Growing up as a Lutheran PK, people’s expressions of their religious beliefs was a very natural thing for me to see from a young age. I was always curious on how some church members were very chill; some very strict; some very charasmatic; while others were quiet but firm in their beliefs. I’m always reminded of these characteristics when I talk to people about their food choices. Many of the people I train are as entrenched in their diet as those I’d watch in Brooklyn Center every Sunday.

I won’t get into the fact that the government’s food pyramid has so completely misled the American people that they’ve turned most of us into obese, carbohydrate craving lunatics. I’m also not going to rewrite what many people, who are far smarter than me, have already written but I highly recommend Gary Taubes’ easy read ‘Why We Get Fat: And What to Do about it.’ He easily breaks down how our bodies process the three macronutrients and what happens when we heavy load our system with Carbohydrates.

In short, we get fat. Pretty quickly. It’s very easy to identify those who carb up on an hourly basis (insert Wal Mart electric cart users joke here.) There is a big challenge ahead of getting this type of diet turned around. First of all, it’s hard. It’s unpleasant. And it’s not fun at all. Personally it amazes me that someone would rather eat a ginormous bag of Doritos instead of a 12oz ribeye with carmalized onions and mushrooms. Now I don’t discount the tastiness of Doritos, but they make you fat. Sorry. Life’s choices are brutally honest.

We’ll be talking about food choices a lot here at tosabarbell. It’s important. It’s personal. And it’s likely that your choices need to be either tweaked, or outright overhauled. I’ll also give notice to all of you superthin, endurance type athletes (especially the women) who believe that over 30 grams of protein a day is too much and weight training is unnecessary. You’re in just as bad of shape as your obese counterparts. Whatnow??? Yup. You don’t get a pass either. Thin, weak, and malnourished is never healthy. Sorry.

The strength of religious beliefs is equal to those who are attached to their crappy diets. Telling someone they need to give up their carb load can cause the same reaction as telling them they can’t go to church anymore. It’s a challenge, but a worthy one. Stay tuned for more food discussions and in the mean time, start looking at how much protein you’re taking in each day. Make sure there’s some delicious animal protein in every meal. And make sure it has the biggest portion on your plate. Enjoy!