For those of you who haven't read the interviews with me over at Richard Nikoley's site, head over there and check them out.

Here's the first part: "Martin Berkhan Means It."

Second part: "Martin Berkhan's Workout Approach."

Third part: "Leangains: The Dietary Approach." This is the latest one where I talk about net metabolizable energy of protein, the benefits of post-workout carbs, insulin sensitivity and more.

You'll also find a great deal of ideas for Paleo-friendly and Leangains-certified meals over at Richard's site.




Richard is a skilled practitioner of meat mastery.

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.

After winning "Who is your favorite health/fitness blogger?"(thanks to everyone who voted) at Health Habits I was approached and asked whether I wanted to join the Hive Health Media network. After reading the terms, and looking at some of the other blogs in the network, I thought I wouldn't have anything to lose by at least giving it a trial run for a few months.



This will serve to give my site and my articles some extra exposure. In return, I'll keep an eye out for share-worthy material on the other blogs in the network and promote it (via Twitter, FB, etc.) if I find something good. That's it. Nothing else changes.


A Few Good Reads

I've come across quite a few good reads this last week that I thought I'd share.

1. "Why Making Dinner is a Good Idea." Jonah Lehrer writes one of my favorite blogs. This article is about evolution, dopamine and the curse of fast foods. I highly recommend you check it out. I've mentioned Jonah Lehrer before, in "The Marshmallow Test".

2. "Carbohydrate Intake and Depression." I've noticed some people have a harder time low-carbing during the dark winter months; I too experienced this way back in the days when I played around with ketogenic diets and CKD (cyclical ketogenic diet). Lyle proposes a few strategies that might make it easier. Note: The woman asking the question is an extreme example. 180-200 g carbs is certainly not low, but don't get too hung up on that; my point is that low-carbing is harder, relatively speaking, for some people during the dark months.

3. "How Not to Fight Colds." I haven't been sick in ten years but I do get a runny nose from time to time. According to this article, this is a good thing and you shouldn't aim to fight cold symptoms. They're just signs of an active immune system.

4. "Leangains: Martin Berkhan’s Workout Approach." I talk training over at Richard Nikoley's site.

5. "Why Working From Home is Both Awesome and Horrible." Hilarious. Even funnier, or spookier, when I see that the clock in "Loss of Regimen" is 03.17 AM...on the minute the same as here as I'm typing this.

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

P.S. New article coming soon. Sorry, folks. I originally wrote that it would be up on Tuesday but, as I started writing, it took off into another direction. On the plus side, it'll be more interesting and rewarding when it's done.

P.S.S. I added a review of "Adipoxil" to "Supplements You Might Actually Find Useful".