After being Paleo/Primal/Slow Carb for the past 8 months, it’s funny to me to see how my beliefs about food have changed. A year ago, I would have agreed with my non-Paleo friend – “Grains are the enemy? What? They’re supposed to be healthy!” Now I totally agree that grains are the enemy.

So why does the Paleo movement describe grains as bad?

Carbs, man

The first thing that you have to understand is that all grains are composed mainly of carbohydrates. Some may have a little protein, but they’re all mostly carbs. And as I learned since going Paleo, all carbs are reduced to sugar in your body. So grains = sugar. Yes, it’s true. Even whole grains, which are supposed to be healthier with all their fiber and stuff, are still mostly sugar, as far as your body sees it.

Carbs in your body are used for energy. If you don’t use up all of the energy, it gets stored as fat. Since the average American eats 300 grams of carbs a day, and gets very little exercise, it goes grains = sugar = fat.

Additionally, grains are also very calorically dense. A regular bagel has somewhere around 300 calories, which can add up quickly. And besides, who eats just one bagel? On cheat days, I sometimes put away three or four. If you do that every day, that’s going to add up over time. Especially when we’ve been brainwashed to believe that whole grain foods are healthy. So why try to control portions? They’re healthy! Smother it with cream cheese or drown it in butter. Don’t tell me about calories! They’re healthy!

Gluten Is Also The Enemy

First, let’s start with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). IBS is a condition that affects as many as 1 in 5 people in the US, and medical science doesn’t know what causes it. IBS is really a catch-all term for just about any sort of discomfort or malady that is located in your digestive tract.

If you go to your doctor with issues such as diarrhea, constipation, cramping, gas pains, or other gross things that I won’t enumerate here, chances are you’ll get diagnosed with IBS and maybe he’ll give you some medicine to help you feel better. It won’t do anything at all to actually solve your issues, but maybe you’ll feel better. I know this because my wife went through this exact situation a few years ago, and she was told she had IBS.

You know what the issue probably is? Gluten. Gluten is a protein that is found in wheat, rye, barley and some other grains. It is also responsible for a large number of food allergies, intolerances, and auto-immune diseases. Celiac disease (which I have) is probably the best well-known, but there are any number of gluten-related issues besides celiac disease. Children with autism have shown improvement on a gluten free, casein free diet. People suffering from arthritis have improved after removing gluten from their diet.

I would go so far to say, based on a considerable amount of research I have done on the topic for my own benefit, that if you have any sort of chronic, systemic pain or health issue, the root problem is most likely gluten.

And my wife? She went to an allergist, and found out she has a wheat allergy. The medicine the first doctor wanted to give her would have done nothing but mask the symptoms.

So Where Does That Leave Us?

Grains can’t be universally vilified. There is more of a spectrum when it comes to grains. At one end you have wheat, rye, and the other gluten-containing grains. I never, ever eat any of these grains, and I would encourage you to do the same.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have rice, corn, and other gluten free grains. These grains are not bad, but in sufficient quantities, they can elevate your blood sugar, cause weight gain, and increase your risk of diabetes and metabolic syndrome. You can eat them occasionally, but do so sparingly. There is nothing, nutritionally speaking, that you have to get from grains. So why take the risk of eating too much of them?

So if your weight loss has plateaued, or if you are trying to lose weight and can’t seem to get started, take a look at these 8 reasons and see if they might be why you’re not losing weight.

1) You’re eating too many calories. Let’s start with the basics. The science of weight loss says that you have to expend more calories than you take in to lose fat. So no matter what kind of diet you’re eating, if you are getting too many calories you’re not going to lose weight.

Track your diet for a few days and see how much you’re actually eating. Those little snacks in the afternoon can add up quickly if you’re not careful.

2) You’re eating too many carbs. Eating large amounts of carbs raises your blood sugar. In response, your body releases insulin which moves the sugar from your blood to your fat cells. You probably know that. But did you know that it is impossible for your body to use fat as energy if insulin levels are high? No matter how much exercise you’re doing, if your body has to release insulin to control blood sugar it cannot use body fat for energy.

This is one of the reasons that I recommend people eat the Paleo diet (or a similar variation, such as the Primal diet or Slow Carb diet. ). Lowering your carb intake to 50 to 100 grams per day will keep your blood sugar low naturally, allowing your body to use stored fat as fuel.

3) You have a food allergy or intolerance. Food allergies can increase inflammation in your body, which leads to trouble losing weight. One of the most common problems that people who eat the Standard American Diet have is a reaction to gluten, which is a protein found in wheat.

