I stumbled upon IF in 2012 and have done a lot of reading on the subject. I even used a modified version of it for some time with great success in the past and am currently seeing even better results his time around. A lot of people have been asking for more information on IF, so I figured it would be easier to just compile everything I have read in one easy to navigate resource. Here it goes:
July 6, 2012 was the first time I discovered IF. I read an article from Cut and Jacked….I know it’s not JAMA but a lot of it made sense to me and I decided to investigate further. I found this article in September of the same year. It’s full of useful information and links to other very useful sites like Lean Gains which is what really got me hooked on the idea. 
From there I started trying to develop my plan of attack and I found this little gem. I considered this my IF holy grail…..

 I’ve always been a firm believer in eating breakfast and it being the most important meal of the day. However, I also like to experiment with various eating habits and I feel like mixing things up can have substantial health benefits. I say this because I don’t want anyone believing that IF is some magic bullet that provides a one size fits all solution that will work perfectly forever. Try it. See if it works. Stop if it’s not working and try something else. I’m not so naive to think that IF is the sole reason if my recent weight loss but I do feel that it is a great contributor. So, if you find yourself stuck in a weight loss rut then try something new. Read about carb cycling. Read about IF. Remember that there are no cookie cutter diets or exercise plans that will produce the exact same results for every person. You are unique. Find what works best for you and stick with it….until it stops working and then try something else.

IF isn’t a new fad diet, it’s been around since the beginning of time…..since our ancestors had to fast because there was no McDonald’s or Little Debbie’s. Our bodies are made to go through significant fasted periods and have adapted over millions of years to not die if we don’t eat every two hours. The theory is sound and it has gotten the attention of the scientific/medical community. I try to think of it as more of a body hack. 

I went to a lecture in tupelo several years ago (about 8 years ago!!) about activating starvation genes (there are serval but SIR-2 was the topic of this presentation) with chemical compounds (better living through chemistry, right?!). This is where the reservatrol stuff comes in, but that’s another topic for another day and something that I don’t believe in as it is currently presented but it could lead to some interesting discoveries. SIR-2 is activated by starvation and its linked to increased life span in several species. A drug company was working on several groundbreaking compounds to tackle a host of metabolic diseases through activating these genes but I don’t think they ever made past a few years of trials. We don’t have a solid medication approach yet to activating these “starvation” genes but I feel like it’s coming, especially with all of this CRISPR talk going. So, this brings us to the next best thing….intermittent fasting. It mimics starving without actually starving. It’s remarkable. It’s my understanding that IF can produce all of the benefits of starvation without all of the negative effects…..such as death
Here’s a newer study that I found last summer that kind of sparked my interest again. 

Earlier this month I went to a CE on longevity and aging. We covered section on calorie deprivation and how it’s the ONLY thing shown to maximize life span in most species…..basically the closest thing to the fountain of youth that we will ever find. Calorie restriction slows metabolism and slower metabolism slows aging at the genetic level. I know this flies in the face of most weight loss plans as they are all about stoking ones metabolism but maybe IF falls in the middle where it produces benefits that are the best of both worlds?

IF leads to increased autophagy which is connected to increased longevity. Autophagy cleans up damaged proteins. Poorly coded or folded proteins cause a lot of nasty problems (see Alzheimer’s, T2DM, etc). This is where a lot of that “get a full nights sleep” talk comes in to play. Most of your typical fasting comes at night which is when autophagy usually takes place. IF can possibly prolong this process. 

Here’s a few pictures of text from the CE I mentioned earlier. 

Here are some more links that I have used. There are way more out there but I’m just sharing the resources that I used to make my decisions. Some of these may be used in the body of the body but I wanted to list them all again here. Two are the same thing but from different websites as some people had trouble opening one of them before. 

