valshealthblog.com

Hi,

There is a silly debate going on in the diet guru world right now.  It has to do with calories and weight gain. 

Some say that it doesn’t matter what you eat.  It only matters how much. 

So if you eat more calories than you expend or burn then you will gain weight.  If you eat less calories than you burn then you will lose weight. 

This is pretty straight forward and easy to understand.

But, there is another group that says it is more important what you eat then how much you eat. 

Now the smarter ones in this group do add the caveat that there are limits to how much you can eat.  In other words, overall calories are important.

This group believes that if you eat more carbs, then you will gain weight.  If you eat more protein then you will lose weight or not gain.

So what is the truth?

They are both right to a degree.

This has to do with how your body uses the food or energy it takes in. 

Some people will eat and eat and eat and still not gain weight.  For some of them it doesn’t matter if they eat fat, carbs or protein.  They have a higher metabolism and can process more food without gaining weight. 

Wouldn’t you like that problem?

Well you can have it.  Just not to the same degree.

Yes, overall calories do matter.  However, your body will adjust to the overall calories.  Most people notice this when they go on a diet.

As less food comes in, the metabolism slows. 

However, when you eat more, the metabolism speeds up.  To a degree.  You can’t just eat more and more food and expect your metabolism to keep pace. 

Your body has a system of checks and balances and if this gets to far out of whack, then – in this case – weight gain is a consequence.

But, what about the high protein diets that are the rage. 

Here, is the thing.  You can eat more protein than you can carbs (especially processed carbs) and not gain body weight. 

That is because your body takes a certain amount of energy to process foods.  It takes more to process protein than it does carbs.

And your body needs protein more than it needs processed carbs.  

Too many processed carbs plays havoc with your whole hormone system which can more easily lead to weight gain. 

But eating too much protein can lead to weight gain also. 

So the bottom line is, you can not get away from the formula that more calories in than burned leads to weight gain.

However, what you eat also affects the amount of weight gain or loss you have. 

So to lose weight start by eating less processed carbs and upping your protein intake.  Even if your calorie level doesn’t change, you should see a drop in weight. 

Calories and weight gain can be tricky and we’ll talk more about this in future issues.

Thanks,

Mike Val

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Hi,

We all know that using your muscles will keep them from shrinking.  But, did you know that your brain also shrinks with age?

Brain shrinkage happens to most people that live long enough. 

The actual size of the brain is not the important thing.  But, if your brain is shrinking then it is possible you could have some health issues related to the brain.

While you can do brain exercises to keep mentally alert, it turns out that won’t stop your brain from shrinking. 

However, there is a very easy way to keep your brain from shrinking.

All you have to do is take some vitamin B-12.

If you don’t get enough vitamin B-12 it could lead to fatigue and depression.  Long term is could cause permanent damage to your nervous system and brain.

Natural vitamin b-12 can only be found in animal products.  Things like meat, fish and milk are the primary sources.   

Synthetic forms of B-12 are added to many foods like cereals and breads.

Seafood has the highest amounts of B-12 and you can get your daily dose from: clams, osyters, mussels, caviar, octopus, many fish types, crabs, and lobsters.

Meat sources  include: liver, milk, cheese, lamb and beef.

Eggs also have a great amount of vitamin B-12.

All of these products are also good sources of protein.  So if you are a body builder then you are already probably getting plenty of B-12 in your diet.

So you shouldn’t have to worry about brain shrinkage at all.

But, what about forgetting where your keys are?  The answer to that is tomorrow.

Thanks,

Mike Val 

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Hi,

Can you raise your metabolism by eating? 

You probably know that you can raise your metabolism by moving more or doing more exercise.  That is pretty simple to figure out.

But, can you raise it just by eating?  Turns out you can.

Your metabolism is simply how much of your calories are converted from food into fuel.  The higher your metabolism the more calories your burn.

This happens no matter what you are doing.  You could be exercising, eating, sleeping or just breathing.  A higher metabolism will burn more calories doing all of these things.

Before we get into how to do this, let’s get rid of the myth that there are negative calorie foods.  These would be foods that if you eat them they will burn more calories then you take in. 

