There are many reasons for that, one of which is the fact that the quality of your energy intake matters. 1000 calories of Twinkies is not 1000 calories of steak, no matter what idiotic single-food-focused diet you may choose to consume (see: Twinkie diet, cabbage soup, grapefruit, lemon-cayenne-maple syrup, et al).

I hope to help folks understand eventually that energy in vs energy out is not the only thing that determines body composition — your body’s response to a given food also makes a huge difference. (I’ll be harping on this a lot in future, so consider this a warning shot across the bow.)

An interesting, albeit small, recent study correlates protein quality to waist size. What is interesting here is that the researchers stipulate “quality protein”. What the heck does that mean?

Let me explain the concept of essential amino acids (EAAs).

Essential amino acids and protein quality

If there’s one thing Nature does real good, it’s make proteins. (Actually, Nature does lots of things real good.) Oh how organic systems love their proteins. You’re a big pile of protein, from your hair to your toenails.

The building blocks for proteins are amino acids. There are lots of amino acids out there. Sure, we love ‘em all, but there are some that we really need — these are known as essential amino acids. There are also amino acids that are conditionally essential, which means that sometimes we need them more than others. Frinstance, glutamine is a conditionally EAA — we need more of it during times of physical stress, which is why it’s often included in post-surgical nutrition.

Now, what you’re looking for in your diet is a good assortment of these EAAs, and generally (unless you have some kind of intolerance or genetic inability to metabolize certain AAs) getting some of the conditional AAs doesn’t hurt either. Bone broths, for instance, are rich in glycine. (And they taste great! So win-win.)

Some proteins are more equal essential than others

Problem is that not all protein sources are created equal.

Just because something “contains protein” does not mean that the protein source is optimal. Sure, we’re scavengers so we will grab ‘n’ go whatever we can get our greasy little protease enzymes on — we can extract protein from darn near anything edible.

But that protein may not be our best choice. Frinstance, vegetarians often opt for beans/legumes, grains, and nuts as protein sources. (And others of you like to delude yourself that peanut butter is a “good protein source”. Hey man, I get it. Nothing beats scooping out that buttery goodness and feeling morally righteous and nutritionally justified as the silky, sexy, salty, peanutty velvet melts into your soft palate. Unnnngghhh.)

Now, these protein sources aren’t “bad” or “wrong”. They’re just not optimal. Let’s compare.

Here’s a sample of protein ranking according to the PDCAAs score. (Don’t worry about the acronym. Just get the idea.) The PDCAA scores proteins on two things: our amino acid requirements, and how well we can digest these particular proteins.

The higher the number, the better-quality (for us) the protein in terms of giving us the amino acids that we need.

Lab vs real world

I should point out that theoretical digestibility doesn’t always correlate to real-life digestibility.

Although, for instance, whey and casein are highly ranked, many folks actually can’t digest dairy well, and in fact consuming casein/whey is a source of other health problems. Same deal with soy — if you rely on soy as your major protein source you are in for some serious issues. And of course, if you’ve read Fuck Calories, you’ll know how I feel about wheat.

Indeed, some researchers have pointed out that the PCDAAs may over-value certain foods if it looks only at amino acid availability, noting that the PCDAAs ignores the real-world protein quality of the “protein sources which may contain naturally occurring growth-depressing factors or antinutritional factors”.

What this means is that we have to look at the big picture: How does a given food actually behave in a real human body?

Also note that not all of these are whole foods. Casein, whey, and soy protein powders are industrially processed foods that require an elaborate production chain. You know my thoughts on industrially processed foods, which is that in general we should avoid most of them. And unless we’re hardcore bodybuilders, we don’t just eat “casein”, we usually eat something like “cottage cheese”, which contains both whey and casein.

But anyway, just get the general picture here. Some foods are higher in essential amino acids than others. This is what the researchers mean by “quality protein”. More EAAs per gram of food, better protein quality.

Better protein quality means a leaner body?

The Coles Notes version here is that a higher intake of quality proteins is correlated with a smaller waist size, and by inference a leaner body.

Now, you could say the sample is too small to be of use, and that this effect is simply correlation not causation, and you would be correct on both counts from a methodological standpoint. But this general trend  (abundant protein = you get lean & strong) has been confirmed across a zillion other studies.

So again, let’s talk lab vs. real world. I can tell you from my observation of hundreds of clients (yes, real people in the real world, just like you) that it’s very, very hard to get lean and strong, to stay robustly healthy, and to perform well athletically on a low-quality, low protein diet. Period. There are always a few rare outliers who claim to kick ass while living on twigs and sprouts, and more power to ‘em. Likely, those folks are not you.

Conversely, for most folks it’s a lot easier to feel energetic, full, and psychologically satisfied — and get lean — on a diet that includes lots of high-quality protein. Mo’ protein, no problems.

If you don’t incorporate high-quality protein sources into your diet (and let’s be honest, I mean eating something that is an animal or was made by an animal), you’ll likely find it more challenging to get and stay as lean, healthy, and strong as you would like, and you’ll have to rely more on heavily processed foods such as protein powders to bring your intake up to snuff.

Feeling all a-Twitter about this post? Why not chat about it on my Facebook page?

Wonder no more. (Short answer: You’ll be fine. Have a little green tea and a deep breath. You might even get riptshizzled and healthier, if you’re smart about skipping a meal now and again.)

Along with Dr. John Berardi of Precision Nutrition and Nate Green, I’ve co-written a FREE (!!) manual on my experiences with intermittent fasting (IF). In the book, we follow JB’s carefully documented  journey through self-experimentation with IF.

What happens when one of the nutrition industry’s top minds gets real with no meals? (Short answer: He gets incredibly ripped and keeps all his muscle. Good deal.)

Throughout the book we give handy tips and tricks on IF, including how to do it wrong, and special considerations for women and athletes. You’ll find out what happened to me when I tried IF, and whether IF is appropriate for you. And you’ll learn how to do your own experiments on yourself.

Science! Sex hormones! Food disasters and triumphs! Mistress Krista’s uterus! John Berardi’s abs! Blood work!

It’s all here! And the best part — it’s FREE!

Why are you still reading this? Go and check it out!

Female athletes come in all shapes, such as runners, power-lifters fighters, dancers, or women just out there having fun! Yet they all seem to make the same nutrition mistakes.

Don’t feel bad. I blame Weight Watchers, fashion magazines, and well-meaning but wrongheaded advice that you can find all over the media.

The good news is that if you fix these things, you’re way ahead of the game!

One thing at a time

If you’d like to improve your nutrition, don’t tackle these all at once. Yes, it’s tempting. (Blame the “New Year’s Resolution” phenomenon.) But you’re much more likely to say “forget it!” and give up. It becomes overwhelming and hard to implement.

If you decide to make nutrition changes, pick one of these concepts until you master it. And give yourself plenty of time to practice and get it right. I recommend 2-3 weeks.

Only add another improvement once you get the first change down. That’s how successful people improve.

Mistake #1 – Inappropriate body composition goals (light instead of lean)

If you have ever said, “But I don’t want to get bulky,” this section is for you.

