The New USDA “MyPlate” – An Improvement?

Have you seen  the new USDA “Food Plate” that has replaced the “Food Pyramid” that has been around for what seems like forever? (Hint – look over to your right 🙂

Earlier this month (June 2nd) the government finally showed us what it’s version of healthy eating looks like, and at first glance the new look makes sense.

Take a look at the plate. It shows clearly that fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet, and it shows that protein should be eaten at every meal. Another thing I appreciate is that it shows that starches don’t need to (and usually shouldn’t) dominate your plate.

All in all, not too bad.

An improvement?

In my estimation – Yes.

However if I were to stop there this would be one of two things:

1. A very short article 🙂
2. An incomplete review

Because while there are some things to recommend with these new guidelines, if you take a closer look at things there are some further things I would (and do) modify in my nutrition plan.

Here’s a question:

What if you are lactose intolerant or sensitive to grains (gluten intolerant for instance)? Does this mean you are not getting a “balanced” diet because you are not getting dairy and/or some grains in your diet?

Nonsense!

We could rehash all the reasons why here, but the bottom line is that you don’t NEED either of those things in your diet to be perfectly healthy. That doesn’t mean I am saying never eat them, what I am saying is that often times a lot of very unhealthy things happen when you get too much dairy or grains in your diet. I don’t want to sound like a “tin-hat” conspiracy theorists, but it is safe to say that the dairy, grain, or for that matter meat industry has no little input into these recommendations – take it for what it’s worth.

My personal experience and experience with scores of clients tells me that limiting dairy and grains has a much more positive effect on body composition and just plain feeling better than the alternative.

As Dr. Jonny Bowden points out, the devil is in the details of the guidelines, with a lot of information that is just plain outdated in light of new research into low-fat diets and the like.

And while fruit is super healthy, for weight management clients in particular the ratio of fruits to vegetables is probably too high (Eat Your Veggies!)

The bottom line is that if more people take the advice and eat what’s on “MyPlate” that is certainly a step in the right direction.

More vegetables and protein, less grains?

Work for me!

Make It Happen,

Coach Dean

Dean Carlson is a Certified Professional Fitness Trainer with the National Exercise and Sports Trainers Association, a Level 2 Youth Conditioning Specialist with the International Youth Conditioning Association and is a Level 1 Certified Precision Nutrition Coach.

Download Your PN Calorie Calculator!

Last week we talked about a question that is on most of the people’s minds we coach or even talk to about nutrition:

How much AM I supposed to eat? (click to read)

If you haven’t read it (why not?!) go back and read it now. In fact everybody go back and read it again – it’s that good! 🙂

Here are the steps we outlined:

1. Estimate Your Calories
2. Find Your Macronutrient Split
3. Calculate Your Calories for Each Macronutrient
4. Approximate Your Calories Per Meal
5. Achieve 90% Compliance and Adjust

Sound familiar?

Well  I have great news for you! You can put away your calculator, because we have a present for you…

The “PN Calorie Calculator”!

This super easy to use Excel spreadsheet will take care of Steps 1 through 3 above – lickety split – There is no reason why you can’t get started on a customized plan for you and your goals!

All we ask you to do to get your crankin’ copy of calorie calculating goodness is for you to answer one question! Once you have answered that question you will be sent an email with the download link and password needed to access the calculator.

That is NOT too much to ask!

So take action today. Don’t sit on the sidelines waiting for things to happen – Make Them Happen!

Click Here To Get Your “PN Calorie Calculator” – Do It!

How Much Am I Supposed To Eat?

So, you say, I know I am supposed to eat PPW (Protein, Produce and Water) every 3 hours, but how much am I supposed to eat?

A fair question, to be sure.

Here’s my answer:

I Don’t Know.

I am sure you are saying to yourself – Well that’s helpful!

The reason I say that is because while there are certainly general principles of nutrition, there is no one size fits all.

But don’t be discouraged, because there is a way for you to find out.

As a certified Precision Nutrition coach (and client) I get very specific with individual clients who hire me to coach nutrition, but there are general principles we can apply, depending on the goal. You are going to eat very differently when your goal is to lose bodyfat than if it is to gain muscle. A naturally thin person with skinny limbs (ectomorph) is not going to eat the same amounts or type of food as a naturally broad or thick person (endomorph).

