The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition

The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition A Simple Guide About Your Choices With Nutrition

*1st Edition* Copyright © 2013 Alan Koger And ReDefineRVA All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording and/or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers. Company and product names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. RESULTS DISCLAIMER: I don’t make any promises or guarantees as to what type of results you will make following these techniques, nor should you make any assumptions. It all depends on your lifestyle (nutrition, exercise, motivation and dedication).

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The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition

The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition Hey there, I’m glad you found this e-book. Hopefully you received this e-book through my newsletter featured on my website: http://www.redefinerva.com Or http://www.total-weight-training.com If not…you should go ahead and check out the website. It has tons of information about nutrition, weight training and fitness. 3 Reasons I Made This Ebook 1. People honestly just don’t know what they should be eating. 2. It’s tough to filter through all the different information you hear and see. 3. I believe a lack of simple easy to follow information is the #1 reason people don’t achieve what they want. Fitness and nutrition are a passion of mine and fortunately I have been constantly surrounded by an environment where I was able to learn from some of the best trainers and nutritionists in the United States. I went to The College of William and Mary for a Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology (exercise science), played for the varsity soccer team while there, and have played professionally as well. Through my education and experiences I have learned the science behind it all and now I want to give that information to you in a format that is easy to follow. “If at any point while you are reading this guide you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. You can best reach me on Twitter (@ReDefineRVA), or on my Facebook Page. Even if you don’t have any www.redefinerva.com

The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition questions, I would love for you to come by and say hello! If you want to reach me in private, you can email me at [email protected].” Alan Koger

Table of Contents What Can The Right Diet Do For You? ................................................................................................................... 1 Don’t Know What Your Diet Is Made Of? ................................................................................................................ 2 Workout Nutrition ..................................................................................................................................................... 7 How much and how often? ...................................................................................................................................... 9 Learn Why “Revolutionary” Diets Are Mistakes .................................................................................................... 13 6 Tips To Controlling What You Eat ...................................................................................................................... 17 What Everybody Ought To Know About Groceries ............................................................................................... 25 Problems And Solutions To Going Out To Eat ...................................................................................................... 33 Learn How Easy It Is To Cook Healthy Food ........................................................................................................ 36 FAQ’s .................................................................................................................................................................... 40 Final Words from Alan ........................................................................................................................................... 42

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The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition

What Can The Right Diet Do For You? Simply put…the right diet will give you energy, strength and health.

…the list goes on and on. So Why Is It That We Don’t Care About What We Put In Our Bodies? It’s because we were raised this way. Back in the day, people were not exposed to mass-produced highly processed foods. Everything they ate was natural, either hunted or gathered.

Benefits Of A Healthy Diet Decreased risk of…    

heart disease high blood pressure type 2 diabetes cancers

Improved…        

self confidence digestive health mood energy levels immune system lean body mass body fat % weight management

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Everything we see in the grocery store nowadays has a shelf life of “forever” because there are so many un-natural ingredients in them. So what do you do now if you’re hungry? You hop over to McDonald’s and grab a whopper with fries…“Supersized” of course, because it took 10 minutes to drive there, get your food, and come back. We’re all now looking for the convenience of a quick, ready-to-eat meal. But what’s the cost of all this fast food? Well to mention a few:    

High blood pressure Excess body fat Low energy levels Obesity Page 1

The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition  Diabetes  Body image issues By now you’re probably realizing this and that’s why you’re here.

Don’t Know What Your Diet Is Made Of? There are 3 macronutrients (proteins, fats, carbohydrates) and your fluid intake. Proteins Proteins are the building blocks of your body. They make up the structure of everything in your body from the tiniest cells in your blood to the hair on your body. Main Functions:  Structural component of cells www.redefinerva.com

 Building block of bone, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood  Prevent muscle breakdown  Aid in digestion and transportation of nutrients and oxygen in the blood  Aid in the production of antibodies for immune health Best Sources:    

Eggs Fish Meats Dairy products

Carbohydrates Carbohydrates fuel your body’s cells from day to day. Without them you wouldn’t be able to function. That’s why all these “low carb” diets put people in terrible moods a lot of the time. First of all you’re hungry and second of all you have no energy to function. Without a constant source of carbohydrates your individual muscles, and more importantly, your entire body will not be able to function correctly.

