I had a bit of an idea the other day about comparing what is
“recommended” vs what is “good enough to get the job done” in terms of
approaches and adherence to dieting. What is recommended varies wildly
from one source to another.
What probably
should be recommended is something a bit better
than simply “good enough to get the job done” in terms of weight loss or
conditioning goals.
There should be some attention on good health, as
well. With that said, what is often recommended by certain elements of
the health and fitness is so extreme that you end up with the somewhat
paradoxical situation of being unhealthy due to an unhealthy level of
obsession with avoiding anything that is unhealthy, at all times and at
all costs. When you lift the bar on what counts as “healthy” to an
unrealistic level, well… it’s really not good, is it?
I had the idea to try to create a graphical representation of this, and here’s what I have come up with.
It isn’t so much a scale from “unhealthiest to healthiest”, so much
as a scale of the level of attention to detail that someone might pay to
their diet; from reckless indifference to extreme and unhealthy
obsessiveness.
Now, anywhere within that black range towards the centre of the
graphic is about what I would consider “good enough to get the job done”
in terms of your body condition and composition goals. The range there
is from “absolute bare minimum” to more fine tuned plans for the highly
motivated and enthusiastic advanced level athletes who may require them.
Anything in the red represents what is inappropriate through to what is
actually unhealthy or destructive at the extreme ends of the scale.
Either extreme is unhealthy and not recommended, that’s the real take home point here.
Let’s take a look at all the points on the scale and I’ll give you my
impression of each label. Cut me some slack if my interpretation is not
precisely and exactly what you associate with each label, you can still
get the point I’m trying to make, I am sure.
Actually Unhealthy
The obvious example would be just no
attention to diet at all, vastly excessive over all intake, while still
being low on important nutritional resources such as fibre, vitamins and
minerals. One could arrive at this state of vastly excessive total
intake either just through consistent over eating, or perhaps by
“forgetting” to eat at some times and massively over eating later.
Just Inappropriate
This label probably applies to the
majority of people. Their eating habits are not really so unhealthy as
you’d actually expect serious health complications or reduced life
expectancy, but they’re certainly not conducive to any weight
management, sports performance or body composition goals, either.
Belligerent IIFYM
You know. Think of the most ridiculous negative stereotype of some IIFYM gym bro deliberately
making a point of choosing all the most highly processed, least
wholesome, nutrient sparse foods, somehow managing to squeeze them into a
plan that meets suitable total energy and macronutrient ratios, and in
an obnoxious voice proclaims to anyone within ear shot “I don’t give a
fuck bro! IIFYM bro! I’m getting shredded bro!”
I don’t think anyone in real life actually does that. It’s certainly not what anyone recommends, as far as I’m aware anyway.
You know what though? As much as I would
not, can not, and do not recommend it, this approach actually is “good
enough to get the job done” at least a good portion of the way.
Flexible Dieting
Flexible Dieting is something of an
upgraded, more “responsible adult” version of what IIFYM was supposed to
be. You need to hit your appropriate total energy intake and have a
suitable balance of macronutrients, but not while neglecting other
important nutritional resources such as … well… you know, vitamins and
minerals and fibre.
Now, different people may have a
different take on this but for the sake of differentiating from the next
point, let’s assume here that we’re not terribly concerned about
avoiding processed foods and so on… and it’s more like “appropriate
macros + enough fruit and veg”.
That’s actually how I do it, anyway. “Do
better if you can but appropriate macros + enough fruit and veg is more
than enough to get the job done”.
What Real Dietitians Recommend
I happen to follow, be followed by,
collaborate with, and try to learn from some highly qualified “real”
dietitians via social media. My observation of their recommendations
tends to quite similar to Flexible Dieting, but with less emphasis on
the numbers (as in macronutrient percentages and so on, which is more of
a “sports nutrition” thing), and more of an emphasis on “a variety of
foods, less (but not a total avoidance of) processed foods, more fruit
and veg, and to a total intake that is neither excessive nor
insufficient”.
Quite sensible and not terribly unrealistic really, isn’t it?
So quite appropriately, those two previous classifications fall
nicely into the middle of my graphic, and there’s a reason why those are
the recommended approaches of responsible and qualified professionals.
