Guest post by Dr John M Berardi, CSCS
What are the rules of good nutrition? What types of things
must you absolutely do to succeed – and what types of things must
you avoid?
Seriously, take a moment and think about it.
What rules do you think you’ll need to follow if you want to
eat in a healthy way – a way that will improve the way your body
looks and the way it feels.
Come up with that list in your mind right now.
Now that you’ve considered these rules, I want you to take a
second and think about your list. Specifically, think about where you
learned these rules.
Certainly your rules have been influenced by how you were raised, no?
Certainly they’ve been influenced by your experiences dining with
friends and relatives – comfort foods, right? Of course, no set
of nutrition rules is immune to media influences – you can’t
help but be bombarded by those Got Milk ads! Your rules have probably
also been influenced by what you’ve heard others say – heck,
every 3rd episode of Dr. Phil is about food and dieting. And, no doubt,
your nutrition rules have probably been influenced by your own past
attempts at changing your body – whether you’ve been successful
or unsuccessful.
I could sit here all day and list potential nutritional influences.
But I’ll stop here since there are probably hundreds of ‘em
and to enumerate them all would bore your socks off.
At this junction, I’d just like to go ahead and make my point.
And the point is this - very few of your “Good Nutrition Rules”
have been influenced by those who know anything about good nutrition
– let alone about long-term success and about what it really means
to eat in a healthy way! And worse yet, most of those rules have been
hammered home without you even knowing it!
It’s time to change the rules.
The Triple S Criterion
Now I’ll admit it. Changing the rules – just like changing
your habits – is difficult. Not only does it take a desire to
change – “want to” – but it takes a strategy
for change – “how to”.
The “want to” is all your own. But the “how to”
is what I do best. I’ve committed my career to helping people
do just this – to change their rules and change their habits –
and have gotten pretty good at it. In changing these rules and habits,
everything changes – the way clients eat, the way they sleep,
they way they look, the way they feel when they wake up in the morning,
and they way they perform in day-to-day activities or during athletic
events.
Today, I’m going to teach you a good part of that system –
a system based on my Triple S Criterion.
What’s the Triple S Criterion? Well, it represents a three step
way of evaluating a strategy for its usefulness.
Step 1 – Simplicity:
Are the rules easy to follow?
Step 2 – Science
Are the rules based on sound scientific principles?
Step 3 – Success
Have the rules produced success in past clients?
Using this criterion, the systems developed for my clients always
produce a positive result.
Think again about your nutritional rules – rules that you might
be quite attached to. Which criterion did you use when determining your
rules? Are your rules based on Simplicity, Science, and Success? Have
your rules produced the desired effect – a lean, healthy body
that you’re able to maintain; a body that you’re happy with
when looking in the mirror?
If not, perhaps they could use a re-evaluation.
Dr. Berardi’s Good Nutrition Rules
Below, I’d like to present my 10 Good Nutrition Rules, rules
based on the Triple S Criterion above. In doing so, I hope to accomplish
2 goals.
• First, I want to help you rethink your whole nutrition approach
– providing you with a new set of nutrition rules and habits
– a set that swiftly moves you in the direction of your goals.
• Secondly, I want to show specifically how the recipes, cooking
tips, and strategies can integrate together to represent a complete
success system, fully integrated into the basic habits of good nutrition.
So here are the 10 rules:
1) Eat every 2-3 hours - no matter what.
Are you doing this – no matter what? Now, you don’t
need to eat a full meal every 2-3 hours but you do need to eat 6-8 meals
and snacks that conform to the other rules below.
2) Ingest complete, lean protein each time you eat.
Are you eating something this is an animal or comes from an
animal – every time you feed yourself? If not, make the change.
Note: If you’re a vegetarian, this rule still applies –
you need complete protein and need to find non-animal sources.
3) Ingest vegetables every time you eat.
That’s right, every time you eat (every 2-3 hours, right),
in addition to a complete, lean protein source, you need to eat some
vegetables. You can toss in a piece of fruit here and there as well.
But don’t skip the veggies.
4) If want to eat a carbohydrate that’s not a fruit or
a vegetable (this includes things like things rice, pasta, potatoes,
quinoa, etc), you can – but you’ll need to save it until
after you’ve exercised.
