Here is when not to consume dairy:
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This should be your default, especially when you are trying to lose bodyfat. Dairy consumption entails a high insulin response. Insulin, being a storage hormone, will inhibit fat loss in general.
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Dairy may be gut irritating. If that is the case with you, avoid dairy in general. With gut integrity come autoimmune issues which you want to avoid in general. Another reason for not consuming dairy.
Here is when to consider consuming dairy:
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Whole milk serves a few different functions. It is a complete meal and contains protein, fat, vitamins D and K, all necessary for performance and strength gains. See more details about it here.
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Overall, whole milk is excellent for recovery and muscle building. In these cases, a significant consumption immediately after workouts is indicated. For building muscle, it is recommended to have up to 4 litres of milk a day. CrossFit Football endorses this for their performance oriented diet.
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When consuming dairy make sure to use whole (full cream), mostly unprocessed, milk. From grass fed cows. Keep it as natural as possible.
In general you should start out without using dairy in your diet - especially if you still want to shed some bodyfat. If you have specific goals in mind, you may include it for better recovery after workouts and for muscle building purposes.
Are you currently consuming dairy in your diet and if so for which purposes? Either way, this post hopefully helps in making a conscious decision about your nutrition. Post thoughts to comments.
2) Eggs
Would you in general consider having eggs for breakfast, but are worried about the fat and cholesterol content? Maybe this information helps you with your decision - Here are some interesting facts:
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You can find studies showing that high cholesterol levels will make you live longer and more immune to infections & diseases than low cholesterol levels.
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Your Body Makes Cholesterol. Your liver makes 3-6x more cholesterol than you can get eating eggs and other animal products.
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Cholesterol is Vital To Your Body. You need it for the production of steroid hormones like Testosterone and to build & repair cells.
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Dietary Cholesterol Isn’t Bound to Blood Cholesterol. There’s no relation to cholesterol & saturated fat intake to higher cholesterol levels.
Here is a nice writeup on the topic of eggs, fat and cholesterol. Here are other very interesting facts on this topic. I hope this helps next time you are worried about having a few eggs for breakfast.
3) Omega 3 Fish Oil
According to the Paleo concept (which we refer to when talking about food quality), if you eat foods that our early ancesters evolved on, you get all the nutrients you need from your diet and there is no need for supplementation. If you cannot stay 100% paleo - for instance, if the steak that you ordered at the restaurant is not from grassfed cows, you are having coffee or some ice cream (…) for desert (not on a regular basis, of course) - it helps to supplement with omega 3 fish oil in order to balance out your fatty acid balance.
Without getting too much into details, the fatty acid ratio in the Paleo diet from omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acids was about 2:1, in an “average” modern diet (including processed foods, grains, etc.) the ratio is about 40:1. To “balance out” this ratio, omega 3 (fish oil) supplementation can be very useful as you just won't get enough from eating more fish. Here are some of the benefits:
- Reduced pain and inflammation (prevents and relieves painful conditions like arthritis, prostatitis, cystitis and anything else ending in "itis”).
- Improved cardiovascular health: Omega 3 fatty acids help to lower cholesterol, tryglicerides, LDLs and blood pressure, while at the same time increasing good HDL cholesterol. This adds years to your life expectancy.
- Protection from stroke and heart attack.
- Increased brain function: Pregnant and nursing mothers can have a great impact on the intelligence and happiness of their babies by supplementing with fish oil. For adults, omega 3 improves memory, recall, reasoning and focus.
- Less depression and psychosis: Research indicates that omega 3 fish oil supplements "alleviate" the symptoms of depression, bipolar disorder and psychosis.
- Reduction of breast, colon and prostate cancer: Omega 3s stop the alteration from a normal healthy cell to a cancerous mass, inhibiting unwanted cellular growth and causing apoptosis, or cellular death, of cancer cells.
The evidence indicates that omega 3 fish oil is rather a good thing to take. Just make sure that you chose a product that is “pharmaceutical grade” (possible toxins are filtered from the oil) and that has a high content of EPA/DHA (at least 60%). Check this post and this calculator to figure out how much fish oil you should be taking.
Are you currently supplementing and if so with what and how much? Do you agree on the benefits of taking omega 3 capsules?
4) Grains and Legumes
You find grains in a lot of dietary products nowadays and they are widely believed to be healthy. You will find that this post does not support this opinion!
The grain related problems can be categorized into problems related to hyperinsulinemia and those related to irritant/toxicant properties inherent to the grains:
- Hyperinsulinemia is a condition in which there are excess levels of circulating insulin in the blood. Symptoms of hyperinsulinemia include weight gain, cravings for sugar, weakness, emotional instability, lack of focus, feelings of anxiety or panic, etc. Risks associated with hyperinsulinemia include artherosclerosis, elevated triglycerides (increased risk of heart disease and stroke), high uric acid (gout), and a lot more. See a more comprehensive list here. Or: google “hyperinsulinemia” and any desease you can come up with. Chances are hyperinsulinemia is involved.
- Grains, both processed and unprocessed, are almost entirely carbohydrate and they are typically consumed in large quantities. Consequently, they have a potent impact with regards to insulin response, leading to a variety of problems such as promoting hyperinsulinemia.
- Irritant/toxicant properties: Grains are essentially a reproductive system that contains a number of control mechanisms that prevent both predation and abnormal germification. To protect their reproductive cycle, plants put anti-nutrients (toxins) in seed coverings to discourage animal consumption (phytic acid, lectins, and enzyme inhibitors). The lectin gluten for instance, is a protein found in wheat and other grains that actually damages or destroys the gastrointestinal tract.
Not everybody reacts to the same extend to the toxins/irritants of grains, but it should be clear that they are not a wise choice for optimized health. For more information about this topic, I highly recommend Robb Wolf's website who has a lot more on this topic to say than I do.
As with grains, most legumes (beans, peas, lentils) in their mature state are non-digestible and/or toxic to most mammals when eaten in even moderate quantities. Have a look at Loren Cordains references that summarize the basics about legume indigestibility/toxicity. Legumes contain a wide variety of antinutrient compounds which influence multiple tissues and systems, and normal cooking procedures do not always eliminate these.
Are you currently consuming grains or legumes of any sort and would you be willing to experiment to lay them off for a while to see if you can get some noticeable benefit from not consuming them?