Saturated Smaturated, Dark Meat>White Meat

I have dreams about this chicken from adHoc

I'm speaking here not just from a culinary stand point but also a fitness professional. Now before you pick up that d-a-f (dry as fuck) see every protein strand because its overcooked chicken breast and come at me, hear me out! 

The average piece of chicken breast contains:
231 Calories
43g Protein
5g Fat
0g Carb
1.5g Saturated Fat

And dark meat:
287 Calories
38g Protein
14g Fat
0g Carb
3.7g Saturated Fat

If you look at it based on those numbers, you'll notice that you can squeak out a bit more protein out of chicken breast while keeping your saturated fat intake down. The increase in calories from dark meat comes from fat. (Note: If you have a physique based goal and are watching calorie intake, I would go white meat.)

As a cook, I much prefer cooking dark meat for two reasons: I think it tastes better and it's pretty difficult to overcook thighs and drumsticks. But the SATURATED FAT!!!!!!

And saturated fat is BAD right?! 

Here's a few points on Saturated Fats and why you should include them in your diet.

1. Saturated fat seems to support the enhancement of good cholesterol.
2. Fats from palm oil and coconut oil are highly saturated, but not necessarily bad. Palm and coconut also contain medium chain fats, which can support health and optimal body composition.
3. Eating saturated fats showed direct improvement in mood and cognition. It's why comfort foods are often very fatty.

The biggest problem with saturated fats seems to be the sources (processed food and oils) combined with refined carbohydrates which as a result causes your health to suffer. If you do choose to consume tropical oils like palm and coconut oil, I would attempt to eat them in their native form. The refinement process often creates hydrogenated fats in an attempt to make the products more shelf stable. 

Saturated fat should make up no more than 10% of total calories.
 

I can't stress that enough....read that sentence above one more time. NO MORE THAN 10%

For someone eating 2000 calories per day, that would be a maximal intake of 200 grams of saturated fat per day.

As a fit pro and common sense weilding human, I know that a bucket of fried chicken or pizza on a weekly basis isn't healthy, but I'm also a lover of good food. And sometimes it comes in the form of a pizza or chicken. I don't deprive myself of these types of foods because of some fad diet. 

Always, everything in moderation.

My Name is Gary and I Worked at a Drug Rehab Facility

Secluded up in the Hollywood hills I had the opportunity to work with a disordered eating and drug rehab facility. Six months ago I was contacted to fill in for 6 weeks and fill in as their fitness director for the patients staying at the clinic. It was a very rewarding experience and I would like to share a few things I learned during my time there.

1. Disordered Eating Affects Over 20 Million Women & 10 Million Men Sometime in Their Lives.

The current figures show that at some point 30 million Americans will suffer from some form of disordered eating. Some of the common ones include:

• Atypical anorexia nervosa (weight is not below normal)
• Bulimia nervosa (with less frequent behaviors)
• Binge-eating disorder (with less frequent occurrences)
• Purging disorder (purging without binge eating)
• Night eating syndrome (excessive nighttime food consumption)
• Orthorexia Nervosa (unhealthy obsession with "righteous eating")

We all at some point struggle with body image and being confident in our own skin. Don't jump to passing judgement on someone simply because they're overweight or what you might consider "too skinny". You haven't walked a mile in their shoes or spent a second in their mind, so what makes anyone feel like they should have the audacity to pass judgement on them. 

That person is FAT! Well what you don't see is that they just lost their significant other, and food has become their way of coping.

That person is too skinny. What you don't see is this person has been told they were ugly their whole lives and now compensate by trying to fit into the standards that society deems fit as 'beautiful" by starving themselves eating as little as possible, often times complaining of headaches and lethargy. 

Without coming off sounding like a hippie, we all have to live on this planet together while we're here; don't make life harder for everybody by being a jerk. We need to practice compassion and empathy.

2. Talk to the individual if you  believe they may have a substance abuse or disordered eating problem. 

The prevailing theme I got from all the people I was interacted with was that they eventually had an intervention to make some type of positive change in their lives. The problem was that for some individuals it came a bit too late. Whether they had become morbidly obese or having organ failure due to rampant drug use, these people didn't just wake up with these health problems. Many of them said they wish their loved ones had spoken up sooner. 

Often people have these problems and it sits in front of us in plain sight. So if you suspect someone you love has a problem, try to get them professional help before it becomes a chronic issue that will be even harder to overcome.

3. Learning to disassociate food as good or bad. 

There's no such thing as "clean" eating. Food is food and I for one LOVE all kinds of food. When an individual begins to think of a typical food like rice as bad or dirty, that gives some insight to both their knowledge of nutrition but also their relationship with food in general. 

