[00:00:00] James Breese: Strength Matters Media. Video. Print. Podcasts.
[00:00:05] Josh Kennedy: Today's topic is seven nutrition myths that need to die. It could be potentially, uh, controversial, as it always, always brings up lots of, uh, opinions whenever we do nutrition stuff, but we will be attempting to debunk some of these nutrition myths, uh, today.
[00:00:22] Josh Kennedy: And the first one... always the classic. There are lots out there like, you know, uh, fats bad for you, red meats bad for you, egg yolks are bad for you, you should always do a detox. But this one, this one's always the top of the list. Uh, carbs make you fat. Um, and I shared a little story with James just before we started recording that when I was just about to start work the other week, I walked into the office and my wife's friend was on zoom with her and she was like, I'm not eating carbs anymore.
[00:00:50] Josh Kennedy: I'm too fat. And My wife was like, uh, Josh might be a little bit upset by that statement. I was like, I'm not getting involved. Definitely not going to say anything. And then in her [00:01:00] next breath, she was like, I'm going keto. And I was just like, yeah, I'm just going to walk out the room now, basically. So, so yeah, we will come on to keto in this, uh, in this myth.
[00:01:10] Josh Kennedy: So let's go with the first one. Carbs make you
[00:01:13] James Breese: fat, James. Well, this is an interesting one, isn't it? And it's very hot. Topic, I think a lot of people, now let's just caveat all these myths. I think a lot of people are Married to their nutrition principles and it's like it's almost like a religion for a lot of people you upset a lot of people When it comes to this sort of stuff, so I apologize if we offend anybody right now It's not our intent, but we're just going on basic fact And we're very much nutritionally agnostic.
[00:01:42] James Breese: Um, data.
[00:01:43] Josh Kennedy: We're going content data. Yeah.
[00:01:45] James Breese: Basically. Data, trying to stay as nutritionally agnostic as possible. Now, I believed that carbs made me fat. I did used to believe this. Because, what I didn't realize was, is I having such a... a bad reaction to [00:02:00] some types of carbs. So I, for example, put on a lot of water weight when I have processed carbohydrates, particularly processed bread.
[00:02:08] James Breese: Or if I go, if I have a dirty Big Mac from McDonald's, right, guarantee the next day I'll just balloon. I'll put on half a kilo to a kilo in water weight. I'll feel it all with water retention here. So I can understand why some people may believe that, but it's water weight. It's how my body reacts and the inflammation that happens.
[00:02:25] James Breese: When I eat certain foods.
[00:02:28] Josh Kennedy: However, certain carbs, let's just, yeah, let's caveat this with certain carbs. You're talking about slightly more processed stuff like breads, other, other grains, stuff like that. You're not talking about broccoli. No. You know what I
[00:02:41] James Breese: mean? Not broccoli or cold steel cut oats, you know, proper oatmeal for those guys in the States.
[00:02:46] James Breese: So I'm, it doesn't affect me at all. It's absolutely fine. It's, it's quality produce. I can even have, and this is my, like my kryptonite pizza because it's tomatoes, which I have intolerances to, the nightshades, dairy, and the wheat. However, if I have a [00:03:00] really, really well done pizza, right, that is, you know, highly produced, top of the grain here, I can have a couple of slices and it doesn't affect me as much.
[00:03:10] James Breese: However, if you go take me to Domino's... I will literally be dying curled up with stomach cramps within a few minutes. Alright, so, and it is again the next day, I'll literally balloon up in water weight and it'll be like, Oh my God, but no, carbs don't make you fat. They may appear to make you fat if you are intolerant to certain carbs because it makes you feel put on water weight like I do.
[00:03:31] James Breese: And I totally understand that, and why you may believe it, but long term it doesn't make you fat. Right? Basically
[00:03:37] Josh Kennedy: countless studies have shown, uh, In the end, it comes down to consuming significantly more calories than you need. And when calories are equated, it does not matter whether you are higher fat or higher carb.
[00:03:49] Josh Kennedy: The results are basically exactly the same. Um, right next one, move on. I always enjoy talking about the carbs one. Sugar is more [00:04:00] addictive than cocaine. I've seen this on Twitter a lot of times. I
[00:04:04] James Breese: know. And it's, it's that and the brain signals. It's the brain studies they show, isn't it? Like, didn't CrossFit go all out against sugar at some point a few years ago?
[00:04:15] James Breese: They were, they were, that was their thing, that they believed sugar was making the world fat. And they highly went after it. Now again, what does the research say? It doesn't make a difference. It's
[00:04:28] Josh Kennedy: not, well, we're talking about is it more addictive than cocaine? And the answer is quite simply no. Mm. It isn't more addictive than, than cocaine.
