Tag Archives: carbohydrates

Interview: Mike T Nelson

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Mike Nelson runs ExtremeHumanPerformance.com and has some great insights on metabolic flexibility and health in general. Here’s an interview I did with him:

Background

Mike is a PHD Candidate for Exercise Science and Kinesiology. His research topic is metabolic flexibility.

He was working for a BA of Natural Science and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN. He only got the BA of Natural Science before moving on to Michigan Tech, where he did two years of post graduate work in Mechanical Engineering. He later went to graduate school there and received a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering after 8 years. Most of his classwork was in biomechanics engineering.

From college he went to work for a medical device company, which would pay for additional college courses after he was there a couple years. Mike took classes in exercise physiology because it was interesting to him (even his vacations). He ended up joining their PhD program about 6 years ago in bio-mechanical engineering.

Metabolic Flexibility

Your metabolism should be flexible. Certain people may be flexible or inflexible to certain nutrients like carbohydrates or fats.  When you’re flexible towards carbohydrates, you’re more likely to consume carbohydrates more easily as an energy source.  The same goes for fats. Outside of a lab, you can test your flexibility with carbohydrates by consuming large amounts of carbohydrates and seeing how you feel afterward.  You can do the same with fats.

Great Questions

Minimal Effective Amount: What is the minimal amount you can do to get the maximum effect?

If you’re really healthy, shouldn’t you be able to take more abuse in terms of foods, odors, and germs instead of the other way around?

Working with Pain

Make minor movements in the injured part of your body to where you feel resistance, but not pain.  Pay attention to your range of motion and gains over time. Your brain will learn again over time that moving in that way shouldn’t be painful, and it won’t be. When you start getting a larger range of motion back without pain, start adding speed and weight to the motion to increase the intensity of the movement.

Biofeedback

The most common way of biofeedback during exercise is the range of motion test where you reach for your knees and stop when you feel strain. I’ve done a post on that here. High quality movement will allow your body to move better. Doing exercises that improve your mobility, in general, will perform better and give you better gains.  You should test your range of motion between each exercise every day because your body changes every day.

Personal Records Every Day (#PREveryDay)

There are three metrics affected by exercise.  Those are: volume, density, and intensity. Volume is the total number of pounds you pushed during your workout. Density is just that volume divided by the amount of time you spent doing it. Intensity is the percentage of your one rep maximum. You should strive to set a personal record in your exercises every day.

Measuring Body Fat

The most accurate way to test your body fat is using a Bod Pod. There are other ways to measure your body fat like skin caliper readings, hydrostatic weight, waist/arm measurements, and taking pictures. Taking pictures and waist/arm are the most effective for people trying to casually lose weight or look better because those are more in line with their actual goals anyways.  You’d be surprised at the changes you’ll see in your physique when you actually document it.

Thank You

Thank you for reading or listening, or both. What did you think? If you enjoyed this interview, show your support by subscribing via email or RSS. You can leave a comment below as well.

How to Eat on the Run

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We all know what it’s like to eat on the run.  It’s a horrible situation to be in, especially if you’re trying to eat healthy.  Let’s face it: most places to get food on the road are concentrating on convenience, not health.

The best thing you can do is take time out of your day to cook yourself a meal and eat right. There are a few things you can do to keep your diet under control while you’re running about though.

Be Prepared

Keeping easy, healthy foods in your car and at your home is the single best thing you can do. It’s cheaper than eating out or getting gas station food as well. There are some great foods like granola bars and bags of sunflower seeds that don’t spoil very easily. You can also keep fresh fruit and vegetables where you can access them quickly and easily.

The idea is to keep foods that transport easily and/or can be stored for a long period of time handy for when you don’t have time to eat a real meal.  Of course, don’t store fruit in your car on hot days or for long periods of time. The biggest benefit is that you have 100% control over what you eat. You’re not at the whim of the menu.

