CategoriesNutrition

6 Nutrition Tips to Follow When You Don’t Want to Count Calories

There are many things I’d rather do than spend my days meticulously counting calories. I understand its importance given certain individual’s goals. Whether it’s to shed “x” pounds of fat or maybe for health related reasons, counting calories is often a necessity for some people.

That said, speaking personally, and in no specific order, I’d rather…

  • Talk about me feelings
  • Get a face tattoo
  • Attend another parent’s kid’s clarinet recital

…than count calories.

My feelings and preferences don’t matter much in this scenario, however.  Today’s guest post by Toronto based coach and nutritional practitioner, Marc Capistrano, helps to shed some light and offer a few bonafide nuggets of practical advice for those who are kinda in the same boat as myself, but would rather refrain from the face tattoo.

Enjoy!

Copyright: dolgachov / 123RF Stock Photo

6 Nutrition Tips to Follow When You Don’t Want to Count Calories

If you’ve ever been around a group of people talking about nutrition, then you’ve probably found yourself caught in the middle of a debate between the macros crowd (people who count macros and calories) and the “every other diet in the world” crowd.

Here’s what a typical argument in the gym locker room probably sounds like:

Bro #1: “Bro, in order to get ripped, you need to go keto, cut carbs, then at night go vegan.”

Bro#2: “Bro, it doesn’t matter what you eat, as long as you’re in a caloric deficit.”

Bro #1: Bro.

From a macros standpoint, the idea is that whether you’re following a keto, low carb, paleo or dim sum diet, you’re basically manipulating macros that either put you in a caloric deficit or surplus.

This is the foundation of weight loss and weight gain.

There’s definitely more to this statement (including food quality, digestion, and hormonal profile), but for the purposes of this post, let’s just stick with the basics and agree that counting macros is the most sustainable (depending on who you talk to) and precise way of gaining or losing weight.

However, what if you find weighing your food time consuming and you’re simply looking for a set of habits that keep caloric intake modest without having to carry your food scale with you everywhere you go.

 

The thing is, there are a lot of us that don’t want to spend our time counting calories and weighing our food.

With that being said, here are a couple of rules to implement that can naturally keep your caloric intake modest and consistent.

1. Prioritize Protein and Vegetables

The good thing about protein and vegetables is that it’s hard to overeat on these foods.

For the majority of us, we can all agree that it’s harder to overeat on a steak and some veggies than it is with a bowl of pasta or pizza. Not only does protein and veggies offer more volume of food without a crazy amount of calories, but they also provide the body with amino acids and fiber (both essential to the body).

A general guideline is to eat about a palms size of protein at each plate along with 1-2 fists worth of veggies at each meal.

2. Lift Heavy Things

This is especially important to implement on days where you know you’re going to eat something heavy/calorically dense.

Movements like squats and deadlifts promote insulin sensitivity (this makes our body more efficient at utilizing carbohydrates when we eat them).

Regular exercise creates “more space” calorically.

Think about it like paying your credit card off before making another big purchase. If you’re really dedicated, try implementing your own routine before heavier meals.

Maybe 100 Kettlebell Swings before the buffet?

 

3. Let Your Activity Level Dictate Your Carbohydrate Intake

This rule is simple.

If you’re not as active on one day, then there’s no need for as many carbs.

I always think of carbs as an expensive fuel. When we need to run the body like a Ferrari (think high performance), then put the expensive fuel in. Otherwise running primarily on veggies, fat, and protein is as efficient as running the body like a hybrid car.

Disclaimer: There are a lot of benefits to increasing carbohydrate intake (especially from a recovery standpoint), so don’t think carbs are inherently bad, we just don’t need as many as people think (especially when activity levels don’t warrant it)

4. Make Alcohol and Refined Sugar a Luxury

I’m not suggesting you cut these foods out, but instead, make it worth it when you do consume these things.

That means instead of wasting your carbs on low-quality sugar during the week, opt to save your carbs for a time where you’re at a restaurant that’s known for their sourdough bread or pasta.

