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Listen to this podcast http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2011/03/episode-139-thelast-diet-youll-ever-need-part-1/
Citation preview
Podcast #139 from http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2011/03/episode-139-the-
last-diet-youll-ever-need-part-1/
Introduction: In this podcast the last diet you’ll ever need, the bar method of
working out. What to do if your calves are too big, and a couple of
questions about training on a bicycle.
Ben: Hey folks, it’s Ben Greenfield here and somehow I’ve managed to
figure out to get you a podcast while I’m basically stranded on top of
a mountain in the middle of a small Island called Nevis in the West
Indies. There are monkeys climbing on top of the roof of my little
hut, appear perched on top of the hill and I’m amazed that I even
have an internet connection, but I do have my portable microphone
and I am here because I have a very cool interview for you today
with a guy named KC Craichy about a very cool book. And it’s
called “Super Health: The Last Diet You’ll Ever Need”. I would
highly recommend you listen in to this interview. It’s not often that
I recommend diet so this might be once in a blue moon. After you
listen be sure to tune in towards the end of this episode where I am
gonna tell you how to score a free book from KC. As a matter of fact,
I’m gonna tell you how to score the very book that we’re talking
about for free. It’s pretty easy for you to do. So, stay tuned til the
end of this podcast and let’s get started in to this special
announcement.
I mentioned this last week and I remind you again. On April 12 I am
hosting a live free video webinar called the shocking truth about
Vitamin D and fish Oil. Dr. Rick Cohen from Bioletics is gonna be
in on that video seminar and I've got a link to it in the show notes to
this podcast, podcast #139. Just go over to
BenGreenfieldFitness.com. Click on the show notes and you 'll be
able to RSVP for that. It's free. It's gonna be very cool, Dr. Cohen
has a ton of research I haven't seen before that he is gonna be
releasing that day about Vitamin D and about fish oil. So, I highly
recommend it. Whether or not you're actually taking those
supplements this would be a very good one to sit it on. It's gonna be
on Tuesday, April 12 at 6pm. The other special announcement is
going to be saved for the end of this podcast. So let's jump right in
to this week's listener Q and A.
Ben Greenfield: So if you have a question you can just use the "Ask Ben" form on the
podcast show notes over at BenGreenfieldFitness.com. You can
also ask question through the iPhone app or the android app. Both
are free and you can download them over on the right side of the
page at BenGreenfieldFitness.com or the other way you can ask
your question is via Twitter. You can just Twitter to
@bengreenfield to ask your question or go follow @bengreenfield if
you want more tips from me during the day. Alright, let's go ahead
and go to this week's first question which is from listener Violet who
says I have always had large calves. And no matter how much
weight I lose, they don't change. I don't want the muscle any bigger,
I just want to lose fat, specially the fat right under my knee. I have
done calf raises on the stairs but is there anything else I could try.
Also I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but I am very
hyper mobile especially in my knees.
Well, first of all, as far as the last part to that question, flexibility
and hyper mobility really aren’t going to affect fat deposition in a
certain body part or body area. But in terms of reducing, toning or
losing fat in one body part, the issue with that is that basically your
body has to be put into a state where it actually has incentive to
mobilize that fat. In this case, the fat that surrounds your knee.
That’s storage fat. And the only way that your body is going to have
incentive to mobilize that fat is if it’s put into a state where it has to
burn that as a fuel or has to rely on it as fat. And some people tend
to burn storage fats more predictively or more favorably in certain
locations and find it easier to lose fat in those locations, you know.
The women who are listening in know what I'm talking about and
find it frustrating when the very first place they ever lose fat when
they begin to lose weight is the chest. And a lot of women don't
want that to happen. But as far as the knee goes, you should be
coming at this from a nutritional and a workout program stand
point. And not a targeted exercise stand point. And the reason for
that is that doing things like squats and calf races those might
improve the metabolic activity in that area just slightly. Just
slightly improve heat, fat burning etc. But they're not going to hold
the candle to what you'd be able to achieve by getting your diet
dialled in, taking into account a lot of the diet or recommendations
that I give out on the show and also getting things like unfed cardio
sessions in in the morning, doing higher intensity cardio vascular
intervals in the afternoon. Making sure you're incorporating weight
training so you get that hormonal response to fat loss. All those
type of things will help. Now, in terms of actually reducing the size
of the muscle, that's an issue where you’re literally having to
cannibalize your body's own lean muscle tissue. Some people are
born with larger calves than other people and that’s just appeared
genetics. But in terms of actually cannibalizing some of that lean
muscle mass, the issue is that whenever you start to tap into your
body's own lean muscle mass, it's stress from the body, it tends to
pressure your immune system so you want to do it rather slowly but
the best place that I would recommend you start is by doing unfed
cardio sessions. And those will simply allow you to actually begin to
cannibalize your body's own lean muscle tissue. It's a good strategy
if you really are wanting to burn through fat and then subsequently
burn through muscle also. Now, when I tell people who just wanna
burn fat, to do this passive cardio sessions, I warn them no to go too
hard. But if you're trying to lose muscle, go all out, starve yourself
and go lift weights, do cardio intervals, do high intensity cardio.
When I say starve yourself, I mean don't eat a big meal and go do
those workouts. Do them on an empty stomach. And it's gonna be
stressful to your body. I don’t recommend that you incorporate a
session like that any more than three times per week and you
should always space them by about 48 hours. But that will allow
you to start to kind of tap in your body's own lean muscle tissue.
And of course the issue with this is that if you genetically have very
large calves, you may start to tap in the lean muscle tissue in the
areas that you don’t want to. Your arms might get smaller, your
thighs might get smaller. All those type of things could actually
happen so it's that risk that you take. If you don’t notice your calves
getting smaller and other parts of your body are getting smaller you
don’t want to get smaller, then you may want to actually stop doing
that because it will make your calves looks disproportionately even
bigger. So shrinking a muscle is tough to do. I hope I'm giving you
that impression, but the final thing that I would tell you is when
you’re working and you’re doing exercising and you're trying to
work your calves, definitely don’t work out in the repetition range
that is known to cause hypertrophy or that growth of muscle size so
don’t work out in like the 8 to 12 rep range. Always go like 15 20
reps plus when you're working the calves and that will have keep
you from putting on new muscle fiber and really, if you really
wanna get smaller I wouldn't do work too much at all and I
definitely wouldn't be working into fatigue. So, it's kind of a tough
stage that you are in and it really is kind of related to a book that I
am working on trying to teach folks how to work out for their body
type. But that is where I would start with you, with unfed high
intensity cardio interval and weight training sessions, avoiding like
a hypertrophy type of rang, going for the fat at the back of the knees.
