After a good night’s sleep, I went to the gym, and then had a quick breakfast before answering a few e-mails. Feeling good, I then decided to go for a run, and I do mean a lot of it. It was a really hot day, so I ran a full mile loop, and then worked out for about 40 minutes, before sitting down to read some more – we had a big family dinner that night.
I’ve been experimenting with fasting since late April, and I’m kind of hooked. In my experience, intermittent fasting has improved my energy levels, immune function, mental acuity, and overall sense of well-being.
I’ll be honest, my goal is not to lose weight, but I believe that if you are going to lose weight, you should try to do it in a healthy way. That is why I experimented a bit with fasting, Paleo and self-experimentation. But I believe that combined with exercise, you can drastically improve your health and lose weight.. Read more about precision nutrition and let us know what you think.
I just had a brief conversation with Paul Southern of CrossFit Pleasanton, California, an old friend and coworker.
He did a great interview with me for CrossFit Journal, and it’s one of my favorites. We spoke about a variety of subjects, some of which I haven’t mentioned before, such as
- My most recent post-workout dietary tips for athletes and fitness buffs.
- The paleo diet’s principles and what I think about it
- My recent fasting experiences and intermittent fasting
- Why are personal experiences so important?
- Program of certification
- and a lot more…
Journal of CrossFit : Dr. Berardi, could you explain us who you are and what you do in two minutes?
JB: First and foremost, training has been an integral part of my life for almost two decades.
Initially, I focused on football, rugby, and athletics, which were all sports in which I excelled.
I started training in bodybuilding and powerlifting once my competitive sports activities stopped. I progressed well there as well, ultimately winning the NABBA Jr USA bodybuilding championship. My greatest lifts were a 430-pound bench press, a 600-pound deadlift, and a 650-pound squat at the time.
As a sportsperson, I was always curious in how things functioned. I got a slew of inquiries. Physiology, biology, biomechanics, and other topics are covered. These inquiries pushed me to pursue a career in academia. I obtained a medical degree, a master’s degree in sports science, and a PhD in biochemistry and sports nutrition during the following 10 years.
At the moment, I’m concentrating on sports and fitness nutrition.
I teach at the University of Texas and Eastern Michigan University as an assistant professor. I teach postgraduate sports nutrition and fitness courses.
And I’m the CEO of www.precisionnutrition.com, one of the world’s biggest nutrition research and coaching firms. Our newsletter has been subscribed up by over 200,000 individuals. Every month, over 500,000 individuals visit our website.
CJ: That’s great. I also recommend that everyone visit precisionnutrition.com. Over the years, it has proven to be a valuable resource for me.
I once heard you remark that the greatest trainers have three things in common: 1) training in what they teach, 2) personal success, and 3) experience guiding others to success.
It’s clear that you’re well-educated and have a lot of life experience. What is your background as a coach?
JB: I’m happy you brought up the subject. Because that’s what I’m most proud of in myself. Over 60,000 individuals use our website to follow our dietary guidelines and share their findings in our members’ section.
Throughout addition, in the last three years, my staff and I have personally taught over 7,000 customers. Some individuals work out in their free time in order to reduce weight or gain muscle. Others are top-class athletes aiming for gold medals or global titles.
So, if there’s one thing I’m passionate about, it’s coaching.
In fact, I’ve been heading the world’s biggest body transformation study project for the last three years. This one-of-a-kind fat reduction coaching program has aided individuals in losing more weight than The Biggest Loser’s 11 seasons combined!
CJ: But you’re not just trying to lose weight, are you?
JB: That’s great. I want to use diet and exercise to assist individuals reach their most ambitious fitness, health, and performance objectives. And my staff has worked with some of the best athletes in the world.
CJ: I’ve heard you work with a slew of professional players. Do you wish to reveal your identities?
JB: Of course, that’s correct. Professionally, I’ve had the good fortune to deal with people like UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Germain throughout the past decade. Steven Jackson of the St. Louis Rams, Greg Jennings of the Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Browns, Houston Rockets, and Toronto Maple Leafs are among St. Pierre’s teammates.
