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The Best Diet and Nutrition Plans: Be Healthy, Feel and Look Great, and PerformLet food be thy medecine; Thy medecine shall be thy food. - Hippocrates Diet and nutrition play an enormous role in how you feel, how you look, and how you perform. This page will present nutrition tips for using food as thy medicine to eat your way to wellness, weight loss, and high performance. Please note though that the recommendations on this page are for general nutrition purposes. They are not intended to diagnose or treat any disease. Talk to your doctor if you have questions about your medical situation. We all know that sorting through hundreds of diet and nutrition plans can be a daunting task. Quick: How many weight loss diets can you name. . . ? . . . Atkins, South Beach, AbsDiet, Slimfast, Grapefruit Diet, Fit for Life, Jenny Craig, Diets for Dummies, Liquid Protein Diet, Cookie Diet. . .and the list goes on an on. . . To make matters more complex, diet and nutrition recommendations from "experts" change all the time: Avoid fat. No don't. Repeat. Avoid carbs. No don't. Repeat. Etc, etc. I personally have tried many diet and nutrition plans and have flip-flopped according to changing diet and nutrition advice. Yet, I have finally settled on a diet and nutrition plan that provides healthy eating guidelines for life. After spending years experimenting, my recommendation for diet and nutrition plans for general wellness is an 80% Paleo Diet with Zone Diet Principles. Of all the diets I have seen, this seems to be the healthiest and most effective diet and nutrition prescription for wellness. In getting nutrition right, there are three major things to consider: 1) Eat the right foods 2) In the right proportions 3) At the right times 1) Eat the Right Foods By far, criteria number 1 - Eat the Right Foods - is the most important. By sticking to a Paleo diet you can dramatically improve your overall feeling of wellness and lose weight quickly - and safely. What is a Paleo diet? Crossfitters (who are some of the fittest people on the planet) follow the Paleo diet and boil it down to this simple prescription: "Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar." These foods were available to your ancestors for the past 200,000 years of human evolution. Newer foods, such as grains, starches, and particularly sugar, developed only in the last 10,000 years. Even newer foods, such as soft drinks, chips, and junk food, appeared only in the last 75 years. The human body has not evolved quickly enough to digest these new foods and they can wreak havoc on your system. (Think about it: Cavemen could not eat from a pasta-bush or pick a bag of chips from a tree.)  By eating the right foods that humans evolved on and avoiding processed food (such as starches and sugars) you can avoid many of the insulin induced health problems of the modern world. There's a great deal of information online about the Paleo Diet. Any google search will return lots of information. I like Mark Sisson's website - Mark's Daily Apple - that discusses his Primal Blueprint eating plans. You can also check out the nutrition section of the Crossfit Journal. (If you don't have a membership, I recommend it. It's a treasure chest full of great diet and nutrition and fitness information.) To shop for a Paleo diet, stick to the perimeter of the grocery store. That's where you'll find the meat, fish, and all the fruits and vegetables. If you can afford it, opt for grain fed meats and organic vegetables. Less-fooled-around-with food is always better. Also, I recommend an 80% Paleo Diet. Why? What about the other 20%? I recommend 80% to give yourself a little wiggle room. Some people like to include a bit of dairy. Others like to include some low-glycemic carbs, like oatmeal. This makes sticking to the main part of the diet easier. If you can stick to an 80% paleo diet, very quickly you will feel increased energy and you will lose weight as well. Remember, "Lean meats and veggies, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar." 2) Eat the right foods, In the Right Proportions Once you've mastered eating the right foods, the second part of the equation involves eating in the right proportions. For this, I recommend the principles in the Zone Diet. In short, the Zone Diet advocates eating some protein (25-35%), some good carbs (35-45%), and some good fats at each meal(<30%). This will keep your hormone levels balanced and will reduce inflammation, which is the silent cause of many health problems. That is, when you eat carbs your body releases insulin; when you eat protein your body releases glucagon. Your body is constantly on a see-saw between these two elements. If one hormone is significantly higher than the other, over time you develop inflammation which leads to severe health problems. Good fats round out the equation and provide a metabolic balancing point for the two. (Think of it as the base of the see-saw). Good fats also keep you full longer and prevent your blood sugar from spiking. In the Zone Diet books, you can learn about the various chemical processes in your body and ways to measure the exact proportions of foods to eat. Practically speaking, however, Dr. Sears of the Zone Diet recommends dividing your plate into thirds. • One-third for lean protein • Two-thirds for low glycemic carbs like vegetables • Sprinkle good fats (olive oil, nuts) on top The Zone Diet website has more information, assessments, and free nutrition plans to get you started. 3) Eat the right foods, in the right proportions, At The Right Times Finally, once you're eating the right foods in the right proportions, you can optimize your meal planning to eat 6-8 small meals throughout the day. If you eat good foods and well-balanced meals, this becomes less important because your blood sugar will be more stable anyway. But, for optimum performance, shoot for three major meals - breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Each meal should have the proper combination of protein, carbs, and good fats. And, add in three snacks of 100-200 calories each. These snacks also should feature some protein, good carbs, and good fats. In the practical application of diet and nutrition plans, nobody's perfect. Not even diet evangelists. One trick is to plan to eat right 6 days a week and let yourself have a splurge meal on the 7th. (Generally, you feel ill and tired after eating this meal. . .) Also, remember that if you fall off the wagon, get right back on. Even if you've had a few bad days in a row, don't give up. Just restore the balance at your next meal. Good luck! Note: Again, please note that I am not a physician and this is not medical advice. The diet and nutrition advice on this page is not intended to diagnose or cure any disease. Please consult your doctor for questions about your personal situation. Leave Diet and Nutrition and Return to BPGR Home Related Articles
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