Dean
Dean
thanks·giv·ing
noun
“the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgement of benefits or favors, especially to God.” – Dictionary.com
I am truly grateful we have a holiday named “Thanksgiving”. Because for just a few days it makes me say the word over and over again.
“Happy Thanksgiving”
“Have a wonderful Thanksgiving”
“Enjoy your family at Thanksgiving”
It is kind of ironic that the next day is called “Black Friday”. Now I understand how important this time of year is for our economy and businesses to survive. But to my recollection I have only ventured out once on that day to do any shopping, and that was a quick run to Dick’s Sporting Goods at 4:00am, because I woke up right at my normal time anyways. I glanced across the street on my way by and was convinced that anyone who ventures into Wal-Mart is crazy or possessed – no thanks. Now to those of you who enjoy the madness my hat is off to you, because you are very brave, and more power to you. Could you grab me a Starbucks on the way by? 🙂
But I Digress.
Can I encourage you to be truly thankful this year, from now until New Years?
It seems that we let this time of year stress us out to no end as we try to meet the seemingly endless expectations that tug on us to make every perfect, buy all the right gifts, put up just the right tree – busy, busy, busy.
And then it’s gone.
The holidays are over and we settle down into the long New England winter. (I am working really hard on being thankful for that one.)
Life is not easy. Sometimes our days are filled with disappointment, heartache and pain.
Which is one reason why I am grateful for the people in my life.
My family, who put up with me with love even on the worst of days.
My friends, who I don’t get to spend nearly enough time with.
My Get Fit NH team and co-workers, who labor with me to make it all work.
My clients, who share a part of their day with me. Who I get to laugh with, cry with, help through some struggles, and witness some incredible achievements.
To God, who has given me 47 years so far, in spite of myself.
I am going to put some effort, some action, some work, into slowing down a bit this holiday season and making the time to enjoy the things and people who are important to me. I am going to do my best, but with the understanding some people just can’t or don’t want to be happy, no matter what I do. They will get my kindness and compassion, but not one second of my time worrying.
That is work worth doing, and a word worth saying more often than we do.
Thank-you.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Coach Dean
Here is the bottom line.
Good post-training nutrition improves your body composition, performance and total recovery. Ignore it and those three will suffer. If we want to maximize our time in the gym, a proper focus on nutrition after training is key.
Nutrition Coach Ryan Andrews highlights the 3 primary reasons for having a solid post-training nutrition strategy:
Athletes/Exercisers want to:
And why do we want to do those three things?
“In doing so they want to increase performance, improve their appearance, and enable their bodies to remain injury free.”
and lastly from Dr. Andrews
“Proposed benefits of good post-workout nutrition include:
(You can read Dr. Andrews entire article on the Precision Nutrition site by clicking here)
Guys these are all good things, in case there is any doubt. Ignoring post-training nutrition as part of our overall nutrition strategy is not a good decision. You don’t want to be sore all the time, with suppressed immune function and your body holding onto fat like a 2 year old holds onto his favorite blanket, do you?
So what does good post-training nutrition look like?
There are really 2 parts to that answer.
I am going to go with the premise that most people reading this are looking to lose body fat. That being said a protein/carbohydrate ratio of about 1:1 seems to work pretty well, although going as high as 1:2 usually is just fine. You don’t have to go crazy with the amount of protein, ~15-25 grams is fine, with the corresponding ratio of carbohydrate.
Some good choices for Step #1:
Step #2 corresponds with our previous habits. You want to have a meal that includes protein, vegetables, and this is also when you want to eat your “other” carbs, for all the reasons we outlined in previous weeks.
Many of our clients (the 8:30am ladies in Concord are very good at this) have their protein shake pre-mixed and waiting in the car for the ride home. This is ideal. As soon as you shout “Make It Happen” you should start sipping that drink or chewing that Dale’s bar. If you do that, you have Habit 6 covered!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why does Habit 6 specify protein and not carbohydrate?
