Berardi's Top Foods for Fat Loss
Inside Issue #30 Dr. John Berardi discusses his top 20 superfoods that will help you lose fat and improve your workouts.
- When Calories don't Matter
- Berardi's Top 20 Superfoods
- Burn Fat Fast with the TT Membership
1 - Why Calories Don't Matter
Here's another myth I exposed in my column in Men's Fitness magazine:
Myth: I need to burn 300 calories each workout to lose fat.
Truth:
Possibly one of the worst inventions for fat loss was the calorie-counting monitor on treadmills, elliptical machines, and stairmasters. Because of these, millions of men and women now obsess about the number of calories burned per session. You've probably even been one of those people, watching it creep up ever so slowly during a slow-cardio session. All the while knowing that you can wipe out a 30-minute, 300-calorie treadmill session with one fell swoop of the Krispy Kreme hand.
Too many people are brainwashed into thinking that if they don't burn 300-500 calories per session, then they won't lose fat. After all, that is what you've been told time and time again in those fluffy fitness/fashion magazines. The problems with this approach to fat loss are numerous. First off, it's difficult to say if the calorie counters are even accurate. A story on CBS news showed that cardio machines overestimate calorie burning by up to 20%.
Next, depending on slow cardio for advanced fat loss is relatively useless and at the very least, inefficient. It takes a long time for you to burn a lot of calories and one study showed that men who only used cardio training for weight loss ended up with a reduced resting metabolism. You are basically undoing the calorie burning by depending only on cardio. On the other hand, guys in the same study that used strength training didn't suffer a reduced metabolic rate.
So what is the solution to burning fat in a faster, more efficient method? The answer is to burn fewer calories in less exercise time, but with a more intense form of exercise. Click here to see a sample workout.
And the trick to getting better results in this backwards approach? Your body will burn more calories after exercise (when you use intervals) than it does after you do slow cardio and your metabolism will stay high. Some experts refer to this as the afterburn effect. How do you do intervals? Well, you could sprint for 30 seconds and rest for 90 seconds and repeat that for 6 sets - using the bike preferably or treadmill if you are experienced with it.
Within that short time frame the intervals will cause your muscles to go crazy with activity (I call it a metabolic disturbance). This crazy metabolism boost causes lots of calorie burning after exercise to get your body back to normal. The result is you would end up burning more fat and more calories in the post-exercise period as your body tries to get things under control.
Now there is one time where you'd want to count calories, but that is when you are counting up and determining how many calories you eat per day. Again, you can wipe out an entire workout's work in less than a minute simply by eating garbage. Without some structure and discipline to your nutrition, there is nothing that even my programs can do to help you lose fat.
So exercise nutrition control and interval training. These are the two anti-calorie counting methods that will help you lose fat and get lean. Click here to learn more...
2 - Berardi's Top 20 Superfoods
If you want to lose fat, gain muscle, and improve performance, then it makes sense to go to the experts that have achieved this with themselves and with thousands of clients. For nutrition, there may be no one better than Dr. John Berardi.
John's list of accomplishments are long and distinguished:
· A former national level bodybuilder
· A current professor at the University of Texas at Austin
· President of Science Link, Inc - Translating Research Into Results
· & author of 3 books: Gourmet Nutrition, From Scrawny to Brawny (www.scrawnytobrawny.com), and Rev It Up (to be released in Dec 2005).
I ask John about nutrition every chance that I get because he knows a lot about what is arguably the most important part of the fat loss equation - nutrition.
CB:
Do you suggest any superfoods that you think absolutely must be in everyone's diet for health and wellness purposes?
JB:
In my latest book (Rev It Up), I outline 20 superfoods that I think are essential in every nutrition plan. Here are the 20:
1) Lean Red Meat (93% lean, top round, or sirloin)
2) Salmon
3) Omega 3 Eggs
4) Low-fat, plain yogurt (lactose free if you can find it)
5) Supplemental protein (milk protein isolates or rice protein concentrate if you have a milk protein intolerance/allergy)
6) Spinach
7) Tomatoes
8) Cruciferous Vegetables
9) Mixed Berries
10)
11) Mixed Beans
12) Quinoa
13) Whole Oats
14) Mixed Nuts
15) Avocados
16) Olive Oil
17) Fish Oil
18) Flax Seeds (ground)
19) Green Tea
20) Liquid Recovery drinks (like Biotest Surge)
In the book, a book about how to rev back up your metabolism - regardless of your age, I describe all the benefits of these foods. I won't 'spill the beans' now, before the book comes out, but trust me on this one, if you get a few servings of each of these foods every week, you'll be pretty close to that intersection I keep talking about.
