10 Nutrition Tips. (For anyone)

This is not a post telling you exactly what to eat or how to build your diet. Rather, it is a collection of some of the things I’ve learnt over the last 20 years of writing diets for myself and thousands of clients that anyone can implement into their daily eating habits. Some might seem silly, but if its here, its because I’ve seen it have negative effects on the body.

Always remember, food is the fuel your body uses to operate. The quality of the food you consume will have a direct effect on everything you so its important you fuel your body correctly.

In no order of importance.

Eat less calorie dense foods: I personally like meals that take a long time to eat. i feel like I’ve eaten more if the meal takes a long time to eat and i find it keeps me feeling fuller for longer after I’ve eaten.

high fat foods are notorious for being calorie dense. there are 9 calories in 1g of fat. protein and carbs by comparison have 4g. so those high fat foods will chew up your calories quickly and while fats digest slower, the volume of food will be significantly less which leaves most people feeling unsatisfied and hungry.

To address this, finding low-calorie alternatives is incredibly helpful. For instance, using Spud Lite Potatoes instead of regular potatoes can make a significant difference. They have 25% fewer carbs and fewer calories. If you swapped your normal potato for Spud Lite, 300g would now be approximately 600g! If you were to swap out 100g of rice, you could replace that with 500g of normal potato. Or if you were using Spud Lite, you could have approximately 900g! A kilo of potato is a lot more filling than 100g of rice, meaning you’ll be fuller, more satisfied and less like to look elsewhere for food.

Protein shakes on their own fill you up about as much as glass of water.  Adding a banana can increase the calorie content without providing much volume. Instead, opt for berries. You can have around 350g of strawberries, which is considerably more in terms of volume compared to a single banana. Blend the berries, some ice, and your protein powder for a more satisfying and filling smoothie.

While dieting, salads and vegetables can be a god-send. Even if you're not a fan, they can fill your stomach and provide very few calories. When you're on a low-calorie diet, having lots of volume becomes your best friend. Embrace these options to feel satisfied while staying on track towards your goals.

Take away: Find foods that are low calorie, less calorie dense and allow you to take longer to eat them.

Eat more often: I've never been a fan of eating fewer, large meals. It just didn't work for me. Whenever I had three meals a day, I would feel full briefly, only to become hungry again shortly afterward. Dealing with that hunger for hours until the next meal was a challenge. My mood and energy would both decline during that time.

Instead, I prefer eating 6-8 small meals throughout the day. This approach has two significant advantages. First, I never feel uncomfortably full after any meal. The portions are just right, satisfying my hunger without weighing me down. Second, my hunger stays under control, and my energy levels remain consistent throughout the day.

When I have ample energy and minimal hunger, I'm far less likely to search for snacks or give in to cravings. 

Find what works for you but somewhere between 5-8 meals is usually optimal for most people.

Take away: Eating smaller meals more often will usually keep you satisfied, prevent cravings and with give you more energy throughout the day.

If you’re going to cheat, cheat with the dominant nutrient. All diets revolve around three macronutrients: protein, carbs, and fats. Typically, diets emphasise one macronutrient as the dominant factor, such as a high protein diet.

Each person responds differently to these macronutrients. Some individuals thrive on high protein, while others do better with high carbs or high fats. Once you determine which macronutrient works best for you, you can structure your diet accordingly.

By prioritising your dominant nutrient, you're signalling your body to utilise it optimally, allowing your body to function at its best.

In situations where you decide to deviate from your diet or indulge in extra food, a simple guideline can be followed: if you're going to cheat, focus on the dominant nutrient.

For instance, if you're following a high protein diet, indulging in more meat or protein-rich foods will likely have minimal effects on your body composition compared to straying towards high carb foods. The latter may have negative impacts on your composition that could take a considerable amount of time to fix.

Take away: if you're going to indulge or eat off diet, focus on consuming more of the main foods that make up your diet.

Stay away from gums, thickeners, sugar alcohols: Over the years, the quality of our food has deteriorated significantly. Food manufacturers often add various preservatives, fillers, gums, thickeners, and sugar alcohols to extend shelf life, enhance taste, or improve texture. Unfortunately, these additives can have negative effects on our digestive system and overall health.

Thickening gums like Guar Gum, Xanthan Gum, Agar Agar, and Arabic or Acacia Gum have laxative properties. In fact, some of them are used in laxative products due to their effectiveness. These gums are known to cause stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhoea, headaches, and other unwanted side effects.

Additionally, sugar alcohols such as Maltitol, Sorbitol, Xylitol, Lactitol, Isomalt, and Mannitol are commonly used as sugar substitutes in many foods. Like thickening gums, these sugar alcohols also have laxative effects and can contribute to various gut issues.

