You need to understand – I love calling companies out on their deceptive practices. As such, I flipped the jar around to look at the nutrition label, wondering how they managed to squeeze 1/3 of the sugar out of said nut goo. The answer? They didn’t. Not technically. Here’s an example of what they did, provided to you in town-crier format:

“I’ve created the world’s lowest fat Pizza! Come eat it! It has 87.5% less fat…it’s true! This magical pizza is called…one slice.”

Above: Label for Peter Pan Whipped

Here’s how whipping a food makes it lower in any single category: it’s adds microscopic air bubbles to it, thus increasing its volume and lowering its density. Whipped Peter Pan contains 1/3 less sugar because it contains 1/4 less peanut butter per tablespoon. Peanut butter contains sugar; eat less of it, you thusly eat less sugar. I’ve heard they are coming out with a fat-free version…an empty jar. Peter Pan also advertises that whipped peanut butter has 25% less calories than regular…again, because each serving contains 25% LESS PEANUT BUTTER. It’s so stupid it blows my mind, how we advertise the obvious as a virtue. This 12-pack of beer contains 50% less alcohol than a 24-pack! Huzzah!

Regular Peter Pan Label

You may be asking yourself, “self, if the whipped version contains 1/4 less peanut butter per serving (24g vs. 32g), but yet 1/3 less sugar, didn’t they actually reduce the sugar content, since the fractions don’t add up?” The answer is probably not. Nutrition labels round up or down to the nearest whole gram. So, it’s likely that Peter Pan original contains 3.2 grams of sugar, which they round down to 3, and the whipped variety probably contains 2.4 grams of sugar, which they also round down to 2. Thus, a 1/4 reduction can be transformed into a 1/3 reduction because of the rounding. That’s probably the case here.

And the kicker to all this deception? You pay MORE for the whipped version because they sell you more air. Marketing is awesome; tricking dumb people into paying more for stuff. Unless, of course, you prefer the taste of whipped peanut butter to regular, in which case you’re choosing for a completely non-caloric reason.

That’s all. I’m tired of writing the words “peanut butter.” Go home.

Basically, the problem that we are addressing with this challenge is “little person syndrome,” otherwise known as “Hey, put on some damn weight.” I have some very strong kids working out with me, but they just aren’t going to apply the force they need to the baseball, softball or volleyball without some added muscle mass. There’s a lot to be said for being strong, but when it comes down to it, Force = Mass x Velocity. You can tell me that Tim Lincecum throws gas all you want, but 99% of guys his size simply will never be able to produce the power that he does from his little frame. Most big leaguers…BIG.

Homemade quesadillas courtesy of my favorite Pilates instructor

Anyway, the answer to all of this is pretty simple: Train really hard at a high volume and eat even harder. Problem is, most thin people think they eat enough, even that they eat more than the regular Joe. They’re either ignorant, liars, or both. Usually both.

I have a crazy metabolism, eat a ton of food and work out really hard. It’s easy for me to shed and/or gain weight -thanks, Mom & Dad. But, ANYONE can gain weight if they really want to, and really take an introspective look at what they eat, and what people who really get big and strong eat. There’s a discrepancy when these little folks really look into it. I had a teammate recently who was super negative, and I couldn’t stand being around him; no one could. One thing he loved talking about was how he could never gain weight – what bullshit it was that his genetics simply prevented him from doing so. He told me how he ate 6 meals a day just to keep his weight where it was. I rolled my eyes.

So, being the asshole that I am, I watched him eat intent on proving to at least myself that he was full of shit and needlessly negative on yet another topic. His meals were pitiful – a typical sandwich, side dish and a drink and he was full. Pansy.

Other, nicer people just don’t know how little they are actually eating. What seems like a lot to them just simply isn’t, and until you eat in front of them and emasculate their little, training-bra-wearing meal, they just won’t get it. Eating enough to gain serious weight is just as hard as any of your worst workouts.

Eating is THAT tough because if you want to grow, you have to force more down, and not stop when you’re really, really full. It’s when your eyes roll back in your head, and your chewing slows to a useless, cow-cud pace that you know you’re on the right track. Even then, keep going. One more forkful.

One strategy is eating easily edible foods when you need calories the most, such as right after your workout. Since a great post-workout Macronutrient ratio is 4:1 carbs to protein, I eat the following:

1. 30 gram Whey Protein Shake
2. Mixing bowl or large tupperware filled to the brim with Cocoa Munchees (Meijer Brand Cocoa Puffs)
3. 2-3 Cups of 1% Milk poured over said Cocoa Munchies

I get about 3-4 post-workout cereal meals from a 2lb bag of cereal, which equates to 8-10oz of cereal per workout. That’s the equivalent of a almost a small box of cereal off the shelf. You know – there’s a little box of Cap’n Crunch, and a bigger box. The big box is usually 16-18 ounces, and the little ones are 12oz. Not really THAT little, though.

So basically I get about 1100 calories right there – about 300 from the milk, 100-120 from the protein shake, and 600-800 from the cereal, depending on if I can fit in a second helping. Eat 6 1000 calorie meals and baby, you’re in biznass. If you can eat 6000 calories and NOT grow, then either you’re Michael Phelps or you need to stop running so many marathons.