It also may be true that two people of identical size may not be able to eat the same amount of calories and lose weight at the same rate.

So what to do?

We Test and Find Out!

While the following is a hypothetical, it applies to many of our clients who struggle with fat loss, so pay attention.

Step 1: Estimate Calories

For a client who is moderately active (exercises 3-4 times a week) and wants to lose weight, we will start by multiplying their current bodyweight by 12-14.

Example:  A 160 pound person would start by eating between 1920 (160 x 12) and 2240 (160 x 14) calories per day. A 200 pound person would start by eating 2400 (200 x 12) and 2800 (200 x 14) calories per day.

Step 2: Macronutrient Split

According to Dr. John Berardi, author of Precision Nutrition, the endomorph (naturally broad/thick) described above would consume the average starting percentages:

• Protein: 35%
• Carbohydrate: 25%
• Fat: 40%

Step 3: Calculate calories for each Macronutrient

The 160 pound person would consume:

• about 728 calories (182 grams) of protein
• about 520 calories (130 grams) of carbohydrate
• about 832 calories (92 grams) of fat

and the 200 pound person would consume:

• about 910 calories (228 grams) of protein
• about 650 calories (163 grams) of carbohydrate
• about 1040 calories (116 grams) of fat

Step 4: Approximate calories per meal

160 pound person:

• Breakfast: 36 g protein, 15 g carbohydrate, 23 g fat
• Snack:36 g protein, 15 g carbohydrate, 23 g fat
• Lunch: 36 g protein, 15 g carbohydrate, 23 g fat
• Post Exercise Snack: 36 g protein, 72 g carbohydrate, 0 g fat (this meals timing will be adjusted depending on when you exercise)
• Dinner:36 g protein, 15 g carbohydrate, 23 g fat

200 pound person:

• Breakfast: 46 g protein, 18 g carbohydrate, 29 g fat
• Snack:46 g protein, 18 g carbohydrate, 29 g fat
• Lunch: 46 g protein, 18 g carbohydrate, 29 g fat
• Post Exercise Snack: 46 g protein, 92 g carbohydrate, 0 g fat (this meals timing will be adjusted depending on when you exercise)
• Dinner:46 g protein, 18 g carbohydrate, 29 g fat

Step 5: Achieve 90% compliance and adjust

Here’s the key – as with any experiment there must be controls. In order to discover what calorie level you can eat and reach your goals, you must be consistent.  In this case that means achieving 90% compliance with your plan. That means out of 35 meals a week, 31 or 32 must conform to the guidelines, which allows 3 or 4 non-compliant or “splurge” meals a week. You don’t have to be and shouldn’t try to be “perfect”. Most of the time shooting for perfection is setting yourself up for failure – do yourself a favor, plan (another key) your “splurges” and give yourself a break.

With our coaching clients we measure and adjust every two weeks, if compliance has been achieved. Two weeks is long enough to see how your body is responding. If you are losing weight at the desired rate, we stay right where we are. If we are losing at a different rate (high or low) we will adjust something (calories, exercise amount, etc.) until we are where we want to be.

More Tips:

Notice the majority of carbohydrates are ingested after training. Read why here…

Eat Vegetables and Fruit in an approximately 5:1 ratio – 5 servings of veggies for every serving of fruit. Here’s the scoop on slow carbs…

So there you go – the very basics we use to help clients dial in their nutrition and get the results they want. Hop on the scale, get out the calculator, and figure out where your starting point is.

For more detailed information and coaching I recommend one of two paths:

1) Get your own copy of Precision Nutrition, the A-Z resource for your nutrition and body composition goals. This is the resource I used (and still use) to achieve over 80 pounds of weight loss.

2) Get your own copy of Precision Nutrition and personal nutrition coaching from the only certified Precision Nutrition coach in the state of NH (yours truly 🙂 You can give me a call at the office or drop me a line to discuss your options.

Make It Happen!

Coach Dean

Jeff is Dialing In His Nutrition with PN

This morning S3 contest winner Jeff H. received his copy of Dr. John Berardi’s “Precision Nutrition” as part of his prize package. This comprehensive nutrition coaching package is what I used when I dropped 80 plus pounds a few years ago, and in my opinion is the best resource out there to teach you how to change your body composition from “Flab to Fab”. It also led me to earning my Precision Nutrition coaching credentials, the first to do so in the state of New Hampshire.

