The American Diet's Broken...Rebuild a Better Diet From the Ground Up

The three charts below are extremely scary...read them, absorb them, synthesize everything. It's a big fat W-T-F (no pun intended)...

http://www.cdc.gov/NCHS/data/hestat/obesity_adult_07_08/obesity_adult_07_08.pdf

http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html#National

Although you'd have to be living in a deep state of ignorant bliss not to be aware that obesity is a ginormous problem in the US, the fact that obesity rates have risen continuously for nearly 50 years—and continue to grow—indicates that there's a major, major problem. I'd call it a crisis. 

That leads me to believe that at the core, something has to be fundamentally wrong with either: a) diet & nutrition in the US, b) fitness & exercise habits in the US, or c) some combo of both factors. I'm going to focus on diet and nutrition, because personally, I'm a firm believer that that's where the fix for the obesity conundrum lies—it's not within the realm of fitness & exercise (move around more and you'll lose weight...it's a simple, cut-and-dry concept, plus participation in fitness/exercise has increased over time).

It's time to turn the American diet inside-out.

http://www.healthy-eating-politics.com/usda-food-pyramid.html

A Bit of History.

18 years. Eighteen.  

The food pyramid above was conceived in 1992 and served as the backbone of American dietary education all the way up until 2010, when it was finally revamped to resemble the "plate" below. It showed up effortlessly on the back of cereal boxes, was taught in health class, and you probably even saw it at some point on Nick Jr. (if you were of the '90s generation). I absolutely HATE that pyramid with a passion. That god forsaken pyramid has served as the bane of the US' dietary & nutritional existence for 18 painful years, and now it's finally gone...**sighs of relief**

  

So what's so flippin' bad about the pyramid anyway!? Visually, the pyramid conveys a number of nutritional no-nos. At the most basic level, the pyramid preaches that breads/cereals/grains/pasta (A.K.A. carbs) should serve as the foundation of the diet. Wrong!...no wonder why we're so fat. To take that even further, the food pyramid suggests eating ~4x as many carbs as protein & dairy, and ~3x as many carbs as fruits & veggies (not to mention that it doesn't distinguish between refined/complex carbs). To put it lightly, that's just WAY too many carbs and far too little protein & vegetables in the diet if you want any shot at all of leading a lean, healthy lifestyle. 

The pyramid also essentially recommends cutting out all fats, irrespective of type. Healthy fats (mono/polyunstaurated) are one of the most important contributors to heart health and should 100% be included in the diet. So many people are still stuck in the '80's and '90's mindset that fats are the enemy...they're not, they're one of your best allies.

My conclusion: The pyramid's straight up not specific enough. It's ambiguous. It's flat-out wrong. It's a virus plaguing the nutritional center of the American mind. If I had one of those nifty Men In Black mind erasers I'd zap it from your memory...forget it ever existed and take a leap of faith with me into an uncharted new nutritional world.

Revamping the American Diet.

I was talking to a friend a few weeks ago and he brought up a really interesting and strikingly true point about dietary and nutrition education today. The overwhelming majority of the content we browse online, read in fitness mags like Men's/Women's Health, and see flooding Twitter provides advice and info about how to fix and improve our diets. I'll admit it...I'm guilty of this as well (sorry guys). I'm not implying that these fixes don't have value and aren't useful—they're incredibly valuable and do help, or I wouldn't suggest them myself—but thinking about it honestly, why the hell is all of our time and effort dedicated to trying to fix something that's inherently broken. The American diet's a big beast, but so was the Titanic...and there was obviously no saving that. It's time to let the dietary principles of old go—the American diet's been bleeding out slowly for decades, it's time to take it off of life support and take a leap into a new dietary saga.

The following rules & principles will be your guiding light—learn 'em, live by 'em, and watch 'em work their magical, health-inducing, fat-incinerating magic.

1. Calories are important...but they're not THAT important. At some point, the little idea of "calories in vs. calories out" spread like wildfire and became the predominant focus of weight loss efforts. In fact, it became the only focus for those desperate to burn off a little excess blubber. I'm going to turn your reality upside down...when it comes to losing weight—specifically body fat—calories in vs. calories out only hits the tip of the dietary iceberg.
Knowing approximately how many calories your body needs to eat to maintain its weight should serve as a point of reference...as a starting point and as the backbone of your diet. The quality of those calories and the way in which you consume them is ultimately what's going to determine how your body looks—it's not even close to being isolated to an elementary caloric equation. Think of it as a rendezvous through Europe. It's critical to know which countries you want to visit on your trip—aka the number of calories you need to maintain your weight/lose weight—but what you do and where you go inside of those countries is ultimately what's going to define your trip as being epic, or as an epic fail.

