A Practical Approach to Nutrition
By Jonathan Christopher, RD
Living in today’s society is a funny thing. We have access to all the information we would ever need at our fingertips, but we also have access to all the information we don’t need. Like many others, nutrition is one of those topics that becomes so confusing due to an abundance of information that people can’t exactly figure out what is right or wrong.
That is exactly the problem. All the information. Having all this information leads us to believe that some of it may be right, and most of it must be wrong. Many people get attached to a way of eating that works for them and then spend an appreciable amount of time trying to convince others that it will work for them too.
So here’s the issue with that.
Effective nutrition habits have much less to do with the specifics of ‘what’ and much more with ‘why.’
Why does it work for YOU. Why are you able to adhere to this style of eating? Why did another method that worked for someone else not work for you? This is what matters the most, but 99% of information out there doesn’t focus on this. It focuses on getting your attention, making other strategies look bad, and making their own strategies look good. You can replace ‘strategies’ with ‘foods’ in that sentence as well.
Before moving on, I want to describe exactly who this article is most useful for. Overall, it’s meant for anyone looking to improve their habits without tracking foods, calories, and macros. It’s important to realize that to do this, you need to have some sort of basic knowledge on foods. What do certain foods contain? Are they calorie dense based on a normal portion size? What is the general macronutrient breakdown of that meal at your favorite restaurant? I think you see what I’m getting at here. At the end of the day, tracking foods, calories, and macros will provide the best results based on your goal - as long as you can adhere to the plan. Tracking causes stress and anxiety for many, and directly conflicts with adherence. If you fall into that category, then this article really is for you.
All that being said, here are my thoughts on a practical approach to nutrition.
Importance of Nutrition Factors
Diet Adherence
Calories
Food Choices
Adaptability
Macronutrients
Meal Timing
Supplements and Superfoods
Diet adherence is and will always be number one. If you can’t stick to a nutrition regimen, it’s not going to work for whatever your goal is. There’s really nothing else to say on this, as it would just be overcomplicating the simplest message possible.
Moving forward to calories. Let’s start with this - they DO matter. For some reason there are many people out there who try to argue that they don’t and attempt to prove that other factors supersede calories when it comes to weight balance. If you want to gain weight, eat more calories. If you want to maintain weight, and your weight is already stable for the most part, eat what you normally do. If you want to lose weight, eat less calories - this professor did it with Twinkies back in 2010.
Next, food choices. Just because that guy lost weight eating mostly Twinkies doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. With your health in mind, it’s of course ideal to make up a majority of your diet with non-processed foods. I’m not even going to get into specific food groups here - you should eat plenty of variety and simply avoid what your body does not agree with. Plus, it’s not fair to say certain foods are better than others since there are so many different cultural ways of eating which result in healthy populations. But there’s no culture out there that is overwhelmingly healthy while eating a majority of their diet as processed foods.
Alright, now here is something that isn’t usually talked about - adaptability. Most equations out there for calculating metabolic rate include an ‘Activity Factor’ which increases or decreases your daily maintenance calories based on how active you are. People should also do this in their day to day life, whether they are counting calories or not. Keep in mind that this has to be considered along with your goal. When it comes to weight loss and weight gain, it is important to keep things gradual. When we lose weight too quickly, we risk losing muscle in proportion to body fat. When we gain weight too quickly, we risk gaining more body fat in proportion to muscle. Both of these scenarios come with other issues as well. Overall, you should know your usual level of activity, and adjust how much you eat based on how far you deviate from the norm on any given day (within reason).
Now, here is a hot topic these days - macros. The macronutrients are protein, carbohydrates, and fat - and they each contain calories which make up our total calories for the day. Protein is required for maintenance of lean tissue and is the only macronutrient necessary for survival. Carbohydrates are the preferable energy source for the body, but if you’ve heard of the Keto diet, you know they aren’t required to live. Fats are the secondary source of energy for the body, but primary if someone does not eat carbs. They’re important for proper hormonal balance. If you’re someone who is simply trying to maintain health with diet and exercise, you don’t have to worry so much about macros if you are eating a variety of foods each day. People with physical and performance based goals will benefit from paying attention to the macronutrient breakdown of their calories consumed each day. More protein is needed to build and maintain muscle, carbohydrates will assist in physical performance, and adequate fats will keep hormone levels normal. But again, calories matter most.
