Questions from the Conference

January 13, 2012

in Blogs

 

Well, just a quick blog, post conference. I hope those of you who were able to make it or watch online enjoyed it as much as I did! For those who weren't there, a couple of blogs about the conference have emerged HERE and HERE. You can also still view some of the comments made on Twitter HERE.

Anyone who would like to leave some feedback, please feel free to do so below. Other than that, I know there were a few questions that got missed so please feel free to post them below and I will answer them as soon as I can!

Feel free to post questions about ANYTHING i.e.

  • Health
  • Performance
  • Fat Loss
  • Research
  • Nutrition Work/Study
  • etc

You do not need to be 'registered' to comment, you can comment simply using your email address or using your Google, Twitter or Facebook account! Please leave your comments/questions below as opposed to on Facebook/Twitter. As ever, please SHARE and TWEET this post if you liked it.

Tagged as: Mac-Nutrition, Mac-Nutrition Conference

  • Ben_S

    I am 6′ 3″, 125kg, 25% BF. With the protein recommendations you stated at 2-2.5g/kg (for fat loss) that is obviously reccommended for someone with a more “reasonable” BF %. I was wondering if I estimate my body weight at about 15% body fat and then work from that….would that be a good way to work requirements out? Out of curiosity would you increase that amount on a VLC/Keto (~50g CHO/day) diet or just make sure to keep fat high enough to allow 1% weight loss per week? Only reason I ask is I feel I am doing well at the moment on a VLC/Keto diet and would like to continue it until I hit the <20% BF range at least (probably more like <15% BF). Strength is fine on my current protocol (strength-endurance slightly down) and I appear to be maintaining/building muscle (arms measurment) but this is probably due to the fact I am relatively de-trained and muscle memory.

    • http://www.facebook.com/macnutr Martin MacDonald

      Unfortunately, the research is a little sketchy on protein requirements as a product of LBM. Remember firstly that you shouldn’t drop your protein intake dramatically. If you simply use 2g/kg of your body weight then you should be fine for a VLC diet. However, the key thing with VLC/Keto is to keep fat high! With that level of protein intake you may struggle to actually get into Ketosis though.

  • Ben_S
    • http://www.facebook.com/macnutr Martin MacDonald

      This was something that was tweeted also. I haven’t read the link you’ve posted but even 85% Cocoa is still almost 15% sugar. For someone trying to lose body fat it isn’t necessarily a great thing to be eating as a snack in the evening. Also, when I mention ‘chocolate’ I am predominantly talking about mars bars et al.

  • Andy Smith

    Hi Martin,

    Just wanted to follow up on a few things from the conference on Sunday if possible.

    1. Are you planning any further conferences in the near future?  Would love to know more about optimal fat loss.  I was lucky enough to be picked out for an article in this months Mens Fitness magazine where my diet and training plan were critiqued by Nick Mitchell (Poliquin Trainer based in Mayfair London – UP Fitness).  I have been provided a new training and diet plan, but I’d still like to know how to optimally lose body fat (BMI currently 25, target is 14 initially)

    2. I was 110kg at the start of the year, with an initial goal of reaching 68Kg by March next year.  Currently 85Kg.  I am very keen to understand more in the field of Nutrition, but my reading list could be improved significantly.  Could you offer me any guidance of books to read around, Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fats.  My current reading list looks like this…

    Jonny Bowden – The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and Why

    Fiona Kirk – So What the F*** Should I Eat?

    Fiona Kirk – 2 Weeks in the Fast Lane

    L.Cordain – The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Foods You Were Designed to Eat

    L.Cordain – The Paleo Diet for Athletes

    3. I was also very interested to hear your thoughts around cholesterol.  I went along to a BUPA health screening on Thursday and they reported an anomaly.

