EFL Blog

Now that big political dramas are settled and we can all move on it’s time to get back to business. Here at EFL we have a monthly challenge each month, and since fall is a great time to focus on serious body fat reduction our November challenge involves tracking how many meals one prepares at home.  And as we head into winter and the holiday season it becomes even more important to build good nutritional habits. The reasons why this is beneficial are many and include better control of the ingredients, which make it likely there will be less sugar, processed flour/corn products, heavy sauces etc… that all contribute to to poor nutrient quality and too many calories. Eating at home also makes it less likely that most people will drink soda, beer, or other liquid calories that help derail our best intentions. Portion size is another key for all of our members and preparing meals at home helps build an acute awareness of portion size.

Portland being a foodie town it is way to easy to eat out and including one of our delicious local brews easily go north of 1500 calories in a meal. So this strategy is one way we adjust to particular needs of our environment. We currently have EFL members that are vegetarian, paleo, gluten free, doing the Velocity diet, intermittent fasting etc… but that matters less than adhering to common nutritional principles of taking in enough key quality nutrients but not too much of them. All of them have lost fat and increased muscle.

What we advocate above all, similar to Precision Nutrition is, finding what works best for an individual and building a plan around that. There is a bit of trial and error to be sure, and results are not always quick but over time we figure it out.  It’s simple and is not restrictive, which increases the odds of success and sustainability. It doesn’t matter if you are vegan, paleo, or whatever. I’ve trained plenty of overweight vegetarians and paleo followers who struggled to lose fat. It’s not the particular diet that matters but having a sustainable plan in place that aids in controlling portions and quality.

Homemade Shogayaki (ginger chicken and cabbage over rice)

The picture above is a meal my wife prepared last week. It includes chicken (local organic farm), veggies, rice, tofu, and miso. We don’t restrict ourselves from eating meat, grains, or soy and frankly any diet that insists you should is B.S. And since she is pregnant and getting regular blood work done along with other medical tests we are quite sure that it is healthy and safe. Not to mention that these ingredients have nourished many generations. In the past 6 months I’ve dropped around 12 pounds in preparation for cycling races yet have not restricted meat, grains or any other food but simply adjusted amounts and training. Too simple I know… I’ll never make that million $$ pushing that approach to eating.

So if you are currently struggling with weight loss consider how to plan your shopping and meals to fix the vast majority of them at home. I encourage you to choose a good cookbook or two and experiment with some new healthy meals. Finding ways to enjoy new foods is a joy. We have a couple of copies of the Gourmet Nutrition Cookbook on our shelves that members are free to borrow and everyone has discovered some new favorite recipes.