And anyway, 1000 calories isn’t all that big a deal – Americans throw down thousand calorie meals like it’s their job. Go to a fast food joint and you’d be lucky to make it out of there in triple digits.

Here’s an example of a pretty normal 1000 calorie meal:

1 10oz broiled chicken breast – 300 calories

1 Cup Broccoli – 80 calories, maybe

4 ounces (before cooking) Whole Wheat Pasta – 400 calories

3/4 Cup Spaghetti Sauce for said Pasta – 100 calories

Fresh Berries mixed in 1/2 Cup Vanilla Greek Yogurt (Dessert) – 150 calories

Total: 1030 Calories.

Sure, that’s not a small amount of food, but it’s not otherworldly, either. Duplicate that same, reasonably healthy meal 5 times in a day and you’re, again, in biznass.

Point is, it’s not really that tough to reach the 5000 calorie mark, which is what most male athletes will need to really pack on pounds when they’re lifting hard and playing a sport. Thin females can grow easily by getting into the high 3000s or better, due to their lower calorie requirements and starting weight.

Simple food: chicken, avocado, sesame oil, soy sauce and pepper.

But the best way to really get big is to not put down the fork. When I wrote the literature for our Fall Eating Challenge, I was sitting in my kitchen with a mixing bowl of Pasta tossed in Pesto sauce with broiled chicken. I ate the whole 13oz box over the course of about an hour. I was really full, but already on my way to a sweet, sweet victory. 1800 calories in one sitting is a nice dose of GROW.

Stop telling yourself and others that your metabolism is too fast, that you’re just naturally skinny and it’ll never change; you’re a liar, you’re naive, or you’re just not introspective enough. Look around at people bigger than you, stop worrying about supplements and just hold onto that fork for dear life.

I set foot on campus a lean 6’3″ 188 lbs and left for winter break a solid 210 lbs

So what is it about the college training and lifting environment that causes this explosion in size and strength, and why should these types of gains be limited to collegiate athletes? I’m here to tell you that even a novice high school athlete with little weightlifting experience can achieve an intermediate level of strength and transform their body with 3-4 months of proper training.

Programming/Strength Coach

A minor, but noteworthy factor in the “college bulking phenomenon” is the fact that college baseball teams typically have their own dedicated strength and conditioning coach. This is sometimes, but not always present in high school programs. In addition, S+C coaches at the collegiate level tend to place more emphasis on strength whereas high school S+C coaches focus more on the conditioning aspect of performance. Because high school programs don’t always have the time or resources (dedicated S+C coach, facilities), players are often left to lift on their own, if at all. For example, I attended a relatively small high school, where lifting was entirely optional.

Aside from time and resources, the actual quality of the programming given by the S+C coaches may vary. This is not to say that most colleges prescribe perfect, custom lifting programs – there is still generally a pretty basic and one-size-fits-all mentality here, but some guys will respond to simply being put on their first periodized, somewhat balanced program that emphasizes basic compound lifts as opposed to the pec flies, bicep curls and leg extensions that you see in a lot of high school programs.

Routine/Consistency

For some, routine and consistency is the difference maker in college. In high school, especially for multi-sport athletes, it can be tough to stick to a consistent training program throughout the offseason. Even for athletes focusing solely on baseball, it can be tough to be consistent when lifting is entirely optional according to your coach and teammates. Even more frustrating, no time is built in for maintaining strength during the long season. College teams have more control over their players, who often represent an investment in the form of a full or partial scholarship. There is therefore almost always increased structure and routine, which can translate into bigger and more consistent size and strength gains throughout the year.

Nutrition

Nutrition in college can be a double-edged sword. For those on a meal plan, prepared food is conveniently available most of the day. This virtually eliminates food preparation time and allows the athlete to spend their effort actually consuming all of the food that they need to eat. However, food options are often limited for athletes hoping to consume a relatively clean diet. It can be difficult to get adequate fruits and vegetables in your diet and with so little available time, fast food becomes a mainstay for many athletes.  Another difference when it comes to nutrition is that some collegiate coaches give their players personalized meal plans to follow. This does not mean that compliance is perfect (far from it, in most cases), but its establishes a little more structure in a player’s diet and gives them a goal to shoot for each day. While compliance is still an issue, the very fact that these athletes know what they should be eating gives them a step up on most high school athletes who pay little attention to this aspect of performance.

The X-Factor

The above list plays a very important role in the college “bulking phenomenon” but it leaves out the most important piece of all. What about guys like me, who made good progress in high school, but nothing like what I saw in my first few months of college? I had a strength coach my senior year of high school. Indeed, I made very good progress under Nick Tumminello with what I consider superior programming to what I’ve been following of late. I was able to come up with routines and be consistent with my training. I kept training logs and didn’t miss lifting sessions. For the most part I knew what my diet should look like and did a pretty good job of following it. I ate as much as it took for me to make progress, and when I plateaued, I stepped up my nutrition. Even though I was down 7-10 lbs after a long summer season, there’s no way I should have jumped up from 188lbs to 210lbs in 4 months (2.5 months, really. I didn’t gain any weight over the 6 week long fall ball season and neither did most players). At least, given my previous gains there shouldn’t have been any way. What changed? For me, the training environment played the most critical role of all. This is the X-factor that pushes people out of mediocre gains and into exceptional gains.

