Making Sense of “Eating Healthy”
Healthy eating is so confusing, isn’t it? You can find conflicting information for just about everything. There is no one size fits all approach that works for absolutely everyone, but there are some general guidelines I teach that are an effective framework to determine what works best for you. Let’s take a look at them…
You need a mix of macronutrients to optimally fuel your body. Macronutrients (aka macros) are carbohydrates, fat and protein. Everything you eat gets broken down into one or more of those. In my virtual fitness and nutrition groups, I help you determine how many macros and fibre you want to aim to eat versus how many calories. Why? If you meet your macro goal, then you will also be eating the right amount of calories. If you just focus on calories, then you may not be eating the right amount of macros. For example, 1600 calories from mostly carbs and fat will provide different fuel than 1600 calories from the optimal mix of protein, carbs and fat.You need to eat enough of each macro in order to fuel your body optimally and ensure optimal fat burning and muscle building. It’s similar to your car needing the right amount of gas and oil and other car stuff in order to drive. Eating too little does not work - that’s why the diet industry is what it is. A caloric deficit may work for a short period of time, but long term your metabolism will slow down more to conserve the limited fuel it’s getting. You will also break down muscle which further slows down your metabolism.
Many women under-consume protein. I call it the “Queen of all Macros” because it is SO important. Protein contains amino acids that are the building blocks for muscle, so not eating enough of it will result in muscle loss. In addition to being important for strength to perform your activities of daily living, muscle also helps to rev up your metabolism and helps with insulin sensitivity to keep your blood sugar levels balanced. Food sources of protein include meat, greek yogurt, beans, lentils, tofu, nuts, peas and edamame.
Don’t be afraid of carbs! They are an important fuel source for your body AND they taste really good! When I first started tracking my macros, I couldn’t believe how much more energy I had when I increased them. The type of carbs is very important though. Carbs from fruits and veggies, beans, peas and lentils are metabolized differently than carbs from grains or refined sugars. The non grain sources contain more fibre, which changes how you metabolize them. Grain based carbs tend to get digested more rapidly and spike blood sugar levels which requires more insulin to get those sugars out of the blood and into your cells. That is something you want to try and avoid.
Fat is also an important fuel source that. Low fat diets and foods were trendy in the 80’s and 90’s, but since fat gives food flavour, more sugar (or artificial sweetener) is often added when the fat content is reduced. Do you know what the overall result of eating less fat was? The incidence of obesity increased because people started eating more sugar! As we just talked about, sugar is not something that is helpful for your metabolism. Healthy fat sources include avocado, olives and olive oil, nuts and seeds, coconut oil, and meat. There is a trend towards eating Paleo or high fat and protein. While this can be helpful for certain health conditions (like type 1 diabetes and seizure disorders), I don’t recommend it longterm for the majority of the population. It is hard to sustain (carbs taste good!), it can lead to hormonal imbalances in many women, PLUS it can affect overall energy levels (like I mentioned above, carbs are an important energy source).
How do you determine how much you ideally need to eat to fuel your body optimally? The app I use with my FASTer Way clients calculates starting macro gram goals based on your height, weight, age and activity level. Most people start at 45% carbs: 30% fat and 25% protein. I may then make modifications based on a client’s health status (like type 2 diabetes or hypothyroid), stress level and/or eating preferences (I want you to have goals that you can successfully meet, so sometimes we need to work up to them in stepwise fashion).
Once you know your goals, then the next step is tracking to see how close you are getting to them. I know it’s not sexy, and it’s not something I think you need to do every single day, but tracking is a valuable tool to help you see if you are eating enough or too much of each macro - otherwise how can you know what that looks like?
Macro goals are not set in stone. It’s not a matter of IF they will need to change, but WHEN. Interestingly, they rarely go down unless someone has lost a significant amount of weight. More commonly the percentage may change or the total amount is increased in small increments. This is because my clients are also doing 30 minutes of strength training 3x/week and your body needs more fuel as muscle mass (and therefore your metabolism) increases. Signs that it’s time for a macro adjustment include: feeling hungry, reaching a plateau or feeling tired during or after workouts. My job is to you navigate the adjustment to figure out what works best to help you look and feel your best.
I’d love to know - what are your thoughts about macros and tracking? Have you tried it? What was your experience?
If you’d like some help knowing which foods are high in which macros, comment below and I will send you my macro cheat sheets, as well as some delicious, simple recipes.