Diet Deceptions

I’ve tried to stay away from diet talk because there are so many different views on food choices depending on what individuals consider are important to them. Deciding what to eat used to be so much easier, and for many people in the world it still is – whatever you can find to survive. Now we have grocery stores on every corner, foods from all over the world at our fingertips, and media bombarding us with diet ideas. Your food choices are now dependent on whether you value cost, ethics, sustainability, convenience, weight loss, improved health, or whatever the commercials tell you is tasty. It's also not surprising that it's quite difficult to eat according to these values as they often don't align. For example, eating cheaply doesn't always mean eating ethically or conveniently (Malhi et al, 2009 - http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19320240903346448). You are not longer a simple omnivore like out ancestors, but you have a choice to be labelled as vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, raw-food eater, or "carniovre", with the list increasing almost daily. It's no wonder so many of us are confused about food.

I’m pretty bored talking about weight-loss diets, but what is interesting are the number of diets claiming to improve health and performance. I took a number of Applied and Sports Nutrition courses while I was completing my Kinesiology Degree and the information I learnt was pretty simple for athletes. The spark notes version is that depending on what your energy demands are you will tweak a certain Carb-Protein-Fat ratio, and maintain proper hydration and electrolytes.  My brother is an Infanteer in the Canadian Forces and has an intense workout schedule as part of his job. He is surrounded by some incredible athletes who are capable of amazing physical feats and is obviously influenced by their successes. Over his time in the Forces he has tried a number of diets that his peers use and attribute to their almost in-human physical abilities. One of the diets he tried was the Palaeolithic Diet. This diet basically says that we should be eating the same foods as cavemen did - no processed foods, and lots of meat, fruits and vegetables. It is based on an assumption that cavemen had to be in excellent shape to survive, and were able to hunt for days without food. At first glance this does seem like a great idea and I agree that processed foods are a major cause of our obesity epidemic in North America. But, if you actually try the diet out without proper preparation you will soon realize that without processed foods it is extremely difficult to get any grains (breads, cereals, rice, etc) and therefore you enter into a very low carbohydrate situation and potentially become deficient in some B Vitamins. Your body and brain have been programmed to use carbohydrates as its first source of energy. The Paleo Diet states that over time your body with adapt to use protein and fat as its primary sources, which is true, but typically not ideal for the average person. My brother experienced this first hand as he went through carb withdrawals within the first three days, and began dreaming about loafs of bread, and feeling extremely low-energy and unwell. All it took was some fresh homemade granola bars to bring him back to a balanced diet.

I believe that the Palaeolithic Diet, like any other elimination diets, such as, vegetarianism, if done correctly and with proper education and preparation can be beneficial to health. There are a lot of scientific articles out there showing the health benefits to eating less meat, dairy, processed foods, etc, but you must learn how to get all the nutrients you need from other sources rather than just cut certain foods out of your current diet. A person could go crazy trying to stay on top of the current dietary trends, so it’s important to be critical of the information out there and to make up your mind based on personal experiences. FYI, coffee is back in the “healthy” column, soy was demoted to the “unhealthy” column, and my personal fave, drinking a glass of any kind of alcohol daily has now been shown to increase longevity. You be the judge.

The new fascination for my brother is the Blood Type Diet. I can believe that the Paleo Diet had some validity to it (never mind that most cavemen didn’t live past 30 and were probably in a state of perpetual starvation and disease), but I laughed when I heard about this Blood Type Diet. I had to investigate and what I found was naturopathic Dr. D’Adamo proposing that the different blood types (A, B, AB, O) somehow came about at different times in history as our ancestors developed new ways to hunt and gather foods, and by extension your blood type influences your personality and your stress levels (huh?). He recommends that different blood types should have different diets, different types of exercise, and different ways to deal with stress. Now, seeing as how blood type is really just determined by whether you have certain protein markers on your red blood cells (and this hasn’t changed much through our time as homo-sapiens), I have a hard time believing anything this guy says, although I have heard that there is a correlation between blood types and certain illnesses. The only real evidence he had on his website supporting this diet was that about 75% of participants “improved in a variety of health conditions”. If you read through the different diets you will quickly see that they are all very similar and are basically just promoting good eating practices, such as, eating smaller meals throughout the day, limiting sugar intake, increasing vegetable intake, and choose exercise instead of emotional eating. Of course this will improve the “health” (whatever that means) of participants coming from who-knows-what eating practices they had originally.

