Posts Comments

You are here: Home / Archives for Food

The Twinkie Challenge: Interview with Professor Mark Haub

April 17, 2013 by

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2.

Today’s topic:  The Twinkie Challenge: Interview with Professor Mark Haub

Professor Mark Haub experimented with The Twinkie Diet

Professor Mark Haub experimented with The Twinkie Diet

Today you will get a chance to hear John’s interview with Professor Mark Haub.  Professor Haub works at the Kansas State University in the department of Human Nutrition.

The “All-Twinkie” Diet experiment

Professor Haub challenges society’s beliefs about diet, nutrition and weight loss. His honesty and the fact that he is not endorsing or selling a diet or food product is quite compelling.  Mark’s journey to beginning the “Twinkie Diet” spawned from his desire for personal weight loss and  his  scientific knowledge in dietary fiber and whole grains relative to diabetes and obesity.

Since refined grains are listed by the USDA as potentially unhealthy and obesogenic Dr. Haub decided to use this opportunity to experiment with his own need to lose a few pounds.  He said it did not turn out the way he expected.  He learned a few things about himself during this experiment and after losing the excess pounds he decided to make some long term diet changes.

 

Professor Haub was surprised by the results of his experiment with snack foods. His health parameters improved.

Professor Haub was surprised by the results of his experiment with snack foods. His health parameters improved.

He measured his health parameters and used a DEXA scan to measure his body composition.  He lost 27 pounds of fat and 6 pounds of lean body mass which are both typical for this amount of weight loss on a just about any diet.  His health parameters improved.

Calories really do matter

Professor Haub limited himself to less than 1,800 calories a day.   A man of his size usually consumes about 2,600 calories a day.  He followed a basic principle of weight loss: He consumed significantly fewer calories than he burned.

This confirms what most of us here at the Adonis Golden Ratio already knew all along from the principles of John’s Anything Goes Diet.

You have your own unique dietary needs

Most of us have experimented to find our own way to lose weight.  We have found that the right amount of calories was key, along with not depriving ourselves of foods we love.

So if you have weight to lose the key is to find the right amount of calories and do whatever it takes to keep yourself sane and satiated for the short term.  Then spend the rest of your life figuring out what type of diet is good for you.  All of us have unique likes, dislikes, and health needs.  Pay attention to your calorie needs, what nutrients you need, what your health practitioner advises, and refuse to let food control you.

You can find Professor Mark Haub on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and CNN online.

IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

Not an Adonis Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more… and hear a weird story too

Filed Under: body image, Fat Loss, Food, health, Identity, Sage Advice, Stories, Uncensored Podcasts S02, weight loss Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Men’s Guide to Eating for Muscle Gain

December 5, 2012 by

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2.

Today’s topic: Eating for Muscle Gain and Fat Storage

How much do you need to eat to build muscle?

How Do You Store Fat?

When we eat more calories than our body can use we begin to store those extra calories as fat. Although this process occurs  in  both men and women, the primary locations of fat storage differs betweeen the two genders.  For example, men tend to store fat in the stomach region while women in the hip/thigh region.  This genetic predisposition of fat storage leads to a variety of  body types or shapes: “Apple, Pear, Banana” just to name a few.

As a person begins to exceed the standard Body Mass Index (BMI) range their body shape eventually balloons into a rounded appearance.  Nevertheless, there is a popular belief amongst  people that even if they are below the BMI range known as obese, their body shape  is dictated by their genetic predispositions for fat storage.  However, this is only partially true.

There is no category of body shape that will restrict you from building  muscle only in a certain area.

Once you lose the  fat necessary to achieve the lean, ripped look we begin to look very similar to one another.  What will make the biggest difference is the size of your muscles. Everyone will look different at their ideal numbers of course, but the overall body shape will be the same. Once you lose the fat,  your body’s  fat storage patterns become irrelevant.

So it’s up to you, you can choose whether to let your genetic predispositions  dictate how you store fat or change your physical appearance through strategic training and add more size to your frame.

How Much Do You Need to Build Muscle

The second part of this podcast (maybe the more important to you) is about the amount of food/calories you need to consume to build muscle.

We’ve already explained why bulking is a bad idea, hell even Pilon tried bulking up slowly in the last podcast.

So it would seem that overeating doesn’t help. So what’s the answer then, how much do you really need to eat to avoid undereating, but also overeating? What do you have to do?

If you are asking yourself those questions you are missing  two critical  factors to your success.

The two factors that must be taken into consideration are birth and/or training age.

