MVWC 28 Day Health Challenge- WEEK 3
Weekly Lesson:
Not All Carbs Are Created Equal
and they MUST be earned
In week 3 of the challenge you will learn one of the most powerful teaching
tools we use to explain how your metabolism really works. We call it the
“The Hormonal Teeter Totter”. This is a teaching concept that allows us to
illustrate the way your body metabolizes the three primary macronutrients
of the human diet; protein, carbohydrate and fat. The goal is to illustrate
how you, alone, have complete control over your body’s hormonal response
and the level of health you experience EVERYTIME you sit down to eat.
The reason this is such a critical week is most people have never been
taught the basic chemistry of our body actually works. Many people think
losing weight and getting healthy comes down to calories in and calories
out. While there is some truth to this, however it’s simply not the whole
truth.
Reality is that your body actually function much more like a chemistry lab.
Not a calorie counting factory. We love to say you simply can’t out train a
bad diet. In fact, one of the reasons that we host this challenge is so you
understand that changes to your daily eating habits of what you do eat and
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what you avoid completely have the most influence on your health and your
body composition.
While exercising is important its not the end all be all. The purpose of a
challenge like this to educate you so you can start to make lifestyle changes
and implement healthier eating habits that pay off big time. It takes seconds
to identify habits that help you and it is often even faster to see the health
habits that are in fact hurting you. Habits take time to form, but they often
take even more time to reform.
Every time you sit down to eat, you are either creating a positive reaction in
the body or a negative one. When we learn calories in, calories out mindset
we fail to learn that not all calories are created equal. In fact, the more
quality calories you eat, the less you actually require.
This is why low calorie diets FAIL so many people. When your body is
starving, it seeks to preserve itself by storing fat for reserve energy stores.
Carbs is one of the foods that people most commonly overdue OR they
underdo and make up for it in fat calories elsewhere that also will not help
you reach your long term goals and can lead to hormonal imbalances.
Next, I am going to teach you how the “HORMONAL TEETET TOTTER” and
what you really should have learned in health class. When I learned this one
concept it completely changed the way I felt about food and the way I teach
others about it. To get started I first have to introduce you to the number
one hormone you need to understand when it comes to protecting your
health, INSULIN.
Many of us have heard the words, insulin dependent before or maybe you
have even had a blood test to determine your insulin sensitivity. Many of us
correlate the word in most scenarios to a conversation about diabetes.
Since Type 2 diabetes is also referred to as adult onset diabetes and its one
of the FASTEST growing chronic diseases in this country this makes a whole
lot of sense. When most people talk about insulin with their medical doctor
its usually too late. They are simply told that their insulin sensitivity is so
impaired that they get diagnosed with pre-diabetes or even worse full blown
type 2 diabetes.
Next they become insulin dependent. This means that they need to inject
themselves with insulin or take drugs to help their bodies produce insulin
since their insulin sensitivity is so impaired the body can no longer produce
it on its own.
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Reality is that this type of diabetes can be completely prevented if you learn
the foods you need to eat on a daily basis to increase insulin sensitivity and
avoid the ones that crush your insulin sensitivity. Let me give you an
example of exactly how insulin sensitivity works.
Imagine you went into a bank and were standing in line to make a deposit.
As you were standing there, this lovely woman walked in behind you. As she
entered the room you realized she must have just come from the fragrance
counter at Macy’s as she has poured a whole bottle of Chanel No. 5 all over
her. The smell is so strong it is giving you a headache. But what would
happen in five minutes?
The fragrance would dissipate and you would become totally
desensitized to it.
This is precisely how insulin works in your body. If you consistently feed it
sugar or too much food that is turned into sugar in the blood, such as excess
fruit or poor quality, processed and refined carbohydrates you are spiking
your blood sugar. SUGAR is toxic to the blood stream and insulin is
released from the pancreas to RESPOND to this toxicity in the body to take
it out of the blood and STORE it into cells for future energy needs. The
problem is you don’t ever need it as you are not that far away from your
next meal in this day and age.
The less insulin you produce the healthier you will be, the more
insulin you produce the sicker and heavier you will be!!
Many of you know what a teeter totter is. To refresh your memory, if you
have not been a kid in awhile, you most often see these at a playground. It’s
a board that basically rotates on a fulcrum as pictured below.
A child sits on each end and together they go up and down based on the
force or weight exerted on the opposite end. Well, a similar force is created
every time you sit down to eat a meal. Its either going to make your blood
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sugar rise quickly or it can rise consistently. On the flip side if your blood
sugar rises too quickly, it also will come crashing to the ground just as fast.
Your body’s ability to be insulin sensitive is in direct correlation
to the length and quality of your life!!
If it rises consistently, then and only then it can also taper off consistently
just in time for your next meal. The goal is to use this concept to learn what
foods makes your blood sugar (insulin) rise too quickly which limits your
health and which ones make your blood sugar rise consistently, leading to
optimal health, ideal body composition and abundant energy.
