YOU HAVE BEEN LIED TO ABOUT FOOD NUTRITION has been vastly overcomplicated by people trying to sell you products and misinformation. Our bodies were designed to eat the foods produced by the earth and the animals on it. Most food nowadays is overprocessed, filled with sugar, and lacking nutrients. These unhealthy foods are addictive and destructive to our health. In the 20th century, cereal companies paid the government and advertisers to promote the healthy ‘food pyramid’, which consisted of lots of refined carbohydrates such as pasta and bread. Sugary foods have been promoted, despite the detrimental effects on our health. Fat has been demonised. People think that eating fat makes you fat, when in reality fat is an essential component of your diet. You need fat to create important hormones like testosterone. Salt has also been demonised. Salts are necessary to maintain the balance of chemicals in your cells and for controlling muscle contraction. Without salt, you wouldn’t be able to move. Of course, excessively salty foods are not good, either. Everything in moderation. MACRONUTRIENTS AND MICRONUTRIENTS Eating WHOLE FOODS is the solution. Look for foods with ONE INGREDIENT in the ingredient list e.g. a bag of carrots contains… carrots. We evolved to eat the food produced by the Earth and the animals on it. Try to eat a diet as similar to our hunter-gatherer ancestors as possible (sometimes called the Paleo diet). The 3 macronutrients are: ● Fats ● Proteins ● Carbohydrates You need sufficient fats to produce hormones, protein to repair muscle and other tissues, and carbohydrates to provide fuel for your body and brain. Good sources of fats include: ● Olive oil ● Dairy (whole milk, cheese, yoghurt with live cultures) ● Fatty fish e.g. salmon, mackerel ● Nuts ● Avocados Good sources of protein include: ● Meat e.g. beef, chicken, fish ● Eggs ● Dairy e.g. milk, cheese ● Nuts and seeds e.g. almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds ● Legumes e.g. beans and lentils Good sources of carbohydrates include: ● Vegetables ● Fruits (not too much because they are high in sugar) ● Oats ● Whole grains ● Rice ● Quinoa If you are training hard in the gym, you will need a lot of carbohydrates to fuel your workouts. Just try to avoid refined carbs like sweets, chocolate, soda, white bread, white pasta. MICRONUTRIENTS are often overlooked in favour of calories and macronutrients. These are just as important as getting enough protein, fat and carbs. Vitamins and minerals can be found in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seafood, meats (especially organ meats e.g. liver). HOW MANY CALORIES SHOULD YOU EAT? How many calories you should be eating depends on your goals. If you are obese and want to lose weight, eat in a large calorie deficit. Most other people should eat maintenance calories or in a small surplus (+200 calories). People are often scared to eat more when their goal is to lose fat, but eating in a slight surplus will allow you to build more muscle. Muscle is more energy-demanding than fat, so the more muscle you have, the more fat you will burn. Increasing the size of the muscle will also make you appear less fat (your total body fat may stay the same, but your body fat percentage will decrease, making you look overall less fat and more muscular). Many people, especially women, say they just want to ‘tone up’ and don’t want to get ‘too bulky’. You are not going to accidentally turn into Arnold Schwarzenegger. Getting ‘bulky’ takes years of consistent hard work and discipline with optimal diet, training and recovery. Getting more muscular makes everyone look better. Back to the diet plan. Calculate your maintenance calories using this calculator: https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html ● ● IF YOU WANT TO GAIN MUSCLE, add 200 calories to your maintenance calories. Most people, unless you are obese, should choose this option. IF YOU WANT TO LOSE FAT, subtract 200-500 calories from your maintenance calories. You may find that after a few weeks of eating at this new level of calories, your weight hasn’t changed. This may be because your body composition is changing, and you are in fact losing fat and gaining muscle, despite staying at the same weight. Instead of looking for changes on the scale, a better way to measure your progress is to take progress pictures of yourself and consider how you feel every day. Are you feeling better after a few weeks on your new diet? Good, it’s working. Are you looking more muscular and less fat? Good, it’s working, even if the scale hasn’t moved. If you are making progress in the gym (lifting heavier weights, doing more reps, executing the movements with better form), then it’s working. If you are eating in a caloric deficit, you WILL lose weight. If the scale is not moving, then you are not eating in a deficit. You may be getting more calories than you realise. If so, carefully track your calories using MyFitnessPal, weighing out all the foods. Eventually, your body will get used to the new level of calories and you will have to adjust your daily intake. If you are MEAL STRUCTURE A balanced meal should have some source of protein (e.g. lean meat, beans, dairy), some source of fat (e.g. olive oil, nuts), some vegetables (e.g. broccoli, spinach, carrots), and a staple carbohydrate (e.g. rice, oats, potatoes). Throughout the day you should snack on fruits and nuts to get the micronutrients you need. If you struggle to get enough calories, try adding a few glasses of whole milk every day. This has helped me immensely. FOODS TO AVOID You should try to minimise the following foods: - Alcohol Sugary foods Refined carbohydrates like white bread and pasta (use whole grain instead) Overly processed foods (if the package has lots of ingredients in the ingredient list, with chemical names you struggle to pronounce) SAMPLE BULKING MEAL PLAN Here is what I eat on a typical day of BULKING (~3400 calories). You probably don’t need to eat this much. I have a high activity level and fast metabolism: Meal 1: Protein smoothie (999 calories, 115g carbs, 35g fat, 53g protein) - 100g oats - 1 banana - 30g peanut butter - 80g frozen mixed berries - 1 scoop protein powder - 300 ml whole milk Meal 2: Scrambled eggs on toast (507 calories, 37g carbs, 25g fat, 28g protein) - 3 whole eggs - 50 ml whole milk - 2 slices wholemeal bread (toasted) - Butter - (+ salt, pepper, chives) Meal 3: Cheese toastie + sides (710 calories, 72g carbs, 35g fat, 20g protein) - 2 slices wholemeal bread - Cheese - 30g mixed nuts - Apple Satsuma Meal 4: Chilli con Carne (619 calories, 48g carbs, 26g fat, 39g protein) - 125g beef mince - ½ Bell pepper - ¼ Onion - 100g Chopped tomatoes - ½ can kidney beans - 75g rice Meal 5: Cereal (527 calories, 81g carbs, 13g fat, 19g protein) - 80g Muesli - Sultanas - 200 ml whole milk This diet helped me to gain about 8 kg (17 lbs) of weight in a year. Most of that weight was muscle, but some was fat. It’s highly likely that you will gain some fat as you bulk. This is a normal part of the process, and it provides you with more energy so that you can train as hard as you need to in the gym. HOW TO BULK IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE GAINING MASS I am in this category. I have a fast metabolism, I do a lot of activity, and eat healthy foods (which are usually lower in calories). This means I have to eat A LOT to gain weight. The best way I have found to get more calories is to drink lots of whole milk. I have a large protein shake in the morning after my workout, and I drink at least one glass of milk with each meal thereafter. 3 glasses of whole milk contains around 300 calories, with a great split of macronutrients. Also, eat peanut butter. I like to spread peanut butter on apple slices. That will give you a few hundred calories, plus it’s healthy. Avocados are great. And snack on NUTS. A handful of nuts has about 200 calories.
