Q&A: October 2022

by on October 20, 2022


Bill 
My cheat meal on the weekend, I go to 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. I notice they cook with peanut oil. I am curious, is that a good oil?

Cris Edmonds
So peanut oil does have a ton of Omega 6 which isn’t really ideal…..but to me, it’s your cheat meal. This is something you will be having once a week (2% of your meals if you are eating 6x/day).

So in my opinion enjoy that meal with your friends, training partner or family and don’t stress about it.

Now let’s say you start to really crave that meal mid-week after a hard leg or back session. I’d simply make it at home with some high quality grass fed beef, potato buns organic cheese and Alexia French fries. This way you still get to have a calorie dense meal, but it comes from all good sources.


Joey 
MDog, do you ever cook your eggs in bacon grease? Is that really bad for you? I ask because I love it.

Cris Edmonds
As long as you are accounting for those calories in your meal plan, I see no issue at all using bacon grease if you enjoy it. Honestly it doesn’t take a lot to get that flavor on your eggs and also act as a non-stick agent to the pan.

Bacon fat is packed with Vitamin D and has more monounsaturated fat than saturated fat.

Now I will say if you are looking to really get super lean, you may eventually have to pull it out or save that for calorie refeeds. All about moderation here.


Robert 
I keep reading about how awesome sesame oil is for you. What are your thoughts?

Cris Edmonds
The cool thing about sesame oil it’s pretty stable under heat, so a great option for cooking (why they use it a lot of times in Asian cuisine). But it has a ton of Omega 6 in it, very similar to peanut oil. So I would opt for olive, coconut, avocado or mac nut oil over sesame.


Sam 
MD, I have seen you talk about the development of food allergies on the internet in various forums. Can you talk about that in a little more detail?

Cris Edmonds
I am a huge believer in either an elimination diet or testing for food allergies if you believe you have one. So lets start this discussion about warning signs of developing or having a food allergy:

  • Gas
  • Bloating
  • Stomach distension
  • Stomach cramping
  • Loose stool
  • General lethargy
  • Poor pumps
  • Indigestion
  • Heart burn/Acid reflux
  • Burping
  • Hiccups

I will speak from personal experience here……..if I eat a meal with 16g or more of peanut butter, my digestion rate is beyond poor (going from 1.5 hours typically to 3+ hours before I’m hungry for my next meal). And then I will be burping it up for the next couple hours. So when this starting to happen regularly, I swapped it out for coconut oil and almond butter……BOOM, burping stopped and normal hunger rate returned to normal.

I used to love and smash 12-16oz of sweet potato for years on end bc they digested well, gave me tons of energy and were beyond easy to food prep. Sadly one day, I ate my normal portion and I got some crazy lower ab distention and my stomach just felt off. I thought, “oh, I may be getting sick.” But then it went away a few hours later. After this process repeating itself for 3 consecutive days, I swapped it out for rice and no issues. So clearly I had developed a food allergy from simply eating them 2x per day for years on end.

Lastly in one contest prep I was addicted to Franks Red Hot. It tasted so good to me and I found the hungrier I got, the more I would use. Then what started as a few fire burps, turned into full blown heart burn that required Tums to remedy. So instead of smashing Tums every other meal I simply stopped using the hot sauce and opted for salt and black pepper.

The moral of these examples, is do NOT ignore your body’s warning signs. And if it gets bad enough, go get allergy testing to confirm your suspicions.


Lea
MD, thanks for all the great information. I was wondering how your diets work for women?

Cris Edmonds
I know this will go against a ton of social media marketing, but our diet for men and women look pretty similar. The only real difference tends to be portion sizes.

For example, if a 225 male client’s meal is:
8oz cooked chicken
225g cooked jasmine rice
8g coconut oil
100g veggies

Where a female sitting at 150 meal is:
4oz cooked chicken
150g jasmine rice
5g coconut oil
50g veggies

The meal plans we build are custom to the clients goals, schedule, leaness, food allergies, insulin sensitivity and metabolic rate……so those factors are WAY MORE important than man or women.


Rich
Does buffalo have to be grass-fed?

Andrew Berry
It’s always best to go with grass-fed meats. This becomes more important as the content of fat in the animal you are consuming goes up. It is probably less important in bison, than say beef as the bison is a leaner animal. Additionally, grass fed animals will have a more favorable omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acid ratio than grain fed animals.


Rich
Turkey 99%- is that deli turkey or free range cuts? 

Andrew Berry
This would be free range cuts or the uncooked lean turkey you find in trays in the grocery store. We want to avoid deli meat – its full of crap and chemicals. There is one brand I will consider when out and about without my meals.. Applegate farms. This seems to be the most natural of all the deli turkey.

Quick story… in 2005/6 I had just broken up with a girlfriend and was homeless, sort of. After a few days of living in my car, a friend offered to let me stay in his home gym (in a large garage). Now, this garage had a shower and sink, but no cookie hook ups. I used to rely on deli turkey and deli roast beef for 4 out of my 6 meals a day. That and microwave rice bags and fruit. Now, this wasn’t very appetizing… eating plain meat and rice, but it did get the job done though I know it was not very healthy at the time. Luckily it only lasted for about 6 months.


Rich
Chicken- should it be free range? I can get Heartland breasts that say no drugs and all veggie diet but doesn’t say free range. 

Andrew Berry
So, I would question the all vegetarian diet because chickens like to eat bugs and insects too. That might be a truth in advertising violation right there. Anyway, its not the biggest deal because chicken breast is a close to fat free food anyway so you wouldn’t be getting a lot of junk with regular chicken breasts.


Joe
As far as order of meals, during workday, it’s sometimes easier to hit the shakes at around 9a.m. and 2:30p.m rather than eat a solid meal. Can we rearrange shakes and solid meals to fit that?

Andrew Berry
Yes, the diet has to be doable. If you cant sit and eat a meal for a decent stretch of time, but can chug down a mixed shake, it makes no sense to plan otherwise. The diet has to work for the individual.


Tommy
I see you support truenutrition.com products. Do they have any good test boosters?

Andrew Berry
Yes. The sell a product called T-sterone which has several clinically studied ingredients in it. I have many natural clients using this product regularly.



Ask Team MountainDog

Send us your questions for a chance to get a $50 gift card from Granite Supplements, BullFrog Nutrition, or Elite FTS.

Also, for a limited time (till Sept 8th, 2023), every question submitted will get entered to win one of the Mountain Dog E-Books.
Name(Required)
** Your question may appear in one of Dr. Serrano's videos, on Team Talk, or in the Q&A.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *