Like I said, your body won’t lie. Experiment. Listen to your body. The answers are inside you.
Dr. Philip Goglia
Nutritionist
Performance Fitness Concepts
One of the most important things I do with my clients is to teach them the difference between the foods that cause inflammation and the foods that don’t. Ultimately the foods that promote inflammation will promote fat hoarding, and they will also age you more rapidly. I work with a lot of elite athletes, who are of course concerned about performance, and all of them stay away from inflammatory foods, but the health benefits apply to everyone. Which are the inflammatory foods? Yeast, mold, refined sugars, gluten, and ultimately alcohol.
When we say stay away from yeast, mold, refined sugars, and gluten, we’re really telling you to stay away from carbohydrates—bread, muffins, bagels, and basically almost any of those fluffy baked goods. But if you’re still determined to consume carbs, and there’s no need to be afraid of them, go for the good ones: potatoes, rice, yams, oatmeal, oat flakes, oat puffs. They are rich in fiber, and some of them are filled with vitamins and minerals.
If you really want a sandwich, use one of those soft spinach-based or tomato-based burrito-style wraps, or even a pita, which is a low-yeast unleavened bread. It has one ingredient, and that’s what you want.
Carbs are actually a good source of energy, and we all need them, but there is no reason to consume them at night. At night, stick to protein and vegetables, nothing else. Protein is meat with eyes: chicken, fish, steak, turkey. Eggs are a good source of protein, too. Fish is especially good at night because the fatty acids help reduce inflammation while you sleep. Nuts are good, too, but that’s another category. (They have a higher fat-to-protein ratio than meat or fish and are a good energy source.) But absolutely no carbs at night. You don’t want energy at night—after all, you’re not going to be running a marathon—you want sleep. And when you’re in deep sleep, you burn even more fat.
And vegetables are great. They promote digestion. You can’t have too many vegetables.
Now we get to the question of alcohol. Like carbs, alcohol can be multi-ingredient or single-ingredient. Single-ingredient alcohols include vodka or tequila, which are made from potato, rye, grain, or agave. These are distilled, and the sugars have been removed. Wine and beer, on the other hand, are multi-ingredient alcohols, and they contain yeast, mold, and gluten. If you can stay away from them, great. If not, the rule of thumb is to drink three glasses of water for every glass of wine or beer to disperse the sugar and mold.
The other big inflammatory item in food is dairy. We always say dairy is like eating moderately hard phlegm, and when we describe it that way to our clients, it totally grosses them out. We say, “Look, dairy is for babies. We’re the only animals in the entire animal kingdom that ingest dairy after babyhood. No one else does it but us.” If you’re asthmatic, you don’t consume dairy—or you shouldn’t, anyway. It inhibits oxygen utilization. It’s highly inflammatory. It elevates triglyceride levels. There’s nothing in dairy that’s beneficial. If you lined up twenty of the best athletes in the world and said, “Hey, I came here to take your dairy order,” guess what would happen? You wouldn’t get a single order because any athlete that’s concerned about performance, oxygen utilization, and digestion isn’t going to go anywhere near dairy. It’s especially bad for digestion. Irritable bowel syndrome, GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease)—these have a direct relationship with dairy. As soon as we eliminate dairy from our patients’ diets, those ailments disappear.
The one thing that really helps manage inflammation, the one truly magical element, is water. The general rule for water consumption is half an ounce of water for one pound of body weight, but many athletes will consume twice that amount.
The purpose of water—and the definition of water is that fish must be able to swim in it—is to regulate your temperature. If your water is low, your body can’t effectively regulate your temperature, and it perceives that as trauma. At that point your body will start to hoard fat underneath your skin to act as a form of insulation and to help control your temperature, and this is not what you want. That’s why water is so critical, because water really runs the show. I know people who have lost five or six pounds in a week simply by drinking more water. It not only controls you temperature but improves your digestion and helps get the toxins out of your system.
You have to teach yourself to drink water even when you’re not thirsty. Start every morning with a big glass of water, and you’ll feel the difference in a matter of days. Water releases fat as an energy source, so when you’re properly hydrated you don’t need fat to control your body temperature. Water thus helps you lose weight.
If you want to get into shape, good, healthy food is as important, if not more important, than exercise. And if you get hungry between meals, it’s okay to snack, but keep it healthy. Fruit is good. So are nut butters, especially almond butter, but in reasonable amounts: A tablespoon should do you.
I don’t believe in diets. I believe in eating right. If you want to be healthy, treat your body well and it will reward you in ways you never imagined. Make the commitment. It’s the only body you’ve got.
Of course, when you find out what your body responds to, don’t go crazy. It’s not good to be a zealot about exercise, about food, or about anything else. And with food this becomes very dangerous: The things you force yourself to avoid become that much more attractive—that whole forbidden-fruit thing again. Honestly, don’t get too extreme because that’s the road to failure. If exercise is torture, you won’t do it. And dieting is fine, but strict, overzealous dieting is also a form of torture, and at some point you’re going to break down and get in your car and race to the grocery store for a pint (or two) of Tahitian vanilla ice cream.
