I do a lot of talking & writing about eating healthy, making better food choices, drinking Shakeology. There’s also a bunch of videos scattered throughout this site on nutrition. But this one is funny. I ran across it on YouTube. Maybe I just find it funny. I dunno. You tell me.

Do YOU Eat Crap?

And the verdict is???? Funny or not funny?

Everyone has gone through it in their lives. At one point or another, they were in good physical condition. Maybe it was all the way back in junior high because of PE class. College? Until you got married? And then…life happens. A career. Family and kids. Car accidents. Injuries. That physical fitness level you once has since turned into a couch potato vegetating in front of the TV with a bag of fast food for dinner ready to watch the lastest episode of LOST. Too tired to even cook a healthy meal, let alone do a workout like P90X or INSANITY.

In the last year on Facebook as I’ve been sharing about my journey back from a car wreck and living the Beachbody lifestyle, I’ve had the joy of watching many friends from high school, my Beachbody customers and fellow Beachbody Coaches find that spark of motivation to change their lives through fitness. They’ve taken action to move from that sedentary lifestyle and started on the path to get back in the fitness routine.

It’s been even MORE exciting to see their changes! Whether they’re following The Biggest Loser workouts, CrossFit workouts, a running plan, or just walking around the block…they’re getting active! Taking control of the reigns of the health. Not only today, but their health and physical fitness for years to come!

I myself am getting back into a fitness routine. Many of you know I’ve been in the process of healing from the wreck over two years ago that has left me with 3 herniated discs in my neck. Late last year, I completed a very modified version of P90X. I was thrilled to be active again and was looking forward to seein’ my 6 pack abs again in the new year. At the beginning of 2010, I started the P90X Lean workout routine with the P90X DVD’s.

Then disaster hit. Ending my third week into the P90X workouts we found out our water heater had been leaking and ruined the flooring in the bedroom, under the stairs and a portion of the living room!

So everything we had just moved into the house the month before had to be moved upstairs into the loft and out to the garage. Then the carpet was ripped up, the sub-flooring ripped up. We then find the water damage in the sheet rock…there goes the walls too. Sooo…there was nowhere in the house to do my P90X workouts.

My daily P90X workouts then became a combination of walking and running at the gym. Push-ups and pull-ups…you know the basics of physical fitness. And my good ol’ 35lb kettlebells I had just purchased. I wanted to continue getting back in the fitness routine and wasn’t going to let lack of space get in the way of my commitment to myself. So the space in the door frame of the utility room was my home fitness gym.

A week later, the dehumidifier had finished it’s job and the remodeling started. Six plus weeks after the chaos began, the house was put back together. And that door frame & I spent 20-30 minutes a day…hangin’ out. haha Seriously, nothing was going to stop me from getting a workout in. I had committed myself to getting into the best physical condition I could. Like my wristband says:

Basically all I’m sayin’ is…life is life. Even if it throws some challenges at you, you have to be committed to what you want to do. You don’t stop altogether just because you’ve had a set back or face seemingly overwhelming odds. Regardless if it’s being 20 lbs overweight, missing a workout, 6 months of workouts…heck even if you ate the rest of that half-gallon chocolate mint chip ice cream. Oooh, or those ice cream bars!

We are given 1440 minutes a day…we make choices how we’ll live them out.

Fitness is a lifestyle choice. Beachbody is a lifestyle choice. You choose to be active, you choose to eat better. Day by by.

Yesterday is just a memory and tomorrow isn’t a guarantee…but what choices we make today can deeply influence what tomorrow will be like when it comes.

Getting back in the fitness routine, working out and eating healthy is a choice. It’s a commitment to change. It’s a lifestyle with struggles early on to find a rhythm in living, to be consistent in eating, working out…but then, after a while, the fitness lifestyle is no longer a struggle…it becomes routine.

What are you doing today? What habitual routine are you doing?

Yep, you read it right…fat burning candy. With chocolate & coconut? I LOVE chocolate and coconut! (Hi, my name is Timothy Carter & I’m a choco-holic! haha) Mounds? Almond Joy? This recipe is better for you!

A few years ago my wife stumbled across the incredible chocolate coconut ball recipe that she scribbled down on a piece of paper. I called it the “Fat Burning Candy” recipe. As about as natural of a “healthy candy” can get in this day and age of high fructose corn syrup and processed foods.

I love dark chocolate and I love coconut. Coconut meat, coconut oil, coconut water…yum! If you know anything about the benefits of coconut oil…you know that coconut oil has fat burning benefits! Don’t believe me? Go Google it. I dare ya…

Okay…so here it is…the recipe you want to try:

Fat Burning Candy

1/2 cup organic Cocoa Powder
3 cups of shredded unsweetened coconut
3/4 Cup coconut oil, raw organic
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup chopped raw almonds (or macadamia nuts)

Mix the Cocao and coconut together. Add coconut oil and agave nectar. Then mix in the chopped almonds.

