Nutrition

Educated physical trainers will pinpoint nutritional intake as being far more crucial than the exercise itself, which merely acts as a stimulus for exercise specific adaptation. Nutrition determines your vitality and thus the body's ability to response to exercise stimulus.

"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver."
Gandhi

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Myths

Whose Nutritional Advice Should You Be Taking?
Is your health practitioner (doctor, surgeon, chiropractor/osteopath, physiotherapist, nutritionist, naturopath, personal trainer) the picture of health? In this regard I quote Paul Chek ... "You cannot give that which you do not have".
The same skepticism should be applied to scientific research. Much of the confusion results from journalists with little scientific understanding, drawing erroneous extrapolations from data, in order to sell their publications. But one also has to look at the funding behind research papers. The methods used in conducting the trials would have been approved via a peer review process, merely establishing their methodology in their testing process to be sound. Conclusions are another point entirely. At the end of the day, when you approach a trial with a biased viewpoint, you are only likely to find the evidence to strengthen this.
This is not a reason to abandon science ... Michael Shermer - Baloney Detection Kit.
When we do turn to science this quote by Dr. Robert Schleip is rather relevant...
"Don't do science to prove something that you think you know already. Be prepared that your most solid beliefs will be shattered. But you will be rewarded tenfold by discovering things that you never dreamt of."
Weight Management Using Calorie Counting and Cardio Vascular Activity?
Calorie counting is a highly imprecise (and near pointless) method of diet control, since our bodies assimilate and utilize calories differently. Hormones control how we process nutrition, as well as our propensity to store fat and build muscle tissue. Hormone levels are dramatically altered by nutrition and exercise.
The amount of calories you burn up whilst exercising, even at high intensity are fairly negligible, it's the affect on the hormones that results in substantial body composition changes, after you step out the gym or off the field. This is why modern "CV exercise" trends such as the marathon discipline, which place the body under intense stress for unnaturally prolonged periods, break down muscle tissue and dramatically increase fat storage.
Examples of the well established evidence:
Paul Chek - Cardio vs Free Weights
Can Marathon Training Make You Fat, Tired, And Sick?
Marc David - Truths that Shatter Prevailing Weight Loss Myths
JJ Virgin - Can Marathon Training Make You Fat, Tired, And Sick?(Full version)
Sam Visnic - Cardio vs. Strength Training For Fat Loss
Mark Sisson: Are Those Low-Carb Diets Healthy?
Josh Trent - Say No To Drugs ... Fast Food
Women and Weights
The Myth of Calorie Control
A calorie is a unit of energy acquired from food. Food = macro nutrients, they are valued according to their energy value, which fuels our nervous system, organs and muscles. 1 kilocalorie (kcal)=4.2 kilo joules (kj)...the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1kg of water by 1 °C.
kJ/g kcal/g » Fat 37 9; Ethanol (alcohol) 29 7; Proteins 17 4; Carbohydrates 17 4; Organic acids 13 3; Polyols (sugar alcohols, sweeteners) 10 2.4; Salatrims (reduced energy fat) 25 6; Fibre 8 2; Erythritol 0 0.
We all process, burn and store calories according to our unique hormone levels. This varies so greatly (according to sex, genetics, physical and mental stress etc.) that is it nearly pointless to compare between individuals. Spennewyn discovered that lean tissue in men and women required approximately 16 calories per pound per day. Thus, once a lean mass was known it could be multiplied by 16 to reveal daily caloric needs based on the activity level of the individual. UK government Statistics place males at 2500 KCal and females at 2000 KCal per day respectively (NHS).
What for more crucial is the composition of total calorie intake for the day. Given the lipid hypothesis has finally be disproved, we now know that a large proportion of the calories should in fact come from the saturated fats (of organically raised animal proteins - fish, beef, chicken etc.). The exact protein:fat:carbohydrate ratios again are unique to the individuals body chemistry , that is to say their inherited ethnicity, individual hormone profile and activity levels etc.
Enzymes are destroyed and the natural chemical structure of food is altered by heat during cooking, reducing this value. The switch to high calorific grain agriculture is a recent event in human anthropology. However the industrial driven grain based diet actually requires heat, to convert grains into digestible food matter.
Energy is lost during: ingestion, digestion in the stomach, assimilation in the gut, cellular respiration as heat. Metabolize Energy Intake (MEI) often estimated at 85%, is the amount of energy actually obtained by a human after respiration has been completed. About 70% of a human's total energy expenditure is due to the basal life processes within the organs of the body. About 20% of one's energy expenditure comes from physical activity and another 10% from digestion (thermo genesis).
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), and the related Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) are measured by gas analysis (colorimeter) or a rough estimation (Harris-Benedict equation) based on age, sex, height, and weight. RMR is the amount of energy expended while at rest at a certain temperature following food absorption.
Increasing muscle mass increases the stricter BMR measurement (which requires the sympathetic nervous system to be at absolute rest). Anaerobic exercise is now known to maintain elevated BMR for up to 72 hours post exercise.
A more useful (and inexpensive) method than calorie control in monitoring health, is to monitor changes in body composition using calipers at specific anatomical locations (skin fold tests).
The body has three energy conversion systems (phosphocreatine, anaerobic, aerobic). Aerobic energy is converted through the chemical processes known as glycolysis, the krebs cycle and electron transport chain into ATP, which powers our muscles.
When food reacts with oxygen in living cells energy is released. Byproducts known as free radicals accumulate and damage surrounding cells and are thought to be responsible for accelerating the ageing process. The intake of dietary anti-oxidants is thought capable of combating this process to some extent. A small amount of energy is available through anaerobic respiration, less efficient than the aerobic system it results in a temporary buildup of lactic acid, responsible for muscular fatigue.
Non-caloric food=micro nutrients: water, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, caffeine, spices and natural flavours. Even where ingested in tiny volumes they have dramatic affects on human physiology. An obvious example here are the low electrical impulses used for communication by the nervous system. Theses currents are predominantly created by the flow of sodium, potassium chloride and calcium ions obtained from minerals.