our ancestors in the world we live in today.”

When we go to the supermarket or eat out, we often don’t know where our food comes from. That healthy meal you enjoy from your local café or restaurant might have a variety of ingredients from around the world. These ingredients are often not local or in season-like what was eaten by paleolithic people. And the size of domestic vegetables and fruits are completely different to those in the wild. Most of the vegetables as we know them didn’t even exist. Most of our fruits and vegetables we currently know are actually human inventions.

Even when we look at olive oil, one of the top oils touted by the diet, which is the only natural vegetable oil that can be harvested without the use of synthetic chemicals, still needs pressing, a process we are aware of only existing for the last 5,000 or so years. It is simply impossible to even remotely eat like our ancestors in the world we live in today.

And don’t be fooled by gluten free, organic hipster junk food either. Junk food is still junk food and so many of our hipster healthy, gluten free and organic options are still very unhealthy for us and again they are nothing like what our ancestors ate. Do you really think our ancestors ate gluten free pizza, muffins, brownies and deserts?

Look at the Facts

The fact is there was no single paleo diet. There were many diets depending on the region a person lived in. You could only eat local food, and that food was seasonally and regionally variable. Then, after consuming all the resources in that area, you would have to move on to where there was more food. As a paleo man or woman, you had to move from one resource patch to another. Fish spawn at different times, herds migrate, and plants bear food at different times.

Paleolithic people would often travel long distances to find only small amounts of food, and a lot of it was tough, woody, and fibrous items that contained toxins (and some good stuff like phytochemicals, too). But the modern reality is that seven billion people cannot eat like foragers. So you can say that agriculture and farming are the devil, but we wouldn’t be alive without them.

“It’s not really because this style of eating is “paleo,” but simply because the people are eating healthier.”

So, when we look to evolutionary science we learn a great deal about the reality of the “paleo” diet, and thanks to that science there are some great take-aways we can use to improve our health.

• There is no one correct diet. There is only the right one for you that pushes your health indicators in the right direction. You won’t read that often because it doesn’t sell books and make money. We know from evolutionary science that diverse eating is key to health, and eating foods from different species is also important for our health. If you look at many of our processed foods on our supermarket shelves, they generally are of only three species -corn, wheat, and soy. We need to eat as large a variety of foods as possible to be healthy.

• We need to eat foods that are fresh, in season, and ripe. Much of our food has been picked before it is ripe, for it then to “ripen” in trucks, in fridges, and on supermarket shelving before we consume it. Have you ever noticed that when you bring home your fruit and vegetables, they are rotting within a few days? Eating foods that are fresh, in season, and ripe means our foods have the highest nutritional value and the most health benefit.

• We evolved to eat whole foods in their complete packages. That means foods with only one ingredient, and with their fiber, roughage, and skin. Even the parts of the food you can’t or don’t digest so well are important. Fiber regulates the speed of the food traveling through your body, it slows down the release of sugars, and feeds the good bacteria in your gut. Yet, most people don’t get enough in their diets.

What Can the Idea of Paleo Offer?

The biggest benefit I have seen from clients on forms of the paleo diet is the elimination of processed and junk foods, sugar, and refined salts and chemicals. As we get rid of these foods, we also often do away with the highest energy-dense foods. So, it’s no wonder making this change has resulted in enormous positive health benefits and weight loss for people. It’s not really because this style of eating is “paleo,” but simply because the people are eating healthier.

The elimination of grains, legumes, and dairy is a discussion for another time, but the form in which we often consume these – adulterated and processed – is a massive concern. There is no doubt from my own experience and from working with clients that for some people the elimination of these foods resulted in instantaneous health benefits. So is it the adulterated and processed state we consume these in? Or is it that these foods just aren’t good for some people? I’d say the answer is “yes” to both. It depends.

Followers of the paleo diet have become healthier by default – not necessarily by design. This is still a positive thing, but we need to stop calling eating healthier “paleo” and understand that we will never be able to eat like our ancestors did. What we term a “paleo” diet – according to our modernized, publicized version of abandoning grains, legumes, and dairy and instead, according to many advocates, eating mainly meat, supplemented with vegetables, fruits, some nuts, and oils, are not what our ancestors actually ate anyway.

