Time restricted eating: when you eat matters

Intermittent fasting is an increasingly popular phenomenon among people wishing to improve their body composition and their overall health – almost as much as consuming the latest superfood.

Intermittent fasting (or time restricted eating, as it is known in the scientific literature) is when we restrict our eating during the day to a window of from around 8 hours to 12 hours, and has been popularised by the fitness industry in recent years. There are different ways to approach it, though from a health perspective, eating earlier in the day to allow for the feeding to align with our body’s circadian rhythm may optimise the health benefits for overall longevity. Fasting has been a practice undertaken for centuries in some cultures, and research reports favourable effects on many markers of metabolic health, including blood lipid profile, blood glucose metabolism and hypertension when these populations have been studied. More recently, researchers have investigated different time restricted feeding protocols in relation to risk of cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, diabetes and some cancers using rodent and human trials. The longer time spent fasting may have pronounced health benefits, though recently a more conservative method (of even an 11 hour fast) has emerged as being beneficial for certain populations. Indeed, time restricted eating is being thought of as an easy to implement, effective lifestyle intervention that could help improve appetite control, markers of overweight, inflammation, blood glucose metabolism and hypertension, all reducing risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some cancers. This recent small study found that late night (or prolonged eating periods) increased fasting glucose, blood triglycerides, insulin and weight gain.

When healthy adults eat meals that are identical in terms of macronutrients (ie carbohydrates, proteins and fats) and caloric load at breakfast, lunch and dinner, the postprandial (ie. after eating) glucose response to the meal is lowest after breakfast and highest after dinner, even though the meal is identical. This is one example which suggests that our metabolism, and response to food, changes across the course of the day (see here). We are diurnal creatures – we do most of our activities during the day (including eating, working, exercising) and we rest at night. This is controlled by our internal clock in the brain, the superchiasmatic nucleus (or SCN) which in turn influences smaller internal clocks (or oscillators) in the peripheral tissues of our body. These clocks control thousands of genes within our body, including those that regulate our metabolic processes, which accounts for around 10% of our entire genome. While light is the major cue for the SCN in our brain, timing of food intake influences the circadian rhythm in the other tissues, including the liver, which has implications for metabolism. This tells us that our basic metabolic physiology is supposed to behave differently according to the time of day – this is everything from making neurotransmitters, to making insulin, to glucose transport inside of cells, to fatty acid oxidation and repairing cellular damage. It makes sense then that when we eat has just as important implications for our health as what we eat. Research investigating the health effects of fasting has found that anything that breaks the fast will break the fasting period, including no calorie options such as black coffee and even herbal teas. This is because there are compounds within these fluids that require breaking down by the liver. That is not to say that people don’t experience benefits from fasting if they consume a hot beverage earlier in the day (as is often recommended to help get through the morning hours and comply with a 16:8 protocol) or limited calories (for example, 50 calories), however longevity benefits may well lie within the strictest definition of fasting.

With the advent of artificial light, and the changing structure of work schedules (combined with the increasing busy-ness of everyday life), this has elongated the period of time that people eat, which has negative health consequences. While you may have heard in media reports of scientific studies that eating late at night makes no difference to overall weight loss, the focus on weight ignores the more important, underlying metabolic and chronic disease risk that eating late into the evening can have on health outcomes. It may be easier to regulate appetite too, as  research suggests that appetite hormones respond more favourably to eating earlier (8am to 7pm) than later (noon – 11pm), and the level of satiety achieved with this could prevent overeating. This is relevant with time restricted feeding as research has shown that more frequent eating patterns can be detrimental to metabolic health if consumed close together. One study found that participants who ate excess calories consuming their food over three meals and three snacks had increased visceral (stomach) fat deposition, liver triglycerides and lower liver insulin sensitivity compared to those consuming the same number of calories over three meals. The snacks were consumed later in the day, and after each meal, so elongated the overall eating period.

Animals limited to 9-12 hours feeding period, but not limited in the number of calories they eat have experienced benefits including decreased fat mass, increased lean muscle mass, improved glucose tolerance and blood lipid profile, reduced inflammation, higher volume of mitochondria (the energy powerhouse of our body), protection from fatty liver and obesity, and a more favourable gene expression. In humans, research studies suggest that eating within a time restricted window of 11 hours (say, 7am to 6pm) is associated with a reduction in breast cancer risk and occurrence by as much as 36%. Earlier eating time has resulted in more effective weight loss in overfat people, and every 3 hour increase in fasting duration was linked with 20% reduced odds of having an elevated glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), a marker of long term blood sugar control. For every 10% increase in calories consumed after 5pm there was a 3% increase in c-reactive protein, a biomarker used to measure inflammation (the underlying process that, when elevated long term, can influence risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers). Finally, when meal times were constructed earlier in the day this resulted in a 10% decrease in c-reactive protein. Eating within a 12-hour window improved sleep and weight loss within an otherwise healthy population. You can see then, the myriad of potential benefits to eating within a time restricted eating – could it be worth trying to fit into your lifestyle? And if so, how to do it?

There are many different time restricted eating protocols to choose from – and the type of fast you choose to do really comes down to what works for you. The 16:8 protocol that seems to be most popular is a little aggressive for anyone new to fasting, and this may ultimately leave you feeling hungry, cranky, and vulnerable to overeating later in the day – undoing any potential health benefit that has been shown in the research. Indeed, many people I see that try this as their first experience report that they can successfully get to 11am or lunchtime without eating, but once they are home from work, no amount of food will keep them full, eating right up until bedtime.  My advice is to start a little more conservatively. Given that (in an ideal world), we sleep for 8 hours a night, not eating in the 3 hours leading up to bed time should be a good place to start for most people, thus it gives that 11 hours where some of the health benefits begin to be realised. From there, once adapted, you could try to push it out by an hour. While the most potent benefits occur with the strictest definition of fasting, the blood glucose and lipid improvements, along with fat loss can still occur in those whose definition of fasting refers to calories, not coffee and tea as mentioned above. That the benefits occur in the absence of caloric restriction is important to reiterate, however by restricting the eating period, many people also reduce overall caloric intake, which can further improve overall metabolic health and body composition. Fasting doesn’t appear to be something you must do every day to see the health benefits either, and even 3-4 days a week could be beneficial for metabolic health.

That said, this reduction in calories and extended time NOT eating may not be good for all, especially if your notice increased anxiety, sleeplessness or disruptions in hormone balance, so it is always best to proceed with caution. It would also be prudent for any individual with a health condition to discuss with their health professional before embarking on time restricted eating, especially the more aggressive protocols.

(PS I’ve got dates booked for Nelson, Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch for my talk! Click here to find out more details, would love to see you 🙂 ).

As with many things, it could be all about timing…

10 tips to help reduce your water-bloat

I got a question on my members’ Facebook page a couple of weeks ago regarding water retention. There is nothing worse than a bloated tummy – it can not only make you feel physically uncomfortable, but can also wreak havoc on your psychological state (as many people equate the bloating to ‘feeling fat’, despite there being no relationship between the two). Further, a bloated stomach impacts on your ability to move properly. We can’t engage our core muscles, so aren’t able to move, lift, push or pull in a way that is functionally optimal. This has important implications for our core strength and injury prevention. Of course water rentention affects more than just our stomach – a long haul flight to somewhere warm can turn anyone’s lean calves into kankles due to changes in the pressure in the capillaries, causing fluid to leak out into the body tissues. There can be many reasons for this, so I thought I would investigate the most common causes and possible solutions.

