February 9, 2009 was a big day for me.
It was on that day, early on a cold winter morning, that I stumbled downstairs to the basement to start Day 1 of a video exercise program from a company called Beachbody. The program was P90X. I still remember that first workout, and how I had to stop halfway through and take a break because it was so difficult that I was feeling nauseous. More than once that first week, I thought about quitting. But I saw that this program was different from anything I'd ever tried, and made the decision to stick wtih it for a full 90 days.
After three months of workouts, I really was a different person. Yes, I looked different on the outside; I had dropped about 7 lbs of bodyfat, and had six-pack abs for the first time in my life. But the real, fundamental change had taken place on the inside. I now understood what I was truly capable of. The program had given me confidence and a mental strength I didn't know I had.
So, I did it again. After the second round, I looked at what else these Beachbody people had to offer. Turned out, quite a lot.
Beachbody is one of the premier home fitness companies in the world. I know of no other company that even comes close to the broad range of products they offer. From the beginner to the elite athlete, there truly is a program for everyone. Programs for seniors? Check. Programs to get kids and teens active? You bet. As I came to realize the quality of the products Beachbody sold, I wanted to bring what I'd discovered to others.
Unfortunately, I couldn't. The Beachbody Coaching opportunity only accepted US residents. I asked about coming to Canada, and was told (by the company CEO, no less) that it was definitely in the works, but that there was a lot of red tape involved in setting up a business like Beachbody in Canada. So, I waited.
And waited. Months turned to years. I kept doing Beachbody programs, adding all the variants of P90X to my growing library. Then, adding Turbo Jam and Insanity. I tried and liked the supplements. All the while, I waited for the day when Canadians could fully enjoy everything the business had to offer.
If I'm to be completely honest, as the years went by I started to doubt if Beachbody would ever come to Canada. I still wanted to share all the benefits that increased health and fitness had given me, though, so I studied for and obtained my personal trainer designation. I even looked around at other companies that were operating in Canada to see if their products could match up to Beachbody. There are other companies that make shakes and supplements. But there is no company anywhere that matches Beachbody's commitment to both exercise and nutrition. The other shakes might be good, but they don't offer vegan options for people who can't or don't want to consume dairy. And, they don't offer any kind of exercise programs. For comprehensive, one-stop shopping, Beachbody is unique in the field.
After a lot of research in this area, I can say that I believe in this company, and I believe in what they offer. The fitness programs are second to none, and feature the best male and female trainers in the industry. The supplements are healthy and carefully crafted. The post-workout recovery drink, for example, has the exact protein to carbohydrate ratio that university studies consistently show is ideal to speed recovery from hard workouts, while Shakeology is truly the gold standard in meal replacement shakes. Over 70 healthy ingredients, sourced from around the world, go into every serving.
If you're reading this blog, that tells me that you're interested in your health (congratulations), and in what I have to say (thanks!). I hope you've come to realize that I'm not one to jump on bandwagons when the next fitness fad comes along. I don't believe in shortcuts or cheats to achieve goals. It takes hard work and dedication, not gimmicks. I further hope that you'll realize that for me to recommend a company as unreservedly as I do Beachbody is unusual. But such is the confidence I have in both the products and the people behind them.
I have waited for years to become an Independent Team Beachbody Coach. Now that it's finally happened, I can't wait to start bringing this fantastic company and its products to as many people as possible. I hope you'll visit my websites, www.beachbodycoach.com/coachscottpratt and www.myshakeology.com/coachscottpratt and see for yourself what Beachbody has to offer. If you have any questions at all, please contact me at scott@fitnessinthebalance.com. I want to get the word out, and it starts now!
Beachbody
Friday, October 19, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Building Blocks, Part One
If you could improve your physical self in just one way, what would you do? Would you want to be stronger? Have more endurance? Be able to play with your kids for longer? Be able to get out of bed without feeling stiff and sore?
Stop for a moment and think about what your number one physical goal is. I know I talk a lot about achieving balanced fitness, where you strive to improve multiple areas of your physical and mental well-being at once, but for today let’s put that aside. If you had to choose one goal, what would it be? The answer will tell you your biggest area of weakness, and also what you need to do about it. Once you achieve that goal, you’ll also be more likely to want more, and you’ll be in the perfect position to add other dimensions to your workouts.
This will start a series of posts looking at specific fitness goals and how to achieve them. Once we’ve gone through the list, we’ll double back and see how they can be combined to create a comprehensive fitness program.
Strength – Maybe your most important goal is to improve your strength. You may have noticed that you had trouble moving boxes around the last time you cleaned the basement. Or how sore you were after the last time you shovelled the driveway. If that’s you, improving your strength is probably a good idea. I’m not talking about becoming an Olympic powerlifter. You need to be able to perform the activities of your daily life without faltering or paying the price afterwards. While the level of strength needed will vary from person to person, the need for a solid baseline of physical strength is clear.
Ok, you want to get stronger. What do you do about it?
Strength manifests itself, at its most basic level, as a person’s ability to move something heavy. A box, a shovel of wet snow, that last party guest who won’t take the hint. You improve your ability to do those things by, well, moving stuff that’s heavy. Luckily, the fitness industry has created many tools you can use for this purpose. Dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells…they can all help you get stronger. And don’t forget the one piece of exercise equipment you carry around with you all day: your body. Bodyweight exercises are worthy of their own post, so here we’ll talk about how lifting weights like dumbbells can increase your strength. Let’s look at some dos and don’ts:
DO use a challenging weight. This goes for both men and women. So often you hear women say they don’t want to lift weights because they don’t want to get too muscular. I can tell you here and now that you have absolutely nothing to worry about. You know those women bodybuilders, the ones who basically look like guys in bikinis? Trust me when I say they didn’t get that way accidentally. They have worked for years on their bodies, trying to build as much muscle as possible. Many of them also use anabolic steroids to counter the naturally lower levels of testosterone women possess. So, if your goal is to get stronger, don’t be afraid of weights. Or, if you don’t have any weights, resistance bands. They work too, especially if you don’t have a lot of space or you travel a lot. Instead of choosing a challenging weight, choose a challenging level of resistance.
DON’T do endless repetitions of each exercise. If your goal is to build strength (as opposed to endurance, speed, muscle size or explosive power), find a weight where you struggle to get 6 to 8 repetitions with good form. If you are doing less than that, odds are you’ve picked a weight that’s too heavy and your form is suffering. If you’re doing more than that, you won’t be targeting the muscles properly to get stronger. You’ll build stamina, which isn’t what you’re looking for. Remember too that if you’re doing 30 repetitions of each exercise, your workout will end up taking a lot longer than if you do fewer, harder reps.
DO compound exercises. There are exercises everyone knows. Things like biceps curls have been around forever, and people like them because they’re familiar. And while they will help build stronger biceps, you can make more efficient use of your time by focusing on movements that use more than one muscle at once. Let’s say you want to get stronger legs. You could do leg extensions on a machine at the gym. That will strengthen the front of your thighs. Or you could do squats, which will strengthen the front and back of your thighs, your calves, your glutes, and your entire core. Plus, in the real world, you’re more likely to actually use a squatting motion when you’re picking things up or playing on the ground with rambunctious little ones.
DON’T neglect your nutrition. I’ve said many times before that if you want your body to perform at a high level, you can’t feed it unhealthy food. As you are training to get stronger, your muscles will need fuel. As you lift weights, you actually create microscopic tears in the individual muscle fibres. The body needs the right foods to repair this damage and make the muscle stronger. Right after working out, your body needs both fast-acting carbohydrates and protein. There are a lot of post-workout drinks on the market, but the easiest and cheapest thing I’ve found to do is to mix a protein shake using apple juice instead of water or milk. (If you’re going to try this, you’ll want to stay away from chocolate flavours of protein powder.) Read the labels, and aim for about 10 grams of protein to 30 – 40 grams of carbohydrate. That will probably be half a scoop of powder in a little more than 8 ounces of juice. Beyond post-workout nutrition, just make healthy choices. Go the Nutrition page of the website for help with this.
DO take time to recover between workouts. Yes, you want to get stronger. But your body makes its gains during recovery, not when you’re grunting through that last set of shoulder presses. If you’re new to weightlifting, aim for a full-body workout no more than three times a week. This will give you the chance to recover properly before you start again. It may be that in the first couple of weeks your body can only handle two workouts a week. If that’s the case, listen to what your body is telling you. When you’re ready (meaning not too sore afterwards), add a third day.
