In this video we talk about the foods I tend to buy on a weekly basis at Costco. My weekly/semi-weekly haul typically consists of the following things that we discuss in more detail in the video.
-Wild Alaskan Salmon
-Organic Turkey Breast
-Organic Green Beans
-Organic Butternut Squash
-Organic Brussels Sprouts
-Organic Celery Hearts
-Organic Spring Mix
-Organic Olive Oil
-Organic Coconut Oil
-Avocado Oil
-Organic Blueberries
-Organic Apples
-Other things I forgot to mention that I'll sometimes get are Kerry gold butter, macadamia nuts, and dark chocolate.
-Your Costco, in your part of the country, may differ.
-There's a whole bunch of other healthy stuff you can get at Costco that's healthy that I just happen not to get on a regular basis
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Transcript
Hey guys, Robby here from CrossFit South Bend. Today, I'm gonna be giving you a tour of my weekly Costco grocery store tour haul, so as of the time of the filming of this video, I'm actually gonna be leading a free-to-the-public Costo paleo grocery store tour on Tuesday, November 13th at 6:30 p.m. That's available to sign up for for free, even if you're not a CrossFit South Bend member, and even if you're not a Costco member on our website, CrossFitSouthBend.com. So, if you're interested in that, please sign up and we'd be happy to have you there. So, today I'm gonna give you a sense of what I typically buy roughly on a weekly basis, some of the stuff I buy weekly, some of the stuff I buy every few weeks. But, this is just giving you a sense of some of the really healthy stuff that you can get at Costco. Now, before we get started, this is probably about, I don't know, maybe 10 to 20% of what you can get at Costco that's really healthy. There's a lot of healthy stuff. This is just the stuff that I happen to like, there's a lot of healthy stuff there that, you know, just for whatever reason, just my particular taste, that I don't end up getting. But, there's a lot of other healthy stuff besides what I get that you could get there that's very healthy. So, for those of you who have been listening to any of my other videos, you'll know that when we talk about creating a healthy meal, we always talk about quality protein, vegetables, healthy fats, and then some fruit, maybe as, like, a dessert or a finisher. So, that's kinda the way I've organized things today to talk about it. So, let's talk first about the quality protein that I typically get at Costco. So, just to preface this, I typically, my weekly grocery store run, I'll typically divide it somewhere between Costco and Wholefoods, so I don't get everything at Costco, I don't get everything at Wholefoods. But, this is the typical stuff that I will get specifically from Costco. So, first off, wild Alaskan sockeye salmon. So, plenty of you guys who've done research on getting good quality fish and seafood, it's a little bit of a difficult thing to do, and even if you manage to get it from somewhere like Vital Choice, which is a great company, it gets really, really expensive, so I found that Costco is the best intersection of really good quality fish and seafood, but also at a reasonable price. Like, I think for this total, it's like, 32 dollars and that's eight salmon filets, so that's basically about four dollars per six-ounce filet, where if you know anything about wild Alaskan fish and how much it usually costs, that's a pretty good deal. So, at Costco, they've got halibut, mahi-mahi, shrimp, whole bunch of other stuff that's really good. I get scallops and halibuts sometimes there, but typically, my foundational piece that I'll get is that salmon there. So, it's a really good option. Another option that I found not too long ago, I guess, maybe about six to nine months ago, is this Plainville Farms organic turkey breast. So again, turkey breast and deli meat in general is hard to find that has good quality ingredients. You know, usually there's stabilizers and thickeners and stuff like that in there. I'm just trying to find the ingredient list for you guys here. Here we go. So, ingredients, organic turkey breast, water, and sea salt. No carrageenan, no guar gum, no sugar, none of that stuff. So, that's a pretty good ingredient list as far as it goes when it comes to deli meat. Other good deli meat brands that you can get from elsewhere, Applegate, Boar's Head. But, this is a really good one that you can get from Costco for a pretty decent cost. Okay, so that's the protein that I typically get at Costco. In a separate video, I'll do probably, you know, the haul that I do at Wholefoods, which is where I get a bit more of my protein, but for now, that's what I get at Costco. Other stuff I get throughout the week. So, I will get this gigantic bag, as you might imagine, from Costco. They have these gigantic bags of produce. I get this gigantic, two-pound bag of green beans. And typically, what I'll do is, I'll put a pound of these on a sheet pan for lunch or dinner, or even breakfast, honestly, mixed in with some coconut oil and roast them at 400 degrees for about a half an hour, and they come out tasting delicious. Two-pound bag of Brussels sprouts. Brussels sprouts don't technically need to be organic, they're part of the cabbage family, which doesn't technically need to be organic. But, it doesn't hurt. With these, I'll typically use the same exact roasting method that I would with the green beans, only I'll typically put on ghee or olive oil. I find that pairs better with Brussels sprouts, and again, about 400 degrees for 30 minutes, maybe 425 or 450, honestly, 'cause I think the blacker, the better, when it comes to Brussels sprouts, in my personal opinion. Another one. And again, you don't necessarily need to get organic the same way you would need to get maybe spring mix organic or celery organic, is butternut squash. But again, it doesn't hurt to get it organic. It's certainly better for you if it's that way. You know, butternut squash is one of those ones that it's kind of a pain in the butt to cut up on your own and to prepare on your own 'cause it's a very odd object to cut, so it's really nice to just have this ready, and when I prepare most things on a sheet pan, this is the dice size that I'll typically use to just, you know, open it up, throw it on a sheet pan, oil, salt, high heat for 30 minutes, and it's good to go. Okay, now two of the more, so, you know, green beans, Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, with these, you know, obviously, you cook them, right? You're not gonna be eating these raw. Two of the more raw ones that I will typically do on a weekly basis are the organic spring mix. You know, if I haven't prepared for a particular day for some reason or it's been a long day at the office and I just don't wanna cook anything, I'll take a gigantic heap of this, put it on a plate, olive oil, sea salt, if you're a salt lover and you haven't tried sea salt on your salad, try it, it's delicious. That's a really good way to get veggies. Another really good way to get veggies that I really like is organic celery hearts. So, I'll just cut these into little bits and just kind of have them as finger food. I remember Coach Chad at the gym saying that, remarking that celery tastes to him like fishing line. So, some people like it, some people don't, but what I found is that if you put a little bit of sea salt on this and you mix it with some