I’ve worked with US and Canadian national teams in summer and winter sports including bobsled/skeleton, cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, canoeing, and rowing at the amateur level. In the past two Winter Olympics alone, the athletes I’ve coached with have won over 25 medals, 12 of which were gold.
CJ: This is a fantastic list. I believe it’s fair to assume you’ve gone through this previously.
JB: Despite having had a successful career so far, I still feel like a novice!
One of my major professional objectives is to never stop researching. Never stop learning new things. And, to keep things interesting, I adopt the mentality that I don’t know anything. And there are moments when I behave as though I am. (laughs).
I continue to create the circumstances for development by reminding myself that I can learn from everyone and everywhere. It’s also more enjoyable that way. What I do is something I like.
CJ: Kelly Starrett thinks that working on your dysfunctions doesn’t need you to be a physical therapist. With www.mobilitywod.com, the masses gain greater power. With www.precisionnutrition.com, I believe you accomplished the same thing.
To eat healthily and help others do the same, you don’t need to be a professional nutritionist. They offer all of the skills required to persuade the typical individual to consume meals that enhance health, decrease body fat, and boost athletic performance.
What are the fundamental tenets?
JB: First and foremost, I believe Kelly is doing fantastic work, and I commend her for assisting in the adoption of prehab, dynamic movement, and chiropractic treatment into every practitioner’s thinking.
The aim is similar for me. Nutrition is being de-mystified so that everyone can think about the best diet for their own objectives. It’s also something that anybody can do.
My basic ideas are clear and uncomplicated.
If you wish to enhance your diet, there are three things you should think about.
- Dietary habits (what you eat),
- The quantity of food (how much you eat),
- Dinners (when you eat).
In fact, maximizing one or more of these factors is the only way to enhance muscle development, fat reduction, athletic performance, or health.
CJ: Do you have any examples?
JB: Let’s begin with weight reduction. If your primary aim is to lose weight, eat mainly lean proteins, green vegetables, and healthy fats; eat less than usual; and time your meals by eating the largest, most protein- and carbohydrate-rich meal immediately after your exercise.
If your main goal is to gain muscle mass, on the other hand, you’ll change the type of food you eat by eating more lean proteins, a wider variety of fruits and vegetables, a wider variety of fats, and more unprocessed carbohydrates; you’ll change the amount of food you eat by eating more than usual; and you’ll change the timing of your meals by eating the largest, most protein-rich, and most nutritious meal first.
Individual variations are unavoidable; no two athletes or customers are alike. These basic guidelines, on the other hand, are a great place to start. Then you become a participant in your own scientific experiment, either on your own or with the assistance of a nutrition coach. Adjust the parameters until you get your desired result.
It’s really very entertaining. In my private training facility, I perform 5-10 mini-experiments with customers and athletes at any one moment. I am the subject of these odd events half of the time. And, in my view, the findings are extremely compelling. I am nearly 40 years old and have a 5% body fat percentage, while being muscular and slender.
CJ: Let’s talk about scientific pleasure. Your book, Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition, should be in every coach’s library, in my opinion. What led you to this book and how did you come across it?
JB: To begin, our Essentials handbook is part of a certification program, which includes a complete nutrition education and coaching curriculum aimed at teaching top fitness professionals the art and science of nutrition coaching.
This is also the text for the master’s level physical education and sports course that I teach.
This book is for weight training or personal training. During the program, we will first study about the scientific foundations of sports nutrition and training. We teach everything a coach needs to know about cell biology, digestion, metabolism, macronutrients, and micronutrients.
Then, to help clients achieve their ideal physique, we educate trainers how to complement their gym work with dietary training. To put it another way, students learn how to use the method to affect the eating habits of any client, novice or expert, for any reason.
As a result, the text is divided into two halves. The first part of the book includes all of the scientific information that may be anticipated from food certification and monitoring. The second block is dedicated to the practice of coaching, which is unique in the world. We also provide a comprehensive online training program that includes video classes and much more.