DON’T fall victim to the latest exercise gizmo or gadget. Sure the AbMax3000 looks cool, but it doesn’t do anything you can’t already do with a bit of floor space and some dedication. No one ever had an easier time loading a moving truck after spending twenty minutes with a Thigh Master. There’s a reason the “old school” exercises are still around: they work.
If improving your strength is your primary fitness goal, these tips will help. If you are just starting out and need some help finding specific exercises, or have other questions, please send me an e-mail and I’ll get in touch with you.
NEXT: Endurance training.
Stop for a moment and think about what your number one physical goal is. I know I talk a lot about achieving balanced fitness, where you strive to improve multiple areas of your physical and mental well-being at once, but for today let’s put that aside. If you had to choose one goal, what would it be? The answer will tell you your biggest area of weakness, and also what you need to do about it. Once you achieve that goal, you’ll also be more likely to want more, and you’ll be in the perfect position to add other dimensions to your workouts.
This will start a series of posts looking at specific fitness goals and how to achieve them. Once we’ve gone through the list, we’ll double back and see how they can be combined to create a comprehensive fitness program.
Strength – Maybe your most important goal is to improve your strength. You may have noticed that you had trouble moving boxes around the last time you cleaned the basement. Or how sore you were after the last time you shovelled the driveway. If that’s you, improving your strength is probably a good idea. I’m not talking about becoming an Olympic powerlifter. You need to be able to perform the activities of your daily life without faltering or paying the price afterwards. While the level of strength needed will vary from person to person, the need for a solid baseline of physical strength is clear.
Ok, you want to get stronger. What do you do about it?
Strength manifests itself, at its most basic level, as a person’s ability to move something heavy. A box, a shovel of wet snow, that last party guest who won’t take the hint. You improve your ability to do those things by, well, moving stuff that’s heavy. Luckily, the fitness industry has created many tools you can use for this purpose. Dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells…they can all help you get stronger. And don’t forget the one piece of exercise equipment you carry around with you all day: your body. Bodyweight exercises are worthy of their own post, so here we’ll talk about how lifting weights like dumbbells can increase your strength. Let’s look at some dos and don’ts:
DO use a challenging weight. This goes for both men and women. So often you hear women say they don’t want to lift weights because they don’t want to get too muscular. I can tell you here and now that you have absolutely nothing to worry about. You know those women bodybuilders, the ones who basically look like guys in bikinis? Trust me when I say they didn’t get that way accidentally. They have worked for years on their bodies, trying to build as much muscle as possible. Many of them also use anabolic steroids to counter the naturally lower levels of testosterone women possess. So, if your goal is to get stronger, don’t be afraid of weights. Or, if you don’t have any weights, resistance bands. They work too, especially if you don’t have a lot of space or you travel a lot. Instead of choosing a challenging weight, choose a challenging level of resistance.
DON’T do endless repetitions of each exercise. If your goal is to build strength (as opposed to endurance, speed, muscle size or explosive power), find a weight where you struggle to get 6 to 8 repetitions with good form. If you are doing less than that, odds are you’ve picked a weight that’s too heavy and your form is suffering. If you’re doing more than that, you won’t be targeting the muscles properly to get stronger. You’ll build stamina, which isn’t what you’re looking for. Remember too that if you’re doing 30 repetitions of each exercise, your workout will end up taking a lot longer than if you do fewer, harder reps.
DO compound exercises. There are exercises everyone knows. Things like biceps curls have been around forever, and people like them because they’re familiar. And while they will help build stronger biceps, you can make more efficient use of your time by focusing on movements that use more than one muscle at once. Let’s say you want to get stronger legs. You could do leg extensions on a machine at the gym. That will strengthen the front of your thighs. Or you could do squats, which will strengthen the front and back of your thighs, your calves, your glutes, and your entire core. Plus, in the real world, you’re more likely to actually use a squatting motion when you’re picking things up or playing on the ground with rambunctious little ones.
DON’T neglect your nutrition. I’ve said many times before that if you want your body to perform at a high level, you can’t feed it unhealthy food. As you are training to get stronger, your muscles will need fuel. As you lift weights, you actually create microscopic tears in the individual muscle fibres. The body needs the right foods to repair this damage and make the muscle stronger. Right after working out, your body needs both fast-acting carbohydrates and protein. There are a lot of post-workout drinks on the market, but the easiest and cheapest thing I’ve found to do is to mix a protein shake using apple juice instead of water or milk. (If you’re going to try this, you’ll want to stay away from chocolate flavours of protein powder.) Read the labels, and aim for about 10 grams of protein to 30 – 40 grams of carbohydrate. That will probably be half a scoop of powder in a little more than 8 ounces of juice. Beyond post-workout nutrition, just make healthy choices. Go the Nutrition page of the website for help with this.
DO take time to recover between workouts. Yes, you want to get stronger. But your body makes its gains during recovery, not when you’re grunting through that last set of shoulder presses. If you’re new to weightlifting, aim for a full-body workout no more than three times a week. This will give you the chance to recover properly before you start again. It may be that in the first couple of weeks your body can only handle two workouts a week. If that’s the case, listen to what your body is telling you. When you’re ready (meaning not too sore afterwards), add a third day.
DON’T fall victim to the latest exercise gizmo or gadget. Sure the AbMax3000 looks cool, but it doesn’t do anything you can’t already do with a bit of floor space and some dedication. No one ever had an easier time loading a moving truck after spending twenty minutes with a Thigh Master. There’s a reason the “old school” exercises are still around: they work.
If improving your strength is your primary fitness goal, these tips will help. If you are just starting out and need some help finding specific exercises, or have other questions, please send me an e-mail and I’ll get in touch with you.
NEXT: Endurance training.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Functional Fitness
Why do you want to get in shape?
Is it to be stronger, or have greater endurance, or fend off injury and aging, or lose weight, or simply look better? If you’re like most people, more than one of those reasons applies to you. For me, probably every one of those reasons was part of my decision to improve my health. But how do we get there? How do we get from Point A, existing through a sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle, to Point B, actually living every day to the fullest with a strong body and mind?
Walk into your local health club and you’ll see lots of people using one of the most popular methods out there: lifting weights. Biceps curls, leg extensions, triceps kickbacks...I can pretty much guarantee that wherever you are right now, there are people at a gym near you doing those exact moves. Unfortunately for them, that is NOT the most effective way to get from Point A to Point B.
The reason so many people try to get in shape by lifting weights, but ultimately get discouraged and stop, is because they’re doing small isolation movements that will have almost no effect on their body as a whole. Sure, biceps curls will give you stronger biceps, but will they make you stronger overall or help you reach your target weight? No, not really. This brings me to my topic for this entry: functional fitness.
Functional fitness is an umbrella term for exercises meant to improve your overall fitness and athletic ability. It refers to exercises that mimic everyday movements. Think about those biceps curls for a moment. How often do you perform that movement in everyday life? I don’t know about you, but personally I’m seldom called upon to hold a weight in my hands and curl it upward. I’m a lot more likely to have to move a box from one room to another, or be crawling on the floor trying to plug a computer cord into a power bar. This is where functional fitness comes in: by training all those different parts of your body to work as a unit, you become better at everything.
And it’s not about building the most muscle possible. Jon Hotten is a British journalist who followed professional bodybuilders around for a year while writing “Muscle: A Writer's Trip Through a Sport With No Boundaries". In one passage he describes seeing Ronnie Coleman move around. Coleman was one of the most successful professional bodybuilders in history, winning the prestigious Mr. Olympia eight times (and beating Arnold Schwarzenegger’s record of seven wins in the process). If anyone should be the picture of strength and fitness, surely it should be Ronnie Coleman. Turns out, he wasn’t. This quote describes Coleman on the competition stage, where you would think he'd be at his physical peak:
"Ronnie was back in line after a couple of call-outs. Big Ron stood semi-tense, breathing heavily. He kept towelling sweat from his shaven head with a white cloth. He drank water from a large bottle. He looked up at the ceiling several times. He appeared tired and unfit. His stomach was pretty big. Dorian (Dorian Yates, another bodybuilding legend) had told me that it was permanently uncomfortable hauling all of that bulk about. The heart was working hard. So was the metabolism and the digestive system. It was all high maintenance in there. Dorian had taken Ronnie to a restaurant...He said that Ronnie had struggled with the walk there."
