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The Simple
Sensible Diet
Aim for Good Nutrition and a Healthy Weight
Nutrition can be a confusing topic. Thats why Im going to tell you everything you need to
know (and nothing you dont) about how to eat in a simple, sensible, and realistic way to
stay t and to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
By Nick Tumminello
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you need to lose fat, the single most important
factor is the relationship of how many calories you
consume per day to the number you burn per day.
The concept that you need to be in a caloric decit
in order to lose fat isnt personal opinion, nor is it up
for debate by so-called diet gurus. This is the rst
law of thermodynamics, which states that energy
cant be created or destroyed, only changed from one
form to another. Fat is stored energy. In other words,
fat loss is determined by burning more calories
each day than you consume. Research comparing
different diets has found that any reduced-calorie
diet results in clinically meaningful fat loss,
regardless of which macronutrients (carbohydrates,
fat, and protein) the diet emphasizes or avoids.
1
Now, this isnt to discount that some calories
are more nutrient-dense than others; weve all
heard the term empty calories before. So, you want
to emphasize fresh, local fruits and vegetables and
high-quality meats, eggs, and sh, while limiting
rened foods, simple sugars, hydrogenated oil,
and alcohol. Just understand that one can be well
nourished and still be overfed. As important as
it is to eat high quality, nutrient-dense foods,
78 massage & bodywork j ul y/august 2014
Emphasize the quality
(i.e., nutrient density) of the
food you eat and see where
that gets youit spells
success for most people.
you can still gain fat from eating healthy if you eat
too many calories relative to what youre burning.
That said, actually counting calories is a pain in
the you-know-what, and most people dont need to
bother doing it. The easiest approach is to emphasize
the quality (i.e., nutrient density) of the foods you eat
and see where that gets youit spells success for most
people, as fruits, vegetables, and lean meats are generally
lower in calories than things like fast food and candy.
COMPLEMENTARY EATING
Complementary eating is a simple, practical, and
realistic eating strategy you can use to ensure that
each meal you eat is well balanced and emphasizes
high-quality, nutrient-dense foods.
A complementary meal consists of four components:
1. Protein (beef, bison, chicken, dairy, eggs, sh, etc.)
2. Fibrous carbohydrate (fruits and vegetables)
3. Starchy carbohydrate (sweet potatoes, rice, oatmeal, etc.)
4. Fat (avocados, nuts, olive oil, etc.)
Size your meal components in this manner:
Make the protein and brous veggies the largest
portions on your plate. High-protein meals
create a sense of fullness, which helps to reduce
excessive caloric intake and promotes fat loss.
Make the starchy carbohydrate and fruit
smaller than the protein and veggies.
Make the healthy fat the smallest serving on your plate.
We call this strategy complementary eating because
each component of the meal complements the
others to maximize nutritional benets.
Protein is the building block of muscle.
If
Starchy carbohydrates are a great energy source.
Fibrous carbohydrates move it all through
the body and provide energy.
Fat decreases inammation, improves joint and heart health,
and aids in disease prevention and cognitive function.
Meal sizes differ for everyone and should be based on how
you feel and how much fuel your body requires that day. If you
feel hungry within an hour or so after nishing your meal,
you probably didnt eat enough. On the ip side, if you feel
full for hours, you probably ate too much. It comes down to
common sense, intuition, and simply listening to your body.
Why Does This Work?
A calorie is a measure of heat, and your body is a heat
machine. The thermic effect of food (TEF) is the term used
to describe the energy expended by our bodies in order
to consume (bite, chew, and swallow) and process (digest,
transport, metabolize, and store) food. In other words, certain
foods require us to burn more calories than others, simply by
eating them. Heres the general breakdown:
Fat is easy to digest. For every 100 calories of fat you eat,
you only burn about 5 calories in the digestive process.
Complex carbohydrates take more effort to digest.
For every 100 calories you ingest, you burn about 10
during digestion.
Protein requires the most energy to digest because it
is made up of 20 different amino acidsnine of which are
essential amino acids supplied only through food. For every
100 calories of protein you eat, you burn approximately 25
calories to digest it.
2
If most of your meals follow the complementary eating
proportions described above, it is easy to see how you end
up consuming fewer calories and burning more, while
emphasizing more nutritious foods. Plus, theres no unrealistic
dieting and no need for calorie counting!
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SPLURGE MEALS
We all have high-fat, high-calorie foods
that we love to eat. If you want to keep
your sanity and keep your healthy
eating manageable, you absolutely must
eat those not-so-healthy foods you
loveevery once in a while.
My advice is to follow the
85/15 rule. This means
that if 85 percent of
the time you eat
in the way Ive
described here,
then 15 percent
of the time you
can eat whatever
you want. In real-
world terms, thats
about one in every
seven mealsso if youre
eating four meals per day, that
means one of your meals can be
in the not-so-good-for-you category
every two days. Thats how moderation
works, and thats how you do a no-diet
diet!
Notes
1. Frank M. Sacks et al., Comparison of Weight-
Loss Diets with Different Compositions of Fat,
Protein, and Carbohydrates, New England
Journal of Medicine 360 (2009): 859873.
2. T. Halton and F. Hu, The Effects of High Protein
Diets on Thermogenesis, Satiety, and Weight
Loss: A Critical Review, Journal of the American
College of Nutrition 23: 373385.
Nick Tumminello is the owner of Performance University, a tness training and education
company based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Hes the author of the book Strength Training for Fat
Loss (Human Kinetics, 2014) and writes a popular tness training blog at www.performanceu.net.