1. Minimize your sodium intake. Although sodium (aka salt) is an essential mineral because it’s used to regulate the fluid levels in body tissues, bringing water into the cells. Excess intake of sodium may cause excessive fluid retention in the body tissues. While the evidence behind this recommendation suggests it isn’t something that affects everyone, this may help some people, particularly those who are salt sensitive or hypertensive. Do note, though, that if you follow the types of principles that I suggest, your diet is probably quite low in salt anyway, as most salt comes from processed foods (around 70%). However, there are whole foods that are high in sodium, such as cheese, miso, cured meats and biltong, so you could reduce these, and avoid adding salt to your food to see if this makes a difference.
2. I probably don’t need to tell you to avoid eating too many refined carbohydrates – these tend to spike insulin, which causes sodium (often found in these foods) to be re-absorbed back into the kidneys, thus increasing water retention. Your best bet for carbohydrate foods are those whole-food, minimally refined varieties that have negligible sodium for a start, and that you eat in a mixed meal with good fats and proteins to help slow down the release of carbohydrate into your bloodstream, minimising insulin response.
3. Any form of dehydration can cause your body to hold onto water. Therefore, ensure that if you drink alcohol, do extended exercise training sessions, or are in a hotter environment that you remain well hydrated to offset any potential for dehydration. The fluid you lose during exercise should be replaced in the three hours after training, and at 1.5 times the amount lost – you can work out how much this is by weighing yourself before and after an exercise session. The amount of weight lost roughly equates to the amount of fluid lost. Prior to drinking alcohol, have a couple of glasses of water (this will also help slow down your drinking). And be an adult about how you drink: is it necessary to drink more than a few in any one sitting?
4. Take adequate amounts of vitamin B6 combined with magnesium. For women, prior to your period you can feel a little bloated and that you are retaining water. Interestingly, however, some research investigating the timing of this around the menstrual cycle has found bloating occurs more in the onset of your cycle (day 1) after which is rapidly declines, despite the perception of puffiness or bloating in the week prior to menstruation. This puffiness, however, could well be related to food choices in that week, as the intake of higher sugar choices can increase for some.
5. If you have water retention before your period, you may, however, benefit from taking both a magnesium supplement (at 250mg per day) combined with a vitamin B6 supplement (40mg) daily – a study found this combination the most effective for decreasing premenstrual symptoms when administered for two months by balancing your hormone levels.
6. Potassium works in conjunction with sodium, pumping fluid out of the body cells. Therefore, if you aren’t consuming enough then it could cause problems with water retention. The reality is, though, that you are following the meal plan and including plenty of vegetables, your potassium intake is likely fine. However, if you don’t have a good intake of vegetables (at least 7 serves per day) then increasing these is a good idea. This will also bump up your fibre intake, which can further help reduce fluid retention.
7. Take natural diuretics. Dandelion root has long been used to help flush water out of the body – therefore investing in a good tea such as this Golden Fields one is not only delicious (often used as a substitute to coffee), it will also be beneficial. In addition, this kidney cleanse tea from Artemis has other natural diuretics to help flush water out.
8. Exercise regularly. Exercise can help reduce water retention, not just by increasing sweating, but by moving water from the intercellular compartments to the muscles.
9. Increase your caloric intake, if only for a day. I know – this one sounds weird, but a ground-breaking study in the 1950s called the Minnesota Experiment found something interesting mid-way through their study. The study followed men on a 1500 Calorie diet for 6 months, and subjected to hours of hard labour per day. Half way through the trial the men were allowed a celebration meal, effectively increasing their caloric intake to 2300 Calories. Following a night of getting up to go to the bathroom several times, the men were a few pounds lighter the following morning. Obviously, the weight lost was water weight – but why would this be the case? Potentially the long-term calorie deficit caused an increase in cortisol levels, and this increases water retention in the body. By increasing caloric load, the body reduced cortisol levels and this reduced water retention.
10. Reduce overall stress load. As we have just discovered, higher cortisol levels will increase water retention, therefore anything you can do to reduce stress is going to impact favourably on water loss. Let’s not forget the impact that high stress levels have on blood sugar levels, inflammation and fat gain (to name just three areas it impacts). While stress is a perception of a situation, and changing your mind-set is one of the best things you can do to lower stress levels, ensure you are getting adequate sleep, time in nature, time with loved ones and taking time just for yourself. These are going to help lower your cortisol levels and combat any stress-related water retention.

So… not a definitive list, but hopefully a few pointers to help you get to the bottom of your fluid retention issues and make some improvements. For more individual advice, don’t hesitate to contact me for a consultation or for online nutrition coaching. Further, if you’re in the Bay of Plenty, Queenstown, Nelson or Wellington regions, then I’m headed your way for an evening of ‘real food’ talk – click here to find out more information and to book tickets!

PC: https://legionathletics.com 

 

LCHF…why isn’t it working for me? (Part 2)

Last week I posted three reasons why many people undertaking a LCHF diet stall with their success or never get it off the ground to begin with. The following delve a little deeper into the less obvious reasons why people struggle with their diet, and offer some options to help troubleshoot.

4. Fat doesn’t fill you up. For some people, they don’t feel satisfied when swapping out their carbohydrate for more fat. If it takes a few handfuls of nuts or half a block of cheese to feel satisfied, then there can be some serious increase in calories that isn’t compensated for by an appropriate increase in satiety from the meal. Yes, cheese and nuts contain protein, but to be honest I treat them more as sources of fat than I do protein. If this is you, then.
   1. Increase the portion of protein you are consuming with your meals. I know many people are scared to consume more protein because protein can be broken down into glucose in the absence of carbohydrate, therefore pushing up their blood sugar levels. For people on a ketogenic diet (where 80% of their calories should come from fat), or those metabolically damaged (whereby there is a dramatic change in blood glucose response from a protein-rich meal), this may be a problem. For most people though? upping protein by 1/3 of a serve is no biggie. Still hungry? Up the protein some more.
   2. Drop out some fat –make room for the added protein by dropping out some of the fat – you could start with ½ – 1 serve and see how satisfied you feel when you do that. A serve of fat is typically 1 tablespoon of oil or butter, or ¼ avocado.
5. You’re eating too much in one meal. A lot of people move from three meals a day, to two a day, to a ‘minimal food during the day’ approach, to sit down to a large meal at night, especially if they’ve been in the LCHF way of eating for a while and are further tweaking it. This may be awesome for some people, but not all. Eating most of your calories in one meal can, though, wreak havoc on your metabolic blood markers (such as blood glucose levels and insulin), increase fat gain, inflammation and reduce your day-to-day energy if this eating pattern doesn’t suit you. You’ll know if this is you, and if it is then:
   1. Spread your food intake out across 2-3 meals to lighten the caloric load and see if this makes a difference to your energy or other more objective markers mentioned above.
   2. Remember you’re still a rockstar even if you have to eat more often.
6. You’ve got a high intake of dairy or nuts. Some, especially women, are not suited to high amounts of dairy or nuts, and when the begin to include more of these foods – ones they’ve avoided for years due to their fat content – they have a weight loss stall they can’t move past or, worse, they begin to store fat around their middle. While some suggest cheese is a food akin to crack, research investigating the addictive properties of the protein in cheese have not found this to be the case. Of course, if you personally can’t stop at one slice and find you’re eating the block, then perhaps it is for you. Nuts can also be trigger foods for some people, and they find it difficult to stop once they’ve started eating them. Ditto with a jar of peanut butter. What to do?
   1. Omit dairy for 30 days – sometimes it’s not the dairy per se, it’s the amounts that you’re eating it in that need to change. Removing it entirely will allow you to change your habits and then reintroduce it.
   2. Omit nuts and/or nut butter as per above in #6a.
   3. Swap snacks to those that are predominantly protein-based rather than fat based – despite the satiating effects of fat, for some, it’s just not like having protein. A hardboiled egg or some leftover chicken wrapped in lettuce or nori sheets (my current obsession) may satisfy you more.
7. Genetically this isn’t the diet for you. If metabolic markers such as cholesterol, blood sugar or inflammatory factors go skewiff then it could be the LCHF approach doesn’t suit you. Genetic variation in the ApoE gene (ApoE4) is associated with LDL cholesterol not being recycled very well, and therefore it’s more likely to hang around the bloodstream and increase the chances of it becoming either oxidised or being transformed into smaller LDL particles, both highly atherogenic. Variants in the gene FTO can increase risk of obesity in the context of a high saturated fat and low polyunsaturated fat intake and may increase risk of high blood sugar and diabetes in individuals already overfat. The PPAR genes plays a role in ketogenesis (the oxidation of fat for energy) and storage of fat by activating genes associated with fatty acid transport and metabolism. Variants of this gene (particularly PPARa and PPARg ) are associated with increased risk of high triglycerides, total small dense LDL cholesterol and type 2 diabetes in the context of high saturated fat to polyunsaturated fat intake. Further, individual glycemic (blood sugar responses) vary considerably for the same amount of carbohydrate in food, suggesting there are a lot of factors to consider when determining the best diet for you (such as genetics, gut microbiome, activity level, stress etc), not just its macronutrient content. How to figure out if LCHF is not the diet for you? A few things to consider:
   1. Are you losing weight? If so, then wait until your weight stabilises and then retest your numbers – your body recycles triglycerides that are released from adipose (fat) tissue, therefore your triglyceride levels can appear high, but it is transient.
   2. Don’t get your cholesterol levels measured if injured, if you haven’t slept properly or you’ve been under significant stress. Cholesterol levels can change easily based on environmental triggers.
   3. Some people notice their cholesterol increases specifically in response to dairy fat, others to coconut fat – experiment for 6-12 weeks by dropping these out of your diet and get your cholesterol levels retested to see if this brings a drop in your numbers. Replace it with foods that have a more balanced fatty acid profile (such as lard or beef tallow) and foods high in monounsaturated fat or omega 3 fats, such as avocadoes, olive oil, nuts, seeds, salmon, mackerel, sardines.
   4. Here’s one I prepared earlier (and by ‘one’, I mean, ‘post on reducing your cholesterol naturally’. And by ‘naturally’ I mean ‘without Flora Pro Activ’).
   5. Get more in-depth testing of your cardiovascular disease risk profile – cholesterol is one measure and possibly not the most important one. CRP, fibrinogen, LDL particle size, number, oxidation and patterning can all give you more information than the run-of-the-mill lab test can. Contact me as I can help you arrange this testing which, for the most part, your doc might not even be aware of.
   6. Consider getting tested to find out your genetic predisposition (either through your doctor, or I can assist via Fitgenes gene testing).
   7. Consider dropping your fat intake, upping your protein intake and perhaps your carbohydrate intake too – ala the Zone diet approach. Despite its gimmicky name, it’s proven itself to be very effective for blood sugar stabilisation and blood cholesterol management. Some people just aren’t meant to eat a higher fat diet.
8. You’ve got an intolerance you didn’t realise you had. Going LCHF means, for many, significantly increasing fat content in the diet from the obvious choices: cheese, nuts, seeds, avocados and coconut products. However, while these are awesome in terms of the nutrients they deliver, they can cause digestive issues in a number of people. Avocado, coconut, nuts and seeds are moderate-high in FODMAPs – a type of carbohydrate that can cause bloating, abdominal pain and other irritable bowel symptoms in many people. Further, the inclusion of larger amounts of cream, cheese or full fat yoghurt can be problematic due to an intolerance to the dairy protein or fat which can result in similar IBS in susceptible people. If you’ve been following a low-fat diet for many years, enzymes that help digest the fat and protein may be downregulated, so your body might not cope with the additional amounts. Sometimes it is a matter of backing down and building up, and sometimes it is that these foods just don’t agree with you. What to do? One of these tips may help:
   1. Follow a lower FODMAP approach to see if removing these foods settles down your discomfort. Doing this for at least 21 days and reintroducing a different food one at a time can pinpoint which one in particular might not agree with you.
   2. Introduce fermented foods as per #3e above to re-establish healthy bacteria in your gut.
   3. Replace dairy fat for alternative fat choices: nuts, seeds, avocado, coconut oil, beef tallow, lard.
   4. Ensure you chew your food properly at each meal to break it down, include lemon juice in water in the morning, and apple cider vinegar with meals to stimulate your digestive system, and consider ox bile supplement or a digestive enzyme that has lipase and/or pepsin enzymes to help you break down the fats and proteins.
9. You’ve upped your alcohol intake because red wine and white spirits are “allowed” on LCHF. This might not even be intentional, but dropping your carbohydrate intake can lead to increased alcohol cravings, especially if your fat intake is too low, or your food intake is too low, or your stress levels are chronically too high. Or perhaps, you enjoy a moderate amount of alcohol but are continuing to gain weight on the LCHF diet.
   1. Be honest about how much you are drinking. Regularly consuming a ‘large’ as opposed to a ‘standard’ pour at the pub? Cracking open a bottle one night and then drinking to finish it off? Your plan to be alcohol free during the week has reduced to being alcohol free Monday – Wednesday? Evaluate if this is a problem for you … or not!
   2. Go alcohol free 5 nights a week, and enjoy a glass of whatever you fancy on the other nights. Ideally not those lolly water vodka mixes, but if you don’t like red wine, then choose something else. It’s not a deal breaker.
   3. Eat enough during the day so you’re not craving alcohol in the evening. This may mean including some additional starchy carbohydrate in your lunch meal – it doesn’t mean you’re not ‘low carb’ – as that in itself is a spectrum. This can really offset your cravings. Try it for 14 days to see if there is an effect.
   4. Lighten the load by choosing to have a low-fat meal if you drink. Old Skool 90s ‘dieting’ approach – those fat calories will only be missed by your adipose tissue, which is where they will be directed to when consumed with alcohol (which is processed first and foremost).
   5. Drink to ensure you are hydrated before you have your first alcoholic drink. This is like 101 really – we always drink more when we are thirsty, and then when we drink more, we become uninhibited and then all hell can break loose, right?
10. Food timing: If you’re beginning your day with breakfast at 7am and winding down with a cup of tea and some dark chocolate at 10pm, you may be doing yourself a disservice. Eating over a time period of more than 12 hours can be deleterious to health. Recent research has found that restricting the eating period to 12 hours or less can improve insulin resistance and glucose tolerance, and reduce breast cancer risk even when the calories remain the same. Anything you consume that requires processing of any sort by the liver – including black coffee or herbal teas – will begin the metabolic process. When we eat is also important as our appetite hormones are on a circadian rhythm (food being an important signalling molecule for hormones), and eating late at night – even if overall eating window is short – can be problematic for your liver. The benefits derived from intermittent fasting (such as these) can still be realised if your version of fasting includes coffee in the morning, however it appears actual fasting (nothing but water) for at least 12 hours is most beneficial for metabolic health.
    7. Try to keep within a 12 hour window for consuming anything other than water. If you struggle with remembering to do this, there are apps that can help. It’s not as hard as it might seem – if you have breakfast at 7.30am and are done eating by 7.30pm then you’ve nailed it.
11. You’ve focused entirely on diet without giving pause to consider other aspects of your lifestyle that contribute to your wellbeing. Lack of sleep, chronically elevated stress levels, over or under activity can all contribute to some of the common complaints people attribute to diet which have nothing to do with the food.
    1. Evaluate your sleep – are you getting to bed at a reasonable hour? Able to sleep through the night with ease? Feel refreshed waking up?
    2. Evaluate your physical activity – are you doing enough? Are you doing too much?
    3. Evaluate your stress levels – are you trying to do too much? Feeling overwhelmed? Or conversely is there not enough stress to keep you stimulated and motivated?