Sorry, but there is no scientific evidence that this is true at all.

Okay, that is out of the way.  One way to raise your metabolism is to eat more times per day.  That doesn’t mean that your should raise your calories.

Just take the same number of calories you eat and spread it out over a couple of more meals.  Eating burns calories.  Eating a couple of more times a day burns more calories.

Now an important concept with this is to eat at least a half way decent diet.  Eating a bunch of junk food and spreading it out over more meals doesn’t really help you and may actually be more harmful. 

Make sure you include more protein for your extra meals.  You could actually eat something like beef jerky, tuna or hard boiled eggs for a couple of extra snacks.  Protein burns more calories. 

Drink some caffeine.  Drinking coffee or tea (without adding sugar and whipping cream) will raise your metabolism by 3-4% for a few hours after drinking. 

There are the ways you can raise your metabolism by eating.  Next post we’ll look at a couple of other ways to raise it without eating.

Thanks,

Mike

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Hi,

Well, we are done with the junk food posts, so let’s move to what you can do on the positive side.  Start with eat more protein to burn more fat.

Most dieticians and nutritionists focus too much on low carbs and low fat diets. 

Maybe they should focus more on eating more protein.

But, let’s make it high quality protein.  Eating a hamburger that has more fat than protein is not the way to go. 

But, a lean hamburger could be just what you need. 

So exactly how much protein do you need?  The amount will vary depending on your activity levels.  The more active, the more protein.

If you are a weight lifter or body builder most recommend from 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. 

The average sit at work, sit at home person probably only needs .75 to 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.

However, an interesting study done with obese people found that eating more protein equaled more fat burned.

This study, reported in the Nutrition Journal took 100 obese men and women.  They all got 2 protein shakes per day to replace two meals. 

Everyone lost weight on this 12 week diet.

The 100 participants got either 1/2 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight or 1 gram.

The average weight loss for both groups was 8.5 pounds for the 12 weeks.

The interesting part was that the group that got double the protein lost almost 3 times as much fat – 3.6 pounds vs. 1.32 pounds for the lower protein group. 

That is a pretty significant difference.  So everyone should eat some high quality protein every day. 

If you are very overweight or obese, eating even more protein could be just the thing you need to start burning more of your body fat.

Thanks,

Mike Val

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Hi,

Do high protein diets work?  Yes and no. 

In the lab and under very strict condtions, yes they do help burn more body fat than a lower protein diet.  And it doesn’t have to be much of a difference in the amount of protein to get the fat burning effect.

A study reported in the Journal of Nutrition in 2008 showed that just 1/2 gram of protein per pound of body weight at two meals a day burned almost 3 times as much body fat. 

The actual weight loss in both groups was between 8 and 9 pounds.  But, the higher protein group’s weight loss came more from burning body fat than the lower protein group  (3.6 pounds vs 1.3 pounds over 12 weeks).

Part of this comes from the fact that it takes more energy to use protein than it does carbs or fats.  Also eating more protein has been shown to suppress one’s appetite. 

Okay, so if protein does all of this, then why did I say yes and no.

Here is the problem.  It is easy to lose weight when you are in a controlled environment.  Studies that show positive weight loss or fat loss  usually are closely monitored. 

That means calories are counted.  Micro nutrients are controlled.  Exercise sessions are monitored.  These kinds of studies are very expensive and hard to do.  That is why there aren’t many of them.

In the real world, where the results aren’t monitored as closely, a subject of the study could say that yes, they ate more protein.  However, without being able to monitor that, there is no way of knowing if they did eat more protein.  There is no way of knowing how much protein they did eat.  There is no way of knowing what kind of protein they ate. 

Someone in the study could eat a whey protein shake twice a day.  Another one could eat a double bacon cheeseburger twice a day.  They might both be getting the same amount of protein, but who do you think has a better chance of losing body fat or even body weight?

I think you already know the answer to that one. 

Why do I bring this up?  Because you read about “studies” all the time that “prove” that this product is the best. 

That this product, like protein, reduces body fat more than another product.  But, you are never given the parameters of the study.

