Make Your Body Your Machine : Precision Nutrition

Why You're Not Losing Weight!

Fitness Anywhere — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:39:00 GMT

Want to know how to lose that extra padding you have around the middle? Eat right and exercise... right? So that's what you do, you plan out your meals, you hit the gym (with your TRX in tow), you work on increasing your score for the 30 Day Thanksgiving Challenge. You're score increases, but that extra padding doesn't decrease. WTFreak! You've worked so hard, what could be wrong?

"Despite what you might hear, fat loss is NOT just about diet and exercise. Physiology plays a very important role. And today, our physiologies are more out of whack than ever in human history." says Dr. Walsh in a post entitled, "Four Reasons You’re Not Losing Fat" on Precision Nutrition's blog. He points out that losing weight is much more complex than just dieting and exercising.

The body is a complex machine with many different systems interacting to make sure you stay alive. When one of these systems is out of whack, your body doen't function at optimum level. Dr. Walsh explains how four particular systems, the oxygen delivery system, the blood sugar management system, the adrenal system and the digestive system, could be the culprit of why those pounds aren't melting away.

If you feel your workouts are in vain(which they never are since, aside from weight loss, there are so many other benefits) and you are not seeing the results you would like to see, it might be time to take a deeper look into your overall health.

For more information, read Dr. Walsh's, Four Reasons You’re Not Losing Fat.

Give in to Temptation!

FitnessAnywhere — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:47:00 GMT

Seriously! We're all for it. That is if you've read Ryan Andrews' latest Precision Nutrition blog article, Tempt Yourself. He says that WE are in control of what is tempting as we try to become more fit and healthy. For example, fresh, washed, prepared fruits and veggies that are readily available in the fridge are certainly a temptation to a chronic snacker. He argues that the secret is in the wrapping. Things have to appeal to our senses, and our personalities so that we want to do them.

Workouts can be a temptation if they are fun and varied or if they're done with a buddy.

For people that struggle with running on the treadmill, Andrews suggests doing so while watching your latest netflix rental. Walks and runs go by much faster and can even act as temptations if you're going to listen to your favorite radio podcast or music playlist while you do it.

Incorporating healthy habits in our lifestyles can be much easier if we just tempt ourselves to make right choices.

What good habits are tempting for you?

You can read the entire article here: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/expert-tip-tempt-yourself

Food "Research" Conspiracy: Who Really Says it's Healthy?...

FitnessAnywhere — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:03:00 GMT

The phrase “according to a recent study” bears a lot of weight in the minds of consumers. Certainly if research has been done proving that a food can make you better, faster or stronger, it must be true! A recent blog post from Precision Nutrition's Helen Kollias, challenges this notion and encourages readers to consider where the funding for the research many trust blindly is coming from. In "Research, Big Food, and Science: Cooking Up a Conspiracy?" Kollias suggests that the powerful food companies that often fund these studies have a vested interest in seeing that their newest product comes out on top. Scientists find themselves in a difficult position- “scientific conflict of interest.” If their findings are not in favor of the company that funds them, they run the risk of loosing their grant money.

Scientists sometimes even go so far as to participate in “ghostwriting.” This is when the company funding the research writes some or part of the researcher's findings for them and then has the article published under the name of the scientist. Since one McGill University professor confessed to being involved in ghostwriting in 2000, dozens of other studies involving pharmaceutical giant, Wyeth, have been found to have been written in part or completely by a writing firm Wyeth hired.

Since this controversy, a group called the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) North America Working Group on Guiding Principles has been put together to address this problem. The team of scientists, government officials and private company heads has come up with some guidelines to avoid “scientific conflict of interest.” Some of them include requiring the company and the research group to write up a contract before research begins, not getting bonuses for favoring the company’s product and granting control of research design to the scientist and not the company.

Kollias offers tips for consumers like us when reading studies. Checking for affiliations at the beginning of articles can clue you in to who is involved in making the study possible. At the end of the article before the references appear is a statement regarding where the scientists are getting their money from.

While it is difficult to remove all bias from studies, being aware of where these studies are coming from is a great step in becoming a more informed consumer.

To read the article in its entirety check out http://www.precisionnutrition.com/food-research-conflict.

You Are What You Eat... (What Do You Want To Be?)

Fitness Anywhere — Tue, 05 May 2009 01:21:00 GMT

There is so much information out there about nutrition. It’s on the news, in the magazines, on the bus, TV commercials…everywhere. Every couple of days you hear about another celebrity who lost 50 lbs and how easy it is. Then you hear on the news, that you should eat this, but not that…how do you keep it all straight?!

At Fitness Anywhere, we’ve found a solution that we think works for the athlete and for the everyday person as well. The Precision Nutrition System, created by Dr. John Berardi, who has devoted his life to studying nutrition, and is probably one of the most comprehensive “how-to” guides on nutrition that is readily available to the average person. John would be the first to admit to how many mistakes he has made on his road to living a healthy life. But we think that’s great…how else do you find out what does work if you haven’t experienced some stuff that doesn’t work?