Basically giving your diet and your workout program dialled and
not doing like specific targeting sessions for the knee itself. Okay,
the next question is from Mike.
Mike: Hi Ben this is Mike Colin. Was wondering what was your take on
power cranks. Can't seem to find it on your website. Doesn’t look
like you’ve covered it before. Yeah. So thank you.
Ben: Well, contrary to what the name may sound like, power cranks are
not a new novel form of drug. They are actually a bicycle training
apparatus. And basically they are cranks. And they attach to your
bicycle and they move independently of one another. So normally,
when you pedal your bike, both of the arms that your pedals are
attached to, or the cranks that your pedals are attached to, they
move at the same time dependently on one another so as one is
going down the other one is going up. And with power cranks, they
move independently so both of your legs have to work on their own
to figure out how to manage the pedal stroke. So by isolating both
your our legs and preventing, for example, the dominant leg from
compensating for a weaker leg, the power cranks will train your
muscles how to incorporate your muscle mass and basically teach
your brain how to recruit muscles a little bit more efficiently during
the pedal stroke. They've got tons of great reviews. I know a lot of
athletes that used them. The problem is that it’s kinda like learning
to walk again. Or even for experienced cyclists learning how to ride
your bike again. You feel very inefficient and feel very frustrating
when you first start to use them. It literally takes you a good two to
three months to gain back your prowess or your efficiency on the
bicycle using these power cranks. And then, at that point you can
use them just in training, you can use them in racing, you can use
them as a training tool just a few times during the week or use them
all the time, but I've never spoken with a person who has used them
and not found that they vastly improved biomechanics and helped
with power as well. You'll spend either about a $700 with these
cranks but if you use them on your bike they are probably going to
help you become a better cyclist and pedaling inefficiency is
something that you deal with, it’s going to be something that could
help you out tremendously. So, do I personally use them? No, it’s
not an investment that I have made yet. But I do have some
athletes that use them, and I've spoken with others who have used
them, and they swear by them in terms of making you a better
cyclist, so it’s a great question.
Ron: Several podcast have mentioned flax seed oil positively, my
research differs. I stopped taking flax seed oil a year ago because of
its very high phyto estrogen content. Men’s Health had an article
on soy milk, also high in phyto estrogen, awhile back, in which a
male was drinking two quarts a day and his breasts were enlarging.
Ben: Interesting. So phyto estrogen, they are basically the substances
found in plants. And they can imitate, to a certain extent, the
activity of estrogens in people. And the plants can’t make human
estrogens but they make this hormone like substances that help to
regulate estrogens within the human body and we call these phyto
estrogens. And they can definitely impact males or females in
terms of your normal hormonal metabolism. But there is very little
evidence that something like phyto estrogens in soy milk could
cause male breast enlargement, which is also known as
gynecomastia. The way that it would happen, if it did happen,
because anecdotally there's been cases where it's suggested that it
could have caused a male breast enlargement. But basically the soy
milk phyto estrogens are known as isoflavones and those are very
similar to certain estrogens within the human body and the reason
that when you ingest isoflavones they could actually cause this
breast enlargement is that they could increase the estrogen
concentrations enough to where a male actually starts to take on
female characteristics. Now, you have to drink the equivalent in
order to get that amount of isoflavone. You have to drink the
equivalent of about three quartz of soy milk a day. Or that's about
350-400 mg of isoflavones in a day. So a cup of soy milk has about
25mg. So you have to be drinking a ton of soy milk to really get that
phyto estrogen response. But it is feasible you can do it, I guess, if
you were just like living on soy milk or doing lots of tofu and other
isoflavone sources on the side. When you look at flax seed, the
phyto estrogen content of flax seed is through the roof compared to
soy milk and so these really sets a lot of people off because they're
like well, I may take just a little soy milk but man, you don’t have to
take in much flax seed oil in order to get the same amount of phyto
estrogen. Well that is true. You’re gonna get a lot of phyto
estrogens with flax seed oil but the main phyto estrogen in flax seed
oil is not this isoflavones. It’s basically a lignan. And there's a big
difference between a lignan and an isoflavone. An isoflavone will
very strongly bind to the estrogen receptor and can increase
production of the estrogen like compounds. Whereas a lignan
weakly binds and actually inhibit some of the production of the
estrogens. So huge difference in terms of the response and there is
really zero evidence of flax seed oil causing something like male
gynecomastia or breast enlargement. Now, of course, flax seed oil is
a seed based oil and because it does contain phyto estrogen, that
means it does contain phytic acid. And phytic acid is one if those
things that can be considered, in high amounts, to be in anti
nutrient. It can bind with a lot of the minerals and the nutrients in
your digestive tract and keep you from absorbing them and that is
why we wouldn't go overboard with flax seed oil. I do the
equivalent of about a teaspoon a day or few capsules a day of flax
seed oil and that should be enough. Remember also that good
digestive health helps your body to produce some pythases that can
actually cause phytic acid to do a little bit less damage to your
digestive tract. So doing something like taking a digestive enzyme
will also be really a good idea if you’re taking flax seed oil. Ok, so
the next question comes from Ranieri.
Ranieri: Hey Ben. What's going on? This is Ranieri Palavicini. Well, I'm
doing a training plans from the Jude Training plans for the Half
Ironman. And I've been training in the indoor training with a bike
and like two days ago, it was very warm here, I live in Elizabeth in
New Jersey, and I get out very nice riding you know like 1 hour of
riding I did like, I don’t know, 20 miles, 21 miles, and all of a
sudden, I mean it was fine but two days after that is where the
weird about, two days after, my knee starting pain. So I get up
yesterday morning and, you know, that was two days from the
training day and it starting pain, my knee like that's very, very weird.
So, I probably sleep bad or something but I think and I remember
that "oh two days ago I did some bike and its first time outside with
a bike without training. I didn’t change the seat or the fitting.
