Shawn M. Carlson
Shawn
Carlson has been an active professional in the health and fitness industry
since 2005. In 2006, he left the
commercial gym environment and began operating out of an independent studio.
Since the move, Shawn has successfully developed a loyal following in helping
clients re-shape their lives. Offering a unique approach of incorporating customized
nutrition plans and training programs for each client has given him a special
standing in the local health and fitness community. Holding multiple credentials in the fitness
industry, Shawn excels at working with clients one-on-one in the areas of
weight management, contest preparation and personalized nutritional
planning.
Professional
Credentials:
·
Certified Personal Trainer, National Academy of
Sports Medicine (NASM-CPT)
·
Performance Enhancement Specialist, National
Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM-PES)
·
Certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist, National
Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM-FNS)
·
Certified Specialist in Fitness Nutrition, International
Sport Sciences Association (ISSA-SFN)
·
Certified Lifestyle & Weight Management
Specialist, National Exercise & Sports Trainers Association (NESTA-LWMS)
1. Nutrition is such a huge part of health success. For
someone wanting to make a large change in their diet, how would you recommend
they approach it?
*Start by keeping it simple! This is
assuming, of course, that the person has a history of making not-so-great food
choices. In this instance, it’s
important that they take things one step at a time… I’ve seen many more people
fail when they tried to change too many variables at one time. For someone who is new to making healthy
changes in their lifestyle, if we change EVERYTHING at once, what happens if
the expected changes in body comp, weight loss, etc. aren’t realized?
That person has now put themselves into a
position where they have to evaluate MANY variables; it can become overwhelming
and extremely discouraging. So what exactly do I mean by “keep it simple”??
Well, first I would suggest tracking your food! If we don’t know where you’re
starting, how can we make any appropriate adjustments? You would be surprised
how many little things you consume throughout the day that can be forgotten. For
example: Are there a lot of sweets in your nutritional intake?
Many
times people don’t even realize how many extra calories are being consumed by
the little “extras” in their diet. By
extras, we’re talking about things like sodas, sugar based condiments, those
couple handfuls of M&Ms you grabbed passing your co-workers’ desk… You get
the point. The next step could be
looking at a couple of the items below and adding one or two of them into your
daily habits:
·
Are you
eating 4-6 small/medium sized meals per day?
·
Are you
getting at least 3-4 servings of veggies per day?
·
Do you eat
breakfast on a consistent basis?
·
Does at
least 75% of your nutritional intake consist of whole foods?
·
Do you
make sure to pair a protein with any of your carbohydrate meals?
These all are a great
place to start in making a true lifestyle change in nutritional intake. Keep in mind that these are just a few
examples to start with, there are many other possibilities!
2. For those who are freaked out by carbs, can you explain
the importance of them?
*I’ve worked with a lot of people over the
years that in the beginning had a huge phobia of carbs! Much of this could be attributed to
misinformation in today’s mainstream media.
Fact of the matter is, carbohydrates (considered” glucose’ once in the
body and stored in the body as” glycogen”) and in many ways, are our bodies’
preferred energy source. It’s my belief,
however, that the actual AMOUNT of carbs consumed can (and should) vary from
person to person… depending on an individuals’ activity level, particular
goal(s) and/or any underlying medical condition(s) (i.e. insulin resistance,
diabetes, PCOS, etc).
Carbs, just like any other macronutrient, CAN
be over-consumed. Any time the amount of
food you consume puts you into a caloric surplus, it’s possible to gain weight
and/or body fat. The variable that seems
to make carbs the “black sheep” of the macronutrients are their effect on blood
sugar levels and insulin production…
Simple or higher glycemic carbs are going to
have a more dramatic impact when digested and cause rapid blood sugar spikes,
thereby causing more drastic production and release of insulin. Simply put, in
MOST cases, what this means to most people is the end result will be a higher
likelihood of the ingested calories to be stored as body fat. Some examples of your faster digesting carbs
would be: white bread, bagels, candy, syrups, white rice, sugary drinks, white
potato, many breakfast cereals and so on.
Don’t get me wrong,
higher glycemic foods DO have their place and when timed properly, can actually
be advantageous to someone who is looking to improve their body composition and
performance.
Instead of diving into
that topic, some examples of the carb sources I generally will suggest to my
clientele would be: brown rice, yams, sweet potato, whole grain or sprouted
bread, oats, quinoa, most fruits and vegetables. These carb sources are going to tend to fall
more under the category of complex or lower glycemic foods. As a side note, many of these complex carbs
will also be more nutritionally dense (more vitamins/minerals), than simple
carb choices.
At the end of the day,
carbs ARE NOT evil and when you make smart choices can actually help you
achieve your body composition goals!
3. What are your feelings on taking supplements?
*I think supplements are great when
used properly. They can be great for
helping you fill in your nutritional “gaps”, but I generally recommend that a
person get their nutrition and exercise dialed in before turning to
supplementation. Remember, supplements
should be used as tools to SUPPLEMENT a sound diet and exercise regime. If you are banking on that fancy new fat
burner you bought to be your answer to finally losing the weight, you’re in
some trouble! Supplements can certainly help and give you an edge, but you
should NOT be depending on them for results.