More specifically, the competition I was exposed to fueled my progress. I was thrown into a world where my strength and athleticism were average at best. I felt small and weak. I was put into the only mindset that allows for great progress – one of being uncomfortable, unsatisfied and challenged. I saw what I could be, all around me. I was surrounded by people striving for the same thing I was. There was sense of purpose, there was a sense of camaraderie, there was a sense of competition and there was a sense of urgency.

Competition is the key word here. It was the driving force behind all of our intensity, energy and enthusiasm. In high school I only really experienced competition in game situations. There was no competition within my team, and my roster spot and playing time was always guaranteed. Now I am surrounded by my competition all day, every day which drives me in a way I haven’t previously experienced.

You see, it’s not that people don’t try hard. A person may think they are giving everything they’ve got without knowing what is truly possible. This applies to anything in life. You may think you squat with intensity until you see somebody load 200lbs more than you on the bar, stagger into position and lift a weight, eyes and neck veins bulging that you wouldn’t have dared unrack, much less squat.

This is what true intensity looks like

You may think your 3,000 calories is as much as you can handle until you realize the guy next to you has managed to squeeze almost 5,000 calories into the same timeframe. The college training environment opens up a new world of potential and possibility. It causes mental barriers to crumble and helps to accelerate progress in the weight room and on the field.

“I eat a lot, I swear!”

What can high school players (or anyone) do to tap into some of these gains without actually being on a collegiate team? Assuming you already have a pretty solid understanding of the basics (programming, technique, nutrition, routine, etc.) here are a couple tips for accelerating your progress.

1.  Find at least one motivated training partner

This can be one of the hardest things to find, but one of the most valuable for your training. Find a way to make it happen. Ideally you find someone who is at or above your level. A training partner improves routine and consistency (you can’t skip a workout even if you want to because you’d be letting your buddy down) and adds some competition, which enhances intensity, energy and enthusiasm.

2. Only compare yourself to those at or above your level

If you’re in high school, chances are you don’t have the luxury of being surrounded by strong individuals, but the absolute last thing you can do is become content with your 225lb squat because nobody else in the gym can do more than 135lbs. We compare ourselves subconsciously to everyone around us, so it may take a dedicated effort to zone out those weak individuals around you and keep reminding yourself of players who are where you want to be. Satisfaction destroys progress. For example, I recently achieved my longtime goal of 210lbs bodyweight and made the mistake of being satisfied and feeling content. The result? My gains have ground to a stop in the past week or two and I’ve drifted away from the very mindset that got me this far in the first place.

How is this related to the article? Does it matter?

3.  Compete in everything you do.

This is what makes having a training partner so valuable, but there are plenty of people who have training partners and don’t compete with them. This doesn’t necessarily mean compete to see who can squat more weight that day. Training partners are rarely following the exact same routines or have the exact same strength levels. However, you can undoubtedly find ways to work competition into your training, especially in areas where you would otherwise struggle. For example, nutrition has always been my weak link. More specifically, my lifting progress almost always mirrors my caloric intake and how closely I’ve been sticking to my meal plan. This fall I chose two other players with similar goals and body types and we decided to compete to see who could gain 10 lbs first. This kind of competition is a win-win because it pushes everyone involved, even the losers, to work harder than they would have otherwise.

Conclusion:

There you have it: an explanation of why getting big and strong seems so much easier in a collegiate training environment, and three ways that you can start to tap into some of these freakish gains even if you’re still in high school.

**Ben Brewster is a college freshman at UMD and a friend of mine, one who has truly come to understand what pushing hard, training smart, and maximizing potential is all about. If he isn’t a Major Leaguer 5 or 10 years from now, you’ll likely find him revolutionizing the strength training industry.**  -Dan

What does your shopping cart look like?

If you’re like me, you have little to no willpower to resist eating the little desserts that occupy your cupboard. If there is chocolate, ice cream, cookies, hell, even marshmallows in my pantry I will eventually end up eating all of it. So, I try to shop as clean as I can to prevent that from happening in the first place. If I’m hungry and all I have to eat is healthy food, then I’m safe.

Also notice that there are very few packaged foods in my basket. Grape Nuts and taco seasoning are about the only processed foods I bought on this trip, and that’s a pretty standard process for me. I think the more you buy foods that will expire and come straight from the ground or the animal, the safer you are in your diet. I will be packing chicken breasts, walnuts, apples, bananas and grapefruits to take for my meals at work every day for the next week – it won’t require much prep work in the kitchen, nor will it require much added salt, sugar, or anything. At home I’ll be forced to eat what I buy, and at work I’ll be forced to eat what I pack. If I buy right, then I’ll be good to go.

If one of your new years resolutions is to eat healthier and/or lose weight, the grocery store is where you need to start.

The Red Death?

What’s The Problem?

Well, Craisins are sweetened – heavily. Check out this nutrition label for raw cranberries:

Raw Cranberries: High in fiber, low in everything else

And Here is the nutrition label for Craisins, which are dried, sweetened cranberries:

Dried, sweetened cranberries: much more nutritionally dense

Now, the first thing you should notice is the difference in nutritional density. Fruit, when dried, becomes a much more concentrated source of sugar, and as such provides more calories while providing less satiety – one reason I don’t recommend eating dried fruit.

