Insane Man's Blog About Insane Exercising INSANELY TO THE EXTREME: Blog #3
Dieting:
For this section I;m not going to lay out a plan of what someone should and should not eat. Everyone is different, and every body has different needs when it comes to food. I am merely going to observe the general foods that we eat, what they end up doing to our body, and how we can manipulate what we eat and how we eat it to cut the corners to a more fitness friendly diet.
In this section I am going to be making a lot of comparisons of how the human body is very much comparable to a car. I am merely going to be bringing about similarities. Not all of it should be taken for literal.
All the foods that we normally eat can be separated into some main categories of what are body needs: carbohydrates, proteins, nutrients, fats, and water. I am merely mentioning these aspects because of simplicity. There are a couple other things that the body needs or can use - like certain chemicals - but I'll probably be categorizing those under nutrients if anything. When I talk about these aspects of dieting I will probably be bringing up comparisons of the human body to a car or a train. Hopefully it will sort of make sense. Question me when you need to, and lets take each one step by step.
Carbohydrates
Anything that you consume that comes from a plant can be considered a carbohydrate, and the primary reason we eat them is for energy. Protein foods also provide some carbohydrates as well because, guess what, farm animals eat grass and grains, and that stuff they eat becomes a part of their delicious and yummy ass steak. There is no avoiding it - almost everything we consume has calories of some kind because the food chain can literally trace back to what we eat was either a plant or probably ate one.
Usually when you see the nutritional content on the back of a food product you see the calorie content, well that's the amount of energy it provides for the average person. On average, it takes the human body about 2000 calories per day to perform it's daily functions. Theoretically, eating below that calorie range will help you lose weight and eating above that range makes you gain weight. I will analyze later how this way of thinking can be problematic without the correct knowledge of what your body tends to do when put in separate situations.
I would compare carbohydrates to something like gasoline - the system it gets processed through stays better with better quality fuel. "Better quality fuel" in food terms would be things that have nutrients necessary for the body in order to make it run more smoothly - it would have extra constituents in it to extract the energy and remove the waste from the body as efficiently as possible. Fruits and vegetables are carbs that provide necessary nutrients to the body that help it run more efficiently. These would be like your premium gas at the pump, or more so like formula 1 race car gasoline. "Low quality fuel" not only has no nutrients to aid in processing - I would go so far as to compare it to unrefined oil. The fuel has the capability to provide the same amount of energy as refined fuels, but there is so much crud in the way that your system has to waste time processing crud that does not provide energy in order to get to the material that does. Thus, your body has wasted time trying to process the food into energy so you're left with no energy when you needed and energy when you don't need it. Not only that, but now you have crud creating flow blockages in your system that cannot readily be processed by your body. You end up carrying extra weight from waste.
Again, most carbohydrates come from plants. The most dependable one's you can rely on to easily process through your system are one's coming with extra constituents to process the fuel into energy more efficiently. Fruits and vegetable are your best bet, but I recommend you still research which ones though because some do come with calories still hard to process because the constituents inside them don't necessarily help process that specific food (look at carrots and corn). Breads are primarily straight up carbohydrates, but there are some exceptions, especially the age old conflict between white and wheat. Wheat is better to eat than white bread because the way wheat bread was created was through micro-organic processing, which also aids when you eat it. Low quality, obviously, are things with straight up sugar and various additional aspects like fats and hard to process materials. It's best to avoid those for the most part, and stick with the foods with more nutrients.
Fats:
Anytime anyone hears of this dreaded word they automatically assume the stuff in their ass, belly, arms, leg and face. Well the fact of the matter is that the body does require fats to functions, and all that extra fat is definitely due to over consumption. Believe it or not, fat cells have various functions aside from being that motivation to get to exercising. For one, fatty acids in the body are necessary for a functioning diet; promotes healthy cell function; it buffers various diseases away. It is necessary to have, but we can all cut down here and there.
Based on various sources - like wikipedia - body fat percentage between 5%-24% for men and 13%-31% in women is a healthy range. Anything above that and you're obese, and anything below that you shouldn't be alive.
