Seven Simple Steps to Get Lean and Get Healthy
By
Paul D’Arcy
As a trainer and Poliquin certified BioSignature practitioner, I work with all
types of clients with a wide array of ailments—cancer, Parkinson’s disease,
Alzheimer’s disease or late-life dementia, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension,
hypercholesterolemia, and diseases of inflammation. People often contact me to
rid themselves of the prescription medications to which they have become
reliant.
All of these conditions are treatable, and all of the various symptoms related
to these diseases can be improved, if not eliminated, with a properly
constructed and consistently executed nutrition plan. The BioSignature
Modulation program as developed by Charles Poliquin is just such a plan, and we
use the Poliquin nutrition protocols with great success in our practice.
If you’ve never heard of BioSignature Modulation, I encourage you to reference
this article
http://www.charlespoliquin.com/Health/bio-sig-mod.php from Charles
Poliquin’s website, or for a more detailed explanation, you may wish to consult
http://www.ppcchicago.com/articles/biosignature-modulation.php.
The purpose of this article, however, isn’t to explain specific BioSignature
Modulation protocols, their benefits, or their successes. The sole purpose of
this article is to share a very simple nutritional strategy that works quite
well at ridding the body of excess fat stores while eliminating the aches,
pains, high blood pressure, and bad cholesterol that accompany the typical
inflammatory diet. In fact, this nutrition plan is how a great many of our
BioSignature clients begin their therapy.
Caveat #1
There are no elaborate supplements needed for success and no fancy herbal
potions—just a good, solid, easy to follow nutrition plan. However, we will
assume that the basic staples of nutritional supplementation—the staples that
have been beaten into your head for years now including fish oil, a quality
multivitamin, and some type of antioxidant support—are understood and used
wisely.
Caveat #2
If you’re attempting to break into the super heavies or move up a weight class,
this plan may not be for you. However, if you suffer from inflammation, joint
pain, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, or sleep apnea or if you’re just
looking for a simple, easy to follow plan to live a longer, happier, healthier
life, this plan is most certainly what you need.
Caveat #3
If you’re attempting to “get shredded” or prepare for a bodybuilding show, this
plan is not for you either. Show preparation is a discipline unto itself and the
subject of an entirely different series of articles. However, if you’re fat or
having trouble getting strong(er) because your nutrition sucks, this plan will
definitely get you headed in the right direction. In most instances, the simple
plan I am about to share is enough to increase your strength potential, greatly
improve your recovery abilities, and balance your body composition without any
mindless, steady state, treadmill, bicycle, stair-stepping, “energy system”
bullshit.
What is balanced body composition for you? I have no idea. That is a
genetically, behaviorally, and environmentally determined muscle to body fat
ratio that is well beyond the scope of this article. However, if you’re unhappy
with your fat body, unsatisfied with your sluggish energy, pissed at your lack
of strength, or bummed at your poor recovery and you’re being crippled by sleep
apnea, phantom aches, joint pain, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, or
hypercholesterolemia, you should strongly consider adopting this simple plan to
get your fat, achy ass in shape.
Here are the seven simple steps of the plan.
Step one: Eliminate sugars and simple starches.
This should be a no-brainer, but unfortunately, it isn’t. If you’re fat or
suffer from high blood pressure, unbalanced cholesterol, aches, pains, and joint
discomfort, well, my friend, you have inflammation, and you do not need sugar or
simple starches. In fact, sugars and simple starches are most likely causing
your discomfort. Stay away from things like soda pop, “sports drinks,” fruit
juices, fruit drinks, dried fruit (very high in sugar), chewing gum, candy bars,
cookies (even Oreos, Dave), chips, dips, sauces, spreads, and whatever other
“candy” you’ve been shoving down your gullet.
Step Two: Eliminate grains from the diet.
Rice, wheat, rye, corn, oats, barley, and anything made with flour should be
eliminated entirely. This includes pasta, breads, cereals, and yes, even
oatmeal. These agricultural products contain exogenous allergens and antigens
that cause inflammation and allergic reaction in those with intolerance to
grains. You may or may not be intolerant of grains, but if you’re fat and/or are
suffering from inflammation, it’s best to assume you’re intolerant and eliminate
grains altogether. You may gradually reintroduce grains and monitor your
reaction at a later time after we have sorted out your body fat and inflammation
issues.