Nothing! I didn't change anything. Do you have any idea why that
might be happening?
Ben: That's a great question. And I understand your frustration when it
comes up like that out of the blue. But when on your bike and
you're riding indoor s, you tend to stay in a relatively constant
position. You don’t move around too much when you're training
indoors. When you go outdoors, you're standing up, you're sitting
down, you're shifting forward, you're shifting back, and all these
changes in position can not only utilize new muscles, but they can
also cause more movement in terms of your patella or your knee
cap in that groove that's between the femur and the tibia. And so
what can happen is there can be a little bit of dragging that goes on,
a little bit of irritation, some inflammation, and it’s likely that what
you felt was either you're kinda 48 hour delayed on said muscle
soreness from using the quad a lot more than you were used to
using them, or you actually had some patellar tracking issues from
moving around a lot. Now, for the patellar tracking the best thing
you could do is to strengthen your quads and also make you’re your
hamstrings are flexible before you head out on a ride. And even
something as simple as including your quadriceps strengthening
sessions once a week and then doing hamstring stretching everyday
can solve that issue. And then the other thing that I'd look into is
simply giving yourself a little bit more time outdoors on the bike.
Do a few more rides. See if it happens again. And if continues to
happen then it’s likely that it’s not a conditioning issue. You know,
it’s like a muscle soreness in the quads issue but it really is that
issue with patellar maltracking. And then you know this is probably
pretty unlikely since you aren't feeling your pain when you’re riding
indoors, but you're only feeling it when you’re riding outdoors, but
in terms of your saddle height you may want to look into raising it
just slightly and also moving your seats slightly back and I realize
that you didn’t have an issue with your seat height and your saddle
position where its currently at when you're riding indoors, but it
would be definitely something to try at this point before you head
outdoors to ride again: just putting the saddle up or bring the
saddle back just a few millimeters and bring the seat post up just a
few millimeters and that will take some stress off the knee as well.
If you do too far though, it can create pain on the outside of your
knee and the back of your knee. So be careful. You don’t really
want your knee to be extended more than about 25 degrees at the
bottom of that pedal stroke.
Alright, we've got one more question and this question comes from
Mer .
Mer: Have you ever heard of the bar method? In Chicago and LA, it’s
taking off like wildfire. Lots of bold claims, lots of youtube coverage
as well. I think and my muscles think I would get bored with this
formulaic type class 3 times per week.
Ben: So basically with the bar method is, is you've got this bar almost like
a ballerina wood work on and this is a one hour work out that is
primarily body weight exercises combined with certain moves that
you do stabilizing your body with this bar. And the idea is that it’s
kind of a mix of some cardio vascularly intensive aerobics type
moves along with some Pilates as core moves, and some almost like
dancer type of flexibility and calisthenics moves. Now this type of
routine is great for, say, somebody who needs to improve their
mobility or needs to improve their flexibility. Pretty good for
somebody who's already got muscle but wants to, say, tone the
muscle a little bit more, maybe not put on more muscle and also
wants to again, improve like core strength flexibility and mobility.
It would be also pretty decent for somebody who really is just
getting started and is able to move around and is pretty mobile but
wants to start with something that has more body weight than like
free weight or cable or dumbbell, barbell, weight machine based.
And they would also see results from this initially. The problem
with it is, it misses a very important component of fitness and that
is some form of heavier weight bearing to actually stimulate the
hormonal response that occurs when you expose your body to heavy
loads and also to stimulate that muscle mass or lean muscle mass
formation. So if you were doing something like this, like this bar
method 3 times a week, you would wanna mix it up and include a
couple of weight training sessions, you'd probably want to include
like some cardio interval sessions, as well, like some bicycling or
treadmill sprints or going hard on the elliptical trainers, some
things that get you moving in that harder like anaerobic state that
you are not gonna get into when you’re doing this bar method. And
then use the bar method the same way as you'd use, you know, say
yoga class or Pilates class or body weight only workout. Something
that you include as a supplement to a weight training in cardio
vascular interval based workout. But there are definitely benefits
that you could get from this, if you’re using it as the sole method of
getting fit though it wouldn't really like hit all the muscle system.
And that's a really good way to look at any workout program as you
know, is this limiting itself to just one or two different muscle
system or is this hitting them all? So a good program should have
weight bearing, should have some body weight stuff, should have
some flexibility, some mobility, some easy aerobic cardio, some
cardio vascular intervals and not just one mode of exercise.
So, I hope that helps, and now we are gonna move in to this
interview about "The Last Diet You'll Ever Need". This is a two part
series so part two will come out next week. This is well worth
listening to. I learned a ton when I was interviewing KC and also
reading his book to learn more prior to interviewing him. Again I
don’t really endorse many diets, this is one I would certainly
consider listening into and then listen for a special announcement
at the very end about how you can get a book that we talked about
for free.
Ben: Hey folks, this is Ben Greenfield. You know, a few months ago,
actually all the way back in March of 2010, with a podcast called
"Are You Eating Dead Food?" And I had a gentleman named KC
Craichy on the call and he talked about the difference between live
food and dead food, and came up with some really interesting
concept study shared and I would put a link to that podcast in the
show notes to this episode. Well, KC is back and I'm gonna tell you
why he is back on the show. A few weeks ago, I got an envelope in
the mail. And I had a book in it. And I got to tell you I typically get
about two to three books a week that come in envelopes in the mail
with a request for me to review them to read them to talk about
them on the show. It's very rare that I actually will do a thorough
reading of the book from cover to cover and not put the book down
the entire time. It's also very rare that I am so impressed by the
book that I actually get the person that wrote the book to come on
to the podcast and talk about it. You know, you've heard some of
the podcast that we've done in the recent past with authors like Art
de Vany, Phil Maffetone. Well, when it comes to books one of the
genres of books that tends to be the most diamond dozen, over
written, over hype style of book is the diet book. As you probably
know, there are thousands of them out there and I've had just about
everyone that there is shot in front of my face at one point or
another. And so, when I received this book in the mail called the
super health diet "The Last Diet You'll Ever Need", I was pretty
tempted to put this one towards the you know maybe I read when I
get really bored pile. But I did see that it was written by KC, and
you know I had KC on a podcast a few months ago, and I was pretty
impressed with some of the stuff that he had to say. As a matter of
fact I actually eat everyday in my diet a few of the powders in the
living food supplement that KC's company creates. So, when I saw
this book I decided you know what KC wrote this, I should at least
take a look and I wasn't really prepared to capture anything I
haven't seen before. Well, I was wrong. This is not the average diet
book. So, when I open it up, the first thing that I've found was that
the first half of the book didn't really even talk about eat this, not
that, what to eat. All it did was give me the most thorough and
comprehensive overview I have ever encountered in any book of
every single diet, every single weight loss strategy, every single
surgery, every supplement, everything that's out there that could be
use for weight loss and every study and every little bit of research
and everything that has to do with how to stop works, whether it
works, why it works, if it's safe, all the way up to basically 2011
when this podcast is being produced. So completely up to date, pure
gold in terms of content and then it goes on and actually talks about
what to eat and it’s definitely not a rigid diet plan that I'm used to
seeing in this diet book. It's a very free flowing, very common sense
way of eating that we are gonna talk about in today's show. But the
book is called Super Health Diet. The author is KC Craichy. He is
right here on the phone with me today. So, KC thank you for
coming on the call.