Now back to the main reason why I mentioned this. The fat that you see in your belly, ass, and limbs are due to over consumption of foods. The fat also acts as a storage place for nutrients for your body. When you eat too much food your body tends to do a various number of things when it comes to energy storage. When you eat carbohydrates your body process that as one energy source. When you eat proteins, nutrients, water, and consume other chemicals and minerals that also provide energy your body has already gotten it's fill of energy. If you aren't lacking in nutrition, are not injured, or have not exercised then your body will have no actual need for these other things that you've consumed at the moment. It still recognizes them as nutritional products, and will end up storing them in you're body somewhere. The problem begins to arise when your brain starts getting used to the idea of that amount of fat. Then it becomes more difficult because once you start trying to lose that extra fat your body is assuming that you are starving, which is why your body has to tap into those extra reserves. That's where the idea of hunger comes from. I will talk more on that late about how your mind plays tricks on you.
Overall, consuming fatty products is pretty much adding more storage space for nutrition in your body. When you add more storage space you essentially adding more volume to your body. It would be like adding a U-HAUL to the back of your car that's filled with tanks of gasoline. Yes you have more energy, but it still technically takes more energy to haul it around with you.
Proteins:
Proteins have various uses for the body. They can be used as building blocks for various body tissues. They aid it various bodily functions. They can also be used as a source of caloric energy content and can be processed by the body just like carbohydrates. They are a necessary part in a well balanced diet.
The thing about protein is that since the body has so many uses it tends to store the excess. Look at a majority of food products that you would eat that has excessive amount of protein - meat, cheese, eggs, fish, etc. What comes along with those foods are fats, carbohydrates, and other nutrients.
What I am mostly going to be talking about with proteins is that it helps build muscle, and it can also be used as an energy source. In terms of building muscles, your body has to have a need to repair muscle in order to use protein. The way exercising generally works is that when you exercise you cause tiny micro-tears in your muscles with the more weights and repetitions you do. When those tears are open your body repairs them by filling it with protein, which adds more muscle tissue and makes you stronger. When you no longer make those micro-tears in your muscles then your body has less a need for protein. So it will do two things, it will either store it, or it will get rid of it. The protein can also be burned as an energy source, and then disposed of. Aside from regulatory functions, excess protein has no other real use if it is not being added to your muscle tissue
That is why you should never try starving yourself in order to lose weight. The order in which your body rids itself of mass targets protein first before it starts targeting the fat. Remember, fat holds your nutrition; your body holds onto that until dire conditions are met to start using it. This can be the reason why former athletes tend to get chubby. Their bodies no longer are under strenuous exercise regiments so they have no use for the proteins they built up in their muscles. So as they eat their body burns the protein from their muscle instead of the nutrients, fats, and carbs they eat.
Just remember, if your body has no use for protein that will be one of the first things your body will burn for energy. That's way you have to exercise so that your body uses the protein to repair muscles, and uses the fat and various carbohydrates as a source of energy instead.
Nutrients:
Vitamins, minerals, and whatever else your body needs - that's what nutrients are made of. They are used for the natural function of the body, and are needed in our daily lives. They are capable of getting stored in the fat that we consume. Otherwise, if your fat cells are lacking they will simply be washed away in your urine. Nothing bad can come from taking nutrients - unless you OD on one - but it won't cause you to gain weight necessarily. Rare cases yes, but keep in mind - moderation for healthy diet.
Water and other Minerals:
Water can be a double edged sword when it comes to the body. Yes, it is essential for the most basic of bodily functions. It is necessary to life. The problem with water is that your body also acts like a sponge. Cells can absorb water and swell, causing you to have larger volume - aka water weight. So, the only way to counter these effects is to piss and sweat. Piss merely gets rid of the water your body cannot use. The rest has been absorbed into your body. Now I'm not saying to stop drinking water. What I'm saying is however much water you drink you should be able to piss and sweat away almost all of it, and then do it all over again the next day. Water keeps things flowing through the body, but keeping it in the body will also cause volume build up. You have to become a factory in terms of this. You put raw materials in (clean water), and get your byproducts out (piss and sweat) and do it all over again. If you don't get your byproducts out you end up building a surplus of water. More water, more problems.
Minerals are also when of those things we sometimes fail to analyze, but are an essential part of the body. Two such minerals I will call out are calcium and sodium, both essential in any diet and with it's side effects.
