Diet: Fact or Fiction?

When it comes to nutrition there is no ‘one size fits all’. Nutrition is essentially individual and what works for one will not necessarily be effective for another. The diet that you choose to follow must ultimately take into account your goals, activity levels, body type, genetics and more importantly what is realistic for you and fits your lifestyle.

The largely personal aspect of diet means that there is an abundance of option and an overload of literature on the topic. Reading up on diet is like entering a black hole filled with confusion, contradiction and conspiracy. Reading up on the ‘best diet’ can often not only ensnare you in the trap of ‘fad’ diets but can also leave you in the centre of a battle between different approaches, each claiming their superiority and flashing groundbreaking scientific research which proves them and disproves others.

Below we will be busting some common nutrition myths and providing information on some of today's most talked about diets. But before reading more check out some considerations to be made before choosing a diet for yourself:

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?

Before choosing a diet you must establish what you wish to gain from it and ensure that the said diet can adhere to this goal.

Weight Loss

Put simply, if your goal is to lose weight the key is calorie deficit. This means you will have to be consuming fewer calories than your 'maintenance' caloric intake. The energy that you’ve expended throughout the day in this case should be greater than what is consumed.

Muscle Gain

Whereas if your goal is to gain muscle you will need to be in a calorie surplus. This will require you to consume more than your maintenance intake. Resistance training will be the primary stimulus for muscle gain and protein intake will be prioritised.

How do I calculate my maintenance intake?

This is calculated using your weight, height , age and activity levels. Apps like MyFitnessPal will do this for you. If you inform the app that you wish to maintain your weight then it will tell you the calorie intake required to do so. Likewise if you inform the app that your goal is ‘weight loss’ or ‘muscle gain’, it will automatically put you in a deficit or surplus accordingly.

COMMON DIET CHOICES

What is Keto?

•Simply put, Keto is a diet that prioritises fats.

•In drastically reducing carbohydrates this approach makes the body more efficient in using fat stores and proteins as an energy source (as opposed to carbohydrates).

How do I follow a Keto diet?

To adhere to a Ketogenic diet your diet should consist of:

•70% Fats

•25% Protein

•5-10% Carbohydrates

What is Ketosis?

If insulin supplies in the body are too low to convert glucose to energy, then the liver will begin to create chemicals called ‘ketones’ from fat stores. These ketones can also be used for energy. The body is therefore now burning fats and using them to function. This state is called ketosis.

Benefits:

- The diet can accelerate weight loss whilst retaining muscle mass

- It has been linked with improved health in women with PCOS. Although more study is needed to establish a correlation and any positive findings thus far may actually be down to restricting carbohydrates rather than creating a state of ketosis.

-Greater stability in blood sugar levels which is especially beneficial to diabetics.

- Positive effects on appetite. Favouring fat and protein dense foods keeps you fuller for longer.

- Due to the reduction of glucose in the urine Candida does not thrive and therefore the diet can help with persistant yeast infections.

-Drawbacks:

- It is more of a quick fling! The Keto diet may have great benefits short term but is not sustainable or maintainable long term. In fact, it is not recommended to be in ‘ketosis’ for prolonged periods in order to achieve optimum wellness.

- Although eliminating certain carbohydrates such as refined sugar is certainly beneficial, many carbohydrates are nutrient dense and high in fibres etc. The diet does not take into account potential health benefits from a balanced diet which can include these types of carbs.

- If not followed and weighed out correctly it can actually cause weight gain, which may not be the desired outcome.

- May not be the right fit for anyone with genetically predisposed or at greater risk of heart disease and/or those with higher levels of cholesterol.

What is Paleo?

•The Paleo diet believes that we should strip back our diet, eating what it provided to us by nature in its simplest form.

• The diet suggests that this would have been the way our ancestors of the Paleolithic era will have eaten and that this way of eating is what is anatomically best suited to our digestive abilities.

How do I follow a Paleo diet?

•The Paleo diet consists of meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Essentially foods that can be obtained by hunting or gathering.

• The diet cuts legumes, grains, sugar, salt, processed food, potatoes and dairy products.

Benefits:

- The diet can accelerate weight loss since it abolishes starchy carbohydrates like bread, rice and pasts instead promoting the consumption of vegetables and fruits.

- Much like the Keto diet it provides greater tolerance to glucose

- Blood pressure control

- Like Keto it helps to suppress your appetite by having foods that keep you fuller for longer as the base.

-Drawbacks:

- Some of the ‘banned’ foods such as dairy (high in calcium) and wholegrains (a source of fibre) provide health benefits that might be missed without their consumption.

