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Yes, you read that correctly. And as of tomorrow (Friday) morning, I’ll have been vegan for a week. If you’ve followed me on here since… geez… I think 2010, then you know that me doing 30 day challenges is nothing new. I’ve done vegetarianism, intermittent fasting, etc. and none of them were a big deal. So when Megan suggested we both go vegan for a month I thought, “what the hell, why not?”.

So for those of you who don’t know what veganism is, it is essentially vegetarian to the extreme. Not only do vegans not eat meat or fish, but they also don’t eat anything that comes from animals, often referred to as animal byproducts. So that means no eggs, cheese, milk, yogurt, etc. So it’s a fairly restrictive way of eating, but one that also, when done correctly, can be very healthy.

If you were one who followed when I went vegetarian for a month, then you know that I did a pretty awful job on it. I gained weight. I gained fat. I felt pretty lousy.

Why? Because I intentionally did it in a manner in which I imagined a majority of the people who go vegetarian would do it.  I picked up a bunch of processed, pseudo meat alternatives and other junk like that. I didn’t stick to whole foods very much. This time around, however, I’m (we’re) going about it in what I would consider the proper way. So far it has been very whole foods based with only a touch here and there of pre-packaged, processed stuff. So what exactly are we eating? I’ll break it down for you by meal and then I’ll offer up what I’ve learned so far, what I find easy/difficult, and how it has affected our shopping and social aspects of our lives.

So let’s start with what we’ve been eating:

Breakfasts: Now I’m an egg guy through  and through and have them almost every morning, but obviously I had to make a change for this month. A normal breakfast for me is usually some peppers, onion, and maybe some spinach cooked up in a pan and then throwing in 2-3 eggs and putting that on a piece of Ezekiel toast and usually a bit of avocado and hot sauce or salsa. I know to some that might sound like a lot of work, but when you have things pre-chopped and ready to go, it really only takes 5 minutes or less. So my alternative was to simply replace the eggs with extra firm tofu. The texture and nutrition are pretty similar and it hasn’t been a big deal at all. In fact we made breakfast tacos the other day and if I’d had my eyes closed, or just wasn’t paying any attention, I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. This has been really easy.

Lunches: This also hasn’t been too hard, but mostly because our routine hasn’t changed all that much. You see, normally we plan out our dinners for the week on Saturday or Sunday. We make a list of what we’ll need for each dinner and then go and pick up the ingredients. We like to try and make dinners that have double what we can eat so that we can simply take the leftovers to work the next day. Same story here. We have just been, for the most part, bringing leftovers to work. Again, no real change here except for the content of those meals. So what are they?

Dinners: Just like I’m assuming it is with you, this varies all over the place. Some examples of what we’ve made so far include the following:

• Bean and rice stuffed poblano peppers
• Vegan macaroni and cheese made with macaroni, sweet potatoes, carrots, nutritional yeast, and a couple other ingredients. It was pretty good.
• Vegan tacos (we also make a really good tempeh taco that we made even before we started this)
• Beyond Meat, vegan burgers (again, we’d had these before too and they are solid)

We also ordered in one night from Papa John’s a vegan pizza. It came with tomatoes, jalapenos, red sauce and…. that was it. But thankfully the garlic sauce they make is vegan so that helped it out a lot. Also, we had balsamic glaze in the fridge and drizzled that on the pie as well to add some extra flavor. And you guys know I’m a huge fan of pizza, so this one was tough. Or should I say, hard to swallow? See what I did there?

Snacks: Full disclosure, I’ve lost 2 lbs in the first week. And I think a big part of that is snacks. I usually keep my desk and mini fridge stocked with fruit, Greek yogurt, string cheese, cottage cheese, nuts, and beef jerky. And since I knew we were going to be doing this, I hadn’t stocked anything in a while (most of it being on the restricted list) and I simply haven’t had anything to eat. So I just have been hungry during the day. However…. Megan to the rescue. She made this AWESOME trail mix with pumpkin seeds, roasted soy nuts, dried cherries and raisins, and walnuts. Methinks the scale won’t continue trending down anymore.

So what have I/we learned so far?

