Nutrex in the Newspaper

Today we’ve been featured again in the Hamilton Spectator performing an intermediate level abdominal exercise.  Check out the link HERE.

Keep in mind that the Spectator links only remain active for about 2 weeks.

Add comment March 26th, 2007

Wake Up Your Taste Buds

One thing I’ve noticed about people is that they seem to have incredibly little variety in their diet.  In fact, most people’s daily intake consists of very few foods repeated over and over again.

Unfortunately, when these same people go about trying to eat healthier selections they cut from; instead of add to, their already limited list of food options.  Instead of creating a flavour party of variety and colour on their plates they limit themselves to the Spartan dietary staples lettuce, grilled chicken, and canned tuna.  Yum yum.  No wonder people don’t last long on most nutrition plans.  They’re downright boring!

Below is a list of foods that I like to give my clients to get them started.  This is not to say that this list is inclusive of all healthy foods, but this is only a starting point.

PROTEIN – Anything that has a face (or came from something that has a face)

Steak
Extra Lean Ground Beef
Beef Jerky
Veal
Ground Veal
Chicken
Ground Chicken
Turkey
Ground Turkey
Turkey Bacon
Lean Turkey Sausage
Turkey Jerky
Turkey Pepperettes
Tuna
Salmon
Tilapia
Shrimp
Lobster
Catfish
Sole
Herring
Haddock
Eggs
Egg Whites
Protein Shakes
Protein Puddings

CARBOHYDRATES

~ Vegetables ~

Cabbage
Brussel Sprouts
Celery
Spinach
Lettuce
Radicchio
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Asparagus
Onion
Green Onion
Garlic
Zucchini
Tomato (technically a fruit)
Red Pepper (technically a fruit)
Green Pepper (technically a fruit)
Eggplant (technically a fruit)
Jalapeno
Carrots
Green Beans
Snow Peas
Watercress
Bean Sprouts
Water Chestnut
Radish
Kale
Swiss Chard

~ Fruit ~

Blueberries
Strawberries
Raspberries
Blackberries
Apple
Pear
Banana
Pineapple
Dragon Fruit
Oranges
Cherries
Cranberries
Grapefruit
Kiwi Fruit
Lemons
Limes
Watermelon
Cantaloupe
Nectarines
Plums
Pomegranates
Rhubarb (technically a vegetable)

~ Starch ~

Legumes (lentils, kidney beans, etc)
Corn / Baby Corn (technically considered a grain)
Brown Rice
Whole Wheat Bread
Whole Wheat Wraps
Whole Wheat Pasta
Yams
Sweet Potatoes
All Bran Cereal
Fiber 1 Cereal
Oatmeal (not the little flavoured packets)
Quinoa

Sidebar: The Glycemic Index

All carbohydrates can be rated on something popularly known as the glycemic index.  Basically, this is a measure of what the carbohydrate does to our blood sugar levels.  Foods placed highest on the glycemic index rapidly increase our blood sugar and are most likely to lead to fat storage.  Items at the bottom of the list cause a slower rise in blood sugar and are least likely to lead to fat storage.

Below is a sampling of the many foods on the glycemic index.

Glucose (Sugar)   100
White Bread   95
Baked Potato   95
Rice Cakes   80
Honey    75
Corn    75
Shredded Wheat    70
White Rice   70
Pasta    65
Banana    60
Brown Rice   55
Popcorn    55
Special K Cereal  55
Whole Grain Pasta  45
Apple    40
Chick Peas   35
Nuts    15-30
Tomatoes   15
Green Leafy Vegetables  0-15

As a general rule, whole grains tend to appear lower on the list than refined foods and vegetables are always at the bottom.  The lesson here?  Choose your carbohydrates wisely.

