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!

One person was insulted that I had called her stupid, as if by putting the word “stupid” into an article I had personally reached into her living room in Peoria or Sudbury and pointed an accusing finger at her. She may not have been aware of the now-famous line from the U.S. Presidential race, “It’s the economy, stupid”, or even the KISS principle that my math teacher used to promote, which means, Keep It Simple, Stupid. Hell, there are at least two lines of publications which explicitly reference the less-than-optimal-cranial capacity of their readership, but who shall both remain nameless since last time I titled an article F*r D*mmies, I got a snide letter from a legal bean counter. I admit it was a blatant five-finger discount. I guess they’ve never heard of the principle about ripoffs being the sincerest form of flattery.

Anyway. I wasn’t calling any of you stupid. Let’s have a group hug before we move on.

Okay, now that I’ve validated all of you and your diverse yet equally valuable intellectual fortitude, let’s move on to the next group of emails. I received some worried correspondence from people who were trying to sort out the mess of information surrounding lowcarb eating and ketogenic dieting. Many wanted to know how I felt about the Atkins diet, or whether high protein was the same as lowcarb, and whether I really was an oppressor of bread.

As usual, we need a road map through Crap Swamp. As I said in Part 2, there is a mountain of mythology about lowcarb that now equals the mythology produced about low fat ten years ago. It can make anyone without a biochem degree tear their hair out.

Allow me to suggest some simple principles that should be your guide.

how NOT to eat

I am addressing my comments here primarily to folks consuming a North American and UK type of diet. The eating habits of other regions, particularly Continental Europe and Asia, tend to be better, although the prevalence of processed food is increasing, especially among younger consumers. This diet is characterized by:

• Lower intakes of fruit and vegetables
• Lower intake of fibre
• High intakes of saturated fat or trans fats
• Frequent consumption of highly processed foods that contain not only “de-nutritionalized” ingredients but often also chemicals and various types of sweeteners
• Higher intakes of refined sugary and starchy foods
• Rapidly increasing serving and portion sizes

Often there are subsets of this type of diet, especially among health conscious young women:

• An obsession with purging all fat in the diet to its detrimental exclusion
• Vegetarianism with no attention to adequate protein, nor to actually eating vegetables
• High carbohydrate intake, especially as an attempt to substitute for fat intake, or also as a result of a vegetarian lifestyle
• Excessive and ongoing caloric restriction, often accompanied by episodes of bingeing on “forbidden” foods
• High consumption of caffeinated beverages, which can trigger increased perception of symptoms of hypoglycemia and consequently disordered eating, especially of carbohydrates
• Insufficient protein, fat, and/or calories to support an active lifestyle

how to eat

Most people consuming the type of diet above could benefit from making the following changes to their diet.

• Reducing intake of simple, refined, and highly processed carbs
• Eating more fruits and vegetables
• Increasing intake of soluble and insoluble fibre
• Reducing intake of bad fats: saturated fats from animal products and trans fats, usually found in highly processed foods, cooking sprays, and artificially solidified oils such as margarine
• Consuming sufficient quantities of good fats from fresh oils, nuts and seeds, oily fish, avocados, etc.
• Limiting portion sizes of calorie-dense foods specifically but also of meals in general

Now here’s the thing. These are principles, not specific instructions. These principles can be implemented in different ways depending on individual need.

A nutritional plan which says that everyone must eat exactly the same way all the time is not a good plan. Each person has different requirements, though just about everyone can think of a way that they can make positive changes in their nutritional plan.

Here are ways in which one can manipulate the role of carbs in their diet, from least to most dramatic.

1. Reducing sources of “junk food”: soda/pop, candy, sweetened baked goods like cake and cookies
2. Reducing sources of refined carbohydrates and sweeteners (read food labels! food manufacturers hide the stuff everywhere! it’s like cat hair… years after the cat dies you’re still picking fur off yourself)
3. Reducing and/or eliminating fruit juices, sugary sauces, white breads, white rice, white noodles
4. Looking at the glycemic index of the carbs that are eaten, and eating primarily low GI carbs
5. Eliminating all refined carbs entirely
6. Reducing overall carb intake to a moderate level, say 50-100 g daily
7. Cyclical change in carb intake, e.g. eating fewer for a set time, then more during a “carb-up” or “reefed”
8. Reducing carb intake to ketogenic levels, usually around 20-30 grams of carbs per day

how do i know what choices are right for me?

The easiest thing to do is start with the first type of change, which is reducing junk food in the diet. Quite likely after you get over the cravings from habitual use you will feel better. Remember that quite often, a craving does not represent an actual biological need. It represents a habitual pattern of use. Rip that bandaid off the junk food scab and don’t look back.

Then think about the following things.

Activity type. What kinds of activities do you habitually do? Are they endurance-based, strength-based, low-intensity, high-intensity, etc.? Endurance athletes generally need a higher carb intake. Also, consider timing your carbohydrate intake around your activity: consume the bulk of carbohydrates immediately before and after exercise.

Personal response to eating. After a big plate of pasta or a couple slices of bread, do you have the urge to snooze? Do you eat and eat without feeling satisfied? Or do you eat sporadically, alternately fasting and feasting? Research suggests that people vary in their carbohydrate tolerance as well as their response to changes in blood glucose. Ectomorphs (aka “beanpoles”, “Skinny Minnies” or “tall drinks of water”) typically do much better with a higher carbohydrate intake. Endomorphs (aka “built for comfort, not for speed”, “Weebles” or “sturdy”) typically benefit from lowering their carbohydrate intake and substituting a higher protein and fat intake. Mesomorphs (aka “those naturally muscular bastards”) are usually somewhere in the middle.

