A few days ago, I had a client ask me how they can "sort through the noise" when it comes to diet and health.  Specifically, one day you'll hear that eggs are great for you.  The next?  Eggs are as bad for you as cigarettes (lolwut?)

I thought it was a terrific question, and definitely one I take for granted when I'm working on improving a client's diet.  As such, a blog post was born!

Diet is unique as everyone has their own relationship with food.  Everyone eats, and our relationship with food is usually a mix of health, sustenance, pleasure, and regret (which was me following my most recent trip to a local BBQ joint).  Most of us intuitively know that apples are better the twinkies, and salads are better than sloppy joes.  However, when we're constantly bombarded by information all day ("nuts are good for you....wait, no, now they're bad for you!") it gets harder and harder to go with your natural instincts.

Therefore, whenever someone wants to know how they can improve their diet, I usually fall back on the following three principles.  They may seem simple, but they will help you cut through the bogus health headlines that come out every week:

I had a conversation with a client the other day that simply can't leave my mind.  As he was clearly out of energy after our workout, I asked what he had eaten before our hour-long session.  After some heavy panting and wiping of his brow, he told me that he had only eaten "a few pita chips" before coming to the gym.

After telling my client he needed to put some "gas in the tank before the car is used," he told me that he didn't want to eat much more than those chips, since, as he said, he was watching his calories.

Wait....what the what?????​

Yes, that happened. Now, what's the problem with counting calories?  While it may work for some, it's time-consuming, difficult, and terribly inaccurate.  (Warning: epic rant below.)

Well, happy belated National Doughnut day to you all!  I suppose that, being a personal trainer and all, I may lose some credibility by admitting that I've been known to enjoy the occassional donut....or 3.  What can I say?  I, like most New Englanders, love my Dunkin'.  

However, there's been one recent development from  Dunkin' Donuts that got me a bit fired up.  Behold, the doughnut sandwhich. 

If this sandwich isn't familiar to you (after all, it was unveiled nationally yesterday), here's a link I found from the Boston Globe:

As Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I’m running short on time for the next few days, I wanted to throw up some random thoughts here. 

First, here’s a great article on how and why women should lift heavy weights. While it doesn’t list the physiological benefits of women lifting heavy (which are plenty), the author, Dan Trink, does a great job articulating how the marketing that's supposed to motivate women to lift is terrible.  

I was on Facebook a few weeks ago when I saw a “Facebook friend” (need to make that clarification for those that understand the differences vs. real life) say something to the tune of “Worked hard at the gym for my birthday cake!”  I didn’t want to be “that guy,” nor did I have the heart to tell that person that it doesn’t quite work like that.

It’s OK, I’ve done it too.  In fact, I’ve probably done most of the mistakes I write about on this blog.  So, let’s think about this problem in a more scientific way: does a 45 minute workout justify eating another 1,000 calories?  Absolutely not, and it’s a losing proposition.