This is another reason that I recommend the Paleo diet, because it is completely gluten free. Two birds, one stone.

4) You’re not exercising enough. Your diet may actually be working, but it’s possible to lose weight slowly enough that you don’t notice it. If this is the case, then exercise is what you need. Even small amounts of targeted exercise can increase weight loss dramatically. Do some kettlebell exercises 2 or 3 times a week, and watch the numbers on the scale drop.

5) You’re working out too much. Just to be difficult, I had to throw this one in here. =) No, seriously, working out too much can be as important an issue as not working out at all. It’s a known fact that emotional stress can lead to weight gain, and too much exercise can overstress your body. If you’re going to the gym more than 3 times a week, and you’re not losing weight, cut back on the number and intensity of your workouts.

6) You’re adding muscle. This is a very good problem to have. If you are eating a healthy diet (with adequate amounts of protein) and exercising regularly, it is not at all uncommon to add a pounds of muscle. Again, this is a good thing. Not only will it help you look better, but muscle burns more calories and helps you oxidize body fat.

If you’re not sure whether you are adding muscle, get a body composition test done (also known as a body fat test).

7) You’re not getting enough sleep. “What?” you say. “How does lack of sleep affect my weight loss?” The body is designed to function with adequate sleep. Taking sleep away means the body cannot function correctly, and this can stop or slow your weight loss. Don’t believe me? Robb Wolf ranks sleep above food in terms of importance to stay alive.

8 ) You’re generally stressed out. Related to #5, emotional stress can trigger the production of cortisol, which in turn increases blood sugar. High blood sugar is bad for weight loss. If you are stressed out for any reason – money, job, kids, family, gas prices, Obamacare, SEC football – take a deep breath and relax.

9) You are drinking too much diet soda. It’s quite a paradox that 0-calorie diet soda can lead to weight gain, but it can. Study after study shows a correlation between diet soda and obesity. To be fair, it’s important to ask whether diet soda causes weight gain, or if there just happens to be a correlation between the two. The answer is we don’t know.

However, I’m a big believer in mimicking the actions and patterns of the people who have already achieved what you want to accomplish. Want to start a business? Talk to a successful business owner and do what he does. Want to be healthy? Do what healthy people do.

Have you ever seen a really in-shape, fit person drinking diet soda? I haven’t. The people I see drinking them are uniformly overweight and unhappy. I don’t know if diet soda is the sole cause of this, but I’m going to stay away from it anyway.

The IF Life has a great post on burning fat through intermittent fasting. IF is something that I’m very curious about but haven’t worked into my diet yet. To quote the IF Life article:

…short-term fasting may be effective when it comes to:

Reducing blood glucose and insulin levels (improving the state of the overall glucose metabolism)
Increasing fatty acid oxidation with increased FFAs (through increasing lipolysis hormones GH, glucagon and adrenaline)
Sparing and preserving muscle tissue (lean mass)
Increasing various health factors (lower inflammation, lower blood pressure, reduced oxidative stress, increased protection against neuro-degenerative diseases, and more)
Keeping the metabolism strong/healthy

Sounds pretty good to me. =)

***

Fitness Black Book has a great article on getting a good cardio workout in about 15 to 20 minutes using HIIT. HIIT, or high intensity interval training, is basically giving 90 to 100% effort in short bursts, followed by an interval of lower effort. Think about sprinting all out for 20 seconds, then jogging for 20 seconds, and then repeating that sequence for 3 or 4 minutes. That’s HIIT.

Why do HIIT training instead of just running for 30 minutes? To quote FBB, one reason is:

Intervals allow you to spend a greater amount of time doing intense exercise at lower blood lactate levels than simply “running hard”. The active rest is what prevents lactic acid buildup in the muscles. HIIT cardio allows you to spend more total time at high intensity levels without feeling it as much as simply training hard non-stop.

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My friend Brandon, over at Fit Hacks, has a great post on 5 vegetables that will help you burn fat. Although I talk a lot about protein in my diet, I do love veggies and eat plenty of them everyday. I really liked what Brandon said about kale:

Kale is an excellent way to fight the toxic effects of Xenoestrogens. Apart from fighting the bad guy, kale is so full of fiber that you get the benefit of a healthy bowel as well. Kale is also loaded with Vitamin K. Even though the taste can be a little strong and takes some time to get used to, try and include kale into your daily food regimen. Make a smoothie of kale with yogurt and spice it up with salt and pepper to make it easier to take this vegetable into your body. One thing is certain; the beneficial effects of eating kale will far outweigh any objections your taste buds might make!

