Ice Cream And Cocaine

These two things have more in common then you might think. Foods like ice cream affect the reward center of the brain. When we eat ice cream, a signal in our brain goes off and we see higher dopamine activity. Dopamine is a hormone that basically makes us feel good. When you eat certain foods, like ice cream, you will experience higher dopamine activity and you will feel good. This is where emotional eating can become a problem.

So this sounds pretty good. If you are feeling down or in a bad mood, just eat some ice cream and you will feel better. There are a few problems with this. The first should be obvious. If you are eating ice cream every time you are bummed you will probably start packing on some pounds. There is also another very big problem with eating ice cream frequently.

A new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at the brain's response to frequent ice cream eating. Previous studies have shown that weight gain leads to reduced reward-region responsivity to high calorie food consumption and reduced dopamine receptors. What they found was that those that consumed ice cream on a frequent basis had a reduce response in the reward center of the brain.

This means that the more you eat ice cream the less you will feel good from it. So to respond to that you will start to increase the amount of ice cream you consume to try and boost your dopamine levels. You just won't get the same response anymore from the same amount of ice cream. Sound familiar? Yes, drugs like cocaine work the same way. This is why people get addicted and need to take more drugs and more often to get the same feeling from them. We essentially build a tolerance to drugs and ice cream.

I do think there is something you can do to help prevent this. Well, the easy answer is to just stay away from ice cream. But for some, myself included, this is not an option. I'm not a big dessert/sweets person but I cannot pass up ice cream. The main point of this study I feel is the idea of frequency. It is ok to indulge in ice cream or other treats, but it should not be every time. Just me, it is worth the wait. If this is something you do just every now and then you will not risk reducing your dopamine receptors and you will still get that good feeling from it. So instead of having ice cream as a staple at the grocery store, just stick to it for special occasions or maybe to reward yourself if you have been really good with your workouts and diet.


You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training
My Workout Creator

Newest Member of SDPT

Hey guys,

I know most of you have probably heard by now, but last Tuesday, Valentine's Day, we had our baby. His name is Davis James Deibler, weighed in at 7lbs 1oz and 19inches long. Davis and Mom
are doing great so far and it is well worth the lack of sleep. I don't normally post non fitness related blog articles, but I couldn't help myself. Plus a number of you have asked for some pictures so here you go.

Everything went great and I highly recommend to be as fit as possible before you get pregnant or pass this on to anyone you know who is thinking about it in the future. Here is a quick recap of the night. We went out to eat with Emily's parents who just got into town. Immediately after dinner her water broke. Luckily we didn't have too much to drink and we went home to grab our bags and off to the hospital. We got there around 11pm on Monday. Everything was going really well. No contractions yet so we were just playing the waiting game. To speed things along Emily tried a quick workout. I didn't think you would believe me so here is a short clip. She was doing squats before this and then finished with a moonwalk.




After a few hours she was put on medicine to help speed up the contractions and we got a few hours of sleep. Around 9am she was 5cm dilated and we were still just sitting and waiting. Let all of a sudden the contractions came hard and we then checked again a couple hours later she was at 10cm and ready to push.

The nurses got everything prepped for her and she started pushing. After two contractions she had to stop and wait for the doctors to come because she was pushing so well. When the doctor finally got there, which seemed liked hours, after around 4-5 contractions he was out (I will skip some of the details here).

The nurses and doctor were amazed with how quickly she got him out and kept commenting on how strong her core was. I took that as I huge compliment. Like I said before if you are thinking of going through this process get as strong as possible and you will save yourself a lot of pain.


He was a screamer when he first came.
But eventually settled down when he met Mommy.
He was definitely curious right from the start.
It looks like I found my replacement. Just need to get him trained and then I can retire.

5 Reasons Your Scales Not Moving

If you are like most people today, you might be recovering from a Superbowl party. It was a great game, especially is you are a Giants fan like myself. Now that the party is over you might be ready to hit the gym and get those extra pounds off. Or you might decide to go on a diet to make up for the chicken wings, alcohol, and guacamole.