[00:04:35] Josh Kennedy: It, uh, it's not a drug for a start. It's, um, you know, a source of energy or car or carp. We're going back to carbs. Get broken down into sugar. Yep. Um, and yet we're not saying, by the way. You should be eating teaspoons of sugar, because, no, you shouldn't. There are more nutritious foods out there, but in the end, it's energy and it isn't cocaine.
[00:04:59] Josh Kennedy: Maybe we should [00:05:00] just leave that one there. Put it out there on the
[00:05:01] James Breese: table. I tell you what though, I always loved this. My good friend Andrew Reid, he talks about his number one fuel source when he's out doing triathlons or doing long rides. It's a Snickers and a full fat Coke and literally it is true. And you got that from some of the secrets of the top triathletes.
[00:05:19] James Breese: They have sometimes they have that as an energy boost to keep it going. It's
[00:05:23] Josh Kennedy: instantaneous energy. It's almost instant energy. So yeah, it's you might need that as a triathlete. Because you need a lot of calories.
[00:05:32] James Breese: So, I would argue, I would argue though, people say I'm addicted to chocolate. Right, which is sugar.
[00:05:38] James Breese: Is that more of a mental thing though? Is that
[00:05:42] Josh Kennedy: something like... Is that down to the endorphins it releases and the feel good hormones it releases when you eat it? Probably. Not necessarily the fact that it's got sugar in it.
[00:05:53] James Breese: Anecdotally, I've got a funny story for my dad. My dad, sorry, complete tangent today, my [00:06:00] dad phoned me up yesterday, and he actually said to me, he goes, James, I think you're right.
[00:06:04] James Breese: I'm like, what? Hang on, can I have this in writing, dad? He goes, yeah, I think I am allergic to dairy. And even though he knew it was a few years ago, we found it would help him lose weight. He's been going back to it recently and stuff like that. And, uh, he binge ate half a big bar of chocolate Toblerone yesterday.
[00:06:21] James Breese: And no day before yesterday and like 24 hours, he was on the toilet. He could, hasn't eaten anything for 24 hours as a result of it. And he says, that's the second time something's happened in the last month having that sort of thing. And I can't be here. So, so yeah, so it's like random tangent on the, on sugar, on
[00:06:39] Josh Kennedy: sugar.
[00:06:39] Josh Kennedy: No, random tangent, but I enjoyed it. Sugar. Yeah, I enjoyed it. Enjoyed it. Um. Yeah, uh, next one, myth three. I don't know where people have got this one from. I didn't even realise this was a myth, but apparently it is. Uh, calorie deficits don't work for fat loss. Uh, what?[00:07:00]
[00:07:01] James Breese: I'm just lost for words for that one. I wasn't expecting that one to come up, but it's, apparently people still believe that. And... That's the thing. I, I, can we move on? I, I don't know what else to say about that.
[00:07:13] Josh Kennedy: Is it maybe, is it maybe the confusion that, again, when people change their diet and they go to, I don't know, to paleo or to some sort of low carb or Mediterranean or whatever it is and they lose weight, that they're thinking it's the, the, something they're doing in the diet specifically about that diet?
[00:07:33] Josh Kennedy: Mm hmm. When, in the end, if they were tracking food, all it is is every diet. puts you in a deficit because you are cutting something out somewhere. That's all it is. Every single diet, no matter what diet it is, will put you in a calorie deficit because you've cut something else out. There you go. That's it.
[00:07:52] Josh Kennedy: Moving
[00:07:52] James Breese: on. I think if you listen to the podcast long enough, you know that we believe in calorie deficits. And you've got to find the right thing. Now, [00:08:00] I will say something which is interesting for us in the last couple of days. Is that obviously I'm, I'm in a calorie deficit myself at the moment. Like I'm, I'm suffering, I'm not, well, I actually have a bit of man flu at the moment.
[00:08:10] James Breese: So I'm, if I sound croaky, I do apologize. But what we've discovered is that what I thought was my maintenance about 2, 000, 4, 000, 2, 500 calories. We're thinking that may be less than that, 2, 300. And because we found that my optimal weight loss is around 1, 800 calories at the moment. As opposed to 1, 900 and 2, 000.
[00:08:31] James Breese: Which is, which has changed. This is something that happens here and it changes over time. So your body adapts and changes over time. So, what may be a calorie deficit for some people sometimes, Excuse me. Can change and adapt the more your body changes over time as well. So,
[00:08:47] Josh Kennedy: something to think about. Here's a special message from our sponsor.
