In the first week, more than 4 million people clicked through the post. On one hand, part of me felt like we succeeded. On the other hand, my growing frustration shifted to something much bigger: Are any of these articles really helping you improve your diet?

Sure, you could say that not reaching for a tapeworm or cabbage soup is a win, but I’m not sure that anyone who chooses those options feels like they’ve found the perfect way to eat. Instead, they’re just trying to get small wins, even if it means taking a short-term loss in enjoyment from eating.

The frustration and guilt I experienced from that article changed my career (I left my job shortly after) and the way I wanted to help people. Just as importantly, it made me rethink which diets are really dangerous.

And, rather than starting with the obvious, I started to wonder if a timeless staple — chicken and broccoli — was a part of the problem.

If your diet only consists of chicken and broccoli, it should be because that’s your choice. Not because you believe bland foods are the only way to a better body and improved health.

What Is The Chicken And Broccoli Diet And Why The Craze?

It’s not as much a “diet” as it is a mentality of what you must eat in order to be healthy. As you’ll see, when you survey diet coaches, RD’s, and nutritionists, the majority point to “chicken and broccoli” as being a staple of a healthy diet.

Why is eating chicken and broccoli seen as the picture of health? On the surface, there are many obvious and fair reasons. Skinless chicken breast is lean meat that is a good source of lean protein. And, when it comes to vegetables, the “broccoli diet” approach is as old as time. Need a vegetable? Just add broccoli.

The combination is high protein, low fat, low carb, and not very caloric. It’s the reason why it became the staple of old-school bodybuilding diets because that combination helps control body fat when substituted for multiple meals per day.

It became a craze because it works…technically. If you eat chicken and broccoli multiple times per day it can help you lose weight and insert “healthier” options into your diet.

But, if following a healthy diet was as simple as pressing the “chicken broccoli” easy button, then no one would ever struggle with their weight.

The reality is that following a diet (any diet!) is incredibly difficult. Research has compared 4 popular diets and found that on each one, the longer you were on the diet the harder it was to follow the diet.

It didn’t matter if it was high protein, low fat, low carb, or some variation of a balanced approach.

And some of that is the result of a chicken and broccoli mentality. If you believe that eating a limited number of foods — and options that you might, admittedly, find less-than-desirable —then burnout is very likely to happen and weight loss won’t last.

Why Dietary Ends Don’t Justify Dieting Means

Let’s return to the idea of “dangerous diets.” It’s fascinating to think about because even though many of them are seemingly crazy (honestly, who wants a tapeworm?), people are still willing to give these diets a try.

The desire to lose weight, build muscle, or live longer is such a powerful end-goal that we’re willing to go the farthest lengths to try almost anything to achieve the results we desire.

There are three important factors to keep in mind when considering your own diet.

1. Chasing a goal gives us a rush. We know that the anticipation of something gives us a bigger shot of dopamine than the end result. It’s why it’s important to enjoy the journey, but also something to keep in mind when selecting diets. The idea of getting fast results (with higher cost or discomfort) will charge your brain with feel-good chemicals that can blind you from what the actual experience will be like.
2. Diet culture is messing with your perception. If you’re willing to eat (or more appropriately, not eat) almost anything to lose weight, then some prior experience must have made extreme scenarios appear doable. Hold this thought for a moment because it’s incredibly important. 
3. Don’t take the quick weight-loss bait. Just remember, if it sounds too good to be true or extremely temporary, then it’s unlikely to give you the results you want. Or, it’ll be all smoke and mirrors. If your goal is to lose fat, you don’t need to lose 10 pounds really quickly only to gain it back just as fast. This does far more damage than we can begin to explain. (Yeah, we’re looking at all those 7-day cleanse diets.)

For a moment, let’s revisit point #2 about the current diet culture. Your willingness to pursue extremes might be the result of the nutritional institution of unfair diets.

What’s an “unfair diet?” Any plan that instills the belief that healthy eating must be:

1. Limiting or restrictive
2. Unenjoyable
3. Bland and flavorless
4. Inflexible
5. Shifting from one extreme to another

While many coaches scoff at the juice cleanses and cabbage soup diets of the world (myself included), are these really that much worse than “healthy” plans that result in you losing your mind, binging, thinking your body is broken, or believing that a good diet is impossible to maintain?

It’s easy to see how both are a problem, but when you grab the tapeworm, at least you have a sense that you’re going to an extreme. When you follow the “never eat dessert” diet, you’re building a belief that health requires long-term sacrifices that don’t feel sustainable.

It doesn’t have to be a black-and-white decision between extremes.

The Unofficial Great Diet Experiment

What happens when you ask a nutrition expert to put together “the perfect human diet?” You might be surprised.

To get a sense of what is shaping your opinion of “healthy diets,” I ran an experiment. I reached out to diet and nutrition coaches with social media followings (combined) of at least 50,000 people. Admittedly, some were credentialed RD’s, others had nutrition certifications, and others fell into an unclear category of expertise.

The goal was to understand how people position the foods you should be eating. I wanted the coaches’ opinions on the type of diet they would create for a client, and I provided some very specific guidelines.

The final tally of contributors included: 3 RD’s, 2 people with a master’s in science, 3 “nutrition coaches” with varying levels of certifications, and 2 diet coaches who worked with bodybuilders and physique competitors.

I purposely avoided experts I’ve worked with before. After all, I didn’t want any experimenter bias interfering with my selections. [Translation: if I know how someone will respond, what’s the point in asking.]

Each person received the following email:

Hey, [insert name here],

I’m writing an article where I’m collecting the thoughts of some influencers in the world of health and fitness. Here’s the hypothetical scenario I’d like you to troubleshoot: if you could put together your version of the healthiest, most sustainable and enjoyable diet, what would you recommend?

Your individual answer may or may not be used. In your response, please highlight the primary goal of the diet. (For instance, it could be for general health, fat loss, muscle gain, sports performance, or any other specified goal.) Feel free to be as detailed as you want, and be sure to design for enjoyment but without sacrificing results. Thanks for your time and consideration

The Perfect Human Diet (And Why It’s F*cked)

I received 10 responses, and all of the contributors decided to create “the perfect human diet” designed for fat loss.

I reviewed all of their diets and pooled together common responses. These included:

• 80 percent of the respondents included “chicken and broccoli” in at least 2 meals per day. 
• 100 percent avoided bread, dairy, or grains of any type.
• 100 percent did not include any type of dessert, even a small allowance such as a piece of chocolate or even a non-dessert like a bowl of cereal.
• 100 percent included protein shakes, meal replacement bars, or powders
• 70 percent did not allow for any condiments or dressings other than olive oil.
• 50 percent did not include any starch, not even natural options like potatoes.
• 0 percent of respondents recommended white rice (a crushing blow to my rice-loving ways)

This very informal survey (yeah, I admit it’s not exactly a peer-reviewed meta-analysis) pointed me towards a very simple conclusion:

Most diet plans—and the experts creating them—consider “The perfect human diet” to not be very human.

The growing diet battle isn’t just about helping people identify healthy foods. It’s about meeting people where they are, creating sustainable plans, and helping people see that some freedom in a diet plan can help them believe they can stick to the plan for the long term.

Most people know what is good for them and what isn’t.

Sure, more education can help offset confusing food marketing, but the expert’s job isn’t to make the simple act of eating seem so difficult to follow.

The perceived lack of variety and freedom is a big reason why so many people are unable to sustain better eating habits and maintain a healthy body weight.

Undoing Unfair Diets: How to Fix Your Diet

Part of me wonders how many experts understand how to cater their vault of knowledge into realistic practices and habits that still deliver great results.