Blood sugar symptoms. Do you demonstrate symptoms of hypoglycemia? True hypoglycemia is rare but many of us exhibit symptoms that I would call “blood sugar issues”. When the brain perceives glucose levels falling it stimulates the sympathetic nervous system — the “fight or flight” system — which results in similar symptoms as a stress situation.  These can be things like faintness, irritability, the shakes, heart palpitations, or problems concentrating when blood sugar drops. Ever been really scared? And then the scary thing passes and you feel all weak and funny, maybe even a little nauseated? Same deal.  These symptoms doesn’t necessarily represent true hypoglycemia (although in diabetics they can precede full-blown hypoglycemia, often quite rapidly), but they’re correlated with cyclical changes in blood sugar. I sort of glaze over when I get really hungry and need to eat. I space out and get bitchier than normal. After a snack, I’m fine.

Family history. Do you have chronic diseases in your family history that are linked to blood sugar or insulin resistance problems? These can include obesity, thyroid disorders, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and diabetes.

Body composition. Are you lean? Normal? Overfat? Is your fat distributed more around your middle? If so you might be insulin resistant, although not only apple-shaped people are insulin resistant. The higher your bodyfat level, the greater the chances of you having or developing some form of insulin resistance and possibly even diabetes.

Appetite. What is your appetite like? Are you always hungry? Boy, I was when I was on the low fat, high carb diet. I thought about food constantly, and at night I would lie in bed listening to my tummy growl.

Personal medical history. Some medical conditions can change your responsiveness to insulin and thus require a lower carb approach. Two of the most common ones, as I have noted, are polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and thyroid disease, but emerging research is showing that a lower carb diet can assist with many other chronic disorders, particularly those of an inflammatory nature such as IBS and rheumatoid arthritis.

You could benefit from further reducing your carb intake if you:

• are not doing large amounts of endurance based exercise
• get sleepy after a carb-rich meal
• demonstrate symptoms of blood sugar fluctuations
• have a family history or a personal medical history that includes Type II diabetes, blood sugar issues, obesity, PCOS, thyroid
• have difficulty controlling your appetite
• carry a lot of excess bodyfat
• have bodyfat which is preferentially distributed around your midsection (though other types of bodyfat deposition needn’t exclude you)

Even if you have all of these characteristics, you need not go fully ketogenic. There is a lot of middle ground between a high-carb and a low-carb diet. Macronutrient proportions can vary according to your individual preference and your response to them.

Refined carbs—processed sugars and simple starches—are still bad for you

No matter how you slice it (no pun intended), refined carbs are bad news. They’re essentially nutritional pollutants (one nutritionist refers to them as “fat fertilizer”), and they are found in most processed foods. They wreak havoc with your appetite and satiety, turn your blood sugar into a rollercoaster of highs and lows, and cause a variety of nasty things to happen throughout your body. I’m being a little hyperbolic, of course — one cookie isn’t going to make your liver shrivel, but when you start reading labels and realize how much junky crap is in your food, it’s a real wake-up call.

Here’s an example. This comes from a box of granola cereal. This cereal is marketed as “healthy” and “low in fat”. In fact, the slogan on the box reads “Good for You never tasted so good”. Supposedly it’s a “wholesome, crunchy multigrain blend”. Well! Wholesome! Low fat! No hydrogenated oil! Granola! Hippies like granola, right? So it must be awesome for me! Shazam!

And then reality hits like you like a warm wet baby diaper across the face. One serving is 2/3 cup. Go and measure out 2/3 of a cup of cereal. I would bet $20 that most people haven’t eaten a 2/3 cup serving of cereal in their lives, except to pass it as they keep on trucking to a 2-cup serving. This 2/3 cup serving has 220 calories, 3 grams of fat (well, at least they weren’t lying about that part), 4 grams of protein (eh, not great, but what can you expect — it’s not a steak cereal)… and 44 grams of carbs! The second ingredient is brown sugar. And just in case that wasn’t enough there’s also honey, y’know, a belt-and-suspenders kind of sweetener deal. Healthy, my ass.

One particular culprit is high fructose corn syrup. That stuff is everywhere: ketchup, juice, breakfast cereals. Read your labels! If there are more than, say, three ingredients and at least one of them ends in “ose”, don’t eat it, or restrict yourself to a small portion. White flour is also included as a refined carb, so limit your intake of this stuff too. Potatoes are often put into the refined carb group, although they are technically a vegetable. This is because they tend to stimulate a similar kind of response as other refined carbohydrates. But it’s a matter of degree: eating a baked potato is still much better than eating a pop tart.

refined carbs include:

Baked goods: muffins, donuts, pastries, cookies, cakes
White flour and white flour products such as white bread and bagels
Snack foods: candies, chips, pretzels
Sweetened dairy products: ice cream, chocolate milk
Drinks: pop/soda, juice
Processed grain products: Pasta made from white flour, white rice, rice cakes, many breakfast cereals

Remember: when you read the labels, look for the “ose” to denote a form of sugar, especially sucrose, glucose, and fructose, as well as their cousins maltose and dextrose. Think “OSE”: “Omigawd, Sugar Everywhere!”

For the geeks in the crowd, some reading material on glucose, fructose, weight gain, and the insulin resistance syndrome that notes, in part:

“The intake of dietary fructose has increased markedly as a result of the steady increase in added sugars in the American diet… In terms of feedback to the central nervous system (CNS) regarding energy status in peripheral tissues, fructose consumption results in decreased production and, therefore, decreased signaling to the CNS from 2 hormones (leptin and insulin) involved in the long-term regulation of energy homeostasis and body adiposity… Thus, the long-term consumption of diets high in fat and fructose is likely to lead to increased energy intake, weight gain, and obesity. The potential for weight gain from increased fructose consumption may only represent one aspect of its metabolic consequences.”

