Those of you that know me, I am not a fan of diet crazes. Too often we demonize one nutrient and ignore the bigger picture. So I had to smile a few months back when an article in the BBC online noted the diet of the average person living in the Middle Ages.

These heavy laboring peasants would have done 12 hours of heavy labor per day and consumed 3500-4000 kcals per day. Half of the calories would be from 2 loves of bread, 3 pints of bear and 8 oz of meat. The other ½ would be in the form of vegetables (turnips, beans, parsnips to name a few). In other words a low-fat, vegetable rich diet and noticeably lacking in refined sugars. Noticeably lacking from their health conditions were coronary heart disease and diabetes.

Granted their overall calories are far higher then our modern needs, but they were appropriate for their activity demands. I find it funny that only in recent years has the industry that has sprung up around fad diets and nutrition start to turn away from good food bad food and back to what dieticians and our history of eating has been saying for years. Eating a low-fat, vegetable rich diet and activity is the recipe for health.

This is the philosophy at Avatar where we address diet, nutrition, and exercise from and educated vantage point and with common sense. We work hard with our clients to make certain that what they eat is real food that fits within and compliments their lifestyle.

I am too much of a fan of pasta and bread to ever consider demonizing carbs. Whoever said that man can not live on bread alone did not have a good baker.

How bread, something that for over 6,000 has been a staple of our diet, can be deemed the reason for obesity is beyond reason and ignores our over-eating and sedentary lifestyle. In fact may traditional diet including Italian, Japanese and Chinese, are high in carbs with foods like grains, rice and vegetable compose the majority of the calories consumed. And in stark contrast Japan traditionally has some of the lowest rates of obesity, heart disease, cancer and diabetes in the world.

High protein diets eliminate several foods like fruits, cereals, breads, grains, starches, backed goods, dairy products, starchy vegetables and sweets. In addition the foods that it allows, meats and fat, are very complex and stay take up to 4 times as long to brake down in the initial digestive process. In essence, people take away most food that is available (eat less) and consume food that leaves the feeling full longer (eat less). In fact, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine 2003, people on high protein low cab diets consume 1200-1300 kcals a day. Considering an active person needs 1500-2000 kcals a day on average, no wonder people loose weight. Its not the carbs, it’s the calories!

What gets people initially hooked, as with many diets, is the immediate loss of weight. This loss is taken as ‘proof’ that the diet works. But, this weight loss isn’t coking from a reduction in body fat rather it coming from water weight. Moreover, consuming a high protein high fat diet contradicts years of studies that have demonstrated that significant correlation between diets high in saturated fats and increased heat disease (1,2) and that diets abundant in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, in other words having the overwhelming majority of calories coming from carbohydrates, may reverse risks of CHD (coronary heart disease).

Long-term and healthy weight management requires sensible goals and a commitment to make realistic lifestyle changes and you should consult your physician prior to starting any weight modification program or new exercise routine.

A lifestyle based on healthy eating and regular physical activity is a recipe for success. This is what we strive for at Avatar with out personalized nutrition programs and personal training At Avatar our staff seamlessly blends Yoga, kettlebells, Pilates, Gyrokinesis®, Gyrotonic® and resistance training in all of our personal training. Using equipment that adapts to your body and training you with the knowledge of how to effectively and safely change your body and your lifestyle.

When you are ready to see why Avatar is the proud winner of the Best in Cities Personal Training by Citysearch.com and why our clients have such success contact Avatar at info@avatartrainingstudio.com to schedule a complimentary consultation.

1. Amercian Heart Association
2. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 

The original grapefruit diet begin the 1930’s, surged to popularity in the 70’s and is now resurfacing; an article in the February 7^th , 1932 New York Times titled ‘American Fruit in Demand. Belgian Women take Especially to the Grapefruit Diet’ shows just how long this fad has been around. It is, a pure fad diet; based upon assumptions and not on solid scientific fat.

This diet claims that grapefruit contains a special fat-burning enzyme, activated when you eat half a grapefruit for each meal, along with small amounts of other food that will aid in weight loss. Most diet recommends a drastic reduction in consumption of food. Candidly this has for more to do to weight loss then any magical properties grapefruit may have.

In short there is no scientific basis to the claim that grapefruit contains a special fat-burning enzyme.

Aforementioned, most versions of the diet have the person consume 800-1000 kcals a day (including grapefruit). If you consider that the average person needs 1500-2000 kcals a day and a normal calorically restricted diet is 1200-1300 Kcal, its no wonder people loose weight.

Moreover, there is a danger as the reduction in calories may not be nutritional balanced. Starving your body of needed macro and micro nutrients; leaving you nutritionally insolvent. Also, depending on the diet and the individual, too drastic of a reduction of in ones daily total kcal’s can lead to the metabolism actually slowing down.

Grapefruit is a wonderful food and part of a balanced diet. But it is not a weight loss wonder.

Long-term and healthy weight management requires sensible goals and a commitment to make realistic lifestyle changes and you should consult your physician prior to starting any weight modification program or new exercise routine.

A lifestyle based on healthy eating and regular physical activity is a recipe for success. This is what we strive for at Avatar with out personalized nutrition programs and personal training

At Avatar our staff seamlessly blends on all following modalities Yoga, kettlebells, Pilates, Gyrokinesis®, Gyrotonic® and resistance training in all of our personal training. Using equipment that adapts to your body and training you with the knowledge of how to effectively and safely change your body and your lifestyle.

When you are ready to see why Avatar is the proud winner of the Best in Cities Personal Training by Citysearch.com and why our clients have such success contact Avatar at info@avatartrainingstudio.com  to schedule a complimentary consultation.