Many people know the basics or even more complicated aspects of nutrition science; but, they don’t know (or choose not to take the personalized path) to help people build a plan around foods they could enjoy.

These experts are still stuck in a “clean eating” mindset, where the idea of good foods versus bad foods dominates the conversation.

They blindly suggest a low-carb diet (keto diet), hop on the intermittent fasting bandwagon, or try another weight loss diet trend without fully understanding the individual’s needs and lifestyle.

While I’ll admit any diet should consist of less processed foods, more fruits and vegetables, and sources of protein, the black-and-white mindset is the foundation of what is wrong with most diet plans.

You don’t need to go cold-turkey on most foods. You can eat pasta, potatoes, rice, and dessert and still be healthy and lean.

There are limits to dietary freedom. Building a diet around Pop-Tarts, ice cream, and pizza as long as it “fits your macros” isn’t the best use of macronutrient science.

Instead of building a plan around those foods, find a way to fit them into your life around everything else.

Building the “You” Diet

The healthiest diet is the one that considers both the foods you should be eating for nutritious reasons—proteins (meat/chicken/eggs/fish/plant sources), fats (oils, nuts, dairy sources, avocados, seeds), and carbohydrates (fruits, veggies, rice, potatoes, grains)—and the food items that you enjoy and need to add for the sake of pleasure and mental sanity.

If your diet only consists of chicken and broccoli, it should be because that’s your choice. Not because you believe bland foods are the only way to a better body and improved health.

If you stop fearing foods, you’ll eventually see how many different plans can be a good solution, without having to break the bank (or your sanity) trying to be healthy.

A little less stress and a lot more understanding will go a long way towards not only making your diet more enjoyable and something you can follow for the long run.

Simplify Your Eating

Need help with your diet? What to eat, when to eat, and realistic tips to make it easier to snack, enjoy, and still lose weight? Find out how you can have your meal plans (and workouts) personalized with Born Fitness coaching.

READ MORE: 

How Much Fat Should I Eat?

Do Carbs Actually Make You Fat?

How to Lose Weight: Why Sleep Can Make You Fat

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 Do You Really Need to Eat Chicken and Broccoli? appeared first on Born Fitness.

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.

READ MORE: 

Should I Cut Out Alcohol To Get Rid Of Fat?

Why Am I Hungry All The Time?

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.

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:

1. Powering your heart and brain.
2. Fueling anaerobic activity (think weight lifting) via glycolysis (the breakdown of carbohydrates).
3. Helping with recovery by restocking glycogen (carb stores) that has been depleted through hard training.
4. 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:

1. Low-fat diets were slightly more effective at lowering total cholesterol and LDL.
2. Low-carb diets were more effective at increasing HDL and decreasing triglycerides
3. 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.

READ MORE: 

How Many Eggs are Safe to Eat?

Healthy Fat: Which Foods Should You Really Be Eating?

Fix Your Diet: Understanding Proteins, Carbs and Fats

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

Before you counter with claims about almond butter, cashew butter, or any nut butter, they all fall into the same category along with many other popular “protein snacks.”

As the unofficial President of the Peanut Butter Fan Club, I don’t like to discredit peanut butter in any way. But, knowing my love of peanut butter (it’s still perfectly fine to include in your diet) will help you understand why it’s important to know about high-quality proteins.

That’s because what is marketed as good protein is rarely accurate.

You can blame the food industry, but don’t expect them to change any time soon. The good news: learning to differentiate high-quality protein from “regular” (scientist will call it incomplete) protein is pretty easy.

Even better: there are simple ways to turn incomplete proteins into complete proteins (think of it as a way to upgrade your favorite nut butter of choice).

The best news: once you add more high-quality protein to your diet, you start to see the benefits you want, ranging from fat loss and muscle gain to better hair, skin, and nails.

You don’t have to ditch your peanut butter. But, if you’ve been focusing on getting a lot of your daily protein from nuts (or other incomplete sources), you’re about to realize all the ways you’ve been missing out. -AB

Why Is Protein Important?

Before we get to quality, let’s make something clear: you’ve probably heard that you need more protein in your diet, and for a good reason.

Protein is the building block for muscle, but it’s also so much more.

Protein is also essential for maintaining a strong immune system, bones, tendons, and is responsible for many metabolic reactions. There is also a clear relationship between protein and weight loss.

Here’s the thing:

Not all proteins are created equal.

Quality counts. But what’s the difference between protein and “high-quality protein?” It’s locked in the amino acids of each type of protein.

As much as protein all looks the same on a nutrition label, it’s not. 

If you’re confused, don’t worry. As we mentioned, distinguishing high-quality protein from lesser-quality protein is easier than you might think. And, once you learn to recognize the difference, you’ll be able to adjust how you eat without much stress. 

Why Amino Acids Are Important

Every source of protein has a different amino acid profile. These amino acids — or the component parts that a protein will become when you digest it — are a big determinant of whether or not a protein is high-quality.    

Your body can produce many amino acids on its own. But there are some it can’t make. They are:

• histidine
• isoleucine
• leucine
• lysine
• methionine
• phenylalanine
• threonine
• tryptophan
• valine

These are the “essential amino acids,” and you must get them through your diet.

Any food that contains all nine essential amino acids is known as a “complete protein.”

High-quality proteins contain all of the essential amino acids (amino acids are the building blocks of protein).

When you eat all of the essential amino acids (AKA a complete protein), that’s when your body can put protein to work and unlock all of the benefits.

On the flip side, if you don’t have the essential amino acids, even if you’re eating protein, your body might not be able to use all of the other amino acids to help out.

Now that you know why essential amino acids make a complete protein, you’ll better understand why high-quality protein matters.

What Makes a Protein High-Quality?

A high-quality protein really is a function of three things:

• protein digestibility (i.e. “Can your body break it down?”)  
• amino acid content (i.e. “What’s really inside the protein?”)
• the resulting amino acid availability to support metabolic function (i.e. “Will your body be able to use those amino acids the way you want it to?”).  

The process of digesting any food begins when you chew. But, protein is unique among the three major macronutrients in that your body’s digestion of it truly begins in the stomach and continues into the small intestine.

Technically speaking, enzymes work to fully break down the protein you eat into smaller chains of amino acids. This is very important because, as we mentioned above, it’s actually all the amino acids that your body puts to work. (For example, leucine is an amino acid that is a key figure in building muscle. But, as you’ll find out, amino acids don’t work alone.)

Before a chain can be absorbed into your bloodstream, it must be shortened into individual amino acids. Only then, when these amino acids hit the bloodstream, can they be transported to help whatever your body needs.

They may also be held for a short time with other amino acids in what’s referred to as an amino acid pool. The body can turn to this pool and take the exact amino acids it needs to create a larger protein molecule required for one function or another and leave behind what it doesn’t require at the moment.

• Need to build muscle? Dip into the amino acid pool.
• Trying to recover from a hard workout? Amino acid pool, please.
• Searching for collagen for your skin? Yep, amino acid pool

While the process might appear cut-and-dry, it’s not that simple. First of all, if you want to get the amino acids out of the pool, all of the essential amino acids must be present. 

So, it’s easy to see why incomplete proteins, which don’t have all of the amino acids, can become a barrier to experiencing the benefits of protein.

Also, not all protein is 100 percent digested. And, if it’s not all digested and broken down, then that means you don’t have as many amino acids present in your bloodstream. 

Scientists can measure a protein’s digestibility in the lab is by monitoring nitrogen absorption and excretion. (Protein is the only macronutrient that contains nitrogen, which is why this works.)  The outcome of this test typically produces a digestibility score.

Proteins that are highly digestible receive scores close to 100% (digestible). Lower scores are less digestible. If you were to consume a protein with a digestibility score of 90%, then for every 10g you consumed, you would absorb 9g and excrete 1g.

