Monday, October 13, 2008

Grains & Carbohydrates for Fat Burning Diets

To eat grains or not eat grains on a fat burning diet, that was the question posed to me on the TT Member's forum this week...

Q: Craig - It seems that everywhere I turn I see yet another nutritionist suggesting that we all steer clear of, or severely reduce our intake of grains, whether in whole grain form or not. I think I also read that you had mentioned that your diet contains very little in the way of grains.

I guess I'm interested in knowing your thoughts on this subject, how much grain you do eat (probably oatmeal?), and what your primary sources of carbs are (my assumption would be vegetables, fruit and small amounts of dairy).

Answer from Craig:

I have found that reducing grains did two things for me.

1) Eliminated post-meal tireness/eliminated post-meal redued mental alertness (in layman's terms, I feel I don't have a lack of energy after eating)

2) Helped me drop another 1-2% body fat and be able to maintain it. Taking the abs to another level as you can see on Turbulence Training for Abs.

That said, could 1 & 2 be "all in my head"? Maybe. I don't think so, but maybe.

I still get lots of carbohydrates from:

a) Fruit - about 10 servings a day
b) Vegetables - lots of servings, but few calories
c) 2 cups chocolate milk after exercise - 50+grams of carbohydrates
d) Nuts - you get carbohydrates in nuts & i eat a lot of raw nuts
e) Kidney Beans or Amy's Organic Chili - I eat a can every other day
f) Reward meals (Last night was Canadian Thanksgiving - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, asparagus, and carrots)

As I've mentioned before, there are a lot of diets that work for weight loss. We all need to find one that suits our personality, environment, and genetic response to food.

My diet approach is quite close to the one recommended by Isabel De Los Rios, but at the "other end of the extreme" is the Eat Stop Eat method recommended by Brad Pilon. Brad doesn't "demonize" any foods. In fact, one of the main goals of ESE is to free our minds from the "this food is bad" mentality.

I love what ESE has done for some TT Members. Its literally been life changing and liberating, without nixing the grains. In fact, the first 2 TT Transformation Contest winners both used ESE.

All very interesting stuff.

It's my belief that finding the right diet for you comes down to 3 factors. Visit this link on the TT Member's forum to get the details on the 3 key factors in choosing the right fat loss diet for you.

=> Click here for the 3 secrets on choosing the right fat burning diet for you

And let us know your thoughts on the "Grains vs. No-Grains for Fat Loss" debate,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

PS - I truly believe EVERYONE can find the right fat burning diet to suit their personality and succeed.

As you know, there are 2 main diets I recommend for advanced fat loss, and those are:

Isabel De Los Rios' program here:

=> ProvenFatLossDiet.com

And Brad Pilon's revolutionary, "Just say NO to obsessive compulsive eating diet" here:

=> EatStopEat.com

Remember! You can't out-exercise a bad diet - even if you are using Turbulence Training - so match the right diet to your personality today!

Stay strong!

PPS - Brad Pilon is actually on National TV today doing a morning show in NYC.

He'll be on this show on Tuesday, Oct. 14th, and you can watch video highlights on the site if you miss the actual show:

=> http://www.mandjshow.com/


6 comments:

Andy said...

As far as reducing grains from a nutritional fat loss approach...I would agree here. I'm a rice eater. My fat loss may not be quicker but it's safe to say gradual but I certainly notice my strength gains are pretty good while on this pattern of rice eating. I'll eat about 1 serving of that a day...on a bad day the most would be 2. About 1/4 of uncooked sticky white rice is about high 300+ calories. So now I've switched up my rice intake to long grain rice sometimes even brown rice and I've seen better improvements while on a fat loss diet.

But other sources like almonds, apples, bananas are things I enjoy eating for carb sources as well so all in all it's pretty balanced in combination with exercise.

Anonymous said...

Craig,
Removing grains like wheat, oats, rye, barley and rice made a huge difference to my overall health and stamina. I now realize that I could not properly digest grains. Quinoa is an excellent substitute for rice or other grains. It is about 16% protein and contains all the essential amino acids. It is also easily digested and is alkaline forming in the body unlike the above grains which are all acid forming. On top of that, it cooks like rice (1 Cup Quinoa/2 Cups water) and tastes great!

Anonymous said...

craig i just wanted to ask you , do you cut out grains and starches completely and only have fruits , vegetables , nuts , dairy ... etc or just have a bit of them in your Post-Workout meal ?

i see most people on the internet (especially bodybuilders) recommending reducing carbs but cutting all forms of simple sugars as they believe that starchy carbs are released more slowly in the blood (slow-release) as opposed to any simple carbs whether it's fruit or dairy.

I don't rely on the G.I, but most fruits and dairy products have much lower G.I than complex carbs like grains and potatoes.

i now believe that i'm not that kind that tolerates starches. i can tolerate grains like oatmeal and toast and they keep me somewhat full. but definitely fruit keeps me satiated and i no longer experience any energy crashes or these ups and downs again.

can i get a six pack without dropping things like apples , oranges , guavas ... cottage cheese and yogurt ? i know you eat alot of fruits and still MAINTAINING a Six-pack , but notice that i said maintaining! did you use to do the same thing while dieting down ?

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