To drive this home lets take a look at the average American breakfast vs.
one that can balance your teeter totter for you.
The Average American Breakfast
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A bagel from Dunkin Donuts – 80 grams of carbs
Topped with strawberry cream cheese – an additional 20 grams of
sugar (carbs) on average.
A glass of orange juice – 50 grams of carbs, followed by a black coffee
This means you ate around 150 grams of carbs at breakfast alone
which is enough for a whole day for some people!
Or the “ heart healthy” version of the American Breakfast
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A cup of instant oatmeal with a banana 80-grams of carbs
Coffee with skim milk and two sugars- [Coffee is neutral on a
hormonal level, but when you add the sugar you add 20 grams of
carbs. You also get sugar from the skim milk as when they take out
the fat they add sugar to make it taste better. In this scenario, I am
talking about the coffee you make yourself, not one at Starbucks. You
can double the sugar if you drink their coffees with the syrups added
as part of your daily routine.]
When you consider that the average American is consuming 200 -300
grams of carbohydrate PER DAY you can see why their teeter totter goes up
quickly and crashes even more rapidly. Lets say you ate this breakfast about
at 7am. Then you wonder why you are looking for the vending machine by
9am. The reason is you spiked your insulin so much that your body is
working overtime. Chances are it can’t recover fast enough when you
introduce your next “cheap” carb rich meal at noon. Please notice there is
NO protein or healthy fats in this meal. No wonder you feel like crap, you
started your body off at a sprint pace instead of a slow jog to warm you up.
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What your breakfast should look like to balance your teeter totter!
Mom was right; breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It
jumpstarts your metabolism. To start it right, throw out what the American
government wants you to start with above. Last time I checked they were
not food experts and start with the below. In fact, this is how Dr. Ryan and I
start our day at least 5 days a week.
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2-3 Whole eggs or 1 whole egg with ½ cup whites if you are saving
your healthy fats for somewhere else in your day. All the ingredients
are in the yoke!
Cooked in 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, ghee or grass-fed butter.
We layer the eggs over steamed greens. Our favorite is spinach, kale
or shredded brussel sprouts [Yum!]
If you have worked out its ideal to eat some higher starch carbs here
such as ½ cup oatmeal, 2 slices of gluten free toast or ½ a small sweet
potato. Also, if you are not having a snack in between breakfast and
lunch I prefer you get 25- 30 grams of carbs in your meal to break
your fast and restore blood sugar from the night before OR you will be
hungry and go off track later on in the day.
Next, lets discuss what happens on a hormonal level in your body when you
eat a meal like this rather than the one the food pyramid recommends in
the first option.
Carbs, Protein and Fat, Oh my!
The hormone INSULIN is a storage hormone. To put this simply, its job is to
take sugar out of the blood stream, which is toxic to it and put it INTO cells
for later use.
To put it simply, the more insulin you produce, the more you have to store.
The more you store, the more excess weight you carry AND the faster your
body breaks down with sickness and disease.
Insulin is a hormone released by the pancreas in response to eating
CARBOHYDRATES. Every time you eat you are either programming your
body to have a favorable insulin response OR one that sets you up to crash
and burn within hours of ingesting whatever it is that you ate at the meal
prior.
The hormone GLUCAGON is released when you eat PROTEIN. If insulin is
your storage hormone, then glucagon is a RELEASE hormone. This is why
when you are missing the right amount of proteins in your diet you become
deficient and your body also holds onto fat stores as reserves as it thinks its
starving.
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When you eat healthy, natural fat sources your body’s hormonal response is
NEUTRAL. There is no specific hormone released which is why a handful of
healthy fats at every meal helps satiate you, keeps you fuller longer and
provides consistent energy.
Now that you understand the teeter totter, its time to introduce WHY
having a breakfast that gets you a 150 carbs in one meal is so WRONG and
what its really costing you. Before reading this, please remember that the
average American is eating 200-300 grams of carbohydrate a day and that
these are mostly coming from simple carbs, which are just like eating pure
sugar in the bloodstream.
IN THIS CHALLENGE EVERYONE NEEDS TO AIM FOR
100 to 150 grams per day to get the best results
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How to decide where you are on the curb and how
much carb you need to reach your specific goals.
300 or more of carb grams/day - Danger Zone!
This is easy to reach with the “normal” American diet (cereals, pasta, rice, bread,
waffles, pancakes, muffins, soft drinks, packaged snacks, sweets, desserts). Consuming
these foods comes with a high risk of excess fat storage, inflammation and disease
markers such as high triglycerides, blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes. Sharp
reduction of grains and other processed carbs is critical unless you unless you want to
die prematurely.