    Total Cholesterol – 3.6 mmol/l

    LDL – 2.4 mmol/l

    Triglyceride 0.8 mmol/l

    HDL – 0.8 mmol/l

    According to BUPA, HDL should be more than 1, and the low reading they suggested initially to increase my levels of Omega3.  Now to understand, I loosely follow Paleo where I eat loads of Salmon, Mackerel, Sardines etc and lots of seeds and nuts including Omega3 supplementation, so I wasn’t sure about the low reading.  Any advice you could share on the subject?

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks in advance.

    • http://www.facebook.com/macnutr Martin MacDonald

      Just a quick response to this initially as you can make a chance almost immediately. Simply eat more fat. Couldn’t be more boring really. If you add a bit of butter, or whole milk, or red meat into your diet your HDL will increase. Based on those numbers I’d imagine you’re already fairly low carb so no need to alter that too much. Eggs are another good one to add in. Please do post back if you make these changes and what effect this has on your blood lipid profile.

      • Andy Smith

        The really odd thing is that I include butter, organic whole milk 4% and grass fed meat into my diet already.  BUPA did suggest it could be an hereditary thing as my paternal grandmother suffered from heart desease for many years and my maternal grandmother also suffered with a heart condition prior to her death, so I guess its a possibility :(

        • http://www.facebook.com/macnutr Martin MacDonald

          It could be that you’re ‘dieting a little too hard’… so your total fat intake is actually low while your percentage intake may look a bit higher… perhaps once weight loss isn’t a goal you can increase your fats to be weight stable and your HDL will go up. Do you know your total fat intake?

          • Andy Smith

            Now if I just had an excel sheet that calculated it all for me…… :)

    • http://www.facebook.com/macnutr Martin MacDonald

      1.
      This is something I’d like to do… its just having the time and knowing the numbers are there for attendees. When you say BMI is 25 do you mean BF%? A BMI of 14 would see you almost dead…

      2. The Paleo Diet by Robb Wolf is in my opinion a bit more up to date than the stuff by Cordain. Other than that, you’re probably looking at boring text books but I can recommend a few if you want… there should be an amazon reading list on the right hand of the site with books I recommend.

  • Ben_S

    How important, for health, do you think it is to consume organic or organic grass fed meat compared to standard meat products in the UK? I know there are some issues with beef and hormones in the US, but I’ve heard practices are somewhat different over here.

  • Robbiethompson10

    Hi Martin, First of all, just wanted to say I really enjoyed the conference, it was well worth the trip down. I like your approach and open mindedness, I’m sick of hearing about PTs putting clients on Paleo diets, and this one size fits all mindset.
     
    I’ve been going through the diet calculations and trying to formulate some more informed diet plans for my clients. I understand the process, but I just wondered if you could email me a couple of templates please just because I wasn’t sure if i’d corrected the typos properly. I was also a little unsure about the figure that you multiply for fat, what are the ranges? I really like the set up of it, it’ll be so helpful for clients.
     
    I also wondered if you had any guidance with regards to dreaded vegetarians? A couple of my clients are vegetarians, where as previous PTs have told them to eat meat, we try to be a little more sensitive! They obviously suffer from a massively reduced food selection, and often an over reliance on carbs so any info would be greatly appreciated.

    • http://www.facebook.com/macnutr Martin MacDonald

      Hi Robbie,

      Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the feedback. I’ve sent the corrected form.

      With vegetarians essentially you explain to them that by not eating meat they are limiting themseles… then you do as best you can. Essentially you work your way down this list… organs and meat, fish, eggs, other dairy including whey, nuts… once you’ve over emphasised the things the individual will eat, then you fill the rest up with some fruit and loads of vegetables. If they are vegan… run a mile.

  • Carolinerobertson5

    Recommending fasting workouts/low carb diets is one of my bug bears when it comes to endurance training, mainly because as a physiologist, I have seen one too many times people go off, try it on their own  and screw themselves over and come back over trained and not able to do anything. So, what is the advice that needs to be given to athletes in this situation. Clearly some of them are going to go off on their own and try it without guidance from a nutritionist. So what needs to be said to them to stop this happening?
    Do they need to restrict no of fasted sessions per week?
    If they are doing fasted sessions should their CHO intake g/kg/d not go below a certain level?
    Should they just not even bother doing this themselves without guidance from someone who is going to calculate exactly what they need to eat to cover training needs?

