This article is a sample chapter of Trainer in a Book, written by Ben Wisan.
How to speed up your fitness goals through proper nutrition.
In this article we will look at the concept of eating healthier to prolong your life and speed up your fitness goals Remember, a well-planned food and nutritional intake can help you achieve your fitness goals 50-70% faster. Contrary to opinion, you can’t out-train a poor diet. If you have a good food plan as well as workout regimen, you will achieve your goals much quicker!
The first step is to find a good caloric range for yourself. Since your daily allotment of calories is based upon age, height, and weight, it is impossible to just say a magic, broad number of suggested caloric
intake. Below are some options to help you create a personalized nutritional program. Most of the online options shown here are very useful. They are also free and have apps for smart phones as well. I recommend them to all my clients!
- Local Nutritionist
- Myfoodpyramid.gov
- Online Free Calorie Counters: acaloriecounter.com, myfitnesspal.com, my-calorie-counter.com
Next, we need to you to understand the three basic food groups and to understand the break-down on what each group does. Some of the information is from the “My food Pyramid” website and from the information provided by American Council on Exercise. This information works only if a person adheres to the servings and specifications that are listed for their body, weight, age, and height which are found from the above listed websites and nutritionist experts.
In the food world there are three categories that most foods fall into: Fats/Oils, Proteins and Carbohydrates. Each of these three groups have very specific uses for the body.
Fats
Fats are used as the last source of energy and give you the extra boost when your body has already metabolized the carbohydrates and proteins for energy. There are multiple types of fats and one that should be avoided at al costs, is saturated fats. The average person is recommend to have no more than 10 grams of saturated fat per day, and for those of us trying to lose body fat, saturated fat should be greatly reduced in your diets.
What’s So Bad About Saturated Fat?
Here’s the skinny: Saturated fats on the molecular level are too dense to be broken down instantly. This means that instead of being used for energy instantly, they are instead stored as fat.
In Depth:
“At the molecular level, saturated fats have hydrogen bound to every free location on the carbon chain. This prevents it from forming double bonds and creating kinks in the carbon chain. Therefore, unlike unsaturated fats which are liquids at room temperature, the saturated fats can be stacked and stored neatly at room temperature, and in your body.”
-Blake Spitzer UCSD Human Biology
As well as adding body weight, saturated fat increases risk of cancers and heart diseases, (World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research in 2007).
Choose from the healthy fats listed below, but still keep healthy fat intake low, as fat has twice as many calories as proteins and carbohydrates.
Fats:
| Healthy: | Non Healthy: |
| Avocado | Most non-lean meats |
| Peanuts | Dairy Products |
| Almonds | Chocolate Desserts |
| Chestnuts | Most oils |
| Flax seed Oil | Most non-Fruit desserts |
| Skim milk and 0% fat dairy products |
Carbohydrates:
White vs Wheat:
If I could make one recommendation in the carb department, it would be to switch all of your carbs to whole wheat and whole grain. White carbs, or bleached flower, besides having questionable overall health benefits, are purely simple carbs (high in sugar). As a result, they will raise your blood-insulin levels. This is undesirable for two reasons:
First, body fat is stored on your body in the presence of high sugar-insulin levels, so more fat is stored instead of being burned.
Second, foods that are high on the glycemic index like white bread, greatly increase your blood-glucose levels. This causes blood to rush to your head, resulting in energy reduction and food comas.
With these things in mind, it is best to switch to what are called complex carbs. These are foods like brown rice, oats, whole wheat bread, whole wheat flour, whole wheat pancakes, etc. These carbs are higher in fiber (most scientists agree that high fiber diets decrease chances of heart disease) and give your blood a more consistent dose of glucose as opposed to a quick sugar-insulin spike.
Carbohydrates:
| Healthy | Non Healthy |
| Whole wheat products: Bread, Pancakes, pasta etc | Products with white or bleached flower: White bread, pancakes, pasta, potatoes |
| Mufti-Grain Bread | Most chips |
| Brown Rice | Pizza dough |
| Beans | Pie crust |
| High fiber cereal | Hamburger buns |
| Apples | Corn products |
| Most grains and wheats | White rice |
| Oatmeal |
Protein:
Proteins that are lean will always be the best thing for you: fish, chicken breast, turkey, etc. In other words, meat with less animal fat is much better for you.
There are many studies out there that show that animal fat is a huge factor in many types of cancers and heart disease (World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research in 2007).
Protein should be taken, but in moderation. One of the biggest myths that circulates throughout body-building communities is the amount of protein that should be consumed. Studies done by the American Council of Exercise show that a much smaller amount of protein is needed than previously thought. These studies also suggest that the excess protein gets stored as fat.
Instead of quitting all your bad eating habits “cold-turkey”, ease into healthy eating. This makes for more consistency in the long run. Also, learning how to read food labels will go hand-in-hand with healthy eating habits.
Protein:
| Healthy | Non Healthy |
| Most lean meats | Hot dogs |
| Chicken breasts | Any fried meat |
| Turkey breast | All non-lean meats |
| Lean beef | Chicken thighs, drumsticks and wings |
| Low fat, low sugar protein powders | Most processed meats |
| Beans | Most beef |
| Lean ground turkey/chicken | |
| Lean bacon |
This concludes our article on Eating for a Lifetime. Remember if you are trying to lose weight, the nutritional secret is simply calorie-counting and limiting fat intake. If you are trying to gain weight, from a nutritional stand-point, eating much more food and more lean protein is your ticket. Always eat from each of the three food groups and remember to always combine a good cardio and weights program with proper nutrition.