Place in small mounds (spoonful) on tray and put in freezer for at least 30 minutes.

Once they’ve hardened in the freezer they’re ready to eat and/or store in a freezer bag. They’ll store for weeks in the refrigerator. Remember, it doesn’t take much more than 72 degrees for coconut oil to turn to liquid.

These are great chocolate & coconut candy treats for burning fat and satisfying the sweet tooth.

Everything in moderation though!

Let me know what you think when you’ve tried ‘em! What do you think of the recipe?

The Shakeology Challenge. I’ve had a lot of family and friends on Facebook of late been asking why Shakeology is expensive or why would I give up drinking my favorite Starbucks drink? Well, I think this graphic will give you COMPELLING numbers why I’m sold on Shakeology in general and DEFINITELY over drinking ANYTHING from Starbucks.

What has got to be shocking is the number of carbs and sugars in Shakeology vs the amount in that Starbucks coffee drink. I remember having a couple of those a day. I have a few friends (I won’t name names) that are drinking down 3 or 4 of those coffees a day to keep going. I hope seeing this changes your mind.

Instead of drinking all that coffee and sugar…replace those high calorie, high sugar drinks with Shakeology…and watch a couple inches disappear from your waist over the next month. Heck, a couple pounds off the scale too. Not only that, how about increased energy, VITALITY and STAMINA!

Next time, I’ll show you a comparison between Shakeology and a very popular fruit smoothie drink.

For more information, you can check out these posts on Shakeology.

Shakeology The Ultimate Fast Food Meal

What is Shakeology Where Can I Get Shakeology?

Or you can go directly to the source for more info: Shakeology.

Welcome to Part III of our oh-so-basic nutrition class designed to give you an overview of basic nutrition and make healthy eating much simpler. First, we had an introduction, which was followed by a very simple analysis of what you should eat. Today, we delve into the tricky world of marketing.

These days, the topic of what’s in food is probably less important than what you’re likely to hear about food. People can go for years without discussing their diets, but it’s practically impossible to go a day without hearing terms like organic, omega, or carb. Upon hearing one of these terms, you’ve found evidence that advertisers have used their market research tools and, thus, determined that they need to shove these words down your throat, especially since you probably have no idea what they mean. You see, as long as you don’t know what they mean, they can spin them however they like. Spin: it’s not just for politicians anymore. But these terms do have meaning. And once you understand them, they can help you make smarter food choices.

Foods without labels

Some foods don’t require a label, which makes them harder to spin. These are mainly very fresh and haven’t been tampered with so, in general, they are your healthy alternatives. The spin doctors here play both sides of the fence. When it comes to non-labeled foods, the important issue is how these foods were raised.

When it became clear that the reason certain companies could offer lower-priced goods was because they used inferior raising methods, those who didn’t use inferior methods began using terms to help distinguish themselves. When this affected the business of the former, they jumped into the fray and the spin games began. But that’s getting ahead of our topic. Let’s begin by defining which foods don’t require labels.

First are foods like apples, oranges, broccoli, and many other things that you can buy in the state that they come from the earth. Known as fruits, vegetables, and herbs, they’re entirely different than that soda you just bought with “real fruit flavor.” These foods have parts that aren’t really foods, either. Called fiber, it’s the indigestible part of a plant. It has no nutrient value, but it’s still an ultra-important part of your diet because it does all kinds of things, including cleaning out our digestive tract and soaking up excess cholesterol. It’s very important that our diets feature plants. They are loaded with nutrients and fiber and have no man-made ingredients (okay, some have pesticides, which we’ll get to in a minute). When we do things like cook or make juice from these items, they lose their nutrients and fiber, and get a label.

Next are grains and legumes. Things like rice and beans—also plants—these foods have more protein and calories than fruits and veggies. They are less easily found in their natural state. Rice, for example, often has its shell stripped, so it’s white. Grains get turned into breads and crackers, often at the expense of their healthiest ingredients. Beans get smashed and have things added to them. As a rule, the closer you can get a legume or grain to its original state, the better it is for you.

Finally, we have meats and dairy products. Nowadays, unless you live on a farm, you probably have to buy these with labels. That’s mainly due to suspect growing and harvesting practices. This topic is mainly one for Politics class, but we’re going to look at the consumer end of it next.

Hey! What are you rolling your eyes at? Yes, you, the guy in the white suit taking up two seats. What are you dressed like that for? Going to the Kentucky Derby after class? Well, pal. I believe that this subject concerns you more than anyone, so pay attention.

