weight loss Posts - Born Fitness

Can You Gain Weight From Eating Too Little?

Adam Bornstein — Sun, 25 Apr 2021 18:34:05 +0000

There’s a myth about weight loss and “starvation mode” that has done so much harm over the years. Even if you read one sentence and leave this article, make sure you know the following:

You will not gain weight from eating too few calories.

There are many reasons why it can seem like under-eating can lead to weight gain. But, science has shown over and over again that this isn’t physiologically possible.

So, what’s happening with all the low-calorie diets that don’t seem to ever lead to more weight loss, and, too often, cause weight gain?

There are 3 primary reasons that create diet deception. But, first, it’s important how dieting sets up you to eat more than you think.

The Hardest Part of Dieting

One of the hardest parts of dieting is that as you lose weight your body makes it easier to gain back. That’s because hormone levels change (particularly leptin), and that manipulates your hunger. The more you lose, the hungrier you become.

This matters because hunger can work in subtle ways. And, when your brain is pushing you to eat a little more here and there (especially if you’re exercising and rationalizing the ability to eat a few extra calories), it’s very easy to eat more than you think (more on this in a moment).

And, this becomes even more complicated when you consider that your body likely has a “set point.” This weight where your body likes to settle, and changing out of that set point is difficult when your body will almost force you to try and stick at that weight.

When you combine these two factors (your brain wanting more food and your body wanting to stick at a certain weight), weight loss quickly becomes a frustrating process for most people.

Once your frustration kicks in, you might even try to fight your body and win the war on weight loss by reducing calories again to make the scale drop.

And what happens? The scale doesn’t move or you appear to be gaining weight.

It’s enough to make you feel like your body must be broken. Or, maybe you wonder if it’s gluten…or dairy…or artificial sweeteners that are making you fat. So, you start restricting foods left and right, only to become more miserable.

While your frustration is real, rest assured your body is not broken, and artificial sweeteners or dairy are likely not the problems.

3 Reasons You Gain Weight (When You Least Expect It)

In our experience with online coaching clients, we’ve seen everything. And, when it comes to weight loss, there are three common reasons you might continue to struggle with weight loss, even if it seems like you’re doing everything right.

All of the reasons, ultimately, are linked to how much you’re eating. While all calories are not equal, calories-in and calories-out (also known as energy balance) is still the main mechanism that determines weight loss and gains.

As we already mentioned, you can’t under-eat your way to weight gain. But, you can appear to be under-eating and still gaining weight.

To make your life easier, we want to make sure you can easily identify all of the sneaky ways you can be tricked into following a diet that only leads to added frustration and a scale that won’t move.

Foods With Hidden Calories

Whether you’re a dieting pro or don’t know the difference between a carbohydrate and protein, hidden calories suck and they are everywhere.

A perfect example is the oils you add to cooking and salads. Most of us don’t realize just how small a tablespoon really is, and how something so simple can add hundreds or thousands of “stealthy” calories to your diet.

It’s frustratingly simple for hidden calories to pile up quickly day-over-day, and week-over-week, and that’s all it takes to keep you on a plateau or even gain weight, despite your best efforts.

Rather than worrying about counting calories, it’s important to easily recognize where most hidden calories are typically found.

See the graphic below, so you can think twice when you eat. What makes all of these hidden-calorie foods so difficult is that they are calorically dense. That means, even if they are healthy for you (which several of them are), just a small serving packs a big punch of calories, which is why it’s so simple to eat much more than you thought.

The 2,000-Calorie Diet Deception

Because very few of us spend our time measuring and weighing food (and rightfully so), it can be shocking to learn just how much we underestimate the number of calories we consume a day.

Research backs this frustration reality. On average, people will underestimate their caloric intake by 30 percent, and sometimes they can estimate by as much as 45 percent. That makes a big difference.

And, to be fair, a lot of people will make it seem like this is an education issue, but even pros can’t tell how much food is in a meal.

I’ve had the same issue. And, it can be minor things. Like how my “1 spoonful” of Justin’s Maple Almond Nut Butter is closer to eating half a jar. You might not keep track, but your body does.

What to do? You certainly don’t need to count calories, but a helpful (and ey-opening) exercise is to track what you eat for 2 or 3 days.

Much like tracking how much money you spend in a week can show you were you can save more, understanding calories can show you how 1 or 2 small tweaks can create awareness that makes it much easier for you to adjust your diet without going into complete restriction.

Case in point: many people think that you need to completely cut out dessert or other treats. But, that type of approach usually leads to you breaking your plan.

Instead, if you think of it like a leaky bucket approach and you plug the minor leaks, you can have more freedom…and a lot more results, too.

Calories-In, Calories-Out Is Confusing

We mentioned that calories are still the main factor, but that doesn’t mean you need to count them. It also doesn’t mean that “calories in” or “calories out” is simple for you to understand. So, let’s change that.

When we talk about “calories-in” and “calories-out”, it’s more than just what you’re eating or your exercise

All of the following factors can influence the equation:

the composition of your meals (protein, carbs, fats), which has an impact on your metabolism
your body type
the percentage of muscle or body fat on your body
your hormones
your genetics
your environment
how you slept last night]
your levels of stress

Let’s just take one small example. When you eat a meal, each type of food (proteins, carbs, and fats) hasve a different “thermic effect of food” or TEF. This is the rate at which your body metabolizes a meal. Or, in other words, it’s how many additional calories you’ll burn when you eat a specific food.

Protein has the highest TEF, which ranges from 25 to 35 percent.

Comparatively, carbs are only 6 to 8 percent, and fats are the least metabolically active with a TEF of about 3-5 percent.

That means if two people each eat a 500-calorie meal, but one person has more protein and the other person has more fat, the “calories-in” model will look different for each individual, even if they are having the exact same number of calories.

All of which is to say, many factors matter in determining how your body stores (and burns) calories. So, when frustration kicks in, don’t give up on yourself, don’t try to be perfect, and remember that there’s no use in trying to outsmart the system.

It’s not that we’re lying (though we can sometimes deceive ourselves, and others, about our intake). More than anything, it’s that we struggle to estimate portion sizes and calorie counts.

This is especially difficult today when plates and portions are bigger than ever. And energy-dense, incredible tasting, and highly brain-rewarding “foods” are ubiquitous, cheap, and socially encouraged.

Instead, search for a diet you think you can follow. And when you start following it, add checks and balances to keep you accountable, and support to remove the need for “perfection.” And then other systems that ensure you won’t be overeating without your own knowledge.

If you need help with finding the right diet, or someone to help you with those checks and balances, our online coaching program may be right for you. Every client is assigned two coaches — one for nutrition and one for fitness. Find out more here.

Have questions? Share them in the comments below.

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The Beginner’s Guide To Fat Loss

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Can You Gain Weight From Eating Too Little? appeared first on Born Fitness.

Big Meals vs. Small Snacks: What’s Best for You?

Adam Bornstein — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 18:58:34 +0000

If you’ve read a diet book, seen a nutritionist, or hired a personal trainer, you’ve probably been told that in order to lose weight or gain muscle you need to eat small, frequent meals.

The reasons range from explanations that suggest big meals harm your digestion or not eating frequently enough slows your metabolism. In most scenarios, it’s recommended that you have 2 to 3 small meals and 2 to 3 snacks, which means you’re eating every 2-3 hours for a total of 4 to 6 meals per day.

The problem? Research doesn’t back up all of the claims of grazing throughout the day.

Before you get frustrated, there’s plenty of information that can help you figure out how many meals are best for your body. It’s a mix of science, understanding your goals, and lifestyle preferences.

Once you consider all three variables, it becomes easy to decide if you want to eat big meals or small snacks (or both), or if you want to eat more frequently or just have 2 to 3 larger meals each day.

The Science: Does Eating More Often Burn More Fat?

Every time you put food in your mouth, you burn calories. When you eat, your inner machinery (AKA metabolism) works to break down the food you eat.

This process, known as the thermic effect of food (or TEF) requires energy, explains why you burn some calories when you eat. It’s the main reason why people have suggested eating more often.

The premise is simple: if you burn calories when you eat, then eating more often should burn more calories.

But, almost every time researchers have compared more frequent meals and snacks to fewer meals, subjects don’t burn more fat.

The reason is pretty simple: it’s not how often you eat that influences your metabolism, it’s what you eat and how much.

Each type of food you eat (proteins, carbs, and fats) uses different amounts of energy. Protein is the most metabolically expensive—it needs more energy to break down, digest, and put to use than either carbohydrates or fat. In fact, up to 30 percent of the calories you eat from protein are burned during the digestion and processing of those foods.

That’s one of the main reasons why diets with protein are so great; the more protein you eat, the more calories you burn. Carbohydrates are less metabolically active (about 6 to 8 percent burned), and fats are the least metabolically active (about 3 to 5 percent burned).

Using that framework, it’s easier to understand how the number of calories you burn is directly proportional to caloric intake and the foods you eat. In other words, if you eat the same foods and balance calories, there’s no metabolic difference between eating three meals or six.

And it’s not just your metabolism. In a review of all meal frequency studies published in the Journal of International Society of Sports Nutrition, research suggests that meal frequency does not play a role in changing your body composition.

There are reasons why eating less frequently could be a better choice for your weight loss goals. Researchers at the University of Kansas Medical Center found that eating more frequently is less beneficial for feeling full.