With that said, you 100% need to begin your dietary revamp by becoming familiar with your body's caloric requirements. If you eat 1000 donuts or 1000 pieces of chicken you're gonna gain weight, I don't care how healthy the food is that you're eating. To figure out how many calories you need to gain, lose, or maintain your weight use the Free dFL Calorie Calculator.

2. Get out of the "breakfast-lunch-dinner" mentality. The whole "lets eat 3 big, fat meals 5 hours apart" mentality has to go. Sure eating 3 beefy, 1000 calorie meals totals the same amount of calories as 6, small 500 calories meals, but the way your body handles the intake of those calories couldn't be more different.

When you shove monstrous meals down your esophagus it wreaks havoc twofold. First, your body can only use so many calories at one time, which is predominantly determined by your activity level; that's where the concept of "eat for what your body's doing" came from. That's why it's ideal to eat a larger meal right after a skin-tearing, leg-pumping, intense workout—your body physically needs those calories to recover; when you're sitting on your ass playing Call of Duty, well it doesn't.

For most of the time during a normal day your body only needs ~300-500 calories to support the typical energy demands of living (e.g. walking, breathing, digesting, mental function, controlling the body's temperature, etc.). Once you start dumping Quadruple Whoppers, Triple Baconators, and other caloric catastrophes into your stomach, your body automatically stuffs those excess calories into the body's fat cells. It has no need for those calories...they just sit in your body...and sit there...until they convert into fat. 


Second, large meals tend to cause a dramatic surge in blood sugar levels. Not only is this one of major causes of diabetes, but the rapid rise in blood sugar triggers the release of the hormone insulin. Insulin is responsible for reducing high blood sugar levels by accelerating the rate at which calories are stuffed away in the fat cells. Insulin makes you fatter faster if you have no use for the calories it's stuffing away (after an intense workout your muscle glycogen stores—the carbs stored in muscle cells—are depleted, so increasing insulin is a good way of kicking muscle recovery into high gear).

Get in the habit of eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day; ideally 5, 6, or 7 meals, 2.5—3 hours apart. To summarize, smaller meals are extremely beneficial for a variety of reasons, including:

• They control blood sugar levels, which prevents the development of diabetes and drasticallty reduces fat storage
• They provide the body with a constant, manageable flow of calories—very little of it is ever converted into fat
• Because you're eating so frequently, your body is continuously digesting small amounts of food. Digestion physically burns calories and keeps your metabolism boosted...that's some fat burning power
• You'll stay full throughout the day and avoid snacking on crap foods
• Your energy levels will remain constantly high throughout the day, as opposed to spiking and crashing after a large meal (this is directly related to blood sugar and insulin)

Mastering Protein, Fat, and Carbs.

3. Protein HAS to be a staple in your diet, even if you're not trying to build muscle (but it helps with that too). A lot of people feel that there's no real reason to eat protein if you're not trying to build new slabs of muscle. That's a horrible misconception. Besides boosting muscle growth (which is beneficial in-and-of itself because muscle burns more calories at rest than fat does), protein is responsible for a variety of the body's essential functions, including: enzyme/hormone/immune system function, muscle contraction, skin/hair/nail health, and tissue growth & repair. When speaking in terms of losing body fat and getting ripped, protein's the best tool in your fat-incinerating toolbox. Protein is "thermogenic," which means that it requires a lot of energy to metabolize and digest. Every time you eat protein it physically burns calories; in fact, protein burns approximately 1/3 of its calories through digestion. On top of burning calories, protein also helps keep blood sugar levels controlled and minimizes spikes in insulin. THAT's the definition of a fat-blasting nutrient.

For the best results shoot for approximately 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight, per day, spread throughout your 5, 6, 7 meals. Providing your body with protein all day, every day, guarantees that you'll constantly burn calories, shred fat, and preserve your hard-earned muscle mass. As a dFL rule of thumb, always eat at least 15 grams of protein at every single meal.

Here's a list of protein sources that'll give you the best bang for your calorie (and vegetarian sources as well!):

4. Fats don't make you fat—just make sure to eat the right types. There are three main kinds of fats that you need to be familiar with: 1. trans fats (aka partially hydrogenated oils), which simultaneously raise LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) and lower HDL cholesterol (the good kind), clog arteries, and cause heart disease—you never ever want to eat these; 2. saturated fats, which raise LDL cholesterol, but are also essential for hormone production—these should be eaten in careful moderation; and finally 3. mono/polyunsaturated fats, which include omega-3/omega-6 fatty acids and tend to promote heart health, unclog arteries, reduce inflammation, and lower cholesterol levels.


