What Makes a Diet Sustainable?

First off, let’s clarify what we mean by diet. “Diet” is a word that describes how you typically eat, and foods you regularly consume – it is not a restrictive form of eating that requires the sacrifice of all the joy in your life. In some ways one of the biggest challenges, when it comes to nutrition, is maintaining sustainable eating habits year-round. Many of us fitness enthusiasts spend the bulk of our year trying to gain or lose weight, eating in a caloric surplus or deficit, or perhaps even yo-yo-ing between the two inadvertently. So how do we cultivate balanced nutrition and lifestyle habits that stick around long term? Here are three simple tips to help you maintain a well-rounded diet:

1. Prioritize nutrient dense, whole foods in your diet, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats. These foods are generally more satiating and are packed full of micronutrients that benefit your overall health and well-being. Experiment with different recipes, flavors, and cooking methods to keep your meals interesting and enjoyable. Keep in mind, we said “prioritize”. While these foods should make up the majority of your diet, don’t be afraid to allow yourself some of the more fun foods in moderation
2. Practice portion control and mindful eating. Pay attention to your body’s hunger and fullness cues to maintain a healthy balance of energy intake. Portion control can help prevent overeating and reduce food waste. Additionally, practice mindful eating by slowing down, and being present during meals. This can enhance your appreciation for food, improve digestion, and support a healthier relationship with what you eat. Likewise when you feel hungry, check in with yourself first if you may just be dehydrated, or even bored. If not, eat!
3. Keep It Stupid Simple! Take a look at how many meals you eat in a week, and aim to make the majority of them at home. Keeping at least a few of your meals and snacks consistent and repeatable goes a long way. Perhaps even a rotation of options for a few meals that you cycle through the week. Mix things up a little! The key here is being consistent, but not boring. The more you restrict yourself to eating only specific foods/meals, the more likely you are to over-indulge when you deviate from them.

Remember – make small and realistic changes, one step at a time. These are just a few simple tips to get started on building a more sustainable diet. If you’re struggling with forming solid nutrition habits, or don’t know where to begin, book your complimentary, comprehensive nutrition assessment today. Fill out the form below, or email kate@groundworkathletics.ca to get started!

Benefits of Caffeine

 

In today’s somewhat “manic” and high-speed society, caffeine is consumed on a daily basis by many. Some rely on caffeine to get the day started, some may use it as a pre-workout. You may even consume caffeine out of pure enjoyment. Whatever the reason, as long as you consume it in moderation and within recommended guidelines, it can have some great benefits! Here are a few documented benefits of caffeine consumption:

 

1. Increased Alertness and Focus:

Caffeine is most commonly known for its ability to increase alertness and improve focus. It achieves this by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain, which helps to prevent drowsiness and promotes wakefulness. Here are a couple of studies supporting this conclusion:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00213-008-1202-z

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/016501739290012B?via%3Dihub

 

2. Enhanced Physical Performance:

Caffeine has been shown to have potential performance enhancing effects. It can increase endurance, reduce perceived exertion, and improve muscular strength and power.

 

3. Appetite Suppression and Thermogenic Effects:

While caffeine has thermogenic properties, meaning it can increase metabolism and promote the burning of calories, it has also been found to suppress appetite. During a fat loss phase of your diet, a reduction in appetite could potentially assist you towards your goals by reducing snacking and cravings.

 

4. Improved Mood and Reduced Depression Risk:

Some research indicates that caffeine consumption may be associated with improved mood and a reduced risk of depression. It acts as a mild stimulant, enhancing the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and noradrenaline, which can positively impact mood.

 

Please note that while caffeine may have potential benefits, individual responses can vary, and excessive consumption or sensitivity to caffeine can lead to negative effects. It is important to consume caffeine in moderation and consider personal health conditions and sensitivities.

Effects of Sleep on Fat Loss

 

For many people, fat loss is quite a challenge in and of itself. It requires a lot of regulation in many aspects of your life – caloric intake, regular workouts/physical activity, meal planning/prepping and, not least of all, making sure you get enough Zs! Though there is ongoing research within the medical community to determine the connection between sleep and body weight, there is substantial evidence indicating how a lack of sleep can indeed impact your weight in several ways. We’re going to break some of them down.

 

Decreased Utilization of Fat for Fuel

 

One particular study was conducted to determine the impact of sleep restriction on fat loss during a calorie-restricted diet. The results showed that while a lack of sleep alone may not necessarily cause you to gain weight, reduced sleep can lead to a greater loss of fat-free body mass, rather than fat itself. This means that while you may be losing weight on the scale, you may actually be losing it from fat-free mass (muscle). So while you may be working hard in the gym, if you’re not getting enough sleep, you may actually be leaving gains on the floor!

 

Potential Impact on Appetite Regulation

The same study also explored the effects of sleep restriction on “hunger hormones” – leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is a hormone made by fat cells, that decreases your appetite. Ghrelin is another hormone that increases appetite, therefore it is a big factor in weight loss. Current evidence indicates that during periods of sleep deprivation, leptin decreases and ghrelin increases. As you may have already pieced together, this will cause you to feel hungrier, and less satisfied/full when you eat.

 

Increased Desire for Higher Calorie Foods

Another study explored the impact of sleep deprivation on brain function, and how it may cause an inclination to eat higher calorie foods. This likely stems from sub-optimal brain function causing poor decision making and impulse control. When we are over-tired or sleep deprived, we reach for foods that are more “rewarding”. These foods are usually higher in carbohydrates, sugar and/or fat, meaning more calories.

