Nutrition is one area of fitness and performance that many struggle with. Take for example the recent documentary Game Changers as an example. Since this film has begun to trend we're hearing of more and more people making the switch to becoming vegan or vegetarian. What this tells me is that the average person: A. Can be easily swayed by a Hollywood story i.e. James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan produced and/or directed this documentary. B. Is seeking more or better results and is willing to make changes to achieve better results. Knowing that many don't have a background in nutritional science and want to achieve the best results was the inspiration for this piece. Oftentimes those seeking the best results may invest in a supplement and so we want to provide some direction on that end as well. As we evaluate the various aspects of nutrition we want to identify if there would be benefit to adding a supplement to the mix. We need to be on the same page as to what is a supplement and here is our criteria. Something that is in addition to and not in place of.Something that is morally and legally justified.Something that has 3rd party labeling to assure the quality. If a substance doesn't adhere to these three rules we, the coaches at Okanagan Peak Performance Inc., would not recommend it to our clients. Obviously it is possible to source many products that don't satisfy these three rules, and find coaches that may recommend them, but these are our rules. Now onto the nutritional guidelines. Step 1 - Energy Balance The first step is to determine is you are eating enough calories to support your goal. The last part of the sentence is key. If we want to change our mass we...

A couple of things I really like are efficiency and great value. I like it when things are moving forward at a good clip and when the return is better than expected. Who doesn't like that though, right?This is no different than our health and fitness. For most the obstacle to better health and fitness comes down to time and finances. We don't make the time for fitness and exercise and we would rather spend our money on other things.The truth is that the fittest people in the world have the same hours as the rest of us. It's what we give our time to, or don't, that fills up our day.So with that being said I wanted to give you 11 tips to get lean. And the cool part is these things won't cost you an extra dime. Plus as your health improves you'll find you have more time in your day. You see what I did just there, right? Solve one problem and provide a solution for another as well.Anyways on with the tips. Minimize liquid calories - If our goal is to be as lean and healthy as possible we've got to be mindful of the calories we drink. This can be a chai tea in the AM, a coffee with cream and sugar, a store bought smoothie or any of the other ways we can drink calories. The truth is we only need water. Sure a red wine on occasion or a beer at a BBQ isn't going to derail your results completely. Just be aware of what you are drinking. And guess what? When we cut back on your liquid calories we'll find you have an extra $5-10 per day by opting out of the drive-thrus and coffee shops. Eat meals without snacking - Were you ever...

I've just gotten back from a family vacation. And it wasn't just Alexandra, the girls and I but my parents, siblings and their kids as well. All in there was 24 of us getting together for a few days in Washington and Idaho. We were there to go to a theme park and waterslides for a few days. At the end of the days we would gather at a restaurant to recount stories and review pictures from our adventures. Next door to one of the restaurants we were going to was a supplement store. And in the window of this supplement store was a cut out a fitness model advertising a particular supplement. In this case the supplement was branched chain amino acids or BCAAs as they're more commonly called. Before we carry on it's important to explain what a BCAA is. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Sometimes amino acids are thought of as beads on a string. Which amino acids are present and in which order is part of what determines which protein it will be. Three amino acids in particular have functional groups referred to as 'branched' to help distinguish them from other amino acids. These amino acids are leucine, isoleucine and valine. [caption id="attachment_5548" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The branched chain amino acids valine, leucine and isoleucine. Notice the part in blue is the same for all, only the part in green is different. And for a while it was believed that BCAAs, or even more specifically leucine, was the trigger for protein synthesis. So for someone looking to add some lean mass, get stronger or tone you would need to consume more protein. You could consume 20 grams of whey protein, or 6 grams of BCAAs or 2 grams of leucine. All were thought to be equivalent...

Nutrition is an interesting topic. For some, they treat it like religion. But it isn't like religion at all. It doesn't matter what I believe. Instead what should matter is what the research tells us to be true. We can decide to accept science or not.Only once we move beyond the idea of nutrition as a belief system can we address any of the questions we may have with the foods we eat.And there's a particular order, or hierarchy, of how to address our nutrition. This concept was proposed by Tom Venuto and works quite well.Before we get to addressing the layers of this hierarchy of this concept we need to understand the context of the situation. For this blog we are writing with the end goal being fat loss. The prescription would differ for someone with a performance goal or looking to add lean mass.The first place to start is to answer the question 'how much should we eat?' If we get this part wrong it's a lot harder to achieve our goal and can add frustration to positive efforts.In order to determine your daily caloric requirement we need to know about the individual. The sex of the individual - Men require about 12-13% more calories than women. If you eat according to portion size this is 1/8th and can be used to estimate energy when plating out meals. The age of the individual - A younger person will require more than a older person. For adults our caloric requirement will decrease by about 3.8 cal/year. The individual's occupation - Someone with a desk job will require less nutrition than a very active occupation like a bike courier. The individual's activity - Not counting work-related tasks it helps to know if the person moves a lot or not.And as we mentioned this...