Mono/polyunsaturated fats are a miracle nutrient...they're your key to spectacular longevity. Not only do they promote heart and circulatory health, but they're also essential for healthy skin and hair (healthy fats help produce well hydrated, glowing, blemish free skin!) and help control hunger levels.

Try to eat a few servings of healthy fats per day, upwards of ~20% of your calories. Fantastic sources include: fish (salmon, tuna, mackeral), flaxseeds, nuts & nut butters, avocado, olive oil/sunflower oil/coconut oil (a healthy saturated fat), hummus, and even a little bit of cheese/dairy for saturated fat.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=84

5.  Carbs are the key to the whole weight loss puzzle. Diets like Atkins, which basically recommend cutting out all carbs from the diet, are ridiculous, impractical, and down right unnecessary. Sure you'll lose a ton of weight if you follow a no-carb approach—I'm not debating that—but that's the overly simplified, easy-to-follow approach to dieting. Carbs are the single most complicated aspect of nutrition, which is why a diet that has 1 primary rule—cut out all of the carbs from your life—is so attractive to the masses...it has zero learning curve. Personally, I loveeeeeeee carbs and couldn't live without them. They're one of the best tasting parts of life and they provide the body with energy, vitamins and minerals, fiber, and antioxidants...a few things that are just straight up too valuable to give up.

Well, I'm here to tell you that you can achieve a ripped-up, lean physique without excommunicating carbs from the nutrition kingdom. Follow these guidelines and you'll be on your way to fat-free carb consumption:

• Like I mentioned before, controlling blood sugar levels/insulin is probably the single most important factor when it comes to fat control. All carbs are metabolized into blood sugar in the body, albeit at various rates. The slower that carbs are digested, the smaller impact they'll have on blood sugar and ultimately fat storage. The Glycemic Index, or GI for short, measures just that. Always aim for low GI foods such as whole grain bread, brown rice, and oatmeal. White bread, white rice, cereal, etc. will transform your body into an absolute fat storing machine.
• To keep this simple, foods that are high in sugar digest at an extremely fast rate and convert into fat effortlessly. They also cause diabetes. Limit sugary foods as much as possible...they'll make you FAT FAT FAT FAT.
• Although fruit contains a lot of sugar, it's primary made up of fructose—a type of sugar that's slower digesting. It also provides a ton of valuable vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. Regardless, I wouldn't suggest pounding 36 bananas per day (it'll literally kill you from too much potassium)—limit fruit to ~2-3 pieces per day. Eating fruit is a great way to quench even the worst sweet tooth in a healthy way.
• Never, ever eat carbs by themselves. Eating a big bowl of fettucini alfredo by itself, besides having a bazillion calories, will convert into fat faster than Mike Vick runs in the open field. Always eat carbs with protein, fat, or ideally a combo of both. 
• Limit carbs at the end of the day. Any carbs stuck in your stomach when you go to sleep will just end up being converted into fat. All of which leads me to...

6. Follow the 50C/30P/20F rule. 50% of your calories should be coming from healthy, slow digesting carbs; 30% of your calories should be coming from protein; and 20% of your calories should be coming from healthy mono & polyunsaturated fats. I have no problem if you want to make it 40/40/20, but don't drop carbs below 40% of your calories.  

The Best of the Rest...

7. Go beyond the nutrition label. Most—but not all—nutrition labels limit the vitamins and minerals they list to calcium, iron, and vitamins A & C (as shown by the label on the right, the one on the left is more detailed)...that's simply not enough information qualified by labels. Things like omega-3s and omega-6s, lycopene (a stupidly powerful antioxidant found in tomatoes), and vitamin K are all vital to health, yet you'd never have any visible evidence to show which foods actually contain those supernutrients. Get in the habit of looking up the foods that you eat on Nutrition Data and discovering what kind of nutritional value they add. That brings me to...

8. Maximize nutritional density. Foods with high "nutritional density" are jam packed with supernutrients—protein, fiber, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals, and antioxidants. Spend your calories like you would money...on the things that give you the most value. Proverbial "empty calories" have low, or even negative nutritional density. Sugary foods and those with high amounts of trans/saturated fats are all negative in my book.

9. Minimize liquids. Liquids always digest faster than their solidified counterparts. They also don't do anywhere near as good of a job at smashing hunger cravings, which is primarily attributed to their lack of fiber. Dairy, protein shakes, water, sugar-free tea, coffee (no Starbucks Mocha Frappucino BS), and the occasional natural fruit juice are the only acceptable liquids in my book, everything else is either filled with calories, sugar, or artificial crap. Things like Gatorade, Powerade, and Vitamin Water should be saved for use during sports/workouts...they're not designed to be anytime-of-the-day drinks.