If there’s something in your fridge you can’t resist, get rid of it. It stands to reason that you have to make a trip to the grocery store in the middle of the night for a certain snack, there’s a good chance you won’t do it. I’m obsessed with cheese, so there’s no cheese in my fridge because I know myself, and I can see myself standing in front of the open fridge, chowing down. On the other hand, my house has plenty of giant cookie jars full of treats for my nieces and nephews, and I’m not at all tempted by cookies, so they can stay. So it’s actually very simple: Don’t keep something you really can’t resist around. And don’t pull that old trick where you stash the chocolate truffles out of sight on the top shelf of your pantry, just so you can pretend they aren’t there, because you know they are and pretty soon they’re going to be calling your name.
I know this from personal experience, LOL. Cut the cord!
Are You Really Truly Hungry?
Another food-related issue, and it’s a big one, is hunger. Food and hunger are very closely related, of course, but most of us tend to eat when we’re not hungry, and to keep eating long after we’ve had our fill.
I love pita chips and hummus. This combination is a guilty pleasure for me. I love the taste and the crunch. I could sit on the couch in front of the TV for hours, inhaling and enjoying that lovely crunch, and I’ve been known to do so, often. Just now, thinking about pita chips and hummus, I get hungry. And this is not even real hunger; it’s about the comfort of the crunch. I love food with texture. Food that talks back! I love sushi, but it has to be on crispy rice. I guess I love hearing my food. Crazy, huh?
I used to eat in bed, too, but I stopped. I would lie there mindlessly eating like a hungry princess, and I felt so regal I wouldn’t stop. Now I try to limit myself; what was once a habit has become an occasional treat. Mostly I eat at a table, my kitchen counter, or a restaurant.
Did you know that certain colors may influence your appetite? For example, a red plate is said to increase your appetite, while darker-colored plates might actually help suppress it. The color of your kitchen might influence your eating, too. Insane, right? Red, orange, and yellow are said to stimulate the appetite, s
o paint those walls. (Ever notice the bright colors at your favorite eatery? Guess why?) Try the cool colors—white, baby blue, mint green. You’re not going to see any of those colors in a fast-food place because those crafty people have done their research and want you to eat more!
And I try to eat slowly. This is a BIG one because my mother is a very fast eater, and I learned to eat fast from her. But I taught myself to slow down, to really taste what I was eating. We don’t realize how fast we tend to eat, and in situations that make us hurry—in the car, between errands, during a work break. Take your time with food; nourish yourself with love. It makes the experience so much more pleasurable, and you end up eating less.
We may think there is willpower involved, but more likely . . . change is due to want power. Wanting the new addiction more than the old one. Wanting the new me in preference to the person I am now.
—George A. Sheehan
Another advantage is that you know when you’ve had enough and you stop. If you’re sitting there gorging, you’ll still be chowing down long after you’re full, and you end up paying the price. How many times have you lain in bed after a huge meal, moaning and berating yourself for overeating? Well, join the club.
And while we’re on the subject, restaurants are particularly dangerous. You sit down and the bread is calling to you, along with the olive oil. Then the salsa and chips arrive, with a big side of guacamole. Or the chef sends over a complimentary goat cheese concoction that’s impossible to resist. So you dig in. And the moment you hit the wine, all bets are off. It’s as if the wine is saying, “Loosen up. Have fun. Eat whatever you want—you deserve it.”
And don’t get me started on that whole low-fat craze! People were so excited about nonfat yogurts and fat-free chips and whatnot that when they first hit the market everyone got caught up in the revolution. As a result, people ate less fat but more carbs, and the carbs, particularly those with sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, were super fattening. Later, however, science began to figure out that fat wasn’t really all that bad for you. In fact, the fat in your food is helpful because it tells your body when you’ve had enough. With low-fat meals, this didn’t happen, and people found themselves eating far more low-fat food just to feel sated. It totally defeated the purpose. Plus the low-fat stuff didn’t taste as good. So what do I do? I eat the good stuff, but I eat less of it, both because I know I need less and because I’ve become a more conscious eater.
Be especially careful about those low-fat options when you’re eating at restaurants. Many chains have jumped on the low-carb bandwagon, but low-carb doesn’t mean low-cal. Low-carb meals are often packed with fat.
The other restaurant problem is ordering. When you arrive, you’re hungry, or you’re supposed to be hungry, and everything on the menu looks good. So you order too much, and by the time your main course arrives, you’re full. But since it’s already in front of you, looking pretty, with your name on it, you don’t want to be rude. So you eat it. And you keep eating until it’s gone.
The message: Order less, always. If you’re still hungry, you can steal from the plates of other people in your party.
It really boils down to three simple options. One, don’t eat all the bread and junk they put on the table, even if you’re hungry, and even if everyone else is digging in. Two, don’t order an appetizer. At most, agree to share an appetizer with someone else, but make sure they put the plate in front of the other person. And three, don’t feel obligated to finish your main course. In fact, there’s usually enough in any restaurant meal for at least two portions. Make a conscious effort to divide it into two before you start and take the leftover half home for lunch the next day.
