A different look at dieting

Here's an article that takes a different view about dieting than most trainers (although it has some support from the likes of Brad Pilon & his "eat stop eat" ideas). Basically the theory here seems to be you are more active when you are hungry, therefore by allowing hunger to build between feeds you'll burn more calories, by being more active. The basic problem with this idea is he appears to have used animals, not humans to actually test his theory. Basically you could very easily recruit humans for this type of study if you wanted & you could see see how it affects them. Also it does seem to be aimed at those who don't train. We usually have set training times, it may possibly be the case that a sedentary person may become more active eating less, but for those who train (& anyone who trains I call an athlete) not eating enough to fuel training will actually make exercise less effective. There are many studies out there that show this, you need to fuel before, then refuel afterwards if you want to get maximum results.
Obviously there is some tailoring needed. I used to say EVERYONE needs 6 meals a day if they are in training. That is until I started to sort out a diet for this tiny girl who needed very little calories & came to realise that having 3 or 4 feeds a day will work as well for some...depending on your goals.
A big strength guy (or very muscular lady) will certainly need 6+ feeds a day, no doubt if you're trying to gain you'll need to ram in the calories. If you're after holding onto size or losing some fat then you can try some variations. I don't think intermittent fasting doesn't work, I don't think 3 meals a day doesn't work. Some people with hectic lifestyles might find that eating only 3 meals or just not being so careful with their diets but fasting for 1 day a week is the best option for them. It may not be the "Best possible way", if they could get pre-prepared food, find the places to eat, had time to sort out a different plan, but it may be "The best they can manage" & if it gets the results they want then it could well be considered the 'best method', even if it's not what is more commonly advocated.

So with that in mind would 3 meals a day work for someone trying to lose fat...well it could, you'd eat less calories, it depends how it effects your training & metabolic rate overall. If you save 300 calories by eating just 3 meals a day, but by doing that your training isn't so intense & you burn 250 calories less, & because of eating less & the less intense training your metabolism slows so you burn 75 calories less...well you'll see that 'saving' 300 calories actually cost you MORE calories in terms of calories burnt, so it's all relative to total calories in to total calories out not just a simple matter of calories consumed in a 24 hour period.
Generally, unless you're really small you'll need to eat more than 3 times a day if you wish to add muscular size, to loss fat again most people who train tend to do better on more frequent, smaller feeds than less frequent, but bigger 'gut busters'.

I know you're going to ask so here's my basic plan (the guide starts with someone who has zero healthy food) :

1/ My first step is to 'tidy up' someone's diet, so it might be as simple as adding in a wholesome breakfast rather than sugary cereal or white toast. It could be porridge, whole grain toast whatever. Just to get them started on the way to healthy eating.

2/ While they start on the one above I have them order a cook book that contains a selection of healthy eating choices. Once they are comfortable with step 1. I get them to pick 1 or 2 evenings a week & try out a recipe, write down every one you like

3/ Once you have found a few meals you like you can begin to add them into. Now I'm assuming if you've started from zero healthy meals that you eat out as fast food places or make bad food choices when you eat out, so now we need to use the net & the local paper to dig up some places that serve decent food, or if you have no option where to eat learning to pick the best options at the place you have to eat at, so going for the bean salad instead of the burger, or the steamed veggies instead of the fries are what we have to start thinking about. Ideally we'll be searching for local whole food cafés or healthier eating places, by avoiding the obvious junk food places there's less temptation to stray back to your old ways of eating.

4/ Now you should have a decent breakfast every day, a selection of meals you can cook at home & places to eat out around your home & near where you work, so now we start to include more of the meals (& continue trying out a new recipe once or twice a week - let's build up a big list of healthy options). With this you'll also be doing exercise, so now we've got you eating right we can see what tweaks (if any ) you need to lower the fat or add to the muscle mass.

5/ Assuming you're after fat loss & all the changes in diet & exercise aren't getting results then we need to tweak your eating a bit. The first basic idea would be to slightly lower your intake of starchy carbs by a little, losing a few grams of starchy carbs & replacing that with more green veggies will shrink your calories a bit as well as increase your intake of micro nutrients.

6/ We wait for 4-6 weeks to see what results we're getting. Assuming no changes we'll then try lowering portion size once again, this time by keeping the ratio of foods the same but cutting equally from every portion on the plate (take a little off everything).

