Now, everyone knows that foods high in sugar and simple carbohydrates make you fat. It's not rocket science to look at a bag of skittles and understand that they won't help get you lean. There is, however, a lot of bad information floating around about foods that are supposedly healthy for you and that support fat loss and muscle building, most either the result of the moron "brotritionist" at your local, commercial gym or the deep advertising pockets of the food industry.

This being said, here are some of my least favorite foods and why they suck.

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It seems to me that every time I stop into 7-Eleven, Arco, AMPM, or really any convenience store (and trust me, this isn't often since I rarely have to leave the car in Oregon, high five for gas pumpers) that there is a new energy drink that has come out. It makes me feel old when I recall the "good old days" when it was basically Red Bull and Rockstar, right before Monster eve came out.

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As I've mentioned in a few of my previous, toward the end of my undergrad at Portland State I had the privilege to work with the Oregon Food Bank as part of a class on poverty, hunger, and our nation's food system. 

As part of this class, I was able to learn about the problems related to food security, especially s the exist along the enormous socioeconomic divide we have here in our country. 

Probably the most shocking fact was that the, according to recent data, the average American family living at the poverty level has a budget of about $6 a day to feed a family of 3!  As an exercise, we were given the task of going to our local grocery store and trying to prepare just one meal on this budget and the results were astonishing.

Not only were the meals small and significantly imbalanced, but it is also nearly impossible to eat a balanced diet with these kinds of restrictions, placing the poor and working poor into a state of consistent malnourishment and increasing their risk for obesity, heart disease, stroke, and a whole plethora of other health concerns which they also, likely don't have the means to adequately treat.

Being the hands-on, generally awesome kind of person that I am, I wanted to take this a step further than simply going, "Ok, so poor people eat shitty food.  That's so sad."  So I decided to go on a 36hr poverty diet, taking a first-person look at what it feels like to be underfed.

My rules for the poverty diet were simple:

1. The net cost of each day must be less than $3.
   
2. I can break up larger quantities and factor the cost of a portion.
   
3. I must try my best to eat a balanced, healthy meal (rather than choosing to live only off of Top Ramen.
   

Since I'm already accustomed to buying food in bulk, especially my meats and carbs, I decided to utilize this same strategy when it came to my Poverty Diet.  So, my initial plan was to shoot for foods like potatoes, oatmeal, ramen, rice, tuna, and ground beef, which is typically cheaper than chicken or steak.

My diet is typically high in protein, primarily from chicken, eggs, and lean cuts of steak.  My carbohydrates, which I intentionally keep lower in comparison because of my body’s natural tendency to bloat and store them, usually come from sources such as oats, quinoa, and sweet potatoes, sources which are also relatively inexpensive, but still low glycemic index, complex carbohydrates.  The majority of the cost in my normal diet comes from the protein sources, and accepting that this would be the portion that would take the largest hit was a difficult pill to swallow since my $3 daily budget would require otherwise.

So I hit the store.  Winco to be specific.

As my stomach, muscles, and training feared, protein was not really going to happen with this kind of budget.  The way that I was accustomed to eating would have to change drastically.

After a few laps around the meat section with my calculator in hand, I gave up on trying to make meat work.  The cheapest cuts of pork or the fattiest ground beef would be the closest I could come to fitting within budget, however, even after dividing the contents into servings and pro-rating them into my daily allotment, I was still over budget.

Hanging my head in defeat, I made my way to the bulk goods section to grab some oatmeal.  From previous experience i knew that it was just 48 cents a pound and kept me full pretty well.

Before leaving, I also decided to pick up some pasta. Although this was over 3 dollars for a pound,  I was able to make it fit my budget my dividing the contents between the 3 days. Combined with the cans of tomato sauce that I also found for 50 cents, this looked like it would be my best bet at getting a semi-decent meal in, although completely make up of carbohydrates.

At this point, I still had an entire day's allowance left over, so I decided to buy some Top Ramen soups to fill in the gaps between the other 2 meals.  I was hoping that the sodium bloat would help me to retain enough water to fight off hunger pangs throughout the day.

How does it feel to be poor?

Unfortunately for me, I did my poverty diet toward the end of my last term of college. 

Big mistake.

During the entire 3 days, I was tired, bloated, unproductive, pissed off, and tired. All of my schoolwork during this time was simply unbearable.  Aside from the fact that I struggled to stay awake, my attention span was also non-existent.  Assignments that should have been quick tasks took hours, I had no desire to accomplish anything, and I found myself procrastinating anything possible in favor for sleeping.