(Sharon S Elliott, Nancy L Keim, Judith S Stern, Karen Teff and Peter J Havel. Fructose, weight gain, and the insulin resistance syndrome. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 76(5): 911-922 (November 2002).)

By the way, many women have written me about polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), so I thought I would include a brief mention of it here. PCOS is characterized by several different symptoms, including higher than normal levels of circulating androgens, irregular menstruation, and persistent weight gain (or stubborn fat loss). It is correlated with insulin resistance and can be managed, in part, by weight training and a low carb diet (Glueck CJ, Papanna R, Wang P, Goldenberg N, Sieve-Smith L. “Incidence and treatment of metabolic syndrome in newly referred women with confirmed polycystic ovarian syndrome.” Metabolism. 52(7): 908-15 (July 2003).).

For more reading check out sites such as SoulCysters and PCOS Support.

Substitute whole grains and/or fruit and vegetables for refined carbs

Whole grains and fruit/veg are higher in beneficial fibre, vitamins, and in the case of fruit/veg, other useful phytonutrients (“phyto” = plant). This means that not only are they more nutritious in general, but they help control energy levels and appetite more effectively. Plus, they taste better! I give some ideas on the site about how to cook whole grains, useful if you have never incorporated them into your own cooking. The more you reduce your refined carb intake, the less you will probably crave the stuff. You’ll likely find that your appetite diminishes, and you have fewer blood sugar swings, but more consistent energy.

Folks concerned about inflammation and food intolerance might consider going one step further, and eliminating grains such as wheat from their diet altogether. Grains such as wheat and oats contain proteins known as lectins, which may interact with the gastrointestinal tract to cause local and systemic inflammation and an overactive immune system response. This can manifest itself as upset stomach symptoms along with a host of other autoimmune-type symptoms, such as eczema and rheumatoid arthritis. If this sounds familiar, check out the Paleo diet. But if you’re just starting out with this whole project, begin with small steps.

Some people will say that fruit should not be eaten while dieting, because fructose is easily converted to fat. This is a misconception. First, fruit is relatively low in fructose compared to things like high fructose corn syrups (HFCS). Fruit contains a mix of fructose and other sugars like glucose. HFCS is essentially a shot of pure sugar right into your veins, while fruit is much more slowly digested because of its fibre content.

Second, the amount of total sugar in fruit is very low. While the body lacks the ability to convert large quantities of fructose to muscle glycogen effectively, it would be very difficult to consume enough fructose in the form of fruit to make this happen. Compare:

8 oz orange juice: 110 calories, 27 g carbohydrate, maybe a bit of vitamin C. Oh yeah, and some glucose-fructose.

1 orange: 62 calories, 15 g carbohydrate, 3 g fibre, 116% of daily RDA for vitamin C plus a ton of vitamins, minerals and other phytonutrients. Nothing else.

Fruit has an important place in a well balanced diet, no matter what your goals are. It’s loaded with vitamins and fibre, and it tastes great!

Lowcarb diets are not magical

They work in large part by inhibiting appetite (largely through their effects on regulatory hormones) and lowering calories. Total caloric intake is the prime determinant of weight loss. It’s just that many folks find that lowering carb intake also reduces their appetite, so they eat less. Or, because they’re told they should restrict a food group, they eat less. In any case, they’re eating fewer calories.

There is evidence that diets lower in carbohydrate do seem to work better than diets low in fat for both weight loss and improving overall health indicators (e.g. blood chemistry), and that people may not need to restrict calories quite so much when restricting carbohydrate, because of the ways in which the body handles the different macronutrients. Generally, one of the first things I do is have clients cut way down on their carb intake, simply because most people eat too many carbs to support their levels of activity, and they eat a lot of sugary and starchy junk. For the average person, just cutting out the foods in the “eat less” column below will produce noticeable results.

Personally, I strongly recommend clients and trainees cut way down on carbs, simply because the average North American eats so much. When they cut out the junk and focus on consuming whole unprocessed foods, good fats, plenty of lean protein, and heaps of vegetables and fruit, a lot of this just takes care of itself. No carb-free bread required.

It’s the calories, stupid

This bears repeating. Any diet that involves you eating fewer calories than you burn will result in weight loss. Any diet that includes eating more calories than you burn will result in weight gain. Nobody’s body breaks the laws of physics. It just looks that way sometimes, because we haven’t accurately calculated or understood some part of the equation. Some people report eating more on a lower-carb diet and still losing fat — great. It doesn’t mean their bodies have violated the rules of the universe; it just means that their systems are handling the nutrients in a particular way that isn’t exactly comparable to a different macronutrient ratio. If they kept on eating more and more and more, regardless of what that “more” was, eventually it’d catch up.

Now, the quality of that weight loss, and how you feel while doing it, depends on your macronutrient intake. How your body handles the calories it takes in will depend on your activity levels and your ability to effectively use the carbs you do ingest.

But in general, a diet which has adequate lean protein, good fats, adequate fibre, and lots of fruit and veggies is the best choice for general health for the average person. The actual percentages will vary from person to person, depending on individual needs, but this plan is a good basic overview.

Cutting carbs drastically is not appropriate for everyone

No diet, no matter how great it is, is a one-size-fits-all prescription. People doing lots of endurance activity will likely find their performance decreases when carbs dip too low, as will people trying to gain muscle. Carbs, especially good carbs, have a role to play in a balanced diet which is sustainable for the long term. In addition, even people who aren’t very good with carbs can benefit from timing carb intake around their workouts.

Most folks can benefit from reducing the amount of refined sugars and starches they eat, but cutting down drastically on good quality carbs is not necessarily always the best thing for everyone.