What helps the protein digestibility score? Having more essential amino acids.

In general, animal proteins — such as dairy, eggs, and meat — score highly. Vegetarian proteins typically score lower because they’re lower in essential amino acids.

What Are High-Quality Protein Sources?

If you just want a list of high-quality protein sources, we have you covered. The top sources are:

• Dairy products: including milk, whey protein powder, casein protein powder, hard cheese, cottage cheese, and yogurt
• Eggs
• Seafood and fish
• Beef and bison
• Game meats (such as venison and elk)
• Chicken
• Pork
• Pea Protein
• Soybeans
• Vegan protein powders (primarily consisting of pea protein, potato protein, and corn protein)

You might notice that the majority of the high-quality options are from animal sources. 

That doesn’t mean you can’t get high-quality protein on a plant-based diet. You can still fill your diet with the protein you need even if you never want to put any animals in your mouth. But, it requires you to combine vegan- or plant-based sources of protein to create a complete amino acid profile. 

Why Animal-Based Protein is the “Easy Button”

Animal protein sources mimic the protein composition of human tissue. This is why meat naturally offers a highly usable blend of amino acids—including all nine essential amino acids (with some exceptions, which we’ll get to in a second).

As a result, we humans can use protein from an animal source in a very efficient manner.

Animal proteins range from the obvious—beef, pork, chicken, eggs, and fish—to fluid sources such as milk. All of these are high-quality protein sources that are highly bioavailable (your body can put them to use easily).

Nearly all animal proteins are highly bioavailable — meaning your body can put them to use more easily.

This includes dairy, which supplies a wealth of amino acids, including a high amount of leucine. So, perhaps, it’s not surprising that studies involving chronic exercisers have found that consuming milk-based protein after resistance exercise promotes muscle protein synthesis, more muscle, and less flab.

While collagen and bone broths are popular for their potential to support joint health and other tissue function within the body, collagen protein is high in only 3 amino acids (glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline) while being fairly low in the other essential amino acids.

Bone broths may deliver health benefits, but they alone won’t help with muscle building or fat loss (or satisfy your body’s amino acid requirements, unless you add chicken or beef to the broth, in which case, you’re all set.)

What About High-Quality Plant Protein?

Conversely, most plant sources (but not all) have an amino acid profile that differs drastically from that of humans.

Many (but not all) plant proteins are low in various essential amino acids, especially leucine. This is important to note, because leucine plays a critical role in turning on muscle protein synthesis (MPS), which is key for building and repairing muscle tissue.

The big exceptions are soy, potato protein, corn protein, and pea protein. In fact, pea protein has been tested as a favorable vegan alternative to whey. These vegetarian sources contain all of the essential amino acids you require.

Outside of those sources, most plant-based proteins are not complete. All this means is that consuming one lone source of plant protein cannot support body growth and maintenance.

But there’s a simple fix. If you combine different plant protein sources, then you can receive adequate amounts of all nine essential amino acids.

Examples of complementary proteins include combining legumes and grains, such as red beans and rice, or vegetables and legumes, such as what you’d find in a 9-bean vegetable soup.

When you eat complementary proteins, the combined sources equal a complete protein source.

You don’t have to do this at the same meal. Your body will store the amino acids for about 4 to 6 hours as they come in, and then re-synthesize proteins as it needs by pulling from body cells and blood supplies later.

Often you need to eat more plant-based protein to get the equivalent amount of amino acids that you would from a smaller amount of animal protein.

So really, your main takeaways here are:

1. The exact amount of protein you need will depend on the quality of the protein you eat.
2. If you consume a lot of plant-based protein or are exclusively plant-based, you may need to increase your total daily protein intake, even more, to compensate for the lower protein quality.
3. If you are vegetarian or vegan, eat a diverse mix of foods, and you may want to research the amino acid profiles of the foods you eat.

READ MORE:

What is the Best Protein Powder?

The Curious Case of Why People Fear Protein

No Carbs Diet: The Flaw in Fat Loss

Pamela Nisevich Bede, MS, RD, CSSD, LD is a 21-time marathoner, Ironman triathlete, and mom who counsels athletes and wellness enthusiasts towards optimal performance at Swim, Bike, Run, Eat!, LLC, and is the resident endurance sports nutrition expert at EAS Sports Nutrition. She has contributed to multiple books and is regularly sought to provide insight to numerous publications. Connect with her @PamBedeRD

The post What is a High-Quality Protein? appeared first on Born Fitness.

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. 

• 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.

READ MORE: 

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

• No, you don’t have to ditch alcohol to lose fat…
• BUT, if you do cut out drinking, it might help.

Alcohol And Weight Loss: It’s Complicated

Let’s start with the first point here. From a metabolic perspective, alcohol and your body have a weird relationship. There’s actually been a lot of research into it over the years because it’s so surprising.

Numerous studies, both observational and in controlled settings, have shown that people can consume light to moderate amounts of alcohol and not necessarily gain weight. (Moderate drinking is defined as 1 drink a day for women and no more than 2 drinks a day for men.)

Part of this may be due to alcohol’s unique effect on the body. Your body can’t store alcohol and the 7 calories per gram it delivers. (Yup, it does have calories — more per gram than carbs and protein, but less than fat.) So instead the body fast-tracks that booze through your system.

Additionally, a high percentage of calories from alcohol get burned up by your metabolism through a process called the thermic effect of food (TEF). The thermic effect of alcohol is about 22.5%, which puts it on par with protein (which has a TEF of 25-30%) and well ahead of carbs (6-8%) and fat (2-3%).

All of which is to say: Alcohol on it’s own won’t necessarily make or break your weight loss goals.

“If you enjoy a few drinks during the week, it is still possible to have a highly successful fat loss journey,” says Born Fitness Head Nutrition Coach Natalie Sabin.

Now for the but…

Why Alcohol Might Make You Fat

Just because your body doesn’t store alcohol’s calories, it doesn’t mean you (and your fat cells) get off scot-free.

When your body is processing those calories from all those hoppy IPAs, or just one more glass of wine, they take the place of other calories you could be burning — like the bacon double cheeseburger you had on the way home from the bar. With beer calories taking its place in the metabolic line, the burger’s calories become part of you (and your belly).

In fact, some research would lead you to believe that the problem isn’t necessarily the alcohol itself. It’s what can come along with drinking. You know, like nachos. Or two dozen wings. Or a box of Totino’s Pizza Rolls if it’s 2 a.m. and you’re in college.

“Many folks who drink alcohol also have a tendency to eat more,” Sabin says.

A review published in Physiology & Behavior backs her up on this. It found that, sure enough, drinking before or during a meal tends to increase food intake.

Also, note that even though your body can’t store alcohol, it can (and does) store the calories mixed with it — like the 83g of sugar in a frozen margarita.

So What Should You Do?

1. Examine how much you’re drinking currently. For some this can be very eye-opening on it’s own. You might see that the “beer or two” you have “now and then” is actually “a couple drinks every night, plus about a dozen on the weekend.” Remember, the studies mentioned previously involved light to moderate drinking — i.e. one drink per day for women, two for men. Drinking more than that is conclusively not good. Heavier drinking is associated with weight gain and increased waist circumference, as well as poor health. Excessive alcohol consumption is the third-leading cause of premature death in the U.S. If your drinking exceeds that one to two drinks per day guideline, then yeah, cutting back (or going dry) likely will help you lose fat.

2. Pay attention to what else you do when you drink. If your occasional cocktail with friends is just that — a cocktail — then the caloric load probably isn’t all that significant. But if your drinks seem to come with a late night pizza chaser, you might have an issue on your hands. Here again, cutting out drinks might help your fat loss.