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The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition Main Functions:    

Main source of energy to the cells of the body Main source of energy for the brain Aid in the metabolism of fat Spares muscle protein

Yes, your body may begin to use fats as a source of energy, which is why people go on low carb diets, but your body doesn’t want to do that. It’s inefficient and you will be out of energy, groggy, and even irritated. If you cut out carbs you are basically starving your body of the nutrients it needs.

Best Sources:  Vegetables  Fruits  Whole Grains Understanding Simple Versus Complex Carbs Now everyone wants to say how they’re bad for you and make you put on weight. The truth is that your body needs carbs and a good bit of them. Your muscles primary source of energy comes from stored glucose in your muscles and liver (which is called glycogen). If you don’t eat carbs your muscles don’t have energy to work.

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One other thing is that the main source of energy for your brain comes from carbs. NOW THAT’S SOMETHING YOU DON’T WANT TO MESS WITH. When people talk about putting on weight because of carbs it’s because they’re eating doughnuts, cookies and other highly processed foods like chips. If you’re eating whole grain breads, brown rice, vegetables and other foods with lots of fiber you will actually feel fuller longer, which will prevent you from overeating, and not to mention the improvements in healthy digestion. Digestion Of Carbs How simple carbs are digested: 1. Very quickly digested. Page 3

The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition 2. Cause a large and sudden spike in blood sugar levels. 3. If the muscles and liver are full of glycogen the extra blood sugar gets converted to fat.

It estimates how much each gram of available carbohydrate in a food raises a person’s blood glucose (sugar) level following consumption of the food, relative to the consumption of pure glucose (which has a GI of 100).

How complex carbs are digested: 1. They are digested slowly creating a slow steady release of energy. 2. This creates a small gradual increase in blood sugar levels. 3. This allows the muscles to burn some of the stored glycogen and replace it with slowly released energy from the complex carbs. 4. This prevents having extra blood sugar being converted to fat.

The only problem is that the glycemic index doesn’t take into account the amount of carbohydrate actually consumed. The glycemic load however factors in the amount of carbohydrate actually consumed. All this basically means is that a low GI food will be digested more slowly (these include complex carbs and fat) and allow a slow release of glucose into your system.

The Glycemix Index and Glycemic Load Now that we’re on the subject of carbohydrates I’m going to touch on the glycemic index just for a bit. I’m sure you’ve heard about it or seen people talk about it on TV. The glycemic index provides a measure of how quickly blood sugar levels rise after eating a particular type of food. www.redefinerva.com

High GI foods however will cause spikes in your blood sugar (these are the simple carbs we talked about). Low GI – 55 or less  Beans (white, black, kidney, soy, almond, peanut, walnut, chickpea); small seeds (sunflower, flax, pumpkin, poppy); most whole grains (wheat, millet, oat, rye, rice, barley); Page 4

The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition most vegetables, most sweet fruits (peaches, strawberries, mangos) Medium GI – 56-59  Not intact whole wheat or enriched wheat, pita bread, basmati rice, potato, grape juice, raisins, prunes, pumpernickel bread, cranberry juice, regular ice cream, banana High GI – 70 and above  White bread, most white rice, corn flakes, most breakfast cereals (not whole grains high in fiber), potatoes, parsnip What to get out of this:  The more low glycemic index foods you eat (complex carbs) the better it is for your body because the body will use what it needs and burn the rest. Fats

Main Functions:  Provide most of body’s tissues and organs with most of their energy  Allows proper signaling to contract muscles  Major transporter of nutrients in the body  Curbs hunger  Protection of organs  Structural component of cell membranes Good Fats (Polyunsaturated and Monounsaturated):  Cooking oils (olive, canola, peanut, nuts, avocado)  Fish  Nuts  Seeds Bad Fats (Saturated and Trans Fat):    

Beef (not lean) Butter Crisco Fried foods

Fats are also an energy source for your body and actually provide more energy to the body than carbs but mainly to the body’s tissues and organs. www.redefinerva.com

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The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition That’s the answer you typically hear when you ask how much.