HEALTHY FATS

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (For cooking at medium temperatures)
Coconut Oil (For cooking at high temperatures)
Butter (Preferably organic – also better than olive oil for high temperatures)
Almonds
Pecans
Walnuts
Peanuts
Cashews
Avocado
Natural Peanut or Almond Butter
Cheese (Depending on circumstance)
 
Next time you go shopping, don’t be such a dud.  Aim to try something new each week.  Some weeks you’ll find something you absolutely have to have again.  Other weeks you’ll not be so fortunate.  However, in the end you’ll end up with a much less boring diet and a set of much happier taste buds.

Add comment March 22nd, 2007

The Jeff Franco Project - Part I

In late November we were contacted by our friend Jeff Franco.  Quite frankly, Jeff wasn’t particularly happy with how he looked.  He pretty much told us straight out that he’d been lazy and eating junk for at least a couple years.  But now was a time for change.  He contacted us because he’d grown tired of carrying around excess fat around the midsection and because he was sick of not having a beach worthy body in the summer.

Jeff is also an actor.  Given our fascination with fantastic physiques in the movies, it goes without saying that your physical appearance can make or break you at an audition.  You certainly aren’t going to get an action role if you look like George from Seinfeld.

To help Jeff out we decided to offer him something totally different.  We suggested to Jeff that we meet only once monthly to make the entire transformation from flab to fab.  During this process there would be no one-on-one personal exercise instruction.  Instead we’d offer Jeff a 1 hour meeting each month during which we’d assess his progress and make suitable nutrition and supplementation recommendations.  Each month this meeting would be followed with a written exercise program including video clips and photographs of the exercises.  Basically we offered him our Consultation & Training Program.

Here’s the twist.  We asked Jeff if we could document his change in real time so people could see the whole process unfold.  At first we thought he might be a little reluctant but, to our surprise, he jumped right on board.  Jeff’s been at it for a few months now so it’s about time to get this party started.

Here’s what we did:

Month 1 – Habit Formation

The biggest focus of the first month of our program was to establish habits that would help Jeff maintain his fantastic new physique in the future.  This month usually isn’t marked by any striking amount of weight loss and with Jeff starting the program heading into December it is probably good that the diet wasn’t too strict.  The key here was to give Jeff some easy to follow rules that he could accomplish without fail.  Success breeds confidence and once this is established early on the rest of the lifestyle change goes like clockwork.

Some programs don’t incorporate this phase and this is why so many people experience the “soon ripe soon rotten phenomenon”.  They get to where they wanted to be with lightening speed (soon ripe), but don’t have the lifestyle habits ingrained and return to where they started equally as fast (soon rotten).

We should note that Jeff did not have to leave his home to exercise at all this month.

Month 2 – Fat Loss Kick Start

With the lifestyle habits ingrained and the month of December over the main priority of this month was to create a brief surge of exceptionally rapid fat loss to get Jeff motivated.  After a month of forming habits and accomplishing every simple task we set out for him you can bet that Jeff was confident and ready to kick this plan into high gear.

During this entire month Jeff never went to the gym and never touched a weight in his own home.  He even got to spend several whole days eating whatever he wanted.

Month 3 – Muscle Recovery

One of the things we noticed in this month’s assessment was that although Jeff was losing fat, he was also starting to lose a little muscle as well.  Given that Jeff wants to have a beach worthy body we put a plan into action to continue the fat loss without sacrificing any more valuable muscle.

During this month we made some specific supplement recommendations to improve Jeff’s muscle maintenance and had Jeff start exercising in his own home with some of the small weight equipment he had sitting around.

So Where’s Jeff at Now?

Here’s the 3 Month Results

Starting Weight: 198
Current Weight: 183
Total Lost: 15lbs

Starting Body Fat Percentage: 17.5
Current Body Fat Percentage: 14.6
Total Lost: 2.9 Percent

Starting Waist Measurement: 42.75 inches
Current Waist Measurement: 38.75 inches
Total Lost: 4 inches

What’s Coming Up?

This month we suggested that it was time for Jeff to take the leap and join a gym.  With our program in hand we can only anticipate more good things for Jeff.  We promised him he’d be ripped for summer so we’d better be right.