Healthy Dining

If you’re on the road and don’t have any of your own food with you, but do have time to order something and wait for it to be prepared, you can dine out. This isn’t nearly as good as being prepared, because you may not have control over where you can eat or what’s on their menu.

Start by trying to find the healthiest restaurant you can find.  It helps if you’ve been to them before.  I prefer bakeries that also server sandwiches. As a general rule, the more local a restaurant they healthier their selection will be.  That’s doesn’t mean that the chicken wings at Bob’s Fried Delights are good for you. Use some common sense. Even if you’re only given of McDonald’s, you have the option of a fruit salad or a grilled chicken salad.

Gas Station Food

This is probably the single worst thing you can do for food. There are almost no good meat or protein sources except local, preservative beef jerky, maybe. Some gas stations might have fresh fruit, but in my experience, that’s a rarity. Usually, you can find sunflower seeds or peanuts, which are good sources of protein and carbs. They’ll definitely fill you up and give you energy. You can also usually find organic or healthy granola bars. Don’t reach for that pizza or hot dog. Pay attention to the nutrition facts to make your decision.

Watch out for foods that seem healthy but really aren’t.  Most carb based foods and chips are horrible for you.  Always look at the nutrition facts for the food that you buy. Pay attention to the serving size and servings per container when you’re reading them. ‘Healthy’ advertising can be quite deceptive.

For drinks, stay away from sodas and other manufactured drinks when selecting a drink. Usually water, coffee, and tea are fine for you. If you get coffee or tea, use skim milk and attempt to hold the sugar – or at least minimize it.

Be Smart

Overall, you need to be intelligent about your eating decisions. Make your own portable food whenever possible.  Eat at healthy restaurants, and if you absolutely have to eat food from a gas station, pay attention to the nutrition facts. Have any food-on-the-go advice. Hook it up in the comments.

Aerobic Stamina is Key to Your Success

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Stamina is really just a combination of energy, physical endurance, and mental tolerance. Having a large amount of stamina will allow you to work out longer, more often.  If you can exercise more, you’ll see better gains in your fitness – especially as you start to see the diminishing returns losing weight and gaining muscle.

It really plays a large part in most aerobic exercise.  The single biggest muscle in your body that affects stamina is your heart. Have a healthy heart, and you’ll see tremendous gains and feel amazing too. You’ll also be protecting yourself from illnesses like heart disease and high blood pressure.

Energy

Consuming energy producing nutrients in the few hours before exercise will boost your energy. Consume foods high in electrolytes and carbohydrates.  A turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread with veggies on the side. Have a nice tall glass of milk with that too.  I prefer skim milk myself.

The best place for electrolytes is not a drink by the way.  Get some real vegetables or something that has a lot of flour in it. Don’t get conned into the Gatoraid thing – although that is also a decent place to get them, it’s not the ONLY place.

Physical Endurance

Your physical endurance is affected things like the health of your heart and muscles. It also includes things like injuries or physical condition. What do I mean by physical condition? Fore example: are you dehydrated? If you’re low on water, you’ll perform miserably and probably quit early.

The only way to improve your physical endurance is to challenge yourself daily and increase the health of your heart and muscles. Observe good habits that keep your body feeling good too, like a healthy diet.

Don’t overdo the physical challenge. If something is just beyond your reach, dial your routine back a bit. If you’re running, run slow (don’t run less, just run slower). If you’re walking at an incline, shallow it out a bit. You will have good days and bad days.  Listen to your body and perform at your maximum for that day.

Mental Tolerance

When exercising, there are two mental roadblocks that rear their head.  They are: boredom and the pain of real gains. The only way to truly overcome them is to attack them head on and use willpower to get through.

You can help stave off boredom a little bit by watching TV or listening to music while you work out, but ultimately that just distracts you and will affect your performance. You know when you’re driving and don’t really remember the last few minutes even though you know you were awake? Go for that kind of autonomy during an aerobic workout.  You might not want to check out during strength training though.

