5 Golden Rules for Balanced Nutrition
A: He was on a roll!
When it comes to cleaning up your nutrition, follow the sesame seed. Start small, gain traction, and keep rolling downhill. The biggest problems with nutrition is commitment. We all have a general idea about what a good meal is supposed to look like. But under pressure we crack like an egg. Spinach, or sorbet? Broccoli, or burgers? Carrots, or cheesecake?
Years ago our ancestors never had this problem because food wasn’t so readily available. But have no fear! Here are five golden rules for balanced nutrition.
1. Balance your food budget
Your food budget is a great way to get a clear picture in your head about how nutrition works. Calories are the amount of energy required to heat one gram of water one degree celsius. Foods contain calories or energy to help fuel the body.Much like balancing a bank account, if you take in more calories than you burn, your food account grows. If you burn more calories than you consume, you shrink. If your input matches your output, you maintain. There are three factors that change the food budget:
- Basal metabolic rate (50-80%): most of the energy you burn each day comes from just maintaining basic functions like heart rate
- Digestion (5-10%): just like it costs money to make money, it takes at least some energy to burn energy
- Physical activity (15-50%): depending upon your level of activity you may burn more or less than you consume. Knowledge is power, and this is where you have the most control over energy expenditure.
2. Reading the signs
Have you ever tried to guess where you need to go instead of reading directions from a GPS? Most likely you ended up lost, maybe alone, and probably afraid. This is a lot like picking foods without reading their labels. Nutrition labels are loaded with fantastic information about food content. Knowing the ingredients, the macronutrient distribution, and vitamin/mineral content points you in the right direction every time. Look for foods low in sodium, cholesterol, and fat.Much like balancing a bank account, if you take in more calories than you burn, your food account grows. If you burn more calories than you consume, you shrink. https://t.co/KKwE6ibZHP— Kenneth Knudson (@Kenneth_Knudson) November 30, 2019
3. Creating a toolkit
Any carpenter knows what it's like to cut wood with a dull blade. If you really want to cut to the chase when it comes to your nutrition, you need the right tools. The best dietary tools are a collection of guidelines. These guidelines help you know exactly what type of nutrients and how much of each nutrient you need. Here are the Dietary Reference Intakes (guidelines) explained:- Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs): The gold standard! The amount of intake needed to meet all nutrient requirements for 98-99% of the healthy population.
- Adequate Intake (AI): Used when RDAs have not been created, assumed to be correct level of intake for a specific nutrient.
- Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL): the max you could consume of any nutrient before things may start turning south.
- Estimated Average Requirement (EARs): Eating this level of nutrients satisfies the needs of 50% of a specific age related population.
4. Master your macros
Macronutrients are any type of nutrient required in large amounts in your diet. The three main macros are protein, carbohydrates, fats (and water if we’re getting technical). According to the Institute of Medicine, here is the breakdown percentage of the total daily nutrients for macros for healthy adults:- Carbohydrates: 45-65%
- Fat: 20-35%
- Protein: 10-35%
5. Track your progress
Using a calorie tracker can be hard work, but the science shows that it pays off. Dunn, Turner, Wilcox, and Hutto (2019) tracked 41 overweight college students from South Carolina and their use of calorie tracking apps over 6 weeks.
They found that even though most students tracked their meals less than 35% of the time, every participant still experienced significant weight loss (-2.4±0.9 kg). This means there is hope for all of us! Even if your not perfect at tracking every meal, you may end up losing more weight by tracking than not tracking.
SOURCES
Dunn, C. G., Turner-McGrievy, G. M., Wilcox, S., & Hutto, B. (2019). Dietary self-monitoring through calorie tracking but not through a digital photography app is associated with significant weight loss: The 2SMART pilot study—A 6-month randomized trial. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids. (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2002).
The Athletes Diet Basics and Tools. (2019). In Basic Foundation of Nutrition for Sports Performance (pp. 35-68).
SOURCES
Dunn, C. G., Turner-McGrievy, G. M., Wilcox, S., & Hutto, B. (2019). Dietary self-monitoring through calorie tracking but not through a digital photography app is associated with significant weight loss: The 2SMART pilot study—A 6-month randomized trial. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids. (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2002).
The Athletes Diet Basics and Tools. (2019). In Basic Foundation of Nutrition for Sports Performance (pp. 35-68).
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