Thursday, June 2, 2011

Stop Eating Grains


If you really want to lose weight, stop eating grains.

Yes, I had a hard time believing it too. After all, I've been told for a lifetime to eat a whopping 6-11 servings of cheap and easy, government subsidized grains for my entire life. But a funny thing happened to me a few months ago.

As a health and fitness professional, it is my ethical responsibility to be in a continuous state of learning. And as an advisor and consultant, it is my duty to assess, research, question, and then disseminate the information that I passionately believe may help my clients, fans or followers to be more successful in achieving their goals. I am not alone in saying that I have observed a lot of failure, disappointment, frustration, negative reinforcement and even more confusion first hand in this industry while people have diligently followed the advice of conventional wisdom.

While everyone tries to "eat right" or at least "do better," and while fitness professionals, nutritionists, doctors, government agencies, celebrities and of course, the media tout the benefits of eating "right" and getting regular exercise (the simple rule of "calories in, calories out") we've gotten fatter. Much, MUCH FATTER. Clearly, something is broken and a paradigm shift is necessary.

So, a few months ago, I stopped teaching high intensity exercise classes. (Not intentionally as a means of removing this from my life, just as a professional evolution.) I went from teaching about 5-10 high intensity classes a week between cycle and strength formats to zero. I maintained a moderate activity level with my clients/bootcamps - but my movement was nothing impressive and FAR from what it was previously. I've always been lean - 8-10% body fat - and always weighed in around 170 lbs +/- 2 lbs. While teaching the copious amounts of classes, I didn't have high energy. I was exhausted. Mentally and physically. Yet, we tell people - intensity, intensity, intensity - more, more, more - and if its not working, DO MORE!! I was shoving oatmeal down my throat morning after morning, refueling with bagels or tabuli sandwiches (basically wheat on wheat) and finishing it off with a pasta dinner and supplementing in between with fruits. Using conventional wisdom, it sounds like a pretty healthy diet!

At the same time that I stopped frequent high intensity exercise, I also gradually weaned myself off of grains, following my reading of Mark Sisson's blog, MarksDailyApple.com and his book, The Primal Blueprint. I had heard much about the Paleo and Primal diet, so I thought - this is pretty crazy, but as part of my due diligence, let's give it a try for a few days and see what happens. Well guess what? In the midst of doing zero high intensity exercise and maintaining a similar caloric intake - less the grains of course - I lost 10 lbs while maintaining my lean muscle mass. All of this in a matter of about 3 weeks and remember, I didnt have much to lose in the first place! All of this with no caloric restrictions, more energy with my body off of the insulin roller coaster, and a forgiving 80/20 rule, so yes, I can enjoy a beer (no grains 80% of the time will get you 100% of the results without the negative reinforcement of "cheating" and the ability to enjoy cake on a birthday or eating out on a special occasion).

I am now a lean and mean 160 lbs with about 6% body fat. Why? The cliffs notes version is this: Grains = Carbs. Carbs = Sugar. Sugar drives insulin levels. Insulin drives fat storage. Without the easy to burn carbohydrates, my body is a fat burning machine - and yours can be too.

There are a host of reasons to avoid grains, so I encourage you to familiarize yourself with the science behind it via the links provided here. It is far too deep a discussion for one post.

I highly recommend that you consider this approach - after all, you've probably tried everything else. And its not just good for your waistline - its good for you and will no doubt cure many if not all ailments that may nag you, from headaches/migraines to irritable bowl syndrom to tooth decay. But dont take my word for it. Study it first. If you learn the "why," "what" to do is much easier. In my next posts, I will share some of my go-to's, favorite foods and food prep techniques, so stay tuned!