Category Archives: Nutrition

Easy to Follow Sample Diet

Posted on by Justin Schollard

Sample Diet

Key to success:

Keep it simple.

Stick to meats & veggies, nuts & seeds, some fruit, little carbs, NO SUGAR!

Eat Organic

Proteins:

Fish, Chicken, Eggs, Beef, Turkey, Lamb, Duck, Pork.

Carbohydrates:

Bread, Pasta, Rice, Beans, Fruit, Grains, Oatmeal, Quinoa, Sugar.

Fats:

Oils, Butter, Nuts, Seeds, Cheese.

————————————————————————————————————————————————
  • Eat less food more often. 4-6 times a day
  • Keep meals the size of your hand
  • Eat protein & vegetables multiple times per day
  • Only eat complex carbohydrates (Sprouted wheat, beans, whole wheat, quinoa..)
  • Limit caffeine to 1-2 cups/day
  • Drink AT LEAST ½ gallon of water per day. Bigger people drink closer to a gallon

Things to stay away from:

Trans Fats/hydrogenated oils:

-Crisco, Margarine, I Can’t Believe Its Not Butter, Canola Oil,

Sugar, White Bread/Flour,

Artificial sweeteners

-Splenda, Equal, Sweet and Low.

Even too much fruit can slow fat loss.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Occasional Indulgences:

Dark Chocolate, Red Wine, Cheese.

Supplements:

Omega 3, Probiotics, Whey Protein, Super Green Powder, Fish oil.

The Incredible Egg

Posted on by Justin Schollard
Three yolks from two chicken eggs; one of thes...

Image via Wikipedia

Hello There!

I feel like there are more mixed messages about eggs than any other food out there. The other day I was shopping at Trader Joe’s (buying 2 dozen eggs), when I overheard the person behind the free sample booth dishing out mini servings of egg white salads say to a customer “and it’s made with just the egg whites so you’re not getting all that terrible fat and cholesterol.” Wha what?!? It was all I could do to not interrupt this person and publicly debate him on the nutritional properties of eggs and the misconceptions regarding egg yolks… But that wouldn’t have been fair. He was most likely just repeating what he was told by some other misinformed soul. So, I refilled my free mini coffee, continued shopping and knew exactly what I’d be writing about in my next blog.

Yolk or no Yolk?

Lets first dive into exactly what egg yolks do for us and why it’s so important to eat them. We all know that eggs are high in protein (roughly 6-8 grams per egg), and aside from being some of the highest quality protein found in any food, eggs are also packed with vitamins and minerals. The majority of which are found in the yolk! One of the most powerful is an essential nutrient called Choline that according to incredibleeeg.org “contributes to fetal brain developement and helps prevent birth defects. Two eggs provide 250mg of Choline or roughly half of the recommended daily intake for pregnant or breastfeeding women.” Choline also aids in brain function by maintaining the structure of brain cell membranes and helps relay messages from the brain’s neurotransmitters through nerves to the muscles.

Egg yolks also contain two very important antioxidants, Lutein and zeaxanthin, that help prevent age related blindness through higher bioavailability of these antioxidants than other food sources.

Why the bad press?

It’s amazing to me that after all these years and countless studies proving the benefit of eggs the majority of people still shy away from including them, more specifically the yolks, into their daily diets. A major reason why foods like eggs and meat have been demonized for the last century (despite being eaten by every human civilization for the past 250,000 years) is because the founders of our food pyramid (William K. Kellogg ring a bell?) placed breads and grains as the foundation to a healthy diet promoting a low-fat/high fiber diet as your best defense to reducing your chances of getting high cholesterol and/or heart disease caused by saturated fats.. Nothing could be further from the truth.. Want proof? Just take a look at the rate of obesity, heart disease and diabetes in our country today and then take a look at the abundance of carb laden foods and snacks everywhere you turn especially in our school cafeterias. W. K. Kellogg was a smart business man and knew that people, as we often do, associate a brand with quality. Especially in a time when research in this area was very minimal and information was hard to come by. Fast forward a hundred years and many of us are still hanging on to that old belief that carbohydrates should make up the majority of our caloric intake despite health the epidemics related to processed grains popping up like wildfire. 