A 17 year old guy who just started training is a different case compared to a guy who is in his late 40s and has been training hard for the last 15 years.

Which is exactly what Brad Pilon and John Barban are going to discuss today. So, if that is something that interests you, just scroll down to log inside the AI cockpit and listen to this episode.

In today’s UNCENSORED training, you will also discover:

  • Whether there is anything you can do to improve your physique besides fat loss and muscle building
  • What  BMI/BF% range you will  need to be under to allow your muscles to dictate your body shape
  • What waist  percentage of your height is still safe for “bulking“
  • Whether there is actually an amount of calories you need to eat to build muscle
  • What determines how much you need to eat to build muscle at the rate you want
  • Learn what  stubborn fat is  and whether it’s any different from the rest of your body fat
  • What it means when people store fat in as opposed to around the muscle
  • What it takes to add more muscle if not bulking
  • What role does birth and/or training age  play in your diet if your goal is building muscle
  • What do you do after you get to your ideal numbers? Do u need to keep training or Is it possible to grow even more?
  • How to eat for muscle gain according to your waist and shoulder measurements, when to stop and when to eat more to avoid under eating

 

IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

Not an Adonis Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more… and hear a weird story too

Filed Under: Food, Muscle Building, Podcasts, Uncensored Podcasts S02 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

DEXA Results from Slow Bulking and Muscle Imbalance Correction Training

November 21, 2012 by

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2.

Today’s topics: Body Composition Analysis – DEXA Results

You can use DEXA scan to track down effectiveness of your training and diet.

From season one of uncensored podcasts you already know how you can use DEXA to track your progress.

But did you know that it’s also a very useful tool for experimenting with your body?

Check out how John and Brad used DEXA scan to measure effectiveness of the things they were trying in the last couple of weeks. Each of them tried a different thing.

John’s Experiment – Muscle Imbalance Correction Training

As you may already know know John can’t do barbell bench press, because off his shoulder issue. The last time he got his DEXA the results were astonishing, on his right side there was almost 2 pounds less lean mass (shoulder and arm). That’s a pretty big difference, it was obvious that the right side was significantly weaker and less developed.

Because of this, he decided to try to bring the right side back to normal, so both of his shoulders and arms would be balanced.

Now this is tricky, because if you just do barbell based exercises, one arm will work harder than the other and you will only make the problem worse.

So how would you go about it?

And how do you track such is small difference?

You can’t even go just by feeling and strength, you need to get another DEXA done to confirm the results.

John decided to create a specialized plan for himself and get another DEXA scan done at the end of this test to see what he could do about this.

As it turned out, you really can affect one side of your body and bring your lagging part back to normal to balance them out.

Surprisingly the answer wasn’t more weight, but more work and better muscle activation – as John shares in today’s episode, he had to take more time to warm up the right side to achieve the same activation throughout his regular workout.

Listen to the podcast for more information on this experiment.

Brad’s Experiment – Slow Bulking

As Brad confesses in today’s episode, he really wanted for bulking to work and I mean who doesn’t, eating more for more muscles? Sounds like a bodybuilder’s dream.

Well, the reality is different and rather boring.

In the past Brad has tried every way you could think of (and more) to make bulking work. He tried the standard 6 meals a day, 300 grams of protein, cheat days and even cheat weeks with 10 000 calorie intake and no result at all…well he did gain fat, but that’s not what he was really after.

So, it’s safe to say that bulking doesn’t work.

Then a couple months ago he thought about another way of trying bulking. He realized that each time he would try it, it would be a very quick process, never slow. So he decided to go about bulking up slowly, just a couple hundred calories here and there, he didn’t change his workouts, recorded everything and did a DEXA scan after the experiment was after.

If you wanna find out about the whole process and more importantly the results, go down and listen to the podcast.

In today’s UNCENSORED training, you will also discover:

  • How to prepare the muscles that you have hard time activating for the workout
  • How can you bring up a lagging part back up to balance it with the rest of the body if lifting heavier doesn’t help
  • What is slow bulking  and whether it can work for you
  • How you can get your goals hijacked with focusing on strength gains
  • Why it’s important to stop chasing weight at some point and what’s more important when the goal is muscle growth
  • How if you are not careful “body building” can turn into weight lifting and power lifting and why this is dangerous to your physique goals
  • Is there a relationship between being well trained at a certain movement/exercise and looking good? (The answer to this might surprise you)
  • How DEXA can help you see clearly through fitness disbeliefs and help you discover what truly works for your body and what’s just BS you should avoid

IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

Not an Adonis Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more… and hear a weird story too

 

Filed Under: Food, Muscle Building, Podcasts, Uncensored Podcasts S02 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Warning: Bulking Leads to Less Fab and More Flab

November 7, 2012 by

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2.