10.  Au na-tur-al is your path to lifelong longevity. This one's really simple...avoid processed foods as much as you can. Whatever happened to eating naturally? Processed foods are absolutely loaded with sodium, chemicals, artificial sweeteners, and quite frankly a lot of crap. Go with fresh, cooked foods over the packaged variants as often as humanly possible. With that in mind, you should...

11. Get cooking! If you learn how to cook—and I'm talking about legitimate cooking, not adding so much spice to food that you drown out your culinary ineptitude (**wink wink, my roommates, wink wink**)—and add a few solid recipes to your arsenal, you can physically control everything that goes into your body. Plus it's a great way to become aware of how certain foods are prepared, and ultimately what's healthy and what's not. Everyone loves a good cook, and it's a great activity to relax and reduce stress.

Last but not least...

12. Eat breakfast. Your body is EXTREMELY depleted after pulling a nutritional devoid all-nighter. Wake up to a breakfast jam-packed with protein, healthy carbs, healthy fats, and preferably some fruit. All of it will help kick-start your metabolism, get your muscles out of muscle-burning mode, and provide your body and mind with the much needed energy to take on the day.




Follow dFL on Twitter @DiSantoFitLife for real time fitness/nutrition tips, advice, info, and updates.


Other dFL Articles to Check Out:
1. Protein: The #1 Tool for Getting Lean and Muscular, Plus a Comprehensive List of the Best Sources of Protein (for Vegetarians too)
2. Understanding Insulin, HFCS, and Carbs--Window to a Healthier, Leaner You
3. The TOTAL Summer Beach Body Plan
4. The dFL Bible of Lifelong Fitness, Health, and Nutrition
5. Secret Superfood: Cinnamon

Protein: The #1 Tool for Getting Lean and Muscular, Plus a Comprehensive List of the Best Sources of Protein (for Vegetarians Too)

I'm a HUGE proponent of getting a lot of protein in the diet, and it's not all about building huge, beefy muscles (although it helps a lot if that's what you're going for). Put plain and simply, protein is the "leanness" nutrient. It helps pack on toned-up, rock hard new muscle, preserves the muscle that the body (and you) busted its ass to build up, and elevates the body's metabolism, burning extra calories than normal and shredding off nasty body fat/cellulite. 

I'll be blunt--becoming lean, toned, and ripped up (I'd call it sexy) requires two simple steps: 1. building muscle tone & 2. shredding body fat. Eating protein constantly throughout the day does both simultaneously. Here's how:

• Building muscle tone. In the world of sports nutrition there's a critical concept called nitrogen balance (NB). Whenever you eat protein throughout the day it increases the amount of nitrogen in the body. Building new muscle, maintaining muscle, and losing muscle is, for the most part, determined by the amount of nitrogen present in the body. NB is a running tally that directly compares the amount of nitrogen that's taken in through the protein you eat to the amount of nitrogen that's excreted through urine/feces. 
• When that balance is positive the body is able to pack on new muscle, when it's negative the body starts breaking down muscle and using it as fuel. Eating a steady stream of protein throughout the day, at every meal, ensures that you'll always be in the positive. All the cool kids have a positive NB...just saying.

• Shredding body fat. Protein is able to put the body's metabolism into hyperdrive because it's thermogenic. Most people have heard, at some point or another, that eating celery actually has "negative calories" because the body burns off more calories digesting the celery than it does eating it (it's true by the way, if you were curious). That's thermogenics. It's basically a term used to describe the amount of calories that the body burns by biting, chewing, digesting, swallowing, metabolizing, and storing food. It also raises the body's metabolism and core temperature. 
• Protein is extremely thermogenic (along with ice cold water, green tea, coffee, and hot sauce/spicy food) and has been shown to burn up to 30% of its cals through thermogenesis alone. You know I'm insane when one of my hobbies is maximizing thermogenesis... 

Now that you know why protein can get you ripped up, you gotta pump that protein into your diet. The chart below lists the amount of protein in a ton of high-protein foods on a 100 calorie basis--that way you can compare foods directly, calorie-by-calorie. Vegetarian sources of protein are highlighted in green, fish is highlighted in blue.

And yeah...that says beluga whale. Whaddup...start whaling. 

Source: http://fatsecret.com/, http://disantosfitlife.com/

17 Essential Rules of Nutrition That'll Add 10+ Years to Your Life

What if I told you that a few simple changes to your diet and eating habits could extend your youth, rip up your physique, get your body fat percentage down to the single digits (or teens for women), and ultimately add 5, 10, or even 20 years to your life? Intrigued? It's for real. These 17 rules are absolutely integral to any healthy lifestyle, plus they'll help you look your best -- more muscle, less fat, better skin, and more resilient immunity. Many of them are really simple changes, but their impact is exponentially beneficial.