• Planning and preparation are critical. It’s not so easy when you haven’t prepared and are limited on what you can eat. You can’t just order up carry out Chinese or pizza. It takes a lot more thought than that (finding the vegan Papa John’s was a chore. We tried other places first, but it was kinda difficult).
• You learn to read labels… very thoroughly. I was at a convenience store this past weekend and was hungry. Normally I’d pick up cheese and nuts or beef jerky or something to that degree and be on my way. Might even grab a protein bar. That wasn’t the case this time. I was scouring labels to see if I could have a bar and none of them worked. I had been eating a lot of nuts and was tired of them, so I ultimately settled on a banana. This is just one example of reading labels, but you can imagine that our grocery trips take a bit longer these days. And this is also why simply buying and eating whole foods is better/easier.
• Um…. fiber. There’s a LOT of fiber. I’ll just leave it at that
• Social get togethers take some thinking through. And it also puts a strain on the others around you. We went to a cookout with friends last weekend and had a great time. Purdue even went toe to toe against the reigning Heisman trophy winner. Well we ended up losing, but it was, for once in a VERY long time, a good showing and fun. Anywho, we made the aforementioned Beyond Meat burgers to be made on the grill and they were great. However, leading up to the party was plenty of back and forth texting about who was making what and whether or not it would accommodate us. That kind of sucked because we don’t want to put anybody out or require any special attention. Just one of those things to think about moving forward should we encounter it again.

I’m sure I’m leaving some things out with this, but my computer just dinged and told me to get off my ass and go for a walk, which I’ll save why I do that for another post at another time. Thanks for reading!

I wonder how many of you guys are tired of hearing me talk about consistency. I’ve certainly covered the topic A LOT in the past, but that’s because it’s so damn critical to success in your health and fitness journey. Anyways, I thought today that I’d look at consistency, or lack thereof, from a different perspective.

You know why Whole30 is so popular? Or 21 day fix? It’s because anyone can slam the gas pedal to the floor for 3 or 4 weeks. And there is likely to be some progress that’s seen. But nobody can can go all out all the time. You burn out. Break. Wear down. It’s science (probably). And the progress that you saw will wane. You’ll only be left with that “after” photo and the feeling of shame and guilt down the road when you realize you’re back to square one… or worse. Which leads me to the title of this post…

Tortoises can be found, but are pretty rare, because most people I see, act like the hare.

I literally just made that up. True story.

But it’s true. The successful people are the one’s who grind day in and day out. Some meals aren’t great, but most are pretty good. Some workouts or training sessions get shorted or skipped altogether, but most don’t. Even when they feel like just going home and plopping on the couch, they do it anyway. Even if they’re a bit under the weather, they do it anyway.

I’m going to take a minute and give an example here. There’s this girl I know who gets up around 5 am(ish) every weekday. She often works until 5 or 6 pm. So far, this may sound like a lot of you out there. Here’s where she stands out. After work, she will come home and take care of some things (walk dogs, start laundry, etc), but then she has the audacity to lace up the sneakers, go back out to the gym, get in a training session, and then come back home to cook, clean, and prepare for the next day. I don’t know about you, but after a long ass day of work and knowing what still lies ahead at home for the night, I’m not sure I’d have it in me to consistently lace up and go back out to the gym. Now sure, it may not be the greatest of workouts, but it’s better than not doing one AND… it maintains the habit. That last bit is key by the way. I often tell people that even when I don’t feel like getting in a lifting session or a swim at the pool, I at least make sure I show up and give it a try. And you know what? There have been times where I’ve gotten to the gym to lift or swim, got through my warm-up or a couple of sets, and packed up and went home. It wasn’t there for whatever reason. BUT… and this is a big BUTT (see what I did there?)… I still went and kept the habit.

Unfortunately, what I see far too often are people who take the hare’s approach. And we know how that one turned out, don’t we? They go for a couple of weeks at full throttle. Killing it! Woooo!!!! Then they fizzle out for a few weeks or months. Then they realize they’ve gotten lazy about their diet and exercise and….

Wooooo!!!!! #killingit

And the cycle continues. But that won’t cut it. What you need to find is something that you:

1. Enjoy
2. Can do easily on a consistent basis

That’s it. There is no number 3.

So stop the full on, full off cycle and get consistent already. You’ll likely finally see the results you’ve been looking for all along.

“It’s not something I can explain. There aren’t any words for it. Without experiencing it for yourself, you’d just never have any idea.

And that’s a shame. I sometimes wish there were words for it so I could get some extra motivation and excitement delivered to my clients. But then again, I also think it’s important for them to discover it on their own. It’s almost certainly different for each of us. Just like your favorite food might be amazing to you, it might only be just okay for me. I’m only speculating here of course, but I like to think I’m right…. or at least close.