Today’s topic: Bulking

What is bulking?

In a nutshell,  bulking occurs when eating at a caloric surplus to gain muscle mass. However, in reality it’s just overeating resulting in fat gain.

On the left: What you expect from bulking; On the right: What you will actually look like after you bulk up.

Once you start thinking about bulking, you will realize that anyone who chooses to follow this approach is basically throwing away logic in the name of impatience.

We are naturally impatient so the idea of eating like it’s your job for the sake of gaining more muscle is tempting, but goes against the reality of how your body really builds muscle.

So why do so many people try to bulk up? If it doesn’t work,  why is it still presented as the standard way of building muscle by conventional fitness media?

The answer is quite simple, because this concept is highly profitable to certain companies’ and individuals.  It’s impossible to bulk up by yourself.  You will need a trainer to tell you exactly what to eat and supplements to take… and the rest of the story is self-explanatory.

In today’s episode John Barban and Brad Pilon talk about the conspiracy supporting the concept of bulking.

They will expose the fitness industry and show you that almost everyone is working against you and why it’s important to be aware of the truth if you hope to ever get in shape and build your ideal body.

Ever gotten this answer: “Just eat a lot bro and you will be big like me”? Today you will find out the real truth.

 

In today’s UNCENSORED training, you will also discover:

  • You will find out 3 reasons why there is something we call a “bulking conspiracy” that keeps this myth alive
  • You will understand how the people you meet every day in the gym are making it easy for your to fall for this myth
  • You will get your final answer on whether excess calories help you build more muscle or not (hint: there is a big difference in “make” vs “allow”).
  • You will know what happens to testosterone and growth hormone when you eat a lot of calories (this in fact proves that bulking is a bad idea and possibly dangerous to your health)
  • You will discover why trainers are forced to bulk you up (wanna take a guess why is that?)
  • You will find out why guys on steroids will not ever tell you they are on drugs (hint: and it’s most likely not because it’s illegal)
  • You will discover whether you can build muscle while “cutting”?

IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

Not an Adonis Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more… and hear a weird story too

Filed Under: Food, Muscle Building, Podcasts, Uncensored Podcasts S02 Tagged With: , ,

Eat for “Flavor” & The 6 Step Recovery Method from Orthorexia

September 19, 2012 by

Here’s the second part of this month’s UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2 on Orthorexia.

Check out the first part here: The Side Effect of Modern Society and Even Scientists Can’t Escape

What we covered in the first part:

  • We’ve talked about how certain foods can completely mess up your personality and social identity
  • You learned why people in the fitness industry feel superiority over you because of their diet choices
  • You discovered why you should bother tracking and testing things related to nutrition and not just training
  • You learned about the connection between people suffering from orthorexia and drug addicts
  • You also discovered what’s really in the root of the search for healthy eating and if that goal is really achievable
  • You learned that orthorexia is a marketing driven eating disorder and that the food and fitness industry are making billions just from people getting fatter every year

Let Go of the Good Food/Bad Food Belief

You need to learn to let go of the good food, bad food belief and dump all the bad food lists. And instead start focusing on the foods that taste good, are filling and make you feel great.

It’s a mind shift and a whole different perception, especially if you have been exposed to the mainstream fitness media for the last couple of decades.

Ask yourself this question: ” What do I like to eat?” And eat exactly that!

A lot of people will be thinking that this statement means you can eat burgers and ice cream all day long. Well, that’s not true. Nobody can do go on a diet like that and that’s a pretty boring lifestyle to have.

There are lots of food choices, if chicken with broccoli and chocolate with ice cream are the only meals you know you are limiting yourself and preventing yourself from tasting some amazing foods that are also rich in nutrients.

Get a variety in your diet and start experimenting with different cuisines. Just ask yourself, what exotic meal you haven’t tried yet?

Believe it or not, there are other foods and meals outside the “healthy” recommended by fitness media and “unhealthy junk food” like chocolate or burgers. There are a lot of other options and they can be very tasty.

Today John Barban and Brad Pilon will show you how to switch  from good/bad thinking into “eating what I really like and what makes me feel good” and “what would be the best and most tasty option for me?“.