KC Craichy: It's my pleasure Ben, I tell you, with you opening like that you make
me wanna read it.
Ben: Yeah, you should, you should. I've got a copy. I'll send it to you.
KC Craichy: Thank you.
Ben: I'll sign it on. Let's jump right into the pure content, KC. In your
book, the Super Health Diet, you started off by describing every
other weight loss club and diet that's out there, so in your opinion,
why are there's so many diets and diet books?
KC Craichy: Ben, you know, your opening was so powerful and that you know
there are so many and we've seen them all and I've drudge through
them all and I had a weight issue that I had to try figure out over my
lifetime and the truth is though, that based on what most people are
eating and doing, I am sure you would agree that basically any diet,
plan, programs, scheme that’s in existence could have most people
losing weight for a time. Because basically when people stop doing
what they're doing and do something structured, it usually has an
improvement for one and secondly, when they go from this
American diet to a plan which they can apply their fate to, even
though the plan is not always true, and usually, and thus far, none
of them have been all true that I've seen, then they get the benefit of
the placebo effect which essentially is that they are able to believe it
for a time and create a, we know now in medicine that even if you
tells somebody it's a placebo in the clinical studies, their actually
gonna get benefit anyway. So real power comes when you apply
your faith to something that is actually true. And so this is why I
went to write this book, because I have been so confused that how
in the world can a system, that completely different systems, both
be correct. Or multiple different systems all be correct. And you
got these weight loss programs and yes, many them was started by
people with passion that would actually open up and solve their
own health issue and then they help others solve their issue and
then they help to a lot others solve their issues and then they would
sell out to a corporation who was in it for profit and then they
would cut quarters and again now you are dealing with a system or
a multitude of systems that are out there to make money. And they
keep making money because nobody lost their weight permanently.
Ben: Yeah. With so many diets out there you actually name kind of some
of the ways that you would recommend people look at a diet to
recognize whether or not a diet is indeed a fad diet. What are some
of those ways that you can actually know if something is a fad diet?
KC Craichy: Well, one is that, if it tells you to eat this one food all the time like,
for instance, call with a juice fast, for instance. You know, a juice
fast, many many people have go on to say a juice fast for reasons of
losing weight, but you know what happens when people don't get
enough protein and get enough of all the vital nutrients? They lose
precious muscle, they don't lose weight, they lose precious muscle
that they get to the end of the term and lo and behold, now there are
way more than there before, and unfortunately they have changed
the composition of their body, so decrease in muscle mass and an
increase in fat mass which is exactly opposite of what they were
looking for.
Ben: Gracias. So one thing, and you know I got to tell you what, when I
pick up your book I kinda thought that this what's you gonna do
because I know that, like your company makes protein powder and
meal replacement powders and you know what I thought when I
picked it up was, "Whoa this is just gonna tell me eat KC's protein
powder and meal replacement powder for every meal,” it doesn't do
that at all. But, that is a good point that, yeah, a lot of these diet tell
you just to eat one thing.
KC Craichy: And then you got things like grapefruit diet. They add grapefruit to
every meal somehow to miraculously burn fat. You know, and it
gets pretty silly when basically when something's sounds too good
to be true, it almost always is.
Ben: Now what are some other ways that we can recognize fad diet aside
from just having like one thing that you’re supposed to eat?
KC Craichy: Well, they normally have silly names. You know, like the cookie
diet or the you know, you see all this out there, the Hollywood diet.
I mean, you see these diets out there that are, you know, they are
basically rehashes old diet like the macrobiotic diets. So you got the
Hollywood diet, it’s really just the macrobiotic diet with somebody
else's name on it. You see, so we actually identify all these core
diets like macrobiotic and the Mediterranean diet and all of those
things in the book. So basically somebody comes along and they,
what they like one of these old diets for whatever reason and they
take pieces of it and put it into a new system and give it a new name.
Ben: What about exercise in the diet book? If diet does or does not
prescribe exercise, is that something that would make an
impression on you in terms of the…?
KC Craichy: Yeah. There’s your obvious fad diet. Eat this way and you don’t
have to exercise and you eat all you want and life will be fine. It
goes all the way, you would be of perfect health and so on. Yeah,
that is an obvious one that people tend to harp on.
Ben: What's the maximum amount of weight that someone should be
seeing in terms of the promise that the diet might promise them?