3. Let’s say your drinking (and appetite) is under control, but you still aren’t losing fat. And let’s say your drink-per-day is a must-have. If that’s the case, you could try and offset the calories by trimming elsewhere. For example, a glass of wine is around 120 calories. A typical beer is about 150 calories (although those heavier microbrews that are so popular nowadays can be double that). Cut out 30 to 40g of carbs from somewhere else, and pay attention to any changes. “Remember, to get rid of fat you need to create a calorie deficit,” Sabin says. “That means burn more calories than you are consuming — whether that’s eating OR drinking.”

READ MORE

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In 1955, while on vacation in Colorado, Dwight Eisenhower suffered a heart attack. “Suddenly people were frantic to understand the cause of heart disease,” says Jonny Bowden, Ph.D. and author of Smart Fat. In the years that followed, fat—and specifically saturated fat—took the blame.

If you’ve spent most of your life avoiding saturated fat, this moment is a big reason why. The day after Eisenhower’s heart attack, the president’s physician recommended the nation cut down on fat and cholesterol, citing the work of a nutritionist named Ancel Keys.

How Saturated Fat Became a Villain

Later that decade, Keys published research connecting countries that consumed the most fat with higher rates of heart disease. His “Seven Countries Study” wielded great influence on how Americans eat.

In 1977, a Senate select committee cited Keys’ research while making sweeping recommendations to the American people, stating you should consume less red meat — and by extension, less saturated fat — to avoid heart disease.

That message hardened into national policy when the government issued the 1980 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which advised people to trim the fat from their steaks and avoid saturated-fat foods like butter, cream and coconut oil.

Why Saturated Fat Made a Comeback

Today Keys’s research is under fire. An analysis by researchers at Harvard looked at 21 studies and found no link between saturated fat and heart disease (or stroke).

In 2014 an analysis of 76 observational studies and randomized controlled trials from the University of Cambridge concluded, “saturated fatty acids were not associated with coronary disease.” (The study also noted that some saturated fatty acids, notably the margaric acid found in dairy foods, was actually associated with a lower risk of heart disease.)

Finally, a couple years later, a third meta analysis published in the British Medical Journal reached a similar conclusion. After looking at more than 62,000 people in 10 randomized trials, researchers found that while reducing saturated fat helped to lower cholesterol levels, the effect didn’t translate to a lower risk of death. And death is what matters in this debate, ultimately.

Saturated Fat Isn’t Evil. But Does That Mean It’s Healthy?

The seeming turn of the tide within the scientific literature has led to an even bigger shift in public perception. Today you’re hearing loud messages from popular health pundits proclaiming that saturated fat is actually a long lost health food. Some even say you should get more of it by drinking butter in your coffee.

Wait. What?

Now’s a good time to call a timeout and look at what’s really going on in this debate. Because both sides have gotten a little carried away.

Let’s start with the first side of the pendulum swing, starting all the way back with Eisenhower’s heart attack. It was a gross oversimplification to place all the blame for that heart attack — and eventually, heart attacks in general — on saturated fat.

First, let’s look at Eisenhower. The man was president at time, and a five-star general before that — both stressful jobs, to say the least. Ike was also known to have a temper, and at one point smoked four packs a day. It’s fair to say there were confounding lifestyle issues.

Second, saturated fat isn’t necessarily something most people eat in excess. The USDA and World Health Organization recommend you cap your saturated fat consumption at 10 percent of your daily calories. A 2007 analysis by researchers at Rutgers University showed saturated fat makes up about 11 percent of the average American diet. The top sources of saturated fat being full-fat cheese (8.5 percent), pizza (5.9 percent), and cakes and pastries (5.8 percent).

It’s also true, as Sat-Fat supporters love to point out, that Ancel Keys’s research showed correlation, not causation. “The lowest evidence,” as Bowden described it. Modern day reviews have not been kind to the study’s findings.

“The most recent evidence, which reviews all the evidence from the past decade, shows that when you feed people more saturated fat, that doesn’t increase their chance for heart disease,” says Kamal Patel, director of the nutrition research website Examine.com.

But Patel quickly adds, “That still doesn’t mean that saturated fat is good for you.”

The Connection Between Saturated Fat and Cholesterol

There’s a lot we don’t yet know for certain about saturated fat’s effects on the body. But here’s one thing we do know:

Saturated fat does increase LDL (i.e. “bad”) cholesterol.

This has been proven many times.

Elevated LDL doesn’t guarantee you’ll have a heart attack — a possible explanation for the researchers’ null association between saturated and heart disease. It’s just one risk factor among many. But the general consensus is that, if your goal is to live longer, keeping your LDL low should still be part of the plan.

“If you have two people who are exactly the same except that LDL is high in one person and low in the other, the person with high LDL will still be at a higher risk [for heart disease],” says Dr. Spencer Nadolsky, a physician and osteopath based in San Diego.

So modern evidence shows that, at the very least, the once dogmatic fear of saturated fat is overblown. But Nadolsky and others caution that this doesn’t necessarily mean you should actively seek more saturated fat within your diet.

“Look at the Blue Zones,” says Nadolsky, referring to areas of the world where people live the longest. “Their cholesterols are low. They’re not putting butter in their coffee, but at the same time, they’re not entirely avoiding saturated fat.” In fact, they consume lots of dairy, mostly in the form of yogurt and cheese (albeit from sheep and goats, rather than cows).

“I’m not anti-saturated fat,” adds Nadolsky. “The problem is when people say, ‘Look! Saturated fat’s not bad for you now!’ Then you get people putting butter in their coffee. And what I’m seeing, and other doctors are seeing this as well, is that people [who do dramatically increase their saturated fat intake] are having explosive changes in their cholesterol.”

Saturated Fat and Your Diet: Here’s What to Do Now

You may not need to make any changes at all.

Your body doesn’t actually need saturated fat. “There are only two essential fatty acids,” says Patel. Those are alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3) and linoleic acid (an omega-6)—both of which are unsaturated.

While some people thrive on diets high in saturated fat, your body might not.

For some people—it’s unclear what percentage of the population—small amounts of saturated fat lead to big changes in cholesterol levels.

“We call them hyper-responders,” Nadolsky says. Some day there may be a reliable genetic test that will show who these people are, but it doesn’t exist yet. It’s safe to say that if heart attacks are part of your family health history, you’d be smart to keep your saturated fat intake within the existing 10 percent recommendation.

“If you have people in your family who had heart disease, despite having normal cholesterol, then you should probably do everything you can to decrease your risk,” Patel says.

But if you’re still interested in adding more saturated fat to your diet, there is a relatively easy way to monitor how your body reacts to it. Schedule two cholesterol tests spaced one month apart. Take the first test while eating your current diet. Then make the dietary changes you wanted and take the second test. This is the approach Nadolsky uses to assess his clients.

“You can tell pretty quickly if you’re going to have big changes to your LDL cholesterol,” he says.

Another test, which some experts say is more accurate and should replace the standard cholesterol test, examines your blood’s concentration of apolipoprotein B, or the cholesterol-carrying protein that embed themselves within arterial walls. The apoB test, as it’s called, looks specifically at the particles of greatest threat.

“When we check cholesterol [through a standard test], we’re just measuring the cholesterol on that low-density lipoprotein,” says Nadolsky. “But what really gets stuck in the wall is the lipoprotein, and that actually correlates better with risk.”

The Healthier Way to Eat More Saturated Fat

If bloodwork sounds too intense for you, then consider a simpler and safer way to add more fat to your diet: Skip the butter and eat nuts, avocado, and olive oil (all proven healthy fats) instead.

