As a healthcare professional, I feel it is a duty of mine to be as healthy as is reasonably possible. What I find with that goal is that my conception of what health looks like is constantly evolving. However, through this evolution I have found some ideas that have remained consistent. Some are things that we have all heard before, while others are more unique to my personal vision of health and wellness.
The two most frequent areas I get asked about are diet and exercise. In this post I want to focus on diet. These recommendations will be categorized as DO, DON’T DO, and MAYBE DO. Those put into the DO category are things that are either true for everyone or very likely true for everyone. Those in the DON’T DO category are false or very likely false for everyone. Those in the MAYBE DO category are recommendations that are either unclear as to their validity, may depend on the individual, or things that are my subjective opinion.
As with many health suggestions, speaking to a healthcare provider that you trust on the subject is always recommended. Balancing your own research and intuition with the suggestions of others knowledgeable in the field of nutrition can help ensure the best results. It also helps keep you from falling victim to a fad diet or unhealthy mindset.
DO
Eat a variety of food
A diverse diet is an easy strategy to ensure that your micro nutrients (vitamins and minerals) are met and your palate doesn’t grow bored. A common phrase that has a lot of wisdom behind it is “Eat the rainbow,” meaning eat products of all different colors. Obviously this isn't referring to food dyes. Purple cabbage, orange carrots, green cucumbers, all have important nutrients associated with their natural colors. Additionally, eating a variety of meat colors has its own benefits. White meats such as chicken and cod tend to be lean and naturally contain creatine which boosts brain and muscle function. Red meats contain different nutrients in the fat (more so with grass fed, wild, or pasture raised) in addition to iron, which many women are deficient in. Seeking out variety in food also has the added benefit of helping expose you to new foods and increases your cooking skill.
Eat what you can afford
I’ve seen people spend more on food than they do on rent simply because they became convinced that purchasing the more expensive food would make them healthier. To meet these extreme budget challenges they would stress themselves out working extra and skipping out on other expenses. Simply put, eating good quality food is important, but no amount of quality food can make up for the stress of a tight budget. Focus on getting sufficient protein first. If you have the means, then upgrade your quality and variety of protein. From there you can upgrade your quality of produce and prepackaged goods. Most luxury brands aren’t necessarily healthier, just trendy or novel.
Cook most of your own meals
Cooking at home is cheaper and usually healthier than eating out, everyone knows this. At home you can easily control portion sizes, increase the amount of meat and veggies, decrease oils and sugars, and customize to your palate and gut. Balance is important, so I still encourage going out occasionally for convenience or pleasure, if desired. Almost everyone enjoys a good Mexican restaurant, and sometimes we legitimately do not have the time or willpower to cook for ourselves. In our house we are self-proclaimed foodies, so we try to do two restaurants a week, one breakfast/lunch, and one dinner. This keeps us balanced between a healthy diet, budget, and adventure.
Focus on meat, plants, and other whole foods
There are many diets out today competing for the title of “the right way to eat.” The best diet boils down to eating a healthy amount of protein, eating a lot of vegetables, and avoiding over processed foods. Many new diet ideas hearken back to our hunter gatherer ancestors in their logic, and so exclude many products that our agricultural ancestors enjoyed very successfully for thousands of years. Many of our diet problems did not start when we switched to farming, they started when we switched to factory foods. To me, dairy and most whole grains get an unnecessarily bad reputation. They should be a supplementary part of our diet along with good fruits/vegetables and animal protein products.
Understand macro-nutrients and your personal requirements
Everyone should know about carbs, protein, and fats by now. What is more important to understand is how energy dense (calories) each of these are, and how many calories each of us need to sustain our current lifestyle. Carbs and protein have 4 calories per gram, and fat has over double at 9 per gram. The summation of all the calories we have in a day is our daily caloric intake. How much energy our body needs to keep working without any physical activity is called a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Your BMR combined with an estimate of how many calories you use with your lifestyle will give you a number called the Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE.) If you consume more calories than your TDEE, you will gain weight and if you consume less calories than you should lose weight. ne of my favorite phrases with diet is “when it comes to losing weight, physics is undefeated.” If you are using more energy than you are providing, the energy has to come from somewhere. If you are eating and moving right, that energy comes from your fat cells. Here is a simple TDEE calculator to get you started.
A good place to start might be to shoot for 1 gram of protein for every lb of your desired body weight, be that increasing, decreasing, or staying the same. Then carbs you can match, and fats you do half the grams. For example, I weigh about 200lbs, so my daily goals are 200 grams of protein, 200 grams of carbs, and 100 grams of fat. Feel free to experiment with the carbs and fats, they are fairly interchangeable and you may feel better on a heavier carb or a heavier fat diet.
DON’T
Obsess over food
When changing your diet, it can be common to become obsessed about it. While eating healthy is addictive in its own way, it should not become your personality or what you spend a lot of your day actively thinking about. More importantly, when someone starts to obsess over food, they develop an unhealthy relationship with it. This can lead to eating disorders such as bulimia or anorexia. It can also lead to severe food aversions that are purely psychosomatic. Having food too much on the mind also leads to “yo-yo” diets, where a person will eat very healthy for a time until their will breaks and then they binge eat the worst foods they constantly tell themselves they can’t have. This is why balancing is so important.