To date, the closest comparison I have to telling people how wonderful it can feel when you exercise regularly, eat well, and get good sleep is that feeling you get when you finally wake up after having say, the flu, and you feel human again. Then I say “that’s a pretty awesome feeling, huh?” to which the obvious reply is “oh yeah!” “Well what if I told you that you could experience that almost all the time?” are usually the next words out of my mouth. “Oh, that would be wonderful!” And yet for whatever reason, it just doesn’t seem to take hold for some. It just doesn’t resonate well enough and I can’t figure out why. How can that not be enough?

From what I can tell, the answer, according to the food logs I see, appears to be the following:

• chocolate
• wine
• cheeseburgers
• pizza
• doughnuts
• fried chicken

Well…. you get the point. For them, it just isn’t worth it. They’d rather choose the food over the mood. And you know what, I like food as well! I can see where they are coming from. I used to be that kid too (hint, hint for an upcoming post). But the good news is that I’ve had some pretty good success with clients who used to be that way and have since changed their tune. I wish I could say my success rate is 100%, but it’s not. Sometimes people think they are ready to make the change when in reality, they aren’t. Or sometimes I like to word it like this: “Everyone wants to be a beast…. until it’s time to do what beasts do”.

So, think you’re ready to wake up feeling like a million bucks almost every day? I can help you learn the tools that can make that happen. It doesn’t come easy. It will take quite a bit of time. But as I like to say, nothing worth while ever came easily.

Get in touch with me at: asmith@fgnutrition.com

Or if you want to learn more about me and what I do here at Feel Good Nutrition and Fitness, check out the website at: www.fgnutrition.com

Til next time…

Maybe you’ve heard of it and maybe you haven’t. About 5 or so years ago I predicted it would be the next big “thing” in the diet world. Since the tabloids and celebrities are always trying to make a buck off the next big thing I thought it would be  a pretty good one for them to piggy back off of. Turns out I was only partially correct. It didn’t really blow up like the low fat phase in the early to mid 90’s. It certainly didn’t become the heir to Atkins. And it didn’t receive the same reception as the oh-so-glorious gluten free diet. But books were written nonetheless and I receive questions about high and low glycemic foods pretty regularly so I decided it would be a good post to write about.

So what is the glycemic index?

The glycemic index was originally created to aid diabetics in better controlling their blood sugar levels via their diet. Makes sense. And it works pretty well too. But as with gluten, it’s really only applicable to a certain population group. A gluten free diet is necessary for those with Celiac disease. It must be avoided so as to not destroy their intestinal lining. The glycemic index is designed, as I said earlier, to help diabetics. However, it has little carry over to the general healthy population. Here’s how it works: foods are arraigned on a scale from 0-100 with the score representing a certain food’s impact on blood sugar. The higher the score, the more the food raises blood sugar. So for instance, a pop tart would be very high on the scale, likely in the 90’s but I didn’t check. Another example would be rice cakes, white bread, or pineapple. However, on the other end of the spectrum you’d find foods like almonds, green beans, or spinach.

How does the glycemic index work?

Foods receive their scores by having healthy individuals consume 1 portion of a food after an overnight fast that is at least 12 hours in duration. Then, after ingesting the food, the blood sugar of the person is checked to see how much it was affected from their baseline, or fasted, blood sugar level. I’m dumbing this down a bit, but this is the gist of it. But one last (and I think really important) thing to note here is that each food is eaten individually. That is, they are not eating a meal, but rather just a relatively small portion of just one food by itself.

How then, is the glycemic index flawed as a diet?

Well, it just doesn’t translate to the general, healthy population. The reason is that when we eat, we don’t just eat one piece of white bread. Well maybe some of you do on occasion, but it’s extremely rare in what I witness among my clientele. So if you are consuming a high glycemic index food, but it is paired with foods containing fat, fiber, and protein (which almost every meal has), then it doesn’t really matter. This is because fat, fiber, and protein all slow the absorption of sugar into the blood stream thereby pretty much rendering the glycemic number of the food useless.

But what about insulin?

