The State of Nutrition (advice) in the UK.

UK National Diet Nutrition Survey: Still a little misguided?

The stats are out for the first of the yearly rolling reviews of the nutrition picture in the UK and it makes interesting if slightly depressing reading. Yes, we are tending to better diet but there’s still a long way to go with the populous still consuming too much in the way of salt, sugar and too little vegetable matter, fibre and omega 3 containing foods. You can read about it HERE at the Food Standards Agency website.

If you follow the link you’ll see that they have kindly given bullet points of the main findings, starting off with this little beauty:

“The key findings of the survey are:

• People are eating less saturated fat, trans fat and added sugar than they were 10 years ago, when the survey was last carried out.”

Yes, saturated fat, the perennial pariah…

The problems with gathering large quantities of dietary data are well known but surely, if we do nothing more than build public health advice on dogma rather than up-to-date, credible science, we’re just going to perpetuate the issues of poor health related to diet?

The saturated fat issue is a classic example, highlighted by the FSA and then jumped upon by the British Heart foundation, Mubeen Bhutta the policy manager there stating:

“While it’s encouraging that the amount of saturated fat people are eating has reduced, it is still too high and exceeds recommendations.”

Yet very little mention is made of research seeming to demonstrate that saturated fat intake is a red herring. For example this newest paper in the growing body of evidence HERE at the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition the conclusion from the abstract summing it up with a punchy line :

“there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD”

This from a meta analysis including over 340000 participants. Now, epidemiological data is never clear cut and meta analysis can be skewed , but surely cause for concern? Surely something to discuss? Remember focusing on a non issue potentially draws focus off the real issue.

Two problems: Reductionism and saving face

There’s two main problems here, the first is Of course that reductionism doesn’t seem to be helping us too much when it comes to the study of diet related disease.

Clearly much more work needs to be undertaken to build up a better picture of causes of cardiovascular disease, however in my opinio broadening our focus and looking at the issues associated with the sat fat intake needs to happen. Indeed this is happening in research circles, but an acknowledgment of these issues to be forthcoming from the health bodies advising us, ASAP.

Of course these people aren’t suffering from some form of mass delusion and the second real issue is this: how do you change public advice when it has been so vehemently swung in one direction?

How slowly do you have to change in order to retain some sort of image of authority and thus respect from those you seek to advise? A myopic focus on one nutrient may be ineffective, even foolish. However continuing to focus on, and basing health advice around  out of date research and conclusions is criminal no?

I’d better file this one under ‘Rants’

The flexitarian experiment begins

In a world short of resources and rife with poor farming practices, how much can your conscience stand?

So my girlfriend lost an argument with a vegetarian, that’s how this all got started.

Thanks love.

The challenge is this: go from eating animals and animal products 4-6 times a DAY to being a vegan save for 2-3 servings a WEEK, and stay happy and healthy doing it.

I’m a nutritionist who experiments on himself a lot, trying different diets to see the advantages and disadvantages, not because I think there is a fix all ‘diet’ out there, I just need to live them for a while from the inside to experience the problems for myself. Veganism is something I had wondered about undertaking for a long time I just couldn’t find the excuse to make such a huge change. Now I have that excuse.

I. LOVE. MEAT.

If there is a heaven, surf and turf is on the menu. Proper surf and turf with a T bone and a lobster not rump and scampi. Read more..

GOOD foods and BAD foods

Is the term good food and bad meaningless? And what does that mean for the so

called super foods?

Many ‘nutritionists’ bang on and on about ‘good’ foods and ‘bad’ food. In my opinion they’re just plain wrong to do this.

The reason is simple: how can any food be good or bad when you don’t know how much of this is being eaten? Is one greasy burger eaten in a fast food place going to effect my health or fitness a year later? No clearly not.

By demonising certain foods you take the focus off the really important factor:

WHOLE DIET.

