Nutrition 101

Bob's 11 Rules

• Stay away from excessive sugars & salt. Avoid fats. This will eliminate 99% of the fast foods, munchies, and soft drinks. Nobody needs them. In a month, you will not want them and will wonder why you ever ate them. Sugar is hidden in many low fat foods. Read labels.

   

• Eat a basic breakfast of complete carbohydrates & protein to set up your metabolism for the day, and to provide fuel & muscle building ingredients. Basically, protein builds muscle and carbohydrates supply fuel for energy. Breakfast can be a quality protein shake, bowl of oatmeal, cottage cheese, fruit, bagel, coffee, or muffin. Remember, if you do not feed yourself a small wholesome meal in the morning, your body will draw on your muscle tissue as a source of energy, putting you in a slump and in muscle deficit. Add a good vitamin & mineral formula each morning to put order & efficiency in your body chemistry.

   

• With whatever effort it takes, feed yourself every 3 or 4 hours throughout the day - each meal again consisting of protein and carbohydrate. Any combination of the following is perfect: tuna/rice, lean meat/baked potato, cottage cheese/fruit, chicken/pasta, vegetable/pasta.

   

• No matter how well you are training, if you eat more calories than you are burning, you will never lose weight. To lose weight, eat less than you burn, and consume the majority of your calories early in your day.

   

• I have always instinctively leaned toward a higher intake of protein over carbohydrate to build a lean body. Emphasize protein.

   

• Between meal snacking is okay if the snack is truly nutritious - no junk! Do not let snacks be a substitute for a meal or become a habit. Good snacks are fruits or vegetables, low fat muffins, protein energy bars, nonfat yogurt, whole wheat bagels, cottage cheese, etc.

   

• Simple carbohydrates (sugar) provides us with a quick pickup, but lets us down just as quickly. Excessive sugar plays havoc with our insulin metabolism and leads to fatigue and fat storage. Not good.

   

• Fuel up before your workout. Eat a small easily digestible meal 30-60 minutes before you train. With complex carbohydrates in your system, you will train harder, longer, and with more enthusiasm. You will not experience low blood sugar jitters or dizziness - you will experience a great muscle pump and probably train longer.

   

• You need to eat a hearty protein meal with plenty of carbs and L-Glutamine supplement within 90 minutes of completing your workout. This is necessary to provide the muscle building materials to repair depleted tissue and begin the process of building new tissue.

   

• The most important nutrient in your body is plain water. The quality of your tissues, their performance, and their resistance to injury is absolutely dependent and the quality and quantity of water you drink. Hydrate yourself throughout the day, especially during your workout.

   

• Sleep, rest and relaxation are of prime importance. It's during periods of sound sleep that our bodies recuperate and build muscle tissue.

   

IF YOU WANT RESULTS,
DON'T BREAK MY RULES 

Is There a Secret To Good Nutrition?
(or, why do people spend hours in the gym, then five minutes in the drive-thru?)

Your Body is a Temple, Not a Woodshed

Our bodies are made in the gym & kitchen. We are what we ate in the last six months. Learning the right habits is very simple. But, it usually requires a change in lifestyle which many people are just too lazy to do. Old habits often never die. The trick is to enjoy what you have changed. If it brings you pleasure, you will follow its path. A life of old, learned eating habits must be shattered and changed before you can enter a new lifestyle and really "live".

My Take On What Needs To Be Known About
Nutrition (fuel) Is What Follows:

We all need to do resistive weight training 3 to 4 times per week. Maintaining muscle is the goal, and it will keep your metabolic rate high so that fat loss continues at a steady pace. Attempt to lose no more than 1 to 1.5 pounds of fat per week. Muscle burns fat..it's that simple.

Do cardio exercise 3 to 4 times per week with the majority of the training at a heart rate near but not over your heart's anaerobic threshold. This provides the maximum fat burning condition for your body. Sessions should be 45 to 60 minutes in duration. Cardio training raises levels of certain hormones that promote greater fat usage. The more you train, the more efficient your fat burning machine becomes.

Do weight training before cardio training. Weight training uses your body's storage of glycogen (stored carbohydrates), leaving the fat stores in your body for cardio training fuel.

Beware of low-fat or fat-free products. Typically, these products are loaded with carbohydrates and while you are not getting fat, you may be getting way too many calories from simple carbohydrates.  Avoid simple sugars and eat complex carbs in moderation to reduce insulin output and prevent blood sugar fluctuations. Insulin is the main hormone responsible for storing fat, and high insulin levels prevent the burning of stored body fat for energy.

High salt foods (sodium) absolutely must be avoided.