Sure, eating a protein powder over a double bacon cheeseburger will “prove” that the protein powder is better.  But, if you don’t know that the protein powder was compared to the burger, then you will be more likely to rush out and buy the protein powder.

Which is exactly what the makers of the protein powder – who did the study – want. 

The bottom line is if you want to burn some extra fat, then yes, eat a little more protein.  But, eat healthy protein, not protein laden with fat. 

That way your high protein diet will work. 

Thanks,

Mike Val

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Hi,

Everyone knows that whey protein is good for you and that protein is better at burning fat than carbs, for example.

But is it?

(Graph shows insulin spike after a meal.)

Here is the problem.  When your insulin levels are raised you will not be able to burn fat. 

That is because as your insulin levels go up, insulin is lowering your blood sugar levels.  It does this by shoving the blood sugars into your cells where they get stored as fat. 

The more insulin, the lower your blood sugar levels and the more fat gets stored. 

So what raises your insulin levels?  Things like very large meals, foods with lots of sugar such as candy, sodas and cookies.  Large portions of carbs like white rice and pasta.  And whey protein. 

The last one is probably a surprise to most.  But, whey protein is used to replenish your body’s muscles.  It needs this nourishment right after a workout.  And this is one of the times that you can get by with an insulin spike. 

So a whey protein shake with some carbs is a great after workout meal.  It can also be taken first thing in the morning, but even then it is not as necessary as after your workout.

However, after that you don’t need the insulin spikes. 

So what can you do?  You need a little more protein throughout the day if you are trying to build muscle. 

Use a casein and whey protein shake instead.  Casein digests slowly, so there is no insulin spike.  And the slow digesting means you are getting a little bit of protein for hours after digesting it. 

When does growth occur most rapidly in the human lifetime.  From birth to the first couple of years.   This growth spurt can be – in part – attributed to mother’s milk which is 50% casein and 50% whey. 

So do you want to grow like a baby?  Then use a 50/50 casein/whey protein supplement throughout the day. 

Use the whey only protein for after your workouts.  That will allow you to get the full fat burning effects of your workout all day long.

Thanks,

Mike Val

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Hi,

What is better for you, a big breakfast or a low carb diet? 

You have probably heard of the expression, “Eat like a king at breakfast, eat like a prince at lunch and eat like a pauper at dinner”. 

Supposedly, that will help you lose weight.  Is there any truth to that?

Turns out yes there is some truth to that, at least as far as the breakfast is concerned. 

Just to let you know, I do have a bias here.  I grew up eating breakfast as a kid and I have continued this through the years. 

Now, if I don’t get something in me at breakfast time, then I feel hungry all day long.  Turns out that those that most people that don’t eat breakfast are setting themselves up to also feel hungry all day long.

Some research done at Virginia Commonwealth U. wanted to find out the difference between weight loss with those that ate a big breakfast  vs. those that ate a low carb diet. 

Those that were on the big breakfast diet ate 1240 calories per day.  640 of those calories were eaten at breakfast.  There were no restrictions on the amount of protein, fats or carbs. 

Those on the low carb diet only ate 1085 calories per day.  Their diet was mostly protein and fats. 

At first it seemed the low carb diet was causing a greater weight loss.   this makes sense because of the lesser number of calories eaten per day. 

However, as time passed the low carb diet ceased causing a weight loss.   This happened around month 4.  The big breakfast diet people kept losing weight through the entire 8 month study. 

The reasoning was that the big breakfast reduced the urges to eat larger mid day and afternoon meals.  It  also reduced the urges to eat more snacks throughout the day. 

This pretty much correlates with how I felt if I skipped breakfast. 

So what is a good breakfast?  Try eating oatmeal with some protein powder mixed in (after you cook the oatmeal).  Top it with cinnamon and some fruit. 

Want more protein?  Have 2-3 eggs any way you like them.  Add in some vegetables with the eggs.  Add some fruit and even a slice of whole wheat toast with butter. 

What you don’t want to do is have a big breakfast with carbs only.  Bagels, donuts and a frappacino is not a good breafast. 

Maybe I should have title this post a nutritious big breakfast or a low carb diet:-).

Thanks,

Mike Val

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