Diet Composition The amount of each one of these macronutrients you eat falls within a range. Composition  Proteins  Carbohydates  Fats

10-35% 45-65% 20-35%

Now regardless of what your goal is, you should stay within these ranges. For example: A bodybuilder may reduce his overall amount of fat and increase his protein intake because he’s breaking down his muscles day in and day out. A marathon runner, however, may increase his carbohydrate intake and reduce his protein intake so he have more stores of energy in his body while running. Fluid Intake “Drink a gallon of water a day!” www.redefinerva.com

Why a gallon a day? There is no “true number” to the amount of water you’re supposed to drink each day. Someone could say 1-2 liters and someone may say a 1.5 gallons. The best way to know whether you need more water or not in your system is the color of your urine. “Ew, Gross!” Yeah I know it doesn’t sound the greatest but it’s the only true way of knowing whether you’re dehydrated or not. Urine should be:  A light tint of yellow  And not completely clear Yes, you can be too hydrated but it rarely happens to you as long as your body’s systems are working normally. Being overly hydrated causes sodium imbalances in the body, which can throw off a number of bodily functions. Page 6

The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition A general rule is that if you are thirsty, drink some water. Thirst normally kicks in around 1% dehydration, so it’s a good indicator to get you started before it gets any worse.

Workout Nutrition A few tips on maximizing muscle gain and fat loss when your body needs it the most Guidelines 3-4 hours pre-workout: Eat a big meal of complex carbs, lean protein and some veggies. This will help fill your glycogen stores (which your muscles use while working out) to give you maximum effort while working out. Sample meals: 1. Cup or two of brown rice with 4oz chicken breast (20-22g protein) and some mixed veggies 2. Pasta with marinara sauced, grilled veggies, and grilled chicken breast www.redefinerva.com

Within 2 hours pre-workout: Eat a small source of some carbs and protein. 1. Oatmeal with some almonds 2. Peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole grain bread or bagel 3. Banana topped with 1 tbsp. nut/seed butter 4. 1 cup breakfast cereal topped with low-fat milk or soymilk and ½ cup fruit 5. Fruit smoothie – blend 1 cup nonfat milk, 1 banana, ½ cup frozen strawberries or blueberries (+1 tbsp. protein powder – optional) 6. 1 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt with 1 cup chopped fruit or berries 7. Pita with hummus, vegetable juice 8. Whole grain bagel or bread topped with tomato slices and low fat cheese You should limit high fiber foods, spicy foods, heavy proteins, and fatty foods. 60 minutes to start of workout: Take your preworkout supplements or at least a whey protein shake to have some available amino acids in your Page 7

The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition body as you’re working out. Amino acids have been shown to actually be used as an energy source while working out. Examples:  Whey Protein Shake  Amino Acid Supplement

30-90 Minutes Post Workout: Have a good sized meal with a lean source of protein and high quality carbs (complex). This will help replenish your glycogen stores and get your muscles recovering more quickly. Examples:  Cup or two of brown rice with some lean meat (salmon, lean beef, chicken) and some broccoli  Pasta with marinara sauce or tossed in olive oil and herbs with some lean meat and grilled veggies (asparagus, broccoli, etc.)

Post Workout (immediately): Ingest a protein shake with a carbohydrate to protein ratio of at least 3:1 if not 4:1. You should have some simple carbs like yogurt or other food with a higher glycemic index. This allows for a much needed insulin spike that will act as a carrier to the protein and shoot the nutrients to your muscles more quickly.

