Typically, they taste great. Salt brings the savoury taste. Fats bring a crispy or creaminess to a given morsel. Carbohydrates can be wonderfully sweet and are generally more satisfying than eating protein. These are 3 major nutritional components that took me years or trial and error to understand, control and finally utilize to my benefit and not to my peril.

Before understanding fats and carbohydrates, I started out hell-bent on eliminating them as a whole. To me, fats and carbohydrates were bad, and thus not good for constructing the ideal body I sought out to build. At the same time, I blindly ate predominately protein-based foods with excessive levels of salt on a daily basis.

FATS
Fats were first. When I started out bodybuilding in the late 1990’s, I immediately fell under the old dietary misconception that fats were bad and eating them was not good for my physique. It was a generalized message perpetrated through the media that didn’t seem to single out the greasy saturates and the artificial trans fats from the other fat types, so as a result I avoided them all as much as possible. I must also add that it was a time that government had yet to implement mandatory nutrition labels on all food products like we do today. I mean, think about it – they’re called ‘fats’, and at face value, that just didn’t sound like something I should be eating.
Big mistake.
Unbeknownst to me, there were different fat types in food; ones that were unhealthy and ones that were actually good for my body. I simply had no clue.
As a result, my energy levels quickly dropped. Good fats (or ‘lipids’) such as poly and mono saturates as well as Omega 6 & 9’s are great for energy production. One gram of fat equals nine calories, which, for an active individual means a reserve of energy to power through workouts and perform the many other physical tasks of the day.
In little time, my sex drive dropped too. I’ll spare you the detail here, but with fats being essential for hormone production, it certainly wasn’t helping that I was on a little-to-none fat diet at the time. In addition, my hair, skin and nails didn’t seem glow and look healthy either. You guessed it – fats help in keeping them healthy and vibrant as well. But I had no idea what was wrong for some time, until I finally learned to differentiate between fats and was able to finally distinguish the bad saturated and trans fats from the good unsaturated ones.
More nuts and fish, less fries and chicken wings. Gotcha. Problem solved. Moving along.

CARBOHYDRATES
The early 2000’s were all about the Dr. Atkins’ diet. It saw the masses attempt to drastically slash their daily carbohydrate intake in an attempt to shed weight. Reduced calories from carb sources meant higher protein intake. Protein has a thermic effect five times greater than carbohydrates or fats. Thermic effect means that a greater amount of calories are burned off by the body as heat instead of being stored as body fat. With protein being less susceptible to be stored as fat than carbs, swapping one for the other made rapid weight loss and leanness promising.
Problem was that carbohydrates are the single best source of energy available. Period. Carbs are converted into glycogen and stored as blood sugars to be utilized as fuel. For an active individual, this lack of carb fuel is no good. With a severe absence of carbohydrates in my daily nutritional regimen, my workouts were the first thing to suffer. Like the previous errors made with fats, I mistakenly viewed carbs as a single entity, instead of differentiating them based on their different glycemic responses. At first I indeed started leaning out. However, in short time, I started looking flat and depleted with my physique. Turns out that glycogen, when pulled into the muscle belly plumps the muscle up, making you look full and big. A severe lack of glycogen leaves the muscle belly looking ‘flat’. It’s why competitors typically choose to ‘carb up’ days before stepping onstage to look their best.
In addition to this, I found that my focus and ability to think cognitively was being somewhat impaired as well.
Brain cells need glucose to work properly. Glucose comes from breaking down carbohydrates. Drastically reducing carbohydrate intake reduced my body’s ability to keep the brain steadily supplied with glucose and therefore affect cognition. Low carbs seemed to equal feeling lethargic and ‘a little off upstairs’ – if you know what I mean.
Eventually I became conscious of these negative characteristics brought on by prolonged carb depletion, and looked further into what carbs were really all about. I ultimately began to understand that carbohydrate ‘type’ and ‘timing’ were what was most important. I began to reintroduce carbohydrates of typically lower glycemic value (carbs that have a lower sugar response), and made certain to consume them in the first two thirds of my day. As the day wore on, my carb intake declined. The only time I consumed higher glycemic carbohydrates was post-workout, when it is best utilized to replenish the glycogen lost in training and start the rebuilding process of muscle tissue with an insulin response.
The result was a tighter physique with plump, round and full muscle bellies – and a clear head to think with – but there was still something missing from the complete body I was searching for.

SALT
Salt control was the final piece of the puzzle to a well-defined, muscular and energetic body.
Though I was armed with a newfound understanding of fats and carbohydrates, I was dousing everything with salt via sauces, seasonings, dressings, and even from the ‘ol shaker itself. It’s common knowledge that bodybuilders tend to eat fowl and beef like it’s going out of style. Problem is that a dry, white chicken breast is pretty uninteresting on its own, and typically needs something to liven it up to being beyond palatable and actually enjoyable. So, I was bathing chicken in marinades and slathering steak with seasoning and sauces to subconsciously keep my taste buds happy.
Problem was that excess salt intake was causing around the clock water retention, especially when paired with lower than optimal levels of hydration. In actuality, salt does not cause your body to gain or lose fat. In fact, salt has no calories. High consumption of salt only results in temporary weight gain as it causes your body to retain water. After we consume large amounts of salt, water moves from our bloodstream to subcutaneously sit underneath the skin, giving us that ‘puffy’ look and making us feel bloated. When we consume lesser amounts of salt, the same process works in reverse to remove the excess water from our bodies, leaving us feeling tight with visible muscle striations under what looks like ‘paper-thin skin’ (provided that your body fat levels are low enough of course). Meatheads call it being ‘sliced’ or ‘cut’.
In addition, high salt intake was also robbing me of energy. Dehydration via excess salt intake and less-than-optimal water intake meant feeling sluggish frequently. Not good for training or the other physical tasks of the day.
To this day, clients often ask, “but doesn’t the body need salt? Can I run the risk of not having enough?” It turns out that the body requires as little as 250 milligrams of sodium a day, but the average North American consumes from 3,400 to 3,700 milligrams daily. Given this statistic I typically respond with a smile, saying, “don’t worry, salt will find its way to you. It’s everywhere. There’s a slim to none chance that you’re not getting enough”. Salt will find a way to slip past your best defences. Only those who are severely restricting it’s intake while purposely dehydrating themselves are at risk. In addition to this, limited salt or sodium intake helps in lowering blood pressure to lower too, and in our stressful modern world, this can only be of assistance to our overall well-being.

You know what happened next. I cut my salt intake way down, tightened up, and powered through my training sessions with more energy.

When paired with proper training, the daily balance of predominately good fats, well-timed lower glycemic carbs, adequate daily fibre, optimal hydration, lean high-biological value proteins and lower salt intake is an excellent recipe for your best-looking physique and best-performing body.

Try it out, you’ll thank me.

 

– Kurt Bradley