I realize that rice, oats, waxy maize, and even potatoes have been promoted as
muscle building, bodybuilder food, but you’re fat, remember? You aren’t a
bodybuilder—not yet. Starchy tubers, rice, corn, oats, and grains cause
inflammation and insulin resistance in many people. Stay away from “bodybuilder
food.” You’ll have plenty of food to build your body by the time we reach the
end of the article.
Step Three: Eliminate dairy from the diet.
If you’re like the vast majority of the population, you don’t tolerate dairy
very well. Moreover, if you’re fat and suffer from the pain and discomfort of
inflammation, you definitely don’t need milk, cheese, yogurt, or anything else
that squirts from the udders of cows and goats.
“But what about my calcium?” Don’t worry about your calcium. Dairy is not the
only source of calcium on the planet. In fact, for most, it is the worst source
of calcium we could choose! You should be getting the vast majority of your
calcium needs filled through the consumption of fresh fruits, fresh vegetables,
lean meats, poultry, and seafood. Forget the dairy. Cow’s milk is for calves!
Step Four: Eliminate prepackaged foods.
Do not eat anything from a box, a bag, a tube, a can, or a wrapper. Avoid eating
anything that is processed or preserved or anything with an ingredients label.
Sound harsh? Too bad. Think again.
Take a look at a typical ingredient label. Would you eat each and every one of
those ingredients all by themselves? Could you even get your hands on each one
of those ingredients? Not likely, not unless you’re a chemist working in a lab.
Do you know what sodium benzoate is? It’s a food preservative. It’s an
ingredient in countless food items at your local grocery or convenience store.
Just look on a label. You’ll see it. Sodium benzoate keeps prepackaged food from
going rotten for a long, long, long time.
Sodium benzoate is also an active ingredient used in the production of
fireworks. It’s packed into the business-end of rockets to provide propulsion,
and as an added bonus, it makes a whistling sound as it burns. That’s in your
food. How well do you think your immune system is handling that?
I’m sure you’ve seen sodium phosphate listed on ingredient labels, too. Sodium
phosphate is used to keep oils from separating in their packaging. Sodium
phosphate keeps your canned soup looking like soup and your packaged cheese
looking like cheese. It’s also a cleaning agent, stain remover, and an
industrial degreaser used for prepping surfaces prior to paint.
The point is if your food has an ingredients label, you had better be willing to
eat each and every ingredient on that label because like it or not, you are and
it’s not doing your health a bit of good. In fact, it’s slowly killing you. Stay
away from food in a box, bag, can, tube, or wrapper. Eat from a box and you’ll
end up in a box—a big, fat, oversized box.
Step Five: Eat more lean protein.
Another no-brainer but bear with me. We need protein to build muscle and burn
fat. Great, we all understand that basic principle—a gram and a half to two
grams per pound of lean body weight at a minimum. Great, you know that. But
where are you getting your protein?
Here’s a hint—stop drinking your protein! It’s making you fat! You don’t need a
“protein shake” for breakfast, after your “cardio,” or as a between meal snack.
Stop it!
Protein shake? Are you serious? Why is it called a shake anyway? Because you
“shake” the bottle to mix it? A shake is made with ice cream where I come from,
not protein. Forget the protein shake. Liquid protein has an enormously high
glycemic load and insulin response compared to animal protein, and if this shake
of yours isn’t immediately after a hard and heavy training session, then I’m
afraid your precious and chocolaty delicious shake is just making you fat. Knock
it off!
Where else are you getting your protein? Bison? Venison? Elk? Good answers all.
Wild game is top notch protein and chock full of omega-3s to boot. So what else
are you eating? Look, let me simplify it for you. You should be getting your
protein from a multitude of healthy, grass fed animal sources. Eat lean, grass
fed animal protein like round steak, sirloin, lean ground beef, and any wild
game. Lean pork, chicken breast, and turkey breast are all great choices if you
can get them without the added hormones and antibiotics.
The same goes for fish and crustaceans like abalone, anchovy, arctic char, bass,
catfish, caviar, clam, crab, crayfish, cod, flounder, grouper, halibut, herring,
lobster, mackerel, mahi-mahi, mussels, octopus, oyster, perch, pompano,
rockfish, roughy, salmon, saradine, scallop, shark, shrimp, snapper,
snail/escargot, squid, swordfish, trout, tuna, turbot, and whitefish. Fresh is
best, and you need to be mindful of mercury levels and potential mercury
poisoning. But all fish and crustaceans are excellent sources of protein and
omega-3 fatty acids.
