Diet Principles, Part 1
Being healthy (as I talked about in a guest post on the BTB substack) is a state of physiological function that occurs when the right actions are performed.
Or said another way, you follow a system with your eating, exercise, lifestyle, and health is the guaranteed outcome.
Health is measurable, its not esoteric. We know what biomarkers matter for health. We know what the essential macronutrients are. We know that exercise is important.
Diet is confusing for people. This is to be expected, these are scientific fields that fitness professional rarely have serious education in. And academia itself frequently commits itself to wrong ideas and misleads the public.
Truth is found in those who can take an interdisciplinary approach, which I deem “Bro Science”.
I dont teach people to diet. Rather, I teach them based 1st Principles of health and biology.
This creates an overall philosophy, not a hard fast system of rules.
The Principles are as follows
1. Understand Your Metabolism
-This means possessing a basic understanding of your bodies need for energy (calories), water (your body is made of water), and macronutrients. You need energy to LIVE, you need protein and fat because your body is made of protein and fat. You need vitamins because they all serve a specific metabolic purpose. This includes knowing approximately your basal and active metabolic rate (how many calories your body goes through daily), understanding what those two things MEAN, and being able to read a food label and not be baffled by it. You probably need carbohydrates because your body runs on glucose. You need to know that carbohydrates and protein contain 4 calories per gram, and fat contains 9. You know that your body needs fat for normal hormone production.
This principle is not so much about knowing vast quantities of information, but having AWARENESS to them. You cannot argue against the needs of your own physiology.
To note, I am not suggesting that you NEED to absolutely count calories and macros to be healthy. The point is in KNOWING HOW THEY WORK, most of all relative to yourself.
All these things fall under the umbrella of Metabolism. If you know NONE of these things and every term is mysterious to you, you will be conned by EVERYTHING that sounds good. Proper nutrition starts with appropriate education.
2. You become what you consume
-The ancient Greek physician Galen said let thy food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food. He was right then and he is right today. Your health is directly, immediately, and extensively affected by everything you eat.
If you consume a high sugar, highly processed, pro inflammatory diet, the effects will show up in your blood, your energy levels, your skin, your digestion. Eating is not a separate act from health, it directs your health every single day.
You are an adult, I shouldn’t have to tell you to not eat sugar cereal and that vegetables are good for you. If you are really lost about what is "healthy' eating, reading this book
Deep Nutrition, by Catherine Shanahan.
3. Listen to your Biofeedback
-Repeat this after me- YOU DO NOT IGNORE WHAT YOUR BODY IS TELLING YOU.
Working with reality means dealing with reality as it is. If you eat XYZ food, and every time after eating XYZ food, you are on the toilet cursing god, you probably shouldn't eat that thing again. If you seem to get acne breakouts every time you eat cheese, or you have a salad and your digestive track goes to hell, pay attention.
People have this very incredible ability to ignore all of their biofeedback, and then be shocked when they realize they are eating to the detriment of their health. Don't be that person. Your primary biofeedback mechanisms to observe are the following
-daily energy upon waking, and throughout the day
-sleep quality and quantity
-digestion and defecation
-energy before and after eating
-hair, skin, nails, and eyes
All the above are affected by your eating. I cannot glean every example of HOW, but know that they are. If something is off with any of these, it's reasonable to examine your diet and consider connections.
4. Focus on Whole Food Intake
-We finally get to the actual food. Whole food means unprocessed. I'm preferential to the adage of Jack Lalanne "if man made it, don't eat it!".
Whole food then refers to foods in their natural form, meat, eggs, fruits, potatoes, vegetables, rice, etc. Now you can't start arguing what about bread, pasta, oatmeal, dairy products, etc, but remember, this is not dogma. If your diet is 90% meat, greens, tubers, fruit, and some healthy fat sources for cooking, you're likely going to be healthy.
Whole foods are universally more satiating, contain a broader spectrum of micronutrients, and more nutritious overall. Some processed food is understandable, buts impossible to argue with the overall superiority a whole food majority diet.