This isn’t a hard rule, but it does suggest that the act of eating could make you feel hungrier more often, which could mean you’ll take in more calories.

Does Eating More Often Build More Muscle?

There are two primary factors that will influence muscle building from a dietary perspective: total calories and protein.

Total calories are the most important factor in adding weight or building muscle. Just as you need to reduce energy to lose weight, you need to increase energy (calories to gain weight).

Recent research compared 3 meals per day with 6 meals per day during an 8-week weight gain plan. The scientists discovered that — as long as calories were equal — eating more frequent meals did not lead to more weight or muscle gain.

Even more interesting is that the difference in meals didn’t affect hunger, either. So, calories and total protein are still the North Star for muscle gain. But, there’s one reason you might want to increase how often you eat.

Research that looked at how much protein your body can use per meal for muscle building suggests that spreading out your meals might have a benefit. Specifically, the research found:

Based on the current evidence, we conclude that to maximize anabolism one should consume protein at a target intake of 0.4 g/kg/meal across a minimum of four meals in order to reach a minimum of 1.6 g/kg/day. Using the upper daily intake of 2.2 g/kg/day reported in the literature spread out over the same four meals would necessitate a maximum of 0.55 g/kg/meal.

Translation: if muscle building is your primary goal, and you don’t want to overthink how much protein you need, it’s might be easiest to have 4 meals per day, each with similar or equal amounts of protein to help you maximize your natural muscle-building ability.

That said, if you prefer to eat 3 meals per day instead of 4, as the other research has shown, you can still effectively add size.

Are There Health Benefits of Frequent Meals?

Much like weight loss and muscle gain, how many calories you eat and the composition of those calories (getting enough protein, carbs, and fats to support your needs) will have the biggest impact on your health.

But, some research suggests your meal frequency could influence other considerations such as your gut health and inflammation.

A review published in Nutrients suggests that eating less frequently could improve gut health and reduce inflammation. But, that research considered many other factors, such as having consistent eating patterns (eating around the same time and the same number of meals) and eating more calories earlier in the day.

So, while it’s hard to say at this point if fewer means better health, it does suggest that there could be some value with how you eat and sticking to a consistent routine, whether that’s more or fewer meals per day.

What Is The Best Meal Plan Approach?

The best approach to your diet is the one that is sustainable for you and fits your lifestyle. Given that most research shows equal benefits of eating more or less frequently, it’s better to consider lifestyle factors that will make it easier for you to follow healthy habits.

If you’re not someone who loves to cook, eating more often could be problematic because you might be more prone to eating packaged foods that contain more calories.

If eating large meals “opens the flood gates” and turns you into a bottomless pit, then small, frequent meals could limit the extreme hunger.

No matter what, just remember you can eat as many meals—or as few—as you want.

And, as we’ve discussed before, your habits will determine your success much more than any specific diet or meal plan.

Many diets work, and your body primarily functions and responds to how much you eat, what you eat, and the sources of food you select.

Bottom line: If eating more frequently works best for you and your schedule, then you should cater to your preferences. But, if you prefer fewer, larger meals, then you can confidently eat that way without worrying that it’s harming your metabolism or limiting your results.

Struggling with Your Diet?

Get your questions answered. Sign up for Born Fitness online coaching. To learn more, click here.

Do Carbs Actually Make You Fat?

Breakfast is Not the Most Important Meal of the Day

Winning the War on Hunger: Practical Solutions to Overeating

Adam Bornstein

The post Big Meals vs. Small Snacks: What’s Best for You? appeared first on Born Fitness.

Do Carbs Make You Fat?

Adam Bornstein — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 19:41:33 +0000

Few things strike as much fear and create as much confusion as carbohydrates.

Are carbs bad? Are carbs unhealthy? Do carbs make you fat?

If you look back at the history of dieting, this is nothing new. In the 80s and 90s, you could replace “carbs” with “fat” and you’d be having the same conversation.

But, as time goes on and research improves we should have a better sense of what drives weight gain and weight loss. Unfortunately, carbs missed the science train and been stuck on the pseudoscience rollercoaster.

For years, I’ve heard some variation of, “I know that if I eat fewer calories I’ll lose weight. But, if I eat a couple of slices of bread or some rice, I’ll get fat.”

Fortunately, this isn’t true. You can eat carbs. Anyone can. And they are not the cause of weight gain. However, there are a few details that will help you figure out how many carbs you can eat and the types of carbs that are likely to be best for your body.

Why Do People Think Carbs Are Bad?

The easy answer is that most of the delicious foods that we can easily associate with weight gain also happen to be carbohydrates. Think candies, cookies, donuts, and any other deliciousness you can find at a bakery. All sugary sodas (and sugar, for that matter) fall into the carbohydrate category.

There are certain limits on how many (and how much) of those foods you can eat. They are not 100 percent off-limits (here are some guidelines for how much sugar you can have, and it’s not zero), but the more you eat those foods, the more you’re likely to pack on pounds.

But, carbohydrates also include fruits and vegetables, oats and grains, quinoa, and lentils. The Mediterranean Diet, which has a good amount of research supporting its ability to help maintain a healthy weight and reduce the likelihood of heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases, is a high-carb diet that features all of those healthy carb options.

Even rice — yes, white rice too — is a staple of the Japanese diet, which is linked to longer life and lower weight.

Some of the confusion is linked to the carbohydrate-insulin model of obesity. In a nutshell, this theory states that obesity is caused by carbohydrates, not calories. The idea is that carbohydrates increase insulin, which reduces the way our body is typically fueled (by glucose and free fatty acids). Instead, the insulin drives fat into our fat cells, we gain weight, become hungrier for more carbs (and insulin), and this becomes a hamster-wheel of weight gain.

There’s just one problem: whenever the model is tested, the claims don’t hold up and research does not suggest that carbs make us fat.

Just as importantly, if carbs were the driver of weight gain, then other macronutrients (like fat), arguably wouldn’t make us gain weight.

But, that’s also not the case. Two different studies have compared what happens when you eat too many carbs or fat. (You can find the research here and here.) What happened? Overeating fat resulted in the same outcome as overeating carbs, and sometimes overeating fat led to more fat gain than overeating carbs.

Now, this doesn’t prove that eating carbs don’t make you fat. However, it’s evidence that suggests you can gain weight regardless of insulin levels.

In other words, the goal isn’t to avoid carbs completely, but, instead, find the sweet spot for your body so you can enjoy foods, stress less, and be in control of your weight.

Are Higher-Carb Diets Healthy?

A healthy diet can (and arguably should) include carbs. After all, carbs help fuel many important processes in your body. This includes:

Powering your heart and brain.
Fueling anaerobic activity (think weight lifting) via glycolysis (the breakdown of carbohydrates).
Helping with recovery by restocking glycogen (carb stores) that has been depleted through hard training.
Supporting an anabolic (muscle-building) environment after training.

Safe to say carbs are not bad, regardless of your activity level. But, eating in a way that supports your activity level is important so that excess carbs don’t become unwanted weight gain.

Some people will thrive on more carbs, while others require less. The easy way to determine how many carbs you need (and how high you can go with your carb intake) is based on your activity levels (more on this soon).

That said, you can be very healthy on a higher-carb diet, and, at the very least, you should feel comfortable having some carbs in your diet without fear that it will lead to weight gain.

Need proof? The best example is a meta-analysis that compared carbohydrate intake ranging anywhere from 4 (super low carbs) to 45 percent (pretty high) of total calories, and fat content at 30 percent or lower in low-fat diets.

Here’s what the researchers found:

Low-fat diets were slightly more effective at lowering total cholesterol and LDL.
Low-carb diets were more effective at increasing HDL and decreasing triglycerides
Neither diet was more effective than the other at reducing body weight, waist girth, blood pressure, glucose, and insulin levels.

This overall lack of differential effects led the authors to conclude that both low-carb and low-fat diets are viable options for reducing weight and improving metabolic risk factors. Read that one again.

And it’s not like this was a small study. It included 23 trials from multiple countries and totaled 2,788 participants.

What’s more, the cuisines of some of the healthiest populations in the world consist of diets that are heavy on carbs. The best examples are “The Blue Zones,” which are known as “longevity hotspots that have the longest life expectancies and the lowest rates of chronic and degenerative diseases.”

The main energy sources for all of these Blue Zones are carbohydrates. Need more evidence? The Top-10 countries in the world with the lowest obesity rates all consume a carb-dominant diet.

OK, So What Are Healthy Carbs?

The easy answer is fruits and vegetables. The more complicated answer is that any type of carb can fit into your diet if you know how many carbs (and what types) you need, based on your activity levels.

People who exercise regularly have very different dietary needs than sedentary populations.

If you are relatively sedentary or most of your exercise consists of low-intensity activities (such as walking), then you won’t burn through as many carbohydrates. In other words, if you don’t exercise often or at a higher intensity, your carbohydrate needs are much less.

If you’re inactive, you really only need to worry about providing adequate carbohydrates to fuel your brain and central nervous system at rest, which is primarily regulated by your liver glycogen stores.

Could you go the super low carb route? Of course, that’s also an option. But, for most people, it’s unsustainable and it does not offer any type of superior fat burning.

So, if it’s a good system for the way you like to eat, then you can cut carbs very low. If not, you just need to lower how many carbs you eat, not eliminate them completely.

How Many Carbs Should You Eat?

