214-736-9365 info@electwellness.com
Demystifying Net Carbs

Demystifying Net Carbs

Nutrition Label for Apple next to Net Carb Calculation

Ever see a protein bar or shake with a "Net Carb" count listed on the front? Perhaps you already understand this, but it remains a mystery to many people. I'd like to break down for you to make sure you are never in the dark.

The idea of a separate net carb count vs total carb count stems from the attempt to separate carbohydrates that actually impact your blood sugar levels from those that don't.

Now you may be thinking - don't all carbs affect your blood sugar? After all, even complex starches eventually become simple sugars in the blood.

Well, there are a few compounds that fall under the umbrella of carbohydrate, even though they have minimal or no affect on blood sugar.

The first is fiber. It enters and leaves your body in the same form. It never breaks down to sugar. In fact, it attracts water and the viscous solution is forms works much like a sponge, actually slowing the entry of sugar to your bloodstream. The more fiber you consume in a given meal, the lower the glycemic impact of any of the starches and sugars you consume in the same meal. So you could actually say that fiber DOES impact your blood sugar - but it does so in a POSITIVE way!

The second category of compounds with minimal affect on blood sugar is sugar alcohols. Some popular examples include glycerol, sorbitol, mannitol, and xylitol. Now it's a misconception that these never turn to sugar. That conversion can indeed happen, through gluconeogenesis, the same process that makes sugar from protein. But just like sourcing sugar from protein, however, the body doesn't like to do it. The bigger fear is what too much of these substances can do your stomach and bowels. (not the way you want weight loss) A little bit here and there is non-issue for most people, but try to keep their use to a minimum, especially if you have a sensitive stomach.

So in summary, does the idea of "net carbs" have any value? Yes. When building a healthy meal, or picking a meal replacement bar or shake, it's always a good idea to balance your carbohydrates with protein. For example, perhaps you find a meal replacement with 25 gram of protein but 37g of carbs. At first glance, you might be inclined to skip this option and look for something a little lower in carbs. But upon further investigation, you find that it has 11g of fiber and 1g of sugar alcohol. So it actually fits your needs, with a net carb count equal to the 25g of protein, while upping your day's fiber total too!

Maybe you'll get real lucky and find some "wonder" bread with no starch or sugar at all! ("wonder" how that tastes :)

Interested in learning more strategies? Check out the 4-Step Order of Eating to learn more techniques to help on your weight loss journey.

Awareness: The Vital First Step of Change

Awareness: The Vital First Step of Change

As a nutrition coach, one of the first questions I'll ask people is: "what did you eat yesterday?" Eighty percent of folks really struggle to recall everything.

They can sit there and draw nothing but blanks for minutes ... until it finally starts to come to them. Can you guess how they eventually remember?

Association. The key to remembering what they ate want to remember:

group gathered around table eating

1) Where they were

2) Who they were with

3) What they were doing

Only after considering one of all of the above do they recall what they consumed.

There is a big lesson here. We remember what we eat by association ... because we often simply eat by association.

So we can talk about this food being healthy and that food being unhealthy, and it's good to know, but often times we know enough to make drastic improvements in our nutrition and hence quality of life, but we just don't do it. Why?

I believe it's because we fail to spend enough time becoming very aware of the circumstances, people, events, situations, and many times feelings ... that are associated with our dietary choices.

Furthermore, how are we going to deliberately change unhealthy routines if we don't recognize exactly when the routine is cue'd?

The short answer is - we aren't. It's just not going to happen - which is why awareness is SO important to the process of change.

Try this exercise for a few weeks and see what you learn about yourself: Start a new note on your smartphone and call it "Becoming Aware." Every time you find yourself in an obviously unhealthy nutrition routine, label it as such and write down:

1) where you are

2) who you are with

3) what you are doing

4) how you are feeling

In the same manner, every time you find yourself in an obviously healthy routine, write down the same.

In just a few weeks, you will start to gain much clarity on your associated triggers.

When you figure out the where, who, what, and how ... you can quite literally put yourself in the best possible positions to succeed.

But even more importantly, you can begin solve the game-changing question of why, which can eventually help you win wherever you are, whoever you are with, whatever you are doing, and however you may be feeling.

Want to Be Stronger? Start Drinking.

Want to Be Stronger? Start Drinking.

water filling a glass cup

Slight dehydration, just 1.5% of your total body mass, can inhibit max strength by 6%.

Did you know that water can make you stronger? A whopping 70% of your muscle tissue is water. If that isn't a dead giveaway of water's importance on strength, I'll share a few more insights.

One study that looked at the effects of water on strength output found that, in a slightly dehydrated state, a shortage of only 1.5% of your total body mass, you can only lift 94% of your maximum.