The raw cranberries contain 13g of carbohydrate per 110 gram serving – roughly 10% by weight. The Craisins contain 33g of carbohydrate per 40 gram serving – roughly 80% by weight. That’s a huge difference.

Yet, the big problem is that raw cranberries are not palatable – they’re downright awful eaten raw. They are too tart and hard to chew through. Their texture improves when dried, but the tartness is still there – the reason you really can’t find unsweetened cranberries on the market today.

The Caviat

Here’s the thing, though: adding sugar to a food that is already high in fiber and nutrients may not completely ruin it. We just need to figure out it’s glycemic impact on your body.

The Glycemic Index

The glycemic index shows how the carbohydrate in a given food affects blood sugar on a 1-100 scale. Foods that cause blood sugar levels to rise rapidly are High GI (>70), and those that cause very low bumps in blood sugar are deemed low GI (<55). Foods can also be classified as Moderate GI (56-69), and in general, the lower the better.

Glycemic Load

This is a measure that takes into account the density of carbohydrate in terms of the total food. Think of it this way: to get 100 grams of carbohydrate from honey, you would only have to ingest about 100-120 grams of honey. Yet, if you wanted 100 grams of carbohydrate from carrots, you would have to eat pretty much a whole garden-full of the orange roots.

GI and GL differ in that GL takes into account the carbohydrate density of the food, whereas GI only measures how fast blood sugar is impacted by a standard 50gram dose of the carbohydrate in question. To measure the GI in apples, the tester will make a subject consume a portion of apples that contains 50 grams of carbohydrate, and compare that blood sugar change to the way 50 grams of pure sugar would affect the blood sugar. Make sense?

The Effect of Meals

Yet, the GI and GL fall short in real-world application because we tend to eat multiple foods at once, and rarely only consume one type of food with an otherwise empty stomach, as the GI an GL testing requires.

This is problematic because the contents of our stomach changes how quickly the nutrients within are absorbed. There are two main problems, according to Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism by Groff and Gropper.

1. Consuming fat with a meal slows the release of chyme, or partially digested food. Chyme is release into the small intestine for absorption, and so fat in the stomach means you’ll stay full longer, and food will be absorbed slower.
2. Dietary fiber, especially soluble fiber, results in a more viscous, gel-like environment in the stomach and small intestine. When nutrient molecules attempt to migrate through the membranes of the small intestine in this viscous environment, their journey is much more difficult and slow. This results in a slower, more even release of nutrients, like sugar, into the bloodstream.

What Does All of This Mean?

If you eat any food by itself, on an empty stomach, it will affect your blood sugar in the way as indicated in the GI or GL. But, if you eat it with other foods, especially those containing fat or dietary fiber, the impact of the whole meal will be affected. Think of it this way – if you took Craisins, almonds, and chicken breast, and mashed them up into one, then took the GI of that, you would get a completely different reading than for each individual food. This is the way your stomach experiences foods – as a heterogeneous mixture of a bunch of things with it’s own unique nutritional profile.

Back to Craisins

So, because your body doesn’t absorb foods individually when you eat things together, the different profiles of different foods affect how they all get absorbed. Such is the case with Craisins, which is a processed food in itself. Craisins contain:

1. Dried Cranberries
2. Sugar

I haven’t been able to find data on the GI or GL of Craisins. So, let’s think about Raisins. Raisins are a moderate GI food, ranging in the 60s usually, as they have a fairly high amount of sugar. They have much more sugar by weight than grapes – again, this is because they are essentially concentrated when dried. Yet, there is no added sugar, unlike Craisins. Craisins have a substantial amount of added sugar, BUT your body doesn’t know this. It only knows, once the food is chewed up and swallowed, that a dose of fiber, sugar, and other nutrients has been consumed. It makes no difference whether the sugar was in the fruit to begin with, or added along the way – sugar is sugar at the molecular level, which is the only level your body recognizes.

What I’m getting at is, even though Craisins have A LOT of added sugar, it might not be enough to make them an evil food. Because they also have fiber and especially if they are eaten in concert with other healthy foods, they can be OK. But then again, sugar is sugar, and ingesting too much of it in any capacity will lead to fat gain. A food that is 80% carbs by weight is VERY dense and can’t be too prominent in the diet if one wants to stay lean.

My Recommendation

Here are my final thoughts about Craisins:

1. These have too much sugar to be eaten alone as a snack. Period.
2. They contain too much sugar to be eaten in high quantities. Period.
3. Eating them in moderation along with a healthy meal is OK.
4. They are a great food to eat 30 minutes before a workout, or within the 30-minute post-workout window. Sugar at these times aids the workout and subsequent recovery.
5. They are delicious.
6. It’s important to support your local bog farmer.

**I am a strength coach and pitching instructor in the Central Illinois area. Personal training, pitching lessons, and custom training programs are among my available services. If you liked this post, please subscribe to my monthly newsletter – you will receive member-only information and/or special offers on services and products.**

Thanks for reading! -Dan Blewett

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“You mean to tell me that there’s a drink that combines the benefits of steroids AND the delicious taste of salty poolwater?!?!”