“The safest fat to eat is monounsaturated [fats, which are found in nuts, avocados, olive oil and fish],” says Patel. “They always have a benign or positive effect on lipids, and on the end result for heart disease and heart attack.”

Another saturated fat source that’s become popular in recent years is medium-chain triglycerides in the form of MCT oil, which is one of the saturated fat additives people have begun adding to their coffee in recent years.

“MCTs don’t have to go through the liver, so they’re available for your body to use more quickly,” says Patel. That can be useful during extremely low-carb diets, when you need energy. But Nadolsky adds, “I wouldn’t have anybody replace their olive oil or nuts with MCT oil. I don’t want to replace the fat that we know is beneficial with fat that may be of some little benefit for fat loss.”

The bottom line is that saturated fat is a nutrient, not something that your entire diet should revolve around. The body of evidence, taken as a whole, indicates that saturated fat is neutral. You should neither go out of your way to eat more of it, nor concern yourself with avoiding it.

“You shouldn’t be scared of saturated fat,” says Nadolsky. “But you’d be better off focusing on your overall diet.”

READ MORE: 

Fix Your Diet: Understanding Proteins, Carbs and Fats

How Much Fat Should I Eat?

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

The post Is Saturated Fat Bad? No. But It’s Not a Health Food Either. appeared first on Born Fitness.

We’ve been here before. That place where you’re told weight loss isn’t your fault. That there’s a new (gluten free, dairy free, carb free, cookie-filled) approach that is the solution to all your problems. And that this time it will be different.

Welcome to dieting déjà vu.

You know it well because you’ve seen script more often than your extended family. You’re unhappy with your body, so you make a change. To your excitement, you see benefits and progress.

But then it all stops.

The fat loss switch is stuck on “off.” So you try to force it back on. You make bigger changes–cut more calories, do more cardio, eat fewer carbs…and then even fewer carbs–and still nothing happens.

You rebel, revolt, and eventually retire assuming nothing will work.

And then you return wanting to make a change and looking for a new solution.

Hello, fat loss. Remember me?

It gets old, tired, and frustrating. So maybe it’s time you try something new.

Hello, fat loss. Screw you.

Let’s make one thing clear: Dieting sucks. I’m not saying dieting doesn’t work (because it does), but the concept is no fun.

Whether we like it or not, we all follow a diet. So let’s stop focusing on the meaningless word and start fixing what really matters.

Seeing awesome results.

I don’t care who you are; this is all that really matters. When you change the way you eat and exercise you’re doing it with the intention of looking better, feeling better, and improving your health.

So what stand between where you are now (desiring change) and where you want to be (seeing progress)?

It’s not popular but part of the problem is a lack of patience; fat loss is not magic. You didn’t put the weight on overnight, and it sure isn’t melting off. But worse: fat loss is a slower process than fat gain.

Instead of adding more and more cardio and eating less and less food, eliminating common mistakes and myths from the equation can lead to more consistent results, instead of teasing promise followed by no progress. When it’s done right, you never find yourself back in that familiar place.

Weight Loss: Without the Hype

The general question isn’t how will I lose weight or what do I need to do. Instead it’s, “How will this time be any different?”

That’s because you’ve become conditioned to expect diets to fail.

Much of the diet and fitness advice you need is overplayed, overhyped, and inaccurate. You are taking pieces of information and trying to create a Frankenstein approach to your body.

That crap doesn’t work.

At some point you start making excuses because of constant roadblocks: Bad genetics, a hectic work schedule, and the typical Sunday football menu of burgers, wings, and beer (the same way the dating excuses line up, Seinfeld-style, like “she eats peas with a fork,” “she’s a low-talker,” etc.). The reality? The excuses are a bunch of bull. The techniques are filled with half-truths.

Here’s something most programs don’t tell you: Your body is designed to incinerate the hard-to-lose fat. You know those areas as man boobs, love handles, and thunder thighs.

But the real problem is that you’ve been fed a steady diet of misinformation about what your body needs in order to look its best. And radical, dramatic steps are the last things your body needs. You need something more stable and sustainable.

Your body is the most sophisticated natural machine. It burns calories to help you perform all of your daily tasks, like standing up, thinking, and sleeping.

This daily maintenance is called your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Everyone has a BMR, but the bigger you are, the faster your metabolism works. Think about that: The more weight you carry, the better your metabolism.

On the surface, that doesn’t make sense. After all, skinny people have better metabolisms, right? Well, not exactly. Think about it another way.

Say you have two cars, an Audi and a Hummer. Which needs more fuel? The Hummer does, because it’s much larger and has more demands.

Your body is no different. Everything you do, from powering your heart to helping you move from point A to point B requires energy.

That’s why the larger you are, the harder your body needs to work and the more calories you burn.

Your body wants to be an Audi; you just have to be willing to trade in for a new model.

So how do you become leaner? Surprisingly, it’s the small things that really make the biggest differences. And over time, those tiny changes add up to a lean, toned body.

Consider this a refreshing outlook on your transformation: Your metabolism isn’t holding you back, and your body isn’t hardwired to look a certain way. You can control your ability to lose weight. Simple, small adjustments to your diet, exercise, and other behaviors will make a surprisingly big difference and transform your body.

If you drop the stubborn act and change your strategy based on a few simple guidelines, you can literally switch your body into a fitter, healthier mode—it will burn more calories, build more muscle, and you’ll look amazing.

Is it Exercise or Diet?

You can’t out-exercise a bad diet. That’s the most important rule of any successful plan.

But a great diet without an exercise plan is incomplete.

Your body needs to be active—both inside and outside the gym. Researchers have found that each 10 percent rise in sedentary time is associated with a 3.1-centimeter increase in the size of your waist.

What’s more, British scientists found that of the subjects they studied, the waist measurements of people who got up most often were more than 2 inches smaller than those of people who got up the least.

Exercise and diet work, so there’s not need to try and create some mathematical formula that determines what percentage of which will determine results. Claims that it’s one or the other is more wishful thinking than reality.

But change starts by realizing extreme behaviors in either are not the solution. After all, that’s where our battle of the bulge went wrong in the first place.

Flash back to 1980s; that’s when dietary fat was identified as the root of all evil and cardio was elevated to the best form of exercise. Next thing you knew, the entire country was gorging on fat-free foods and going on slow jogs.

Fast-forward 30 years and those decades of eating fat-free, sugar-loaded foods have done anything but make us less fat. And all of that long-slow cardio primarily resulted in—you guessed it—long, slow weight loss. That’s not to say cardio is bad. It’s good. But it’s application to weight loss must be smarter.

Louisiana State University researchers found that the average number of calories burned during exercise dropped by 100 calories during the past 20 years, even though people were spending more time in the gym.

So it should come as no surprise that the prevailing “best” approach to fat loss resulted in obesity rates skyrocketing to all-time highs. But more importantly, it left you more frustrated than ever.

You’ve probably heard this speech before. So before you hit the BS-button on your iPad, consider that for once you’re dealing with a more realistic approach to your body.

New Plan, New You

Hard bodies don’t come from your local supplement store. If they did, we’d all look the way we want. Unfortunately, we’ve all tried the do-whatever-it-takes approach to losing weight. Not only does that lead to a shortage of cash, it also bends our will.

In fact, a UCLA study notes that nearly 70 percent of people don’t believe that exercise and diet can help them lose weight. That’s a scary number for a nation that’s already losing the battle against obesity.

So it’s no wonder scientists estimate that the obesity trend won’t slow down until the year 2050. And by that time, it’s estimated that nearly half the country will be overweight. Do you want to be a statistic or the one who reverses the trend?