High Carb Recovery Food List:

Example:

Fruit/fruit juices

 Whey protein shake with cup of yogurt and banana blended with some chocolate syrup Believe it or not chocolate milk is considered one of the best post workout recovery drinks around. It has the perfect ratio of carbs to protein with the carbs being simple allowing for that quick jolt of nutrients into your muscles. www.redefinerva.com

    

1 cup fruit juice (25-40 carbs) 1 medium apple (20 g carbs) 1 medium orange (18g carbs) 1 cup grapes (29 g carbs) 5-6 dates (31g carbs)

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The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition Baked goods/breads  1 slice low-fat banana bread (34g carbs)  1 low-fat muffin (50g carbs)  1 apple raisin cinnamon pita bread (47 g carbs)  2 large pancakes with syrup (50g carbs)  1 slice whole wheat bread (24g carbs)  2 fig newton cookies, fat free (31g carbs)  2 fig newton cookies, regular (20g carbs)  1 medium bagel (40g carbs)

Miscellaneous  6 low fat graham cracker squares (32 g carbs)  1 cup breakfast cereal – e.g. cheerios, wheat flakes (24 g carbs)  Baked potato (35 g carbs)  10 pretzel twists (47 g carbs)  1 tbsp. honey (17g carbs)  2 tbsp. chocolate syrup (25g carbs)  1 tbsp. jam (13g carbs

Carb/protein combos

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 2 cups chocolate milk (52g carbs/16g protein)  1 cup breakfast cereal with ½ cup nonfat milk and ½ medium banana (47g carbs/ 13g protein)  1 cup fruit yogurt (47g carbs/11 g protein)

How much and how often? Now we’re getting to the nitty gritty. These two questions play a huge role in how your body responds to what you eat (fat loss, weight gain etc.)

How Much? That’s the question we all want to know. How many calories do you need to eat a day? First – I’m going to provide you with an excel file that will calculate your daily calorie needs for you. Page 9

The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition Lastly…if you want to do it yourself with the mathematical equations, I’ve provided a 5 step process on how to calculate calories on my web site. How Weight Loss/Gain Works Some simple math to start:  1 pound of fat = 3500 calories  1 pound of lean muscle = 2500 calories In order to lose weight, you need a calorie deficit. It’s possible to healthily lose weight at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week. Now that all depends on how heavy you are to begin with. If a severely obese person starts to lose weight, they can initially lose a larger number of pounds (2+/week) with no problems. If you are just overweight than 1-2 a week is the healthiest way to go.

In order to gain weight you need a calorie surplus. You can gain muscle mass at about the same rate, however, going any faster than a pound or so a week may not result in the lean muscle you want. One pound a week of purely lean muscle will look much www.redefinerva.com

better than 2 pounds of weight with one of that being fat. Calorie Deficit – burning off more calories than you’re taking in.  If you want to lose a pound of weight (3500 calories) in a week (7 days) you do this:  3500/7 = 500 calories/day Calorie Surplus – taking in more calories than you’re burning off.  If you want to gain a pound of lean muscle (2500 calories) in a week (7 days) you do this:  2500/7 = ~360 calories/day surplus

You take your daily calorie needs from the calculation earlier and either subtract 500 calories from that number for a deficit or add ~360 calories to that number for a surplus. 3 Ways To Burn More Calories  Exercise more  Eat less  Combination of the two Page 10

The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition Examples Of Weight Loss And Weight Gain

that and you’re easily talking about 1000+ calories for a single meal.

Person A wants to lose one pound of fat a week. Daily calorie needs = 2000 1. Subtract 500 (extra calories) from 2000. 2. 2000 – 500 = 1500 calories/day. 3. Results in one pound of fat lost over the week. Person B wants to add one pound of lean muscle a week. Daily calorie needs = 2000 1. Add 360 (extra calories) to 2000. 2. 360 + 2000 = 2360 calories/day. 3. Results in one extra pound of muscle for the week.

What about those mcdouble’s you get from McDonald’s? 390 calories with 170 of that from fat. Gross! Plus, are you telling me that one Mcdouble is going to fill you up? Not even close, at least not for me. That means that you could eat 3 meals at a fast food restaurant and probably gain a pound of fat in a week. Now A Little Bit On Counting The Calories On A Label Now when you see a Twix bar that says 281 calories on it, where does that number come from?

But 500 Calories Is A Lot! Not really.

It all comes from the macronutrients on that label. Grams is just the amount/weight of nutrient.

A whopper from Burger King will run you about 678 calories. What?!

The Numbers

Yeah almost 700 calories for a burger that probably won’t even fill you up. Add on fries and a coke to www.redefinerva.com

 Protein  Carbohydrates

4 calories/gram 4 calories/gram Page 11

The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition  Alcohol  Fats

7 calories/gram 9 calories/gram

It’s the little changes that make a big difference.