A: To remind us that a “sports performance drink” such as Gatorade(r) or Powerade(r) is not adequate, because it does not have enough protein to start the protein synthesis recovery process. We want carbs, but we need the protein first and foremost
Q: Why just after resistance exercise? What about after cardio?
A: When we specify resistance exercise we are talking about weight and/or interval training such as here as Get Fit NH, as opposed to endurance exercise. Resistance and metabolic resistance training is designed to break down the muscle in order to build it back up and make it stronger, which is why protein is needed for repair, and the carbohydrate assists recovery in that process. Endurance training generally does not elicit the same physiological requirements, unless it is continuous work for 45+ minutes.
Q: Do I have to eat the solid meal within 2 hours afterward, or can I just skip it so I can lose weight faster?
A: Skipping this meal is a real good way to get “skinny fat”. In other words you may drop total net pounds for a little while, but what is going to be left behind is less muscle and more saggy. Not cool. You want a foundation of lean muscle, yes, even you ladies. The appropriate amount of body fat on this foundation of lean is what gives you the “toned” look with curves in the right places. Guys, just stick to the muscle part, ok?
Eat Your Way Right Habit 6: Eat/Drink your recovery nutrition including lean protein within 1 hour after resistance training.
Coach Nancy wrote an article a couple years ago that I wanted to share, because it fits in so well with the “Eat Your Way Right” theme. Take a couple minutes and discover “Coach Nancy’s Top 5 Way To Avoid Couch Coma”
And if for some reason you don’t quite have your meal plans for this week settled, I thought I’d pass on some great recipes from our friend Dr. Cassandra Forsythe. “Cass” know her nutrition, and she knows tasty foods, and this list she compiled is fantastic!
Veggies:
Green Beans with Lemon and Pine Nuts
Apple Cider-Braised Kabocha Squash with Golden Raisins and Onion
(Kabocha squash is also called Buttercup Squash)
Acorn Squash Soup with Roasted Kale Chips and Pine Nuts
Easy Roasted Seasonal Vegetables
Spicy Potatoes, Cabbage and Carrots
Roasted Brussel Sprouts in Balsamic Glaze
Spinach, Orange and Red Cabbage Salad
Stuffing:
Cranberry, Pear Wild-Rice Stuffing
Desserts:
Pumpkin Custard (for crustless pumpkin pie)
Apple Crisp with Oatmeal Topping
You do NOT want to miss this important seminar coming up in just a couple weeks.
Dr. David Picard of the Concord Hospital Medical group has graciously offered to come talk to us about one of his subject areas of expertise – sleep!
The last time I put up a post about the importance of sleep Dr. Picard wrote me with some additional suggestions, and we both thought it would be a great idea to get him on in here.
We have how critical sleep is to a healthy body, recovery and even fat loss many times, but what do you do if sleep is hard to come by? Come find out some reasons, as well as tips and strategies on how to solve your sleep problems. I know I am looking forward to it!
Death, Taxes and Sleep. Three Things You Have To Do!
Location: Get Fit NH Concord
Date: Tuesday December 10th
Time: 7:00pm to 8:30pm
It’s no secret that the holidays bring some real challenges when it comes to eating. That is reason #1 why we are doing our “Eating Your Way Right Through The Holidays” challenge!
Well we want to put another tool in your hands to help you take your survival strategy up one more notch. Our colleagues over at Results Fitness in California are having a challenge similar to ours, which they are calling “Holiday Hold ‘Em”. I am guessing they have a few poker players over there. 🙂 They sent me an email with what I thought was a really great strategy involving a calendar and a few minutes of your time.
Like Get Fit NH, Results Fitness emphasizes 90% nutrition compliance, not perfection. What they suggested was pulling out a calendar, calculating how many splurge meals you could have between now and the end of the holiday season, and marking an “x” on all the days and mealtimes you were planning your splurge. A great idea that goes right along with the planning you have already been doing.
We took it one step further and created a calendar for you that covers between today (Monday November 25th) through the end of the year.