The pressure to conform to a certain body type is ubiquitous, so I don’t blame any woman for feeling this pressure. But I am going to try to convince you that lighter is not always better. Your weight is irrelevant because it doesn’t tell us anything about your muscle or fat.
For example:

Athlete A is 130 lbs with 15% body fat (19.5 lbs fat).
Athlete B is 115 lbs with 24% body fat (27.6 lbs of fat).

Comparing their weight gives the wrong message. We need to compare muscle and fat.

Athlete A has a better strength-to-weight ratio. Ever hear that muscle is denser than fat? It’s true. Drop some chicken into a glass of olive oil and you can prove this to yourself. Muscles store water (which is also heavier than fat).

If you lift weights and optimize your nutrition, you won’t get “bulky”. You’ll get stronger and lose fat and lose inches. To get bulky, you have to have the right hormones (i.e. plenty of testosterone), lift tons of weight, cut your cardio, and eat lots of extra food. (And by the way, lots of extra calories from sugar will usually add fat, not muscle.) Oh, and some performance-enhancing drugs won’t hurt either.

Muscle will help you stay lean because it’s like making your body into a little furnace!

And oh yeah, YOU NEED TO LIFT WEIGHTS TO BE A GOOD ATHLETE!!!!

A thought for fighters and other weight classed athletes:

A healthy and lighter fighter will defeat a heavier fighter who is dehydrated, tired and diet crazy. If you really want to cut weight for your fights, call me and we can see if it’s a good strategy.

A thought for runners:

Muscles store energy and water that your body can use. Runners need to do a bit of resistance training to improve gait and prevent repetitive
stress injury. Proper nutrition will do the rest.

A note on your health:

The healthy range for body fat for a female athlete is 11-21%. This is a huge range. 11% is like Madonna when she gets ripped, and at 21% there is enough fat on you to grab a handful. Measure with underwater weighing, a BodPod or a fitness pro that is experienced with calipers.

You should also monitor your body signals closely to evaluate your healthy body fat level.

For example, monitor your cycle. If it is less a day, lighter, or skips a month entirely, that is your body telling you it’s hurting/starving! This leads to lower estrogen levels which can lead to bone loss. Some of you out there will experience this at 20% body fat! Beware!

Other body signals:

• Lack of interest in training
• Emotional ups and downs; moodiness; irritability
• Chronic infections and viruses — you seem to catch every cold and flu bug that goes around
• Chronic injuries, aches and pains — you can’t seem to shake that tendonitis or plantar fasciitis
• Difficulty sleeping (trouble falling asleep, poor sleep quality, or early wakeups around 4 am)

Sadly it is only in hindsight that some athletes see how beat-up their body was. Talk to Krista or myself about your body composition, and what might be right for you.

Mistake #2 – Inappropriate restriction of calories

This is usually part of mistakenly trying to get lighter. Remember your body is like a furnace now. Snacks like rice cakes and plain celery are not helping you.

To lose body fat, eat healthy snacks and meals 4-6 times a day (see below for examples). Avoid huge meals. Instead, eat enough to be satisfied (not full) and you won’t make new fat.

Exercise tells your body to divert nutrients to muscle and other lean tissue (such as bones) instead of body fat. Rinse, repeat.

Mistake #3 – Low carb meals at the wrong time

If you’ve been sitting at your desk all day, feel free to restrict or eliminate the dense carbs like corn, pasta, rice etc. Eat meals like salads with protein and 2-3 Tbsp of dressing. Or stir-fries with veggies and a bit of oil. In other words, fill up on protein, veggies, some healthy fats. Precision Nutrition has awesome cookbooks for these meals.

BUT if you’ve just beat the crap out of your body in the gym, do NOT restrict carbs!

Instead, cut down the fat and increase the carbs by adding 1/2 to 2 fists of carbs to the salad I described. Choose carbs like fruit, yams, lentils/beans/legumes or squash. (If you simply must have grains, go ahead. We can talk about them later.)

Meals after training should be the biggest ones you eat!

Why we need carbs after we train:

• Carbs after training reduce carb cravings later (when you can’t deal with them metabolically)
• Carbs get stored as glycogen so you can train hard tomorrow
• Insulin spike brings growth hormone that repairs our tissues
• You’ll have more energy later
• It’s an emotional/psychological break from eating low carb
• It’s a good time to have a little treat if you absolutely must have them

Mistake # 4 – Low protein meals and snacks

Eating protein with every feeding is absolutely essential. It keeps you full, raises your metabolism and helps you recover from exercise.

Snacks (that actually suck) that beauty magazines think are great:

• A piece of fruit – Yay! You got 1 gram of protein! (I’m being sarcastic. You need about 20 grams every time you eat)
• A handful of almonds – nuts brag about protein but only give you a few grams. Nuts have healthy fats, but keep the portions very small, as they’re calorie dense and it’s easy to put down 1000 calories of nuts without really noticing.
• Yogurt and fruit – The big faker snack. Yogurt has 2-4 times as much sugar as protein. (Trust me. Read the label.) Yes, even the organic plain stuff has sugar. Greek yogurt, however is very high in protein.

Appropriate snacks:

• Any meal like a salad or stir fry with protein, veg, and healthy fats
• Some tuna with mayo and baby carrots, peppers, celery
• Fruit and 2 hard-boiled eggs
• 1/3 cup beans, 1/4 cup quinoa, 1 cup veggies, 2 tsp oil, vinegar/lemon

If you are saying “Wow that’s a lot of food!” remember we are making our meals smaller and our snacks bigger.

Mistake #5 – Fat phobia

Eating fat doesn’t make us fat. Being sedentary and having too many calories makes us fat. Dense carbs at the wrong time will make us gain fat. A low protein diet will make us fat.

Fat is good for you. It helps our hormones and cells function (two big players in your system). It makes your skin nice. It keeps you feeling full.

Each meal and snack should have 1-3 thumbs of fat from oil, nuts, seeds, avocado, etc. About 30-40% of your calories should come from fat.

Summary

Don’t follow diet advice from celebrity actresses or models. Please. You are not them. You are a well-oiled performance machine, not a clothes hanger. And Gwyneth Paltrow’s doctor is probably pleading with her to eat more before her bones turn into jelly.

Unfortunately, the fashion world’s diet advice bled into female sports advice. Female athletes have to eat more calories than their sedentary friends, and maybe even more than their sedentary brothers or fathers.

Here’s a short list of “to-do”s. Again, implement these one at a time. Slowly.

• Ignore what the number on the scale. Measure your performance (times, skill, etc) and how your clothes fit, and body fat percentage.
• Eat when you are truly physically hungry (every 2-4 hours), not psychologically hungry or “craving” something.
• If you want to lose fat, stop eating when you’re just satisfied — not full and certainly not stuffed!
• Each time you eat, ask yourself, “Where’s my protein?” You want to have a palm-sized portion on that plate.
• Eat more than usual after training, and have extra carbs. The post-workout period is a special time when all the nutrients do their jobs better than normal.
• Experiment with low carb meals at times when you are sedentary. Make sure to bump the fat up — as carbs go down, fat goes up.

That’s a lot of homework! For more info, check out the rest of this website, and:

Precision Nutrition

My website – KyleByronNutrition.com

>> Download the sheet in PDF

The premise here is that there are three very general types of categories of diets, based on human technological and cultural changes.