guacamole, that's a really good, quick, easy, on-the-go option that you don't have to cook, and it could be used for trips or snacks for kids, or snacks for you, and that's just something really easy that you can do without very much in the way of prep. So, that's the protein, those are the vegetables that I typically get. Now, let's talk about the healthy fats. So, a lot of this stuff, I'll get on a weekly basis, but with the healthy fats, of course, they last a lot longer than just a week, typically, so these, I'll get maybe every few weeks or every couple months. Wholly Guacamole, so this is, I think, 20 mini containers and the price at Costco's, like, 13 bucks, so less than a dollar for each one of these. Really good source of healthy fat, monounsaturated healthy fat that you get from avocados. This works really well with, you know, baby carrots or celery, or jicama, if you've ever had that. It's a really good, quick option for healthy fat and it's something you could send with your kids as well. Other healthy fats that I'll typically get from Costco, avocado oil, really good for roasting and sauteing at high heat, it can go up to 500 degrees without smoking. Olive oil. Olive oil's one of those things that you have to be careful where you get it from, because sometimes, it's cut with grape seed oil and cottonseed oil, and lesser oils to make more of a profit. I know for a fact that the Kirkland Signature olive oil is really good and legit olive oil. You know, it's really up to preference which one of these you use. Olive oil will tend to smoke at much lower heat, whereas avocado oil will go up to much higher heat. So, since I roast at much higher heat, I typically use avocado oil. Coconut oil. I probably bought this, like, a year ago, maybe? So, I've used, like, 75% of it. It's a gigantic jug. I use this typically for the green beans, sometimes for plantains. This is a really good oil to saute or roast in if you like coconut flavor. Okay, so protein, veggies, healthy fats, the three main components of meals. Now, let's talk a little bit about dessert or fruit, or kind of the finisher to the meal. So, Costco's a really good place to get organic fruits. So, you can typically get two pounds of organic strawberries, organic raspberries, organic blueberries. Depends on the time of season what kind of price you get, but almost always, it's better than pretty much any other store. And especially when it comes to fruit that you're eating the skin of, you definitely wanna try to buy it organic. So, that's gonna be one of the places where getting it from Costco's gonna make a big deal 'cause they have organic for really good prices. And then, these organic gala apples I just started buying at Costco. I'd say, typically, my favorite is probably red delicious, which unfortunately, they don't sell organic ones at Costco. But, gala's pretty close, and this entire thing for, what is it, two, four, six, eight, 10, 12, 14, 14 apples is 12 bucks. So, for organic apples, so that's pretty good. That's really not too bad. So, overall, there's a lot of really good stuff that you can get at Costco. Yes, Costco does sell some more conventional stuff, which is, you know, fine. There's nothing wrong with that either, it just depends on what you wanna get. But, for those of you who think that it only sells conventional stuff and you can't get organic stuff there, they've actually upped their game quite a bit in recent years and there's a lot of good stuff you can get. So, hopefully you got a good sense of some good stuff that you can get at Costco. Again, if you're watching this at the right time, we are gonna be doing a Costco paleo grocery store tour on Tuesday, November 13th at 6:30 p.m. You can register for that for free online, you don't need to be a Costco member or a CrossFit South Bend member, and we hope to see you there. Alright guys, thanks so much for tuning in. We'll see you next time.
In this special Halloween 2018 edition of Amy's Treat Corner Amy is joined by coach Megan and coach Kate to make some gluten-free halloween treats.
Megan makes a pumpkin molasses cookie, Kate makes a pumpkin pie cream cheese ball, and Amy makes a pumpkin pie milkshake.
Enjoy!
Pumpkin pie milkshake:
1 c Almond milk
3/4 c pumpkin purée
2 tsp Cinnamon ,
1tsp Clove, nutmeg
1tbsp organic sweetener (Maple syrup)
2 ripe frozen bananas
Pumpkin pie cream cheese ball:
8 oz softened cream cheese
2 tbls sour cream
1 Tbls cinnamon
4 tbls Date sugar or natural sweetener
1 tbls vanilla extract
Chewy pumpkin spice molasses cookies are perfectly spiced and so delicious! Enjoy these with your cup of coffee or tea this fall. Is there a dessert or treat that you realllly missed when you went gluten free? For me, that treat was a molasses cookie from Starbucks. Those cookies were perfectly chewy and spicy, and I loved them. Well, I've come up with a delicious substitution for those Starbucks treats - these gluten free pumpkin spice molasses cookies. These pumpkin spice molasses cookies are my new favorite fall treat. They are soft, chewy, and so perfect with tea or hotRead More Here: https://theprettybee.com/pumpkin-spice-molasses-cookies/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialWarfare
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TRANSCRIPT
- Hi everyone, this is Amy and I'm back for another special edition of Amy's Treat Corner. This is going to be a Halloween, if you haven't guessed it, but I'm here with two of our other coaches, Coach Meg and Coach Kate, and this is gonna be really fun. We have our wonderful fall train like a champion shirts designed by wonderful Chad. Let's turn around, ladies. Let's show 'em our wonderful sugar skulls in the back. Yeah, turn back. Okay. All right, so we are gonna make three different things for you today. So maybe you're gonna have a Halloween party like we are gonna be doing. Where at, Meg? Where's our party gonna be?
- My house.
- That's right, weather permitting, at Meg Stack's house on October 20th around 5:00 p.m. We'll get out more details to you. But the cool thing about that, for our Crossfit South Bend members, if you're planning a party, we have some special things that you can do. So one, Meg has brought to us is a pumpkin molasses cookie. Kate is going to be doing a cinnamon cheesecake ball dip. Yeah, that's amazing. And I'm gonna do a pumpkin pie milkshake. So we kind of have a pumpkin cinnamon theme going on. So all right, Meg, let's go get some yummy cookies!
- Okay.
- So we're gonna to start off with softened butter, half a cup of softened butter and we're gonna put that into our mixing bowl and we're gonna add some sugar, it's a half a cup of granulated sugar, it says organic cane sugar, basically granulated sugar, and 1/4 cup of light brown sugar. And so what you wanna do is you want to cream this. So I'm gonna get that going. I'm gonna talk louder. Sorry, but this is a little bit louder.
- It's okay.
- I really just want this to mix well. You want to get the sugar mixed in with the butter really well, so you can't really tell the difference between where the sugar is and where the butter is.
- That's what the creaming effect means, right?
- Yes! So it seems kind of, people are like, creaming? It's more than just mixing.
- Or maybe we could use a little bit from Kate's witches hat here. Can you brew us some?
- Can you brew us something up? 'Cause that would be fantastic.
- That would be good.