Well, at the end of it all in early 1997, I was still overweight. Desperately, I tried to purge every last living fat molecule from my life. I sautéed veggies in water. I ate pasta with plain tomato sauce.

I hovered over my husband when he cooked, making sure he didn’t try to infringe on my fat-free life with an extra blop of cooking oil. I even tried going vegetarian, but had to quit that after a couple of weeks when my tummy growled constantly with hunger. And through it all, I happily scarfed “fat-free” treats: Snackwells, hard candies, Jello, gelatos and sorbets, fat-free salad dressings with a weird chemical aftertaste…

Are you doing the math by now, dear reader? It wasn’t the fat in my diet that was the problem, it was the carbohydrate intake. In other words, I had replaced some negligible fat calories with tons of sugar and starch calories.

When I discovered weight training, I discovered that bodybuilders ate strangely. They ate lots of lean protein, avoided simple sugar and starch carbs like white bread, pasta, and white rice, and (gasp!) deliberately ate fat! I thought they were all insane. I began training, but kept eating my fat-free, high-carb diet. I was doing OK in the gym thanks to beginner gains, but I sure wasn’t losing any fat. I started to think I was destined to be heavy. Most of the women in my family are “pleasingly plump”. I figured it was genetics. I figured I was a lost cause. I got pretty depressed about the prospect. Then my training guru told me I wasn’t eating enough protein, and suggested supplementing with flax seed oil. I thought it was the craziest thing I’d ever heard. Eat fat on purpose?! But, after a few weeks of him nagging me to do it, I gave in and bought my first bottle of flax seed oil. (by the way, you can read more about why you shouldn’t drop your fat intake when dieting, and about flax seed oil here). And I started cutting back on plain pasta in favour of lean protein. With almost no other effort on my part besides regular visits to the gym, the fat began dropping off.

So, what was the reason for this transformation? Why is a diet low in carbs conducive to losing fat? Let’s start with an explanation of why simple carbs (sugars and starches) have more of a role to play in fat deposition than dietary fat.

Carbohydrates are one of the three main groups of macronutrients in the diet (the other two are fat and protein). In the carb group are various kinds of sugars such as sucrose (table sugar), fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (in milk), and so forth, as well as various kinds of starches, which are composed of sugar molecules bonded together. Our bodies use glucose, one of the very simplest sugar molecules, as a main source of fuel.

The closer something is to glucose, the more quickly it is digested and used as fuel. Simple sugars are very easily digested and converted to glucose. Starches are somewhat harder for the body to convert to glucose, so it has to expend a bit more effort doing so. Refined starches such as white flour, white rice, cornstarch, and products such as breakfast cereals, white bread, and pasta made with these refined starches, are easier for the body to convert to glucose than starches from whole grains (barley, oatmeal) and vegetables (except for potatoes and yams). Because more complex carbs such as whole grains and vegetables contain more fibre, they are not as readily broken down by the body, and so do not as quickly become glucose. (By the way, fructose is not converted in the same way as glucose. Thus some people claim that substances such as high-fructose corn syrup are actually “good” for you, because they don’t raise glucose levels rapidly. This is BS. Sugar is sugar is sugar.)

In addition, complex carbs contain other things like vitamins and minerals which are often missing in refined carbs because of their extensive processing. Have you ever noticed that white breads trumpet how vitamin- and mineral-enriched they are? Did you ever wonder why breadmakers had to put those things back into the product? It’s because they took them out in the first place!

OK, so why is it important to think about how quickly foods get converted to glucose? For one thing, the human body is a very thrifty machine. It constantly worries that we may encounter a time when we do not have enough to eat, so it socks fuel away for a rainy (or hungry) day. This was a great idea when we were running around trying not to get et by sabre-toothed tigers while scavenging for edible roots, but not as brilliant for our modern industrialized lifestyles where food is as close as a quick stumble to the fridge. It’s the reason why starvation is a really long, drawn-out death: the body has quite extensive resources to deal with food shortages.

When we have an excess of glucose gushing into our bloodstream, as happens with the consumption of simple and refined carbs, our body handles it in two ways. One way is to excrete glucose through the urine, though this is only used if the body cannot deal with the excess glucose, as in the case of diabetics. In most people, the body’s main technique is to store excess glucose as fat. Let me repeat that in case you didn’t catch it. It stores excess sugar as fat. Are you making the connection now? It’s probably not the fat in your diet that’s making you fat, it’s more likely the sugar.

When metabolizing glucose, the body releases insulin from the pancreas. Insulin causes the glucose to move into the cells so that it may be processed. If the cells don’t need all that glucose for their various functions, then they convert the glucose to triglycerides (fats), and store the fat within the cells, organs, or in adipose (fat) tissue. In the process of sending the fat molecules to their destination (mostly adipose tissue), the fat molecules are moved through the bloodstream. You end up with fat roaming around in your blood, which (along with the inflammatory cascade precipitated by abundant blood sugar) eventually spells cardiovascular problems, such as heart disease and stroke, as well as an eventual increase in bodyfat. “Bad” fats made from sugars can also interfere with “good” fats such as those from flax seed oils, which prevents the “good” fats from doing their job.

But the diabolical work of simple and refined sugars doesn’t end there. These kinds of carbs, as I said, are digested very quickly. There is a rush of glucose into the body’s systems. The body responds by releasing insulin, which because it shoves the glucose into the cells, results in a blood sugar drop. Many refer to this quick blood sugar rush and resulting drop as an “insulin spike” (a friend of mine refers to a particular kind of sugar-saturated donut as “The Insulin Whiplash”). It’s like a sugar rollercoaster. People who are sensitive to this may feel shaky, fatigued, dizzy, faint, and/or sleepy after consuming these kinds of carbs in significant amounts. More extreme symptoms of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) include depression, mood swings, and even unconsciousness. A chocolate bar may give you quick energy with the flood of glucose into your system, but your energy levels will drop through the floor 30 minutes or so later. And here is where the vicious cycle completes itself: you’re left craving more simple and refined carbs. It’s like a nutritional perpetual motion machine. Eat more simple carbs, desire more simple carbs. Which, of course, spells F-A-T.

