2024
Nutrition
Nutrition is the topic this week that I want to chat about. Obviously, this is a massive subject which is not only infinite but also polarises people with what they believe.
When the subject of nutrition is brought up, I believe the first problem is that many people do not say what exactly the goal of the individual is. For example, a marathon runner will have a totally different diet plan to that of a sumo wrestler, so what is right and what is wrong?
I believe a good idea is to start with general guidelines and then tailor the situation to each individual according to their needs and wants. I will start with the very boring but true statement of “ everything in moderation “ , which is true …however , what is moderation? This also may differ from person to person according to their size and metabolism. ( we’ll go over metabolism later ) but the first thing to consider is what does the client want to achieve? It could be muscle gain , weight or fat loss, increased cardio fitness or increased fat content just for starters. However, in this blog we will discuss fat or weight loss.
Firstly I will say that the term weight loss is totally misleading. Do the scales tell you how fit you are , or how much muscle or fat you have on your body or even water for that matter ? They don’t tell you how much your bones weigh or register if you have been to the toilet ( yes poo does have a weight ) or if you have put on a kilo by drinking one litre of water !! In actual fact the scales are the worst measurement you can use to track your improvement. Throw them out ! Nutrition is the basis of what we should be working on.
Secondly I want to point out that this is not the thin – ness industry, it’s the health and fitness industry and that is more important than being thin . I think in terms of sportspeople or athletes. They don’t care how much they weigh, all they’re concerned with is doing well in their chosen event. As a result of the hard training and healthy eating , they look fantastic. The world’s best athletes don’t go on crazy diets which restrict them in nutritional quality, in fact they eat more because they use up so much in their training. Of course we can’t all be elite athletes, but we shouldn’t have to starve ourselves to lose fat , we need to exercise to “burn” fat .
The word metabolism means “ the rate of which energy is burnt off” . We increase our metabolism with increased fitness. Extreme diets actually decrease our metabolism and can lead to weight or fat gain in the long run because they are not sustainable.
The most popular diet in the western world is the high protein low carb diet, currently trending as The Keto Diet. The theory here is that if you cut out carbs you only have fat to burn . Sounds good in theory but the problem here is that your brain and your body need carbs to live !! On this diet you will get thin but have zero energy and feel awful. Or have problems being able to think or function properly. Another issue with this diet is that there is zero fibre in protein and fibre prevents bowel problems and even bowel cancer .
Carbohydrates ingested allow the body to create energy which makes us think , laugh , run , jump , create and many more things and they come in the form of bread , pasta , rice, and potatoes . Fruit and veg are also carbs , as are cakes and lollies. In their raw form contrary to popular belief, carbs can’t make you fat. Fat makes you fat so therefore it is the fat that we eat that we must watch. On average, we should aim for 20 to 30 grammes of fat a day to become a bit leaner plus as much exercise as we can do.
Carbs and fat give us the energy we need to exercise, whilst protein is the worst form of energy. The role of protein is to repair tissue in our bodies , like hair , nails , skin , bone and muscle . It does not build muscle as often thought . In fact too much protein is not good as our kidneys will struggle to break the protein down perhaps resulting in kidney stones .
In my next blog I will give more detail on nutrition. I will give you a breakdown of the different types of carbs , fat and protein and how it affects everything we do .