The source of food we would normally get our source of calcium is usually from milk. I also know that women require a larger amount of calcium intake than men just because of gender body chemistry and bone mass loss due to body functions. If you ever have looked at the nutritional facts on your milk bottle you'd find it comes with a lot more than just calcium. It comes with protein, sodium, and fat among other things. Depending on the milk type the nutritional facts might change. Also, if you have drank milk before it tends to have different effects on different body types. If you're not one with a runner body then milk will make you sluggish and lazy if drank before a workout. I personally wouldn't recommend milk in y kind of diet, but, again, it depends on the body type. If you need a large source of calcium I would opt for either opt for over the counter calcium pills, or that orange juice that is advertised with calcium. I usually drink the calcium orange juice because it's easier to digest for me instead of milk, and I get vitamins and carbohydrates as a plus.
Sodium is like that double edged sword in the diet. It is a part of most processed food products, and it's one of the things that makes things taste better - aka table salt. Yes, sodium is necessary in a diet, but too much is also pretty bad. Obviously, it causes you to dirnk more water, but that is not the problem it poses. When sodium gets into the body it can cause a water separation in the body. When sodium gets absorbed into cells it prevents water from being absorbed by the cells due to an ionic effect - it doesn't prevent all water from getting absorbed into the cell, just it prevents the cell from absorbing it's max potential in water. Therefore, the resulting separation of sodium to water molecules causes more volume in your body - also known as water weight.
So What Should You Do Now?
I cannot tell you what to do because everyone has a different body each with a different chemistry. It is up to you to analyze how your body works. It may take some experimentation with your diet, but once you get the hang of it you'll be on your way to a healthier lifestyle and you'll be set in terms of being energized for your exercise regiment. I can only offer some tips and tricks on how to cut corners of unhealthy eating habits we tend to be accustomed to.
Tips and Tricks:
- Remember that the diet goes in hand with an exercise regiment: just dieting is almost never going to work unless you have the self control to starve yourself. Exercise is required in order to lose weight. Working out your muscles will tell your body that it needs protein, and, remember, protein tends to be the one of the first to go in terms of energy source. You have got to convince your body that in needs protein so that it starts using the alternative energy sources like fat.
- Lay off the condiments: have you ever looked at the nutritional facts. Stuff like ketchup, soy sauce, bbq sauce, and what not are jam packed with sodium and has somewhat empty calories. Mayonnaise is 100% fat calories. All condiments that you willing choose to put on your food are just extra calories you don't necessarily need.
- If your aiming to lose body fat cut down on empty carbohydrates and fatty foods: wheat foods and pure sugar foods are, for the most part, just carbohydrates with almost no other nutritional. Fruits and vegetables are more favorable for good carbohydrates. Fatty foods should be avoided because they are simply going to add to your current fat.
- No more fast foods: Fast foods are the bane of heavy and useless calories. Fried foods, greasy foods, foods made in a deep fryer all have grease. Grease is liquid fat with absolutely no nutritional value. Fast food meals tend to average around 750-1000 calories half of which can be fat calories. Even the veggies that come with the food is soaked in the grease; there is no avoiding the stuff. What's worse is that the food can technically not be 100% what it is. Fast food places sometimes use filler supplements that aren't even food in order to make it more filling. That's why sometimes the beef or the chicken can range from being 75% to 35% actual meat. Not a good source of healthy burning calories at all.
- No more caffeine or sugar drinks: Sugar drinks - all sodas - are all just empty calories from sugar and sodium. There are even chemicals that are not technically consumable and your body still has to process. Caffeine is a drug that your brain can get used to, which will affect your body negatively if used improperly. Drinking coffees and red bulls on a daily basis will make you immune to the effects of caffeine, so when the drug wears off then your energy levels will be lower than general. By balancing your energy levels you will have more energy for your exercise regiment. I will get to it late, but caffeine can actually be used in a workout regiment to benefit your energy levels if used properly.
Again, I cannot tell you what to eat. I can only give some advice off of my experience with dieting. If there are health issues involved in dieting I suggest you consult a physician.
Since I had a lot to say about this part I will make the next