If you’re more inactive, an effective low-carb, non-ketogenic diet can be accomplished with roughly 100 to 125 grams of carbs a day from non-starchy vegetables, legumes (like beans), whole fruit, as well as a little bit of starch (such as oats, rice, or even pasta or bread). Preferably, the starch will only make up about 30 percent of your carb intake.

But, here’s the key point: 100 to 125 grams of carbohydrates is hardly a “no carb” diet, but it’s still low-carb.

High carbohydrate intakes, on the other hand, are more appropriate for gym rats and athletes that engage in intense muscle tearing, glycogen (carbohydrate)-depleting training sessions.

When you exercise, your body undergoes cyclical depletion (through training) and repletion (through carb intake) of muscle glycogen stores. As a point of reference, your muscles can store about 300 to 600 grams of carbohydrates.

The more you weigh (or the more you want to weigh), the higher you can go on the carb scale. And the more you train intensely, the more carbs you can eat and store as part of your recovery and growth.

While it’s true that lower-carb diets provide many health benefits and can help with weight loss, don’t confuse “low carb” with no carbs. Dropping all carbs is unnecessary, and — in many cases — that extra behavior leads to extreme struggles that result in binges and weight gain.

Instead, enjoy your carbs. Eat them based on your activity level and your personal experiences and sensitivities with different types of foods. If you’ve struggled with dieting, accepting that carbs are good and won’t make you fat is one of the most liberating decisions you can make.

Eat The Way You Want (Carbs included)

If you want help building muscle, losing fat, or for me to personally design a customized exercise and diet plan, join me in my coaching program. You can apply here.

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Adam Bornstein

The post Do Carbs Make You Fat? appeared first on Born Fitness.

Milk Isn’t Bad For You (But 6 Types of People May Want to Avoid It)

Barbara Brody — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 22:49:59 +0000

If you’re old enough, the saying used to go: Milk, it does a body good.

But, somewhere between the marketing magic created by The Dairy Farmers of America and the movement towards organic-everything, and the fear of any type of processed food, milk fell out of favor. One of the original super “superfoods” went from a staple of every meal to being replaced by variations derived from almonds, cashews, peas, and oats.

But, the question remains: does milk do a body good, or is it something you should limit or avoid.

In theory, the fear of dairy milk — or any “natural” food — should be limited. “Any kind of natural food is not inherently bad; it’s eating patterns that can contribute to disease,” says Robin Foroutan, RDN, an integrative dietician at the Morrison Center in New York City and a spokesperson for the National Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

In other words, there’s little reason to think that any individual whole food on its own is going to ruin your diet. Milk from dairy isn’t dangerous. In fact, milk is one of the most nutrient-dense foods you can find. But, milk also isn’t for everyone. And that’s where the answer takes shape.

If you’re trying to determine whether dairy milk can be a part of your healthy nutrition plan, whether it’s in your coffee, cereal, or just a cold glass to enjoy, here’s what you need to know about milk’s benefits, dairy’s risks, and who would be better off cutting back or going dairy-free.

The Benefits of Dairy Milk

How does a food that used to be universally considered healthy become questioned by so many? After all, milk consumption has decreased about 40 percent since 1975 (even though dairy consumption– thanks to foods like cheese and yogurt — has increased). The biggest factor, as we’ll discuss, is the fear of allergies or lactose sensitivity. And then, there are those that fear the hormones in cows. (More on both of these concerns below.

Back in 2016, research was published that reviewed the majority of research (both observational studies and random controlled trials) on dairy milk. The general scientific takeaways make you wonder why people would avoid milk:

In adults, intake of dairy products was shown to improve body composition and facilitate weight loss during energy restriction. In addition, intake of milk and dairy products was associated with a neutral or reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, particularly stroke. Furthermore, the evidence suggested a beneficial effect of milk and dairy intake on bone mineral density but no association with risk of bone fracture. Among cancers, milk and dairy intake was inversely associated with colorectal cancer, bladder cancer, gastric cancer, and breast cancer, and not associated with risk of pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, or lung cancer, while the evidence for prostate cancer risk was inconsistent.

Again, that doesn’t mean you need milk, but it does mean there are many benefits if you decide to drink it. Cow’s milk undeniably packed with many vitamins and minerals your body wants.

“Milk is a great source of protein, calcium, vitamin D, which are ‘nutrients of concern’ in the U.S. population,” meaning that many people don’t get enough, says Vasanti Malik, PhD, a research scientist in the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “It also contains magnesium, along with other minerals and nutrients.”

“If you don’t consume dairy, it’s really hard to get enough calcium,” which is crucial for strong bones, says Ali Webster, PhD, RD, Associate Director of Nutrition Communications for the International Food Information Council Foundation. The vitamin D and potassium in milk are also important for bone health.

Webster acknowledges that you can’t rely solely on milk to fight osteoporosis. You also need magnesium (milk has some but isn’t a great source) and vitamin K (found in leafy greens, fish, meat, and eggs)—but it does help you check off a lot of these boxes at once.

That said, milk isn’t the sole source of bone-supporting nutrients. A cup of spinach, for instance, has 350 mg calcium (slightly more than the 300 mg found in a cup of milk), and also provides fiber and folate. A 6-oz can of salmon with bones provides 380 mg of calcium, plus heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

The benefits of milk go beyond general health. Milk is one of the best muscle-building foods given its composition of protein. In fact, it’s the basis of both whey protein and casein protein. If you’re drinking either one of those protein shakes, each of those powders started as milk.

How Much Milk Should You Drink?

If you do choose to consume dairy, Malik says that one serving a day is a good baseline amount. Ashley Koff, RDN, CEO of The Better Nutrition Program, agrees. She tells clients who opt to include dairy in their diets to “accessorize” meals with it—say, one slice of cheese on a sandwich or a splash of milk in your coffee.

That might surprise you, considering that the USDA recommends 3 servings daily. But Koff, Malik, and Foroutan say that number isn’t necessary as a goal. Instead, think of milk as a source of vitamins, minerals, or protein that you might not get from other sources. The only people who might need that much dairy are children and the elderly because they tend to be picky eaters who might not otherwise get the nutrients they need.

What Happens if You Overdo It On Dairy

For starters, if you’re allergic, you’re asking for a world of discomfort. If your body can’t handle dairy, or, more specifically, lactose, then you shouldn’t drink it.

Assuming you like milk and aren’t allergic to it, most experts say it’s fine and arguably even healthy to continue drinking it—at least in moderation.

The main concern with eating too much dairy or drinking too much milk is the domino effect it could have on the rest of your diet. Dieticians worry that it could push out other healthy foods (like fruits and vegetables) from your diet, which could have a negative impact.

Sometimes, replacing milk leads to misleading conclusions about what’s really happening in your body. When people cut milk out of their diet and find they feel better, it’s often not because milk was wreaking havoc on their bodies (of course, assuming no allergy). It’s because their overall diet quality improves when they replace that dairy with more nutrient-dense produce and other whole foods.

Another thing to consider is that, unless you’re going with skim milk, the drink will contain saturated fat. While the effects of saturated fat are hotly debated and can be consumed in some amount, most health experts agree that increasing saturated fat consumption elevates cholesterol, which can in turn increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.

**Milk Myths You Don’t Need to Worry About**

Not all concerns about milk are created equal, at least from a scientific perspective. For example, rumors that consuming milk will mess with your hormones, or cause heart disease or diabetes are largely unfounded.

Most mainstream experts say that, with the exception of a possible increased risk of prostate cancer (more on that later), the quality of any evidence indicating that milk would be dangerous is pretty weak—think “associations” or “based on animal studies” rather than high-quality controlled trials.

Also, most studies purporting to show milk’s potential harms also need to be considered in the context of other contradictory research. For instance, a study published earlier this year in the British Journal of Nutrition found that eating full-fat dairy products increased the risk of pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes—yet a 2016 study, published in the journal Circulation, found that eating full-fat dairy was associated with a lower diabetes risk.

Does Milk Make You Fat?

If you’ve heard that milk will make you fat, that’s not proven, either.

“It’s true that milk comes from mammals and has a biological purpose—to feed infants so they can grow up and develop,” says Foroutan.

Milk naturally contains growth hormone as well as IGF-1 (insulin like growth factor-1) — both of which are designed to make animals get bigger. But there’s really no proof that the amount found in milk would contribute to obesity—nor is it enough to make you get jacked. (As we already mentioned, there is some proof that drinking milk after a workout can help you build muscle, mostly thanks to the protein content).

Of course, if you eat ice cream every day or put cheese on everything, you might very well gain weight. But if you eat dairy—even full-fat dairy—in small amounts, it might actually help you slim down. “Fat sends an important signal to the brain that you’re full, which can help with portion control,” says Foroutan.

5 Reasons to Ditch Dairy

While research is always evolving, for now, the majority of evidence points to dairy being beneficial (or at least not harmful) for most people, says Webster.

The biggest issue is that each person’s body is unique. While most people seem to be able to tolerate at least some dairy, “if you don’t break it down well or have some sensitivity to it, then consuming dairy products may trigger inflammation,” says Foroutan.

If you’ve been thinking you might be better off going dairy-free, or at least limiting it to an occasional treat, these might be good reasons for you to make a change.