Skip social eating
Often accompanying obsession over food, is a tendency to skip out on social gatherings involving food. Social gatherings are a great place and time to practice portion control instead of product control. A hot dog and a slice of pie on Independence Day won't make you gain weight. Be social, be there, and be involved, just don’t be afraid to say when you have had enough and stick to it.
Use excessive processed oils
One of the current targets of fad nutrition is seed oils. Claims of what negative side effects they have range from increasing the risk of cancer to interrupting your hormones. While some of these claims are surely exaggerated, there is a basis of truth to them. In fact most processed oils such as vegetable, canola, and seed oils, do have a severe problem, they spoil. As these products spoil they increase in oxidation, and the more the body has to fight oxidation, the harder it gets. High oxidation levels in the body do lead to chronic inflammation, weakened immune system, and cancer among other things. Consider using grass fed butter, beef tallow, and virgin olive oil instead. Using a ¼ of a cup of vegetable oil for a cake probably won't hurt you at all, but only using these oxidized oils over time adds up.
Consume excessive amounts of sugars
This is one everyone knows, but surprisingly few do anything about. Calorie wise, fats are worse than the pure carbs of sugar, but chronic sugar intake has a host of other problems. As we consume sugar throughout the day, our pancreas has to constantly be doling out insulin to help manage the level of sugar in our blood. This constant pumping of insulin leads to our body growing more resistant to it over time and that is how Type 2 Diabetes starts. Additionally, as insulin levels rise in the body, so do our levels of Cortisol (the primary stress hormone.) With increased cortisol, we have increased inflammation, decreased metabolism, and an imbalance of our sex hormones. Having a treat now and again isn’t wrong, but eating sugars from the time you wake to when you go to sleep is.
Drink excessive amounts of alcohol
Alcohol has a slew of impacts on the body, but I want to mostly focus on 2. The first is simple: excess alcohol lowers testosterone levels in men and elevates it in women. Moderate consumption is likely ok, though still not ideal. As a body is constantly forced into an altered hormone level, it gets used to that level, and then tries to maintain that production as a new normal. This over years causes many of the low testosterone cases that are plaguing the world, but it also may be a contributing factor to infertility in many women. The second thing is that alcohol has calories. There are 7 calories in a gram of alcohol, meaning it has a higher calorie density than carbs or protein, and almost as high as fat.
MAYBE DO
Consider fasting
Fasting is a form of caloric restriction that has helped many to achieve their weight and health goals. The most common form currently is called time restricted fasting, in which a person typically only eats 2 meals a day while not increasing the portion size of those two meals. Skipping breakfast seems to be the easiest for most. For diabetics it has the added bonus of having longer periods of stable blood sugar levels without the use of insulin. However regular fasting may not be for everyone. Certain medical conditions make regular fasting unhealthy for the individual. Additionally, some people prefer portion control throughout the day instead of simply skipping a meal. You may consider trying it and see if it works for you.
Try an elimination diet temporarily
In cases of food sensitivities or chronic inflammation, elimination diets are a lifesaver. The best basic elimination diet is Whole30, with entire books and websites dedicated to it. Many of the recipes I use at home are Whole30 or based on it. Another good starting point is the Pegan Diet (a combination of paleo and vegan.) Even more extreme restrictive diets such as green plants only or a carnivore diet may be useful for more extreme bodily issues, they must be performed with knowledge and planning, as it is easy to become nutrient deficient. I recommend against turning any elimination diet into a life long diet, as they should be used to help your body reset.
Using a macro tracking app
This ties into understanding macro nutrients. When I have specific weight and fat goals I am working to achieve, I have found that using an app to track my calories throughout the day is the easiest way for me to do it. Many now allow you to scan barcodes or look up foods and quickly put them in your daily log. I do not track my foods when I am simply maintaining my current goals, but it is extremely helpful with either understanding your consumption habits or reaching a goal.
Macros for Android
Macros for Apple
Food Journal
Somewhat related is to keep a food journal. Food journals are more helpful for tracking habits and how certain foods impact you. Many are startled to what they discover as they log their food and how they feel throughout the day. I’ve seen people discover unknown allergies, link specific body pain to specific foods, and realize what foods they feel best after eating. A food journal is a good idea with the only downside being the time needed to do it correctly.
Add supplements to your diet
When changing your diet, you need a clear vision of what your goals are and have honesty with yourself about how much you are willing to do. When our goals and our willpower don’t align, we can use supplementation to bridge some of the gap. Getting our micro nutrients from whole foods will always be the best way, but there is nothing inherently wrong about getting some of your nutrients through supplements. A consultation with an experienced professional would be helpful in this regard, and the quality of supplements may become a factor depending on what you are using. Supplementation is an entire topic by itself and as such the proper utilization knowledge is higher than other categories.
Final Thoughts
These basic guides help explain the recipes I use in my own house, as well as the counseling I give to patients. It isn't all inclusive, and it is subject to my own biases, but I have seen very positive results for myself and those that have used these basic guidelines. If you have questions or suggestions after reading, please feel free to contact me.
תגובות