I was given some ASEA water a few months ago to try – one of the few perks I have received as a result of my baseball career. I was promised that as a pseudo-athlete, my athletic prowess would shoot through the roof with only a few salty ounces a day. Did it work? Not really.

Here was how the scene unfolded. I was having a drink with a trainer friend back home in Baltimore, and we talked with a friend of hers who happened to be a rep for ASEA. When I revealed that I had just returned from Illinois playing ball, he gave me the scoop on the product he was representing, ASEA. He offered me a month’s supply, so I took it. I had nothing to lose.

The claim on the product is this: ASEA is just salt water that contains electrically charged “redox signaling molecules,” which apparently signal cells to rejuvenate themselves. If you take the ASEA as directed, these molecules are supposed to help your tissues regenerate and recover at a high rate. You can drink it as well as spray it on you to help cure skin problems. The guy even sprayed some in his eyes to show me how he uses it.

A pro boxer friend of his was with him, and he assured me that he was feeling great being on it. He claimed that he had jumped from the middle of the pack to the front of the pack in conditioning drills after a few months taking it. The rep told me that this stuff was going to make steroids obsolete. I said OK.

So I left with 4 32oz bottles, each of which was supposed to last about a week. Retail price for each bottle is a whopping $39.99. I felt privileged, but knew I was never going to buy any unless I started aging a la Benjamin Button.

what? ................WHAT?

I researched the product as best I could, but the ASEA site was really vague. It told me only as much as I already knew about said redox molecules, and made little attempt to actually explain how they worked. I learned that steroids are a type of redox signaling molecule, and that the body makes them naturally, so I was a little curious and decided to try it. It didn’t have any weird chemicals, just water and salt, so why not?

Well, I tried it for 3 weeks and felt no change. I gave it a shot, but just didn’t get anything out of it. I’m not going to say that the product doesn’t work, but it surely didn’t work for me. And, as an added benefit, it tastes horrendous; I was not motivated to slurp down my salty, chlorine-y dose bidaily. If you added a decent amount of chlorine to seawater, you’d have ASEA (maybe that’s where they got the name).

Does this product work for others? Maybe. All I know is that it didn’t work for me, and I wasn’t about to spend more money on it to find out. Could I be missing out on a nutritional revolution? Possibly, but I’ll stick to spending my money on proven supplements like fish oil and whey protein, along with healthy staples like meat, nuts and veggies. Rather than throw away money looking for a miracle, I’ll stick to the proven performers.

I urge you to check products out for yourself, and do your own research in regards to taking supplements and such. Check out ASEA’s website , and if you found that I was missing something, let me know. I don’t claim to know it all, just what works for me and others that I train and have played alongside.

Need a bottle for all that saltwater?

**I am a strength coach and pitching instructor in the Central Illinois area. Personal training, pitching lessons, and custom training programs are among my available services. If you liked this post, please subscribe to my monthly newsletter – you will receive member-only information and/or special offers on services and products.**

Sign up for my free newsletter here.

Thanks for reading! -Dan Blewett

Invariably, my girlfriend Rachel is going to assume that this post is about her. Anytime I offer nutritional advice she gives me accusatory looks, but this stuff is never about any one person. Planning is the biggest thing holding most people back from their goals.

You just can’t find legitimately healthy food out there in the real world. Restaurants sell on taste, even the ones who pretend to be healthy like Panera Bread and Chipotle. Spending 7 or 8 bucks per meal becomes prohibitively expensive for most of us anyway, especially when eating every 3-4 hours.

What Do Lunchables Have in Common with Port-a-Pots? Portable Crap.

So, it takes planning. If you can prepare your own healthy food in accordance with your goals and take it with you to work or school, you’ll be well on your way. The key is never finding yourself without food or stuck in situation where you will stray from your diet out of hunger.

Whether you’re trying to gain or lose weight, you need to be eating clean food every 3-4 hours. If an athlete wants to get bigger, allowing 5 or 6 hours to pass without eating is unacceptable. And if a person is attempting to lose weight, the hungrier they get the more likely they are to have a blow up meal of unhealthy food in unhealthy quantities.

Wouldn't you look forward to this in your lunch?

The bottom line is that you just need to spend more time in the kitchen prepping and packing food. Whether this means whipping together a 4-day batch of stir-fry for the week on Sunday night or just putting together healthy sandwiches, on whole wheat with spinach and avocado the day before, is up to you. But waking up and rushing out the door WILL NOT get you to your goals.

And let me emphasize the amount of food necessary to get you through a whole day at work or school – it’s a lot. People pack a small sandwich, baby carrots and a Snack Pack for the place they will reside for 8-10 hours each day; not acceptable. You need to pack two meals if you’re a 9-5er, because you’re probably eating 1-2 hours before work actually begins, and when you factor in commute, after school activities, and just the fact that it will take you some time to prepare dinner when you get home, those two packed meals become crucial. If you don’t plan ahead, you’ll end up fasting too long during the day and overeating at dinner. Coming home ravenous is a result of poor planning.