Many have a fascination about fitting things into a category. I eat paleo, I eat low fat, or I eat gluten free. Most of the diets people think they're following is simply marketing. Everyone was all about juicing a year ago, the narrative has changed very recently.

Education is the key to truly being the master of your health.

What's a quality protein? How about carbs? What happens if you happen to eat too LITTLE carbs and fat? These are common dietary scenarios that individuals live everyday with. Learning more about what goes on in YOUR body will do wonders.

Related: Just say "no" to that detox diet or juice cleanse by Dr. John Berardi

Ultimately being healthy should be the metric we all strive to achieve. Being happy with who you are and striving to be the best version of yourself is what matters the most.

How I Organize My Own Training Program

Lifting + Running = more calories. CHECK!

So you're trying to be a great long distance runner but still have biceps, pecs and 400lb deadlift? You're crazy! (silence) umm...Is that even possible?

The short answer is I don't know.

I've only started to take up running again. I'm currently tweaking my own programming adjusting under the bar volume, milage on the road and macros in the kitchen.

But I firmly believe this goal is very possible. Here are a few of my observations so far.

Strong legs in the gym= strong legs on the road too

The biggest thing I've noticed when running 8+ miles is not that my legs get tired; I got the legs just not the lungs for running faster. I recall back in high school and college that my legs would routinely get tired performing anything above 6 miles, add in any kind of considerable incline and my legs were fried.

Years of squatting and deadlifting have made my legs much more resilient to fatigue. This is interesting considering they're technically calling upon different fiber types: slow twitch vs fast twitch and different energy system: aerobic vs anaerobic.

No Cramping or Side stitches

Another common problem runners have is related to poor breathing mechanics. This often results in getting side stitches or cramps in their oblique area. 

As a weightlifter I understand how to properly maintain a certain level of tightness to ensure a stable midsection. This is a result of proper breathing mechanics to ensure not exhaling fully because this will destabilize the trunk (think a relaxing yawn, you draw in A LOT of air followed by fully exhaling). 

Also having a core strong enough to perform 20+ reps on a trap bar with 350lbs is a pretty strong transverse abdominis, it should be able to hold up to the fairly easy pounding running transmits. Here's Dr Quinn Henoch demonstrating a PRI technique of how to breathe using the diaphragm. 

How This Might Work For You

I suppose it's important to cover who this type of training WON'T work for:

• If you struggle with the core lifts of squatting and deadlifting, and you perform zero unilateral work. (Struggle like you can barely perform your bodyweight on these lift without looking like you're performing it during an earthquake)
• If you think a one minute plank is REALLY hard. (again without looking like there's an earthquake)
• If you're a physique athlete, you'll lose SOME muscle therefore distance running is counterproductive to your goals. (and there are better ways to whittle away that last remaining amount of fat) 

Related: Screw Cardio! Four Complexes for a Shredded Physique

Any lifter with a few years under their belt and a decent command of the core lifts would be fine and might even benefit from added C word...Cardio (GASP). 

Sunday: OFF

This is in anticipation of a BIG lifting day on Monday morning. 

Monday: Heavy lifting session

Here is where I push the envelope on my core lifts. I work up to a heavy single and back off for a decent percentage depending on how I'm feeling 70% ( I feel terrible)- 90% (I have the POWER!!).

I squat and deadlift on the same day. I bookend session with a superset of a chest supported back movement/rear deltoid movement along with anti-flexion core work.

I may or may not perform a light run afterwards, 3-4 miles at a sub-maximal pace 60-70% Max HR. 

Tuesday: Lighter lifting session

I'll typically perform hip thrusts on this day, weight is dependent on how I'm feeling of course. I'll typically superset 6 movements, move at a decent pace since I'm not looking to really move the needle on weights. Core movements include anti-rotation like payoff presses.

I will take the day off from running. 

Wednesday: No Lifting

Having not run the day before, this is usually my longest run of the week. So far it's been 8 miles. If there's a day where I want to push the distance it's on Wednesday. I move this along on a pace I deem fit, so far it's been slow and steady as to allow my joints to get used to lifting and running. 

Thursday: Upper Body

I'll perform 3 supersets consisting of a variety of pressing motions always with a pulling motion. Example: Incline dumbbell bench press and Chest supported incline dumbbell row, dips and a single kettle bell racked walk or standing dumbbell military press and inverted rows. Flexion based movements like reverse crunches and hanging leg raises comprise my core work today. 

No running.

Friday: Lower Body

This is my accessory day, depending on how my week went , I'll evaluate if there something that needs strengthening. Here I'll almost always perform some type of unilateral lower body move like split squats to start then move onto technique drive movements like Paused Squats and 1 1/2 rep style deadlifts.