The supplement industry sells dozens of products for gut health, but there's a simple solution that doesn't require wasting money on unnecessary supplements. By carefully checking the ingredients in your foods and avoiding those that contain additives known to cause gut issues, you can improve your digestive health without any additional cost.

Depending on the specific food or meal, there are plenty of natural alternatives that can be used to thicken dishes. Ingredients like eggs, butter, pumpkin, and potatoes can be added or blended with other foods to achieve a thicker consistency without causing stomach irritations or digestive problems.

By being mindful of the additives in your food and opting for natural thickeners, you can take control of your gut health and promote better digestion without relying on expensive supplements or enduring unwanted side effects.

Take away: Food additives such as thickeners and sweeteners can have a negative effect on your gut. considering our mood and health is directly related to gut health, it pays to check whats in your food and avoid those with additives than will cause side effects.

Be careful of pre mixed herbs and spices: It’s perfectly fine to want to make your food taste better. However, it's important to exercise caution when using pre-mixed herbs and spices. Many of these blends contain hidden sugars, and additives which can add unnecessary calories to your meals. A significant number are also very high in sodium.

While salt plays a crucial role in our body, excessive amounts can contribute to water retention. This may not necessarily be a problem, but if you're aiming to lose weight or prepare for a show, the excess water can hinder your weight loss progress and give you a washed-out, bloated appearance with less muscle definition.

A client added garlic salt to their diet and experienced a weight gain of 5kg in a week! 

The excess sodium in these seasonings can cause significant fluid retention in the body.

Furthermore, if you undergo body fat testing, the excess water retention can skew the results, making it difficult to gauge the effectiveness of your diet.

Ideally, using fresh, organic herbs and spices rather than pre-mixed blends is a safer option. Chopping up fresh chilli or garlic allows you to control the sodium and sugar intake and avoid unnecessary additives, ensuring a healthier and more accurate approach to seasoning your meals.

Take away: always check the label on the herbs or spices and make sure the sugar and sodium content is low.

Always measure your food :  Weighing your food can seem obsessive and bothersome, but it's actually a simple practice that ensures accuracy. It's as easy as placing the food on a scale before serving it on your plate. Some claim they can estimate food weight by sight, but I've found that even after almost 20 years of daily weighing, I can only get close, never exact. Consistency and precision are crucial when following a diet and making adjustments. Without knowing the precise quantities, it becomes nearly impossible to modify your diet effectively. Weighing takes just a few seconds and isn't difficult.

Do you have to weigh your food forever? That's a personal choice. I choose to do so because it has become second nature to me. Preparing food without weighing it would feel strange and unfamiliar. 

The purpose of dieting is to reach a point of satisfaction. Dieting is a tool, and the better we utilise it, the faster we can achieve our goals. Once you've reached your desired outcome, you can gradually relax your eating and food preparation habits and hopefully maintain the body you've worked hard for.

So, although for some weighing food might be inconvenient, it doesn't have to be a long-term commitment. Use it as a means to achieve your goals, and afterward, decide whether to continue or not.

Take away : weighing your food takes only a few seconds but allows you to accurately know not only how much you are eating but how much to adjust when you make diet changes. 

Always prep your food: If I had a dollar for every time a client has said they were caught in a situation where they didn’t have any food to eat, I’d be retired on a tropical island with nothing more than a butcher full of meat and an empty gym.

The issue could’ve been avoided if they’d simply prepared their meals in advance.

Life has a way of throwing unexpected obstacles at us. Last-minute events, emergencies, delayed meetings, traffic jams, and the demands of children can make it nearly impossible to prepare each meal on the go.

However, spend just an hour each week to meal prep, ensures that you won't be caught without food when you're busy or on the move. 

Personally, I never leave home without a meal or two. This way, I have at least 6-8 hours covered, knowing that I'll be able to eat.

Does it sound excessive? Not at all. We all experience hunger, and proper nutrition is essential for clear thinking. By taking a prepped meal with you, you avoid resorting to whatever is available at a corner convenience store. And let's be honest, how often is that food of good quality?

A common complaint I hear from clients is, "I eat well most of the time, but it's the moments in between and when I don't have time to prepare meals that let me down."

By preparing food days in advance and keeping it in the fridge, lack of time is no longer an issue. This means you won't resort to eating other foods, allowing you to stick to your diet and achieve your goals faster.

Take away : prepping a weeks worth of food takes only a few hours once a week. Having that food prepped means there is no reason for you to be caught out and forced to eat other, usually low quality food.

