How your meal prep and planning can have a greater impact on your results, the biggest mistake to avoid with fats, do calories from fiber count? and more…
The Big Idea - Food Logistics
He knows enough about nutrition. He needs better “food logistics.”
I have a buddy that has probably read more diet books from Barnes & Noble than I have.
(I stopped regularly reading from that section of the bookstore years ago as I couldn't handle the outright lies in so many nutrition books.)
He has a lot of nutrition knowledge. He understands how protein, carbs, fats, and calories work. In other words, he's got the basics down. Reading another diet book (unless it is MetaShred) isn't going to help him.
Lack of nutrition knowledge hasn't let him down. Consistent application of his nutrition knowledge, or what I call “Food Logistics”, has.
It is the gaping hole in his diet arsenal. As General Robert H. Barrow, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps once said , "Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics."
How will you consistently get the right food to eat at the right times, day in and day out?
Chasing your “next diet” is a futile search when what you really need is just better execution—better food logistics.
The more effort you can put into planning and ensuring that you have the right food available to you at the right time, the greater your likelihood of dietary success.
Food logistics includes meal planning, pre-planning for eating out, and planning what you’ll eat when things go wrong or change.
Improving your food logistics means improving your preparedness to execute your diet.
What are 2 ways that you improve your food logistics this week?
Fats - Please Don’t Free Pour
Humans don’t estimate calories and portions well. With studies reporting upwards of a 30% error rate in portion estimation, it is important that when calories are at a premium, we actually measure our portions. Weighing and measuring your spinach doesn’t have a huge time ROI as if you estimate a portion of spinach as 1 cup and it actually turns out to be 3 cups, you’re only getting 14 extra calories.
Oils are a different story. 1 tsp of oil is 40 calories, while 2 Tbsp is 280 calories. When pouring extra virgin olive oil into a pan, it is all too easy to accidentally overpour and end up with 240 more calories than you were expecting.
Even if you aren’t weighing and measuring all of your food, I recommend pouring oil into a teaspoon or tablespoon prior to adding it to your meal/pan. This basic portion control strategy will save you hundreds of calories and can be the difference between making progress and or not.
Protein - Different Kinds = Better Satiety
Previously, I’ve dedicated an entire issue to satiety and fullness because managing hunger is important (and tricky). Here’s another important tip.
Eating protein from multiple sources enhances the satiety effects of protein.
Over the years during my conversations with leading protein researchers, I’ve anecdotally uncovered this strategy. It works great at breakfast and is aligned with our Protein Stacking strategy - where you stack a couple different foods that contain smaller amounts of protein to hit your meal protein target. For example, if you had 2 scrambled eggs (12g protein) with cheese (7g protein) and a glass of ultra-filtered milk (12g protein) - you’re able to get 30g of protein pretty easily. But if you were to try to get 30g of protein from eggs alone, you’d need to eat 5 of them - which isn’t something most people want to do on a regular basis.
Protein stacking is not only practical - it will help keep you feeling fuller and more satisfied between meals.
Carbs - Fiber Counts
All carbs count.
Starting around 20 years ago, the concept of net carbs came into popularity. This was largely driven by food companies that wanted to sell low carb candy. The concept is simple. Take the total amount of carbohydrates in a food and subtract the fiber and sugar alcohols (a type of sugar that your body digests very slowly, if at all).
BOOM!
People instantly felt like they were eating less carbs. This concept has died down in popularity but it does cause people to raise the question - do carbs/calories from fiber count?
Yes. While by definition, fiber is an indigestible form of carbohydrate, what the bacteria in our digestive system does with that fiber can varies. Sometimes the bacteria in our digestive system can eat the fiber and then produce short chain fats which pass through the walls of our digestive system for our body to use as energy.
Keep your nutrition simple. All carbs count…except those eaten on vacation ;)
Talk soon,
Dr. Mike
P.S. Carbs on vacation count...I was joking.
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Mike Roussell, PhD
Nutrition Strategist
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