Given the level of advancement that medical technology enjoys in 2018, this situation is thoroughly unacceptable. Even the American Heart Association (AHA), the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) can’t seem to agree on it.¹ Are we supposed to look at dietary reference intakes (DRIs), estimated average requirements (EARs), or recommended dietary allowances (RDAs)?

The Trouble with Observational Studies

The balanced, reasonable answer is to be simultaneously looking at all and at neither of them, in the sense that you should try to critically engage with the data and the results of as many of these official standards, but not trust any of them blindly. The main reason for this is that the majority of nutritional guidelines come from observational studies, rather than interventional ones, where establishing and mapping a cause-effect relationship is the primary goal. The latter usually involves keeping people in labs (hence the term “feeding studies”), so that the only sources of nutrition are given by the researchers themselves. This is not only unfeasible on a large scale, but it is also impossible for a long period of time, both of which are essential elements in order to ascertain the proper impact of certain food items or behaviors.

In the scientific world, observational studies are the most cost-effective way to obtain a big enough sample size in order to issue statements for a general population. Their conclusions are always labeled as associations, rather than being framed as rapports of cause and effect, mainly because they admit that not all dietary variables have been under close scrutiny. However, media outlets rarely frame these findings according to the scientific wording of the study. You’ll mostly read or hear “Bacon Is Good/Terrible for You”, “Alcohol Helps/Prevents Weight Loss,” “Kale Is SuperBad for Your Health”, or “6x Chocolate Bars a Week for a Stronger Heart”—you get the idea.

Commonly, observational studies rely on memory-based dietary assessment methods, meaning that they will often ask participants to recall what they ate, when, and in what amount. Needless to say, this approach is fundamentally flawed, given that so many individuals consciously (or unconsciously) deliver biased and inaccurate information. I mean, I love my peanut butter thickly laid out on as tiny a slice of bread as possible—it still counts as one slice, right?

Unsurprisingly, as much as 63% of the data that the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) relied on for its four-decade study on nutrition was found to be “not physiologically plausible” precisely because of this memory factor.² Needless to say that my love for peanut butter, guacamole, and white wine should not be a decisive part of any scientific data with a claim to objectivity.³ It doesn’t help if there are another two million opinions spanning over 40 years. Each and every one of us has their mouthwatering, tantalizing treat that we just can’t seem to help ourselves from having a bit more than we ought to.

Study Yourself: Be Your Own Scientist

As it turns out, many of these contradictory health claims can be simultaneously valid, just not that one about the chocolate bars. Odds are you are eating too much chocolate, like me, and guac toast. My precious. The general nutritional paradox we currently find ourselves in is caused by the variety in the target population of each study.⁴

Some were done on people with specific issues, such as an elderly population with elevated blood cholesterol, adults with moderate physical activity, or obese teens, while others welcome a great diversity of patients. From these claims, a number of diets with cult-like followers have emerged, but their claims to be the best way of eating are just as tenuous as the nutritional studies that support them. I too was a low-carb evangelist until I gradually included whole foods in my diet. For me, this translated in a visible boost to my energy levels. For instance, I could do anywhere from 10 to 20% more sets and reps with the same weights.

The only way to reconcile all of this information about nutrition is to run your own diet experiments. A comprehensive study of 800 people eating almost 47,000 meals that were published in the Cell journal just several years back indicated that “universal dietary recommendations have limited utility.”⁵ Given that each and every one of our bodies responds to the same meal differently, it becomes next to impossible to figure out more general guidelines for one’s nutrition. However, by using a thorough approach, you can discover the effect that certain food items and food behaviors have upon your own constitution.

First of all, it is important for you to get some measurements before you begin your experiment. These will constitute your starting point, and the more measurements you make, the more will be revealed about how your body reacted to the experiment you’ve performed. My analysis, although reductive in some aspects, gives you the building blocks to generate your own investigation of your corporeal self. In order to validate your findings, consulting a couple of physicians and a nutritionist will give you the much-needed second opinion on what has changed in your body and what it means.

It is important for you to get accustomed with these aspects of human physiology, in case you haven’t already, as they will facilitate a more insightful understanding of your health and potential in the long run. Testing will cost a little, but the results are literally invaluable since they will reveal personalized data about your own body that you can use in order to formulate both health and nutritional hypotheses, assuming that you’re past your growth phase (around 18 to 22 years, on average).