Use salt and lots of it: I know I said earlier to be careful of the sodium found in pre-mixed herbs and spices, but salt goes beyond enhancing the taste of food; it plays a vital role in the body's functioning. It is a mineral essential for conducting nerve impulses, muscle contractions, and maintaining the proper balance of water and minerals. 

As athletes, our salt turnover is higher due to increased sweating, making a high-salt diet not only delicious but also highly beneficial.

To replenish lost sodium during intense physical activity and sustain peak performance, many sports drinks and supplements are formulated with high levels of sodium.

Over the years, government guidelines regarding salt intake have changed. Initially, the recommended daily intake was 3-4g, but it has been lowered to .5-2g. While excessive sodium can contribute to water retention and high blood pressure, it's important to note that salt is not solely responsible for poor health. The negative impact of weekly indulgences like burgers and pizzas, loaded with preservatives, sugars, and fats, far outweighs the effects of moderate salt consumption.

Take away: Salt is a mineral that serves various essential functions in the body. Athletes benefit from a higher salt intake due to increased sweat loss, and sports drinks help replenish lost sodium. While sodium intake should be moderated, it's crucial to address overall dietary habits and prioritise the quality of food consumed to maintain optimal health.

Beware of processed foods and sugar free variations. I have a saying that I've shared with clients for years: "If God made it you can eat it. If man made it he “f#%ked with it and you probably shouldn’t eat it.” When foods undergo processing, they are often loaded with preservatives that can compromise the nutritional integrity of the original food.

For instance, let's take a bag of shredded chicken. You would expect it to contain just chicken, right? Nope. Here's an ingredient list I came across: Chicken Breast (91%), Water, Natural Flavour, Salt, Vinegar, Mineral Salts (451, 508, 450), Vegetable Gym (407a), Maltodextrin (Maize), Sugar, Yeast Extract, Spices, Vegetable Powder, Herbs, Spice Extracts (160c), Vegetable Oil, Herb Extracts.

At first glance, you might think, "Well, there's nothing inherently bad in there. It's just seasoning to enhance the flavour." Technically, you're correct, but why are there gums in there? As discussed earlier, gums can have negative effects on your gut health. Moreover, it's no longer just a bag of shredded chicken; it's a bag of shredded chicken with additives. These additives can impact your body in various ways.

Similarly, the sugar replacements used in low-calorie and "sugar-free" foods should raise concern. In many cases, these additives can be worse for your body than plain sugar itself. Not necessarily from a calorie perspective, but due to the effects they can have on your body.

You might think I'm being overly obsessive, but consider the fact that our society now has a thriving industry of supplements aimed at addressing gut health issues, bloating, mental fog, headaches, and digestive problems. Many of these symptoms arise from consuming poor-quality or unhealthy foods.

Highly processed foods often strip away the nutritional goodness of a food by adding preservatives and additives to extend shelf life. Unfortunately, convenience has taken precedence over health, and that is never a good thing.

Take away : Processing food can compromise its nutritional integrity, diminishing its beneficial properties. Additionally, the inclusion of additives in processed foods can have detrimental effects on our bodies, ultimately impacting our overall performance and daily functioning.

Don’t eat like an idiot.  Finally, this isn’t so much a tip, more a statement. An obvious one. Our brains run on messages that come from the gut. If our guts are unhappy due to bad food then everything else in the body is going to be unhappy as well. So what you put in matters. You wouldn’t put bad or dirty fuel into your car and expect it to run well, so don’t do it to your body.

For many, their lives revolve around the quickest, most convenient solution when it comes to eating. People seemingly never have the time to cook a decent meal. There are certainly no shortage of options to choose from when it comes to food and convenience. Unfortunately, the way in which a lot of those foods are produced leaves them nutritionally void and of no benefit to our health or body. 

When a diet is high in these types of foods a person will find their mood, sleep, thought process, outlook, performance and outward appearance all start to suffer. Depending on how long they continue to eat that way, they can also be in store for some serious health issues.

Making smarter choices for food isn’t hard. A simple glance at the ingredients can give a idea of how healthy it is or isn’t. Here is a tip: if there are more than 3-5 ingredients in a packaged item, you can guarantee most of the extra ingredients have the potential to cause your body harm.

Food is the fuel your body uses to function and power every movement you make and every thought you have. Choosing the correct fuel is essential to make sure your body runs at its absolute best. 

Take away : Don’t eat like an idiot!

Getting into diet specifics is the next step. This is just a short list of a few important factors that you can look at to ensure what you’re consuming wont have you bloated, in pain and unable to think or function right.