- Awesome, oh thanks. Okay, so once it's nice and mixed together, we're going to add the pumpkin, which is 1/3 cup of pumpkin. I just went to Fresh Thyme and I got organic pumpkin. It's just plain pumpkin. Don't get the pumpkin pie mix, 'cause it's adding all the seasoning in it, so just the pumpkin. So 1/3 cup of that.
- And that's a good tip, because sometimes people forget pumpkin pie mix and it does have all of the other seasoned stuff in it. You just want straight pumpkin.
- Yeah, you're gonna have like double the seasoning if you add the pumpkin pie and that. With that then, we're gonna add in our vanilla, it's a teaspoon of vanilla. Just gonna put that in there. I'm just gonna eyeball it.
- Have you guys decided what you're gonna be doing for Halloween yet?
- No, I haven't been told what I'm-- What am I doing or what am I wearing?
- I don't know if I'm allowed to participate in Halloween any longer. I think my children are banning me from practice.
- That's perfect.
- What? No, no, no. We do dinner with the neighbors. Otherwise they go out and they get ice cream, so I make food and I invite the neighbor people to come over, the parents, we get drinks, kids get candy. Win-win all around.
- The moms usually want the payout.
- A cup in our neighborhood with some type of mom beverage.
- Oh nice, and what was that thing? What was that you just put in?
- Thank you, so I put in the pumpkin and the vanilla and then the molasses, so molasses, basically another form of sugar. But it's two tablespoons of molasses and I'm gonna spring to speed that up a little bit to get that nice and mixed.
- Perfect.
- I'm gonna turn off and I'm gonna scrape down and then, I got some molasses on here, so I'm just gonna wipe that off, but I'm going to scrape that down and then I'm going to add now I'm going to add two cups and I have this already put into the bowl so it's two cups of flour. This is an all purpose gluten free flour I got mine, I got the redmills
- Perfect
- So there's different things you can make depending on recipes there is almond meal flour, coconut flour, sorghum, rice all different kinds I just, for the sake of convince, got the gluten free general purpose.
- Good, I like the idea that you can throw different flour in. If you're like me, I'm not afraid to actually throw different ingredients or flours together and if it fails, it fails, it's just, you know.
- It's sugar, flour, and butter
- I know
- Can it go that wrong?
- Find another way to make it up and make it good but know it can't go wrong
- So I'm gonna add the flour, I have a teaspoon of baking soda and a little bit of salt. I just added my spices so there is cinnamon in there, there is ginger, nutmeg, clove and so that's where that pumpkin spice pie spice, comes from I am a messy person, so
- Do you need a napkin
- Yes
- You can have another towel
- and so I'm just going to mix this up and I'm gonna get that nice and combined I guess really is the best. Once it's combined you don't want to like over mix it, you want to avoid that. Once I have that combined, and I notice it's nice and thick hopefully and so what your going to do, I'm going to just take this off so that I can put that and so we are just going to take it and you're supposed to make balls. Just put this into balls we're going to roll this into a ball and I have a little bowl of just sugar granulated sugar and this is a little bit big of a ball but that's okay, you can make your cookies however size, depends on many cookies you're gonna let yourself have as to how big you make them. So you're just going to roll these into balls, roll them in sugar
- I also have a cookie scooper thing
- Oh that would be smart, I'm not that fancy
- Uniform cookies
- I just roll it and what you would have done before you started this whole thing, which we did is start the oven to 350. And so you will start the oven to 350, prep that, roll all of your cookies into balls and put them in sugar and then kind of flatten them a little bit and we're gonna stick it in the oven. It should be in the oven for about 10 minutes kind of keep and eye on it, if it looks like it's still a little too doughy just kind of leave it in for an extra minute or so.
- They look yummy, well Meg we'll let you finish rolling some balls out, pumpkin molasses cookies and we can actually kind of show that finished product here. They looks super yummy. I love pumpkin and you can always have fun with them everyone think about different creative ideas we were talking about maybe black licorice you can make them spiders or something like that.
- Oh yeah
- If you have for a kids party, and you want to do something fun even adults, I think we like to have fun too.
- Yeah, definitely.
- Well, while Meg is rolling out the rest of the cookies Kate is gonna talk about her cinnamon cheesecake ball dip.
- Yes, Kate does not bake, so this is the perfect treat for Kate to make. This is basically like five ingredients I'm gonna start with eight ounces of softened cream cheese. Put that in my bowl, and then I'm adding two tablespoons of sour cream.
- That'll cut some of the sweetness too.
- Yup and then I'm going to just use my hand mixer to mix this up.
- Her hand mixer, we talk about we haven't used hand mixers for a long time but they're needed occasionally.
- Yeah, I find that it'd be hard to mix cream cheese without one.
- It would be, I've had to mix cream cheese by hand it's got to be really soft or get the ones in the tub.
- Yeah.
- Here's a tip, if you want softened cream cheese really, really fast, just go buy the tub one pay the extra 50 cents for it. That way it's already nice and you can just stir it up really quickly.
- Alright, that is mixed pretty well and then I have four tablespoons of any natural sweetener. We are using date sugar.
- Date sugar
- But you can use coconut sugar, stevia, again, kind of anything,
- That's a good idea.
- And I'm gonna mix a little bit more mix that in.
- Now, gonna turn a little bit more brown.
- It is going to turn a little more brown.
- Where did you find the date sugar?
- At Whole Foods actually they're in with the regular coconut sugar and different other sugars.
- Alright, and then last oh yeah, vanilla, we're gonna add about a tablespoon. We're gonna just use the cap, one--
- I like to use the cap
- We like vanilla
- Here you go if you wanna wipe your fingers.
- Thank you
- I never measure, you've seen me treat corner too many times. I just like a cap, for every teaspoon full.
- You can't go wrong, it's gonna taste yummy. And then I have a tablespoon of cinnamon, which is kind of, It's a lot so we are gonna try to carefully--
- This is carefully.
- add this. It does say carefully. So I'm gonna mix a little bit at a time and then add more.
- I can put those in the oven for you
- Oh yeah
- We'll get this a fresh batch
- I'm gonna try to do this as I'm mixing.
- I'm pretty excited to find out, all of us coaches, we're gonna dress up for Halloween. So stay tuned we're gonna have a theme going here I'm gonna pull it together, we're gonna make it work. It's gonna be good.
- I'm excited
- I'm excited too I think we're gonna have a fun time Kate that looks yummy.