I think his tip of putting into a smoothie is spot on. I can choke down some kale on occasion, but it’s better when it’s in a smoothie and I never taste it at all.

***

Lastly, Fitbomb cracked me up with this post on Fitness Magazine’s healthiest foods. Their “healthiest foods” list included fudge bars, pudding, and muffins. I’m glad someone caught that and called them to task for it.

Now that I’ve been on the diet for 6+ months, I have a more comfortable grasp of what I need to eat to meet my nutritional goals without having to track my diet carefully. (I still do generally track what I eat, but just out of curiosity more than anything else.) However, there is no harm in checking what you occasionally to make sure you’re still on target. Let’s take a look at some of my favorite protein rich foods that you can eat (and enjoy) if you’re on a high protein diet.

Beef! © by comprock

Let’s start with everyone’s favorite source of protein: meat. Meat is comparatively low in calories, and is packed with all eight essential amino acids that you need (making meat a complete protein). The typical serving size for each of the foods below varies, but we’re going to use a serving size of 4 oz each for comparison purposes.

Beef
- 4 oz (quarter pound) of ground beef: 28 gr of protein
- 4 oz sirloin: 25 grams

Chicken
- 4 oz breast: 33 grams

Fish
- 4 oz of canned tuna in oil: 33 grams
- 4 oz smoked salmon: 20 grams

Pork
- 4 oz of pork butt (shoulder roast): 20 grams

Turkey
- 4 oz of ground turkey: 30 grams

Eggs © by BPheonix

Aside from meat, you also have some other choices for protein rich foods. Eggs come in very handy, especially if you are new to a Paleo (or related) diet, and can’t stomach the thought of meat for breakfast. Dairy is also a good choice although you should be careful because it’s easy to get a ton of calories along with your protein.

Eggs
– 1 large egg: 6 grams (An omelette with 5 eggs gets you to 30 grams for breakfast.)

Milk
- 8 fluid oz of whole milk: 8 grams (2% and non-fat milk are essentially the same in terms of protein. They just have less fat and fewer calories.)

Cheese
- 1 oz of most cheeses: 8 grams
- 4 oz (half cup) of cottage cheese: 14 grams

20060714 black bean salsa © by jspatchwork

Beans, or legumes, are not a food that the average person eats a ton of, but they are a great source of vegetarian protein. They are not, by themselves, a complete source of protein but pairing them up with a starch (such as rice or bread) will get you all 8 of the essential amino acids. And yes, peanuts are a legume, not a nut.

Black Beans
- 1 cup: 15 grams

Lentils
- 1 cup: 16 grams

Pinto Beans
- 1 cup: 12 grams

Peanuts
- 1 cup: 35 grams (Unfortunately, this serving size also packs 854 calories. Tread carefully.)

Walnuts © by GimmeFood

Lastly we come to everyone’s favorite Paleo snack: nuts and seeds. Almonds are the richest source of protein in this group, but flax seeds, sunflower seeds and walnuts are also good sources of protein. Once again, be careful with nuts if you’re trying to lose weight. A handful is fine, but it’s very easy to accidentally pig out on a can of almonds and end up eating way too many calories. One tip that I’ve found to work well is to buy unsalted nuts. That way they are still tasty, but not so incredibly delicious that I want to eat the whole can.

Almonds
- 1/2 cup: 15 grams

Flax seeds
- 1/2 cup: 13 grams

Sunflower Seeds
- 1/2 cup: 12 grams

Walnuts
- 1/2 cup: 8 grams

There you have it. That’s enough protein rich foods to keep anyone happy and full for a long time. One caveat: don’t take the portions discussed here as recommendations for serving size. Take the calorie count and your own particular diet goals into consideration before you load up your plate.

The first thing that I learned is that it’s important to do a little comparison shopping when you’re looking for omega 3 supplements. Many manufacturers will label a bottle or pill as fish oil, but they won’t tell you how much omega 3 is contained in the supplement. You definitely need to be able to track how much omega 3 you are actually taking. Also, don’t confuse the amount of fish oil with the amount of omega 3 – they are too different things. The pills that I got have 1,200 mg of fish oil per capsule, but only 360 mg of omega 3 per capsule. You want to keep track of the amount of omega 3 you are getting in each dose.

Another thing to mention is that you need to make sure that the fish oil you buy has had the mercury removed. As you probably know, mercury is an unfortunate addition to a lot of fish (particularly fish high on the food chain), and you don’t want to get a dose of it along with your omega 3. The bottle will tell you clearly if the mercury has been removed, so make sure to look for that. Spend a little bit more on your supplement to get a higher quality item.

