Lets talk Functional nutrition…

Your body is an adaptation machine.

It adapts to the foods you fuel it and the ones you DON’T.

If you starve your body with a drastic cut in calories or nutrients your body can enter a state of alert where your metabolism is slowed down.
With a slowed metabolism, your body will adapt to using fewer calories for fuel and then when you do eat your body will most likely store any extra calories as body fat (keep in mind with a slowed metabolism, it will be easier to overeat even with what may seem like normal sized portions).
Like I said earlier your body is an adaptation machine and will look to store body fat for the future in case you enter another starvation state.

It will do this while burning your hard earned muscle because it’s trying to protect your vital organs first and foremost to SURVIVE.

Big thick slabs of muscle are non essential to survival while fat is needed to keep you warm and to surround and protect your organs.
Like your body you must be highly adaptable and learn to create healthy habits for healthy results.

My goal is to give you the knowledge & together we are able to put a plan that works for your bodies individual blueprint, emotional status and your lifes schedule.
Food is fuel, to understand how to formulate a balanced diet, first we must review our macronutrients and how they affect our body.
Calories are made up of three main subgroups: Carbohydrates, Protein and Fat.
All of these macronutrients supply energy to the body.

Carbohydrates and proteins yield 4 calories for every gram while fats yield 9 calories for every gram.

Proteins are usually given a ton of attention because they provide amino acids which are essential for building muscle.

In addition to having different caloric values, each macronutrient also has a different thermogenic effect (TEF) on your body.

This thermic effect is why eating portioned balanced meals frequently throughout the day can also help you burn body fat since your body is always burning calories when you eat.

Another good point to make is that once you get leaner it will be easier to keep body fat off. Your body will have less insulation from body fat, so to stay warm it will constantly have to naturally burn more calories to regulate your body temperature.

Carbohydrates usually get a bad wrap and are usually the first thing people tell you to eliminate from your diet if you want to lose weight.

This comes from the fact that all carbohydrates are broken down and absorbed in the body as sugar. And everybody knows SUGAR is BAD (not true).

But what they don’t tell you is that carbohydrates are an essential fuel for muscle growth and fat digestion.

For fat to be broken down in the liver, carbohydrates must be present. Carbs encourage the release of insulin, the “storage hormone.” After a tough high intensity workout you deplete your muscle cells fuel tanks of glucose, their main source of fuel during high intensity workouts and strength training.
How are you supposed to use your muscles if you deprive them of their most useful fuel??? (carbs)

By introducing carbohydrates post workout you encourage insulin to signal your muscle cells to refill their fuel tanks with glucose, fueling growth and recovery... but muscle cells have a limited capacity to store glucose.
So, if you overdo it on the carbs and your muscle cells reach the limit that they can store then the excess sugars/glucose can be stored in fat cells, increasing your body fat.

Hence its all about balance with what matches your body type, your training, your goals, your hormonal regulation cycle & the rate at which your metabolism burns fuel.

Keep in mind that just simply drastically cutting carbs/and or calories won’t result in sustainable fat loss.

If you remove too much too fast then your body can enter a state of alert where it thinks it is starving so then it looks to STORE as much of your survival fuel, FAT, as possible.
If you starve yourself then your body will first slow its metabolism (remember slower metabolism, less heat, less calories being burned during digestion, less fat burn) and use the least amount of calories to survive.

This will slow down your rate of fat burn and will make it even easier for you to store excess calories as fat, because you’ll have more excess calories after your body uses only what it needs with its slowed metabolism & in this state of alert your muscles will be less sensitive to insulin so recovery and growth will too slow down.

OR if very severe your body can begin to eat away at your muscles for nutrients. Your body would rather store body fat since it is what keeps your body warm.
Your body will sacrifice muscle in favor of keeping fat to protect your vital organs. Not to mention muscles require tons of energy to maintain. So when you’re starving, they will be the first to go. There goes all your hard earned gym gains!