Although these often heavily processed grains are dietary staples
in North America, heart disease, diabetes and cancer are North American
medical staples – there’s a relationship between the two!
To stop heading down the heart disease highway, reward yourself for
a good workout with a good carbohydrate meal right after (your body
best tolerates these carbohydrates after exercise). For the rest of
the day, eat your lean protein and a delicious selection of fruits and
veggies.
5) A good percentage of your diet must come from fat. Just
be sure it’s the right kind.
There are 3 types of fat – saturated, monounsaturated,
and polyunsaturated. Eating all three kinds in a healthy balance can
dramatically improve your health and even help you lose fat.
Your saturated fat should come from your animal products and you can
even toss in some butter or coconut oil for cooking. Your monounsaturated
fat should come from mixed nuts, olives, and olive oil. And your polyunsaturated
fat should from flaxseed oil, fish oil, and mixed nuts.
6) Ditch the calorie containing drinks (including fruit juice).
In fact, all of your drinks should come from non-calorie containing
beverages. Fruit juice, alcoholic drinks, and sodas – these are
all to be removed from your daily fare. Your absolute best choices are
water and green tea.
7) Focus on whole foods.
Most of your dietary intake should come from whole foods. There
are a few times where supplement drinks and shakes are useful. But most
of the time, you’ll do best with whole, largely unprocessed foods.
8) Have 10% foods.
I know you cringed at a few of the rules above – perhaps
#6 in particular. But here’s a bit of a reprieve. 10% foods are
foods that don’t necessarily follow the rules above – but
food’s you’re still allowed to eat (or drink) 10% of the
time.
100% nutritional discipline is never required for optimal progress.
The difference, in results, between 90% adherence to your nutrition
program and 100% adherence is negligible.
Just make sure you do the math and determine what 10% of the time really
means. For example, if you’re eating 6 meals per day for 7 days
of the week – that’s 42 meals. 10% of 42 is about 4. Therefore
you’re allowed to “break the rules” 4 meals each week.
9) Develop food preparation strategies.
The hardest part about eating well is making sure you can follow
the 8 rules above consistently. And this is where preparation comes
in. You might know what to eat, but if isn’t available, you’ll
blow it when it’s time for a meal.
10) Balance daily food choices with healthy variety.
Let’s face it; during the week –when you’re
busy – you’re not going to be spending a ton of time whipping
up gourmet meals. During these times you’re going to need a set
of tasty, easy to make foods that you can eat day in and day out. However,
once every day or a few times a week – you need to eat something
different – something unique.
So, what about calories, or macronutrient ratios, or any number of
other things that I’ve covered in many other articles on my own
web site and elsewhere? The short answer is that if you aren’t
already practicing the above-mentioned habits, and by practicing them
I mean putting them to use over 90% of the time (i.e., no more than
4 meals out of an average 42 meals per week violate any of those rules),
everything else is pretty pointless.
Moreover, many people can achieve the health and the body composition
they desire using the habits alone. No kidding! In fact, with some of
my paying clients I spend the first few months just supervising their
adherence to these 7 rules—an effective but costly way to learn
them.
If you’ve reached the 90% threshold, you may need a bit more
individualization beyond the habits. If so, visit my web site. Many
of these little tricks can be found in my many articles published there.
But before looking for them, before assuming you’re ready for
individualization; make sure you’ve truly mastered the habits.
Then, while keeping the habits as the consistent foundation, tweak away.
Dr. John M. Berardi completed Undergraduate studies at Lock Haven University
(Health Science, Philosophy, and Psychology), Masters studies at
Eastern Michigan University (Exercise Physiology), and Doctoral studies
at the University of Western Ontario (Kinesiology; specialization in
exercise and nutrient biochemistry).
He created the Precision Nutrition System.
In this one product, He's taken his years of research and work with
exercisers and athletes and distilled it into one entertaining and
instructive system guaranteed to produce results.
Dr. Berardi's "Gourmet Nutrition" book is available in the Fitness Anywhere Shop or take a look at some of Fitness Anywhere's favorite recipies we have posted in our blog.