Another example is alcohol.

Instead of having a beer at home by yourself while watching 90-Day Fiancé and arguing with the TV, save it for a time when you’re out with friends and make alcohol an experiential thing.

The reason for this is that these things are easy to over-consume. Placing limitations on these things make it easier to keep intake moderate.

5. Drink More Water

This nutrition tip is an overused one, but it’s an important one.

Weight loss in relation to drinking more water works on a couple of levels.

Hydrating with water promotes more satiety; it’s essential to overall body metabolism function and it also supports your performance in the gym. A general rule thumb when buying an expensive double vacuum sealed water bottle is to buy three because you’re bound to lose the first two in one month (speaking from personal experience).

6. Sleep as Hard as You Train

Our metabolism determines how effective our body is at taking in and expending calories.

Someone needs to write a version FOR adults

Sleep is the process that up-regulates body metabolism along with many other hormonal processes. Sleep helps maintain fat-free body mass and can make fat loss difficult to achieve despite being in a caloric deficit.

Before You Troll Me…

Before the hate starts in the comments section, let’s make something clear.

These principles are not bulletproof.

Despite following all these rules, you can still screw things up as far as caloric intake goes. These rules simply provide some structure that provides you with a buffer from the effects of overeating. If you have specific body composition goals or are eating for performance, then I highly suggest you quantify your food by hitting specific macro and caloric goals.

Even if this isn’t something you want to do long term, there is still some benefit in having a rough idea of what food looks like calorically at each meal.

About the Author

Marc Capistrano is a Certified Nutritionist, fitness enthusiast, and content creator. He currently works out of downtown Toronto and maintains the Live It Holistic Nutrition blog. His work has been featured on CBC Life and Stack Magazine. As a University of Toronto graduate, he completed his BA and went on to achieve his Certified Nutritional Practitioner (CNP) designation in 2016. Marc is also a self-proclaimed buffet connoisseur and listener of Drake.

Website: www.liveitholistic.com

YouTube: HERE

Instagram: HERE

CategoriesNutrition

How to Approach Pre and Post Workout Nutrition

I’m over in Europe being all bourgeois and stuff at the moment.

Thankfully I had a few people reach out asking if they could write some content for me while was away chasing foxes in England with the Queen.

Today I’ve got a good one from Toronto based nutritionist, Marc Capistrano, discussing a few intricacies of pre and post-workout nutrition.

Enjoy!

How to Approach Pre and Post Workout Nutrition

The goal of this post isn’t to give you the ideal plate of food that should be eaten before or after training, but rather to provide you with some insight into that immediate post workout window before your next meal.

The same goes for the odd time that occurs 30 minutes to an hour before training.

I know many of you may be rolling your eyes saying that things like “the post workout window is a myth” and that in the greater scheme of things, what you eat immediately before or after training isn’t as important when your intake of food is balanced throughout the day.

I’ll agree that this is somewhat true, but I’ll also say that the timing of your food intake in and around training can have an effect on overall performance.

Before we get into the sexy takeaways like the specific foods to eat before and after our workouts, let’s get a couple things straight. First, we need to consider a few factors to help inform our unique, individual pre and post workout meal needs:

Current Eating Habits

At the end of the day, nutrition will always come down to the individual.

What works for you may not work for someone else.

As an example, I know some people who thrive training fasted and then there’s some people who need a little bit of glucose in their system to perform. Some people are fat adapted and some people, like myself, need their carbs before training.

With that being said, don’t build around a set of nutrition rules, instead, build off of what has worked for you and upgrade that shit.

Nutrient Intake

If vitamins and minerals are cofactors for the body to support ATP production, then we need to  consider how nutrient dense our food actually is. Nutrients are more influential on energy production more than calories.

Calories aren’t the only influence on energy production.

Blood Sugar Management

If you’re counting macros, then you’ll have your food and caloric intake set for the day, but the specifics of pre and post workout nutrition takes into consideration meal timing and what types of foods you choose to eat around your workout.