- It smells really yummy too. So we're just gonna all combine. we're going to put this in our fancy pumpkin bowl.
- And we put apples with it today cause we already made pumpkin cookies so we did a fruit. But you could do--
- You could do gluten free graham crackers.
- Yeah, gluten free graham crackers would be an excellent thing. And you can double this recipe too if you have a bigger bowl. It's whatever you want to do. Have fun with it just decorate and enjoy. Alright, So we made a cookie, we made a dip now we gotta have something to drink right?
- Yes
- I guess if you want to spike this up at all you'll have to ask them. But I'm gonna do pumpkin pie milkshakes. So one of the first things I'm gonna add is Almond milk alright. Dairy free you could use coconut milk too, would be just fine. This is one cup and I usually get just the organic almond vanilla, I like almond vanilla unsweetened. So then I'm going to add about 3/4 cup, depending on how much you wanna make, of pumpkin puree. Again, just like you Meg, just the natural pumpkin there not pumpkin pie or anything like that then I have all my lovely spices in here cinnamon, and clove, and nutmeg. Which ever brand you like, I'm just the McCormick snob I guess I like them they're pretty, that why I like them. So I just threw everything in here and I'm just gonna dump it all in. Two teaspoons of cinnamon a teaspoon of the other. And then the secret ingredient for sweetness is one table spoon of 100% pure, organic maple syrup or if you're like me add two. This is my extra little kick because I like sweet.
- Sweet, yes. Alright, so how am I gonna make this thick? So my secret ingredient is frozen bananas. So if you guys got some bananas, lets say that are getting to the brink of going rotten and if you want to make them for banana bread you can do that but I do like to take bananas and cut them up. Just like little ice cubes and then throw them in here. I would say about a banana and a half to two bananas, it depends on how much you like it. So if you're a person that does not like coconut milk, then don't use coconut milk use a almond milk, if you don't like the flavor of coconut in it use the almond. The banana is a nice flavor to pull away from some of that coconut if you like it. Alright, it's gonna be loud for a second but I'm going to stir this up. I like the Ninja, I don't have a Vitamix. Do you guys?
- I do
- You've got the Vitamix Robby's filming, Rob do you have a Vitamix?
- [Robbie] No, I don't.
- No, Oh little Ninja quick thing here going. And then you can see this, depending on your consistency and thickness you can see right here. First, let me grab a spoon. Okay, see it's a thicker one I can add more bananas to it to even make it thicker. That's one thing I like about these they just go in and out really quickly
- Yeah it smart that you cut up your bananas before you freeze them.
- Yes. I was noticing that as well.
- I did not make that smart choice once.
- I have done it before where, I have put a regular, you know froze the banana in the regular peel and it is a pain to try it.
- Yeah same, I would just put it in, the whole banana--
- I did put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds to defrost it really quick and then it actually turned out okay. This will make it a little thicker, you can always add ice cubes to this once again, if you wanted to make this more of an adult drink, I think you could.
- I think you could also.
- Definitely!
- Meg, hand me the cups there and then I can dish this out.
- [Megan] Do you want all three of them?
- Oh we get to try it.
- Oh we do get to try it.
- So that's the fun part about this, so as you see I added more banana and it definitely thickened that up. It's going to be a ratio to your milk and puree mixture. Like I said have fun with it if it doesn't turn out exactly how you want it keep adding stuff to it. You know, have fun with it so one last thing to top it off guys. Heavy whipping cream! You know what I thought as I was making this? I needed to invent like cinnamon straws.
- Oh yes
- Cinnamon straw would have been good.
- You could sip all of the cinnamon
- I thought the same thing. Sprinkle some cinnamon on it here and you guys, I think it's gonna be so good I cheated I already had one today. Hey, it was after coaching this morning. Here you go, you take yours, you take yours Cheers to each other Happy Halloween!
- [All] Happy Halloween! We hope you've enjoyed this edition of Amy's Treat Corner.
In this video we sit down and chat with the founder, CEO, and co-owner of CrossFit South Bend, Brandon Wilton about his nutrition.
We talk about
-5 crock pots going at a time
-yacht-stuff
-taco night
-looking good naked
-Sheet cakes from Wal-Mart
-Silver beach pizza
-fluctuating carbs
-goals vs. fantasies
Brandon tells us:
-what eating was like growing up
-his journey from unhealthy eating to healthy eating.
-his current eating regimen
-how he meal plans during the week
-lessons he's learned from training at a high level and coaching others in terms of food consumption
Lots of great nuggets in here so be sure to check out the full video.
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- Hey guys, Robby here from Crossfit Supplement today. I'm here with Coach Brandon who is the co-owner and CEO of Crossfit South Bend and today we're going to be talking to him about what he's eating. Alright, Brandon, thanks so much for being with us today, appreciate it.
- Thank you, Robby.
- You're welcome. So first of all, tell us about what eating was like growing up.
- It was traditional. I actually when I was talking to my parents last night and I called my mom to make sure that my memory was still on point. Cereal for breakfast, normal traditional American stuff. You're looking at peanut butter and jellies, pizza rolls, something like that for lunch. We always had, I remember this distinctly, like theme night. Spaghetti night, taco night, pizza night, all those kinda nights. She did cook good food. She wanted to make sure we get that out. She did make homemade chicken noodle soup which was fantastic, still love to this day. But yeah, they worked real hard for us, so that's a shout out to my parents, love you guys.
- So tell us about the journey, we'll get to what you're eating currently in just a second but tell us about the journey from when you started find out about how to kind of eat healthy to now, like what did that journey look like? You know, finding out about the zone and paleo and all these different things.
- Yeah, in the past it was kind of, you know, you have me growing up through adolescence and you're getting your information through marketing. You know, you're getting it through Flex Magazine or your bro that says you need to eat more protein, and you know, do whatever it is, and you stop in vitamin shops, they give you horrible advice. Now I don't wanna say vitamin shops specifically but any kind of supplement store like that they're just gonna give you, you know, some just general advice. Then we get into the Crossfit era and it made me a little more dogmatic about things. You get onto the zone and you get into things like that. I weighed and measured in the zone for two years aggressively, blocks, blocks, blocks. And then, you become less and less dogmatic, ideally, and you start to realize that there is no one size fits all. There's no right diet for anyone. There is only principles that work for some people and better for other people. So you have to be more self-aware of what works really well for you and what your goals are, in training, in life, and in nutrition and things like that, and what's sustainable for you in your life. So I think being really honest with that happened over the last three or four years since I started working with OPEX and some of my mentors and things like that, and having a ton of discussions with you and stuff like that, so yeah.
