One of the biggest principles that I’ve seen proven true client after client is the 80/20 Rule of Food Logistics. 20% of a client's progress is determined by their diet and 80% of their progress is determined by food logistics. Food logistics is determining what and how you are going to get the food that you are eating at any given meal.
”A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by his circumstances.” Hunter S. Thompson
I’m not sure if Hunter S. Thompson knew about food logistics but this quote directly applies to its importance. If you don’t choose how you are going to get your food throughout the day, then the world will choose for you.
As I always tell clients “Modern life is out to get you to eat more and move less - so plan accordingly.”
Without meal planning, you will stall. Meal planning can come in different ways. It doesn't have to be weighing and measuring every gram of food that you are eating for the week. Here are my 3 favorite Mindless Meal Planning(TM) options:
- Eat the Same Thing for Breakfast - Fewer meal options makes it easier for you to plan and execute. Overnight oats or a smoothie for breakfast Monday through Friday. Mix it up at the beginning of each week.
- Dinner for Lunch - When you make dinner, ensure that you have an extra portion that you can eat for lunch. Portion it into your favorite togo container and put it aside for lunch the next day.
- Salad for Dinner - On any given day only 25% of adults eat a salad. A daily salad is one of the pillars of the MIND diet - a clinically studied diet that yielded a 35% reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease in people that were moderately compliant to it. To plan a salad for dinner - you need lean protein and an assortment of vegetables. Don’t make it more complicated than that. Don’t feel like cooking? Pick up a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store on the way home from work. When my wife and I were having our kitchen renovated we ate rotisserie chicken and baby spinach (bagged and triple washed) with Cowgirl Ranch salad dressing for dinner on weeknights for 3 weeks straight.
Make your nutrition plan so that you can enforce your dietary choices instead of letting the world tell you what to eat (you won’t be happy with the outcome).
If you need help, let me know.
Fats - Coconut Oil, nothing to see here...
Coconut oil has had an incredible run - heavily promoted as part of the Paleo diet (despite paleolithic humans' access to coconut oil being suspect) and then gaining incredible popularity as a mix-in for coffee. But why? I rarely use coconut oil and will do so only if I’m looking for coconut flavor in a dish. Partly because the value proposition for coconut oil is lacking. Eating more coconut oil isn’t associated with any positive health outcomes. If anything it has been shown to increase LDL cholesterol, a risk factor for heart disease. Unlike extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil lacks additional benefits like high antioxidant content.
Science says “nothing to see here.” when it comes to coconut oil.
Protein - BCAAs...boy were we wrong
Branched Chain Amino Acids or BCAAs had all the making of a sports nutritional powerhouse. Structurally unique compared to all the other amino acids, preferentially used by muscles.
A labeling loophole could be listed as containing ZERO calories on a supplement facts label despite still having 4 calories per gram. They mixed in water relatively clear and could be made to taste like Kool-Aid. This made them so easy to sip on throughout the day, chug after a hard training session, and more appealing than.
One of the BCAAs is leucine. Leucine is the amino acid that turns on muscle building at the genetic level. It keeps getting better right?
In the end BCAAs were limited. There are only 3 of them. Your body needs all 20 amino acids to rebuild and repair muscle. It can only make 11 of them and needs to get the rest from the diet. BCAAs left the body wanting. Wanting whole protein. Whey, eggs, beef, chicken, even pistachios!
Research shows us that BCAAs have no additional benefit when you are eating enough protein. We thought they were a nutritional powerhouse - we were wrong.
Carbs - Enjoy the hybrid foods
When it comes to carbs we often talk about starches/grains, fruits, and vegetables. These foods easily fall into the carb only category. This makes them an easy addition to modular meal planning. But only focusing on starches/grain, fruits, and vegetables leave out carb containing foods that will take your nutrition to the next level. Specifically dairy, nuts, and beans.
These 3 groups of foods don’t cleanly fit into the carb, protein, fat view of nutrition planning because they have a mix of protein/carbs or carbs/fat or carbs/fat/protein. Here are some simple frameworks of how to fit these foods in.
- Beans - I consider them a ‘carb’ food and view the protein as a bonus. Awesome way to boost your fiber intake. Black beans are a great side to scrambled eggs.
- Dairy - Think of milk and yogurt as 1:1 (carbs:protein). Greek yogurt is a protein with a little bit of carbs as a bonus. I prefer lower fat dairy (and non-fat Greek yogurt) as it just gives you more flexibility to add more fats from other sources (nuts, seeds, etc)
- Nuts - Great for getting in more fiber but function in diet planning as a fat containing food. You should have a serving per day. It could be the healthiest thing you do for yourself.
Just because they foods don’t fit cleanly into the 3 macro-buckets that doesn't mean should shouldn't’ eat them on a daily basis - you should.
Talk soon,
Dr. Mike
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Mike Roussell, PhD
Nutrition Strategist
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