KC Craichy: You know that's a pretty broad question because if they're doing
ketogenic diet, which are protein and fat and cut off the carbs for
the most part, they're gonna lose 5 to 10 pounds in the early going ,
in the first week or two. But the loss of weight is from losing
glycogen from the muscle. So when you lose a stored carbohydrates,
stored is glycogen in the muscle, you automatically loose 3-4 times
than amount weight in water because 1gm of glycogen holds 3-4gm
of water. So water weight is lost at the outset so they do claim large
of muscle weight loss but the real weight loss happens once you
finished their diet and go back on reasonable amount of
carbohydrates and get that 5-10 back so the net weight loss is the
only real weight loss. Now a lot of these people are talking about
this program is all about 1-2 pounds a week and it say you can't
safely loose more than 1-2 pounds a week. The truth is you can lose
dramatically more than that, including 5 pounds a week or 10
pounds a week depending on how heavy you want is as long as you
supply every nutrient the body needs including amounts of protein
necessary to not lose muscle mass. So, there are ways to lose a lot
of weight that are not safe like the shake for breakfast, shake for
lunch and then reasonable dinner kind of scenario, because they
don't provide all the nutrients necessary, particularly don't provide
nearly enough protein to lose weight. Because one of the biggest
problems in health is age-related sarcopenia, which is simply
muscle loss over time. In your sport we talked about this sometime,
for some reason the people are muscular and hold on to on their
muscles but when they go into like the endurance sports like the
marathon kind of sports, they have very skinny upper bodies,
they're tuning up their muscle for building other things like a body
or tear the bathroom down, they build the kitchen for instance.
Because they don't have enough flow of protein into the body. So
it's really important for one to realize is that when calories go down
the actual need for protein actually goes the other direction. Now,
this is something I put in my book and put references behind it that
you actually need, when you lower your calories, you need to
increase your protein and not decrease your protein. And virtually
every diet system fails in that area.
Ben: Why is that, that you would want to increase your protein when
calorie count goes down?
KC Craichy: Interestingly, and as for like you do in triathlon as such, people
have large amounts of calories and so when you have a large
amount of calories, protein digestion actually gets much more
efficient. It's opposite of what you would actually think. Coz when
you drop the calories, protein digestion becomes very inefficient. So
you need to increase, one needs to increase their protein amounts.
Now, I have a whole chapter which I'm sure we'll talk about later on
the dynamic role of protein but that is more of a complex subject for
what we just mentioned but the truth is, that if people are lowering
their calories like many people say, hey I need to lose weight so I
just gonna have a salad for lunch. How many times have you heard
that? So, what happens is, they're giving themselves a pillar that
has a nice amount of nutrients in it but not nearly enough protein to
drive metabolism and drive muscle mass increase.
Ben: Got you. So, when we are talking about diet, you know, there is
recent study in the New England journal of medicine compare to
ton of different diets, and found that in terms of the composition of
the fats and the proteins and the carbohydrates, that there is a
really large range in terms of just about all of them being somewhat
effective as long as total caloric intake was low, in terms of, you
know, high fat diet, high protein diet, high carb diet etc. So it
seems that there's a bunch of ways to lose weight. So is there really
any perfect diet or can people just kind of choose any of these diets?
KC Craichy: Well, the truth is it depends on the goal. You see, everyone has a
clinical study of one. So, not everybody is the same and they
respond differently to different things. But see the truth is, the goal
should never be weight loss. The goal should be super health, the
nice side effect of super health is weight optimization. So, when
you’re comparing these diets as the journal did, they're comparing
how they work in terms of weight loss over a given period of time.
You see? And so we know that you can, that there's the guide into
twinky diet. You read about that in there. I mean, you can literally,
I mean the clinical research shows, if you have lower calories of
exactly what you are eating, regardless of what you're eating, you
want to lose weight. Okay. So, in terms of just dropping pounds for
a window, then you can lose weight on just about any system, but
when you get off of that system, that is where the problems begin.
And so you are not losing the right kind of weight when you drop
calories unless you have the right mix of nutrients.
Ben: It's a very good point and I've actually encountered many people
who come in for weight loss who literally have damaged
metabolisms from nutrient-deprived diet that they went on that did
just fine for weight loss but didn't knew the many favors to all when
it came to their health or their longevity.
KC Craichy: Absolutely, and you know, you got these people, these weight loss
clinics live on people coming back. You know, so it obviously is not
working or they wouldn't be having people repeat or come back.
And so part of the reason I put this book in writing about all these
systems is that you know, how does a person who comes back from
the doctor, and they tell their wife that, the doctor said that my
blood pressure is too high, and I weigh too much and then I'm
gonna have to start eating right and exercising. And then he says to
his wife, what does that mean? Well, I don't know, let's go to
weighing system, I saw a commercial about this particular system
yesterday and they guarantee an X number of weight of pounds will
be lost so let's go there. Well, how do they know that low glycemic
is better for them than just pure power restriction or you know all
the other various systems out there? So, what I wanted to do was to
clarify guys, listen if you're gonna go that route, at least understand
what you are getting into and see how that might that work for you.
Ben: Well, in terms of diet, obviously pills and prescriptions and
procedures are a big focus of a lot of diets and you talked about
some of the more serious dangers and complications, liver damage,
central nervous system damage, a lot of the different supplements
and procedures out there, but you are also fan of a few fat loss
supplements. And I don't necessarily want you to give away the
farm here, but what are a couple of the supplements that you
actually do agree with and encourage people to take when it comes
to enhancing weight loss?
KC Craichy: Well, the things that are clear is that increase in anti-oxidant is
helpful. And so increase in anti-oxidant, pro spectrum anti-oxidant
in terms of broad amounts of nutrients and even supplements is a
wise thing to do. But you know, one that you're gonna love and I'm
surely agree with this is, fish oil. Fish oil, it actually supports
weight optimization. So as the fat CLA, which is the omega 6 fat.
CLA is helpful there. Supplementing with chili pepper had been
shown to me very effective in assisting in weight optimization. And
there are other thing out there like white bean extracts which has
been shown to block carbohydrates but my experience is, people
that take that actually eat more carbohydrates because they feel like
they’re block and so they can eat more. So, it doesn't really end up
working. So, there's some powerful thing out there that people can
do and if we list a lot of them, you know there is that avandia
nutrient, I mean the research on that thing is very impressive but I
personally couldn't tell a difference at and will above the dosage
recommendation so, if you just go read the literature though, it
would seem to make sense to take these nutrient regardless because
of its enhancing cell signaling and so on. So, things that you take
like chromium that anything that you would take as a nutrient that
would actually enhance blood sugar management actually then will
be effective and weight optimization also. So, there's a number of
one out there that are good and like you say, we list a bunch of them
there in the book.
Ben: Yeah. I never actually heard of Avandia before until I checked out
your book and you're right, the research looks interesting that you
also, I thought it was cool how many of these things you've tried or
you've had some of the clients before you work with try and you
know the study didn’t do anything even up to four times the
recommended dosage.
