Robb Wolf
Robb Wolf, author of The Paleo Solution and Wired to Eat, is a former research biochemist and one of the world’s leading experts in Paleolithic nutrition. Wolf has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world via his top ranked iTunes podcast and wildly popular seminar series.
Mat,
Thanks for all you are putting out regarding healthy eating! I have a couple questions if I may. The picture of you from Robbs post back in October of 2009 “Crossfit on a LC diet” makes you look much less muscular than what I see now during the recent seminar? Are you doing anything to put on that kind of size other than your usual 2 meals per day and your lifting? Do you still follow CF Football, any use of GOMAD, how much Metcon are you doing per week?
Also, I was a bit surprised to hear you say in this inetrview that you don’t want to give the impresion that you eat bacon everyday. Just above that you said a normal breakfast would include bacon or sausage? Is there anything wrong with eating bacon everyday? What am I missing there?
Nothing wrong with eating bacon I just didn’t want people to associate the lifestyle with eating bacon every day.
You are not the only person to comment on the muscle mass issue I’ve been having lately. In fact, people in the chemistry department suspected I was on steroids. The picture of me back squatting was taken by Robb last August in Kansas just before I tried my low-carb paleo experiment. After 4 months of low-carb paleo, my weight increased from 165 pounds to 180 pounds and my body fat percentage decreased. I haven’t been able to go much lower than 180 pounds since. I’m not really doing a whole lot different than what I originally described in my post. I did add sweet potatoes post metcon to avoid any problems with excess cortisol and I started eating twice a day so I could get more sleep in the morning.
I’ve been programming for myself lately. Not that there is anything wrong with OPTs or CF Football programming but rather because I recognize the importance of individual programming. I’m currently experimenting with a Max Effort Black Box (MEBB) template. 3 days on/1 off, day 1 has 1 lift (typically powerlifting or a training exercise for the oly lifts) and 1 metcon (a traditional CF couplet or any other metcon that takes less than 10 minutes to complete). Day 2 is oly lifting. Instead of a metcon on day, I go to coach Sommer’s gymnastic bodies site and put a workout together using the exercises that I can pull-off. I also take the time to do progressions for the gymnastic exercises that I cannot do. Day 3 is another lift (powerlifting or oly training exercise) and a monostructural metcon (sprinting, rowing, jumping, etc…). Again, this metcon is kept short and the volume is low. I don’t do GOMAD. Hope this answers your question.
Thanks for the quick response Mat. One last question, if you wanted to get the weight back down to 165, how would you adjust the workouts and diet to get there?
Question for Dr. Wolf or Dr. Lalonde:
My client shot me this question and I felt like either one of you would be the best to answer.
Question:
My brother fifteen years ago had surgery for prostate cancer. Following the surgery, he had radiation therapy. Over the past year he has had re-occuring problems with blood in his urine. Lately, he has developed clots that block the urethra and he has to be “cathed”. They are finally clearing this up, but when I ask if there are foods or liquids he should eat or not eat, the doctor looks bewildered and answers “more fruits and vegetables”. This is not reassuring.
He is 61 years of age, 5’10” tall, and 265#’s (morbidly obese). He is a confirmed couch potato and works a desk job. He has high cholesterol and takes meds for high blood pressure.
Any suggestions for diet? I have told him about Paleo and actually cooked two paleo meals for him which he enjoyed. His son and I will work on the exercise part, but can you make any nutritional recommendations?
-I didnt feel comfortable screwing with this on my own and I think Robb has a little experience in the area with some clients who have gone through chemo-like recovery.
Thank you for any help.
p.s. Dr. Lalonde, could you post your 2 meal menu. Recently I got into making 3 big meals a day but i want to see what the pro’s are doing. Thank you.
Chris-
Only one Dr. lurks these parts and that’s Mat!
The whole scene is rough. Hyperinsulinism is a causative issue for prostate problems. Fish oil,vit-d, sleep, exercise and low carb paleo are the ticket, if you can get him to do it.
Ricky,
The weight is lean muscle mass and I don’t mind carrying it around. I guess I could do a lot of long distance running if I wanted to lose some lean muscle mass.
Now if your question is with respect to fat loss, then I would probably add some high-volume low-intensity work to that. For example, strap on a weight vest and take a walk for an hour. You could also experiment with lowering the carb content of the diet but I find that PWO carbs are beneficial after metcons (I’m talking sweet potatoes here, the rest of the carbohydrate in my diet is vegetables). I do a protein and fat PWO on days where there is no metcon (day 2).