1. Modern diets are generally characterized by things like:

• industrial and mass production
• highly processed food
• food generally divorced from context
• a focus on taste, “nutrients” and chemical properties of foods
• food information transmitted by “experts” and external “authorities” (such as labels)

For more on the characteristics of modern diets, see Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

2. Traditional diets are generally characterized by things like:

• small-scale, mostly local production
• some processing and agriculture, which varies depending on group, region, and food type
• food eaten generally in context (e.g. region, season, within a community, etc.)
• a focus on sustenance, maintaining traditional/ancestral practices, and community norms
• food information from hands-on transmission (e.g. from parent to child) as well as some cultural/community norms (e.g. religious observance)

Traditional diets are an intermediate step between industrial food production and primal-style eating. For more on traditional diets that bridge this gap, see Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price.

3. Primal diets are generally characterized by things like:

• hunting and gathering mostly what one can eat in a given situation (with some small attempts at preservation, e.g. by air-drying meat)
• almost no processing beyond basic butchering and cooking; any fermentation is naturally occurring
• food always eaten in context (e.g. region, season, according to eaters’ needs, within a symbolic relationship to the land, etc.)
• a focus on sustenance and survival
• food information from hands-on transmission (e.g. from parent to child)

For more on the characteristics of primal diets, see The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain and the materials at RobbWolf.com. Also see this excellent piece Eat Your Habitat by Josh Leeger.

The dietary continuum

There is no specific timeframe given, as various regions have adopted food technology and production methods differently.

These diets are on a continuum; there is no hard-and-fast division between them. For instance, some traditional diets may have elements of primal diets, or pre-modern diets.

Likewise, to transition from modern to primal can involve many steps, and blending the best elements of all diets, as you see fit.

The only underlying truth is that the farther away you get from a “modern” diet, the healthier — mentally, emotionally, and physically — you will probably be. So even if you only stop the bus at “traditional light”, that’s still an improvement.

I’ve laid out the available options for animal- and plant-based protein. So whether you hang your hat as carnivore, omnivore, or herbivore, you should be able to figure out how to transition your eating away from modern-style eating. (See also How To Dump Sugar… For Good)

Don’t sweat the small potatoes regionally varying tubers

Don’t get up all up in my grill about the details, e.g. whether this sheet is perfectly historically accurate, or when rice was domesticated, or that fungi are not “veggies”, or “where is beer?”, or whether So-and-So still makes tofu the traditional way.

Focus on the big picture here, folks. Grasp the overall ideas and fill in the blanks yourself.

This is a set of general concepts only, which you can use to decide where and how you might want to make changes to your eating habits and approach.

And ya know, as a printout, it sticks nicely on your fridge. Or yurt. Please share. (However, you will need to produce your own cuneiform or orally transmitted version.)

>> Download the sheet in PDF

That monkey is sugar.

If you are a “carbaholic”, “sugar fiend”, “sweet psycho”, etc. you are not a bad person. You are not a weak person. You do not lack “willpower”.

Sugar is a drug that is stronger than you. That is all.

Sugar fucks with your head and your heart. Sugar makes normal people crazy. Sugar does all manner of nastiness in your body that goes beyond mere body fat.

I don’t mess around when it comes to sugar. Some folks will say it’s no big deal.

But you reading this… you know of what I speak. You know this monkey. How fierce and feisty it is. How it whispers and cajoles and cackles and then grabs you by the face with its sticky fingers and pushes your maw right into the cookie jar.

Afterwards you feel dirty and ashamed, joints hurting, belly aching, head pounding. Helpless. Out of control. Bloated. Desperately thirsty. And worst of all, looking around for more.

Another binge, marked in red on the calendar of your life.

You, dear reader — you know what darkness sugar gouges forth from your soul. You want this little bugger gone. Forever.

Well let me ask you this:

Would you trade a month of feeling like shit for a lifetime of feeling awesome?

Of course you would.

From now until you die of something other than Type 2 diabetes or heart disease (such as, for instance, being shot by your lover’s wife at age 120, or skydiving), you can enjoy endless energy, youthful exuberance, and freedom from that little bastard monkey.

All it costs you is 4 weeks of shit. That’s a darn good deal.

If you’re ready to trade, I’m ready to deal.

Here’s how to dump sugar for good, in just one month.

Step 1: Get your head right.

Before any of this begins, figure out and focus on why you want to do this.

Don’t half-ass this part. This is a big decision and it’s gotta reflect your values, life priorities, and who you want to be from this day forward.

Buy a notebook.

Writing exercise 1: Write down all the reasons you want to give up sugar.

Why is this a meaningful project to you?

Brainstorm everything you can think of and write everything down. Here’s a starter list:

1. Almost all chronic diseases are a form of diabetes — poor blood sugar and insulin regulation. You don’t believe me? Google “insulin” or “glucose” plus any chronic disease you like. Enjoy losing your evening to PubMed.
2. 85-90% of diabetes cases are Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is 99% preventable. Nobody should ever get this terrible disease. You can stop this train right now.
3. Sugar causes aging. That means wrinkles. If you won’t dump sugar for your heart, do it for your vanity and your cougar career.
4. Do you want to be around for your grandkids? And be able to play with them? And beat the snot out of the little brats at baskeball? Hell yeah.
5. Planning a pregnancy? Time to get healthy now — gestational diabetes is serious bidness and sets your kid up for problems later on as well. Plus, you need a healthy baby so that baby can eventually make grandbabies whom you can beat at basketball. See how this plan all comes together?
6. Want to have consistent energy and be free of the blood sugar rollercoaster? Free of the shakies, crankies, bitchies, fainties, dizzies? Damn right you do.
7. Sugar cramps athletic performance. You want slow-simmering, endless energy, not bump ‘n’ bonk.
8. Sugar might make you insane.
9. etc.

Don’t do this for me, a clothing size, or anyone else. Do this for YOU. YOUR body. YOUR future. YOUR life.

Your body works so hard for you. It loves you. The least you can do is not kill it prematurely.

Writing exercise 2: Forewarned is forearmed.

Write down all the obstacles you think you might anticipate.

For instance:

• sugar pushers at work
• sugar pushers at parties
• sugar pushing family/relatives
• having sugar around the house
• etc.

Think about strategies to deal with them in advance.

Don’t get overwhelmed by all these potential obstacles. Stay focused on today. Just get ‘em out there so you aren’t blindsided by them.

Keep this notebook with you and review it daily. Set a reminder on your calendar or cellphone if necessary.

Step 2: Plan & schedule.

Give yourself 4 weeks to do this.

Use the first week to get ready. Don’t just jump in.

Set yourself up to succeed. (I’ll explain how below.) If you do this without planning and preparation, you’re much more likely to bomb out, and then feel even worse. Help yourself do this. Be your own best friend.

Start your sugar-free life on Week 2.

Don’t start this when you’re PMSing. Let Week 2 rip about the 2nd or 3rd day of your period, when the hormonal demons are quiet and you’re ready to rumble.

I’ll walk you through this step by step.