KC Craichy: Yeah. That to me was very disappointing because a lot of people out
there are talking about 30 pounds and after you get how many
weeks and with no changing your diet and yeah, again, that's where
those signal words but it seemed pretty impressive so I didn't have
30 pounds to lose but I was trying to see what would happen and
you know, it really was a big zero as far as I could tell, but the
research again would say, "hey you know what, if it hangs cells
signaling you should take it anyway".
Ben: Now, what about spas and clinics, you talk about those in your book
and this is probably the first diet book that I've seen that actually
goes and kind of looks at some of the different clinics that are
spread out there around the world and what they're based on but
can you kind of give an overview of what a weight loss spa or weight
loss clinic actually is? What somebody does there and whether they
actually work?
KC Craichy: Well, you know, again, it is basically, there are actually a fair
amount of them and I named some really good ones in the book
that people enjoy. But, you know, when people are frustrated in
their lifestyle and their habit are so deep as you've seen I mean, if
people are just used to doing things in certain ways and they have
certain things in their house and if its near them they're gonna eat it.
And they eat their diet as like you said they have broken
metabolism so they really don't feel like working out. So, at some
point they get to the point where say listen, I am just gonna go
somewhere and all I do is focus on diet and exercise. And those
things can actually be very positive for people because they wake up
and their breakfast is managed, their lunch is managed, their
dinner is managed and if they get a snack it's something that's
healthier. Now I don't always agree if you see in a book with a
dietary approach of some of these places but the fact that people are
able to go out of their normal environment and enter a structure is
actually quite positive for a lot of people.
Ben: And in terms of like spas, clinics, things of that nature, can you talk
about maybe just one of them that you discussed in the book just a
few of them kind of get an idea of what this type of things are?
KC Craichy: Sure. You know, the one I always go back to, we have the Canyon
Ranch those are good ones, and the Cooper Clinic has a program
and Duke Diet and Fitness. Now, I really am not a fan of the more
medical approach clinics as much but, you know, Hilton Head
Health Institute has a great program. When I say great in terms of
you go, get a structure. But one of the places I like is, because it
really is about going to a structure. If you go to a place, and they
will, like, if you go to a Ritz Carlton spa in like Orlando or Naples or
out there in Bach Rigault in California. They have tremendous
work out facilities and people can work you out. So, if you go there
and you tell them what you are trying to accomplish, it doesn't even
have to be one of these ones that I list in the book. It could be the
Ritz Carlton and they say unless I'm gonna feed you, breakfast is
gonna be eggs and lunch is gonna be whatever you guys agree to,
and then you follow the workout program. In fact, if you do two a
day, you know, you are working out morning and night, that can be
very effective also. So I don't really think it's the magic of the
specific program. I do mention them all in here and the good, the
strengths and the weaknesses, so to speak. But, mainly it’s getting
out of your environment and on to a structure.
Ben: Yeah. I think that the structure is very important. When I was a
personal trainer, I had a few of my clients come to me about a
couple of times a year for what we call the fat camp, where we
would just put them through a week of meeting with the trainer 3
times a day. And I brought up their entire meal plan, you know, for
each day of the week. And it was kind of exhausting mentally and
physically for the person but they lost a lot of weight. So I agree
there is something to be said for these spas and clinics.
KC Craichy: They lost a lot of weight and they had you, they saw you all the time,
they had accountability in the thing, they had structure and they left
what you are talking about, what you are talking about there is of
course I am certain, every good as good as going to one of these
places and probably better because you know what you are doing.
But the point is you are also teaching them to live that way.
Whereas if they go to a center then, they maybe a lot different
because they're eating in restaurants every meal and so on.
Ben: Good point. So you talk about the thyroid hormones in weight loss
and on this show, we talked about thyroid before. But in terms of
giving people little of your view because I like the way that you
explained it in your book, how would you explain how
hypothyroidism causes somebody to gain weight and what they can
actually do about it?
KC Craichy: Well, you know, it's really important issue. I mean, we’re now
learning, I saw a study come out this week that hypothyroidism is
actually one of the primary causes of Epstein barr and those chronic
fatigue kind of syndromes. It's an under diagnosed, extra ordinarily
under diagnosed in those syndromes where people have no energy.
So, if you’re gonna get by your thyroid, it generally should be set to
where, if you're a car and you stop at the stoplight, the car should
run smooth and not sputter. But when you have hyperthyroidism,
you drive up to the stop sign, and you push the break and the car is
really shaky and is about to shut off. You know, that's the feeling
I'm talking about here, the situation. Well, people that have
hypothyroidism, basically have their motor adjusted too low. And if
it is low enough there is really not a whole lot they can do to lose
weight. They can go out they don't feel like working out, when they
work out, they don't get the boost that most people would normally
get when they work out. And they don't digest food as quickly, they
tend to gain weight more easily, they don't feel that well and so on.
So, hypothyroidism can be caused by a number of things. Nutrient
deficiency is being one of them, you got the minerals, you got
selenium, you got iron, and copper and zinc, and all the mineral and
all the vitamins also can accomplish the same thing. Vitamin D is a
really big one that very few people know about and most people
listening right now, probably not to your podcast because you talk
about it, but most people in general are Vitamin D deficient, very
significantly deficient in Vitamin D. And they are very confused
about the new recommendations for Vitamin D, they were not
increased that much because they are only based on what the bone
health aspect of Vitamin D might be. We now know that immunity
and so many other things are dependent on the levels of Vitamin D.
It's immune modulator which you know Vitamin D comes from the
sun. It also comes from supplement in Vitamin D3 and eating foods
that are rich in Vitamin D but the point I'm trying to make is, low
Vitamin D actually can cause thyroid dysfunction. nd people are
not that aware of that. Low vitamin D can do that. Low iodine can
do that also. So there are so many things that are from a nutritional
perspective that can, like low Vitamin D can cause reversed T3
conversion. So, we really are really talking about that you really
must maximize the nutrients that are essential for the body in order
to have optimal thyroid function.