Some may argue that meal timing isn’t that important. But to me, meal timing means blood sugar management. When it comes to the fine details, the time in which you eat and digest your food can play a role in overall performance.

Rate of Digestion

The rate at which we assimilate and digest our food matters. This influences how efficiently our food is used as substrates for energy production. Also, have you ever eaten at a buffet then trained immediately after?

Keep the garbage can close if you do decide to try it.

The Intensity of Your Workout

If you’re a power-based athlete then consider fueling your body with expensive fuel; aka carbs.

As for the keto people reading this, I think we can all agree that being fat-fueled is an efficient method of energy production, but utilizing fat vs. carbs prior to training is the difference between using a Hybrid and a Ferrari to win on a race track.

The same can be said for the lower carb Paleo followers as well.

Carb Consumption

Are your goals recovery-oriented?

Or are you more concerned with body composition?

Recovery methods will usually require higher carb intake before and after your workouts, while lower carb intake will allow the body to use fat as a substrate to fuel your workouts if improving body composition is your goal.

Pre-Workout Nutrition

To keep it simple, pre-workout nutrition is based around providing the body with the right amount of amino acids while also maintaining a slow and steady release of glucose to be used during your workout.

Here’s what to eat…

Have Some Fat

If you’re fat adapted this is especially important, as it’s the primary substrate of energy production for you.

Even if you’re not following a strict keto diet, I like having clients include some sort of quality fat source prior to training because of its ability to provide a slow and steady release of available glucose during your workout.

I especially like Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT’s) because of their ability to cross the mitochondrial membrane and be used as energy immediately. Other fats require a series of events that need L-carnitine for entry into the mitochondrial membrane while MCT’s don’t.

Some quality fat options include: coconut, avocado, cheese (if dairy is your thing) and most nuts and seeds are great options. In case you were interested, below is a quick video of how I incorporate MCT oil into my pre-workout training session.

 

Just a Little Bit of Protein Bro

You’ve heard this before, but I’ll remind you that having protein and its available amino acids limits protein from being used as a substrate during exercise while keeping protein synthesis (MPS) levels steady as this tends to go down during workouts.

A full steak may be too dense of a meal immediately prior to training, but a protein shake or BCAA supplement will do just fine.

Other quick and easy protein source for pre-workout nutrition include: beef jerky, turkey jerky or a simple protein shake.

Coffee. The Original Pre-Workout

Coffee offers a jolt of energy by blocking adenosine receptors in the body that would otherwise reduce neural activity.

For a more balanced and reduced intake of caffeine, opt for a Green tea, which contains an amino acid known as L-Theanine, which balances the stimulatory effect of caffeine. It also contains far less caffeine than the average cup of coffee.

Post-Workout Nutrition

For the most part, post workout nutrition involves higher insulinogenic foods paired with adequate protein intake.

Not only does the consumption of carbs post-workout replenish glycogen stores that we tapped into or depleted during intense exercise, but as a storage hormone, it promotes the absorption of amino acids into the blood stream needed for protein synthesis.

The body also happens to be more insulin sensitive and more receptive to food right after exercise, which is why I opt to have my calorically dense meals in the post workout window.

Ketosis and being fat adapted aside, post-workout nutrition can have an effect on cortisol secretion. This is particularly important post-workout as we’ll want cortisol to gradually come back to normal levels.

Don’t get me wrong, cortisol has a very important role during training, but if chronically elevated, it can have negative effects. Post workout carbs will bring cortisol levels back to a normal range and have favourable effects on things like the immune system.

Here’s what to eat…

Fast Carbohydrates

When it comes to starchy carbs, I opt for faster digesting carbs like white rice. The fact that its fibre content is lower is beneficial in this context.

The faster it spikes insulin, the faster the absorption rate. Good post workout starchy carb sources include white rice, potatoes, rice cakes, and yes, bread. Clearly there are more fun ways of spiking your insulin (sugar, candy, cake), but lets consider gut health, long-term health and quality when choosing post-workout food options.