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[00:09:25] Josh Kennedy: today. But anyway, we can't really go into that cause we're trying to minimize that adaptation with your weight vest. Anyway, that's a whole nother podcast. We can't go into that next one. Um, aspartamin causes cancer.
[00:09:36] Josh Kennedy: This is, again, this is a big one. That's all around Twitter, uh, all the time. Um, Yeah, spartamine causes cancer,
[00:09:45] James Breese: James. Research says no. It's like computer says no. Computer says no. Computer says no. Research says no. No, it doesn't. Not to the same, not to the same quantities that you potentially leave. Like, if I did kill cancer, I'd be screwed.
[00:09:57] James Breese: Because my, my number one [00:10:00] default way of helping myself lose weight and go into a deficit is to curb any sugar cravings is I have myself a Pepsi Max or a Coke Zero. I'm not discriminating between the two of them, or either brand, right?
[00:10:14] Josh Kennedy: Other brands are available.
[00:10:16] James Breese: However, it's, it's one of those things, again, Layne Norton's a big one on this, he debunks this all the time.
[00:10:22] James Breese: And if you haven't checked him out, check out BioLayne on Instagram, I think it is. He's a great guy for debunking a whole load of myths, and calling bullshit on a lot of people in the nutrition industry. Because that's, that's what happens a lot of the time. People are... Playing on the fears of people when it comes to nutrition because it's so religiously and personally, emotionally charged, essentially.
[00:10:44] James Breese: So we're going to bear that in mind.
[00:10:45] Josh Kennedy: Essentially. So what we're saying is there is no current evidence to show that. Um, but we're then not saying go out and drink a thousand diet Cokes either. Let's have a little bit of, let's have our sensible head on. Shall we, [00:11:00] um, the next one is, uh, Protein damages your kidneys.
[00:11:05] Josh Kennedy: Does it? No,
[00:11:06] it
[00:11:06] James Breese: doesn't.
[00:11:11] Josh Kennedy: Again, again, I don't, I'm not sure we need to dive deeply into this one, but again, there is zero evidence to show that excess protein damages
[00:11:20] James Breese: your kidneys. Wait, where did we see that? We saw this recently. There's a whole load of vegans, wasn't there, sharing this. God, there's everywhere.
[00:11:26] Josh Kennedy: Nothing against vegans, by the way.
[00:11:27] Josh Kennedy: Again, it's another one that's... Peddled around. Yeah,
[00:11:30] James Breese: all the time. There's no, there's, there's no, they can have huge amounts of protein doesn't affect the body. So, um, so again, what does the research say, you know, meta studies, metadata, it says it doesn't affect it to a huge, vast quantity, almost more than you can eat in a day.
[00:11:48] Josh Kennedy: Essentially. Yeah, again, there is no evidence to show that. I think we can leave that one there. Oh, James, this, in the past, this one might have upset you. Intermittent fasting is better for fat loss than regular caloric [00:12:00] restriction.
[00:12:01] James Breese: Interesting, this is fascinating, because like, I did, I was, when I was in the police, I used, I used the warrior diet.
[00:12:08] James Breese: You know, before the 16 2, the 5 2 diets became famous. Like the warrior diet.
[00:12:13] Josh Kennedy: So the warrior is eat one meal a day,
[00:12:15] James Breese: right? And make it big. It was like Ori Mekel, I think his name was who did it. It was big in the Krav Maga world. All the Krav Maga guys were doing it and following that. Because I think he was Israeli too.
[00:12:26] James Breese: So yeah, it worked well for me when I was in the police to control my weight. And I felt more alert when I was doing it. And I was less snacking in between. So that was good. But again, it was calorie restriction. Calories in, calories out. That's what worked for me, but it's more of a performance thing to manage shift patterns and stuff too because that was a hard
[00:12:45] Josh Kennedy: bit again What does it come down to calories in calories out negative energy balance?
[00:12:50] Josh Kennedy: That's all it comes down to however again, it's like if you feel intermittent fasting works well for you because It may have a better psychological impact on you [00:13:00] and if you're doing shift work or something like that, it may be better for your personal digestion Go for it
[00:13:06] James Breese: do it Now, I, I'm using intermittent fasting, a form of it at the moment as part of my thing.
[00:13:12] James Breese: I'm doing one full day of intermittent fasting on my calorie deficit. So it's, I'm trialing it out, but then I've been doing it for quite some time, for many years over the years. But I'm not saying it's the best way to do it because what I found with doing it was it's quite antisocial. If you are doing it to the T, however, on a Monday, for example, I'm on my own working in the office or doing whatever I'm doing.
