How to Eat: Nutrition 101

Nutrition 101 (“The Rules”)

1. Immediately upon waking, consume 18 ounces of water.

Consuming 18 ounce of water first thing in the morning boosts your metabolic rate by 25% — for almost 90 minutes. In addition, our bodies are clinically starving and dehydrated when we wake up in the morning. Either state (let alone both) makes it impossible for our bodies to add lean or burn fat. In fact, both dehydration and starvation lead to the reverse: fat preservation and muscle loss. To stay adequately hydrated throughout the day, aim to drink one ounce of water per pound of body weight. This means that 8, 8-ounce glasses of water won’t be enough. Ifnecessary, remind yourself that the process of lipolysis (fat burning) requires one additional molecule of water, so fat loss cannot occur in a dehydrated body. Adequate hydration also boosts muscle strength by 17% (when measured by number of reps prior to failure). Bottom line: drink up.

2. Eat breakfast as soon as possible after waking — ideally within 15 minutes, definitely within the first hour.

Again, when we wake up, our bodies are starving — the result of a 6-8 hour fast while we slept. In order to get your metabolism going, eat as soon as possible after waking. Breakfast should be a mix of lean protein, carbohydrate and fat. A whey protein shake and steel cut oats, eggs and fruit, etc.

3. Eat every 3-4 hours, all day long.

In order to preserve muscle and keep your body burning fat, you will need to fuel every 3-4 hours. For most of us, this means we will eat 5-6 times per day (3 meals and 2 to 3 snacks).

4. Eat lean protein with every meal and snack.

Every meal should contain about 30 grams of lean protein (or 25g of whey protein, which is more absorbable thanprotein from other sources). Snacks must also include lean protein. What does 25-30 grams of protein look like? Examples include a 5 ounce can of tuna, 4 eggs (with yolks), 1.5 c cottage cheese, or 5-6 ounces of any animal protein (chicken, beef, pork, etc.).

5. Avoid refined carbohydrates and focus on eating whole foods.

Eliminate “white” carbs from your diet: bread, crackers, cereal, pasta, white rice, cookies, pretzels, etc. Instead, focus on eating as many whole foods as possible — vegetables, cold weather fruits (apples, pears, berries — nothing tropical), oats and grains in their natural, unrefined form, etc. This will mean that the majority of your meals will take the form of lean protein and vegetables (a salad with tuna, chicken or smoked fish; grilled protein and steamed or grilled vegetables; eggs and fruit, etc.). It is acceptable to include starchy carbs into your diet twice per day, as long as they are not white starchy carbs. You will likely want to have your first serving with breakfast (oatmeal, 1/2 Ezekiel Whole Grain English Muffin, etc) and the second immediately following
your workout.

6. Avoid artificial sweeteners.

Research continues to suggest that artificial sweeteners are as detrimental to the body as real sugar, particularly in that they stimulate the appetite and set your body up to crave MORE sugar. What’s worse, some are known carcinogens and neurotoxins. Sweet and Low, for example, was originally developed by Montesano for use as rat poison. If you must use artificial sweeteners, stick to stevia or agave as both are plant based — not lab-developed.

7. Time and engineer your pre and post workout meals to maximize your results in the gym.

This means avoiding fat and refined carbohydrates the hour prior to working out and avoiding fat for an hour after working out. PRE-WORKOUT: 60-90 minutes prior to working out, give your body a mix of lean protein (25-30 grams) and whole (low glycemic index) carbohydrates. If you are eating 90 minutes prior to exercise, it is also fine to include some good fat (salad dressing, avocado, peanut butter, hummus, nuts) — just make sure you quit eating fat 1 hour prior to exercise. POST-WORKOUT: As soon as possible following a strength training, interval training or circuit training workout, give you body 25-30 grams of lean protein (ideally, hydrolyzed whey protein) and 50-60 grams of simple/refined carbohydrate. Yes, you read that correctly. Immediately post exercise is the one time per day that it is acceptable to consume simple carbs. Why? They will quickly refuel your muscles with glycogen and speed recovery. An example of a post workout meal would be whey protein powder put through a blender with water, ice, a banana and one tablespoon of chocolate syrup. In a pinch? 2.5 cups of low fat chocolate milk will do.

8. Eat immediately prior to going to bed (unless you have heartburn).

How much we eat per day determines what we weigh — not when we eat it. In order to keep the body fueled as long as possible while we sleep, eat just before bed. In order to stimulate the hormones that burn fat and build and repair lean muscle, make your last meal a blend of lean protein and some fat. 2% cottage cheese, greek yogurt and nuts, or a whey protein shake blended with ice and peanut butter are all excellent pre-bed meals.

Growth Hormone Redux: More Hints on Stimulating Production of HGH

Following my last post on stimulating the body’s production of Human Growth Hormone (HGH), a fellow trainer raised an excellent question: If consuming fat within an hour of resistance training halts the body’s production of HGH, what impact does the consumption of fat prior to resistance training have on our hormonal response? I didn’t have the answer. As luck would have it, however, I knew who would.

