Low-carb, no-carb, keto, golo… with so much dieting and fitness advice out there, it can be tough to know what you should be eating to fuel your healthiest you.
IQS expert and personal trainer Greg Stark sees this confusion in his clients all the time. He In his new book Sweat Equity, he breaks down what he wants us all to know.
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1. Don’t “diet”.
For many people ‘diet’, by definition, means ‘fasting or deprivation’. So if you are talking diets you are already setting yourself up for failure. In order to succeed you must have a positive relationship with food.
You need to think of food as nutrition and work out how you can nourish your body to help you thrive.
2. Don’t fear natural sources of fat.
Fat-free, low-fat, zero calories, skim milk – all these are meant to be good for us, but they are actually making us sick and fat.
In their natural form, fats such as those found in fish, nuts and vegetables are essential in human cell development and brain function, and are our preferred fuel for everyday function.
3. Read between the lines.
People often ask me about how to read a food label. The answer is simple. If it has a label on it, chances are it’s not going to be that great for you. Last time I checked, kale didn’t have a food label!
Just because some ingredients might be raw or natural according to the labelling, it doesn’t mean the food product is good for you. Do your research and know what you are putting into your body.
4. Eat less sugar.
The easiest way to decrease your sugar intake is to focus on eating fresh foods that don’t require food labels such as vegetables, fruits and proteins. If it is in a packet, check out the food label. If sugar comes up as one of the first few ingredients, beware!
Start by cutting back on your soft drink, sports drinks and fruit-based drinks. Don’t add sugar to your tea or coffee. Sauces, jams and spreads are often packed with hidden sugar.
5. Weight is just a number.
As health professionals, it is always our focus to get people to their goals safely and effectively.
If we are talking fat loss what we are really after is a shift in body composition; that is, an increase in muscle and a decrease in fat. This does not always equate to a net weight loss.
6. Just because something makes you skinny, it doesn’t necessarily make you healthy.
If your goal is to lose weight there are plenty of ways to do it: dehydration, starvation or even cutting off a limb will make you lighter but not necessarily healthier.
The key is in finding a way of eating that is sustainable and encourages a positive relationship with food. There is nothing worse for your health than being on a yo-yo diet.
7. Eat three square meals a day.
Studies show that the frequency with which we eat is irrelevant, but the more often we eat, the more calories we are likely to consume. So you should aim to have three square meals a day, each with a balance of carbohydrate, fat and protein.
8. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach…
… when it comes to any part of our health, let alone our nutrition. We should aim to be better, not perfect.
This is an edited extract from Sweat Equity by Greg Stark (Simon and Schuster). Available now.
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