The University of Fitness

Nutrition 101: One Simple Diet Tip That’s More Than Half the Battle

I’m sure everyone’s heard some version of this little gem of diet tips, but it really is one of the most valuable pieces of advice to follow when it comes to eating healthy: don’t eat anything that comes in a bag or a box. The premise is so simple it can be sort of puzzling: just eat natural foods, the kind that don’t come prepackaged in a cardboard box or an airtight, sealed bag.  ”Really, that’s it?”  That’s it.   That means no sugary cereal, no Twinkies, no Doritos, and while we’re at it, you can forget about drinks that come in cans too.

Congratulations! You’re in the right aisle.

Just to cover all our bases, here are some other versions of this rule:

• Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food
• Don’t eat anything that doesn’t rot.
• Don’t eat it if there’s something on the ingredient label you can’t pronounce/recognize as actual food.
• Buy your food on the outside edges of the supermarket, not the middle aisles. [Typically where fresh food is]
• Don’t eat anything that casts a shadow. [Oops, how'd that get in there? Silly vegans.]
• Don’t eat anything on a dare.*

So what’s ok to eat?  Fresh fruits and vegetables? Check.  Meat and poultry? Check.  Nuts, oils, and other natural fats? Keep ‘em coming. And don’t forget the spices to keep things interesting.  Dairy and grains are in a bit of a grey area depending on who you ask, but if you can tolerate dairy, and make healthy choices with the grains, then you can include those too.  However, chuck the Wonder bread and pick something out from the bakery section.  As a matter of fact, get out of the supermarket and go to a REAL bakery.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the vast difference in quality and taste [and fund some local moms and pops at the same time].  I personally won’t give up milk and cheese, but I also don’t recognize Velveeta as a type of cheese.

There are obviously some exceptions on both sides of the rule here.  Yes, I know butter actually comes in a box.  And unless you have a pasta press, some homemade fettuccine may be hard to come by, so as long as it’s a healthier option like wheat, it may be a line you can tiptoe across.  Also, almost any guy that’s been hitting the gym has had some form of protein powder, including myself.  Protein is just protein and a gram or two of artificial sweetener won’t derail all your efforts in following the guideline. Don’t go off and try to find every exception in the book though.  The point is still to eat foods made by nature, or made by you after they were made by nature.  Leave the machines and the packaging plants out of it.

The one ingredient that actually counts as food isnt even spelled correctly. Needless to say, this foodlike item doesnt make the cut.

“But I can still follow those rules and find something unhealthy.”

Yep, you definitely could.  But be honest, how hard did you just have to think about the most unhealthy food you could possibly conjure up using natural, fresh ingredients?  Plus, how much work is that food going to take to make?  Not only does it take a bit of thinking to eat unhealthy under the above guidelines, but the effort it takes to actually make that food almost serves as a deterrent mechanism for how often you’ll eat those foods.

That’s because unhealthy options in this category tend to fall into special occasion food: holidays, parties, big family dinners.  These are all venues that don’t exactly scream healthy, but its equally unlikely that your grandmother is pulling out Pop-tarts at Thanksgiving, so technically you’re still following the rules.  So, that one simple sentence above even has the fact that ‘you shouldn’t be worried about a stupid diet during the holidays‘ built into it.

“So what’s so great about this diet?”

For starters, it’s less of a diet and more of a lifestyle guideline that’ll keep you healthy for a pretty long time.  You can pretty much use this for any goal you’re trying to accomplish.  You can lose fat or gain muscle eating like this.  Or you can stay the same weight while vastly improving your health.  I didn’t outline a particular use for this diet because it’s not really useful for just ONE goal.  It’s a base off which to build you future plans. Just follow one simple rule first, and then after you get used to it, tweak it to get the results you personally want.  [Which is not to say you won't get results while you're getting used to it. You will.]

Another great thing about eating “clean,” as it’s often called, is that you develop a taste for real food.  Here’s a confession: I loved kiwi-strawberry Snapple, and occasionally I missed it.  Then I realized that actual kiwis and strawberries were a whole lot better. [Note: modern factory farmed strawberries taste a bit like cardboard.  You have to get the real ones - the smaller, the sweeter.  Those are awesome.]  Lately, when I eat junk food I haven’t had in a while, I wonder what the big deal was anyway.  Some cheat foods will always have a soft spot in your heart, but after eating well for a while, you’ll realize you’re not missing out on much when you stop eating crap.