“Followers of the paleo diet have become healthier by default – not necessarily by design.”

Don’t believe the hype. We need to start to listening to our bodies, thinking for ourselves, doing our own research, and looking at what the longest living cultures on our planet are eating – and also looking to our evolutionary scientists and what they can teach us about improving our nutritional health.

More on nutrition:

• Nutrition and Genetics: Is Nutrigenetics the Future of Nutrition?
• Post Workout Nutrition Carbs Only? Or Carbs + Protein?
• Do the Math to Make the Most of Micronutrients
• New On Breaking Muscle Today

Photo 1 & 3 courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Your Paleo Guide: Myths Versus Facts appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Question #1: So, What About Biceps?

READER: I noticed that you use bicep curls in your routine fairly often. What do you like about them? I mostly focus on the big three and leave out any accessory work. Should I add them in?

CHARLES SAYS: Well, yes, I do a lot of curl. I didn’t used to. But here’s why:

1. In terms of my muscular development, my arms are a bit underwhelming compared to everything else. I’m not only speaking in aesthetic terms, but also in terms of my powerlifting goals. Yes, I know, what does arm size have to do with bench pressing? Well, the more arm mass you have, the more tissue compression you achieve when your elbow is fully flexed, this creates a natural “spring” that can add pounds to your bench.
2. Being a small muscle group, the bicep recovers quickly, and therefore, can and should be trained more often than other muscles. So on the one hand, training biceps isn’t a big priority, but on the other hand, it also doesn’t cost much to train them.

Question #2: Powerlifting, Age, and Injury, So What Gives?

READER: How long do you think you’ll be powerlifting? I always notice that a lot of older powerlifters seem to be busted up.

CHARLES SAYS: I’m not sure to be honest. I can tell you that, for me at least, powerlifting is a means to an end more than an end unto itself. In other words, I’m using it as a way to stay accountable to my training, as a way of testing myself, and also as a laboratory to test my theories and practices in a real-world way. So, I think of it like a boat that gets me across the river – once I’ve gotten across, I no longer need the boat.

What’s on the other side? I’m currently working on a book for older guys looking to be physical outliers, and I want to be sure I’m walking the walk 100%, so I plan to bring up a few weaker areas of my game, including mobility, and I’d also like to tighten up by body composition a bit, as well.

“I can tell you that, for me at least, powerlifting is a means to an end more than an end unto itself.”

As for being busted up, thankfully I’m not, at least yet. I attribute a lot of this to being a careful person in general. I don’t do a lot of “ego lifting,” and when something hurts, I stop (case in point, see this week’s training).

Question #3: Do You Paleo?

READER: Charles, I’ve never heard you talk about paleo. Do you like? Dislike?

CHARLES SAYS: Boy, it sure seems like I’ve written about it, but maybe not. I do have a few thoughts on the subject ether way:

Firstly, I think it’s a false premise that Paleolithic man was healthier than we are today. True, they didn’t suffer from some of the chronic diseases that we suffer from today (diabetes and cardiovascular disease, in particular). But they likely did suffer from many illnesses that are mostly unknown in (at least) Western civilization today – parasites and infectious diseases come immediately to mind.

The second false premise is that there was a single Paleolithic culture, and by extension, cuisine. In truth, Paleolithic peoples ate quite differently depending on where they lived. Some of these peoples even ate grains, for example.

With those points being made, I still think most people would be healthier eating “paleo” (definitions differ, but generally by this I mean fewer carbs, more fiber, higher protein, and less processing) than what they’re eating now. That doesn’t mean, however, that you need to go “full-paleo” to enjoy those same benefits. For example, gluten poses no issues for most people.

Finally, I have to laugh when I see the marketing exploitation surrounding the whole paleo movement. Last week I saw an ad for “glazed doughnut” paleo bars, for example. Sheesh.

