The Calorie Counting Myth
Many people are obsessed with calories.
“How many calories are in that donut?”
What a silly question!
“There are 320 calories in this bag of almonds!”
This is meaningless!
There in fact could be fewer calories in that donut than in the bag of almonds. But guess which food item is going to raise your insulin levels and have a deleterious affect on your health? Hint: It’s not the almonds.
We now know there have been countless examples of people who increased there calorie intake, and, despite common wisdom. LOST weight! It comes down to keeping your insulin levels in check. A sugar-laden donut will shoot insulin levels up pretty high, and you will end up storing fat in the process. Almonds will keep you at an even keel level.
Beyond that, counting calories is a total pain. Eating lots of good fats, and eating when you are hungry is a good call. Choose wisely: Eat whole foods where ever possible, and avoid downing straight carbohydrates- and you will have more energy and keep your body in fat check mode instead of fat storage mode!
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Keeping your diet together on vacation
I’m on sort of a working vacation trip at the moment, and have had a few challenges in eating healthy. My 
family doesn’t eat like me (they’re not yet quite on board with low carb, although I’d like to think I’ve had SOME influence), and staying with them makes it a little more difficult to stay on track with my eating.
When hanging out with friends and family who may not share your desire to eat optimally, the most important thing is to stay strong psychologically. There will certainly be a lot of pressure to conform to the group, to eat more, and to have celebratory desserts and drinks.
If you stick to your guns, and only have the desserts and higher carb meals when YOU want to, eventually the people around you will likely respect your choices.
So what should these choices consist of?
Stick with whole foods: Fruits, nuts, things that don’t come from a package. If you have a big high carb meal, turn down desert. Your insulin levels will be spiked from your meal, and piling on a dessert could really wreck you, especially if you’re not used to lots of carbs! Explain why you eat the way you do, but do not try to convince others that they should eat that way as well. Family especially will be tough to convince, so your best bet is just to be as healthy as you can- and let them know you are doing this to better yourself, and because you want to, but that you’re not trying to change them. Eventually they may see the benefits of low carb as you stay healthy and fit!
Enjoy your family & friends as much as you can. No sense in letting yourself get stressed out- this can be worse for you then a couple of frosted old fashioned donuts!
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37 – Interview with Dr. James Carlson, part 1
(duration: 35:41)
In this show Kevin interviews Dr. James Carlson, who provides us with a wealth of biochemistry knowledge and experiences with patients (and fellow physicians) concerning the ills of the typical dietary (and thus drug) prescription by most health care “authorities”–as well as the vast benefits of eating the proper foods to ensure health and longevity. His book “Genocide: How Your Doctor’s Dietary Ignorance May Kill You!!!” explores these issues in fine detail, including the four myths: eating fat makes you fat;. eating cholesterol causes heart disease; calories are important; exercise is needed to lose weight. In actuality, a low carb, higher fat and adequate protein eating regimen is preferred for humans. Unfortunately, medical doctors were never taught this, and they tend not to care about the truth in this vital matter; a paradigm shift in med school needs to take place.
Click here to get your free audio download of the 3 Pillars Of Achieving Your Perfect Weight Using The Mind/Body Connection, as well as our succinct newsletter.
Items mentioned in this episode:
Weight Loss with a Low-Carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or Low-Fat Diet
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/359/3/229
http://lowcarbdoctors.blogspot.com/
bumper music “All In My Head” (Remix) – http://www.kosheen.com
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The idea of slipping on your diet
Just talked to a friend yesterday (who is also a healthy mind fit body podcast listener!) who has successfully cut carbs down and lost fat for a 
while, only to slip back into old ways and regain the lost weight.
Easy to do, I’m sure. He has 2 kids, and a full time job, and tries to squeeze in a workout most days too.
So how does a slip happen?
Partly, it’s what you are buying at the store, and partly, it’s having demanding children around. The grocery shopping part is easy. Don’t buy unhealthy items and have them around your house. But I’m sure you’ve heard that before!
The kids thing is a bit more difficult. They may be demanding because you have provided them with junk food in the past, and they have become accustomed to it, maybe even addicted to carbs! If this is the case, instead of telling them they can’t have any of the crackers, cookies, sodas, etc. that they may be used to, just simply don’t buy it. They will have plenty of opportunities to get that stuff outside the home, but eventually, they will get used to the healthier meals and snacks, and the candy just won’t taste as good!
And then, you as the parent won’t have easy access to all that bad stuff either. Win-win!
“Slipping” also only happens if you are still viewing eating low carb as “being on a diet”. It’s crucial to start to change your psychology to thinking about an eating lifestyle, rather than just a diet. We have much more on this in the free audio below, and in the book, Healthy Mind Fit Body!
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Do we need bread?
Even with low carb eaters, bread seems to be a difficult thing to give up.
Should we give it up? Do we need to? If so, what do we replace bread with? And for crying out loud, WHAT ARE WE GOING TO PUT THE CONTENTS OF THE SANDWICH ON!!?!
I bring up this topic because I, too, had all of these questions above even as recent as a few months ago. I had a daily sandwich with 1 slice of flourless sprouted wheat bread and thought I was being very healthy. Compared to the typical American lunch, I was being healthy. But me reasoning for eating bread at all was that I needed to put my turkey, avocado, and cheese on SOMETHING!
I have since switched to mixing in my lunch meat, tuna, or grass fed ground beef with a bowl of vegetables like broccoli, asparagus, or artichoke, then mixing in a fat source like olive oil and/or guacamole.
