michael reid

Killer at Large

Why as a society are we getting fatter?

My initial thoughts:

• Overconsumption of the "white devils" (sugar and processed grains)
• not moving enough

Be Well,
Mike Reid

High Performance Training a la Paul Chek

If you have never seen or listened to Paul Chek, then you are in for a treat.  Some of you may find this to be some pretty heavy s**t! 

This is the first part of an 11 part video series that you can watch on Paul Chek's youtube channel.

Be Well,
Mike Reid

Chicken Made Easy

Cooking healthy food does not need to take long or even require great skill.  Below is a simple way to cook chicken. 

1. Buy the Chicken.  I bought chicken thighs, it is dark meat and has quite a bit of fat so it is hard to over cook it and make it dry (kind of fool proof).

2. Wash Chicken under cold water and remove any bits that are not appetizing (e.g. hair or feathers)

3. Spice it with what you like.  Today I used salt and pepper.

4. Place in oven and cook for 30-45 minutes at around 200 C. 

 

Now go and eat.

Be Well,
Mike Reid

Strength Coach Podcast

The strength coach podcast, if you have not listened, is quite good.  The information presented is geared towards professionals working in the health, fitness, rehabilitation field and obviously the strength coach.  It comes out every 2 weeks and each one last about 60 minutes.

I usually download it and listen to it while I train, the Swedish athletes I work with get all "excited" when I tell them I have a new episode of the Strength Coach Podcast!

Be Well,
Mike Reid

No Time for a Healthy Breakfast?

There is a strength coach in the USA, Dan John, and his response to an athletes request for more nutrition information is to ask ... "did you eat breakfast?"   I would assume then that If they say yes, then he continues with the discussion, if they say no ... then that is all the information they need, start eating breakfast!

Here is what I ate for breakfast this morning.  It took maybe 3 minutes to prepare, cook in the oven on broil for 10-15 minutes (during that time I take a shower and get dressed).  So from waking up, eating, shower and getting dressed I could be out of the house in 30 minutes.

 

Here is the "recipe":

• Turn oven on high.
• Put your Salmon on the cooking sheet.
• Wash & cut up your peppers.
• Drizzle Olive Oil on peppers.
• Salt & Pepper on everything.
• Put in oven near the top.
• take out in 10-15 minutes & eat.

Be Well,
Mike Reid

Fats are good for you ...

Fats are good for you and eating fat DOES NOT make you fat!

Saturated fat is not the bad guy of the fat world, trans fats are.

Omega-3 fats, aka fish oil ... do I need to say anymore?  Here is a previous post on fish oil.

Below are links to articles on fats.  My sister in-law motivated me to educate her about fats last summer and why they are healthy for you ... or are they??? 

Most of the below articles are written by Dr.'s who specialize in nutrition.\

The F-Word: All You Ever Wanted to Know About Dietary Fats

Fats and Oils

This page is golden with information, many articles listed.

The Truth About Saturated Fat

Be Well,

Mike Reid

PS  I am working on some more videos, particularly strength training for the Water Polo athlete among others.  These should be coming up in the next couple of weeks.

Good or Bad: How to Choose Healthy Foods

Recently I did a nutrition seminar to a group of Swedish high school basketball athletes.  The seminar is all about how to choose healthy foods.  It gives tips on how you can determine whether a food is a good or bad choice.   It is not rocket science and is really some basic skills that everyone should have.

Below are the key points covered:

• Can you pronounce it?
• Do you know what it is?
• Packaged Foods vs whole foods
• Trans Fats
• White Devils
• Eating the Rainbow
• Where is the good food hiding?
• Restaurants

You can download the entire presentation here:
Download good_or_bad_nutrition_seminar_mar_3_2008.pdf

Be Well,
Mike Reid, B.HE

Artificial Sweeteners make you Fat!!!!