Personally, I see my metabolism, cardiovascular health and body composition as the baseline indicators of my current health. These are also the bare minimum elements you should follow as part of your diet experiment. For the first two, gathering information could not be easier, since they come via blood tests. The best part about this testing is that your insurance will cover most (if not all, in some cases) of the costs, so you can talk to your general practitioner (or family doctor for some) in order to see what you can benefit from. They will be happy to see you take an active interest in your health and the way in which food items and behaviors impact your body.

The Puzzle That Is Your Body

Metabolism is commonly tested for by means of blood ketones, blood glucose, and the glucose-ketone index. For a comprehensive investigation, metabolic testing, specifically your resting metabolic rate (RMR), will speak volumes about your body. If you can afford a full analysis of your aerobic threshold, VO2 max, and DHEA hormone during a stress and resilience challenge, testing methods which are currently implemented outside laboratories in several fitness franchises around the world, do not hesitate to do it.

There is just no replacement for an accurate read of how your body consumes calories both in a resting state, as well as during physical activity. It may cost you a bit, but it will give you a glimpse within yourself and your health, which is invaluable for anyone looking to improve their fitness, performance, or general aspect. Alternatively, certain hand-held devices might provide you with some interesting readings, but you should always take these results with a pinch of salt as they are not very accurate.

For a comprehensive study of your cardiovascular system, your blood panel needs to include total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (known in folklore as the “evil” fat, LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL, the superhero fat), and triglycerides. Last, but not least, another common test you can bleed a few drops for is the C-reactive protein (CRP), which is a marker for inflammation commonly used to assess cardiovascular risks.⁶ It’s nice to check on your ticker once in a while. After all, it does keep you alive.

Lastly, body composition is also important for a diet endeavor. Any changes in your eating patterns will most likely reflect in your weight. But if you don’t track your composition, particularly your muscle mass, percentage of fat, and water, you won’t know how things changed. The “calculator” version of the body mass index (BMI), the one that uses your height and weight to give you a number, is renowned for not being able to distinguish between a couch potato and an athletic runner of the same height and weight. The good part is that if you perform a comprehensive metabolic assessment, you’ll likely get your BMI, too.

How to Conduct Your Experiment

The experimentation cycle will help you with the investigation per se. You will need a hypothesis (i.e. does a low-fat diet help me more than my current low-carb one) which is then followed by extant literature on the topic. Always go to the studies referenced by media, check their approach, their target population, who funded it, and the overall thoroughness. Are they just observational? How reliable is their data? Then compile your findings.

Next up is to settle on your case design. Ideally, you would change just one factor. For instance, I performed a similar investigation when I gave up processed sugar and it did wonders to my fat percentage and mood. Another example is when a close friend of mine tried intermittent fasting and achieved his fantasy washboard abs. You can also adopt a more complex behavior, such as a vegetarian/vegan diet, but the more variables you work with, the less likely it becomes for you to distinguish a cause and effect relationship between certain food items and behaviors. You want to maintain the said behavior/change for at least 30 days (ideally 45) before moving on to the next stage.

Throughout this timeframe, you need to keep track of what is going on. Use a research diary where you can jot down your initial measurements and your weight as you go through your trial (measure no more than twice a week). Note the areas around your body where you’d like to see changes, such as waist or hips (same frequency). Write down these measurements, along with what you eat, as precisely as you can. You can keep everything in a folder, on your laptop, or even make a neat table with your numbers for easier percentages, ratios, and bottom lines.

Most importantly, always take a photo of your meals. Since they have a time and date, these will be your hard evidence when trying to make odds and ends of your calorie measurements. Calorie-counting is just unfeasible, so this will help you better gauge appropriate food quantities. Your body weight will fluctuate over the timeframe of your experiment, which is why these numbers are helpful at the end.

At the end of your diet experiment case study, the data you have gathered will hopefully either validate or invalidate your hypothesis. Sometimes the improvements are visible without any additional testing, such as in the case of improved performance, visible weight loss, or muscle gain. However, to make sure that you’re not hurting yourself in the long-run with the behavior you’ve chosen to adopt, the safest route would be to repeat the same battery of tests you started with. This will quantify just how much has changed and help you better understand the progress you’ve made. It will also provide an appropriate conclusion to your scientific investigation and help you better understand your own body.