Also, as I was doing my research on fish oil capsules, I was surprised (and a little scared) at the number of people who talked about fishy burps resulting from taking fish oil. That didn’t really sound like fun, so I got some capsules that were “enteric coated” which means that the capsule is designed to stay intact until it reaches your intestinal tract. This is supposed to help you avoid tasting the fish oil when you burp. I don’t have anything to compare these pills to yet, but I didn’t have a problem with fishy burps using the enteric coated capsules.

So have I noticed any results after a couple of weeks taking the omega 3 capsules? Yes, two things in particular. First, I sprained my left ankle a few months ago playing Ultimate Frisbee, and it never healed completely. It didn’t hurt to walk on anymore, but the joint felt tight when I tried to stretch it. Compared to my right ankle, my left one definitely had a reduced range of motion. After a couple of weeks on the fish oil, the tightness and range of motion are starting to improve. I can bend the ankle further without it feeling strange or giving me any pain. I’m very excited to see that result. Giving omega 3′s links to joint pain and inflammation, I’m not surprised to see this result.

The second result, however, is one that did surprise me. The past few times that I’ve done my kettlebell exercises, I’ve been noticeably less sore than I usually am the day after my workout. I’ve still been sore, but here’s how I would explain it. You know that feeling you get about 12 hours after a good workout that tells you more muscle soreness is coming in about another 12 hours? Your muscles are just giving you little twinges, and you know it’s a promise of more pain later?

About 12 hours after my last couple of kettlebell sessions, I got those twinges, but then it never got worse. 24 hours after the workout, I still felt about the same as I did 12 hours after. I’m not sure what to attribute that to. It certainly could be the omega 3, but I was under the impression that protein would be used to repair the muscle tissue, not fat. But perhaps there’s some aspect of inflammation in the muscle soreness that the omega 3 is helping reduce. That sounds like a good topic for a future post.

The exercise that Tim recommends in the book is the basic kettlebell swing. I like that exercise a lot and we’ll talk about it below – it’s great for working your whole body and getting your heart rate up – but there are also several other kettlebell exercises that you can do to target other areas of your body. Here are a few of my favorites.

Kettlebell Swings

The basic kettlebell swing is where everyone should start when it comes to working with kettlebells. This exercise will teach you how to handle the kettlebell, and will provide a great workout by itself in just a few minutes.

To start, put your kettlebell on the ground, and then straddle the kettlebell with your feet at a comfortable distance apart. Bend down, grasp the kettlebell, and pull it up to your waist. When you bend down, you want to go down like you’re crouching or sitting in a chair, not bending over at the waist.

If this is your first time working with a kettle bell, do this exercise several times to get familiar with the weight and feel. Put the kettlebell at your feet, bend down and pick it up, and then bend down and put it back at your feet. You want a weight that you can handle comfortably, and that you won’t accidentally drop on your toes. If the weight turns out to be too easy, you can always add more later. I started at 25 pounds and that was plenty. I think I got about 15 reps done the first time I tried it.

Once you’re comfortable picking up and putting down the kettlebell, it’s time to start doing the swings. You want to pick the kettlebell off the ground and pop your hips forward to swing the kettlebell up. The force for the swing should come from your hips and legs, not your arms. As the kettlebell comes back down, bend your legs and crouch down a bit to let the weight swing under you, and then pop it back up with your hips.

Here, just look at these pictures.

Here I am about to get started. The kettlebell is between my feet, and I’m about to pick it up. (In case you’re wondering, I’m using my ghetto kettlebell for these. Tim Ferriss describes how to make them in 4HB, and they’re easy to use and add weight to.)

In this picture, I’ve got the kettlebell going and it’s fully extended at the top of the motion. When you pick up the weight, if it takes you a couple of swings to get it up this high, that’s fine. Once you hit this point, you will swing it down (as you can see in the next picture) and then back up to this point. Every time the weight comes up, that counts as one rep.

See how I’m squatting at the bottom of the swing and not bending over? That’s what you want to shoot for. I could actually improve my form a bit from looking at that picture. My shoulders are coming a bit too far forward. You really want to focus on bending at the knees and not the waist.

As far as sets and reps go, I do as many reps as I can in one set, up to a max of 75. If I hit 75, then it’s time to increase the weight. If I stall somewhere before 75, then I do a second set to get my cumulative total to 75.

Kettlebell Overhead Press

This exercise will also work nearly your entire body, but it works your arms a bit more than the swings do. In this exercise, you’ll be pressing the weight above your head, so be sure to choose a weight that you can handle. As always, it’s wise to aim a bit low and add on as you get the motion of the exercise down.