Now is a great time to pick up your own copy of Precision Nutrition, as the entire system is being offered at a much reduced price! You owe it to yourself to find out more about Precision Nutrition here!

Congrats Jeff!

Three Rules for Easy Eating On The Go

I’m just about to head down to the South for my son Jeff’s wedding. I’ve been planning this trip for weeks (Ask the 5am, they’ve helped me pick my dress). I’ve organized all the kids clothing for that special day, the care of our animals, and hotel stays.

And believe it or not, one more big item I’ve planned for is my eating.

Now you may think I am crazy or wonder – “How do you plan for eating when you don’t know what is available?”

It’s not as hard as you may think!

I’ve been planning the meals I can control, so if the meals I am unable to control are a bit loose by PPW (Protein, Produce and Water) standards it minimizes the damage.  Not that I plan on eating cupcakes, cookies, fudge, and other sweets for 4 days straight, but we will be eating in restaurants where I can’t control quite as much as I can at home.

Here are my three rules to easy eating while on vacation. (Thank you Michael Pollan for the fantastic ideas in your book “Food Rules”- great read for anyone!)

1. Eat foods that you can visualize in their raw state. If I’m not able to identify where a particular food came from, I’m going to avoid it. At restaurants that means avoiding foods covered in goop and sauces. Where does that cheese like substance come from anyway? Fried food? Not happening. I don’t know what is in the coating or what they fry it in (not to mention the fat and calories). That leaves me with very few choices, so I’ll probably starve, right? No way! Think of all the grilled items, vegetables, fruits, fish, eggs and more I can have. There are thousands of varieties of vegetables and fruit alone. Open your mind and mouth to new possibilities!
2. Eat foods that spoil quickly. If a food like substance can stay on the shelf for years it is probably very low in nutrients. If a rodent will not even go after it, do we really want to put it in our mouth?
3. Eat foods your grandmother (great-grandmother?) would recognize. I love my grandmother; she was a wonderful cook. But I’m sure if she looked at a Go-Gurt  she’d have no idea what to do with it. What about Spam, Velveeta, or powdered drink mixes? She did her cooking with items readily found in her area, that she grew herself, or my grandfather fished or hunted. She didn’t have a whole lot shipped from other countries, or items found out of season in her area. I’m going to imagine sitting at her table each time I eat.

So that’s my plan. I’m going to eat fresh foods that are easy to recognize (before and after they are cooked) that my grandmother would enjoy.

That’s not so hard, is it?

Ask me how I did when I get back!

Make It Happen,

Coach Nancy

Sugar: Sweet to the Lips, Killer on the Hips

Ok now that I have your attention, there’s a lot more to eating excess sugar than the extra pounds it packs on.

You may not want to hear it, but if it seems like you are constantly fighting off illness, the amount of sugar you are eating probably has a lot to do with it. Studies show that eating 75-100 grams of sugar (the amount in two 12 ounces sodas) can suppress the bodies immune system, and simple sugars like table sugar and honey can cause a 50% drop in the ability of white blood cells to engulf and destroy bacteria. This effect starts about 30 minutes after ingestion, and can last up to 5 hours. If you are constantly feeding your body sugar-laden foods, you are probably going to get sick a lot more often.

Other factors that weaken your immune system include stress, lack of sleep, lack of exercise, and being socially isolated. The choices we make in these areas directly affects how healthy we are.

When you train with Get Fit NH Bootcamp, you are directly affecting three of those factors:

You are exercising in a fun, team-oriented atmosphere, which in turn helps relieve stress – well done! As far as the sleep goes you are a bit more on your own, but turning the TV off before midnight would probably help!

But I digress, so let’s get back to taking care of that sweet tooth.

Here’s just a few of the names of sugar you will find on the back of a food label, and they all have the same affect on your waistline and your overall health:

Barley malt
Cane juice crystals
Demarara
Dextran
Dextrose
Diastatic malt
Diatase
Ethyl Maltol
Fructose
Fruit juice
Galactose
Glucose
Golden syrup
Lactose
Maltodextrin
Maltose
Malt Syrup
Maple Syrup
Molasses
Muscovado
Panocha
Refiners syrup
Rice syrup
Sorbitol
Sorghum
Sucrose
Treacle
Turbinado

Go to your cupboard right now, pull out that box of cookies (that are there for the kids of course 🙂 and see how many of these you can find!

