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Nutrition: Who Made it so Difficult?
Dr. Stacia Kelly has an excellent article in Primer this week exploring what I consider the most foundational, practical, and most abandoned nutritional concepts of our age. Today everyone is looking for a gimmick. Everyone wants a once-a-day pill that will make life easy, or a faddish diet plan like Atkins or South Beach. Here’s a tip: if you’re “on a diet” then you should just throw in the towel today and save yourself some time, because diets don’t last–lifestyles last. Nutrition is simple. To dovetail on what Dr. Kelly says in the article, here are my general rules:
- Eat right 75% of the time. The remaining 25% is for eating out with friends, having ice cream with your spouse, and generally enjoying life.
- Eat the right mix of protein/carbs/fat. Contrary to gimmick diets and junk science, carbs and fat are not your enemy. You need them both in the right proportions.
- Eat the right portions. Don’t feel obligated to finish your plate, either at home or at restaurants. Take it home in a box or throw it away. Better in the trash than attached to your ass. Your mother was not correct on this one.
- Necessary portions change as you age. During high school I often ate two school lunches and drank nearly a quart of whole milk. These days a Lean Cuisine gets me 80% of the way through lunch, and they’re not very generous. Perhaps this levels off after 30, but every few years I’m consistently surprised at how little food I need compared to just five years prior. I suppose this has to level off sometime, else at age 50 I’ll be eating a protein bar for dinner.
- Stop eating when you begin to feel full. In 20 minutes you’ll feel completely full and happy you stopped.
- If practical, eat several small meals a day. If this isn’t practical then three meals a day will do.
- Whatever you do, don’t skip a meal. Skipping meals just deprives your body of needed fuel. You have to get that fuel somehow. You’ll probably overindulge at your next meal or find junk snacks to fill the void.
- Fresh foods are exponentially better than processed foods. Choose fresh vegetables over frozen. I think that freshly cooked red meat is even better than a gravy-fest from the freezer. This gets expensive, and 100% compliance isn’t practical, but do it when you can.
- Exercise. Nay, thrash yourself! It’s hard to gain weight when your pulse spends 20+ minutes per day at 180 beats/minute. When I exercise more intensely I can allow myself more slack without ill-effects.
Nutrition is simple. Having the discipline and control to practice these simple tenets is difficult. I’m certainly not perfect. I break one of these tenets almost every day. However, you don’t have to be perfect unless you’re training to be Mr. Universe. Most of us can get away with the 75% solution and be pretty pleased with the results. If you really want to change your body then implement some of these simple ideas and stick with them for a couple months. You’ll slowly figure out where you can allow yourself more or less slack and how you can mold the changes into your lifestyle. Unless sound nutrition is a pattern of your life then you’ll always be chasing the dream with the next fad diet or diet pill. There is no magic bullet. A lifestyle that values nutrition is the only answer.
Frozen vegetables are not necessarily bad. Canned vegetables are the worst option. Frozen and fresh are about equal. It all depends on how you cook the vegetables. If you buy frozen vegetables with cheese sauce and butter in it then of course that is not healthy. However, neither is taking fresh broccoli and boiling it and then adding cheese and butter. If you steam your frozen veggies they are just as good as steaming fresh veggies. The key is to stay away from canned vegetables and steam your frozen or fresh vegetables and do not add butter, cheese, and salt every time!