Step Six: Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables—a lot more!
Fruits and vegetables alkalize the system and balance the body’s sensitive ph
levels. Fruits and vegetables provide necessary vitamins, minerals,
antioxidants, and fiber to support healthy immune function, avoid cancer,
improve recovery, improve mental clarity and moods, and provide a whole host of
other healthy benefits.
Wait, let me guess—“Isn’t fruit full of sugar? Won’t it make me fat?” Yeah, not
really. You’re not going to get fat eating apples, pears, plums, and berries.
Tropical fruit? I don’t know. You may have an argument there. But we have found
fruit to be a self-limiting food source in our practice and the benefits of the
fiber, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and water contained in fruit far outweigh
whatever fructose it contains. As a matter of fact, studies have shown that it’s
the fructose in apples that stimulates uric acid production, which in turn
increases antioxidant blood plasma concentrations (Lotito et al). Besides, there
are only about 50 calories in a medium-sized apple. How many damn apples are you
going to eat a day anyway?
It is critical, however, to balance both fruits and vegetables in the diet. Do
not eat fruits and avoid vegetables. Vegetables are needed in high protein diets
to balance the acidic environment and assist in neutralizing the free fatty
acids produced during body fat mobilization and metabolism. Acidic ph levels
will stall fat loss efforts, and adequate vegetable intake is the best way to
avoid these troubles.
Enjoy vegetables like artichoke, asparagus, avocado, beets, broccoli, Brussels
sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, egg plant, garlic, green beans,
kale, kohlrabi, peppers (all varieties), lettuce (all varieties), mushrooms (all
varieties), olive, onion, radish, scallions, shallots, spinach, squash, tomato
(actually a fruit), water chestnuts, and zucchini in great abundance and with
great frequency. Gently steam your vegetables to release even more available
fiber and estrogen fighting properties.
Here’s a handy tip. Clean, chop, and prepare plenty of fresh vegetables in
advance. Combine flavorful combinations of vegetables and store these crunchy
goodies in a large container in your refrigerator. Now, you’re always prepared
to create delicious and nutritious meals for home or for when you’re on the
move. Simply choose your meat, fish, or poultry, grab a few handfuls of your
freshly prepared vegetable mix, a piece of fresh fruit, and you’re ready to go.
It’s just that simple.
Step Seven: Drink more water
I really don’t need to remind you of this, do I? Well, I just did. Here’s a real
simple formula to estimate your minimum water intake each day. How much do you
weigh? Divide that in half and that’s how many ounces of water you need to
survive. You weigh 260? Half of that is 130. A gallon contains 128 ounces so
there you go. You need to drink at least one gallon of water each day.
Obviously, this is a simple estimate and you should be drinking more than “just
enough to survive.”
The body is over 80 percent water and can’t function properly without an
adequate supply. The brain, the blood, your muscles, and most all bodily organs
are comprised of over 80 percent water. Adequate water intake is necessary for
proper circulation of bodily fluids and proper brain function. Without adequate
water, the body does not have the resources to build or repair muscle tissue,
burn body fat, or adequately clear waste products. You’re going to have to give
your body the resources it needs to achieve your goals, and adequate water
intake is simply a necessity. So drink up!
Putting it all together
There you have it. That’s all you need. Seven simple steps to improve your
health, improve your sleep, rid the body of disease causing body fat, and
eliminate the aches, pains, high blood pressure, and bad cholesterol that
accompany the typical inflammatory diet.
Step one: Eliminate sugars and simple starches
Step two: Eliminate grains
Step three: Eliminate dairy
Step four: Eliminate prepackaged foods
Step five: Eat more lean protein
Step six: Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables!
Step seven: Drink more water
Now, it’s up to you. Can you do it? Will you do it? Let me know what you decide.
I would love to help you improve your health.
Paul D’Arcy, NSCA, CPT, is a Poliquin BioSignature practitioner from Onsted,
Michigan, who helps people of all ages repair their health and fight
degenerative disease through expertly designed nutrition programs. Paul can be
reached at (517) 673-5286, by email at
paul@sportfitnow.com, or through his website at
www.SportFitNow.com.
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength
training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products
and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the
industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit
us at www.EliteFTS.com.