In addition to this, I also found that I had an uncontrollable urge to eat.  Every bite of simple, processed carbohydrates gave birth to an even strong desire for more simple, processed carbohydrates.  Hunger transformed from a simple, biological need to an insatiable obsession.  I would even go so far as to wake up in the middle of the night starving and craving nothing but more fat and carbs.

I even lost interest in training during these days; after struggling through the first half of my workout on Day 1 because I was simply too tired and hungry, I decided to cut training out of my life because it just made me hungrier.  I didn't want to waste the little bit of satiety that I got from by noodles. 

What does this mean for the "working poor?"

It has been demonstrated that people that come from a lower socioeconomic status are typically more like to suffer from obesity, heart disease and other terminal sicknesses, as well as test lower academically and develop attention-related behavioral disorders such as ADD and ADHD, which, ultimately, places the subsequent generation in the same situation.

It's also not too big of a stretch to draw a correlation between stress-related diseases and socioeconomic standing as well.

I would say that the menu choices I made as part of my 36-hour poverty diet they poorly reflect the things that I value: health, nutrition, and balance.  Having to choose foods simply based on cost meant denying these values, and caused much cognitive dissonance for me.  Knowing what you should be doing and not having the means to do it is a difficult place to be.  This is amplified when you are also the primary provider for someone other than yourself.  The frustration and distress are exponentially worse when you have someone else to take care of and have to make choices that also affect another person who you care about, and are unable to provide what you know is best for them.

Ok, so that's depressing, but what does it have to do with a health and fitness blog?

So, while I will admit that I did write much of this post to make you more aware of  how many of the families who are reliant upon emergency food feel, and how the issues surrounding hunger and food security affect them on an emotional level, my point is not simply to depress you.  True, food insecurity is something that cannot be fully understood unless you have experienced it, and there would be far more people willing to get involved with changing our food system to eradicate these problems if more people were to try my 36-hour poverty diet, but I will actually try to tie this back into fitness.

So, here it goes.

I, as a person who makes a living by providing what is categorized as a "luxury service" (although I have a bone to pick with this), and you as someone who has both internet access and the time to read this very blog, are privileged.

The very fact that this conversation can take place proves this fact.

We have options when it comes to the kinds of things that we put into our bodies. You can choose between Taco Bell and a grilled chicken salad.  You can choose to make a home-cooked meal with your family instead of trying to make a bag of rice last until payday. You don't have to choose between buying gas to get to work or buying food for your family.

You are entitled and you are obligated.

Because you have these options, you are obligated to make the right choices.  Think of the Bible's concept of stewardship.  We are stewards of our bodies, who are expected to take the best possible care of them, and because we have the means to do so, we are doubly obligated to take care of them.

So, perhaps my 36-hour poverty diet can be just another justification for why fitness ought to be important, because I always find it quite ironic when I have to "sell" fitness to someone. 

Seriously? Do I really need to sell you on taking care of your body so that you live a longer, happier life? Is it really that difficult to make it a priority, because I can assure you that there are millions of people who would kill for the opportunities that you are taking for granted.

If we preached this approach to fitness, I have a funny feeling that there would be far less people claiming "addiction to cheeseburgers" and "no time to exercise" as validations for being unhealthy.

What do you think?

This post took a life of its own while it was being written, and I feel like there is room for a lot of discussion around the topics of food security, fitness, stewardship, and even the politics surrounding the first 3.  What do you feel about this post?

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As I'm sure most of you know by now, I've been learning a lot about the problems that exist in our current industrial food system model, and the implications that those practices have on us as consumers and participants in a greater system. 

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The last few weeks have been the source of much cognitive dissonance for me, as the information presented in this class coupled with other research and studying I have been doing about related topics has really challenged my paradigm for understanding not only our food system, but our entire social structure.

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When I typically address nutrition with a client, there are 3 key areas that I must tackle: Quality (what you eat), Quantity (how much you eat), and Timing (when/how often you eat).

Today, we’ll tackle timing first. Now, the first rebuttal that I usually hear when I question the frequency of someone’s meals goes something like, “Yeah, I know I should be eating more often. Six small meals like everyone says, right?” This means that they have the basic concepts down, but only on the level of what they’ve heard their friend say or watched on an Oprah special.

Here’s why eating more frequently is so important:

Let’s say you were good and followed the “3 solid meals a day” routine, which I remind you most people don’t. Breakfast skippers, that means you. Anyways, at this model, the average gym patron feels they are doing pretty well. Not too hungry, sometimes tired in the middle of the afternoon, but that’s normal, right? Not exactly.

What’s actually happening in this format is detrimental for 2 reasons, especially for the client looking to drop bodyfat and look lean.