It would be impossible for us to summarize everything that makes Precision Nutrition one of the best systems around in a simple blog post. So instead we’ve collected 5 essential Precision Nutrition tips to share with you.

1. Eat every 2-3 hours – no matter what. Are you doing this—no matter what? Now you don’t need to eat a full meal every 2-3 hours, but you do need to eat 6-8 meals and snacks that are healthy. Tip: The Gourmet Nutrition Cookbook has loads of recipes for healthy snacks.

2. Ingest a complete, lean protein and a vegetable every time you eat. Are you eating something that is an animal or comes from an animal –every time you feed yourself? What about vegetables? That’s right, every time you eat (every 2-3 hours, right?) in addition to a complete, lean protein source, you need to eat some vegetables. You can toss in a piece of fruit here and there as well. But don’t skip the veggies.

3. Ditch the calorie containing drinks (including fruit juice). In fact, all of your drinks should come from non-calorie containing beverages. Fruit juice, alcoholic drinks and sodas—these are all to be removed from your daily fare. Your absolute best choices are water and green tea.

4. Focus on whole foods. Most of your dietary intake should come from whole foods. There are a few times when supplement drinks and shakes are useful. But most of the time, you’ll do best with whole, largely unprocessed foods (if it comes in a box, it’s probably not a whole food).

5. Have 10% foods. The other rules might feel like a lot of change, but here’s a reprieve. 10% foods are foods that don’t necessarily follow the other rules—but foods that you’re still allowed to eat (or drink) 10% of the time. Nobody is perfect and 100% nutritional discipline is not easy to accomplish. Just make sure you do the math and determine what 10% of the time really means. For example, if you’re eating 6 meals per day for 7 days of the week, that’s 42 meals. 10% is 4 meals a week.

And did we mention that this is just a start? To learn more about the PN System, check out the Gourmet Nutrition Cookbook.

And just to reiterate rule #5… We love our food here at Fitness Anywhere and we try to make healthful choices. However, we realize that you need to live life a little bit and savor those 10% foods. In-n-Out anyone?

BONUS: We’ve test driven two great recipes from the Gourmet Nutrition cookbook from Precision Nutrition. Make them together for a complete meal or separately for a snack or post-workout meal. Checkout what some of the FAI Team has to say about these recipes and then try it out for yourself.

Fruity Chicken Skewers>>

Fruity Cashew Quinoa>>

Chicken Taco Salad....Yummy!

Fitness Anywhere — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Spring signals opening day for baseball—and farmers markets filled with fresh-picked produce loaded with vitamins and antioxidants. Celebrate a return to lighter, healthier fare with this crunchy, veggie-packed Chicken Taco Salad recipe from the Gourmet Nutrition Cookbook. Tip: For the freshest produce in town, click here for farmers markets near you: http://www.localharvest.org/

This crunchy, Mexican-inspired salad is sure to please, as it combines freshness and flavor. Whether you try it as a meal or as a side dish, you'll love the taste and the crunch.

Ingredients:

Boneless skinless chicken *** (173 g) 6 oz.

Coconut oil or butter 1 tbsp

Onion (thin sliced) 1/4 cup

Tomato 1/2 cup

Corn (frozen or canned) 1/4 cup

Fresh Spinach 3 cups

Whole wheat tortilla chips 1/3 cup
or brown rice chips (crushed)

Aged white cheddar (grated) 1/2 cup

Instructions:

Saute chicken. Set aside to cool. Add oil (or butter) and onions to hte pan, stirring frequently until onions are lightly browned, then add tomato and corn. Cook for 1 minute more. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Coimbine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle one serving of your favorite dressing on the salad and serve.
Serves 1 large or 2 small.

Calories: 526

Fat: 21g

More delicious, healthful recipes and the complete nutritional breakdown are available in the Gourmet Nutrition Cookbook.

Eating Right: Avoid Those Extra Holiday Pounds

Fitness Anywhere — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:56:00 GMT

Question:
Every winter I’m bombarded with bad choices. Between trays of mini quiches and holiday travel plans getting to the gym is almost impossible. By New Year’s I’m feeling regret and those extra pounds. How can I still participate in the festivities without losing all my hard work to stay fit this year?

Answer:
Here we are... the beginning of November and looming on the horizon are the three biggest consumption holidays of the year. Turkeys are fighting over the best hiding spot in the barnyard and the top button on your pants is bracing itself for the inevitable strain of the holiday season. The challenges of staying fit and trim during this time is confounded further by the outrageous propagation of Christmas parties that overtake the schedule and push caloric intake to startling new highs.

So the big question...How does one enjoy the holiday and avoid the bulge?