How is it that someone of Coleman’s obvious physical development had trouble just standing on stage, or walking to a restaurant? There’s no doubt bodybuilders are strong; Hotten wrote how Yates would lift a total of 92,430 lbs over the course of one leg workout. But none of that strength is truly functional. Sure, building muscle is part of functional fitness, but it’s not the only part. A person who runs 100-mile ultramarathons might be in spectacular cardiovascular shape, but probably couldn’t bench press 100 lbs. The key is to treat your body and your health more like an orchestra and less like a solo performer. If every member of the orchestra is at their best, the group will make beautiful music. But no matter how good a solo trumpeter might be, he’ll never compare to the sound of strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion all coming together as one.
There’s another benefit to functional fitness training as well: when you get your entire body involved in exercise through cardio, weights, flexibility and core work, you stoke your metabolism. This means your body’s furnace burns hotter. So not only does your ability to clean the garage, do the yardwork, and chase your kids around get better, you also burn more calories 24 hours a day.
If I’ve convinced you of the importance of functional fitness, you might be wondering how to achieve it. The answer can be summed up in one word: variety. You need to do many different things so that your body is constantly challenged in different ways. I recently started a functional program that I really like. Here’s my schedule:
Monday: Speed and Agility training
Tuesday: Core training
Wednesday: Upper Body weight training
Thursday: Plyometrics (jump training)
Friday: Yoga
Saturday: Total Body strength workout
Sunday: Rest
Every day, I’m doing something different. I start with speed training, then mid-section, then upper body, then lower body, then yoga, and then finish with a full-body strength workout. I’m not isolating bodyparts or ignoring entire areas of my fitness. By including a bit of everything, I’m ensuring full, balanced development of my body and mind as parts of a unified whole. No, I’ll never look like Ronnie Coleman. But that’s ok. He might have bigger muscles, but I know I have a better, stronger, healthier body. You can too.
Is it to be stronger, or have greater endurance, or fend off injury and aging, or lose weight, or simply look better? If you’re like most people, more than one of those reasons applies to you. For me, probably every one of those reasons was part of my decision to improve my health. But how do we get there? How do we get from Point A, existing through a sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle, to Point B, actually living every day to the fullest with a strong body and mind?
Walk into your local health club and you’ll see lots of people using one of the most popular methods out there: lifting weights. Biceps curls, leg extensions, triceps kickbacks...I can pretty much guarantee that wherever you are right now, there are people at a gym near you doing those exact moves. Unfortunately for them, that is NOT the most effective way to get from Point A to Point B.
The reason so many people try to get in shape by lifting weights, but ultimately get discouraged and stop, is because they’re doing small isolation movements that will have almost no effect on their body as a whole. Sure, biceps curls will give you stronger biceps, but will they make you stronger overall or help you reach your target weight? No, not really. This brings me to my topic for this entry: functional fitness.
Functional fitness is an umbrella term for exercises meant to improve your overall fitness and athletic ability. It refers to exercises that mimic everyday movements. Think about those biceps curls for a moment. How often do you perform that movement in everyday life? I don’t know about you, but personally I’m seldom called upon to hold a weight in my hands and curl it upward. I’m a lot more likely to have to move a box from one room to another, or be crawling on the floor trying to plug a computer cord into a power bar. This is where functional fitness comes in: by training all those different parts of your body to work as a unit, you become better at everything.
And it’s not about building the most muscle possible. Jon Hotten is a British journalist who followed professional bodybuilders around for a year while writing “Muscle: A Writer's Trip Through a Sport With No Boundaries". In one passage he describes seeing Ronnie Coleman move around. Coleman was one of the most successful professional bodybuilders in history, winning the prestigious Mr. Olympia eight times (and beating Arnold Schwarzenegger’s record of seven wins in the process). If anyone should be the picture of strength and fitness, surely it should be Ronnie Coleman. Turns out, he wasn’t. This quote describes Coleman on the competition stage, where you would think he'd be at his physical peak:
"Ronnie was back in line after a couple of call-outs. Big Ron stood semi-tense, breathing heavily. He kept towelling sweat from his shaven head with a white cloth. He drank water from a large bottle. He looked up at the ceiling several times. He appeared tired and unfit. His stomach was pretty big. Dorian (Dorian Yates, another bodybuilding legend) had told me that it was permanently uncomfortable hauling all of that bulk about. The heart was working hard. So was the metabolism and the digestive system. It was all high maintenance in there. Dorian had taken Ronnie to a restaurant...He said that Ronnie had struggled with the walk there."
How is it that someone of Coleman’s obvious physical development had trouble just standing on stage, or walking to a restaurant? There’s no doubt bodybuilders are strong; Hotten wrote how Yates would lift a total of 92,430 lbs over the course of one leg workout. But none of that strength is truly functional. Sure, building muscle is part of functional fitness, but it’s not the only part. A person who runs 100-mile ultramarathons might be in spectacular cardiovascular shape, but probably couldn’t bench press 100 lbs. The key is to treat your body and your health more like an orchestra and less like a solo performer. If every member of the orchestra is at their best, the group will make beautiful music. But no matter how good a solo trumpeter might be, he’ll never compare to the sound of strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion all coming together as one.
There’s another benefit to functional fitness training as well: when you get your entire body involved in exercise through cardio, weights, flexibility and core work, you stoke your metabolism. This means your body’s furnace burns hotter. So not only does your ability to clean the garage, do the yardwork, and chase your kids around get better, you also burn more calories 24 hours a day.
If I’ve convinced you of the importance of functional fitness, you might be wondering how to achieve it. The answer can be summed up in one word: variety. You need to do many different things so that your body is constantly challenged in different ways. I recently started a functional program that I really like. Here’s my schedule:
Monday: Speed and Agility training
Tuesday: Core training
Wednesday: Upper Body weight training
Thursday: Plyometrics (jump training)
Friday: Yoga
Saturday: Total Body strength workout
Sunday: Rest
Every day, I’m doing something different. I start with speed training, then mid-section, then upper body, then lower body, then yoga, and then finish with a full-body strength workout. I’m not isolating bodyparts or ignoring entire areas of my fitness. By including a bit of everything, I’m ensuring full, balanced development of my body and mind as parts of a unified whole. No, I’ll never look like Ronnie Coleman. But that’s ok. He might have bigger muscles, but I know I have a better, stronger, healthier body. You can too.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Dairy: Going Beyond the Marketing
Got milk?
That simple, two-word advertising slogan is instantly recognizable. For years, it was hard to open a magazine without seeing a celebrity or athlete sporting a milk moustache, with “Got Milk?” as the caption. The text of the ad usually mentioned all the benefits a person can get from drinking milk. The ads continue today. I just saw one with several cast members from the TV show “Modern Family”. All had the moustaches, and the text spoke of how good parents are sure to give their children plenty of milk.
So: who do you think pays for those ads? The government? The American Medical Association? Maybe a health and nutrition lobby group?
Nope. All those “Got Milk?” ads are brought to you by people who sell milk. Fact is, those ads are no different than car adverts. We are told a product is worth buying by the people who are selling it. The problem is that, unlike cars or computers or golf clubs, the dairy industry really has no competition. The claims they make are treated like gospel truth by generations of customers. Of course milk is good for you. It has calcium. It helps build strong bones and teeth. Of course you should drink it. How many times have you heard those very claims, and just accepted them as obvious truths?
If Ford told you they had the only car on the road that could protect your family, would you assume that is true and run out to buy one? Probably not. You’d evaluate their claim, compare their product to competitors’, and make an informed decision. With dairy products, we’ve been trained through generations of loyal purchases not to question any health claim related to milk, cheese, or yogurt. And we’re not talking about some consumer product you’ll eventually throw away or outgrow; this is a substance we are putting in our bodies and our children’s bodies every day, sometimes several times a day. Why do we not question whether or not dairy is all it’s cracked up to be?
The answer is simple: fantastic marketing coupled with government support. This private/public partnership is a one-two punch that keeps customers in line. More than that, if someone even tries to question claims made by the dairy industry, customers automatically view those people as heretics who don’t love their children. Customer loyalty to the dairy industry is unrivalled. To keep it that way, the industry can’t afford to have anyone asking serious questions. If someone does, they have to be dismissed as uninformed and misguided.
