Healthy Business Awards and a Few Good Reads

So apparently I'm nominated for "Role Model of The Year" in "Healthy Business Awards 2010". I guess you could say it's the Swedish fitness industry's version of the Emmy's.

Here's what it says for nominations in my category:

"This award goes to the person that during the past year has made an effort or an achievement which has been positive for the business. In our evaluation we also take into consideration whether the nominee has contributed to increased mass media interest in the business."

I'm not sure how highly they value the people's vote, but I thought I'd ask you to put in a vote for me if you've benefited from the information I've provided on my site.

Then again you could always argue that I'm not much of a role model, as I like to drink and eat cheesecake...




If I win I promise to continue my work to improve the health and living conditions of cheesecakes everywhere.

Note: Voting is closed. Thanks to everyone who voted.

Anyway, the page where you vote is in Swedish, so here's what you do:

* Click here to go the page.

* Scroll down to "Årets förebild," or whatever it says when you run Google translate, and you'll see my name and my site.

(Or just hit Ctrl + F on your keyboard and type in "leangains", and you'll find me.)

* Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the button ("Rösta!" or whatever it'll say once translated). And that's it.

Easy peasy. Should take less than 30 seconds of your time. The poll closes on Monday, so please go do it now rather than wait till it's too late.

After you've voted, here's a few good reads you should check out.


A Few Good Reads


1. A new study on the Paleo diet came out two days ago: "A Paleolithic diet is more satiating per calorie than a Mediterranean-like diet in individuals with ischemic heart disease." You can download the full text free.

This was a Swedish study and most of the authors actually live nearby. Staffan Lindeberg is a long-time and fairly well known proponent of the paleo diet. The name should ring a bell for anyone who's done their reading on paleolithic nutrition.

The diet approach used in this study was "ad libitum", meaning that participants could eat as much as they wanted out of a few food groups. Based on the food logs, protein intake was estimated to be 27% and 20% in the paleo and Mediterranean diet respectively. The results aren't really that surprising, as high-protein diets always come out on top. I've talked about the effects of various macronutrients in "Cheat Day Strategies for The Hedonist."

2. In a fascinating video, "D3hundred" showcases his transformation from a 300 lbs powerlifter to a 300 lbs body weight training specialist. The gap between powerlifting, which relies on high maximum or relative strength (in his weight class it would be maximum more than relative), and calisthenics (strength-endurance) is huge.

3. Lyle McDonald talks about choosing the right diet and training approach in "Does the Training Determine the Diet or the Diet Determine the Training?"

4. In this talk on why we overeat, David Kessler explains the effect of food on reward circuits and much more. I just found this among my old bookmarks, which goes back about a year or so, so I can't quite recall the talk in detail but I remember it being very good. I watched it after a friend recommend Kessler's book: "The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite". I haven't gotten around to reading it but the recommendation was from a person who's opinion I value.

Another book that's on my "stuff I want to read"-list is "Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human". Lyle gave it two thumbs up, so it's likely a good read.

By the way, if you're planning to order from Amazon and want a good book on training, I recommend "Beyond Brawn: The Insider's Encyclopedia on How to Build Muscle and Might". This was the book that set me straight with regards to weight training and I've talked about it in this old post.




Still have my old copy of Beyond Brawn. Great book, especially if you're just starting out or want to get serious about making progress.

5. Some humor from The Oatmeal: "Why I Don't Cook at Home". Hilarious... :D Excellent contrast to Jonah Lehrer's "Why Making Dinner is a Good Idea", which I mentioned in the last round of good reads.

That's it for tonight. Keep up with me on Twitter if you want to get more tips on read-worthy material.