Here are some best practice tips that will help you control the holiday madness and stay fit in the process.

Increased social obligations and holiday shopping pressure put a serious squeeze on time.

This is perhaps the biggest culprit. Less time and increased pressure means that the first thing to fall off the wagon is training followed closely by nutrition. Both the holiday parties and last minute insanity of rabid consumerism is enough to derail even the most disciplined exerciser. Rushing around under holiday pressure also leads to poor meal choices. This, coupled with overeating at buffet style Christmas parties is a recipe for disaster. Now we're not exercising, eating poorly and at volumes that rival that of the NY Giants offensive line.
Let's face it - When the holidays come around, there simply isn't the same amount of time but if we plan ahead we can get a long way toward maintaining our form.

The first step is to make a plan. Take some time this week to identify your Christmas schedule. When are the parties, kid’s functions and strategic shopping days? The process will serve to identify the tight spots in the schedule and focus you on them. Going through this process goes a long way toward the prevention of being overwhelmed by the holidays and increasing the chances of you holding together your training schedule.

Adapt your training plan to accommodate your schedule. It's easy to get frustrated when your expectations are not in line with the reality of the silly season. The realization that it just isn't possible to fit in a regular routine leads to the tendency to blow it off completely. Now is the time to experiment with super sets, circuits, and integrated all body exercises, making your training as lean and time efficient as possible. To this end, suspension training is an exceptional option as it necessitates tremendous integration and guarantees one of the most effective, time efficient workouts possible. It might also be necessary to pare back on the frequency of your training. The important concept here is that some is a lot better than none. Be OK with making some programming changes or concessions to keep your adherence as high as possible.

No matter how you slice it, it's tough to stay on track when you travel. Evaluate your travel schedule and come up with solutions in advance of when and how you'll exercise while you're visiting relatives. Make a plan with your favorite uncle to take him through a suspension training workout or plan a run. A little work on the front end of any holiday travel will reap great rewards and as an additional side benefit, might serve to give you an hour of solace from your beloved in-laws, whose company you enjoy but is best sampled in small doses.

Another great plan is to start an active tradition. This is a great way to add loads of fun to the holidays that will become cherished events and also serve to keep the entire family active. An example... what happens between gift opening and Christmas dinner? This is a perfect time to get the entire family together for some fun and fresh air but if you're not careful, it will become an unadulterated display of gluttony from gift opening to dinner. Go for a cross-country ski or organize the annual family football or hockey game... losing team washes the Christmas dinner dishes. Several years ago, my brother and I ducked out after gift opening to go ice climbing...just be sure to make it home in time for dinner. While this might be a bit extreme for most, this is a great time to do something fun and re-enforce the old adage - "the family that plays together - stays together".

Along the same vein, commit to some activity on January 1st. Whether it be meeting a friend to cross country ski or signing up for the New Year's Day 10 K run - having a physical commitment on the 1st will start you off on the right foot and generate some great early momentum to lead into the new year. Another side benefit of this practice is that it may help to keep consumption in check on New Year's Eve. It's amazing how an underlying need for functionality or the risk of great and self-afflicted suffering the next day can lurk in the back of your mind.

While most of the above tips have emphasized the physical side of things, of equal or more importance to the quest to maintain fitness and physique is successfully controlling nutrition. In my opinion, there are very few people in the world who know more about the subject of nutrition as my good friend John Berardi, founder of Precision Nutrition. There are even fewer who have made healthy nutritional concepts so easy to understand or so tasty to eat by creating tremendous support materials such as his amazing cook book Gourmet Nutrition. I credit the below tips directly to him. These are excellent practices to observe throughout the year but may be of particular value during the holidays.

Plan your meals for the week and do as much prep as possible ahead of time. Convenience is key to adherence in exercise and the same is true of nutrition. One easy practice to adopt is to chop 1/2 of your veggies when you get back from the grocery store. This promotes much better intake of vegetables, an area where many people are deficient and also makes for fast and convenient snacks which serves the harried shopper very well.

If you know you're headed to a Christmas party that looks suspiciously like the 7-day feast of feasts, have a small meal several hours prior to the party. This will help you keep your own consumption to a reasonable volume. Along a similar vein, be aware of beverage intake. Keeping yourself well hydrated with water will reduce cravings and help to avoid the surprising volume of empty calories that many pull in via fruit juice, wine or beer.

Finally understand that temptation is everywhere... Just because it's Christmas doesn't mean you cut loose and eat like a jackass! Seriously, you haven't read this far because you're not interested in keeping it together this holiday season. You do need to apply some personal discipline to make it happen. A great nutritional guideline is simply the 90/10 rule. Make sure that 90% of your meals follow the Precision Nutrition guidelines or utilize the Gourmet Nutrition recipes. The other 10% is up to you.

OK it's the holidays...We'll give you 80/20.