Here’s a sample of what to pack for a typical day at work or school:

• 2 Apples
• 2 Whole carrots
• 2 Bananas
• 1-2 ounces of nuts like almonds or walnuts
• 2 Sandwiches with a lot of meat or
• 2 medium tupperware containers filled with stir-fried veggies and a protein
• A big jug of water

If you’re trying to get leaner and don’t eat everything, fine. But if you’re trying to gain weight, then you need to down all of what you pack. It’s not complicated, it just takes forethought.

**I am a strength coach and pitching instructor in the Central Illinois area. Personal training, pitching lessons, and custom training programs are among my available services. If you liked this post, please subscribe to my monthly newsletter – you will receive member-only information and/or special offers on services and products.**

Sign up for my free newsletter here.

Thanks for reading! -Dan Blewett

Anyway, I’ve been leaning up since the end of the season (cutting some of the fat that I gained via late-night hot dog benders in visiting clubhouses), and one of the big difference makers is late-night eating. You simply cannot stuff yourself with carbs in the evening if you want to stay lean.

But, if you’re on a quality workout program, you still need to feed your muscles as the day wanes; fasting from 6pm on is NOT the answer.

So, you need to adjust what you’re eating, and I suggest some variation of the 4 Bs: Beef, Bacon, Broccoli and Brie – all low-carb foods that will fill you up and keep your body moving in the direction of muscle recovery and fat loss.

To Carb, or Not To Carb

The questions are, what time of day is it, and what are you doing at that time?

Generally, if you’re grazing like most sports nutritionists and trainers recommend, eating 5-8 small meals per day, then you should be splitting your meals down the middle:

• Half moderate-carb meals
• Half low-carb meals

The key is knowing when you’re most active, because that is when you’re going to want to consume most of your carbs. Here is a hypothetical daily scheme:

7am: Wake up. – Moderate Carb – You have to get moving and wake up to start being productive at work.

10am: Working – Low Carb – You’re sitting at your desk, and won’t be very active for the forseeable future.

12-1: Lunch: – Low Carb – You’re still at work until 4 or 5, after which you work out.

3-4: Pre-Workout: Moderate Carb – You need to get some energy in your system to have a productive workout.

6: Dinner: Moderate to High Carb – You just worked out, so extra carbs will help you build that muscle, replenish glycogen and get your body on the road to recovery.

8-9: Pre-Bed: Low-Carb – You worked out late in the day, and your muscles are still repairing and growing; now is not the time to fast. Instead, give it some protein and fat which will trickle into your muscles in the first few hours of the night. Carbs are no good here, because you’re not active enough to burn them up. Sleep burns the least calories of any activity. Your body releases muscle relaxers and all sorts of hormones to keep your body relaxed and in standby, energy-saving mode.

So, What’s a Good Late-Night Meal?

If you’re the kind of person who needs carbs to feel full, then you will need to experiment with low-carb foods to find what can keep you from going apeshit on your pantry. Generally, hearty vegetables, meat, cheese and nuts are the best choices, as all are low in carbs and high in satiety.

Beef

It doesn’t have to be beef, but getting some protein is crucial at night. Protein is the most difficult nutrient for your body to store as fat, so its something you can eat more of. Since your body needs it to keep your muscles recovering, this is a no-brainer to eat at night. Meat, eggs, fish, whatever – it’s all good.

Bacon

Since your meal isn’t going to contain carbs (at least as few as possible), you need fat. Fat helps you feel full, and when combined with protein alone, produces little to no insulin response. This means that your body is going to have steady blood sugar throughout the night and will use the fat in your meal for energy, rather than carbs. If you have a big carb-filled, fat-filled meal, your body burns the carbs for energy, and stores the excess carbs AND fat as fat. Not good. No late-night pizza, please.

Broccoli

Vegetables, especially green ones, are awesome. They are loaded with nutrition, fiber, and have a negligible effect on insulin levels. Replacing other foods with vegetables is the number one dietary method to improve your physique.

Broc-coli Fie-lds For-evah

Brie

I think the white coating is mold.

Brie is the only cheese that I could think of starting with the letter “B.” Cheese usually contains no carbs, so it’s a good choice to accompany some protein and other fats. Saturated fat really isn’t bad for you, as many are finding out, and cheese will help you feel full. I’m not a fan of dairy, really, but in moderation it can be alright. Cottage cheese is probably the best, high-protein choice, but if you need to add some fat to a low-carb meal, a chunk of cheddar is a go.

Another Good Choice

Nuts. They’re awesome. A big spoonful of natural peanut butter will put anybody to sleep with a smile. Healthy fats, Omega-3s in the case of walnuts, and another high-satiety food. I guess I could have added Brazilnuts to the title, but this is America, Damnit.

Feed Your Dreams

You just need to understand what your body needs, and when it needs it. If you tune your eating to the fluctuations in your daily energy expenditure, then you’re going to be well on your way to optimizing your fat-loss AND muscle gain at the same time. Dieters and builders alike can use this model, though some personal goal-related customization is always a must.

And one more thing: Cheez-its don’t count as cheese, despite what the talking wedge on the commercials might lead you to believe. Goodnight everybody!

