We don’t say an awful lot about nutrition in the Younger books, but the advice we offer is pretty good. A little blunt, maybe, but pretty good. It is carefully put in Harry’s Rules: “QUIT EATING CRAP!” Excellent advice in a country where powerful forces are hard at work, around the clock, trying to persuade you to do just the opposite. And readers who have done the exercise and quit eating crap have had amazing success at losing weight, as well as getting fit and healthy. Nice. I have gotten thousands of passionate communications on the subject… it had a lot to do with my decision to write the new book.
In the new book, Thinner This Year, we go into a lot more detail, but the core message is the same, if longer: Quit Eating Crap. Quit eating “dead food” in particular… food with a ton of calories and almost no nutrients. And don’t super-size yourself. The way we eat in this country – THE GREAT WESTERN DIET, with its heavy emphasis on refined flour, refined sugar, animal meats and solid fat – is insanity. And – after it makes us sluggish, ineffectual and funny looking – it makes us sick. In the end, it kills a huge number of us. One of the key revelations (to me, at least) is that “stored fat” – the pot or gut – is actually toxic. It is a font of inflammation and free radicals. It makes us sick. Gotta exercise like a lunatic. Exercise is still the great flywheel of the good life. But we gotta quit eating crap, too. We’ll be talking about that a lot. Advice, recipes… the works. Important stuff. Mildly interesting, too.
For more on Jen and her research visit drjensacheck.com
Q & A WITH READERS
Protein Prior to Exercise?
Chris and Jen….Chris, you have a bowl of oatmeal and some blueberries and go out and ride 50 miles or row hard for an hour…how do you have enough gas in your tank??? my pre-workout meals have beeen mostly protein, particularly eggs and egg whites….maybe yogurt and oatmeal, whole wheat bread or english muffin with peanut butter…I do workout 6 days a week I do intervals on the rower I lift……I am 60 years old…I max out at about 155bpm doing intervals, I do the slower aerobic work 2 days a week Jen says lay off the protein pre-workout…what do I eat to have enough fuel….and how many
I am not certain what time of the day you are working out but based on what you are eating prior, it may be late morning or noon-time. First, you do not have to “lay off of protein” prior to working out just as long as you giving yourself enough time to digest the meal and make sure that it is paired with a great carbohydrate source. Based on some of your examples, you should be eating this two-three hours prior to your workout to give it ample time to be digested and absorbed. Chris’ example of oatmeal and blueberries is great as is your whole wheat bread with peanut butter.What and how much to eat all depends on WHEN you are eating prior to exercise:
1) The pre-exercise meals should consist of mainly of carbohydrates for several reasons:
a. They are easily digested and absorbed.
b. Carbohydrates in the AM will replenish lost muscle glycogen stores that have been depleted after a night’s rest.
c. Muscle glycogen serves as the primary fuel source during exercise.
d. Muscle glycogen stores will limit your ability to exercise for long periods of time (like Chris’ 50 mile rides) – once it runs out in your muscles, so do you.
2) A higher carbohydrate meal of 300-500 calories should be eaten 2-3 hours prior to exercise to allow for digestion and absorption.
3) Meals higher in fiber, fat, and protein will take much longer to digest. Also note that protein is not a major fuel source for exercise. BUT protein with some carbs is great for muscle recovery.
4) If you consume more calories and/or meals higher in fat/protein – allow more time for digestion.
Turkey Bacon? Really?!
Is turkey bacon OK? Up to about 3 mos ago I always ate turkey bacon for breakfast with my egg white and Kale omelet then switched to real bacon and, of course, I liked it. Now after Thinner Next Year I am eliminating my piece of real bacon but I wonder if turkey bacon is OK. It is fake food but does it hurt?
Glucosomine Chondroitin
From Rob: ”I found the section on supplements to be very enlightening. I did not see any mention of glucosamine chondroitin. I’ve been taking a liquid form for a few years. It was recommended to me to my knees (osteoarthritis). It contains 2000 mg glucosamine, 1200 mg chondroitin and 500 mg MSM. Do you have any information about this supplement? Thanks.”
From Jen: “Great question! I am not an expert on glucosamine chondroitin, but I do know that there have not been conclusive results showing a benefit to taking it. Here is a link to a very large National Institutes of Health study that failed to show a major benefit to taking this supplement. I will let you review the information. I think your best bet would still be to exercise, strength train and eat healthy!”
http://nccam.nih.gov/research/
Coconut Oil
From Glenn: “Just started reading the new book and am interested on your take regarding coconut oil. There seems to be many differnt opinions about whether it is good for you.”
From Jen: “Here is the quick skinny on coconut oil. First, it is predominantly a saturated fat (90% vs. butter that is 65% saturated). Saturated fat increases your LDL, or your bad cholesterol. However, some fats in your diet can also increase your HDL, your good cholesterol. Some early studies have shown that coconut oil may have an especially positive effect on your HDL. Furthermore, plant oils, even coconut oil, has other substances that benefit health, many of which we are still discovering. However, I would not go overboard on coconut oil. There have been NO long term studies on its health effects such as heart disease risk. It has great flavor, but use it sparingly. It still has 9 whopping calories per gram and the benefits of other plant-based oils which are much lower in saturated fats and high in unsaturated fats (such as olive oil) may far outweigh those from consuming coconut oil – unsaturated fats will both increase your HDL and decrease your LDL, a far better physiological outcome.”
