The Diet Formula

       If you were to write down all of the dietary recommendations published in peer reviewed journals (based on clinical studies), and then combine those findings with the dietary recommendations of MyPlate, The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and Registered Dietitians across the nation, and then combine those findings with the ones in published books on diet and nutrition (the advice from nutrition gurus and any other expert in the field) your list would look something like this:

1.   Eat 6 smalls meals a day

2.   Eat 3 bigger meals a day

3.   Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a princess

4.   Eat only when you’re hungry so as not to unbalance your metabolism

5.   Eat even when you’re not hungry so as not to unbalance your metabolism

6.   Never skip meals!

7.   It’s okay to skip meals when you aren’t hungry

8.   Eat two snacks a day

9.   Eat three snacks a day
10. Never eat in-between meals

11.  Drink lots and lots of water

12.  Only drink when you’re thirsty

13.  Never eat carbohydrates

14.  Eat lots of carbohydrates

15.  Don’t eat only meat or you’ll die

16.  Eat only meat and you’ll burn fat, have lots of energy, and be a machine

17.  Never eat cookies

18.  It’s fine to eat cookies

19.  What are cookies?

20.  Bananas are awesome

21.  Bananas are evil

22.  Coffee is amazing!

23.  Coffee is evil!

24.  Vegetarians will die from not eating meat or some kind of deficiency

25.  Vegetarians will live forever because they aren’t eating meat and they are consuming so many amazing nutrients

26.  Being a vegan is a death warrant

27.  Being a vegan will prevent chronic disease and related death as well as osteoporosis

      Academic Conclusion? The dietary recommendations for drink and food consumption remains inconclusive as findings are contradictory. More research must be done. 

Do you see where this is going? There are so many findings, so many recommendations, and so much dietary and nutrition information out there, that it is overwhelming. More so, it’s frustrating, contradictory, and confusing. If you were to combine all of the dietary recommendations and findings out there, the only conclusion a sane person could come to is that they might need to drink water, but everything else would be pretty iffy.  

In America, we have formulas for almost everything. The paint on your walls got that perfect tint of yellow or green or blue because it was based on a formula. The medication in your drawers and cabinets that ease a headache, a sinus infection, or allergies, those were based on very specific formulas. Most everything we are exposed to cranks, or ticks, or prints, or stands, or works because there was a formula that put it into motion, or construction, or yes, made it fizzle over the top of your glass and onto the kitchen table or to rise in that perfect tint of golden brown.

Similarly, we depend on a formula when it comes to our diets. What ratio of carbohydrates to protein? How many grams of this? How many servings of that? How much sugar? How much fat? And we search the sources, the databases, the articles that will tell us the perfect formula to make our bodies work most efficiently.

Here’s what we forgot. Our bodies are intelligent, capable, and efficient machines, all on their own. If there was a “perfect” diet, I honestly believe that as creators of Apollo 13, a synthetic leaf that can use photosynthesis to generate energy, and the apple computer, we would have figured it out by now, but we haven’t. We haven’t because there is no one way to eat, and despite our desire to attach a formula to diet, there just isn’t one.

In parts of Alaska, people consume high quantities of animal fat, organ meat, and protein. Are they obese? No. Are they dying left and right? No. Similarly, in parts of Africa, people consume larger quantities of meat than carbohydrates, and just like those in Alaska, they are not dying, and they are not killing over. In other parts of the world, people practice vegetarianism and veganism, and they are not dying either, and despite popular belief, they are not frail, fragile, or weak. But why should they be? Look at the animal species around the world that are herbivores and not carnivores. They are strong, they are fast, and they are efficient, despite eating only plants! Say what?! I know, I know.

For hundreds of years, people consumed what they could get their hands on. Those foods, whether plant or animal, were determined by the regions’ geometry, climate, soil content, etc. Some people would have been consuming mostly fat, some mostly protein, and some mostly carbohydrates in the form of grains, fruit, and vegetables. And then, for those who lived in regions that allowed them, they could have consumed a mixture of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. If there was really a correct formula for diet, there are a lot of regions in the world where people would not have survived, simply because they did not have access to large quantities of some kinds of foods (animal meat, fruits, nuts, vegetables, dairy, etc.).