WEEK 1

If you haven’t already done so, make your list of reasons to do this, and the obstacles you may encounter. Again, keep this list handy. Refer to it daily.

Grieve your loss.

Get out a piece of paper and write down all the feelings you feel (physical and emotional), and all the thoughts you have about sugar. Thoughts and feelings like:

• Giving up sugar makes me feel sad.
• I’m afraid of being a health nut.
• I’m excited to get rid of this.
• Abba-Zabba, you my only friend.
• etc.

Understand that you will grieve this loss. Yes, I’m serious. You will go through withdrawal, sadness, anger, bargaining, the whole nine yards.

Again: Forewarned is forearmed. And hey, it’s normal. You and sugar were tight. Be sad. Be mad. It’s OK.

If necessary, have a little ritual funeral for sugar. Bury a chocolate bar in the back yard. No shit. This works.

You’ll probably be tempted to go hog wild on sugar the day before you start Project Fuck Sugar. If you want to, do it. Binge your face off.

Stay checked in and notice how that feels. Notice how it tastes. Eat slowly, meticulously, tasting every last molecule of that sugar. Eat that sugar until it burns your tongue then keep going. Make yourself utterly ill.

Leave a notepad and pen by your bed. Wake up the next day and write down how you feel physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Whenever you doubt this project, read your notes from The Morning After.

Get informed.

Understand all the forms of sugar. This includes:

• table sugar
• “natural” sweeteners: honey, maple syrup, agave
• anything else ending in “syrup”, e.g. corn syrup, rice syrup, pomegranate syrup
• molasses
• almost anything ending in “ose”: glucose, fructose, sucrose, dextrose, etc.

Read labels. All labels. Of course, you should be cutting down on foods with labels anyway, but for now, read labels.

Prepare your environment.

Do NOT rely on willpower. Ever.

Willpower WILL flake on you like your wastoid high school friends did when they saw Principal Meany coming to bust you for setting the wastebasket on fire in second period history.

Rely on structures and systems.

Think of this like toddler-proofing your life. Sugar-proof yourself. Otherwise you’ll stick your fingers in the electrical sockets and drink bleach soda. Again, not because you’re bad or stupid or weak, but simply because sugar is a drug that is stronger than most humans.

• Clean your house. Get any and all sugar-containing items as far away from you as possible. Clean your cupboards and your fridge. If anyone else in your house absolutely must have sugar, get them to hide it and/or keep it the hell away from you.
• Clean your work. Desk drawers cleaned out. Have a plan to avoid toxic coworkers as much as possible.
• Clean your routine and your schedule. Find another route than the one past the bakery. Take the long way to the bathroom at work to avoid the lunchroom with the brownies.
• Have a backup plan. Find other things to substitute for when you want sugar, e.g. gum, tea, a stick to gnaw on, scream therapy, a walk, etc.

Recruit support.

Tell people. Make a bet if necessary. Gather some cheerleaders as well as drill sergeants. Get as many helpers as possible.

Practice saying “No thank you” and “Wow, that does look delicious, but I’m full” or “I simply couldn’t eat another bite of that wonderful confection now, but could I take some for later?” (then toss it out on the way home).

Most people should be polite enough not to make a big deal of it. With some rude-ass sugar pushers who get up in your grill about not eating that candy, you need stronger stuff.

Lie if need be. Tell people you’re having “blood sugar issues” and your doctor has advised you to stop eating sugar for a month “until the tests come back”.

Tell your people no matter how much you beg, plead, or cajole, do not give you sugar. You are Odysseus strapped to the mast, listening to the siren call. Make sure those ropes are tied tightly.

Accept that this will suck.

But you can do this.

WEEK 2

This week will probably be the worst one. If you can make it through these 7 days, it will get a whole lot easier.

If you’re a ladyperson with a monthly cycle, start week 2 around the 2nd or 3rd day of your period.

Plan ahead.

Remember: Plan your menu. Plan your substitutes and strategies. Plan your interactions with sugar pushers.

Plan especially for your low moments — usually afternoons and evenings, or after some familiar stressful event. You know when those low moments will be. It’s not like you should be surprised by evening snacking by now.

Plan, plan, plan. Once you get into a routine, you won’t have to use as much brainpower, but for now, plan like crazy.

You are going to bestraddle this sugar bitch like a Colossus of yore. But you can’t do that without a plan.

Alexander the Great didn’t just wake up and go, “Oh, maybe today I’ll conquer Persia,” then go hunting for his armour like the car keys he threw out thoughtlessly the night before. Dig?

Keep a daily journal.

Use your notebook to help you plan as well as to record:

• What you are thinking
• What you feel, physically
• What you feel, emotionally

Every day, take 5 minutes (or more) and write down your thoughts and feelings. Set a reminder in your calendar or on your cellphone to help you remember to do this. It’s really important.

I suggest a twice-daily check-in:

• once in the morning, to strengthen your motivation and plan ahead; and
• once in the evening, to record how the day went, and problem-solve for tomorrow as needed.

Schedule a non-food reward at the end of this week.

Give yourself something to work towards. I recommend a massage or something that makes you feel really groovy. Your desire for sugar will go up when you’re stressed, so seek out rewards that relax you.

Things will taste like shit.

Just get through it.

Coffee will taste like dirt. Water is less appealing than soda.

However, salsa is still pretty damn good, even compared to ketchup and sweet relish. So that’s something.

Grit your teeth. Your tastes will change. I promise. It only takes a few weeks, if you can just get through these first days. Trust me.

Don’t go low carb while you get off sugar.

Keep the carb fires stoked for this month with small portions of carbs (about half a fist) at most meals. Don’t over-carb, just have a little bit of carbs with each meal.

But think “starch” instead of “sugar”. Think “stick to your ribs”.

Choose starchy, high-fibre carbohydrates to keep yourself fuelled. Such as…

Beans/legumes, tubers, and WHOLE grains are your friend.

Small portions of beans/legumes (especially lentils for some reason — they’re sorta magic), whole grains, or starchy tubers help immensely with cravings.

Now, I know that primal eater types are off grains and beans/legumes. Fine. If you’re used to being off that stuff, great. If you aren’t, now is NOT the time to try. One thing at a time.

Whole grains means WHOLE grains. If what you’re eating does not look like a seed, that is not a whole grain.

Rolled oats are not whole grains. Oat groats — which look like grains of brown rice — are whole grains. Steel-cut oats, which are the oat groats cut in half, are close enough for now.

“Whole wheat bread” is not whole grains. Wheat berries are whole grains.

If possible, avoid processed starchy foods like bread, pasta, crackers, etc. But they’ll do in a pinch. Keep the fibre content as high as possible. (Read the labels — sugar even finds its way into bread and crackers.)

Remember, our goal is to GET OFF SUGAR. We’ll worry about the rest later.

Keep fruit moderate.

Fruit is your sugar. So save it for when the sugar cravings really strike badly. If possible, opt for less-sweet fruits, such as apples, pears, plums, and berries.

Most of the time, go for high-fibre starchy stuff (again, beans/legumes, whole grains, and yams) instead.

Get plenty of fat and protein.

When you dump sugar, you get to eat more fat. YEAH!!!

