I am sure everyone is aware of the Food Pyramid – a graphic that illustrates a food groups importance within a diet. The bottom levels are the largest, thus meaning they are the most important and should make up the majority of your diet.
There are several issues that I have with this model. There is no specificity or individuality; it is not goal orientated; it doesn’t help people eat healthier or “better”. It just tells you to eat certain foods more than others.
The picture attached to this blog post hopefully addresses some of these issues and highlights what you need to reach your goal without any over complications.
When you look at the pyramid, I want you to think that unless you have gotten the previous step right, you don’t move on. Similarly, when you are building a house you lay solid foundations first and then you begin to build the framework. You don’t start decorating the sitting room before you have the foundations in, do you?
The first step is figuring out your energy balance. Right now are you in a surplus of energy? Does your body have more energy (calories) coming in than is going out? Or are you in a deficit where you are burning more energy than you are taking in?
If your goal requires you to be in a deficit but you are in a surplus this must be the first action you take. If the goal is fat loss, you will not achieve this by overeating, regardless of the training programme you follow or how hard you push yourself in the gym.
Once you have found the correct energy balance (or imbalance) you can begin to look at the next levels if your progress has stalled. If you are seeing success with what you are doing, don’t try and over complicate things. If it isn’t broken…
The macro-nutrients are where you are getting the calories from. These are protein, carbohydrate, lipids (fat) and alcohol. Adjusting the macros can alter your energy balance so you must always remember that energy balance is the foundation, therefore, where you get the calories from is secondary.
Knowing where to get your calories from is a skill in itself and I would recommend getting professional help here. However, you can try different ratios and see what works best for you. All three are important and with different goals you will need some more than others.
One thing to note here is you can achieve a lot of success in terms of gaining weight and losing weight by just focusing on energy balance. If you are looking to sculpt a body or looking at performance then the macro-nutrients become more and more important.
Your micro-nutrients are your vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. You don’t get calories from these so they will not disrupt the energy balance. You will get the vast majority of these from your fruits and vegetables (which also include macro-nutrients which means they carry calories).
You may have heard of people lacking in vitamins or minerals such as iron or maybe even someone who has too much of a certain micro-nutrient. Here you need to make sure that you are getting adequate amounts of each to avoid any deficiencies. To find out if you are deficient or high in a vitamin or mineral you can get your blood checked by a qualified professional and they can steer you in the right direction by either taking supplements or through dietary intervention.
Micro-nutrients are involved in a lot of different processes such as immune function, energy production and transportation within the body so they do play a vital role in keeping the body healthy.
Supplements, a controversial topic that every fit pro loves to talk about. They are often overprescribed and used incorrectly. There are several times when you need to take supplements but for most people, they look for supplements to “save the day”.
If you are in a caloric surplus and taking a fat burner, for example, your body is not going to burn fat. If you are in a caloric deficit you can start to burn fat naturally without having to get a fancy tablet that more than likely will not aid you in any way.
If you are a vegan you may be low in protein. This is an example of when, even after looking at the three foundational phases, you are lacking so you can add a supplement here to help you.
There is a lot of hype around supplements especially nowadays with all the “influencers” and their sponsorship deals. What you need to remember is regardless of what you are looking to achieve, if you are are messing up your energy balance, have the wrong macros or are lacking in micros, the supplements you take will have very little impact. Once you get the basics right though, then supplements can be beneficial.
Treats – I think every diet needs to have some balance. You need to have something that tastes nice every once in a while. Usually, these foods that are highly palatable are high in calories so they do affect the energy balance and the macros. They can be factored into this every so often either through diet breaks or free meals. Both of which have been shown to have positive effects on the body in terms of body composition when planned and implemented properly.
There is a reason why they are fifth in this list though. You must be consistent with the four other phases in order to get to treat yourself – actually, they are seventh after the next two topics. If you are treating yourself too often you will not be happy with the results!
Hydration and exercise don’t get steps in the pyramid. They need to be considered throughout and will vary depending on goals, lifestyles and habits. Everyone should be exercising regularly, that should be a given. How often you exercise depends on numerous factors such as goals, age, lifestyle etc… Hydration is also dependant on other factors. The more you exercise the more fluids you need.
While you are working your way up the pyramid you should be exercising regularly and keeping your body well hydrated.
If you want to learn more, get advice or start training with AdePT drop us a message either through our website www.adeptpersonaltraining.ie or find us on Facebook
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