The Weight Training Advantage

It might sound surprising, but you don’t need to exercise to lose fat. You can shed your unwanted pounds by making sure you eat fewer calories than you burn. (This should show you the importance of a good diet.)

However, if you avoid exercise, you won’t retain as much muscle, which means it’ll be harder for you eliminate your beer gut and have flat, sexy abs. You can lose weight without exercise, but if you don’t retain or build muscle, your metabolism won’t be as efficient, which means you’ll have to eat even less food to see the same results.

You can do better than that: A sensible exercise program will help stoke your metabolism, which will help you burn more fat, which will help reveal your six pack. You’re reconditioning your body as a metabolic engine.

When you add resistance training to your routine, it can speed up the weight loss process by making your muscles more efficient fat-burning furnaces.

What’s more, it’s also good for your bone health and cardiovascular health, as well as optimizing glucose control so your body processes carbohydrates better.

Plus, in addition to sculpting your abs, you’ll build definition in your entire body and be able to eat more food. If you’re just losing pound but look the same, usually this means you’re not weight training or eating enough.

Doing both is the key to eliminating fat and building muscle—as opposed to just losing weight. That’s the real key to looking like you have a new body, rather than just seeing a different number on the scale. Resistance training burns calories during your sessions and stimulates your metabolism afterward.

Weight training is designed to provide faster results with less time in the gym. Not only do you have to work out fewer times per week (you’d be shocked what you can do in just 3-4 workouts per week) you’ll also have shorter sessions.

That’s because intensity is much more important than duration for eliminating fat. So you can spend a fraction of the time in the gym and still kiss your tummy good-bye. In fact, research has shown that 8 to 12 minutes of intense intervals can burn as many calories as 25 to 30 minutes of constant moderate exertion exercise.

Does that mean you only need to exercise for 8 to 12 minutes to see your abs?

Unfortunately, no.

But don’t be surprised when you spend less time on the cardio machines, pick up a few dumbbells, have less time in the gym and suddenly don’t even recognize your own body.

Is it the Carbs?

In a word, no.

Your belly comes from eating too many unused calories. If you overeat, you’ll store fat, regardless of what foods those calories come from.

The leanest and healthiest populations on the planet typically eat more carbs than protein or fat. Controlling weight gain is more about total calorie balance than any particular food.

Now, that said, some people find it easier to control their weight when they reduce or avoid carb-heavy foods that they have a tendency to overindulge in. And some people have sensitivities to processed grains and gluten, which make the fat loss process more difficult. But if you can control your intake and don’t have sensitivities, enjoy the carbs. The best way to prevent overeating is to make sure most of your carbs come from raw fruits and vegetables, while leaving a small portion for desserts.

How Often You Eat Doesn’t Matter (Too Much)

Your meals are like the sports teams you represent: It’s all personal preference and don’t let anyone else dump on your choice. Some people do great with a grazing pattern, while others prefer more substantial meals with less frequency.

But there’s a catch:

When people are eating fewer calories than they’re used to, they tend to prefer eating two to three larger meals rather than four to six small ones throughout the day.

As for more frequent meals being better for your metabolism? That’s just a myth that’s been recently disproved by science.

Canadian researchers proved this in 2010 when they compared folks eating three meals versus six meals and found no difference in participants’ fat loss when the exact same foods were consumed.

Fat Is Part of the Plan

There’s no need to avoid any particular type of fat, except for partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, which contain the harmful type of trans fat. Recent research has shown that saturated fat is actually good for you and isn’t linked to heart failure or cardiovascular disease.

In fact, your diet probably doesn’t include enough fat (marketers have done a very good job brainwashing us about the benefits of “fat free” versions of manufactured foods, which basically means the salt and sugar content has been boosted to make up for flavor loss).

The standard American diet lacks omega-3 fatty acids, which can be found in fish like salmon and sardines. Aside from that, the majority of the fats you eat should come from whole, minimally processed foods like meats, dairy, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, avocados, grains, and olive oil.

Exercise at Work (No Joke)

Get up from your desk as often as you can. A minimum of every half hour, try to at least stand up and stretch, then walk around, take a trip to the restroom, or take a lap around the office, says Aragon.

This process is important because it increases your non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). Your NEAT plays a big role in the number of calories you burn, so even small movements like fidgeting or tapping your heels can contribute to your overall transformation.

This will also help prevent your desk job from altering your posture, which can play a role in your slowed metabolism (not to mention an aching back!).

Eating is a Key Ingredient of Weight Loss

Here’s something easy to digest: You need to eat to lose. In particular, eat protein in every meal and snack. Focusing on protein fights off hunger and makes your stomach unlikely to bulge since protein is less likely to be stored as fat.

That’s because protein is harder to digest, so you burn more calories just eating the food. This process also helps ensure you eat less. Men who made sure their diet was at least 30 percent protein ate almost 450 calories less per day and lost 11 pounds more than those who ate less protein, according to a study published in Nutrition & Metabolism.

What’s more, British researchers found that emphasizing protein in each meal leaves you feeling fuller, accelerates fat loss, and maintains your muscle mass, which is key to shedding pounds and revealing your most chiseled body ever.

A Little Freedom Goes a Long Way

This doesn’t mean that you have to completely trash all your favorite indulgences, though.

Like anything in life, moderation is the key to finding balance. And lucky for you, it’s very simple to sort out your body’s confusion.

To put your mind and your gullet on the same page, adjust how you eat.

“You don’t need to completely remove processed foods from your diet, but keep them to a maximum of 10 to 15 percent of your daily calories,” says nutritionist Alan Aragon, MS. When you eat more than that, you risk creating a diet that doesn’t provide you with the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients your body needs.

Bottom line: Starving yourself on 1,000 calories or being a slave to diet and exercise isn’t the difference maker. In fact, it’s that obsessiveness that leads you down that vicious cycle instead of closer to the body you want.

Lose Fat…The Realistic Way

A weight loss plan doesn’t have to be a world of false promises and hype. Plenty of people have success, but the difference is that it’s personalized.

Now you can join a proven weight loss program with a personalized component. Sign up for your free consultation call and see how Born Fitness coaching is a personalized approach to all of your diet and fitness needs.

Here you’ll learn how to eat, the type of exercise needed, and the actual plans to point you in the right direction. But unlike a book, it provides real-time support and coaching to answer your questions and guide you to the body you want.

Best of all? The first month is risk free. So if you decide coaching isn’t for you, then you’ll receive your money back.

Click here to learn more about this unique fat loss experience.

READ MORE: 

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

Winning the War on Hunger: Practical Solutions to Overeating

Eating at Night Does Not Make You Fat

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 Fat Loss Mistakes (and How to Lose Weight For Good) appeared first on Born Fitness.

While the “rules” of fat loss and crushing calories are not overly complex, there’s a reason why the number of overweight people continues to swell. It’s the same reason you struggle to lose the first 20 pounds — or the last 10 standing between you and your abs.

Why does fat loss have you so confused? Because we misunderstand how fat loss works, and what you can do to help the process be a little less complicated. Yes — if you want to lose weight, the old adage of “eat less than you burn” is true. But that’s where the problems begin.

Eating less is not that simple. If you have tried to reduce how many calories you eat in a day, you know this to be true. And telling someone they are “lazy” or “don’t care enough” doesn’t do anything to fix the problem or help. (Not to mention, it’s usually not accurate; weight loss is a difficult process that takes time.)

Fat loss is not about a single meal or workout. It’s the combination of efforts (like NEAT) that are overlooked.

And even if you do eat less, you might battle psychological or physiological barriers that make it even harder to drop pounds. Or when you start to eat fewer calories, the difficulty of maintaining that pace also seems to force you to quit.