These animal products are loaded with protein, vitamins, and sometimes carbs and healthy fats. But we need to be careful with them because meats (other than fish) and dairy products have a lot of saturated fat. You can buy all of these products with much of this fat removed. For the most part, this is recommended, which we’ll cover in the “fat-free” portion of the lecture later on.

Organic and other terms for natural foods

Now it’s time to get to some good jargon. You’ve heard all of these terms, probably while you’ve been considering buying any of the aforementioned food items. But just what do they mean?

Organic. Organic means living, so organic foods are supposed to be alive or, at least, recently alive. Originally, “organic” meant produce that hadn’t been sprayed with inorganic things, like pesticides. But now you’ll see “organic ingredients” in boxed, jarred, and canned foods, which can be confusing. Organic was once a term used only by the folks who showed up at your weekly farmers’ market. Then, word started to get out about large-scale farmers spraying nasty pesticides on their crops, pesticides that would still be on those crops when we bought them. Most people are pretty sure they don’t want to eat something made to kill animals, so when the little “organic” guys’ businesses started to feel the impact, the big guys just started slapping an “organic” label on anything, until the government had to step in.

Now we have an imperfect system. Organic rules can be fudged to some degree, but it seems to be getting better and not worse. It’s made the large growers a bit more cognizant about what they add to or spray on their crops. Organic has also trickled up. So now packaged foods using “organic ingredients” are labeled as such. But be prudent because the fine print will tell you how much is organic. Lobbyists haggle over how much organic stuff needs to be in a product for the word “organic” to appear on the label, and the amount has changed and will continue to change. So you can see a product with a big “organic” on its label with very little organic inside.

Also, many farmers claim that organic growing remains behind the times. They argue that their products don’t seem to grow as healthily using organic standards because the classification needs reworking. This is no doubt true, as we’ll probably never be able to create a perfect system.

Bottom line: “Organic” on a label is probably better, but you should read the fine print. The more concerned the farmer or rancher, the more information they want to provide. A company that spends a lot of effort to list its practices is probably better than one that won’t go to the trouble. As a general rule, those going out of their way to meet organic standards probably care more. It’s not perfect, but buying “organic” still stacks the odds in your favor.

Grass fed. Cattle were once all grass fed. They lived on prairies and ate grass, ’cause that’s all there was to eat. On the prairie, that grass is nutrient rich because of the soil. Cattle that ate it grew big and strong, and when we ate them, we grew big and strong. Then, some guy figured out that cattle, if they had to, would eat grain. This meant he could build houses and strip malls on the prairie, put the cattle into little fenced areas and feed them grain, and make a lot more money. The downside was that grain didn’t have the same nutrient value (like eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts instead of broccoli), so the cows weren’t so big and strong. To make them look like they once did, he started shooting them with things like steroids, so that the cattle started looking like Jose Conseco, and all was good in the world. Except that when we ate the cattle, they didn’t have the same nutrient value. This meant we ate the same calories with less nutrient value. When this happened, we got fat.

For a while, we were none the wiser. Then, people started getting sick and dying because some genius, low on grain, started feeding cows parts of other cows mixed with the grain to make more money. Cows aren’t carnivorous, like animals with sharp teeth, so this didn’t work well and bad stuff like E. coli started showing up in meat. Anyway, feeding cows other cows is now against the law, but lobbyists were also able to make a deal in which it’s nearly impossible for meat companies to be sued, so who knows what they’re actually up to.

Bottom line: Even though meat lobbyists have been hammering away at the “grass fed” requirements, it still means that the meat is likely to be much better in quality.

Free range. Cattle weren’t the only animals out on the prairie. Birds were there, too. In fact, birds were all over the place because they have wings and can, you know, fly. This became problematic when folks decided they wanted to raise them on farms. You listening, Colonel?

Figuring that if birds couldn’t fly and, well, they would then need no space at all, “farmers” started loading them all together in tiny little pens. Irritated—naturally—the birds would peck at each other and cause general turmoil, so good ol’ Foster the farmer put them in little cages wherein they couldn’t get at each other—for their entire lives!

Since this isn’t Animal Cruelty class, let’s just talk about how healthy these birds are when they grow up and we eat them. When you get out and exercise, how does that help you? Hmm, since some of you can’t answer this, I’ll tell you. You get healthier. Your body systems work better and you get more muscle. Muscle is meat, like the part of a chicken that we want to eat. If you sit in a small room for a long time, how do you tend to look or feel? Answer: You get fat. You get sick. You die young.

Take two chickens. Let one run around and eat stuff it finds growing out of the ground. Put the other in a 2-foot-square box and feed it junk food. Which one do you want to eat?