This is, once again, to assist elite fitness experts in incorporating proper nutrition into their routine.
There is no other educational program with the same level of concentration as this one. I know this because if there had been one, I would have taken it. Because that’s precisely what I needed when I first began coaching. However, nothing comparable to this was accessible.
CJ: So, I’m wondering as to your thoughts on paleo nutrition. The paleo diet is often praised for its health advantages. What are your thoughts on this eating style?
JB: I like this method of eating in certain ways.
Eating less grains and processed meals should become a way of life for the majority of the population, including athletes. How can you go wrong with a diet that includes lean meats, a range of dietary fats, a plethora of veggies, and plenty of nuts and seeds?
This is how the majority of us should eat. Especially if you don’t consume a lot of carbs when exercising for high-performance sports.
There are, however, certain exceptions. There are some who find it impossible to obtain adequate nourishment by eating just meat, veggies, nuts, and seeds unless they monitor calories excessively, which most people should not do anyhow.
This is something I’ve seen in elite athletes who train for more than 4 hours a day time and time again. Also, ectomorphic types that are skinny have a hard time gaining muscular mass. The usual Paleo guidelines must be somewhat adjusted to meet their requirements.
This generally entails consuming more unprocessed carbohydrates. Frequently at breakfast and after a workout. During the exercise, we also consume a protein/carbohydrate cocktail. You can consume additional protein, veggies, nuts, and seeds the remainder of the day.
CJ: Let’s talk about protein and carbohydrate beverages. I know you did a doctoral dissertation on post-workout nutrition. The CrossFit Games, the CrossFit Open, and regional CrossFit events are all within grasp. This is a demanding race, therefore rest is essential.
Should athletes utilize liquid foods for these crucial meals and supplements to obtain optimum outcomes, or can effective nutrition be given with whole foods before, during, and after training?
JB: The majority of my postdoctoral study focused on how to utilize the appropriate mix of protein and carbs in liquid form to help athletes recover faster after endurance and strength training.
We started by looking at how protein and carbohydrate beverages affected muscle injury, fuel usage, glycogen resynthesis, and protein synthesis after an exercise. Then we looked at what occurs when these beverages are taken before to and/or during exercise.
Despite the study’s intricacy, the results are straightforward.
If your exercise is severe enough to promote protein metabolism and glycogen breakdown, we’ve discovered that drinking a protein/carbohydrate drink before your workout can help you recover quicker.
It makes no difference whether you consume it before, during, or after a workout. They’re all functional. In general, do anything you want. What matters is that you consume it.
My suggestions are based on your natural body form.
- Take 45g protein, 90g carbs (520 calories) in 1000ml water if you are lean and struggle to gain muscle mass.
- Take 15 g protein, 30 g carbs (180 calories) in 500 ml water if you gain weight quickly.
- If you’re in the middle, try 30 grams of protein and 60 grams of carbohydrates (360 calories) with 750 milliliters of water.
The most essential thing to remember here is to be truthful to yourself. You generally won’t need a recovery drink if you exercise modestly. I don’t even utilize it in most stages of training, to be honest. I’m interested in upkeep for the most of the year.
However, as the exercise progresses and becomes more severe, I add a recovery drink. Again, be truthful. You probably don’t require quick absorbing carbohydrates and proteins if you don’t exercise extremely hard. If this is the case, they make a significant impact.
CJ: This is some very amazing stuff. I’d want to return to the topic of paleo diets. I heard somewhere that you don’t like the term “paleo diet.” What’s to stop you?
JB: While I enjoy the food’s style, the name irritates me. Because it suggests that we are aware of our Paleolithic forefathers’ eating habits. This indicates that they all ate similarly.
Neither of these statements are correct.
The more study done, the more apparent it becomes that the only reason we believed our Paleolithic predecessors ate just meat, lipids, and whatever fruits/nuts/seeds they ate is because that’s all we can discover in the fossil record.