Now the difference between simple carbohydrates & complexe are this..

Simple carbohydrates are broken down quickly by the body to be used as energy.

Simple carbohydrates are found naturally in foods such as fruits, milk, and milk products. They are also found in processed and refined sugars such as candy, table sugar, syrups, and soft drinks.
Complex carbohydrates are made up of sugar molecules that are strung together in long, complex chains, making them slower to digest.

Complex carbohydrates are found in foods such as peas, beans, whole grains, and vegetables.
Both simple and complex carbohydrates are turned to glucose (blood sugar) in the body and are used as energy.
Simple carbs are broken down quickly and cause a huge spike in insulin.

The sugars from the carbs fuel muscle tissue and liver cells but if they are full then they are stored in the body as fat.

Complex carbs contain more bonds between molecules than simple carbs and they take longer to be digested and absorbed.

This causes a more steady release of insulin which can help regulate your energy, mood and decrease the risk of storing excess sugar in fat cells!
It’s also important to note that the more processed, refined or cooked a carb is, the easier and more quickly it can be broken down and absorbed and causing a bigger insulin spike.

There are two types of fiber:

Soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fibre dissolves in water, and includes plant pectin and gums.

Insoluble fibre doesn’t dissolve in water.
Non soluble fiber is considered a non digestible food. When fiber is added to simple or complex carbohydrates, it will slow the breakdown and release of glucose from the other carbs into the bloodstream, which will cause a lower insulin spike which can help reduce the chance of fat storage.

Soluble fiber, which is found in foods like oats and beans, has been shown to increase muscle insulin sensitivity.

Which means when you eat foods with this type of fiber, your muscle tissue will be more receptive to insulin. If your muscles are more receptive then they will potentially store more of the glucose in your muscle cells, while decreasing the amount that is being stored in your fat cells! boom!

Proteins are essential for building muscle, as well as essential to all body tissue cell growth, repair and maintenance.
While carbs boost insulin, protein causes the release of insulin AND glucagon. Glucagon is a hormone that can help off-set insulin’s fat storing potential by stimulating the breakdown of fat stored in the body to release it into the body to be used as fuel.
This is why eating a balanced meal with carbs and protein is important, to help lower the fat storing potential of insulin by producing glucagon when protein is ingested.

Now a bit about fats..

Fats are essential for brain function and they are used in the body as fuel for muscles during low intensity aerobic workouts like running and cycling.
Dietary fat is necessary for our bodies to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.
Your body has two essential fatty acids (EFAs) that it cannot produce on its own: omega-3 and omega-6. These must be obtained from food.
Essential fatty acids are vital to support a healthy immune system, assisting in blood circulation, and to help synthesize hormones.

Vitamins and minerals are considered essential nutrients, because acting in concert they help heal wounds, and boost your immune system. They also convert food into energy, and repair cellular damage.
Make sure to eat high quality foods. I include dark green leafy vegetables and whole grains, as well as eating grass fed beef, pasture raised, wild caught meat, fish and eggs. These high quality foods supply most of my vitamins and minerals but it is also good supplement with vitamins and minerals to make sure you cover all bases and are not deficient in the essentials.

And lastly hydration…

When training you must make sure you are maintaining high levels of hydration so that you have healthy fluid balance & do not take salt out of your diet, your body needs the sodium. You can reduce it if you have heart issues but do not deplete it entirely.
You should try and drink 1.0 to 1.5 mL of water for every 1.0 kcal expended.
For example: If you burn 2,000 kcal a day then you need about 2000 to 2500 ml of water a day to maintain optimum hydration.

Remember, when you skip meals or eat big meals, you throw your metabolism off and put your body in a constant state of flux where it is either breaking down muscle or storing fat to survive because it is always in a state of alert.
It’s time to break the cycle, connect and establish consistent, healthy habits & let me make your body work FOR you!