It’s ironic that our problems with sugar are largely a result of industrialization and class snobbishness. It used to be that the refinement of foods was something that only the middle and upper classes could afford. Only peasants ate dark whole grain breads and picked their food from the fields. Milady and milud did not soil their digestive systems with such low-class things! Maybe a better diet was the working-class revenge which Marx envisioned! Now many kinds of good-for-you foods are classified as “health foods” and only the privileged can afford to buy them at specialty shops, while refined foods like white bread and Twinkies are some of the cheapest foods one can buy.

Does all of this mean that sugar is the enemy? Well, yes and no. Yes, we should be very conscious of our simple and refined carb intake when trying to lose fat. But if we make informed food choices, then carbs are relegated to their proper place of reliable energy source. How can we do this?

Choose fibrous, complex carbs over simple, refined carbs. So, eat brown rice instead of white, and whole wheat pasta instead of regular pasta. And if you can, cut back on the sugar you put into your coffee. Two spoonfuls of sugar, twice a day, add up to a lot of extra carbs over a long time. Combined with caffeine’s tendency to drop your blood sugar, and you have hypoglycemia city.

Change the way you structure your meals. It used to be that a healthy meal had some protein (usually as meat), some starch (potatoes, rice, pasta, etc.), and some veggies on the side. I suggest getting rid of the starch altogether and increasing the portions of lean protein and veggies. For example, one of the things I love to do is make a big salad with all kinds of veggies (and sometimes even fruit and/or nuts and seeds), and toss some chopped cooked chicken or steak into it. Or, I make curries with chopped chicken or beef, some chopped veggies, and maybe some chickpeas. Instead of a tuna sandwich on bread, I throw some tuna in a bowl and mix it with some mayo, chopped tomatoes and green peppers, and maybe some sunflower seeds. You’re only limited by your creativity.

Eat more regularly. If you eat two or three times a day, it means that your blood sugar undergoes more fluctuations, which can mean less energy and more readily deposited bodyfat. If, on the other hand, you eat five or six small meals a day, and these meals have some protein and fat in them (in other words, I don’t mean that a meal is a handful of fig newtons!), then your blood sugar remains more constant, you’ll have fewer cravings, more energy, and generally feel better. Plus your metabolism will keep revving because your body has to expend the effort to digest stuff more frequently.

Learn to read labels to look for hidden sources of sugar. Soft drinks and fruit juices are loaded with sugar. If you must drink pop, at least switch to diet (and this is a temporary solution; try switching to soda water instead of consuming all the chemicals in diet pop). Other serious sources of sugar are pastries (cookies, pies, Twinkies, etc.), candy, many processed and canned foods such as sauces (ketchup, peanut butter, syrups of all kinds), juices, and fruits, and dairy products such as flavoured yogurts or ice cream. Most breakfast cereals are pure junk from a simple carb standpoint. They might as well call Cheerios “Gluc-Os”. You’d be amazed at what contains simple and refined carbs, so read the labels on everything!!

Finally, and this is a corollary of the first thing, learn about the glycemic index. The glycemic index (GI) is a representation of how readily foods are converted to glucose in your body. So, simple and refined sugars have the highest GI, while fibrous, fat- or protein-rich foods have much lower GIs. The body has to work harder to convert more complex carbs, protein, and fat to glucose. Choosing foods that have lower GIs will help prevent the dreaded “insulin whiplash” since their slower conversion means less of a glucose rush. It’s not a perfect list — again, fructose appears to have a low GI, for example. But it does correlate decently well to which foods are whole foods, and which foods are highly processed, low-fibre foods.

In conclusion, just because something is “fat-free” may not mean it’s good for you. “Fat-free” foods are often very high in simple and refined carbs, which means that in your body, they’re as far from “fat-free” as you can get.

My mom, love her dearly, cooked everything in the microwave when I was growing up. She didn’t use fat or salt. Dad loved all the ucky veggies: parsnips, turnips, Brussels sprouts. Between her cooking and his palate, my sisters and I suffered through a lot of dessicated Brussels sprouts and acrid turnips. Eechh. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered that Brussels sprouts can be delicious when lightly steamed and tossed with olive oil and sea salt, or sauteed with apples and smoked sausage.

If you’re one of those people who thinks F/V are nasty, try new kinds and new ways of cooking them. I find most veggies to be delicious even plain, but it’s amazing what a little butter or olive oil and some salt and pepper can do. Don’t overcook them; they’ll become flavourless and blah, and much of their vitamin content will be degraded. The majority of F/V are great when raw, although a few, such as tomatoes and carrots, are best eaten cooked, as humans can absorb their nutrients more effectively that way.

So here are some ideas to help you work F/V into your daily routine without too much effort. Most of them are simple enough that anyone with rudimentary culinary skills and a blender/masher/food processor can mistress them, so there’s no excuse.

