Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Chocolate Cake Factor

The other day I got a few laughs on Facebook when I used an old expression that some of us in the Fitness profession used about 15 years ago (hey, I never pretended to be young). The expression is ‘CCF (Chocolate Cake Factor)’. For example, suppose there is a person who is consistently at the gym working really hard over a long period of time, yet it does not seem as though that individual is having any results. Back then, a trainer may have turned to their colleague and said ‘oh, I guess it is just CCF’.
What this means is that no matter how hard you exercise, you can’t ‘out-train’ a bad diet. The example of this expression is that sometimes people have the mindset that they worked so hard at the gym so they ‘deserve some chocolate cake’. Now, ‘chocolate cake’ can also stand in for muffins, donuts, fried food, etc. When someone in my Spinning class asks me how many calories do I think they burned in my class, I often respond, ‘I don’t know the exact number, but if you leave here and get a latte and a muffin you will negate your workout’. I purposely try to take the focus off the calories burned since the inclination would be to think about what can now be consumed.
The problem with this mentality is that it is very easy to consume a lot of calories pretty fast, but it takes a lot of work to burn off those calories. Therefore, I do not think exercise is the best way to control or lose weight. Of course you need fitness. That is non-negotiable! But, to lose or maintain your weight you need to focus on diet. I read once that ‘great abs are made in the kitchen’ and I agree.
I was at a popular restaurant in New York yesterday where the calories are listed on the menu. Many of the entrees were over 1,000 calories! Lets do some math here. Since calories burned vary by person by so many variables, I am going to assume 100 calories/10 min of moderate to high intensity just for simplicity in this example (and I am too lazy for complicated equations right now).
Ok, you ran for a full hour at a rate of 6.0 and your muscles are sore! You worked really hard, sweating like mad, and burned about 600 calories. Now let’s see how many calories we would have burned doing absolutely nothing. I encourage you to read more about BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) and RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate). These are both calculations used to estimate how many calories you burn assuming you did nothing but rest for24 hours. For this example, let’s use RMR and assume it is 1,200 calories. Divide that by 24 to give a calorie burn of 50 for an hour of sitting around doing nothing. So, we need to subtract that from our treadmill workout giving us a net benefit of 550 calories. Again, I am using very conservative estimates in my example.
OK, so we are at the restaurant feeling great after our tough workout and we order an entrée for 1,100 calories, a glass of wine to celebrate (120 calories), and what the heck let’s split the dessert since we earned it (550 calories). Calorie total for this one meal is 1,770 (wow, and that is just one meal! But does this sound familiar yet?). Your entire workout gave you a 550-calorie benefit bringing your meal down to 1,220, which is still way too much for one meal. It takes 3,500 extra calories to gain a pound, but with this math it is easy to see how that can happen.
I don’t want to discourage you; I want to do the opposite so lets use this same example in another setting. Ok, rewind. You did an awesome workout and made a net burn of 550 calories and going to meet your friends out to dinner. You have a nice glass of wine because you deserve it, order a lower calorie entrée or if you want the 1,100 calorie one then eat half of it. Politely demur on the chocolate cake at the end telling your friends that you are full. You stayed in your calorie budget and your exercise gave you a 550-calorie deficit. Wow, at this rate you will lose about 1/lb a week, the healthy amount. Great job!
Have a wonderful and healthy week
XOX
This blog is for informational purposes only.  It’s not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any health problem, nor is it intended to replace the advice of a physician.  No action should be taken solely on the contents of this website.  Always consult your physician or qualified health professional on any matters regarding your health. It is advised see your physician before changing your diet, starting an exercise program, or taking any supplements of any kind.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Can a diet prevent cancer?

I recently came across some information about something called the ‘Epigenetic Diet’. This is not about weight loss; it is so much more powerful than that. Researchers are trying to prove that this diet may prevent cancer. Of course, this piqued my interest and I found myself researching it more.
Epigenetics research focuses on the effects that diet can have on the structure and the function of DNA. It was formerly believed that cancer is caused by a mutation in DNA, but scientists are finding that more than half of the cases are caused by changes in gene activity rather than the structure.
Ok, here is some quick science:  Your DNA is made up of a unique sequence of about 3 billion nucleotides. These are arranged into units called ‘genes’. Your genes contain all of the information needed to produce proteins necessary to create your cells and tissues to sustain your life. The process of creating a new protein in your cells is called ‘gene expression’ and your body closely regulates it. It is believed that mistakes in gene expression lead to illnesses like cancer. One of the ways of regulating gene expression is through epigenetics.  Epigenetics research focuses on the change of gene expression by means other than the change in DNA nucleotide sequence. This is where diet comes in.
So, what do I think of this? Well, I am neither a doctor nor a scientist but I think it makes sense. We learned back in basic high school biology class that our cells are constantly regenerating. So, as our cells change, what are they being built from? To me it makes sense that they are made using what goes into our body, whether that be food, medication, drugs, environmental pollution, etc. Since we can’t 100% control the environmental factors, I think we should pay great attention to what we can control. That means it is important to watch what you put into your body. Do not smoke or take drugs, limit alcohol (although in moderation it has positive benefits), make sure the medicine you take is really needed, watch out for dangerous chemicals in plastic, and avoid nitrates and chemicals in your food.
But the good news is that there is so much more you can ADD than to avoid. Food such as broccoli, blueberries, tomatoes, and grapes as well as flaxseed, garlic, turmeric, cinnamon, green tea, and red wine are some examples of things that may be able to ‘turn on’ genes that suppress tumor growth and ‘turn off’ the genes that promote growth. Of course, none of this is proven yet but I personally believe that it will be some day. It definitely will not hurt to add these to your diet.
I eat broccoli, flaxseed, and tomatoes everyday and blueberries, grapes and green tea on a lot of days. I will start to add cinnamon and turmeric to more of my food and of course enjoy a nice glass of red wine!
Cheers! And Happy Summer

XOX
This blog is for informational purposes only.  It’s not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any health problem, nor is it intended to replace the advice of a physician.  No action should be taken solely on the contents of this website.  Always consult your physician or qualified health professional on any matters regarding your health. It is advised see your physician before changing your diet, starting an exercise program, or taking any supplements of any kind.