Q&A with CHRIS & JEN
1. Why is this book so important?
We are in the midst of an obesity epidemic and our levels of complacency about being “a bit overweight” as a nation are shocking. In Thinner, we take the reader step by step through why the excess fat is so bad for our health – how fat tissue breeds inflammation and thus many debilitating and deadly diseases. But importantly we elucidate how proper nutrition and daily exercise are instrumental in combating our expanding waistlines.
2. How does this book differ from other diet or fitness books?
Most diet books hook readers into believing that there is ONE easy solution to their dietary and waistline woes – no carbs, don’t eat meat, eat only raw foods, amp up protein, etc. The problem is that most of these books will promise a quick fix for weight loss, but will result in zero change over the course of a lifetime. Most are not based on science and most have little respect for the fact that a well-balanced diet that is nutrient-dense is critical for our body’s to function properly. Avoidance
of entire food groups or excessive consumption of others is asking for trouble – they are neither realistic nor sustainable. We also don’t ask our readers to starve themselves – we don’t want to mess with their metabolism or their minds. Changing how they eat while consuming a realistic amount of calories is our fundamental message.
On the exercise front, we are frank that exercise takes commitment and that it is something, like diet, that you much maintain for a lifetime. No magical spot-reducing, you won’t burn 1000 calories in 15 minutes, and you really don’t need any particular fancy gadget. Again, there is no ONE magic “exercise”, but a combination of aerobic exercise and resistance training over the course of a week will make a major difference in how you look and feel, but also dramatically improve your calorie burn and your health. Importantly, we discuss the science of exercise and its impact on health just as we do with nutrition. Most diet and/or fitness books focus solely on one or the other – we nail them both.
3. Jen: Most diets tell people to eliminate certain food groups. Why is this unhealthy and why does our body need carbs, fats, and sugar?
Started above in prior paragraph in #2!
Cutting any food group from your diet is a sure way to cut calories – but it is neither healthy nor sustainable. Carbs, fats and proteins all provide energy (that is calories!) – and all have necessary and unique functions within our bodies. But on top of that, each supply different types of NUTRIENTS – and nutrients make our body’s machinery work – if we don’t have nutrients we fall apart. A few examples: Cut carbs and you likely cut B-vitamins that enable metabolism to work, not to mention
fiber which is good for health and feeling full after a meal. The same is true for fats and proteins – healthy fats that contain omega 3’s help with cognition while protein is rich in the amino acids that help build and maintain muscle mass. You need a balance of carbs, fats, and protein. What you don’t need are the empty calories from foods that have little nutrition beyond wasteful calories – think processed and overly packaged foods, refined flour products, all things fried or covered in
creamy goop, sports drinks and other beverages with added sugars. Eat real food.
4. Chris: It’s so easy to fall off the wagon. What advice would you give for people to stay motivated on this plan?
Falling off the wagon (of weight loss and exercise) is inevitable… everyone does it at some point. What to do? For me, the best device is doubling down on exercise. It is instantaneous, mood changing and definite. You can get your head and your body around it. Then re-focus on your biggest enemies on the food front. Focus hard on the foods that are worst for you that you love the most and have a tough week with none of them. “Sink the enemy’s carriers” as we say in the book. Then settle down to a
sustainable regimen again.
5. If you had to pick the one most crucial take-away from this book, what would it be?
JEN: The excess fat tissue sitting around our middles is TOXIC to our health. Eat better and eat less – that is half the battle. BUT exercise is the other critical half. Diet alone will not do it. Exercise is the flywheel of weight loss now and for life – for regulating blood sugar, increasing strength and calorie burn, and being an anti-inflammatory machine. CHRIS: I think that the critical NEW advice in the book is that EXERCISE is the flywheel of weight loss and much else in your life. Exercise alone won’t do it, but exercise in conjunction with some changes in the way you eat: Magical!
Q & A WITH READERS
Coconut Oil
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
From Glenn: “Just started reading the new book and am interested on your take regarding coconut oil. There seems to be many differnt opinions about whether it is good for you.”
From Jen: “Here is the quick skinny on coconut oil. First, it is predominantly a saturated fat (90% vs. butter that is 65% saturated). Saturated fat increases your LDL, or your bad cholesterol. However, some fats in your diet can also increase your HDL, your good cholesterol. Some early studies have shown that coconut oil may have an especially positive effect on your HDL. Furthermore, plant oils, even coconut oil, has other substances that benefit health, many of which we are still discovering. However, I would not go overboard on coconut oil. There have been NO long term studies on its health effects such as heart disease risk. It has great flavor, but use it sparingly. It still has 9 whopping calories per gram and the benefits of other plant-based oils which are much lower in saturated fats and high in unsaturated fats (such as olive oil) may far outweigh those from consuming coconut oil – unsaturated fats will both increase your HDL and decrease your LDL, a far better physiological outcome.”