10 Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Cut and Jacked: Intermittent Fasting for fat loss
A guide to intermittent fasting
How to eat and succeed on the lean gains diet

National Institutes of Health Study

Intermittent Fasting Guide: free download
Experiments with Intermittent Fasting

Daily Burn: Intermittent Fasting Methods

The of Effects of intermittent fasting on animal and human health
Leans Gains

A beginners guide to intermittent fasting 

The fall running extravaganza is kicking off again along with college and professional football….which makes things quite difficult for me.

This time of year there are multiple races every weekend, both morning and night, road races and mud runs, 5Ks, 10ks, 1/2s, fulls, triathlons and duathlons. To add to the difficulty of weekend planning, there is college football…..SEC football…..OLE MISS FOOTBALL!!!! Not to mention, I pre-registered for 2 bigger races this fall. We have the Disney Tower of Terror 10-miler October 5th and then the Spartan Hurricane Heat on October 18th and the sprint on the 19th. If that date seems familiar, perhaps it’s due to the fact that Ole Miss will be beating LSU that weekend A guy can dream right?!

I need to sit down this weekend and plan out the next 3-4 months worth of races. What races do you have on tap for the coming months?!

This will be a quick post. I just had to share the protein pancake recipe that I made up this morning. I have been experimenting with protein pancakes since I was in high school but I have never been really pleased with the results…..until now!

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup oats

1 scoop vanilla protein (I used Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey)

1 tbsp gound flaxseed (provides 1200mg omega-3 fatty acids!!)

1/3 cup pancake mix

1/2 cup 2% milk

2 egg whites

1/8 cup macadamia nuts

1 tbsp white chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

Put all of the ingredients, minus the nuts and white chocolate chips, in a large mixing bowl and whisk vigorously. The protein powder will tend to clump more than the pancake mix so just keep working that forearm until you get all of those little clumps broken up. The macadamias that I had were halves, so I got a knife and chopped them up into smaller pieces. Pour the batter onto your skillet or griddle and then manually add a small amount of the nuts and chips (about 1/5 of each). This way you can be assured that you have an even amount per pancake. 

Most protein pancakes I have made turn out to be extremely tough, mostly due to the large amount of protein powder. I realized thought that if I could cut down the amount of protein powder and add some other sources of protein that I could probably make a better pancake. It worked!! Oh, and I also added blueberries to the last pancake (BEST IDEA EVER) but I didn’t factor those calories in.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

The above ingredients makes 5 standard-sized pancakes. I will provide you with the total nutritional info for the mixture as well as the per serving breakdown. 

January 1st, I decided that starting January 2nd I would run everyday for 30 days straight as a way to kick start my new year.

I have been battling maintaining a consistent workout regimen for a while now and I had to do something. I would do good for a week or two then something small would come along and make me miss a day. Then two days. Then three. The next thing I knew, I hadn’t worked out in 2 weeks and gained 5 pounds.

I allowed this. I gave in to being tired. I gave in to it being cold outside. I set myself up for failure. Not anymore. I made a commitment to myself to run everyday. It may not always be a long run but I will run. I wanted to run at least 1 mile but I did get sick a few days ago. I tried going out that night and made it about 0.2 miles, but it was a moral victory.

Days 1-7 were tough. It was actually still a question as to whether I was going to run. Each run was hard. Each run hurt. Each run tried to keep me from wanting to run the next day. But I didn’t listen.

On day 8 I turned a corner. I wasn’t tired. I wasn’t sore. I didn’t feel like I was running slow. I felt like a gazelle! It was no longer a question of whether I was going to run. The only question was how long and how fast. My average pace has been falling steadily. I was looking at 10-11 minute paces. Then it was sub-10 minute paces. Then 9:30. Now I’m looking at 9:02-9:15 paces.

Today, I will be lacing up my shoes for my 17th consecutive run and I can’t wait to get started. I’m looking forward to it. It’s amazing how my state of mind has changed in a mere 17 days. I feel happier. I feel more outgoing. I’m more focused. I have more energy. Running can change your entire outlook on life and in such a short time.