**I am a strength coach and pitching instructor in the Central Illinois area. Personal training, pitching lessons, and custom training programs are among my available services. If you liked this post, please subscribe to my monthly newsletter – you will receive member-only information and/or special offers on services and products.**

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Thanks for reading! -Dan Blewett

1. Brussels Sprouts are Official

If you’re not up on the cool-kid lingo, “official” can be used as a hip alternative to positive adjectives like good, swell, splendid, or “cool.”

Example: “Man, I love your new sneakers. Those are official!”

Well, Brussels sprouts have come into my life, and believe me, they’re official.

Why? Because they are low-calorie, nutrient-dense, easy to prepare and very satiating. Brussels Sprouts are probably the most filling veggie I’ve ever eaten – they have a very meaty texture and take a while to eat. Not in a bad way, as in choking down uncooked broccoli, but kind of like the way you chew through a good steak – it takes time, but you get satisfaction out of savoring it. Having something I can eat that is low-calorie and low-carb like these is great when I’m trying to shed a few pounds of fat (I ate way too many PB&Js this summer).

Just throw them in a sauce pan with a teaspoon or two of butter, salt and pepper and let them gently saute. It’s easy and they taste great.

Once they're opaque and fork-tender, they're done

2. There are two ways to cook Oatmeal

1. Boil the water then add oatmeal

2. Add oatmeal to cold water then heat

Is there really a difference? Yes – the texture of the finished product varies greatly.

If you boil the water first, the oatmeal flakes come out largely intact and maintain separation from each other. You have less of a mushy mixture.

If you add the oatmeal first, then heat, you will end up with more of a doughy, batter-like final product. I personally prefer this second method.

Now, the amount of water you use also affects the finished oatmeal, and I go with about equal parts of each. The box recommends 2:1 water to oatmeal, but what does that old pilgrim know? A true Quaker would never have allowed his product on the shelves of dismal places like Wal-Mart, anyway.

3. Peanut Butter and Co’s Dark Chocolate Dreams is like crack-cocaine

If you end up with a deviated esophagus...I warned you

If you’ve never tried this, and don’t have a nut allergy (probably the only way to make this more deadly), then you need to go buy a jar right now. It’s one of the best foods I’ve ever eaten. And, for that reason, a food that I no longer allow myself to buy. Why?

Because I’ll eat half the jar for breakfast and the other half for dinner; no joke. This stuff is so delicious that I can’t put the spoon down. Straight out of the jar, I’ll pound it until my insides get all out of whack. Not good.

Thing is, the stuff isn’t unhealthy. It has a few grams less fat per serving and the same amount of sugar as regular peanut butter (not including natural, nothing-added peanut butter). So if you eat Jif, Skippy or Peter Pan, this stuff is way better and is pretty much identical nutritionally.

I’ve probably just unleashed a monster upon you.

4. Avocados are the even more official than Brussels Sprouts

Now that you’ve got a lesson in slang under your belt, use it to spread the word on avocado: the stuff is gold…on everything.

Avocado is a fruit that is high in healthy fats. It has a pretty light, neutral taste and is very creamy when ripe. You’ve probably had guacamole, so I’m probably just wasting words here.

Nonetheless, it’s a great replacement for Mayo on sandwiches, great added to salads or tossed in with a pan of mixed veggies.

I’ll let you in on my favorite food, the recipe of which I reverse engineered after eating a tuna-avocado tartar I got for lunch one day back in Baltimore.

- 2-3 large chicken breasts, cut up into 1-2 inch chunks

- 1 Large Haas avocado, cut into 1/2 inch cubes/chunks

- Garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper, a teaspoon of olive oil

- Low-sodium soy sauce

- Toasted sesame oil

Take the chicken and coat it all in the spices and oil. Just liberally go it, but be careful with the cayenne – it adds a lot of heat. You can also add in any other spice you like, but that’s my favorite blend.

Stir fry the chicken. Add a shot of soy sauce in while cooking, if desired.

Combine the avocado chunks and cooked chicken into a large bowl. Drizzle with roughly 2-3 tbsps of soy sauce and 1-2 tbsps of sesame oil; nothing exact here, just coat it all as you see fit.

Toss everything and serve; super easy. What you get is low-carb, high protein, moderate fat meal that sticks to your ribs and tastes great. You can also substitute raw tuna chunks (by the far the best, but most expensive option) or really any other protein you desire. It’s my favorite meal that I make without a doubt.

5. Reduced salt and sugar foods may taste exactly the same

I learned in my Sensation and Perception class in college that there are thresholds for your ability to perceive different tastes. Example: if your threshold for tasting “saltiness” in a salt solution is 500mg per tbsp, then all solutions with 500 + mg will taste exactly as salty, no matter how much more salt is actually in it. The same goes for sugar.

What’s the application for this? Well, I just listed low-sodium soy sauce as an ingredient in my chicken-avocado dish. Low-sodium soy sauce has roughly 450 mg of sodium per tbsp, while regular soy sauce has usually 900+ mg. Thing is, I believe the “saltiness” threshold is either achieved or is very close with the low-sodium version, which means that your tongue will detect either a negligible or no difference at all between the two. What does this mean? There’s no reason to ingest the extra salt of regular soy sauce, because reduced-sodium versions will taste nearly identical.