1. You’re lactose intolerant.

A true dairy allergy is relatively rare, but many people are lactose intolerant—meaning that they can’t properly digest the primary sugar (lactose) found in milk. As a result, eating anything with lactose triggers unpleasant GI symptoms like cramps, gas, or diarrhea.

“It’s easy to detect because you’d have a pretty quick response to eating or drinking something with lactose in it,” says Foroutan. If you’d like a more official diagnosis, ask your doctor for a lactose tolerance (blood) test or a hydrogen breath test.

If you are, in fact, lactose intolerant, you may still be able to eat certain types of dairy. While you’ll have to steer clear of milk and ice cream or suffer the consequences, hard cheeses and probiotic-rich yogurt usually don’t contain any lactose.

2. You’re not lactose intolerant, but dairy still upsets your stomach.

Maybe you’ve been tested for lactose intolerance and the test came back negative, but you swear that eating dairy makes your tummy feel lousy. You’re probably not imagining it.

Dairy contains proteins such as casein and whey, which can cause difficulties for some people, says Foroutan. “Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to test for a sensitivity,” she says.

If your gut is telling you that something is off, feel free to trust it. Or, consider doing an elimination diet: Give up all dairy for a few weeks, then do a “challenge” during which you introduce different types of dairy products one by one to see how you react. (Butter, for instance, doesn’t have much lactose, but it has casein and whey.) You may want to see a nutritionist for guidance during your experiment.

3. Milk makes you feel sluggish.

Digestive issues aren’t the only possible signs of an intolerance. Someone who feels bloated, tired, or sluggish after eating dairy might be sensitive to one or more of the components in it. “Some people don’t even notice until the next day; sometimes we call it a ‘food hangover,'” says Foroutan.

If that sounds like you, it might be worth eliminating dairy for a few weeks and slowly trying to reintroduce it to see if it’s really the culprit. But the bottom line is that if you feel better without dairy, you don’t have to have it.

4. You have a higher-than-average risk of prostate cancer.

The link between dairy consumption and several types of cancer is murky. Some studies, for instance, have said that it might raise the risk of breast cancer, whereas others show that it lowers it. (Most research seems to conclude that it’s associated with a lower risk of breast cancer.)

Prostate cancer is a little different. The proof that dairy substantially raises prostate cancer risk is hardly iron-clad, but there’s enough reason for experts (including those at the American Cancer Society) to be somewhat concerned.

“It’s not the strongest evidence, but it’s worth mentioning,” says Malik. “If you’re at high risk of prostate cancer—maybe you have a family history or your PSA (prostate specific antigen, which can be measured via a blood test) is elevated—you might consider decreasing dairy.”

5. You just don’t want to eat dairy.

For most healthy adults, the best reason to eat dairy is that you like it. If you’re vegan and don’t wish to consume anything that involves animals, or if you’re concerned about the toll that dairy farming takes on the environment, those are perfectly valid reasons to cut milk from your diet, says Malik.

Yes, you might struggle to get certain nutrients, like calcium, but there are other ways to meet your needs. Tofu, some beans, and certain leafy greens also contain calcium. When in doubt, consult a registered dietician.

Do You Need Milk? (And Key Takeaways)

The best advice you’ll find on milk, based on the current research, comes from Marion Nestle, Ph.D., a retired professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University.

“[The research] tells me that milk is a food like any other, meaning that its effects depend on everything else people are eating or doing. People who like milk can continue drinking it. Those who don’t like it don’t have to.”

In other words, your approach to milk should be a question of preference and tolerance. To recap what it might do for your diet and health, and why you might want to limit your intake:

Milk is a good source of calcium, vitamin D, protein, and potassium. These nutrients are crucial for good health (including bone health). But you can also get them from other sources too.
If you need a baseline and want milk, consider a goal of one serving a day.
If milk makes you feel sick, even if you’re not lactose intolerant, feel free to scale back or skip it entirely. You can get the nutrients found in dairy from other foods, or talk to your doctor about taking a supplement.
Some research has linked high dairy consumption with an increased risk of prostate cancer. If your risk for this disease is already elevated, you may want to limit or cut out dairy.

What is the Keto Diet? (And Should I Try It?)

Is Sugar Bad for You?

Fix Your Diet: Understanding Proteins, Carbs and Fats

The post Milk Isn’t Bad For You (But 6 Types of People May Want to Avoid It) appeared first on Born Fitness.

Holiday Diet Plans: The Broken Weight Loss Model

Adam Bornstein — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 16:47:14 +0000

I have a problem with the way we celebrate Thanksgiving. Well, it’s not really how Thanksgiving is celebrated as much as how people judge eating habits.

People need to stop freaking out about one day where diet rules seem to no longer exist.

Every year, you’ll see people (full disclosure: it’s usually fitness or nutrition pros) recommending complete withdrawal of your favorite foods, or showing you how many minutes of exercise you need to complete in order to burn off your 3 servings of pumpkin pie.

Back. Off.

The holiday isn’t prep for a bodybuilding competition. It’s a day designed to be with family, relax, express thanks, give back to those that have less, and — if you want to — eat a few more calories than you normally do.

People will say we should not use food as a reward. That makes sense.

But, that’s not what this is. Sometimes, food is part of culture and tradition. This is not a bad thing.

Want to know what’s really wrong?

Trying to convince people that overeating too many calories for one day will make a difference. It doesn’t.

What happens when you overeat? (The Surprising Science of Fat Gain)

You’ll see plenty of stats about how the average American will gain anywhere between 5 and 10 pounds between now and the end of the year on diet plans that lose all focus.

Guess what? That weight gain does not occur in a day or two.

Here’s the truth: if you were to overeat by 1,000 to 2,000 calories in one meal, you will not gain any fat. Even if you extend that to 3,000 calories, you’re not going to add any real fat to your body.

You might feel bloated. You might be holding water. But, that will regulate. Science shows that one bad meal does not cause fat gain. It doesn’t happen in a 24-hour cycle.

That’s the same flawed mentality that drives so many diet books to pinpoint one factor that causes weight gain or sparks weight loss.

Go ahead and eat to your heart’s content on Thanksgiving or Christmas.

If you still are stressed, turn your concerns into a math problem for stress relief (and some dietary sanity).

To gain weight, you need to eat roughly eat 3,500 more calories than you typically consume. (It’s probably even more than that. And yes, the old 3,500 calories equals a pound isn’t exactly accurate, but this example still proves a powerful point.)

So, let’s say you normally eat 2,000 calories per day. If you wanted to make any real damage to the scale, you’d probably need to consume at least 6,000 calories in a day.

That is a ton of calories. Even most surveys suggest that American’s only hit about 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving.

Many factors can cause weight gain. One bad day of eating — especially on a holiday — is not one of those causes.

Need more proof? Take the logic of one gluttonous day of eating and apply it to exercise.

Imagine if you spent one entire day exercising, burning calories, and being the human version of the Energizer Bunny (you keep going… and going… and going). And then the rest of the week (or month) you did nothing.

Would you really expect to be healthy, fit, and look incredible?

Of course not. That one day of massive calorie burn would not offset the energy imbalance created by the rest of the time.

With weight loss and gain, you have to see the bigger picture and understand that nothing occurs in a vacuum. You don’t gain muscle off of one set of curls; it’s the accumulation of volume and stress over time. And you don’t add fat from the infrequent binge, no matter how ridiculous the meal could become.

Is this a license to throw all caution to the wind, eat everything you want, and give the middle finger to a healthy diet? Of course not.

You should still eat with comfort and enjoyment in mind. If you’re doing anything to the point that you don’t feel good, then you’re probably pushing a little too aggressively.

Or, if you know from past experiences that one big indulgence leads to a month of bad habits, then it’s your job to put some restrictions on how much you eat to prevent the single day of enjoyment from turning into a longer period of time.

What To Do After You Overeat

When you have an “off” day and eat too much, you don’t need to do anything special. You simply need to return to better, normal eating habits.

Restriction and living in fear is not needed. Life is meant to be enjoyed, and sometimes that means eating foods that aren’t healthy, not punishing yourself for those behaviors, and acting like that these diet breaks are allowed (because they are).

Every day isn’t a party or a holiday. And you shouldn’t eat like it. But, when those days occur, food stress shouldn’t factor into the equation.

It might not seem healthy, but adding in a few days where you don’t have rules into the mix of many days when you have boundaries is a fair, reasonable trade.

It’s sustainable and will lead to better results. Because any diet that includes food you can enjoy with foods you know are good for you, is likely to be followed for a longer period of time, and that’s when you see the biggest transformations.

It might not sound exciting, but better health, less stress, and more good holiday. memories is something we can all celebrate.

Adam Bornstein

The post Holiday Diet Plans: The Broken Weight Loss Model appeared first on Born Fitness.

The Surprising Health Benefits of the 5-Minute Walk

Adam Bornstein — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 15:04:43 +0000

The idea of keeping it simple is something that is embraced in almost every area of life — except exercise. Unless a behavior is extreme or challenging, it’s assumed that it won’t work.

Believing this reality is not only likely to lead to injury and burnout, but it’s also a big reason why so many people struggle to see results, end up frustrated, and in general, miss out on all the ways that it’s easy to stay healthy.

Now, that’s not to say you don’t need to put in a little time and effort, but the time and effort needed to make a difference in your health and how you feel is probably much less than you imagine.

Whether you’re looking for a place to start your routine, or you’re trying to dial-it-in and make the small changes that will result in a big impact, it’s time for you to walk. Literally. Here’s why and how to start implementing walking for fat loss.

