Category: Nutrition

Resources by Conor HeffernanMay 23, 201912:12 pm

Guest Post: The History and Significance of Meal Replacements in Fitness and Beyond

Everyone enjoys a delicious mouthful of food, but not everyone has the time to fully appreciate it. We are talking, of course, about bodybuilders, fitness enthusiasts, and people who follow strict diet plans in general. Not only that, but being able to cook food on a daily basis has become wishful thinking nowadays, as the fast-paced way of life makes it difficult to find the time to enjoy a hearty home-cooked meal.

You might think that this is a modern trend, but the reality is that people have been searching for a way to make nutrition more efficient for centuries. Concretely, there has always been a need and a desire to reduce the time it takes to prep a wholesome mealwithout skipping on the nutritious goodness. From unsavory high-energy fruit-and-meat blends all the way to today’s “healthy” meal replacements, the history of these foods and products is long and quite interesting. Let’s take a look at how it began, and where it has led us so far.

Peary Rader, ‘The Six Meal A Day Plan’, The Rader Master BodyBuilder and Weight Gaining System (1946)

If it is convenient, it is often found a great help to eat 4 to 6 meals per day, tho this is not necessary.

Many men have found that the addition of a light lunch at about 10 o’clock, another at about 3:30 p.m. and another just before bed time has been the secret of very fast gains. None of their meals would be as large as usual, but much more frequent. This gives the internal organs a better chance to function efficiently compared to the system of overloading them three time a day as is generally done. So whenever circumstances will permit it, we recommend the 5 to 6 meal a day plan for weight gainers. Many doctors use this system for sick people or people with digestive disorders and you should realize that it is a healthful plan.

Basics by Conor HeffernanMay 15, 20191:31 pm

Triple H, ‘Eating on the Road’, Triple H’s Approach to a Better Body (New York, 2000)

Thanks to a schedule that keeps me on the road over two hundred days out of the year, this area has become my specialty. Charles Glass and one of his partners, noted nutritionist Mike Watson, have given me so much valuable guidance related to eating, but none may have been more important for me than their ability to get me over my fear of fast food. The fact is, you should always go with real food over supplements. So if you have to choose between another protein bar or a stop at Wendy’s … pull over at Wendy’s. Just be careful of what you order.

Training by Conor HeffernanMay 1, 20192:40 pm

Alan Stephen – Bulking is Easy (1950 article)

Published by the mid-century Bodybuilder Alan Stephens, the following article from Your Physique magazine details some time honoured means of bulking up in the easiest and most efficient way possible. Though much of Stephens’ advice will seem like old hat to those a few years in the Iron Game, his writings were geared toward the beginner and those seeking to change things up.

What’s more. It was never overly complicated. Indeed according to the man himself

All you need to do is follow the right exercises, eat plenty of nourishing food and get as much rest and relaxation on your non training days as you possibly can.

With that in mind though, we’ll dig a little deeper.

Nutrition by Conor HeffernanApr 24, 20192:38 pm

The Lamb-chop and Pineapple Diet

Hollywood transformations have long been a subject of intense public scrutiny. From Christina Bale’s incredible body transformations for what seems like most of his movies to Charlize Theron’s weight gain for Monster, we the consumer have read in amazement at the lengths actors seem to go to in order to secure a part.

This, it would seem, is not a recent phenomena. Something that became clear to me recently as I read Heather Addison’s excellent monograph entitled Hollywood and the Rise of Physical Culture. Dealing primarily with the period 1910 to 1940, Addison showcases how both male and female stars of the age faced an almost daily struggle to keep and maintain a svelte physique.

One such technique was the ‘Lamb-Chop and Pineapple’ diet, the topic of today’s post which was favoured by many females actresses during the 1920s.

Resources by Conor HeffernanApr 10, 20192:37 pm

John Balik, Total Muscularity: SuperStar Nutrition (Santa Monica, 1979)

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Describing himself as Arnold’s Seminar Nutritionist, Balik opened his short pamphlet on gaining muscle with the often forgotten law that ‘nothing beats persistence.’ Produced alongside a pamphlet on gaining muscle, which we’ll be discussing in a future post, Balik’s Total Muscularity represents a great insight into the training philosophy of 1970s Muscle Beach bodybuilding. Sparing myself the task of typing out his pamphlet word for word, which I suspect would infringe on some form of copyright law, I decided that a brief synopsis of the book would suffice. At the very least it would pander to our ever decreasing attention spans.