• Fresh chopped veggies. I find many plain chopped veggies quite flavourful. They make a perfect sitting-at-your-desk-need-something-to-crunch snack. If you want to add something, try mixing 1/2 cup cottage cheese with a splash of your favourite dressing for a dip. It’s really as quick to chop a whole pile of veggies as it is to chop a few, so next time you’re preparing dinner, chop some extra, put it into a plastic container or a ziploc bag, and take it to work with you. One guy I knew even brought green peppers to work and ate them like apples.
• Veggie scramble or egg omelet. Put some aforementioned chopped veg into your next omelet. Or try some fresh fruit and cottage cheese. Even if you suck at making the fussier omelets, you can scramble. Use a small nonstick frying pan and grease it a little. Heat pan on medium heat. Beat 2 eggs or a few egg whites, whichever you prefer, with a splash of water and a sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese (you can use any strong cheese but if it’s a softer cheese, add it later in the cooking process). Pour beaten eggs into the pan. While it’s starting to cook, wash and chop a couple of handfuls of spinach. Dump those in and stir to coat with egg. Keep cooking over medium heat, stirring often. It’s done when there’s no more liquidy stuff. This is a quick breakfast and you can dry your hair or whatever while the eggs are cooking.
• Garbage salad. I call it this not because it tastes gross, but because you can throw in anything you have in your fridge. The North American whitey food salad is an abomination: some gloppy fatty dressing slathered over a bed of the excrescence known as iceberg lettuce (this is NOT FOOD!) with perhaps a few shavings of carrots, an anemic tomato or two, and the faintest hint of red cabbage—yuck. First of all, find some real lettuce that’s at least medium to dark green. A few leaves of red radicchio, which looks like a baseball-sized head of lettuce but with purple-red leaves, brightens things up nicely (by the way, did you know that Italians are fond of harvesting radicchio well into the fall and winter? Radicchio will survive even under a light coat of snow). Then get creative. Chop up some cooked beets or cooked green beans. Throw in some leftover veggies or cooked potatoes from last night’s dinner. Drop in a few berries or sliced apples, mango, or peaches. Dump in a few nuts or seeds. Maybe a cup or so of cooked grains – wild rice works well, as does quinoa. You can even slice some cooked chicken, beef, eggs, or seafood, or put in a can of tuna. Toss that sucker with a nice vinaigrette and shazam!
• Quick cooked greens. Take some fresh spinach, swiss chard or beet greens (the green leafy tops of beets). Wash carefully and chop – it doesn’t have to be too finely. Heat a little bit of butter or olive oil in a nonstick pan. Toss the greens in, swirl them around for a minute or too until they’ve just wilted (don’t overdo them!), add a sprinkle of nutmeg and some salt/pepper, or some lemon juice and a little olive oil, and serve.
• Roast vegetables. Cut up some veggies of choice, toss them with a bit of olive oil and salt, spread them on a baking sheet or in a roasting dish, and throw them into the oven set at 350 degrees F for 30-60 minutes (how long it takes will depend on what veggies you’ve used). Just about every vegetable will taste delicious when cooked this way, but good candidates include yams, zucchini, eggplant, parsnips, fennel, cauliflower, celery root, butternut squash, and carrots. Try roasting or barbecuing skewers of cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and red and green peppers. You can even roast or grill fruit — grilled pineapple, peaches or mango slices are a delicious addition to the standard BBQ fare.
• Vegetable smush. This one goes nicely with Sunday dinner or anything roasty. Chop veggies and either boil or roast them (boiling is quicker). Then smush em up with a bit of butter or olive oil and salt/pepper. Yams are swell this way – throw in a little cinnamon and a touch of maple syrup too. Another yam combo I like is chopped leeks lightly sauteed, then added to shredded uncooked yams with a bit of Dijon mustard, thyme, salt/pepper, and a shot of cream (you could use evaporated milk); mix the whole thing up in a casserole dish, cover, and slap it in the oven for 45-60 min or so. Cauliflower works well when smushed with a bit of yogurt and chopped green onion, or some coconut milk. Combos are also tasty. For example, try squash, carrots, or parsnips smushed with apples. You can also make a hummus-type Middle Eastern dip by using green peas smushed with fresh mint, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. And of course, who could forget guacamole? Essential fatty acids and deelish – smush an avocado with lime juice and some green onion; some folks also like chili peppers in it.
• Easy sauces. Tomato sauce is the most obvious here, but try my Martian spinach pasta sauce. It’s bright green, so don’t freak out when you see it. Cook up some spinach by boiling it quickly. Drain and throw it in a blender with some olive oil, pine nuts or walnuts if you have them, lots of fresh or dried basil, salt/pepper, and a healthy quantity of grated Parmesan cheese. Great mixed in with shrimp or chicken. If you’re vegetarian, consider throwing some cottage cheese into the blender too. Spinach is also nice in a tomato sauce. Tomato sauce hides many sins, so if you have leftover veggies in the fridge, throw them in.
• Vegetable “pasta”. You can use your regular pasta sauce on top of vegetable “noodles”. Spaghetti squash, since it naturally has the texture of, well, spaghetti, is an easy choice. You can also thinly slice veggies such as zucchini and carrots into long matchstick shapes using either a grater, a peeler, or a food processor. Cook them up (probably sauteeing them in a little water is best), and serve them with sauce just as you would pasta.
• Protein shakes. To a base of milk, water, or juice add a scoop or two of whey and any fruit you like. Frozen berries and a banana are my personal favourites. Frozen berries are handy because they store well in the freezer. If you’re lucky enough to live in a climate where berries are available fresh year-round for non-astronomical prices, eat them that way and endure my jealousy.
• Salsas. Most folks are used to the regular tomato salsa, but try a fruit salsa. Peel and chop up one mango, a red pepper, a tomato, a couple of green onions, and some fresh coriander. Mix with lime juice and some hot peppers if you like. Great on top of chicken or fish. Peaches and bananas will also work nicely in this mix.
• Quick blender soups. Every Sunday I whip up a batch of blender soup, put it into smaller jugs, and take one jug every day to work. Prep and packing time takes only about 10 minutes. Basically, cook up some chopped veggies in a bit of water, add some stock and spices, throw the sucker into the blender, and puree it till it has the texture you want. Good combinations include:
  

  Carrot and apple: chop carrots and boil in a bit of water, enough to cover them. Peel and chop apples, and add them halfway through the carrots’ cooking. Add a chicken or veggie stock cube or two plus a pinch of nutmeg and two pinches of cinnamon. If you have some fresh or dried ginger, throw in a pinch of that too. Once the carrots and apples are tender, throw them in the blender with the water and about 1/2 cup of plain yogurt or lowfat sour cream and blend till smooth.

