The Life Plan (11 page)

If you want to increase your muscle mass and get rid of body fat you need to get most of your protein from lean meat and beans, unless you are on the Heart Health Diet. The reason for this may relate to the effect a meat-eating diet has on a man’s androgen hormone status and protein metabolism. Testosterone plays a key role in regulating and stimulating the synthesis of proteins—especially muscle protein.

Most authorities today believe that endurance athletes and bodybuilders require the most protein, and a very general recommendation now is that these people should consume 0.6 grams to 1 gram per pound of body weight. Consuming a slightly higher amount of protein won’t hurt you, but very often you will see recommendations to consume much greater amounts of protein (up to 2 grams or more per pound of body weight). The consensus is that consuming extreme amounts of protein can lead to dehydration and a loss of calcium, and it also may put an increased load on your kidneys. In addition to all this, excess protein is often simply excreted or stored as fat, which doesn’t help if you’re trying to get stronger and leaner.

Now, if you’re like me, the thought of counting out grams of protein for the rest of your life is a bit daunting. Luckily, I have a simpler, cleaner solution—the nutrition method in my Life Healthy Eating Plan provides about one gram of protein per pound of body weight daily, which falls right in the recommended range for muscle and strength building. You will be eating approximately 30 to 35 grams of protein with each of your small meals. Each serving size of protein is about the size and thickness of your palm.

These are signals your body is sending to you about your current protein consumption:

If you are usually hungry 1 to 2 hours after a meal, you are not eating enough healthy fat or protein.

If you are hungry 3 to 4 hours after a meal, your protein intake is optimal.

If you are not hungry for 5 to 7 hours after a meal, you ate too much protein.

Healthy types of dietary fat allow your body to feel satisfied after eating, build hormones, ensure the integrity of all your cell walls, insulate and protect your organs, and transport nutrients throughout your body. Eating fat is not problematic; eating the wrong
types
of fat is. Assessing the many types and forms of dietary fat can seem complicated, but ultimately, the bottom line is: The optimal types of fat are found in natural foods, such as fish, nuts, seeds, olives, and animal proteins. Dietary fats found in processed foods are
not
healthy.

The fats in your diet can contribute to early aging. It is therefore very important for you to have some basic knowledge about the difference between healthy fats and unhealthy fats so that you can make intelligent decisions.

Saturated fats are solid at room temperature. Butter, cheese, and cream are all high in saturated fat, as is the fat on meat, and the so-called tropical oils (coconut, palm, and palm kernel oil). Saturated fats increase the amount of “bad” cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein, or LDL—remember, “L” equals lethal) in the blood, which can lead to atherosclerosis, heart disease, erectile dysfunction, and the restriction of blood flow. When saturated fats are incorporated into your cell membranes, the membranes tend to become rigid and less flexible, which in turn can affect their receptor mechanisms. This may explain why saturated fats are associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. In addition, diets high in animal fat are associated with colon cancer.

This form of fat has been clearly shown to be the key factor in causing coronary heart disease in a 25-year study involving seven countries. Saturated fats have recently been shown to interfere with athletic performance because they cause high insulin levels, leading to carbohydrate cravings, weight gain, impaired muscle growth, fatigue, and loss of endurance.

All of these adverse effects can be avoided simply by replacing saturated fats with “healthy fats”—monounsaturated fats. This will not only prevent the development of serious diseases but will improve your performance in and out of the gym.

Organic refers to the lack of chemicals present in the growing of a plant or raising of an animal. Free-range animal meats contain a better ratio of good to bad fats compared to traditionally raised animals that are fed grains to fatten them up faster. Grass contains omega-3 fatty acids, which have anti-inflammatory effects, whereas grains contain more omega-6 fatty acids, which have a proinflammatory effect. Nonorganic meats contain certain amounts of antibiotics and bovine growth hormone. Hormone-free animal and dairy products are recommended in my diet.

Hydrogenated (or partially hydrogenated) fats are liquid oils that have been artificially saturated with hydrogen to create a solid fat with a longer shelf life. Margarine and vegetable shortening are examples of this highly unnatural type of fat. The manufacturing process starts with healthy oils and ends up with a product that’s bad for you.

Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats not only are saturated, but also contain
trans-fatty acids,
a type of fatty acid that is not created in the body and is rarely found in nature. Trans-fatty acids are found in all fried foods, as well as in commercial brands of liquid oils, which are extracted using heat. They increase serum levels of “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and decrease the “good” cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein, or HDL—remember, “H” equals healthy), and are heavily associated with coronary heart disease. They have been shown to adversely affect metabolic processes in heart tissue. Trans-fatty acids are also incorporated into cell membranes even though they are not normal components of human tissue. When this occurs, they interfere with the function of cell membranes, making cells less flexible and blocking natural biochemical pathways.

Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils are used extensively in commercially prepared foods, including peanut butter, mayonnaise, baked goods, margarine, and chocolate. If you are serious about cutting back on your fat intake, especially harmful fats, you’ll need to make a point of staying away from these very bad fat sources.

Monounsaturated fats are usually liquid at room temperature, but may solidify in the refrigerator. Monounsaturated fats contain a high proportion of oleic acid, a fatty acid that can be synthesized by all mammals, including humans. Monounsaturated oils include olive oil, peanut oil, avocado oil, and canola oil. Because they aren’t harmful, they can be considered healthful. Long-term consumption of these oils (especially olive oil) in several southern European countries is associated with low overall mortality rates and low incidence of coronary heart disease. Olive oil is 72 percent monounsaturated; canola oil (actually extracted from rapeseed) is 65 percent monounsaturated; and peanut oil is 48 percent monounsaturated. Canola and peanut oils are likely to contain chemical residues from the way the plants were raised. Avocado oil is extremely expensive. Your best choices are olive oil—preferably cold-pressed and unrefined (“extra-virgin”)—and avocados.

Safflower, sunflower, corn, sesame, and soy oils are all polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Even though they are cholesterol free and low in saturated fat, these oils can still cause problems by creating oxidation products that form free radicals that damage DNA, alter cell membranes, and promote cancer. The breakdown of polyunsaturated fatty acids produces more oxidants than the breakdown of other types of fats. This is because of the multiple double bonds found in polyunsaturated fats. Each double bond provides an opportunity for oxidation. The more polyunsaturated an oil is, the more double bonds it has, and the more potential there is for free-radical formation. Safflower oil is the most unsaturated vegetable oil, and as such can cause significant immune suppression. This is surprising news to many consumers who were told that polyunsaturated oils were part of a healthy diet.

Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are both essential fatty acids that the body cannot make, so it is up to us to make sure we eat foods that contain them. Many Americans (especially those who follow low-fat diets) suffer from an essential fatty acid deficiency. We now know that this deficiency is detrimental to our physical and mental well-being, causing serious diseases, including atherosclerosis (plugging of arteries), strokes, coronary heart disease, erratic heartbeats leading to sudden cardiac death, rheumatoid and degenerative arthritis, skin problems including wrinkles, loss of vision, and degenerative brain diseases.

There are three main types of omega-3 fats—EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), and ALA (alpha-linolenic acid). EPA and DHA are the “marine” omega-3s found in fish. ALA is found mostly in plant oils. These essential fatty acids are required to make a family of hormones called eicosanoids—substances that are potent mediators of many biochemical functions that play a critical role in coordinating a number of physiological functions such as blood clotting, blood pressure, blood vessel dilation, heart rate, heart rhythm, muscle and bone growth, and immune response.

Most authorities believe that EPA and DHA are the omega-3 fats that play the greatest role in promoting health and preventing disease. ALA (found in flaxseed) is an indirect source of EPA and DHA. However, we can convert only less than 15 percent of ALA into EPA and DHA, so most experts think flaxseed is a poor way to get adequate amounts of EPA and DHA.

Actually, olive oil is a better choice than either margarine or butter, but if you must choose between a small amount of butter and a small amount of margarine, choose butter. Margarine can contain up to 30 percent trans-fatty acids, while butter, although it is a saturated fat, is a more natural product. Benecol and Smart Balance are also healthy options.

By choosing olive oil instead of butter or margarine, you avoid the hazards of saturated fat and you also avoid the immune-suppressing effects of the more harmful trans-fatty acids.

Getting the right amounts of good fats was easier in the past, because foods contained the right ratios of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. Unfortunately, omega-3 fatty acids are not nearly as plentiful in the foods we eat today, because food companies have deliberately destroyed them in order to increase the shelf life of their products. The meat from today’s cows and chickens has much less omega-3 fatty acid since these animals are now fed processed grains low in omega-3s instead of wild plants and seeds, which are naturally high in these fats. As a result, we now consume one-sixth the amount of omega-3 fatty acids that our ancestors did, which has drastically increased our ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s to 20 to 1. The current ratio dramatically interferes with many of the key functions of essential fatty acids, including the synthesis of prostaglandin hormones—hormones that govern all cell growth, blood clotting, and our immune function. This imbalance may promote heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and some cancers.