As I write this it seems odd that’s it only been 17 days. I feel like it’s already been a month. I would highly recommend this If anyone is looking for a good way to start a meaningful transformation.

#getphit

Weight loss is the dominant predictor of reduced diabetes incidence. Research has shown that for every kilogram (2.2 pounds) of weight loss, there is a 16% reduction in risk of developing diabetes. However, weight loss is not the only factor. A calorie restricted diet helped participants in the study lose weight, but increased physical activity was important to help sustain weight loss. Of the nearly 1100 participants, almost 500 did not meet the weight loss goal at year 1. But of those 500 who achieved the physical activity goal, had 44% lower diabetes incidence.

The moral of the story is: diet, exercise and weight loss or any combination of those will result in a lowered risk of developing diabetes.

If living a longer, healthier, happier diabetes-free life isn’t enough of a reason for you them maybe cost is. Money talks, right?! A study from 2007 showed that people with diagnosed diabetes incur average expenditures of $11,744 per year, of which $6,649 is attributed to diabetes. How’s that for motivation?! I mean, a gym membership is about $360/year and some running shoes are about $100. No matter how you look at it, it’s cheaper to prevent diabetes than to treat it.

http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/31/3/596.full

http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/29/9/2102.long

This is a link to 3 bodybuilding.com protein fluff recipes.

Can’t wait to give this a shot…especially the blueberry!!

Someone recently asked me what supplements I would recommend. I usually tell people that if I were going to take only one supplement it would be protein. If you’ve ever been in a gym, chances are that you’ve overheard someone talking about protein shakes, when they drink them and which they prefer. Various protein powders have been around awhile but they have been increasing in popularity over the recent years, and rightfully so. Generally speaking, protein powders are a relatively cheap supplement with proven benefits for building lean, quality muscle for everyone from elite bodybuilders to recreational runners.

DO I NEED MORE PROTEIN?

The average Joe likely consumes enough whole food protein and doesn’t need to supplement their diet with powders, bars or shakes. You may need to evaluate your protein intake if you have recently cut your calories, increased your workout intensity, recovering from an injury or have switched to a vegetarian or vegan diet. Typically, it doesn’t take that much protein to achieve those goals. Most Americans already get about 15% of their daily calories in protein. To build a pound of muscle the body only needs between 10 and 14 additional grams of protein per day. Taking in too much protein (especially without increased water intake) can be really harsh on your kidneys, so chugging down a 60g protein shake may not be the best idea. An excess calorie is an excess calorie, so if you consume more than you need of any macronutrient it will be stored as energy (fat).

Most athletes (from recreational to elite) only need somewhere between 0.5 and 0.9 grams per pound of body weight. Around the gym you may hear folks who mention 1-2g per pound of body weight but this is coming from reading what 300lb bodybuilders with a equibol drip are reporting. The maximum amount of protein that most adults can use per day is 0.9 grams per pound of body weight, but for math purposes I would just use 1 gram.

This increased popularity has made it a huge money maker in the supplement industry which has led to the market being flooded with protein powders from every source imaginable. It can be quite the overwhelming task trying to navigate all of the types and brands available today. I will do my best to break down what’s currently available and the benefits of each type of protein.

CASEIN

It’s important to have a steady flow of amino acids and protein long after your workout, especially while you sleep. This is where micellular casein protein comes in.

Casein is a major protein found in mammalian milk, makes up about 80% of cows milk and 20-40% of human milk. It’s not very soluble and digests very slowly, which is its strong point.

It forms a gel in the stomach and slowly releases amino acids over hours (up to 7!). If you have never used casein, let me give you some useful information. It also forms a gel IN THE GLASS AS YOU MIX IT AND IN YOUR THROAT AS YOU TRY TO CHOKE IT DOWN!! Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big casein fan but I gagged through an entire jug before I really learned how to take it. This is what I learned, it mixes better with water and you need to use more water than the directions call for. This is how I drink it at night prior to bed. But the best thing I did was mix it with regular whey. This way I had a fast absorbing (<20 minutes) protein and a slow-release protein. This way was particularly good when I was doing later workouts. I later discovered you could buy protein this way, but they will be discussed later.