This Week’s Training

This Week’s Volume: 36,594 Pounds (Last Week: 38,265 Pounds)

Significant Lifts:

• Deadlift 455×5
• Paused Bench Press: 225×5

The main story for this week is that my right shoulder and knee have been hurting a fair bit, so I’ve backed off, particularly on squats and on overall volume. Even so, I hit some really good numbers this week, and both shoulder and knee seem to be better, so I expect to be back to 100% next week.

One final note is that I’ve been working with Dr. John Rusin on some mobility drills, so I’ll be reporting more on that soon. John really understands the psychology of lifters (being one himself) and has put together a handful of drills designed to have high payoff for me. Looking forward to seeing how that pans out for me and I’ll keep everyone posted.

Thanks guys, keep those questions coming!

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Bodyweight: 202.4 Pounds

Volume: 10,705 Pounds

Bench Press

• Set 1: 45 lbs × 10
• Set 2: 95 lbs × 8
• Set 3: 135 lbs × 6
• Set 4: 185 lbs × 5
• Set 5: 195 lbs × 5
• Set 6: 205 lbs × 5

Life Fitness Row

• Set 1: 60 lbs × 8

Bicep Curl (Dumbbell)

• Set 1: 60 lbs × 8
• Set 2: 60 lbs × 8
• Set 3: 60 lbs × 8

Seated Row

• Set 1: 100 lbs × 8
• Set 2: 120 lbs × 8

Tricep Pushdowns

• Set 1: 130 lbs × 8
• Set 2: 130 lbs × 8

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Bodyweight: 202.8 Pounds

Volume: 16,315 Pounds

Deadlift

• Set 1: 135 lbs × 5
• Set 2: 135 lbs × 5
• Set 3: 225 lbs × 5
• Set 4: 275 lbs × 5
• Set 5: 315 lbs × 5
• Set 6: 365 lbs × 5
• Set 7: 405 lbs × 5
• Set 8: 455 lbs × 5 (Video Below)

High Bar Squat

• Set 1: 45 lbs × 5
• Set 2: 95 lbs × 5
• Set 3: 135 lbs × 5
• Set 4: 185 lbs × 5
• Set 5: 205 lbs × 5

Leg Curl

• Set 1: 80 lbs × 6
• Set 2: 80 lbs × 6
• Set 3: 80 lbs × 6

Friday, August 28, 2015

Bodyweight: 202.6 Pounds

Volume: 9574 Pounds

Bench Press (Paused)

• Set 1: 45 lbs × 10
• Set 2: 95 lbs × 8
• Set 3: 135 lbs × 6
• Set 4: 185 lbs × 5
• Set 5: 205 lbs × 5
• Set 6: 225 lbs × 5

Chin Up

• Set 1: 1 reps
• Set 2: 2 reps
• Set 3: 3 reps
• Set 4: 4 reps
• Set 5: 5 reps

Bicep Curl (Dumbbell)

• Set 1: 60 lbs × 8
• Set 2: 60 lbs × 8
• Set 3: 60 lbs × 8

Check out these related articles:

• Last Week’s Smart Strength Mailbag
• The Paleo Mystique: Deciphering “Paleo” Eating
• The 2-Minute Arm Workout to Build Strong Biceps
• New On Breaking Muscle Today

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Strength and Nutrition: Smart Strength With Charles Staley appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

These examples of the paleo lifestyle set the bar quite high. It would be nice to aim so high, but a 1940s lifestyle might be more attainable.

A Picture of the 1940s

In the 1940s, people had fewer modern-day conveniences. In truth, these “conveniences” are actually inconvenient for our long-term health. Back then, people tended to walk more and use the stairs, and household duties were more difficult.

Here are some daily activities that make life more inconvenient, but can make us healthier in the process.

A Reel Lawnmower

I recently moved into a house after years of condo life. Instead of purchasing the industrial gas lawn mower (which somehow is supposed to make me more manly), I purchased the 1940s-style reel mower made by Great States, a company based in Indiana since 1895. Mowing the lawn is now an enjoyable exercise activity. I listen to books, which I could not do with a gas powered mower. It is like a mini sled-push workout. If you don’t have a lawn, you could always find someplace that needs to be mowed (vigilante lawn mowers – VLM t-shirts coming soon!).