Take Control of Your Nutrition

It has become imperative for each of us to experiment with the diets or nutritional principles we choose to abide by. There are just so many diverging opinions and personalized responses to what is currently out there that the only way to be sure is to take matters into your own hands. By using the methodological structure presented by this article, you can test for yourself what seems right and gather every bit of information on how you react to it before deciding on whether to become an evangelist of something that may not be worth preaching.

Whether you are a scientist already or not, today’s access to information combined with readily available and affordable medical testing makes it possible for anyone to become as thorough as a researcher would be when trying to determine what is the most reasonable nutritional advice for your own body. Just remember that certain changes often take serious amounts of time and adherence to the behavior(s) to accurately reflect on your physical, emotional, and mental states.

We already know that certain fat deposits can take months, or even years, to break down, depending on your body, nutrition, and level of activity. Some of the chemicals released into your bloodstream by the weight loss process might initially make you feel bad before making you feel overall amazing.⁷ Especially in these cases, knowing what has triggered your condition and/or feelings is vital.

Ultimately, after several of these diet experiments, you will not only become your own nutritional expert, but you will also know your body well enough to understand what eating certain new foods will do to you based on their macronutrients. For example, if you are aware of the fact that sugary drinks will mess up your insulin resistance and, therefore, weight loss efficiency, then you’ll be less tempted to crave them.

References:

1. American Diabetes Association, “So Many Nutrition Recommendations—Contradictory or Compatible?”, Diabetes.org, January 2003, accessed March 31, 2018.

2. Edward Archer, Gregory Pavela, and Carl Lavie, “The Inadmissibility of What We Eat in America and NHANES Dietary Data in Nutrition and Obesity Research and the Scientific Formulation of National Dietary Guidelines“, mayoclinicproceedings.org, July 2015, accessed March 31, 2018.

3. Julia Belluz, “I asked 8 researchers why the science of nutrition is so messy. Here’s what they said”, August 2016, accessed March 31, 2018.

4. Christopher Gardner and Michael Stanton, “Digesting Dietary Data: Why are there so many contradictory nutrition studies, and how can they be improved?”, June 2014, accessed March 31, 2018.

5. Zeevi et al, “Personalized Nutrition by Prediction of Glycemic Responses”, November 2015, accessed March 31, 2018.

6. Jesse Adams and Fred Apple, “New Blood Tests for Detecting Heart Disease”, January 2004, accessed March 31, 2018.

7. Michele Le Merrill et al, “Toxicological Function of Adipose Tissue: Focus on Persistent Organic Pollutants”, February 2013, accessed March 31, 2018.

The post How to Conduct Your Own Diet Experiments Like a Scientist appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

But eating to improve your body composition shouldn’t be rocket science. The human body isn’t a machine that behaves in the exact same ways each and every day. The so-called perfect science of nutrition isn’t actually all that perfect. A life exists beyond this full-time job you call a diet.

For a moment, forget the minute details and the worry of exact numbers. Stop sweating over the small stuff. There is another way to approach food that utilizes practicality along with personalized portion sizes to simplify this process. Let’s take a look at a simple three-step approach to building a diet for increasing muscle mass. These steps may seem elementary, but they are designed to get you pointed in the right direction to build a solid foundation of eating.

If your diet is starting to feel like a full-time job, it’s time to try a different way. [Photo courtesy Pixabay]

Step One: Measure in a New Way

It’s time to ditch the food scale and use something that’s much more transportable – your hand. Use your hand to measure out servings of macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fat). This will be relative to you personally since everyone’s hand size is slightly different. And if you just so happen to have big hands, then lucky you.

You may feel a bit skeptical about this first step but I will show you how to adjust portion sizes when necessary. These are estimated amounts for men and women, so don’t feel pressured to be exact since caloric needs fluctuate every day. Below is a quick guide when selecting serving sizes for each meal.

For men

• Protein: 2 palm-sized portions.
• Carbohydrate: 2 cupped hands of starchy carbohydrates and 2 fist-sized portions of vegetables.
• Fat: 2 thumb-sized portions.

For women

• Protein: 1 palm-sized portion.
• Carbohydrate: 1 cupped hand of starchy carbohydrates and 1 fist-sized portion of vegetables.
• Fat: 1 thumb-sized portion.

