We eat a lot of eggs. We really should get some chickens.

Since we eat eggs for breakfast just about every day we commonly get questioned about the cholesterol in them.

The question behind the questions is usually based on the notion that since egg yolks are relatively high in cholesterol, eating them regularly could lead to having high blood cholesterol and higher risk of heart disease.

Truth be told, I bet if you walked up to 20 people on the street and asked them if the cholesterol in eggs is dangerous, just about all of them would say yes, even though they aren’t really even sure what cholesterol is and how people end up with high cholesterol.

So let’s dig in and see if we can clear up some of this confusion.

There was a time that I believed this.

We’ve been doing this for a long time and there have been plenty of “bro-science” claims like this made during that time. Luckily, research and science have come a long way also and we can speak with much more certainty about both pre and post workout nutrition thanks to that research and our understanding of the human body.

To understand pre and post workout nutrition we need to talk both about the body and the food we put into it.

Six weeks into the new ‘YOU’ and your summer vacay hits. You’ve been hitting your workouts consistently, eating well consistently and not giving into the sweet temptations that you used to.

Don’t let a vacation destroy you and cause you to return further behind then when you left.

INSTEAD… vacation like a pro by having a blast all the while using self control along the way.

Think about this…

Are you tired of feeling tired? Are you tired of not having the energy to play with your kids or clean out the pantry or walk the dog? Have you had enough of feeling this way?

So much of not feeling like your body is operating at 100% has to do with our nutrition. And not only what we eat but how we eat. Good nutrition starts with energy balance.

Let’s take away all of the excuses.

Let’s not blame our genetics, our schedule, the weather, our gym (or lack of) schedule, the food we have on hand, the food we ‘like’ to eat, the food our friends are eating, eating for comfort, eating socially, not liking to eat the same meal twice in a row, not wanting to count our calories, not wanting to understand how many calories are in a donut, not wanting to stop drinking cokes, not wanting to remove sugar from our coffee....

Instead let’s change our mindset.

Let’s make more good choices more often than bad ones.

Let’s erase the negative self-talk and believe that you can do anything you set your mind to do.

Let’s decide right now that our body and our life matters enough to understand good nutrition.

Today we’re talking micronutrients.

You already know all about macronutrients (protein, carbohydrate and fat) so if you’ve ever wondered why we say you also need to consider your micronutrients to maintain your health… wonder no more!

We need micronutrients to keep us healthy, to keep our systems functioning properly, and for our body to do a bunch of other tasks that we don’t even know are going on. So sit back, relax, and grab a bowl of liver and mushrooms (you’ll see why in a bit) and read up.

Note: This is just simplified overview of vitamins, the foods they come from, what they do, and what happens if we don’t get enough. Remember that this list isn’t exhaustive and everyone’s needs vary.

Let’s talk about sugar.

The average American can easily consume over 200g of sugar a day. Thats about 150g over the recommended daily dose for a healthy, exercising person. A sedentary and inactive person should actually consume even less. Have you ever looked at your sugar intake in a day? It can be eye opening and worth the effort. Use an app like MyFitnessPal to look up foods that you consume throughout the entire day and keep track of the total grams of sugar. You’ll not only get the number of grams that you ate but from this list you can also identify which foods contain the most sugar should you need to work on eliminating or substituting certain foods.

What happens when we eat too much sugar?

The main issue here is fat storage but not FROM the sugar but BECAUSE OF the sugar.

Here’s why:

Moving makes you body and your brain function better.

You know what moving also helps? Your metabolism!

If you’re over 25… your metabolic power is decreasing by about 3-5% every decade. The main reason for this is the loss of lean body mass. Bone and muscle are so metabolically active that a drop is your metabolism could largely be due to a drop in your lean body mass as you age.

We don’t want that to happen!

If you keep, or even improve, your lean body mass from the age of 25 to 35 to 45… guess what your metabolism doesn’t do as much of… drop!

In the past weeks we learned what food is, what happens when food enters our body (through our mouth), so now let’s talk about exactly how our body uses this food for energy.

There's really no reason to label foods as "good" or "bad", but there are some foods that are particularly high in calories and are incredibly easy to overeat.  For many people it's best to not have them in the house since moderating them can be tough.