Ben: Yeah. You really give quite a shot gun of different thyroid boosters
in the book. To get people pointed in the right direction, obviously
you're not dishing out medical prescription in the book but from
iodine to thyrocine to a ton of different herbs like oatstraw and
alfalfa and gotocola, a natural glandular support, ton of stuff and I
do know, I saw a chapter that you actually did quite a bit of
consulting with a thyroid M.D. on this part of the book. And I think
that it's one of the more comprehensive treatises on
hypothyroidism and how to attack that from a weight loss
perspective. Right after that, you talked about sex hormones like
testosterones. Can you explain how a loss of testosterone could
actually cause weight gain?
KC Craichy: You know, it's a very important fixed thing, I'm glad you brought
that up because men over time are told that you just naturally have
lower testosterone level as you age. And in fact it's in the actuary
table that when you get a blood test and you're 40, they’re expecting
your testosterone to be less than when you're 30 and when you're
25 and so on. So low testosterone though, now has been shown not
only to create lethargic men, you know, they have low sex drive, low
drive in general, they don't feel like exercising, they get weight gain
around the middle, they got actually, now we know that actually
increases the likelihood of heart disease and stroke and other very
significant risks in the body. So, it seems very clear now that
managing testosterone level over a lifetime is a very important thing.
And so I'm not just saying those straight to take in testosterone and
if you back up just a moment we talked about the thyroid. There
are some people who had thyroid surgery, some people that have to
have thyroid, have to take thyroid in order to give that optimal level.
But my advice is that you take natural compound in thyroid and not
the synthetic kind that are generally prescribed. Back to
testosterone, the same thing goes with testosterone and
progesterone and estrogen. The drug companies have gone out
there and they’ve taken a natural molecule of testosterone, of
estrogen, of progesterone, and what they’ve done as they’ve added a
molecule to that in order to secure patents. And essentially make a
synthetic hormones using that patent and now it is a drug and they
sell that to the masses so most people who are on a hormone
actually are taking synthetic hormone and almost every case, if it
hasn't yet, over time it likely will, these kind of synthetic hormones
cause disease, particularly cancer in the body. So, there is no little
thing, I do give some references of how to find practitioners that
know how to do this. But not everybody needs to take testosterone
or estrogen or progesterone, sometimes, you just need to optimize
your own level and that's normally the first approach one would
take. So, we talked about our product sold by Life Extension
Foundation called Super MiraForte, basically chrysin and other
nutrients have been shown to block the aromatase enzyme.
Aromatase converts whatever estrogen is in the body, whatever
testosterone is in the body, to estrogen. So it takes, it makes a man,
man, in terms it of what makes a woman, woman. And now, men
have levels of estrogen naturally, but not high estrogen. And
women have levels of testosterone, but not high testosterone. So it
becomes a big problem when you have high aromatase. Let's go
back to aromatase. What happens when these levels drop and
people eat the American diet and they're sedentary they don't feel
like working out, is that they get belly fat. And what happens in
belly fat is it becomes literally the largest endocrine organ in the
body. So, basically have a de facto organ that's now creating things
like Interleukin 6, TNF Alpha and the enzyme aromatase which we
just talked about. So people are sitting with their belly fat and the
belly fat starts to work against their energy levels, against their
vitality and so they're lowering their testosterone level because they
have belly fat and then they have belly fat because they have little
testosterone levels. So it’s a spiral that people have to climb out of.
Ben: Yeah. Interesting. And in terms of aromatase inhibitor, that is one
of the things that I really encourage the older males that I worked
with to look into taking, basically keep testosterone from converting
into estrogen and you know, that's useful not only for energy in
your performance but, you hear a lot of guys complaining about
what they call these days man boob. And a lot of that is also related
to that conversion of testosterone into those more female like
hormones so.
KC Craichy: Absolutely, but see man boobs, these things you are talking about is
not just how unsightly or embarrassing that might be, it’s such a
huge metabolic disturbance going on that will lead to death if left
unchecked.
Ben: Yeah. And that is actually what I appreciate about your book. You
come after from the health stand point. From a, be there and be
able to see your grand kids grow up stand point not just the good
look goodness swimsuit stand point. So yeah.
KC Craichy: It is nice look good at swimsuit, too, but let's stay around a while. I
believe it's a shame that the regulating bodies over these very sports
have listed testosterone as one of these banned substances because
we now have a system where athletes are getting older and playing
the sports longer and these athletes are really risking their health by
not managing testosterone level as they get older.
Ben: Yeah. It's tough. I do have some athlete, some males, who have
gone through some pretty serious andropause, and they are on
testosterone patches and testosterone injections, and they are
walking a fine life if they end up on a podium of an Ironman
triathlon, so yeah. Aside from aesthetic reasons, we mentioned that
you don't really believe that weight loss is necessarily the only thing
that should be the goal of the diet program. In your book, you
actually talked about 14 different reasons that people should lose
weight, that kinda go beyond just looking good. What are some of
those reasons that you feel are most important for people to
consider for weight loss aside from just, say, getting a flat stomach?
KC Craichy: Well, you know, we talked about the problem with belly fat, you
know, belly fat being the big culprit in messing up the hormonal
balance in the body. So that would be the first one that I would go
to. We know that people who are obese are far more likely to get
the flu and things like the swine flu and other things than people
who are not obese. Now that is pretty amazing when you think
about it. What is going on with these people that they're obese and
they're now they have lower immunity as a result. It's just
fascinating. And so, we know that people who are obese actually
have longer hospital stays that they actually stay a couple of days
longer than someone who is not obese no matter what the reason
that they went to the hospital. It's fascinating.
Ben: What about what we’re doing to our kids in terms of the possible
link of obesity in a child and obesity in parents?
KC Craichy: Well, it's really terrible because now we know it's not just 5% of the
likelihood of another generation having the same problem. So
when you realize that the reason the kids are overweight and
unhealthy is not because they inherited their parents’ genes, it's
because they inherited their mom's cookbook or their dad's
cookbook. And you know, it's really an amazing thing that now we
know through epigenetics that there is actually a programming
layer above the gene that actually can create good or bad
characteristics that actually sort of re-override the programming in
the genes and can pass on to next generation either a good habit or
good trait or a bad habit or bad trait. This we see in alcoholism and
smoking and so on but also works in fit, healthy life styles, as well.