150-300 grams/day – Steady, Insidious Weight Gain
Continued higher insulin-stimulating effect prevents efficient fat burning and
contributes to widespread chronic disease conditions. This range – irresponsibly
recommended by the USDA and other diet authorities – can lead to the statistical US
average gain of 1.5 pounds of fat per year for forty years.
100-150 grams/day – The Maintenance Range
This range is based on body weight and activity levels. When combined with exercise,
this allows for genetically optimal fat burning and muscle development. This range
derived from example of enjoying abundant vegetables and fruits and avoiding
processed grains and sugars. Hmm, it looks like we are onto something here people.
50-100 grams/day – Sweet Spot for Effortless Weight Loss
Minimizes insulin production and ramps up fat metabolism. By meeting average daily
protein requirements (1 gram per pound of lean bodyweight formula), eating nutritious
vegetables and fruits (easy to stay in 50-100 gram range, even with generous servings),
and staying satisfied with delicious high fat foods (meat, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds), you can
lose one to two pounds of body fat per week and then keep it off forever by eating in the
maintenance range.
0-50 grams/day – Ketosis and Accelerated Fat Burning
Acceptable for a day or two of Intermittent Fasting towards aggressive weight loss
efforts, provided adequate protein, fat and supplements are consumed otherwise. This is
ideal for diabetics who want to get off a dependency on insulin. Not necessarily
recommended as a long-term practice for otherwise healthy people due to resultant
deprivation of high nutrient value vegetables and fruits and can skew hormone balance.
Here is a fun fact; most people diagnosed with cancer are recommended that they stick
to a ketosis diet so they can STARVE their cancer. Cancer loves to feed on sugar and
processed foods. [Source: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-primal-carbohydratecontinuum]
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WEEK 3: FEED THE HABIT
Here is your good carb list that you want to eat lots of
this week:
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Green veggies including lots of our favorites: spinach, kale, brussel
sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, field greens, zucchini, spaghetti and
acorn squash
A small amount of white, jasmine or brown rice – usually a serving
for a female is about a half a cup for 30 grams of carbs.
Sweet, white or red potatoes about 4 ounces is a serving of 30 grams
of carbs
Yucca also known as cassava root
Low sugar live NOT dried fruits such as berries. [Drying fruit
concentrates the sugars.]
Limited amount of high sugar fruits such as bananas or melons. We
like to limit this to one serving per day.
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•
In baking you can use a small amount of gluten free flour. This means
flours that come from rice, potato, tapioca and coconut [or almond
meal is also great to substitute if you tolerate nuts well.
Here are the simple carbs we want you to avoid:
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Gluten containing grains such as breads, bagels, pasta, pretzels
and crackers.
Gluten containing processed sweets such as cookies, cakes, donuts,
pancakes and pop tarts.
Insulin crushing snacks that hide the simple carbs behind low fat
labels such as jelly candies, processed ice cream and flavored
yogurts.
WEEK 3: STARVE THE HABIT
Ditch the Dirty Processed Gluten Containing Grains
Talking about ditching grains is kind of like talking about religion or
politics. Nothing gets people more worked up based on the amount of
different perspectives and the vast amount of conflicting information. I
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know for years most of us have been lead to believe that whole grains are
the foundation of the Standard American Diet Food Pyramid.
The question is where that has gotten us? The answer is we are suffering
from a devastating obesity crisis along with the chronic disease numbers
that are crippling our society and our economy. I think its safe to say that
something has to change and reality is, Grains do not belong as the
foundation for a healthy diet.
We find in most cases people are willing to give up sugar once they
recognize the dangers they pose. The challenge with grains is that just like
sugar, it has addictive properties, but you don’t know how it affects you
until you go without it.
The difference is just like sugar can crush your hormonal response, gluten
containing grains are a double whammy. Not only do they crush your
insulin response, they also contain a lot of poisons that lead to a whole slew
of additional health problems. These poisons lead to the compromised
digestion which ultimately leads to an overworked immune system.
In fact, I find most people are actually more likely to give up the crack
(sugar) than the grains such as bread and pasta, that is, until they find out
the problems that often come with them when they go without them or
begin to substitute alternatives for some of the common pollutants such as
gluten. If you need more convincing here is a few more reasons WHY we
think grains need to hightail it out of your life.
1) They damage the gut – A damaged gut leads to mal absorption issues. We
need to maximize nutrient absorption if we want to be healthy. If you are putting
in high quality proteins, carbs, fats, vitamins and minerals you want your body to
be able to absorb all the good stuff you are putting in. If your gut is damaged you
will not be getting any of these nutrients as effectively as you could be.
2) They contain anti- nutrients – Naturally most grains contain antinutrients called lectins and phytates along with problematic proteins. You may
have heard of the main culprit called Gluten. Gluten is a problematic protein that
binds to cell receptors in the gut and can cause digestive distress and allergic
responses for many people. Over consumption of grains not only leads to a larger
waistline, but ultimately it can lead to a condition called Leaky Gut Syndrome.