Again I'll perform some type of back work. If Thursday had a lot of vertical pulling, I'll keep it to the horizontal variety on Friday or vice versa. Core is often more dynamic in nature like bear crawls, unilateral farmer's walk or a valslide body saw.

Running: Moderate milages if my low end is 3-4 and high end is 7-8, I'll perform a 5-6 mile pace run where I'm trying to lower my mile pace. If my 7-8 mile run is performed at 8:10, I'll attempt to perform these 5-6 miles at 7:55-8:00.

Saturday: No Lifting

I will run again, usually a really easy sub maximal 3-4 miles. Mostly a recovery run.  

Final Notes:

• Leading up to deciding to run again, I was performing some kind of squat pattern movement 4x a week and deadlifting 2x a week.
• I have upped my carb intake, around 3g per lbs now per day and upped my fat intake by 50%. I may play around with this and lower my carb intake. I'd like to see if I'm able to maintain performance and not have to eat 1-2 cups of starchy carbs at every meal. I LOVE rice but after a while, it's a bit much. 
• I still play Basketball occasionally. Ball is Life bro...
• I'm performing a crazy amount of soft tissue work to maintain proper muscle length and try to avoid injury considering the amount of added stress to my body. Hence the slow progression of adding in miles. Big milage is often associated with injuries in runners. 
• Speaking of recovery, if I don't sleep at least 8-9 hours on lift+run days, I'm a zombie the following day. This makes it even harder considering I'm working all day too.

Master Chef 105: Stir Frying

Stir frying or Sautéing is often considered the chef's microwave. Sauté means to jump, which is what you'll be doing (sort of). Quick, fast and tasty dishes are created using this high heat method of cooking and I would say it's my go to cooking method after a long day of work and no leftover prepped food in the fridge. 

The MOST important part of stir frying is having all you ingredients ready to go. Dice all proteins and slice all vegetables even before putting the heat to your pan or wok. Any sauces should be pre-mixed as well. Once all prep work is done, you are ready to begin cooking. 

Mushroom Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb chicken breasts, cubed into bite sized pieces

3 Tbsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp Canola Oil

1 Tbsp Sesame Oil

8 oz mushrooms, sliced. (Crimini or white button both work)

1/2 onion, sliced thinly

1 Zucchini, cut into half moons

1/4 c Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp Sherry Vinegar or Balsamic Vinegar

4 Garlic coves, minced

2 Tbsp Fresh Ginger, minced

METHOD:

1. Toss chicken with corn starch

2. Heat the pan over medium and add Canola oil. Cook all the chicken. 

3. Set the chicken aside and turn the pan/wok up on high. 

4. Cook the mushrooms, zucchini and onion until browned.  

5. Add garlic and ginger and continue to cook.

6. Once all the veggies have softened a bit, add back in the chicken and mix well. 

7. Add in the soy sauce and vinegar. Cook until it reduces a bit to a thicker sauce like consistency.

8. Season to taste with salt and pepper if needed
 

NOTE: If you watched the snapchat video I added above, you see that I forget to prep the onions. Which took maybe a minute while I was cooking the chicken. Well that minute where I left the chicken unattended allowed some of it to get crispier (because of the cornstarch and subsequently left the pan too burnt to continue cooking with. So I had to remove all the veggies and get a new pan. Take home lesson? DON'T START COOKING UNTIL ALL PREP IS DONE!

Master Chef 202: Roasting

This Christmas dinner is not possible without the use of an oven and proper roasting technique

Roasting is one of the most versatile cooking techniques. You can prepare oven roasted vegetables or an elaborate roasted turkey for Thanksgiving. Here's a breakdown of the basics behind each of them. 

Roasting Vegetables

Roasting vegetables all follow a simple procedure.

1. Preheat oven anywhere from between 400-500 degrees
2. Toss with oil
3. Season salt and pepper
4. Enjoy!

Nicely roasted vegetables need higher temperatures to get the caramelization desired. Here's a batch of roasted Broccoli I made the other day. 

Roasting a Whole Chicken

By age 30, I would say every adult should be able to roast a whole chicken. I was planning on creating a video but I always share this video with anyone who asks "what are the basics to cooking a whole chicken?" Who better than Thomas Keller to explain how to do just that!

Basic components of roasted poultry

1. Truss chicken (optional)
2. After room temp, season with salt and pepper. 
3. Place on bed of vegetables or on a wire rack baking sheet. 
4. Roast in your oven for 40-60 minutes depending on the size of the bird. 

I will confess that when I'm pressed for time and want to "just eat", I love to butterfly the whole chicken. As the video will elaborate, it allows the chicken to cook at a more even rate and most importantly, much faster.