But I have some excellent field archaeologists as pals. This implies they’re in charge of collecting fossils throughout Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
Surprisingly, recent discoveries – and new scientific techniques – reveal that unprocessed wild grains were definitely a component of the diet in certain ancient civilizations. There are a lot of tubers and wild potatoes.
Some of paleo’s fundamental assumptions are being called into doubt as a result of fresh studies. And this is just the start. No one knows what we will learn about our predecessors’ eating habits when new technology and civilizations emerge.
Of all, none of this invalidates the eating style. In fact, I typically go with this choice. It’s common sense to consume less processed meals. Increase your intake of lean meats, veggies, and nuts/seeds.
But I don’t want to bind my eating habits to a flimsy target. I also don’t want to attempt to eat paleo-style. I want to eat in the manner of a contemporary person concerned with health, body composition, and performance.
CJ: I also presume you disagree with paleo purists and their anti-grain, anti-legume, anti-dairy crusade. What are your thoughts on this?
JB: I disagree with you to some degree. Unprocessed grains and legumes may be a significant benefit for certain individuals with particular objectives. Just keep an eye on the amount and the clock.
And it’s all down to your genetics.
Indeed, recent research indicates that, although the paleo guidelines offer a great foundation, additional modifications are required depending on human genetic composition.
Over the last 10 years, for example, we’ve learnt a lot about nutrigenomics. This field of research investigates our genetic composition and how it influences our perception of the world.
It is undeniable that our genes are connected to our forefathers’ beginnings. This is when things start to get interesting. According to recent study, our dietary tolerance varies greatly based on where our ancestors originated from.
Lactase persistence, for example, is a phenomenon. The issue is whether our genetic line has kept the capacity to make lactase, an enzyme that aids in the digestion of milk.
Lactase persistence affects almost 100% of the population in the United Kingdom, for example. This implies that dairy products are well tolerated in almost all instances in the United Kingdom. The same may be said for the Nordic nations and northwest Africa. Lactase persistence, on the other hand, is less than 10% in Eastern Europe, Asia, and South Africa. This implies that very few people in these areas are familiar with dairy products.
Your views on dairy intake may vary as a result of this information, depending on where your family hails from. That, however, is a topic for another day. We must also examine numerous additional factors in the case of dairy products, such as hormones and antibiotics, as well as homogenization and pasteurization.
Our capacity to digest and absorb carbohydrates is linked to our genetic composition in a similar way.
Because they eat a more carbohydrate-rich diet, people from northern Europe, the United Kingdom, and southern Asia generate more salivary amylase and other carbohydrate-digesting enzymes. Because of their typical low-carb diet, individuals in Africa and North Asia generate less carbohydrate-digesting enzymes.
The same may be said of milk. You may have various views about grain depending on where your ancestors originated from in the globe.
Finally, I’m not saying any of this to throw folks off. Rather, it demonstrates that meal planning should always be used as a springboard for future exploration. There are no suggestions that are set in stone and cannot be changed.
Of course, if you’re new to this area, you’ll need some pointers to get you started. To guide you in the correct direction. However, it is preferable to follow the pioneering method of physiology. Feel free to play around with different combinations until you discover something that works for you.
This is what my food philosophy is all about. Unprocessed grains and chickpeas are also a fun experiment from time to time.
CJ: While we’re on the subject of experimenting with yourself, I know you’ve tried intermittent fasting. What does this mean in terms of performance-based nutrition for you?
JB: Intermittent fasting, like other diet and fitness regimens that have been around for thousands of years, I believe it has a place. The key is to consider all factors, including your objectives, nutrition experience, exercise regimen, and so on.
Once a week, I play for 24 hours straight. My fasting day is typically Sunday. This is the result of my efforts:
- Stop eating at 10 p.m. on a Saturday.
- 9am 1 multivitamin, 5 BCAA, 12 serving of greens+ in 1 litre of water, 1 teaspoon of green tea on Sunday
- Sunday, 1 p.m.: As was stated
- Sunday, 17.00: same as above
- Sunday, 10 p.m.: Eat a modest amount of protein, veggies, lentils, and healthy fats.