Here’s another way to look at sugar. I found this eye-opening website called SugarStacks.com

What they have done is stacked up sugar cubes to illustrate how much sugar is in many of the common foods we eat. It is incredible how much sugar we can consume without even realizing it, even in so called “healthy foods”. Here are some links to specific pages on the site:

Low Fat Foods

Breakfast

Snacks

Beverages

Shakes

Desserts

and while eating fruit can be a very good thing to do, you still have to watch your overall sugar and calories

Fruit

You probably aren’t going to get fat eating carrots

Another cool thing SugarStacks.com has done is offer some perspective on a “high sugar” vegetable – carrots. Take a look at how many carrots you would have to eat in order to get as much sugar as in some favorite beverages and snacks

Carrot Comparison

That’s a lotta carrots, and the bottom line is that it’s a lot easier to down a mocha latte and a cinnamon bun, with all the extra sugar, fat and calories than it is to eat whole, natural, vitamin rich and health supporting foods.

How much sugar are you eating? If you don’t know, it’s time to find out, and then do something about it!

For more info on the health affects of sugar and how to beat the sugar craving, read Dr. Al Sears article on sugar here

Make It Happen!

Coach Dean

Dean Carlson is a Certified Professional Fitness Trainer with the National Exercise and Sports Trainers Association, a Level 2 Youth Conditioning Specialist with the International Youth Conditioning Association and is a Level 1 Certified Precision Nutrition coach.

Nancy’s Nutrition Logs

Date 4/19

4:20 am 1 scoop UMP protein powder in 18 ounces of water

8 am 1 cup oatmeal, ¼ cup of yogurt mixed with 1 scoop UMP vanilla protein powder, ½ cup mixed berries, and 1 cup of coffee with truvia, almond milk, and cinnamon.

11 am 1 slice of crustless quiche, 20 ounces of water

1 pm Capri burger- 4 ounces (mozzarella, olives, pesto, no bun) Southwest burger – 3 ounces (Cheddar cheese, salsa, yogurt taco sauce, no bun) served on a bed of spinach, 40 ounces of water

3:40 pm 2 prunes, 2 dried apricots, Smoothie (12 almonds, 6 ounces of plain yogurt, ¼ cup of mixed berries), 20 ounces of water

7:15 pm baked chicken (3 thighs), spinach salad with homemade olive oil/vinegar dressing

Date 4/20

Health fair from 8-3 so I was out of the house, I packed what I needed for food.

7:40 am 1 cup oatmeal, ¼ cup of yogurt mixed with 1 scoop UMP vanilla protein powder, ½ cup blueberries, and ½ cup of coffee with truvia, almond milk, and cinnamon

9:45 am ¼ cup of almonds, 1 cup dried fruit (prunes, apricots, raisins), 16 ounces of water

11:50 am red pepper strips, baby carrots (1 ½ cups), ½ cup hummus, 1 scoop UMP vanilla protein, 34 ounces of water

1:10 pm baby carrots (10), 1 scoop UMP vanilla protein, 34 ounces of water

5 pm Cajun chicken (grilled, 1 breast), 1-cup green beans, 2 cups spinach salad with homemade olive oil/vinegar dressing, ½ grilled onion, 20 ounces water

7:40 pm 1 scoop chocolate UMP protein powder mixed with 2-teaspoon natural peanut butter and water, 20 ounces of water

Date: 4/21

4:20 am 1 scoop UMP protein powder in 18 ounces of water

8 am 1 ½ cup chili, ½ cup of oatmeal, ½ cup of mixed berries, 20 ounces of water

11:40 am salmon cakes, summer squash and zucchini sautéed, 1 strawberry, Starbucks coffee with cream, 20 ounces of water

1:35 pm ½ of a cucumber, ¼ cup of hummus, 40 ounces of water (still sipping on the coffee)

3:10 pm Caribbean chicken (1 breast, grilled) with pineapple salsa, spinach salad with olive oil/vinegar dressing (homemade), 20 water

5:40 pm ½ of a green pepper, 3 ounces of chicken, 20 ounces of water

My food plan and therefore my food logs are designed to help me reach my goals. Your goals could be a lot different, and therefore you might eat differently. In general however eating like this would be a great start for most of us. Questions are welcome!