    • http://www.facebook.com/macnutr Martin MacDonald

      Hi Caroline,

      Obviously the ideal here is that athletes wouldn’t go off and try things on their own… no athlete should ever be doing a very low carbohydrate diet! Hopefully this came across at the conference that low carbohydrate is not the way to go for those doing high intensity exercise. However, neither is low fat. A diet that is 70% CHO, 20% PRO and 10% FAT isn’t going to be best for a triathlete for instance. As a rule, 1g of CHO/kg BW immediately after all hard sessions will automatically right a lot of the wrongs that an athlete attempting a low carbohydrate will do to themselves. Doing long, or high intensity sessions likewise doesn’t work with no carbohydrate. So, put carbs before, during and after training and then ‘play’ with reducing carbs elsewhere in the day.

      Similarly, low carb can’t be low fat otherwise it is low energy and we all know that screws an athlete! So, where carbs are removed, fat MUST be used to replace.

      Fasted sessions do not need to be restricted, however, only appropriate sessions should be fasted. This will depend on length and intensity and what the training session is for. Intensity/Quality don’t do well without carbohydrate. A long slow ride however could be done fasted for 2-3 hours once an athlete is adapted and is built up to this.

      As I said in session 2 I think, there seems to be a critical level around 3-4g/kg/d CHO that is needed for high intensity training, so long as total energy needs are taken care of.

      I think it is possible, well, I know it is possible for people to do this on their own because I have had athletes do it themselves after only 1 x 90minute consultation. At the same time, it is good to be informed and if someone is reading my blog/facebook etc then they will get little tweaks etc to help things.

  • PhysDaddy

    Martin, Since your conference, my diet has changed drastically. I was already on a ‘healthy eating diet’ (chopping out ‘Bad’ things like biscuits, puddings etc) but now I’ve started adding in loads more fat, keeping protein as high as poss, and reducing carbs but for around training.  however, i have now some follow up questions/reassurances please:

    1) which fats should i try to eat lots of? (lard/butter, red meat fat, dairy fat?)

    2) which fats to avoid? (obv. Chock, veg oil, hydrogenated fat…….???)

    3) Is Homogenised milk bad/to be avoided? – I’ve switched to blue top, but can’t find UN-homoginised….

    4) I recently spoke with another nutritionist who agreed that fat intake is important but then told me if i eat saturated fat (that found in Lard etc) chronically, I would be more likely of getting heart disease, cancer etc. etc. – can you briefly reassure me that this is based on rubbish observational research and that actually, saturated fat is the shizz please?

    5) I’m trying to spread the message of heat more fat, and particularly Lard etc (obv. met with A LOT of scepticism) but once i’ve relayed the ‘Lard being similar in composition to breast milk’ stat, i’m out of good facts to back Lard up as the best thing since eggs! can you outline, concisely, the key points as to why Fat (lard) is SO, SO important and good for us please?

    think I’m just after some clarification on what sort of Fat composition I’m looking to get in my face. Is cheese ‘Bad’ fat? milk is good? Lard is good! butter, Good. …………….

    responses to the above 5 questions and fat clarification would be GREAT.

    Look forward to your wisdom.

    I’m sold that you have the answer to worldwide obesity and ill health – i want to help spread that, but just need to be a bit more clued up in the first instance to get buy-in from anyone who dares talk food with me!!

    • http://www.facebook.com/macnutr Martin MacDonald

      Hi Phys,

      Glad the conference has led to changes. I look forward to hearing the results.

      1) You can’t really go wrong with natural fats. All that you mentioned are great for most. Dairy of course can cause issues for some. Red meat with the fat seems to be the one that is tolerated well by all.

      2) Avoid things very high in PUFAs, so vegetable/sunflower oil. Avoid trans fats of course.