Bottom line: Only eat free-range fowl, which is harder now than ever to find because new grades of distinction have surfaced. Again, to stay on top of it, you’ll need to stay educated. To reiterate, the more concerned the company, the more likely they will want to educate you.

Farm raised. This term has to do with fish. For those of you who are confused, that is natural. Fish live in water. We live on land. How the heck do we farm them?

The obvious answer is to put them in big aquariums, but that would be too expensive. Instead, they raise fish in fenced-off areas and treat them a bit like the birds mentioned above. This tends to cause a lot of damage for the ecosystem in general, but this isn’t Environment class. We don’t offer environment classes because they don’t help your standardized testing. Anyway, the effect on the fish depends a lot on the type of fish. Some, like catfish that naturally live in sluggish conditions, do okay, while others, like salmon, do terribly. In fact, salmon are migratory and swim for most of their lives. Keeping them in a “tank” wreaks havoc on their lifestyle. Farm-raised salmon don’t even have red meat, like they do naturally, and are dyed red for market. Do you really want to eat fish that’s been dyed red?

Bottom line: Avoid farm-raised fish when possible. Always avoid farm-raised salmon.

Local. Some of you are no doubt wondering why this rather boring-sounding label is taking up more shelf space lately. After all, isn’t the gourmand taught to eat from exotic and far-off lands? Who, with ample means, wouldn’t always opt for Maine lobster, Norwegian caviar, and water from New Zealand?

One concerned for the health of the planet might be the obvious answer. You don’t have to be Al Gore to deduce that using 500,000 gallons of gas so that you can sip from a melting glacier near Christchurch might create a ripple effect with negative implications for the planet. But, hey, this isn’t Earth First 911; it’s Nutrition 911, so let’s stay focused. Buying locally allows us to play watchdog. It’s easy to check out your local dairy. Just ask around. You don’t even need to research. Good businesses tend to get talked about in the community. And if you suspect that a local business is wielding a bit too much power and influence over your neighbors, that’s probably all the information your need. But your local Chambers of Commerce, Better Business Bureaus, and independent news organizations are keen to help out should your scuttlebutt network not be broad enough.

Bottom line: Local companies should always be considered first.

Ah, there’s the bell. I hope you’ll feel a bit better next time you walk into your local market. But we’re not finished. Fat and carbs, two words known far better for their colloquial rather than literal meanings, will be covered next time.

by Steve Edwards

“P90X Changed My Life Forever” was the first phrase that caught my attention in my Google feeds the other day, so I read my way through how a 31 year old mother of 3 kids age 8, 7 and 2 experienced the powerful benefits of following the P90X workout. The best part of her blog piece was not just how she has been changing physically (and her growing passion for fitness), but the FANTASTIC humor she shows off in putting together her “Top 10 Ways You Know You’re Obsessed With P90X“

Check it out:

For all of you who are already P90x’ers, here’s a laugh for you:

Top 10 Ways You Know You’re Obsessed With P90X

1.   on Thursday your child asks you what day it is and you say “Yoga”
2.   you go to a Mexican restaurant and order a “chaturanga”
3.   you say “BRING IT”  in any motivational setting you find yourself in
4.   you tell yourself to “get sexy with it” when trying to wiggle into the frog
5.   When you put on your resume that you have a degree in “PLYOMETRICS”
6.   after 30 minutes or more of sexual activity you have a recovery drink
7.   before starting anything, you have to do at least 5 min of static/ ballistic stretching
8.   when Tony says “Superman” your 2 year old replies with … “banana”
9.   you REALLY expect (and anticipate) Tony Horton to come to your house if you do 26 side tri-rises or MORE!
10.   you tell your dog to “Namaste”

Hahaha I love it! Hope you did too.

Have a great day!

You are not a stupid person. Not by any means.

In fact, it’s my guess that you’re healthier than most.

You probably exercise regularly. You watch what you eat. You keep up-to-date on the latest health concerns. You don’t binge on sugar.

And you never – ever – eat fast food. Well, almost never.

But you do have a few unhealthy skeletons in your closet -ones that you probably aren’t even aware of.

The following FIVE DUMB THINGS are frequently committed by health conscious people. Once you break these bad habits, you’ll find that achieving your weight loss goals just became a whole lot easier.

1. You’re Dehydrated

• It has been said that 75 percent of the population is chronically dehydrated. Would you disagree? When was the last time that you actually drank 8 glasses of water in a day?
• Dehydration occurs when more fluid leaves your body than is taken in. Symptoms include: fatigue, irritability, headaches, nausea, rapid heart rate, and, in extreme cases, even death.
• Dehydration also slows your metabolism, which hinders weight loss.

