Tips To Help You Increase Calories In Your Diet

Tips To Help You Increase Calories In Your Diet

by | Mar 9, 2023

For those looking to build muscle or maximize sports performance, you often need more calories than you’re currently consuming. Especially if you’re highly active.

If you’re not getting enough calories, you’re not maximally: building muscle, recovering, or performing in your sport.

Below are some tips to help increase your calories:

1. Liquid Calories

A great way to add quality calories to the diet is through the addition of milk and/or juice, instead of water/calorieless drinks (eg. like diet pop).

Example:

  • Add a glass of milk to breakfast and an afternoon snack

Smoothies work well too, since fluid is less filling than solids and you’ll be able to comfortably eat more.

2. Healthy Fats

At 9 calories per gram, fat is the most dense calorie macronutrient (protein and carbohydrates are only 4 calories per gram). The addition of small amounts of oils and nuts will make a big impact.

Here are some common recommendations we make to clients:

  • Add a handful of nuts (pecans, cashews, almonds, walnuts, etc.) or seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, etc.) to your morning and/or afternoon snack; can also add these to salads.
  • Add extra tablespoon(s) olive oil to your salads; you can also do this with rice and pasta
  • Liberally use nut butter spreads, like peanut butter, where possible – like peanut butter and toast, peanut butter with apple slices, or adding nut butters to oatmeals
  • Add chia, flax, or hemp seeds to smoothies or oatmeals
  • Add avocado spreads to sandwiches
  • Have hummus with vegetable sticks as calorie dense and healthy snack
  • Higher fat % milks
  • Introduce / increase serving sizes of cheeses

3. Increase Meal Frequency

If you’re eating more frequently it is easer to eat more food, and will help you from feeling too full at any one meal. Further, once you get into the habit of eating on a regular structure you’ll start to get hungry at these regular time intervals – for example, if you’re not typically hungry at breakfast, you’ll start to once you gradually introduce eating at that time.

4. Dried Fruit

Dried fruit is less filling than whole fruit, and are a great snack. Raisans have have 290 calories for 100g, compared to 80 calories for 100g of grapes. Similarly, dried apricots have 220 calories for 100g while whole fruit apricots are 44 calories per 100g.

5. Be mindful of protein and fibre intake

Both protein and fibre are very filling, so by eating more of each might make you too full to consume enough calories. Get the necessary amount of each, then look to fill the rest of your diet with healthy fats and healthy carbs (sweet potato, baked potato, rice, pasta, beans, quinoa, etc).

6. Higher Fat Meats

Choosing higher fat meats will subtly help you increase calories. Instead of having leaner cuts, like chicken breast, try chicken or turkey thighs/legs. Try having a pot roast, short ribs, and moderate intake of processed meats like salami and sausage.

Hope the above tips were helpful. If you need help with your nutrition, click here to fill out a client interest from.

Till next time,

-Mike

Optimize Your Results With Better Pre & Post Exercise/Workout Nutrition

Optimize Your Results With Better Pre & Post Exercise/Workout Nutrition

by | Feb 4, 2023

Nutrient timing is pretty important when it comes to maximizing performance and results. That being said, a lot of people make it more complicated than they need to – especially when it comes to supplements.

The first important thing to address when considering your Pre and Post nutrition needs: what are you trying to accomplish? Is your goal to: build muscle, lose fat, increase strength, improve performance, or just be healthy?

The reason why the above matters is different goals require slightly different nutritional approaches, specifically more or less calories, and different ranges of macronutrients (protein, fat, carbs). What you eat before fuels your workout and exercise. What you eat after will allow for effective recovery.

In the following post, the term “workout” will mean weight training, and the term “exercise” will mean playing or training for a sport.

Pre Workout/Exercise Nutrition

The purpose of proper pre workout/exercise nutrition is to provide fuel so you can perform. Different types and intensities of exercise require a slightly different nutritional approach.

Two examples to highlight this:

  1. If you are an endurance athlete optimizing for training performance, you need adequate carbohydrates to fuel the workout completely and enough protein to offset and prevent muscle metabolism during exercise.
  2. If you are someone looking to lose fat while minimizing muscle loss, you need enough carbohydrates to fuel the workout so that you can “bring it” and enough protein to offset any possible muscle usage for energy – during exercise and in general due to being in a caloric deficit necessary for fat loss.