Grab the kettlebell around the bell part, and hold it in a comfortable position around your chest. Bend down, like you did for the swings, and then rise up and press the kettlebell up above your head. (Not directly on top of your head, but a little in front of you.) Then, in one motion, lower the kettlebell and squat back down. Up and press, lower and squat.

This exercise is a lot easier to understand without pictures, but I’ll get some up for you soon.

Turkish Get Up

“Turkish Get Up” sounds like it could be a lot of things: a dance? a costume? a car made in Turkey? Actually, the Turkish Get Up (TGU) is an exercise that is great not only for strength, but for developing balance, core control, and symmetry in your body. This is definitely an exercise to learn first with no weights, and then add weight as you become more comfortable with it.

The TGU is a slow exercise with several different stages. The point is not speed but control. This video shows you how to do one with perfect form. (But watch your volume, the ambient noise is a bit loud.)

Slightly longer answer: Yes, but…

Complete answer: Yes, you can get enough protein on a vegetarian or vegan diet, but it’s more difficult than on an omnivorous diet. It’s not really a question of can you, but *will* you.

Vegetarians, Vegans, and Protein

OK, let’s start at the beginning. A vegetarian diet is one that avoids meat, fish, and poultry. Most vegetarians will eat eggs (ovo-vegetarians), milk (lacto-vegetarians), or both (lacto-ovo-vegetarians). I was vegetarian from 2006 through January of 2011. I pretty much avoided milk and dairy, but did eat some eggs.

Vegans, on the other hand, eat a diet that completely avoids all animal products, including meat, fish, poultry, dairy, and eggs. Some vegans even avoid foods like honey, gelatin (made from animal bones), and refined sugar, which can be whitened with bone char.

Tofurky Vegan Feast © by Telephone Melts

How Much Protein Is Enough?

If we’re going to discuss how vegetarians/vegans (I’ll just lump them together and call them veggies for the rest of the post) get enough protein, then we first need to establish how much is “enough”.

The FDA recommends 50 grams of protein daily for adults. However, as I mentioned when I talked about my high protein diet, I usually shoot for about 100 grams of protein each day. Since I put on several pounds of muscle (without additional exercise) when I started eating more protein, I have to conclude that I wasn’t getting enough before. So I think you need more than 50 grams a day. Feel free to take both of those opinions with a large grain of salt.

Vegetarian and Vegan Sources of Protein

The first place that most veggies start when it comes to protein is soy. Edamame, tofu, and soy flour are all popular choices for getting protein, and it’s easy to see why. Soy is a complete protein (meaning it contains all 8 essential amino acids that your body needs to get from your diet) and is an easy and convenient food source for most veggies.

Many people, though, have issues with soy that are related to the existence of phytoestrogens, which are plant based forms of estrogen. There is quite a bit of debate as to whether plant-based estrogen is harmful, and I’ll leave that discussion for another post. But, at the very least, you should be aware of phytoestrogen and how much you are consuming in your diet.

Another source of complete protein is quinoa, which is a grain that has been a part of many South American cultures for centuries. Quinoa is gluten free, which makes it suitable for celiacs and those with gluten intolerances, and it is becoming more and more widely available in stores.

Other sources of non-meat protein include mixing legumes and grains (for instance, beans and rice, peanut butter and whole grain bread, or pasta with some seeds or nuts on top are all sources of complete protein), spirulina, a type of algae that is usually taken in pill form, and sacha inchi, a plant-derived oil that is also quite high in omega 3 fats.

So, even if you don’t eat soy, there are plenty of options for veggies to get protein in their diet. And vegetarians have even more options if they choose to consume milk and eggs, which are both complete proteins.

So What’s The Beef?

Sorry, I couldn’t resist. So if there are so many veggie sources of protein available, why am I not veggie anymore? Like I said up top, the issue is not can you, but will you. Let’s take a look at how much food you would actually have to eat as a veggie to get adequate protein. For the sake of argument, I’ll include both the FDA recommended amount and my personal intake.

To get 50g of protein each day, you would have to eat 17g of protein per meal (on average). To get that amount, you would need:

8 oz of tofu, or
5 oz of quinoa, or
2 slices of whole wheat bread + 3 tbsp of peanut butter, or
1.5 oz of spirulina, or
2 oz of sacha inchi oil

Any one of those serving options would get you the amount of protein you need in one meal, and multiplying it by three would get you the FDA recommended amount of protein. I would have to double that amount and do it three times a day to get my target amount of protein.