Bottom line: The food pyramid is upside down. The fats that come from eggs and meats are essential to our biology. Our bodies use it to make hormones, regulate blood sugar and assimilate proteins to name a few.

What about all that cholesterol?

According to a 2010 study by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) the amount of cholesterol in a single egg is 14% lower than previously recorded and the amount of vitamin D is 64% higher. According to the American Heart Association, your genetic makeup determines how much cholesterol your body will produce – not your diet.  Your liver produces about 75% of your total cholesterol which your body needs for digestion and creation of certain hormones, the remaining 25% comes from food.  So, if you’re already genetically pre-disposed to high cholesterol then 4 eggs a day might be a bit much, but the benefits of including 1 or 2 to your diet far out way any risks that may be associated. 

With all the misconceptions about food out there, a good rule of thumb is that if it goes bad it’s probably good for you. Anything with a shelf life is suspect and most likely packed with preservatives and artificial ingredients. When it comes to something as naturally occurring as an egg, I would advise anyone without reservation to enjoy in abundance. So trade in your puffed wheat cereal (a.k.a. poison) and try a couple of eggs for breakfast. It’ll be the best decision you made all day.

To your health,
Justin Schollard

Sugar, pasta, bread: Stay away!

Posted on by Justin Schollard
Macro photograph of a pile of sugar (saccharose)

Image via Wikipedia

I recently received the following email from a new reader and thought I’d share what I wrote with everyone…



Hi Justin,

My friend forwarded me your blog link. I was wondering when you say to not eat sugar, are you talking refined/processed sugar or also things like bread, pasta, potatoes (carbs)? By the way, what is your take on baked potatoes? Awesome blog!Thanks,
B


Hi B,
Thank you for the email, its a great question.
No matter what your fitness goal is always remember one thing; sugar is the enemy! Regardless of the form it comes in sugar is going to significantly hinder your dieting objectives. Yes, some sugars are worse than others. Naturally occurring sugars in fruit for example are definitely a healthier choice than say a bag of skittles, but if we really get down to it what are we trying to achieve by eating fruits in the first place? The answer is nutrition. So, if the same if not more nutrition can be attained elsewhere through things like veggies, SuperFood powders and berries(I know its still fruit but berriesare packed with micro-nutrients and have very little calories) then why ingest the extra 20 grams of sugar you’d get through fruits like apples, oranges, bananas etc…? Bottom line, refined sugars are to be avoided at all costs. Fruits should be eaten in moderation.
Breads, pasta, and rice are also dietary enemies with the sole purpose of wreaking havoc on you metabolism. Don’t be fooled by clever packaging that claims to be a healthy choice. The fact is that these forms of carbs are essentially processedand bleached of all their nutritional value. Even if its “organic whole wheat” remember that that’s only a less-bad option from regular white bread or pasta and not to be mistaken as a health food. Yes, it’ll have some fiber and a few nutrients in it, but again it goes back to my earlier statement about getting those same nutritional qualities elsewhere without all the baggage. Your main source of carbs should come in the form of raw nuts, organic beans, veggies, little fruit, and yes, on occasion a potato. Which is a much better alternative than any flower based carb or rice.
The unprocessed starch in potatoes is great for replenishing glucose stores after a workout, and for people acclimating to a low carb diet it can be a great alternative for getting trough bread/pasta withdraws. Potatoes also have a pretty decent amount of magnesium and potassium as well… But remember the goal is to wing ourselves from using carbs as our main energy source and to switch to burning fat as our fuel. We do this by consuming less carbs and more fats. So, although potatoes are a healthier option moderation is still the key.

Thanks again for the email!

To your health,

Justin Schollard

Sample Diet: How I eat (most of the time)

Posted on by Justin Schollard
Official seal of the National Organic Program

Image via Wikipedia

7am: One Greens+ protein bar and one serving of KJ SuperFoods.

10am: Two handfuls of mixed raw nuts.

12-1pm: 1 slice of ezekiel sprouted wheat bread with organic peanut butter and 4 RAW, organic, free range eggs

…I know. This may sound crazy but trust me, I’ve been eating raw eggs for years and never once felt the least bit sick. The biggest misconception about raw eggs is that you’ll get salmonella poisoning from them. However, the only way salmonella can get into that air-tight shell is if the chicken that laid the egg had it. So, by making sure you’re getting high quality organic, free range eggs (preferably from farmers markets) you can enjoy all the benefits that eating eggs in the raw provide. For example: DIGESTIVE ENZYMES! However, not everyone can stomach eggs in the raw, so by all means cook them if you must.

