Grass-fed beef may
be one of the healthiest
foods on earth.
Eat Fat
168
MUSCLE & Fitness — 07.11
to burn Fat
meat, tom sch ierli tz /get ty
The Mountain Dog diet helps you accomplish generally disparate
goals—looking like a bodybuilder and getting healthy
A
ccording to the nutrition you learned in grade school, John Meadows should
be a heart attack waiting to happen. He eats ground beef, drinks whole milk,
and cooks with coconut oil every day. If you believe the conventional wisdom—
that dietary fat, particularly the saturated kind, should be restricted—­Meadows
ought to be obese and wholly unhealthy. Thing is, he’s not. Meadows is ripped and has cholesterol levels healthier than most vegetarians. His Mountain Dog diet philosophy may bridge the
gap between nutrition for peak performance and optimal health.
BY
Sean Hyson, C.S.C.S.
07.11 — MUSCLE & Fitness
169
Body building,
or destroying?
Meadows is a competitive bodybuilder
in Columbus, OH, and for years, he
ate along the same lines as his fellow
physique athletes. “High protein, high
carbs, and low fat,” he says. In other
words, typical bodybuilding fare like
chicken breasts, egg whites, and brown
rice. Meadows ate vegetables sparingly
and at breakfast indulged in processed
cereals such as Fruity Pebbles.
His blood work at the time was
horrifying. The recommended range
for HDL cholesterol (the good kind)
is between 40 and 59—Meadows’
number sank as low as five. His triglycerides (fat in the bloodstream) were
severely elevated, and so was his blood
pressure. In 2005, while preparing for
competition, Meadows’ stomach started swelling up and the pain he felt was
excruciating. He began experiencing
muscle spasms but toughed it out to
compete. When he got home, he went
to the emergency room and began
bleeding from his rectum. “If I didn’t
just happen to be in the hospital at the
time, I would have bled to death,” he
says. “They rushed me into emergency
170
MUSCLE & Fitness — 07.11
surgery and removed my whole large
intestine.”
The cause was a rare vascular
disease, and while Meadows can’t say
for sure why it struck him, he has his
theories. “I’m 5'6" and got up to 260
pounds,” he says. “That takes a lot of
food. I would say that years of pounding my digestive system played a role.”
Anxious to heal and return to training,
Meadows dove into all the alternative
nutrition literature he could find.
“I wanted to know more about the
digestive system,” he says. “There’s meadows eats six
a big difference between getting
whole eggs every
somebody in shape to compete, and
morning and again
getting them in shape and healthy.
I still wanted to train and compete, at night.
but I wanted to do it safely.”
advice, which included the notion that
saturated fat was actually healthy and
Breaking all the rules
had been unjustly vilified by the govEric Serrano, a world-renowned mediernment’s nutrition policies. Meadows
cal authority with a long list of elite
immersed himself in books such as
athlete patients, has been Meadows’
The Cholesterol Myth and The Great
personal physician since 1997. “He
Cholesterol Con, and studies provided
had told me for years to change my
by the Weston A. Price Foundation, a
diet,” says Meadows, “but a lot of it
nonprofit nutrition education group.
went in one ear and out the other.”
While arming himself with new
Humbled by his near-death experiknowledge, Meadows also experience, Meadows reexamined Serrano’s
mented on his own body. “The first
thing I did was switch out regular beef
for grass-fed beef, and my waist got
smaller. I had some other people try it,
and I measured their waists—they all
got smaller.” The reason why wasn’t
clear. Meadows suspects it may have
been because grass-fed beef has higher
levels of CLA—a fat-burning chemical—
or that perhaps inflammation caused by
beef raised on a corn-rich diet cleared
up in his and his subjects’ bodies. Either
way, they saw real results.
Meadows then started consuming
more oils, particularly the saturated
ones. “I used to cook everything in
Pam spray,” he says, in an effort to cut
down on fat and calories. “I started
cooking in coconut oil and red palm
oil, which don’t oxidize when heated.”
Research shows that unsaturated oils,
even the widely embraced olive oil,
can be damaged when cooked, and
their health benefits can be largely
negated. Oils containing saturated fats
are more stable when heated. “Not
John Meadows'
only does red palm oil not do anyrecent blood work
(left), and the man
thing bad, the vitamin E in it actually
himself above.
also helps stop LDL oxidation,” says
PAPERS, COU RTESY OF JOHN MEA DOWS; EGG, TOM SCHIERLITz /GETTY
eat fat
Meadows. “Cholesterol experts will
tell you that the problem is when LDL
oxidizes in your blood,” and the antioxidant effect of palm oil reduces that
risk. Hemp oil and wild salmon, both
loaded with heart-healthy omega-3s,
were also emphasized.