Dominic Matteo adding more resistance to his reel mowing exercise.

Stairs

Years ago, I made a rule that I would always take the stairs if it was an option. At the airport, it is liberating to have the big empty staircase to use, while most everyone plops on the escalator. At work, I am lucky to have the opportunity to walk up to my fourth floor office. If your office is on the 27th floor, you could always take the elevator to the 23rd and walk from there (and over time, lower your starting floor). The hazard to this rule is that staircase doors are often locked. But if you are the type of person who likes to go against the grain, then taking the stairs is for you.

Walk Further

By parking farther away, you can get a lot more exercise. It feels especially nice after dinner. The farther you park, the more you can enjoy the nice summer evenings. At work, try to find a bathroom that is not close by – even better is if it is a floor or two away.

Exercise or Stretch While Watching TV

I read somewhere that Bruce Lee was always working on stretching. You could easily find multiple static stretch positions where you can relax while reading or watching TV. Although, since the article is about living the 1940s lifestyle, I guess we would be reading or listening to the radio. So, it might not be a bad idea to get rid of the TV (or tablet or phone). I lived for a few years without a TV and I remember this time as being much more productive.

Listening to the radio is much more conducive to staying fit.

Move More

An interviewer once described Jason Statham as never sitting still during an interview. He attributed this extra activity as a way that Jason stays lean. One of the benefits of a standing desk is that it allows a person to wiggle and move around more. If you are more active in your “sedentary” activities, you can add a great deal of conditioning to your day.

Carry More Stuff

At the grocery store, try to use baskets. You can get a free farmer’s carry workout that progressively gets heavier as you shop. Carrying a basket also gives you a lot more mobility to move around the store. I have broken many “tackles” as I maneuver between carts.

Play Outside

Kids in the 1940s were often outside playing. Why shouldn’t we be outside more this summer, too? The more you are outside, the more likely you will be active. Take an evening walk, grab a ball, or play with your pets. You can lower your energy bills by enjoying the outdoor air and saving on air conditioning, as well.

People back then spent a lot more time being active outdoors.

Play in the Dirt

Planting a garden can help you get exercise and provide organic vegetables to your diet. Another potential benefit is that it might keep you slim by changing your gut bacteria. Research has found that bacteria from the soil are more prevalent in slimmer people. Soil bacteria also affects our neurotransmitters and might protect us from depression and anxiety. There is a great deal more to say about the linkage between gut bacteria and our health. We might benefit from using fewer hand sanitizers and having more dirt on our hands while we eat.

Nutrition

In the 1940s, people tended to eat less processed food. Whether you are paleo, vegetarian, or anything in between, adopting this approach can be beneficial. Although it is more inconvenient to prep your food in this way, it is likely you will be healthier. Ideally, it would be great to think about going to the fruit stand and the butcher shops of the 1940s. It is unlikely that the 1940s grocery stores had as much processed food (although, stay away from the Crisco).

Going to the Gym

The gyms today look a lot more like gyms did in the 1940s and earlier. Functional, full-body movements have grown in importance over machine like isolation. There are good uses of isolation type of exercises (balancing out weakness, injury rehabilitation), but barbell, kettlebell, and gymnastic bodyweight exercises are more efficient uses of time.

A gymnasium from the early 20th century.

Summary

Although we might not want to live with the education, healthcare, and technology of the 1940s, we might benefit from some of the other lifestyle basics that era. By being as physically active as people in the 40s, we might not need to do as much conditioning in the gym. Our time in the gym could be better spent on strength activities.

We might also benefit from the simpler nutritional habits of eating less processed food. Just as many of us would not want to live 100% paleo (the wild animals from that time are quite dangerous), we might not want to give up all of our modern conveniences. But by choosing to live less “conveniently,” we might wind up more physically fit.

You’ll Also Enjoy:

• Foraging, Farming, and the Real Meaning of Paleo
• 6 Clues to Training Success From Old-Time Strongmen
• My 4-Week Paleo Fitness and Primal Play Program
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo 1 by anonymous, via Wikimedia Commons.

