Nutrition Fundamentals

Understanding the scientific approach of nutrition fundamentals is the key to reaching your body composition goals. Nutrition fundamentals include; calorie balance, macro nutrients, nutrient timing, food composition, and supplements and hydration. Say goodbye to the allure of fad diets and diets in general, for they are a losing proposition. Embrace the power that comes with the knowledge of nutrient fundamentals and take charge of your nutrition today.

We draw a distinction between a diet and nutrition. A diet is usually something temporary that we employ to achieve a short term goal. The problem is that as soon as you return to your normal way of eating your body returns to its pre-diet state. You see, the body is big on something called homeostasis, meaning it tries its best to resist change. Unless you are successful at teaching your body a new set point, it will make adjustments in your metabolism to maintain its normal state. For example, as you lose weight in a diet your body will down regulate your metabolism to burn less calories. Because of this, when the diet is over you gain the weight back and then some. Say no to diets!

The truth of the matter is that the nutritional behavior of most Americans is exceedingly poor, to say the least. Most Americans eat processed foods comprised mainly of simple carbs and saturated fat, and not enough protein. And eating like this turns into an addiction that’s hard to stop. Food companies are encouraging and exploiting the food addiction for profit. The result of this is a population high in obesity and diseases like diabetes. By 2030, it is projected that 55 million Americans will be type 2 or type 1 diabetic.  In 2030, that will be a whopping 16% of the American population. On top of that, our poor nutrition also promotes fatty liver, kidney dysfunction, and heart issues.

The rule of cheap, fast, and good applies to our nutrition. The way it works is you can pick any 2. For example, if the food is cheap and fast (think of fast food, processed freezer foods, etc.) it won’t be good for you. If it’s cheap and good, it will take time and effort to select and prepare, so it won’t be fast. And if it’s fast and good (perhaps prepared by a service), it won’t be cheap!

Once upon a time the American diet wasn’t so bad. People lived on farms or bought their food from farmers markets. Everything was fresh and wholesome. Our current predicament is an artifact of what our lives have become in a fast paced society where we don’t even pay attention to whether the food we eat is good for us. We’re simply in it for quick gratification that comes with salt, fat, and sugar.

Paying attention to what we eat is the first step in adopting a healthier nutritional lifestyle. Did you catch that? I said lifestyle because if you want lasting change, that’s what it needs to be, a lifestyle change. That doesn’t mean you can never eat the foods you crave. It just means you don’t eat them all the time.

Part of educating ourselves about good nutrition is understanding the relative importance of each of the nutritional fundamentals, because contrary to popular belief (and fad diets) they are not equal in importance. For example, one fad that’s big right now is intermittent fasting, where you go extended periods of time without eating. Then you get all your eating done within an 8 hour period. This is the fundamental of nutrient timing.

Here are the 5 nutritional fundamentals along with their relative impact:

• • Calories – 50%
  • Macro Nutrient Distribution –  30%
  • Nutrient Timing – 10%
  • Food Composition – 5%
  • Supplements & Hydration – 5%

From this we can see that in terms of overall impact, calories are king, followed closely by Macro Nutrient Distribution. Coming in at 10%, timing is also significant, but not dominating. And the last 2 come in at 5% each. It’s almost comical that people pay so much attention to supplements, because they actually don’t make that much difference. In fact, there’s really only 2 of them worth buying… Whey Protein and Creatine. The rest are a waste of money. It’s also worth mentioning that although only coming in at 5%, food composition is important for overall health because of the benefit of micronutrients. The rest are mainly applicable to body composition and performance.

In my next article on Designing Your Nutrition, I’ll tie together my previous article on Body Composition Baseline with this article.