Whenever we have an inquiry from a client interested in training at Okanagan Peak Performance Inc we sit down and do a strategy session with them. We want to learn about their goals, their training history, where they have aches and pains and what their recovery is like. Once we know these things we can much more effectively provide a personalized plan for that individual to help them achieve their goal(s) in less time.And one of the most common areas people need help with achieving their goals is with regards to their nutrition. After meeting with hundreds of clients, athletes and teams over the years I can say there are a number of common areas where people get tripped up with respect to their nutrition.With that in mind here are the Top 7 Nutritional Fails.1. Not Eating Enough Fruits & VegetablesThis should come as no surprise to anyone. Yet what is surprising is that even though most people are aware that they aren't eating enough fruits and vegetables they are surprised that they haven't achieved their ultimate physique or performance. On the one hand they recognize how vital these foods are to attaining their goal but then they fail to make the connection between this and the fact they are in poor health, obese or under performing in competition as a result.2. Missing One of D/Q/TThis one doesn't mean you are missing a Dairy Queen treat. Instead it refers to Dose, Quality and Timing. Most people do two of these really well. For example, they may eat the right amount of calories, and it's all high quality nutrition but it's all at one meal and so the timing is not ideal.Or someone might eat quality foods at the right times but just not eat enough total calories.Lastly, there maybe a situation where someone...

One of the most common questions I hear with new clients is 'what kind of protein powder should I be taking?'. And while for the right person a protein supplement can be a great idea we need to keep the definition of the word in mind.In other words we need to remember that this is 'in addition' to and not 'in place of'. Too often we'll hear stories of clients who have a smoothie in the morning, will have a protein bar during the day and then eat dinner with their families.This is not the way to go. Instead what we recommend is to eat as much whole, fresh food as is necessary to meet your goals. And if you are someone that would benefit from additional protein than we may provide some guidelines as to how to choose a protein powder.#1 - Taste[caption id="attachment_4180" align="alignleft" width="300"] A protein supplement better taste great.You are more likely to use a protein supplement if you like how it takes. You will use it the morning for a smoothie, after training for a post workout shake and find other ways to include a scoop here or there such as in your oatmeal, pancake mix or other recipes.If the taste causes you to gag and your eyes to water than this isn't the product for you. As for what flavour to choose decide if you will mix the protein in milk, water, juice or use for baking. Chocolate is a popular flavour but doesn't have the same range of possible uses that a vanilla flavour does. Just something to keep in mind.#2 - SolubilityThink of this as to how well the protein powder mixes in the liquid. Some powders can be scooped into your drink and with a few swirls of the cup it is...

There is no arguing the importance that nutrition has on achieving success with your training and your overall health. It doesn't matter if the goal is weight loss, performance or rehab you will realize success sooner and to a greater extent when you make the effort to eat as well as you can. But what does eating well mean? [caption id="attachment_4026" align="alignleft" width="300"] What does eating well really mean? Does this mean jump on the band-wagaon with everyone down at the local box gym and go Paleo? Or should I go low carb? Or low fat? Do I just reduce my calories overall to create a decifict? Can I just cut out sugar? What about the Mediterranean approach? The Zone? Eat right for my type? Confused? Yeah me too! Sometimes we just make things too complicated, don't we? Instead of trying to figure which nutritional approach to sign up for and get their tattoo on your forehead what about if we started with the basics? What about if we addressed what is in common with all of these approaches and those not following any plan? What if we made sure some of the key nutrients of metabolism were satisfied before we worried about cutting certain things out of the diet? That might a little more sense and be easier to follow. Because here's the thing...the problem is not one of not knowing what to eat. It's not one of education where I can show you what a vegetable, a piece of fruit, some lean protein and a glass of water looks like. I think we're good in that area and you know what these foods are. And I don't think it's an issue of wanting your goal badly enough. When you see reminders of what your body used to look like...

What do you like to have as a cheat meal? And you better not say 75% dark chocolate with almonds covered in sea salt. No, I mean when no one is watching what do you go for? Or when you have a severe craving for something what would like to have? Is it salt or sweet? For the sweet crowd this is usually chocolate. It could be ice cream, a chocolate chip cookie or a regular chocolate bar. And for the salt people this may be nachos, pizza, wings and quite often potato chips. Because the reality is we can't be perfect all the time. Sometimes we want to have fun and indulge. And when we look for a treat there are a few options we can choose. 1. Deny the urge and distract ourselves by getting busy. Some people can do this and it works for them. For many those the craving just seems to linger and it's always a struggle to ignore. 2. Go half way and have a somewhat healthy cheat meal Think of people who will opt for greek yogurt with some fruit. Or kale chips with salsa. Or as I mentioned above the ones who go for really dark bitter chocolate and some nuts. 3. Just go for it. Then there are those who will open the flood gates and enjoy a treat with no restrictions. We're talking beer and wings. Or ice cream with chocolate sauce. Or chips and dip. For these people there is no messing around. When they cheat they go straight for what they want and don't worry about healthier options. Healthier option cheats? If you always thought cheating came down to the three options above than you need to check out the link right below this sentence: http://okanaganpeakperformance.getprograde.com/healthy-recipes.html There are recipes...