Is Walking Better Than Running?

The difference between “healthy habits” and “fat loss habits” is one of the hardest health concepts to grasp.

Just because something is healthy does not mean it leads to fat loss. The easiest example is a common diet mistake. You can eat a lot of “healthy” food, but if you eat too much of it, you’ll gain weight.

Conversely, just because something helps with fat loss does necessarily mean it’s healthy. Dr. Mark Haub, a professor at Kansas State University, proved this when he lost 27 pounds following a Twinkie diet.

The phenomenon is also true in exercise. All-too-often, people will argue about the “best” type of exercise.

Certain types of exercise, such as weight lifting, are more efficient for weight loss. And people will argue that weight lifting is more effective for fat loss than running.

It’s really a matter of time, goals, and capabilities. Yes, if you go for a run and push the intensity, then you will burn more calories. But, how often are you going for a run? And, is your goal to be a better runner?

Let’s say you only ran 2 days per week for 45 minutes. But, let’s also say you hated it, it led to some aches and pains, and those feels (emotionally and physically) made you a very inconsistent runner.

Now, compare that to going on a 30-minute walk 5 days per week, at a brisk pace while listening to your favorite podcast.

Your total amount of exercise (150 minutes vs. 90 minutes) would increase, the frequency of your movement would be more (5 days per week vs. 2 days), the stress on your joints would be reduced, your stress levels would go down, and your motivation up.

Not to mention, if you did other forms of exercise — such as weight training or playing a sport — the walking would function as a form of active recovery, which would help your muscles recover quicker and reduce soreness.

So, is walking “better” than running? Maybe not on a minute-by-minute comparison, but it could be a healthier and more consistent option.

And, in general, there are many benefits for lower-intensity exercise, and this type of training can also fill weaknesses that you didn’t even know existed.

Can Walking Help With Fat Loss?

While it doesn’t make headlines because it’s not sexy, walking gets the job done much better than people think, as long as you put in the consistent effort.

Think of every step you take as a small win. In a 2011 study published in the journal International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, researchers found that taking a 5-minute walking break every hour could burn an extra 660 calories per week.

Extrapolate that over one year and you could lose about 9 to 10 pounds just by adding up the 5-minute walks.

Of course, over an 8-hour day, that amounts to 40 minutes of walking per day for at least 5 days per week. And not everyone can get up every hour to go for a walk. It’s a commitment, but even if you did half of that amount, you can still see a difference.

In fact, some of the biggest celeb trainers, people such as Harley Pasternak, are best known for their focus on daily steps as a foundation for health and fat loss. Pasternak sets a goal of 12,000 steps per day for his A-list clientele, which is a whos-who ranging from Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga to LL Cool J and Adam Levine.

In general, you don’t need to model what celebs do (especially when it requires spending lots of money on approaches not backed by science. Cough, cough, celery juice!). But, if walking can work for them, you better believe that you should, at the very least, give it a try yourself. After all, it’s free.

Proven Health Benefits Of Walking

The health benefits of walking should not be understated, and research shows that it is undeniably good for you.

New research from the Netherlands compared different types of exercise and movement (and lack thereof) on health markers. You’ll know “health markers” as the “under-the-hood” breakdown of how your body is really feeling and whether or not you’re healthy.

The study looked into the specific effects of:

sitting
standing
exercise (occasionally)

Turns out, each has a distinct impact on your body that is measurable in as little as four days.

In this study, researchers recruited 61 adults — some who were healthy, some overweight, and some overweight and diabetic. None were exercisers prior to the study. The scientists then had the group follow three different living patterns, each for four straight days at a time. The patterns were:

14 hours a day of sitting, getting up only to use the bathroom (sounds like my life after an early morning workout)
13 hours of sitting + 1 hour of moderate exercise
8 hours of sitting + 6 hours of standing or strolling around

Participants underwent a series of health tests before and after each block. The results:

The sitting period led to a worsening in cholesterol and increases in insulin sensitivity, even in those who’d been metabolically healthy (no diabetes) at the outset.
The exercise period led to an improvement in endothelial cell health (which keeps your blood vessels flexible, supple, and strong), but no effects on insulin sensitivity or cholesterol.
The standing/strolling period led to improvements in insulin sensitivity and cholesterol levels

The lesson is that movement has benefits, and you shouldn’t think of exercise as “checking off” all the boxes of health.

Just because you lift weights or have gym time doesn’t mean that you should think you can sit all day.

Also, walking has a surprising amount of health benefits (and yes, it will burn some calories too).

In fact, this is very much in line with what we’ve been saying for a long time: the movement you do outside of the gym has a surprising impact on your health and on weight loss.

It’s a win for all. If you need more details on the changes walking can make to your life, this article will help.

Have questions? Share them in the comments below or follow us on Instagram for our Sunday Q&A.

Or if you’re looking for more personalization and hands-on support, our online coaching program may be right for you. Every client is assigned two coaches — one for nutrition and one for fitness. Find out more here.

Adam Bornstein

The post The Surprising Health Benefits of the 5-Minute Walk appeared first on Born Fitness.

What No One Tells You To Look For In A Healthy Diet

Adam Bornstein — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 17:55:24 +0000

Each week, we review feedback from coaching clients and readers of the site and our emails. One of the most common frustrations is figuring out what to eat, specifically knowing what to look for in a healthy diet.

The reason for the struggle is that it’s not clear where to begin to fix the problem. It’s not like eating one food suddenly improves your diet.

In fact, you’re likely already aware of what stands in your way. We hear three common barriers:

Time (or lack thereof)
Confusion (not being sure of what to do or believe)
Motivation

A lack of time is a struggle for everyone. But, trying to make time becomes easier if you can eliminate confusion and increases motivation.

And, despite being different issues, they are both deeply connected.

What Prevents Good Diets From Working

In the book Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, authors Chip and Dan Heath explain that your lack of clarity undercuts both.

In their book, the Heath Brothers were speaking about business and answering the question, “Why won’t your employees do what you want?”

The answer is “Because they don’t know exactly what that is, or how to do it.”

That’s true for your health, too.

Let’s say you set out to make a big change in your life, such as losing 10, 20, or even 100 pounds. It feels exciting but also overwhelming. After all, you think to yourself, “I need to adjust my diet, exercise, and even my sleep. Where do I start?”

Maybe you decide to start by eating better, but what exactly does that mean?

Or, you say: “I’m going to work out more.” But, in the back of your mind, you wonder, “How much is ‘more’? Will it be enough to make a difference? And do I really have the time for that?”

These are the sorts of questions that can kill your motivation before you even begin. You aren’t sure what to do next, so you do nothing. Or, maybe you take a step or two, but then feel you aren’t getting results. Soon, the entire plan starts falling apart.

When you aren’t confident that a change is going to make a difference, it’s hard to truly commit to that change.

4 Habits That Make Any Diet More Effective

Before you can gain confidence in your plan, it helps to have more clarity in your plan.

The Heath Brothers explain that when you know exactly what changes to make — and you see them make a difference — you want to keep doing them.

That’s essentially the same idea behind habit-based coaching. You take one step, then another, and another.

The changes needed for weight loss start with something that seems simple. Painfully simple. Perhaps, even boring.

If you’re looking to build a healthy diet, it doesn’t start with extreme restrictions, blood tests, or need to measure every ounce of food. It begins with habits that help put you in control of your diet, no matter your food preferences or lifestyle.

This includes time-tested techniques such as:

Eating slowly
Chewing more
Getting enough vegetables and fruit (yes, fruit. Fruits are not evil. Neither are carbs.)
Sleeping 7-8 hours a night

All those habits are a big part of an effective diet plan, but you rarely hear them discussed.

Eating slowly and chewing more helps ensure that the right signals are sent to your brain to indicate when you’re full.

Fruits and vegetables keep you fuller for longer, are loaded with valuable nutrients, and have been proven to help you eat less of the things you love but know you need to limit (hello brownie sundae).

And, sleep is likely the most-underrated diet secret because lack of sleep does everything from make you hungry to increase your cravings for salty and sweet foods.

All of that knowledge is great, but following those simple habits can feel like a chore. So, how can you “make yourself” do it?

How to Stay Motivated (Even When The Scale Goes Up)

Motivation is tricky because it feels as if it’s just a decision, but it’s actually far more complex. Motivation is actually part-psychology and part-biology, according to Eleanor Simpson, associate professor of clinical neurobiology at Columbia University.

Beneath every choice you make, your brain does a complex cost-benefit analysis. The calculation takes into account your surroundings, your history, and how you are feeling at that very moment.

That math is more likely to come out in your favor if you’re already seeing results. Think about it: when you’re down a pound or two from last week, or you feel a little stronger in your next workout, it’s easier to keep pushing and believe you’re on the right track.

But, what if you’re just getting started, feeling stuck, or you’re not seeing any changes? This is when you lose faith and motivation, and even the best plan falls apart.

That’s when you need to realize two things:

Remember that weight fluctuation (spikes, dips, and plateaus) are part of the process. Within any given week, if you weigh yourself daily, you’ll see days where your weight goes up. This is normal. It could be a result of how you slept, whether you had more salt or carbs than usual, stress levels, and several other reasons. But, assuming you’re staying on track with your plan, the weekly and monthly trend should be headed down, which is exactly what matters.
To help you get through those days when you see a spike or you “don’t feel like it,” make sure you’ve connected your goals to a larger mission. Or, you need to remind yourself what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and that it’s time to get things done and make your goals a reality, even if it feels like it’s not going to happen.