You shouldn’t wait until the feeling of thirst or dry mouth hits you, at that point damage has already been done. Instead, constantly rehydrate throughout your day to avoid dehydration.

The best way to do this is to incorporate water into your daily schedule. Have a water bottle at your desk and train yourself to sip on it often, and get into the habit of drinking a full glass of water with each meal and snack.

2. You Eat Out Too Often

• Research suggests that most people eat out one out of every 4 meals and snacks. That’s an average of once a day.
• Restaurant food is designed to do one thing: to taste good. In order to increase eating pleasure, each item is loaded with fat, salt and sugar. This causes you to eat way more calories than you actually need.
• Even when you order ‘healthy’ items, you’re still taking in more calories and fat grams than you would if you had prepared the item at home. Imagine the last salad you ordered out. Didn’t it come with cream dressing, croutons, cheese sprinkles and a piece of butter laden bread on the side?

The main reason people eat out is for convenience, so with a little organization you’ll find that preparing your own meals takes less time than you thought it would. On the weekend sit down and plan out your meals for the week. Then go to the grocery store and stock up on everything you’ll need for those meals.

Pack your lunch and snacks each night before bed, then grab it on your way out the door in the morning. When you prepare dinner at home, make enough for at least the next day as well. Your efforts will pay off both in terms of weight loss and in money saved.

3. You’re Sleep Deprived

• In Gallup Poll surveys, 56% of the adult population reported that drowsiness is a problem in the daytime. That’s more than half of us that clearly don’t get enough sleep.
• Healthy adults require 7-8 hours of sleep each night. When you fail to meet this need your body goes into sleep debt, which continues to accumulate indefinitely until you catch up.
• A lack of sleep negatively affects your immune system, your nervous system, and interferes with healthy hormone release and cellular repairs.

The best way to combat sleep deprivation is to set a scheduled bedtime. Your body will benefit from a consistent sleeping and waking routine, and you’re sure to get all the rest you need.

If you have trouble falling asleep once you’re in bed, then try these two tips. First, make sure that you don’t drink any caffeinated beverages after lunchtime. Second, don’t eat for three hours before you go to bed. This helps eliminate sleeplessness due to indigestion, and will also turbo-charge your weight loss.

4. You’re Stressed Out

• I don’t have to tell you that we are living in a fast-paced world and that most of us have stress levels that are through the roof. But what you might not realize is that your stress levels are making you fat.
• Stress creates an increase in the hormone cortisol, and chronic stress creates a chronic increase in cortisol. This is a problem because is slows your metabolism, leads to cravings and is linked to greater levels of abdominal fat storage.
• The vicious cycle of stress and weight gain goes around and around. Stress causes you to eat emotionally, and your raised cortisol levels cause that food to be stored as fat.

One of the most effective ways to instantly eliminate stress is to sit down and write out a list of all the things that are bothering you. This should include things that you need to get done, issues that weigh on your mind and anything you believe contributes to your stress level.

Once it’s all down on paper, organize it like a to-do list and start resolving each item. Doing so will get the stress off of your mind and will put your body into the motion of resolving each issue.

5. You’re on Exercise Autopilot

• You do the same thing each and every time you exercise. Same machines, same pace, same duration. While your routine sure feels comfortable, your results have long since halted.
• A plateau occurs when your body adapts to your routine and weight loss stops. It is incredibly frustrating, and totally avoidable.
• You don’t have to increase the amount of time that you spend exercising in order to see quicker, faster results. It’s all about challenging your body.

There are two simple ways to instantly increase the effectiveness of your exercise routine. First, increase your pace. Secondly, increase your intensity. Constantly vary your speed and intensity in order to keep your muscles guessing and adapting. That is why I will recommend P90X, ChaLEAN Extreme and Shaun T’s Insanity workouts.

Another way to break through the exercise plateau is to do something totally new. If you regularly use weight machines then start using free weights. If you normally jog on the treadmill then start using the bike.

Are you ready to break the plateau as you take your routine to the next level?

Would you like to know without a shadow of a doubt that you are going to lose weight in the coming months?

It’s my goal to see you achieve greatness. I believe that you’ve got what it takes.

It’s so simple. Call or email today to get started on a program that will improve your health and well being, and will get you amazing results. Are you ready?

Last week, I started keeping a weekly accountability series of posts on my P90X Lean workouts to start off 2010 and here we are with week number 2 of my P90X Lean routine.