Finally don’t forget that Proper nutrition can make or break your fitness goals and should never be taken for granted: you can’t out-train bad diet.
About the Author
Ben Wisan is based in San Diego, California and has a Personal Training Certification through American Council on Exercise. You can reach him at bwisan2@gmail.com or grab a copy of Trainer in a Book at TrainerInaBook.com.
Jimson Lee
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I went with a very similar diet to what you suggest above for years. Low fat and fat free products, only skinless poultry products (actually dropping red meat for more than 10 years!) I ate whole grain products every day, every meal and avoided fat like the plague.
I did fine on this diet – but I still had some resistant fat in my midsection that I couldn’t get rid of, and I went through energy deficit times in my day where I would become tired or quickly hungry after meals.
About nine months ago I decided to stop eating grains altogether – and sometime after that reintroduced beef and pork into my diet (although only from farms that I could verify were non-confined area feed operations and where the cattle ate only grass).
Since then, I’ve seen some of the resistant fat start to come off. My strength has improved, I ran my best half marathon, and I’ve gotten rid of the constant feeding schedule that I lived with where my blood sugar rose and fell every several hours.
There’s a good diet for everyone – but not the same diet for everyone.
Hi Dennis, thanks so much for your post!
I read your story and a lot of it strikes a chord with me, as I have done both diets. I noticed that in your version of the diet you said that you “avoided fats like the plague”.
Since the majority of your ATP and Glucose comes from (complex) carbohydrates (whole grains etc.). I can only think that your drop in energy and failure to reduce body fat was because of your lack of fats. I prescribe a lower-fat diet, but you are right in the amount of low fat has to very per person.
If you do not have enough fats in your diet, it will leave you without energy and your much needed fats that help with vitamin processing as well as testosterone production. Also if you are not getting some fats in your diet, your body goes into storage mode and will not let the stored fats go till it is receiving more healthy fats.
I hope this helps, though it sounds like you are much enjoying your diet switch,
thanks Dennis!
Ben
I disagree with the statements about saturated fat. “animal fats” (eggs, saturated fat found in red meat, etc) raise your HDL (“good” cholesterol). What the author is referencing is actually hydrogenated vegetable fats. When food scientists hydrogenate unsaturated fats to make them solid at room temperature, they become trans fats, and that is definitely bad because trans fat both raises LDL and lowers HDL. Unsaturated fats that come from vegetables are healthy because they raise HDL and lower LDL.
Check out Sugar: The Bitter Truth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
Hi Peter, thanks much for your comment! a
I would have to disagree though with your statement about saturated fats according to the majority of national health care, and fitness exercise experts and organizations, saturated fats from animal fats is one of the leading causes of heart disease.
Many medical, heart-health, and governmental authorities, such as the World Health Organization, the American Dietetic Association, the Dietitians of Canada, the British Dietetic Association, American Heart Association, the British Heart Foundation, the World Heart Federation, the British National Health Service, the United States Food and Drug Administration, and the European Food Safety Authority advise that saturated fat is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD).
You can visit any of their websites and do a word search and it will come up with this.
again thanks so much, I don’t always have time to reply right away, but I will reply if you repost:)
thanks
Ben
The advice to eat whole grain products is sensible for various reasons (bowel health, vitamins etc.), but the story on glycemic index presented here is not accurate. Wholewheat bread has essentially the same index as white bread and other recommended products such as high fibre cereal are high on the index as well. Do your own research.
Hi Mike,
thanks much: whole wheat was a typo I was referring to whole grain bread, but as to cereals, it really varies per brand. You get a lower glycemic index typically the higher the fiber, it is not in anyway a direct correlation, but typically there is more nutritional value and ATP density for high fiber cereal for example instant oatmeal verses old fashioned, or corn flakes verses all-bran or raisin bran.
I attached a link to the Harvard medical school publication Glycemic Index as a reference, as many standard GI indexes vary and are not as accurate.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Glycemic_index_and_glycemic_load_for_100_foods.htm
MAAAN…I’ve stopped smoking for 5 months now…I do not say “hooray” because I’ve already quited few times…3 times like 6 months, 1 time for 1 year. Every time was horrible. I’m 50 years old, 1.80m, 86 kg…Now I’m 98 kilos… I feel like a trash container. I eat healthy (bio), do not buy in supermarkets, do no eat conserved food…Do not eat bread, do not eat fats, do not boil food in oil… I consume very few unsaturated fats – cocoa, a little bit of colza or olive oil (not much) in salads, do not eat much… no more carbohydrates, only meat and vegetables. no more “red” vegetables. I feel strong and healthy but very trashy inside. I’m trying to move and make like 1 h of fitness every day… intensity at 120-130beats/min with short intervals at 145. This hell will not pass If I’ll not take my backpackj and make a 3 weeks raid in mountains…If people have problems like me…definitely they need a shock. I’m much more better than 1 year ago, but I’m still not sure on my Achilles (both)…The best thing you can teach us Jim (I’m talking about people of my age ) is some smart, safe, tested and sure way for a steroid cure… I never took as athlete but at my age… OK is over… It has to be some way to re-balance our endocrinology system…