Over the past 4 parts of this series, we looked at:

1. How the internet has created an army of pseudo-gurus and their universal truths.
2. How errors in interpreting science support the idea of universal truths.
3. Why “one-size fits all” does NOT work in nutrition from a global perspective.
4. How your underlying phsyiology can produce differential responses to foods.

All great stuff, but heavy on the theory.

Today, as promised, I’m going to provide everyone a resource that condenses a bunch of this science into a simple, practical tool. At the bottom of this post, you’ll find one of the tests I use with my clients. Well to be fair, I combined several tools but that just makes it even better!

Where do you fit in?

This metabolic questionnaire will help you identify what types of macronutrients you should be eating, as well as which foods might be best for your metabolic type.

As explained in part 4 of this series, there are 3 basic gentotypes:

• Carbohydrate intolerant: responds well to a low carbohydrate diet.
• Balanced: responds well to a mixed diet.
• Carbohydrate tolerant: responds well to a low fat diet.

When eating appropriately for your type you can expect to have more energy, fewer food allergies, lose more fat and experience an overall better mood.

You really can’t lose!

So without further ado, get started on your FREE assessment… it only takes 5 minutes and it might just be the most significant self-discovery you make all year!

Keep in mind, there is no one “perfect” formula. However, by paying greater attention to some of the factors outlined in the test, you might be able to finally have nutrition start working for you, instead of against you.

Till next time, train hard and eat clean!

That being said, I’m loathe to accept that someone just “doesn’t eat vegetables”. Let’s be clear: you might not like all vegetables, you may not like vegetables prepared a certain way or paired with certain foods, but 100% vegetable avoidance? Even the most ardent vegetable-phobe has no problem consuming the diced peppers and olives found atop a mountain of nachos. Clearly the issue is not with the vegetables per se but rather with the delivery vehicle.

Thankfully, there seems to be at least one meal that works equally well for both the pro- and anti-veggie crowd: chili. Whether you prefer a vegetarian version or a chili loaded with ground beef, sausage and extra habanero; chili is a dish that appeals to the masses. For some reason, pairing vegetables with ground meat, beans and pasta sauce just works; go figure.

Now with 2x more Machismo…

The real beauty of chili is that it is super convenient. You can prepare a huge batch and have meals for the week if necessary. Chili also freezes remarkably well, meaning a 30 minute investment of food prep time will easily yield 6 meals over the course of the week. Now that’s math everyone understands!

Remember, meals need to satisfy two criteria if they are going to be used to help someone establish improved eating habits. The meal must:

1. Taste great
2. Be convenient to prepare

Chili comes up aces on both counts so without any further ado, here is my favourite homemade chili recipe:

Old Fashioned Chili (Downloadable version)

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

1.5 lbs ground beef, pork or turkey
1.5 cup onion, chopped
2 stalk celery chopped
1 medium green pepper
2 cloves garlic
6 oz can tomato paste
3 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp mustard seed (optional)
1 cup mushroom, chopped
2 cup tomato sauce (canned or homemade)
2 cup kidney beans (rinse well)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a skillet, brown ground beef.
2. Drain fat, then place meat in slow cooker.
3. Sautée onion, mushrooms and garlic in skillet, then transfer to slow cooker.
4. Add kidney beans, tomato sauce, tomato paste, chili powder, and mustard powder to slow cooker; mix well.
5. Feel free to add oregano, basil, cumin, and black pepper as desired.
6. Cover; slow cook on LOW 4 to 6 hours or on stove 1 to 1 1/2 hours (stirring occasionally)
7. Add green peppers and celery 30 minutes prior to removing from heat.

Although this recipe can be prepared on the stove top, I strongly recommend investing in a slow cooker. For a minimal one-time investment (a solid slow cooker will run you $40), you get a “must have” meal preparation tool.

I can’t remember what terrible informercial reiterates the line, “just set it and forget it” but that’s the gist of cooking with a slow cooker. You just dump all the ingredients into it in the morning, head out the door and when you return 8 hours later, you have a meal waiting for you.

As an added bonus for those on a budget, a slow cooker allows you to purchase tougher (i.e. cheaper) cuts of meat. The longer, low-heat cooking process coupled with acidic liquids (i.e. vinegar, wine) tenderize the meat until it takes on a “fall off the bone type characteristic”.

Simple, cost-effective, delicious.

Slow cooking: it’s the old fashioned solution for the new-fangled problem of being “too busy” to cook. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed.

Till next time, train hard and eat clean!

Jaime Oliver is the British chef who was instrumental in leading the reform of the Brit's school lunch program and now he is attempting to do the same thing in the US. His new show takes place in Huntington, West Virginia, a city recently named America's unhealthiest.

If you haven't caught the show yet or seen a promo, here's a short clip:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Amazing, isn't it? Out of an entire class of 25 kids, not one of them could recognize a tomato. This is obviously quite sad, but what is more depressing are the attitudes of the "powers that be" that have allowed this to happen. Considering the town in question boasts an obesity rate of over 50%, a perverse attitude towards food is clearly not the exception, but the norm.

This backassward relationship with food is really highlighted in another preview clip where Jamie is seen asking a group of lunch ladies if they have a problem with serving pizza to the kids for breakfast; they don't. Or if they can even recognize half the ingredients found on a box of chicken nuggets; they can't. Needless to say these lunch ladies are just the tip of the iceberg. 