Ah, insulin. Poor insulin. I think the perception of this happy little hormone would be different if people knew it was an anabolic hormone. I also think people would think differently about gluten if they knew it was a protein, but that’s for another post. So here’s the deal with insulin. When we eat, our food gets broken down into small molecules that our bodies can use for energy (and many other things), but for now we’ll focus on energy. Trouble is, these little molecules need help getting into our cells so that they can be utilized. Well, insulin is like the Uber that gets you to your destination. It picks up the molecules and transports them into the cells. And for this discussion, we’re referring specifically to sugar, or glucose. Now our cells are happy and have plenty of energy available to them. However, since you also ate a meal containing protein and fat, those molecules are floating around in your blood too. But since the cells are happy with the energy they have at their disposal, the body decides that it should probably store these fat molecules for later just in case there’s a period of time in which we can’t eat. This is where insulin gets a bad rap. People assume that because this process is occurring, then that must make us gain weight. Trouble is, this is no big deal (and normal) as long as we are not overeating. It still comes down to calories in vs. calories out. You see, you’ll use it later and maintain or lose weight as long as you eat at or below what your body needs in a day. It doesn’t matter that you store it. What matters is if you eat above your caloric needs and store too much of it over a period of time.

So with all this said, there are certainly cases to be made for say, whole wheat bread over white bread or whole grain rice over white. You get the nutrients that are stripped out of the refined versions (white bread and rice). You also get the fiber from the bran that was removed from the stripped down versions as well. Obviously fiber aids in digestive health and most Americans don’t get nearly what they need. The point of the post wasn’t to say that it doesn’t completely matter which foods you choose, but rather to point out that the glycemic index concept, as it applies to healthy individuals, is flawed. I’d argue that we need to focus on more important things such as eating at or slightly below our caloric needs. We need to eat more fiber, fruits, and vegetables. That’s where I think we’ll see the most success. Let’s focus on what really matters instead.

Over training. The idea that the weekend warrior somehow isn’t losing weight because he or she is training too hard seems to be all the rage in the magazines and online articles these days. Trouble is I’m not buying it. I’m calling bullshit.

This is one I’ve kind of been putting off for a while because I wasn’t sure just how relevant it might be to you guys, but it’s now something I need to get off my chest as I can see it spreading and becoming detrimental to society.

Yes, I believe over training exists. And yes, I believe it can occur in people who are not professional or Olympic athletes which is where you might expect it to pop up more frequently. I recall working with a mother and her 17 year old daughter back when I worked at Life Time Fitness. This girl had some pretty serious issues going on and not only from a diet standpoint (while not officially diagnosed, she was anorexic). I worked briefly with her near the end of my time there, so I didn’t get much of a chance to intervene. And looking back that’s maybe a good thing because I was a noob who had literally just obtained my RD less than 6 months prior and didn’t really have any business dealing with the issues she had. If she were to come to me today I’d refer her right on to a more qualified RD who specializes in eating disorders.

Anyways, it wasn’t so much that she was limiting her food (which was evident in food logs assuming she was being honest, which… let’s be real… she probably wasn’t), but rather she exercised for hours and hours on end. I’ll never forget her mom explaining to me that she would slap on her Garmin and literally run circles around the house. This sounds odd enough to begin with, right? But here’s the kicker. She would do this for up to 17 or more miles at a time!!!!  This type of anorexia is classified under the “binge/purge” title. The other is just extreme limiting of calories and nutrition overall. Either way I’ve always hoped she eventually got the help she needed.

But back to this idea that those of us who are exercising hard for a few or even most days of the week and are inducing over training is down right silly. That’s called being healthy and normal. Although as I write this I realize that it, unfortunately, isn’t normal. Most people don’t exercise consistently or at an intensity necessary for optimal health. And that’s sad. And it’s extremely costly too. But that’s another post for another time. The bottom line is if you think you’re not losing weight because you’re body has been working too hard and needs time off, you’re likely kidding yourself and need to look at other factors.

For example, I do have some clients who train hard and work their butts off. There are plenty of people out there who do that and eventually stall in their progress. They usually think the answer is to go even harder. And that can be true up to a point. However, I’ll ask them this question: “You train hardcore, but do you recover hardcore?”. Quite easily the most overlooked aspect of changing the body is the recovery period. And yes, nutrition plays a huge roll in that, but there’s more to the story. Are you constantly stressed and can’t shut down (turn off the sympathetic nervous system) thus having chronically elevated levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) in your body? Are you not getting enough quality sleep at night? Because 7 hours of tossing and turning doesn’t count, brofessor. Is every single one of your training sessions pedal to the metal (very rare, mind you)?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you’ve not planned out this fitness journey very well and that’s why you’re stalling.