The thing is, those questions need to be asked. Are dairy products good for you? Do we even need them in the first place? Can we get the nutrients found in milk, etc. from other, better sources? Can dairy actually be harmful?
I’m not here to do your thinking for you, but based on everything I’ve read on the subject, the answers to the above questions are: No, dairy products are not good for you. No, we don’t need them. Yes, we can get all of milk’s nutrients in healthier, more usable forms elsewhere. And yes, dairy can be very harmful to some people. Here’s why I say you do not need milk and its by-products in your diet:
Fat, Sugar and Sodium
Whole milk (or “homo milk” here in Canada) is packed with saturated fat. A one-cup serving has 5.4g of saturated fat. Remember that saturated fat is the one that will clog your arteries and cause heart disease. That cup also has 157 calories and 12g of sugar (Did you know milk is high in sugar? The ads forgot to mention that, I guess.). Switch to 2% and you still get 3.1g of saturated fat. Skim milk has almost no fat, but still maintains more than three teaspoons of sugar per cup. And no, that’s not chocolate milk. That’s the regular stuff.
Another popular dairy product, especially in the rush to embrace all things low-carb, is cottage cheese. Here are the numbers on that, per one-cup serving: 2% cottage cheese has 220 calories per cup, with 12g of sugar and 3g of saturated fat. It also boasts 920mg of sodium. That’s more than a third of your daily sodium in one little cup of cottage cheese. One percent cottage cheese has nearly the same numbers, but actually has more sugar: 200 calories, 14g of sugar, 2g of saturated fat, and 860mg sodium.
Saturated fat intake has been linked to heart attacks, strokes, obesity, diabetes, and a host of other fatal and entirely preventable ailments. Sugar increases your risks as well. High sodium can increase your blood pressure, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes. With dairy, you get to combine all three into one powerful assault on your health.
Calcium, Vitamin D, Protein
Ok, so maybe dairy has some bad stuff in it, but it has to be offset by all the good stuff, right? While there are some beneficial nutrients in dairy, the cost to get them is just too high. And, as far as calcium goes, we’ve fallen victim to more slick marketing.
Calcium
Bones are made partly from calcium. Dairy products have calcium. Consuming dairy is good for your bones. Makes sense.
Unfortunately, science doesn’t back up this oft-repeated claim made by the people who sell dairy.
North Americans consume more dairy products than just about anyone on earth. It would stand to reason, then, if the above claims are true, that we’d also have some of the lowest rates of bone fractures in the world. We don’t. The incidence of hip fracture in American women, per 100,000 population, is currently 101.6. For men, it’s 50.5 in 100,000. For women and men in Singapore, however, where almost no dairy is consumed, the numbers are 15.3 and 26.5, respectively. Consuming more dairy correlates to more than six times the risk of hip fracture for American women, and to nearly double the risk for American men.
The Harvard Nurses Study, which monitored the health of some 78,000 women, yielded similar results: those who drank the most milk were at greater risk of bone fracture than those who drank little or no milk. Yet we continue to accept the dairy industry’s claim that if only we bought more of their product, we’d be fine.
Vitamin D
Recently, vitamin D has come in for all sorts of praise. It improves bone and dental health, boosts immunity, can protect against some types of cancer…it really has the appearance of a wonder vitamin. We should remember, though, that a lot of these fantastic claims are not very well substantiated (yet, at least). While there is certainly nothing wrong with Vitamin D, we just don’t know yet if it’s the magic bullet it’s being made out to be.
Still, though, if you want to increase your intake of Vitamin D, you don’t even need to go to the kitchen. Just head outside on a sunny day for about ten minutes, and your body will actually convert sunlight into an abundance of Vitamin D! During the winter months, supplementing with 1,000 to 2,000 IU of D3 will give you enough to reap whatever benefits the vitamin really brings. All without touching dairy.
Protein
Yes, dairy has protein. This is so that the baby cows meant to consume it will grow big and strong. But do humans need to use it as a protein source? Protein is so ubiquitous in nearly all foods that you’d have to go out of your way to avoid it. You could follow an entirely plant-based diet and get more than enough protein from beans, nuts, grains and vegetables.
Another note on dairy protein: like all animal products, dairy is acid-forming in the body. This throws off your body’s pH balance. An acidic body pH is a very dangerous thing for your health, so your body works hard to restore an alkaline (non-acidic) state. How does it do this? By taking calcium out of your bones and putting it in your bloodstream! Yes, the more animal protein you consume, the less calcium left in your bones. Guess they forgot to mention that in the ads, too.
The Animal Cost
There is a whole other aspect to dairy consumption that will resonate with some people, while just making others roll their eyes. I understand that, but I still think this is useful information so I’m including it here.
The life of a dairy cow isn’t very pleasant. Like humans, cows only lactate (produce milk) after giving birth. To run a profitable dairy operation, this means that dairy cows are kept pregnant most of the year. They give birth, the milk is taken, and when milk production naturally drops off, they are inseminated again to start the process over. This goes on until the cow’s body cannot bear the stress any longer. At that point (usually after 3 to 4 years), the cow is sent to slaughter.
You may be wondering what happens to all those calves that the dairy cow gives birth to. The females become dairy cows themselves, while the males are sold to veal producers.
The short answer is that no one wins in the dairy equation, except for the producers.
Finally, a large portion of the world’s population simply can’t digest dairy products. When we’re born, our bodies produce an enzyme called lactase. This enzyme breaks down the sugar found in milk. As we leave infancy (and stop nursing), many people stop producing it. Without it, dairy can cause bloating, nausea, gas, diarrhea, and other discomfort. Approximately 75% of African Americans do not produce lactase, nor do approximately 90% of Asians. This results in the “lactose intolerance” we hear about so frequently.
Ok, if we are to give up dairy, what do we replace it with? There are many superior sources of usable calcium and protein readily available to us. Leafy green vegetables, like spinach, kale and chard are packed with calcium. Black beans, kidney beans and chickpeas are great sources of both calcium and protein. Just 100g of white beans will give you 23g of protein, 15g of fibre, and 24% of your daily calcium requirement. I honestly don’t know why you’d want to put dairy products in your body when it is so completely unnecessary. If you need something you can swap out your milk and cheese for, I’d suggest almond milk, rice milk, or coconut milk, and trying Daiya non-dairy cheese. All lower in calories and fat than their dairy counterparts. Yes, I know coconut milk has saturated fat, but it’s a different kind of saturated fat. The benefits of coconuts will be a whole other blog entry…
And this isn’t just me talking. Many, many studies have shown that milk does not improve bone health. That saturated fat, sugar and sodium can be detrimental to our health is really not even in dispute any longer. Many establishments, like Starbucks, offer non-dairy milk alternatives. Even Beachbody, the company that created P90X, TurboJam and Insanity is now recommending avoiding dairy in its latest product, Insanity Asylum. The program’s food plan clearly states that Shaun Thompson, the creator of Insanity and Asylum, does not consume dairy. Alternatives are recommended, and it’s strongly suggested that users of the program completely eliminate dairy from their diet for 14 days. The next generation of P90X, due out later this year, will include vegan options in its meal plan.
I know we’ve all been told throughout our entire lives that dairy products are good, wholesome, and nutritious. Like I said, I’m not here to do your thinking for you. Please look into this on your own. Do some reading. Ask some questions. Learn for yourself. Don’t blindly accept what people who want your money are telling you. Then, make an informed choice that is right for you and your family.
I hope to hear some feedback on this issue. Let me know what you think!
That simple, two-word advertising slogan is instantly recognizable. For years, it was hard to open a magazine without seeing a celebrity or athlete sporting a milk moustache, with “Got Milk?” as the caption. The text of the ad usually mentioned all the benefits a person can get from drinking milk. The ads continue today. I just saw one with several cast members from the TV show “Modern Family”. All had the moustaches, and the text spoke of how good parents are sure to give their children plenty of milk.
So: who do you think pays for those ads? The government? The American Medical Association? Maybe a health and nutrition lobby group?