It’s not fair, but that doesn’t mean it’s a losing battle. Most people never take the time (translation: go to a doctor, get blood work done, examine the mental barriers) to understand why the pounds don’t come off. You just understand your reality — you don’t look different and neither does the scale.

There’s another part of the equation that’s oftentimes overlooked, and it has nothing to do with eating. When you hear “burn calories,” you’re probably thinking about metabolism crushing workouts [soul-crusher], doing cardio, or hitting the weights. 

From an exercise perspective, fat loss is not all about insanely intense workouts. In fact, if you talk to some of the leading researchers, it’s the easier approaches to fat loss that everyone forgets. And it could be the link to you dropping a few extra pounds or jumpstarting a big weight loss journey.

Still confused? It’s time for you to uncover the missing piece of the fat loss equation.

How You Really Burn Calories

Pardon me for a moment while we do a little math. (I promise it won’t take long.)

The total number of calories you burn in a day comes from three sources:

• Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): This is the number of calories your body uses simply by being alive. Even if you were to lay in bed all day, your body would burn them. Roughly 60% of the calories we eat in a day go toward maintaining these baseline biological processes.

• Thermic Effect of Food (TEF): The amount of energy it takes to digest, absorb, and store food. The rate varies from person-to-person, and from food-to-food (protein is the most “metabolically expensive” macronutrient, with up to 30% of its calories being burned during the digestive process.) But on average, TEF accounts for about 10% to 15% of our daily calorie burn.

• The third element is Activity Thermogenesis (AT). But this category has two components: exercise—any kind of moderate-to-vigorous session in the gym, on a bike, on the trails, etc.; and Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT), which basically includes everything else. Standing, walking, fidgeting—they all contribute to NEAT.

While NEAT might elicit a sarcastic remark deserving of its name (neat? Pssshhh), if you only think of exercise as the activity you do in the gym, then you’re missing out on huge fat burning potential.

Don’t just take our advice at face value, researchers have been studying it for years. What they’ve found is that NEAT can have an enormous impact on the total calories a person burns—as many as 2,000 per day. And that’s much more powerful than any fat burning supplement or BS appetite suppressant.

If you’re serious about fat loss, NEAT is the cost-effective (it’s free!), scientific approach that can work for your body.

Oftentimes, we choose to compare types of exercises. Weights are better than cardio. High-intensity training (things like HIIT) are better than slower bouts of treadmill time. But: 

Fat loss is not about a single meal or workout. It’s About the combination of efforts.

You already know that a killer 30-minute workout can burn hundreds of calories—but so can a few hours at the mall. For example, an 180-pound guy can burn about 285 calories just by taking a one-hour leisurely walk.

Just because you aren’t out of breath doesn’t mean your activity doesn’t ‘count.’ In fact, the opposite is true: All of the ‘light’ activity you do can tip the scales pretty heavily in your favor.

For example, in a 2005 study by Dr. James Levine at the Mayo Clinic recruited a group of 20 people. Half of them were lean, while the other 10 were obese self-proclaimed “couch potatoes.”

After tracking them for 10 days, researchers found that the obese people sat for 164 minutes longer during the day than their slimmer counterparts. What’s more, the skinnier group stood for about 152 minutes longer than the obese group.

Levine’s team crunched the numbers and determined that if the obese subjects did nothing else other than stand or stroll as much as the lean group, they would burn an additional 352 calories per day.

Again: That’s more than 350 calories—nearly 15 percent of an average male over age 30’s daily intake requirement—burned without adding any exercise at all.

But even if you’re not among the couch-bound, NEAT plays a bigger role in your life than you think.  Levine wrote in a 2004 review in the American Journal of Physiology: “NEAT, even in avid exercisers, is the predominant component of activity thermogenesis and is the energy expenditure associated with all the activities we undertake as vibrant, independent beings.” [Emphasis added.]

Put another way: “There are 168 hours in the week,” says Harley Pasternak, a celebrity trainer who’s worked with everyone from Lady Gaga to LL Cool J. “If you work out for an hour a day, five days a week, there are still 163 hours—or 97% of the week—that you’re not in the gym.”

Even the most highly committed workout-a-holic will still spend more of their life away from the gym than in it. Your habits during those non-training hours can either work for you, or against you.  

The Trapdoor: How to Combine NEAT and Exercise

NEAT can help you work toward your weight loss goal. But here’s where things get tricky: Your workout can work against your NEAT.

James Krieger, M.S. nutrition and founder of Weightology, says that some exercisers actually erase all the calorie-burning benefits of their workouts by being less active the rest of the day (compared to a non-training day). And there’s research that backs up this idea.

“Let’s say a person expended 200 calories during an exercise session,” Krieger says, “they can actually make up for it by their NEAT levels going down by 200 calories the rest of the day. It’s like they didn’t exercise at all.”

One possible reason: They’re so exhausted afterward.

“I tell people, if you have a client that’s interested in fat loss, be careful how hard you work them because if you work them so hard that they sit around and don’t do anything the rest of the day, you may actually doing them a disservice if they are trying to lose body fat.”

If you needed more proof that not every workout should kick your ass, now you have it. But there’s also evidence that biology plays a role, too. “Your body doesn’t like being in an energy deficient state,” say Krieger. “If you’re dieting and exercising, your body is going to try and resist that by decreasing your NEAT levels, whether that’s by less fidgeting or moving around.”

So what can you do to combat this subtle sabotage? Krieger recommends that people wear a pedometer and try to maintain the same level of activity every single day—even on the days when you do an extra-hard workout.

“The key is consistency,” Krieger says. “If you’re only doing it once in awhile, it’s not going to make much of a difference, but if you do it consistently, it’s going to add up.”

Note that he’s not telling you to give up wind sprints in favor of a walk. NEAT isn’t going make you jacked. Resistance training does that.

What he’s saying is that you should do the wind sprints and take a walk.

How to Make NEAT Work for You

This is not an invitation to start forcing mini-workouts into your day. You don’t need to look for ways to break a sweat at every waking moment of the day. You don’t need to perform bodyweight squats while you cook. That isn’t NEAT. That’d be exercise. (That’d also be awkward.)

Instead, pay attention to how much time you spend moving—or not—during the day. In his book “Move a Little, Lose a Lot,” Dr. Levine recommends keeping an activity journal for a few days. You’d want to record at least one weekday and one weekend day. Track how you spend your time in half-hour intervals. Mark each activity into one of three categories: sitting, standing or moving.

When your log is complete, take a look at each item—especially the ones categorized as sitting. Think of ways you could make those tasks more active. For example, those conference calls you have to be on at work—could you take them standing up, or even strolling around your office?

Levine recommends 135 minutes of NEAT time during the day—which sounds like a lot, but really only amounts to slightly less than 10 percent of a 1,440-minute day (yes, that’s how many minutes there are in one). And remember, standing counts.

Small activities burn more calories than you’d think. Vacuuming the house for 30 minutes burns 143 calories. Cleaning the garage for 30 minutes burns 122 calories. Use a standing desk (which both Winston Churchill and Leonardo Da Vinci apparently did) for an hour and you’ll burn 98 calories. Everything you do in your garden burns between 100 and 200 calories an hour. So does pacing or walking the dog.

Think of every step you take as a small win. 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.

Again, the point isn’t to cheat the system. It’s to understand that fat loss is not just a byproduct of weight training or diet. There are other efforts you can do that — when added up over time (think 2-3 months, or longer) — can have a significant impact and help you finally understand how to make fat loss programs work for you.

READ MORE: 

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

How to Lose Weight: Why Sleep Can Make You Fat

The Truth About the 7-Minute Workout

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 Want to Burn More Calories? Add This to Your Fat Loss Plan appeared first on Born Fitness.