The same goes for pancake syrups. The sugar threshold is achieved well before the actual amount in full-sugar, non-maple syrups (the kind you get for breakfast but aren’t actually from a tree [made from corn syrup and whatnot]). So, most reduced-sugar syrups are going to taste exactly as sweet as the full-sugar versions, but with way less calories and a much reduced glob of sugar for your diabetic pleasure.

Aunt Jemima? Who needs her…

I’ve taken muscle  milk and chances are, you have too. It’s very well marketed and tastes phenomenal compared to other protein drinks. If you’re going on taste, it’s a definite winner. It has good stats and boasts that its formula is similar to the natural muscle-building properties in milk and colostrum. Colostrum, if you don’t know, is a special type of milk produced in late pregnancy that is extra dense in nutrients, and also contains antibodies that are crucial for building the immune systems of newborns. Cows, goats, humans, are all examples of mammals who produce colostrum. Muscle Milk used to contain bovine colostrum extract, but I no longer see it listed on the ingredients list I obtained from their website.

Nutrition Label from Muscle Milk Chocolate, taken from musclemilk.com

I’d say this is probably a good thing. I’ve talked before about my disdain for dairy products, though I still consume fractioned ones such as whey protein. Milk, yogurt and cheese all produce an insulin response higher than their carbohydrate content would predict, thus leading us to the conclusion that dairy products have an ability to store weight (fat) on us at a rate higher than other foods with the same macronutrient profile. But, I digress.

Muscle Milk contains more fat than other protein drinks, mostly because they market Muscle Milk as a more complete meal solution than just a protein supplement. While not a true meal-replacement supplement, Muscle Milk does, however, provide more fat, vitamins and minerals, and carbs than the average whey protein supplement. You get more than just protein from Muscle Milk, which is a good thing if you’re using it to replace part of, or supplement a meal.

On the website they suggest taking it after working out to optimize recovery. This is where Muscle Milk really falls short. With only 8 grams of carbs and 16 grams of protein per serving, this 1:2 ratio is backward to the 4:1 ratio of carbs-protein that research has shown is optimal for building muscle and recovering from strenuous training. Also, because fat slows gastric emptying, Muscle Milk again falls short in the post-workout window because it would not leave the stomach for absorption as fast as lower or non-fat protein drink. For the above reasons, taking Muscle Milk, alone, after a workout is not an ideal solution.

However, one of the best features of Muscle Milk is the blend of multiple proteins. Casein, whey isolate, milk protein and whey peptides are all part of their protein mixture. This means that you will be absorbing some of the protein very quickly (the peptides and whey isolate) and some of it more slowly (casein and milk protein). Having both quick and fast releasing protein is ideal for a supplement, so you get a steady dose into the blood rather than a big spike all at once followed by nothing.

The fat source in Muscle Milk is another good feature. MCTs, or Medium-Chain Triglycerides, are shorter than regular fat molecules and as such are more readily burned by the body. MCTs in the blood will be used for energy at a higher rate than they will be stored as fat. There was a big boom for MCTs in the past few years, and they can now be found in a cooking oil, Enova. Enova commercials brag about how their cooking oil is less likely to be stored as fat when consumed. Commercialization aside, MCTs are a good choice of fat for a protein supplement. Coconut oil is the best natural source of MCTs, and is used for cooking as well. As such, it’s often found in the diet of bodybuilders and health buffs.

Summary

Overall, here’s how I sum Muscle Milk up:

Pros

• Taste is fantastic
• Contains protein from multiple sources for sustained release
• MCTs are a good fat source
• Has some, but isn’t high in carbs

Cons

• Not an ideal choice for post-workout nutrition
• Price is somewhat high
• Fail a drug test in NCAA?

Now, that last one – fail a drug test – is something that I don’t quite understand. None of the ingredients are on the banned substances list by the NCAA, but some are hormone precursors which could lead to a positive test. There isn’t really anything in there that would cause a failed test, but the NCAA banned it anyway. So, there is Muscle Milk Collegiate, which was manufactured to be compliant.

Muscle Milk Collegiate is a completely different product, with a tremendous amount of carbohydrates, in the form of maltodextrin, in a 2.25:1 ratio of carbs-protein. This makes it a better choice to take after workouts, but a much worse choice to take any other time of day. Maltodextrin is essentially a complex sugar, and so taking a Muscle Milk Collegiate shake at bedtime, like they suggest, would be like have a whey protein shake and two cans of soda. Not good. And, this product still has fat in it, which would slow its release during the post-workout window. This is, again, a time when you want the fastest possible absorption of nutrients.

Muscle Milk Collegiate label, courtesy of musclemilk.com

The verdict? Muscle Milk regular is a pretty good supplement for everyday, non-workout use. Muscle Milk Collegiate is a reasonable choice for post-workout, but not a great choice, in my opinion, for everyday use if one wishes to promote lean muscle gain only.

**I am a strength coach and pitching instructor in the Central Illinois area. Personal training, pitching lessons, and custom training programs are among my available services. If you liked this post, please subscribe to my monthly newsletter – you will receive member-only tips, tricks and/or special offers on services and products.**

Thanks for reading! -Dan Blewett