How to Stick To Your Diet

If you’re looking for a simple technique to help keep yourself accountable, you might want to borrow a tactic that comes from General Stanley McChrystal, a retired four-star general who once led the U.S.’s Joint Special Operations Command, which oversees units like the Navy SEALs and Army Rangers.

According to motivation writer Eric Barker, McChrystal always tells his soldiers:

Here’s what I’m asking you to do.
Here’s why it’s important.
Here’s why I know you can do it.
Think about what you’ve done together before.
Now let’s go and do it.

Now imagine this as a conversation between you and your body. You say:

I’m asking you to go for a walk three times per week.
It’s important because we’re trying to shed 20 pounds and walking burns calories.
I know you can do it because you walk from your parking spot to the office every morning.
You’ve dedicated hours at a time to those TPS reports at work, so you have the attention span to do this.
Let’s go and get moving.

Try that for any change you make this year. And if it doesn’t work, try listening to the Rocky theme before you do it.

That may sound ridiculous, but it’s effective. Barker explains that, when all else fails, energetic music can improve your performance. (And it doesn’t have to be Rocky. If you prefer hip hop, R&B or even metal, do your thing.) That’s not his opinion, it’s science.

Interested In A Custom Nutrition Plan?

At Born Fitness, we know every individual is unique. There’s no one-size-fits-all nutrition plan. Our team can develop a plan around your lifestyle to help you reach your goals.

If you’re looking for more personalization and hands-on support, our online coaching program may be right for you. Every client is assigned two coaches — one for nutrition and one for fitness. Find out more here.

The Beginner’s Guide To Fat Loss

A New Approach To Fat Loss Nutrition

Eating At Night Does Not Make You Fat

Adam Bornstein

The post What No One Tells You To Look For In A Healthy Diet appeared first on Born Fitness.

How Gut Health Affects Your Health, Weight Loss, and Mood

Alex McMahon, NTP — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 13:32:08 +0000

Everything we know about diet and weight loss is being challenged by bacteria. Not some foreign infection, but — rather — the little bugs that live within your body. And the most promising part of it all: understanding how foods impact your gut could be the best weight loss trick you’ve ever tried.

Take one small example: do you find that you’re constantly craving sweets or not satisfied after you eat? It could be the doing of your microbiome — the army of microorganisms living inside of your digestive tract. These microscopic bugs fight to control your thoughts from a “second brain” located in your gut. And we’re not talking about urges caused by feeling hangry.

Diving into the (still young) research and you start to see interesting patterns, such as:

Your skin health and the creation of acne can be influenced by your microbiome (bad gut bacteria promote inflammation that can lead to red spots).
Your microbiome can impact your rational decision-making.
Feelings of anxiety or depression might be controlled or activated by your microbiome.
Early research shows that digestive bacteria and your microbiome can influence which foods you like (and which you don’t).

How is all of this possible? There are 10 times more bacteria living in your digestive tract than there are cells in your entire body.

There are 10 times more bacteria living within your digestive tract than there are cells in your entire body.

As a result, your body makes alliances and enjoys a symbiotic (that’s science-talk for “win-win”) relationship with the majority of the organisms within your microbiome. Gut bacteria aid in digestion and even produce an important nutrient, Vitamin K2 (think cardiovascular and bone health).

But not all of those bugs are so eager to be friends. There is such a thing as “bad” gut bacteria too. Even the “good” ones can turn on you and become harmful when things like the use of antibiotics, illness, stress, bad dietary habits, or other lifestyle factors shake up your digestive ecosystem. (Yup, basically living life is all it takes.) That’s when things can get rough, and why one of the biggest areas of research is trying to understand the relationship between your microbiome and medical issues such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), obesity, and maybe even cancer.

So how do you make sense of all the microbiome buzz? We know it’s important, but there’s a lot of misinformation swirling around and far too many claims that we can’t yet support (time will tell because we need more research). While “solutions” like probiotics may be helpful for some — and are definitely good, in general — there are many other accessible (and less expensive) things you can do to keep your microbiome healthy.

Microbiome 101: Simplifying the Science

We’ll be honest, anything about gut health can become a little too confusing, so it’s best to think in big picture terms: what it is, why it matters, and what you can do about it.

Your microbiome is the collection of all the microbes and microorganisms that populate your body.

There are unique groups of microorganisms living in many different regions of your body—your skin, mouth and digestive system, to name a few. Your gut microbiome (the “microbiota”) is home to millions of unique bacteria. Experts believe that having a wide spectrum of different bacteria in your GI tract is beneficial to your health (researchers are now trying to understand exactly what role they play in everything from your immune function, to macronutrient metabolism and absorption, and even your mood).

Diversity is a good thing. And research suggests that having less diverse gut bacteria might be linked to health issues like irritable bowel disease, cancer and obesity. While many questions about how and why still exist, there’s enough of a relationship that scientists are trying to figure out how you can best take care of your gut bacteria.

A Healthier Microbiome: Probiotics and Prebiotics

Probiotics are helpful bacteria in your gut. Think of them as adding backup troops when your frontline is a little weak. Probiotics can be found in fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut, and in drinks like kefir and kombucha. The beneficial bacteria from probiotics provide numerous health benefits including enhanced immune function, better digestion, a barrier against microbial infections, and much more.

Prebiotics, meanwhile, are foods that feed the microbes that are already in your body. And there’s been a growing awareness that they are also important because they affect the bacteria in your digestive system in such a way that it might improve your well-being and health. Basically, you help the bugs (by feeding them), and the bugs help you (by protecting you from bad bugs, keeping inflammation down, and so on).

Exactly why this happens isn’t fully understood, but prebiotics are carbohydrates that resist digestion in your small intestine. They reach your colon intact, where they wind up getting fermented by the bacteria there. That can shift gut flora in a positive way.

Some common foods that have prebiotic effects include bananas, whole grain wheat, garlic, leeks, and onions.

How the Microbiome Affects You

Remember how we referred to a “second brain?” That’s where the microbiome becomes more and more interesting for your overall health goals. The gut-brain axis is a two-way line of communication within your body between your brain and gut (at least they made the name easy to remember).

Each one can affect the other — for better or for worse. When your gut bacteria is out of whack, the signals that get relayed back up to your brain might cause or worsen anxiety or mood disorders, including depression. And stress—you know, what you feel when you’ve got looming deadlines or worries about paying the bills—can impact your gut microbiota negatively, and shift it in a less-than-favorable direction

Gut Dysbiosis describes what happens when you have an imbalance of gut bacteria favoring the more pathogenic (potentially harmful) microorganisms. This sort of imbalance is associated with a number of different problems including digestive disorders such as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Those can manifest in many different ways, from consistent abdominal pain or diarrhea, fatigue or weight loss. Some skin problems like rosacea can potentially be linked to gut health issues. These types of medical issues will be much easier to notice, so don’t freak out or believe people that want to sell you expensive supplements or cleanses. As always, if you are worried about a medical condition, see a doctor and have the problem diagnosed.

While current research is still developing and learning about the many roles that gut bacteria play in our body, here are some of the things that we do know — and what you can do about it.

How Your Body Processes Calories and Nutrients: There’s growing evidence that shows your gut bacteria impact what you’re able to extract from your food, both in terms of the total number of calories absorbed and the nutrients you take in—and even in determining how much food you want to eat.

There are a number of complex mechanisms that make this possible, so here’s one example of how your microbiome affects energy balance: Gut bacteria break down previously undigested carbohydrates called polysaccharides into smaller bits known as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). When your body’s fat cells sense an increase in SCFAs, they release a hormone called leptin, which essentially sends a signal to the brain that says “We’re full, thanks. You can lay off the nachos.” This is a good thing. But, if you’re not releasing enough SCFA because of a break in your microbiome, then the opposite can happen and you never feel full.

This is part of the reason why some researchers believe there’s a strong link between the condition of the gut and obesity. There’s even some research showing that obese and non-obese people have differing levels of bacteria. (It’s worth noting, however, that no one is suggesting that your microbiome is the only factor causing obesity. Diet and exercise matter, and, certainly, also impact that healthy — and unhealthy — bacteria in your body.)

What Foods You Want to Eat: While most people chalk up their cravings to willpower (this is something that’s repeatedly proven to be incorrect), many researchers now believe that your gut bacteria might be manipulating you “like microscopic puppetmasters” to get what they want.

There is an internal battle in your microbiome where different bacteria in your digestive system are constantly competing for resources (food). Here’s where it gets crazy: these bacteria can create food cravings or generate feelings of dissatisfaction (mood) that can be alleviated by consuming the foods that benefit them. And it can work for good or bad. Your body might be telling you to eat more protein (yay!) or it could be pushing you for endless amounts of sugar (aw shit!). There are four main mechanisms that play a role in this ongoing battle:

Microbes (just a fancy name for the bacteria in your stomach) could alter your taste receptors, making certain foods taste better. (And no, they aren’t working to make you like broccoli. Bad-news bugs thrive on bad-news fuel sources like those high in sugar.)
Microbes could release toxins that can affect mood negatively, which can make you want to eat.
Microbes could influence whether or not you find certain foods rewarding. (That happens by influencing an important part of the endocrine system known as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.)
Microbes could “hijack” the vagus nerve, which is a major signaling pathway within the body.