My suggestion for Pre Workout/Exercise session:

A balanced meal 3 hours prior, and then 1 black coffee and a banana 1 hour prior to exercise/workout

Well balanced = combination of fats, protein, and carbs. A bigger meal for a bigger workout/exercise session. In general 3 hours before should allow for proper digestion of the food, so that your muscles and digestion system aren’t competing for blood supply. The coffee is used for an ergogenic caffeine kick, and a banana for a quick little boost of energy (the sugars in a banana are easily digestible and will top up your energy).

If you’re looking to build muscle, which means you’ll want more calories, this might look like:

5:00 p.m. workout preparation:

Morning workout/exercise preparation:

  • 1.5 hours prior: peanut butter sandwich, glass of 2% Milk
  • 1 hour prior: black coffee

If you’re looking to lean out and lose fat, this might look like:

5:00 p.m. workout/exercise preparation:

Morning workout/exercise preparation:

  • 1.5 hours prior: 2 egg muffins.
  • 1 hour prior: black coffee

*In all of the above examples, the coffee used in the above examples is black -or with just sweetener. If you’re someone that puts sugar in their coffee, then skip the banana.

Some background info for you to know that might help you understand pre-workout/exercise nutrition better:

  • Digestion of food shunts a lot of your blood supply to the organs involved in digestion. This is why you don’t want to exercise on a full stomach (why it’s recommended not to go swimming right after you eat) as this causes a tug-of-war or sorts for blood supply between your digestion system and the muscles you’re using for exercise. This can lead to cramping – either your digestion system or your muscles.
  • Higher heart rate and higher intensity (think heavy set of squats) exercise have a greater demand on your blood supply. This is when you need to be more calculated about meal timing and what you’re eating prior. Going for a walk with a full stomach is fine, sprinting not so much.

A few talking points:

  • Everyone has slightly different digestion. Some can eat a full meal 1 hour before a high heart rate/high intensity bout of exercise and be fine. Others can’t eat anything less than 3 hours out. Find out what works for you, and know that the type of exercising you’re doing plays a big factor with meal timing.
  • One thing to be conscious of when choosing a carb-intensive snack, like the Banana mentioned, is to pick options that don’t have the ingredient fructose as the first few ingredients in the ingredient label. Fructose digests differently and can lead to issues like cramping, bloating, gas, etc.
  • I haven’t mentioned the need for any “Pre-workout supplement.” My personal opinion is that you don’t need it. I don’t like the dependency supplements can create, and quite frankly I don’t think it’s worth your money for an incremental increase in results beyond a placebo and the “supplement effect”.

The supplement effect: taking said supplement increases your adherence to a host of other things that have a positive impact in achieving the desired result you are taking the supplement for.

  • In almost all cases it’s proper nutrition and consistently working out/exercising is getting you the results, not the supplement(s). The actual effect from the supplement(s) are small or negligible, or at least maybe not worth the price tag of said supplements. My suggestion: become dependent on food, and maybe coffee.

Post Workout/Exercise Nutrition

Your post workout/exercise nutrition will do a combination of the following:

  • Replenish muscle glycogen that was depleted during your workout
  • Reduce muscle protein breakdown caused by exercise
  • Increase muscle protein synthesis
  • Reduce muscle soreness and fatigue
  • Greatly enhance overall recovery
  • Reduce cortisol levels

Essentially, your post workout/exercise nutrition will supply your body with everything it needs to repair, replenish, recover and adapt to the exercise/training that you just did. After your workout, your body is primed and ready to accept protein and carbs so it can immediately begin putting these nutrients to use.

Within 30-60 minutes to an hour post-workout it’s beneficial to have a well balanced meal, in particular something with protein.

My suggestion for Post Workout nutrition:

A protein focused meal within 1 hour. If that’s not possible, have a piece of fruit + protein shake.

What you need and how much will depend on the type and intensity of the training that you just did, and on your specific goal(s). If you had a longer and more intense workout/exercise, have more food (primarily protein + calories). For shorter and less intense workouts/exercise sessions, have less food.