Below are a few of the basics that I recommend to those looking to
supplement their active-healthy lifestyle:
·
Multi-Vitamin
·
BCAA’s
(Branched Chain Amino Acids)
·
Fish Oil
·
Whey/Casein
Protein Powder(s)
4. Why is breakfast such an important meal?
Well, there are several benefits to making
sure to eat breakfast on a daily basis… One really important reason, that I don’t
hear many people bring up is to help control cortisol levels. For those who don’t know, cortisol is a
stress hormone that increases energy production by breaking down tissue. People
who are looking for weight loss this sounds like a great thing, but in many
cases elevated cortisol levels for long periods of time can equate to break
down of lean tissue (i.e. muscle tissue), oxidative stress and increased fat
storage (particularly around the midsection).
Cortisol levels
generally peak naturally in the early-mid morning hours (7-9am). Additionally, caffeine intake can actually
augment cortisol production, so for all you coffee drinkers out there that are
skipping breakfast, this is not helping! By eating a healthy, balanced
breakfast you can help to curb the severity and duration of these cortisol
spikes. What this means for you is the
potential for less anxiety, improved overall mood and improved body
composition!
5. Can you explain the myth of women lifting heavy weights
will make them “mannish”?
I’m assuming that when we’re talking about
“mannish”, we’re talking about what some women might also refer to as
“bulky”. Again, this is a concern that
is typically brought up by a good number of my female clients. Fact of the matter is, much of your ability
to develop and grow your muscles is genetically pre-determined. Further, in most cases, women are not
hormonally setup to build massive, muscled-out bodies.
Does this mean that a
woman can’t put on muscle if she wants to?? Absolutely not! There are many natural
female athletes out there that are living proof of this. I can guarantee you though; they had to work
their butts off to get there! Another
factor to consider is that everyone is going to respond to exercise
differently. Some will be more apt to
build muscle at a faster pace, but remember, there will still be limiting
factors as to HOW MUCH growth will take place.
In other words, stop making excuses and hit the weights!!
6. What is the secret to a great 6 pack abs?
Abs are made in the kitchen! I’m sure most everyone has heard that saying
by now, but I couldn’t agree more. I get
asked by a lot of people about how someone can “shape” their abs better or what
exercises will make them “pop” more… The thing is, if you have a layer of fat
covering what abs you DO have, doing more crunches or the latest ab movements
aren’t going to do a lot for you. It’s
very likely you will be better developing and strengthening those muscles, but
you will never have those “beach body” abs if you don’t take the steps
necessary to uncover them!
To avoid any
confusion, I’m NOT knocking on performing ab exercises; there are many benefits
to performing them (above and beyond just developing abs). The point here is,
if you want the secret to six pack abs, then most likely one of the first
variables you should be looking at is your food intake. Generally, a good starting point would be to
“clean up” your diet. What I mean by
that is to try taking out some of the processed foods, sugary foods and foods
that are high in SATURATED fat.
Additionally, add in more servings of fruits and veggies throughout the
day. As you are getting your nutrition
dialed in, make sure that the exercise programs (both weights and cardio) you
are following are both progressive and are tailored towards the goal your
setting out to achieve.
7. What is the #1 biggest diet myth
you can bust?
Eating fats does not equal fat gain!! Fat
intake can actually be quite beneficial to those looking to improve their body
composition. Yes, it’s true that there
are certain TYPES of fat sources that you are going to want to limit or avoid,
but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should be cutting out fat intake
altogether. Not only are fats the most
energy dense macronutrient; they also play a vital role in hormonal balance,
metabolic rate, cardiovascular health, reducing inflammation, formation of our
cell and nervous systems and aid in the transport of our fat soluble vitamins
A, D, E and K.
Rather than give you a
complete essay on the benefits and importance of fat intake, what I want to
touch on are what types of fats we should focus on and the food sources we can
acquire them from in order to help improve body composition. The three main fat sources I want to talk
about are the polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and saturated fats.
Polyunsaturated fats
(“poly” = more than one carbon is unsaturated) like omega-3 and omega-6’s are
the ones most commonly referred to as the “healthy fats”. Common sources of our polyunsaturated fats
would be; flax seeds/oil, fish oil, salmon, tuna, canola, safflower, sesame.
Monounsaturated fats
(“mono” = only one carbon is unsaturated) are found in many healthy nuts and
seeds (as well as other foods). Common sources of our monounsaturated fats
would be; almonds, pecans, peanuts, sesame, avocado, olive oil.
Saturated fats, most
commonly referred to as one of the “bad” fats, are actually beneficial and very
necessary in our dietary intake. While in my opinion, these should make up the
LEAST amount of your fat intake, I don’t recommend that you make it a mission
to completely cut them out (and actually, in most cases that’s pretty much
impossible). Common sources of saturated
fats would be; beef, butter, cheese, whole milk, palm oil.
It’s important to note
that some of these food sources are going to tend to overlap and fall into more
than one category… Fats are made up of fatty acids and the majority of foods
are made up of a COMBINATION of these different fatty acids. Therefore, you’re
going to be hard-pressed to find a fat source that is purely just a mono, poly
or saturated fat. While the actual number of grams of fat that one should
consume on a daily basis can vary greatly from person to person; I generally
recommend that 70-75% of total fat consumption come from poly and
monounsaturated fats and 25-30% saturated for optimal health.
