“Can I gain weight while fasting?” – This is a common question I get from people who are curious about Eat Stop Eat.

The truth is, yes, you can gain weight even though you are fasting.

Fasting is an AMAZING way to create a calorie deficit, and as a result of this fact fasting is also a highly effective way to lose body fat, but it is NOT magic by any means.

As an example, lets say that you have been gaining weight for the last couple months (don’t freak out, remember..this is just an example).

Now, through a bunch of very scientific methods we figured out that you were overeating by about 30%.

In other words you were eating 30% more calories then you needed to stay weight stable.

Since you’ve been gaining weight you decide that its time to try out that “Eat Stop Eat” diet that everyone’s been raving about (shameless plug!).

After fasting twice a week, every week, for the last 7 weeks you are HORRIFIED to find that you GAINED 2 pounds.

How could this happen? Is that Brad Pilon a LIAR? Is fasting useless?…Or worse..did you RUIN your metabolism?

Well the answer may be much simpler than that.

It could be that the fasting worked INCREDIBLY well for you, and the two fasts a week managed to reduce the amount of calories you ate in a week by 22%.  A very impressive drop..but sadly it was not enough.

If you were previously overeating by 30% and fasting caused you to decrease the amount you ate by 22%, you are still left eating in a surplus (around 8% more than you need).

Like I said before, fasting isn’t magic. There is (an always will be) a need to eat responsibly when you do eat. This does not mean you have to avoid sugar or dairy products (see my last post) and to be honest, it doesn’t even mean you need to eat healthy (although I do recommend eating with variety). To lose weight, you just need to eat a little less.

This is where small changes come in to play.

If you are still overeating even though you are fasting then your best bet is to examine your diet to find small changes that you could make that will cause big results.

A couple small changes should get  you back down into a caloric deficit and help you lose weight.

It is EXTREMELY easy to overeat. Some people manage to overeat by thousands of calories every day. It is very difficult to under-eat by this amount for long periods of time – this is why I like fasting so much. But, if fasting isn’t getting you the results you want, then you still need to address the way you are eating even when you are not fasting.

Small changes…little reductions in intake…can have big results, ESPECIALLY if you are already fasting.

It may not be great Eat Stop Eat marketing, and it’s definitely not some MSN style cure all weight loss technique (ice water anyone?), but it’s honest and it’s true.

BP

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Back in 1995 the Buffalo Bills had just lost 4 Super Bowls in a row, Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise was on repeat on every FM radio station in North America and The Zone was just hitting book shelves.

The Zone was one of the first books to promote the need to ‘control’ insulin levels and keep them ‘normal’ a way to lose body fat. For the rest of the 90’s and even into the early 2000’s, having low insulin levels was thought of as the key to losing body fat.

It’s now 2009.

The Bills have never been back to the Super Bowl, Coolio is part of Celebrity Big Brother, and we’re now starting to figure out that ‘controlling’ insulin levels may not be the secret to fat loss that we once thought it was.

As it turns out, Growth Hormone may play an even bigger role in fat loss than we ever expected.

Check out this video to learn more about the role of GH in Fat Loss.

(VIDEO – Growth Hormone for Fat Loss)

BP

PS – Want a great way to naturally increase your growth hormone levels and increase your chances of weight loss success?…Get it HERE

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Variety.

To tell you the truth this was going to be the topic of my next book (it still might be), but it’s become so important lately that I need to share this with you RIGHT NOW.

Variety is the ‘the one word key’ to eating healthy.

The one word that DOES NOT mean healthy is:

Avoidance.

Yet this is where 99.99% of all of our nutrition recommendations come from…foods to avoid. Bad foods. Evil foods. Food that you should never EVER eat.

“At all costs, avoid caffeine, sugar, white potatoes, saturated fat, trans fats, artificial sweeteners , artificial colors, artificial flavors, bread(gluten), legumes, dairy and anything cooked.”