Step Two: Choose Macronutrients

Next, choose from a list of healthy macronutrients. What I have included below isn’t an exhaustive list, so feel free to add in some of your favorite healthy choices. Avoid highly processed carbs and hydrogenated fats as they will wreak havoc on your dieting efforts. Stick to whole-food protein sources for your main meals. Protein supplements are convenient and effective at certain times but relying on them too much won’t produce the type of results you’re after.

Proteins:

• Lean beef, turkey, chicken, fish
• Eggs, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt
• Beans, legumes
• Whey and casein protein powders

Carbohydrates:

• Starches: oats, sweet and white potatoes, whole grain breads and pastas, brown and white rice.
• Fruits and vegetables: apples, oranges, all types of berries, spinach, green beans, broccoli, tomatoes, etc.

Fats:

• All types of nuts and seeds, natural nut butters
• Avocados
• Olive oil, flax oil, and fish oil

Step Three: Plan Your Meals

To keep things simple, start your new eating plan with three main meals and two small snacks per day. The above macronutrient guidelines (measurements and types of foods) should be applied to those three main meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). The snacks will include one in the afternoon and a post-workout shake on days you train. Adjust portions according to your training needs. Skip the post-workout shake on non-training days.

• Afternoon snack: 1 palm-sized, easily digestible protein or 1 or 2 scoops of quality protein powder shake mixed with water and 1 piece of fruit.
• Post-workout shake: 1 or 2 scoops of quality whey protein powder mixed with fruit and milk or water and one serving of healthy fats.

Sample muscle-building eating plan

• Breakfast: oatmeal mixed with skim milk, 5 eggs (2 yolks and 5 whites) scrambled with spinach, peppers and onions
• Lunch: chicken breast on wheat bread with cheese slices or with 1 sweet potato, mixed nuts, and an apple
• Afternoon snack: Greek yogurt and berries
• Post-workout: muscle-building recovery shake (whey, fruit, natural peanut butter)
• Dinner: grouper or salmon fillet, wild rice, salad with added veggies and oil-based dressing

FAQs

Is this enough food? What about all those plans calling for six or seven meals per day?

This plan is a starting line to get you into solid eating habits. Once those are established, you can adjust portion sizes up or down regarding your specific goals. Simple plans without the confusing guidelines that require a calculator yield the most success. Plus, imagine the time it would take to prepare and eat seven or more meals per day. No thanks.

How do I increase or decrease overall calories if I need to?

You can increase or decrease overall calories in two ways. To increase calories, either add an additional whole or half meal daily, or increase portion sizes of protein and/or carbohydrate in each meal by 50 percent. For example, men can add a meal with one palm size of protein and one full handful of carbs. To decrease calories, cut two starchy carbohydrate portions in half, or eliminate starches from one meal entirely (preferably at night). Experiment with one or the other to see which works best for you.

I need to lose weight but can’t seem to drop anymore weight. What do I do?

If you find that you have followed the plan closely and have plateaued or are struggling, try replacing a portion or two of starchy carbohydrates with more servings of vegetables. Veggies are filling and you can practically eat as much as you want, especially during fat-loss diets. You’ll feel fuller, longer. Also, be sure to keep water intake high.

Can I have a cheat day?

Yes. Since the diet plan includes plenty of healthy foods, little-to-no sugars, highly-refined carbs, and if you are progressing at a slow and even pace, a cheat meal is definitely in the picture. Just make sure it’s for one day and only a maximum of two meals for that day. Don’t go overboard with an all-weekend binge. Enjoy those two meals and have whatever you want.

What about additional supplements?

The plan mentions casein and whey protein powder as options for snacks and the post-workout shake. However, don’t get into the habit of taking too many supplements at once. Otherwise, how will you know which worked and which didn’t? Also, the overreliance on supplements will yield little benefit. Nothing beats whole food meals with natural sources of macro- and micronutrients.

What about alcohol?

Keep alcohol consumption at a minimum. Some consumption can be beneficial to overall health (e.g., red wine), but never overindulge. Only you will know how your body handles alcohol. If you are the type who likes to party on weekends and imbibe a little too much, then stop. Too much alcohol robs your muscles of precious recovery abilities by blunting protein synthesis (a vital muscle building process) and dehydrating muscle cells. If you choose to drink, infrequent and moderate is the way to go.

Start Simple, Make Changes Slowly

If you are apprehensive about starting this plan, keep in mind that the important thing is to start somewhere. Once you get into a groove with portion sizes, macronutrients, and consistent eating you’ll soon learn how to shift gears. If you have to make changes, do so gradually and give each one a few weeks to take effect.