Photos 3 and 4 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photo 4 by James Steakley, via Wikimedia Commons.

The post Living a 1940s Lifestyle to Build 21st Century Fitness appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Doing Little Often

While the benefits of physical activity have long been recognised, the modern environment encourages us to pursue a lifestyle of inactivity. Humans are lured by gadgets, transport options, labour-saving devices, and technological solutions, all of which have led us down the path of reduced movement.

“We are designed to be movement generalists, multi-skilled and multi-faceted, rather than specialists in one or two areas.“

The ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) proposes reducing sedentariness for all, regardless of your physical activity level. This can be achieved by interspersing intervals of standing with short bouts of physical activity between periods of time spent sedentary.²

In other words, doing little often and sitting less can be more healthful than one significant movement effort at the end of the day.

Me finding movement opportunities using my everyday surroundings.

We Are Designed to Be Movement Generalists

Most exercise programmes focus on a few specialised areas. We may concentrate on a particular skill or movement alone, to the detriment of others. For example, we may just focus on doing some cardio or just resistance work.

These approaches have one fundamental flaw – they ignore our ancestral heritage and nature’s prescription for adaptation that got us here. The human genome was not framed around enduring recreational ultra-endurance marathons or exclusively heavy lifting an object repeatedly in order to develop fitness.

Through natural selection, we thrived on a broad repertoire of activity and intensity. We are designed to be movement generalists, multi-skilled and multi-faceted, rather than specialists in one or two areas. Our training should reflect this.

“These approaches have one fundamental flaw – they ignore our ancestral heritage and nature’s prescription for adaptation that got us here.”

The types of exercise for which we are evolutionarily adapted include a variety of activities performed intermittently, at moderate intensities, for reasonable durations. This variety not only improves our physical capability, but also lowers the occurrence of repetitive stress injury, provides inherent motivation, and increases the likelihood for long-term adherence to exercise programmes.

7 Tips to Get Yourself Paleo Fit

One clear solution is to get back to basics and reference the movement patterns of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. They were naturally lean and strong, based on the activities they had to do daily. Follow this approach to move as nature intended. Train above and beyond basic function. Be ready to meet any challenges life throws at you.⁴

Here are seven tips to reach back to your roots and get yourself paleo fit:

1. Get Outdoors

Fresh air, grass, trees, and colours in the natural environment have a profound impact on mental health and physical well-being. A study at the University of Queensland, Australia, found that those who exercised outdoors on a regular basis had higher levels of serotonin, a hormone that regulates mood, than those who exercised indoors. They also had higher levels of endorphins, the post-exercise rush that occurs after exercise.³

Science even has a term for this: biophilia. It means love of life and refers to the love we have for the natural world. Most of us feel this instinctively, but evidence for biophilia demonstrates that exposure to and interaction with nature has a profound effect on mental performance, self-awareness, vitality, appreciation of our environment, and the appreciation of those around us.

Me enjoying some play time outdoors.

Being outside is also associated with higher levels of vitamin D, thanks to additional sun exposure. This has significant health benefits, including boosting the immune system, improving heart health, improving calcium absorption and bone health, and preventing cancer.

2. Be Playful

Make activities fun as well as challenging. Use your imagination to create scenarios that will make workouts more interesting. For example, when doing a bear crawl, imagine you’re crawling under low-hanging branches covered in thorns at varying heights. It sounds like child’s play, but engaging the brain in this fashion will increase muscle activation and make you work harder.

“Begin to explore and expand the possibilities that you have to move.”

Scientific studies demonstrate that visualisation brings about quantifiable improvements as well as physiological changes.⁷ Research has also shown that using mental imagery for muscle movement can create similar electrical activity as that seen during actual movement.⁸ Imagination also helps to increase motivation and allows us to create whatever environment we need to accomplish our goals.

3. Be Practical

Think of fitness as the ability to improve what you need to do day to day, as well as the capacity to complete the extraordinary tasks that life sends our way. Make your fitness not just functional, but practical, too.

