Not too long ago I was having a chat with a good friend about diet and lifestyle, he was pretty confused as to why he was getting fatter, even though he had been quite active and ‘eating well’.

The conversation went something like this.

Friend: Man I dunno what’s going on, I’m eating well and it’s not like I just sit around all day but I’m still getting fat?!

Me: What’s your diet like?

Friend: Pretty good, I’m heaps healthier than I used to be, just eat meat and veg for lunch every day now.

Me: Hmmm, how are you cooking and preparing it?

Friend: Oh I don’t, I just go down to the pub and have a chicken parmi.

And, that’s where the problem was. Every day, in his head, he was eating meat and veg and technically that was correct. But, the meat was breaded, deep friend and covered in sauce and cheese. The veg was about three large white potatoes worth of deep fried chips as well as about half a cup of mixed salad leaves drowned in some overly sweetened commercial salad dressing.

In his mind, he was doing the right thing and though it might seem obvious to some people that it is not, there is many people, through a lack of education, that will not recognise the issues.

Ok yes, there are a lot worse things he could have been eating but there is a lot better too. This is true even more so if fat loss (and general health) were his goal. The real question is why was he going so wrong? Well it comes down to a simple lack of education, which I believe is one of the largest problems within our fattening society, people just do not know any better. In fact, simple nutritional information like what is a carbohydrate, which I have been asked before, isn’t necessarily that obvious without some level of coaching or training. So to un-muddy the waters and provide a nice simple guide, I decided to write this week’s blog to cover the basics of nutrition and give you some key points to help you make better choices with your diet.

First up, what are each of the macronutrients. These are where we obtain energy so that we can fuel our bodies and stay alive.

Carbohydrate

Carbs, as they are commonly known are types of sugars, which is the primary energy source for our body and brain. They can be found in grains, legumes, vegetables and most plant foods as well as some animal products. The problem is not all carbs are created equal, let me explain. There are different forms of carbohydrates some with more complex molecules some with more simple. The more complex the carb the harder it is for our bodies to access the stored energy. This means they have a longer more sustained energy release unlike simple carbs which is kind of like throwing petrol on a fire, a big flash but then it’s all gone. Lots of people eat diets high in simple carbs, like soft drink bread and sweets, so they are continuously having flashes of energy then crashes soon after. The solution? Make sure you get your carbs from whole food low GI sources of carbohydrate like fruits, berries, vegetables and legumes.

Proteins

Proteins are chains of amino acids, amino acids do all sorts of stuff in your body including provide the foundational building blocks for just about everything including muscles, hormones, and organs. They can also be broken down and used for energy like carbs are though it takes a lot more energy to use them as energy. This is good though, and we can use this to our advantage when trying to burn excess body fat.

Protein can be sourced from eating the muscle or organ tissue of animals this is the best and most bio-available form for us as humans to consume, dairy products also contain protein. Animal protein is complete and provides the full spectrum of amino acids we require to survive. Protein can also be obtained from eating plant based sources though these are usually incomplete (don’t have a full spectrum of amino acids) and have a much lower bioavailability. To negate this issue vegetarians will need to eat more protein, about 10-15%, to get the same benefit and also eat multiple sources of protein in each meal to ensure a full spectrum of amino acids is absorbed. The other issue with using plant based sources of protein is that they are usually coupled with high amounts of carbohydrate and fats which makes it hard to get a adequate protein intake without over consuming calories. A solution to this would be to supplement with a plant based protein blend. At the end of the day it’s probably easier to just eat animal products.

Animal proteins should be sourced from high quality wild caught or grass fed sources, avoid grain fed or feed lotted meat, this goes for farmed fish too, because the diet high in grains throws out the omega 3:6 balance in the fats making it less optimal for human health.

Fats

Fats are super important in our body and we would die without them, every cell in our body has a lipid (oil) layer around it, which keeps the cell intact. We can also store fats for later use as energy and they are essential for proper neural function. Fat has been given a bad rap over the years mostly through bad science that was picked up by the media and marketing companies then accepted by the public and mainstream nutritional education.

Dietary cholesterol and saturated fats have copped the majority flak in the anti fat movement prompting movements towards cholesterol free margarine and so forth, don’t believe the hype. I remember 10 years ago in a human bioscience lecture my professor told me that dietary cholesterol has no negative effect on systemic cholesterol, this was a slight over simplification but essentially is correct, and saturated fats also play a crucial role in hormone production. So don’t freak out on fat!

Adequate fat consumption can usually be achieved from food alone without the need for addition; most lean meats are between 5% and 10% fat content as well as nuts and seeds containing fairly high levels of fats. Avoid using processed vegetable oils like margarines. If you need to add oil for cooking use macadamia oil, coconut oil or grass-fed butter.

Alcohol

Yep that’s right, you heard me alcohol. Alcohol is also an energy source for the body, albeit not a healthy one. This is why people who drink a lot tend to get fat, your body will use the alcohol for energy and any additional energy consumed from food tends to get stored as fat. Alcohol also has other side effects like increasing the toxic load on your liver a well as negatively effecting neural function and gut flora populations. So as fun as it can be, keep in mind that it’s doing more harm than good and should definitely not be relied on as a food source.

Now that we have that out of the way what are some key points to take away from this

Eat whole foods

This means avoid overly processed, pre-packaged, or pre-manufactured foods where possible. Processing is any action taken on the food, cooking is a process, cutting or mincing is a process, so any one who says don’t eat any processed foods is over simplifying and may as well be encouraging you to go and take a bite out of a live cow. But, what they really mean and you should be doing, is eating foods as close as they are found in nature as you can with minimal processing.

Drink lots of water

Good old dihydrogen monoxide or H2O. This should be your primary, if not only, source of hydration. You should be drinking around 32 ml per kg of body weight a day. That means if you weigh 100 kg then you should drink around 3.5 litres. During hard training, you can increase that by around 1 litre per hour. Water helps detoxify your body, lubricates and cushions tissue in the body, is needed for proper muscle contractions and makes up about 70% of our body weight, so it’s kind of important. Stay hydrated!

How much to eat

As a rule of thumb, protein should be the basis of every meal and the rest is built around it. Protein portions for men should be the size of your hand, for women the size of your palm. For muscle gains this is to be eaten around five times a day, for fat loss then keep it to three. Your vegetable intake should match your protein gram for gram, that is if you eat a 200 gram steak then you should eat at least 200 gram of green vegetables.

Additional carbohydrate intake, this is dependent on the individual’s metabolic requirements and specific goals. However, servings should be around the size of a closed fist with carbohydrate intake weighted towards the evening meals or post workout for optimal metabolic function.

Now all that is said and done, this is a great place to start but keep in mind this is a generalised guideline. Specific performance requirements will vary from individual to individual dependant on your training load, genetics and other environmental factors; this is the next level of detail I work on with my individual athletes. If you would like to know more about nutrition and training to get the most out of your performance then contact me today and book in a consultation and goal setting session in the Brisbane studio. Also keep an eye out for my elite online performance coaching launching early in 2016, if you would like to know more head over to my contact page and send me a message.

Train hard and be safe.

Your strength coach,

Cam