Now, that may not seem like a huge decrease at first, but let's explore what that means. In an intense 45-minute workout, the amount of reps you can do with any given weight is directly proportional to your 1-rep max in the movement.

Everyone is a little different, but for example, if one's dumbbell military press 1-rep max is 60 lbs in each hand, then they can likely do 15 reps with 40 lb dumbbells. If the 1-rep max (120 total pounds) is reduced by 6% to 112.5 lbs due to slight dehydration, they have to reduce the weight to 32 lbs per hand to get the reps. That's a reduced work output of 16 total pounds per set.

Over 3 working sets, that's 48 fewer pounds hoisted. Now that's just one exercise. Over a 12-exercise full body workout, for example, with that being the average weight (not unreasonable considering the demands of squats/deadlifts/chest press, rows etc), that's 576 pounds NOT lifted!

That makes a big different in total work output, a big difference in total calories burned, a big difference maximum strength gained, and a big difference in excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (or EPOC - the "after-burn" effect that can continue for 24-48 hours).

So stay hydrated, maximize your exercise sessions, get leaner, get stronger, and get it all faster.

Staying hydrated is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to maximizing your strength and performance. Strength training itself offers a wealth of benefits that extend far beyond the gym, improving everything from functional movements to posture and even bone health. If you’re curious about how lifting weights can enhance your daily life, check out How Strength Training Helps You Beyond the Gym for a deeper dive into the practical advantages of strength training.

Consistency Trumps Content

Consistency Trumps Content

healthy food journaling

Do you want to get to your goals without time-robbing detours? Don't drive blind.

It’s Saturday. There is a party. There is pizza. There is cake. There is ice cream. Or rather, there WAS. It’s gone now. You ate it. You ate a LOT of it. That was dinner. And you had pancakes for breakfast. And hit a fast food drive-through for lunch. You look at your phone, and notice the nutrition journaling app. The seemingly logical thought follows: “Yeah, I think we’ll skip this today.”

Oh what a mistake that would be! Here’s 5 reasons that’s a VITAL day to record in your journal:

1) Those are the kind of days we need to fully understand, to help better navigate them and mitigate damages

2) Those days have a big influence on your average daily nutrition. You may not need to make as drastic changes as you once thought

3) This flawed thinking gives yourself a giant hole in the foundation of your success, through which you will repeatedly fall

4) The easiest habit to maintain is a daily habit. Every day you skip on purpose increases the chances of you skipping another by accident

5) Self respect breeds better self care. You’ll respect yourself more for honoring your commitment to consistency and transparency, and in turn will naturally take better care of the thing for which you have much respect. (you!)

Remember, the studies show that the very act of journaling itself improved results. (they didn't separate the groups based on what they actually ate.) So what you record in that journal is, believe it or not, less important than the act of journaling. So don't be afraid to journal on the days when you slip up. It's just one more step on the journey to your goals.

8 Tips To Increase Your Testosterone

8 Tips To Increase Your Testosterone

personal training client performing bicep curl

We lose a little testosterone as we age, and it's reflected in a body that becomes a lot tougher to keep lean and mean than it was in our twenties.

Sure, you can take illegal or dangerous shortcuts with pills or injections from your local doctor or gym-rat dealer and grow your muscles at the expense of your ... well you get the point. But what if there was a way to NATURALLY increase your testosterone without anything but POSITIVE side effects?

Alas, science has shown that there IS such a way. In fact, here are eight of them for you:

1. Run sprints instead of marathons. Yep, sorry to break it to you. I know everyone is disappointed that they need to quit marathon training now after learning this, but what can you do ... science is science. When it comes to running, the manliest men go really fast, and then rest. Chronic long-distance endurance training actually limits testosterone. But sprinting increases it. Perhaps this begins to explain the look of the sprinter's body vs the marathoners. You've watched the Olympics. Which one do you want to look like? Keep in mind, however, that running 100 meters at a marathoner's pace will not yield the results you seek. If you are going to rely on sprints, you better actually sprint (and you may need to jog for a bit first for safety's sake).

2. Lift heavy instead of lite. If your workout routine looks like your wife's group exercise class, good luck getting a large testosterone boost. Once your joints are up to the task, you need to seriously overload those muscles. You'll not only get stronger faster, you'll also get leaner, in large part due to the nice testosterone increase that heavy lifting yields. So grab the bigger dumbbells and force yourself into failure at a lower rep. Sure, it's going to take more focus and effort, but when you look in the mirror a month from now, you'll be glad you put in the work (be sure to safely work your way up to heavy).