Of course these factors contribute to how your body responds to the food, but it isn’t the food per se. As I said last week, this isn’t a definitive list, however if any of these resonate with you then try some of the ideas I’ve listed, or enlist the help of someone like me to guide you to the best approach for you.

PS: I have organised a few talks over the next couple of months to talk about making a real food (aka LCHF) approach work for you. At the moment I have:

• Takapuna 23 March @ Streetwise Organics, Byron Ave
• Hawkes Bay 6 April – location TBC
• Queenstown 25 May – location TBC

…with others to come, so watch this space 🙂

Yes, I created this pic myself 🙂

 

LCHF…why isn’t it working for me? (Part 1)

It’s about this time of year that I start seeing people come through my doors needing some minor (or major) tweaks to their LCHF eating approach. There are usually one of two scenarios.

Scenario #1: When they embarked on LCHF they saw ALL of the benefits they heard about, effortlessly shedding body fat, boundless energy (in training and afterwards), improvement in skin tone, hair condition, sleep and digestive problems. But lately the opposite is true. Despite seemingly nailing this LCHF lifestyle, they’ve noticed they are lacking energy, gaining weight (especially around the middle), latest blood tests have seen their cholesterol levels have shot up (and perhaps triglycerides), they are unable to sleep… … yet if anything, they’ve instigated (and nailed) the hacks they’ve read to optimise their LCHF eating approach. What gives??

Scenario #2: They’ve given it a good go on their own for the last 5 weeks, following it to the letter and despite this, it’s ‘not working for them.’ Worse, their husband/workmate/training partner has taken to it with ease.

Frustrating, much?

While we are all individual as to what is going to work for us, the LCHF approach is a really good one for most people, most of the time. Despite that, there are small things that can derail your best efforts to improve your diet, so I want to cover off the basic (and more nuanced) reasons people don’t fare well on a LCHF approach, and some tips on how to overcome them. I’ve ended up splitting this post into two parts as it was so long!