Do you take supplements? In particular do you take a protein supplement? If so, you may be interested to know that there is another version of your protein you can take that requires you to eat or drink less than you may be used to and still get all the benefits. And this other version is essential amino acids or even more specifically branched chain amino acids. Let's just take a moment here and define what we're talking about. Without getting into too much detail an amino acid is a chain of carbon atoms with an amino group, -NH2, at one end, and a carboxyl group, -COOH, at the other end. Some of the amino acids our bodies can't make so they are called essential amino acids. And within this group of essential amino acids there is a sub-group of amino acids called branched chain amino acids or BCAAs with functional group bonded to one of the carbons. Clear as mud? Don't sweat it too much. The take home message is that when we supplement with protein there are a few options that will all achieve the same end goal. 1. You could take 20 grams of whey protein2. You could take 6 grams of BCAAs3. You could take 2 grams of leucine Leucine is an example of a BCAA. So all three options above have similar effects which one would you choose? Think in terms of minimal essential dose. Obviously we would go with the third option, right? Why take ten times the amount of something i.e. 20 grams of whey protein to get the same effect as a much smaller dose i.e. 2 grams of leucine? Alright so if we're in agreement that less is more when it comes to supplementation the next step is to determine what to...

Do you drink milk? That's a pretty easy question because it doesn't specify what kind of milk? Most people assume you mean cow's milk but nowadays that question can be open to interpretation as the regular variety or one of rice, almond or soy. So what's the difference between the different types of milk? And more importantly is there one type that you should be drinking? Below is a table that summarizes the key nutritional differences between the various types of milk. Let's take a look at each. [caption id="attachment_3527" align="alignleft" width="300"] Nutritional data of different kinds of milk         Almond MilkThis is made by crushing almonds with water and as it is not produced with animal products it has little to no saturated fat or cholesterol. Compared to cow's milk it has as little as 40% of the calories and does not contain the sugar lactose. However when drinking almond milk you lose much of the protein, calcium and vitamin B12 found in cow's milk. Soy MilkThis milk is made with soybeans and water and is also produced without animal products therefore is has little saturated fat and no cholesterol. In terms of calories it is comparable to some forms of cow's milk and is almost double the energy of almond milk. In terms of the protein content soy has slightly less than cow's milk and is comparable in terms of the vitamin and mineral content. Rice MilkAny guesses how rice milk is produced? As with the other two varieties it is made by combining rice (usually brown) with water. Since this form of milk is made from a starch it has a higher carbohydrate content and the highest calorie content of non-dairy types of milk. Again as with the other 2 non-dairy varieties this is a non-animal form of milk so the...

The other day I finished up a session with a client and we were talking about post-workout nutrition. And as we have chocolate milk for after your workout I offered one to this client. And she had a question regarding drinking chocolate milk. Specifically she wanted to know if it was ok to drink the reduced sugar version. Here's what I told her. After training the body is looking to begin the repair process and replenish metabolites that have been depleted. During training the body uses ATP as the energy source. Carbohydrates are a prime source for generating ATP during training. Some of the cards we eat are stored in the body in the form of glycogen in the muscle and liver. Anyways, it makes sense that after training we've depleted the body's source of glycogen and this needs to be replaced. If we eat only protein we won't have the necessary nutrients to replenish our store of glycogen. This is a common mistake some make with regards to their post-workout nutrition. They believe they need protein, which they do, but nothing else. There is also the belief that more is better and if 20 grams of protein in your post workout shake is good than 40 grams would be better and 50 or 60 grams would probably be best. But here's the thing. 20 grams of whey protein will get the job done. As will 6 grams of branched chain amino acids. Or 2 grams of the essential amino acid leucine. But we tend to follow label instructions on our favourite protein supplement which tells us a serving is 30-50 grams of protein. And the other protein is the lack of carbohydrate. And optimal post-workout formulation would have 3 or 4 times the amount of carbs as protein. A regular...

 So I just got back from a conference in California. And this means flights, hotel stays and long days of sitting in on presentations. For most this is a prescription to derail one's fitness and performance efforts. But not me.No sir! I feel like Superman when I travel. What do I mean by that?    Well basically it's that I have strategies in place that allow me not lose any of the forward momentum I've achieved with my training. And since we're into spring break here and many of you may be hitting the road for vacations this is a great time to share these tips with you.Here are my Top 10 Strategies for Staying Healthy on Vacation.Tip #1 - Bring a shaker cupThe thing with flights is that you get dehyrated. And with security rules limiting the volume of liquid to 100 ml you can't bring carry a drink with you. And once you're on the flight you get a serving of water as if you were rinsing your mouth at the dentist's office.To get around this invest in a shaker cup. They cost less than $10 and often are included at supplement stores when you purchase a bulk order. Don't bring a coffee cup or water bottle. The next points explain why.Tip #2 - Bring dried veggiesHave you ever noticed how great the salad bars are in airports? And how fresh everything is? And of course the variety rivals that of a Las Vegas casino. But the best part is how reasonable everything is. I'm surprised more people don't drive out to airports for their evening meals.Obviously I'm not serious about the points above. Therefore  it is that much more important to bring a number of dried veggies in envelopes. I use Prograde Genesis because I get 5-6 servings per packet and the...