Keep an eye out for future updates on this series as we document the entire change from dud to stud.  Stay tuned for our next installment to view Jeff’s follow up pictures.

3 comments March 14th, 2007

Butter Me Up - Cooking with Fats and Oils

Recently there has been much public concern about the amount of trans fats in our foods.  McDonalds has even switched its cooking oil in response to public awareness of the potential risks of trans fat consumption.  While I would still argue that McDonalds isn’t the place for anyone to eat if they’re serious about maintaining their health, the change is a good one given the number of people that feed themselves daily in this establishment.  They may die prematurely, but it certainly won’t be from the trans fats in the oil.

So what exactly are trans fats anyway?

Basically they are the type of fats that are created when liquid oils are converted, through a process called hydrogenation, into more solid forms to make margarines and shortenings.  They can dramatically affect cholesterol and leave the unlucky consumer at risk for stroke or coronary artery disease.  What’s worse is that margarine and shortening are often used for cooking, which actually increases the number of trans fats!  Always watch your nutrition labels for items listed as hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils.  They are basically trans fats in disguise.

The Rules

To avoid trans fat consumption there are a few simple rules you need to know about cooking with fat.

RULE #1

Never, under any circumstances, should you cook with margarine or shortening.  These have trans fats before cooking and you’ll just be adding more when they’re heated.

As an interesting side note, consider that ants won’t even touch margarine.  Next time you see a bunch of ants outside draw a circle around them with margarine.  They won’t even go near it.

RULE #2

Avoid cooking with vegetable oil.  Despite not having much in the way of trans fats prior to cooking, you’ll create them when the oil is heated.  If you opt for a cooking spray, make sure it’s made of extra virgin olive oil and pay attention to rule number 3 below.

RULE #3

Since olive oil is predominantly a monounsaturated fat it is more stable when heated.  However, it is best to only use olive oil on medium heat as it may begin to break down at higher temperatures.  Instead of relying on store bought cooking sprays consider purchasing an olive oil pump.

RULE #4

For high heat cooking always use coconut oil or butter.  Both are predominantly saturated fats, which allows them to remain very stable even at high temperatures.  Be cautious that your butter does not turn brown.  If it does, you’ve burnt it.

Butter versus Margarine

If you’ve been alive for the past few years you’ve undoubtedly been exposed to the utter nonsense that butter is bad for you.  In fact, you’ve probably been told that all saturated fats are evil and that the best recourse available is to use margarine instead.

The truth is that people have been eating butter since we first domesticated cows thousands of years ago.  Given that the meteoric rise of cardiovascular health issues in North American only began within the last hundred years, it is more likely that the advent of margarine in 1867 had something to do with it than butter.  Even if margarine hasn’t been part of the problem, it definitely hasn’t helped much either.

Of course, the people selling you margarine aren’t going to tell you this.  Margarine is easier and cheaper to make than butter and profits are higher.  The selling of margarine to avoid the dangers of butter consumption was one of the best marketing ploys of all time and we bought it hook, line, and sinker. 

But what if my margarine doesn’t have trans fats?

This may seem amusing to you, but what they’ve basically done to your margarine is to make it more structurally similar to a saturated fat (the one you supposedly switched to margarine to avoid).  In the case of Becel, a popular Canadian brand, they’ve taken unhydrogenated sunflower oil and mixed it with tropical fats to make it more solid.  The trans fats have gone down, which is great, but you still can’t cook with it.

A Few Final Notes

If you’re convinced enough to start using saturated fats for cooking instead of margarine you should know a few things before you run to the grocery store in a trans fat induced frenzy.  Butter and coconut oil, like other fats, are high in calories and should not be eaten too liberally.  They can be used for cooking, but your foods shouldn’t be swimming in them.  Butter should also always be purchased organic.  According to some carcinogen researchers the two most important things to buy organic are butter and coffee.  If you’re ingesting either you might want to make the switch.

The bottom line is that to cook properly with oils you can use olive oil on medium and butter or coconut oil on high.  Anything else is just shortening your life span. 

Add comment March 7th, 2007