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The Best Times to Eat Carbohydrates

May 18, 2021
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| Health and Wellness

One of the questions I often get asked  is “When should I eat carbs if I am trying to lose weight?” Unfortunately, with all the news, media, social media, advice from friends etc. most people are not eating carbohydrates at the most opportune times to assist them in their weightless goals. So, if you are looking to shed excess fat, improve workout recovery, feel and look better please keep reading.

If your goal is to lose fat and become leaner it is best to keep carbohydrate intake low to very low for most people.

Before I discuss when the best times to eat carbohydrates are it is important to first recognize beneficial and non-beneficial carbohydrates.

Non beneficial carbohydrates are processed foods, white flour, sugar and corn syrup (among other syrups). These types of carbohydrates will not only prevent you from losing weight but can make you fatter. especially if you eat too much of them. These types of carbohydrates are also responsible for a host of negative health issues such as, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, inflammation, neurological disorders, cancer and digestive issues just to name a few.

So are carbohydrates the spawn of Satan himself?

Not necessarily. 

For most people trying to lose fat and gain lean body mass there are two optimal times each day to eat carbohydrates.

The first is immediately or within about 2 hours post workout on workout days.

Why?

Because at this time the glycogen stores in your body are low or depleted and spiking blood sugar raises insulin. Raising insulin at this time is a good thing.  Normally if you are not active and you spike insulin you will store most of the carbohydrates ingested as fat. However, when you spike your blood sugar and raise insulin levels  post workout your body will shuttle the glucose in your blood stream into your liver and muscle cells replenishing the depleted stores. This also, lowers cortisol and aids in recovery. Especially if you consume protein or branched chain amino acids with your carbs. These two factors assist in muscle growth and the body’s ability to burn fat.

For some individuals, they will function more optimally eating a small amount of carbohydrates pre workout. A good idea is to experiment to see which works better for you. Generally though, eating carbohydrates post workout is better for fat loss and workout recovery.

The second best time of the day to eat carbohydrates is in the evening. Many people are still under the perception that they should eat carbs in the morning. It seems logical because you will just burn them during the day right? Wrong. Yes if you are immediately going to exercise this is fine. However, if you are not going to exercise right away then you will spike your blood sugar and raise insulin early in the day. This leads to a crash a few hours later leaving you feeling hungry and craving more sugar/carbs for the rest of the day. This rising and falling of blood sugar and insulin throughout the day increases cortisol, and leads insulin resistance and storing fat.

This is why If you have/want to eat carbs each day then eat them in the evening. This will increase serotonin, make you feel full and happy.  The tired feeling the carbs bring on will help you fall asleep. Getting quality sleep each night is a key to long term health and fat loss. 

Now this doesn’t mean siting on your couch watching T.V. chowing down on a bag of Doritos and a pint of ice cream. It means eating a serving of 1-2 cupped handfuls size of  a complex carbohydrate such as, sweet potato, wild, brown, yellow, etc. rice, quinoa, small portion of whole wheat or gluten free pasta, and even a small white potato with a source of protein and some healthy fats with dinner can have a positive effect.

So to sum it up.

  • Eat a meal with high carbs, high protein  post workout.
  • Eat high protein meals with healthy fats, and fiber-rich vegetables during the day. Then, make your evening meals consist of lean protein, starchy carbs and a some healthy fats. eg. olive oil, butter, fish-oil, coconut oil and animal fat on non-training days. 

One last thought. Totally restricting all non healthy carbohydrates is also not recommended. These can lead to excessive cravings and eventually binges and that can easily derail your diet. 

The simple solution is to limit eating non healthy carbohydrates to 1-2 meals per week IF you are consistent on your diet for the rest of your meals each week and on a day that you workout. 

Are there exceptions to this rule? Sure. However, this keeps it simple and will work best for the majority of people. 

Give it a try and let me know how it goes?

Yours in health.

Kevin

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How to Improve Sleep Part 1

March 22, 2021
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| Health and Wellness

One of the most common issues I see with clients is lack of sleep and/or poor quality sleep. What is good quality sleep? Sleeping from, the time your head hits the pillow until your alarm wakes you up in the morning. Not only is poor sleep annoying but it can have severe adverse effects on your health, fitness and fat loss goals. If you are interested in improving the quantity and quality of your sleep please keep reading.