If you’re looking to build muscle, you might have something like:

  • Morning option: 6 eggs, scrambled, topped with 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Side of 2 pieces of toast, 3 tbsp. peanut butter on each slice.
  • Mid-day/supper option: 2 Servings of Cheeseburger Brussel Sprouts (recipe alteration: use extra cheese + non-lean ground beef), side of Super Simple Spinach Salad
  • On-the-go option: 2 pieces of fruit + protein shake (1.5 scoops of protein powder + 2 cup of 2% milk)

If you are looking to lose fat, instead you could have the following:

  • Morning option: 2 eggs, 1/2 cup egg whites scrambled, topped with 1/4 cup salsa, and 1/2 cup cottage cheese. Side of sliced apples topped with sprinkled cinnamon.
  • Mid-day/supper option: 2 Turkey Parmesan Meatballs, 1 cup brown rice, 2 cups of steamed/cut up vegetables
  • On-the-go option: 1 piece of fruit + protein shake (1 scoop of protein powder + 1.5 cup water or skim milk)

What you eat before your workout/exercise is the fuel that will allow you to perform. What you eat after will allow for effective recovery.

Experiment and find options that are specific for you, including your personal taste preferences, and what you are trying to accomplish. And, don’t over complicate things. Make sure your caloric intake is where it should be, have adequate protein intake, and crush those workouts/exercise and you’ll be fine.

Till next time,

-Mike

Supplements That Are(Not) A Waste Of Your Money

Supplements That Are(Not) A Waste Of Your Money

by | Jan 4, 2022

Unfortunately there isn’t great regulation of supplements and not all supplements out there are effective; supplement companies often sell their product on scientific theory and not research based evidence that proves their product works – at least not in an un-biased, objective, way.

I’m a food first person. Food shouldn’t be replaced by supplements, and is a reason why I’m advocating that most supplements are a waste of your money.

Below are 4 supplements that won’t be a waste your money.

1. Whey Protein

Whey Protein aids in muscle repair and re-building, as well as prevents muscle breakdown. For those that don’t know, there are different forms of Protein. Whey Protein Isolate/hydrosylate is a quick digesting form whereby your body can use it quick. Whey Protein Concentrate is a slower digesting form and provides your body with a more sustained release of protein; think of these two like white bread and brown bread, respectively. Read this is you’d like more information: Whats the difference between Why Isolate & Concentrate?

It is common to see many protein powders and products as blends now, including combinations of isolate and concentrates, as well as non-whey proteins like calcium caseinate or casein – these are similar to whey protein concentrate. I wouldn’t get too caught in up in the differences between the different types of whey, and other proteins.

What you need to know:

  • If you can’t eat food containing protein following a workout/exercise (60-90 minutes), you can instead have a whey protein shake after the workout (I also recommend adding a fruit), and then when you can eat a meal.
  • Having a protein shake can be a convenient and portable snack option between meals; you don’t need to refrigerate the powder, and it can easily be put into a container/ziploc bag and mixed with water/milk for a grab-and-go option in you’re in a rush.
  • Whey Protein can be a great additive to food to help increase the protein content, one reason you’d want to do this is to help you feel fuller for longer – advantageous when trying to lose fat. One example is Protein Peanut Butter Oatmeal.

2. Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine is something you naturally have in your muscles. It’s used in the first few seconds of forceful muscle contractions. With creatine supplementation you are simply increasing the reserve for your muscles. In sports where explosive movements are needed, this can help increase performance. With weight training this can increase work done, more reps possible, with heavier weights which can result in increased hypertrophy (muscle growth). This is a great resource written by the Sports Dietitians of Australia that can provide more information.

What you need to know:

  • Taking creatine can help you if you’re doing explosive movements, like in sports like hockey, football, etc. Creatine can even help endurance athletes, in particular with their training or during more intense aspects of their endurance sport (eg. Marathon runner doing a hill climb). 
  • You need to correctly load it, which can be rapid loading (5 days of 4x5g doses) or slow-loading (28 days of regular maintenance dose (3-5g), then have a daily 3-5 g/day dose for maintenance to sustain elevated levels.
  • Some people are non-responders to creatine, meaning they don’t notice any changes; albeit some changes might be to the placebo and/or supplement effect (the supplement effect: taking said supplement increases your adherence to a host of other things that have a positive impact in achieving the desired result you are taking the supplement for).
  • There are a lot of fancy types of creatine out there, but according to the Sports Dietitians of Australia there is no difference and you just need Creatine Monohydrate.

3. Caffeine

Caffeine is a stimulant, It helps increase mental alertness and raises your heart rate – this wil increase your metabolism thereby increasing the number of calories you burn. Caffeine also decreases your perceived rate of exertion, how hard you think you are working, so it could increase the time you are exercising [2, 3].