Leaky gut has become more and more prevalent today and is the beginning of
digestive health issues such as colitis, IBS and Crone’s disease just to name a few.
Leaky gut Syndrome occurs when gut tissue becomes porous instead of acting as
a protective barrier which then leads to the next problem we face with grains.
3) Grains open the door for auto immunity and feed CANCER!
Once the gut lining is damaged and leaky gut is present, your risk of auto immune
issues, thyroid issues and several types of cancer, pancreatic cancer being one of
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them due to excess insulin load and an over stimulated immune system become
more prevalent.
I tested of for Gluten Sensitivity and I don’t have it, so does that mean I can
eat it?
The testing for gluten has become quite prevalent, but its accuracy is not known. We
have many people who come to us with digestive stress who did not show an allergy to
gluten on the test. The question is not so much are you allergic to it as what degree of
sensitivity do you have to the protein found in gluten.
What IS gluten and why is it so bad for me?
Reality is its a foreign protein to all of us that comes with a slew of problems that frankly
you are better off avoiding if you seek better health. Trust us, take it out and when you
work it back in you will be able to see what yours level of sensitivity is. Try it this week
you might totally surprise yourself and you will lose weight and feel much better this
week without it.
Where will I get my fiber?
Green leafy veggies have more fiber than any other grain that is found on a shelf or in a
package. This week replace the grains you usually have on your plate with water and
fiber rich veggies such as kale, spinach, and broccoli and watch your health expand
while your waistline contracts. Veggies are perfect foods full of the perfect ratio of fiber
and water. You do not want to juice your fruits and veggies as that removes all the fiber
and turns healthy foods into more of a sugar bomb for your insulin response.
Remember the more fiber you eat the more you need to pay attention to your water
intake to push it all through. An engine is only as good as its exhaust system. I am also
ok with limited amounts of brown or white rice and quinoa for carb sources. I also use of
potatoes and the gluten free flours for carb sources as its to hard for many people to eat
enough carbs throughout the day without some of these sources.
Please note under eating carbs WILL skew your hormones and energy levels QUICKLY.
Also, it is easy energy for the heart so you must have them in your diet or you will YOYO
in your weight and energy levels. Also, I see way to many people cut CARBS and ADD
FAT which is not a good strategy when it comes to shifting your body composition. The
ultimate goal is the perfect balance of all three macros protein, carbs and fat which you
will learn more about next week.
What about my oatmeal in the am?
Oatmeal is still a processed grain when its in the instant format, although it technically
does not have the gluten protein. There are a lot of processed oatmeal’s that are cross
contaminated with it so as long as you make sure it is not processed with gluten
containing grains it can be enjoyed a few times per week as its very helpful from a fiber
rich perspective. If you need to have it, work on weaning yourself to just a few days per
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week and use the steel cut oats. I also recommend you soak them overnight to release
some the anti-nutrients that they still do contain.
I’m Italian, what about substitutes for bread and pasta?
Trust me, I know giving up bread and pasta is hard. But actually it’s really not when you
see how sick it can make you when you take it in on a regular basis.
Occasionally its okay to have. But if you are going to have it, fresh is always best. You
will want to look for pastas and breads made with:
1) Potato Flours
2) Rice Flours or Tapioca Starch
3) Coconut or Almond Flour
Here are some of the brands/ products we love that taste just like the real thing without
the crap added. Udi’s Gluten fee products, Canyon Bakehouse, Rudy’s bakery.
Pamela’s products and Bob’s Red Mill. These are also ones you can use to bake
with that we recommend. If you are weaning kids or yourself of regular nutrient void
bread for sandwiches your best bet is the following brands that can be found at almost
all grocers today.
Its gluten free so it’s good for me, right?
Just because its gluten free does not mean you can eat a ton of it. Remember, the goal is
balanced hormones and too much packaged food, even though its gluten free, will not
help you reach this goal.
WEEK 2: ACTION ITEMS
1) JUST ADD VEGGIES: Lead with quality carbs and fiber coming from
2- 3 cups of water rich veggies each day, support this with some
denser carbs from potatoes, rice or oatmeal occasionally and limit
fruit to one serving per day. This will help you reach your goal of
staying in the 100-150 range of carbs per day for body composition
shift.
2) DITCH THE DIRTY GLUTEN CONTAINING GRAINS: This week, work
on removing gluten containing grains from your diet.
3) The goal should be to go lighter on the carbs as the day goes on as you
get ready for bed and be heavier on them earlier in the day when your
body can use them for energy. The post workout window earns you
carbs. At dinner as your body prepares for rest try some carb swaps
from the list we recommend and watch how much better you sleep
and faster your body rids itself of weight.
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