What does your fitness allow you to do? Are you strong enough to push a car or would you rather wait for help? Quick enough to sprint for a bus or would you just wait for the next one? Would you be able to climb to a position of safety or would you succumb to danger?

Are you strong enough to push a car or would you rather wait for help?

4. Integrative Movement

Don’t feel that your training needs to be conducted at a particular time or place. Integrating physical activity into your daily routine will reduce the need to fall back on the lack-of-time excuse.

Avoid segregating or isolating movement from your day-to-day life. Instead, make physical activity something you do all the time by avoiding sedentary options. It doesn’t mean you have to dedicate all your time to movement. Begin to explore and expand the possibilities that you have to move.

Take the stairs rather than the lift. Sprint for the bus. Walk to the local grocery store and carry several bags of shopping back. Stand up when talking on the phone. Take movement snacks – brief periods of opportunistic whole-body movement a couple of times an hour – to get you out of the chair.

“Integrating physical activity into your daily routine will reduce the need to fall back on the lack-of-time excuse.”

5. Sleep More

Just a few nights of sleep deprivation can increase the levels of hormones that boost appetite and reduce your ability to register when you are full. A lack of sleep increases the stress hormone cortisol and increases the risk of lifestyle diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Minimal sleep also promotes the storage of fat, especially around the midsection.

Aim for a daily minimum of eight to nine hours of restful sleep. Ensure you find time for relaxation and rest for full recovery after physical exertion. Don’t let your training regimen get in the way of your sleep.

6. Be Mindful

How often have you exercised aimlessly and mindlessly, without paying attention to what, how, or why you are doing? Instead, focus on the experience of the moment and create a mind-body connection with everything you do. Move with intensity and purpose as our ancestors did. Think less about exercise prescription. Dwell on your own, individual movement philosophy.

 Move with intensity and purpose as our ancestors did.

7. Overkill

Regular exercise is protective against chronic disease. However, extended periods of intense exercise can be detrimental. We were designed for routine, light-intensity activity, such as walking and carrying for several miles. We were also designed for intermittent, moderate-intensity and moderate-duration activity with brief periods of vigorous, high-intensity activity. Extended periods of high-intensity exercise are associated with damage to the heart, joints, and muscle.^5,6

“The solution is to replicate natural movement patterns in a natural environment as best as practically possible.”

Summary

Moving in vastly different patterns from those to which we are genetically adapted causes a significant proportion of the health issues we encounter today. The solution is to replicate natural movement patterns in a natural environment as best as practically possible. Doing so will promote long-term health, quality of life, and survival.

In summary, focus on movement not muscles, be practical and don’t stop at basic function, prioritise activity more than exercise, and seek health above performance.

Check out these related articles:

• Making the Most of Your Movement Environment
• Become a Badass Athlete: How to Incorporate Natural Movement
• Movement Drills to Improve Your Hip Performance
• What’s New on Breaking Muscle UK Today

References

1. Schmid D et al., “Television Viewing and Time Spent Sedentary in Relation to Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis“, JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst (2014)

2. Garber CE et al., “American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness in apparently healthy adults: guidance for prescribing exercise.” Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2011

3. Coon JT et al., “Does Participating in Physical Activity in Outdoor Natural Environments Have a Greater Effect on Physical and Mental Wellbeing than Physical Activity Indoors? A Systematic Review.” Environmental Science & Technology, 2011

4. O’Keefe JH et al., “Achieving hunter-gatherer fitness in the 21st century: back to the future.” Am J Med 2010

5. Jassal DS et al., “Cardiac injury markers in nonelite marathon runners.” Int J Sports Med 2009

6. Middleton N et al., “Altered left ventricular diastolic filling following a marathon is a reproducible phenomenon.“ Int J Cardiol. 2007 Oct 31;122(1):87-9. Epub 2007 Jan 11.

7. Champaign IL, Advances in Sport Psychology, Human Kinetics, 2002

8. Champaign IL, Motor Control and Learning, Human Kinetics, 1999

The post 7 Steps to Paleo Fitness: Why Exercise Is Not Enough appeared first on Breaking Muscle.