[00:13:36] James Breese: It's, I'm on my own. I don't need to worry about anybody else. I'm not eating with anybody else. So it's long term, it's a bit different.
[00:13:43] Josh Kennedy: Interestingly, what you've found, sorry, I'll go on about this one a little bit more, with intermittent fasting is that when you've had COVID or been unwell, that affects your gut and intermittent fasting seems to help your gut
[00:13:54] James Breese: recover quicker.
[00:13:55] James Breese: It is, and that's why I've gone back to it a lot more recently because of... In [00:14:00] the last couple of years, I am a, what we call a shit magnet for COVID, I think. That's the best way to, best way to put it. If you want to put it like that, yeah. Best way to, best way to call it, like I just, for whatever reason, but it doesn't affect me in the same way.
[00:14:12] James Breese: Like, I've got a common cold and flu at the moment. That's what I've got at the moment, uh, which is, I haven't had for years. But I've had COVID, I think, close to ten times, eleven times in the last two, three years. That
[00:14:21] Josh Kennedy: cannot be possible. You've not, you've had a cold sometimes. I don't believe that.
[00:14:25] James Breese: Some people.
[00:14:26] James Breese: But no, yeah, but it's, but it's interesting how, but it affects my digestive system and it makes me hyperglycemic. Like, I have some food, I spike and I crash and become narcoleptic almost. So it's like, here, but the way I've found to cope with it is if I do completely fast, which is hard going on the first day, do a second day as well and I tend to recover better from it.
[00:14:46] James Breese: I'm not saying you should be intermittently fasting to recover from colds, which I'm not doing right now, I'm eating normally. However, I've found to
[00:14:53] Josh Kennedy: control Starve a fever, feed a cold. That one is definitely, that's not a myth, that is true. In my humble opinion. [00:15:00] Have some chicken soup. Anyway, uh, moving on to the final myth, myth number seven, uh, Keto gives you permission to eat as much bacon and butter as you want.
[00:15:11] Josh Kennedy: I'm gonna let you run with this one, James. I wish that
[00:15:14] James Breese: is so true. That would be amazing. I really, really wish that. Keto lets you eat as much bacon and butter as you want. No, it does not because it comes down to the calorie energy equation and energy balance. You've got to eat less than you need to lose weight.
[00:15:29] James Breese: So it's, no, you can't eat it. I, but I'd love it though. I'd love it. I love bacon. Uh, I love a little bit of butter, even though, even though I'm dairy intolerant. Like, like I like a little bit of butter in some foods. If I can get some in there, but no, it doesn't. I'm so sorry. I wish it was believable. It'd be so good.
[00:15:46] Josh Kennedy: It'd be so good. I was going to say, wouldn't that be wonderful? Cause I also love bacon. But I know
[00:15:50] James Breese: there's other issues with that as well. Cause bacon is fairly processed. So,
[00:15:56] Josh Kennedy: Oh God, now you're going down a hole. Uh, rabbit [00:16:00] hole.
[00:16:00] James Breese: I'll avoid it. I'll avoid it. I love bacon. I had bacon and eggs this morning.
[00:16:04] James Breese: There you go. How about that?
[00:16:06] Josh Kennedy: Did you ever try the, um, Bulletproof coffee? I went down that route once where you put a shed load of butter in your coffee. I thought it tasted quite nice, but it did absolutely nothing for my... Energy
[00:16:17] James Breese: I, I remembered putting in,
[00:16:21] Josh Kennedy: or my calorie
[00:16:21] James Breese: intake, I didn't do, I didn't do the butter, I did the coconut oil and Oh, right, yeah.
[00:16:27] James Breese: I remember almost burning my lips off and this scolding the top of my mouth, right? Because I put coconut butter, coconut oil into the coffee and it just laid, literally became, you thought it would be cold, so hot. Like literally it was so hot, like molten, and I was scolding my mouth. So I do remember that.
[00:16:46] James Breese: I do remember that, but no. Good myth, but I'd love it to be true, but sadly not.
[00:16:52] Josh Kennedy: Sadly not, sadly not. There you go, those are seven nutrition myths that we think need to die. Please do [00:17:00] feedback and let us know what you thought of this podcast. Yeah, maybe slightly controversial, but I tell you what, I enjoyed this one.
[00:17:09] Josh Kennedy: James, we've gone slightly longer than we would usually, but, um, but there we go. I hope you guys enjoyed it too. That is it for today. Please don't forget to rate, review and subscribe. And if you want to find out more about our system of training, go to strengthmatters. com forward slash system.