Yes a good whole diet won’t contain that many ‘bad’ foods but on the flip side you can put together a very poor diet that is based on exclusively ‘good’ foods, yes even (*shudder*) ’superfoods’.

It bares repeating:

There are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods just good or bad diets

Diets can be ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depending upon if they’re suitable or unsuitable for your health and fitness levels, your goals and finally your lifestyle.

The REAL meaning of intensity

Language is useful only when we agree upon the meaning of the words we are exchanging. ‘Intensity’ seems to be a a word steeped in confusion as far as it’s meaning in the physical training context goes.

I have had many a conversation with people who know a thing or two about training but seem to be confused about weight training and intensity, some have even dissolved into near arguments with people telling me I am making it up myself!

Intensity in the context of weight training can be most simply defined as the % of the highest weight you can lift for one repetition. This is the scientific application of the word ‘intensity’. The dictionary definition ceases to apply when yo walk in to the gym or training facility.

What intensity is NOT is:

• How hard session is – this is intensity, volume, exercise density and a load of other things
• How daunting a session may be
• How fast your heart is beating
• How much you’re sweating
• How heavy you’re breathing

They might be correlated with the intensity but they are not intensity. Don’t believe me? Here’s some quotes….

“HIT wasn’t that high intensity. Intensity’s defined as the relative amount of your 1 rep max at which you’re working.” Charles Poliquin

“High-intensity strength exercises (in the 70-100% range [of 1 rep max]) are better than low intensity strength exercises (in the 40-70% range [of one rep max]) while dieting.” Cristian Thibaudeau

Rehab is rubbish: Prehab vs rehab

Why do people wait until they are injured to concentrate on the function of the health and function of the joints and smaller or weaker muscles?!?!

The mind boggles.

‘Prehab’; including certain training into your routine to improve function and safeguard health, can not only help you lift more weight but also save to the pain, time and expense of being injured!

Why don’t people do more of it then? In my experience it’s for one or more of the following reasons:

• Short sighted lack of imagination.
• Not knowing what to do
• Not knowing where to include the movements and drills.

One example of where prehab is useful is the shoulders. Most people who train iwth weights will at some point get a niggle or worse in their shoulders. I have penned a short piece on shoulder prehab and health here: http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/article-smart-shoulders.aspx

For the Q&A thread see the link here: http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/m_2731524/tm.htm

Supplement or snake oil: Spirulina, blue green algae, Chlorella

Step into a supplement shop and you are bound to see Spirulina, blue green algae, Chlorella and the like on the shelves. These are all microscopic plants that have been collected and dried and are sold in three main forms, powders and tablets and capsules. They are also very expensive so what do they really do, could there be any harm in taking them and are you being ripped off?

Possible Benefits.

Aquatic plants have been eaten form many thousands of years, most notably seaweed and can be a very positive addition to an individuals diet being relatively high in many vitamins and minerals, but these types of supplement have some quite extraordinary claims made about them.

Its a little bit unfair but lets look at these oft-quoted (by the manufacturers, that is) benefits one by one;

They have nutritional profiles uniquely beneficial for the human body.
How so, and in what context? Does this does mean that they are more beneficial than any other food source?

It is a completely natural whole food
So like fruit, veggies, Meat, Fish, grains, nuts and seeds then?

It is easily absorbed by the body.
As is table sugar

It is low in calories, sodium and cholesterol.
Well, the a usual recommended dosage is 4-10 grams a day!

They contain more calcium than milk, more protein than meat, more iron than spinach and more beta-carotene than carrots
These food stuff mentioned are MUCH cheaper even the highest grade, organic sources!