Stay tuned for more on why this style of eating works and how to use it for different goals.  In the meantime, try it out.  Questions about what’s ok to eat or awesome overnight results [kidding]?  Any suggestions for “junk” food that you can make following the above rule?  Leave them in the comments.

*Ok, so that’s not a real rule.  But when’s the last time it was actually a smart idea to eat something someone dared you to put in your mouth?

Introduction to Fitness

Welcome to the University of Fitness!

First of all, what is fitness?

Technically speaking, fitness refers to the ability to do a job [fit to run a marathon, fit to run a company, fit to run a fantasy football team - note: I am not any of the above]. In physical terms, it refers to the ability to perform a task, or it could refer to how well you can perform a variety of physical tasks, which is overall fitness.

Sometimes fitness is a job requirement.

Fitness and health are used interchangeably, but health actually refers more to the general well being of your body’s systems, such as all your organs, tissues, etc.. However, you shouldn’t think of fitness and health as two different categories, since much of the work done to improve one will help the other. As a general health term, fitness is usually about being in “good shape”. That generally involves some form of body transformation, such as:

• Fat loss
• Strength/size gain
• Improving general health
• Flexibility/joint health
• Having killer abs
• Looking awesome at the beach
• Etc.

The problem with fitness today…

There’s a reason this site was created. Nowadays, people are starting to get concerned about their health/fitness, but the over saturation of ideas and options on the market serves as a turn off. It’s hard for someone to know what to listen to and what to ignore, what science is right and what’s just a load of crap, and so on. It’s even worse with the huge list of companies trying to sell their useless products to unsuspecting customers who don’t know any better. These companies feed off failure, making money off of people that try 6 different gimmick machines before realizing none of them work.

As a consumer, it’s easy to blame oneself, and not the guys who sold you a bogus product. It’s time to end that. My goal is to help cut through the junk and help provide useful information so you can spend more time working and less time figuring out what will work.

Here comes the truth. Are you ready for it?

Ok, I hope I didn’t lose anyone with that last sentence, but I wasn’t kidding about working. As much as I went off a little on the guys who peddle useless products and programs just now, some of the responsibility lies with consumers today. Everyone wants to lose 30 lbs in 30 days or put on 15 pounds of muscle in a week and a half, all while working out 20 minutes a day, 2 days a week. And people actually think such expectations are reasonable. If their consumers actually believe that’s possible, then how are those fitness companies supposed to resist making such promises of their products?

Now, there are ways to use your time training effectively, but there aren’t shortcuts. A few key strategies can make getting in shape easier, but you have to put in the work, and it doesn’t come overnight. Why?

Because there are 2 basic truths when it comes to fitness:

1] Changing your level of fitness requires actual work, and to some extent, a degree of discomfort. Changing your body involves telling it that it needs to change. How do you do that? By putting it in new situations so that it adapts to higher workloads. If you want to improve from running a mile in 10 minutes to running one in 6, you won’t succeed by continuing to run it in 10 minutes. The body needs to be challenged by moving it out of it’s comfort zone regularly so it realizes it needs to keep up by getting better at doing harder things. The harder you push yourself, the more you are pushing your body to be better equipped for the future.

Not in his comfort zone.

2] There is a limit to how fast you can lose fat/gain muscle/improve fitness, even when working hard. Expecting any faster is unrealistic and anyone who promises otherwise is full of it. Once you start working hard and your body gets the message to get better at doing what it does, it will start to change to suit your needs. However, it can only recover up to a limit in a given period of time. As you start trying to run that 6 minute mile, your body will start catching up by strengthening your heart, lungs, legs, and whatever else is involved with meeting your goal. But you can’t simply start running faster and expect to have your heart, lungs, and legs to match the ability of a Kenyan by the end of the week. Small changes can be hard to see on a daily or even weekly basis, but they add up, and once you notice them, they serve as motivation for the future. Don’t make the beginner mistake of letting a perceived lack of progress discourage you.

Armed with this knowledge, I wish anyone reading this the best of luck in pursuing any fitness goals they have currently and in the future.

Leave a comment: What do you think fitness means? What are your current goals? Any topics you would specifically like addressed?