But why did I give up bread, and why should other people do the same?
Bread, although considered a staple food, and for many it would be unheard of to not eat bread. You might as well tell these people to not breathe air! It is so ingrained (no pun intended) in us that bread is a must, that getting it out of our diets may cause a little anxiety. But bread is not a natural food that we as humans were meant to eat. Grains, which most bread is made out of, have only been in the human diet for about 10,000 years. Grains contain high levels of plant toxins called lectins. Research has shown that lectins can disrupt gastrointestinal function and immune system.
What about the benefits of whole grain bread over plain white bread?
It’s really negligible. Whole grains contain harmful phytates, glutens, and lectins that promote inflammation. And, while you do get fiber from these grains, this, too can be seen as a negative. Excessive fiber intake (which easily happens when you eat a lot of whole grains) can increase appetite and interfere with healthy digestion, mineral absorption, and elimination. Whole wheat bread may burn a little slower, but the important thing is you will produce the same amount of insulin to deal with the glucose load!
So with all this, my plan is to simply skip grains altogether most of the time, and replace them with vegetables and fruits. It’s not that much harder than making a sandwich and will lead to a healthier body and less chance of disease in the long run.
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Low carb, Paleo, Zone, South Beach…which way to go?
There are so many low carb diets out there, that it can be confusing as to which one to follow, or what is the best way to go.
There’s a really easy way of looking at all this.
First, never diet. All of these diets are based on solid evidence, but you must change your eating habits and the very way you look at various foods, in order to successfully achieve a fit body- but do not put yourself on a diet!
Second, realize that nutrition is going to be an ongoing quest to get right. However, you can be sure of a few things. Eating fruit, nuts, vegetables, grass fed beef, wild caught salmon, olive oil, and coconut oil are going to be a good base for what you eat no matter what. After that, you can start getting fancy and finding out about all the nuances of low carb eating.
That’s really it. It doesn’t have to be confusing or complicated.
Another hint to stay on track is to stay away from mainstream media! It’s easy to fall back to old ways of thinking if you are constantly hearing that messsage. Instead, check out sites like this one, marksdailyapple.com, and robbwolf.com for the latest in nutrition and for Healthy Mind Fit Body, the psychology behind losing weight, as well as the “best of” in nutrition and fitness.
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36 – Eating rules of thumb, recipe tips, problems with grains
(duration 24:35)
In this show we discuss an eclectic mix of topics, starting with the best way to eat Mexican food and what sort of carb-to-protein ratio is optimal. Kevin offers a great hmfb salad (patent pending;) that includes grass-fed beef. We cover the problems with various carbs, not eating an adequate breakfast or greens, or being properly hydrated. Black tea has its health benefits too. Finally, we cover a couple listener emails dealing with the deleterious nature of grains and particular exercise equipment to maintain strength and fitness, as well as my ingenious method for eating blueberries with almond butter (gleaned from a chimp technique:).
Stay tuned for next week’s interview with Dr. James Carlson!
Click here to get your free audio download of the 3 Pillars Of Achieving Your Perfect Weight Using The Mind/Body Connection, as well as our succinct newsletter
Item mentioned in this episode:
5 Reasons You Are Hungry After Eating
http://fitho.in/2010/06/07/5-reasons-you-are-hungry-after-eating/
bumper music “All In My Head” (Remix) – http://www.kosheen.com
Feel free to rate and/or review our show on iTunes!
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35 – The real belly fat cure
(duration 17:12)
In this show we discuss the latest mainstream acknowledgement of what we’ve been saying all along: excess carbs (i.e., high insulin levels) have bad health effects, not saturated fat. We also explore The Belly Fat Cure, a book by Jorge Cruise, fitness guru and nutrition coach. He’s brought a message that’s quite similar to ours into the mainstream (even on Oprah), which is great, but we have our caveats and explain why our unique focus on the psychological side of weight loss, fitness, and nutrition is so important!
Click here to get your free audio download of the 3 Pillars Of Achieving Your Perfect Weight Using The Mind/Body Connection, as well as our succinct newsletter
Items mentioned in this episode:
Carbs against Cardio: More Evidence that Refined Carbohydrates, not Fats, Threaten the Heart
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carbs-against-cardio
http://jorgecruise.com/how-it-works/
Please take our survey about goals and challenges: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Y9ZVW8H
bumper music “All In My Head” (Remix) – http://www.kosheen.com
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http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=332309038
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Should you have "cheat days" on a diet?
Every once in a while I hear someone tell me they are “on a diet” and are looking forward to their “cheat day” which they have all planned out 
in terms of what they are going to eat.
The diet plans with cheat days usually involve eating a strict, low calorie (often low fat too) diet 6 days out of the week, and on the seventh day, you get to eat anything you want and as much as you want.
Is this a good idea?
Well, to start with, I don’t believe in diets. I’m not on one, and I eat what I want all of the time.
So the first issue I have with cheat days is that it assumes you are not eating what you want 6 of the 7 days of the week. How fun are those 6 days???
So what is the solution? NEVER have any fun days??
No!
I’d much rather “have my cake and eat it too” (although cake is not a good option here if you follow along with what I’m saying!). The important thing is not being a perfectionist, but to actually change your taste buds so that you crave the foods that are good for you, and not the crap that will give you low energy, extra fat, and leave you wanting more of it!
So, I’m not in favor of diets…or so-called cheat days. Change your tastes by making a psychological break from the foods that aren’t doing you any good. Then start replacing them with great tasting foods that are also good for your health!
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