Not that complicated, right? Order less. Slow down. Be mindful. You’ll eat less and enjoy it more. I know I do. My nacho days are behind me. I am serious about this one. It has made a huge difference in my life.
Clean Food, Healthy Body
This brings me to another issue, which I find totally fascinating. I read somewhere that people in Europe tend to be much more interested in food than most of us here in America, but that somehow they have far less of a problem with obesity and poor health. This sounds like a contradiction, but it makes perfect sense. If you care about what you eat, you tend to eat more carefully.
When I was in Paris for Kim and Kanye’s wedding, for example, we never stopped celebrating, and in fact it felt like we were eating around the clock. But I didn’t gain a single pound. Later, looking back, I realized that in the course of the entire trip I didn’t eat any processed foods. I found out that just about everything we were served was organic or had come from local farms, and it made a huge difference. The food tasted cleaner because it was cleaner, and it really got me thinking about this whole slow-food, farm-to-table business.
Unfortunately, here in America we’re mostly about speed and efficiency; everything is go-go-go. That’s why chickens in this country reach maturity in a week, with a little help from steroids, why cows get antibiotics, and why most farmers still spray their crops. But none of that stuff is good for us, and we need to start becoming more aware of what we’re putting into our bodies.
Now, admittedly, if you start paying more attention to your food, you’re going to find that you pay more for the good stuff. Free-range chickens are more expensive to raise. Ditto with grass-fed beef. Ditto with organic fruits and vegetables. But they are definitely worth the extra money, and because the food is richer and denser, you’re going to find that you will eat less.
Farmers’ markets are also good places to find healthy food. Here again, of course, you’re going to pay a little more, but it’s really worth it. Farmers’ markets are about good local food, and that beats most of the stuff at your local supermarket. On the other hand, many of the big chains are beginning to get into organics, and competition might actually bring the prices down.
Being mindful when you’re shopping for food is definitely the way to go. There are a lot of things in life that are beyond our control, but choosing healthy food isn’t one of them.
We can use decision-making to choose the habits we want to form, use willpower to get the habit started, then—and this is the best part—we can allow the extraordinary power of habit to take over. At that point, we’re free from the need to decide and the need to use willpower.
—Gretchen Rubin
The food you buy at the farmers’ market is seasonal. It is fresh and delicious and reflects the truest flavors. Shopping and cooking from farmer’s markets helps you reconnect with the cycle of the seasons. As you look forward to squash in spring, savor sweet corn in summer, and bake sweet potatoes in autumn, you reconnect with the earth, the weather, and the turning of the year.
Did you know that food in the United States travels an average of 1,500 miles to get to your plate? All that shipping uses up lots of nonrenewable resources (especially fossil fuels), contributes to pollution, and creates tons of trash with all that extra packaging. Instead of polluting the environment, let’s pay a little more at the famers’ market and reap the rewards: healthier bodies, cleaner air.
When I started becoming more conscious about food, I used to keep freshly chopped fruit in the fridge. I’d buy it at my local supermarket, and I loved the fact that it stayed fresh for days. Then one night Kourtney came over and looked in my fridge and saw the fruit, which had been there for several days. “Do you know why that fruit looks fresh?” she asked, then answered her own question: “Because at the supermarket, they cut it up and immediately put preservatives on it.” I couldn’t believe it! I had never thought of that. But she was right. If you buy an apple at the farmers’ market, it’ll start turning brown shortly after you cut it. That’s a good apple. It’s real and untreated. But if your sliced apples and tomatoes stay fresh for days on end, you know they’ve been treated, and you should start shopping elsewhere. As a result of that exchange with Kourtney, I now buy my fruit whole and cut it up myself. And I get all my vegetables at the famers’ market. S
mall price to pay for good health. Taking a shortcut—buying a quart of precut fruit at the supermarket—was damaging to my health. And seriously, how much energy does it take to slice your own fricking apple? Knowledge is power, people.
The Joy of Cooking
As I became more interested in food and good nutrition, I began to cook more. Sundays are a big cooking day for me, and I always have friends and family over, but I have to admit that I don’t always cook the healthiest food. People love my breaded chicken, so I make that. And I eat it, too. (I told you: Don’t be a zealot.) To balance things out, I always make nice salads and tons of fresh vegetables, so my guests have plenty of choices. Nobody leaves my house hungry. And if they think breaded chicken is the enemy, they have plenty of other options. But for me there’s a clear distinction: Food isn’t the enemy, as many women maintain; bad food is the enemy.
A couple of summers ago, the family decided it would be fun to take a cooking class together, and we signed up for a course at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village. We all went—Kim, Kourtney, my mom, even Bruce. It was a phenomenal class, focused mostly on basic, healthy cooking, and we all learned a lot—notably that home cooking should be about simplicity. If you want pheasant under glass, try a snooty restaurant.
I’m really happy I went. Since then, I’ve become a committed cook, and I am always looking for opportunities to learn new recipes. For example, if I go to a friend’s house and enjoy the meal, I ask him or her to come over and teach me how to make it. I ask for a list of exactly what I need to buy and have the ingredients ready and waiting.
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