NUTRITION

What is the HC2 Diet?

HC2 stands for High-Carbs High-Calories. It is a way of eating for optimum health, as well as for peak athletic performance. High-carbohydrate and low-fat is how all humans should be eating, no matter what their activity level. 

Aren’t carbs bad for us?

That’s what the mainstream believes. However, carbs are not the enemy – fats are. Carbohydrates are our body’s main and preferred source of energy – SCIENTIFIC FACT. Unfortunately, our society has us eating so much fats in foods from the time we are kids, we nearly all become Insulin Resistant sooner or later. Insulin Resistance is what causes us to become intolerant to carbohydrate, thus making us tired, fatter, and sicker. 

What about Protein?

Protein is essential for the body, however, the amounts advertised is over-rated and outright unhealthy/toxic for us. The HC2 diet advocates for “just enough” protein and healthy fats, and the rest of your daily energy needs will come from carbohydrates. 

What’s with all the Bananas?

It’s not just bananas, you can eat any fruit that isn’t high in fat (avocados, coconut). Bananas are easy to eat an abundance of since they are less watery and more starchy than other sweet fruits. Plus they make for great smoothies. Fruits are mother nature’s gift to humans – they are the most perfect carbohydrates/calories we can consume. I consider them “magical”…

How much carbs can I eat?

As much as as your body desires. In a low-fat environment, healthy people can eat as many carbs as they like, without getting fat. 

What is Insulin Resistance?

Insulin resistance (IR) is a very common metabolic disorder that leads to pre-diabetes and diabetes. IR is a condition which affects all human cells, primarily your muscles, liver and fat tissue. Many people think diabetes is caused by an excess intake of sugar and candy starting from a young age, but the reality is, IR/diabetes is caused by excessive fat intake.

While most diabetes education will advise you to minimize/avoid carbohydrate intake, this does nothing to treat the underlying condition of IR. In fact, minimizing carbohydrate intake results in an increase in fat intake (keto diet), which makes you more IR over time. Minimizing carbohydrate intake only treats the symptoms of diabetes (high blood sugar), like putting a band-aid on a wound. It doesn’t cure the problem.

Although diabetes isn’t a direct “killer” of humans, being IR substantially increases your chance of dying from many other chronic health conditions including – heart disease, high blood pressure (hypertension), high cholesterol, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, kidney failure, stroke, and nerve damage. Insulin Resistance is known as THE SILENT KILLER. 

Resource: 
Mastering Diabetes: A Crash Course in Insulin Resistance. Retrieved from https://www.masteringdiabetes.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Causes-of-IR-Opt-In-Bribe-FINAL.pdf

What does being Insulin Resistant look like?

Look at almost every child. We feed them carbs (sugars) and what happens? They get energized and can’t sit still. And do they get fat when they eat carbs? Not at all. So why is it that most grow-ups, when we eat any sort of carbohydrate, we get sleepy and fat? That’s what being Insulin Resistant looks like. In layman’s terms, Insulin Resistance means being CARBOHYDRATE INTOLERANT. We were all born with healthy and efficient metabolic systems; it’s our lifestyle that ruins it. Type-2 Diabetes is a lifestyle disease, so the good news is that it’s 100% reversible through lifestyle changes. 

So what is the best diet to reverse or prevent Diabetes/IR?

A dietary program that is high in carbohydrate and low in fat is the way to metabolic health. Being metabolically healthy results in better overall health, as well as improved athletic performance. Guaranteed. 

What’s the best way to eat for weight loss?

Let me ask you this…if there was a diet out there that allowed you to eat as much as you wanted from its food list, and you wouldn’t gain an ounce of weight – wouldn’t that also be the best diet to use if you wanted to lose weight? That diet does exist…

TRAINING

What’s the best program to build muscle?

Train to get stronger. Because a stronger muscle is a bigger muscle, always. Stick to all the big basic compound exercises (squats, deadlifts, bench press, etc.). They are the ones you will get the most bang for your effort, yielding the most strength gains for multiple bodyparts. Forget all the isolation or “shaping” exercises. Feeling “the burn” does nothing for muscle gain. 

What’s the best exercises to lose fat? 

What we eat is EVERYTHING. Of course exercise helps, but it’s all about food and how metabolically healthy you are to absorb the food and use it for energy. 

What are key factors to improve athletic performance? 

1) Nutrition (it’s everything)
2) Progressive Overload (look it up) 
3) Recovery (rest/sleep, stress management)
4) Avoid Overtraining (training too much and/or too hard)
5) Injury Prevention (massage, prehab exercises)
6) Consistency (repeat over and over and over…)

What do you think about HIIT?

For the highly trained athlete, HIIT sessions can be beneficial to athletic performance. But for the average person, the risks versus rewards are too great in my opinion. High-intensity anaerobic exercise is very stressful on the nervous system and requires more from our recovery system. Even high level endurance athletes are careful when implementing anaerobic sessions into their weekly program. So how can HIIT workouts be good for the person coming off the couch? 

What is the best exercise program for overall health and general fitness?

Everything in moderation. A program that’s enjoyable and easy to sustain is the program that will yield the most success over a long period of time. Because no program is a good one if it can only last a few months – burnout is a real thing. 

That being said, a weekly program which includes strength training (weights) three times a week or every other day, and low-intensity aerobic exercise (cardio) three or more times per week, is most ideal. Weight training and cardio each work separate energy systems (anaerobic & aerobic), so try to not mix the two. Always keep weights and cardio separate to avoid compromising both.