Taking A Look At Average Nutrition

The hardest thing about getting your nutrition right is just following the basic rules, aka Compliance. I mean let's face it, nutrition isn't difficult. Compliance to the relatively easy rules that govern good nutritional practice however, seems to leave a whole lot to be... well, improved on.

Most of us would already know that we are an overfed yet under-nourished nation. In common speak, this means we consume tons of energy rich foods but very few foods that are rich in vitamins, minerals and other health providing antioxidants and phytonutritents.

Pasta, rice, bread, and most cereals are prime examples of energy rich foods that only contain a small amount of good quality nutrients that our body's use to maintain us in good health or even repair us from day to day damage and ageing. Foods like meat pies, pasta meals, hot dogs, hamburgers, most fast food, most pizza, most pub meals and a lot of canned food can be placed in this category as well, even though there are a few exceptions. (I make a delicious gourmet pizza that's actually quite healthy ;o)

I've mentioned in previous bulletins that just because you're not eating junk food doesn't make you a healthy eater. Cereal for breakfast, bread bread and lunch meat for lunch and lasagna for dinner is a classic example of how most people can get through a day without any real 'junk food' but still not get any decent nutrients at all, day after day after day. This lack on nutritional compliance to what we know makes us healthy will inevitably make you sick and most likely very, very sick in the end.

Ok, so we need nutrients throughout the day and I'm sure most of you again will know that it's pretty much all gotta come from plant matter, namely fruits, vegetables and yes, whole grains too.

So let's look at an average (real) food diary from a 43 year old woman, who we'll call Sally and see where we're at.

Sally weighs in at 66 kilos and stands approx 5'5. She trains twice a week with a trainer and walks on the weekend with friends. Her basic goal in to lose body fat and tone up.

Bk fst. 7am. 2x Weetbix, glass of OJ, x2 slices of wholemeal toast with jam.

Snack 1. 10:45am. Small tub of fruit yogurt. 240ml water.

Lunch. 1pm. Turkey sandwich on wholemeal with marg, lettuce and tomato.

Snack 2. 3pm. x3 Ryvita with cheese. 250 ml water.

Dinner. 7pm. Lamb steak Dianne with potatoes, broccoli and mushrooms with. 250ml water.

Snack 4. 7:45pm. 2 glasses red wine, small chocolate mousse, x5 crackers with cheese.

So the good thing with this diary is the regular eating schedule. This will help to keep Sally's metabolism high and keep the fat storing hormone Lipoprotein Lipase (LPL) from kicking in throughout the day.

There are a few down sides with this nutrition day however.

Bk fst. Lots of carbs in the morning. Sally's ca rb requirement per meal for her height, weight and activity level would be about 120g per day. So lets say 30 per meal and 10 for a snack.

Wbx2 = 15g, OJ = 20, Toast x2 = 30, Jam = 10 for a grand total of 75g of Carbs FOR BREAKFAST!

Do you think 75g will effect her hormones over the next 30 min?

You betcha! Insulin will be introduced heavily into her system to lower the rapidly elevating blood sugar. This will leave her hypo-glycemic (low in blood sugar) tired and craving sweet food by 10am. It will also stimulate LPL for fat storage which means even if she trains today, she is likely to burn very little in the way of body fat. You'll also see there is no protein anywhere to be seen.

Snack 1. There really isn't much in the way of fruit here but at least there is some. Protein also will be negligible but at least present. Carbs for a small tub is usually pretty high, esp fruit yogurt, so we'll generously say about 30g.

Lunch. Yay... we have our first sourse of protein which has come quite late in the day. Protein only resides in our blood serum for a few hours at the most. Without protein you will have depressed plasma levels of the hormone glucagon which is in part responsible for increased fat metabolism. Protein also stimulates the hormones responsible for muscle growth and repair. Two pieces of whole meal bread = about 30g so that's actually not too bad and the addition of lettuce and tomato while not great in amount, gives her at least some vegetable nutrients for the first time today. The body will need these to combat the free radicals racing through the body, especially when adding exercise to the mix.

Snack 2. x3 Ryvitas are probably about 8-10g each which puts us close to 25-30g. Remember Sally only needed about 10g for a snack. The cheese because of it's saturated fat will actually help a little by slowing down the su ger absorption. Again, no real high end nutrients.

Dinner. The steak, while full of saturated fat and butter with the sauce, is still Sally's first really good source of protein today. By now her body is probably protein starved and she was probably eating into her muscle stores for the required protein during the day. The potatoes, broccoli and mushrooms are likewise her first really good dose of micro-nutrients for the day besides the two slices of tomato that she had for lunch... They've been a long time in coming.

Snack 3. Sadly, Sally's training objective is to lose body fat. This desert really seals the deal on a not so great day. x2 glasses of wine is straggly not the issue with only about 3-4g of carbs per glass. Not only that but the antioxidants at only 2 glasses is probably going to do more good than harm considering the lack of nutrition throughout the rest of the day. The chocolate mousse however, probably contains about 40 grams of carbs with an additional 25g for the crackers. This energy will not be stored in the liver or muscles as glycogen but will in fact be transported tothe cells for storage as fat.

So let's look at our summary.

The minimum fruit intake per day is 2. Sally had... Well, none really, except for the yogurt which doesn't really count. I'll graciously give her 1/2 our of 2.

The minimum Vegetable intake per day is 5. Sally had about 2.5 with a cup being a serve. So half her daily MINIMUM. If this is a usual day (which it is) then Sally's risk of degenerative disease and illness would be considered extreme.

Protein was very low at about 1.5 serves. A minimum would be about 4 for Sally. The low protein will not only inhibit growth and development but it will also deprive Sally of essential hormones that will encourage muscle development and improve fat metabolism. Fat intake wasn't too bad however, margarine is not food. It is one molecule removed from being plastic. IT IS POISONOUS! So don't eat it.

Sally's water consumption was pretty low at 750mls. She also drank 3 diuretic drinks being O.J. and x2 Wines. She would be dehydrated by bed time which will keep her system toxic and slow.

Dehydration will cause a dramatic reduction in performance and to top it off, it will make you irritable and vague if not addressed early.

My 1st recommendation to Sally was to do another 7 day food diary.

Her goals were to increase her fruit and veg consumption to 2 fruit and 5 veg per day, which remember is only the MINIMUM daily requirement. I also put her on a high quality fruit and vegetable supplement to bridge the remaining gap between adequate and excellent.

Sally's protein goal was to look for some vegetable sources of protein as well as introduce more protein in the am hours. We also introduced an A grade vegetable based meal replacement with high quality vegetable proteins and low glycemic carbs to her first snack or post workout drink.

There are several good supplements on the market today and many thousands of garbage ones. Check out our web site for my recommendations at www.energyclinic.net Her 3rd task was to limit the treat foods to one day. Pick a day, any day and treat yourself. If you have it daily it's no longer a treat but a nutritional component to your day.

How does your food diary compare with Sally's?

Yours in health,

Duncan