Hmmm. Is it just me, or am I a little fixated on this topic? In my defense, breaking free of sugar and carb addiction is one of the SIMPLEST ways to improve your health and energy and burn stubborn body fat, so please bear with me one more time.
A Simple Guide To Escaping Carb Addiction
1. Start one meal at a time, and absolutely make it breakfast. The food you eat first thing in the morning dictates your energy for the day ahead, as well as food cravings, and you know that the more carbs you eat the more carbs you eat, so it makes sense to hold them off.
2. Choosing a protein and smart fat breaky such as lean meat with a handful of nuts will optimise neurotransmitter function for the day ahead (keep you happy and motivated!) and is also ideal for fat loss and health (unless you’re lucky enough to tolerate carbs, in which case you could have some fruit and protein for breaky, or a small serve of oats with protein).
3. There is NO WAY you will escape carbohydrate or sugar addiction if you fail to eat adequate good fat. Great choices include flaxseed oil, quality fish oil, and small serves of nuts, seeds, avocado, olive or coconut oil.
It’s 6.08am and I’m just sitting down to my first coffee of the day. I use the word ‘first’ with absolute certainty – with a 15 hour turnaround from home to home again, Tuesday is most definitely a high coffee day for me.
I drink long macchiato’s, mostly. Or, if I’m feeling a bit tender around the edges, I’ll go for a latte. My take on a latte is to pump up the coffee (double shot), and ask for just 3/4 milk. And yes, I know, it’s practically a macchiato, but there IS a difference. The amount of milk I might get across the day (even on a Tuesday) from coffee would be around 50-60ml max. I’m not a huge milk fan.
Anyway. The point of the post. This morning I went somewhere I haven’t been for awhile, and the barista had to check with me.
“Is it skinny?”
No, it’s not. And if you want to support healthy digestion and fat loss, then nor should yours be. In some ways it still amazes me that people double take when a woman asks for full-cream milk in her coffee and yet wouldn’t flinch one bit were I to ask for 3 sugars. Is it just me or is that extremely messed up?
I could explain in great detail why I believe full fat is best, but it’s early and there’s coffee to be had. So I’ll save for another time issues of dairy intolerance or whether we are in fact supposed to drink milk after babyhood and leave it at this – eat real food.
Let’s talk about exercise. Ideal exercise, I mean, not long grinding workouts that do more harm than good and leave you beating your head against the wall because you can never quite keep up. We now know that chronic cardio fits into this category, and we know that weight training is important for health reasons as well as aesthetic, but does that mean you need to go out and mark the calendar for your first bodybuilding appearance? Well, perhaps, if that’s your goal But how about an in between ground? Surely there’s an approach to exercise that is based purely around being fit to live and enjoy your life, and surely it’s not too much to ask that such a style of exercise also allows you to look and feel your best?
Well. The folks over at Pay Now Live Later have come up with another brilliant nutshell video. It’s eye-opening, it’s compelling, and it’s quite motivating. If you want to get off the merry-go-round and feel good about training well and training hard but also giving your body a break now and then, you must check this out. And if you’re stuck in the grind of repetitive and unsuccessful exercise habits, then this is 5.5 minutes of pure inspiration and relief. Enjoy.
Last week I spoke about the connection between excessive amounts of cardio exercise and carbohydrate ‘addiction’, and how these two behaviours more often than not lead to dietary and fat loss failure. As far as generalisations go, this is one that I’m quite happy to put my name to. I base this not only on my own personal exercise and food history, which I’ll grant has been more tumultuous than the typical person looking to slim down and tone up, but rather on the experience of many frustrated clients and gym goers who’ve crossed my path over the years.
So whether you suspect you could be in cardio overload or addicted to carbs – or both (as they tend to go hand in hand), or if you just can’t figure out why you don’t get results despite all your good efforts, then this article is for you.