I went one step further trying to find any scientific, peer-reviewed journal articles that support this Blood Type Diet. To my complete non-surprise, I could only find 1 article on a study comparing blood type to health and this is what it says:

“The ABO blood group phenotype has been related to risk of myocardial infarction and type 2 diabetes mellitus, but there is no evidence that ABO blood group influences diet prescription for effective weight loss.”

“These data do not support the contention of a popular diet book that individuals with the A blood group phenotype should adhere to low-protein, vegetarian diets for health and weight management.”

I’m sold. Take the time to educate yourself on nutrition from a recognized organization like Health Canada or a Registered Dietician before you blindly jump into special diet being promoted to the public. If you want to read the article, the abstract can be found at:

http://www.citeulike.org/user/naturecure/article/924975

The FASEB Journal. 2006.

ABO blood group and diet prescription for weight loss

Johnston, et al. Nutrition, Arizona State University, 85212

The Truth About Supplements

Vitamins, protein shakes, diet pills, energy boosters, sports drinks, meal replacements... the list goes on. Our world is filled with supplements claiming to make you bigger, smaller, faster, stronger, or healthier. But do you really need them? I just finished talking to a friend today who has been very overweight and is currently making incredible changes in their life to reach a healthy body weight. To help boost his weight loss success, a personal trainer recommended some pills to cut fat and decrease appetite. First off, most personal trainers don't have any education in nutrition, so they shouldn't be giving nutrition advice. Secondly, anyone who does suggest diet pills are thinking about your results and not your health. Most diet pills are really just glorified stimulants and diuretics. You could get the same results by drinking a cup of coffee and save a lot of money. If your ability to control your weight, and by extension, your health, are a problem then there are issues that need your attention more so than the "quick fix" of diet pills. Choose to explore those instead of exploring the isles at the closest "health" store (the irony is too much).

I taught a Grade 10 Physical Education class last year and facilitated a conversation on contemporary health issues. Supplements were among the issues I brought up. It blew my mind that 0 out of 32 students (that spoke up) didn't know what the word "supplement" even meant, yet most of them were guilty of drinking Gatorade, Powerade, Vitamin Water or Red Bull. All of these drinks are marketed to youth to improve athletic and academic performance, or just be a yummy beverage. I think by now most people know that Gatorade and Powerade type drinks are mostly coloured sugar water that don't actually contain the proper amount of electrolytes to replenish the body during exercise. The new con artist in town is Vitamin Water which claims to be a healthy beverage alternative because it has added vitamins. But, if you look at the nutrition label you will quickly see that sugar is at the top of the list, again. I think at this point in my post it is important to note that my friend who has lost over 50 lbs since January has essentially just cut down his sugar (a.k.a. "White Death") intake by eliminating pop, candy, etc, and increased his physical activity.

By working at a number of Fitness Centers and Gyms, I am around a lot of people that seem to think that Protein Shakes are synonymous with working out. It really is pretty sad how brainwashed people are about it. Without getting into too much of the science behind it I'll just lay it out for you. The average person only needs to 1 gram of protein per kilogram of your body weight. This translates to approximately 60 grams of protein per day for the average person. This is equivalent to 2 servings of protein (for example: 2 chicken breasts). Even an Olympic weight lifter only needs 1.8 grams per kilogram, and they are doing an extreme amount of weight training. By buying into all the marketing scams of increasing protein in order to bulk up or build lean muscle, you are not only wasting your money, but you are potentially damaging your body.

By choosing supplements over real food you are endangering your health. You can get all the vitamins, minerals, energy and protein you need from a balanced diet, not to mention fiber. The lack of fiber in so many peoples diets these days is evident from all the advertising with cereal and yogurt. There are even fiber supplements available. Guess what I'm going to say about that. Just make sure you eat less processed foods and more vegetables and fruits, and that's all the daily fiber you need. Did I mention already that real food tastes a lot better too? Well, it does.