Moving on..

3pm: One can of wild salmon in a bowl of lentils with some organic mayonnaise and a big dark green salad. 

Why canned you ask? Well, as long as it doesn’t come from a fish farm, canned fish ain’t bad! I discovered that Trader Joe’s sells cans of wild Alaskan Salmon. Since you can’t technically buy “organic” fish or seafood, the best thing you can do is make sure it’s “wild caught”. The reason being that farmed fish are kept in tanks that severely limit the range the fish can swim causing it to never quit reach muscular maturity. Also, farmed fish are usually fed a corn base feed which is, of course, the furthest thing on the planet from what the fish would eat in its natural habitat. Not to mention there’s a good chance that some genetic engineering was done to give those filets that big, juicy look. YUK!

Wild. Organic. Raw. Period.

POST WORKOUT SHAKE: Half of a organic banana, strawberries, WILD organic blueberries, Organic peanut butter and a serving of KJ SuperFoods protein/green blend. 

Why wild blueberries? It’s common knowledge that blueberries are pack with antioxidants, right? What’s not so well know is that antioxidants act a a natural pesticide to ward of insects. So, when blueberries are factory farmed, i.e. sprayed with insecticides like DDT, the berry stops producing its own natural insecticides (antioxidants).

6pm: 2 organic, free range chicken thighs, Half cup of lentils. 

Why the thighs? Don’t buy into the belief that chicken breasts are the end-all-be-all of healthy eating. That’s just what the factory farming industry wants you to think. FACT: chickens don’t fly. If you get a chance, take a look at a WILD turkey or chicken breast. You’ll notice how small it actually is. Reason being: if the bird can’t fly, the breast is the most dysfunctional muscle it has. So the next time you’re in the super market and you see that massive chicken breast glistening behind that cellophane remember; genetic engineering is a real thing, and the USDA does not require food manufacturers to label their product if has been genetically altered. Bottom line, they’re in business to make a profit. Don’t be fooled by the happy farmer on their packaging. They know we, as a nation, are infatuated with chicken breasts, so they supply the demand accordingly by dosing the chickens with hormones to accelerate the growth of their breasts at a rate the rest of its frame can’t even support. Go for the dark meat next time. It tastes so much better!

9pm: Half cup of Organic Kidney, Black or Pinto beans, Organic red meat and mixed organic veggies. 

By this point you might be asking yourself; What’s with all the beans, dude? Quit simply, beans are some the most nutritionally dense forms of un-bleachable carbohydrates out there. When it comes to carbs, (which should be eaten with caution) you want to eat the most complex-slow burning ones available. The difference between beans and say, wheat bread or brown rice is that flower and/or rice has the POTENTIAL to become a simple, fast acting carbohydrate by being bleached of its nutritional properties. So, in terms of superior nutrition avoid eating the “less bad” options like whole wheat or brown rice and opt for something like beans or nuts or even sprouted wheats and get the benefits of their nutritional density.

That’s it! If you found this post useful please “like” it and always feel free to leave a comment.

To your health,

Justin Schollard

Superior Nutrition with KJ SuperFoods

Posted on by Justin Schollard

For years I have been a big fan of super foods. Considering the amount of toxins our bodies go to battle with on a daily basis such as air pollution, chemicals in our water, preservatives, hormones and antibiotics in our food, it is crucial that we keep our bodies nourished to the best of our abilities. However, sometimes it’s just not possible to eat as many fruits and vegetables as we know we should. For this reason my partner and I created KJ SuperFoods. A nutritional supplement made straight from our earth consisting of 13 organic, wild harvested and chemical free herb, vegetable, algae and fruit ingredients. One serving gives your body 100% of every vitamin and mineral it needs for the entire day. Unlike most grocery store vitamins, KJ SuperFoods assimilates in minutes delivering dense nutrition that your body recognizes as being grown from the earth not in a laboratory. Check it out and see for yourself how noticeably better you’ll feel after all your nutritional requirements have been met.

To your health