Nope. All those “Got Milk?” ads are brought to you by people who sell milk. Fact is, those ads are no different than car adverts. We are told a product is worth buying by the people who are selling it. The problem is that, unlike cars or computers or golf clubs, the dairy industry really has no competition. The claims they make are treated like gospel truth by generations of customers. Of course milk is good for you. It has calcium. It helps build strong bones and teeth. Of course you should drink it. How many times have you heard those very claims, and just accepted them as obvious truths?
If Ford told you they had the only car on the road that could protect your family, would you assume that is true and run out to buy one? Probably not. You’d evaluate their claim, compare their product to competitors’, and make an informed decision. With dairy products, we’ve been trained through generations of loyal purchases not to question any health claim related to milk, cheese, or yogurt. And we’re not talking about some consumer product you’ll eventually throw away or outgrow; this is a substance we are putting in our bodies and our children’s bodies every day, sometimes several times a day. Why do we not question whether or not dairy is all it’s cracked up to be?
The answer is simple: fantastic marketing coupled with government support. This private/public partnership is a one-two punch that keeps customers in line. More than that, if someone even tries to question claims made by the dairy industry, customers automatically view those people as heretics who don’t love their children. Customer loyalty to the dairy industry is unrivalled. To keep it that way, the industry can’t afford to have anyone asking serious questions. If someone does, they have to be dismissed as uninformed and misguided.
The thing is, those questions need to be asked. Are dairy products good for you? Do we even need them in the first place? Can we get the nutrients found in milk, etc. from other, better sources? Can dairy actually be harmful?
I’m not here to do your thinking for you, but based on everything I’ve read on the subject, the answers to the above questions are: No, dairy products are not good for you. No, we don’t need them. Yes, we can get all of milk’s nutrients in healthier, more usable forms elsewhere. And yes, dairy can be very harmful to some people. Here’s why I say you do not need milk and its by-products in your diet:
Fat, Sugar and Sodium
Whole milk (or “homo milk” here in Canada) is packed with saturated fat. A one-cup serving has 5.4g of saturated fat. Remember that saturated fat is the one that will clog your arteries and cause heart disease. That cup also has 157 calories and 12g of sugar (Did you know milk is high in sugar? The ads forgot to mention that, I guess.). Switch to 2% and you still get 3.1g of saturated fat. Skim milk has almost no fat, but still maintains more than three teaspoons of sugar per cup. And no, that’s not chocolate milk. That’s the regular stuff.
Another popular dairy product, especially in the rush to embrace all things low-carb, is cottage cheese. Here are the numbers on that, per one-cup serving: 2% cottage cheese has 220 calories per cup, with 12g of sugar and 3g of saturated fat. It also boasts 920mg of sodium. That’s more than a third of your daily sodium in one little cup of cottage cheese. One percent cottage cheese has nearly the same numbers, but actually has more sugar: 200 calories, 14g of sugar, 2g of saturated fat, and 860mg sodium.
Saturated fat intake has been linked to heart attacks, strokes, obesity, diabetes, and a host of other fatal and entirely preventable ailments. Sugar increases your risks as well. High sodium can increase your blood pressure, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes. With dairy, you get to combine all three into one powerful assault on your health.
Calcium, Vitamin D, Protein
Ok, so maybe dairy has some bad stuff in it, but it has to be offset by all the good stuff, right? While there are some beneficial nutrients in dairy, the cost to get them is just too high. And, as far as calcium goes, we’ve fallen victim to more slick marketing.
Calcium
Bones are made partly from calcium. Dairy products have calcium. Consuming dairy is good for your bones. Makes sense.
Unfortunately, science doesn’t back up this oft-repeated claim made by the people who sell dairy.
North Americans consume more dairy products than just about anyone on earth. It would stand to reason, then, if the above claims are true, that we’d also have some of the lowest rates of bone fractures in the world. We don’t. The incidence of hip fracture in American women, per 100,000 population, is currently 101.6. For men, it’s 50.5 in 100,000. For women and men in Singapore, however, where almost no dairy is consumed, the numbers are 15.3 and 26.5, respectively. Consuming more dairy correlates to more than six times the risk of hip fracture for American women, and to nearly double the risk for American men.
The Harvard Nurses Study, which monitored the health of some 78,000 women, yielded similar results: those who drank the most milk were at greater risk of bone fracture than those who drank little or no milk. Yet we continue to accept the dairy industry’s claim that if only we bought more of their product, we’d be fine.
Vitamin D
Recently, vitamin D has come in for all sorts of praise. It improves bone and dental health, boosts immunity, can protect against some types of cancer…it really has the appearance of a wonder vitamin. We should remember, though, that a lot of these fantastic claims are not very well substantiated (yet, at least). While there is certainly nothing wrong with Vitamin D, we just don’t know yet if it’s the magic bullet it’s being made out to be.
Still, though, if you want to increase your intake of Vitamin D, you don’t even need to go to the kitchen. Just head outside on a sunny day for about ten minutes, and your body will actually convert sunlight into an abundance of Vitamin D! During the winter months, supplementing with 1,000 to 2,000 IU of D3 will give you enough to reap whatever benefits the vitamin really brings. All without touching dairy.
Protein
Yes, dairy has protein. This is so that the baby cows meant to consume it will grow big and strong. But do humans need to use it as a protein source? Protein is so ubiquitous in nearly all foods that you’d have to go out of your way to avoid it. You could follow an entirely plant-based diet and get more than enough protein from beans, nuts, grains and vegetables.
Another note on dairy protein: like all animal products, dairy is acid-forming in the body. This throws off your body’s pH balance. An acidic body pH is a very dangerous thing for your health, so your body works hard to restore an alkaline (non-acidic) state. How does it do this? By taking calcium out of your bones and putting it in your bloodstream! Yes, the more animal protein you consume, the less calcium left in your bones. Guess they forgot to mention that in the ads, too.
The Animal Cost
There is a whole other aspect to dairy consumption that will resonate with some people, while just making others roll their eyes. I understand that, but I still think this is useful information so I’m including it here.
The life of a dairy cow isn’t very pleasant. Like humans, cows only lactate (produce milk) after giving birth. To run a profitable dairy operation, this means that dairy cows are kept pregnant most of the year. They give birth, the milk is taken, and when milk production naturally drops off, they are inseminated again to start the process over. This goes on until the cow’s body cannot bear the stress any longer. At that point (usually after 3 to 4 years), the cow is sent to slaughter.
You may be wondering what happens to all those calves that the dairy cow gives birth to. The females become dairy cows themselves, while the males are sold to veal producers.
The short answer is that no one wins in the dairy equation, except for the producers.
Finally, a large portion of the world’s population simply can’t digest dairy products. When we’re born, our bodies produce an enzyme called lactase. This enzyme breaks down the sugar found in milk. As we leave infancy (and stop nursing), many people stop producing it. Without it, dairy can cause bloating, nausea, gas, diarrhea, and other discomfort. Approximately 75% of African Americans do not produce lactase, nor do approximately 90% of Asians. This results in the “lactose intolerance” we hear about so frequently.
Ok, if we are to give up dairy, what do we replace it with? There are many superior sources of usable calcium and protein readily available to us. Leafy green vegetables, like spinach, kale and chard are packed with calcium. Black beans, kidney beans and chickpeas are great sources of both calcium and protein. Just 100g of white beans will give you 23g of protein, 15g of fibre, and 24% of your daily calcium requirement. I honestly don’t know why you’d want to put dairy products in your body when it is so completely unnecessary. If you need something you can swap out your milk and cheese for, I’d suggest almond milk, rice milk, or coconut milk, and trying Daiya non-dairy cheese. All lower in calories and fat than their dairy counterparts. Yes, I know coconut milk has saturated fat, but it’s a different kind of saturated fat. The benefits of coconuts will be a whole other blog entry…
And this isn’t just me talking. Many, many studies have shown that milk does not improve bone health. That saturated fat, sugar and sodium can be detrimental to our health is really not even in dispute any longer. Many establishments, like Starbucks, offer non-dairy milk alternatives. Even Beachbody, the company that created P90X, TurboJam and Insanity is now recommending avoiding dairy in its latest product, Insanity Asylum. The program’s food plan clearly states that Shaun Thompson, the creator of Insanity and Asylum, does not consume dairy. Alternatives are recommended, and it’s strongly suggested that users of the program completely eliminate dairy from their diet for 14 days. The next generation of P90X, due out later this year, will include vegan options in its meal plan.
