The BOLD Study: Defining the Role of Lean Beef in a Heart Healthy Diet – Dr. Mike

Where’s the beef? That’s what this study – hot off the presses in The American Journal of of Clinical Nutrition – headed by my friend, Dr. Mike Roussell, set out to do.

Red meat as long been demonized has the red-headed step child of the nutrition world, often solely being blamed for the high levels of saturated fat in the Western diet.

FACT:  cheese is actually the #1 source of saturated fat in the American diet.  Red meat, doesn’t even make the top 5.  What’s up now?  And, as Dr. Mike notes, there are roughly 29 cuts of beef that are certified lean by the USDA, and contain a fat content somewhere between chicken breast and chicken thighs.

That notwithstanding, the good Doc sheds some light on a very controversial topic and shows that beef, indeed, can be part of a heart healthy diet. The media is going to have a field day with this one.

Nice work Mike!!!

Women:  Running into Trouble – John Kiefer

This was a really well researched article that, while a bit “cherry picky” with the research applied (but what researched based article isn’t?) – definitely helps clear the air in terms of why over prescribed steady state cardio is a losing cause in terms of fat loss.  Counterintuitively, as this article shows, relying solely on long, drawn-out, and otherwise I’m-bored-t0-tears-and-want-to-throw-my-face-into-the-pavement cardio can actually have the opposite effect and elicit fat gain.

If anything, it just goes to show that no ONE modality is the key to a firm, lean, well-shaped (non skinny-fat) body that most (not all) women aspire to attain.

And not to be omitted, guys, this article applies to you as well.  You’re not off the hook either.

Should All Personal Trainers have 6-Pack Abs? – Jonathan Goodman

Well, should they?  Jonathan asks and answers this simple – albeit, complicated – question.