As part of a fat loss experiment, I’ve been doing this for the last four months. By performing fewer than 90 minutes of super-intensive exercise each week, I want to shed as much fat as possible and keep it off for a full year.
This is the aim of my diet and exercise program. And it all works fantastically. I would not, however, advocate intermittent fasting to everyone, at all times or in all situations.
Fasting during peak training, for example, is generally not a good idea if you’re aiming to win an Olympic gold medal. Why? You do, after all, need food and relaxation.
I wouldn’t suggest intermittent fasting during the muscle-building phase if you’re an ectomorph (naturally thin). They need food and relaxation once again.
Deprivation of food may be a trigger even if you have a history of eating problems. As a result, don’t take any risks. Consider taking a more cautious approach. This, believe me, is critical.
Of course, there are many types of intermittent fasting, and discussing them all is beyond the scope of this interview. So here’s what I’ll leave you with. It’s easy to become a fanatical zealot about intermittent fasting, just as it is with paleo. For that matter, any other system. And this is a blunder.
We are going too far if we pick one approach and then attempt to persuade others that this one strategy is beneficial for everyone, in all situations, all of the time. Under some situations, even vegetables and green tea should be avoided.
So here’s my greatest dietary advice: Stick to best practices if you’re just getting started. Stick to the guidelines. You may begin making changes after you are sure that you can consistently follow the best practices. Experiment. Make yourself into a scientific project. Decide what you like and don’t like. Find out what works and what doesn’t when it comes to marketing.
In the process, you’ll discover a lot about yourself. And if you do it correctly, you’ll have a great time doing it.
CJ: Your coaching staff works with thousands of individuals each year, as you stated. I assume people come to you to be better nude, among other things. While some may deny it, I know that many CrossFitters want to look better in their underwear.
Give me some advise on how to consume a portion for people who are more attractive when they are nude.
JB: Being attractive when nude is not as difficult as many people believe. In reality, there are probably just five critical considerations. And what about the rest? They’re simply a nuisance.
The first step in losing weight is to gradually decrease your calorie intake. To put it another way, you need to eat less.
Second, you must progressively increase your protein intake in order to retain muscle tissue. To put it another way, eat more lean beef, poultry, fish, or another lean vegetarian source. These foods aid in the acceleration of metabolism, the promotion of sensations of fullness, and the provision of essential amino acids.
Third, carbs should be progressively decreased to provide the proper circumstances for fat reduction. To put it another way, eat less sugars and carbohydrates, such as processed gainers. Consuming these items in excess may have a negative impact on blood circulation and hormone levels, resulting in fat accumulation.
Fourth, gradually increase your vegetable intake to ensure that you remain healthy during the procedure. To put it another way, start substituting green veggies for grains. This will provide you with extra fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
Fifth, you must progressively replace harmful fats with good fats in order to preserve your metabolism. You can speed up your metabolism and burn more fat than ever before by adding foods like olive oil, avocados, almonds, seeds, and fish oil to your diet.
That is all there is to it. It will be simple to appear better nude if you follow these methods regularly and combine them with a good workout regimen.
CJ: Dr. B., your suggestion is excellent. I’d want to call the interview to a close right now. Thank you for taking the time to teach us something new.
JB: Sure, no problem.
CJ: Where can readers find out more about you and your culinary philosophy?
JB: I’d love it if folks went to www.precisionnutrition.com and looked around.
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This is the blog of Jonathan Bailor. It is a continuation of the advice I gave in my first book, The Paleo Solution. It was the first blog I ever wrote, and I still update it and post new material every week. The focus is on my own personal experiences with living the Paleo lifestyle, and what I’ve learned from my own experiments and from my readers.. Read more about paleo dinner ideas and let us know what you think.
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- intermittent fasting for weight loss
- paleo meal prep
- paleo lunch ideas
- paleo diet recipes
- paleo dinner ideas