Here is what mine looks like:
My strategy was simple and realistic.
I am currently eating 3 meals per day. This allows me 12 splurge meals between now and January 4th, which is the end of the final holiday week.
I knew I would be in the kitchen on Wednesday starting some cooking, and anytime that starts I am probably going to do some sampling, so I planned a splurge there. On Thursday I figured my breakfast will be normal, but the other two meals of the day I better plan on being non-compliant. Add one meal in on Friday for some leftovers, and we are good to go. I used the same strategy for the week of Christmas. That takes up 8 out of the 12 allotted. Figure on a party on New Years Eve and that still leaves me with 3. My strategy then was to use one on each Saturday night of the “non-holiday” weeks, and that gives me 12 total.
This calendar helps me for a couple reasons. I have to have a plan or I will justify sneaking things here or there and not counting them. I like the visual aid. It helps me see that I can still have some days where compliance does not have to be perfect but I am still on track.
One important caveat: You can still lose fat and stay on track over the holidays, but you HAVE to stick to your plan and you have to keep training. Don’t skip training sessions and think it won’t matter. It is the consistency of the training, keeping that metabolism in high gear, plus eating correctly the rest of the time that leads to success. I believe in you, now you gotta Make It Happen!
You are a Fathead.
Yes, you are, and no, I am not insulting you.
Your brain is comprised of approximately 60% lipids (aka fat), and our cell membranes are fat based as well. According to Dr. Ryan Andrews the fat we eat literally becomes part of our cells, and has a huge impact on if our nervous system communicates properly. I was amazed to learn that a properly balanced fat intake can affect how my entire body functions, from our brain power on down. You really are what you eat!
Here is what else Dr. Andrews has to say about the importance of healthy fats in our “diet”:
Why are healthy fats so important?
Fats exert powerful effects within the body and healthy fats have been shown to offer the following benefits.
Strong evidence
Cardiovascular protection (though there is less evidence for protecting against heart failure)
Improve body composition
Alleviate depression
Average evidence
Prevent cancers
Preserve memory
Preserve eye health
Reduce incidence of aggressive behaviour
Reduce ADHD and ADD symptoms
When it comes to healthy fat, intake amount is important. People are often concerned about excess dietary fat, but not getting enough fat may also cause health problems.
We need adequate fat to support metabolism, cell signaling, the health of various body tissues, immunity, hormone production, and the absorption of many nutrients (such as vitamins A and D). Having enough fat will also help keep you feeling full between meals.
(Read Ryan’s Complete Article – “All About Healthy Fats”)
So what the good doctor is saying is that we need healthy fats – to be healthy!
The first kind of fat is saturated fat, and if you eat animal protein, you usually have no problem getting that one in, maybe even a bit too much.
The other two are unsaturated fats – poly and mono. These include the Omega-3s which are found in fish such as salmon, as well as nuts, seeds and vegetable oils. Far from being unhealthy, all of these types of fats are crucial for optimal health.
It is also important to balance out the ratio of the polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. The reason Omega-3 supplements are necessary for most people is that the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids has been dumped on it’s head by the way our food is raised and processed. What used to be a 1:1 ratio of 6 to 3 is now more like 16:1, and this does not allow proper cell functioning and integrity. That’s why we recommend a good Omega-3 supplement for everybody. 3-6 grams of EPA/DHA per day is the recommendation. Super Omega-3 is what we carry in the gym because you are getting over 3 grams of the good stuff in one teaspoon, which is outstanding. You can read more about Super Omega-3 in this article: Fish Oil and Why You Are Getting Ripped Off
You have been lied to
Low fat diets stink. You aren’t getting the health benefits outlined above, but that is not all. Healthy fats cause satiety, or the feeling of being full longer, more than protein and certainly more than carbohydrates. You know it’s true. You can blast through 2 or 3 donuts and be hungry an hour later. Try eating a couple eggs and an avocado and see what happens – I can guarantee you will be fuller longer. Part of the reason is that it takes fat a lot longer to digest than carbohydrate, so it doesn’t empty from your stomach and travel through the digestive system as fast.
