Has your dieting experience led you to believe some foods are ‘good’, and some are ‘bad’?

 

You have probably been told you need to ‘eat clean’ to lose weight?

 

You thought chicken, rice and broccoli are ‘good’, a cheese-burger, chocolate and lollies are ‘bad’. This will change how you think.

 

 

What is flexible dieting?

 

Flexible dieting is an eating protocol where you look at the nutritional content of food and eating towards your nutritional requirements and guidelines for the day. 

 

These nutritional requirements and guidelines do not discriminate foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘clean’ or ‘dirty’. There are no magic foods that will make you lose weight, gain weight or instantly become stronger. 

 

A McGrilled Chicken burger contains 25g protein, 33g Carbs and 15g Fat. Brown rice, tuna and almonds can be equal to 25g Protein, 33g and 15g fat, the same as the fast food from McDonalds, and will have the exact same effect on body composition (losing or gaining weight).

 

 

What is a Macro-Nutrient?

 

Macro-Nutrients are nutrients that provide energy. They are needed for metabolism, growth and other bodily functions. “Macro” means large, Macro-Nutrients are needed in large amounts. There are 3 Macro-Nutrient:

 

• Carbohydrate = 4 Calories per gram. They are converted by the body into glucose and readily used for energy.  

 

• Protein = 4 Calories per gram. They are used by the body to repair and build new cells, help with immune system function, enzymes and hormone function in the body.

 

• Fat = 9 calories per gram. Fat is a concentrated source of energy. It is also essential to support growth and development of the body, brain and visual systems and is a carrier of crucial vitamins and minerals.

 

 

What is a Micro-Nutrient?

 

Unlike Macro-Nutrients which are needed in much bigger amounts, Micro-Nutrients are only needed in smaller amounts within your diet.

• Vitamins

• Minerals

 

Helping in the process of getting your daily Micro-nutrients, I suggest a fibre target of 12-15g per 1000 Calories. Fibre helps with the health of the digestive system.

 

I also put guidelines in place of 1-2 serves of fruit per day and 4-5 serves of vegetables a day to ensure adequate Micro-nutrient intake.

 

 

How can Flexible Dieting help you?

 

• Effective 

The only thing that will make you lose weight, is a calorie deficit, which is when you burn more calories than you consume in a day. Also known as “calories in vs calories out”.

 

The portions of your food is the determining factors, not the food types. The tracking process of Flexible Dieting takes out the guess work, where we can gain control over your body composition. Whether it be fat loss or fat/muscle gain. 

 

• Flexible

It’s not just the name, it is extremely flexible!

 

By focusing purely on the macronutrient quality of food, instead of the type or ‘quality’, you can enjoy life and social events, without it being controlled by those restrictive ‘clean’ eating and ‘fad’ diets.

 

Eat out with your family and friends, have a bit of chocolate before bed, have cake on birthday occasions, eat and do whatever YOU want to do. All as long as it fits your Macros. 

 

 

 

"I’ve been in the position of avoiding

social events and eating. It’s extremely uncomfortable, certainly not worth it.

Who wants to have their fad shake diet,

or chicken and broccoli when you could

have pizza?!" -Brendan

 

 

Research shows that a flexible approach to dieting, leads

to better dietary success and a much lower level of stress

and anxiety. 

 

(More information here)

 

 

 

• Sustainable

An Olympic sprint coach can put one of their athletes on the best diet and training program in the world. But how good is the program if the athlete can’t stick to and follow the program?

 

I have been through super restrictive periods of diets and it would end in binge eating, destroying any progress I may have made. Developing an unhealthy view and relationship with food. Food doesn’t just fuel our body, eating a meal we enjoy releases endorphins and makes us feel happy and satisfied, much like chocolate, we all love chocolate.

 

There is a large psychological effect from restricting foods, this leads to cravings. It’s a human trait to ‘want what you can’t have’. Removing restriction is extremely effective to long term dietary success. One bad day on your diet doesn’t make you fat, one good day doesn’t make you skinny but a month of consistency is great for your progress towards your goals. 

 

I’ve used Flexible Dieting and tracked my intake for almost a year now and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. I’m happier, get to eat the foods I love in moderation and most of all my eating habits don’t affect the people around me, something they have noticed and think is great.

 

My personal progress is even better, in the year I now have more muscle and less body fat on my body than before while eating MORE calories every day. On my most recent ‘cut’ (goal of reducing body fat) I got leaner than ever before while eating 1000 calories a day MORE than my restrictive eating plan I used to use.

 

I will commonly refer to Flexible Dieting as Flexible Eating because it is not a diet. It is something you can stick to, enjoy, and achieve your goals with. It turns into a lifestyle and part of your day.  

 

 

Helpful Links: 

 

For some further reading or if you don’t believe that you can eat chocolate or pizza as part of your diet and still get great results ill link some scientific research. 

 

This first link is a study of ‘is a calorie a calorie?’. The law of thermodynamics dictates that regardless of the Macro-nutrients a calorie is a calorie. 

 

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/5/899S.full

 

Here is the link to the American nutritionist who lost 27 pounds on a “Twinkie Diet”, along with a few other American candy type foods.  

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html