Ben: I got in some deep water a few months ago when I tweeted on
Twitter that being fat could possibly make you stupid. I probably
did not put that as kindly as I could have. However, you do
mention in your book that there could be a loss of brain tissue that
occurs in obese individuals. How does that actually work?
KC Craichy: Well, Jermo of human brain mapping saw exactly that. They
compared the brains of over 90 people in their 70's, they were
healthy, but they are impaired, and they found that the actual
weight of the brain of the obese people was dramatically less than
the ones who weren't. That's fascinating. It’s a fascinating study.
Ben: You know, from Type II diabetes to an increase and disabilities to
the gut theory, you mentioned more things and talked about that
gut theory, what's the idea behind the obese individuals on the gut
theory?
KC Craichy: Well, what was back up to the diabetes, I think, is so important that
if you go to Type II diabetes, diabetes is basically, basically diabetes
is by choice. People choose, I say that and I always get a lot of
emails when I say this, people choose to be diabetic, for the most
part vast majority of people who are Type II diabetic choose that,
because it has been very clear that diet and lifestyle can completely
reverse that situation. And most of the time, not somebody maybe
who’s had it for very long time, maybe there has been so much
damage and it's not gonna reverse like it would for someone who
has had it a shorter time. But we know that pre diabetes and
diabetes are reversible. I'm sure you've even seen this, Ben, in
people you work out. That they got blood sugar issues, they were
told they're pre-diabetic, they're told they're diabetic, but lo and
behold, they work out and they go to this program and they are not
diabetic anymore. Well, that is not by accident. Diabetes
interestingly, most people have too high of insulin all the time. They
eat all the time, they drink sweet drinks all the time. And they
become masters, their body become masters at putting fat in
various places in the body. So that they as their blood sugar insulin
are high all the time, the body is like getting really good at storing
fats in places. Well, I say it happens in most people and I'm
classifying most people in the "diabetic / blood sugar issues"
category is that it's like a drug in the gas pump. And they put the
gas tank in the car and when they spill they click it a few more times
so it runs down at the side of the car and then they roll it back, wind
it down and fill the back seat with gasoline. The truth is, the body
has about as much capacity to deal with the gasoline or the extra
fluid or the extra fuel that they're eating, sugar that they're eating,
as the car has the capacity to deal with the gas in the back seat. So
people are becoming very unhealthy because they are letting their
blood sugar stay high all the time, they're eating all the time and so
on. So the trick is, according to the research that resting blood
sugar level should really be below 80. And most people are telling
you it's ok if it's 90, it's ok if it's 95 as long as they don’t go higher.
Ben: Yeah. I used to say that all the time. Eat six plus meals a day and
based on the things that you are talking about now, I've completely
changed my view on that and I'm getting better results with my
clients. They are actually staying healthier because of that loss of
blood sugar fluctuations. What about bacteria in the gut and the
link between obesity and gut bacteria?
KC Crachy: Clearly, people who are overweight have pathogenic bacteria in the
gut. It's amazing how that, just if you count all the things we talked
about during this short time, the amount of things that are negative
associated with being obese. It's just, you got to have a good
balance of intestinal flora and you got to have enough good bacteria
to offset the bad bacteria, otherwise you’re gonna get sick. And
that's what happens with people who are obese. And we need to
talk more maybe next time we’ll have a segment about this. You
know six meals a day versus three meals a day kind of scenario.
Ben: Actually, you know what, that's exactly one of the things that we are
going to be getting into when we release part two of this interview
next week. And as a matter of fact, as we get close to wrapping up
this part one, I did wanna mention something because I do have
KC's book right here as I'm talking to him about it. One thing that I
failed to mention is that there are little quotes in the side bar as you
go through this book and actually many of them are very funny. For
example, here is one from Dave Barry, it says, I recently had my
annual physical examination which I get once every seven years and
when the nurse weighed me, I was shocked to discover how much
stronger the earth's gravitational pull has become since 1990. I
chuckled through the whole book because it actually kept me, kept
me turning the pages towards this kind of quick, funny, witty quote
on each page. So kudos for working those in. We’ve talked today
about obesity and weight loss and diet and some of the issues as far
as that’s concerned. And next week, I'd like to get into the solutions
with you, and some of the things that you talk about in this book,
the Super Health Diet. But for those of you listening in right now,
I'm going to put a link to this book in the show notes to this episode,
it's called the Super Health Diet, The Last Diet You’ll Ever Need. I
would encourage you, whether you are a health practitioner, a
personal trainer, a nutritionist, someone who is trying to lose
weight, someone who wants to be healthier, or if you know someone
who is trying to lose weight or be healthier, that you pick up this
book, it would be a super investment for your personal library. KC,
thanks for contributing to part one. And I’ll be looking forward to
having you back next week.
KC Craichy: Ben you got a great work out.
Ben: Well, folks, that is part one. Part two is coming next week. But as
promised, I'm gonna tell you how you can win a free autographed
copy of KC's book the Super Health Diet. What you can do to get
that book is actually make a video. It can be with your cell phone, it
can be with your computer, it doesn't matter. But in that video,
what you need to do is actually let me know how you feel this book
can help you. What your biggest problem is with diets, nutrition,
losing weight, or staying healthy. You know, you get sick all the
time and you wanna know how to boost your immune system. You
lose weight and put it back on again and take it off and put it on and
you want to learn a complete solution to yo-yo weight loss issue. Do
you have troubles sticking the fad diet and you want something that
is finally not a fad diet. Whatever it is, whatever your struggle is,
what you can do is actually shoot a video explaining what you
struggle with and why you feel this book will help you. And then
post that video to the BenGreenfieldFitness Facebook Page, which
I’ll link to in the show note to this episode, Episode #139 from
BenGreenfieldFitness.com. So what you’re gonna do is make that
video, upload to the Facebook Page. We're gonna choose the 12
best videos and send you a free autographed copy of this book. And
of course next week, we're going to continue with part two of the
Super Health Diet. So, be sure to check out the show notes for this
podcast, Podcast #139 for information on everything that I talked
about in this show over at BenGreenfieldFitness.com. Have a
healthy weekend. By the way, the reason I'm actually in the
Carribean down here in the west Indies, is I'm doing a triathlon
here called Tri Star Neves. And I will be reporting on that race over
at the website Everymantri.com. Alright, over and out, this is Ben
Greenfield.