  Lower-fat cream of broccoli: chop broccoli florets and boil in a bit of water, enough to cover the florets. This won’t take long – maybe three minutes if you add them right to the boiling water. Throw the broccoli and the water into the blender with a pinch of nutmeg and about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of plain yogurt or lowfat sour cream, a couple of tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, and salt/pepper to taste. Cottage cheese will work if you’re out of yogurt, though it won’t blend as smoothly. This one’s good hot or cold.

  Pumpkin or squash: chop some celery and onions and saute them lightly in a little oil or water. Peel and scoop the seeds out of your squash of choice. Chop it and put it into the pot with celery and onions. Add enough water to cover and simmer until squash is cooked. You can throw in a stock cube or two plus some thyme and salt/pepper while cooking. Blend with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of plain yogurt, lowfat sour cream, or cream. Squash is also good with apples and a bit of ginger, as in the carrot-apple soup recipe above.

  Easy borscht: Peel and chop beets. Put into a pot and add a can of cooked tomatoes. Add enough water to cover beets. Simmer until cooked. While it’s cooking add a stock cube or two, plus a pinch of nutmeg, pepper, and salt to taste. Maybe a little thyme too. You could even try a bay leaf if you remember to remove it before blending. No need to be stingy with spices or creativity here. When cooked, into the blender it goes. You can either blend in the yogurt/sour cream or serve the soup with a blop of the stuff on top. Cottage cheese will also work for your blopping.

  Fruit soup. Cold fruit soups are an awesome summer treat. I was first introduced to these one very hot day in July, when I popped into a local restaurant that featured a strawberry soup—deevyyne. First, a cantaloupe one. You can drink this one as a drink, too, if you like; this mix could go nicely with vanilla vodka… speaking purely hypothetically, of course. Take 1 cantaloupe, peel it, and scoop out the seeds. Chop into big chunks. Into the blender, pour 2 cups of unsweetened orange juice, a shot of lime juice, and about 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon and cardamom. Fire up the blender and add chopped cantaloupe gradually (often if you add it all at once it sort of gums up the blender, so add it a bit at a time). Garnish with mint to serve if you like. I’ve tried adding other fruits in here too if I’m aiming to drink this as a juice. Banana works great, as do berries. Unsweetened grapefruit juice is nice. Mango left a bunch of little fibres in the mix, though. This cantaloupe-orange-lime stuff is a lovely base for a protein smoothie, too. Another recipe is a cold cherry soup. This is a great idea because hey, we’ve already read about how great cherries are, right? Suck on this anthocyanin blast, diabetes! Use fresh pitted cherries when they’re in season. You could use frozen or canned but much of the good stuff is destroyed in fruit processing, so since it’s summertime anyway, go with the fresh. Simmer cherries gently in a bit of water, enough to just cover them, until soft. Drain the cherries and set aside, but keep the liquid. In a little bowl, mix about 1 1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch with some more cold water, say 1/2 cup. Once the cornstarch and water is well blended, add it to the liquid that you cooked the cherries in. Don’t try to cut corners by dumping the cornstarch right into the warm cherry water – it’ll turn into a clumpy mess. Heat the mix for a few minutes, stirring frequently. This will thicken it up. Then add a shot of lemon juice and mix well. Taste it and decide whether you want to add a little bit of sugar; personally I prefer these things not to be too sweet. If you do, stir it in well. A little sprinkle of cinnamon wouldn’t go amiss here either. Remove from heat and chill. Once it’s good and cold, throw the mix into the blender with about 3/4 to 1 cup of plain yogurt or lowfat sour cream. If it’s too thick, add a little extra water. Serve cold.

  This one comes from reader Andrea F.: Celery walnut soup. She writes, “Boil the celery in a bit of water and/or stock, then whiz with toasted walnuts, as many as you please. They add the only fat and protein in the recipe and the flavors are one of those ‘sum is better than the parts’ combos.” Quick note: walnuts are also a source of omega-3 fatty acids.

OK, that part is easy. We know that we’re supposed to eat more fruits and veggies (henceforth referred to as F/V – interestingly also “future value” in accounting terms, which seems appropriate considering what F/V do for you).

Study after study has shown that F/V consumption is clearly correlated with good health, slow aging, a healthy body composition, and strong disease resistance. The more F/V you eat, the healthier you’re likely to be, and this holds true for a metric assload of possible health problems.

But why are F/V so dang good? And how can you get more into your daily diet?

antioxidants, polyphenols, and flavonoids, oh my!

It’s tempting to think that one can just pop a few vitamins and get the nutritional equivalent of F/V. Oranges have vitamin C, so if I eat vitamin C, that’s just like eating an orange, right? Nope.

First, the handful of vitamins that you get in a vitamin pill are only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of chemical compounds that occur naturally in F/V. The more colourful the F/V, the more likely they are to be chock-full of planty chemical goodness. There are many chemicals still waiting patiently to be discovered in our humble vegetal friends, and most of these chemicals are exceedingly good for you.

Flavonoids are chemical compounds in F/V that perform a variety of functions in the body. They help with healing and immune system, they may act as anti-inflammatories, they slow the aging process, and they may help prevent many types of disease.

Thus, the first thing to remember is that with a vitamin pill, you get the chemical equivalent of a single kazoo played by a drunk at 3 am; with F/V you get a full professional symphony orchestra plus some guy in the back row listening to an iPod.