There's also more to casein than fueling your muscles. It has one of the highest glut amine levels of any other protein powder. Glutamine is the most prevalent amino acid in the body and is used in large quantities by the immune system. If the body finds itself in need of beefing up the defenses and it's short on glutamine, it won't hesitate to kick start some muscle catabolism to get the glutamine that it needs. Glutamine's biggest role, in my opinion, is the increased leucine levels in muscle fibers, which promotes muscle growth and protein synthesis. It also boosts growth hormone levels which increase muscle size and strength as well as promotes fat loss.

EGG WHITE PROTEIN

Egg whites are one of the highest quality proteins available, due to their rich amino-acid profile and ease of digestion. They contain as many as 40 different, 3 of which make up the majority. Two are glycoproteins, meaning they are proteins with carbohydrates and make up a combined 60% of the protein content. The third being a iron binding protein.

Avidin, one of the most minor constituents (~0.5%), is perhaps the only one that you may have heard of. This minor protein can become toxic when consumed in large doses. Avidin binds to a critical b vitamin, biotin, and removes it from the body resulting in a biotin deficiency. This condition usually only presents itself after a Rocky marathon when you decide to swallow a dozen raw eggs! Luckily egg white protein powders are pasteurized which renderers avidin inactive and unable to bind to biotin.

Egg whites also contain a healthy amount of aminos, including the BCAA’s leucine, isoleucine, and valine. The benefits of leucine were discussed above and studies have shown that egg proteins have shown similar results in stimulating protein synthesis as casein and whey. It also contains arginine which can be found in a lot of pre-workouts due to its ability to stimulate nitric-oxide (N.O.). N.O. is special due to its ability to dilate blood vessels which increases blood flow to muscles to deliver more oxygen, nutrients and anabolic hormones for better recovery and bigger pumps during a workout.

One of the worst side-effects of this type of protein is the foul gas produced by the sulfur….BUT sulfur may have some positive benefits. Sulfur is a critical part of the body’s hormone producing pathways which helps egg whites further promote muscle growth.

SOY

Plant-based proteins offer a great alternative to those who choose not to use animal-based products or can’t use them due to intolerance or allergies.

Soy kind of gets a bad deal and has taken the back seat to the media darling whey. One of the biggest mistakes made about soy is the association with it containing phytoestrogens that are extremely similar (on the molecular level) to estrogen, which was discussed I discussed in Alcohol Doth Not a Man Make. Lucky for soy though, there some studies that indicate that soy’s phytoestrogens may not decrease testosterone as much as some other sources. One study, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility in 2010, examined 15 other studies conducted on soy and testosterone levels and concluded that
there was absolutely no evidence that soy impacts testosterone levels in men! The problems for soy don’t end there. There are also those who don’t think soy works as well as whey or casein. This also appears to not be true. A study published in 2007 in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition gave weighttrained males either soy protein, a soy and whey blend or a whey protein
twice a day for 12 weeks and found that all of them gained a similar amount of muscle mass regardless of what type of protein they took. Soy even offers some things that things that whey cannot, such as arginine, like the egg white proteins mentioned above.

WHEY

I saved the best, or a least the most popular, for last. It’s popularity is due in part to the fact that it’s really good at prompting muscle protein synthesis and because it digests extremely quickly. Whey is the soluble portion of milk protein and makes up about 20% of milks total protein content. You may also know it as the gross water that floats on top of your yogurt!

Whey not only increases protein synthesis with an abundance of BCAA’s but also by raising insulin levels which is good for creating a favorable environment for muscle growth. It also contains some short protein fragments that can blunt angiotensis-converting enzymes (ACE), which will mean a lot to my pharmacy friends out there! This should sound familiar to most people with high blood pressure since you were likely on lisinopril or another related ACE-inhibitor. I’m not touting whey as a cure for high blood pressure (although you may read that in some places) but the blood vessel dilation can provide effects similar to N.O. mentioned earlier.