Every meal should have a palm-sized portion of protein and a thumb or two of fat.

Sample menu:

• Breakfast: Omelet with black beans, cheese, avocado, tomatoes, and a few chunks of yam
• Midmorning snack: Cottage cheese, chopped nuts, a sprinkle of cooked oat groats & berries
• Lunch: Chicken on salad topped with lentils and olive oil vinaigrette
• 3 pm snack: Hummus and baby carrots with a boiled egg
• Dinner: Chili with kidney beans & brown rice, topped with a little blop of real sour cream

Are you missing sugar now after that scrumptious day of fat and protein? ‘Cause I sure ain’t.

Get plenty of friendly bacteria.

Take a probiotic and/or eat real sauerkraut, kimchi, or other fermented foods daily.

Use substitutes sparingly.

Don’t just swap sweet tastes. You need to train your taste buds as well.

A bit of stevia, Splenda, or diet soda will do if things are getting real ugly.

Eat slowly.

Now that your tongue isn’t being fried by sugar, you can notice other flavours. Eat slowly. Put your fork/knife/chopsticks/hands down between bites.

Slow the fuck down. Notice how things taste.

Cut the booze down as much as you can. Or have a designated sugar-security person.

If you’re used to drinking a lot, don’t try to reduce that now. But understand that drinking seriously affects your judgement. So, just like you should have a designated driver, have a buddy who keeps you out of the sugar after you chug-a-lug.

Oh, and dump the rum and Coke or worse, vodka coolers. Grownup women drink gin and tonic or expensive red wine.

If you fall off the wagon, get right back on IMMEDIATELY.

Ideally this won’t happen. Your clever planning and cheerleading squad should be keeping you out of the pitfalls.

But hey, life is imperfect.

If you have a slip into sugar, don’t hesitate. Jump back on that wagon as fast as possible afterwards. Clean the slate, throw out the empty wrappers, and go!!!

All is not lost if you have a slip. Keep moving forward. Go back to your original notes about why you’re doing this, and how badly you feel after that sugar binge.

Don’t bullshit yourself with navel-gazing, self-pitying stuff like, “Oh, now it doesn’t matter because I’ve already screwed up, I’m such a failure, I might as well just lie here and die, blah blah blah.”

Get over yourself. You’re a warrior and you took a shot to the gut. Fine. Suck it up. Shut up with the whining, stop crying, wipe your nose, and get back in here, soldier.

WEEK 3

Congratulations! You’ve made it through one sugar-free week!

Reward yourself.

But not with sugar, obviously. Again, I recommend some kind of stress-busting reward. Something that makes you feel all “ooohhh” in your body.

Movement dissipates cravings.

Movement is cravings’ release valve. Move accordingly. When the cravings are weak, move gently (e.g. a walk). When the cravings are strong, move powerfully (e.g. sprints, heavy lifting, rounds punching the heavy bag, etc.).

Watch your stress.

Stress will make your sugar cravings worse. Deep breathe like crazy through this. Don’t take on any new responsibilities right now. Practice saying “no”.

Start looking for patterns.

Now that you’ve gone through the first week, start looking for patterns in your relationship with sugar cravings. When does it strike you the worst? Then think back and ask yourself: What was happening just before that craving hit?

What was I doing? What was I feeling? What was I thinking?

Cravings aren’t random. Find the patterns.

Feel as good in your body as you can.

Sugar is your way of self-soothing. Sugar stimulates the same pathways in the brain as drugs do. That’s why it’s so damn hard to dislodge. As far as your brain chemistry is concerned, sugar is not much different than cocaine.

Find other ways to feel good in your body. (Not just in your brain.)

Get touched. Hug your loved ones, dog or cat. Pet a fuzzy blanket or wear your favourite fluffy sweater. Get a massage or pedicure. Sit in the warm sun or a sauna. Go to bed early and get some lovin’.

Keep eating slowly.

Taste. Savour. Enjoy other things.

If you fall off the wagon, get right back on IMMEDIATELY.

Yep, same rules apply.

WEEK 4

Congratulations again! We’re in the home stretch.

Things should be starting to fall into place now. It should be getting a lot easier. (If it isn’t, don’t feel badly. You might just need to go for an extra week.)

Reward yourself again.

Remember: No food rewards. Anything else is fair game, though.

Keep eating slowly.

One bite at a time. Mmmm.

Plan ahead.

See a theme here?

This week may be PMS week, so be on your guard. Keep sugar-proofing your life.

If things get really hairy and out of control with the cravings, try a combo:

• One tablespoon (15 grams) of liquid fish oil
• A few squares of dark chocolate (75% cocoa or higher)
• 200-300 mg magnesium

(You needn’t mix all that together, but props if you try.)

If you fall off the wagon, get right back on IMMEDIATELY.

As always.

WEEKS 5-8

YAY!!!

You did it!!!

How do you feel? Awesome, I hope. (Or maybe not quite yet. Week 5 may be the week of your period again. Hang in there.)

Don’t get complacent.

Now, don’t get lazy. If you’ve followed all these steps, you’re out of the worst of it, but sugar is sneaky.

Understand that going back will make you feel just as shitty as before. Sugar is like an abusive partner — after it beats you up and tells you what a piece of crap you are, it brings you flowers and promises never to be so mean again. Until the next time it slaps you.

Understand that sugar hides in things. Keep reading labels.

Understand that foods can creep back in to your space. Be vigilant and keep crap away from yourself. Sugar-proof your life as much as you can.

Understand that you are vulnerable every time you go back to sugar. If you absolutely must have sugar now:

• have it in a context where you can’t binge afterwards;
• have a buddy looking out for you;
• eat SLOWLY and MINDFULLY, tasting that sugar carefully and savouring it;
• anticipate that for a few days after, you’ll be jonesing again — plan to get through it.

Keep planning.

Keep writing in your journal, if you like. It’s very helpful.

Focus on what you can eat. On how great you feel.

Keep eating those yummy whole foods. Keep eating that filling fat, fibre, and protein. Keep eating those beautiful, colourful fruits and veggies.

Keep taking good care of yourself. Every week you don’t have sugar, reward yourself with something wonderful (and non-food-related) for your body.

You might enjoy reading my colleague Ryan Andrews’ account of his sugar-free year: Sugar Daddy.

What’s next?

Up for a new challenge? Then why not try:

• phasing out all processed foods
• going primal (here’s the quick-start guide – look how far ahead you are now!)
• eating more organic and local foods
• learning to cook a few new dishes
• cutting down your carbohydrate intake even a little more — perhaps taking the carbs out of dinner/evening meals (remember, when carbs go down, fat goes up)

The world is your oyster now. Take a deep breath. Aahhhhh.

You’re free.

Sayonara, monkey!

Good question. Here’s my advice, expanded from earlier comments.

Start small. One step at a time.