Coach Nancy

15 Tips For Rapid Fat Melting

Just wanted to share this article from registered dietitian Jayson Hunter, the Head of R&D over at our partners at Prograde Nutrition.

If you have been training with us and/or following the blog these 15 Tips should look very familiar, and for good reason. They are research based and just as importantly results based. These are what our most successful clients do to lose bodyfat, gain lean/muscle/tone, and perform at their best.

My favorites are #’s

5

10

13

14

&

15

Which one of these are you going to start doing today?

Check out Jayson’s Tips clicking here.

Make It Happen!

Coach Dean

Important S3 Contest Information – Food Journal Scoring

Can you believe the Sizzlin’ Summer Slimdown has crossed the halfway point already?

Incredible!

We are just a few short weeks from awarding some super prizes, and the competitions is close – Keep Up The Great Work!

A huge part of the contest is keeping a food journal. It has been proven that keeping a record of what you eat on a regular basis leads to quicker fat loss and helps you keep it off. When you don’t journal, you don’t get an accurate picture of the quantity or quality of your nutrition. We are very good at fooling ourselves into thinking we eat less calories and have made better choices than we really do!

Anytime someone asks us for nutrition help the first thing we are going to ask for is a 3 day food journal. Without it we are just guessing, and so are you. 9 times out of 10 an unwillingness to journal means an unwillingness to face facts. If you want to make progress – Make It Happen!

So by now you have gotten into the habit of keeping a journal, so here’s the next step to evaluating your nutrition choices.

From now on when you turn in your food logs we want you to score yourself using the following simple criteria:

Did I consume Protein, Produce and Water (PPW) at this feeding opportunity?

If so, put a “1” next to the entry for that feeding opportunity (meal).

At the end of the day add up all your “1’s” and mark the total at the bottom of the page, and then add up all your feeding opportunities and record that at the bottom of the page as well.

Example:

You had 5 feeding opportunities and had Protein, Produce and Water at 4 of them.

At the bottom of the page you would record:

4/5

At this point it doesn’t matter if you had something in addition to PPW, but we want to see that you are getting those 3 important items.

Simple enough? I thought so! 🙂

The point of this exercise is so you see on a meal-by-meal and day-by-day basis if you are feeding your body what it needs to be lean and perform at a high level.

If you are scoring less than 80% on a regular basis, you are going to have a very hard time losing fat.

For examples of some quality PPW –  click to take a look at our Power Foods.

Make It Happen!

Dean

Food Log Breakdown – My Top 5 Tweaks

Dozens of clients have turned in their food logs as we are in full swing with the Sizzlin’ Summer Slimdown – Well Done!

There are some common themes as Coach Nancy and I have evaluated what our clients have recorded.

Here are my “Top 5 Tweaks” to help skyrocket your progress:

Tweak #1: Eat Breakfast. Coffee is not breakfast. If you are not eating anything, eat something. If you don’t eat until lunch, your body has gone 16-18 hours between feeding, not ideal.

Tweak #2: Eat protein for/with breakfast. It helps keep you full longer, it helps keep your blood sugar stable, and you are probably just not eating enough.  (See “Adequate Protein Intake” in this article)

Tweak #3: Peanut Butter is not an ideal source of protein. Yes peanut butter has protein, but it comes at a high calorie cost. A serving of natural peanut butter (2 Tbsp) has 210 calories, 16 grams of fat, 6 grams of carbohydrate and 8 grams of protein. That translates to about 144 calories from fat, 24 from carbs and 32 from protein. That means there are 4.5 times more calories from fat than protein – once again not ideal. I love peanut butter as much as the next guy, I just need to be careful not to depend on it!

Tweak #4: Where’s The Green?: There is some serious vegetable-phobia out there in food log land. There were many times a 3 day food journal had nothing green on it at all! Less starch/more veggies is a sure way to get that weight loss moving in the right direction.

Tweak #5: Late Calories: If you must eat after dinner, default to more protein/veggies. Your body can use some more protein to repair while sleeping. That bowl of ice cream (or even fruit) will spike your blood sugar/insulin response right before bed – right when you don’t want it. Your body is not going to use that energy while you sleep, so it’s going to store it – ouch!

I bet you there is one simple change you can make this week that will keep on…

Making It Happen!

Coach Dean