People survived off of a variety of diets because the body can adapt to those diets. Did you know that the body can use a byproduct from fat breakdown called glycerol, amino acids from muscle stores, and a product of anaerobic metabolism called lactate to make glucose (sugar) which is used to make energy in the body? That’s three different ways the body can produce energy without using carbohydrates. Basically, even if you were only consuming meat or only consuming fat, the body could produce its own glucose (you may recognize this as blood sugar.)

Did you know that the body stores 300-400 grams of glycogen (stored sugar) in the muscle and 60-120 grams of glycogen in the liver? Did you know that adipose (stored fat) is distributed throughout the body? Did you know that 40-50% of your body mass is muscle (stored protein) and you can have up to 120 grams of amino acids in a free pool to be used for energy? Did you know that when you skip a meal or fast or your body needs more energy, it can access all of these fat and sugar and protein stores to fill those needs?

In the past, people did not consume three regular meals throughout the day, and they certainly did not have a snack cabinet; however, because of the body’s ability to store energy and to slow down or speed up metabolism, skipping meals was not a major problem. People could go days without eating, and the body could adapt. And you know what? It still can.

People have consumed a variety of diets for decades and they were not obese or dying from diabetes or cardiovascular disease or from fatty liver. Why not? Because they were consuming the foods in their environment when they were hungry, and they were performing hard labor, hunting, gathering, etc. They were consuming AND using the energy found in their foods. We have a bad habit of consuming food, but not utilizing it…

Obesity is caused from all sorts of factors, and yes, genes play a role, but as a study published in Obesity Research suggested, “it is very unlikely that changing gene pools can explain the doubling or even tripling of obesity prevalence rates in certain groups over 20 years.” So why are we obese in the United States? As a very educational and informational documentary- Hungry for Change- shared, we are not consuming foods in our natural environment (there's a link to the very dramatic  documentary trailer below). Instead, we are consuming “man-made” foods. Boxed hamburger helper, and frozen dinners, and soft drinks cannot be found in nature, unless there is, of course, a grocery store nearby.

We are not eating primarily “real” food anymore. Our diets aren’t made up of only whole animal meat, fish, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, grains in their whole form, and water. We have access to unlimited possibilities at the grocery store, but the majority of it isn’t even real food; its synthetic, filled with chemicals and sugar and artificial sweeteners and fat replacers. Really, the tem to be used to describe the majority of items at the grocery store is “food product.”

Our bodies were made to process the foods that we find in nature, not the foods that were built in a factory, packaged in a box, and placed on a shelf for us to put in a cart. I think people across the world have avoided obesity, not because of a diet type, but because they are consuming real, whole foods, and in the process of being highly physically active, they are using and not storing the majority of energy from those foods.

There is no one diet that is perfect, our bodies are miracles and can adapt to famine, to eating only protein or carbohydrates or fat, or a combination of all three. It can store energy for later, it can slow down metabolism to spare energy if it needs to or it can speed up metabolism to meet increased energy needs. The body can be strong with a high protein diet or a predominately plant based diet. The body can be lean despite eating mostly fat. Miraculous, I know.

So, what “formula” can I give you when it comes to the items on your plate?

1. Consume predominately natural foods (foods you’d find in nature) instead of food products that can ONLY be found in a plastic wrap, a package, a can, and in a factory. When grocery shopping, try to stay as close to the natural thing and as far away from the processed version as possible. I say “predominately” and not “only” because I am a believer of moderation, and I think food should be enjoyed. I’m a fan of Oreos, jelly beans, and Sweet Chili Doritos. At the clinic, we call this the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time, try consuming nutrient dense foods that will fuel and build the body, and the other 20% enjoy a cupcake or a coke.

2. Take advantage of the unlimited access we have to such a variety of foods. Yes, people in other parts of the world have survived eating diets of all shapes, but variety increases the consumption of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and those nutrients that help to keep the body clean, aging gracefully, and in tip top shape.

3. Pick up the fork when you’re hungry and put it down when you’re full. Learn to recognize real hunger verses appetite and you’ll better recognize fullness (I’ll cover this is the future).

4. Be active! The body was created to use stored energy, not to just keep adding to the stores. Use the energy that  that delicious food of yours is providing!

5. Here's a documentary trailer on food in the United States (it's on Netflix, and it's pretty fantastic) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MvAM97VDE8