Nutritional Recommendations

A nutritional template covering all aspects of health, fitness and athletic conditioning

Nutritional recommendations are generally fairly universal in most countries. Every government puts out things like food pyramids, dietary guidelines etc. The problem, it seems to me, is that these very guidelines and recommendations by “experts” are one of the primary causes of heart disease and other nutrition related diseases. Having grains, bread, pasta etc at the bottom of the food pyramid recommending 5 -7 serves per day is not conducive to good health or even athletic performance.

Today we are still living as though what was recommended in the 1970s is applicable today. This included high carbohydrate diets that are low in fat and rather low in protein. This is what is causing many of our health problems, the over consumption of processed carbohydrate foods and starchy rubbish with very little nutritional value. Take a look around you next time you go out somewhere. If you live in a western country, or even some eastern ones, you will notice obesity is rampant. People are getting fatter and more unhealthy every year. Despite medical advances the human life expectancy is actually dropping for the first time ever. This to me does not sound like our experts in nutrition have it all figured out.

The issue I have is that nutritional recommendations are an easy thing to get right. We need to simply look at what our bodies need and feed it to them. So the following are some guidelines then some actual figures on what constitutes a good diet.

These nutritional recommendations will work, believe it or not, for muscle gain, weight loss, athletic performance and especially health. Gaining weight does not mean you have to consume heaps of calories. Doing so will regulate your metabolism so your weight will try to remain constant. Restricting calories, as per the first guideline will promote health as well as whatever other goal you are pursuing. The difference is in the training that you do. Following these nutritional recommendations are designed as fuel for all health, fitness and performance goals.

Guidelines

The following are guidelines listed in no particular order…

• Reduce the number of calories eaten in a day without compromising nutritional needs. Calorie restriction has been shown to increase lifespan in every animal it has been tested in. This is due to many reasons, a lot of them still speculated. However many markers that provide an explanation are very apparent. Also, believe it or not, calorie restriction can still be somewhat practiced by those wanting to gain muscle mass, simply by restricting unnecessary calories with zero nutritional value. The body adapts to restricted calories and adjusts the metabolism accordingly.

• Eat whole and natural foods. This one is preached a lot, so much so that it loses all meaning. But think about it, food is designed to contain all nutrients needed for the human body. When you mess around with the chemical structure of a food you are essentially destroying its nutritional value. The same is true for supplements. All nutrients we need can be found in nature. Anything man made is not the same as nature due to context. When a nutrient is taken out of context such as isolated vitamins it loses many of its support nutrients.

• High protein, moderate carbohydrate, moderate fat. A diet with these proportions is conducive to good health and the very structure of how the body is made. Most tissue is made up of protein. Carbohydrate is simply energy, consuming more of it than necessary is not good practice. Fats contribute to brain function, energy, hormone production and many other functions, provided it is fat from a good source such as eggs, avocado, nuts, seeds and fish.

• Intermittent fasting should be practiced regularly. This is the second best thing to calorie restriction and has been shown to increase lifespan and helps the body digest unwanted waste build-up. I am not recommending starvation. Intermittent fasting is simply periods of time without eating. This can be practiced healthily for periods of 8, 12, 24 and 48 hours. Obviously longer fasting periods should be practiced less often, whereas periods of 8 - 12 hours can be practiced every few days.

• Ignore all standard nutritional recommendations as if your life depends on it. Actually, your life does depend on it. Standard guidelines are a perfect recipe for poor health. High carbohydrate diets are a guarantee of consuming foods with little nutritional value. Breads, pasta, sugars and other high glycemic index foods provide no nutritional value and contribute to unwanted spikes in insulin, which in turn lead to fat being stored on the walls of arteries and a host of other problems. There are also many other recommendations that are hazardous to health such as over consumption of fruits, which should be consumed in moderation such as one to two fruits per day and low fat, which creates a negative effect on blood sugar and hormone regulation.

• Eat nuts, berries, lean meat, lots of fish, non-starchy vegetables, limited dairy, eggs, plenty of leaves and lots of colour. This nutritional recommendation is partially Palaeolithic (a caveman diet), however I also recommend the inclusion of dairy, which is not Palaeolithic. This is essentially how our ancestors evolved to eat over tens of thousands of years.

• Lots of exercise will not offset a bad diet. Eating lots of food then working it off with hours of exercise will not cut it. This is not a nutritional recommendation directly, however it is important to take note of.