1. Too low carb. The internet is a wonderful and terrible thing – information is everywhere, everyone is an expert and the version of paleo/LCHF/JERF that you’ve adopted based on what others are doing may well be too low carb for you. LCHF is a spectrum, and what is low carb for one person may well be higher carb for someone else – generally speaking, anything up to 200g of carbohydrate/day could be low carb. It all depends on context. I see a lot of people who are trying to stay strictly below 25g of carbohydrate a day – too strict (and unnecessary) for most people. Even Prof Tim Noakes, staunch advocate of a LCHF approach to eating (“banting”) has loosened up on this. The people who really benefit from a diet this low would be those embarking on it for therapeutic reasons: diabetes (both types), epilepsy, cognitive health (Alzheimer’s, for example). That’s not to say that others out there can’t make this level of carbohydrate work for them. But if you’ve noticed fat gain (especially around the middle), irritability, hormone imbalances (such as a missed menstrual period), lack of energy (past the initial phases of the LCHF approach), irregularity of bowel motions, sleeplessness – to name a few symptoms, then you may have gone too low. What to do?
   1. Track your diet for 4-5 days to get an average of the grams of carbohydrate you eat per day. If it’s on the very low end of the scale (less than 50g*, for example), then try adding back in some good quality starch to see if any of your symptoms improve. Don’t be pedantic about vegetables. Really. That includes carrots and tomatoes. To be honest, you don’t have to track your carbs if you’re not a numbers person – but it can be a good way to assess if this really is the problem. Use My Fitness Pal, Cron-o-meter, My Net Diary or Easy Diet Diary as nutritional tracking tools. (If you’re embarking on a lower carb diet, this is a good first step regardless, so you don’t make the jump from 400g a day to 60g a day).
   2. If your carbohydrate intake is in the realm of 80-100g carbohydrate, you may not be too low, it might be more of a timing problem – ensuring you have carbohydrate in the meal after a high intensity (i.e. CrossFit or F45) or long duration exercise session can help improve recovery and alleviate a lot of fatigue/irritability. If you’re struggling with insomnia, then adding in some kumara or potato into your evening meal increases production of precursors to melatonin.
   3. Is it more protein you need? Protein can help keep you fuller for longer, stabilise blood sugars (therefore has implications for focus/energy/concentration), promote recovery and help with sleep. Many people fear protein because of the potential for it to be converted to glucose in the body (via gluconeogenesis). For someone following a LCHF diet this isn’t an issue. Try upping your protein portions by 1/3 – ½ at each meal.
   4. If it’s in the initial phases, then up your intake of sodium – to levels more than you think you need. When we drop the carbohydrate content of the diet, we drop a lot of water stores too (hence a rapid loss on the scales) – this is because for every gram of carbohydrates stored, we store an additional 3g of water. Add salt to your meals, a pinch in your water bottle, make a miso drink or drink bone broth.
2. Not low carb enough. I see this a lot. People equate carbohydrate to bread, pasta, rice and cereal and don’t think about other foods that are predominantly carbohydrate –fruit, dried fruit, ‘green smoothies’ with a fruit base, bliss balls, natural fruit and nut bars… In addition, many products are promoted as ‘sugar free’ when they contain dried fruit, maple sugar, rice malt syrup or some other type of natural sweetener. This may seem elementary to you, but I know many people are confused by this point. Regardless of what you hear, sugar IS just sugar – that one sugar is lower in fructose doesn’t mean it’s not going to influence your blood sugar levels, it’s likely to affect them more. This has to be my biggest bugbear of the ‘real food’ movement; not that these products contain sugar – but that they are marketed as not. This is no better than being told that Nutrigrain is healthy. We all know that’s not true.
   1. Again, track your numbers (as per above) via a tracking tool. A lower carbohydrate approach is not a fixed number, it’s a spectrum. But if you’re still consuming over 200g a day and not engaging in regular physical activity, then something might need to be tweaked (especially if you’re not seeing the results you’re after).
   2. Get rid of the bliss balls, the dried fruit, the paleo muffin or the smoothie from your favourite juice bar that you thought tasted suspiciously sweet for something ‘green’.
   3. Read the ingredient lists on the packages you buy. Sugar has over 56 different names. You probably don’t need to know them all, but it would be good to have an idea, right?
3. Too many processed foods or snacks. Even if you’ve found a sweet spot with your macronutrient intake, having too many processed ‘low carb’ snacks can continue to drive your appetite hormones in a way that favours eating more than you need. Leptin is a hormone produced by fat cells that tells the body when we’ve had enough to eat, and is involved in the regulation of calories we burn and body fat that we store. A consequence of being over-fat is high circulating leptin levels in the bloodstream, and the brain stops reading signals sent by leptin that we’ve consumed enough food. Instead, it incorrectly believes that we are starving, thus we feel hungrier. Excess body fat increases Inflammation in the body, and is one of the drivers of leptin resistance, and processed food can drive inflammatory pathways in the body – even low carb processed food. And if you’re not over-fat? Well, vegetable oils and certain additives and preservatives found in these foods can drive inflammatory pathways in the body. In addition, an overabundance of processed flours may cause disruptions to our gut microbiome as they are easily digested, perhaps not even making it to the gut bacteria in our lower digestive tract. This can mean we are starving our good bacteria and instead feeding bacteria that release endotoxins, causing increasing inflammation. This can have a secondary effect of increasing your cholesterol level (see this post here). These foods are created in such a way to send signals to your brain’s pleasure centre and drive your appetite for more food that you just don’t need. One of the benefits of a real food approach (which naturally lowers your carbohydrate intake) is that inflammation reduces, insulin drops, gut bacteria can rebalance and the signalling pathways in the brain that regulate your appetite hormones can begin to normalise.
   1. Get rid of most foods or snacks that come in a package with ingredients you don’t recognise.
   2. Eat real food. Base your snacks around hardboiled eggs, cheese (for the dairy tolerant), vegetables, leftover meat, macadamia nuts, egg muffins.
   3. Drop the nut flours. Just because they’re low carb does not mean it’s a free for all with these processed flours.
   4. Increase foods that help balance out your fatty acid profile: more fatty fish (such as salmon, mackerel, sardines) and (grass fed) meat for omega 3 fats. Consider taking a fish oil or algae omega for those who don’t eat fish – and be picky about the supplement!
   5. Take care of your gut: consider a probiotic for 30-60 days (such as Lifestream Advanced, Inner Health Plus, Syntol or Prescript Assist) to help populate the gut with the good guys, but also keep them fed with fermented foods such as sauerkraut, raw apple cider vinegar, water kefir and an abundance of vegetable fibres.

I’ve got more – quite a bit more actually! – but will post that in Part 2 so as not to risk losing your attention ;-). These are three of the basics that people can get wrong (particularly in the initial phases), and the next post will cover some of the more nuanced reasons, and what you can do to correct them. If you’re not sure whether your LCHF diet is working for you, why not jump on and book a consultation with me? An expert eye can help take the thinking out of it for you and save a lot of stress long term.

*50g still pretty low actually! Again, it’s all context 😉

Are you in the zone? (PC: http://www.tripfitness.com)

13 tips to help you have your cake and eat it too.

Want to minimise collateral damage when it comes to fat gain over the Christmas period? It happens! While I agree with sentiments around being relaxed and not stressing too much, sometimes people benefit from having structure around how to be more relaxed … as paradoxical as that might seem. Being relaxed means you’re less likely to view a disruption to your plan as a major catastrophe to your health goals – and we all know this makes you more likely to be successful in the long run. Further, sticking to a rigid diet can increase feelings of deprivation and increase dependence – these are not attributes that turn your nutrition plan into a lifestyle.

Despite this, many clients are not happy with advice to go with the flow and ‘do what you can’ – they are after guidelines to help them… have their (Christmas) cake and eat it too (so to speak). Is this possible? Well it could be. Here are some practical things you can put into place in the lead up to and days following an event like Christmas day to minimise fat gain and help you continue to progress. I’m not suggesting these will help you lose body fat, but more give you some strategies so you feel in control of your food intake, and not the other way around.

1. Treat the Christmas and New Year period as an opportunity to put into practice all of your healthy habits that you’ve developed, rather than an insurmountable challenge to healthy eating which can only be dealt with by pushing “pause” until January 2nd.
2. View Christmas day as a metabolic boost. Following a lower calorie diet can downregulate your metabolism – lower calories over a longer period can reduce active thyroid hormones, increase cortisol levels and increase ghrelin levels – all of which can shift the body into energy conservation and fat storage. Therefore, it stands to reason that periodic overfeeding may help reverse this, favourably influencing hormones (such as thyroid hormones and the appetite hormone leptin) and increased energy expenditure, sending signals to the brain that it doesn’t need to downregulate metabolism and stall fat loss.
3. Studies conducted to test the effects of exercising before or after a big meal show that exercising after a meal burned more energy, and more so than exercising beforehand. Low intensity exercise will also have an effect (compared to no exercise at all). Therefore, regardless of whether you go for a gentle walk on the beach or on Christmas day or a more vigorous game of backyard cricket, it is all beneficial. That said….
4. …if it’s not possible to do that, then any activity is better than none! Exercising prior to the meal to deplete muscle glycogen stores and activate proteins that help deliver glucose to the muscles will result in hormonal changes favourable for fat loss. The upshot of this? More calories used to restock and less hanging around to be stored as fat. Resistance training focusing on movements that recruit both big and small muscle groups (think squats, deadlifts, shoulder press and chin ups) or high intensity interval training are your best bet: time is money this time of year and you’re going to get more bang for your buck. Of course, if you’re an endurance athlete, then doing your long run or cycle will also suffice!
5. Take advantage of the ‘second meal effect’: the hormonal response to your Christmas dinner will be improved if the meal before was based around an abundance of non-starchy vegetables (fibre), good sources of protein and a lower overall glycaemic load. You know, the kind of meal you might normally eat. It’s easy to do this around this time of year: think barbeque meats and salads, an omelette filled with feta cheese, pumpkin and asparagus, or a quick chicken stirfry.
6. Psyllium husk. Research has found that around 20g psyllium husk (in water) 3 hours and immediately prior to a meal can have a gastric emptying and appetite reducing effect for the next 3-6 hours. While it’s tempting to think that this could be useful for long term caloric control and subsequent fat loss, there is no good evidence to support an effect on either of these. However if the additional fibre can make you feel less hungry and you’ll be less likely to eat as much then you’ve got nothing to lose by trying it, right? (And popping this into your breakfast meal or smoothie is an easy way to boost fibre intake and enhance that ‘second meal effect’).
7. Fill your Christmas dinner plate with protein, fat and vegetables first, then think about your starchy sweet options – again, super easy if your table is filled with lamb, turkey, ham, vegetables – and aim to finish these before contemplating the dessert table. Minimally processed foods are more filling and will produce a lower blood sugar response, and let’s face it: it’s a lot harder to overeat on the pavlova if you’ve filled your plate with foods that boost satiety. Added bonus: you’ll be less likely to fall into a food coma and more likely to have more energy for some after meal activity (see #2).
8. Chew your food properly. This is something you should do regardless, obviously, but it’s always good to be reminded of the basics. Not only will this help you digest the nutrients more effectively (minimising the amount of discomfort you might experience after a meal), a meta-analysis of studies looking at mastication (the scientific name for chewing. I know) found chewing your mouthful of food 40 times leads to changes in your gut hormones that favour an increased feeling of fullness and subsequent decrease in food intake later in the day. In addition, chewing is related to reduced stress hormones and increased alertness. These hormonal changes will change your hormonal and potentially your emotional response to food, and the increased cognitive functioning may help you make better decisions. Overall, this may help you feel relaxed about what you eat and less likely to overeat.
9. Have 3-5 bites of the delicious foods you have on the Christmas table. While you might think that you want to finish the Christmas pudding and the pavlova, chances are, if you’ve followed some of what I’ve suggested above, you’re not going to be that hungry anyway. Does this mean you should miss out? Of course not – however practically speaking, the level of satisfaction derived from higher fat and higher sugar foods is transient – the last bite is never as delicious as the first. I could also add here to choose between the Christmas pudding or the pavlova (as research shows an increased variety of food increases overall intake at a single meal) but I’m not convinced this is a good strategy at Christmas for some people! This could potentially lead you to feeling deprived – deprivation does no one any good at all. Instead, savour every bite of the food you want to be eating, and really enjoy it.
10. The day after Christmas? Get up and move around. Low level activity (and structured activity) is going to make you feel physically and psychologically better. And what of the food? My best advice for anyone looking for mitigate fat gain around Christmas is to not let Christmas day turn into Christmas week. So, clearly, I’d recommend NOT finishing the trifle off (sorry to be a Christmas leftover Grinch!) You are much better off having leftover cold meat, salads, perhaps some cold jersey benny potatoes (there are health benefits of these you know!) However, if you decide you want leftover trifle want to, then own it and don’t beat yourself up for it! Nutrition goals are not gained or lost in one meal or even four meals. Consistency is key, and it’s what you achieve over the course of the year that is most important, not what you don’t do over a few days.
11. Jump back into your usual routine ASAP – if you need help with this, head over to my website for the perfect solution to get you back on track.
12. Don’t weigh yourself if you’re tied to the number on the scales. Overeating will increase your carbohydrate stores and water stores, so you may naturally weigh more the next day and it can take a few days to return to baseline levels. For some, it might take a few days to Intellectually you know this, but it doesn’t change how you might feel about it. If the scales are your choice of measure, then wait at least four days before jumping back on them. That said…
13. Aim to maintain, not lose, over the next two or so weeks. This doesn’t counteract what I’ve suggested above, however if fat loss (and weight loss) is your goal, I honestly think that it’s easier on you to decide not to focus on that right now and remember it’s normal for there to be peaks and troughs. Feeling comfortable about this means you’re at a place where your attitude towards food is less about rapid weight loss (you may have been there, done that) and more about health. You can still have an overall goal of losing body fat with this mindset – and will likely be far more successful in the long run with it.