P90X Lean Workout Routine – Week Two

Day 1 – Core Synergistics – “Superman/Banana” and “Dreya rolls” definitely fire up your core muscles. I still struggle with the Dreya rolls due to my right knee.
Day 2 – Cardio X – this is still a workout I enjoyed. Really end up sweating.
Day 3 – Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X – still using light weight resistance bands because of my right shoulder and my neck so shoulders and arms were not nearly as sore as my abs were the next day.
Day 4 – Yoga X – STRUGGLED with this workout! Not a lot changed here…except that I was able to go 5 minutes longer than last week’s workout.
Day 5 – Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X – my right knee wasn’t AS sore/tender after this workout as it was after last week’s workout…and my abs are STILL sore from the last Ab Ripper X workout again! Owww…
Day 6 – Kenpo X – my range of motion in my kicks on my right side is far limited in comparison to my left side…but it didn’t hurt, so that was encouraging.
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch – for me…this is an “active” rest day today for week two of P90X Lean. No stretch workout for me. Instead, I went to the gym with my wife so I could hit the stationary bike for 45 minutes of cardio.

Well, that’s it for me. Just a quick post to keep myself accountable to this process of my P90X Lean workouts.

Welcome to Part II of our oh-so-basic nutrition class designed to give you an overview of basic nutrition and make healthy eating much simpler. Last time was our intro, and we’re already changing the syllabus.

Today we’re going to talk about what to eat. Something happened on the Beachbody Message Board this week, which hammered home just how far we’ve fallen in our basic understanding of dieting. In brief, a guy had heard that olive oil was good for him so he was eating 12 tablespoons of it along with 4 ounces of chicken for lunch. Because of what he had read and heard about dieting, he actually believed he was doing something beneficial. Boys and girls, the situation has become alarming. Let’s jump right into discussing what we should eat. When we’re finished, I’m sure you’ll know exactly what’s wrong with that guy’s lunch, other than that it sounds like a food challenge.

Your options: protein, fats, carbs, and . . . ?

People often ask me—and I’m not kidding—why they need to eat protein, carbs, or fat. I had one person submit a scathing letter saying something along the lines of “no professional” would ever recommend more than such and such amount of protein, fat, and carbs. The reason I bring this up is that the percentages she claimed “no professional” would ever exceed totaled 70 percent. The problem with her logic was that proteins, fats, and carbs are—basically—your only choices. They have to equal 100 percent of your diet.

Well, actually, they don’t have to, but they certainly ought to. Let’s look at a few other things that can make up part of your 100 percent. Mainly it’s just alcohol. At 7 calories per gram, alcohol is loaded with calories and can, especially during the holiday season, make up a fairly high percentage of your diet. However, I’m not aware of any nutritionist who would recommend that it be much more than a trace percentage, given that alcohol has no nutrient value. Other things you can eat are pesticides, heavy metals in your water, dust, dirt, toys, etc. Most of these things don’t have calories, but, even if they did, I think we can conclude that they should not make up a percentage of your daily diet, at least not purposely. Therefore, the percentage of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates in your diet should equal 99.99 percent or, ya know, 95 percent on girls’ night out or during Super Bowl weekend.

What are they, what do they do, and how much of them should you eat?

I’d like to discuss this more fully, but remember, this class is only the CliffNotes version.

Protein. Protein serves as building blocks for your body tissues. You need it to grow and repair your muscles and pretty much everything else. It’s found in animal products and, to a lesser degree, in plants, making getting enough protein challenging for vegetarians, especially those who avoid dairy products.

What it doesn’t do is give you energy. It’s material, not fuel. A diet with too much protein does not help you function well. Too little protein, however, and you won’t recover from the energy you burn.

It’s found in abundance not only in animal products but also in grains and legumes, like rice and beans, respectively. This is why beans, rice, and soy products are so popular in cultures that tend to be vegetarian. It’s also found in many vegetables, but because veggies contain so few calories, it’s tough to make them a significant part of your protein intake, unless you use a juicer, but now I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ll save juicing for a later date.

Proteins weigh in at 4 calories per gram.

Fat. Dietary fat, the kind you eat, should not be confused with body fat, the stuff that causes you to ask your husband or your wife, “Do I look fat in this?” That type of fat comes from an improper diet or lack of exercise—though it’s usually both. The fat you eat is very important for many day-to-day functions. Fat:

• Fuels the body and is especially useful for long-term aerobic exercise.
• Aids digestion of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, and promotes a feeling of fullness after eating.
• Helps regulate blood pressure, heart rate, blood vessel constriction, blood clotting, and the nervous system.
• Provides essential fatty acids, in particular omega-3, which help us with brain development, nervous system function, and eyesight. Many experts also believe they reduce the risk of arthritis, some cancers, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

But before you rush out to stock your fridge with butter and cheese, be aware that 1) there are good fats and bad fats and 2) you don’t need too much fat to satisfy the above list.