The side benefit of this plan is the reduction in stress and relief that you can finally enjoy life without constantly measuring and portioning food to exacting detail. Any plan is only as good as its execution. But the beauty of this plan is that it isn’t a complex math equation, just simple approximations that are easy to practice and adjust. Keep it simple, stay consistent, and train hard.

Do portion sizes matter as much as the quality of your food?

Let’s Talk About Diet, Part 1: Quantity Versus Quality

The post The Quick and Dirty Guide to Eating Clean appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In my last article, I talked about what real food is and how to be sure it’s what you have in your home. Now I’ll jump into a few things that can help you personalize your eating habits so you get the most benefit from your diet.

If you “shop the perimeter” at most grocery stores, it’s easy to avoid processed junk. [Photo courtesy Pixabay]

Step One: Start With the Basics

The first step is to learn how your body responds to food by eating a balanced mix of macronutrients. There is no one perfect ratio for all people. Some people do better with more carbohydrates. Others do better with a bit more fat or more protein – or maybe a lot more. In addition to the normal differences between lifestyles, you may have other conditions that warrant special consideration, like food allergies.

To start out, make sure you get a good mix of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats in your diet. Then once you have that locked in, you can begin tweaking things one way or the other to see what type of diet makes you feel, look, and perform your best.

Step Two: Pay Attention

As you begin eating healthier, pay attention to how you feel over the few hours after you eat. How you feel after a meal can clue you in to how your body responds to food and help make any diet tweaks you need. For example, you might get hungry an hour or two after eating a healthy meal. Or you might notice you feel sleepy or unfocused after a big meal.

If you feel that way after your meals, you may be eating too many carbohydrates or perhaps the wrong kind. But keep in mind, carbohydrates are not the enemy. You just need to figure out what whole-food carb sources work best for you in conjunction with eating proteins and fats.

Here are some examples of healthy complex carbohydrates:

• Whole grains – rice, wheat, oats, barley
• Foods made from whole grains – oatmeal, pasta, bread
• Starchy vegetables – potatoes, corn, pumpkin, beans, lentils, peas

Personally, I don’t eat a lot of these foods. When I worked on a farm it’s what you fed cattle and pigs to get them fat real fast. I eat them, but in small, infrequent servings. 

If you notice you feel hungry shortly after meals, you might be eating a lot of greens and vegetables that don’t have many calories. So unless you get more calories from healthy fats and some protein, you are apt to be calorie deficient and get hungry sooner.

Step Three: Shop Smart

Once you’ve spent some time getting to know how your body responds to food, it’s time to work on your shopping. As mentioned in the other article, don’t shop while hungry, and be sure to bring a shopping list.

Most grocery stores have a similar layout. Almost all the processed foods are kept in the center of the store, in the aisles. The perimeter is where you generally find the one-ingredient, whole foods. So shop on the perimeter of the store and buy meat, vegetables, leafy greens, as well as some fruit, nuts, and berries.

A few tips for purchasing whole foods:

• Dairy: If dairy products like milk, cheese, cottage cheese, and yogurt do not bother you, feel free to purchase those items. Buy whole-fat dairy foods. Fat-free is usually a code for, “We sneak a lot of sugar in there.”
• Eggs: The same is true of eggs. If they do not bother your stomach, they are perfectly fine to include in your diet. Yes you can find studies that say they are bad. And yup, you can find just as many studies showing they are good and the cholesterol from them does not harm most people. So listen to your body as discussed above, and let it decide. (And by the way, even though they are stored in the dairy section, eggs are not dairy. Dairy products come from milk. We don’t milk chickens, so chickens do not produce any dairy products.)
• Added Sugars: Condiments like steak sauce, BBQ sauce, and other condiments and dressings are often full of hidden sugars. I’ve never seen anyone eat a ton of chicken wings for the meat. People eat them for the sugar in the BBQ sauce. Give them a plate heaped up with just wings and no sauce, and see what happens. I make my own and avoid the sugar. Juices are another source of sugar, so if you want to eat healthy, ditch the fruit juices. If you want a real interesting watch, check out this documentary on Netflix. It will open your eyes about sugar and just how big of a problem it is.

Eat With Your Brain

Here’s one last tip a friend shared with me: Whenever anyone suggests some diet habit that sounds weird to him, he asks the person how much they can deadlift. If they don’t know what a deadlift is, he dismisses whatever diet plan they recommend. 