Fruit

Opt for fruit lower in fructose as fructose is slower to absorb. This is due to the fact that it needs to be processed in the liver first.

Fruits that are lower in fructose include blackberries, blueberries, pineapple, kiwi, papaya, strawberries and grapefruit.

Protein: Whey or Vegan Protein Powder

It’s fast, easy to prepare, and even easier to digest…making protein powders an ideal option for post workout consumption. The amino acid Leucine is particularly beneficial because of its ability to keep protein synthesis (MPS) high after exercise.

Notice that fat is excluded here?

That’s because of its ability to slow down the absorption of food.

This is beneficial from a blood sugar standpoint as this can be useful for times when we need a slow supply of glucose, but not beneficial during a the post workout meal where quick absorption and assimilation is needed. When it comes to post workout nutrition, taking advantage of the body’s insulin sensitive state is the most important note to take home.

I get it.

For some: These recommendations may simply not matter, but for someone in the dark or struggling with general nutrition, building a habit based approach to what’s eaten immediately before and after training will produce at the very least, consistency.

For the trainers out there: Providing clients with a set of go-to recommendations gives the client a feeling of purpose and direction with training and nutrition. That in itself carries value and at the very least something to take away from this.

About the Author

Marc Capistrano is a Toronto based Certified Nutritionist, fitness enthusiast and content creator. He currently works out of downtown Toronto and maintains the Live It Holistic Nutrition blog.

Catch him on his YouTube channel and Instagram page.

CategoriesNutrition

How Food Induced Inflammation Affects Performance and Recovery

This past weekend Lisa and I had friends over and we ordered a few pizzas. I love pizza. And no surprise I went a little overboard. Also no surprise: I woke up the next day feeling lethargic, bloated, and as if my mouth spent the night in a desert.

Don’t get me wrong: I didn’t feel guilty or anything. I deadlifted earlier that day, and everyone knows that pizza and deadlifts are synonymous with one another.1 But man oh man, you can bet I felt the affects all through the weekend.

Today’s guest post from Toronto based nutritionist, Marc Capistrano, helps explain a topic everyone reading has experienced at one time or another: food induced inflammation.

Copyright: klenova / 123RF Stock Photo

 

How Food Induced Inflammation Affects Performance and Recovery

We all know that stubbing your toe against the coffee table while twerking in the living room creates an inflammatory response (and it sucks!). It’s the body’s repair mechanism that kicks in when it detects damaged tissue.

The thing that people tend to forget is that this inflammatory response can kick in as a result of dietary triggers as well.

Instead of reacting to damaged tissue, the body is responding to less than optimal foods.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not here to talk about “good” and “bad” foods (I’m really not about that life), but there are definitely foods that offer more benefit than others. With that being said, inflammation and low-level inflammation can impact performance, recovery and long-term health.

How Does Food Cause Inflammation?

Ever heard of the antigen/antibody complex? If you haven’t, here’s a brief and basic re-cap.

You eat something foreign in excess (let’s say trans-fats or arts and crafts glue for example), the body detects it as an antigen and the immune system releases an antibody to tag it and directs white blood cells to dispose of these foreign substances.

When this happens, an immune complex is formed and inflammatory by-products are released as a result of this. Normally our immune system is efficient enough to quickly handle this immune complex and move on but when we’re constantly eating these trigger foods, inflammatory by-products can deposit themselves into our tissues.

Whenever I explain this immune system reaction to someone, the person I’m talking to will either nod their head and agree or they’ll want to throw hot coffee on me for confusing them. If it’s the latter, I’ll always come back to the “car accident” analogy.

Imagine a car accident on a main road. Tow trucks, cop cars and a fire truck come to the scene and start doing their job. The fire fighters are cleaning spilled oil, the tow truck is moving cars and all of this is backing up traffic. It’s a hectic scene, but all of this havoc is a small price to pay in order for the mess to be cleared.