 

Increased Opportunity to Eat

 

It doesn’t take a scientific study to determine that the less you sleep, the more waking hours you have. Therefore, the more opportunity there is for you to eat. Paired with the above effects on hunger hormones, as well as decreased impulse control, this can lead to an overconsumption of calories. Over time a combination of these things will lead to weight gain, or at the very least, a lack of weight loss.

 

Decreased Activity

When you’re sleep deprived, you are also less likely to workout. If you do workout, you won’t train with the same energy or intensity as you would with good sleep. If you don’t workout, chances are you will be lethargic and moving around a lot less. This will decrease your overall daily energy expenditure, which in turn will make fat loss even more challenging.

 

 

With all this being said, we encourage everyone to get the recommended 7-8 hours sleep! This may come with its own challenges, so try napping! Naps are a great tool to employ where possible. They have been shown to be beneficial when catching up on sleep, and reducing the effects of sleep deprivation.

“Clean Bulk” vs “Dirty Bulk” – Which is better?

 

In our last blog post we discussed eating to build muscle mass, or “bulking”, and how to prioritise your macronutrients when doing so. As stated in that post, there are multiple ways to approach your bulk and they typically fall into two categories: a clean bulk, and a dirty bulk. So, which one is better?

 

Clean Bulk

A clean bulk is almost entirely as it sounds –  eating in a caloric surplus made up of nutrient-dense foods one might typically categorise as “healthy” or “clean”; whole foods like lean proteins, fibrous carbohydrates, lentils, fruits and vegetables. This offers the potential to provide more nutrients that can further support muscle growth such as Vitamin A, C, D and E, as well as B Vitamins, Zinc and Calcium. When you include resistance training, prioritising protein intake during a bulk will also lead to a higher percentage of weight gain coming from lean mass due to an increased intake of amino acids, which are required to repair and grow muscle mass.

The main downside to a clean bulk is that the foods you eat are going to be nutrient-dense, but likely not very calorie-dense. These foods tend to be more satiating, or filling, making it difficult to consume a higher amount of calories. In addition, it can be more time-consuming since you will likely be cooking and preparing most of the food yourself.

With that being said, a clean bulk will help you instill better nutritional habits which will set you up for more success in your maintenance phase following your bulk.

 

Dirty Bulk

You may have guessed it already, a dirty bulk is almost everything a clean bulk is not. Dirty bulks are calorie rich, and not very nutrient dense. This type of caloric surplus is going to be made up of less whole foods and more processed foods, higher in fats, carbohydrates. As you can imagine, these foods are not very nutrient-dense which could potentially lead to deficiencies in important nutrients.

The benefits of a dirty bulk include: more flexibility with food choices, more convenience, and a faster rate of weight gain. If your goals include gaining weight over gaining muscle, or simply putting on more size in a shorter time frame, then a dirty bulk may be for you.

With that being said, it is important to be aware of the other health concerns of consuming a diet high in highly processed foods, such as chronic diseases and increased inflammation. While these concerns may not directly affect your ability to build muscle mass, poor food choices can add up and have a negative impact your life over time.

 

Which is better?

The answer really depends on what your goals are. If you’re thinking long-term, and you’re able to be patient with your gains, in many cases, a clean bulk is going to be way to go and is the more health-conscious option. If you need to rapidly increase your weight on the scale, or put on size at a faster weight with no regard for fat gain, then a dirty bulk could be a viable short term solution. Always consider other health factors when deciding how to proceed with your diet, and any potential long-term side effects on your body.

Fats are your Friends

Are you someone who is trying to gain weight, but doesn’t quite have the appetite or time to eat enough calories to do so? If the answer is yes, this post is for you. If you’re thinking heck no, stick around anyway because there might be a lesson in this for you too!

Oftentimes we encounter people that need guidance with getting more bang for their buck when it comes to their calories. By that we mean maximizing the satiety of their food choices, while staying within their caloric requirements; whether that be people trying to maintain weight, or people progressing through a fat-loss diet. For some of the folks out there trying to gain weight, quite the opposite approach may be needed to minimize the satiety of their food, while maximizing the calories they are consuming. One of the best ways to do that? Increase your fats!

When someone embarks on a weight/muscle gaining phase of their diet, the go-to is usually to increase protein and carbohydrate intake, which is valid in its own way. But when that protein and carbohydrate increase becomes a little too filling to stomach, incorporating more fats can help mitigate that problem. Why? Fats are more than twice as calorically dense as protein and carbohydrates. In fact per gram, fats carry more calories than protein and carbohydrates combined! On the other hand, protein and carbs are typically less calorie dense and much more satiating. For reference, fats contain 9kcal, protein 4kcal, and carbs 4kcal per gram. This means you can pack in a lot more calories from fat without having to face a whole mountain of potatoes or rice with your protein of choice. 

Now don’t get this twisted, during a gaining phase like this your body does need carbohydrates to fuel your workouts and your recovery amongst a host of other things, and it needs protein to maximize muscle growth and repair, so you shouldn’t neglect them. With that being said, here are a few ways you could incorporate more fats (and calories) into your diet without drastically increasing your meal volume:

1. More nuts – including nut butters and oils.
2. Swap out the leaner cuts of meat for higher fat cuts or fish.
3. Consider whole milk over 2% or skim milk.
4. Avocados are a phenomenal source of fats.
5. Cook or dress your food with a little more oil/butter – for more calories AND more flavour!

Next week we’re talking protein – does more equal better? Stay tuned for next week’s post! Contact us if you need more dedicated and personalized guidance in your nutrition habits and goals!