Nutrition Austerity Part I: Introduction

Nutrition, for the most part, has come full circle. Despite nutrition almost ending up in the same place, researchers and practitioners now know more about food and its effects on the body. I have also come full circle. While in the past I tried to over-complicate the living hell out of nutrition, I now keep it simple. My austere mind cannot handle the complexity of macrobiotics, food combining, keeping track of ratios and percentages and whatnot all at once.

I was once a vegetarian. A vegan. A raw foodie. I fermented and made my own kefir, yogurt, and coconut kefir. I bought only raw milk, raw cream, and raw cottage cheese. I tried to live as healthy as possible in a world that shoves unhealthy down your throat. In the process, I lost how to truly live healthy: by just eating real food and not over-complicating crap. While a vegetarian, I spent more time figuring out how to appease my bored mind than actually eating. This is no fault of the eating plan itself, but it hinted to me that vegetarianism is not how I wish to live. Now, I abide by a few simple rules, rules that I have come to formulate over time as I grew and learned.

1. Eat real food

2. Eat for your activity levels

3. Time your food for activity levels

4. Support health through proper supplementation and extras

5. The eating plan should fit YOUR lifestyle and preference

6. An eating plan should be sustainable and realistic

Since I don't want this post to manifest itself as a monster, I will keep it short and expand on each topic in later posts. Let's cut to the meat of the topics, though.

I am going to preface this list with: give your new eating plan your best effort. Without that, you are bound to fall short of your goals, which will end up in frustration and eventually failure.

1. Eat real food means eating food that is normally found in its natural state, generally speaking. Things that fall into this category are eggs, beef, poultry, fish, frozen or fresh vegetables, frozen or fresh fruits, nuts, etc.

2. Eat for your activity levels means to eat for how active you are. This also means eating at a point that coincides with your goals. If you train a lot and want to gain size, eat more food. If you are a couch 'tater and want to lose weight, eat less food. If you are train a lot and want to lose weight, eat a lot of food sometimes and a little food sometimes.

In this heading, I will also discuss the gender difference. Wait, do I mean to tell you that women and men should eat differently? WHOA! Mind = blown. This specifically pertains to carbohydrates.

3. Time your food for activity levels mean strategically placing your meals around the most important time of the day: training (if you read this blog, I assume you lift). This means not shoving bagels into your gullet two hours before training.

4. Support health through proper supplementation and extras mean other little things that HELP you achieve total health and fitness. They are in no means substitutes for food or hard work. No magic pill exists to 'shed' unwanted body fat or build slabs of mass. Extras include raw apple cider vinegar and supplementation includes powdered magnesium.

5. The eating plan should fit your lifestyle and preference and not some other internet jock. It's alright to follow a nutrition plan of someone's else who has attained your goal, but there is no doubt that you will have to modify the eating plan to fit your lifestyle and preferences. Not everyone who decides to change their eating is a high-demand photographer nor do they own their own telecom business. You do not need to be a master chef in order to whip up something nutritious and delicious. Something as simple as an southwestern omelet or hard boiled eggs topped with a store-bought pepperonccini sauce makes a good meal.

6. Diets don't work. That is to say, they don't work for the reason most people think they believe it to. Many people believe that in order to see results, they should diet. Sure, you need to change your eating habits if you want to gain mass or lose it, but many people forget one thing: sustainability. Diets do not work for the long-term. For example, studies show that non-obese people who restrict calories even modestly experience a decline in basal metabolic rate (BMR), the amount of calories you burn at rest, over time. This spells out to less weight lost. In some studies, subjects restricted 25% of daily calories and their BMR dropped within 3-months. Not a long time, especially if you are one who used to or continues to diet. Do you want to be a one-hit wonder or stay on top?

Your eating plan, diet, or whatever should be realistic. Set out some realistic goals and put forth your best effort. Your goal should not be to gain 30 pounds of muscle in 2 months or to lose 100 pounds in 6 months. More realist goals would be to gain 5-10 pounds of muscle in 2 months or to lose 30 pounds in 6 months. Seem modest and conservative? That's because your body has defense mechanisms to prevent from changing states too quickly. The drop in BMR I mentioned above is one such mechanism.

Just don't eat too many salads. Source

Want to add to the discussion? Drop a line.

P3,
David