Obligatory Christmas-related body composition picture

Do you need to snack? Here’s 31 ideas just in case (and because you’re awesome).

Sometimes you just want some new ideas. Or it’s a day where you just feel like mooching around and making a few things in the kitchen.

Snacking. As I said earlier this week on Facebook, I’m not a fan of snacking for most people as it often means they haven’t eaten properly in the previous meal, thus their need for a snack is due to roller coasting blood sugar levels which affects their stress hormones, energy and mood.

However, sometimes you just need to snack. And if you’ve eaten what you normally KNOW is a balanced meal with plenty of vegetables, a good hit of protein and some fat, but still feel hungry – then you should probably eat. And if you’re not sure what a balanced meal looks like, then check out Jamie’s blog discussing the Heart Foundation’s take on paleo – he outlines what his meals look like. Pretty simple. (And do read the whole post – it’s GREAT).

Ignoring your hunger cues is not good in the long term – yes, even if your goal right now is to lean up, if you’re eating well and exercising appropriately, then it’s likely your muscle mass is increasing and you need to feed it! Don’t use the scales as a guide to your progress – this is gravitational pull – nothing more. In the last 6 months I’ve gained 10 kg to help restore hormonal equilibrium to my over-stressed body – and while on paper it might look like a lot, visually it’s not what you would imagine it to be, as I’ve kept up weight training and gotten a lot stronger. Of course I’ve got more body fat, but I’m a lot healthier too because I’ve got more muscle; it’s had the opportunity to grow as it hasn’t been broken down to use as fuel (which can happen when you’re over-stressed). The scales tell you nothing about the composition of your body. To under fuel (even when trying to lean up) would put your body in a catabolic state, stripping muscle and potentially bone too if you go too low in calories (protein is the major component of bone, you know).

The more you listen to your body and NOT eat to a schedule, set calorie number or macro nutrient goal, the better you will be at at figuring out what your body needs. For most people, we lose this ability at a very early age, because we are told to ‘eat everything on our plates because there are starving children in Africa.’ I feel sorry for parents actually, as almost everyone I know blames their parents for a certain lack of intuition around their eating. It’s not their fault. They were told the same thing.  The good news is, though, is that it’s not irreversible. We just have to start being more aware of what we eat (processed food which is quickly digested, low in fat or protein and not satisfying), how we eat (fast, slow), where we eat (at the table? in front of the TV?) and how much attention we are actually paying to what we eat (device use, TV etc). Here’s some quick tips about mindful eating. You can retrain yourself to listen to your body. It just takes time and effort, but it will be worth it. I’ve just ordered this book too – I’ve heard great things about it and think it will be a really valuable resource.

So back to snacks. Muesli bars, low fat fruit yoghurt and snack packs of Snax crackers are going to leave you hungrier than before you ate them. They are developed to provide the sensory pleasure to your brain that makes you want to eat more (called a Bliss point). They are also high in processed carbohydrate or sugar (especially that fruit yoghurt, these new yoghurt pouches have 4 teaspoons of sugar, around 3 of them from added sugar) which are just best avoided.

Here’s 31 other ideas in case you need some more inspo.

1. A couple of hardboiled eggs (boil a dozen at the start of the week and make your way through them. They’ll last a good 5 days unpeeled).
2. A couple of cooked chicken drumsticks (meat that is closer to the bone is far tastier and there are far more nutrients than just pure muscle meat).
3. Half an avocado, seasoned with salt and pepper.
4. Around 40g cheese (not Edam. Unless you really enjoy it! Full fat dairy has many important health benefits which for some reason got overlooked with the updated food guidelines. Didn’t they read my blog?
5. Meatballs – make these and freeze in single serve packs to have an easy go-to snack. Try my sesame miso meatballs.
6. Almost 4 ingredient chocolate chai brownie. No sugar added at all (I promise).
7. Raspberry coconut berry bites.
8. Lemon coconut lunchbox treat. Again, no sugar was harmed in the making of this deliciousness.
9. A scoop of protein powder with minimal added crap (such as Clean Lean Protein, Vital Health, Balance Natural Whey powder) + ½ cup of full fat Greek yogurt topped with berries. There are many better quality protein powders now available on the market. And while protein powders aren’t my go-to for every day eating, those people who are more active and require protein to support their lifestyle, OR for people who for some reason can’t or don’t eat animal source protein, they can be a good addition to the diet. However there are many CRAP products out there, with a lot of additional fillers, preservatives, additives for flavour, thickeners etc. Check the ingredient lists.
10. Half an avocado with 1/2 can salmon mixed in, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
11. Steam some greens (broccoli, brussel sprouts, beans) + drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil or butter, add salt and pepper.
12. Vegetable chips (bit of prep) but thin sliced beetroot, carrot, parsnip, tossed in bag with 2 Tbsp olive or coconut oil + spice of choice OR salt/pepper – baked in preheated oven of 170 deg (350 deg far) for 10-12 min.
13. Tamari almonds from Alison’s Pantry. These are dry roasted, unlike many that you find that are roasted in vegetable oils.
14. A handful of Pure Delish cereal (look for 10g/100g or less sugar per 100g) – I love this cereal but to be honest, as a breakfast I’m not going to recommend it as a go-to. I think the brand itself is great, and perfect for tramping/camping as an easy breakfast option. But if you want to ensure you’re not going to go hungry, start your day with a bit more protein. This would fill you up but it is easy to over eat in order to feel satisfied.
15. The only plant that would survive a nuclear holocaust chips, like these Ceres Organics ones. Hello. Delicious, but wow – expensive! Obviously super easy to make these yourself (many delicious ways to do this).
16. Kelp leaves flash fried in coconut oil with salt (a great source of iodine, a mineral important for our thyroid function which isn’t easily available in the food supply for people who don’t enjoy seafood). This kiwi (and local to me!) product is seriously tasty.
17. Dried meat snacks (Biltong, bier sticks) – such as Canterbury I love Epic bars in the States but while some are made with quality NZ meat, they aren’t available here. It’s hard to come by a brand which is minimally processed, so definitely read the ingredients list. Jack Links (despite the great radio adverts which I think are awesome – is NOT a great product. When you try Canterbury V Jack Links, you can taste the difference too – alongside the addition of preservatives other than spices and salt, it is a sweeter product, with 20g of sugar per 100g product, compared to between 1-3g per 100g for Canterbury.
18. Crackers free of grains, such as Little Bird or Flackers – or make your own. Super simple and a lot cheaper too. There are a lot of variations to these, here’s mine.
19. Apple slices layered with a tablespoon of peanut butter + 1 tsp chia seeds mixed through
20. Meedjol date sliced lengthways, with salted pistachio nuts stuffed inside. This is small and not at all lower carb. Delicious though.
21. Large tomato, scoop out middle, crack an egg in, grate some parmesan cheese, bake in a 180 degree oven till egg is cooked.
22. The Vegery snack wraps: hello delicious! These would be a great lunch on the go or for a snack. Try the apple and coffee one with some peanut butter and grated carrot. Delicious.
23. ½ cup cottage cheese + ½ small sliced banana + a handful of walnut halves.
24. Rice paper (which has been dunked in warm water to soften, then patted dry, wrapped around sliced avocado, a slice smoke salmon, cucumber, grated carrot, snow peas.
25. Lightly toast a handful of sunflower seeds in a pan, then pop some into a pitted avocado half, salt + pepper. Delicious change of texture.
26. Cheese + sliced red pepper sliced wrapped in ham that has been sliced thinly off the bone.
27. ¼ cup hummus (ideally home-made, like Jamie’s one, he is awesome) + teaspoon of pesto in bottom of jar, carrot/cucumber sticks standing up in them. Try to choose a pesto that has an olive oil base, such as this Genose one – not one that is made on a canola oil base.
28. Apple slices cooked in coconut oil and topped with haloumi, a’la Sarah Wilson style.
29. A leftover sausage, split into half lengthways, with some cheese grated into it and mustard, heated in microwave.
30. A slice of my tahini chia loaf with avocado. Yum.
31. 2 squares of 90% Lindt with a teaspoon of almond or peanut butter. Decadent. You’re worth it.