BLENDED/MIXED PROTEINS

If you can only afford one type of protein, this is probably the type that you should go with. Combining faster-, intermediate-, and slower-protein sources in one convenient place, blended proteins give you more sustained protein digestion than single-source proteins like whey, casein, egg, or soy.

RECOVERY PROTEINS

This could be an entire blog entry itself but since I am already approaching 1700 words I will make it short and sweet. These are moderate calorie, fast-acting protein and carbohydrate combinations, typically in a 4:1 or 5:1 carb:protein ratio. They are specifically designed to be consumed immediately after workouts when glycogen and muscle protein resynthesis are at their peak.

PROCESSING

There are a few key words you may see when looking for protein powders. The first 2 are concentrate and isolate. Concentrates have undergone less filtration and are usually the cheapest for available. Isolates have undergone additional processing steps which results in a more pure form of protein than the concentrates. The extra processing removes more carbs and fats which results in faster digestion and absorption.

Another that you will see and is becoming more common is hydrolysates. These hydrolyzed proteins are any more pure or filtered any differently, but have gone through the process of hydrolysis. This process breaks longer protein chains down into smaller peptide fragments. This is frequently referred to “predigested” proteins. This basically results in even faster absorption since the first steps of digestion are breaking these peptide chains down into smaller chains, meaning you skip some of the early steps in digestion!

PERSONAL RECOMMENDATIONS

When it comes to supplements, I have pretty much tried them all. My favorite company right now is Optimum Nutrition. I have no stock in bodybuilding.com or ON but that is the company that I typically use and the website that I typically purchase from.

If I were on a relatively tight budget and could only have one protein in my arsenal, for me it would be O.N. Gold Standard 100% Whey. The next protein I would consider adding would be Gold Standard 100% Casein. The cost of buying these fast and slow-acting proteins separately can add up, so you may want to look at some of the blended options. O.N. offers two, that I am familiar with. The newest and probably the most well rounded product they offer is Platinum Hydro Whey Builder. This guy offers staged protein delivery in the form of ultra fast-acting hydrowhey isolates, moderate acting egg albumin and casein. It also offers 13.5g of essential aminos, beta alanine and micronized creatine and all for only 180 calories!! They platinum series started with the hydro whey (perhaps my FAVORITE protein) and now includes several top shelf products. Their other blended protein is Pro Complex which contains the same protein content minus the creatine and other goodies. You will notice that the Pro Complex offers 60g protein vs the Hydro Whey Builders 30g protein. The thing to pay attention to when comparing any proteins is the serving size. The 60g protein option is a 74 g serving size compared to a 50 g serving size.

They also offer a very reasonably priced soy and egg protein option. They do offer a glyco waxy maize that you can purchase separately to take with your protein for recovery or you can purchase their 2:1:1 Recovery Protein.

The last protein product that I am going to talk about is their 100% ANY Whey. This is perhaps one of the coolest proteins I have ever seen. It has basically zero carbs and zero fats and around 14g protein. It’s virtually tasteless so it can be added to items that ordinarily have no to low protein content such as pancakes, biscuits, mashed potatoes, or even muffins!!

My last few pieces of advice are to have fun with protein powders. They don’t have to be mixed with warm water from the the gym fountain and slugged down right after working out. Try making a smoothie in the morning. I like to use the vanilla powder and mix with a little milk, greek yogurt, a few almonds, teaspoon of EVOO (fats), ground flax seeds, a whole banana, and frozen blueberries and strawberries. I will even add a good high fiber cereal to it occasionally. For chocolate powders I keep it simple and stick with milk, yogurt, peanut butter, EVOO, almonds and peanut butter. Feel free to experiment and see what tastes best to you and keeps you full the longest.

Take that Smoothie King!!