Before you start whatever you are thinking about trying to lose weight, you might not want to use weight to determine how well it is going. I think this is one of the biggest mistakes people make when they go on a weight loss program. In fact you should not call it a weight loss program at all. You should be on a fat loss program. This is the problem with most diet programs out there. They focus on losing weight. When we just diet to lose weight you will lose fat, but you will also lose muscle, bone density, water, and your sanity. The scale is only one factor in the puzzle and it is not really a good one. I have seen people drop 2 or 3 dress sizes while only losing a pound or two on the scale. The important thing is to focus on is how you feel and how your clothes are fitting. Even if the scale isn't moving, it doesn't mean you are doing all the right things.

I know I could go on a rant all day about this but I will spare you the time. Instead here are 5 reasons why the scale isn't moving, because I know you are still going to check it anyway. Some are good and some are bad. Enjoy:

1. You have been on a low calorie diet for too long.

People tend to forget what low calorie diets can do to your body. Our body is a very efficient machine. As you decrease your calories ,your body starts to get rid of things that require more fuel so that it can survive with lower calorie intake. One of the first things it will get rid of is muscle. Muscle requires much more energy to function, which is exactly why the more muscle you have the more calories you burn and the easier it is to lose weight. When you drop your calories down for an extended period of time you will lose muscle among other things and your metabolism will start to slow down because of it. You body knows if you eat less it needs to conserve more. So if you been eating 1000-1200 calories for a while you will notice initially you will drop weight fast. Then it will start to slow down because your are not burning as many calories as you use to. Then you will plateau because you are no longer in a deficit. You then get frustrated and start eating more again because the program isn't working. But now you have a slower metabolism than when you started. This means you will gain weight faster and it will be much more difficult to lose it in the future.

2. You haven't given your program a REAL chance.

I know everyone, my clients included, want fast results. We watch shows like the Biggest Loser and see these people dropping hundreds of pounds like it is nothing. We need to remember that you are watching TV and can't believe everything you see. I'm not saying they aren't really losing the weight but you don't see everything that is happening on the program. We need to be realistic with our expectations. 1-2lbs a week may be fast for some people. I know that doesn't sound too exciting, but this is the truth. While it is possible to lose faster it is better to be conservative.

Avoid getting on the scale every day to see progress. It just is going to frustrate you. Instead find a pair of jeans that don't fit right now. I know you still have a pair somewhere. Once a week try them on. Stick with the program you are on for at least 2 months. If you can honestly say you have been doing everything the way you should be for two months and do not feel like the jeans are fitting better, you need to change up your program then.

3. You are losing fat but have gain muscle or bone density.

This is hopefully the case for most people. The goal of your workout/diet program is to gain some lean body mass and bone density while losing fat at the same time. When this happens you see very little change on the scale. This is fine though. Who cares what you weigh when you look better, fit into your clothes better, and get stronger. I know when we say build muscle it scares people out there, but do not be afraid of this. Make it as easy as possible to lose weight and gain some muscle. You are probably not training like a body builder (or eating like one) so you won't put on that much muscle mass. Most people will not train hard enough to gain more than a few pounds of muscle. If you have never done a strength training program before or if it has been a while since you have done one, you may notice you build more muscle than others initially but this will slow down.

4. You are not doing enough.

You may have made some changes to your diet and even your exercise program, but that may not be enough. Most people, when they look at the last few years they notice each year they have gained weight for the most part. Sometimes the initially changes you make are only stopping the bleeding. You are going in the right direction and it is a great start. You are at the point where you are no longer gaining weight. Again, I know that doesn't sound very appealing, but this is a good place to be. You are almost there. You just need to make a few more changes or additions to your program to start losing that weight.

5. You are not as good as you think you are.

If you watch House, you know that everyone lies. I find this to be pretty much right on. Everyone tells me how good they have been at certain meals, but always forget when they are bad. This is where food logs come in handy. Be honest with yourself. Are you really sticking to the program or are you cheating more often than you want to admit? When I have someone who is struggling to see changes, the first thing I often assume is that they are not being completely honest with me. Once we start to pry a little deeper we find that they were doing ok but had a few really bad days that are ruining the good ones. Just remember to be honest with yourself and have others look at what you are doing so you can get some feedback.

You Stay Healthy San Diego!

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training
My Workout Creator