1. No trans fats, limit saturated fats. No other rule is as important as #1. Follow it and live by it, it’ll save your life. Literally. Trans fats are created when food producers hydrogenate oils to preserve food and increase their shelf life. The problem with these nasty fats is that they raise artery-clogging LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) significantly, while simultaneously lowering artery-cleaning HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol). Saturated fats still raise LDL cholesterol, but have no effect on HDL levels. Over time consumption of these fats leads to atherosclerosis (fatty build up in the arteries which restricts blood flow), coronary heart disease (CHD), heart attack, and stroke. Trans fats have no health benefits at all and are directly related to an increased risk of CHD.

• Check this out. A 1976 Nurses’ Health Study found that for every 2% increase in trans fat consumption, the risk of CHD more than doubled (53% increase in risk). Compare that to a 15% increase in saturated fat intake to produce a similar result. That’s harmful stuff. Trans fat consumption has also been linked to Alzheimer’s, Type-II Diabetes, obesity, and possibly even cancer.
• Where are they found? A major issue with trans fats is that food producers are legally allowed to list that a food has 0g of trans fat if it contains .5g or less. Some foods have .49g, but they can technically be marketed as having no trans fat. Any level, even .25g can have a major negative health impact. It all adds up. Get in the habit of reading ingredients--if you see vegetable shortening or partially hydrogenated that means the food has trans fat. Common foods that have trans fats include: pastries, doughnuts, croissants, French fries and any other fried foods, cookies, crackers and biscuits, margarine and shortening, potato chips, granola bars, and chocolate. BK French Fries have 7g, a Cinnabon Cinnabon has 6g, and every 3 Oreos have 2g!

2. Fight fat with fat. Contrary to what most people believe, fat does not make your fat. Eating too much fat makes you fat. In fact, eating healthy fats can help suppress appetite and is probably one of most beneficial things you can feed your heart. Look for mono/polyunsaturated fats such as Omega-3s. Poly/monounsaturated fats do the opposite of trans fats--raise HDL while simultaneously lowering LDL--which unclogs arteries and improves cardiovascular health. In addition, fat is vital for healthy skin and hair, facilitates muscle growth, and helps transport vitamins A, D, E, and K through the bloodstream. 

• Fats are higher in calories than carbohydrates or proteins (7 calories per gram in fat, 4 calories per gram in carbs/protein) so be conscious of the amount that you're eating. 
• Foods such as salmon and other fish, nuts and natural nut butters, seeds, olive oil, flaxseeds, and avocados are great sources of healthy fats.

3. Wheat over white. When it comes to bread or anything else made with flour make it a habit to choose wheat bread over white bread. When companies process white bread they strip all of the nutrients, fiber, vitamins and everything else from the grain and add a bunch of sugar, preservatives, and chemicals to make it taste better and stay fresh longer. White bread has no nutritional value at all and it digests extremely quickly, leaving the body hungry shortly after. Whenever you eat white bread it sends blood sugar levels on a roller coaster ride and signals the body to release insulin (which functions to bring blood sugar levels down), which ultimately causes body fat gain. Repeatedly spiking blood sugar levels causes insulin resistance, or the inability to control blood sugar levels naturally, which leads to the development of Type 2 Diabetes. If you chop a tree repeatedly eventually it’s going to fall over. Wheat products are slow digesting, help you stay fuller longer, keep blood sugar levels under control, and contain healthy fiber and other important nutrients. Stick to wheat bread, you’ll stay diabetes-free and maintain a lean physique.

• Tip: When you buy bread make sure it says “100% whole wheat.” Companies sometimes market their bread as "whole wheat" or "whole grain," but in reality they just bleach the white flour to make it look like wheat bread. Look for the 100%.

4. Limit alcohol, especially sugary drinks. For most people it's impractical to cut alcohol out altogether, in fact 1-2 drinks a day can lower LDL cholesterol and keep the body relaxed. Plus it's social. Don't overdo it though, once you go over two drinks the fat and health detriments start stacking up. Alcohol is empty calories and promotes overeating. When you eat and drink a lot at the same time the body is flooded with excess calories and it has no choice but to store the excess as fat. The body always digests alcohol first no matter what; whatever else you eat sits in the stomach...waiting...and eventually turns into body fat. Eating pizza or ice cream drunk might taste great, but it's going straight to your ass, thighs, stomach, and wherever else you don’t want it. The same goes for Long Island Ice Teas, Margaritas, Pina Coladas, etc. All of those are loaded with a ton of sugar and calories, which will just spike blood sugar and turn into fat.