But won’t all that fat go right to my waistline?
Au’ contraire, mon ami!
Eating fat does not “make you fat”. Eating excess of anything will cause it to be stored as excess energy (fat). And an argument can (and is) being made because it is easier to overeat carbohydrate than it is fat or protein, increasing your fat intake is a good nutrition strategy when looking for overall calorie reduction. It helps keep you full longer and also avoid the huge blood sugar crashes that can accompany carbohydrate intake, particularly from simple carbs.
EYWR Habit 5: Eat Recommended Healthy Fats Daily.
If you track your calories, 30-35% of daily caloric intake is a good place to start. If you eat meat, particularly red meat, you are getting plenty of saturated fat, believe me, so we need to concentrate on the others, the poly and monounsaturated.
Here’s a partial list of things that are easy to add into our plan.
Don’t go crazy. As you may remember 1 gram of carbohydrate has 4 calories, while 1 gram of fat has 9 calories, so portion control needs to be paid attention to. Too much of something good is not good, and we all know how easy it is to overeat things like almonds and macadamia nuts (love those things!)
Caution: If you are taking blood thinners, have heart issues, or have a bleeding disorder you absolutely need to check with your physician before supplementing with Omega-3 fatty acids (Fish/Algae Oils). Just do it!
Healthy Fats. Every Day. No Excuses.
Make It Happen!
Chicken Enchilada Soup – Yum!
Coach Nancy has generously taken most of the best recipes from her “Favorite Fall Foods” seminar and agreed to make them available to you, her adoring public! 🙂
Seriously though these are some fantastic tasting, easy to make, protein packed “comfort style” foods sure to make those cool fall evening dinners shine.
How do these sound?
Well there are these and 12 more sure to please fall favorites. Just enter your name and email below and it’s yours for the taking.
Just because it’s Thursday…
Learn to love intensity, not duration.
It is not a badge of honor to spend 2 hours in the gym. Get in, work hard, get out, start the recovery process. 20 minutes of hard work trumps an hour of lollygagging every time. And if you tell me you can work at max capacity for 45 minutes to an hour, come on in and prove it to me. The goal is to elicit the desired training effect in the shortest amount of time. Minimum effective dose. One aspirin is good so 10 must be better, right? No. Take 10 for an extended period of time and it could kill you.
Training with intensity requires the ability to do so.
In other words, if you have a movement dysfunction, or an injury, that is the “big rock” that needs to be addressed first. Trying to push through or ignore these things leads to bigger problems. Do the work necessary to clean these issues up and you will be able to up your intensity in the future. If you injure yourself further, then you are really not going to get anywhere.
You earn the right to up your intensity.
In other words, you earn your exercise. Master the sequence of exercise progressions. You must to learn to crawl, then walk, then run. In the same way you must master the basics, lay a good foundation, and then when appropriate progress the exercise. Doing 1 footed hang cleans while balancing on a dumbbell with your finger up your nose might look cool, but why?
Everything is training.
The moment you step on the floor you are training. Soft tissue quality improvement, activation, movement prep, reactive and power development, strength training, metabolic conditioning, flexibility and recovery. It is ALL training. The variables change. Length of the set, rest periods, total work duration – these may change. Your goal should be to work as hard as you can, all the time.
You have control of how intense the training is.
See above. Sometimes you just have to look inside. You can dog it if you want to, but that really has nothing to do with the effectiveness of the plan, does it?
Your level of fatigue has nothing to do with how effective the training is.
Tired does not mean better. Better means better. Should there be fatigue after training? Yes. Should you be crawling out the door every day? No. If you want to get trashed every time you walk through the door you are in the wrong place. We are physical preparation coaches, not executioners. You are in this for the long haul, your whole life. Our job is to help you get better, day after day, year after year.
Working at high intensity all the time usually has more negative consequences than positive.