Increase the amount of lean protein you consume daily to increase your metabolic rate, increase anabolic hormones and prevent muscle loss during dieting. Lean muscle mass is the active tissue that burns calories and maintains metabolic rate. Eat high quality, low fat protein sources like skinless chicken, turkey, egg whites & seafood during your weight loss program. Avoid dairy product as a source of proteins. High quality protein supplements (soy protein powder) may be used when the diet does not yield enough daily protein. Protein provides the amino acids necessary in the formation of new muscle tissue

Reduce saturated fats whenever possible and replace with polyunsaturated fats such as flax oil and monounsaturated fats such as olive oil and avocados. Polyunsaturated fats are considered "good fats and should be a part of your diet. Omega-3 oils from fish help improve health and fat loss. Avoiding good fats is a sure way to sabotage a fat-loss diet and degrade your health.

Drink at least 8 to 10 glasses of water per day to prevent dehydration and help liberate fat stores to be burned for energy. Water intake is the most underrated and overlooked part of fat loss.

Eat fibrous vegetables to increase transit time of food, improve digestion and improve weight loss. Vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and other raw veggies add fiber, minerals and vitamins with very few calories. They add bulk to the diet while reducing appetite.

Spread food intake over 5 to 6 meals per day. Distributing your food throughout the day will improve absorption, prevent blood sugar fluctuations and decrease fat-storing hormones and fat-storing enzymes.

Avoid alcohol. Alcohol aids in fat-storage. It is empty calories.

The day's most important meal: Breakfast!

There are three families of carbohydrates:  Complex, simple, and fibrous.  Complex carbs are the "slow release" and the most preferred. Complex carbs are: bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, pancakes, muffins, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, and organic cereal. Complex carbs are required for any activity involving endurance (cardio training) or stamina. Complex carbs are needed 90 minutes or more before a workout, and they are needed after a workout to replenish the energy used in the workout (glycogen). Too much complex carbs can have an undesired effect on someone wanting to lose weight if taken in excess.

Simple carbohydrates are: candy, refined sugar, honey, fruit, juices, and soda. Simple carbs are "quick release" carbs which cause an instant release of insulin in the body which promotes fat storage and prevents efficient fat burning.

Fibrous carbohydrates are: spinach, lettuce, broccoli, greens, cauliflower, and green bean. They contain few calories and aid greatly in more efficient digestion.

Training fuel is complex carbohydrates. Low fat, low sugar, low fiber, low protein, and high intake of complex carbohydrates is what your body needs prior to your workout for optimal training performance. 

Grains are the seeds of fruits or certain cereal grasses. They are high in carbohydrates and low in fat which make them excellent sources of training fuel.

Losing weight is accomplished by eating quality nutrition in calorie totals that are less than the total calories burned. However, it is important to understand that training requires a diet of nutrition for the physically active body. Read and study good nutritional habits that you can carry throughout your life. 

Overweight problems lead to a poor appearance, mechanical difficulties, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and high blood sugars. Not a happy way to exist.

We need to burn 3,500 calories aerobically ( 5 to 6 spinning classes) to lose 1 pound of fat. It takes patience and requires the intake of good nutrition to fuel your workouts.

A diet too high in carbohydrates and sugars leads to elevated insulin levels, prevents fat burning, creates the feeling of hunger, and causes the liver to produce cholesterol and high levels of tri-glycerides. 

Vitamins & minerals are essential building blocks needed daily in our bodies. You should have a good compliment of all the primary vitamin & mineral supplements. If you weight train, you will also need L-Glutamine supplement after your workout. This will enhance your good muscle development. Iron is needed for oxygen transporting. Zinc is needed for healing. Vitamin C, E, A, beta-carotene, folic acid, calcium, flax seed oil, B-12, bee pollen should be on your list.

Protein provides the muscles building blocks and little energy for workout fuel. Carbohydrates provides the glycogen that is essential for good training. Always be sure to eat carbs 90-120 minutes prior to your training. Training depletes your carbs/glycogen which must be replaced after your workout.

Red meats are not good foods for a super healthy body. If you must eat red meats limit it to twice a week and eat only lean red meats.

Not all fats are bad. Vegetables and fish oils provide important and essential good fat that our bodies need daily.

Examples of good foods are: Yogurt, nutritional bars, healthy soups, veggies (raw), pancakes, tomatoes, fruits (in the am), organic cereals, skinless chicken, fish, whole grains, organic beans & dried beans, peanut butter (low fat), bananas, smoothies, bagels, soy protein powders, bagels, egg whites, tofu, garbanzo beans, lower fat nuts, turkey, organic pastas, Bruce sweet potato pancakes, berries, fruit juices (in the am), low fat cottage cheese, tea, bottled water, x-virgin olive oil, raisins, oatmeal, sweet potato, sherbet. 

How much protein do you need in one day? If you only practice good nutrition and you don't train, the answer is 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body weight. If you actively train, you need 1.5 grams of protein per pound of lean body weight.

On days that you do not train, reduce the amount of carbohydrate intake because your body's requirements are lower and excess carbs can be stored as body fat.