- So, tell us what eating is like now. How do you eat on a day-to-day basis? And we'll talk about your meals. Tell us about everything with regard to how you're eating now.
- How am I eating now? So, everyone out there in the audience if you saw Mitch's and Carl's video, they prepared, they said they prepared meticulously some meals, their stuff doesn't look like that, I'm gonna tell you that right now. It doesn't look like that, this is real stuff. So, typically, what I like to do, and what happens more often than not is Costco runs on Sundays. Bulk food, I think I've got like five crock pots at home, that's an exaggeration, I've got like three or four, but things go in crock pots. I generally have an idea of how much protein I eat a day which extrapolates to how much per month that I'll actually need, and that goes into some just general type containers. What I'm gonna do is make a bunch of proteins, my carbs are coming from vegetables and I usually keep carbs here at the gym cause I'll eat most of the carbs post-workout, fueling for that, or sometimes, depending on my training, I may not need as many carbs so it's just trivial here. Things are cooked in fat, and because I know I don't do too well with nuts most of it's just coming from oils and things like that. So I cook in bulk. And, what do we got here? We got some chicken casserole. That was in a big 'ole thing. Dump a bunch of eggs and chicken in there. I make things for fuel and for taste, it has to have a decent blend. If you ask some of the other coaches here, it's gotta be primarily for taste and what have you, but I mean, I'm cooking in bulk and I'm cooking fast and that's the way I prefer to do it. We've got some turkey burgers and check it out, rice. Half of it's gone. I cooked most of it up yesterday, used half of it post-workout. Other half's going today. So most of it, and I want to express this, and I went to Whole Foods cause I didn't have enough protein the other day. I can't tell you why that happened, but with that being said, I cook in bulk and I do it all at once. And you know, it's kind of the parent life for people who say that food is either too expensive, you go to Shelton's Farms, you go to some of those other places, you get in bulk and maybe I spend two hours cooking. It doesn't really take all that long to make a lot of it, maybe three depending on what you wanna make, but you just make all this stuff in bulk and I eat nothing fancy.
- So, one of the things we like to do with these videos is, with Andrew we talked about the fact that he was a student, Mitch is training to go to regionals, Carl rugby player, rugby coach. You're a CEO, OPEX certified coach, you've trained for the Crossfit Open, you've done a 50-mile run. Tell us about what you found works best for you with performance and all the things you have on your plate, cause you got a lot of different stuff you're trying to take care of. What sort of unique things have you learned about the way you work best in terms of fueling for training and things like that?
- Well I think it's important to note that a lot of people have these goals, and sometimes, very often they're fantasies, they're not actual goals. You know, I can talk about yachting and talking about sailing the world, but unless I'm actually studying how to do yacht stuff and saving up, then it becomes, it's a fantasy and it's not an actual reality. So when it comes to stuff like that people, you know they say they have these lofty goals that they're trying to eat for or trying to do nutrition for. In the past I did more competitive stuff and then being CEO and then being more aggressive with business practices, I had to pull back the goals to match that because, you know you've gotta be aware of what leavers you need to pull and how much you need to fuel yourself, cause it's a full-time job and you have to kind of pick and choose, but that being said, you know with my goals just being longevity and feeling good and performing well enough, I'm not trying to go to the games or go to regionals but I like to be strong, and you know, everyone wants to look good naked. They want to feel good, have good energy, sustained energy through the day and perform reasonably. There's no reason I have to do a triple back-flip handstand pushup, you know. So yeah, that's kind of what I'm eating for right now is just longevity and health and you know, all that kind of stuff, and then my diet reflects that. Mostly protein, as much as I can kind of digest. I pay attention to my digestion. A little under, actually a gram per pound of body weight right now. Fat winds up being about .6 grams per pound of body weight, and carbs fluctuate. I push the carbs when I'm having a heavy day, and then on a day like today I may come in and drink a little coffee with some butter in it and some protein powder in the morning and then I may fast if I'm not doing much training throughout the day and then get on to it.
- So tell us about nutritional off-roading, so what are your top three to five off-plan foods and what are some of your special occasions that you like to have off-plan foods for?
- So even if it is a special occasion, when I feel like my will power is high - have you ever had somebody offer you some of your favorite foods and you're like you know what I don't really want it, I take advantage of that. I take advantage of that. Will power being a depletable resource, when I have good will power, no thanks. When I'm having bad will power, we know what that's like, then what I do is I still try and talk myself out of that kind of stuff, but special occasions, you're looking at some pizza. I like pizza, Silver Beats Pizza. Some baked goods, and then tacos, yeah that kinda stuff just normal food, but it's gotta be good, can't be a sheet cake from the grocery store or anything like that, you know?
- Yeah, can't be a sheet cake from Walmart.
- Yeah.
- So last thing is any advice? You know, you've been at this for a long time, any advice to people who are starting out, trying to change their diet for the better or any thoughts on your journey and what you've learned and what you could teach others nutritionally?
- Yeah, I think it goes into a lot of what we do as a business. You know, move slow, enjoy the journey, enjoy the process, don't get obsessed with the destination. You should be aware of where you wanna be, but just because your weight hasn't changed in one or two weeks what you do is you pimp it and you change and you notice. You look for explanations. You change something. You prescribe something different, you action it, and then you just go through concentric circles of that just again and again and again until you find what works for you. You know, so one is enjoying the journey and enjoying the process and learning yourself and being very aware of that. Don't be dogmatic. Just because somebody's a vegetarian or they do this diet or that diet, if it's working for them great, good on you, that's fantastic. You know, it's kinda hard to fit all those things. Don't make nutrition sexy. Pay attention to, be wary of marketing and what marketing's doing for you. Educate yourself. Learn to flip it over and look at the back of the ingredients and start to understand that and just be aware of what you're doing. So yeah, those three things are a good start.
- Awesome, well thank you so much for joining us today Brandon, appreciate it.
Are you a sugar burner or a fat burner?
Well, honestly speaking, no one is purely a sugar burner or a fat burner. We all use some balance of carbs and fat for fuel.
However, most people today are way more dominant towards the sugar/carb burner side of things rather than fat. Unfortunately there are some major downsides to primarily being a carb/sugar burner:
-you feel like you need to eat every two hours
-you feel like you're on an energy roller coaster throughout the day.