Bringing it Together

Actively work towards increasing the performance of those three facets of your stamina and you’ll see gains.  When you increase your stamina overall, you’ll see an acceleration in your overall fitness gains. Be careful you don’t overdo it and be safe while you’re training. Are there other ways you work to increase your stamina? Let me know in the comments.

11 Simple Tips to be More Fit

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Looking back at what’s been done so far, I thought I’d give you ten easy tips that will help you be more fit:

  1. Be in the right mindset. Getting your mental game together will go a long way in improving your physical performance.  If you’re not where you need to be, identify the problem and neutralize it.  You mind can be the biggest hurdle in making yourself better.
  2. Drink enough water. Water is the thing that gives all things life.  It cleanses your system of toxins and allows you to extract energy from your food.  If you’re dehydrated, you’ll feel horrible and perform even worse.
  3. Work out. Really? Exercise is the basis of being fit coupled with a good diet. Get into a routine of working out at least three times a week for at least a half hour.  That’s a minimum.  If you can do more, do it. If you don’t exercise, you’ll never gain muscle and always be low on energy.  Don’t just exercise your body either.  Make sure you exercise your mind daily.
  4. Only eat carbs for energy and don’t over-do it. Having too many carbs will promote fat growth, but having too little will leave you starved for energy during your workouts.  You need carbs to build muscle.
  5. Use biofeedback to get the most out of your workout. Listening to your body is the best way to increase gains when you’re working out. Do range of motion tests before each exercise in your workout and you’ll get maximum results.
  6. Pick a diet that works for you. I’m talking about vegan, vegetarian, and omnivorous diets here. That whole South Beach, Atkins, Peanuts Only thing is just a gimmick.  Pick the one that fits your lifestyle and is the easiest for you.  I’m an omnivore myself.
  7. Eat high protein foods before and after you work out to build muscle. Get those proteins three hours before you work out and three to four hours afterward.  You’ll get maximum synthesis then and see excellent gains in muscle growth.  Of course only do it if that’s what you’re going for.
  8. Vary your workout to give tired muscles time to rest. If you give tired muscle groups that time to rest you can keep your heart rate up and give them some R&R at the same time. That will maximize your time to gain ratio.
  9. Don’t just worry about weight loss. Keep your mind on fitness, not weight loss.  Unhealthy weight loss can cause health problems later. Don’t sweat it out or starve it out.  Earn it.
  10. Cut out the alcohol. This is the single easiest way to lose weight and feel better. Alcohol dehydrates you and adds a ton of extra carbs and calories to you body that you don’t need.
  11. Strive for perfection and perpetual progress. This is the most important point.  Striving for daily perfection is what will keep you going forever. This will keep you from slipping back into your old habits. When applied to other facets of your life, you’ll only see positive things.

If you exercise (hah, see what I did there) those ten tips every day you will be well on your way to becoming more fit.  What tips do you have?

Synthesizing Protein Builds Muscle

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Consuming foods high in protein before and after you exercise promotes the growth of muscle.  Protein isn’t the only factor in muscle growth though, although it plays a big part in it.  Be sure that you’re consuming enough carbohydrates and calories too.

Diet

I try to eat low-fat, high protein meats, such as shrimp and fish and poultry before and after each workout.  I’ll eat something like a chicken sandwich or some steamed shrimp and crackers approximately 3 hours before a workout to give my body the protein it needs to repair my muscles.  The added carbohydrates from the grains provide additional energy to increase performance.

I’ll also eat a protein only meal within three or four hours of the exercise.  Some people will drink protein shakes of some sort as well, but I prefer to keep my diet natural.  Your body naturally converts the foods in your stomach before stored nutrients, so it’s important to make sure you give your metabolism the path of least resistance when it’s supporting your body.  This will lead to optimum gains.