ADDITIONAL INFO

Protein

Click to access protein_guide.pdf

HOW TO TRAIN ABS

Training abs is similar to training other muscle groups, in that you need to do different exercise to hit the different areas (lower, upper, obliques, and core). However, there are some differences and one of the main differences being recovery time. Most muscles takes minutes to recover between sets but abs only takes seconds. So the trick to training them properly is constant movement. Just move from exercise to exercise with little to no rest. People who claim to work their abs for much more than 5 minutes are resting too much between sets.

Abs can be trained every day that you are in the gym if you like. I personally only train them 3 x week since your ab muscles involved in torso stability and are the secondary muscles involved in many different movements.

PREFERRED ORDER
I prefer to work the lower abdominal region first. Probably start with something like leg lifts or reverse crunches, whichever floats your boat. Working the lower abs requires help from the upper abs and obliques. Do a lower ab exercise to failure them move straight obliques (twists of some kind). Again, work them to failure then move on to upper abs.

Try not to concern yourself too much about the number of crunches, but instead focus on the contraction and getting a full range of motion. I don’t even count reps on abs. I just do them until I can’t do any more.

ABS ON DISPLAY

Training your abs will make them stronger and improve athletic performance but it won’t do much for making them visible for the world to see. To “bring out your abs” (Holy Grail?), you need to create a calorie deficit. Do this by increasing your cardio and cleaning up you diet.

SOME OF MY CHOICE EXERCISES
alternate heel touches

bench leg raises

jackknife sit-ups

kettlebell figure 8 I also like to do these as a walking lunge combination. Do 1/2 half of the figure 8 at the bottom of each lunge….KILLER!!!

reverse crunches I do these a lot but I prefer to not bend my knees. I start with my feet just a few inches off the ground, keep my legs straight and raise my legs completely vertical and push my toes towards the ceiling. After about 10 reps or so, I will start twisting at the top…excellent.

rope crunches I feel like I need some weighted resistance occasionally.

scissor kicks

seated leg tucks

wood choppers

toe touchers

toes to bar

Also, here is a list of ab exercises that I used to pull my favorites from. The come with a brief description and video demonstration.

I really enjoy doing supersets of alternate heal touchers, toe touchers, then crunches. Move from one exercise to the next with NO BREAK. After completing one set of all 3 then take a VERY short break (10-15 seconds) and then repeat. Do this for 3-4 supersets.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE AB WORKOUTS?

I know there are a lot of exercises out there, including a HUGE amount of data core training but there will be a follow-up post on core training.

What are your favorite ab exercises? How often do you train abs?

Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to….

Ok, right off the bat let me apologize for the TLC reference….oh it ain’t my fault (and now I apologize for the throwback to Silkk the Shocker) but I digress.

Now, on to the matter at hand….hypertension, high blood pressure or HTN (as I will refer to it throughout the remainder of this post). With my pharmacy background most people would probably assume that my solution for all medical conditions would be to throw some pills at it. They would be wrong.

THERAPEUTIC LIFESTYLE CHANGES (TLC)

We, as health care providers, need to do a better job of recommending, implementing and teaching patients TLC, like how to follow the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan, which is rich in potassium and calcium, dietary sodium reduction, physical activity and moderation of alcohol consumption. A 1500mg sodium (2/3 teaspoon) DASH eating plan has effects similar to single drug therapy.

DIET
Eat less fatty foods, increase protein and fiber consumption. Eat more fruits and vegetables which may allow you to stop taking some medications unrelated to HTN, like Metamucil. Eat more whole grains and foods rich in the EFA’s(essential fatty acids) such as flaxseed oil, borage, salmon and other fish that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. These dietary changes can help your hypertension, dyslipidemia and obesity.

EXERCISE
Get at least 30 minutes per day, three days a week of cardiovascular exercise. This can also help reduce your hypertension and obesity1.