-you get hangry regularly (hungry+angry)
-it's harder to wake up in the morning
-you wake up from sleep in the middle of the night more frequently
-you never get to burn fat because you're constantly replenishing carbs with no chance to tap into your fat stores
So, being predominantly a carb/sugar burner is not so great from a health perspective. We want more of a balance between fat and carb burning for most people (hard charging athletes in power sports potentially being an exception).
Generally speaking you should think of carbs and sugar as rocket fuel for more explosive activities (rugby, football, wrestling, MMA, Crossfit, etc.) One of my favorite sayings from John Welbourne of Power Athlete is: earn your carbs. I think this is certainly true for most people and most people do not need a ton of carbs to fuel their daily activity.
So, what about being a fat burner? what are the upsides to that approach?
First, from purely rom a biological perspective we can only store a few thousand calories of carbs in our liver and muscle cells as glycogen, but even the leanest body can store HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of calories in fat. So, tapping into those fat stores taps into a major source of clean energy. Furthermore, fats are more clean-burning than carbs, meaning that fat produces fewer harmful metabolic byproducts when utilized for fuel. For pretty much any human activity that happens below 75% exertion (walking, cleaning, basic weight lifting, etc.) fat should be the primary fuel.
Also, from a biological and evolutionary perspective, we're supposed to be able to go a few hours at a time and sometimes a few days at a time without eating. The only way to do that metabolically is to tap into our fat stores.
Being a more of a fat burner has the following upsides.
-you have more energy throughout the day
-you sleep better
-you don't constantly crave food (no more hanger)
-you are able to burn excess body fat more easily
So, generally speaking having a proper balance of fat and carb burning is very important for overall health. Most of us are predominantly carb/sugar burners, and switching our fuel source over to fat a bit more is generally beneficial.
In this video we sit down with Zita to talk about her journey with the nutrition coaching program.
Zita's story is unique for a few reasons. She's a business owner, and she's a mom of 5. So she has a lot of responsibilities on her plate.
Her story is also unique because when we were transitioning to real whole food she felt better but her weight didn't budge as much. However, as soon as we did the Whole30 with Zita her weight started dropping much more rapidly and her energy and endurance were way better. A lot of her old clothes are sliding off, and people have noticed.
Zita said the biggest thing for her that she learned from the program was how to be in control of food instead of food controlling her.
When all was said and done Zita:
-Lost 18lbs total
-Even more impressive 16.2 of those 18lbs were pure fat
-She kept her muscle mass almost exactly the same throughout the entire program (not easy to do when you're losing weight)
Zita we're so proud of all that you've accomplished! Keep up the great work!
In this video we sit down to chat with Coach Chad to discuss his food choices: what he grew up eating, how he started eating healthy, what he eats now, his favorite off-plan foods, and his food advice for anyone with a crazy schedule like his.
This video is definitely a bit bittersweet because after a couple years of coaching at the gym, Chad is leaving his coaching role at the gym to further his career as a firefighter. I think I speak for everyone when I say he'll definitely be missed. (I'm not crying, you're crying)
We also had a special guest star, Chad's dog Scout who told us about her food choices as well.
Chad has a very unique situation in that he is a firefighter and he's going back to school. So in addition to having a crazy schedule he has a lot of commitments to keep up with, and through all that he's still able to eat real whole food a lot of the time. He gave great advice in the video about how to juggle all those things.
Chad, we wish you all the best in the future!!
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-Hey guys! Robby here from CrossFit South Bend today. I am here with Chad and I'm here with his awesome dog Scout, who is accompanying us today. So Chad, thanks so much for being with us today.
- Sure.
- So today, we are going to talk about food. So, the first question I want to ask is, what was food like for you growing up?
- So, growing up, it was all junk food. Kind of like, we ran around, every meal was from a box. Like, including cereal with water, you know. When we'd cook on our own. But, macaroni and cheese, you know, or we'd eat out every other night of the week. So, it was pretty unhealthy.
- Yep
- Yeah.
- And, when did you start to find out about, kind of, eating more healthy, and what was that journey like up to this point?
- So, when I joined the fire department, they told me I was way to skinny so, they said I was like 110 pounds, so, I was like okay, well I'm gonna start eating. And it was like I'm eating like Burger King and stuff like that. So, I started working out. And, I was like okay, I'm working out so maybe I should eat healthy. And then I was starting to eat healthy, and then I was like maybe I should stop smoking. And, kind of snow-balled this healthy lifestyle.
- And, what's food like for you now? Tell us about like what you eat on a typical day, typical week, and then if you brought some stuff with you.
- So, I eat pretty plain. I call it bachelor chow. That's pretty much like food mixed together. So, like today I have, this is like my Chipotle bachelor chow. So, she's gonna try to go for that. So, I'll always get a carb. So, cilantro rice, I made up. Cilantro lime rice. Some chicken, and then some veggies. I always want to throw in a veggie, whether that's just having a spinach salad, before a meal or, I really don't like veggies that much. I know that's kind of taboo to say.
- That's alright.
- But, I've got to get them in. So, I always have them in. So, I'll throw like spinach in my eggs, or whatever. But, it's pretty plain. It's protein, carb, veggie.
- Yep.
- Yeah.
- So, one of the things I was thinking about, with this videos, I like to try highlight the unique aspects of each persons life. So, you are a firefighter, going to school, doing a bunch of different things. What tips and tricks have you kind of learned, you know time management, and cooking, and grab this on the go. What sort of things have you learned in the process eating healthy, while maintaining the schedule that you have?
- Definitely meal prep. For breakfast, when I'm at work I always make, like I'll bring ingredients, for my lunch, it's always prepared, already cooked, ready to go. 'Cause our time between breakfast and lunch we could have a bunch of calls, so, that meal is always pre-made. Then dinner, I'll bring ingredients and cook fresh, because I prefer not to eat reheated meals, but sometimes it's just a necessity.
- Gotcha. Scout did you want to share your meal? That looks pretty gourmet.
- Oh, I'll talk for you. So, here we have dog food, dry, I think it's Purina One, large breed, she eats it every day, so she must like it. In fact, do you want to try some now? She loves it. See?
- she loves it. And she's off camera
- Low bearer frenchy with dogs, it's like, is it edible. Even then.
- For a while she had her own Instagram, And, I wanted to make her a foody, but since she's a dog, it was the same picture every day of the same bowl, the same food. I don't think people got it.
- Ya, pretty good guess. So, tell us about off plan food. What are your top, I don't know, two-three, like holy-shit, I love this. You know, peanut butter, pizza, ice cream. Like what are your favorite off plan foods?