Most of us have a hard enough time getting enough sleep, keeping up with the family, dealing with stress, working, etc. Remember Minimum Effective Dose? We want to do enough to get the positive effects out of our training program without adding one too many bricks on the pile. Who wants to be sore and tired ALL the time? If you are, it’s time to take a look at some other stuff going on. (Good nutrition anyone?)
’nuff said! 🙂
Yes. This guy did eat too much sugar and simple carbs.
You are obsessed.
No really, you are.
And it may not entirely be your fault. I mean you get hit over the head with it all the time.
Carb this, Carb that, Carb the other thing.
What is it about Carbohydrates that elicits such an emotional response from the vast majority of us?
I suspect it is because there is so much confusion out there about the subject. Good carbs, bad carbs, sugar vs. agave, whole grains, etc. etc. etc.
I mean you all think I hate carbs, right?
The answer to that is no, because I am not a hater.
But I do approach carbohydrate intake with some caution.
Why?
Because I have been fighting the effects of poor dietary choices for almost 30 years now.
Yes, I wrecked myself with carb excess. Because when it comes down to it that is what Type 2 diabetes is all about. Too much sugar in the system too much of the time. Pancreas poops out. Voila – diabetes.
And yes, I am trying to scare you. There is an epidemic of overweight and obese adults, and even more gut wrenching, overweight and obese children.
Now this is a fairly long post, but you ignore it at your own peril.
You owe it to yourself and your children if you have them to understand carbohydrate metabolism and how you can make it work for you, not against you.
That is what Habit 4 is all about.
Eat Your Way Right Habit 4: Did I eat my “other” carbs only after resistance exercise today?
Let’s briefly talk about the second part, “Resistance Exercise”, first.
By resistance exercise we are talking about barbell weight training, high intensity metabolic resistance training, circuit training with weights or other forms of resistance (bands, kettlebells, suspension trainers, etc.), not traditional cardiovascular exercise modalities such as treadmill, elliptical, running, etc.
Why?
Keep reading.
Carbohydrate Metabolism and Insulin
Carbohydrate is not a dirty word. Your body functions best when you eat carbohydrates, that’s not really the question.
Let’s put it this way. If I ask most people what they think about when they hear the words “Carb” or “Carbohydrate” this is the answers I get:
and they are right, those all contain a lot of carbohydrate.
But here’s another list:
These are all carbohydrates too!
The big difference is the way your body handles these carbohydrates.
The first list is made up of simple carbs. Simple carbs are made up of one or two sugar molecules and break down very quickly and easily.
The second list are what we call complex carbs. These are compromised of more than two sugar groups, and these take much longer to break down in your system.
Both of these, simple and complex carbs, are digested into simple sugars before the body uses them.
But there is a big difference in the speed of digestion between a cinnamon roll and a string bean, or even a bowl of oatmeal for that matter.
This speed of digestion is also a factor in how much insulin is released into our bloodstream.
High speed carb, more insulin. Low speed carb, less insulin.
(I am getting to the point, I promise.)
Insulin is a storage hormone, and it has very powerful effects on the body. It is responsible for shuttling nutrients (glucose, amino acids, fats) into our bodies cells. It is necessary for life, which is why type 1 Diabetics need to have insulin shots. Their pancreas isn’t working anymore, so they need outside intervention.
Now I am really going to simplify here, but think about it.
When is the best time to have insulin released? When does our body have the most nutritional requirements, for instance repair and growth? (That was kind of a big hint)
Right after you train!
When you have hit the weights hard and left it all on the floor, this is when your body is ready, willing and able to use those simple sugars and amino acids (broken down protein) and get the repair process started. Insulin is now doing great things, it is shuttling nutrients into willing cells and making you better – sweet!
In fact it is a terrible idea to neglect post-training nutrition. You must provide the body the mortar to build the bricks, and the most convenient way to get that done is a post-training shake (partially pre-digested and fast acting) immediately after training. This is Prime Time. But you also need to follow that up with a meal within a couple hours, and this is where you want to have the majority of your non-fruit and vegetable carbohydrates (other carbs) for the day, even if you train in the afternoon or evening. If you want a few great ideas for post-training carbohydrates,ThePPWKitchen will hook you up.