High Protein Foods

Some of the following are great high protein, low-fat foods:

  • Lean Steak or Hamburger – be careful with red meat and pork, because they often contain excess fat.  Make sure your meat is lean.
  • Shrimp and Fish – Most seafood is the leanest of meat and also contains Omega 3 Fatty Acids, which are good for you.
  • Chicken, Turkey, or other Poultry – This is a great alternative to seafood if you don’t like the taste of fish.  It is probably to most common high protein, low fat meat.
  • Milk and Eggs – This is a great alternative to meats, especially if you’re vegetarian.
  • Cheeses – As a rule of thumb, the harder a cheese is, the higher it’s protein content.
  • Tempeh and Tofu - Great vegan sources of protein.  There is little to know saturated fat in most vegan options as well.
  • Beans, Nuts, and Seeds – Per calorie, these have much lower protein content that the foods above, but are great alternatives for vegans.

Most high-protein food, in moderation, are quite good for you.  They’re great supplements to salads and sandwiches, but be careful about your choices, because many high protein foods can also be high in saturated fats.  Red meat, I’m looking at you.

Try to stay away from processed meats like peperoni and sausage, because they’re usually augmented with excess fat and carbohydrates, which convert to hydrated body fat quite easily.  You don’t want hydrated body fat, by the way.

Watch Out

There are many diets that focus on completely replacing most other foods with high protein, no carb food.  Those diets promote weight loss, but at the cost of your overall fitness.  Be careful about the luster of such diets.  We all want to look great, but you should feel great too.

Like all changes in behavior, give this a try for a few weeks and see what kind of muscle gains you get. I suspect that if you’re true to the change you will see some great improvements in your muscle building efforts.

Ups and Downs of Carbohydrates

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There are a lot of theories about how carbohydrates affect your fitness.  Basically they are complex sugars and usually occur in baked products, but also occur naturally in fruits and vegetables like potatoes and bananas.  This doesn’t mean you should shy away fruits and veggies, because there are different types of carbs.

There are simple carbs and complex carbs, and the complex ones are the ones you want to watch out for, because they’re converted to fat the easiest.  Fruit and vegetables tend to contain simple carbs, while baked goods like pizza and bread tend to be made of complex carbs.  Stepping back your complex carb intake can drastically affect the amount of hydrated fat on your body.

Cons

There are various diets out there, like the South Beach Diet, which prohibit the intake of carbs to lose weight.  The Atkins diet is another take on that same theory.  The basic idea is that if you don’t take in complex carbs they can’t be converted to body fat.  If your food can’t be converted to body fat, you won’t gain weight.  That’s not entirely true, but it kind of works.  I’m not saying it’s healthy though.

Alcohol is probably the most common carb out there and is the biggest culprit for gaining weight.  There is a reason they call it a “beer gut”.  As you drink beverages with higher and higher alcohol content the carb ratio goes down, but it never goes away.  Also remember the alcoholic drinks are very high in calories.  Some shots of liquor can have upwards of 150 calories!

Pros

Carbs and sugars also provide you directly with energy.  That’s why you see people who run marathons taking in a large amount of calories, most of which are carbs.  If your body is using the energy, they are the easiest form of food to convert.

When you’re going to the gym, if you eat a carb heavy diet about three hours before you go, you’ll feel more energized and probably perform better while you’re there.  It’s good to eat a larger amount of them in the morning and cut back on them at night.  This way you’ll have the energy for your day, but not convert them to fats while you’re sleeping.

The Take Away

Basically you need to remember that carbs aren’t as bad as some diets make them out to be, but they can be bad if you don’t moderate them.  Remember that they are in most foods and beverages – especially alcohol.  The easiest way to lose weight is to cut alcohol from your diet.  For some people it’s also the hardest thing to give up.

There really is a lot of science that goes into figuring out how many to eat and when you should eat them.  When you combine something complex like the science of consuming carbs with the science of drinking water or other consumption habits, it’s easy to get confused.  We’ll try to break down those barriers for you and make it simple.

Need more help figuring out all of this?  Just hit us up with your questions.