Now here’s the crux of the issue. Do you know anyone that eats that way? 8 to 16 oz of tofu at each meal? 5 to 10 oz of quinoa? Do you have any spirulina or sacha inchi oil handy? I don’t. I didn’t eat that way when I was veggie because it wasn’t at all convenient. I get enough protein now on my current diet because it is both easy and convenient. I don’t have to force myself to eat something I don’t want, and I don’t have to count calories or tally up food totals. It just happens.

I know that there are a lot of different opinions about this subject, and I have a lot of respect for people that are veggie. But if you are veggie, try keeping track of the foods that you eat for a month or so, and then tally it all up and see how much protein you’re getting. Maybe it’s enough, maybe it’s not. In any case, you’ll know for sure and then you can take any necessary action to change your diet.

Although I do eat a good bit of protein, I wouldn’t really call it a high amount. I would call it “adequate”. But the label you put on it is really dependent on your perspective. I usually eat around 100 grams of protein each day. Some days more, some days less, but usually right around that number. If you average 30 or 40 grams of protein each day, then this probably does sound like a high protein diet.

So How Much Protein Should I Eat?

Opinions vary a bit on this subject. A recent article I read in Vegetarian Times said you should get 1 gram of protein for every 2.2 pounds of body weight. In my case, that would be 82 grams daily (180/2.2 = 81.8).

However, Mark Sisson says you should get between 0.7 and 1.0 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass. I would estimate that I’m around 18% bodyfat, so that would work out to a range of 103 grams to 147 grams of daily protein. (Take your bodyfat percentage, subtract it from your total weight, and that’s your lean body mass.)

Between the two, I’m inclined to go with Mark Sisson for two simple reasons: 1) He’s 58, and he freakin’ looks like this. And 2) When I went Slow Carb in January of 2011, I had been vegetarian for the past 4 years. Over the next couple of months, I put on several pounds of muscle with no additional exercise. The culprit? I suspect increased protein intake.

Increasing Protein Intake Can Help You Build Muscle?

Yes, indeed. Of the three macronutrients (fat, carbs, protein), only protein can be used by your body to build and repair muscle tissue. Increasing the amount of protein you eat does not guarantee your body will grow more lean muscle, but it’s not a bad place to start.

The other macronutrients, fat and carbs, are used primarily as fuel for your body to run. It’s also good to note that your body can synthesize all of the carbs it needs from other sources. If your body needs more carbs to keep going than you are giving it in your diet, it can produce carbohydrates through the process of ketosis. You know what your body uses to fuel ketosis? Body fat. Yeah, that’s right. Sounds like a good trade to me.

Fat Burning Foods

Before we get to the diet plan, let’s tackle the notion of fat burning foods. There are no foods that when you eat them automatically make your body start burning fat. Sorry, you can’t eat like a pig for two meals a day, and then make up for it all with some magical food for dinner. It would be nice, I agree, but it’s not going to happen.

There is, however, such a thing as a fat burning diet. If the sum total of your foods is as I’ll describe below, then your body will begin to burn fat to fuel itself.

The High Protein Diet Plan That I Eat

I can’t think of a better way to show you the diet plan that I eat than by listing the foods that I’ve eaten over the last few days. It’s 9 am as I write this, so I’ll start with breakfast today, and then work back for a couple of days.

Breakfast Today:
Blueberry and Peanut Butter Smoothie (I mentioned this in my smoothie recipes post, if you want to know more about what goes in it.)

Nutritional Tally so far:
11g fat
25g carbs
30g protein
320 calories

Yesterday (Tuesday)
Breakfast:

– 3 egg omelette
– 2 slices of bacon
– Salsa

Lunch:

Big Turkey Salad – We eat some variation of this pretty much every day for lunch.
– 4 cups of garden salad
– 6 oz ground turkey
– Sprinkle of sunflower seeds on top
– Olive oil and vinegar dressing

Dinner:

Fast Fish Soup
– 6 oz of Whiting fish
– 1 cup cooked squash
– 2 cups chicken stock

Snacks and other:

– 2 oz roasted peanuts
– 1 strawberry fruit bar (made with real fruit and minimal sugar)
– 1 glass of red wine

Nutritional Tally For The Day

106g fat
63g carbs
96g protein
1,675 calories

Monday
Breakfast:

Yes, I had ground turkey for breakfast. It’s quick, and not a whole lot different than eating sausage. Put some sauerkraut on it, and it’s delicious.
– 4 oz ground turkey
– 2 forkfuls of sauerkraut