The third big change Meadows made
was dumping conventional eggs for the
free-range, organic variety. “I started
pounding them,” he says. “I would eat
six whole eggs every morning and six
every night,” knowing that the healthy
fats in the yolks would raise his HDL
cholesterol. Perhaps most important,
Meadows abandoned refined grains.
Any carbs he consumed were now concentrated around his workouts, and he
relied only on clean sources such as
oats, sweet potatoes, brown rice, and
fruit. Naturally, vegetables became a
priority as well.
TOM SCHIERLITz /GETTY
The Mountain Dog Diet
Confident he’d found a superior nutritional strategy, Meadows began posting on online message boards, writing
articles for bodybuilding Web sites,
and consulting for other bodybuilders. “I competed against a client of his,
and I was really impressed with his
conditioning,” says Brad Davis, an NPC
national competitor who started working with Meadows in 2009. The results
were twofold. “My cholesterol really
dropped within a year’s time, and I actually got stronger when I was dieting
for shows,” Davis says. “I usually get
weak as a kitten as a diet goes on, but
I was pushing weight three weeks out
from a show that on my regular diet I
could do only 12 weeks out. All my lifts
were up.” While his carbs were very
low as competition neared, Davis says
the fat in his diet helped him retain
muscle fullness as well. Davis placed
eighth as a light heavyweight in the
2010 NPC USA Championships.
Meadows himself competed in the
Mr. Ohio contest that year and won first
place in the light heavyweight class.
“People asked me what I ate and I told
them, ‘whole eggs cooked in palm oil,
and beef,’ ” he says. “They were like,
‘What?’ ” Most impressively, Meadows has been able to restore his own
health completely and maintain it even
through the stresses and restrictions
of a contest. “I got more blood work
done right after the Mr. Ohio. My HDL
cholesterol was at 60. Other bodybuilding gurus can get you ripped fast, but I
think this diet will get you there quicker because your body is more efficient.
We have found a way to be a competitive bodybuilder and still be healthy.
These two things are very independent
of each other, generally speaking.”
Today, Meadows is a certified sports
nutritionist (CISSN), and offers training and nutrition coaching on his site,
mountaindogdiet.com (named for the
Internet message board handle he
used, which he created in honor of
his pet Bernese mountain dog). At 39,
Meadows walks around at 230 pounds
and 9% body fat, and has gotten as low
as 4% for contests using his approach.
Get
Bigger
Sample Mountain Dog plan for a
190-pound man who wants
to gain muscle
Off Day
Meal 1
6 organic, free-range whole eggs
1 tbsp virgin coconut oil
½ cup oats
1 tsp red palm oil
Meal 2
2 scoops whey isolate (50g protein)
½ cup blueberries or strawberries
Meal 3
6 oz shrimp
1–2 cups stir-fried vegetables
½ cup brown rice
Meal 4
2 scoops whey isolate (50g protein)
2 tbsp natural peanut butter
1 oz wheat germ
Meal 5
6 oz chicken breast
1 oz walnuts
salad with vegetables and
balsamic vinegar
Meal 6
6 oz grass-fed ground beef
8 asparagus spears
½ cup sliced fresh pineapple
Totals
2,520 calories, 274.5g protein (44%),
108g carbs (17%), 110g fat (39%)
Coconut oil
helps you burn
fat for energy.
Weight-Training Day
Meal 1
Shake made with:
2 scoops whey isolate (50g protein)
2 tbsp natural peanut butter
1 oz wheat germ
3 tbsp raw, organic coconut
Meal 2
4 organic, free-range eggs
1 oz avocado
1 cup strawberries or kiwi
Meal 3
6 oz grass-fed beef (ground)
½ cup sliced fresh pineapple
salad with veggies and balsamic vinegar
digestive enzyme, if needed
Meal 4
6 oz tuna steak
2 slices Ezekiel toast
1 tbsp organic butter
Meal 5 (during workout)
1 scoop waxy maize starch
5g creatine
10g BCAAs
½ cup oats
Meal 6 (post workout)
2 scoops whey isolate (50g protein)
Meal 7
(1 hour after post-workout meal)
6 oz grass-fed beef
½ cup black beans
1 cup brown rice
Meal 8
1 oz walnuts
A few forkfuls of raw kimchi or raw
sauerkraut (for better digestion)
Totals
2,954 calories, 286g protein (39%),
215g carbs (29%), 105.5g fat (32%)
07.11 — MUSCLE & Fitness
171
How exactly does he do it? Here are
the main points.