I know we’ve all been told throughout our entire lives that dairy products are good, wholesome, and nutritious. Like I said, I’m not here to do your thinking for you. Please look into this on your own. Do some reading. Ask some questions. Learn for yourself. Don’t blindly accept what people who want your money are telling you. Then, make an informed choice that is right for you and your family.
I hope to hear some feedback on this issue. Let me know what you think!
Friday, April 8, 2011
Comebacks
I started www.fitnessinthebalance.com in July 2009. My original vision for the site was to create a place where people could come to learn about health and fitness, and hopefully get inspired to make positive choices in their lives. Along the way, I became affiliated with various companies whose products were worth a look. In 2010, the site went through a major redesign as I changed internet hosting companies. I added personal fitness coaching and nutrition planning. Along the way, I continued to write new blog entries. I'm proud to say that the site has garnered nearly 10,000 hits since it first appeared.
Unfortunately, as time went by, real life began taking up more and more of my time. Not that anything bad was happening. It was just the ordinary responsibilities of being a husband, father and full-time employee that slowly ate into the time I had previously devoted to the site. I recently realized that it's been months since I added any new material. The last blog entry was in October 2010, over five months ago. It's time for that to change.
If you'd come to rely on this site and this blog for information and inspiration, I apologize for not keeping it up. I know how important positive reinforcement can be when you are trying to establish new habits in your life, and you should know that I take whatever small role I may play in maintaining your motivation very seriously.
This entry was borne of my decision to re-commit to Fitness In The Balance. It's entitled "Comebacks", and the message behind it can apply to anything in your life that you may have let slide: your health, relationships, education, diet...The thing to remember, that I hope you take from this entry, is that it is never too late for a comeback.
Did you start an exercise program, maybe as a New Year's resolution, but have fallen off the wagon? Maybe you made a decision to eat less junk food, or even to try vegetarianism, but since then have had trouble sticking to it? Or maybe you have tried to improve other areas of your life, but have seen your motivation lag? If any of that applies to you, I want you to know a few things:
1. That happens to EVERYONE. Yes, it does. You are not alone. There's a reason why 95% of obese people who lose a significant amount of weight put it all back on within three years. There's a reason why so many people have tried and failed to quit smoking. The fact is, it can be hard to stick with a decision to change your life permanently. The past may not have been great, but it was comfortable. You knew what you were getting, even if you didn't really like it. Breaking out of that routine is hard. It takes positive action each and every day. That can be tough to maintain. Know that you aren't the only one having trouble staying on track to accomplish your goals.
2. It will never be easier to re-commit to your goals than it is right now. Whatever those goals are, re-committing to them as soon as possible is key. As time passes, it will only get harder. That comfortable past becomes too cozy to escape. If you truly want to make a positive change in your life, do it today. It will only be harder tomorrow.
3. Success is possible. Period. It doesn't get any simpler than that. No matter how tough it is to keep up your effort, no matter what you have to do to keep going, know that it is worth it. Success will come to those who persevere. In fact, scratch that first sentence. Success isn't just possible. If you keep up your work, success is inevitable. I'll say that again. Success is inevitable. You WILL accomplish your goals. All you need to do is keep taking the steps, every single day, that bring you closer to them.
Support from those around you is crucial. That is why I've re-dedicated myself to maintaining and updating this website on a regular basis. You support me by visiting the site, and I support you with information and motivation. We can help each other take those daily positive actions that slowly create permanent change.
On that note, I really encourage you to get involved in the site. Send me your comments and suggestions. Tell others about the site. I think one of the reasons I let other parts of my life crowd the site out is I never really got the idea that very many people were reading what I was writing. Are you out there? If so, make yourself heard!
In the coming weeks, I'll be updating other areas of the site, particularly the nutrition and supplements sections. I look forward to picking up where I left off last year, bringing you information and inspiration to motivate you towards balanced health and fitness. It's never too late for a comeback. Time to get started.
Unfortunately, as time went by, real life began taking up more and more of my time. Not that anything bad was happening. It was just the ordinary responsibilities of being a husband, father and full-time employee that slowly ate into the time I had previously devoted to the site. I recently realized that it's been months since I added any new material. The last blog entry was in October 2010, over five months ago. It's time for that to change.
If you'd come to rely on this site and this blog for information and inspiration, I apologize for not keeping it up. I know how important positive reinforcement can be when you are trying to establish new habits in your life, and you should know that I take whatever small role I may play in maintaining your motivation very seriously.
This entry was borne of my decision to re-commit to Fitness In The Balance. It's entitled "Comebacks", and the message behind it can apply to anything in your life that you may have let slide: your health, relationships, education, diet...The thing to remember, that I hope you take from this entry, is that it is never too late for a comeback.
Did you start an exercise program, maybe as a New Year's resolution, but have fallen off the wagon? Maybe you made a decision to eat less junk food, or even to try vegetarianism, but since then have had trouble sticking to it? Or maybe you have tried to improve other areas of your life, but have seen your motivation lag? If any of that applies to you, I want you to know a few things:
1. That happens to EVERYONE. Yes, it does. You are not alone. There's a reason why 95% of obese people who lose a significant amount of weight put it all back on within three years. There's a reason why so many people have tried and failed to quit smoking. The fact is, it can be hard to stick with a decision to change your life permanently. The past may not have been great, but it was comfortable. You knew what you were getting, even if you didn't really like it. Breaking out of that routine is hard. It takes positive action each and every day. That can be tough to maintain. Know that you aren't the only one having trouble staying on track to accomplish your goals.
2. It will never be easier to re-commit to your goals than it is right now. Whatever those goals are, re-committing to them as soon as possible is key. As time passes, it will only get harder. That comfortable past becomes too cozy to escape. If you truly want to make a positive change in your life, do it today. It will only be harder tomorrow.
3. Success is possible. Period. It doesn't get any simpler than that. No matter how tough it is to keep up your effort, no matter what you have to do to keep going, know that it is worth it. Success will come to those who persevere. In fact, scratch that first sentence. Success isn't just possible. If you keep up your work, success is inevitable. I'll say that again. Success is inevitable. You WILL accomplish your goals. All you need to do is keep taking the steps, every single day, that bring you closer to them.
Support from those around you is crucial. That is why I've re-dedicated myself to maintaining and updating this website on a regular basis. You support me by visiting the site, and I support you with information and motivation. We can help each other take those daily positive actions that slowly create permanent change.
On that note, I really encourage you to get involved in the site. Send me your comments and suggestions. Tell others about the site. I think one of the reasons I let other parts of my life crowd the site out is I never really got the idea that very many people were reading what I was writing. Are you out there? If so, make yourself heard!
In the coming weeks, I'll be updating other areas of the site, particularly the nutrition and supplements sections. I look forward to picking up where I left off last year, bringing you information and inspiration to motivate you towards balanced health and fitness. It's never too late for a comeback. Time to get started.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
The Evolution of My Nutrition
I was reading through some old blog entries, and I found the post “Open Mind”. In it, I spoke about making healthier food choices. It’s a good read, if I do say so myself, and I recommend it if you haven’t yet read it. It also got me thinking about developments in my own life since I wrote it.
Then, I wrote, “I can say at the outset that I have no intention of becoming a vegan, or even a vegetarian for that matter.” I’ve changed since then. Now, while I’m not a full-on vegan, animal products probably make up less than 10% of my diet. I’ve cut out dairy almost completely. The only animal product I still consume regularly is organic, free-range eggs and egg whites.
So, how did I get from having no intention to become a vegetarian to where I am now? It all started with an experience I had this past summer.
One evening, after night had fallen, I was in our backyard. It was a warm night, but not so warm that it was uncomfortable. A breeze was blowing, and rustling the leaves in the tall trees that border our property. I noticed the quiet of the scene, and sat down on the patio. I leaned back and looked skyward. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, stars slowly appeared in the black sky. I felt the wind roll over me like waves on a beach, and closed my eyes. It’s hard to explain it, but I felt a sense of connection to the universe that I’d never experienced before. I felt small against the endless expanse of sky, but also like a valuable part of the system of existence. I realized that the wind I was feeling probably came from thousands of miles away, and that it had been felt by an unknown number of other people, maybe while they were in their backyards, looking at the night sky. I came away from that experience with a sense of happiness that I was part of something so beautiful, and a sense of responsibility to do my part to keep the system functioning.