Lunch:

Big Chicken Salad
– 4 oz grilled chicken breast
– 3 cups of garden salad
– Sprinkle of sunflower seeds
– Olive oil and vinegar dressing

Dinner:

We had some country-style ribs, green beans, deviled eggs and steamed cauliflower.
– 6 oz pork ribs (boneless)
– 1 deviled egg
– 1 cup cooked cauliflower
– 1/2 cup cooked green beans

Snacks and other:

– 2 tbsps natural peanut butter
– 2 glasses of red wine

Nutritional Tally For The Day

102g fat
41g carbs
118g protein
1,758 calories

So you can see it’s not hard at all to get enough protein in your diet. Eat a good portion of meat at each meal (eggs at breakfast are fine too, if the thought of meat for breakfast is too weird), and you’re pretty much going to get enough. You don’t have to stuff yourself or go out of your way to cram protein powder down your throat.

High Calorie Foods

Unfortunately, just adding protein to your diet isn’t enough to make you lose weight. No matter what else you do, you have to expend more calories than you take in in order to lose weight. The easiest way to do that is to simply avoid high calorie foods. In the examples above, I kept track of my calories because I enjoy doing that (I’m weird that way), but there’s really no need to track calories if you don’t want to. It’s tough for me to break 2,000 calories on this diet. I could do it if I tried, but simply stopping eating when I’m full keeps my calorie count down to acceptable levels.

So what are the high calorie foods that you should avoid? Grains are the worst of the bunch. Wheat, rice, corn, rye, barley, you name it. Pretty much anything that can be made into flour. Accordingly, you should avoid eating any food made with flour – bread, pasta, breaded foods, doughnuts, pastries, biscuits, pancakes, actual cakes, etc.

Starches are also on the list. Potatoes and sweet potatoes are not as bad as grains, but still avoid them. Next are any refined carbs, heavily processed foods, and sugar.

Conclusion

If you were going to sum up the diet plan in just a few words, it would be “Focus your diet on meat, vegetables, nuts, and fruit.” Eat reasonable portions – in other words, eat until you are full, and then stop. No need to count calories or carbs unless you want to. If you can make these changes to your diet, you’ll be well on your way to losing some weight and getting fit.

The average smoothie from Smoothie King has somewhere around 75 grams of carbs. 75! And that’s the small! The large size, like I used to get, can have from 175 to 220 grams of carbs. Good grief! I usually keep my daily carb intake somewhere around 75g, so one small smoothie would pretty much do me in for the day.

Luckily, there are some tasty smoothie recipes that you can make for yourself that won’t blow your carb budget or make you regret it the next morning. The trick is in selecting fruits that are low on the glycemic index, and adding some non-sugary ingredients to make you feel full more quickly (and for longer).

Blueberry & Peanut Butter

blueberries © by brx0

This first recipe is my current favorite. My wife and I have it for breakfast at least once a week, and it keeps me satisfied until lunch time.

1 cup of unsweetened blueberries
1 tbsp natural peanut butter or almond butter
1 scoop of protein powder

Add in a bit of water and some ice, and blend it all together. Delicious!

Nutritional Tally:

11g fat
25g carbs
30g protein
320 calories

Apple & Cherry

We got some cherries not too long ago for the first time in forever, and they were absolutely delicious. It’s amazing how removing almost all sugar from your diet lets you enjoy the things you do eat even more. A year ago I wouldn’t have thought cherries were very sweet, but now I find them almost indulgent.

1/2 cup cherries (remove the pits first)
1 medium apple, cored
1 tbsp natural peanut butter or almond butter
1 scoop of protein powder

Nutritional Tally:

12g fat
37g carbs
30g protein
359 calories

Strawberry & Orange

This is a taste combination that you won’t find together too often, but strawberry and orange are really quite good together. I’ve found it works best to cut the orange into pieces before you put it into the blender to make sure to get all of the seeds out. Don’t cheat and use orange juice – the fiber in the orange pulp will help keep your blood sugar normal.

1 medium orange
1 cup of strawberries
1 tbsp natural peanut butter or almond butter
1 scoop of protein powder

Nutritional Tally:

11g fat
33g carbs
32g protein
350 calories

You’ll notice that all of these recipes have protein powder and peanut/almond butter. The protein is to give the smoothie something other than empty carbs. You can drink one of these for breakfast in about 5 minutes, and not spike your blood sugar.

The peanut/almond butter is in there both for a bit of texture, and for the fat it provides. This will help you feel full for longer, so you won’t find yourself at the snack machine a couple of hours later. Feel free to omit it, but we like how it tastes in the smoothies.