7/ during points 5 & 6 where we are cutting calories it is important for every athlete to know something about refeeds. Planned refeeds are an important part of a dieting plan once you start cutting calories & can even be used in a general healthy eating plan to allow for structured eating of 'junk' food. A refeed does not have to be junk food, having a huge whole grain pasta meal followed by a healthy high calorie dessert can be a refeed meal. Some people advocate refeed days & they 'can' have there place in a diet, but as a rule I like to stick to refeed meals. Looking at it from a realistic perspective, it's harder to over eat in one meal, than in one day. Suppose I have a night out planned, so I pencil in my refeed meal for that evening. I could go out, have a meal, a glass of wine & a dessert, yep that's going to be a bigger than normal calorific intake, but if I get up have fake cream muffins & custard for breakfast, then later that day warm coconut fat poured over a full sized vegan pizza & fake ice cream for afters for a snack, then a few hours later a packet of biscuits dunked in fake cream, then in the afternoon a full roast dinner with all the (vegan) trimmings followed by a stupidly high calorie afters..oh yea & snacks inbetween (as it's a refeed day) of crisps & other high cal stuff. Then I can see you hitting a whopping calorific intake, whereas one meal...even a gut buster is kind of self limiting, you can only eat so much in one sitting however much you'd like to eat more, so there is a built in 'damage limitation' . So, I do say it's worth having 'structured refeeds', by structured refeeds I mean planned, if you don't plan the meal, you just say "I'll do it when I feel like it", you will tend to slip & one weekly refeeed will soon become 2, then 3 etc. Also by planning your refeed you can have what you really want, say you love pizza, well ok, you're planning to go out on Thursday, so you can eat that pizza with your friends, even have a dessert if you like (wow you can get that new vegan ice cream you wanted to try out). You're not mesing up your diet, it's part of the plan! Also if you know you are going to have it on Thursday, when you get that urge on Monday, you can say "OK I won't have that pizza today, but come Thursday YOU ARE MINE!". Why have a refeed at all you might be asking, wouldn't you lose more by not having a refeed? We'll lucky you asked, as it happens when you eat below maintenance several things happen to your body after a few days, the thyroid decreases output, so your metabolism slows, you tend to become more efficient at using calories as well, this double whammy means that you end up feeling like you have less energy while at the same time you use less calories. A refeed sends a message to brain "No worries, plenty of food available let's start burning!", the thyroid boosts production & the body feels it can afford to burn a few extra calories. So you can actually lose fat by adding in a refeed once (or at most twice) a week (I tend to start on 1 a week & rarely need to put people on 2). A refeed meal is one meal, not an evening of binging, plan it, don't just go crazy from 6pm to 2am having a beer & junk fest. As I said earlier it doesn't have to be junk, it can be just a big helping of a high calorie meal, the secret is it MUST be higher calorie feed. Having an extra spoon on legumes on your bean salad isn't a refeed it has to send a message to your body to loosen those controls, boost that thyroid & slacken off on being so efficient with those calories, so you need to eat a decent amount of calories in that meal. Junk is ok, high calorie health food is ok. A couple of things to avoid hydrogenated fats shouldn't be eaten as a refeed, they are poison, don't eat them at all if you can avoid it, heated oils that are high in EFA's shouldn't be eaten as they become carcinogenic so stick to fats that are mainly monounsaturated or even something like a coconut oil which is high calorie but heat stable - it's a refeed so high fat is not your enemy today!

8/ Beyond this if the fat still isn't coming off then we'd have to start tailoring your diet with ideas like no starchy carbs in the evening, carb cycling (assuming you are are carb sensitive type), a fat sensitive type will do better having fat cycling days. I've never heard, nor come across a protein sensitive type (someone who stores fat easily with higher protein intakes) they may exist, but I know no one who has found one. Most people who need to lose fat are either fat-sensitive, carb-sensitive or a combination. That is carbs tend to make the carb-sensitive person fat more easily, while fat makes the fat-sensitive person fat more easily. These both need different approaches to diet & VERY different diets. Most people will not be one extreme or the other, but if you tend to be more one than the other knowing will help you with any changes you need to make if the weight just isn't coming off. Bear in mind that most people will achieve their results without the extremes of carb cycling etc, for most just eating a balanced wholefood diet will be enough to get them into shape once they start training, if you need to go further than that I would suggest you find some help (this can be a nutritionist or even a book if the cost of a health adviser is too much).

9/ Final points. I would try & keep a food dairy starting a week or 2 before you start making changes. Get an idea of what you are eating. Yes it's a pain & yes sometimes if you eat out you have to guess at a calorific intake, but it gives you a baseline. This is what you are eating now. After that I would work out the amounts of the new foods you are introducing, then keep a rough track (detailed is ok too, but most people don't have time to track every calorie in detail everyday), if you get to stage 8 & the fat still isn't coming off then it's time to REALLY use the food diary & start working out totals & working out how to cut those calories. This is where a food expert can come in handy, they can do the hard work for you, they can swap round your foods & suggest things you may not have thought of. I would keep in that structured refeed or loses will not happen so easily, but a tweak here & there can be all it needs to get things moving again. You can do this yourself, it takes time, a pen & paper & a calculator but you can do everything you need with a basic book on dietary needs (in the case of most vegans that be be to include a vitamin B12 source, an omega 3 Essential Fatty Acid source & if you live in a cooler climate a vitamin D during the colder months as minimums all seem to be common things that most vegans need to address).