Aside from making you a grumpy bastard here are some of the serious effects on your body form poor sleep quantity and quality:

  1. Depression
  2. Mood Disorders
  3. Stroke
  4. High Blood Pressure
  5. Diabetes
  6. Cancer
  7. Premature death
  8. Kidney disease
  9. Learning problems
  10. Memory problems
  11. Heart disease
  12. Metabolic Syndrome
  13. Hormone problems
  14. Obesity
  15. Danger while driving
  16. Low metabolism
  17. Weakened immune system

In the words of Dr. Rob Racowski : Without adequate sleep you get sick fat and stupid!

So, do you think sleep is important?

Let’s find out how to sleep better.

Shape the path. Simple changes to your environment can have significant effects on improving sleep. Here’s some of the best ways to do just that.

  1. Try to keep your room as quiet as possible. If you live in a noisy area you can also try a variety of apps that have peaceful sounds or white noise to help block out the noisy environment or just simply relax you into sleep. We all know how relaxing the sound of ocean waves, light rain, or a babbling brook can make it easy to doze off.
  2. Keep the room dark. The darker the room the better. Light from anything including electronic devices such as, clocks, or on t.v.’s etc. can impede sleep. Keep it pitch black. If you need to get room darkening curtains go for it. 
  3. Keep the room cool. Lower temperatures have been shown to induce deeper and more restful sleep. You all know how hard it is to sleep when it is hot and humid. Chill out.
  4. Get comfortable. One of the best thigs y wife and I ever did was to get a new mattress. I bought a really expensive mattress before we were married and it was great for years. However, over time it began to sag in places and I would wake up with back and neck pain each morning. After years of this stupidity we broke down and bought a new mattress and haven’t looked back since. Another way to look at this is, an average person will sleep for 229,961 hours in their lifetime or basically one third of their life. You might as well make it as comfortable as possible. On the same note, if you do have lower back pain keeping a pillow between your legs if you are a side sleeper or under your knees if you are a back sleeper will keep you spine in better alignment and this can dramatically reduce or eliminate back pain caused by uncomfortable sleeping positions. I started using the Contour Legacy Knee and Foam Support Pillow about a month ago and really like it. The pillow is small so it is not bulky if you turn side to side and it also contours very comfortably between your legs, Unlike a lot of memory foam products out there this one doesn’t get hot. A friend of mine turned me onto this awesome Novilla Mattress that is super affordable and is equally if not more comfortable than my higher end mattress I bought form a furniture store. 
  5. Keep electronic devices across the room from you or better yet in another room. The electronic radiation can not only negatively affect your sleep but may be harmful to your health. This is especially true of cell phones. Plus, if you have a phone near you the crack head in you will constantly want to check for likes, emails, texts, snap chats and all of the other annoying ways people can contact you. I like to put my phone on “Do not disturb” mode and it charges across the room from me.
  6. To piggy back off #4 above, it is recommended to not have a t.v. in your bedroom. Not only is watching tv. in bed not good for you for reasons I will discuss below but it will distract you from sleeping and/or keep you up later then you want because you must finish binge watching some show. The bedroom is for two things. SLEEP and SEX. If you keep your sacred sleeping space for those two things you will subconsciously know that when you go into the bedroom one (or two) of these will occur.
  7. Speaking of sex. Have more of it. Ever notice it is much easier to fall asleep after great sex? Not having great sex? Work on it. Practice makes perfect. 😉

Pre-bed Rituals: Other great ways to improve sleep are what I like to call pre-bed rituals. These are certain habits that you do each night within an hour of going to sleep.