In all seriousness, when it comes to designing your own eating and meal planning habits, look at the complete picture of who you are: your occupation, your activity level, goals, age, physical environment, current health, and your family history. As your life changes, your eating habits may change too. Just remember to always stop and think about what you put in your mouth. That goes for the food you buy in the grocery store and what you choose to eat at restaurants.

I’ve a lot more to say about all of this, but that’s for another day. In the meantime, eat well to be well or eat bad to feel sad. Your choice.

Once you’re eating well, how do you eat to improve?

The Intelligent Athlete’s Guide to Fueling Performance

The post Real Food Fundamentals appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

These seven simple guidelines will allow you to adjust your nutrition to meet the demands of intense training. 

1. Simplify Your Daily Meal Template

Simplify your nutrition and understand performance nutrition pillars to create a blueprint for increased power, strength, lean muscle, and health. We tend to over-complicate nutritional strategies instead of developing our own personalized profile over time. Here are two simple daily tips for better performance:

1. Meal Spacing: Fasting, dietary restrictions plans, and all that jazz aside, athletes need to be feeding for physiological growth, fueling for training sessions, and recovering through nutrition. To determine meal spacing, take the number of waking hours you have each day and divide that by two or three hours. For example, an athlete who sleeps six hours a day should be eating about 6-9 times per day (and get more sleep).
2. Calorie Splits: Split your calories across each meal based on proximity to workouts. Pre-training, intra-training, and post-training meals should be richer in carbohydrates and protein. The other three meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) can be more balanced in terms of macronutrient distributions. Add a few snacks throughout the day to increase caloric intake if need be, and stay consistent with your plan.

Eating a variety of whole, natural foods will provide your body with the nutritional support it needs to perform at a higher level.

2. Diversify Your Plate for Better Health

One of the best ways to diversify nutrition and increase your health and performance is to eat foods that are closest to the earth. Foods that are consumed closest to their original form tend to be the best options. These include:

• Brightly colored fruits
• Vibrant vegetables
• Animals and fish
• Grains
• Nuts and seeds (butters too)
• Fats (MCTs, animal fats)

As you move further away from the natural form, you see processed sugars, salts, and and preservatives. The more steps and ingredients that went into making your food, the less ideal it is. 

3. Calories Are King

It’s quite simple. Eat more to get bigger and eat less to get smaller. Too often we neglect the basic principles of energy surplus and energy deficit. 

The human body is an amazing specimen. We have the ability to transfer any food source (fat, carbohydrate, and protein) into a single molecule that can be used for energy transfer. Regardless of what is left for the body to use, it can and will produce energy from any one of those sources.

Understanding your caloric needs is based on your resting metabolic rate, current body leanness, training frequency, and goals. Try this calculator out to establish your daily caloric needs. Or determine your daily caloric needs from this table. And remember, if you overeat calories, regardless of where they are from, you will gain weight and vice versa.

Estimating your daily caloric needs is essential to your performance. Reference this chart from Renaissance Periodization as a starting point.

Regardless of your specific performance goals, you must first determine your overall calorie intake. Once that is established, you can then fluctuate macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fats) according to your training intensity.

4. Protein, Protein, Protein

Research by Renaissance Periodization suggests that active athletes can synthesize about 0.8-1.0 grams per pound (g/lb) of bodyweight per day. The ideal amount to be consumed at one time is 20-30g of protein.¹

How to Calculate Your Daily Guidelines:

1. When building your dietary plan for protein, aim for 1.0 g/lb per day.
2. Multiply that by 4 (calories per gram of protein) to get your total protein calorie requirement.
3. Subtract that number from your total daily calorie goal to determine the correct amount of carbohydrates and fats you will need.

Example: 

• 190lb male needs 3,000 calories per day
• 190g of protein/day x 4 calories/gram = 760 calories from protein
• 3000 – 760 = 2240 calories left for carb and fat intake

5. Carbohydrates Are Critical

Performance athletes need carbohydrates. I repeat. Performance athletes need carbohydrates. ² Carbohydrates serve many functions in optimal performance: ³

• Improved brain function and recovery
• Increased time to fatigue
• Improved muscle recovery
• Improved aerobic capacity (enable fat oxidation)
• Improved high-intensity training performance
• Improved muscular energy

Average gym goers often overlook the importance of carbs for performance. You should aim to consume 1-2g/lb of bodyweight each day. The more intense your training sessions are, the closer to 2g/lb you can eat. On rest days, you can stay closer to 1g/lb or slightly under to keep body fat at bay. Training more than one time per day increases these ranges, so adjust accordingly.