In this order:

1. Add more fresh fruits and veggies to your diet. Expand the variety that you do eat. Get some diversity in there. Make them colourful if possible — dark leafy greens, blueberries, purple beets, etc.
2. Make sure you have a good roster of lean, ideally animal-based protein sources: chicken, turkey, duck, fish, eggs, seafood, lean red meats, game, etc. Get accustomed to having a bit of this protein with every meal.
3. Eat only whole, unprocessed foods — again, fresh fruit/veg, fresh meats/fish/poultry, etc. Get used to eating these foods. Make sure you know how to shop for, prep, and make them taste good. (Not hard to do, luckily.) Learn where your food comes from.
4. Once you have #1-3 solid, THEN remove ALL sugar. For carbs, have fruit or starchy veggies such as yams or butternut squash. I’m a hardass about sugar; some folks will say honey or maple syrup is “primal”, but unless you’re willing to climb a tree and stick your hand into a beehive, or suck on tree sap, I’m not buying that argument. (Here is a step-by-step guide to dumping sugar.)
5. Remove ALL processed vegetable oils (e.g. corn oil, safflower oil, soy oil, cooking spray, margarine, etc.). Replace with small portions of good fats from whole foods: whole avocados, butter, fresh coconut, extra-virgin cold-pressed coconut oil (not the hydrogenated/refined crap), fattier cuts of grassfed/pastured meats, fattier fish, olives and extra-virgin olive oil, high-fat raw dairy, raw nuts, etc. But keep your portions moderate — one or two “thumbs” of fat per meal. Many a primal eater has “mysteriously” packed on a few pounds after heeding the siren call of cashews and bacon.
6. Once you nail steps 1-5, only THEN remove ALL wheat and wheat gluten. (Read labels. But if you’re eating whole foods, there should be no labels.)
7. Once you’re comfortable with both the no-wheat groove and carbs from veggies/fruit, take out all other grains — oats, rye, barley, etc. (Rice is usually well tolerated so the occasional sushi probably won’t break you.)
8. Take out all non-fermented or non-raw dairy (e.g. raw milk cheese). Some purists say “all dairy” — I say take it all out, add fermented stuff back in slowly, and see if your skin breaks out or you get sniffly. Butter is usually OK, as is real whipping cream (read the label — often it contains milk.)
9. Optional — take out beans and legumes such as lentils, soy, black beans, chickpeas, and peanuts. Personally, I find a few lentils or a bit of hummus now and again is no big deal, especially if the beans and legumes are soaked, sprouted, and/or fermented. So it’s your call on this one. But definitely chuck out soy.
10. Add some fermented foods: sauerkraut, kimchi, etc.

I suggest doing it this way because it’s easier to add first, then take away. It’s also easier from a practical standpoint to learn one small step at a time. I suggest one week per step. If you need more time, take it.

Understand that you won’t really be rocking “primal” till step 7, but that steps 1-6 are a “primal warmup”, if you will. And understand that you will see improvements with each step, but usually not massive changes until you get rid of grains, sugar, and dairy.

Still, if you only ever do steps 1-5, you’re way ahead of most people.

Don’t get too hung up on fiddly details. Get it in the ballpark for now.

Other folks advise just leaping in and going full-on primal for a month. They argue that you need to remove all the crap right away so you’re hooked on how good you feel, and you get a lot of the junk out of your system immediately.

I don’t dispute that; I just prefer the one-thing-at-a-time method because it works better for the vast majority of my coaching clients.

It can be so overwhelming to learn, prep, cook, and live on a new diet, it’s easy to go off the rails. Then you feel like a screwup. Or you start nurturing a nascent eating disorder. Not really what we’re going for. So let’s keep it real, go slow, and make this work!

However: if you absolutely love the “cold turkey” approach, go for it! Check out RobbWolf.com and grab the Quick Start guide. Mmmm turkey.

In any case, give yourself time to “warm up”, learn the ropes, and prepare. Check out Everyday Paleo and Paleo Comfort Foods for recipe ideas.

Then let ‘er rip. Set yourself up for success with this experiment!

Handy tips

Don’t be intimidated — you’re probably farther ahead than you think. If you already eat pretty healthy, then you only need to make a few small changes and substitutions.

Keep a food journal as you do this. You don’t have to be obsessive. (In fact, you shouldn’t be obsessive with your food, ever, and if you are, UR DOIN IT RONG.)

Just write down what you’re eating and how you feel. The point here is to connect food with experiences and feelings.

You might discover things like “trigger foods” for health issues such as allergies, joint pain, migraines, depression, GI upset, etc. Notice how you feel after eating — even the next day. See if you observe any connections.

Keep it real. Don’t go down the rabbit hole of “Paleo products” just yet. Eat real, whole, fresh, unprocessed foods. Whatever your ancestors could have hunted, gathered, or dug up counts. (But it’s OK to cook things. Our ancestors had much tougher stomachs than we do.)

Portion size still matters. Ignore the folks who say you can eat anything you like and get ripped on primal eating. Folks who say that are usually 22-year-old dudes who are Crossfitting 15 times a week. The laws of thermodynamics still apply, so if you’re looking for fat loss, eat slowly and only until you’re just satisfied (not “full” or “stuffed” or “in a groovy bacon coma”).

Use this project as a way to connect with your own food history. Quite likely your family heritage involves traditional recipes that can easily be modified to suit a primal way of eating, and/or ancestral cooking techniques such as making real bone broths (soup stocks) or oven roasts. Heck, take the kids berry picking or something.

Above all: HAVE FUN! Don’t make this about restricting or controlling or being “perfect”; make it into a fun game and self-experiment.

Old school, baby!

On paper, using the logic of “nutrientism” (the idea that we should focus only on isolated nutrients in a food, and that all “nutrients”, e.g. “protein” or “vitamin C”, are equivalent and interchangeable), soy makes sense. It is a plant that appears to be high in the types of amino acids that humans require. It’s relatively easy to grow and is sort of like the universal solvent — you can make damn near anything from it.

In real life, it’s not so simple. “Nutrients” are not whole, complete, discrete foods. Our bodies respond to whole foods, eaten as part of a whole diet, in a context of a whole life and whole environment. We eat food. Not “nutrients”. And, as a food, soy doesn’t offer much benefit compared to its drawbacks.

The aggregate data suggest that whatever benefit soy may offer is vastly outweighed by its many liabilities — especially when it is processed, as it must be in order to be edible. (Really guys — did you honestly think that Tofurkey was healthy?) For a review of the clinical literature and concerns, check out The Whole Soy Story.

One key problem with soy appears to be its effects on brain health with aging.

A study in the JACN followed thousands of subjects following a variety of Japanese and Western-style diets in Hawaii. The study concluded that in subjects ranging from their 70s to their 90s, “poor cognitive test performance, enlargement of ventricles and low brain weight were each significantly and independently associated with higher midlife tofu consumption.” In other words, the more tofu a person consumed earlier in life, the worse their prognosis for healthy brain aging would be.

Of course, this isn’t causative, merely correlative. Other studies have suggested that soy isoflavones may offer a protective effect. Again, the data is mixed.

For instance, one study points out that our conclusions about healthy brain aging depend on the indicators we use to measure it, as well as sex differences. Given soy’s estrogenic actions, what effects does it have on men and women? (In women, for instance, should we assume that more estrogenic activity is always good?)

