Let's Talk Nutrition (Part 3)

This is a significant problem in the fitness industry. Self-proclaimed gurus spreading?‘bro- science’?has often led to people falling in a trap. Let’s dig in and debunk a few myths :

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Myth: Eating throughout the day, every 3 hours, boosts metabolism.

Fact: The number of meals does not affect your metabolism. Your calorie intake and activity levels do. Eat as you please, don’t be a Tupperware enslaved person.

Myth: Breakfast like a king, dine like a pauper. No carbohydrates post 6 pm, as it gets converted to fat.

Fact: The total calorie intake makes a difference, not a light dinner. Eat carbohydrates when you prefer to.

Myth: Protein supplements harm your kidneys.

Fact: Protein supplements, in any way, do not harm your kidneys. Your habit of drinking less water and not having a healthy lifestyle harms your kidneys in the long run.

Myth: Eating fat makes you fat.

Fact: Again, a major caloric surplus makes you fat and not fat directly. Or, for that matter, any particular macronutrient or food choice.

Myth: You need supplements / fat burners to reach your goals.

Fact: As long as you have a good training and nutrition plan, with the food items providing all the essential macros and micronutrients, you do not need special supplements.

Myth: Mass gainers help you build muscle.

Fact: A slight caloric surplus along with adequate protein intake, rest, and progressive overload help you build muscle.

Myth: Dieting means eating boring boiled food for extended amounts of time.

Fact: Moderation is the key; you can achieve your goals even if you enjoy an occasional serving of a particular food item that you like. Also, eating nutrition-rich food does not have to come at the expense of taste.

Myth: More than two egg yolks will harm your heart.

Fact: It is true that egg yolks have cholesterol, but research has proven that dietary cholesterol has no direct effect on serum cholesterol levels. It is the overall fitness levels and lifestyle that affect your health markers.

Myth: Artificial sweeteners cause health problems.

Fact: There have been enough studies done on the effects of the consumption of artificial sweeteners on human beings. None of them were successful in finding a link between the two. Enjoy your diet soda.

I just covered the doubts that came to the top of my head while writing this piece. I am pretty sure I have not even covered 10% of them for you.

Clean eating vs. being flexible

Which of the following meal do you think is more calories dense?

I am prety sure all of you would have pointed towards the right image already in your head. Now, let’s look at the macro break up of each :

Burger: Fats - 26 grams, Carbohydrates 18 grams, and Protein 35 grams. Total calories:?446 kcal.

Salad: Fats - 32 grams, Carbohydrates 36 grams, and Protein 28 grams. Total calories:?544 kcal.

Mind blown, right?!

Now, what am I trying to convey through this image :

? Clean food choices do not necessarily mean it is okay to consume it in any quantity.?Calories are king, and macros are important.

? Dieting does not have to be boring. You can?occasionally?enjoy foods that you like within your macro limits.

? You?do not have to always eat bland meals?just because it fits in your diet. Eat nutrition-rich food as it is rich in nutrients and more satiating.

? Following this technique will help you stay on a diet for longer and make it sustainable rather than?cycles of restricted and binge eating.

Tracking calories

Dieting should never be a?binary?approach, where you levitate between?1’s and 0’s. The ‘all or nothing?approach works well only till it does not. In most cases, the ‘does not work’ phase hits you quite sooner than expected.

A pre-set plan is bound to fail if it involves extreme measures. A little bit of flexibility is the key to sustainability. But that does not mean going all out. With great power comes great responsibility. Thus even while being a bit?flexible, you need to be accountable as well.

For tracking macros/calories, you could either install an application, read nutrition labels on packets or Google your preferred food items. If not that, then you will have to guesstimate the calories. Acquiring precision in guesstimating takes months of tracking. So, if you are a beginner, the former approach is better.

A good way to start for a beginner is to maintain a food log for a couple of weeks along with average weigh-ins. By comparing those stats, you could roughly estimate your maintenance calories.

Now, there are two degrees of precision when it comes to tracking:

Commoner approach: You hit your daily calorie goal within a range with a +/- of 100 calories. A better way here is to hit your protein requirement precisely and then hit your remaining calorie goals within a range of +/- 100 calories.

Athlete approach: In this case, hit your daily macro goals with a deviation of +/- 5 to 10 grams in terms of protein and carbohydrates and +/- 2 to 3 grams of fat.

Eating out

As per our social settings or cultural practices, socializing usually involves food. If you are on a diet, it does not mean you can not go out and enjoy a dinner party with your friends or a date with your boyfriend. It is an obstacle to hit your macro targets while being on the road too.

Having understood calories and macros, you should be able to guesstimate that in these situations.

Again, subjectivity comes into the picture. If you are doing a contest prep or dieting down for a photo shoot, you would want to be as precise as possible. You need to accurately track macros and calories. This would mean, avoid eating out as much as possible. Even if that involves planning meals or even days in advance while traveling. For other not-so-hard dieters, 1 or 2 meals a week is fine.

Let us look at it this way, you eat an average of 5 meals a day. This means 35 meals in a week. You eat 1 or 2 meals out, which were only 70% accurate. This won’t hit your progress significantly.

But, we also need to understand that a restaurant chef is not going to weigh food for you and then serve it. His job is to put good food on the table. Thus, the smart choice is the key.

Let’s take an example.

You go to a restaurant and order tandoori chicken. It is served with a side of salad. You can guesstimate the calories as you know that there is nothing else used for cooking except spices. Your caloric estimate will be 70 to 80% accurate, which is great.

In a different situation, you end up ordering butter chicken. A simple addition of around 20 grams of butter to the dish (over your assumption) shoots up the calories by 200 approximately.

You get my point here.

?Alcohol

The golden rule regarding alcohol,?moderation?is the key.

What does that mean? It certainly does not mean drinking till you pass out or wake up with a hangover. What it means is you wake up the next day and feel normal, and it does not affect your performance.

Usually, I do not recommend alcohol while dieting as the person is actively trying to adapt to a healthy lifestyle. But then, certain occasions or cultural practices involve alcohol. So what does moderation mean? Moderation means having one to two drinks in two weeks or so.

I did not discuss alcohol in macronutrients but alcohol also contains calories.?Seven calories per gram,?and it is usually combined with carbohydrates. Wine is made from grapes, beer from wheat and barley, and so on.

As alcohol is not supposed to be a staple, how do we accommodate it in our diet as it has calories? The commoner approach to calorie tracking comes into the picture.

Suppose someone is on a 2000-calorie diet and has a pint of beer which comes around 200 calories. That leaves him with an 1800-calorie target to hit. Now, the person has to ensure that he hits the remaining 1800 calories of the day and does not exceed it. A better way here would be hitting the protein requirement first, then hitting calories.

A good practice would be to not exceed more than?15% of the calorie goal with alcohol.

Again, my intention here is not to promote alcohol as a part of a healthy lifestyle, but if one ends up drinking, they should be able to make sure it is accounted for.