• Eat meat as a side dish, not a main course with every meal. Most people that live to be centenarians consume meat in moderation. Human beings are not naturally carnivorous animals, we are omnivores. By nature omnivores are built to digest vegetable matter primarily with a supplemental diet of meat. This excludes fish and other seafood, which can be eaten more frequently and in slightly larger proportions. A bulk of your protein should come from seafood with nuts coming in second, eggs third, dairy fourth, then other vegetable matter. One can get adequate protein without consuming hefty amounts of meat and nutritional supplements.

• Ditch your obsession with weight, fat, muscle or whatever and focus on enjoying food. The French are generally fairly lean and fairly healthy, however they enjoy their food and wine. Eating is a chance to savour the taste and enjoy the company of others. Eat while relaxed and preferably in the company of others and forget about how much you weigh. This is hard to do in the beginning since I recommend starting with calculating the numbers based on the guidelines below. However over time you will know how to structure a diet plan based on these recommendations without having to calculate macro-nutrients.

• We follow the "Warrior Diet" philosophy, which is based on the late paleolithic era. This methodology recommends contradictory methods from the mainstream guidelines. It recommends eating light through the day and having your major meal at night for dinner. This is based on the philosophy that during the day your body is in fight or flight stress mode. In this state you are not digesting food efficiently. During the evening your body is at rest. This is when the digestive system is at its most efficient.

  There is more to it than that. So visit their website for more information...The Warrior Diet

Figures

The following are the recommended macro-nutrient guidelines for all domains of physical conditioning. Please note that these are guidelines only and provide a simple base line for which to adjust for individual circumstances, activity levels and body types.

Macro-nutrient guidelines will be in grams per kilogram of lean body mass. To calculate lean body mass you must have your body fat percentage tested then calculate it from there. Easy to do.

Fat Loss

For fat loss to occur there needs to be a deficit in calories. This means that more calories need to be spent than are being consumed. However it isn’t that simple. The balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat need to be in the right proportions to facilitate favourable hormonal conditions.

Please note that these nutritional guidelines are limited in calories compared to that of a typical western diet.

Sedentary Person

A sedentary person is someone who has an inactive job, does not participate in sports, drives or catches public transport with very little incidental activity and spends minimal time exercising.

The baseline macro-nutrient guidelines for a sedentary person are…

CARBOHYDRATES: 2 grams per kg of FFM (fat free mass)

PROTEIN: 2 grams per kg of FFM

FAT: 0.5 grams per kg of FFM

These are simply recommendations. They may need to be adjusted to suit the individual and won’t work for everyone exactly as prescribed.

Moderately Active Person

A moderately active person is someone who has a fairly sedentary job such as a teacher or someone that stands throughout the day with minimal activity. Moderately active people participate in minimal sports, small amounts of walking and small amounts of time working out.

The baseline macro-nutrient guidelines for a moderately active person are…

CARBOHYDRATES: 2.2 grams per kg of FFM

PROTEIN: 2.5 - 3 grams per kg of FFM

FAT: 1 gram per kg of FFM

These are simply recommendations. They may need to be adjusted to suit the individual and won’t work for everyone exactly as prescribed.

Very Active Person

A very active person is someone with a fairly active job such as a warehouse worker, participates in regular sports or related activities, does a fair amount of incidental activity such as walking and works out regularly.

The baseline macro-nutrient guidelines for a very active person are…

CARBOHYDRATES: 2.5 grams per kg of FFM

PROTEIN: 3.2 grams per kg of FFM

FAT: 1.2 gram per kg of FFM

These are simply recommendations. They may need to be adjusted to suit the individual and won’t work for everyone exactly as prescribed.

Ultra Endurance

Ultra endurance people surprisingly do sometimes gain weight and need a fat loss dietary plan. Ultra endurance is characterised by an extremely active job such as a labourer or brick layer, participates in regular sports, works out regularly and might run, walk or cycle a moderate to long distance for transport.

The baseline macro-nutrient guidelines for ultra endurance are…

CARBOHYDRATES: 4 grams per kg of FFM

PROTEIN: 3.5 grams per kg of FFM

FAT: 1.5 grams per kg of FFM

These are simply recommendations. They may need to be adjusted to suit the individual and won’t work for everyone exactly as prescribed.

Those are the macro-nutrient guidelines for each activity level. For people that seem to burn fat easier the numbers can be increased accordingly, likewise, they may need to be reduced for those that burn fat slowly.

Muscle Gain

For muscle gain to occur there needs to be more calories consumed than what are being burned. Basically it’s the opposite of fat loss. Keep in mind however that this does not mean excessive caloric consumption. Calorie restriction can still be practiced for someone wishing to gain muscle mass.