So to answer the question in the title, “are you training too hard”, the answer is almost 100% “no” in what I’ve found in the people I work with. Not that that isn’t the case in other populations, but just my observation. I often tell people to forget what your Fitbit, Garmin, or treadmill tell you about your calorie burn because for one, it’s likely way off. And for two, who cares? Don’t eat based on what some machine thinks you might need to take in. Eat based on how you feel. Are you hungry? Ok, go eat something until your satisfied. Then, wait until you’re hungry again and repeat for the next 70 years.

Sorry about that last bit of tangent, but those things just really get under my skin. But again, no, you’re probably not working too hard. Then again, I could be wrong. If you want to set up a time to meet with me however, we can come to a more conclusive answer! Just email me at asmith@fgnutrition.com

Til next week!

“Dude, if I got paid what those actors get paid I’d be freaking jacked too!”

“I could get in sick shape if you paid me a million dollars, yeah!”

And I’ve heard plenty of others like this. It’s this sense that somehow money is the ultimate motivating factor in being in the best shape of your life. It’s what thousands of “challenges” offer up as their reward following a 30 day or 8 week weight loss challenge. The popular online program among the fitness industry, Precision Nutrition, gives away tens of thousands of dollars annually to their clients who excel in losing fat or getting into better shape. Hell, I personally know a couple who owns a very successful gym out in California who, at the end of the challenge they ran, awarded the top winner a weekend stay on Richard Branson’s private island! After hearing this I asked one of them why they would go to such an extraordinary length, to which the blunt reply was “because we don’t f*** around”.

Well alrighty then!

But all this got me to thinking “why”? And at first glance that seems like a stupid question to ask, doesn’t it? It’s freaking money after all! And there ain’t isn’t such a thing as too much of that is there?

But I decided to think a bit deeper. Go beyond the obvious. You see, in my line of work it is really important (scratch that, it is crucial) that I find what motivates each individual client. And you already probably guessed that it’s different from person to person. And you’d be right. But did you know that there is more to the story? It involves looking at the situation from both an external motivational standpoint and an internal standpoint as well. And what we know is that long term adherence to something like, say eating well and exercising, is correlated not as much with external motivators as it is with internal ones. Now this is probably a bit of an oversimplification, as it will no doubt vary from person to person, but overall, the internal motivators are what I’m looking to get to. Sure, external ones such as money or a trip to an island are great in the beginning, but the shine or luster wears off after a while. And that usually occurs before we’ve had enough time to develop the habit.

“What would your life look like if you lost 50 pounds?”

“So you’re looking to lose ‘x’ amount of weight. Why?”

These are just a couple of questions I ask my client’s regularly. They may seem kind of dumb to you, but they are really important. Most people come to see me because they step on a scale, look in the mirror, or need to buy new clothes because the old ones don’t fit. Or maybe their doctor told them they need to lose weight. That one comes up quite a bit too. But aside from the doctor recommendation, those are really more about vanity than anything else. And not that there is anything wrong with that. AT ALL! Hey, we all want to look good naked, right? But long term success rarely results from just wanting to look good. There just isn’t enough pull for it to last longer than say, a few months. That’s why you see 21 day fix, and 90 day whatever challenges. You don’t see many 730 day challenges do you? And that’s because no one can jam on the gas pedal that long. But 21 or 90 days isn’t enough to establish habits for most people either. So my challenge is getting to a more internal motivator.

Often times I ask the “so you’re looking to lose ‘x’ amount of weight, why?” question at the end of the session. And I then tell them to really think for a long time on it. Don’t just blurt out the first thing that comes to mind because that usually goes back to vanity. And what I find when they come back to me a week or so later is that they’ve found the actual reason. It’s not to look good or because their doctor said so. Here are a few examples:

“I need to be there for my grandchildren”

“I want to watch my kids grow up and get married”

“I won’t live past the age of ‘x’ if I don’t change”

“My dad died of a heart attack and he wasn’t even 50”

Is the theme starting to sound familiar? Sure, looking good is great, but the real reasons hit home hard don’t they? That’s why I have to keep Kleenex on my desk. Many of my clients end up crying at the thought of what might happen if they don’t change. And I also know this:

Win the heart and the mind will follow.
The mind can easily create logic to justify
what the heart has already decided.

So I’d like to pose a question.

Why is it that money is this big motivator in the weight loss industry? Is money really more important than your health? Your spouse? Your kids? Why not change for them instead of something that, according to The Notorious B.I.G, only causes mo problems anyways? Why not do it for you?

Til next week…