  1. Gratitude log. A grateful log is simply a notebook or journal you keep at the bedside. Each night before you go to bed you reflex on the day and write down 3 or more things that you are grateful for that happened in that day. Write down 3 nice things you did for someone else. Write down 3 nice things others did for you. Lastly, write down 3 things that you are grateful for that you have not achieved/received yet. My mentor Charles Poliquin always said that “What you appreciate, appreciates”. My favorite gratitude journal is the 5-Minute Journal. It is a beautifully made journal and makes the process of journaling easy and fun. 
  2. Deep Breathing Exercises. Simply focusing on doing long slow inhales through the nose for 4 seconds. Pause for a 4 count and slowly exhale through your mouth for 4 seconds can have a profound effect on relaxing you. Do this for 5-10 minutes and it can work wonders.
  3. Just like the deep breathing exercise above, one of the best ways to not only improve sleep but to improve your health is through meditation. I know meditation is hard for many (including myself) so that is why I like guided meditation. Apps such as, Headspace and Calm provide all types of guided meditation for sleep, stress relief, focus, performance etc. Many are short (10 minutes) and easy to do. My favorite meditation is the Primus Meditation. You can access it here FREE. It is a amazing guided meditation that can positively improve your life. 
  4. No TV, computer, iPad, phones, social media. Along with unwanted/unhealthy radiation of electronic devices is blue light. This is the light frequency emitted by these devices and has a direct negative effect on your hormones and sleep Try to stay off social media, the computer, watching t.v. iPad, etc. for about an hour before you go to bed. Avoiding this type of light allows melatonin (the hormone that makes us sleep) production and the natural cycle for your body to fall asleep. If you must use these devices then turn on “Night time mode” on the cell phone. This changes the light ways from blue to the red/orange spectrum associated with a setting sun and falling asleep. For your computer, there is a program called f.lux. It is free and does the same thing. For each to these apps. Set them to turn on just before sunset and return to normal at sunrise. These are simple tools to make using some electronic devices safer before bed.
  5. Avoid caffeine and other stimulants (energy drinks etc.) after 12-1 pm. The effects of caffeine can last up to 10 hours in some people and will not only make it harder to fall asleep but sleep soundly. I am sure you have all had caffeine too close to bedtime and slept like crap that night. Some people can drink coffee late and still sleep but to be safe just avoid it. Besides the other negative effect of coffee is it is a diuretic so you will most likely have to get up in the middle of the night to pee.
  6. The last “hack” for part one is to go to bed and wake up the same time each day. This can be hard for a lot of people. However, if you can do it or keep it within an hour difference earlier or later your body will develop a more stable sleep cycle.

That is all for part 1. Stay tuned for part-2 where I will discuss which natural supplements help to improve sleep quantity and quality. In the meantime, sleep, tight.

To your health,

Kevin

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Killing Two Birds With One Foam Roller

March 10, 2021
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| Health and Wellness

I hate birds. I mean really. All they do is make noise, fly around and crap on everything. Who needs that? LOL. Before P.E.T.A. loses it on me I am totally kidding. I love animals of all shapes and sizes. What this post is referring to is the  old saying “we can kill two birds with one stone” or we can accomplish two things at once. These two things are killing stress and anxiety and killing bad posture, back, shoulder and neck pain. There is a third benefit. If you do this before you work out it can increase your performance a small percentage. So, what do you have to do to receive these awesome benefits? Your gonna have to read on if you want to find out. 

Most people use foam rollers to painfully work on tight muscles and adhesions. I am not a big believer in this for most conditions, but that is for another post. One thing foam rollers are useful for however, is to decompress and align the spine a bit and to help improve posture. I learned this trick from my late great mentor Charles Poliquin many moons ago. He liked to use it with his athletes before a workout to improve strength during the workout. 

To do this this exercise simply lie on a foam roller lengthwise (Use a 36″ foam roller). Keep your feet flat on the floor and your arms next to your body relaxed with palms up and elbows slightly bent. Lie there for 10 to 15 minutes. You most likely will notice that when you first lie down your neck is hyperextended, and your lumber (lower back) will have a large arch. Over the course of the 10-15 minutes however your spine and the muscles in the anterior (front) of your upper body (pecs, deltoids, scalenes, pec minor, biceps, etc.) will relax and gently stretch due to gravity. This leads to decompression of the spine and allows your spine to align more naturally. This can help decrease pain, improve posture and performance. Today this is more important than ever with so many people working at a computer all day, sitting too much, and looking at their phones, and tablets. 

To make this awesome and easy exercise even better I decided to combine it with another beneficial activity. I thought “well I have to lay here for 10-15 minutes which can be kind of boring” So. I decided to “kill two birds with one stone” and add my daily guided meditation practice while I am lying on the foam roller. I love the apps Calm and Headspace. I like to switch back and forth from time to time but you can choose whatever works for you. Doing this not only gives me benefits to my physical body but also my mental capacity by decreasing stress, anxiety and improving focus, relaxation and performance. A super win-win. 

I love to do this either as part of my morning or bedtime routine. Feel free to experiment and find whatever works best for you. I cannot recommend this enough. Please give it a try and let me know what you think?

To your health,

Kevin

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