I’m sure you’ve read this before.

Scaremongering.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say it is dietary extremism masquerading as healthy eating. Plain and simple.

Despite what so many people are telling you, there are NO BAD FOODS.

As Pericles said,

“It is the dose that makes the poison”.

You can have 4 slices of pizza EVERY MONTH for the rest of your life and you will NOT decrease your health (In fact, many people would suggest you would be improving your health).

If you had 4 slices of pizza EVERY DAY for the rest of your life, this is when you have a problem.
But the problem might NOT be the pizza. It could be lack of the other foods.

Again – Variety…as much variety as you can fit into your life.

What’s that old saying? “Variety is the spice of life” well this should be your healthy eating credo.

You DO NOT NEED to avoid simple sugars in your diet. If you increase the VARIETY OF FOODS you eat, it becomes VERY DIFFICULT to overeat any one food. Sugar, fat, protein, salt, you name it.

Sadly, most of us have given up on variety and have replaced it with monotonous repetition (in the name of health of course).

In the next two days, count the different types of food you eat.

I’m guessing that you surprised at the number (I didn’t make it over 20!).

Yesterday I did a tour of my local grocery store.

As I grabbed a head of boston lettuce, these were the items to the left or right of the boston lettuce:

Anise, Rapini, Beets, Radicchio, Belgain endive, leeks, green kohlrabi, swiss chard, dandelion  bok choy.

Most of these are foods that I have not eaten in AT LEAST the last two months.

When I picked up my blueberries these were the items in that row that I have never tried:

Lychee nuts, ataulfo mango, red tamarillo, gooseberry.

NEVER. I have NEVER had these foods. What an absolute shame.

Even foods we have been led to believe are SUPER healthy fail in comparison to variety.

A breakfast of raw cashews, organic yogurt, and coconut flakes followed by a cup of Matcha green tea may sound SUPER HEALTHY, but without variety it fails.

A person who eats this type of breakfast every day for months on end would probably benefit greatly from the occasional breakfast of eggs and bacon, or oatmeal and blueberries…just something DIFFERENT.

Unfortunately this type of person would probably feel horrible after not having their normal breakfast, because they’ve been lead to believe that repetition equals dedication, and dedication equals healthy.

The bottom line is – To lose weight you need to eat less, and to improve your health you need to eat with more variety. I am really beginning to believe that everything else is just over hyped nutrition marketing.

BP

PS- Here are two simple tricks you can use to increase the variety in your diet-

1-    Next time you go to the grocery store, pick the item to the left of the item you would normally buy. (Instead of fresh basil I bought fresh arugula)

2-    Next time you go out to a restaurant pick the item below the item you would normally order.

PPS- Here is a super simple trick to help you eat less while enjoying the foods you eat ==> fasting for weight loss

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Here’s a great triceps exercise that I’ve been using to boost my triceps strength in my quest to hit 225 pounds on the standing shoulder press.

I’m not a kettle bell expert by any means, but using a bell does make this exercise a lot better (harder) then using a traditional dumbbell.

Be sure not to drop the kettlebell on your head!

BP

Awesome Triceps Exercise

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I had an amazing time at the first ever Turbulence Training Seminar. I met fantastic people (thank you for braving the weather!!) and we had some great conversations about metabolism and the secret to healthy eating… It was simply a great weekend – even with the snow and horrible driving conditions.

Now I am back home (at last) and I’m taking some tome to make the ULTIMATE PIZZA.

• Pizza shell
• Tomato sauce
• green onions
• sweet onions
• Fresh basil
• grape tomatoes
• sun dried tomatoes
• portobello mushrooms
• Red peppers
• Orange peppers
• dried cranberries
• crushed pecans
• almond slivers
• sage infused cheddar (AMAZING)
• Mozzarella cheese
• Goat Cheese Feta
• Chicken breasts
• Parmesan
• Oregano
• Red pepper flakes
• Olive oil

It turned out perfect and took under twenty minutes to make!