3. Allow yourself a little rest between sets. That's some seriously good news, considering you are going to be lifting a lot heavier now, isn't it? Researchers have found that enough rest to attack the next set allows for a better mind-muscle connection, fuller recruitment of muscle fibers, more intensity, and more testosterone release. But don't get it twisted. 60-120 seconds of rest is more than enough. Getting distracted by talking on the phone or watching TV for 5 minutes yields quite a different result than pausing to reflect on what you just lifted, and gearing up to conquer another big hoist. In fact, even simply alternating muscles groups instead of complete rest can give much of the benefit.

4. Improve your stress response. Notice I didn't say to eliminate stress in your life. That's unrealistic. And even if it were possible, you'd then be a worthless bum. Instead, focus on how YOU interpret and respond to stress. The same events or circumstances can affect 2 people entirely differently. One person can fall apart while the other marches on strong. Why is that? Because one has learned how to handle it and one hasn't. How you handle stress in your life will have a large impact on your testosterone levels. When things challenge you, reflect on your priorities and be thankful for what you have and what you have already achieved. Remind yourself of how you got through previous struggles and know that you will handle the current situation too. No need to freak out and lower testosterone.

5. Avoid estrogen-mimicking obesagens like soy, artificial flavors & colors, heated plastics, canned tomatoes, etc. I've talked about these before. Remember the men that actually grew breast tissue after working in the plastics factory for years? This stuff is serious. Eat real food, and you'll avoid a lot of these pitfalls. Don't live on microwavable meals in soft plastic containers. Don’t drink from water bottles left out in the sun. Buy your tomatoes in glass jars, not tin cans. And don't try to lose weight with fake, hundred-calorie snacks filled with synthetic preservatives. Finally, though avoiding dairy milk can have its benefits, don't replace it with estrogenic soy milk. At least step it up to almond, and organic almond milk isn't a bad choice considering all the random companies jumping on that bandwagon now.

6. Train the large muscle groups of your legs. There are some photos floating around the internet that I suggest doing a search for if you want a good laugh. With statements like "friends don't let friends skip leg day," plastered over guys at the gym with massive chests and shoulders teetering on top of toothpick legs that would embarrass even your anorexic niece - they make a great point. For too long, guys obsessed with the size of their biceps have neglected the largest muscle surface area of the body - the legs. At the end of the day, if you want a massive testosterone boost, train (what should be) the most powerful part of your body - the lower half.

7. Lose estrogen-holding body fat. Yes, I know that's kind of your goal with this whole testosterone increase thing, but hear me out. It goes both ways. If you exercise a bit more and eat a bit less, stimulating the shedding of body fat from your frame, you will lower your estrogen levels and make room for more testosterone. You see, bodyfat stores estrogen, and then estrogen calls for the storage of more bodyfat. It's a terrible cycle of increasing softness. If you can man up (pardon the pun), grit your teeth, and force the beginning of change through good old self-discipline, it will help you get your hormones back on your side. Then it will get easier with time.

8. Get plenty of deep sleep. Easier said than done, right? In spite of your challenges to getting your 8 hours, here are some tips: focus on time in bed with eyes closed - the part you can control. Don't stress about how well you are or aren't sleeping. That just makes it worse. Keep a schedule for the brain to get used to, and keep the room dark and devoid of electronic devices (as much as possible). If you hate your mattress or pillow, don't be afraid to spend money to change them. That's one area where you will definitely get a return on investment when you get it right.

Eliminate Excess Estrogen

Eliminate Excess Estrogen

Eliminate Excess Estrogen

Now before you go calling me a sexist pig, lol, hear me out. Estrogen is a fat-promoting hormone. We all (including men) need a little bit of it to start the fat-burning process. But after we get a healthy amount (a small amount for men, a little more for women), an excess will only tell our bodies to store more fat. And indeed, there is a BIG problem of excess estrogen in our society.

Estrogen-mimicking hormones are everywhere. It starts with soy. Did you know that 93% of the soy consumed in the USA is now genetically modified? How much this affects our estrogen problem compared to organic, unmodified soy is still being debated. But make no mistake, this stuff can throw off your hormone balance. It can make both men and women much softer, in more ways than one.

So, ditch the soy milk. Swap it for almond or organic milk instead. And keep an eye out for soybean oil, which sneaks into so many processed and packaged foods. Reducing your exposure to these products is a simple step with significant benefits for your health and hormone balance.

Soy, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. Estrogen mimickers are lurking in household cleaning products, soft plastics, and cosmetics too. Ironic, isn’t it? The very things we use to look and feel better might actually be making things worse. It may be worth the investment to switch to non-toxic, all-natural cleaning products and cosmetics. Look for brands that actively avoid hormone-disrupting ingredients.

And, of course, steer clear of plastic surgery. Let’s be honest—how often does that actually make someone look better? Hormones are powerful allies when it comes to reaching your health and fitness goals. But when they’re out of balance, they’re an uphill battle. Focus on keeping them in check, and your body will thank you in more ways than one.