There is emerging evidence that many diseases and symptoms of aging are caused and exacerbated by oxidative stress in the body. Similar to the oxidation process that causes rust in iron, the biochemical process of human metabolism and respiration results in byproducts known as free radicals.

Free radicals are like the mooching unemployed third cousin that nobody likes but everyone tolerates. He shows up, cleans out your refrigerator, sleeps on your couch, poaches your credit card for a few “necessities”, and over time turns your lovely house into a nest of old newspapers, smelly socks, and empty beer cans. Your cousin has a temper, too, and reacts badly with most family members. Now imagine a whole host of dirtball third cousins showing up on doorsteps everywhere with bottle opener firmly in hand just achin’ for a fight, and you have the equivalent of free radicals that rampage through the body causing family friction and sleeping on whatever couches they can find.

Free radicals react with other chemicals and cells in the body to cause damage, and over time, contribute to the cellular breakdown of the body. Oxidative stress has been implicated in a host of diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke), Alzheimer’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. “Almost certainly,” writes William Clark in A Means to an End: The Biological Basis of Aging and Death, “oxidative damage to DNA is the major contributor to cellular senescence.”(1999: 159)

Antioxidants, as you can probably tell from the name, inhibit the oxidation that can lead to old Cuz Earl snoring and farting on the pullout. Antioxidants are tough love for deadbeat relatives! Antioxidants kick that no-good dog to the curb! And colourful F/V are bursting at the seams with antioxidants.

The other part of the puzzle is that antioxidants, isolated and put into supplement form, do not appear to work as well as antioxidants in food format — or sometimes even at all! (Nutrition and Heart Disease ed. Ronald Watson and Victor Preedy. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2004) Antioxidants and the other chemical compounds in F/V appear to need each other to do their job. No prima donnas in antioxidant world: the phytochemicals work synergistically, in teams.

And hey, guess where those teams like to hang out? In the many pretty colours of F/V. Antioxidant superfoods include citrus fruits, dark green leafy veggies such as spinach and kale, broccoli, berries, and red grapes.

a cherry a day?

Chemists have identified a group of naturally occurring chemicals, called anthocyanins, abundant in fresh cherries that could help lower blood sugar levels and increase insulin levels in people with diabetes (Nair, American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Jan 5 2005).

Anthocyanins are a class of plant pigments responsible for the color of many fruits, including cherries. They are potent antioxidants, a group of chemicals that have been increasingly associated with a variety of health benefits, including protection against heart disease and cancer. The depletion of antioxidants has been linked to an increase in diabetes complications (Opara et al, Duke University Medical Center, 1998). Anthocyanins also have anti-inflammatory properties and may be useful in fighting arthritis and colon cancer. More…

fibre’s number two!

F/V are basically a delivery system for chemicals and water, held together by a matrix of soluble and insoluble fibre. Both types of fibre are part of a healthy diet. Both add bulk to material in the colon, increasing satiety (feeling of fullness), and helping food process through the system, reducing food’s transit time and preventing constipation.

Soluble fibre, as its name suggests, is like a sponge that mops up everything: sugar, water, and fat in the gut, and it eventually appears to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol in the blood (although research is somewhat equivocal on this point, soluble fibre in the form of psyllium is being explored as part of a multifaceted therapy for cardiovascular disease). Unlike insoluble fibre, soluble fibre often helps with inflammatory bowel conditions and diarrhea (counterintuitive, but true).

Insoluble fibre is your sticks and twigs: it’s usually cellulose or the hard coating of grains that also helps push the goods through.

It also means that short-term, drastic caloric restriction is not a good solution for long term weight maintenance and bodyfat loss.

And that goes for the lowfat mania of the late 1980s and 1990s. Lowering fat seemed like a simple equation: no fat in, no fat on the body. Well, it doesn’t work out that way. In fact, your body needs fat, and the right kind of fat can actually help you lose bodyfat. It sounds crazy, but it’s true. I used to be a devoted Dr. Ornish fan (it didn’t seem to occur to me that I was still heavy while eating nearly no fat at all) , and I thought it was nutty when I first heard about it too. But the more research I did, the more I became convinced that the nutrition gurus were on to something. You can read more about good fats here. During the lowfat hysteria, all kinds of fat-free products were put on the market, and people took that to mean that fat-free meant healthy. What people didn’t realize is that the processed sugars and starches in these so-called healthy products were the real culprits. In another article I discuss the role of simple carbohydrates (sugars and starches) in bodyfat deposition, and explain why it’s likely not the fat in your diet, but rather the carbs in your diet that are the problem.

Now that I’ve depressed everyone, let me tell you what DOES work. What does work is mild, long-term caloric restriction, and the proper combination of macronutrients (fat, carbohydrates, and protein), combined with weight training and cardiovascular exercise. See Dieting 101 for more on this. While it is simple once you understand the basics, it’s not a quick fix. If you are overfat, it likely took you a long time to get there, so it will take a while to reduce bodyfat and gain muscle. But that’s OK. Small, slow changes are lasting changes. What you must make is a commitment to your body and to a change in lifestyle. And you have to do it yourself.

Think about it this way. Do you brush your teeth really well one time, and then just leave it? No, you brush them consistently and regularly. You do this because dental hygiene is a constant process of maintenance. Teeth get dirty, and you have to clean them. You don’t think about it. You just do it every day. Dieting is the same way. You can’t crash diet for a week then go back to your bad nutritional habits the rest of the time. You have to approach this as a long-term project of ongoing maintenance. This means cultivating good nutrition, and making health and wellness your primary goal, rather than fat loss. Once the nutritional and fitness plan is in place, then you can start manipulating your calories to achieve the goal you want.