A look at the other side
Insulin has a “dark side” as well. This important hormone, you remember, is really good at storing things.
Like all those ho-ho’s you ate, right on your hips.
You see when you overload your body with too much food, especially easy to digest food like the simple carbs we talked about, your body needs to do something with it. If it doesn’t need to burn it, it does the next logical thing.
It stores it. (You know, the ho-ho thing)
That is why in general it is best to avoid simple carbohydrates during periods of low activity (like the pint of Ben and Jerry’s right before bed).
The Take Home
Carbs are not your enemy. However we can be smarter about when we eat our simple carbs. It’s not a matter of never eating starch and sugar, just save them for the meal you eat directly after you train.
And that is how you earn your checkbox. On the days you don’t train, keep the carbohydrate sources to veggies and fruits. On the days you do, eat the carbs you like at your next meal (within a couple hours).
And don’t forget the 90% rule. We are not looking for perfection. If you have a special event or party, plan out your strategy. Is this going to be a planned splurge? Then enjoy with some moderation and get back at it your very next meal.
That not restrictive, it’s realistic. If you want to be something different you have to do something different.
Here are two more terrific articles (with picture, charts, animations and everything) to catch you up on all things carbohydrate.
Keep this in mind as well. We all handle carbohydrates a little differently. You may get away with a little more “other carbs” than your neighbor. Don’t get cranked up about never eating your favorite foods again. Just embrace the opportunity to discover different foods and different flavors. Nobody said change was easy, but I am proud of anyone who makes an effort.
I’ll admit it.
I can be a serious ingrate, and it is so hypocritical.
How many times have I told my kids to say “thank-you”? How many times do they have to be reminded anyways?
And yet how many times do I catch myself sweating the small stuff, and ignoring the blessings around me?
It is so easy to get caught up in the milieu of our daily lives that we forget how good we really have it.
When is the last time you sat in 110 degree heat, in the sand, in a faraway country, never really relaxing because you never knew if and when someone was going to take a shot at you or send a mortar round your way?
Probably wasn’t something you did over the weekend.
Yet thousands of men and women over the last decade and more have been there, done that – for you and me.
On Veterans day and every day we should be grateful. This has nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with basic decency, honor and respect.
We take it for granted. Families separated by distance and sometimes death. Dads and moms who leave children behind to serve in the name of our country. Husbands and wives who don’t see each other for months at a time, and sometimes never again.
Did you ever consider the impact on a family whose mom gets called overseas, followed by dad, leaving their 18th month old child with grandma? My heart aches when I don’t see my family for a few days, yet children pass milestones and birthdays, and all mom and dad can do is watch from a distance and feel the loneliness.
Next week my oldest son Timothy is graduating from Ranger School down at Fort Benning, Georgia. He actually lived there for 3 years of his life when I was stationed there, and this is the first time Nancy and I will be back since then. Tim is not a dumb kid. He is married, has a degree in criminal justice, and served as a Vermont State Trooper.
What drives men like Tim to give up relative stability, be away from his wife for months at a time and put himself in harms way?
I don’t pretend to know, but I am grateful they do.
So here’s my challenge to you today.
Be grateful, and then put some action behind that gratitude.
Maybe on Veterans Day it is as simple as saying thank-you, or paying for the Dunkins for the man or woman in uniform ahead of you in line. I think that is something I should start doing everyday, not just November 11th.
Don’t just let this day pass you by as another day off, let’s make something good happen today.
Let’s give someone else a reason to be thankful – promise?
Thank-You.
Coach Dean
Speaking of gratitude and Thanksgiving…
Our schedule for the week of November 25th is as follows:
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday – Full Schedule
Thursday, Friday – OFF
Saturday – World Famous “Pies Off The Thighs” post-Thanksgiving training gala. 8:00am @ Get Fit NH Concord – Be There!
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