How to stop being confused by nutrition

These days everyone’s a health expert and there’s a new ‘miracle diet’ out every month! So how do you search through the bulls**t and find what works for you? Before I go into lockdown to work with the contestants on The Biggest Loser: Transformed, I thought I’d try and help you clear things up.Here are my top 10 real world pieces of advise for removing the confusion around nutrition... you don’t need to take them all on, just the ones that really resonate with you ;)

Be a dietary agnostic

Confused about which diet to follow? That’s because every food approach, from Paleo to plant based, low carb to ketogenic, Mediterranean to meal delivery services all have their pros and cons, and at the end of the day your body will probably adapt and work well on any or all of them, so long as you’re choosing quality, whole foods within that ‘diet’ and including a variety of foods.No one food approach is the answer, so try to not ‘believe’ in any of them to the letter, but at the same time be curious.See your nutrition approach as a continuously evolving story you’ll keep adding to, removing from and experimenting with over the years. Keep educating yourself and trying new things, make little tweaks and notice how your body reacts, then take the top 5% of learnings from everything you try until you come up with the perfect plan for you.

Understand your body is an organism

That means it’s in a continual state of change, development, growth and repair. It also means that as you go through different life stages - you get older, have kids, try new sports that encourage your muscles to change and adapt, or come up against various health issues, you’ll likely need to shift your nutrition approach again – and that’s just how it should be!Be open to change in your diet as well as in your life. Yes you’ll probably have to eat differently at 30, or 40 than you did at 20. Yes if you start a hardcore Crossfit routine, you’ll have to eat more and on the other hand, if you have a sedentary month ahead of you, you’ll have to eat less or adjust your macronutrients. Keep shifting and be cool with that. Change is as good as a holiday, after all ;)

Apply principles not rules

As Katharine Hepburn said, “if you obey all the rules you miss all the fun!”Instead of setting dozens of food rules for yourself, like banning carbs, counting calories, measuring how many grams of protein you’re eating at each meal, never eating grains or dairy, blah blah… try coming up with just a few key principles you want to uphold instead – no more than 3-6. It’s much more powerful upholding principles than sticking to rules!Need a few examples? Here are the principles I’m currently using myself (yep, like everything else, I upgrade them from time to time depending on my goals – and yours can absolutely be different to mine!):Lib’s guiding food principles:

1. Always choose the most natural and unprocessed foods available at each meal
2. Avoid high sugar foods where possible
3. Aim for half of every meal to be vegetables or salad
4. Always include some protein in meals or snacks
5. Avoid trans fats (deep fried foods, hydrogenated oils, packaged baked goods) and include a little healthy fat with most meals (fish, avocado, olive oil, nuts/seeds)
6. Avoid processed foods with significant added salts (i.e. instant noodles, sauces, mass produced peanut butter) or plant oils high in omega 6 (canola, soybean etc) where possible

Stop counting calories every day

First of all, calorie counting is really imprecise, up to 25% off for most foods in fact. Calories out is difficult to measure precisely too. And if you’re not getting a good balance of macro and micro nutrients to keep your body happy and working as it should, then no matter what your calories you can end up putting on weight again, or just generally feeling like c**p.Doing math at every meal can also create very obsessive habits that are hard to shake AND you’re ignoring internal signals and just paying attention to calorie counting, well that just teaches you not to listen to what your very smart body is telling you!A better way? Choose to eat a variety of whole foods in their most natural state, listen to your body’s hunger cues and know your portion sizes. Which leads into my next point…

Know your portion sizes

Here are two different ideas to help you nail it… use the one that resonates most with you:#1 – Split your plate into 4 quarters. Fill 2 of those quarters with non-starchy vegetables or salad ingredients. Fill the 3rd quarter with a good quality protein like poached eggs, grass-fed meat, fish, or a protein-rich grain like quinoa or some seeds or beans/legumes for the vegetarians out there. With the final quarter, you have a little flexibility – if you’ve been active or need the energy, fill it with whole grains or starchy vegetables like sweet potato/potato/pumpkin. If you haven’t expended much energy and just want a really healthy option, add more greens and some healthy fats like avocado, olive oil or olives, nuts.#2 – Use your hand to guide your portions. This is a little trick we learnt from Precision Nutrition: Include a meat or oily fish serve the size of your palm, or a white fish serve the size of your hand. Throw in at least a fist-sized serve of non-starchy vegetables or salad, more if you’re hungry. Add a serve of carbs (whole grains, starchy veg) that would fit within your tightly cupped palm. A serve of fat like olive oil, butter or nuts the size of your big thumb (if it’s avocado, a quarter of a biggie or half a small one is about right). Sorted!Oh and the man in your life can probably double the portions in #2.

Don’t worry about WHEN to eat

It’s more important that you make quality choices consistently. Nutrient timing is unnecessary unless you’re a competitive athlete. The only thing to be mindful of is not eating too close to bedtime and if you do, keep things light. This is because a heavy meal can disturb the quality of your sleep.

Do you need to juice cleanse?

Not unless you really love it and know it works for you. The thing is, as a strategy for weight loss juice cleansing probably isn't great - any weight you feel you lose is likely water and intestinal bulk, which will come back within a few hours of eating normally again. The low calorie, low protein, low fibre and high sugar content of a juice cleanse (yep even the veggie kind) is also not ideal for shaping your body and normalising appetite hormones. If you’re really keen, seek a professional’s advice before you start, to make sure you do it right.

Manage stress and sleep well

Easier said than done, I know, but quality sleep is the space in which your body regenerates tissue, replenishes hormones and calms your nerves and mental state. Without it, stress hormones prevail, you’ll crave more fatty/sugary foods as your body searches for energy and on top of that, your body will have less access to fat burning and muscle mending hormones like HGH.

Use the 1-2 rule with your vices and treats

When it comes to foods you know you shouldn’t be over-indulging in but just can’t seem to stay away from, particularly when weight loss and optimised energy/health are the end goals, use my 1-2 rule as an easy way to cut down, without feeling deprived.First up, be honest with yourself about your vices and what you might be having a bit too much of. Alcohol? Bread? Chocolate bars? Pasta? The shared office biscuits? Creamy coffees? Whatever it is you love but know it will be hard to cut out completely, simply make a deal with yourself that you’re allowed to indulge in 1-2 serves of those things, 1-2 times per week.For me, that means 1 glass of wine with my husband on a Friday and/or Saturday night, a slice of sourdough or two at Sat/Sun brunch and coffee with a little milk to kickstart my morning a few times per week. Health goals, sorted! And I never feel I’ve overindulged, or am missing out. It’s a winner!

Get healthy to lose weight, not the other way around

You tend to get what you focus on, so talk about what you want, not what you don’t want.If you wake up every day with the thought, “I have to lose weight” you’re focusing on your weight in a negative way, which puts a focus on everything you don’t have and all the ways you’re failing. It’s unmotivating!Instead, set your goals around getting healthy and nourishing your body in the best way possible, so your thought pattern becomes, “I am a healthy person. I love making healthy choices”.This path is more achievable and will inevitably lead to weight loss as a side effect, but you’ll do it in a healthy way. Small wins lead to big wins and help you feel inspired!