How Much Protein Do I Actually Need?
As a Registered Dietitian and athlete, one of the most frequent questions I am asked by my clients, gym-mates, friends, and family is “How much protein do I need?”. My short answer is, “It depends.” As always, there is more to unpack when answering a seemingly simple question. So here is my medium-long answer.
When “Healthy” Goes Too Far: Meet Orthorexia
Let’s begin with a little game of association here. When you hear the word healthy, what comes to your mind?
Images or phrases such as gluten-free, juice cleanse, abs, dairy-free, paleo, keto, whole30, dewy skin, and ________ [insert any other #trendingnow idea] may have come to mind. As you can see, the term “healthy” is pretty loaded these days.
The Keto Diet: The Truth Will Set You Free, But...
“The truth will set you free… but first it will piss you off”- Gloria Steinem (Made more famous by Pharrel and Rihanna)
Today I am diving into waters that I have previously ran from like the plague. Whenever I see and hear crazy hype about the newest diet on social media and podcasts, I inherently cringe and want to go hide under a rock. Why? Because I know that I’ll see friends, family members, patients, and random people on the street trying that newest diet, and then asking me if I, too, think that it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. But as it turns out, I still love bread (slices or otherwise), and today, I feel compelled to write this post. We’re going deep about the ketogenic diet. We’re going to discuss real biochemistry and science. I’m going to cite peer reviewed scientific literature. And most importantly, we’ll discuss, as we always do, how you can practically eat and truly BE healthy in the real world. Here. We. Go.
Introducing EVOLVE Performance Training
“Do what you love, for life.”
Since the beginning, our goal at EVOLVE Flagstaff is to help you do what you love, for life. We want to help you feel and look great, to overcome injuries, prevent chronic disease, and live your life to the fullest.
To better fulfill that mission, we are incredibly excited to announce that EVOLVE Flagstaff will be expanding to a larger space in downtown Flagstaff. We’ll be moving from our current 350 square foot office to a 2,400 square foot clinic and training space. This move will provide the following dedicated private offices for our Registered Dietitian and Physical Therapist, allowing for more available treatment times and less distraction. We’ll also have a state of the art strength and conditioning equipment with ample space to train.
What’s most exciting about this move is that we will launching a Performance Training Program that we’ve beta tested over the past year to address all of the most common problems we see people encountering while pursuing an active lifestyle.
Travel Nutrition Priorities
We love traveling at EVOLVE, whether it's a quick weekend in Scout the Van (see figure 1), or jet setting to far off lands.
Exploring new places, cultures, and food is great, but we know that it is easy to feel like travel throws a wrench in all of your awesome, healthy nutrition habits. So, let’s take a moment to break down our nutrition strategies on the road or in the air.
I like good fats and I cannot lie: A guide to "healthy" fats
It seems like there’s always some type of debate going on in the nutrition world about the role of fat in a healthy diet.
First, low-fat was the way to go. This led to the development of sketchy fat substitutes like “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” (I can believe it) or Olestra (anal leakage for your Friday night?), and the injection of excessive amounts of sugar and salt into “low fat” foods to make them taste good and pass as edible.
Then, the pendulum swung to the opposite side of the spectrum with the Paleo and other ancestral health movements, which promoted fat as the new solution to all of our diet-related problems. Hungry? Need to lose weight? Want more energy? Just add butter to it! Things like Bulletproof Coffee became the new craze, and bacon became a “health food.”
We’re now living in this awkward new world where it seems like things are just plain confusing. Some people remain stuck in the low-fat mindset while others pile bacon, butter, and olive oil on top of everything.