Problem with Grains?

This last week I was talking with some of the UCO Hockey guys about what they should eat. Most of them need to drop some body fat this off-season so what they eat is going to be crucial to their physical looks as well as performance. Talking about nutrition is almost impossible now days considering some of these guys are Kinesiology Majors and have been drilled to follow the "food pyramid" and that eating "whole grains" is healthy. Hopefully this post gives you an understanding of what grains really do to the body..


Bad!


Grains are in fact a large supply of starch, surrounded by a kernel. Starch decomposes (digests) into maltose and isomaltose in the intestines, which then decompose into glucose.You can look at it this way.When you take a slice of bread and crush it in your hand, you are virtually eating that amount of refined sugar. The problem is that that amount of sugar elevates the bloodsugar levels amazingly fast and causes your pancreas to produce lots and lots of insulin to metabolise it. Humans are not adapted to eat such amounts of concentrated carbohydrates and the pancreas (and adrenals) aren't fit to the job. Over time one will develop insulin resistance, hypoglycemia, diabetes II. Another problem is that the immune system crashes when your bloodsugar levels increases to high levels. It takes hours for the the immune system to recover fully. Another problem with refined grains is that it's void of minerals and vitamins, which are needed to properly digest and metabolise the huge amount of starch. So, each time you eat a slice of bread, your body needs to take minerals and vitamins from its limited stores to digest and metabolise it. Over time, you will develop deficincies of these vitamines and minerals. Further, many grains contain a lot of allergens which upset your immune system and causes the development of allergies. Imagine this: Humans have never in their evolution of millions of years eaten grains and now all of a sudden we are relying on this food. Our genes aren't adapted to these foods. Grains are in fact incompatible with humans.

So what should these guys eat instead of Grains???


GOOD!

Fibrous carbs such as: Broccoli, Lettuce, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Mushrooms, Green beans, Asparagus, Cucumber, Spinach, peppers, Zucchini, Cauliflower etc..

Fruits: Remember the darker and thiner the skinner the better it is for you. This is because they have to produce more anti-oxidents to protect itself from the sun.

Bottom line is if you follow these recomendations you will emerge leaner, healthier, recover faster and have a hell of alot more energy!

Change your reps!

Our body has the ability to adapt to given rep ranges very quickly. In fact, according to Coach Poliquin "the average athlete adapts to a given number of reps in as little as six workouts!" The problem with this is that when our body adapts it becomes much harder to make gains and is pretty pointless to continue with the same program (or given rep range). One way to solve this problem is to vary your rep ranges of course!


















This man changes his reps!



Here is some examples..

Example 1
Week 1-2
4 sets / 6-8 reps

Week 3-4
5-6 sets / 4-6 reps

Week 5-6
7-8 sets / 2-4 reps

Example 2
Workouts 1-2
4 sets / 8-10 reps

Workouts 3-4
5 sets / 5-7 reps

Workout 5-6
5-6 sets / 4-6 reps

By simply changing our reps every couple of weeks we keep our body guessing and less likely to adapt which allows for greater progress in the gym. Although this isn't the newest fitness fad guaranteed to get you JACKED it sure as hell will keep you making progress in the gym both physically and mentally!