EXAMPLES
Let’s say that your 5’3″ weigh 186 pounds(84.55kg), that would be a body mass index (BMI) of 33 kg/m2. The goal, according to the JNC7 for BMI is 18.5-24.9kg/m2. If you can get your BMI down to at least the 24.9kg/m2, that would equate to a 20.62kg (sorry for all of the metric talk, but that’s how the equations are formulated. That would be a 45 lb weight loss, bringing your weight down from 186 to 141 lbs) weight loss. The average blood pressure reduction associated with weight loss is 5-20 mmHg/10kg, meaning you could drop your blood pressure 10-40mmHg. If you follow the DASH eating plan that could bring you down another 8-14mmHg (in as little as 2 weeks!). The sodium restriction (1.5-2.4g of sodium/day) equates to 2-8mmHg drop. And finally the exercise could lower your blood pressure another 4-9mmHg. Oh, and let’s not forget your drinking problem. Men, limit this to <;2 drinks/day and women or lighter weight persons its <;1 drink/day. If you are drinking more than that and limit to the numbers above then you could see another 2-4 mmHg reduction.

All of that adds up to the possibility of lowering your systolic blood pressure anywhere from 26-75mmHg!! If your blood pressure reading was 194/82, that means we could bring your systolic blood pressure down to anywhere from 168-119mmHg with therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLC) alone1. You would be hard pressed to find a single blood pressure agent that would give a 75mmgHg reduction in BP.

EXTRA READING
http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/dash-diet

http://dashdiet.org/dash_diet_book.asp?google&gclid=CIqKqojbhLQCFQY5nAodHFcAFg

References:
1)Saseen JJ, Carter BL. Hypertension. In: DiPiro JT, Talbert RL, Yee GC, Matzke GR, Wells BG, Posey LM, eds. Pharmacotherapy: A Pathophysiologic Approach. 6th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2005:193,195, 203, 205.

DOES THE NEGATIVE CALORIE UNICORN EXIST?

The short answer is….maybe?? The long answer is what follows.

All foods have calories, some just more that others!! When looking for details on negative calorie foods, you may read some misleading information. This term is somewhat misleading in and of itself. I will do my best to explain this mythical food group.

The basic idea of a negative calorie food is that the calories of that particular food are so low that it actually takes more calories to digest it than there are in it (thermic effect>food energy content)! Pretty cool stuff.

For the most part, these are fibrous carbohydrates. Calories from these foods are much harder for the body to digest or breakdown. This gives these foods an edge in the fat-burning department and for this reason they are sometimes referred to as “fat burning foods”.

Let’s say a piece of food that doesn’t have much fiber or protein (dessert) may have contain 400 calories but it only requires 100 calories to digest. This will result in a net gain of 300 calories added to your body…..probably to your gullet or hips!

So, what kind of calorie deficit can you expect from a “negative calorie” food? A 25 calorie piece of broccoli (100 grams) requires 80 calories to digest!! So for every 25 calories of broccoli you eat, you have a net loss of 55 calories!!! So the more negative calorie foods you eat, the better your calorie deficit.

EXAMPLES, PLEASE

Some of these natural foods are asparagus, apple, beet, berries, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, chili, cucumber, garlic, lettuce, grapefruit, lemon, mango, onion, orange, papaya, pineapple, spinach, turnip, zucchini, etc. The entire list of negative calorie foods contains about 100 foods.

FINAL THOUGHTS
There are experts on both sides of the fence on this one. The thermic effect of foods vary between various food groups and within food groups. Protein has a thermic effect of about 25% but fat and carbs are only at about 5-10%. For a food to be a true “negative calorie” food it would need to have >100% thermic effect, which is impossible. However, I feel like these foods may approach this more so than others.

Do I think that you can reach your goal weight by eating a boatload of broccoli? NO

Do I think that these foods actually burn more calories than they contain? I don’t think so.

Do I think that eating a boatload of these foods can help you in your quest for your individual fitness goal? ABSOLUTELY!!! I mean, it can’t hurt to give it a try right?