      3) You will be able to find unhomogenised so long as you shop in a supermarket? Tescos, Sainsbury and Waitrose definitely have it. One is called Gold Top then they generally have their own brand Jersey milk type thing. In my opinion homogensization is worse than pasteurisation but I would go raw all the time if I could afford to.

      4) Feel free to send this nutritionist to my blog ;-) Was it a sports nutritionist? Unfortunately, the area of health is not something that sports nutritoinists study and non sports dieticians are taught that it is bad based on the very same terrible observational research I pointed out at the conference. The one caveat is that, SEEMINGLY, a high sugar, high fat diet is probably worse for you than a high sugar, low fat diet… so, if you are going to drink coca cola and snack on turkish delight whilst doing no exercise, then its probably best not to have bacon sandwiches covered in tomato ketchup every morning… p.s. a high sugar low fat diet doesn’t contain mars bars though I’m afraid so that’s out.

      5) I think firstly you need to get away from the Lard message. I just hit home the Lard message because it gets people to listen as its controversial. Some people will say ‘oh yes, butter is OK, my grandmother uses butter, but Lard is the devil!’ The fact is that for 30-40 years every health organisation has been trying to prove fat is bad and has failed over and over again. A multi million dollar study that was going for 10+ years was recently pulled because they were spending money and could not prove fat was bad… instead of publishing the data that showed they couldn’t prove it was bad!!!!!!! Because this is not a good publishable finding. I can’t think of the study off the top of my head but I’ll have to dig the details out. There are two very good, recent meta analysis, one from the Cochrane collaberation and one by Siri Tarino et al that concluded THERE IS NO CLEAR EVIDENCE THAT SATURATED FAT IS BAD FOR YOU. Obviously not in those exact words but words that were JUST as damning of critics stupid dogmas! At the end of the day, it is hard to convince some people as they are not well read enough to engage in a discussion. If someone doesn’t understand basic principles how can you get them understand a simple truth. If you get to this situation, I would just put the onus on them… prove to me fat is bad. Find one single intervention study in humans that has shown that fat is bad. Then hit them with the 100s of studies that show fat is good and that Atkin-esque diets, Ketogenic diets, low carbohydrate diets improve helath markers in ALL sorts of ill people. Diabetes, high blood pressure, blood lipids that are out of whack, epilepsy, cancer etc etc etc. I should write one single, well referenced blog on this so everyone can just send people to it to make the first step.

      5b) Cheese is also OK but unhomogenised perhaps… you can get RAW cheese in Tescos now!!!!!!

      “I’m
      sold that you have the answer to worldwide obesity and ill health – i
      want to help spread that, but just need to be a bit more clued up in the
      first instance to get buy-in from anyone who dares talk food with me!”

      Wow. Thank you! Not sure I’ve quite got all the answers yet but if the Government pulled their finger out and caught up we’d certainly get there quicker!

  • http://twitter.com/LTNutrition Amanda Locke

    Hi Martin
    Thanks for the great conference. Was really interesting and i have plenty i want to look further into as a result.
    I have been out and got some lard, to give it a try and have been reading up on this whole fat subject. Now i have a few questions for you

    1) Would you chose lard over coconut oil or butter and why.  Because i see a plus for them all and can not at this point in time see why one is better than the other and would assume it depends on the client. Though vitamin D is highest in Lard and omega 3 (am i correct?)2) Am i correct that polyunsaturated fats are not great but also good ! If i have understood this correct, they bad when in hydrogenated oils.3) Sat fat and mono are good.4) The cholesterol concerns could potentially be oxidation of polyunsaturated fats5) When people talk about lard and butter on the net , they mention the sat fat is better in lard (meaning as in less of it) , but being as sat fat is not so bad , is that really a relevant point because you could also say poly is lower in butter than lard..or am i missing a point ? is it tit for tat?6) Beef dripping – is this ok?

    Thanks for your time.