CB:
That's great John. I want all my readers to go through this superfoods checklist and then get these foods on their shopping lists ASAP.
Now, speaking of metabolism: what ratio of carbohydrates, fat and protein is best for fat loss or is this something that must be approached individually?
JB:
It really must be approached individually. You see, after working with thousands of clients, I've discovered that there is no 'one size fits all' approach to muscle gain or fat loss. There are different body types and each type requires a different prescription. For the sake of simplicity here, I'll break individuals up into 3 types:
*Body Type #1 - The Skinny Bastard - The skinny bastard is often characterized as having a 'fast metabolism.'
*Body Type #2 - The Fat Bastard - The fat bastard is often characterized as having a 'slow metabolism.'
*Body Type #3 - The Plain Ol’ Bastard - The envy of all. He's the guy that puts on muscle easily while staying lean. He grows and shrinks in proportion.
Okay, so these definitions maybe won't find their way into Webster's but they create a nice distinction between individuals. Now, you might be thinking that these distinctions aren't always evident. And you'd be right. In most trainees these distinctions are quite clear. However, with proper training and nutrition, drug use, or surgery, the line can sometimes be blurred.
Drug use and surgery aside, if you don't know which type an individual is you've got to find out what that person would look like with the removal of the training stimulus.
If the person would end up really thin, not appearing as if they even bothered to work out, then they're a skinny bastard. If the would end up really fat, appearing thick but very chubby/chunky, then they're a fat bastard. And if the person would still look like they work out, albeit a little worse than presently, then they're a plain ol' bastard.
You see it's not how you look today that's most important - it's how you'd look if you didn't train.
CB: So what does each type require?
JB:
I usually hesitate to prescribe macronutrient percentages and grams to clients - after all, isn't it my job to make it easy on them?
So rather than put them in the middle of a macronutrient minefield, I make it simple by translating all that calorie and macronutrient stuff into food that they can eat. As an old prof of mine used to say: "We don't eat calories, we don't eat protein, we don't eat carbs, and we don't eat fat. People eat food; apples and chicken breasts!"
So my nutrition prescriptions involve recommending different food choices at different times of the day. It makes it really simple for the client. No calculator or advanced math skills required.
CB:
What about for the nutritionists reading this? How would you recommend they coach their clients with the 3 different body types?
JB:
Body Type #1 - The Skinny Bastard - usually requires a higher calorie, higher carbohydrate diet (vs. the other types) when trying to lose fat. Crash diets, in this group, lead to lots of lean mass lost. These individuals can get lean by simply increasing their energy expenditure (usually through lower intensity cardio work - so as not to stress their already hyperactive sympathetic nervous systems) and by cleaning up their diets. Usually these body types can get lean from a diet that's 50% carbohydrate, 20% protein, and 30% fat. That's around what a self-selected nutrition intake would be anyway. That's why it's pretty easy for these individuals to get lean.
Body Type #2 - The Fat Bastard - usually requires a lower calorie diet that prioritizes protein and fat intake while keeping carbohydrate relatively low. When combined with more high intensity exercise (perhaps 5 weight training, 3 interval, and 2 low intensity cardio) sessions per week, a 30% carbohydrate, 35% protein, 35% fat diet works pretty well in this group - as long as they pay attention to nutrient timing.
Body Type #3 - The Plain Ol' Bastard - usually doesn’t have to lose fat - bastards! However, when they do, they usually can do so with a combination of the two approaches above - the exercise prescription of the fat bastard and the nutritional prescription of the skinny bastard.
CB: What about this nutrient timing concept you mentioned?
JB:
Good nutrient timing strategies are based on the fact that the body best handles different types of food at different times of the day. One of the most important nutrient timing strategies dictates that you should eat most of your non-fruit and veggie carbohydrates during and after exercise. This rule is especially important to our fat bastards above. If you haven't just exercised, put down the pasta, the breads, the rice, etc and step away from the table.
For more, on nutrient timing, check out the Nutrient Timing book here:
http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/reviews/nutrient_timing.htm
Also, my Gourmet Nutrition book, which contains over 100 recipes (in addition to all the cooking tips and strategies), has all the meals labeled with the right time of day to eat them. This makes it very easy to pay attention to nutrient timing.
CB: Thanks John. In the final round of the interview, we'll get a couple of John's favorite recipes for you to use. Read part 1 of the interview here.
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The information on TurbulenceTraining.com is for education purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to replace the advice or attention of health-care professionals. Consult your physician before beginning or making changes in your diet or exercise program, for diagnosis and treatment of illness and injuries, and for advice regarding medications.
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