Thank you to Nate Regensburg, instructor at the National Personal Training Institute in Seattle, for his help and insight. Nate explained the following: Because dietary fat can deter HGH release that would ordinarily be stimulated by intense resistance training, it is best to avoid fat for at least an hour both before AND after a workout. Instead, both pre and post workout meals should contain carbohydrate and protein. However, that isn’t the end of the story. It turns out that high glycemic index carbohydrates will also blunt the body’s HGH release. What does this mean? It means that in addition to fat, simple carbohydrates and sugars should also be avoided within an hour of resistance training, both on the front end and on the rear. In other words, that Gatorade you sip on during rest periods may be doing you more harm than good, and if like me, you have been adding chocolate syrup to your post-workout protein shake in order to restore the glycogen in your skeletal muscles, you may not be getting the hormonal bang-for-your-buck you thought you were. This isn’t to say that Gatorade doesn’t have it’s proper place in replacing fluids, sugars, and electrolytes lost during long periods of endurance exercise or sports performance, but it does suggest that sugar-filled sports drinks are not consistent with resistance training when the goal of said training is either increase in muscle size or the stimulation of HGH for fat loss.

In order to maximize HGH production post resistance training, Nate suggests consuming a ratio of 2-to-1 or 3-to-1 low glycemic index carbohydrates to protein in both pre and post workout meals, and giving yourself a “1 hour cushion” on either side of your workout with regard to the consumption of dietary fat.

Nate also passed along the following article, which I am linking for you here:

http://www.fitnessforoneandall.com/nutrition/article/hormones/part_one.htm

 

An interesting read if you have the time. If not, here are the highlights:

• High GI carbs blunt HGH. To enhance HGH production, follow a moderate-carbohydrate, low glycemic index diet.
• Frequent feedings of high-quality protein enhances HGH production.
• For maximum nighttime HGH production, do not consume carbs within 2 hours of bedtime, but do eat protein late in order to take advantage of the protein/HGH correlation.
• High intensity weight training can increase HGH levels by up to 400%!!!

Thanks again to Nate for his help the research, and to Kyle at Define Fitness Studio for thinking to ask the question. Remember: Go Hard or Go Home!

Yours in good health,

The Fitness Commander

Training to Stimulate Production of Growth Hormone: The Body’s Fountain of Youth

Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is the body’s amazing fountain of youth. HGH encourages the breakdown of fat stores in the body, increases protein synthesis (the first step in muscle growth), stimulates the production of collagen and cartilage, and dramatically shortens recovery time following a workout. Among women, who lack the degree testosterone production enjoyed by men, HGH is the most powerful fat-fighter produced in the body.

Little wonder then that half of Hollywood and many athletes are turning to injectable HGH in order to fight the clock, stay ripped, and perform at peak athletic ability. Here’s the bad news: injecting anabolic steroids into your body is not good for you, is illegal, is associated with strange and scary side effects such as an increase in heart size, and (according to Baechle and Earle, 2008) may ultimately fail to provide the same degree of efficacy as HGH produced naturally by the body — at least as it comes to producing an increase in muscle size. The good news, however, is that with proper training the body can be stimulated to produce greater amounts of HGH all on it’s own.

Incorporate the following protocols into your workouts and nutrition in order to encourage your body to pump greater quantities of this fat-fighting, lean-protecting hormone:

1. Reach your lactate threshold often during a workout. What does this mean? Get out of breath! HGH responds best to intensity, so go hard. If you have medical clearance to do so, include Tabata intervals, High Intensity Interval Training, and plyometric intervals into your workouts up to 2 times per week.

2. The greatest increase in serum levels of HGH following resistance training have been observed following workouts utilizing three sets performed at 10RM weight loads with no more than one minute rest between sets. Stick to this formula to maximize HGH production after hitting the weight room.

3. Make sure that your pre and post workout meals include both carbohydrate and protein. Eat a mix of lean protein and complex carbohydrates one to one-and-a-half hours prior to working out, and a snack-sized combination of lean protein and a simple carbohydrate within 30 minutes of working out (around 200-250 calories total). This is not a license to eat doughnuts, however! One tablespoon of chocolate syrup in a protein shake is enough simple carb to refuel exhausted muscles after weight training. Follow your post workout snack with a meal of lean protein and complex carbohydrate within 2 hours of working out.

4. Avoid ingesting fat within 1 hour of resistance training. Fat consumed with 60 minutes of anaerobic exercise will shut down the body’s HGH production and thwart your efforts to stimulate the desired hormonal response.

5. SLEEP! The body produces the greatest amount of HGH during sleep. To maximize HGH production, get at least 7 hours of uninterrupted shut-eye every night.

One final word of caution: if you are going to train hard, you MUST provide the body with proper rest and nutrition in order to stimulate an increase in HGH production. Intense training combined with bad rest and bad nutrition will stimulate the body to produce cortisol instead. As cortisol causes the body to store fat and burn muscle, this should be avoided at all cost!

Eat, train, rest, repeat!