And I’ve plenty of other ideas where these come from. If you would like more individualised help, check out my services page or sign up to my online nutrition coaching system – it’s free for 28 days for you to try!

PC: www. revive.ca

14 reasons to ditch the toast and jam (and 7 key tips to help you do this).

After feeling like I’d taken a trip back to 2003 with some of the sports nutrition posts and articles I’d been reading lately, I got tagged in a cool picture from a listener of our Fitter Radio podcast  – a triathlete who has switched from the traditional higher carb, lower fat diet approach to eating lower carb, higher fat, real food whilst training and commented she ‘didn’t know her 41 year old body could be the best body I have ever had’ (Woot! high fives all around!!) This coincided with finishing Mark Sisson’s Primal Endurance book.

Mark outlines 115 reasons why athletes should train and eat the Primal Endurance way. I concurred with pretty much all of them. I have added my own 2c worth, added some literature below (and cut it down to 21 for brevity’s sake). While geared towards athletes, hands down this is applicable to everyone. Everyone.

So if you’re currently eating toast and jam pre OR post training (or in general), I’ve outlined the 14 reasons why you need to ditch that junk and become a fat burning beast, and 7 key tips to help you get there.

1. Western diet is based on excess grains and sugars (and low fibre) which stimulates excess insulin production, leading to lifelong insidious weight gain, chronic inflammation and elevated disease risk factors.
2. A high carb, grain-based diet can leave endurance athletes nutrient deficient (due to phytic acid effects on minerals), inflamed and more susceptible to the oxidative damage of the stress of training, general life and poor nutrition.
3. The way that most people consume modern grains (cereals, breads, pasta) ends up being a cheap source of calories which are immediately turned into glucose upon ingestion and offer minimal nutritional value. There are no good reasons to consume these types of grains and many good reasons not to, especially for those who are sensitive to gluten and other anti-nutrients found in wheat.
4. Everyone is sensitive to the health compromising effects of grains at some level, especially the pro-inflammatory effects of gluten and the propensity for the lectins in grains to cause leaky gut syndrome.
5. Even lean people suffer from the consequences of carbohydrate dependency, such as chronic inflammation, oxidative damage, and accelerated ageing and disease risk factors.
6. Carrying excess body fat despite careful attention to diet and a high training load is largely due to carbohydrate dependency caused by a grain-based diet and chronic training patterns.
7. Carbohydrate dependency cycle looks like this: consume a high carbohydrate meal – elevate bloods sugar – stimulate an insulin response – shut off fat metabolism and promote fat storage – experience fatigue and sugar cravings – low blood sugar elicits stress response and we consume more carbohydrates – stimulate the fight or flight response to regulate blood sugar – dysregulate and exhaust assorted hormonal processes, and end up in burnout and weight gain (potentially lifelong)
8. Weight loss through portion control, low fat foods and calorie burning is ineffective long term. And while we think calories burned through exercise stimulate a corresponding increase in appetite – research might not back this up. I tend to think that people are more likely to eat more because they ‘reward’ themselves OR the long slow training allows increased opportunity to eat sports ‘junk food’ and the amount of calories burnt through training is far less than you think – and overestimated more so in females in certain instances. At any rate, the secret to weight loss is hormone optimisation, primarily through moderating excess insulin production.
9. Endurance athletes can begin to dial in to their optimal carbohydrate intake by asking themselves the question ‘do I carry excess body fat?’ Any excess body fat calls for a reduction in dietary carbohydrate intake to accelerate fat burning.
10. Endurance athletes who already have an optimal body composition but are looking to optimise training and recovery should choose high nutrient value carbohydrates. These include a high volume of vegetables, a moderate fruit intake, kumara/potatoes and other starchy tubers, dairy for those that tolerate, wild rice, quinoa and small amounts of dark chocolate.
11. Endurance athletes with high calorie needs who also have an optimal body composition can enjoy occasional treats, but the habit of unbridled intake of nutrient-deficient carbohydrates should be eliminated in the interest of health and performance.
12. Primal style eating (or eating minimally processed foods) is fractal and intuitive, and when escaping carbohydrate dependency and becoming fat adapted, you don’t have to rely on ingested carbs for energy. Eating patterns can be driven by hunger, pleasure and maximal nutritional benefit.
13. Escaping sugar dependency and becoming fat adapted gives you a cleaner burning engine, since glucose burning promotes inflammation and increased oxidative stress
14. Ketones are an internally generated, energy rich by-product of fat metabolism in the liver when blood glucose and insulin levels are low due to carbohydrate restriction in the diet. Ketones are burned efficiently by the brain, heart and skeletal tissue in the same manner as glucose. You do not need to be on a ketogenic diet to upregulate your ability to produce ketones – you can do this via a lower carbohydrate approach.

HOW TO DO THIS: 7 KEY TIPS

15. Step one: omit sugars, grains, industrial seed oils for 21 days. Step two: emphasis highly nutritious foods such as meat, poultry, vegetables, eggs, nuts, fish, fruits, some full fat dairy, seeds, and kumara/potato.
16. 100g or less of carbohydrate promotes fat loss, 150g is around maintenance level and over this could promote lifelong weight gain and over 300g could promote disease patterns.
17. While transitioning to primal there are some struggles initially due to lifelong carbohydrate dependency and the addictive (for some) properties of sugar and excess grains and wheat. Headaches, dehydration, lower blood pressure and ‘dead legs’ are all initial side effects when removing processed food. Trust me – this too will pass.
18. To minimise side effects, start the transition in a base-training phase of your training where training occurs at an easy pace. The transition phase can take anywhere from 2-12 weeks initially.
19. Consume salt. Don’t underestimate the importance of this! Lower circulating insulin affects your body’s ability to retain sodium (and other electrolytes) – so we need more, particularly as processed food (of which you are no longer basing your diet around) is where you got around 70% of your sodium from.
20. You can accelerate the process of fat adaptation by instigating some of the tactics used by athletes who opt to ‘train low’ – i.e. in a low glycogen training state. Some of these are naturally undertaken if you train without eating in the morning, or work out after dinner in the evening and don’t consume anything post-workout. If you’re new to this, have a read through to establish which might suit you best, and start instigating 1-2 x per week. Don’t undertake all of them as this aggressive approach could cause too much additional stress, derailing your plans to become a fat-burning beast.
21. The FASTER study and Peter Attia, Sami Inkinen suggests any endurance athlete can become fat adapted and deliver performances that may be superior to carb-fuelled efforts all of the way up to anaerobic intensity. This is a new and growing research space, one AUT is testing, among other Universities around the globe.

Strong, lean and awesome at 41y.

 

PS What the Fat Sports Performance – currently an ebook, about to be published is one I can’t WAIT to read as well – sure to be a goody.

An endurance athlete’s ‘real food’ success story: making it work for you.

I got this email this week from a client that I have worked with since just before mid-year. She is an endurance athlete that came to me as her overall energy levels were low and she was carrying a few extra kilograms that she wasn’t used to.

We chatted through not only nutrition but lifestyle-related changes that she could make to help support her busy lifestyle. This included changes to her diet, additional supplemental support, working on sleep-related behaviours and finding the middle ground between ensuring adequate energy levels and losing body fat to a level that was sustainable and achievable. You can appreciate this is a delicate balance! I discussed with her that when we sorted her energy levels, the body fat loss would take care of itself – she was aware of this and that her energy levels were the priority.

As an endurance athlete she often trained at both ends of the day and came home late, stayed up a little later than she thought she should, and relied quite a bit on carbohydrate-based choices such as bread and cereal to boost her energy levels during the day. While she didn’t recognise it, I immediately flagged this as one of the reasons she was feeling exhausted. She was also hungry a lot, eating at multiple times during the day. This was another indicator that her food choices were not geared towards an optimal balance of good quality carbohydrate, protein and fat. A detailed discussion on her diet proved this to be true.

This client was very motivated to feel better, and took the suggestions that I made and found a way to work them into her lifestyle. We had four sessions together, the last being just before a race that she was doing – the first one for her in a while.

I asked if she minded if I shared her email – she was happy for me to do so.

“Thanks for the item on Thyroid on Fitter Radio this week – it was really helpful. Good to know low thyroid is not something you are necessarily stuck with for life.