About 10 years ago, I was the queen of ‘healthy carbohydrates’. Typically I’d start my day with a wholesome bowl of bircher muesli, usually with some plain or vanilla low-fat yogurt, and a good heaping of fruit on top. Yummy. And a coffee of course! Mind you, it’s not as though I just rolled out of bed and started eating. Quite the contrary. Most mornings I’d either hit the streets for a brisk 45-60 minute early morning walk, or I’d do some ‘real’ cardio. For me, real cardio was usually 40-60 minutes on the cross-trainer. Intervals of course. To tell the truth, I’d feel pretty guilty if I only managed 40 minutes first thing, and so most days would find me back on the cross-trainer – or maybe doing some tready sprints – by mid-afternoon at the latest. I offset the exhaustion I often felt with the happy knowledge that after my cardio I’d get to eat something yummy. Healthy yummy, but still. Something to look forward to. A big bowl of fruit salad, perhaps, and maybe some more yogurt. Of course I would have already eaten lunch earlier. My favourite mix was tinned tuna, with a small tin of mixed legumes, 1/3 an avocado, oil and balsamic, and a small tin of sweet corn. Sometimes I’d have a piece of rye toast with it. Tuna and chili pasta was another favourite post workout meal. If I was at home I’d often eat a couple pieces of bread and honey with banana – still something I love, I must admit.
Cardio = carbs = cardio = carbs: where does it end?
The following post includes a book review. Read time 2-3 minutes.
As you may have read last week, I’m a huge believer in support from quality supplements for health and fat loss. In case you missed my post, I spoke about the theory that we shouldn’t needsupplements if we eat well, and the reality of nutrient depletion simply through life in an imperfect and stressful world. I consider good supplements to my nutritional insurance, and I know they’ve made a huge difference in the way I look, function, and feel. Personally I take supplements not only for general health, digestion, sleep etc, but also to ensure I’m getting the most out of my workouts. In fact, you could even say I take supplements to help me be a better writer, given that Omega 3 fatty acids, along with the amino acid L-Carnitine, are both known to boost brainpower and mental focus.
Anyway, you can probably tell that supplementation is a subject I’m passionate about, but let me tell you how that relates to you. The thing is, when I discovered the ‘real deal’ about supplementaion and nutrition my body results went through the roof. Prior to having a baby I was in good shape, and worked hard (mainly through exercise and nutrition) to get there. Now, 9 months post baby, I can honestly say that I’m slowly but surely getting in the best shape of my life. I credit a lot of this to my education from Charles Poliquin as a BioSignature practitioner. I’ve changed aspects of my training and nutrition to better suit my hormonal needs and it’s made a huge difference. But one thing I’ve also changed – you could even say introduced – is admitting that properly chosen nutritional support makes a huge difference.
In the past 4-5 weeks particularly I’ve been burning fat and building muscle like nobody’s business and I credit much of that to the fact that I’m finally using supplements as a primary and structured part of my training. Through BioSignature I’ve learnt a lot about choosing supplements for myself and my clients, and I’m also lucky enough to have the help of some great trainer friends in this area, so I feel confident in where I spend my supplement money. But I can understand what a maze the world of supplements can be when you haven’t specifically studied that area of health. And why would you have? It’s tough enough knowing where to start when it comes to sound nutritional advice. But this is one are where you do need to either work with someone who knows what they’re on about, or do your homework. Otherwise you risk spending money on trashy gimmicks that look impressive on your kitchen bench but do little else.
I feel like I’m kind of starting to re-hash well trodden ground here, so let me preface this one by saying I’ll back off for a bit after this! In the past few weeks I’ve told you how to tell if you’re addicted to carbs (hint: if you are, then this one is for you), asked you if your cardio habit is fueling your carb addiction, spoken about why I think it’s a myth that your body ‘needs’ bread or other carbs, told you when to break the rules on a low-carb diet, and explained low-carb nutrition once and for all (although obviously not, given how I’m still writing about it!)