What Are Omega 3 Fatty Acids?

As the name suggests, omega 3′s are essential fatty acids – which is to say, they are dietary fat. The term “essential” has special significance here, and it means that your body is unable to synthesize the production of this nutrient, and you have to receive it from your diet. (The same applies to the essential amino acids, which are the protein nutrients that your body needs.)

Dietary fat can be broken down into three categories – omega 3, omega 6, and omega 9. Of the three, only omega 3 and omega 6 are essential. Your body can product omega 9 fatty acids on its own by breaking down unsaturated fat from your diet.

Omega 3 vs Omega 6

Since both Omega 3 and Omega 6 are essential fatty acids, it might seem strange to discuss them in terms of being at odds with one another, like you should choose one over the other. However, omega 6 fats are found in a wide variety of processed foods, such as bread and cereal, and trans fats are technically classified as omega 6 fats. In contrast, omega 3 fats are somewhat more difficult to find, as they are primarily found in whole food sources.

The widespread availability of omega 6 and the relative difficulty of finding omega 3 (in terms of the Standard American Diet) often leads to an imbalance of the two fats in the typical person’s diet. The ratio of omega 6 fats to omega 3 fats is often around 15 : 1, and sometimes as high as 30 : 1, meaning many people consume 10 to 30 times as much omega 6 fat as they do omega 3 fat.

This extreme imbalance has been linked to cardiovascular disease in a number of studies. (To be fair, there is some debate about whether the ratio itself is important, or if merely the lack of omega 3 fats is to blame for the link to heart disease. Regardless of the distinction, the practical result is the same – get more omega 3 fats in your diet.)

The ideal ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 is generally agreed to be around 4 : 1. If you’re currently around the 30 : 1 point, anything you can do to lower that ratio is a good thing.

Benefits of Omega 3 Fats

There are a number of benefits that come with getting the proper amount of omega 3 fat in your diet. The most well known are the cardiovascular benefits – things like a reduced risk of heart disease, lower cholesterol, heart rate, and blood pressure. The FDA recognized omega 3 fats in 2004 and gave it the “qualified health claim status” meaning, essentially, that there is significant evidence that adequate omega 3 has a positive impact on lowering your chance of heart disease.

Omega 3 fats can also improve your health in a number of other ways, such as:

- better skin
- stronger and fuller hair
- stronger nails
- reduced inflammation (arthritis, anyone?)
- reduced joint pain
- increased brain function
- improving mood and symptoms of depression
- helping to prevent cancer cell growth

The more we learn about omega 3, the more it becomes obvious that our bodies were designed to function with an adequate supply of it. A lack of omega 3 is going to impact your body in a number of ways, and you’re probably not even aware of some of them. When my knees ache after a workout, I don’t think, “Man, I need to go eat some fish.” Instead I think, “Where’s that ibuprofen?” But could a lack of omega 3 really be to blame? It’s completely possible.

Omega 3 Sources

As I mentioned above, omega 3′s are most commonly found in whole food sources, but there some alternative ways of getting adequate omega 3 fat in your diet. The foods highest in omega 3 are:

Oily Fish, such as sardines, anchovies, mackerel, salmon and trout.
Flaxseed
Walnuts
Soybeans and raw tofu
Snapper
Scallops
Shrimp

Omega 3 Supplements

Unfortunately for me, I am not a big fan of seafood (although I do love me some walnuts!), so it’s difficult for me to get enough omega 3 fat in my diet from whole food sources. I can eat some fish, but the thought of having to choke down a couple servings of fish multiple times each week is a bit more than I want to handle. Many people fall into the same boat.

Luckily, you can take omega 3′s as supplements and avoid the whole foods route if you want to. The most popular omega 3 supplement is fish oil, which you can get as gelcaps or a liquid. I recommend the gelcaps. You can also find omega 3 supplements that come as a gel or pudding-like substance that you squeeze out of a packet. It sounds a bit sketchy, but I bet that would be a great addition to a smoothie or protein shake.

So How Much Omega 3 Do I Need?

Opinions vary greatly as to how much omega 3 we actually need to get in our diet. Some experts say that around 150 mg per day is sufficient, while others say that anywhere from 500 mg to 1,000 mg per day is necessary. Interestingly, the American Heart Association recommends eating at least 2 fish dinners a week, which would work out to 500 to 600 mg of omega 3 per day.

I’m personally going to shoot for a dose between 500 mg and 1,000 mg per day. While opinions do vary, there seems to be something of a consensus around that amount.