Eat organic. Toxins are stored in
fat. If you eat conventionally raised
meat, you increase your chances of
taking in steroids, hormones, and other
chemicals that affect your ability to
lose fat and stay healthy. “It’s funny,
but when you first start eating mostly
organic food, you feel like crap,” says
Meadows. “It’s your fat cells releasing
all the toxins that have built up inside
you. Then you feel good. I tell people to
be patient.” Eat organic meat and eggs
whenever possible. Any milk you drink
should be from grass-fed cows, and
non-homogenized. Raw milk is the best
option, as it will contain all the necessary enzymes your body needs to digest
it, but it’s not easy to come by unless
you’re part of a farm co-op group.
Eat more fat. Half the composition
of your cell membranes is saturated
fat, so it’s essential for healthy functioning. It also makes for stronger,
more supple joints. Meadows has
competed in bodybuilding since the
age of 13. He says his joints have never
felt better than they do now, when
his saturated fat consumption is at its
highest. Fat is also key for absorbing
fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin A,
which encourages protein turnover
and, indirectly, muscle growth. If
you’re bulking up, fat allows you to
eat fewer carbs overall because it’s so
calorically dense.
Cut back carbs. “All degenerative
diseases—such as dementia, heart
disease, and arthritis—can be tied to
high blood sugar,” says Meadows. When
you eat lots of carbs, your blood sugar
elevates, and then the hormone insulin
kicks in to bring it back down. In doing
so, it takes the calories you’ve consumed
and stores them as fat. It also causes
the saturated fat you consume to raise
cholesterol and triglyceride levels—
hence the harm saturated fat has been
associated with over the years. Once
your blood sugar is low again, you’re
hungry, and your instinct is to eat more
carbs to bring up your blood sugar. “It’s
a perpetual cycle,” says Meadows. “The
higher your fat intake, the lower your
carbs need to be,” says Meadows. “If
172
MUSCLE & Fitness — 07.11
Get
leaner
Sample Mountain Dog plan
for a 220-pound man who wants
to lose fat
Off Day
Meal 1
Weight-Training Day
Meal 1
Shake made with:
2 scoops whey isolate powder (50g
protein)
2 tbsp natural peanut butter
1 oz wheat germ
3 tbsp raw, organic coconut
6 organic, free-range whole eggs
1 tbsp virgin coconut oil
½ cup oats
1 tsp red palm oil
Meal 2
Meal 2
Meal 3
6 oz chicken breast
1 tbsp macadamia nut oil
¼ cup almonds
6 oz grass-fed beef (ground)
½ cup sliced pineapple
½ cup cooked kale or green veggie
digestive enzyme, if needed
Meal 3
4 organic, free-range whole eggs
1 oz avocado
1 cup strawberries or kiwi
6 oz shrimp and 1–2 cups stir-fried
vegetables cooked in water or glutenfree soy sauce or Szechuan sauce
6 oz sweet potato
Meal 4
Meal 4
Meal 5
6 oz wild tilapia or lean white fish
2 slices Ezekiel toast
1 tbsp organic butter
2 scoops whey isolate shake
1 cup raw grass-fed milk or organic
whole milk
½ cup blueberries
½ cup oats
Meal 5
6 oz chicken breast
½ cup cooked kale or other green
vegetable
Meal 6
2 scoops whey isolate shake (50g
protein)
2 tbsp almond butter
1 oz wheat germ
6 oz wild tilapia or lean white fish
½ cup oats
20g essential fatty acids
Meal 6
6 oz grass-fed beef
8 asparagus spears
1 cup brown rice
Meal 7
2 scoops whey isolate powder
2 tbsp natural peanut butter
Totals:
Totals
2,715 calories, 282g protein (42%),
138g carbs (20%), 115g fat (38%)
3,076 calories, 348.5g protein (45%),
191g carbs (25%), 102g fat (30%)
you find you’re getting fat, you didn’t
lower your carbs enough.”
Meadows recommends having
conservative portions of carbs, such as
a cup of oats, mainly around workout
time. While this shouldn’t raise your
blood sugar significantly, you can lessen
any spike with some fat (try adding two
tablespoons of almond butter).
White fish is
a good source of
protein and fat.
Consume prebiotics and probiotics.
These two kinds of healthy bacteria
help make digestion more efficient.
Take supplements. Meadows
recommends taking alpha-lipoic acid
for liver health and for its ability to
lower blood sugar. Digestive enzymes
are great when you’re bulking and have
to take in a lot of food—they’ll reduce
any gas and bloating.
Photograph
er’s Name
TOM SCHIERLITz
/GETTY
eat fat