First, the fact that we only eat several times per day does not change the fact that our body requires energy constantly. This means that, during those times that we are not taking in any calories (Blue), our body has to turn to an internal source to stay alive. In this case, it will most often attack your lean muscle tissue, which is your body's  fat-burning engine!

This effectively lowers your metabolism over time, since the less muscle tissue you have, the fewer calories your body can burn at rest, and the fewer calories you can eat to maintain the same weight. Second, eating in this format throws our bodies into starvation mode. One side effect of this is catabolism (the breaking down of muscle tissue for energy) which I discussed above. The second is what happens to the food that you are eating. Because your body is thrown off by not being fed regularly, it seeks to store as much of what you do take in as an emergency supply.

This means that, no matter how healthy those 3 (or fewer) meals you’re taking in are, they will not be processed efficiently, and much of them will be stored as body fat as an emergency supply of energy. So, you can see that poses a problem for the gym member looking to lose weight. This also explains the New Year’s phenomenon that you can see happening in health clubs around the country: join in January, eat less/move more, lose weight quickly by burning up lots of muscle, hit a plateau, gain most of your weight back very quickly because your metabolism is actually slower, give up and join again next year.

So the first thing that we want to accomplish with you nutrition program to keep you from falling into these same patterns is make it so you are eating smaller quantities more often, not starving.  

You can see that these smaller meals are able to be completely utilized by your body to fuel your workouts. After this, we can successfully add exercise to increase your calorie deficit and help you get lean!

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Our bodies run on energy, and energy comes in the form of calories. The key to body transformation is to balance the number of calories we take in (food) and the calories we burn (activity).

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So, you've just made your New Year's resolution to get back in shape (hopefully, this time will be the last time).  You've got your new workout clothes, uber chic Sigg bottle full of water, fancy new gym membership, hopefully a kick ass personal trainer so you know what you're doing, and you're about to stop into the local supplement shop and stock up on all of the supplements you are going to need.

If you're like everyone else (and by this point, I hope you're at least somewhere on your path to not), then you are about to grab a fist full of fat-burners and protein bars and shakes.

Now stop (colaborate and listen).  Before you go shopping for ANY supplements, please check out my post about supplementation.  It will give a good idea of what supplements you actually need to be taking before worrying about most of the crap that is available out there.

Today, however, I want to focus simply on protein/energy bars.

Without getting ahead of myself and ruining the ending (kind of like telling you that the couple always get back together after the big argument scene in romantic comedies), the moral of this story is don't buy them. Period.

Now, I'm not trying to sound like a Nazi.  I understand that it can be difficult for some people to eat the ideal 6+ times a day.  I get it.  I feel your pain and I understand.  I would simply argue that there are better places to be getting your calories.

The "energy bar" market has had quite a boom over the last year, with several new offerings from Cliff and Snickers just to name a few.  It seems like everone is throwing some protein into something else and calling a health product. 

Take the Snickers Marathon bar for example:

• 290 calories
• 10g fat
• 20g protein
• 40g carbs
• 21g sugar

"Everything you need from an energy bar with the Great Taste you expect from SNICKERS."

Actually, it's everything about a SNICKERS bar with some protein added in for marketing purposes.  Take a look:

Regular size Snickers candy bar:

• 266 calories
• 11g fat
• 37 carbs
• 5g protein
• 28g sugar

Little confused? Yeah, me too.  A normal Snickers bar has fewer calories, the same amount of fat, the same amount of carbs, and a bit more sugar. 

Oh yea, but it has less protein.  That's why it's an "energy bar." Gotcha.

So I may sound a bit harsh, and I understand that there are better options out there when it comes to supplements. 

Offerings from EAS, Promax, and other big name brands should be a lot better than something made by Snickers, but they really aren't. 

EAS Myoplex Lite Bar:

• 190 calories
• 4.5g fat
• 15g protein
• 26g carbs
• 11g sugar

Promax Bar:

• 280 calories
• 7g fat
• 20g protein
• 37g carbs
• 24g sugar

And these are from legitimate supplement brands! Brands that I actually like and approve of!

The problem is that, in order to sell their product, it has to taste good.  And to taste good, there usually has to be sugar in it. 

Now, not all sugar is bad.  In some programs, such as a muscle gain program where the goal is to increase calorie intake, these products of far less concern.  For those looking to lose fat, however, it is just not beneficial to have such a high percentage of your calories coming from sugar.

So, although you may think that you are eating something that fits right into the healthy lifestyle you are trying to live, you may in fact be undoing all of your results with mislabeled candy bars! Think twice before grabbing a box!

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