Another study points out that we have to distinguish between soy’s effects in vitro (i.e. on cell cultures in a petri dish) and in vivo (i.e. in actual people living real lives). “Lab significant” may not be “real world significant”, and/or effects on free-living people may be much different than effects on cells bathed in a medium of isolated substances. As this study comments, “While it has been shown that the soy phytoestrogen genistein inhibits neuroprotective functions in cell cultures, recent in-vivo findings strengthen the case for a possible causal mechanism of soy-induced neurodegeneration.”

Now, the JACN study is ten years old, but another study from 2008 offers similar but somewhat more nuanced results. High tofu consumption was associated with worse memory, while high tempeh consumption (a fermented whole soybean product) was independently related to better memory, particularly in participants over 68 years of age. Another study looking at the same population found that the effects changed when the groups were disaggregated by age and type of memory recall. (BTW, both studies found that fruit consumption was also associated with improved memory across the board.)

What many of these studies indicate to me is that “soy” is not a homogeneous category, just like “meat” can encompass everything from rare Kobe beef to baloney.

Having an ounce or two of traditionally fermented tempeh now and again — importantly, within the context of a traditional East Asian diet, eating patterns, and lifestyle — is not the same thing as drowning in TVP, soyloney, soy milk, and soy cereal  every day within the context of a modern Western diet, eating patterns, and lifestyle.

Ask yourself: How is soy protein powder produced? How do they make soy bacon? Have you read the labels? After considering the actual process by which most mass-produced soy products are created, do you still want to eat them? Do you still consider them “healthy”? What does the rest of your diet look like?

Thus, when we ask “Is soy bad/good for me?” we have to ask:

“Which soy? In what format?”
“For whom?”
“For what purpose?”
“How much are you consuming?”
“What exactly are you assuming that soy will do/not do for you?”
“In whose interests would my soy consumption be?” (In other words, who is telling you soy is good and to eat more?)
“WTF is Tofurkey and why is this offense to Saint Julia Child on my table!?”

Large-scale study after large-scale study has shown that shotgunning single vitamins and minerals across a general population does either no good or is actively harmful. Vitamin C, E, A, folic acid, etc… and now calcium. I suspect that vitamin D supplementation may meet the same fate. Fibre additives are not the same as naturally occurring fibre, so don’t kid yourself about that high-fibre cookie with added inulin — you’re just turning yourself into a gassy balloon as your bifidobacteria population explodes, fairly literally, in your intestines.

Nature is still smarter than we are. The world — and our physiology — is still more complex than we like to think.

There are hundreds — thousands — of chemical compounds in our food that we need, and that probably work synergistically. Just because we’ve isolated a few doesn’t mean that:

• those are the ones we actually need
• we can, in fact, absorb and use them properly in supplement form
• that they should be supplemented in isolation
• that they should be supplemented in large doses
• that everyone, regardless of individual medical, nutritional, and/or physiological status, should consume them
• that we’ve gotten the molecular format right. (Remember that little whoopsie with the wrong form of vitamin E? Or the mixup between folic acid and folate? Retinol and beta-carotene? Wait, was that a righty or a lefty molecule again? Dammit I can’t keep all these tocopherols straight.)

We evolved to be outside, moving around, consuming a varied diet of other highly evolved organisms who secrete and produce thousands of their own chemical compounds — a diet looks nothing like the rubbish that most folks shovel in now and/or that food companies label as “food”. We evolved being dirty. We evolved being hungry. We evolved as scavenging omnivores who ate darn near everything we could chew or fit in our gobs. (Some of these attempts were obviously more successful than others.)

And you know what? If you’re an average person in North America (and here I use the general “you”), the garbage you consume far outweighs any tiny potential benefit that a single vitamin/mineral supplement could hope to give you.  And seriously guys, vitamin water? C’mon.

You probably eat:

• too much sugar
• too much sodium
• too much processed food
• too many artificially created and industrially processed fats
• too many industrially added chemicals
• too few fruits and vegetables — especially the chemical powerhouses like dark leafy greens and dark coloured berries
• too little of the right fats (fatphobes, I see you yanking the egg yolks out)

You also probably:

• sleep too little
• move and use your body infrequently
• have too much stress
• consume too much caffeine, booze, and/or carbonated drinks
• smoke
• rely on mass-market pharmaceuticals to hide valid symptoms of physiological distress rather than attempting to solve the underlying problem
• play, laugh, and love too little; work, worry, and grouch too much

If you are not this average person who does these things, of course, I salute you. You probably feel great. And no surprise.

So here’s my new stand: Fuck supplements.

There are a few that still seem to work and won’t give us cancer. There are some that one can take if one has a deficiency.

But really, most of the time you’re just creating expensive pee for yourself.

Remember HMB? Remember chromium? Remember ecdysterone? Those of you taking CLA, read the label — it’s probably soy derived rather than the naturally occurring CLA in animals.

Remember every magic saviour vitamin? Hey, folks with a cold virus, how are those vitamin C tablets treating you? Not doing jack shit, I’ll bet.

Fuck supplements.

BTW if you are interested in the role of calcium in heart disease in general, check this out. Can’t wait for the pharm companies to give us a calcium-lowering drug.

First of all, I love NutritionData.com like Perez Hilton loves a starlet meltdown. ND is especially useful because you can do a very detailed nutrient search (check under “Tools”). If you’re curious about which foods are higher in, say, the amino acid valine, ND is your all-knowing guru.

Second, here’s a little chart that might be helpful. Here are common foods that are good sources of the major nutrients.

Remember, whole foods are usually combinations of nutrients — most foods have a bit of everything. For example, I’ve filed beans and high-protein grains such as quinoa under “carbs” because their carbohydrate content outweighs their protein content. Nuts and nut butters go under “fat” for the same reason, although they also contain protein.

Now let’s look at some sample meals that combine these three groups. I’ve given you some ideas from various cuisines.

If you’re controlling your carbohydrate intake, simply eliminate things like noodles and grains and minimize fruit in favour of vegetables. Note also that I’ve listed some vegetables as carb sources, but again, except for the root vegetables/tubers (carrots, yams, potatoes, taro, etc.), and squash, they’re mostly just vitamins, fibre and water.

Ideally, vegetables should form the largest proportion of your meals.

So, for instance, in your East Asian stir-fry, opt for something like 75%-80% vegetables (by volume), 4-6 ounces of protein (about the size of the palm of your hand or a deck of cards), a sparing sprinkle of nuts or sesame seeds, and a small serving of noodles (optional). Some nutritionists use the “plate method” to describe this: imagine half your plate is vegetables, one-quarter is protein, and one-quarter is the carbohydrate portion.

Personally I suggest that folks view starchy carbohydrates as a condiment and include about the same amount they’d use for other condiments such as salsa.

Again, in general, the bulk of your carbohydrates should generally be consumed around exercise, either before or after.