1. When building your dietary plan for carbohydrates, aim for a gram per lb/day.
2. Multiply that number by 4.
3. Subtract that number from your daily calorie goal from above to determine the correct amount of fats you will need.

Example:

• 190lb male x 1-2g of carbohydrates/day x 4 calories/gram = 760-1520 calories
• Already determined 2240 calories left for carb and fat intake
• 2240 – 760 = 1480 calories left for fat intake on rest days
• 2240 – 1520 = 720 calories left for fat intake on intense training days
• For moderate-intensity days, adjust carbs to fall within 1-2g/lb range

6. Fit Fats In

Fats act as energy reserves for long duration exercise. They are energy dense, which makes them key for athletes looking to build muscle while minimizing carbohydrate intolerance and maintaining healthy body fat. Fluctuate your fat intake to match your overall caloric goal once your specific protein and carbohydrate goals are met each day. If you want to gain mass, you can provide the body with enough raw material to promote growth by consuming more fats once your upper limit of carbohydrates is met.

How to Calculate Your Daily Guidelines:

1. Find the number of calories you have left after you have accounted for protein and carb intake.
2. Divide that number by 9 (calories per gram of fat).

Example:

• 1480 calories left for fat intake on rest days
• 1480 / 9 = 165g of fat per day on rest days
• 720 calories left for fat intake on intense training days
• 720 / 9 = 80g of fat per day on intense training days

7. Use Supplements to Supplement

Most research on over-the-counter supplements has failed to show repeatable proof that the products improve performance. But there are a few time-tested supplements that seem to work well for most athletes.

Use these supplements to increase performance only after your whole foods and training are spot on.

• Whey Protein: Whey protein is an amazing low-calorie source of complete proteins. The availability and convenience of these makes whey protein ideal for athletes struggling to meet their protein requirements. Opt for whey proteins that are low in sugar, preservatives, and fillers. A favorite of mine is a lactose- and gluten-free option with less than 1g of carbohydrate. Mix with water, milk, or coffee and you are ready to go.
• Creatine: Creatine is a quick energy source found in muscle. It has been shown to improve both muscular force output and acute exhaustion from intense training. Simply adding creatine monohydrate could elevate your performance enough to keep your progress going.
• Fish Oils: Omega-3 fatty acids need to be ingested via external food sources, and are vital in increasing muscle strength, performance, and growth. These are essential to all athletes because we cannot produce them ourselves. They strengthen the bones and lungs, improve blood flow, and combat the negative immune effects of intense training. ⁴
• Greens Supplements and Fiber: Intense training demands higher amounts of vitamins and minerals. Additionally, increased food consumption may impact digestion. Greens and fiber supplements restore normal digestion and aid in muscle recovery.

Eat Like the Athlete You Are

Follow these basic guidelines to take your performance to the next level. Keep in mind, this blueprint is ideal for most athletes without dietary restrictions. If you have special medical considerations, consult a Registered Dietician for more guidance on your individual needs.

Athletes have significantly different metabolic demands than non-athletes. As we develop better fitness, factors such as sleep, recovery, hydration, and nutrition play a determining role in our ability to withstand the increased physiological and psychological stressors of advanced training and life. Nailing down your nutrition will give you the fuel you need to move from amateur to elite. 

More Strategies to Fuel Your Fitness:

• Get the Lowdown on Low Carb: Is It for You?
• The Greatest Sports Supplement You Should Be Taking
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References:

1. Israetel, Mike. The Renaissance Diet E-book. Renaissance Periodization. 

2. Barnett, Jeff. “The Power of Carbs.” Breaking Muscle. Accessed 12 November 2015. 

3. Iowa State University Extension. “Role of Carbohydrates.” Accessed 12 November 2015. 

4. Ascenta Health. “Omega-3 and Sport: How Fish Oil Is Beneficial for Athletes.” Accessed 12 November 2015.

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For starters, flexible dieting is not a diet – it’s a nutritional concept. The basic rundown is simple: You have a daily calorie, macronutrient (carbohydrate, protein, fat), and fiber target to hit and as long as those specific numbers are achieved, then food selection is left up to your personal preference. That is an oversimplification. The ins and outs of flexible dieting can be a lot more intricate, but it’s this oversimplification that lends to the misconceptions floating around the Internet.