From that point, I started thinking seriously about vegetarianism. I can’t say my diet changed dramatically overnight, but changes did start happening. The meals I ate became more and more plant-based. As a family, we tried new vegetables, like kale. Our garden kept a steady stream of zucchini and tomatoes flowing onto the table. We started swapping out ground meat in our pasta sauce for beans. Small changes, but changes nonetheless.
One of the things I’d always figured, when it came to raising animals for food, is that dairy and eggs were ok since the animals would be producing that anyway, and you didn’t have to kill them to get it. To educate myself, I went to the internet.
I landed at PETA’s website. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is a well-known, and somewhat infamous group. There’s no question they have a strong agenda they are pushing, and I’ve discovered that in pursuit of their cause they sometimes paint misleading pictures of situations. Still, I looked around the site and watched some of their videos. What I saw was absolutely disgusting. I knew from “Food Inc.” that livestock slaughter was gruesome, but what I didn’t know is that the director of that film actually played down the gruesomeness, or at least the explicit footage of it. As I remarked to someone after viewing the videos, there are some things you just can’t unsee.
What I was surprised to learn is just how mistreated egg-laying hens and dairy cows are. Hens are stuffed, 5 to 11 at a time, into small wire cages. If their egg production tails off, they are given electric shocks to speed it back up. They never see the outside, and because of their living conditions need to be medicated with antibiotics. They also have their beaks cut off (without anaesthetic) to prevent them from pecking at each other. Once the hens are no longer profitable, they are sent to slaughter. As they are emaciated and atrophied, their meat is deemed suitable only for things like chicken soup and chicken burgers.
Dairy cows don’t have it much better. Cows produce milk for the same reason all mammals do: to feed their young. Humans are the only species on earth that cultivate another species’ milk. In order to get a dairy cow to lactate (produce milk), they must be impregnated. This is done continually, meaning that dairy cows spend their lives either pregnant or having just recently given birth. After the lacation from the last birth tails off, they are impregnated again and the cycle resumes. Along the way, dairy cows often contract mastitis, a painful infection. They are also subject to lameness and other diseases. Like chickens, this means medication with antibiotics. Typically, a cow’s production (i.e. profitability) wanes after about three years. At that point, they are sent to slaughter.
The calves born to dairy cows face one of two paths: females become dairy cows themselves, while males are sold to the veal industry. They are kept chained in pens so small that they can barely lie down (and can’t turn around). Their muscles are purposely atrophied so that the meat will be more tender. They are slaughtered just a few months after birth. I didn’t realize this is where veal comes from (I mean, I knew what veal was, I just didn’t know its connection to the dairy industry). As they say in the PETA video “Meet Your Meat”, if you drink milk, you’re supporting the veal industry.
It had been suggested to me that PETA videos might be fabrications, along the lines of a Michael Moore “documentary”, but I don’t think they are. For one thing, the subject matter would be very hard to fake. For another, if they had fabricated these videos, accusations against them would be in the media. They aren’t. I imagine that only the worst of the worst clips make it into their videos, but that doesn’t take away from their impact.
All of this has led me to where I am today: my diet is 80 – 90% vegan. As I said earlier, the only animal products I still consume are organic, free-range eggs and egg whites. I see a distinction with those products because of the way the hens are treated. They are fed a healthy diet, spend their time inside and outside, and are generally treated far, far more humanely than their battery-cage counterparts. I also still use whey protein, but that is only because I have a container I’d already purchased some time ago. When it’s gone, I won’t be replacing it. I also still eat meat from time to time at dinner, as my family still does, though we’re all cutting that back. Additionally, my wife has a medical condition that makes consuming large amounts of soy a bad idea, so our protein choices are a touch more limited than they would be otherwise.
I’m happy (and even a bit surprised) to report that my new diet hasn’t impacted my workouts. I have at least as much energy as I did when I ate meat regularly. I have gained about three pounds, but I would chalk that up to a recent recovery week and a weekend trip to New York City. I have to say that eating this way has left me feeling energetic, lighter, and happy.
What should you take from this? I hope you’ll read these words and think some more about what you eat and where it comes from. I don’t expect anyone to become a vegan overnight. But I hope you’ll become more mindful of what you do at mealtime. All living things in the universe are connected in one way or another, and you don’t have to be a New Age hippie to believe that. Even the Bible says that God gave Man “dominion” over nature. That doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want with the planet and its inhabitants. It means we need to be responsible, and treat all living things with respect.
Then, I wrote, “I can say at the outset that I have no intention of becoming a vegan, or even a vegetarian for that matter.” I’ve changed since then. Now, while I’m not a full-on vegan, animal products probably make up less than 10% of my diet. I’ve cut out dairy almost completely. The only animal product I still consume regularly is organic, free-range eggs and egg whites.
So, how did I get from having no intention to become a vegetarian to where I am now? It all started with an experience I had this past summer.
One evening, after night had fallen, I was in our backyard. It was a warm night, but not so warm that it was uncomfortable. A breeze was blowing, and rustling the leaves in the tall trees that border our property. I noticed the quiet of the scene, and sat down on the patio. I leaned back and looked skyward. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, stars slowly appeared in the black sky. I felt the wind roll over me like waves on a beach, and closed my eyes. It’s hard to explain it, but I felt a sense of connection to the universe that I’d never experienced before. I felt small against the endless expanse of sky, but also like a valuable part of the system of existence. I realized that the wind I was feeling probably came from thousands of miles away, and that it had been felt by an unknown number of other people, maybe while they were in their backyards, looking at the night sky. I came away from that experience with a sense of happiness that I was part of something so beautiful, and a sense of responsibility to do my part to keep the system functioning.
From that point, I started thinking seriously about vegetarianism. I can’t say my diet changed dramatically overnight, but changes did start happening. The meals I ate became more and more plant-based. As a family, we tried new vegetables, like kale. Our garden kept a steady stream of zucchini and tomatoes flowing onto the table. We started swapping out ground meat in our pasta sauce for beans. Small changes, but changes nonetheless.
One of the things I’d always figured, when it came to raising animals for food, is that dairy and eggs were ok since the animals would be producing that anyway, and you didn’t have to kill them to get it. To educate myself, I went to the internet.
I landed at PETA’s website. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is a well-known, and somewhat infamous group. There’s no question they have a strong agenda they are pushing, and I’ve discovered that in pursuit of their cause they sometimes paint misleading pictures of situations. Still, I looked around the site and watched some of their videos. What I saw was absolutely disgusting. I knew from “Food Inc.” that livestock slaughter was gruesome, but what I didn’t know is that the director of that film actually played down the gruesomeness, or at least the explicit footage of it. As I remarked to someone after viewing the videos, there are some things you just can’t unsee.
What I was surprised to learn is just how mistreated egg-laying hens and dairy cows are. Hens are stuffed, 5 to 11 at a time, into small wire cages. If their egg production tails off, they are given electric shocks to speed it back up. They never see the outside, and because of their living conditions need to be medicated with antibiotics. They also have their beaks cut off (without anaesthetic) to prevent them from pecking at each other. Once the hens are no longer profitable, they are sent to slaughter. As they are emaciated and atrophied, their meat is deemed suitable only for things like chicken soup and chicken burgers.
Dairy cows don’t have it much better. Cows produce milk for the same reason all mammals do: to feed their young. Humans are the only species on earth that cultivate another species’ milk. In order to get a dairy cow to lactate (produce milk), they must be impregnated. This is done continually, meaning that dairy cows spend their lives either pregnant or having just recently given birth. After the lacation from the last birth tails off, they are impregnated again and the cycle resumes. Along the way, dairy cows often contract mastitis, a painful infection. They are also subject to lameness and other diseases. Like chickens, this means medication with antibiotics. Typically, a cow’s production (i.e. profitability) wanes after about three years. At that point, they are sent to slaughter.
The calves born to dairy cows face one of two paths: females become dairy cows themselves, while males are sold to the veal industry. They are kept chained in pens so small that they can barely lie down (and can’t turn around). Their muscles are purposely atrophied so that the meat will be more tender. They are slaughtered just a few months after birth. I didn’t realize this is where veal comes from (I mean, I knew what veal was, I just didn’t know its connection to the dairy industry). As they say in the PETA video “Meet Your Meat”, if you drink milk, you’re supporting the veal industry.