If you’re a visual learner, this is similar to an immune system reaction. The car accident is inflammation and the firefighters and police are the immune system coming in to clean it all up.

It’s perfectly normal and the organized mess is needed in order to get traffic moving again. The problem is, what if another accident happened 100m ahead and then another one, and then…. we’ll you get the idea. Small fender benders turn into a major backup and make a small delay become a huge one. It’s a stressful environment for everyone involved and that “stress” can manifest itself as achy joints, low energy and lengthened recovery times.

I know it may seem like an extreme picture but it also best describes food in relation to its potential crappy effects on the body. It’s not a major issue but quite possibly, the last 5% that you’ve been chasing could be found in food quality i.e. what it is you’re eating.

3 Tips for Reducing Food-Induced Inflammation

So what can we do to support recovery time and limit the overall crappy-feeling caused by food-induced inflammation?

 1. Pay What Your Body is Due

Enjoying pizza and skittles is not a bad thing but you need to earn it first.

What I mean by this is you need to pay your body with quality macronutrients and micronutrients.

Once this is paid and calories are equated, feel free to spend the rest of your macronutrients on anything of your choice (my personal favourites include gelato and hamburgers). Remember that micronutrients and minerals serve as cofactors that support the secretion and response of hormones in our body (ever heard of testosterone?)

Side Note: If you like to geek out on food quality, fancy ingredients and antioxidants, check out a video I did on my kick ass morning smoothie.

 

Pro Tip: Apply the 80/20 rule or 70/30 rule or the 60/40… You know what just keep things balanced. Enjoy your pizza and wings; just be sure to accompany it with some vegetables and protein at some point in the day. It’s hard to overeat on pizza if you’ve had some roasted vegetables and steak prior.

2. Value Insulin Sensitivity

Insulin resistance and inflammation are synonymous with each other. Insulin resistance can eventually cause sugar molecules to attach itself to muscle tissue otherwise known as “glycation” which can cause inflammatory by-products. A balanced amount of fat, low glycemic, fruit and vegetables will go a long way in preventing insulin resistance and help to maintain optimal tissue quality.

Pro Tip: If its insulin sensitivity you’re chasing, keep your denser carbohydrates in and around training. Vegetables and fat can accompany your protein for the rest of the day. This tip should be taken with a grain of salt as individualized diets depend on training volume and personal preference.

3. Balance Your Fats

An imbalance of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acids can lead to an inflammatory response because of the hormone like factors known as prostaglandins.

Note: Omega 6 in excess is inflammatory. Because of the way food is processed these days, we’re getting more omega 6s in our diet than we need.

Wild caught salmon, walnuts and egg yolks are examples of great Omega 3 sources and can correct omega 3 and 6 imbalances.

Pro Tip: Oil is like your older brother, the less you piss him off, the more helpful he’ll be to you. Excess deep fried and processed foods can tip the balance between good and bad fats.

Wrapping Up

I know what some of you are saying. “This guy is trying to push detox salads and organic produce on us or else our recovery is doomed”.

Not true at all my friend.

I’m definitely not telling you that French fries and ice cream are bad for overall performance and recovery. Instead, I’m say that eating a diet that primarily consists of pizza and french fries will start to have an impact on your performance and recovery.

The take-home message is that balance and moderation is one of the most important aspects of food in relation to inflammation, performance and recovery. I’m not trying to promote any “special foods” but rather a balance between nutrient dense foods and not-so-nutrient-dense food. Building this habit will benefit you in the long run.

Take care of the housekeeping tasks (getting enough quality protein, fibre, fat and carbohydrates) and it could be the missing link in your quest for the city of Gainz.

About the Author

Marc Capistrano is a Toronto based Certified Nutritionist, fitness enthusiast and content creator. He currently works out of downtown Toronto and maintains the Live It Holistic Nutrition blog. His work has been featured on CBC Life and he is also a brand ambassador for Garden of Life.