One thing to note: if you already drink a lot of coffee, or have a lot of caffeine from other sources, your caffeine is likely more of a placebo unless you increase your intake beyond normal limits; your liver enzymes will be up-regulated and will very effectively degrade caffiene.

What you need to know:

  • The usual effective dose is around 5-7 mg/kg body weight. This can be quite a bit. The average cup (237 ml, 8 fl oz.) of coffee ranges from 75-150 mg, starbucks venti  = 415mg; grande = 330mg; tall, 12 fl. oz. 260). Check out other common caffeine contents here.
  • After a while caffeine might be more of the process and a placebo, due to the above note.
  • When it’s best to have: 30-60 minutes prior to a workout.
  • If you add sugar and cream to your coffee this might cause some G.I. discomfort (cramping, gas, etc.) during exercise; this will also have a negative impact on your ability to lose weight if this is your goal.
  • You can buy caffeine tablets if coffee isn’t your thing.

4. Vitamin D

If you’re Canadian, or anyone outside of the 37th parallel, you might be deficient in Vitamin D. Vitamin D is naturally made by your body when exposed to a UV index of 3 or higher. Unfortunately, the only place you’ll find that year-round is near the equator (between the 37th parallels). Aside from UV exposure, you can get Vitamin D from fish and fortified products like milk in Canada. However, if you’re not getting enough sun exposure there is a chance that you’re low.

What you need to know:

  • Vitamin D plays an important role in immune function and bone health [4].
  • In Canada, cow’s milk and margarine must be fortified with vitamin D.
  • The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for Vitmain D, for those 9-70 years of age, is 600 IU (15 mcg) – with an upper limit of 4000 IU (100 mcg)
  • Recommended intake: 1000 IU’s per day via chewables or pills to cover your basis. In comination with sunglight you can’t reach 4000 IU (100mcg), this can only be done through supplements or food.
  • Some research suggests it helps gain muscle, strength (see this blog post that link the original research), and aid in fat metabolism (see this blog post that link the original research).

Supplements That Are Likely A Waste Of Your Money:

I’m not going to list all of them, because that would be a long list. Suffice it to say that if it’s not listed above then it is likely a waste of your money. I will, however, talk about two more common ones that I see many people take.

Pre-workout

I prefer my clients to adhere to these guidelines instead. There are a lot of ingredients in Pre-workout, read this to see what some of them do, that at some point your body will adapt to. At this point there isn’t a big physiological effect, beyond the placebo effect. Also, many Pre-workouts can have shitty – literally – side effects, and that’s not exactly pleasant.

One reason I would support taking Pre-workout: If you need some added motivation to workout. This could be particularly beneficial if you’ve been dieting for quite a while.

BCAA’s (Branched Chain Amino Acids)

The theory is that by using BCAA’s you’re providing your body with a source of “pre-broken down” muscle in an effort to prevent your own muscle breakdown; taking BCAA’s can also be a source of energy, and help prevent central fatigue.

What the research says:
1. This doesn’t guarantee your body won’t still breakdown your muscle for energy
2. If you’re having adequate protein in your diet, there is little benefit

My suggestion to clients is that you don’t need BCAA’s.

Something important to consider for all supplements:

It’s often less about the supplement and the ingredients, and more about what someone is doing consistently – be it exercising more, engaging in healthier habits, etc. In other words, the supplement can make people commit to doing something consistently and it’s because of THAT that they are getting the results they see, not because they are taking said supplement.

Beyond being consistent with result-oriented habits, the Placebo effect is also possible. At the end of the day if you can justify taking the supplement and it works for you, do you. The above is just my opinion based on the science, my clients, and my own experiences.

Till next time,

-Mike

References:

1. https://www.sportsdietitians.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Creatine_supplementation_and_sports_performance.pdf

2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2101061

3. Loehr, Sarah. “Nutritional Ergogenic Aids.” Nutrition 480. University of Alberta. [February 2015]. This information is intellectual property of S. Loehr, specific information can be provided upon request. Contact.

4. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/healthy-eating/vitamins-minerals/vitamin-calcium-updated-dietary-reference-intakes-nutrition.html

5. Blomstrand, E. (2006).  A role for branched-chain amino acids in reducing central fatigue.  J Nutr. 136(2), 544-547.Spriet, L. L. (2014).