It has been a long time coming for a nutrition post, at least a few months since I attempted to butt heads with what nutrition experts say and try and break broscience blogger’s spell over the minds of the many

I tend to leave this type of information out even though it’s an area of near expertise for me because, well, you can find plenty of good-not-crap information on the web yourself

You don’t need me on the soapbox for every little thing that happens in the world (as much as we would all like to see that 😉 )

My mother actually prompted this article when she recently came to visit me. She began to spew out nutritional recommendations and hearsay that literally made me want to rip apart every bag of protein powder I could

She made me realize that there is nutritional advice, and then there is broscience

Broscience is ideas about health and nutrition that have been propagated by the masses and the general media even though they as accurate as BP’s efforts to clean the oil spill

I decided to outline some basic facts that if implemented into your diet & exercise routine, you would see much greater results in a much shorter time frame then most meat heads. With much love and admiration to my mother, I also listed some of the “facts” she mentioned that I will briefly outline as to why they are full of crap (marked with atag)

1. Eating fat makes you fat

Ah I love this one

Everyone seems to worry about eating low fat. From dairy to meat and yes even fruits and veggies, fat is constantly viewed as the demon child in the general world of public nutrition

Let me promise you that eating full fat ice cream, avocados, buffalo, or even deep fried twinkles will not make you fat

Fat is one of the macronutrients you need in order to survive, and while some sources are far better than others and loaded with poly and mono saturated fats

Please don’t run out and load up on Ben and Jerry’s though because you will quickly fall victim to….

2. Calories in vs. Calories Out (Fact)

Ah, here is the real culprit as to why you will become fat

Everyone expends a certain amount of calories per day, and that is based on a huge list of factors from genetics to activity and even diet

At the end of the day, if you eat more than you utilize, you will gain weight

If you eat less than you utilize, you will lose weight

You cannot escape the law of thermodynamics; this is true no matter what kind of genetics you think you have

I suggest you find a decent daily calorie calculator online and find out how much you use and then test it for a week or so, that way you can tweak your calories on a weekly basis until you find out what your sweet spot is

Make sure you get a good variety of foods and please, for the love of god, do not fear

3. Carbs are the devil

Oh man, this is right up there with the fat one on the retarded-ness scale

Carbs do not make you gain fat faster, nor do they burn it faster, they don’t do your laundry and fortunately you need them in order to function properly as a human being

Carbs are another of those macronutrients that you need in order get your ass out of bed in the morning, and you need them for long term energy throughout the duration of the day

Do not jump on the low carb bandwagon and shock your body into ketosis, if you remember the golden rule of calories in vs. calories out, you can eat oatmeal, carrots, pasta, and whatever else to your hearts content as long as you are getting a good balance of your macronutrients. This is especially true if you follow the golden rule of

4. Move more, eat less (Fact)

Oh man, if I was to summarize all of the training, research, learning, and package it into a workout plan for getting America off the fast track to fastassdome, this would be it

If you want to lose weight and get in shape, you need to exercise (read move) more and eat less

If you combine this rule with the power of calories in vs. calories out, you will not only lose weight at an incredibly fast rate, but you will look and feel better much faster than your gym buddies

You don’t need to consume massive amounts of food and work out like a dog, hell you could not work out at all and lose a massive amount of weight by simply cutting some calories out of your day

This advice will certainly help you if you are trying to get be like the people on the covers of fitness magazines, unless of course you subscribe to the philosophy of

5. I need more PROTEIN

Why oh why do so many body builders think that they need massive amount of protein in order to gain muscle?

Why does the American public constantly worry about not eating enough protein so they decide to eat three 12oz steaks a day in order to make sure they grow up big and strong?

Answers may never become entirely clear, but what I can tell you is that you will never be in fear of protein deficiency

While protein is the third and final macronutrient that you need, the amounts that a person needs in a day are greatly inflated, and this is true for a stay at home mom and the next Mr. Universe

In order to build muscle you only need about .7g of protein per pound of body weight (and that is high balling it)

Most people can get by just fine on .4-.5 per day, especially if they are not trying to get “huge”

So put down the protein shake bro, and pickup some water, your waistline and your muscles will thank me later

Stay smart strong

Gabriel