• Drinking too much is also linked to cirrhosis of the liver, obesity, decreased muscle function and strength, decreased testosterone levels, and CHD.

5. Eat as little sugar as possible. Plain and simple, sugar makes you fat. In any amount. Sugar has no nutritional value and has a worse effect on blood sugar levels than white bread, plus it rots your teeth. In my opinion too much sugar in the diet is the #1 reason for body fat gain and obesity. Read nutrition labels and choose foods with low sugar levels. Skip the gushers, sugary cereals (lucky charms, cocoa puffs, fruity pebbles, etc.), and other sugary foods and choose whole grain, natural foods. You’ll stay fuller longer and stay leaner.

6. Avoid Aspartame, Splenda (Sucralose), High Fructose Corn Syrup, and other artificial sweeteners. Many people believe that weight maintenance is as simple as calories in vs. calories out, and replacing sugar with calorie free artificial sweeteners is a quick fix. It’s not. Artificial sweeteners are bad for the body and may actually be more unhealthy than regular sugar. The body wasn't meant to ingest chemicals on a regular basis. Even though these products don’t have physical “energy units” or calories, they still have a significant psychological effect on the brain. The brain associates sweetness with calories--the sweetness-calorie link--but in the absence of calories the body goes into shock. As a result, the body overcompensates by stimulating appetite to account for the missing calories and you actually end up eating more as a result. Interestingly, aspartame has also been shown to break down into its poisonous components when it reaches high temperatures. Army soldiers have actually gotten Methanol (a component of Aspartame) poisoning from drinking Diet Coke that was exposed to extreme temperatures. That can't be good for you...

• HFCS works a little differently. As the name suggests, HFCS has extremely high levels of fructose--a type of sugar found in fruit. Unlike sucrose and glucose, which can be metabolized by all cells in the body, fructose must be metabolized in the liver. Because HFCS has extremely high levels of fructose, much higher than in fruit and whole foods, it dumps the excessive amounts of fructose on the liver all at once, which has no choice but to convert the HFCS into fat. This eventually causes excessive fat build-up in the liver, cirrhosis, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. 
• Additionally, because HFCS is able to skip the normal digestion process and go directly the liver, the body never gets any fuller, fat is constantly deposited, and the body gets stuck in an endless cycle of eating. HFCS is responsible for increasing obesity and is one of the main reasons why America has become so fat.
• Recently, crystalline fructose has been emerged as a sweetener in a lot of so-called "health drinks" such as VitaminWater Zero. Crystalline fructose actually has higher levels of fructose than HFCS, making it even more horrible for the body. Avoid it. 
• There is still a lot of research that has to be done about the health implications of each of these sweeteners, but my personal advice is to avoid them whenever possible. It's impractical to avoid all artificial sweeteners all the time, but moderation is key.
• If you need to sweeten use Stevia, it's a healthier and more natural alternative.

7. Drink water all day. Water is essential for life and is responsible for carrying out almost all of the body's functions. It prevents dehydration, maintains body temperature, and serves as a way to clean out various toxins from the body. Drinking cold water can also boost metabolism and keep it going throughout the day, burning a bunch of extra calories. Water also helps suppress appetite.

8. No soda or sugary drinks. Avoid all soda, including diet kinds (loaded with aspartame and splenda), and other sugary drinks such as Gatorade, Yoohoo, non-natural fruit juices, Hawaiian Punch, etc. Most of these drinks are nothing more than sugar water loaded with chemicals, HFCS, and other artificial sweeteners. Drinks are a terrible way to spend calories because they don’t suppress appetite and have no nutritional value, plus all the sugar gets converted into fat. Always choose water, green tea, milk or other natural drinks to quench your thirst. Did you know that if you replace one 120 calories can of soda every day with a glass of water you would save 43,800 calories, or 12.5 pounds.

• From personal experience, back in the day when I weighed a lot more than I do now I used to drink a ton of diet soda. I stopped all together and lost 10 pounds without making any other changes. I'm a firm believer that diet soda, as well as regular soda, is a big contributor to obesity.

9. No soy! Soy is not a health food, it’s a product that’s falsely marketed as a health food. Soy is genetically modified, pumped with chemicals and preservatives, and loaded with toxins. Soy has been shown to negatively affect thyroid function, which is responsible for regulating metabolism, inhibits the body's uptake of vitamins and minerals from food, and increases phytoestrogen levels. Increased estrogen lowers testosterone, a hormone responsible for muscle growth, alters the areas where fat is deposited, and is extremely detrimental to muscle gain.