Following our catch-up at the end of September I just thought I’d update you with how things have gone since then, and where I have found a really comfortable place with training and nutrition.

Update:

So in summary, I performed well at my last race and was very happy with my placing in my age group. I really noticed that getting extra sleep made a big difference to how I felt, two nights before the race I had 9 hours and felt amazing the next day.

My weight has stabilized at around 53kg so I think this is possibly the happy place for my body, and it’s the same as it was a couple of years ago when I was running at my best.  I feel good at this level and I’ve figured out how to keep it there – for me it’s:

• at least 7.5 hours sleep;
• not eating late; and
• doing some kind of activity in the evening, even if that’s just a walk.

Food wise, what seems to be working and manageable is:

Prep: (crucial to ensuring that I’ve got options available during the week):

• Bulk making a week’s smoothies at the weekend, then freezing and using during the week
• Ordering Primal Kitchen for weekday lunches and weekend main meals
• Making a few wraps at the weekend for weekdays when I do something straight after work. For example, Farrah chia wrap* with Vital Vegetables Slaw, lemon juice, a flavour (Thai spice mix, peanut butter or salsa) + a protein such as smoked salmon or chicken

*yes I know it’s has wheat in it and is a carb but it seems to give me enough energy/and is practical – if I eat fewer carbs than I am I don’t seem to have enough energy.  I have tried other things instead of a wrap like cabbage leaves/sushi sheets/… but they just don’t work as well, they fall apart. The thing that does work is the Vietnamese rice paper wraps but they are very fiddly so I would tend to buy the Farrah wraps instead – very good place in central Wellington to get them! 

Breakfast – usually 5:30-6:30 depending on day

• Smoothie and a hot drink + a spoon of peanut butter – I usually make the smoothie quite thick and eat it out of a bowl with a spoon!
• If I’m doing something hard-ish like a swim squad or a run/bike then I have something else too. This tends to be either a sachet of plain oat porridge with the smoothie on top, or 2 hard-boiled eggs with some salt (or on a race day 1-2 x banana depending on length or race).

Mid morning – usually have a coffee with rice milk but don’t need to snack much now. If I do it’s 1-2 Brazil nuts

Weekday lunch – usually eaten around 11am-noon

• Primal kitchen – 1/2 a warrior size shared with partner + handful baby spinach
• 2 squares of dark chocolate and maybe a couple of strawberries.
• Raspberry white tea

Mid afternoon – usually have a Redbush tea with rice milk but don’t need to snack now. If I do it’s a carrot and maybe a few almonds.

Weekday dinner – on days when I do something around 5 or 6pm in the evening, I just eat this around 4pm which seems early but it gives me fuel for the activity then I don’t need to eat a meal later. This way I get a semi-fasted thing happening (as per train-low principles) without it feeling hard. And it means I don’t eat a bunch of rubbish in the afternoon. So it works!

• Wrap
• 2 squares of dark chocolate
• Redbush or green tea

Evening – Usually have a hot drink (not caffeinated), and maybe a swig of wine or my partners beer, but I don’t need to snack as much now – if I do it’s because I’ve just been for a hard-ish training session or MTB ride, and, something like a gold kiwi and few nuts does the trick.

Weekends, similar but we have Primal Kitchen in the evening but I try make sure we eat early, like by 6. For lunch something like sardines on toast if at home with salad, or eggs on toast if we are at a cafe.

Overall

It’s working well and although probably to you getting Primal Kitchen for most of our main meals will probably seem like a bit of a cop out!! But actually takes the stress out of everything – otherwise I would end up doing all of the thinking ahead/planning for both of us on food and basically end up spending more of my free time on it which to me wouldn’t feel fair! (My partner is wonderful but he just isn’t as organised as me and has lean genes and the fastest metabolism on earth so can eat anything. To him, super healthy food isn’t so much of a priority). I think it also works out the same cost or cheaper, definitely frees up some time and makes logistics easier. I’m sure at some point in my life I’ll enjoy doing more food prep and cooking more but this works right now and keeps the balance of effort fair!**

I am planning on giving up triathlon after this summer and just focus on running, mostly trail running and doing other stuff I enjoy for fun.

So, that’s it! Thanks for everything and your podcast, the whole experience of getting nutrition consultation has been a really positive one and the result for me has been to shift a good couple of kilograms and change my mental attitude in a very positive way.  🙂 ”

You can see from the discussion of her food choices, her diet isn’t low carbohydrate per se – though it is definitely LOWER in carbohydrates than it was. There is a lot more protein here than what she was having, and overall the nutrient density has improved.

Overall I think this is such a good ‘real food’ success story and that’s why I asked if I could share it. Does she eat ONLY non-processed food? No – however it’s all about context and finding the middle ground with what can be achieved in the context of the individual’s lifestyle.  That, to me, is success. 🙂

Merry Xmas.

 

**to be clear, I don’t think that getting meals from a place like Primal Kitchen (or ordering through My Food Bag etc) is a cop-out at ALL. I think it’s a smart strategy to help people meet their nutrition goals and not fall back into bad habits that could contribute to poor overall health status. It’s really interesting here that it works out MORE cost effective too. It saves on buying food that they would have to throw out as they haven’t found the time to cook it. It also saves the temptation of just having toast or cereal in the evening, or a sandwich that doesn’t provide enough protein and important nutrients. Primal Kitchen is a great choice.

 

A real food success story.

I love a good Real Food success story – and Julie has a great one. She has happily let me post it here. Over to you, Julie.

My name is Julie, I’m a 50 year old nurse, and Neale and I are coming up to our thirtieth wedding anniversary this year. I have four children and three grandchildren. While not being excessively overweight in my teens, I lived in a dieting environment with a mother always going on a diet “on Monday”. Food was always on my mind, the more I ate the more I seemed to want to eat. Four children and seesaw weight loss and gain followed. In 2002 I was heaviest I had been and a friend introduced me to the high protein low carb eating style and the rationale behind it.

The realisation that I had a high insulin response to carbs was liberating. I had always been constantly puzzled about the fact that no matter how much cereal and fruit and trim milk I ate for breakfast, by mid-morning I was ravenous, foggy headed and wanting to have a sleep. No one else seemed to feel like that and I concluded I was an undisciplined pig. If I was trying to lose weight and went to bed starving, that was a triumph. But the weight went back on – that old familiar story. So I read “The Protein Power Plan” and tried that for about a week and went through carb withdrawal complete with the headaches, moodiness and brain fog. I took that book back and she gave me “Enter the Zone” and this is when the light switch really went on and the liberation of knowing my response to carbs was not my fault allowed me to gain some control.

I counted blocks to the gram, lost weight, felt amazing and thought I could do this forever. And I did always continue to try and follow the very sound principles of eating in a balance of fats, carbs and protein to manage my hunger. But I was still eating grains (limited – low carb 2 slices a day with grilled cheese on top) and making choices for my blocks that were still processed and simply started eating too much always thinking “I’ll start again tomorrow” and lo and behold, there I was at the start of 2014 the heaviest I had ever been – again. A friend came to visit on January 2nd 2014. He is an amazing weight lifter and heavily muscled but wanted to lose some weight and he had read about paleo and was following the principles fairly strictly and lost weight fairly quickly. I had heard the paleo term round and about and admit I am guilty of dismissing things I don’t know enough about until it is thrust in my face, so had thought it was just a fad. I thought I had the tools with “the Zone”, I just needed to get my head back around it.

Neale was keen to lose weight as well so the next day we went to the butcher and vegetable shop and stocked up. I wasn’t prepared to give up dairy (again, I thought I knew better and I actually do tolerate dairy just fine, and don’t have as much as I thought I would want) but never ate bread again from that day – I knew it wasn’t my friend, I couldn’t afford to let it in. Do I want it now? Not a bit. Freedom. And I read. I read everything I could; Robb Wolf, Chris Kresser (I find his book is realistic and possible), Melissa and Dallas Hartwig’s “It Starts with Food” and others. I follow Facebook pages and blogs, and found Mikki in the “North and South” magazine at about that time and started following her as well. Mikki keeps it real too which made me realise this is doable. Forever. I still read and search for anything new, because knowing why I am making these changes makes it easier. But I must stress, it just hasn’t been that hard. The weight loss of 30 kilos is a bonus, but was certainly my main motivation in the beginning was because I wanted to audition for “Mamma Mia!”, the stage show. While I was never going to look amazing in lycra, I wanted to look as good as I could!

What do I eat? When I started I ate all the things “allowed” and quite a lot of it so after the initial loss of 7 kg, I stalled. I continued to read and found intermittent fasting. I would skip breakfast – just coffee with a bit of cream – and have around a 16 hour fast overnight. I was surprised at how well I functioned on two meals and consequently eating less (but never starving), the weight started to drop. Meals with adequate protein (palm of my hand) and lots of vege, never skimping on fat (butter, coconut oil, olive oil, avocado) kept me going in peak form. Two or three days a week I would add breakfast. My crockpot is my best friend, I make tons of bone broth which we drink or turn into soup in the crockpot again – kale or other greens, carrot, some kumara or pumpkin, swede (Southland swede rocks!), leeks, celery, whatever is available. Make enough for the week and lunches are never an issue. I have Melissa Joulwan’s “Well Fed” books and prepare as much for the week in one go as I can. I go to the farmers market and prepare vege, chopped, stir fried or mashed. I brown mince in a pan and use that to add protein to my soup. I keep boiled eggs in the fridge. Being prepared is the key and food is simple, often a one pan wonder, but always tasty because you cook in fat and add salt because there is no added salt in unprocessed food. When I cook, I cook plenty so there is always leftovers. I pin on Pinterest. I have a lot of recipes for treats, but in reality I hardly ever make them, because I just don’t yearn for them. But ideas are good. I do make treats for my grandchildren, and feed them a very clean diet. They love my home-made chicken nuggets from The Ancestral Table, and my 18 month grandson loves porridge made with banana, coconut milk, eggs and ground flaxseed. I make coconut flour waffles for waffle toast which gives them extra protein with eggs and added cottage cheese, and coconut flour mini donuts. I buy cheap apples at the market to make apple sauce for sweetening. It’s great to see Nadia Lim’s recipes guiding us to this way of eating as well.