Your Immune System: Your gut bacteria can assist your immune system by preventing potentially harmful pathogens from entering into the digestive system. You can think of the good bacteria as bouncers setting up velvet ropes along the walls of your intestines. They won’t let bad bacteria ruin the party. This helps protect the intestines against inflammation and prevents pathogenic bacteria from forming colonies.

What’s “Good” or “Bad” for Your Gut Health?

The colonization and development of your gut bacteria began at your birth and continues to evolve throughout your life. Some of the things that can adversely affect the microbial diversity in your gut include:

Antibiotics. Let’s be clear: We are not advocating against antibiotics. They can be potentially lifesaving drugs that absolutely have a time and a place for use. Antibiotics, however, indiscriminately kill the microbes in your body, which can lead to a disturbance of gut flora that you will need to work to rebalance and improve. The takeaway: Save the antibiotics for when you’re really sick. (But when a doctor says take them, take ‘em.)

Stress. Stress comes in many shapes and forms, but, on a basic level, stress is anything that removes your body from homeostasis or equilibrium. That stress can be psychological (worry, anxiety), physical (sleep deprivation is a physiological stressor that can negatively impact your gut bacteria), to social (feeling like a “loser”). All of them can disrupt the composition, diversity, and number of microorganisms in your digestive tract.

(Too Many) Processed Foods. A high-fat, sugar-rich diet feeds the pathogenic bacteria in your gut. Note that eating some sugar, or processed food here or there, isn’t a problem (We’ve discussed the overblown fear of sugar). It becomes problematic when you eat too much of them, combined with too little fiber — and most Americans get far less than the recommended 25 grams of fiber per day.

Diets that are high in processed foods, and low in fiber, have been shown to wreak havoc on gut microbes in trials in mice. Obviously, mice aren’t human, but similar results have occurred regularly enough that Dr. Justin Sonnenburg, an associate professor of microbiology at Stanford University, says simply: “It’s now evident that everybody should be eating more dietary fiber.”

Can You Test Your Microbiome?

Where there is a health problem, you can usually find a business offering a solution. This is not necessarily a bad thing (we all need cures to problems), but sometimes business interests come before practical applications. In other words: people are happy to sell you something based on theory and not on proof.

There are many new tests that claim to give you insight into your microbiome (most involve you sending your poop to a lab, so don’t be surprised when that’s the request). The problem: you will provide science with more (much needed) data…but it won’t really help you get more answers.

As discussed in a recent New York Times article (that we highly recommend), here are a few important takeaways about the big limitations of personalized microbiome testing:

“It’s not ready for prime time.” (referring to personalized microbiome testing) -Dr. Rashmi Sinha, a senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute
“You’ll get an enormous amount of data that is basically uninterpretable,” -Dr. Martin J. Blaser, director of the Human Microbiome Program at New York University, though he added, “there are people who will be very happy to take your money and tell you they can interpret it.”
“What you can do with the information at the moment is limited. It’s very much a science project, not a diagnostic test.” – Dr. Rob Knight, director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation at the University of California, San Diego

Translation: we know the microbiome is important, but interpreting your microbiome, knowing what will or won’t have and impact, and how those changes will help your health is all still being investigated.

While that doesn’t help you figure out if you have a healthy (or unhealthy microbiome), it’s good to know that if you spend your money on any “microbiome services” it’s not likely your best use of money. The value from these tests will come with time and more clarity and understanding. But that doesn’t mean you can’t improve your microbiome.

How You Can Improve Your Gut Health

Fermented foods are great, but don’t forget the fiber, fruits and veggies.

The good news is many basic practices that are good for your body are also good for your gut health. While you can’t assess those changes directly, there’s enough evidence to suggest that the recommendations below are good general practices for a healthy microbiome.

Eat more fiber. We’re not trying to beat a dead horse, but carbohydrates and fiber are the most important sources of energy for the beneficial bacteria living in your colon. The fermentation of carbs and fiber in your digestive system helps lower its pH and therefore helps limit the bad bacteria. So you’d do well to consume more fiber-rich foods like:
- Fruits such as raspberries (8 grams of fiber per cup), apples (4.4 grams per medium-sized piece), bananas (3.1 grams), oranges (3.1 grams), and strawberries (3.0 grams per cup)
- Vegetables such as peas (8.1 grams of fiber per cup), broccoli (5.1 grams). Brussels sprouts (4.4 grams), corn (3.6 grams), or a baked potato (2.9 grams)
- Grains such as barley (6 grams per cup), oats (4 grams) or brown rice (3.5 grams). Whole-wheat spaghetti has 6.3 grams of fiber.
- Beans, whether they’re black, kidney, pinto, or you-name-it, are glorious sources of fiber. A cup of any one of them will give you a double-digit dose of fiber.
- Nuts, especially almonds (3.5 grams per ounce, or about 23 nuts), pistachios (2.9 grams) and pecans (2.7 grams).
Cook more at home. Research shows that food eaten away from home tends to have less fiber on a per-calorie basis. Pressed for time? This approach to meal prep may help you simplify things and get more done in less time.
Eat fermented foods that contain probiotic bacteria, such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut or kimchi.
Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep. Having trouble getting to sleep? Here are some non-obvious solutions you may want to try.
Try to keep your stress levels in check. (Obviously, easier said than done, but something like meditation or journaling might help.)

Wheat Belly Deception: Understanding Wheat, Insulin, and Fat Loss

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The Foods That Fight Inflammation

The post How Gut Health Affects Your Health, Weight Loss, and Mood appeared first on Born Fitness.

Eating At Night Does Not Make You Fat

Adam Bornstein — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 15:55:31 +0000

Breakfast has long been touted as the king of all meals. In fact, many diet experts have hypothesized it’s the most important meal of the day.

Many of those opinions were sparked by a University of Massachusetts medical school study that found people who routinely skipped breakfast had a significantly higher incidence of obesity than those who ate eggs and an English muffin.

It’s helpful information, but not a black-and-white issue. Just because one meal is good doesn’t mean others are bad. It’s something I’ve discussed many times.

Your body isn’t on a 24-hour clock. Weight loss and fat gain do not occur in a vacuum.

Yet, somehow the importance of breakfast was translated by many as, “Eating at night will make you fat.” That was perpetuated by many celebs claiming that once they dropped late night eating the pounds simply disappeared. [Somehow 6 pm and 7pm became the magic hour to end your late-night eating.]

While a life of early dinners and not late night carbs sounds about as enjoyable as a swift kick to the face, fortunately for you, the fear of late night eating is misguided.

Whether it’s real life examples of people that enjoy massive late meals or research from scientists all over the world, one thing is clear: when you have your meals does not directly influence weight gain.

Don’t misunderstand that message. If skipping breakfast causes you to binge the rest of the day, then breakfast is the right option for you.

Or if more food at night sends you straight to your snack pantry, you want to be mindful of your late night eating.

These are both behavioral triggers and dependent on your reactions to eating patterns. Just as you can be perfectly healthy and skip breakfast every day, you can also be lean, fit, and energized by having your biggest meal at night.

“Don’t Eat After 6 pm:” The Nighttime Fat Loss Myth

If you’re serious about changing your body, a little bit of freedom can go a long way. The one thing almost everyone hates about “dieting” are the rules. Fewer rules mean less restriction, which results in more freedom to eat how you would prefer and a higher likelihood of staying on a plan for a longer period of time.

Why does this matter? Because consistency and patience are probably the two most important aspects of any diet and fitness program that no one ever discusses.

Those 4-week programs? Lots of hype.

The 7-day juice cleanse and weight loss? Smoke and mirrors.

Want to stop the yo-yo cycle? Stop searching for quick fixes and start applying things that you can do for the long term that don’t make you miserable.

And for most people this would include late night eating.

Do you have more breakfast meetings or more dinner parties? Do you prefer drinks at night or in the morning? Eating at night is essential component of the social fabric of our society. And living in a world where you can’t eat at night and can’t enjoy food with your friends and family is too restrictive. It’s a reason why so many people hate dieting.

While the foods you eat are very important, as is the quality, you can’t discount calories. To quote renowned nutritionist Alan Aragon, “Your body does not store more fat more readily at night than at other times during the day.”

Your body’s ability to gain weight is mainly about what you eat and how much, not when you eat.

Your body isn’t on a 24-hour clock. What counts is whether you burn more calories than you ingest over time. Weight loss and fat gain do not occur in a vacuum.

Science Says: Late Night Eating Does Not Make You Fat

Researchers from Israel wanted to test whether eating more at night actually led to more weight gain. What they found wasn’t exactly groundbreaking if it wasn’t for the overplayed idea that eating after 6 or 7 pm will make you fat.

In the 6-month study, the scientists compared people who ate their largest meal at breakfast to those who ate their largest meal at dinner (8 p.m. or later). The participants who satisfied their late-night munchies not only lost more fat, they also experienced more fullness throughout the entire 6 months and saw more favorable changes to their fat loss hormones.

Consider some of the impressive findings. Compared to the morning eaters, those who ate at night:

Had less hunger cravings and were more satisfied with their meals
Lost 11 percent more weight
Had a 10 percent greater change in abdominal circumference
Lost a whopping 10.5 percent more body fat

Let’s not take this too far. That’s not to say you must eat your biggest meal at night. That’s not what the study showed. But it did offer evidence that late night eating isn’t the weight gain villain.