10. Protein is king. Protein is the ultimate nutrient for building a lean physique. It’s the building block of new tissue in the body, creates antibodies and hemoglobin, and is essential for maintaining muscle mass. Protein has a high thermogenic effect, which means that it raises body's core temperature and burns off extra calories through digestion. It also helps keep the body fuller longer. If you’re serious about building muscle or burning fat, high protein levels are essential. Eggs, fish, chicken, beef, milk, protein powder, and cottage cheese are great sources. Eat protein constantly throughout the day, ideally at every meal.

11. Eat the yolk. There's a ton of debate about whether to eat egg whites alone or the whole egg. Eat the yolk. Yep, the yolk has more calories and a little cholesterol, but it also has almost all of the nutrients. Many studies have also begun to show that egg yolks raise HDL and LDL levels simultaneously, offsetting any of the negative health effects. Egg whites are essentially only protein, which is great, but otherwise they have very little nutritional value. Some farms are now adding Omega-3s to the diets of their chickens, which increases the Omega-3 content in the eggs. Check out the chart for a breakdown between the egg white and yolk. I’ll roll with the yolk any day, it's jam-packed with pretty much everything...

12. Get your antioxidants! Antioxidants are so vital. They protect the body against free radicals, harmful free-roaming oxygen molecules that cause cellular damage, cancer, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s Disease, rheumatoid arthritis, premature aging, and about 50 other diseases. Antioxidants help keep skin clear, delay aging, and also prevent inflammation. The “antioxidant vitamins” are E, C, and beta-carotene (a form of vitamin A).  Antioxidant levels in foods are measured by their Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity or ORAC score. The higher the score the higher the level of antioxidants. The chart below a few foods with high ORAC scores, http://oracvalues.com is also a great source of info. Many berries, spices such as turmeric, cinnamon, chili powder, cloves, and garlic, as well as green tea are phenomenal antioxidant sources.

13.  Eat breakfast. Never, ever skip breakfast. Imagine how hungry you'd be if you ate at noon and not again until 8PM? That’s how the body feels after it goes through an 8 hour sleeping fast. It's absolutely critical to replenish your body, provide it with energy, and eat to get it out of the catabolic state, or the state in which your body uses its own muscle, fat, and tissue for fuel. Skipping breakfast will make you feel sluggish, tired, and mentally slow. Eat some eggs and oatmeal, or even a quick granola bar or bowl of cereal if you don't have the time to make something serious. Eat something. Eating breakfast also jump starts your metabolism.

14. No eating at least 2 hours before bed unless it’s protein. When you go to bed your body’s metabolism slows down and whatever is left in your stomach will be stored as fat. The one exception is protein. Drinking a protein shake, eating cottage cheese, or consuming some other source of protein is ideal because it stimulates your body’s metabolism for a few hours after consumption and provides a constant stream of amino acids to your muscles during rest. This aids the muscle building/preservation process and essentially reduces how much your metabolism slows down when you go to bed, which allows you to continuously burn calories. Carbs and fat will just sit in your stomach and convert to fat, and therefore should be avoided altogether around bed time. 

15. Eat 5-6 smaller meals. Eating small meals every 2-3 hours keeps your body’s metabolism revved up, keeps blood sugar levels under control, and allows for easier digestion. Your body has a much easier time digesting a small 500 calorie meal than it does digesting a huge 1000+ calorie binge. When you consume that many calories it takes your body a long time to finish digesting everything, and in the process many of those calories that are waiting to be burned get stored as fat. Additionally, large meals produce huge blood sugar and insulin spikes--smaller meals can help keep blood sugar levels suppressed. Small, frequent meals also helps ensure that you're eating healthy foods as opposed to snacking on junk.

16.  Center your diet around natural foods. Whenever possible eat natural, unprocessed foods. That means lots of fruits, vegetables, fish, chicken, and beef, nuts, etc. Eating natural foods ensures that you’re not eating a lot of chemicals and preservatives. These foods generally have the highest nutritional content and allow the body to get all of the essential vitamins and minerals. As a rule of thumb, avoid foods in a can, boxes or other packaging as often as possible.

17. Be a label reader. If you’re buying foods in a package ALWAYS check the nutrition label and ingredients first. Here are a few rules and guidelines:

a.      Ingredients are listed in order of how much of that ingredient is in the food. The first ingredient is the most abundant and the last ingredient is generally insignificant. This all depends on how many ingredients there are. As a rule of thumb the less ingredients the better. More ingredients means more artificial crap.

b.      Anything with HFCS, vegetable shortening, and partially hydrogenated oils should never be eaten.

c.       Avoid foods with aspartame, crystalline fructose, sucralose, saccharin, maltodextrin, and erythritol.

d.      Sugar should not be the 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd ingredient. If it is put it back on the shelf.

e.      Anything with over 7g of sugar is very high in sugar and should be avoided.

f.       Check wheat bread to make sure that white flour is not listed.