Thnks again Mat, I was talking fat loss for me. You and I have somewhat similar builds but I need to lose 15-20 pounds and reduce body fat. The long walks sound like a good idea and I’m probably doing more fruit than I really need too.
Can you get Robb to let you do a guest spot on one of his podcasts? The two of you together for an hour would be great!
Ricky-
We’re hoping to get Mat on regularly.
Hi Mat
Would eating sweet potatoes PWO keep somebody out of ketosis? About how much would your recomend? Thanks!
Clay-
PWO carbs, mainly starch will take one transiently out of ketosis. How or if this matters depends on a lot of factors. Just my $0.02
Thanks Robb, much appreciated. That’s a mighty valuable $0.02!
I’ll leave this comment here, despite the fact it doesn’t make sense. I’m tempted for the monrovia/san fran seminars, but I’m looking out for you Robb, you need a sunny vacation in San Diego. I got a kettlebell and sprint session on the beach with post workout steaks and sweet potatoes for ya!! Seminar down here….possibility? If not, I’m gonna have to make that Frisco trip….
I just bought the Matt LaLonde seminar….now I just gotta find the time to watch 8 hours of science!!! It’ll end up messing with my sleep!
Just a note, I’ve been megadosing fish oil per a poliquin article, and eating homemade beef bone stock, and bleeding gums I usually encounter from brushing teeth has stopped. Not sure which of the two, or the combo, to give the credit to!
Gracias, Clif
Clif-
We will get to SD eventually, just not sure when. You will DIG the webinar!
I confused about the bacon and sausages – Don’t they have a ton of nitrites and salt? Isn’t this bad for us?
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2010-releases/processed-meats-unprocessed-heart-disease-diabetes.html
They state in this study:
“They have found that eating processed meat, such as bacon, sausage or processed deli meats, was associated with a 42% higher risk of heart disease and a 19% higher risk of type 2 diabetes. In contrast, the researchers did not find any higher risk of heart disease or diabetes among individuals eating unprocessed red meat, such as from beef, pork, or lamb.”
Julianne-
this is still in that correlation vs causation category. Now, should one keep an eye on sodium intake and get good quality bacon? Sure, but I’d like to see some proposed mechanisms on this.
Matt,
PWO, how long are you waiting till you eat? Also, besides sweet potatote, are you having more lean meats (chicken) as opposed to beef? Could you give an example your meal following a metcon style WOD.
Thanks,
Julliane,
Just like Robb mentioned, that study is epidemiological in nature and can only establish correlation, not cause and effect. I’d like to see a controlled trial on processed meats, with and without nitrites and salt, from grain- versus grass-fed animals. My guess is that the processed meats from grass-fed animals would be fine even with the nitrites.
Tony,
I eat as soon as possible post workout. After a metcon, I’l have some sweet potatoes or butternut squash with hard boiled eggs or sardines. I stick to protein and fat after a strength workout. I like coconut flakes, olive oil (sardines), chopped chicken liver paté, and foie gras as fat sources. I like avocados but I typically eat those for lunch for no particular reason than the fact other than they are yummy.
Clay,
Someone asked a similar question during the seminar and I didn’t really give a straight answer to the “how much” part. In order to answer that I need to know the athletes weight, body fat percentage, type of workout (strength versus metcon), volume and intensity of the WOD, athlete’s tolerance to carbohydrate, whether or not some aspects of metabolic syndrome are present, type of carbohydrate and whether or not it contains fructose, the goal of the athlete (chasing performance or leaning out or optimum health and longevity), etc… And even then, the recommendation would at best be an educated guess. This is where people need to experiment to find out for themselves.
With regards to ketosis, it all depends on the extent to which your glycogen stores are depleted and the type of diet. If you are low-carb for the most part and have sweet potatoes PWO, then the carbohydrate will be utilized for glycogen repletion. I mention a paper during the webinar where they deplete the glycogen stores of athletes with exercise and a low-carb (10% calories as carbs) diet for multiple days and then replenish with a high-carb (90% of calories from carbs) diet over 2 days. The researchers note that up to 500grams of carbohydrate can be ingested before de novo lipogenesis is turned on. This indicates that the muscles quickly picked up the glycogen because the body was fat adapted and could run on an alternate fuel. Essentially carbohydrate was being stored because the body now recognized it a s a valuable resource as opposed to a commonly occurring commodity. This situation is ideal, in my opinion.
I pretty sure I’m still running off of ketone bodies, even after a PWO carb load, because I still have the dreaded ketone breath.