If you are interested, here's the clip in question. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Until we as consumers or food providers start demanding higher quality food, there won't be any long-lasting or meaningful change. How can we expect children to develop good eating habits if most adults themselves have no concept about makes "good nutrition"?

Obviously the show sensationalizes the situation a little, but it does highlight a situation that is becoming far too commonplace. We have increasingly moved away from real food, and the widespread incidence of chronic diseases (ie. cancers, obesity, diabetes, depression) are just some of the horrible side effects.

What I love about Jaime Oliver is that he's trying to make a difference on the food preparation and supply side. I think we can agree that the simple "knowledge is power" approach hasn't yielded the kind of results we are looking for.

Far too many health experts have spent years debating what is "best". Although I'm all for discovering the optimal ways to do something, the reality is we are still failing with convincing the masses to do even the bare minimum.

Take for instance our vegetable and fruit consumption. How long have we had ad campaigns preaching the virtues of "5-10 servings per day" or "eat the rainbow"? And how successful have those campaigns been? At last check, a good 55% of adult Canadians still don't even consume 5 servings of vegetables and fruit… combined!

Starkey et al. (2001). Can J Diet Pract Res.62(2):61-9

Now I don't think people avoid eating vegetables and fruit because they haven't heard about the importance of at least 5 servings a day. Rather, the situation is grim because we (the health industry) haven't made eating vegetables and fruits an attractive option.

Instead of clinging to our self-righteous ideals and continuing to harp on people that they should eat vegetables, "because it's the right thing to do", we need to accept that most people will only eat vegetables when vegetables are more convenient and tastier than the alternatives.

Enter one solution: better tasting vegetable recipes.

If, when someone mentions "vegetables", you instantly think of iceburg lettuce or carrots boiled into oblivion, you need to expand your palate. One great way is to get started with more vegetables is with a couple of recipes I posted earlier:

1. Peanut butter stir fry
2. Spinach berry smoothies

As an added bonus, I'll be back later on this week and next with even more unique ways to sneak more veggies into your diet.

Till next time, train hard and eat clean!

1. The microbe infects and causes serious illness in humans.
2. Humans do not have immunity against the virus.
3. The virus spreads easily from person-to-person and survives within humans.

Given that H1N1 has reached pandemic status, many countries have reacted swiftly to institute vaccination programs to protect their populace. Here in Canada, recent estimates are suggesting that our provincial and federal governments will spend in the neighborhood of $400 million for the H1N1 vaccine (that’s just the vaccine cost, not the amount they’ve spent publicizing this vaccination campaign). Clearly, our government sees being pro-active in vaccinating Canadians against H1N1 and the massive number of deaths this ‘pandemic’ will bring down upon us as a good thing.

Great philosophy in theory, but what are the numbers telling us? A couple of days ago I came across a story on Yahoo news, that discussed the safety of the H1N1 vaccine (original article accessible here: Top Doctors say few adverse reactions to H1N1 vaccine).

In the article, Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones, attempts to dispel some vaccine myths by informing us there have ‘only’ been 36 severe negative reactions (anaphylactic shock/ convulsions/Guillain-Barre syndrome) to the H1N1 vaccine, out of the 6.5 million Canadians who’ve received it. A quick bit of math tells me this puts the odds of having a life-threatening reaction to the vaccine at a scant 0.00055%. Definitely encouraging news; I am happy knowing the odds of becoming severely incapacitated from a vaccine are only 0.00055%, a pretty low risk indeed.

But when I contrast this your odds of dying from H1N1… which to date run at 198 deaths out of a population of 35 millions (and trust me, we’ve all been exposed to the virus by now, unless you live in a bubble)… and the odds of dying from H1N1 come out to 0.00057%. Crap – this means that I’m as likely to suffer a potentially life-threatening reaction to the vaccine as I am to die from getting H1N1 in the first place.

Not only that but later on in this very same article, I learn that every year 4000-8000 Canadians die from seasonal flu related complications. Hmm… 200 vs. 8000 – that’s getting me thinking… why the hell did we just spend $400 million dollars on a RELATIVELY MILD strain of the flu???

Listen, I’m not for one second suggesting that getting the flu is fun? Nor am I an anti-vaccine nazi. But if I’m going to endorse a $400 million vaccination program, I want some legit data to show me my safety and health are dramatically improved with the vaccine vs. without it. But given that getting our H1N1 vaccine doesn’t seem to decrease my risk of suffering a severe complication, what exactly is the benefit from getting the vaccine anyway?

Not only that, but even strong proponents of the H1N1 vaccination readily admit that after getting the vaccine it’s quite possible I could suffer a ‘mild’ reaction which would involve: nausea, soreness, headache, fever… pretty much the exact symptoms I’d experience from the flu. Hmmm… am I missing something here… or is this flu vaccine really a case of ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’.

Call me a slave to rationale thought, but might the $400 million we just spent in tax dollars have been better served making sure people wash their hands, eliminate garbage foods from their diet and get some exercise?  Better yet, maybe we take another $400 million and should start vaccinating our health officials against the stupidity pandemic– because that’s a pandemic that seems to be raging out of control.

Agree or disagree? Let’s hear from you.