If you’ve heard the first podcast and you’ve read so far then you understand what’s the point of it, but you may still be unsure of the whole process, so before you listen to today’s episode where John and Brad discuss this in great detail, let’s look over the steps you can take to recover from Orthorexia and start eating for flavor:

  1. Realize that any health message is a marketing message
  2. Understand that you won’t cheat death, and especially not by choosing different foods
  3. Create new food lists, but assign them different meanings (e.g. rank them by flavor)
  4. Make a list of foods that makes you bloated or that you are allergic to
  5. Evaluate every food on those lists based on how much you enjoy it, how many calories it contains etc.
  6. [you will have to listen to the interview for this one :)]
There is a lot of choice outside the traditional healthy and unhealthy lists AKA good foods/bad foods. European and Asian cuisines are very rich in different flavors and tastes, just start experimenting. Today we are going to give you the permission to do that and explain you why it’s beneficial and how to go about it.

IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

Not an Adonis Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more… and hear a weird story too

Filed Under: Fat Loss, Food, health, Podcasts, Uncensored Podcasts S02 Tagged With: , ,

The Side Effect of Modern Society and Even Scientists Can’t Escape

September 5, 2012 by

Here’s the first part of this month’s UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2.

This month’s topic: Orthorexia.

What is orthorexia?

Orthorexia comes from obsession with avoiding foods that are perceived to be unhealthy. In the academic field it’s believed to be a mental disorder. This disorder can lead to severe malnutrition or even in some rare cases death.

Orthorexics usually have low self-esteem, because they blame themselves rather than their diets for their constant hunger and the resulting cravings for foods they’ve labeled as forbidden.

It’s a pretty serious topic, and if you follow any of the dietary advice from conventional fitness media you may very well develop this disorder yourself.

The moment you label something as forbidden, you are f*cked, because sooner or later you will break and overeat on it.

It’s quite a contradiction when you think about it, because orthorexia in it’s essence is an unhealthy obsession over healthy food.

So instead of restricting calories, orthorexics restrict food choices that they or a perceived authority labeled as bad and unhealthy.

The whole idea of Anything Goes Diet that we preach here at Adonis Index is that you can have whatever you want.

Some people misunderstand this statement and think you can fast food 24/7.

They are missing the point.

The idea is not to eat everything you can, the idea is that if you can limit the amount to fit in your caloric plan, then you can fill it with some things that are higher in fat, sugar and salt e.g. ice cream, burger, pizza and donuts.

With this mindset you will not fall victim to labeling certain foods as bad or unhealthy and won’t develop orthorexia.

Why People Want to Eat Healthy?

The whole issue around orthorexia is that it happens in a very specific environment, in an environment that you are most likely part off.

How come that I’m so sure you are part of that environment? Well, if you weren’t you couldn’t be reading this article, because you couldn’t afford a computer or iPad.

Orthorexia is an issue that appears in modern societies where there’s an abundance of food.

There seems to be a big contrast in the food availability.

It’s pretty hard to find a country where there is  not enough food for everyone to have a balanced diet.  In most cases, people are starving  or they have an over-abundance of food (i.e. 3rd world countries vs. Europe and US).

The abundance of food coupled with our  highly modernized society influences people to live a healthier lifestyle.

Of course there is nothing wrong with that, it’s just that human nature  tends to want to take things to an extreme level.

Which raises a few questions:

What do we want to achieve with our lifestyle?

Why do we search for better choices in our lives when we can buy everything we desire?

Let’s kick off this month of uncensored with a very fundamental question.

Why do you want to eat healthy?

Just STOP and  think about it.

The answer is not simply, because you want to be healthy.

There is more to it.

Do you want to live longer?

Do you want more fulfilling life?

Do you want to be healthy so you can see your grandchildren?

What’s the reason for you to search for better options in your life? And that can ultimately lead you to developing disorders like orthorexia?

In today’s UNCENSORED training, you will also discover:

  • How a simple thing like food that has nothing to do with us and in any way was meant to define your personality, can screw you up
  • Why certain people (yes the ones in this industry) feel superiority over you, because of their diet choices
  • Why do you feel ashamed about your diet choice and what leads self-punishment and guild with your food
  • What’s in the root of people’s search for better food choices and why nutrition will never be an answer to “cheating death”
  • The truth about how people make their food preferences, it it because they want to eat those foods or because some dietitians put importance on certain items?
  • Discovering whether you function on logic or emotional belief system
  • Why tracking and testing your results matters
  • How to stop letting food destroy your relationships
  • How orthorexia is same as drugs

IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

Not an Adonis Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more… and hear a weird story too

Filed Under: Food, Podcasts, Uncensored Podcasts S02 Tagged With: , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »
Support