The Ultimate Pizza

BP

PS- The secret to eating healthy is not avoiding foods, or labelling foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. In fact, it’s one simple word (and no..not fasting)..the word is VARIETY. More on this later.

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The relationship we have with food is, and always will be, very complex. Every since we were little children we have been taught to associate both rewards and punishment with food.

Here is a quick thought for today:

“Find a way to reward the people in your life (including yourself) that doesn’t involve food’

And at the same time, don’t be afraid to celebrate with food.

At first glance, this may seem like a simple suggestion, but it is actually VERY difficult to do….There are very few things in life that people truly enjoy more than the instant gratification that comes with great tasting food.

However, if you can accomplish this then you create two unique positive benefits.

1) By not rewarding or punishing with food, you avoid creating ques for emotional eating, and

2) By using food for celebration you make what you are celebrating even MORE important..(after all, how exciting would a birthday be if you ate birthday cake every single day of the year??)

Now I know the line between a ‘Reward’ and a ‘Celebration’ can be a blurry one, so I’ll offer my definition:

Rewarding with food is literally when food IS the reward. Celebrating with food is when food is PART of the celebration.

Celebrating is also typically done with friends and family, whereas rewarding (or punishing) is more focused on the individual.

BP

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When we think of processed or refined foods we typically think of white sugar and white flour…foods that are currently defined as ‘bad for you’.

The current nutrition wisdom is that a diet high in processed and refined foods is bad for you, can decrease your health, and lead you to an early grave.

While it’s always fun to label something as the ‘Darth Vader’ of foods…let’s take a closer look and processed and refined foods.

A quick google search would tell you that processed foods are to be avoided AT ALL COSTS.

you will find statements like this:

The more a food is processed, the fewer nutrients remain. In some cases, additives or preservatives are added and can act as toxins in the body.

Wikipedia describes “processed food” as any food that is changed from its natural, raw state. And while this sounds ‘bad’ (funny how that happens), let’s take a look at 5 examples of EXTREMELY processed and refined foods:

1. Vitamin and Mineral Supplements
2. Protein powders
3. Fish oil
4. Powdered green drinks
5. Egg whites

I’m sure that we could argue about the degree to which these foods will benefit your health, however I am equally sure that we can agree that these foods are not completely bad for you, and will most likely NOT lead you to an early grave.

The truth is, processing has made the world’s food supply much safer to eat.

I live in southern Ontario, where 2008 was a particularly bad year that included a listeria outbreak, multiple salmonella outbreaks and an e. coli outbreak.

These outbreaks are typically prevented from well controlled food processing techniques.

Processing kills pathogens, and extends the shelf life of food. Processing even increases the bioavailability of some nutrients, such as lycopene, found in tomatoes.

The bottom line is that most of us could benefit from eating a little less sugar, and more fruits and vegetables. However, the hysteria building around the words ‘processed’ and ‘refined’ is unfounded, and is one more thing that we are being asked to obsess over in our already overly complicated world of nutrition advice.

Do your best to eat high quality foods, but be wary the extremist view of avoiding ALL processed or refined foods.

BP

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2008 was a great year for Eat Stop Eat.

Lots of people tried this way of life, and almost as many fell in love with its simplicity and effectiveness.

And, in 2008 I heard from a lot of people following Eat Stop Eat…

Almost 10,000 emails about Eat Stop Eat, and over 1,000 comments on this blog.

From all of these emails and comments, what I find the most interesting is the number one complaint I get about the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle:

“Do I really have to drink my coffee black??”

This is the biggest push back I get.

I tell people not to eat for 24 hours, to only go to the gym to build muscle, to avoid OCE eating, to avoid doing cardio (unless they enjoy it) and to drink calorie-free beverages like water and black coffee during their fasts…and it’s the black coffee that get people all riled up!

Go Figure.