Here are the misconceptions I feel are most important to discredit in an attempt to educate the masses and clean up one of the more controversial topics in fitness:

1. Flexible Dieters Only Eat Junk Food

This fallacy originated on social media. I am actually partially to blame for this, along with all of the other flexible dieters who post pictures of Pop Tarts, doughnuts, cake, pizza, and other junk food on Facebook and Instagram, usually including the hash tags #FlexibleDieting and #IIFYM just to rustle some clean-eating jimmies.

Are those the only foods we eat? Definitely not, but no one needs to see another picture containing Tupperware, chicken, asparagus, and sweet potato.

The fact is, in order actually hit macronutrient numbers that are conducive to building muscle, losing fat, and improving performance, it would be impossible to only eat junk. The majority of a flexible diet consists of what would typically be considered healthy food – lean meats, complex carbs, and quality fats. The only difference is a flexible diet allows you to have a treat while staying on the diet.

Where people get confused is comparing food items that do not contain a similar macronutrient breakdown. For example, I often hear people say something along the lines of, “I feel, look and perform better eating sweet potatoes than I do eating doughnuts.” But these two food items do not have comparable macros. An 8oz sweet potato comes in with around 6g of protein, 48g of carbs, minimal fat, and a good dose of fiber. In comparison, an average doughnut is going to contain a lot more fat and sugar and no fiber. This is not to say you cannot eat doughnuts. You can – just don’t compare them nutritionally to sweet potatoes.

As long as macronutrient goal numbers are hit (along with fiber), food choices take a backseat to personal preference whether that is oatmeal or Pop Tarts. The goal is to stop thinking of foods as “clean” or “dirty,” but see them for their macronutrient composition. This will go a long way in helping you understand the freedom of food selection that flexible dieting creates.

2. Flexible Dieting Doesn’t Work For Me

Did science throw a secret party and forget to invite you? Without even getting into the science, here is the bottom line: every diet regardless of food selection consists of specific macronutrient numbers. Even if you eat eight meals a day of chicken, rice, and asparagus, those foods still have a macronutrient number at the end of the day. In essence, every diet is a macro diet.

And there is no rule that in order to follow a flexible diet you need to eat junk food. The beauty of flexible dieting is that you can eat whatever foods you want as long as you track them and they fit into your macros. Let’s say you are a unique individual who actually enjoys clean foods over more tasty treats. While I would argue that you are kidding yourself, you can still follow a flexible diet eating chicken and sweet potatoes. All you have to do is figure out your macros, and then fit your clean foods into them.

For you clean eaters, the benefit of flexible dieting comes in the form of consistency. When you follow a clean diet, unless you are tracking your foods (weighing and measuring), there is no way to know if you are actually consuming the same amount of foods day in and day out. An extra 4oz of chicken here, half a cup of rice less there, and boom your diet is all over the place without you even realizing it. The idea that a flexible diet can’t work for you is invalid. It can work for you and it would probably be better than what you are currently doing.

3. It Works for Aesthetics, But It’s Not Healthy

Yes, flexible dieting originated within the bodybuilding community. People began to realize they could get the same body composition results hitting macronutrient targets as they could eating clean. Plus, they didn’t experience any of the psychological side effects that can occur when following a strict diet. This quickly became notorious as a bodybuilding diet, as most of the advocates were in fact bodybuilders.

As flexible dieting began to branch out into the mainstream the question became, “Can it work for general health, too?” I have even heard bodybuilders ask this same question. The answer is, yes, it can.

A flexible diet is mostly whole and nutritious foods. In order to hit an adequate amount of fiber in a day, you are going to need to eat a variety of different fruits and vegetables. Does every flexible dieter do this? No, they probably do not, however, I doubt that most clean eaters do either.

I would even argue that a flexible diet is healthier than a strict meal plan. The reason is variety. You do not want to eat the same foods day in and day out. The best way to consume a full range of vitamins and minerals is to eat a wide range of foods. If you only eat the same foods every day you are restricting yourself to a specific range of micronutrients. Eating whatever foods you want just to hit your macros without any consideration for fiber or micronutrient intake is not healthy, but that is not what flexible dieting is about.

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