“Eating healthy can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to be a daunting task”. Why can’t I just eat whatever I want and lose weight? The truth is you can. (GASP) Tell me more you liar.
Science shows that there is no right or wrong way to eat. The truth is it is all about calories in, Calories Out. Which is energy in energy out, you can eat whatever you want and still lose weight, but it all comes down to the number of calories you consume and expend. We spend so much time trying to figure out what we can eat, what we shouldn’t eat.
Is sugar good for us? Should I eat carbs? If I have a piece of cake will my fat explode, making me gain 25lbs overnight. I cannot possibly have pizza and still lose weight. I better stop eating bread because everyone says carbs are evil. If I eat a cookie my entire diet is blown and I’m a horrible human being. My God don’t you dare drink coffee. Caffeine comes from the devil.
Sugar makes you fat. Salt will give you a heart attack or stroke. Eggs are bad for you. If you eat fat your cholesterol will go through the roof, and you will die! Steak and chicken are bad for you. Protein causes cancer. With all the pesticides being used none of the fruits and vegetables are healthy anymore. You must be organic or else you just don’t know how to live. Being vegetarian is the only way to live. Everyone that eats meat is a horrible person because, animals…The only way to be healthy is through intermittent fasting!
Did I miss anything? Is your head officially spinning in a circle like Linda Blairs. (Horror Reference) The truth is there are tons more nonsensible things we can go over. For every study there is an argument. For every way of life there is a defense. It has become so polarizing and so convoluted with money and politics, who really knows what the hell the truth is. All we can do as regular people is find the information that we can agree with. I personally have found a few sources that I trust. One being Precision Nutrition(@precisionnutrition ) Another is Dr. Layne Norton (@biolayne ) @drlaynenorton and lastly Mindpumpmedia.com
I’m working through my Precision Nutrition Certification as we speak. I’m taking my time with it. There are just tons of great basic nutrition information that honestly goes way deeper than I thought it would. Not being in school for such a long time makes things just a little bit harder. With that said the information is common sense and down to earth. This is science, and we are all messy people just trying to figure this stuff out. What I love about precision nutrition is they coach the person and not necessarily the science. Not one thing works for everyone. Keto or intermittent fasting may work for Sally, but it doesn’t work for John. A high protein diet may be great for Gregg, but Paul gets constipated and bloated after 150g of protein every day.
What I’m saying is we need to find out what works for us. We are all individuals. We all have different stressors. We all are in different seasons of our lives. We all have different sleep patterns. Some of us are lucky enough to live near parks. Where we can run and ride bikes. Or play with our kids and grandkids. We should remain flexible in our approach for a healthy diet.
I hated broccoli when I was 10. I love broccoli now, and yes, I put butter and garlic on mine lots of the time. Sometimes I sauté it with olive oil. The truth is no matter how you like to eat it is all about energy balance. The food we eat is energy. Whatever energy we expend living needs to be in balance with what our goals are. If you want to lose weight. You must expend more energy than you consume. Meaning you must move. Walk, run, hike, bike, ski, lift weights, play tennis, golf or pickle ball. If you want to remain the same. You must bring in as much as you put out.
Think about your finances. If you bring money in and don’t spend it. It accumulates. Well, the same goes for Calories. Except our body stores it so we grow and not our bank accounts. Our body stores all that extra energy as fat. Most guy’s hold it in their bellies and women tend to hold it in their hips. Unless of course you become obese. Then you are just fluffy all around. Like a marshmallow. Like I used to be.
Are their foods that are healthier than others. Of course, there are. Does that mean cookies and cake are evil and should never be touched? OH, HELL NO!
Listen, eating a balanced diet and enjoying the sweeter things in life is all about living. I’m the first to admit I have a sugar problem. My problem is once I start, I tend to eat too much. It is something that I need to be very diligent about. I need to be careful. I personally cannot eat sugary things daily. I will inevitably begin to eat more and more until I’m eating cake and cookies three times a day. For me it is a lot like my alcoholism. It affects me physically and emotionally. Will I never eat cake again. OH, I CERTAINLY WILL! Do I want to go back to eating it on a regular basis. Absolutely not. So, I am careful to remain aware and ever vigilant.
Don’t let me make you think I have just come to this conclusion easily. Like I read some books and watched some YouTube videos and poof, like magic I’m all better. YEA NO, that is not how it happened for me. I was beaten and bludgeoned into submission. I tortured myself for years by overeating. The place that I am in currently did not come easy. It was painful and lasted over a decade. So, if you are struggling just know that it can be done. You can figure it out. You can eat whatever you want and still maintain your weight and your sanity. You just begin to change your mind on what it is you want to eat.
I can eat cake whenever I want. I choose to eat it on special occasions. Even then I sometimes will only have a small piece. You know why, because there are usually Italian cookies lying around that are frickin delicious and I would rather have 5 of those. I lost 50lbs eating Pizza once a week. Yup once a week I had two slices of Pizza. I stayed within my calories though. I planned for it. Sometimes that meant skipping lunch or having something smaller.
Okay let’s talk about the basics. The science is straight forward. If you eat more than you use, you will gain weight. If you eat less than you use, you will lose weight. If you find your sweet spot hallelujah. You have reached the promised land. Now all of that is great except we are messy humans and what we eat is only part of the equation. So unfortunately, it is a little more complicated than just calories in and calories out. This is, however, where we all must start. We can then go from there. I suggest keeping a journal and tracking all your calories for 2 to 3 weeks. Eat like you always do and track it. This will give you a much better idea of what exactly you are putting into your body.