Bad fats include animal and trans fats, which should be severely restricted in your diet. Animal fats are pretty easy to avoid, since they are obvious. Trans fats are a man-made variety and tend to show up in processed junk foods, like cookies, cakes, chips, and stuff that may sit on a shelf for months or years. Fortunately, they are now required to be listed on labels, which have hurt sales so much that most companies have stopped using them.

Good fats come from plant sources, like olives, avocados, nuts, seeds, and so on.

You may have noticed a pattern: All the foods mentioned above tend to be filling. That’s because they are what’s termed “nutrient dense.” Fat has more than twice the calories per gram than carbs and protein. You don’t need much in their natural state. And condensed fats, like oils and butter, should be used sparingly indeed.

Fats weigh in at 9 calories per gram.

Carbohydrates. Maligned and misunderstood, carbs are probably the simplest foods to understand. They are fuel for your body, plain and simple. Carbs help you do stuff, as in they help you stay active. The more stuff you do, the more carbs you need to eat. Conversely, the lazier you are, the less you need to eat.

Carbs basically break down into glucose—blood sugar—in your body, which provides energy for both your muscles and your brain. Unlike fats, there aren’t really good and bad carbs. Different types suit you better at different times, depending on—you guessed it—what sort of stuff you happen to be doing.

Carbs mainly come from plant sources, with milk products being the primary exception. In nature, plants have something called fiber, which is the part of the plant we can’t digest. The rest of the plant will become blood sugar—fuel—in our bodies, while the fiber will help regulate how we use it. Fiber is important stuff. It not only helps us digest nutrients, it cleanses our digestive tracts and soaks up excess cholesterol.

The “bad carb” moniker comes from those carbs without fiber—things like simple sugars (candy)—and carbs that have been stripped of their fiber—things like white rice, some cereals, fruit juices, pastas, etc., etc. These foods aren’t really bad, per se; they are just bad most of the time because they speed into your system and cause an insulin spike, or what we call a sugar rush. Unfortunately, and where the negative association comes from, we tend to consume sugars at the worst times, such as when we’re sitting around at movies, watching TV, at work, etc. Insulin spikes during these times can lead us into a vicious cycle, which we’ll look at a bit deeper during our dessert session.

But there are times when a sugar rush is advantageous, like during or immediately after sports. At these times, you want an insulin spike because it will help you recover faster by rushing nutrients back into a system that you’ve depleted by doing exercise. The quicker you recharge your body’s glycogen (sugar) stores, the less damage your muscle tissue incurs from the workout and the quicker you recover (making products like P90X Results and Recovery Formula beneficial at these times). This is why “sports foods” tend to be sugary, and why Gatorade has no business as a regular part of your diet. Sports foods are for sports, only, and I don’t mean watching sports.

At all inactive times you should opt for the natural version of carbs, complete with fiber, like whole fruits, fresh veggies, whole grains, legumes, sweet potatoes, etc. This will not only keep your energy level more consistent, it will also keep you from craving more sugar. While you need carbohydrates, you only need enough to keep your blood sugar levels stocked up. Your body can’t store extra carbs, so it stores them as fat—and not as good dietary fat, but in adipose tissue, which is the kind of fat that might cause your husband to lie to you about how you look in that new dress or your wife to lie to you about how tight that belt really looks.

Carbs weigh in at 4 calories per gram.

How much of each do you need?

The one key piece of advice to take from this class is this: You should eat for what you do each day. Let me use a simple analogy. How much fuel do you put in your car when you don’t drive it? How much when you do?

This doesn’t exactly equate. You are not a machine, plus you’re always on. But the fuel example is relevant. When you are active, you burn more glycogen and, hence, need to eat more carbs. Carbs should be the most variable item in your diet. If you’ve been hiking through the Grand Canyon, you may eat double, or even triple, the amount of carbs you’d eat than during a day at the office. Your other nutrients don’t change as much. You need more protein if you are causing more muscle breakdown, but only so much. Carbs are literally burned off.

How much is quite variable. A muscular athlete will burn more fuel at rest than someone who is out of shape. With my clients, I tend to start them at 40 percent carbs, 30 percent protein, and 30 percent fat, and then adjust as necessary. This varies by the individual, but this ratio seems like the best average place to start.

Keep in mind that your diet is always a moving target. As you change, so does your nutrient requirement. People often ask me, “Can’t you just tell me exactly what I should eat every day?” My answer is, “No.”

A person trying to change his or her body composition (lose or gain weight) will eat differently than someone trying to maintain it. And everyone, no matter what his or her goal is, should eat differently on days when he or she does different things. It’s not as simple as “calories in, calories out,” but that cliché is not a bad ballpark figure to think about while deciding what, when, and why to eat.