That’s what’s delivered for free through The Born Fitness Insider, a weekly digital newsletter where experts help you make sense of the nonsense .

This is just a sample of what’s typically sent, where Born Fitness takes an inside look at Tom Brady and Giselle Bündchen’s diet, based on this article from The Boston Globe.

Framing all carbohydrates – essentially everything from lentils, apples, and broccoli to muffins, Swedish Fish, and soda – as unhealthy is nutritionally inaccurate.

We all know that Tom Brady is an incredible quarterback and Giselle is beautiful, but that doesn’t mean you should follow their nutrition plan. Despite their star power, are their chef’s recommendations worth your time?

To answer that question, I reviewed his advice with nutritionist Andy Bellatti, MS, RD.

So just what are Tom and Giselle doing right and wrong? Read on to find out how Bellatti translates the dietary suggestions into advice you can use and mistakes you can avoid.

The Tom Brady Diet: An Inside Look

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady made nutrition headlines in 2015 over his harsh criticism of Frosted Flakes and Coca-Cola. But Tom is obviously not a nutritionist, so his opinions come from somewhere. The main source: his personal chef, Allen Campbell. The Boston Globe interviewed Allen Campbell about the power couple’s dietary habits.

As a dietitian, these sorts of articles are often a mixed bag. On the one hand, the celebrity packaging takes the message of healthful eating to a wide audience that can otherwise be difficult to reach. Conversely, there is always a high risk of spotting nutritional inaccuracies and myths that only further confuse the general public.

The Good: Finding the Magic Ratio

Campbell has a plant-based, whole-food perspective, and roughly 80 percent of the food he prepares for Tom and Gisele is plant-based. That’s terrific.

Current health statistics — heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., 1 in 3 American adults has high blood pressure, and 50 percent of Americans have Type 2 diabetes or prediabetes — point to a nation in the grips of a nutritional deficit disorder.

Eating more whole, plant-based foods and fewer highly processed foods (aka “junk food”) are two of the best things the average American can do to improve his or her health. Campbell frequently prepares nutrient-rich brown rice, quinoa, millet, and beans for the superstar couple. Can’t argue with any of those recommendations.

Campbell also mentions an effort to procure sustainable and local food as much as possible, which is commendable. Unfortunately, this is where the good stops and the bad begins.

Red Flag #1: Organic is Not the Only Way

“If it’s not organic, I don’t use it.”

Organic agriculture has many environmental benefits (i.e.: reduction of agricultural pollutants and the preservation of on-farm biodiversity), but from a nutritional standpoint, a conventional avocado offers the same heart-healthy fats found in an organic avocado, and both conventional and organic oranges are excellent sources of vitamin C.

Or put more clearly: both of those conventional produce choices will always trump an organic cookie.

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Red Flag #2: The Acid/Alkaline Myth

“If you just eat sugar and carbs—which a lot of people do—your body is so acidic, and that causes disease.” 

Framing all carbohydrates – essentially everything from lentils, apples, and broccoli to muffins, Swedish Fish, and soda – as unhealthy is nutritionally inaccurate. And it’s enough to confuse you into not knowing what’s OK to eat.

This statement also supports the acid-alkaline myth, a thoroughly debunked theory, which suggests that certain foods (i.e.: refined starches, coffee, and white sugar), are “acid-forming”, while others (i.e.: almonds, spinach, and grapefruit) are “alkaline-forming”.

The theory works like this: the more alkaline-forming foods you eat, the more alkaline your blood, and the more alkaline your blood, the lower your risk of developing a host of chronic diseases.

This is simply not true and here’s why. Your blood pH is tightly regulated so it stays between 7.35 and 7.45, which is slightly alkaline (1 is acidic, 7 is neutral, and 14 is alkaline).

No food can lower or raise blood pH. (Let that sink in as the first sign that any acid/alkaline diet suggestions are simply scare tactics based on bad science.)

Furthermore, a blood pH below 7.35 is known as metabolic acidosis, while alkalosis refers to a blood pH above 7.45. Either case is cause for serious concern and requires medical attention.

Copious amounts of added sugars and refined starches are problematic not because they are “acid-forming,” but because they are minimally nutritious, raise biomarkers for heart disease, and can wreak havoc on our blood sugar levels.

Red Flag #3: “No white sugar.”

Americans’ current intake of added sugars — that is, sugar added to foods during processing and preparation — is cause for concern. An ever-growing body of research has linked higher amounts of added sugar to increased risks of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

According to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the average adult man in the United States consumes 21 teaspoons a day; the average woman: 15 teaspoons.

These figures far exceed the American Heart Association’s recommendation of no more than 36 grams (9 teaspoons) for men, and 24 grams (6 teaspoons) for women per day, and the World Health Organization’s recommendation to cap added sugar intake at 10 percent of calories for adults (for a 2,000-calorie diet, that equates to 12 teaspoons per day). It’s worth noting, too, that WHO states a further reduction to five percent of total calories is suggested for additional health benefits.

Do you probably need to eat less sugar? Sure. But does white sugar need to be demonized as the source of all health problems? Not at all.

Sugar is sugar is sugar. Two tablespoons of agave nectar, maple syrup, or coconut nectar are no healthier than two tablespoons of white sugar. All forms of added sugar should be equally limited, and no form of added sugar should ever be framed as ‘healthier’ because your body will process it the same way no matter what healthy spin you try to create.

Red Flag #4: Cooking Oils and Salt

“I’ll use raw olive oil, but I never cook with olive oil. I only cook with coconut oil. I use Himalayan pink salt as the sodium. I never use iodized salt.”

This is a perfect example of someone taking a food most people believe is healthy—olive oil—and creating unnecessary confusion and fear.

Olive oil is actually quite heat stable due to its high monounsaturated fat content. Extra virgin olive oil has been shown to retain its nutritional properties up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and its smoke point is anywhere between 374 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit (when cooking oil surpasses its smoke point, free radicals are formed).

Oils high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as flax, walnut, and hempseed oil are best used in salad dressings or raw dips, as the fats are fragile and have significantly lower smoke points.

As far as salt goes, while Himalayan pink salt gets its hue from its mineral content, you would need multiple heaping tablespoons – surpassing daily sodium recommendations by tenfold – to add a substantial amount of minerals to your diet. From a culinary standpoint, different salts can provide different properties, but nutritionally all are equal.

Red Flag #5: Are Nightshades Dangerous?

“[Tom] doesn’t eat nightshades, because they’re not anti-inflammatory. So no tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, or eggplants. Tomatoes trickle in every now and then, but just maybe once a month. I’m very cautious about tomatoes. They cause inflammation.”

It is a shame that nightshade vegetables are still relegated by some to the “do not eat” pile based on inaccurate information. Nightshade vegetables – which include tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and potatoes; mushrooms are not nightshades – offer a plethora of vitamins, minerals, and anti-inflammatory compounds.

There is no scientific evidence that tomatoes cause inflammation, and, barring issues with heartburn, no real reason to avoid them. In fact, men should consume tomatoes – especially cooked ones – frequently, as they are an excellent source of lycopene, an antioxidant that may help protect against the development of prostate cancer (you also find lycopene in watermelon and red peppers, but it is abundant in cooked tomatoes).

Some eschew nightshades due to the presence of compounds known as saponins, which are also found in beans, legumes, garlic, asparagus, matcha tea, and oats. Although some dietary circles blame saponins for some health issues — especially “leaky gut”, which is not yet a recognized diagnosis due to an absence of scientific evidence — animal studies have found anti-inflammatory properties as well as an ability to bind cholesterol.

The good takeaways from this piece? Eat more plants, eat more real food, and get a be your own personal chef.

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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.

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