Here is a really interesting study.  It essentially shows that rats
who are fed artificial sweeteners consumed more calories when they were put back on a normal diet.  Basically the authors concluded that "... products containing artificial sweeteners may lead to increased body weight and obesity by interfering with fundamental homeostatic, physiological processes."  Essentially the rats ability to tell when they were full was disrupted.

Be Well,
Mike Reid

Below is the abstract, you can also read the entire article here:

A Role for Sweet Taste: Calorie Predictive Relations in Energy Regulation by Rats
Susan E. Swithers and Terry L. Davidson
Purdue University

Animals may use sweet taste to predict the caloric contents of food. Eating sweet noncaloric substances
may degrade this predictive relationship, leading to positive energy balance through increased food intake and/or diminished energy expenditure. These experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that experiences that reduce the validity of sweet taste as a predictor of the caloric or nutritive consequences of eating may contribute to deficits in the regulation of energy by reducing the ability of sweet-tasting foods that contain calories to evoke physiological responses that underlie tight regulation. Adult male Sprague–Dawley rats were given differential experience with a sweet taste that either predicted increased caloric content (glucose) or did not predict increased calories (saccharin). We found that reducing the correlation between sweet taste and the caloric content of foods using artificial sweeteners in rats resulted in increased caloric intake, increased body weight, and increased adiposity, as well as diminished caloric compensation and blunted thermic responses to sweet-tasting diets. These results suggest that consumption of products containing artificial sweeteners may lead to increased body weight and obesity by interfering with fundamental homeostatic, physiological processes.

Keywords: learning, energy balance, cephalic-phase responses, thermic effect of food

Behavioral Neuroscience Copyright 2008 by the American Psychological Association
2008, Vol. 122, No. 1

What makes a Good Athlete?

If someone has good athletic ability does that make them a good athlete? 

Any comments?

Be Well,
Mike Reid

flax/Linfrö Seed

Flax Seed, in Swedish it is called Linfrö, is a real super food that everyone should be including in their diet.  Just listen to some of the benefits of Flax Seed.

Excellent source of fibre - contains soluble and insoluble fibre. Soluble fibre can lower blood cholesterol levels, while insoluble fibre can have a very positive affect on the health of you colon.  1 cup of ground flax has ~36g of fibre!  That is about a whole days worth.

Omega-3 Fats - alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).  Our modern, western diets are high in omega-6 fats and eating more flax is a great way to balance out this ratio (other benefits of omega-3 fats).

Very Low Glycemic Load (GL) - The Glycemic Load is similar to the glycemic Index but it takes into account not only the kind of carbohydrate in the food but also the amount.  A GL of 20 or more is high, a GL of 11 to     19 is medium, and a GL of 10 or less is low.  GL of Flax = 0!!!!  This is a great food for diabetics, weight loss diets and other conditions where controlling blood sugar is important.

It should be noted that the omega-3 fats found in Flax Seed is different from omega-3 fats found in fish oil, which is DHA and EPA.  There has been great debate of which kind of omega-3 fats is most important.  Both fish and flax have positive attributes so I say take both.

Also, choose flax meal (ground) instead of whole seeds, unless you will be grinding them yourself.  To get the nutrients of flax it needs to be ground.  The human digestive tract cannot digest the outer hull of the seed so it will just pass right through you.

Two of my favorite ways to use Flax:

• Add to meat balls or patties.  A simple recipe is to use an egg with ~500g of ground meat of your choice plus 1/2 cup of flax meal (ground) and spices of your choice.  The egg and flax meal will act as the glue to hold the mixture together.  No Wheat or Potato flower needed.

• Eat as a hot cereal.  Use 1/2 - 1 cup of flax meal (ground) + 1/4-1/2 cup shredded coconut + 1-4 tbsp sunflower seeds + 1/2 - 1 cup fruit + hot water.                                                              

Flax can be hard on the digestive system if you eat to much at once.  So if you add it to your diet start in small amounts (~1/4 - 1/2 cup per day).

Be Well,
Mike Reid

references:
Flax Council of Canada