Now I just threw in alcohol to show you how “The Freshman 15” is so easy to gain. I’ll go into more detail on food labels in the chapter about groceries.

So how does that work?  Take the grams for each (protein, carbohydrates, fats)  Multiply each one by “The Numbers” above  Add them all together Example: Twix bar 281 calories, 13.5g fat, 38.2g carbohydrates, 2.2g protein.    

Protein Carbohydrates Fats Total

2.2 x 4 38.2 x 4 13.5 x 9

= 8.8 = 152.8 = 121.5 = 283.1

How Often To Eat? Now you probably at one point used to eat 2-3 bigger meals a day, and you may still be doing so. But if you really want to burn calories and rev up your metabolism you need to start eating 5-6 smaller meals a day. The reason for this is that constantly providing your body with energy will allow it to use it up and decide to not keep any extra. This Is Where Our Ancestors Come In To Play

That is a lot of calories for a little candy bar that won’t nearly fill you up. But that’s over half the amount per day that you would need to lose a pound of fat in a week. www.redefinerva.com

When our ancestors had to hunt for food they didn’t know when they would be able to eat again.

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The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition So their bodies ended up storing much more of the food in there than it needed at the time. Unfortunately this adaptation has transferred over to us. So when we don’t eat for a long time between meals our body actually stores more energy than it needs. If you eat 5-6 smaller meals a day, your body knows it is going to get constant energy so it will use what it needs and burn off the rest. Now I do emphasize “smaller meals”. If you eat the same size meals as if you were only eating twice a day then you’re going to be consuming way too many calories.

This will:  Rev up your metabolism  Get your body fueled for the day  Wake you up It’s absolutely essential to not skip out on breakfast because your body is basically starving by the time you wake up in the morning.

Learn Why “Revolutionary” Diets Are Mistakes

“Breakfast Is For Champions” The reason you always hear this is because it’s true to a certain extent. If you haven’t eaten for 6+ hours overnight from sleeping then your metabolism has slowed down. To jump start that metabolism you need to get something into your system. Whether it’s cereal, oatmeal or eggs, you need to eat something as soon as you get up to get your body going again. www.redefinerva.com

Fad Diets…Duh..Duh..Duhhhh.

What Are They? These are the diets you hear on TV and in the media all of the time. The revolutionary diet to lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks! A new no carb diet to shred

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The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition pounds and keep the weight off! A fat blasting diet where you only eat cabbage soup! They are the reason that so many people fail to see results. A diet according to Webster’s definition is “food and drink regularly provided or consumed,” or “habitual nourishment.” A diet according to my brother is “The food one consumes. I eat spaghetti and fish in my diet.”

1. They severely restrict calories and/or food groups. 2. Now you’re hungry and halfway starving. 3. Initially you drastically lose weight. 4. If you do lose the weight, your body composition isn’t what it is supposed to be because you lost fat as well as muscle. 5. You hit a plateau if you stay on the diet and are grumpy/irritated with no energy and then can’t stick to the diet. 6. You go back to your old diet and gain back all the weight, if not more.

My definition “What someone tends to eat on a day to day basis.” Now what do all of these definitions have in common? It’s all about the normal food you eat, the day to day foods. Fad diets are all about severely reducing the amount of one of the macronutrients or food groups or completely cutting it out. Here’s what happens with these fad diets.

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Some Brief Descriptions Of 3 Popular Fad Diets

Atkins A low carbohydrate diet attempting to switch the body from metabolizing carbohydrates to metabolizing stored fat instead aka ketosis. Why do people fall into doing it?

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The … Diet – Your Guide To Nutrition You can eat all the foods that they normally say you’re not supposed to, like butter and fatty meats, and you don’t count total calories. Emphasizes:  Fish, meats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts Excludes:  Dairy, most grains Problems with it:  You aren’t getting enough carbs to give your body the energy it needs.  Too high of a fat content leading to fattier body composition  Not enough fiber leads to an unhealthy digestive system.  No caloric restriction  Very high dropout rate. HCG The Idea:

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A very low calorie diet