Are all calories the same?

I hope you are having a great and healthy day.  After Thanksgiving last week I think we are all trying to get back on track with our diet programs.  We are just about finished with all of our leftovers.  I cannot wait to get rid of all this food (although it is delicious).  I thought I would put up a quick nutrition post for you to read through.

For years we have been told weight loss is simple.  Calories in vs. Calories out.  Basically if you eat least and move more you will lose weight.  Now I believe this for the most part is true.  If you, in general, just eat less than you usually do and move more you will probably lose some weight.  This formula may not work forever though.  You might have started a diet and lost some weight but then saw a plateau.  While this formula is a great start, we should look at what type of calories and food we are consuming to help us lose weight faster and stay healthier.

I found three studies from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that look at this topic.  Are all calories created equally?  Here is what they found.

In the first study, they followed subject for 5 years to see the relationship between the types of calories we consume and waist circumference.  We already know that increased waist circumference leads to a number of health related problems.  After 5 years they found that those who consumed a high protein diet (especially animal protein) saw a decrease in waist circumference.  Also those who's carb consumption was mainly fruits and vegetables.  There was an increase in waist circumference with those who consumed more refined grains, potatoes, vegetable fat, and alcohol from spirits.

In the next study they compared four popular diet programs.  They used Atkins for a low carb diet, the LEARN program for low fat, high carb, and exercise, the Ornish diet for a low fat diet, and the Zone diet for balanced macro nutrients of 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat.  All diets allowed the same number of calories, just different ratios of macronutritients.  For all programs there was about a 500cal decrease in total calories for the day.  They found that all participants reduced fat over an 8 weeks period.  The interesting part of this study was that they found each program resulted in deficiencies in critical vitamins and minerals.  Below are the defeciencies for each plan:

Atkins- Thiamin, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Iron, and Magnesium
LEARN- Vitamin E, Thiamine, Magnesium
Ornish- Vitamin E, B-12, and Zinc
Zone- Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, and Vitamin C

So this brings up a completely different issue that changing what type of calories we eat leads to vitamin and mineral deficiencies.  If you know you have a problem with any of the above already you will want to avoid these specific diet plans.

And our final study, simply compared a high protein vs a high fat diet using the same overall calories.  In this study they found that the high protein diet resulted in greater fat loss, greater decrease in triglyceride levels, LDL, HDL, glucose levels, insulin, free fatty acids, and C-reactive proteins.  B-12 also increased while those following a high fat diet saw a decrease in B-12.  The high protein diet also resulted in better bone regeneration.

So what these studies show us that decreasing your calories overall will probably result in some weight loss, but we are not seeing the whole picture.  Manipulating the amount of fat, carbs, and proteins you are consuming will also make a huge difference in weight and overall health.  My main recommendations would be to consume a variety of whole foods, avoid refine grains, and increase Omega 3 consumption.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

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

3 Things to help with back pain

You may have heard a stat that went something like, "80% of all people suffer from at least one episode of back pain that will effect their daily activities for at least one week."  I'm actually not sure where this stat came from, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is an underestimate.  I don't know many people that have never had some sort of back issue at some point in their life. 

I'm no different.  While my back pain is pretty rare I have still had my share of issues occur.  Even if you are in great shape things can still happen.  When we look at our average day, we sit most of the time, at our desk, driving, watching tv....While in this seated position, we are putting our lumbar spine into a flexed or rounded position.  Upon standing it is likely that this position will stick.  Then we move around or exercise and get hurt because our backs were in a high risk position. 

So if you injured your back what should you do about it?  Honestly, the easiest answer is go to the doctor to see what is going on.  I know that is not the answer you are looking for, but don't worry I have some other things you can do (but still see a professional about it will save you a lot of time and pain). 

When back issues come up I will get the question, "what is the best stretch I can do for my back?"  Unfortunately there isn't a back stretch that will really help you out.  In fact, you don't want to do much low back stretching.  When we look at the lumbar spine as a joint, it's main responsibility is stability.  We do not want movement to occur at our lower backs, pretty much ever.  So if you stretch this area out, you are gaining more mobility there.  So while the stretch might feel good while you are doing it, afterwards you have increased range of motion at a place we really do not want it. 

So instead of giving you back stretches to help with your back pain or to help prevent it from occuring, here are three things you SHOULD do to help out that busted up lower back:

1.  Improve Hip Mobility

I mentioned that the lower back was a stability joint so we need it to be stable.  The hips, on the other hand, are very mobile.  Or at least they are suppose to be.  Many times when we lose hip mobility from sitting too much or lack of exercise, we make up for it by putting the back under higher strains and create movement where it should not occur.  So work on improving your hip mobility with a few stretches.  Below are a few videos of some of my favorites.

2.  Improve Thoracic Spine Mobility

This is for the same reason listed above for the hips.  The thoracic spine, or upper back, should be  a mobile joint.  Try some of these exercises below to help improve thoracic mobility.

3.  Improve Core Stability

So we improved our joints that need to be mobile, so now we need to improve strength and endurance at our stable joint of the lumber spine.  For these exercises we want to see the lumber spine neutral and no movement occur at the lower back.  Even if the arms and legs are moving we really have to focus on bracing the core and prevent ANY movement from taking place at the lower back.  Again here are some of my favorites for this.

So there you have it.  If you have back is or have had some in the past, try improving these three things instead of trying to stretch out your low back.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

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