Healing my gut has been important, I make water kefir and of course the bone broth helps. I sleep like a log, I take a magnesium supplement every night, my blood pressure is plum normal and I’m off meds – whilst it was never normal even on meds. I have stopped taking anti depressants, I feel calm and even in my mood. I guess my diet is fairly low carb because it’s hard to eat too many carbs when your main source is vegetables. I eat 1-2 pieces of fruit daily and some starchy vege like kumara. When I first started the Zone, I understood that it worked for me but I was constantly annoyed ( to say the least) that other people could eat bread and a “normal” diet without being starving all the time and not putting on weight. I just don’t feel like that now. I don’t feel cheated, or that I am missing out on anything. Exercise is something I haven’t done with much regularity and that’s just a mental block of mine which I will conquer next.

People ask me what I’ve done. I say I eat clean, I don’t love the paleo label, but at the end of the day if they want to make changes they will listen, and they will want to learn for themselves. A year may seem a long time but the time goes by anyway, so make it count now, not next year. If you want to see obstacles, you will. If you want to make a change to how you feel and ultimately look, you can. And the obstacles become challenges and then you rise to those challenges and you are there, and you will want to learn as much as you can. I eat what I feel like eating now and I only feel like whole, natural, unprocessed food, and continue to lose about a kilo a month. I have a pair of jeans I want to fit…..but the journey is as rewarding as the goal.

Julie’s transformation

Struggling to lose weight on a low carbohydrate, high fat diet?

“I’m a 5’10” guy who weighted 180 lbs. I run about once a week and honestly don’t do much else. I cut out beer and all refined sugars (which included a few servings/day of bread and pasta) and lost 15 pounds in 7 weeks.

I feel like a million bucks. It’s crazy how my legs and arms where there was seemingly no fat all became more defined and skinnier.

The best part – I make a full packet of bacon every Sunday and eat it over the course of the week and I absolutely stuff myself with the good stuff you’re supposed to eat – salted cashews, sweet potato fries, fruits and vegetables etc…”

– Taken from some random comments section from a blog (can’t remember where, sorry)

Not your experience? You’re not alone. Though I know those struggling to lose weight on a low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) diet do feel they’re the only one not stripping off fat faster than they can pour the cream into their coffee. Unfortunately the mantra ‘fat doesn’t make you fat’ probably requires an asterisk, and an explanation. Along with ‘calories don’t count.’ These are related. A good friend of mine was struggling with unwanted weight gain on LCHF. She had listened to what people were doing with the diet and had swapped breakfast for a couple of coffees with cream, wasn’t eating lunch but perhaps grazing on some nuts or cheese during the day and having a big dinner at night that was eaten quite quickly because she hadn’t really had the pleasure of eating all day. Her one concession on LCHF was white wine and not that she drank often, but the couple of nights a week she did drink, it was definitely more than your standard two glasses. Lacking in energy, motivation, and frustrated with the betrayal of both her body and the diet, she asked for my advice. How come everyone else was losing weight but she wasn’t?

It’s too easy to think that the LCHF diet is the panacea for weight loss and weight maintenance – and absolutely, if you read my post a few weeks’ ago around LCHF diets for health and performance then you’ll know it’s at least as effective as your usual low fat regime. Certainly, too, for people I work with it’s an easier lifestyle approach to eating. If I had to put a number on it, about 75% of people I work with take the general guidelines of a LCHF diet, run with it and see considerable success. This includes people who have a history of weight loss, weight gain, and yo-yo dieting. However for some, the switch to a LCHF diet isn’t the magic bullet that it’s purported to be. After an initial drop in body weight (by perhaps 1-3 kg, largely attributable to fluid loss), the body seems to settle into a new ‘normal’ at that point and those last 5kg continue to remain elusive.

Is it the plan itself? No. Any plan that someone can adhere to is going to be successful. But there’s more to it than that. Even people who abide 100% to a LCHF approach can have weight loss stalls and, worse, begin to gain weight. Is it lack of sleep? Thyroid function? Work stress? Not enough exercise*? Too much exercise? Could be. But for some, it actually is the plan. Not in principle though, it’s how they execute the plan. And by all accounts, my good friend had also fallen into this trap.

Where once fat was vilified, it’s now carbohydrate that has been positioned as That Which Must Be Avoided. Problematic because actually there is no good or bad nutrient as a whole. Yes, there are certainly better choices within each obviously (i.e. butter is a much better choice than margarine, and potato or kumara will trump bread every time), but this blanket approach that demonizes an entire class of nutrients can set the scene for an unhelpful (and, at times unhealthy) approach to meals, snacks and eating behaviour. Carrots, pumpkin and beetroot – off the menu. Tomatoes are viewed with suspicion, onions don’t get a look in, and the rainbow of colour in a salad has now been limited to different shades of green and yellow. But it’s not from capsicum (too many carbs!) it’s from half a block of cheese. Now – I know that for some, this actually isn’t an issue and in fact, it’s the best thing they can do for their metabolic health. A LCHF diet makes perfect sense if someone is struggling with blood sugar and insulin control. In fact, for people with diabetes (type 1 and 2), having a very low carbohydrate diet is the best thing for them (why add fuel to an already out-of-control fire?) People either forget (or don’t realise that LCHF is generally 25% of so calories from carbohydrate which can still equate to a good amount of carbohydrate-containing foods. This all or nothing approach to carbohydrate (or… just nothing) is unnecessarily extreme for most people in my opinion. Like Weight Watcher’s ‘fat and fibre’ plan of the 90s, which saw meringue back on the menu for hundreds and thousands of delighted dieters worldwide (and unhelpful for most of those people), it is almost that the ‘no holds barred’ has been shifted from vegetables to foods high in fat. Cream in coffee, nuts in abundance, lashings of butter with everything – because ‘fat doesn’t make you fat’ and ‘calories don’t count.’ For those that can’t effortlessly lose weight with this approach and you have accounted for the lifestyle factors that I mentioned above (as my friend had), then actually you are eating more than you need. If that’s the case, then fat can make you fat and those calories do count.

So what now?

For my friend, and others who come to see me, what actually worked was taking another approach. Still LCHF. But not as LC. And not as HF. It also included a lot more protein. It is an­­ approach to eating that is sustainable in the long term. Remember that the premise of LCHF is a nutrient-dense, real food diet. For my friend:

• I got her to drop dairy – not because it is inherently bad, but because her sources of dairy were only high fat and in larger amounts than I think she was aware of. It was easier to omit entirely in this instance.
• I got her to start eating breakfast again and to include starchy carbohydrates. Not in large amounts! But enough to help her feel satisfied between her meals and also happy with a standard pour of wine from the bar and not a large. For some, restricting carbohydrate can lead to increased desire to drink more alcohol (or gave them licence to do so). This also helps people recognise that carbohydrates shouldn’t be vilified the way we did fats.
• I also got her to sit down when she ate and told her to eat slowly, enjoying her meals and to never eat standing up. That way she knew what (and how much) she was eating.
• I suggested that she cut nuts and seeds unless part of a salad meal and that she aimed for three meals a day and no snacks.
• If she was hungry in between meals, then I asked her to increase the protein portions of her food, as this would keep her satisfied. For my friend, it wouldn’t have been helpful to focus on increasing the fat as it didn’t work for her previously.
• The protein foods she ate weren’t necessarily lean, nor did she seek out the fattiest cuts she could find. She ate a broad spectrum of quality protein foods.
• She ate non-starchy vegetables in abundance.

While initially suspicious of this approach, she very quickly saw success. In fact, over the course of four weeks, she had dropped 5.5kg. Her meals were still lower in carbohydrate, and higher in fat – but also included good amounts of protein and a lot more nutrients overall. For my friend, this ‘back to basics’ approach to diet was just what she needed. It was both the food choices and the behaviour around food that we needed to change. Though weight was her initial measure, she told me the change in how she felt about herself and about the food was far more important.

If you are struggling to lose body fat with a LCHF diet, then remember the devil could be in the details. In my opinion it really is the panacea for optimising your body composition goals, but it might be that the way you execute it needs adjusting.

*fat doesn’t make you fat: unfortunately, eating too much fat could make you fat – because too much of anything can lead to an excess in energy that your body can’t burn and therefore it has to go somewhere – deposited into your fat tissue is the likely scenario.

*calories don’t count: calories do count. But the finer details relate to how your body burns those calories and available energy.