The information below is simple to understand it's a wonder not more people follow it. Three key messages - eat real food, when you are hungry and don't eat too much.
Below is an excerpt from my new book Strength For Life - it's out this winter. You'll know one of my missions is to help the nation get healthier especially children - help them avoid obesity and navigate around the food industries lies and temptations.
There's a little bit of house keeping at the end of the article for Amino Man customers.
THE HUNGER SCALE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Not Fairly Hungry Very Hungry Starving
Every time you eat, ask yourself how hungry you are. If you score 5 or below, the chances are that you aren’t really hungry at all.
Thirst is sometimes mistaken for hunger, drink water first then see if you are still hungry 20-30 minutes later
Do something else instead of eating!
When you are really hungry it’s time to eat
If you are really prone to over eating then keep to the ‘quite hungry’ level at first
THE FULLNESS SCALE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Not Fairly Satisfied Very Full Stuffed
Every time you eat, ask yourself how full you need to be.
If you score 5 or 6, the chances are that you are full enough and eating more will just make you fat.
Eat slowly to ensure you don’t over eat
Only eat till you are satisfied and leave each meal feeling like; you could eat a bit more
Blue Zones almost always eat until they are only 80% full
ANTI-NUTRIENTS – WHAT SHOULDN’T I EAT?
Quote of the day; where there is controversy err on the side of caution.
If a food is advertised on TV it’s normally a good idea to avoid it.
If a food has any kind of character associated with eating it then often it’s worth avoiding.
Think Clowns, Tigers and Snap, Crackle and Pop. If you see high profile athletes eating in fast food joints, it’s normally because they are paid to eat there.
It’s not because eating there makes them awesome athletes. If an athlete wins a gold medal, then you see a cereal packet in their hand afterwards, it’s probably because they were paid to hold it.
They probably didn’t eat any of that when they trained for the gold medal. Supplement companies do the same with their sponsored athletes. It’s rare to find non-paid athlete sponsors or honest sponsored athletes who say a product is good just because they have actually felt the benefits of using it.
For reference all Amino Man ambassadors are genuine non-paid customers! It's a wonder they do it. I only allow people to represent the brand if they regularly use and believe in the supplements the blends and the ethics behind the brand.
Plus they gotta be excellent training partners too. I'll be posting on Ed's training and preparation strategies in another article soon.
A lot of the time as a coach you are simply giving people reassurances to their commonly chosen foods and meals. There’s a lot written about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods. Should we label them? Is labelling them dangerous because it causes excessive ‘clean’ eating tendencies? Can you imagine - a big BAD sign on the crisp aisle in the super market.
Crisps are also ok - obviously in moderation. However we love these in the UK. Averaging 1 packet per day. That's the same as drinking 5 litres of vegetable oil each year. If you have 2 packets its 9 litres of pure inflammation producing, hydrogenated, oxidative resistant fats per year.
It’s not that foods are inherently ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ The key is to be educated in knowing about the foods you are enjoying at the time, irrespective of whether they are ‘good or ‘bad’. All we can do weigh up the effects that food has on the body; the associated additives, preservatives, chemicals, plastic contaminants and pesticides and then decide how much we are willing to consume, process, excrete and detoxify.
When we eat, think of it as an opportunity to improve ourselves. Some foods will, however take more from the body than they give. Normally, these foods will contain plenty of energy, however the preservatives, chemicals, damaged or burnt fats these foods contain means the body has a big job mopping these up. The foods may negatively impact and destroy healthy cells.
The truth is, you cannot and should not try to live a 100% ‘clean’ life. It’s not practical, or even enjoyable, but doing what most people do is also a big mistake. Eating real food has never been more challenging. You really have to know how to navigate the marketing, packaging and advertising by big food companies who are throwing resources at trying to get you to continue to eat what they produce.
Cheaply produced and widely available ingredients include wheat, corn and derivatives from corn, fructose (from corn) soy and derivatives from soy (protein and oil), sugar, vegetable oil (from corn) maltodextrin (sugar). All of these can be consumed sometimes and have their place in moderation. Eating foods which are comprised primarily of these ingredient types, however, will potentially lead to inflammation, degenerative diseases and poor health.
This is due to the nature of these types of food, their effects in the body and their displacement factor. If you eat these, you are less likely to have the appetite to eat other, healthier choices.
My Top 6 worst foods; Sodas (HFCS), fast food French fries, Donner Kebab (sheesh is ok), Donuts, Pringles/Doritos, commercially produced pizza.
All of which we are consuming much, much more of since 1975.
There are three types of food categories you can use to know which you are enjoying most at the time;
- Frankenstein foods. I’ll give you a couple of examples.
- Foods in a packet but with less nasties.
- Real, fresh foods, which go off in 5 or so days which you should eat most of the time.
NB; real foods which don’t go off also include dried beans, rice, herbs, spices and so on which are good for you.
Here’s an example of a couple of Frankenstein food labels;
Pringles;
Questionable Food Ingredients and Additives;
MSG
Aspartame
Sucralose
Preservatives like glyphosate
Hydrogenated Fats
Trans Fats
GMO
The science around each of these questionable food ingredients can be argued each way, for example aspartame. Normally there’s a case to be made about safe levels for humans and they are always far lower than the levels used in animals which show links to cancer.
Trans fats are considered harmful above 0% in the USA, whereas in Europe the ‘experts’ say more than 2% is harmful. Who is right? There are always two camps the companies, government bodies and scientists and many have vested financial interest. There are also companies who have no vested interest but might be campaigning for the organic farmers and organic farming in general and may potentially profit from them indirectly.
A good rule and standard to adhere to is try not to routinely consume anything chemically produced or altered.
The questions we have to ask are, is there any association with poor health or cancer even at low dosages? Are the cumulative, lifetime effects worth considering? Is there an environmental impact e.g. do the chemicals used to spray the food kill bees and wildlife? What’s the long-term impact of that on the planet? Can crops be grown without pesticides of this nature.? Do you want to take the chance with these chemicals in your diet or in the diets of your children?
Cuppa Soup? No thanks.
You can pretty easily avoid these foods and ingredients if you cook from scratch with single ingredients, learn to read labels and avoid a few key ingredients like those ones listed above.
Shop organically and grow your own veggies to augment your intake, even if it’s just on a small scale, this helps everyone. They taste great too.
Eating organically and avoiding GM foods also limits our exposure to things like glyphosate which was found in significant levels in both US and UK crops used to make many popular breakfast cereals. Obviously, if you avoid breakfast cereals in the first place, you’ll also avoid these types of contaminants.
Of course, the poison is always in the dose. The levels found are still low probably too low to cause a problem on their own. For me, however, I’d just prefer not to take the chance or eat things which are so heavily strayed from their original, natural form. It’s just a choice. Sure, I might have a bowl of crunchy nuts on New Year’s day if I’m hungover and at someone’s house where they eat them. It’s a novel choice and one I’d probably enjoy. Once a year tops.
They might be 'Great' as Tony the Tiger says - just when you choose to take them.
For customers who are on subscribe and save the new site doesn't have this option at moment. We can continue to fulfil these orders for you - however there will be an option to set up new subscribe and save packages shortly I'll keep you informed about that.
Matt Lovell
Amino Man Founder