- Excludes vegetarians

- We are not cavemen. Humans of today are not biologically identical to those of the Paleo era and have adapted to our environment and what it provides us. Unless there is an intolerance which drives the choice, excluding certain foods that provide health benefits may be unnecessary and potentially increase risk of deficiencies.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

• Restricting your calories or abstaining from eating within certain time frames.

How do I follow this diet?

• The 16/8 Method: This is the most popular and understood method. It involves fasting typically for 16 hours each day and opening an eating window for 8 hours (for example, you may have your first meal at 12 midday and your last at 8pm).

• The 5:2 Ratio: This involves eating your recommended calorie intake 5 days per week but for the other 2 days implementing a large calorie deficit (500-600 cals in total or 25% of your normal calorie intake).

• The ‘2 On 2 Off’ Way: 2 weeks of ‘normal’ eating followed by 2 weeks of an achievable calorie deficit (not too drastic a cut since the time frame is longer than other methods). This approach is arguably the most maintainable long term in terms of motivation.

Benefits:

-.It is easier to sustain. Fewer restrictions on where calories should come from can not only help with motivation but also to reduce the chance of developing deficiencies, provided that healthy and balanced foods with good nutritional value are chosen when the fast is broken.

-Few side effects and a quick adjustment period although right at the beginning energy levels may falter

- Aids with weight loss and appetite control. Suitable for people who tire of diets due to the ‘break’.

- Lowered blood pressure and cholesterol

- Variety of different methods means the individual can choose a way that best suits them and their lifestyle.

-Drawbacks:

- Can increase the chances of binging upon breaking the fast or overindulging on ‘non fasting’ days.

- Not suitable for diabetics.

- Less guidance with regard to portions of each macronutrient which may still lead to the overconsumption or lack of one.

- Removal of social element

What a low carb diet?

• This recent mainstream dietary trend is basically exactly what it says on the tin- restricting carbohydrates. ('No carbs before Marbs').

How do I follow this diet?

Although this largely depends on the individual and their goals a rough guideline for a low carb diet would be:

* Staying within 100–150 grams = This range is meant for either weight maintenance or to coincide with frequent high-intensity exercise. It gives room for higher carb healthy foods such as fruit and even some starchy foods like potatoes, bread and rice.

* Keeping between 50–100 grams = This range is intended for steady weight loss. There's room for plenty of vegetables and fruit but does not enable many starchy carbs.

* Limiting to 50 grams = This is geared toward rapid weight loss and complements the ketogenic diet. It makes way for an abundance of vegetables but limits fruit intake to berries which are low on the glycemic index (GI).

Benefits:

- A reduction of water weight. For every gram of carbohydrates consumed, 3 grams of water is stored. As a result, limiting this food group could reduce water retention.

- Has been shown to be twice as effective as a low fat diet for weight loss and are especially linked with reducing fat around the abdomen (visceral fat)

- Those on a low carb diet tend to replace the calories normally taken up by carbs with higher protein foods. As a result there is a positive correlation between low carb diets and appetite suppression.

- Excludes processed foods

- Useful to diabetics

-Drawbacks:

- Not all carbs are created equal! The diet tends to vilify carbohydrates and often leads people to falsely believe that all carbs are ‘bad’ and should be avoided like the plague. This could be a damaging misconception since some carbs are useful to the body; fruits and vegetables give an array of micronutrients needed for wellbeing, while some grains are a fabulous source of dietary fibre that may otherwise be neglected.

- While it is great for short term results, these findings tend to dissipate in the long term. This may indicate that people struggle to uphold the diet for too long, get bored and ultimately gain the weight back.

DIET MYTHS

Separating Fact from Fiction!

The world of fitness and nutrition is inundated with misinformation, misunderstandings, conflicting findings and outdated ‘old wives tales’.

Let’s bust some of the most common myths ...

1. “Metabolic Damage”

Myth: It is widely believed that if you do not eat enough you can permanently damage your metabolism or ‘slow it down’. From this misconception came the idea of the body going into ‘starvation mode’ and holding onto fat as opposed to dropping it, thereby being counterproductive to weight loss.

It is clear that this is untrue since if it were those suffering from anorexia or malnutrition would at some point begin to gain fat as opposed to losing it and there wouldn’t be a consistently drastic weight drop and body fat reduction as is actually observed.

Fact : Although the metabolism cannot be damaged it can adapt. In metabolic adaptation you see the body responding constantly to changes and behaving accordingly. For example, if not enough food is being consumed it would result in less movement or rapid fatigue as a result of the body trying to conserve its limited energy.

2. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”

Myth: Although this information has been widely spread and used countless times in marketing ploys, the importance of the first meal of the day has been constantly contradicted and refuted. Although for some people, consuming breakfast may aid in concentration and performance, for other individuals it has less impact and is merely a forced meal thrust upon them by social convention . Regardless of individual preference, there was not found to be an association between skipping breakfast and body composition. Those who skipped breakfast were in most cases found to consume around the same calories overall as when they did not skip (they just ate the breakfast calories later). Moreover, diets like intermittent fasting prove that skipping breakfast and limiting the ‘eating window’ can be helpful for some who struggle with snacking throughout the day.

Fact : Skipping or eating breakfast is an individual preference. Any diet that creates a calorie deficit will aid in reducing weight regardless of when the calories are consumed.

3. “Eating low fat food is the best way to lose fat”

Myth: If you want to lose fat then you should just stop eating fat, because fat makes you fat... Right?

Fact : As previously mentioned, any diet that creates a calorie deficit will constitute a body fat reduction regardless of where the calories come from (fats, carbs, or proteins). If you reduce your fats but increase your overall calorie intake you will still gain weight, and likewise if you reduce fats but still maintain the same calorie intake you will still only maintain your weight - despite eating low fat foods.

Furthermore, not all calories are equal; some high fat foods such as nuts, avocados or eggs provide multiple health benefits and should be preferred over lower fat foods with less nutritional value. Some low fat alternatives even have heightened sugar levels.

The key to healthy eating and to weight loss is balance and portion control. Eating the healthiest options from each food group, not overindulging and sticking to your recommended calorie intake ( with an achievable deficit) enables fat loss.

4. “Fasted cardio is more effective”

Myth: The recent trend of fasted cardio has led to an influx of 5am cardio bunnies all frantically running, cycling, rowing and jumping their way to a leaner physique. But does fasted cardio actually work? It was found that fasted training can result in an increase in the enzymes responsible for fat burn. However research also demonstrated that participants doing their training fasted and those doing their training unfasted, all lost body fat regardless of what time of day or how long ago they last ate. Perhaps the key as a result was getting it done generally.

For some people, separating training sessions into cardio in the morning and weights later in the day aids with motivation and keeps them in a good active routine which in turn impacts their results. For others fasted training helps to alleviate that ‘heavy’ feeling or feelings of a stitch. For some, training without food felt like more of a hindrance and a barrier to performance. It is again, down to the individual.

Fact : Fasted cardio is not essential. Cardio done fasted does not equal more body fat loss than cardio at any other time in the day. However, mixing fasted training with not fasted training could help your body to adapt to both methods and therefore become generally more efficient.

5. “Protein shakes and supplements are needed to get fit”

Fact: Be weary not to fall into the snares of a multimillion dollar industry and its affiliates who will claim that every supplement is necessary for strength, speed, fat loss, energy or whatever your goal may be. Results in a bottle or a pill is a myth. Use the rule, food first and supplement second. Remember that supplementation can be useful if there is a deficiency, a specific concern or a specific goal, however the most important factor is always eating a healthy balanced diet that takes into account macronutrients and micronutrients, blended with a consistent training programme and active lifestyle. Always research or ask a trusted professional before splashing out on expensive and sometimes unnecessary supplements. You cannot out-supplement a bad diet or a sedentary lifestyle.

6. “Pilates and Yoga are for women, weights are for men”

Myth: This restrictive 1950s outlook is still very much effecting the way we exercise even today. Although the idea of women weight training is catching on much more now - particularly with the younger generation - propelled by the boom of social media, there are many who still believe that it is unsafe or even ineffective for women to weight train. The gym’s weight room is inundated with males, meanwhile the females tend to dominate the class studio.

Fact: Assuming it is instructed and performed correctly, weight training will aid with bone density, posture, fat loss, and core strength regardless of the gender of the participant. It is very difficult for a woman to ‘bulk’ or achieve a ‘manly’ or very muscular physique, even with very heavy and intense weight training. Weight training is even good preparation for pregnancy when the time comes although the programme will need to be adjusted during pregnancy. While weight training has its strengths, yoga and Pilates should also not be underestimated. These practises are fantastic for flexibility, spinal health, core strength, joint health, muscle recovery, relaxation, and concentration. In fact most people could benefit from them regardless of gender. A well rounded training programme which fuses concepts of all would be greatly beneficial.

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