That's as far as I'd like to go a general dietary plan. If you're starting out right now today, then get a food diary & do a bit of weight & measuring, keep tabs & move slowly towards a wholefood diet & away from refined foods. That along with some exercise will be enough for many of you to get into fine shape & never have to even worry about calories or dieting.

My new wrist wraps

I don't use many training aids as a rule. I don't normally wear a belt when I train (although I will be testing one out in the very near future, so look out for that), nor do I wear elbow or knee wraps, super suits or even lifting straps that often. I prefer to lift without specialist lifting gear...but...Recently I've been suffering a touch of tendinitis, in the right wrist, so my options were rest it with no training at all for that arm, or get some sort of support for the wrist. I went with the wrist support option!
Anyway I looked about for a bit & finally found a pair online at the vegan sports shop, this shop actually does some serious bits of kit. It's run by some lads in Scotland who provide gear for powerlifters, strongmen & weightlifters & unlike many specialist vegan shops it hasn't inflated it's prices just because it deals with a niche market.
After a bit of looking about I went for the 'blood stripe' design (you've got to go with a name like that!) & delivery was super-fast, so I could get back to some upper body training without a break. The wraps are great for my needs. I only use one on my right wrist, but the difference is like night & day in terms of pain when training (especially pushing). Obviously once it recovers I'll be doing some serious rehab & eventually I aim to drop the wraps, but to me they were well worth the few pounds they cost me to keep me in the game while the wrist has time to heal up.

As a rule I keep aids to a minimum, but for contest where they are allowed & for recovery are 2 areas I think training aids like these can come into their own. If you have a nagging issue or 2, or an annoying injury, that can be bypassed with a training aid (while you work towards a recovery), then they can mean the difference between a forced training break & continuing towards your goals, so I'm all for them...when used correctly. I must point out that yes wearing a super suit, knee wraps, wrist wraps & a belt will add to your total, but I don't believe they add the benefits of spending the majority of your time training in the raw. Obviously a powerlifter who competes equips has different needs, but even these should take some time training in a t-shirt & shorts, just to build up that base strength level & not be forced to rely on the support of a suit 365 days a year. Yep, the weight will go down quite a bit without the gear, but you'll build a better base if you spend at least a portion of your off-season training lifting without support (obviously taking into account any injuries & issues - don't be stupid).
So do I recommend wrist wraps...well if you need them yes, for most people probably no, unless you're entering a contest that allows wraps, you don't need wraps (as I said I only wear 1 wrap when training), if you have wrist issues benching or curling then they could help (when the pain subsides consider some wrist rehab with some progressive lever bar work, grippers, wrist curls etc). You're goal shouldn't be to hide a weakness with wraps or any support gear, it should be to work around an injury, so it can heal, then CORRECT that problem & get the area strong enough you don't need the aid anymore. At least that's my take on the whole training aids debate.

Test driving some hemp protein

Recently we at vegan bodybuilding hooked up with Caroline from Good Oils who asked us to try out their new Hemp protein powder. Having tried several varieties of hemp protein we agreed, with the proviso that we could say whatever we wanted about it. This wasn't a sponsorship or anything, just us giving you our honest take on the product.
OK first off the nutritional profile- well to be honest it is pretty good, in fact better than the comparable stuff from Canada (the main supplier of hemp protein concentrate in the world at the moment), it has a slightly higher fat content, & hemp is a great supplier of healthy fats & slightly lower in carbs (the overall calories being similar for both products). Plus as it's grown & processed in Devon in the UK then for anyone in Europe it makes more environmental sense to get it shipped from here than first dragged across the pond from Canada, so straight off the bat this new hemp protein scores a couple of points.
Obviously taste is a factor. We tried out the unflavoured. Hemp actually has about the best taste of any protein on the market that I've tried, so I wasn't sure how this product with the extra fat & less carbs would match up? Thankfully it tasted as good as any hemp protein I've tried. It will certainly become part of my regular dietary intake.
I must say I certainly can recommend this product & think that everyone in the UK & Europe should at least consider giving it a go as with the extra healthy fat (used in cell manufacture & numerous other hormonal, immune & other systems) & less carbs would suit those trying to gain or maintain lean muscle mass while keeping fat to a minimum.
Pricing is also a factor & again this is pretty competitively priced, with it's 2.5Kg tubs being lower priced than the bulk suppliers I compared them with.
To find out more about this new hemp protein click here. It certainly gets a big thumbs up from us!