Another hot topic is meal timing, and this is another thing that simply matters less than calories. Meal timing is usually irrelevant to people without a goal in mind. However, people who do have a goal in mind could benefit from taking a page out of their book. Unless you must perform at an elite level or have a competition on the horizon, putting a lot of energy into eating at specific times each day for a perceived benefit is simply not ideal if it makes your daily life more difficult. If you just worked out hard in the gym, you should probably get some food in you soon, but you won’t miss your opportunity for results if you don’t have a protein shake in your hand the second you finish up. What does matter is consistency, as the body prefers it. If you generally eat 3 meals a day and your body is used to it, keep doing that. If you eat 3 meals a day but you want to gain some weight, you could add a snack at some point in the day or eat slightly larger portions until the scale starts to budge. Be adaptive.
Last but not least, supplements and superfoods. Let’s start with supplements - all I have to say here is that the answer is right in the name. They supplement your diet. They cannot make up for poor eating habits, or magically build muscle and burn fat without having your other bases covered. I also mention superfoods because marketing likes to paint certain foods as ‘game-changers’ due to their nutrient content. This is great and all, but if you eat a bunch of blueberries and kale in addition to a majorly processed diet, i’d argue they are doing very little in terms of benefit, and a lot in terms of burning a hole in your wallet. Superfoods are just foods, and if you stick to the idea of eating a majority of your diet as non-processed foods you are likely going to be eating foods that fall into this category anyway. I am not saying supplements and superfoods aren’t useful - I think everyone could benefit from a daily multivitamin - but they simply fall to the bottom of the hierarchy when it comes to my thoughts on a practical approach to nutrition. Don’t let massive marketing efforts lead you into believing any of these things are a magic bullet.
So there we have it, my thoughts on a practical approach to nutrition. Before wrapping this up, I want to describe how I personally approach my diet, which may help you put things together.
How I Approach Nutrition These Days
First, my experience and goals must be considered. I have a university-based education in nutrition, as well as tons of experience from the school of hard knocks. I keep myself aware of nutrition trends and love to experiment and see how it affects my body. This has not always been a positive experience for me. My experimentation with nutrition also has to factor in my goals as a bodybuilder and powerlifter.
Constantly experimenting means that I was always tracking foods, calories, and macros to see the results. I admit there have been MANY nights where I would have eaten ‘perfectly’ for the day, just to pound down a couple thousand calories before bed and throw my experiment out of the window.
Over time I’ve realized that a broader approach is right for me, as my upbringing came with a hefty dose of food issues. I still track foods - but not all the time. If i’m on vacation or i’m out with friends, I simply don’t do it. I’m not concerned with being perfect on my macros, but with my goals in mind I try to stay in the ballpark. Calories are more important anyway, as I’ve mentioned many times.
I take plenty of supplements as a personal choice, but I don’t lean on them. Like I said before, it’s in the name. They supplement my diet which is primarily based around non-processed foods.
When I mentioned that there have been many nights where I’d take down a couple thousand calories before bed, guess what types of foods those were. In the moment, mindless eating and processed snack-type junk foods are a match made in heaven, but after the fact they’re a heavy dose of guilt and regret. Maybe you relate, maybe you don’t. If you do - this is exactly why adherence is and always will be the most important factor in any nutrition plan.
There are still times where I track everything and hit my macros perfectly, but this is when I have a more intense goal on the horizon. That goal is what keeps the mindless eating at bay and allows for adherence. 99.9% of people would never be able to pull this off year-round, but anyone can pull it off for a limited amount of time. I truly believe that. If someone were to challenge this idea, I’d say they have deeper issues at hand, because I’ve been there.
I could rant and ramble about this topic all day and if I don’t stop myself here, that’s exactly what i'll do. If this article helps give you some perspective, i'd love to hear about it. If you hate it and want to express why, i’d also love to hear about it. If you have a simple question or want to share your story with me, please do. Just send me an e-mail to jon@refinedmuscles.com.
Now go eat some good food, get moving, and take steps towards your goals - whatever they may be.