Fitness Friday

WINK News Fitness Expert Mike Drumm is here today with some great diet advice and he brought along a special guest, Professional Body Builder and the President of SPECIES Nutrition, Dave Palumbo.

The most popular New Year’s Resolution is to make a healthy lifestyle change. Whether your goal is increasing your fitness level, losing weight, or building strength it comes down to getting your body moving and the proper nutrition to fuel your performance.

Professional bodybuilder and fitness specialist Dave Palumbo formulated the Palumbo Keto Diet to utilize a one-day cheat meal to preserve ketosis and promote rapid fat loss. Developed for use by bodybuilders, the ketogenic diet is an effective method of losing fat rapidly while preserving muscle mass. Always consult your physician before beginning a new diet or exercise regimen.

The Palumbo Diet:
The Palumbo Keto diet requires eating between 1 and 1.5 g of protein per pound of bodyweight (for men and women) per day, about 0.5 g of fat per pound, and very low carbohydrates. These macronutrients are to be split up into six meals each day for six days a week. Total calorie intake should be reduced to under the maintenance level to induce fat loss. On the seventh day, you are allowed to eat a “cheat meal,” which can consist of carbs and generally unhealthy foods. This reintroduction of carbs allows the body to briefly exit ketosis and absorb enough glucose to keep it working efficiently. This reduces cortisol levels and spares muscle, as well as effectively resets the metabolism to allow fat loss to continue.

How the Diet Works:
By drastically limiting carbs, the Dave Palumbo Diet deprives the body of glucose and forces it to burn fat for energy. This process, known as ketosis, spares muscle, which usually gets broken down during weight loss. The sudden flood of carbs following the cheat meal sends glucose surging into the muscles as glycogen, resulting in swelled muscles and noticeable growth.

Foods:
Dave recommends getting protein from chicken, fish, lean red meat, whole eggs and whey protein shakes. For fat, Palumbo focuses on healthy monounsaturated fats and sources of the essential fatty acids. His preferred fat sources include fish like salmon and swordfish, as well as walnuts, almonds and extra virgin olive oil. Natural peanut butter, made from only peanuts and salt, can also serve as an excellent source for both protein and healthy fat.