Other touted benefits include cancer treatment and prevention, detoxification, immune support, memory improvements, beneficial effect upon attention deficit type disorders and on, and on. In truth there is no peer reviewed scientific research that shows that these types of supplement are of more benefit than whole food, whole food being much cheaper…

“Its my money though and Ill spend it on this if I want”

Be my guest

Take a cursory glance a supplement stores and you’ll see prices like £13 for 30g of powder (tablets and capsules usually cost significantly more gram for gram). The supplement industry has come a long way in the last 20 years and is now a huge industry ($18.8 billion in 2002 in the USA alone – and rising) and also a highly competitive one (no company has more than a 10 percent of the market), what this means in practice is that hyperbole, unsubstantiated claims and hard sell are the order of the day. Companies producing these particular products have been forced to retract statements about their health benefits.

“So you’re saying apart from cost though, there’s no problems?”

Understand, if the makers claim fantastic health benefits and the consumer is foolish enough to subscribe to this to the detriment of a healthy diet or delaying seeking medical attention for a health complaint then yes, that it a problem, however there is a much more direct and serious issue….

Of great concern are toxic effects from blue green algae. These types of products are essentially repackaged pond scum. Nothing wrong with that, but what is a problem is that if these ponds are loaded with toxins like heavy metals and microcystins. The algae readily absorb these types of toxin which are concentrated by the drying process. This is such a problem that the US Food and Drug Administration has seen fit to issue a warning to consumers.

The Bottom Line

These types of supplements are a rarely (if ever) recommended by those other than the makers of the product and those from associated companies. In essence they are just another type of food stuff usually preferred by fish and wading birds dried and sold on for huge sums. If you decide to buy these types of supplement find a high quality, uncontaminated product, and be prepared to spend a lot of money to take it home. However be prepared to spend a lot more on high quality, whole food otherwise you have totally missed the point.

Sources
University of California at BerkleyBallantine
The trial of the blue-green algae eaters. FDA Consumer 20(6):33-34, 1986.
Pubmed
Supplement Business report 2003. San Diego, CA: Nutrition Business Journal; 2003
Gilroy GJ et al. Assessing potential health risks from microcystin toxins in blue-green algae dietary supplements. Environmental Health Perspectives 108:435-439, 2000.

Earplugs and iPods: focusing on training not talking.

I talk a lot in the gym. It’s where I exchange a lot of ideas and often train with clients, I know a lot of people in assorted gyms which means a lot of ‘hellos’ and quick chats. I also don’t have a lot of time to train.

The answer is brief intense training sessions

On this blog an in upcoming books you’ll find a lot of info on quick workouts that work; building muscle and striping fat whilst increasing your work capacity.

But…. you have to actually do them in the time alloted.

So given that gyms are become more like social clubs and less like place to forge the body how do you achieve this. Ear plugs, ipods and a lowered gaze are the best advice I can give.

1. Negotiate with the boss for an odd lunch time – I used to go to lunch at 3.00pm (I’ll cover this one in more detail later…)

2. Change shoes at your desk and jog (slowly at first) to the gym – ½ your warm-up done right there

3. Get changed and put on your mp3 player

4. Set up the bars and equipment you need

5. Put on an obvious stopwatch (if people see you’re against the clock then they’ll be less inclined to stop you

6. Lower your gaze and look mean (without looking like Ben Stiller giving the Blue Steel) and don’t make eye contact

7. Storm through your workout

If you are stopped by someone remember that they pay the same membership fee you do and also that the next time you need the bar they may be using it, so be nice keeping in mind that you got there first! Explain if you’re doing clusters etc, that you are against the clock but offer that they can work in if they help change all weights etc.

“The BEST diet ever!”

How many times have you heard or read that?…..

Have you ever been on a diet? Have you tried to reduce your body fat or put on some more muscle, perhaps you were ‘de-toxing’ after a binge of fast food?

…..chances are you have.

Did you achieve or get pretty close to your goals?

…..you might well have done.

Did you stay at that point or did you put the weight back, loose the muscle or go back to you old ways?

…..almost certainly.

What if I showed you a foolproof diet that works every time, would you be interested?

The vast majority of diets fail, that’€™s a fact that doesn’€™t take too long to become apparent when you start looking at the subject. You probably know that people go on diets for a few weeks, eat according to their goals and then return to eating their usually way but the body has changed meaning that they may find themselves in an even worse situation than before. I have a piece of news for you though that may change your outlook;

A diet is everything you eat between you next meal and when you die.

Like it or not you are constantly on a diet and you have to constantly think about what you are eating it your looks and you health is important. The good news is that you are constantly on a diet, which you can use to improve you looks and health.

There are a lot of diets out there though so how do you chose which to follow, I can’€™t compare and contrast the gambit of diets out there in this blog but I can show you the questions you must ask and in which order to ask them so that you can choose for yourself.

The 1^st Question: Is it right for you?

Is it aimed at a morbidly obese person when you are just looking to clean up your diet? Is it for a sedentary person whilst you are an athlete?

The 2^nd Question: Is it balanced and healthy?

Make sure the diet is balanced and health -“ no mean feat I agree but common sense should prevail here it should contain at the very least;

Plenty of fresh veg, lean meat and fish, fruit and some nuts and seeds,
Little in the way of overly processed foods,
Enough calories to sustain a healthy body,
Plenty of variety.

Bear in mind also that there is often no real problem mixing together similar diet protocols.

The 3^rd Question: Can you practically use It day to day?

A diet that you can’t keep using for any reason is one that will fail but bear in mind this is not the same as saying you shouldn’€™t have to concentrate on it or put some effort in (especially in the initial phases).

The 4^th Question: There is no question three, that is it.

It’s simple, if the diet fails the first then it fails, the second and its also a fail but just maybe, if you can get close with the third you may getting there.

Questions, Questions, Questions.

I admit the questions above involve a certain amount of understanding and I haven’€™t given you any definitions but we live in an age when, used correctly, the internet can give you all the info you need and more. Remember: Google is your friend. By way of example though lets look at a couple of popular diets to illustrate how you would critique them using these rules above.

Atkins Diet Stage One

This is a low carbohydrate diet, in essence you should not be eating any carbs at all. This means no fruit, very, very little in the way of vegetables.

Q1. Yes

You may be the type of person looking to loose weight.

Q2. No

Not enough vegetables and fruit meaning very low intake of vit’s minerals and fibre, fat intake unbalanced.

Q2. Not applicable

It doesn’€™t matter if you could eat steak and cheese at every meal for the rest of you life rule two has been breeched.

The Paleo Diet

This is a diet that encourages the user to eat as it is thought out ancestors did, it involves an increase in the amount and variety of fresh fruit and vegetables and emphasizes the use of high quality meats and fish and discourages the consumption of refined carbohydrate and alcohol.

Q1. Yes

You may be looking for general health improvements and the research and philosophy behind this diet appeals to you.

Q2. Yes

The emphasis on high quality food with increases in vitamins minerals and fibre, reduces the intake of sugar and alcohol and encourages a balanced intake of fat types. This more than makes up for the lack of whole grains and dairy products

Q3. No*

If you can’t get hold of wild game meat or afford all the organic fruits and vegetables then you can’€™t stick rigidly to the diet.

*Question 3 is an example where you can aim to get as close as possible to the core ideals of the diet and still make improvements to you own diet. It may not strictly be the diet you were aiming at but it may be health.

The Cabbage Soup Diet?!

Er… I won’€™t even go there

The Bottom Line

“€˜…this is the best diet ever!”

Every time you hear those words run a mile.

People differ, health levels and problems differ, goals differ, lifestyles differ.

There is no one best diet -“ you know that.

Everything you eat is part of your diet, your diet has not only to be healthy for you to remain health but it has to be sustainable as well. The are rules simple as that.

-There are a million quality resources out there, find them.
-Go away and see what constitutes a healthy food intake the long term for you.
-Pick your diet according to this info
-GO back and read some more – diet and nutrition is a science not a dogma.