IS FAT KILLING YOU, OR IS SUGAR…I DON’T GIVE A #$%!

Nutrition is like politics. Each dietary theory divides the scientific community like Labour and Liberal. Just like petty politicians each party squabbles over the microphone and are guilty of cherry-picking statistics to suit their cause. The result is similar to politics; the people they are put in charge of helping are often forgotten.

It’s easy to get caught up in the dogmatic rules of nutrition and the never-ending fight over which nutritional camp holds the high ground. Who needs or wants this?

I can end it — which diet works? They all do.

Nutrition is full of provocative statements but one that is ultimately true is:

The diet that works is the one that gets done. This may sound the opposite of my views on dumbed down media messages but stay with me. I will explain.

What food you consume matters but adherence is the far greater variable for success. When weight loss stops occurring, the overwhelming majority of the time it will be because the individual went away from what worked.

What is more interesting/challenging is when weight loss stops and adherence is high. When this occurs you need to put the stats to work. A food record is absolutely necessary to guide every decision.

This is why the dumbed down media messages serve no purpose. When adherence becomes a standardized variable it takes more than a sound bite (e.g. Eat Paleo) to recreate weight loss.

An effective coach may have to re-address the level of adherence necessary to reach the goal or they may have to look at other variables like sleep, stress, gut health, exercise, recalculate macro-nutrient targets and overcome the famine reaction.

To solve this problem requires hand-to-hand combat. Similar to how a JiuJitsu athlete must react to the offence of their opponent, a coach must react to how an athlete’s body reacts to their diet.

This is why you’ll never see me commit to a nutritional camp. It just doesn’t make sense. To think that the rigid rules of one nutritional movement are going to be the answer to every client for the rest of my life is just ridiculous.

If you are attempting to lose a significant amount of weight you can expect that you must control the amount of fat and sugar that you eat. I am here to tell you that if you eat fat or sugar you can also still lose weight.

How much fat or sugar you can eat to lose weight we can work out using a food record.

If you are looking to lose a significant amount of weight, expect the amount of fat and sugar you can eat to change. Expect that what is required of you will be different on Day 1 compared to Day 45.

Be prepared for change…and be mindful that if you ever fall down to remember that adherence is the most important variable.