So in today’s post we’re going to look at Balik’s theories on individual body types, the type of diet he recommended and also what we can learn from it nearly forty years after its publication.

Resources by Conor HeffernanApr 2, 20192:30 pm

Guest Post: A Short History of Fasting

Photo by Kamil Szumotalski on Unsplash Fasting can be described as either complete abstinence from food or a reduction in the amount of food a person consumes. In some cases, it can include abstinence from […]

Resources by Conor HeffernanMar 29, 20194:53 pm

Jay Jacobsen, ‘Carbohydrates Are Not The Devil! All Aboard The Carbohydrate-Glycemic Train’, Planet Muscle (March – April 2003)

Carbohydrates… those omnipresent fruits, yams, grains and vegetables, are older than mankind. In recorded history, it appears that the Egyptian culture was the first to ‘mill’ their high-energy grain, removing fiber, as well as much of the nutrition. Bingo—mankind had its first refined carbohydrates.

Sugar was first introduced into Europe around 700 AD when Arabian armies brought sugar cane from Northern Africa. Sugar then slithered into Spain, Sicily, and the surrounding areas of the Mediterranean. Sugar was known as “white gold” and was a luxury only the extremely wealthy could afford. With the exploration of the New World, sugar trade became more profitable, and even Christopher Columbus brought sugar cane cuttings to the Americas.

By the time of the American Industrial Revolution, the sugar refining business blossomed. Around 1900, the first sugar-in-the-box product was introduced to the American consumer. Today, the average sugar consumption in America is a mind-blowing per capita consumption from all sources of 160 lbs. per year, 40 teaspoons per day.

The opinions regarding sugar, particularly among athletes and weight conscious individuals, have violently changed since 1900! Instead of white gold some even call sugar white death. For example, If you are a devout Dr. Atkins fan you probably think that eating carbs is analogous to driving drunk (maybe ketogenic stupor driving). But, are carbs the most horrific poison ever created – or are they more of a missing link to huge gains in energy, strength, and a diesel physique?

Resources by Conor HeffernanMar 27, 20194:44 pm

The History of Carbohydrate Loading

As a teenager the advice I got when it came to diet and exercise was often problematic to say the least. We lifted too heavy, with terrible form and took far too little rest. This, we were told, would make us better rugby players or something to that effect. When it came to diet, we were told to ‘carb load’ before big games or tournaments to make sure we had that competitive edge. For those of you experienced in such matters, you can probably guess what happened when a team full of 18 year olds were told to load up on carbs. Yep… we had big bowls of pasta, copious amounts of sandwiches and even potato waffles just to be safe. 18 year old me wasn’t complaining but it seemed like an odd concept even at the time.

Fast forward to today and I’ve played around with every diet imaginable from fruit fasting to keto. One area that has always perplexed me though is ‘carbohydrate loading’ before a big event. Nowadays my friends who run marathons continue to swear by it while those in the lifting community advise low to moderate carbs around workout times. Nutrition will always be a contested arena and to that end, today’s post explores the birth of carbohydrate loading as a scientific concept in 1967 and examine its remarkable rise in popularity soon after.

Resources by Conor HeffernanMar 13, 20193:20 pm

Guest Post: History of the Mediterranean Diet

The Mediterranean diet is a very healthy eating plan, which is primarily based on plant foods, olive oil, and lots of herbs instead of salt. Red meat is a no-no, and fish is a staple. Plus, red wine. Who could say no to that?

The idea behind this diet is limiting, but not eliminating fat consumption. It’s all about making smart choices and choosing monounsaturated over saturated fats. It’s a diet that many doctors recommend as a heart-healthy eatingplan. Research shows that it reduces the risk of heart disease, since it’s low in bad cholesterol.

But where did it all start?