Sedentary Person

A sedentary person is someone who has an inactive job, does not participate in sports, drives or catches public transport with very little incidental activity and spends minimal time exercising.

The baseline macro-nutrient guidelines for a sedentary person are…

CARBOHYDRATES: 3 grams per kg of FFM (fat free mass)

PROTEIN: 2 grams per kg of FFM

FAT: 1.5 grams per kg of FFM

These are simply recommendations. They may need to be adjusted to suit the individual and won’t work for everyone exactly as prescribed.

Moderately Active Person

A moderately active person is someone who has a fairly sedentary job such as a teacher or someone that stands throughout the day with minimal activity. Moderately active people participate in minimal sports, small amounts of walking and small amounts of time working out.

The baseline macro-nutrient guidelines for a moderately active person are…

CARBOHYDRATES: 4 grams per kg of FFM

PROTEIN: 3 grams per kg of FFM

FAT: 2 grams per kg of FFM

These are simply recommendations. They may need to be adjusted to suit the individual and won’t work for everyone exactly as prescribed.

Very Active Person

A very active person is someone with a fairly active job such as a warehouse worker, participates in regular sports or related activities, does a fair amount of incidental activity such as walking and works out regularly.

The baseline macro-nutrient guidelines for a very active person are…

CARBOHYDRATES: 4.5 grams per kg of FFM

PROTEIN: 3.5 grams per kg of FFM

FAT: 2 gram per kg of FFM

These are simply recommendations. They may need to be adjusted to suit the individual and won’t work for everyone exactly as prescribed.

Ultra Endurance

Ultra endurance people surprisingly do sometimes gain weight and need a fat loss dietary plan. Ultra endurance is characterised by an extremely active job such as a labourer or brick layer, participates in regular sports, works out regularly and might run, walk or cycle a moderate to long distance for transport.

The baseline macro-nutrient guidelines for ultra endurance are…

CARBOHYDRATES: 5 grams per kg of FFM

PROTEIN: 4 grams per kg of FFM

FAT: 3 grams per kg of FFM

These are simply nutritional recommendations, not set figures. They may need to be adjusted to suit the individual and won’t work for everyone exactly as prescribed. They do provide a solid guide for how to balance out proportions of certain food types.

Those are the macro-nutrient guidelines for each activity level. For people that seem to burn fat easier the numbers can be increased accordingly, likewise, they may need to be reduced for those that burn fat slowly.

Fat loss and muscle gain are the only two goals that we base macro-nutrient calculations on. Other goals such as athletic conditioning need to follow these guidelines with adjustments made based on what the requirements of the activity are.

The preceding nutritional recommendations are broad recommendations. There are, of course, needs that need to be personally catered to such as diabetes. However these nutritional recommendations will cater to most of these needs with only minor adjustments. This is true whether someone is gluten intolerant, diabetic or has previously had heart disease. These nutritional recommendations were laid out based on the make-up of the human body and how we digest food.

Before finishing this guide, I will leave you with a sample daily meal plan. Please note that this is a sample for a single day. I recommend varying the diet each day and even further throughout the seasons.

Sample One Day Meal Plan

BREAKFAST

Two whole eggs, glass of milk, small handful of almonds.

MID-MORNING

Small handful of mixed nuts, tuna or other fish salad including leafy greens such as baby spinach or Asian vegies. This whole meal can be catered to by having a tuna salad with pine nuts, baby spinach, tomato, avocado and cucumber.

MID-AFTERNOON

Mixed snack box with maybe a serve of sushi or celery with peanut butter or cream cheese or just a mixed bag of nuts, seeds, raw vegies etc.

NIGHT TIME

Generally at night most nutritional recommendations will say not to eat a large meal or to limit carbohydrates etc. However I recommend a meal that is larger than other meals in the day. This is in line with the The Warrior Diet philosophy.

A perfect dinner should include a protein source, a carbohydrate source and a fat source. This might sometimes include a small serve of meat, a piece of fish, tofu, eggs, sushi etc. Every night time meal should include a relatively large serve of vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, Asian leafy greens, capsicum, peas, corn, zuchinni etc. Remember to include some completely vegetarian dinners in order to limit the consumption of excessive amounts of meat.

The nutritional recommendations outlined on this site are entirely different to the recommendations of most nutritional authorities such as dieticians and the like. This is not for the sake of being different, it’s just that we have challenged the status quo simply because what many people are doing currently does not seem to be working. In fact it just makes things worse.

This meal plan fits into the nutritional recommendations laid out in the preceding paragraphs. For more personalised advice or clarification don’t hesitate to contact us using the form at the bottom of this page.

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