by Tad Inoue
As a professional nutritionist, the question I get asked most is, "What's the best food for me to eat to lose weight" While there's no quick response here, it is a question that speaks to one of the most important aspects of your diet: quality.
In order to improve the quality of your diet, you'll have to establish two basic factors: what function you need from your food, and how you need your energy and protein delivered.
To give your body what it needs to reach the objectives you've set for it, you'll have to first determine the function of each food you eat. Selecting foods with the right function should be based on your lifestyle, level of physical activity, genetic predispositions, and most importantly, your goals.
Don't use up all your life lines; know your food functions!
Everything you eat will fall into one or more of three categories of function: energy production, tissue repair and building, and roughage. The function of food can be easily determined once you know each food's macronutrient profile along with its fiber content.
Carbohydrates are always tied to energy production, complete proteins are always tied to tissue repair and building, and fiber is always roughage. Most foods will have trace amounts of all these macronutrients, but each is typically rich in one. The exception to this rule is processed foods like breads or cereals.
Most unprocessed choices will fall into just one of the categories, but even then, food can sometimes share more than one function. Take, green beans, for instance. They have a limited energy production function, and a roughage function, as well. Then there are flesh products, like fish, poultry, and beef — these always fall into a single function, tissue repair and building.
So how do you decide on the category from which the majority of your daily food choices should be made? For starters, you'll have to take a close look at your daily activity levels.
If you're generally very active, you'll need a higher amount of energy producing foods. A diet rich in complex carbs like rice, potatoes or whole grains will provide the fuel to get you through the day.
If, however, you're trying to lose body fat, you may have to curtail much of your carbohydrate intake. Your body will always prefer to burn this clean source of fuel over freeing up your own body fat for energy. You'll feel plenty strong and energetic, but the jiggle won't budge.
If building muscle is your goal, you'll have to take into account the post-training recovery so crucial to lean mass gains. Here, you'll need to eat foods high in protein to help synthesize and rebuild tissue.
While the quality of any food is partly defined by its function, you must also remember to take into account that food's nutrient delivery.
Each nutrient in your food gets delivered at various speeds, and this speed of delivery can have a profound effect on your energy level, recovery, and your overall performance. Knowing some basic rules about foods and their delivery rates can be very helpful in making some decisions on quality in your diet.
Think of carbohydrates, for instance. If they're delivered too quickly, a strong insulin response will follow. This reaction occurs when ingesting fast-acting carbs at inappropriate times, and it may indirectly stop fat burning while also giving you unpredictable energy levels. Complex carbohydrates will be delivered at a slower, more consistent pace, keeping your energy levels predictable.
The Belgian Waffle Extraordinaire. Comes with a glucose meter and side of extra insulin.
If you want to preserve muscle tissue, steady delivery of protein throughout the day is crucial. An even supply of this nutrient is also helpful for your energy levels when low-carb dieting. Fats are another dietary component that will have a fairly consistent rate of delivery, entering the blood stream at an even and slow rate.
Most processed foods like breads or cereals have fast carbohydrate delivery, while foods high in dietary fiber, such as beans and cruciferous veggies (like broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, green beans, celery) provide energy much slower.
Flesh products like poultry, fish, and lean red meats, will usually deliver their protein at a consistent and even rate. And all fats will typically enter your system at a slower rate than most carbohydrates and proteins.
Now that you're clear on function and delivery of each macronutrient separately, one last variable remains: timing. Foods don't exist in a vacuum; the end quality of your nutrition will be greatly affected by how you combine your nutrients and when you consume them.
Your food combinations will often change the quality of your entire meal. You'll want to combine foods in different ways, either enhancing or slowing down delivery to reflect your goals.
Eating fats or lots of fiber with carbs will typically slow down delivery. By the same token, adding fast-acting sugars to a meal will speed up delivery of all the other nutrients present, encouraging storage.
Then there's timing. If you eat carbohydrate rich foods first thing in the morning or directly after intense training, you'll speed up the delivery of all your nutrients in that meal. The speed of delivery is enhanced because of increased insulin levels, which are normal at these times of day. Insulin spikes will encourage nutrient storage and help your body recover from low blood sugar or from intense physical activity.
Reach for fast-acting carbs as soon as you put down those weights!
Aligning each food's function and delivery with your personal body goals can dramatically change the quality of each one of your meals. Putting the elements of quality together in a way that will accomplish your goals can be challenging, but it isn't impossible.
The first task in constructing a diet with quality in mind is to know your dietary goals. Once you know what you'd like your diet to accomplish, you'll need to analyze the factors mediating it, such as your physical activity, your genetic heritage, your lean body mass, and your stress levels. Synthesizing all of these factors together will produce the kind of quality nutrition plan that will enable your body dreams to become reality.
While this article isn't intended to speak of nutrient quantity or frequency, you'll still have to take those factors into consideration when constructing an effective meal plan.
Just don't forget that quality is the best place to start when assessing your own diet and where you may be falling short.
After all, quality is king!
Tad Inoue is a professional diet coach for figure and bodybuilding. Tad has over 22 years of experience in the fitness industry as a nutritionist, trainer, competitive bodybuilder, and coach.
For more information on diet coaching with Tad Inoue please visit his website or contact him at Tad@Tadthedietcoach.com.
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