Here are simple guidelines. Of course, results vary because all of our bodies are different to a degree. But we’re also similar, so using these guidelines as a starting point will work for most people. In the end, no one will be better able to tell you what you need than you will. You have to learn to listen to your body’s signals and adjust.

• Overweight and out of shape. This is the only time I recommend a “low-carb” diet. A diet of 40 percent to 50 percent protein, 30 percent fat, and 20 percent to 30 percent carbs can be effective in the early stages of a transition.
• Overweight and in decent shape, or not too overweight and in bad shape. A now-fairly-standard ratio of 40 percent carbs, 30 percent protein, and 30 percent fat.
• Ideal weight and fit. 50 percent carbs, 25 percent protein, and 25 percent fat. This is probably what I personally average, but consider that my diet varies wildly. On days like today, when I sit in front of this computer for hours on end, carbs might be only 30 percent to 40 percent of my diet. On a day I’m riding my bike for 6 hours, they might make up 70 percent. My protein and fat intake won’t change too much. My calories might go from 2,000 to 6,000, with most of this difference being carbs. I’m more active than most people, but my radical example will, hopefully, make this idea easier to understand.

Vitamins and minerals

We left these out of today’s discussion. While they are a big part of your nutritional equation, you’re likely to get enough if you use the above guidelines to eat. These are found in abundance in all natural foods. Processing foods ruins their nutrient values, so these foods often have nutrients added to them. But there is no guarantee that manufacturers have added good nutrients—you can’t beat natural foods for ensuring quality and bioavailability. When we eat enough natural foods to support our activities, we generally get plenty. People who are cutting calories, exercise excessively, or eat a lot of processed food should consider supplementing. There are many different ways to choose vitamin and mineral supplements. Beachbody’s ActiVit® is a vitamin supplement with some added performance ingredients, while P90X® Peak Health Formula is a vitamin and mineral supplement. The Shakeology formulation not only has all the vitamins and minerals you need, it also has a probiotic and complete greens formula blend—but now we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Now let’s get back to that guy in the intro. His lunch consisted of 4 ounces of chicken, which is mainly protein with a little fat. Olive oil is a healthy fat. But 12 tablespoons is around 1,500 calories. So we’re looking at a nutrient ration of around 12 percent protein, 0 percent carbohydrate, and 88 percent fat in a lunch approaching what is probably 80 percent of the calories that guy should eat that day. It doesn’t take a nutritionist to figure out that this guy is going to have a problem reaching any of the nutrient ratios discussed above. That is unless he, quite literally, loses his lunch, which seems pretty likely.

That’s it for today. Next time, we’ll get back on track of sorting out what advertisers mean as we’re sorting through all those catchy slogans at our local supermarkets.

by Steve Edwards

Taco Bell’s Drive-Thru Diet

This may be old news to you reading this, but I’m not much of a TV watcher as I was in my teens. I just saw Taco Bell’s latest TV commercial marketing campaign: the Drive-Thru Diet.

Hey, I’m all for fast food restaurants to IMPROVE the quality of food they sell. Subway rocked the “healthy meal” lifestyle with Jared and McDonald’s has had a healthier food choices for some time as well. So I’m cool with that since far too many people eat at fast food joints all over the country and would be my guess as one of several contributing factors to the obesity epidemic in America.

Here’s the 30 second Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet Commercial:

A Drive Thru “Diet”?

What I don’t like this is they label it a “diet”. Really? A diet? I understand that Taco Bell wants to capture a portion of the market share of people trying to eat healthier, but in no way is the drive-thru diet actually a diet! I think that’s a bit misleading. There is no weight loss plan other than the common sense of exercise and watch your calorie intake. I don’t know of many people who eat 3 meals a day at Taco Bell either 7 days a week, to make it truly a drive thru diet…but maybe I’m overreacting! What do you think?

I’m a BIG advocate for preparing meals in advance as well as meal replacement drinks and bars. I often recommend that you prepare very large meals and store the leftovers in containers so you can have them throughout the week. The quickest way for me to prepare a meal is to warm up leftovers from the night before. Many of my meals are leftovers, which makes my life a whole lot easier. I often include protein bars and Shakeology into my eating habits on a daily basis, especially when I’m not at home.

In a pinch, when you didn’t plan your meals ahead of time for the day and for the sake of convenience, the Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet Menu is another option on the fast food market of healthier food that is under 9 grams of fat and between 150-340 calories!

The Drive Thru Diet Infomercial

Yep, you read that right. Taco Bell even produced a Drive Thru Diet TV “infomercial” to promote their healthy menu.

So what do you think?

Here’s the Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet Menu if you want to look at it a little closer.