It’s what is suitable to promote good health within an appropriate
weight range, while enabling performance and results from training
(where applicable), while still being non restrictive, flexible, and
relatively simple to adhere to so long as you are being mindful and
paying a little attention.
Let’s continue though. I am building up to an important point here, believe it or not.
Advanced and Elite Level Athletes
Obviously, when you get to advanced
levels of human physical ability, you need a more advanced fueling
strategy. Greater total energy intake, perhaps more precise
macronutrient percentages, you may find that a particular schedule and
particular foods before or after training benefit your performance or
recovery. Some athletes increased total energy requirements mean that
they can indulge on more of the less nutrient dense foods, others
perhaps not so much.
Exactly what is required varies from one
athlete to the next. It is not unreasonable to say that what is required
is a little (or a lot) more attention to detail than would be necessary
for the rest of us.
Contest Prep
Contest prep is an interesting one! I do
know there are at least a handful of a really good contest prep coaches
who achieve tremendous results through healthy and flexible methods.
Obviously though, the high level of attention to detail and adherence is
still necessary.
More typically though, contest prep is
strict and inflexible, and extremely demanding physically and
psychologically. I read an excellent blog entry the other day giving
people the heads up of what is really required in contest prep, and that
really it is the ultimate in extreme and restrictive dieting, and
people need to really be honest with themselves as to whether it would
be a rewarding or disastrous experience.
What is important to note with contest
preparation is that it is ultra fine tuned dieting for a period leading
up to a specific date where the contestant wants to arrive in an
unsustainable condition in terms of low body fat and high lean mass.
This is not a level of dietary adherence OR physical condition that
people are attempting to maintain permanently.
That is so important to realise.
As a side note, people are always
suggesting or asking me why I don’t do a contest myself. Let me make
this clear first, I have nothing but the utmost admiration and respect
for the athletes who put in the work and pull that off. For me though?
Screw that! You’d need to want it really badly to put enough pressure
upon yourself to adhere to such a strict protocol with so much
discipline, and I’m not even entertaining the notion of deluding myself
about how well I would hold up under such pressure and how much
discipline I would be able to maintain.
Backing up 3 or 4 levels on our scale here, that “Flexible Dieting”
level along with some consistent and effective training is really all
that is required to get into a shape you’ll be more than happy with. So
that is all I ask of myself, and all I ask of my clients as well.
The Next Level
We talked about contest preparation being
in many cases an extreme, restrictive and not particularly healthy
process. We emphasised that this is a temporary situation, to come in on
one particular, specific day in peak shape as far as the judging
criteria goes. The well advised contestant will also have an exit
strategy in order to recover physically and mentally from such a taxing
experience.
What if people really did think such an
extreme and restrictive approach was required at all times though, with
100% adherence? And not just to be in contest shape, either; but simply
to avoid being obese and unhealthy?
Unfortunately… scandalously, really, that
is the message and the recommendation of many aspects of the health and
fitness community.
Certainly it is good advice to encourage people to
include more healthy, nutrient dense and naturally produced foods on a
regular basis. When people are told that their health, their results in
weight loss or conditioning from training, and even their worth as a
human being are all dependant on the strictest of adherence to the
highest possible levels of “clean eating” according pretentious food snobs and dietary elitists, there is a big problem.
When people are taught that even fruit, for example is “not healthy
enough”, there is a huge problem.
Ironically in these situations, the diets
actually become so restrictive that there can be issues with
deficiencies in certain micronutrients, as the list of “allowable” foods
because so short. Deficiency in total energy intake is also a
potentially serious problem.
So. There is the “rough and dirty version” of what will get the job
done, there is “what responsible professionals might recommend” as the
most balanced, flexible and sensible way to get the job done, and then
there is the extreme, restrictive, impractical and unhealthy bordering
on the obsessive and disordered approaches that certain aspects of the
health and fitness community endorse, and use scare mongering, guilt and
shame to encourage.
Looking back at my chart, you can see there is a wide area there
representing various approaches to diet and nutrition that will “get the
job done”. Contrary to what many would try to scare you into believing,
there is not just one acceptable or effective set of eating habits that
will allow you to achieve good health and goal condition, with any even
slight variance spelling doom.
You most certainly can achieve your goals, be healthy and happy with
your physical condition through whatever approach best suits you,
providing the focus is on appropriate total energy intake, adequate
protein, and enough fruit and vegetables.