- Definitely, pizza, deep dish, Chicago style. Oh man, I'm in heaven. That, and then brownie ice cream, big time, for dessert. Every time.
- Any particular place you get for brownie ice cream?
- Well, what was that place we went to? Korachka's?
- Yeah, that was pretty good.
- That was pretty darn good. I mean my blood sugar was like 400, but.
-That was after the insulin shot.
- Yeah. That was after three insulin shots, actually. Yeah.
- What are some special occasions? What are some times, for some people it's like Thanksgiving, or their birthday, or what are special times you like to have special off time food.
- Usually the first day of my four day, is usually honestly like
- yeah it's like okay, time to still, I don't go hog-wild or anything like that. But, I might treat myself to dinner. I might have a burger with dinner, or a beer, or whatever.
- Gotcha. And, you know. Let's say you were talking to someone who was you know, in a similar situation, going back to school, firefighter, just, you know, crazy shift work schedule. Like, what would you say to someone who has a similar schedule, where they're trying to get healthy, but they don't quite know what to do? What advice would you give, or what thoughts do you have, now having gone through that yourself?
- So, when it comes to food and really training, I want the least stress as possible.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- So, people will get out scales and measure, and I've done it too, measure food, and make sure I've this much carbs, this much protein. For me, it's just eat real food, like try not to eat out of a box. And, if you're shopping on the exterior of your supermarket, that's where you're gonna find the real food. And, if you stick to that, I think you're gonna be doing pretty good. I mean if you are in a body building competition, then maybe dial in your macros, but for me, that's really stressful, and I'm not doing any bodybuilding.
- Yep. No, couldn't agree. clearly
- Well no, couldn't agree more like, yeah, just eat real, whole, food, don't stress out about it too much. Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for joining us today.
- Thank you. Appreciate it.
- Alright guys, thanks so much for tuning in. See you guys next time.
In this video we talk about the top 5 ways to save money on produce at the grocery store.
1. Use the Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen list to save money. Use this list to buy organic off the dirty dozen list and save money by not buying organic on the clean fifteen list.
https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty-dozen.php
2. Buy local and seasonal fruits and veggies. A strawberry is a lot cheaper in July than December. Not only is this cheaper, but local and seasonal produce actually tastes better.
3. Use a CSA-a community supported agriculture group. You get a box of surplus veggies and fruits each week, and you get exposure to new ones that you might not have used before.
4. Go for vegetables over fruits. This not only saves you money but it's way better for your health. Fruits are way more expensive than vegetables and are not nearly as good for your health as vegetables.
5. Buy the whole vegetable or the whole fruit. Any time someone is cutting something up for you at the store it will cost you a lot more than cutting it up yourself.
In this video, we talk about the three main body types, namely the ectomorph, the mesomorph, and the endomorph. You may not be familiar with these terms but I'll bet when I describe them you'll recognize them.
Ectomorph-Typically tall and skinny. Can eat anything they want without gaining a pound. But on the flip side it's hard to gain muscle.
Mesomorph-Naturally athletic. Rarely has to lose weight, but unlike the ectomorph can build muscle fairly easily.
Endomorph-Short, stocky, big-boned. Easily gains size, which is good for muscle gain, but bad for fat loss. Looks at a cake the wrong way and gains a pound.
The reason that the three of us did this video together is that each of us corresponds to the three main body types.
Brandon (green shirt)-Ectomorph
Carl (gray shirt)-Mesomorph
Robby (red shirt)-Endomorph
These categories of body types can give you some initial insight into which macros are better for you. For example, ectos tend to do better with carbs, whereas endos do not.
It can give you a sense of your natural strengths and weaknesses and which sports might be best suited to you. You're not going to see many (any?) endomorphs in the NBA or as long-distance runners, but on the flip side it will be a cold day in hell before you see any ectos as football lineman or heavyweight powerlifters (for the most part).
These types aren't set in stone, but they can give you extra insight into whether you're going to have to expend way more energy to gain muscle (ecto) or lose fat (endo).
Here's a great article on the subject:
https://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-body-type-eating
Sorry that I'm kind of cut off visually in the video. But you guys probably see enough of me in these videos anyway :)
In this video we sit down to discuss Marlo's story.
In terms of Marlo's body composition she has:
-Lost 35lbs
-Kept her muscle mass the same even with the weight loss.
-Lost 12.5% body fat
-Lost 5.5 inches off hips
-Lost 3.5 inches off waist
But she also gained so much more than that:
-She gained control over her food choices.
-She says she has a much better mood overall
-She says she now looks forward to activities with friends
-She needs to get a completely new wardrobe (in a good way!)
Marlo has been one of the most disciplined people I've ever worked with, and I'm so proud of her and her progress. Keep up the great work Marlo!
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- Hey guys, Robby here from Crossfit South Bend, today I'm here with Marlo, who is just about to finish her six months of one-on-one nutrition coaching. So Marlo, thank you so much for being here today.
- Thank you.
- So, first thing we're gonna talk about is Marlo's progress. So we have her most recent InBody scan here. Marlo basically since her first scan, has lost about 35 pounds, which is crazy. It's amazing. Her muscle mass has basically stayed the same at 61 pounds. And then, she dropped 12.5% body fat. And in addition to that, she lost 5.5 inches off her waist and 3.5 inches off her hips. So, congratulations, Marlo
- Thank you
- Fantastic job. So, tell us a bit about what food and health and life was like before you started the program. What made you interested in this? What were you eating before this? Tell us what life was like during that time.
- During that time, prior to doing all of this, I spent a lot of time trying to eat healthy, but not having the correct information to be able to do that. So, I think I was doing a lot of the things that people think are healthy, but then when you really drill down into whatever the ingredients were, or how it was prepared and things, it's really not. So, a lot of yogurts in the mornings and things like that, and salads, but there was always the more frequent cheat days than not. And it was the 'Oh, well I had a really stressful day,' 'so it's okay for me to have a couple of cookies.' 'That won't hurt anything.' So, I think a lot of people fall into that. Where we're trying, but we don't have the knowledge base to really see the results that we want to have.
- Absolutely. So, tell us a little about the journey. You've been doing this for about five months at this point. Tell us about transitioning to real whole food, and then the whole 30. Tell us when your end's been like.