Now keep this in mind. Unless you are weighing your food you will not be accurate. I repeat you will not be accurate. Studies show that people that are asked to track eat 1,000 more calories a day than what they reported. There are also studies that show professionals like nutritionists and fitness people eat 300 to 500 more calories per day than they reported. Those are a lot of calories people. So, if you want to do this you need to weigh your food. I know, it is a pain in the ass. I know it is inconvenient. I also know that being fat sucks and if I wanted to start losing weight I needed to track for a while. I needed to get a grip on what portions actually looked like.
Precision nutrition loves to use the hand method. Your palm is the size for protein. Your fist is for Vegetables a cupped hand is for carbs a serving of fats is your thumb. I think that is a great system after you have measured and weighed for a while. If you just have no desire to measure and weigh than the hand method is the next best thing. I personally use the lose it app to keep track of everything. I like it and have been using it for roughly 2.5 years. Not constantly, only when I want to get dialed in.
Nothing is super accurate. So, you need to keep in mind that whatever you find may and will change. Especially if you are going off what the nutrition labels say. Most people don’t know that the FDA decided it was ok if nutrition labels were up to 20% wrong. That is right folks. You read the label and it says 100 calories. It could really be 120 calories. Now I don’t know the actual discrepancies with this, but I would say if you are eating food that is meant to be low calorie, do you think these companies would take advantage of lowering there calorie count by 20%? I don’t personally pay attention to this but if you are eating or think you are eating in a deficit and not losing then this is something you may want to pay attention to.
Nutrition isn’t just about the food. It is also about our movement. Most of us are gaging our movement with watches, phones, treadmills, etc… They are also wrong. 28% to 94% wrong. Yes, I know it is very disturbing. Just realize when your treadmill or watch says you burned 500 calories. You are probably looking at 250. Don’t kill the messenger!
I have some more good news for you. If you are eating only processed foods. That’s foods that come from a box a wrapper a can etc. Then odds are you are overeating. Studies have shown that people that only eat processed foods eat on average 500 more calories per day. A pound is 3500 calories. So, you can gain 1 pound a week simply because you are eating processed foods. These foods are engineered to make us hungry. We fill up and get hungry an hour or two later. You just eat more. So, what is the answer. Whole foods, Fresh vegetables, meats, chicken, and fish from the market. Rice, Whole potatoes from the bag. (gasp) You mean I have to cook!!!!
You don’t have to. There are great services out there that you can use to get much healthier options than what comes out of a box. They tend to be very expensive after a while. Totally worth it though if you are not going to do some cooking. I do some cooking. I also eat stuff out of bags, wrappers, and boxes. This is the real world. We all must do what makes us happy and what will get us to where we want to go. I use protein powders. I eat protein bars. I buy salad in a bag. I use the perdue short cuts every day. I no longer go to burger king; I stay out of convenience stores. Convenience stores trigger me. Just too much temptation. I love ring dings, yodels, nut mixes, donuts, etc. Those things are just low hanging fruit in those stores. It makes it difficult to take yogurt and fruit instead. I shop at the food store; I go in to get what I need, and I get out.
Most of us know exactly what to do. We know for the most part what is good for us and what will keep us sick. I think the disconnect is we don’t understand the severity of our decisions. When we overeat or don’t exercise nothing super bad happens. It’s not like being an alcoholic. We are not going to jail for killing someone with a car after eating too much ice cream. We put the weight on so slowly till suddenly BAM! We are obese and super uncomfortable. The excuses we use honestly are ridiculous if you sit back and think about it. Most people say they don’t have enough time. Yet they watch 4 hours of tv every night. We are on our phones 6 hours of the day and night. The truth is we have the time.
Another big one is “it is too hard”. Hard is surviving a heart attack. Hard is becoming diabetic. Hard is not being able to play with your kids or grandkids. Hard is not being able to walk the stairs. Choose your hard folks! We just don’t prioritize ourselves because we don’t think it is important. We will take care of it later. The problem is later comes quick and then we are sick. Hopefully most people get to a place where they are sick and tired of being sick and tired. Then they at least have a fighting chance.
This country is 68% overweight or obese. That is a staggering number of unhealthy people. Honestly it doesn’t have to be that way. There are a lot of people that are suffering
needlessly. I don’t know the answer for everyone. I do know the answer for myself. I do know that what worked for me and what has worked for 1,000’s of others can work for you. It may not look exactly how I did things. The truth is I’m sure it will look very different. Again, because we are messy humans. We are all different and unique. What works for Billy will probably not work for Sam.
I’m grateful for everything I have been through. I’m honored that anyone is willing to sit back and read what I have to say. I understand the struggle that people are experiencing only because I have been there. I have been there on so many different levels. The dark pit of despair is a lonely and scary place to hide. Yet 100’s of thousands of us stay stuck in it. I’m telling you from experience. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SUFFER IN SILENCE! There is a way out. It is not easy, but it is worth it. Eating a balanced diet that works for you is about finding the right balance of healthy foods and occasional treats. It's a journey that requires patience, perseverance, and self-awareness.
Now that you understand the basics of nutrition, take the first step towards a healthier you by making small changes to your diet and lifestyle.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
Guy
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