    • http://www.facebook.com/macnutr Martin MacDonald

      Hi Amanda,

      Glad you enjoyed the conference. I’ll number my answers:

      1) Not sure if you saw my tweet on this… all 3 are good. Just vary it. I just shout about Lard because it is the one that has the worst rep due to phrases like ‘lardy’, ‘lard ar*e etc etc.
      2) Remember when talking about PUFAs you’re talking about a number of different things. Both n3 and n6 are PUFAs. Issues arise with too many n6. In particular the omega 3 to omega 6 ratio is of importance. Hydrogenated is an issue hence not cooking with high PUFA oils or eating foods containing trans fats. Omega 6 are not BAD for you but the issue is when we process things and are able to massively over consume particular things… so the prevalence of vegetable oils has meant the average n6:n3 is way out of whack.
      3) Yes
      4) One small part of big picture yes.
      5) Not a relevant point. All ridiculous.
      6) Yes (Merry Christmas). haha

  • Len_ps

    Thanks for your responses Martin.

    I have one follow-up question rather pertinent to the next few days. while I’ve totally embraced this change in diet and am feeling great for it, I have been and am rather looking forward to a bit of Christmas indulgence. I know I’m already going to feel HORRIBLE for it and really guilty which will really take the edge off, but I’m not prepared to miss this once-a-year opportunity.

    my question:

    with regard to naughty (devil) foods like chocolate, puddings (high in sweet carbs and bad fat) etc etc; imagine the total food volume/calories are the same (hypothetically), is it better to eat one or two little naughties over four of twelve days, or SMASH it hard on the big day then back on the wagon? i.e. is there any evidence that taking in a large bolus (all day long) allows the body less chance to absorb the crap, instead passing more ‘crap’ out in the crap (Poop)?

    also, any ideas about ‘coaching’ the body into getting a ‘taste’  for sweet things by eating over a few days?

    third option could of course be to forget about it, eat what i like and worry about it in Jan?

    Cheers

    • http://www.facebook.com/macnutr Martin MacDonald

      The answer to your question depends on so many factors really its difficult to say. One major factor is your goals, your priorities and lifestyle for christmas i.e. you don’t want to ‘miss out’ if you have a number of family do’s spread out over the time. Also, is the time period 4 days or 12 days, there is a big difference.

      Realistically, if you are going to eat a LOT of good food over a long period, eating a little junk along side it is a bad idea. It would be better to have one day of complete indulgence. A huge calorie surplus, especially from carbohydrate/sugar will massively increase insulin levels and will start to impact Leptin. This huge calorie surplus will also marginally increase T3 therefore your metabolism.

      If you eat a HUGE amount of food the energy content of your ‘poop’ as you call it, is likely to be higher so yes, you don’t absorb as much of it but I wouldn’t even bother taking that into the equation because it will be so individually dependent.

      If you’ve been dieting on low calories, a much higher energy intake over 1-3 days could be beneicial to reset metabolism. If you’ve not been ‘dieting’ and therefore glycogen levels aren’t that low and metabolic rate is still high, it could be OK to simply have a few treats here and there.

      Sorry the answer is fairly broad but in essence, unless you have very specific goals the answer isn’t set in stone. I’m not sure I understand the final big about coaching into getting a taste for sweet things…. are you WANTING this? or wanting to know about it? ‘Getting a taste for’ something as I understand it, although my reading hasn’t been extensive, is about repeated exposure. Therefore if yo don’t want to come out of the other side of Christmas, you’re better to have more, less often.

  • http://twitter.com/LTNutrition Amanda Locke

    Hi Martin – I want to start using the calculations with my clients and myself!  Can i please have a copy of the diet calculation sheets that were amended ?
    Also i have a pro boxer who wants to lean down and i thought i would trail the caluclation on him (he is cool with that – he is a friend) Can i check with you would i be better using the CHO-PRO-FAT calculation compared to PRO-CHO-Fat.  He trains 6 days a week on an average.  He is pretty lean – but needs to drop body fat and still train hard.