It had been suggested to me that PETA videos might be fabrications, along the lines of a Michael Moore “documentary”, but I don’t think they are. For one thing, the subject matter would be very hard to fake. For another, if they had fabricated these videos, accusations against them would be in the media. They aren’t. I imagine that only the worst of the worst clips make it into their videos, but that doesn’t take away from their impact.
All of this has led me to where I am today: my diet is 80 – 90% vegan. As I said earlier, the only animal products I still consume are organic, free-range eggs and egg whites. I see a distinction with those products because of the way the hens are treated. They are fed a healthy diet, spend their time inside and outside, and are generally treated far, far more humanely than their battery-cage counterparts. I also still use whey protein, but that is only because I have a container I’d already purchased some time ago. When it’s gone, I won’t be replacing it. I also still eat meat from time to time at dinner, as my family still does, though we’re all cutting that back. Additionally, my wife has a medical condition that makes consuming large amounts of soy a bad idea, so our protein choices are a touch more limited than they would be otherwise.
I’m happy (and even a bit surprised) to report that my new diet hasn’t impacted my workouts. I have at least as much energy as I did when I ate meat regularly. I have gained about three pounds, but I would chalk that up to a recent recovery week and a weekend trip to New York City. I have to say that eating this way has left me feeling energetic, lighter, and happy.
What should you take from this? I hope you’ll read these words and think some more about what you eat and where it comes from. I don’t expect anyone to become a vegan overnight. But I hope you’ll become more mindful of what you do at mealtime. All living things in the universe are connected in one way or another, and you don’t have to be a New Age hippie to believe that. Even the Bible says that God gave Man “dominion” over nature. That doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want with the planet and its inhabitants. It means we need to be responsible, and treat all living things with respect.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Control
The main focus of Fitness In The Balance, beyond the technical information about diet and exercise, is to motivate people to take charge of their lives. To make healthy choices that will benefit them today and tomorrow, and for years to come. Essentially, to take control of their lives.
But are we ever really in control?
Or is all of our effort in fact aimed at simply maximizing the chances of a positive outcome, while acknowledging that we really don't control anything?
Here's what I mean: we can exercise, eat well, and adopt healthy habits. In turn, these choices will improve our bodies and minds, make us more resistant to disease and injury, and help us lead healthier and longer lives. None of which will make any difference should we find ourselves in the path of a runaway truck. Or on an airplane about to crash. Or facing a cancer diagnosis brought on by environmental toxins we couldn't do anything about. Do the choices we make actually put us in control of how long and well we'll live, or do they just put us on the soundest footing possible? If it's the latter, should we even bother?
This was brought home to me in stark detail last week. I was on vacation from work and at the grocery store one day. I was looking at tins of sardines. Sardines are a good source of protein, calcium and good fat, so they're usually a worthwhile addition to your diet. After going back and forth among the different varieties (water or oil packed, with mustard or with tomato sauce) I bought two tins of water-packed as they were the healthiest choice. I had them for lunch that day. I then came down with debilitating food poisoning that night. For the rest of the week I was either in bed or on the couch, barely eating toast and yogurt. I'm fairly sure the sardines were the culprits as my wife had a small bite and felt sick for about a day as well.
As I laid in bed, I thought how it was ironic that a choice I'd made, ostensibly to improve my health, had put me in this position. I realized that I needed to look at the reasons why I do what I do. Why do I get up at 6:15 seven days a week to exercise? Why do I consider every piece of food I put in my body before choosing to eat it? Why do I do any of this when I can end up sick regardless?
I began to understand that the "control" I thought I had over my body was an illusion. My choices affect my health, no question. But they don't ultimately determine it completely. To put it another way, I realized I can't control the outcome; I can only try to load the dice. My fitness regimen puts me in the best possible position to weather future storms, but it doesn't mean those storms won't come. I still get sick once or twice a year, but where that used to mean a week of sneezing and coughing, it now means about 24 hours with a scratchy throat. Who knows how sick I would have been from the sardines if my immune system wasn't as strong as it is?
If you're thinking about starting down the path to fitness, this is an important point to understand. You might think that it isn't worth the effort to get in better shape. You might think that you're too far gone already. But the fact is, if you improve your health today, you strengthen your entire being for tomorrow. No, getting in shape won't mean you'll never have health issues. Accidents happen, people get sick, there's contaminated food out there. But having a fit body and mind is like wearing a suit of armor. When the attacks come, you'll fend them off easily instead of losing the battle entirely. Or, maybe you won't fend them off. Maybe your armor will extend the fight, and give you years of life you wouldn't have otherwise had. Still sounds worth it to me.
It's kind of surprising that something like food poisoning ended up providing a valuable lesson. It made me re-think my own personal "why". And far from making me think the whole thing isn't worth it since the outcome isn't in my control, it's made me want to double my efforts to build the strongest possible body and mind I can.
So, like I asked at the beginning: if all this work only puts us on the soundest possible footing, but doesn't guarantee success, should we even bother? Absolutely, positively, without a shadow of a doubt, YES.
Contact me at scott@fitnessinthebalance.com.
But are we ever really in control?
Or is all of our effort in fact aimed at simply maximizing the chances of a positive outcome, while acknowledging that we really don't control anything?
Here's what I mean: we can exercise, eat well, and adopt healthy habits. In turn, these choices will improve our bodies and minds, make us more resistant to disease and injury, and help us lead healthier and longer lives. None of which will make any difference should we find ourselves in the path of a runaway truck. Or on an airplane about to crash. Or facing a cancer diagnosis brought on by environmental toxins we couldn't do anything about. Do the choices we make actually put us in control of how long and well we'll live, or do they just put us on the soundest footing possible? If it's the latter, should we even bother?
This was brought home to me in stark detail last week. I was on vacation from work and at the grocery store one day. I was looking at tins of sardines. Sardines are a good source of protein, calcium and good fat, so they're usually a worthwhile addition to your diet. After going back and forth among the different varieties (water or oil packed, with mustard or with tomato sauce) I bought two tins of water-packed as they were the healthiest choice. I had them for lunch that day. I then came down with debilitating food poisoning that night. For the rest of the week I was either in bed or on the couch, barely eating toast and yogurt. I'm fairly sure the sardines were the culprits as my wife had a small bite and felt sick for about a day as well.
As I laid in bed, I thought how it was ironic that a choice I'd made, ostensibly to improve my health, had put me in this position. I realized that I needed to look at the reasons why I do what I do. Why do I get up at 6:15 seven days a week to exercise? Why do I consider every piece of food I put in my body before choosing to eat it? Why do I do any of this when I can end up sick regardless?
I began to understand that the "control" I thought I had over my body was an illusion. My choices affect my health, no question. But they don't ultimately determine it completely. To put it another way, I realized I can't control the outcome; I can only try to load the dice. My fitness regimen puts me in the best possible position to weather future storms, but it doesn't mean those storms won't come. I still get sick once or twice a year, but where that used to mean a week of sneezing and coughing, it now means about 24 hours with a scratchy throat. Who knows how sick I would have been from the sardines if my immune system wasn't as strong as it is?
If you're thinking about starting down the path to fitness, this is an important point to understand. You might think that it isn't worth the effort to get in better shape. You might think that you're too far gone already. But the fact is, if you improve your health today, you strengthen your entire being for tomorrow. No, getting in shape won't mean you'll never have health issues. Accidents happen, people get sick, there's contaminated food out there. But having a fit body and mind is like wearing a suit of armor. When the attacks come, you'll fend them off easily instead of losing the battle entirely. Or, maybe you won't fend them off. Maybe your armor will extend the fight, and give you years of life you wouldn't have otherwise had. Still sounds worth it to me.
It's kind of surprising that something like food poisoning ended up providing a valuable lesson. It made me re-think my own personal "why". And far from making me think the whole thing isn't worth it since the outcome isn't in my control, it's made me want to double my efforts to build the strongest possible body and mind I can.
So, like I asked at the beginning: if all this work only puts us on the soundest possible footing, but doesn't guarantee success, should we even bother? Absolutely, positively, without a shadow of a doubt, YES.
Contact me at scott@fitnessinthebalance.com.
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