Diet Basics

"Let thy food be thy medicine" - Hippocrates 460-377 BC

Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Lighter Life, The Zone, Atkins, The South Beach Diet, Cabbage Soup Diet....diet, diet, diet

The list goes on...

Diet has become an out-of-control industry that thrives on people’s confusion and dependence.

With so many fads, weight loss clubs, pre-packaged diet products and exercise toys, it’s no wonder why so many people feel confused and resort to drastic calorie reduction or other more extreme approaches in a bid to "get in shape" and improve their health. 

Perhaps you're one of the millions of people who proclaim "I've tried 'em all" or perhaps you've struggled with your weight for so long you've given up completely and don’t even bother anymore because eating “healthy” is made out to be such a chore.

On this page, I'm going to break things down by briefly (the best I can) summarizing a few basics about diet which I hope will help you.

CALORIES

Calories are simply a measure of energy.

Most people are well aware that in order to lose weight, you need to take in less energy than you burn. To gain weight, you need to take in more energy than you burn. 

Eat too much and you'll get fat, no matter where the calories are coming from.

It's that simple. 

NUTRIENTS

As human beings, the food and drink we consume requires 3 basic components apart from energy (calories).

1) Macronutrients = Proteins, Carbohydrates, Fat
2) Micronutrients = Vitamins, Minerals
3) Water

This foundation within our diet is fundamental to our survival.

CALORIES & NUTRITION: NOT THE SAME THING

The problem with most diets is that they generally only concentrate on caloric intake and not on overall nutrient intake. 

Most people simply see food as something they consume when they feel hungry and need energy.

But we do also need to consider how those calories we consume are going to be USED.

Unfortunately, this is something that is grossly overlooked in the diet industry where the central focus tends to be on caloric intake and weight loss rather than nutrient intake and health.

Whether these diets encourage you to count calories or count points - the focus is generally the same = eat less calories.

It is important to be aware that everything we eat and drink causes a metabolic and physiological response in the body.

For cosmetic purposes and for those who wish to get in better shape or lose body fat without drastic fluctuations or yo yo dieting - the most important component to look at is the macro-nutrient level - the proteins, carbohydrates and fats.

By manipulating both our total caloric intake and our intake of these important macro-nutrients, we can elicit the changes we are seeking.

METABOLISM

You've probably heard the term metabolism thrown around quite a bit or heard of people who have fast metabolisms and can seemingly eat whatever they like without gaining an ounce.



So what is metabolism?

You're metabolism is what determines what your body does with energy from the food you eat. 

It is regulated by a coordination within many tissues in the body (muscles, brain/nervous system, liver, gut) and a symphony of hormones and secondary messengers. 

Ultimately, it is your metabolism that will decide whether the calories you consume are either burned and used for immediate energy or stored for future considerations.

In an ideal world, most people would like all their energy intake be used for immediate energy and not stored as unwanted body fat.  

Unfortunately, for those who are overweight, obese or diabetic - metabolism becomes dysfunctional in large part due to a resistance to certain hormones (namely - insulin and leptin) which are responsible for regulating the way our metabolism function and use energy.

In simple terms - being overweight can become a real metabolic/hormonal issue and not simply due to gluttony or laziness.   

Many people who are obese or overweight have the willpower to do something about it and have been on "diets" before - but they've always been told that "cutting calories" is the solution. 

While it is true to say that calorie control is important, it only addresses one part of the problem - energy intake.

The good news is, we do actually have some control over these things if we take the right approach and don't simply focus on counting calories....

HORMONES

All human beings have bodies that function by the same basic physiological principles.

We all know that by eating more or less food, we will gain or lose weight and this is the same for every individual regardless of age, gender or body type.

However, as much as we are alike, there is also a lot of variability among us.

These differences can be traced to genetic causes as well as environmental causes.

Hormones are your body's chemical messenger system that regulate your metabolism by "switching on" certain genetic/DNA sequencing that are important to all bodily functions.

In simple terms - hormones pretty much tell your body what to do.

SO WHAT YOU CAN DO -

While this page is only a brief overview on diet - I want to give you a few take away points here which I hope you might find helpful:

1) Focus on Nutrition not just calories

Though calorie control is necessary for progress, either for weight loss or weight gain, you won’t see optimal results unless you marry that with a proper macro-nutrient setup to support an optimal hormonal and metabolic environment. 

For example; a low calorie diet of 70% carbohydrates, 20% protein, and 10% fat that is often recommended - will do a terrible job in helping you get in better shape regardless of the overall caloric intake. 

You’ll lose weight on the scale for sure, but it won’t necessarily be the kind of weight you want to lose. 

Setting up your diet so you take advantage of our biochemistry and building a more efficient metabolism, will make a huge world of difference in terms of results and long term progress.  

That means being more aware of what you're actually eating and making better food choices rather than just worrying about calories.

2) Weight loss and fat loss are not the same thing

It's important to remember that every tissue in your body "weighs" something.

The first 2-3 weeks of ANY calorie restricted diet will knock some pounds off the face of the scale weight. 

But it is my challenge to show you that where those pounds came from is much more important. 

When people talk about losing weight, what they generally mean is that they want to lose body fat.  

Naturally, fat weighs something, but so does every other tissue in your body - blood, bones, muscle, organs..etc.

I can tell you right now that you did not lose 7-10 pounds of body fat in one week! unless you're some kind of metabolic mutant.

You may even feel and look smaller in the clothes you wear, but the initial drop is usually a result of lowering your sodium, losing excess water weight and a reduction in glycogen stores..etc.

Myself being an example - I often see as much as a 10lb fluctuation in bodyweight over a 24hour period depending on my carbohydrate and fluid intake!

Weight loss is correlated to fat loss, but not identical.

It's not uncommon for individuals to lose weight without seeing much of a an improvement in body composition - meaning you'll weigh less on the scale but still feel soft and flabby because most of the weight you lost is from lean body mass and not fat mass.  

This is also one of the reasons why some people who take an extreme approach to diet, typically lose a lot of weight very quickly but suffer negative consequences (loose skin..etc.) further down the line when they eventually give up and revert back to their old eating habits.  

A diet is not something you do for 6 weeks - your diet is what makes up your daily eating habits and should be something sustainable in the long term. 

Granted, if you want to lose some body-fat, you're going to have to restrict your caloric intake to a certain extent, but there is absolutely no need to resort to drastic measures.....let's face it, no one is realistically going to live on special K, ryvitas, cabbage soup or maple syrup indefinitely - you'll do it for a few weeks, drop a few pounds on the scale and then what?.....go right back to how you were eating before, regain all the weight you lost or more and feel frustrated.  

It's a monumental waste of effort and it simply doesn't work.

SUMMARY
If you truly want to avoid the endless cycle of yo yo dieting and the frustration that comes with it, the constant calorie counting, the constant hunger....then the answer is actually very simple.....focus on WHAT you're eating and not just the calories.

This means making gradual changes to your eating habits and providing the body with the building blocks, nutrients and enzymes it needs to maintain a healthy metabolism whilst maintaining lean body tissue.  

90% of weight loss problems can be solved if you adhere to this basic philosophy.

I wish I could tell you there is some magic secret or formula, but the truth is - Eating better is often far more productive than eating less.