5. Eat healthy sources of protein
-I'm making this one simple and simply providing a list. Again, don't read this and start questioning why I haven't included game meats, alligator, organs meats, etc. This is general guidance, not a vetting of every food on earth. If you get your protein from these sources at each meal, your diet is that much closer to being nutritionally comprehensive
Eggs
Dairy products, but ONLY if you digest dairy well. If not exclude them (cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, or skim, 1%, or 2% milk)
Fish
Chicken
Beef
Pork
Deli Meat
Whey Protein
Legumes (IF they digest well)
6. Eat healthy sources of fat
-Fat is absolutely critical for metabolism and overall health. Every cell in your body is made from fatty acids, and fat itself is a precursor to every single sex hormone the body makes. if a diet is too low in fat, bad things happen health wise. Low carb and higher fat diets have often proven superior for a reason-fat is more satiating, more nutritious, and more critical for overall health.
The fats you eat should NOT be "fake" fats. Vegetable oil is horrible for health, as all the other types of fake oils (corn, canola, rapeseed, etc).
Your fat intake should come from the PROTEIN you eat, and from these sources when cooking
Olive oil (DO NOT heat olive oil, it has a low smoke point and turns carcinogenic)
Butter
Coconut Oil
Fatty meats
Eggs
Avocados and avocado oil
Walnut oil
Peanut oil (best for cooking)
7. Eat healthy sources of carbs
-Healthy carbs are unprocessed, nutritious carbs that contain no added sugar. If you do consume sugar, it should be from fruit or honey. Plain table sugar or corn syrup should never comprise the majority of your carbohydrate intake. The term “Clean carbs” refers to carbohydrates with added sugars, or food like fruit which is high satiety and contains fiber and water weight.
-vegetables
-tubers (yams, sweet potatoes, white potatoes)
-rice, wild rice
-legumes
-fruit
What about bread? I consider this a personal choice. I do not support anti-gluten hysteria, but its also been undeniable that many people seem to have a gluten sensitivity. Very often people report that their digestive health improved when the switched carb sources to rice and potatoes, versus say bread and pasta. So I leave this up to you to test out and assess your response.
8. Keep overall Sugar intake low
-I've discussed this in past, but excess sugar is simply NOT good for health. It creates addictive eating behavior, it's not good for hormones or insulin sensitivity. Its bad for your skin, it crashes energy levels, and it overall contributes to bad eating habits that are very difficult to break out of. Attempting to eat zero sugar, or at least very low sugar, it will reveal to you how many foods have sugar added to them, and easy it is to over consume calories without realizing it.
Most Americans consume over 100 grams daily, and have no idea they are consuming that much.
To note, if you are LEAN and MUSCULAR, and you lift weights frequently (these three generally go together), you can reasonably have higher sugar intake without detrimental effects. Your body's nutrient partitioning and lean body mass actually make use of the sugar better than someone who is overweight and not lean. This does not mean eat garbage, but in certain circumstances, higher sugar intake is allowable.
9. Learn to cook
-Learning how to cook is an enormously underrated skill. It teaches you the science of food, it opens your mind that eating "healthy" does not mean boring, it's a practice unto itself in learning how to learn, and it makes you more self-sufficient/self-reliant.
A lack of cooking ability is a major obstacle towards improved eating habits. When you simply don't know how to make food taste good, it's easy to default to fast food and processed food. Cooking opens your world up to infinite possibilities in taste and satisfaction.
I follow simple principles when cooking
-Trust your sense of smell, smell is flavor
-don't think in terms of recipes, think in terms of flavor
-every recipe is an experiment in flavor creation
-all flavors are a combo of sweet, salty, fatty
-frying pan, broiler, crock pot-all are easy to use, easy to learn, and can cook an infinite variety of meals
-When in doubt, watch youtube. There is no excuse to not learning cookery other than outright refusal
10. Consistency
Consistency creates momentum. Its easy to be disciplined when you are eating same/similar foods all the time.
This does not mean a dry chicken breast with unflavored broccoli (see learning how to cook). One of the great misconceptions of eating is that you need massive variety to your meals.
This quickly breaks down in reality, because trying to consume different meals constantly makes planning practically impossible.
You overbuy food, you don't have time, and you default to prior bad habits. When your breakfast is same/similar, your lunch is same similar, your dinner is same/similar, suddenly meal prepping, or cooking in general, it becomes far easier to plan and execute.
At the same time, when you eat healthy 90% of the time, the one-off incidents of dinners, going out with friends/family, parties, travel, they become largely irrelevant. You have built a flywheel of habits and rituals, and its momentum overcomes any temporal slowdown. You simply resume your routines, and no stress need be experienced beyond that.