- Well, when I started the nutrition coaching, I think we did about, we started officially in June, so, it was a couple of months of me prepping myself, and prepping my kitchen, to be prepared to have the tools in place necessary to succeed. I cleaned out my kitchen probably way before I needed to, just because I knew I wouldn't be able to dive in just like eating what I was eating and then suddenly the very next day, not eating that stuff. So, it was a couple of months of prep work. And then I honestly had a serious talk with myself the night before I was officially going to start because I wanted to succeed. So, I made sure that I was ready to go. And so that talk with myself was about 'it's 30 days.' 'You can do this for 30 days.' But then the journey itself, it was tough at times. Different social occasions, a lot of families, mine is no different, with the rewards for food and family dinners, always having two or three desserts to choose from, and things like that. So, it was definitely an up-and-down sort of thing. In the beginning, lots of energy. I felt that initial rush of being able to, the positive results, and then when I started to see the results, and not just feel them, that kind of pushed my motivation to another level to continue.
- Absolutely. Yeah, just for context guys, Marlo voluntarily decided after doing her first Whole 30, to do a second month, which has just been like, that takes tremendous will power. And, it's been a huge boon in terms of how much progress you've made. So, we talked a lot about scale victories and percent body fat, and you've lost a ton of weight, and you said before we started filming that you needed to get a whole new wardrobe essentially.
- Yes I'm in the process of purchasing a whole new wardrobe.
- So, tell us a bit about the non-scale victories. You're mentioning the energy before, things like recovering from workouts, mood, cravings, tell us about other things that improved in your life.
- The biggest piece, for me, is my overall mood and affect. I, at time, have to push myself through bouts of depression. I am not one to take medication, so I don't take medication for that. And, over the course of the last several months, I have felt my overall mood, my stress level, and all the things that I would battle, to do certain things in my life, has gotten much easier. And that, I think is, for me, one of the most positive outcomes of this whole thing. Because I knew at times, I just didn't want to do things. And I would push through that, and I would do them, but I wouldn't necessarily enjoy them as much as I could. And now, it's like, I'm the one whose calling my friends, to be like 'Hey, let's go do something', or that sort of thing. And so I am overjoyed with that, that feeling.
- That's fantastic. That's awesome. So, one of the main points of our program is does someone feel like, after the program's done, they can do it long term? Do they feel like they can make this a sustainable thing? Having done this, how do feel this will be in terms of making this a life-long baseline that you can refer back to and make the foundation of your healthy eating?
- I feel much stronger since doing the second month. Coming off of the first 30 days, I felt confident and felt that I was much more educated than I had been. But I still felt like I was still battling a lot of the cravings and feeling weak at times, not as strong as I wanted to be coming out of the first 30 days. So that was my big push for doing the second 30 days. Now, I do feel much more confident that I will be able to sustain this for longer periods of time. I don't foresee myself ever not falling off the wagon when it comes to certain things, but I do feel much more confident being able to sustain and, if necessary, come back to it if I've fallen off the wagon too far. That I will be able to pull myself back, because just having that knowledge base now is so much, so key to the success.
- Awesome, that's fantastic. So, last question is, if you could talk to Marlo six months ago, or to someone who might be in your situation today, whose unsure whether they could eat this way, or has similar work obligations and things like that, what would you say to someone whose thinking about taking the plunge but isn't quite sure in hindsight?
- First I would be honest and say, 'it is a challenge'.
- Absolutely. But, two, it is not insurmountable. Having your assistance was super beneficial, being able to tap into your knowledge base and the questions that were asked, so I would just drill it down to, you can do it, do it, do it, do it. Avail yourself to the opportunity to improve your health, because, yes, it's a challenge, but in hindsight, it wasn't something that was so, it wasn't terrible. It was a challenge, but it was not terrible. And if folks are, I don't want to say, as lucky as me, but I felt like I was seeing results fairly quickly which helped keep that momentum going. So, do it! That's what I would say.
- Yeah, and I just have to say, from my end, as a coach, you've been one of the most disciplined people I've ever worked with. You've done a fantastic job of sticking with things for your goals. And I am super proud of the progress you've made. And I think you've done an excellent job.
- Thank you, thank you.
- Alright guys, that's Marlo's story. Thanks so much for tuning in. We'll see you next time.
Depending on when you read or watch the news meat will either kill you or it won't. Alcohol is both good for you and bad for you. And low carb is the best thing ever except when it lowers your life span.
Welcome to the wonderful world of nutritional studies, and the sensationalism that surrounds them.
It's no wonder people are confused about what to eat and what's good or bad with all the misinformation and sensationalism out there.
Here's what you need to know about nutritional studies. There are two main types of nutritional study: epidemiological and double-blind placebo controlled, and both have major limitations.
Epidemiological studies are generally conducted on thousands of people, over long periods of time, and involve food surveys. There are so many problems with this type of study it's comical. These studies do have some use, but it's very limited.
-First, this type of study can never prove that one thing causes another. It can only show that two things are correlated. For example, increased ice cream consumption and shark attacks are highly correlated, but one does not cause the other. The thing they have in common is the summer months. So, when a study says meat will kill you ask yourself if meat is causing the adverse outcomes or is it correlated with negative outcomes. There's a gigantic difference.
-These studies rely on people remembering what they ate anywhere from 6 months ago to the past 5 years. Do you remember what you ate a month ago? Exactly. These surveys are notoriously prone to error because of the difficulty of food recall.
-Healthy and unhealthy user basis. People who are healthy tend to say that why engage in more healthy activities on their survey, whether they do or not. Unhealthy people tend to say that they engage in more unhealthy activities, whether they do or not. This clouds the results.
Any time you see a study that says it involved more than a 1000 people that's generally a dead ringer for an epidemiological study, and the best that study can show is that two things are correlated not that they cause each other. Always be skeptical of the claims of these studies. Again, all they can show is that two things are correlated not that one caused the other.
The other type of study, namely the randomized-controlled double blind placebo study is the gold standard of research. However, it's really hard to do when it comes to food (as opposed to pills) because most people don't want live in a metabolic ward for 6 months and eat the same thing. These studies tend to have way fewer people like 50-200 and they're generally shorter because it takes a lot of money and time to run them. These studies can establish causation, but they're very hard to do in terms of recruiting people, funding them, and doing them over the proper length of time.
Does this mean we can't learn anything from nutritional studies? No. But we need to be crystal clear on what these things can show and what they can't show and we need to avoid falling for the sensationalistic media hype that blows the results of studies completely out of proportion.
So, the next time you hear that beef will kill you or eggs are the devil, please view those claims with the appropriate level of skepticism and see what the data is to back up those claims.