Vegan strong arm tactics

You've heard the stories about those vegans strong arming their way into getting what they want? Well here's one guy who can really 'strong arm' you!
Rob Bigwood one of the strongest arm wrestlers on the planet just got back from competing in 2009 South Jersey Fitness Expo in Atlantic City, NJ.
Rob came 1st using his left hand & 3rd using his right (he got 3rd with the right because his elbow slipped, he wasn't pinned).
We're looking forward to Rob crushing the opposition as he works his way up to number 1 in the world!

Rob Bigwood - Vegan Pro Armwrestler from Rob Bigwood on Vimeo.

New Vegan Bodybuilding messageboard

Yep, at last we've decided it's time to get a messageboard of our own up & running. It's still being tidied up over the next few days, but it's open for members right now, so if you're interested go & check it out here

A few new foods I bought yesterday

Yesterday I bought a few new things I'd not bought before, so I thought I might share them with you. OK so some of them are not the least processed things I've ever bought, but I do like trying out stuff that's new to me every now & again, so yesterday I went on a bit of a new things 'frenzy', so here they are (I'll put up the basic macronutrient breakdown for you as well)

Clear spot

I've not seen this brand before, but they had a few things, so I bought a couple just to try them out. Both are tofu based products & organic. I bought:

Sesame burgers
energy 121.8 cal per 100g
Pro 16.1g per 100g
carb 3.1g per 100g
fat 5.0g per 100g
one box is 190g & contains 2 burgers

Sea cakes
energy 110.1 cal per 100g
Pro 12.7g per 100g
carb 6.5g per 100g
fat 3.7g per 100g
one box is 190g & contains 2 cakes

Vegideli Gourmet meat-free quarter pounders

I've had vegideli stuff before, but not this particular product which is also gluten-free for those of you who have to avoid gluten.

You get 2 burgers per packet so as it's easier I'll do the amounts below as per burger (each of which are 114g in weight)

per burger (114g)
energy 208 cal per burger
Pro 21.9g per burger
carb 7.8g per burger
fat 9.4g per burger
one box is 228g & contains 2 burgers

I tried one of these last night & they were pretty good just grilled. But it does depend if you're a fan of fake meats.

Provamel Tofu mince

I suspect most of you have tried TVP mince at some point. well for a change I decided to try out some of this tofu mince which looks kind of similar, but comes out of the fridge section & is made of tofu, not TVP. A mate of mine raves about it, so I thought I'd give it a go this week...oh yea & it's organic.

energy 173 cal per 100g
Pro 17.5g per 100g
carb 1g per 100g
fat 11g per 100g
one box is 180g

Fry's vegetarian 4 chicken-style burgers

(guest starring Onnie the cat!)
Fry's is a big name in the fake meat producers & I do enjoy their products, so I'm looking forward to eating these later this week:

energy 174 cal per 100g
Pro 11.5g per 100g
carb 18.1g per 100g
fat 5.4g per 100g
one box is 320g

So those are the next things I bought this week, as i don't often go on new things buying frenzy I thought you might be interested in the kind of stuff I buy when the mood takes me to buy something new.

New vegan cookbook, not vegan!

One book I do NOT recommend is the new book by Pat Crocker. It is a prime example of what a vegan cookbook shouldn't be.
I first read about it online in the Canadian press, then hunted out a copy at a local book store as I couldn't believe that anyone would actually try & sell such a misleading book, but unfortunately the stories are true, the book is as bad as the article claims.
Why you'd call this book a "Vegan cook's BIBLE" when it's not even a vegan cook book remains a mystery to me? Apparently Pat did a full 8 months of research into a vegan diet....you know what that means..well nothing...it's like a surgeon doing a full year of studying anatomy in a text book, are they then an expert at surgery...no they need to get actual experience DOING surgery to gain the experience. No one on the outside can understand the issues & the food issues we have to overcome by standing on the outside, Pat proves this by studying the problems for 8 months & yet still not understanding what it is to BE a vegan & what a vegan actual is. The inclusion of honey & the promotion of fish just doesn't sit well with the average vegan looking to purchase a cook book.
From what I could see this book offers nothing to the vegan (whether you are strength athletes like us or the general population), & to be honest I've seen much better recipes in the countless other books out there from people who understand the issues & dilemmas we face & I'd suggest you spend your money on one of those & avoid this book.