Check out Canada's Food Guide for a good framework on how to eat a balanced diet.

Combat Back Pain

When I was younger I would look at extreme adventurers climbing rock faces, repelling down waterfalls, and paddling through class 5 rivers, and I would dream about being able to do what they do. I used to think that only "rich" people get to do those things because all the gear and training costs so much. But then my brother decided to start indoor climbing at the local climbing gym and (easily) convinced me to tag along. It was then that I realized two things: that I loved to climb and that it really was quite affordable. That was over 5 years ago and I never looked back. Climbing has been so much for me, including a stress relief, an inspiration for self improvement, and a positive social environment. If you've never climbed, I challenge you to try it before the end of the month! For me and my fellow climbing buddies, climbing combines strategy, physicality, and the thrill of heights (most of the people I know started climbing because they were afraid of heights so that's no excuse).

Just over a month ago I was climbing a route indoors that wasn't particularly hard but included an overhung section. Now, good technique when climbing dictates that you want to keep your hips close to the wall in order to keep most of your body weight on your feet so that you don't tire out as quickly. While I was doing this, I squeezed my glutes to keep my hips in and I felt a sharp pain in my sacroiliac joint (SI joint). The sacrum is the bone at the base of you lumbar spine (extreme low back). The SI joint is a joint that connects the sacrum to the pelvis and isn't supposed to move much at all. When I tensed the muscles surrounding the area I caused the sacrum to shift and strain the SI joint. This caused muscle pain and joint stiffness for a few weeks.

Sadly, most people will eventually experience a form of back pain. Whether this is caused by a direct injury like mine, a chronic injury, or an unknown situation, there are things you can do that may help relieve the pain and stiffness. I'm talking about non-serious back pain here just to be clear. Here are some of my own secrets to combating my back pain and stiffness that I hope you can use too!

1) Strains to joints, ligaments, and muscles tend to cause inflammation. By taking anti-inflammatory drug, such as, IBU Profen and icing the area will help to decrease inflammation and promote healing. When icing, never put ice directly on the skin, and only keep the ice on for about 15 minutes. You can even alternate warmth and ice every 10-15 minutes.

2) Contrary to western beliefs in the last century, bed rest is the worst thing you can do for back pain. If you can't move at all then you should probably see a doctor. If you can move, try to keep moving in safe ways as often as you can. This helps to keep the vertebrae lubricated and to prevent muscles from seizing up.


A great movement to do is to alternate arching your back like an angry cat, and reversing the posture by lifting your head and tail bone up to the sky. It is best if you couple this movement with breathing. Breath out through your nose as you pull your naval in towards your spine, tuck your head and tailbone in, and arch your spine. As you breath in through your nose and expand your lungs, lift your head and tailbone up to the sky and let your spine hyper-extend to a comfortable position. You can continue to do this for as long as you want.

3) Stretches that target spinal movement will also help to prevent back pain on a daily bases as well as combat it. Depending on the type of back pain you have, some or all of these stretches might be too intense at the beginning, but I guarantee they will feel amazing to those of you who are in the "stiff" phase and no longer in the"pain" phase.

Spinal Twist - Lie on your back with bent knees. Let your knees drop to one side while you keep both your shoulder blades on the floor and look towards your extended arm. With every breath try to relax deeper into the twist. Body twists not only provide your spine with a soothing rotation, but they also promote relaxation by calming your nervous system.

Side Flexion - Sit comfortably and reach one arm overhead. Have the intention of trying to grad at the opposite side wall as you root your sit bones into the floor to really open up your side body.

Forward Bend - A more advanced stretch that can be modified by starting in a sitting position with legs stretching out in front of you. Keep your knees soft (not locked) and let your upper body and head relax and hang down. This stretch requires a decent amount of hamstring flexibility, so if your hands don't reach the floor, you can bend your knees as much as you need to until they do, or take the modified stretch - Sit and Reach.