What’s more, a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture also showed some convincing evidence for nighttime feasts. When dieters ate 70 percent of their calories after 7 p.m. compared to earlier in the day, they preserved muscle mass and lost more body fat.

Is Late Night Eating for You?

My job is to help people discover what works best for their body. That means understanding behavior as well as the science of fat loss and muscle gain.

Many people eat at night out of boredom or other emotions instead of hunger, and they wind up consuming more calories than they need for the day. Again, you can’t forget that calories matter. And so do personality and behavioral triggers.

Nighttime eaters typically bust past their calorie goal, which leads to fat storage. But that doesn’t mean your body processes food differently at different times of day, particularly at night. However, if one meal turns into three, then you have a problem.

What’s more, while eating carbs at night can potentially help you sleep, it could also mean less rest. If you’re up eating…and eating…and eating, then that means you’re not sleeping.

If you’ve ever experienced a stressful week at work or in your home, you know that a lack of sleep appears to instantly add pounds to the scale.

And researchers from Wake Forest University discovered why: Too much or too little shut-eye might lead directly to weight gain. People who slept 5 hours or less each night gained nearly 2.5 times more abdominal fat than those who logged 6 to 7 hours.

People with sleep deficits tend to eat more (and use less energy) because they’re tired, say the researchers. And if you’re sleep deprived and not just groggy, University of Chicago researchers report that lack of sleep can torpedo weight loss by slowing your metabolism, increasing your appetite, and decreasing the number of calories you burn.

Meaning you have two options:

If you can control the late night meals and not allow it to keep you up, then feast away, sleep better at night, and watch as you don’t balloon and feel more in control.
If you know that one big late night meal will open the flood gates and find you in the fridge still snacking at 2 am, then bigger nighttime meals might not be the best idea.

Whatever you choose, know that the best option for you has much more to do about lifestyle preferences and behavioral triggers than the fear of eating at a particular time or consuming a type of food. Just as eating at night isn’t a problem, making the meal full of carbs–as long as it fits into your daily allotment–also won’t automatically transform into fat.

Like most absolute diet rules, it’s just another myth meant to offer an incredible promise that only promises to drive you crazy.

End Your Health Confusion

Tired of bad and misleading health information? You’re not alone. Learn what workouts and diet will work for your body, and how to have a personalized, risk-free assessment.

Breakfast is Not the Most Important Meal of the Day

Big Meals vs. Small Snacks: What’s Best For You?

Healthy Fat: Which Foods Should You Really Be Eating?

Adam Bornstein

The post Eating At Night Does Not Make You Fat appeared first on Born Fitness.

7 Good, Trusted Supplements For Your Health

Adam Bornstein — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 11:17:49 +0000

“What supplements should I take?”

It’s easily one of the most common questions I’ve been asked during the past 10 years, as supplements transformed from a niche market into a perceived quick fix for everything from fat loss to increasing your strength 1.675%.

And while the supplement industry clearly doesn’t need any help selling their products—they make an estimated 25 billion dollars, consumers clearly need more help deciphering what they really need.

That’s why I went to nutritionist Dr. Chris Mohr, one of the leaders in the industry. Chris developed Dietary Supplement U to become a trusted source on supplements to help you find the information you need, so that you could make more informed decisions.

Here are 7 supplements that are worth your money, according to Dr. Mohr.

Fish Oil

While the human body can produce many vitamins and minerals naturally, fish oil is something we can’t make naturally, so you need to supplement to supply your body with what you need. Which is why Mohr calls fish oil a supplement “you must take.” And while you can receive some from eating fish, you’ll have to eat a lot of fish consistently. For most people, eating fish 1 to 2 times per week will not do the job, which means you need to supplement.

The key is making sure you’re taking more omega 3’s. You see, most people’s diets are higher in omega-6 fats, which are inflammatory. You want more omega 3s, which have anti-inflammatory benefits. Increasing intake of a high quality fish oil, can reduce triglycerides, reduce the risk of heart disease, help with recovery from exercise, brain health, potentially diabetes and may even help with losing body fat. The key is getting a high ratio of EPA to DHA (these are 2 of the 3 omega-3’s), so look for brands that offer a high concentration and aim to get a minimum of 2 g EPA + DHA daily.

Born Approved: Athletic Greens Fish Oil

Vitamin D

If fish oil is most important, than Vitamin D is arguably tied for the title of “most important supplement to take,” says Mohr. Data suggests a majority of Americans have less than optimal blood levels, primarily because it’s difficult to get from food (sources included canned salmon, milk, sardines are all good sources). While most know that sunlight is a great source of vitamin D, the sun is not strong enough from November to March in most places to provide you with sufficient amounts. And even when you are outside, you’re mostly covered with clothing and/or sunscreen, which block the beneficial (and harmful) rays.

Vitamin D researcher, Dr. Robert Heaney said in a recent interview “Vitamin D won’t cure anything, but supplementing with it will make everything better.” Most experts agree that supplementing with a minimum of 1000 IU’s daily is a good start.

Born Approved: Athletic Greens Vitamin D

Whey Protein

While a high quality omega-3 and vitamin D are both essential to take daily, whey protein isn’t a supplement you “need,” but it’s probably a great idea to take it, says Mohr. Whey does certainly offer some unique benefits; it’s high in the ever-important branched chain amino acids (BCAA’s), which can play an important role in muscle building, muscle recovery, and even fat loss. More importantly, whey protein is a quick, convenient source of quality calories. Add some fruit a scoop of nut butter and you’ve got a perfect, on the go meal that takes 60 seconds to make.

Born Approved: BioTrust Low Carb Protein

Greens products

While not quite a replacement for fruits and vegetables, these are a good “insurance” policy. Greens supplements can help improve a diet that is low in fruits and vegetables, says Mohr. That’s because less than 1 percent of men and 4 percent of women ages 18 to 24 eat the recommended 5 servings (or more) of fruits and vegetables each day. And for people ages 25 to 34, those percentages on jump to 6 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

Again, your best bet is to just eat more fruits and vegetables. Food is always a better option than supplements. But if you’re not going to eat them, or you’re not going to eat enough, it’s better to supplement with greens than completely neglect this essential part of your nutrition.

Born Approved: Athletic Greens

Cinnamon

Cinnamon might seem like an odd addition, but this spice is actually loaded with antioxidants, which as most people know help with everything from fighting disease to protecting your body against the effects of aging. But maybe more importantly, studies have shown that cinnamon may improve insulin sensitivity, an important hormone that plays a key role in the process of storing fat. And the more you improve your insulin sensitivity, the more you can control your blood sugar and enjoy carbohydrates.

Most studies have shown 1 g (about 1/2 a teaspoon if adding your own) daily is sufficient.

Turmeric (curcumin)

Turmeric is a spiced commonly used in Indian dishes. One component of turmeric is called curcumin and with 100’s studies and counting, it is gaining some serious traction in the supplement world, says Mohr. A 2010 study suggested curcumin has anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-arthritic and anti-inflammatory properties.

Here’s the caveat: Several of these studies have been done for with animals and for specific clinical situations (Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, etc), but there seems to be one undeniable major benefit of turmeric that can help you even if you are disease free; turmeric has strong anti-inflammatory benefits. And if there’s a point to be driven home, it’s that the more you can fight inflammation, the better your body will respond and the healthier you’ll be.

Born Approved: You can add curcumin to your foods, or supplement with about 500 mg daily.

Probiotics

We all eat (a lot) of food every day, and yet we really pay attention to our digestive system. Healthy gut bacteria plays an important role in overall health, digestion and immune system, says Mohr. More specifically, probiotics can help replenish and nourish our internal supply of good bacteria. What does this mean for you? Possibly less gas, bloating, abdominal pain, and inflammation. You see, there are millions and millions of different strains of bacteria in our guts. Probiotics help keep a healthy GI “ecosystem” and keep things in balance.

Born Approved: I’ve recently been using BioTrust Pro-X10 and been very pleased. But if that doesn’t work for you, supplemental doses are typically expressed in billions of live organisms. Aim for a product from a trusted brand that lists at least 3 billion organisms per serving — and keep it refrigerated after opening to protect those organisms. Food such as Kimchi and live sauerkraut are great natural source.

Are these the only supplements you should take? Honestly, it depends on your diet. In fact, some people need to take very few supplements, while others will benefit more to make up for deficiencies in their diet. And there are several other supplements not listed here—such as creatine—that have a long line of research supporting their benefits and safety.

In an upcoming post, I’ll share exactly what I take each day and the amounts. Until then, your best bet is usually to take a minimalist approach to supplements, and instead focus on improving the foods you eat and not looking for a cure-all pill or powder.

Make it count,

Born

Want A Personalized Supplement Plan?

If you want access to nutrition programs and catered supplement plan, join me in online coaching. Here you’ll work directly with me (and some of the best strength and nutrition coaches) to create your training and diet program, ask your questions, and receive exclusive access to an exercise library.

Just want supplement information? The best guide on the market can be found here.

Want to Burn More Calories? Add This to Your Fat Loss Plan

Why Creatine is Even Better Than You Thought

What is the Best Protein Powder?

Adam Bornstein

The post 7 Good, Trusted Supplements For Your Health appeared first on Born Fitness.

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