    Also i couldnt hear and understand something you mentioned. You spoke about the DEE + EEE= TEE
    Is that BMR X DAF? to get that figure.  I have it scribbled down – but not sure why!

    And finally ,  is it better to base the calculation on their body fat? – If so how does the calculation differ
    I have found this:

    BMR (men
    and women) = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg)

    So i worked out for me 370 + 21.6 x 49.20 = 1,432 then if i x my DAF 1.4 x 1432 = 2,0004

    What if i want to factor in my exerise on that figure- how would i do that- Because the DAF – is not exercise correct? it is just how active you are in a day.

    I hope all that makes some sense ! – How about another conference on the subject of Sports Nutrition alone!
    Are you doing more conferences this year? It would relaly compliment my studies- i have just started my sports nutrition book (heck!)

    I have a calculator that i thought you might be interested in seeing. It is what the weight managment centre use on their courses. I know you like to look at things like that!

    Thanks so much for your help

    • http://www.facebook.com/macnutr Martin MacDonald

      Pro boxer wanting to get lean is a difficult one. I would personally work out his plan based on not wanting to lose weight, and simply training well. Then reduce carbohydrates accordingly to bring about fat loss. You could even lower fat depending on how your calculations come out. The order you use depends on how much training he is doing also….

      CHO-PRO-FAT should work though.

      BMR x DAF is DEE… when you add EEE then you get TEE.

      If someones bodyfat levels sit far outside of the norms it can be good to get BMR from a calculation that takes LBM into account. I find individuals who have dieted to be much leaner don’t fair well though. Naturally very lean individuals would though.

      You need to estimate in how much energy you burn during exercise…. that is EEE.

      I want to do more conferences, its just about creating the demand and be confident enough to put them on. Its harder than it looks! haha

      • http://twitter.com/LTNutrition Amanda Locke

        Thank you. I am gald i was on the right track with the boxing calculation – i think he will naturally lean down due to his training load..thanks for the tips.

        Ha, i be that are really hard to put together, but you know we love it right? you were funny and well delivered and received…We will watch this space then. Have a great day..

  • http://twitter.com/Delderz Daniel Delderfield

    Hi Martin, really like the website,

    As a footballer i understand that CHO’s are our main source of energy and should therefore fill up most of our daily intake. However i know it is also important to remain ‘light’ which obviously suggests low body fat levels (which CHO can negatively effect)..Is this just a simple case of calculating how much CHO i should be ingesting around the intensity and frequency of training or is there a new type of diet in which benefits football performance?

    Also regarding weight training: Strength and Power are no doubt important for speed which is an essential skill in football and weight training can help this; however I have found if i follow a standard ‘bodybuilding’ type routine (e.g. 3setx10reps), I feel too bulky and heavy. I also feel that i need to consume more calories in this catabolic state and if i don’t, this will effect my energy levels.

    Is there a type of weight training routine you can suggest that is beneficial for football, where lean strength and power can be gained without the size and weight gaining of a bodybuilder?

    Thanks for any advice, being a footballer i would love to see some more topics on sport related nutrition and training and feel other members of the site will also benefit from this.

    • http://www.mac-nutrition.com/ Martin MacDonald

      Hi Dan,

      Sorry for the delay in responding to this!! I was going to try and respond using a video response but haven’t gotten round to setting that up yet! There isn’t a specific football diet, the same general rules apply however, with high intensity interval training and football performance, carbohydrates will be much more important than for the average person.

      Footballers shouldn’t do bodybuilding type weight training. This has been recommended in the past and is what makes footballers think weights don’t ‘work’. Heavier loads or ‘power’ exercises should be used. It might be a good idea to speak to the guys at Elite Kinetics (http://elite-kinetics.com/) about the best training plan. It might even tempt them into writing me a guest article on the subject!! My short term recommendation is to use heavier loads for <5 reps to get strong with less hypertrophy and incorporating power/speed work at the same time.

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