Will This Help Me Lose Weight for Good or for the Time Being? Navigating the "Nutrition" Indursty

Hello Internets

I’ve looked over my blog statistics and decided that this week I was going to continue a topic from my most viewed post, concerning what you should eat to accomplish your goals.

As the title suggests, I’m going to talk about navigating the multibillion dollar industry of losing weight! My goal is to help orientate you in a world of mixed messages and leave you with some practical tips that I have found to work over the years for myself and my clients. I apologize if some of the things I talk about are deflating, but someone has to speak the truth about this stuff in a world of predators just trying to keep you fat so you buy their products. 

1. Weight Loss Products: If it’s too good to be true, it probably is!

When looking to lead a healthier lifestyle, my first advice is to look for longevity and sustainability in your health goals (in general and nutrition specific). Therefore, if you are looking to lose weight and a program offers a “metabolism boosting shake, or pill” plus diet plan, be careful. I know lots of people that have been on these programs and lose weight but then pile it all back on (if not more). This is because the program is unsustainable.

 Beware of the following red flags;

• ·         Metabolism Boosters: These ultimately slow down your metabolism when you go off them. It’s essentially like taking a mild form of speed or cocaine. Plus they can lead to complications involving your heart, digestive system, and more. Stay away! One of the worst is hydroxycut.

• ·         Unsustainable Dietary Restrictions: Any diet that involves you going from eating like you normally do to massively restricting is bad news bears in my books. So how do you know if it’s an unsustainable restriction? Well there are some ways. For example, when all you are consuming is juice/soup, one type of food (e.g. no carbs) or staying below 1000 calories a day... that is unsustainable, you will relapse and gain the weight back and probably then some.

• ·         Pre-Packaged Food: Diets that involve the companies sending you all your food sounds awesome from a time perspective, but shitty from a health perspective. This also includes products like Lean Cuisine, 100 calories snack bite things, ect. Sure, they are usually the right caloric content for weight loss but are filled with preservatives and chemicals, which have been linked to negative health consequences like cancer and heart disease. My philosophy is, it doesn’t matter if you are a size 2 if you’re dead.

That being said, there are some very effective programs/resources that I would suggest.....

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•    Precision Nutrition: This is one of the finer programs out there. I’m not employed by them, nor have taken any of their courses (yet), but know from experience in the field that they are top notch. Essentially, any program prescribed by someone that has training backed by science and not speculation is a good call. PN courses are based on science and sustainability, so are any programs given by certified nutritionists.

•   Origins Nutrition and Wellness: Origins is definitely doing it right! They provide expert nutritional advice and tailor personalised lifestyle solutions to improve the health of their clients. They offer one-on-one consultations and run workshops for small and large groups. During a consultation they work with clients to develop meal plans, identify lifestyle habits that would benefit from change and provide a supportive environment so the transition to optimal health is smooth and effortless. Here is a quote from the founders...

“We like to keep it real….to lose weight and keep it off you need to change your lifestyle! This doesn’t have to involve overnight changes it can take place over weeks or months. It also doesn’t have to mean eating bland food; we think food should taste good and be enjoyed! Moderation is the key!”

 

When it comes to nutritional products/programs, it’s all about navigating through the proverbial bull-crap. If you’re unsure, ask someone that has credible education to help you. These can include doctors, nutritionist, Human Kinetics/Kinesiology graduates, and fitness professionals with credible certifications (CSEP, PN). 

2.  Do fat burning foods actually “burn fat”?

We hear this all the time in the news and fitness industry. “This just in, food X has been shown to burn fat!!!” So obviously we must all run out and buy said food! 

Well, before talking about whether certain foods have been linked to fat loss, we first must first investigate this term “to burn fat”.

If you think about your tissue make up, you consist of varying amounts of a) fat (i.e, adipose tissue), b) muscle (cardiac, skeletal*, smooth), c)  nervous tissue (i.e., your brain and nerves), and d) connective tissue (i.e., ligaments, bone, and facia).

So obviously, fat burning means to burn adipose tissue, and thus if you consume foods linked to burning fat then you will burn off fat, right? Well it doesn’t work that way necessarily.

  

 Essentially, your body will “burn” or metabolise fat tissue during different times and in different situations. For example, when at rest, your body’s major source of energy is fat. Also, when you are out of carbohydrate stores when exercising (or in general), fats come in to save the day (this is the basis of the Atkin’s diet, which I do NOT recommend for reasons listed here).

When the fitness and “nutrition” industry uses the term “fat burning” what they’re really trying communicate is that fat burning strategies (food or exercises) will increase your basal metabolic rate. (For more on what BMR is click here). Therefore, these “fat burning foods” have been linked to an increase in your BMR following consumption

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The rationale behind this is;

Consume “fat burning foods” = Increased BMR = Increase in calories burned at rest = Increase the amount of fat burned for fuel

This does make sense from a scientific perspective. For example, spicy foods have been shown to “speed up” your system, so you burn more calories. However, I caution that if you are eating these foods thinking they will burn fat and that’s all you need to do, unfortunately, that is far from the case. Basically, yes your BMR will increase, but not at a significant enough rate for fat loss. You need to combine other strategies to get what you want.

In my opinion, a better way to approach increasing your BMR throughout the day is to eat good food, and eat often (i.e., every 3 hours), rather than to look for a magic fruit to save the day.

* Note: Another awesome way to increase your BMR is to increase your skeletal muscle composition as it is very biologically active (i.e., eats more calories) then other tissues.

So, I think I will leave it there for today. I hope I have shed some light on what to look out for when you hear all these messages coming your way about what to do to get your “beach body”.  As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns let me know!

Stay Strong

Byn

**Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist, nor claim to be. The following tips/ideas come from the courses I have taken on nutrition and obesity as part of my B.H.K, from personal experience, and my own life philosophies.