• (Thai) Beef, chicken or shrimp curry with coconut milk and vegetables (served over brown rice if desired)
• (South Asian) Same deal as Thai, except different curry seasonings and a side of cucumber in yogurt or carrot chutney, or a mango lassi (mango whipped with yogurt)
• (Greek or Middle Eastern) Roasted meat, poultry, seafood or tempeh with roasted zucchini, eggplant, and peppers brushed with a little olive oil, with a side of chickpea hummus or even straight tahini (sesame butter)
• (East Asian) Vegetables and protein of choice stir-fried with a little olive oil, served over soba (buckwheat) noodles, topped with a sprinkle of sesame seeds or crushed almonds
• (Italian) Grilled rabbit with whole wheat pasta in a tomato sauce and side of rapini tossed with a little olive oil
• (French) Nicoise salad with fish, boiled egg, green beans, salad greens and Dijon vinaigrette
• (German) Turkey sausage with red cabbage braised in a little olive oil and apple-vinegar sauce
• (Southern US) Pork tenderloin or turkey breast stuffed with apples, served with wild rice and squash, and a side of collard greens, topped with a sprinkle of chopped walnuts or pecans
• (Southwestern US) Chili made with beef, turkey, and/or beans (which in a vegetarian version count as the protein), served with guacamole and tomato salsa
• (California) Seafood served over greens, avocado and grapefruit, tossed with a vinaigrette
• (Korean) Bi bim bap: grilled beef or tempeh mixed with vegetables, served over brown rice with a cooked omega-3 egg on top
• (East African) Doro wat (chicken stew) with sauteed greens atop injera (teff flatbread) or with lentil stew; niter kibbeh (spiced butter) made with coconut oil
• (Indigenous Canadian) Grilled salmon (has omega-3 fatty acids) with wild rice; side of blueberries or stewed cranberries
• (Indigenous US) Wild game (has a good omega-3 fatty acid profile) with corn and beans; tomato salad
• (Latin American) Squash soup topped with pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and a side of grilled fish
• (Caribbean) Jerk chicken with pigeon peas, greens, and coconut

1. Fat is a relationship, not a thing. Well, body fat is indeed a thing: as I mentioned in part 1, fat is a substance with a definable structure and properties. But it’s more than that. For women (and many men), the idea of “fat” creates a relationship between how we perceive ourselves and how we interact with the world around us. So, an 80-lb. anorexic sees herself as “fat”, an average-sized 150 lb. woman sees herself as “fat”, and a 300 lb. woman sees herself as “fat”. When bodybuilders are on stage, and they aren’t lean enough, someone will invariably say, “S/he’s fat”, which doesn’t mean, “That person resembles a premenstrual walrus”, but rather, “That person has failed to meet the aesthetic and body composition requirements of this activity”. In other words, context is everything. What we call “fat” is socially defined, and may have little basis in what is “really” fat. I think this point is important to recognize because it indicates how arbitrary our judgements can be about what is fat, and how we value fat in ourselves and others. Fat, then, becomes a dynamic between us and our culture, rather than a possession that we have or do not have.

2. Separate body fat from value. It’s pretty clear that fat = bad in our culture. What I’m suggesting is that we re-think the inherent value we give to fat, and understand it instead as something which is important to have in the right quantities. Some people are tall, some people are short, some have brown eyes, some have blue eyes, some people have more body fat, and some people have less body fat. That’s the way it is. Ideally body fat should have no more positive or negative associations than other indicators of health and fitness. Having more body fat should not be correlated with stupidity, laziness, slovenliness, etc. Rather, body fat should be viewed as merely another physical feature which varies individually. If you choose to reduce your body fat, don’t view it as a moral issue. Think of it like a haircut or clipping your toenails: you’re simply decreasing the amount of a physiological component, not embarking on a religious crusade. Knowing your body fat should be like knowing your shoe size. It’s just a number. If you want to change that number, go ahead and do it. But you’re not a better person if you’re X% rather than Y%.

3. To build on #2, people have naturally varying levels of body fat. Human biodiversity is normal and desirable. Assuming that naturally skinny people are inherently healthier and fitter is a mistake. While there is a healthy range of body fat levels, above or below which is associated with negative health consequences, it is a range, not a single number. Some women may look and feel cruddy at 15%, while others may be happy and healthy. Same with 30%. Body fat is not the only variable of fitness or health, and there are many women with much higher body fat levels than me who can outlift me, outrun me, and generally kick my ass. Each person ideally has a level of body fat which is appropriate to their genetics, gender, age, training goals, and general state of health. Fitness and fatness are not incompatible.

4. Don’t participate in fat-negative behaviour. I know of parents who put healthy, growing children on diets or force them to do exercise (I don’t mean fun exercise, I mean deliberate anti-fat, post-meal aerobic type exercise) so that their tiny tots will not suffer the horror of excess adipose tissue. Forcing your child to preventively diet and exercise is probably the surest way to make sure they have messed up eating habits and body image for life. Don’t tie acceptance of a person to their body fat levels. I’ve met some lean people who were unbelievably dysfunctional about their health and their bodies in general. And spare me all the excuses about how it’s okay to crap on people with more body fat because we’re biologically inclined to prefer slenderness. That’s just a little too close to saying it’s okay to exterminate people who aren’t genetically ideal. It’s not okay to bash people because of a physiological feature, and it’s not okay to participate in paranoia about body fat with someone who is vulnerable.

5. You can both critique the health problems associated with excess body fat, and be positive about each person’s right to control their own body. Separate these two issues. I don’t like many of the options for hormonally based contraception, but I would never tell another woman that she shouldn’t choose it for herself. I prefer to keep my body fat a bit lower than the average, and that is my choice. My female training partners have ranged in body fat from 18% to 29%, and all have been active, healthy women who were quite satisfied where they were.

6. It is irrefutable that higher levels of body fat, above a particular range, and particularly visceral fat (aka deep tummy fat) are clearly correlated with health problems: joint pain, Type II diabetes and insulin resistance, breathing difficulties, etc. However there are many other things which are correlated with health problems: drinking to excess, smoking, inactivity, stress, getting dealt a crappy hand in the genetic poker game, and so on. Body fat is one variable of many. Excess body fat can indeed signify inactivity, poor nutrition, eating problems, and underlying medical conditions such as polycystic ovarian syndrome. Excess body weight can put mechanical stress on tissues, and is directly responsible for some medical conditions. Body fat secretes hormones and cell signals, and participates actively in the body’s hormonal environment. But body fat in and of itself does not necessarily cause all the health problems; rather, poor nutrition and lifestyle habits, and lack of adequate activity are also major culprits.

7. You are not a prisoner of your body fat. Fat has no inherent value other than what we attach to it. You are a prisoner of your mind and spirit. If you feel imprisoned by your body fat, look deeper to examine the issues which you have that are associated with it. And don’t give your body fat the status of a sentient being. You have control, to some degree, over your body composition. While the end range of what you can achieve is limited by your genetics, nearly everyone without some bizarre metabolic disorder can achieve and maintain a level of body fat which is healthy and ideal for them. I don’t mean this to get all individualist here, because we should certainly continue to be critical of the bullshit social ideal of thinness which we’re all supposed to emulate, but you have the power to enable your body to make positive changes.

8. Everything has its place. Body fat is there for a reason. You need it. It does good things for you. It enables your reproductive system to be functional, it helps regulate hormones, and it serves as an indicator of “body happiness” (to your body, excessive leanness = starvation = stress = bad). It makes you lovely and curvy, makes it comfortable to sit, makes it nice for someone to snuggle you (nobody wants to hug a xylophone). It’s an important part of your body, so give it its due.