A Picture of HFCS & Obesity...or Two

This stuff is nasty...cut it out. 

Although I don't think that obesity can be directly attributed to only increased high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) consumption, there's no doubt that HFCS has been one of the major factors.

I've posted on HFCS and insulin before (here), but here's a quick recap of what HFCS does to the body.

The High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) Story:

• There are many different types of sugar, a few include: lactose, which is found in dairy products, fructose, which is found in fruits, and glucose which is a product of carbohydrate breakdown. These sugars are not chemically identical and have much different effects on our blood sugar levels. Most fruits have a relatively low glycemic index value (low glycemic index foods raise blood sugar levels at a slower rate). Even though they're high in sugar, they're slower digesting because they're primarily composed of fructose (which digests slower than other types of sugar).
• Sugar is made up of 50% fructose and 50% glucose. HFCS is a chemical meant to imitate sugar that's made up of a higher % of fructose depending on the type (hence the name "high fructose"). Typical HFCS is 55% fructose, 45% glucose, but some variations can go as high as 92% fructose. 
• The issue with HFCS is that our body, in particularly the liver, isn't used to such a high % of fructose in normal sugar.
• The high fructose component of HFCS is sent directly to the liver and completely bypasses the bloodstream. In the 1000 years of existence our liver has never had to deal with such a high amount of fructose in sugar. It doesn't know what to do with it--so it converts it into fat immediately and sends it out to the fat tissue to be stored. 
• What's even worst is that because HFCS skips the bloodstream it has no effect on our hunger levels and we keep eating more and more. Because we never get any hungrier this creates an endless cycle of HFCS consumption, fat gain, and ultimately obesity. 

The rest of the story in pictures...

http://www.oneclickdiet.com/high_fructose_corn_syrup_consumption.html

Gary Taubes Takes on Dr. Oz , What's the Best Diet?

A really controversial debate between Dr. Oz and Gary Taubes just aired that discussed the fundamentals of dieting and weight loss. Taube's somehow thought he was convincing Dr. Oz that his methods were legit...I mean it's not that big of a deal that Dr. Oz is only a heart surgeon and joint MD/MBA from the UPenn med school/Wharton.

Taubes' school of dieting is based on a few principles, most notably the ideas that:

• energy expenditure, exercise, and the amount of calories you take in don't mean anything
• fat gain/loss is entirely predicated on keeping insulin levels as low as possible
• there shouldn't be any carbs in the diet other than green leafy vegetables, and the majority of the diet should be comprised of foods high in saturated fat (e.g. bacon, lard, fatty steak)

I agree with Taubes that controlling insulin is a HUGE factor for fat manipulation, but his whole approach is so fundamentally wrong on a number of levels. First, although I do whole-heartedly agree that the notion of calories in vs. calories out (we'll call it CICO) is relied on way too heavily by dieters--and realistically is only one of the many factors that control fat gain/loss--the fact that he totally disregards CICO/energy expenditure is ridiculous. I don't care how low your insulin is, if you're overeating based on your body's caloric needs and low levels of activity, you will get fat. You couldn't possibly try to convince me that if I ate 10,000 calories per day, albeit all low insulinogenic foods, I wouldn't get fat...I'd say you're clinically insane.

Next, cutting out carbs altogether isn't sustainable and it isn't healthy...look at Atkins. The body and mind need energy to function and perform well on a day-to-day basis--that energy comes primarily from carbs. Cut out refined/simple carbs altogether, but complex carbs and fruit are essential to a healthy lifestyle. It's just not practical or smart to stop eating carbs--your diet would be devoid of so many vital vitamins and minerals, not to mention fiber. I eat plenty of complex, slow digesting carbs and I seem to be doing just fine for myself.

Also, his theory that saturated fat doesn't impact health is completely wrong and has about a google's worth of scientific studies/published research to refute his claim. Everything he says about cholesterol in Part 3 is so idiotic and ludacris...it's complete BS. I agree that total cholesterol levels don't mean much, but the notion that LDL cholesterol doesn't mean anything is absurd. There's also something to be said for the fact that he has no clue at all about what his cholesterol levels are and doesn't want them checked...seriously!? How can you claim something works when you have no proof yourself. Just my 2 cents.

Check out the interviews, they're really interesting and worth watching:
Part 1: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/man-who-thinks-everything-dr-oz-says-wrong-pt-1
Part 2: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/man-who-thinks-everything-dr-oz-says-wrong-pt-2
Part 3: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/man-who-thinks-everything-dr-oz-says-wrong-pt-3

What's your view? Do you agree with me or Taubes, or somewhere else on the dietary spectrum?