Interestingly this causes me to ask the following question:

“If it is the caffeine in coffee that we are addicted to…why do we seem to be much more addicted to the cream and sugar than the actual caffeine?”

If the recommendation in Eat Stop Eat was to drink decaf coffee, and that you could have cream and sugar..I doubt anyone would complain.

So here’s my message for today. You are allowed to have vices…we all have them (mine are coffee and ice cream).

We are also allowed to have quirks (I drink apple juice out of a cappuccino cup every morning..it makes me feel sophisticated).

The important thing is to recognize the true reason behind our vices and our quirks and to make sure they don’t lead to overeating.

Eat in a way that you enjoy..but be honest with yourself about the reasons behind your vices and quirks.

This one simple step can help you identify the little things in  your life that cause you to overeat.

BP

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I don’t think I have ever found more compelling evidence of the rampant nutrition confusion that the CNN website.

Specifically in an QnA in their Diet and Health section the following question was asked:

Is it true that when your metabolism slows down (e.g. from exercise, age, etc.), adding calories proportionally will “kick-start” it back to prior fat-burning levels? In my case, my rate slowed from 2,000 to 1,500, and the gym’s nutritionist recommended an increase in calories from 1,600 to 1,900. Thank you.

This question was answered by Dr. Melina Jampolis.

Now don’t I agree with Dr. Jampolis’s answer 100%, (and I REALLY dislike the use of the term ‘metabolism’ in place of metabolic rate), and I suspect that Dr. Jampolis had the same immediate thought that I did – How did a gym measure your metabolic rate??

But, considering she is an MD, and is giving advice on CNN, and has to consider the millions of people that are reading her advice, and the limited amount of information she was given, I think she did very well in giving some sort of action plan.

Her reasoning may have been a bit…much, but the actual suggestions aren’t too crazy.

(Remember, more than likely a junior writer wrote the answer and Dr. Jampolis probably signed off on it)

So this isn’t my example of nutrition confusion.

For that you have to go to the comments section AFTER the article.

It says there are 31 comments, but there have to be over 100.

In the comments people are ALL OVER THE PLACE.

Here are a couple quotes:

interval based weight training burns about 900% more calories than cardio for the same amount of time.

Old-fashioned oatmeal in the morning is a GREAT way to get your metabolism going

Eat as much as you want, but eat a vegan diet (no eggs, dairy, or meat). You CAN’T get fat, it’s impossible, and incredibily healthy

It has been proven than 6 smaller meals is more productive.

It is important to consume more than 75% of your daily calorie intake before 1pm

Do away with all processed starches including white bread and rice, high fructose corn syrup, and any processed sugar-based food for EVER!

I am an NSCA-CPT. This Dr. is old school way of thinking. Geez.. it amazes me the amount of bad information out there.

Granted there was the occasional post that made sense. But the bottom line is this – in my opinion, this is a perfect example of just how confused we are about nutrition.

And you can’t blame the people posting. Not at all. The vast majority of them have no background in nutrition. They are simply trying to convey what they have been told. It is the people marketing OCE, the magazines and their nutrition tidbits, the websites and their fanatical craze for nutrition information, these are the true culprits.

It is getting to the point where I think the very best thing you could do for your health is to SEVERELY limit your intake of ‘health information’. The less of this garbage your read, the better off you will be.

The marketing of health trends and health food is very similar to the marketing of junk food…they both have the goal of convincing you to CONSUME something.

The more rules, the more magic ingredients, the more foods you should avoid, the less likely the advice will help.

BP

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Here’s a fun experiment for all you research junkies.

If anyone has ever come across a research study that used ANY form of diet manipulation or weight training (that doesn’t involve the use of steroids) AND where the subjects gained MORE than 10 pounds (4.5 kilos) of LEAN MASS over ANY time frame…could you please send me the reference.

Happy hunting

BP

PS – The subjects have to be human, and not children.

PPS – I’ll post if I find anything

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