Foundations of Diet

Guest post by Emily Kirouac RD

This post is a tie in to our Podcast Foundations of Health

“Diet” in its broadest terms, refers to the types of foods habitually consumed by a person, animal, or community. I believe that the word “diet” as we know it today, particularly in our Western culture, is often thought of as some form of dietary restriction, whether that be caloric restriction, or manipulation of a certain macronutrient, often with the intention of weight loss. For the purposes of this post, I will be focusing on the word diet in reference to the former. 

First things first, I don’t believe there is any “one size fits all” when it comes to diet, and what any one person should be consuming. Everyone’s calorie needs are different, everyone’s macronutrient needs are different. Some individuals may need to restrict or avoid certain food groups due to allergies, intolerances, or medical conditions. Some individuals may need more carbohydrates than others, fats, protein, etc. So when asked the question “what is the perfect diet?”My answer is simple – “have you worked with a Registered Dietitian?”. 

I believe it is so important to work with a professional that understands how food works within the body, can evaluate your specific needs and give you advice based on what your specific goals are, with science to back it up. There is so much misinformation on the internet. As a health professional, it is honestly terrifying to see some of what is out there. That being said, there is also a lot of quality information at our fingertips, you just need to know where to look. Dietitians can help weed out some of the misinformation and give you some quality sources so that you aren’t flying blind. 

That being said, there are a few “fundamentals” that I typically review with my clients. A few keys for good health and energy levels overall include: following a low glycemic eating pattern, avoiding irregular eating patterns, reducing added sugars in the diet, getting a variety of plant based foods, and including good quality protein at each meal. It’s impossible for me to give blanket advice to the population at large considering how different everyone is, but these fundamentals generally ring true. 

What is a “low glycemic eating pattern?” This essentially means eating to maintain balanced blood sugar levels throughout the day, avoiding peaks and valleys. This helps minimize risk for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, which helps minimize risk of a plethora of other conditions that can coincide. Key components to low glycemic eating include: balancing meals and snacks. What I mean by balance, include a good quality protein, a fibrous carbohydrate, and a healthy fat at each meal. At each snack, include a fibrous carbohydrate + a protein OR a healthy fat. Examples of this include an apple + a handful of almonds, Greek yogurt + berries, carrots and hummus. Another key component is to avoid going too long between meals. When we start exceeding 4-5 hours, blood sugar can start to dip. Have you ever experienced that hangry feeling? When you’re so hungry you could eat a whole bag of chips or bite someone’s head off for something trivial? This is the feeling we are trying to avoid, the feeling that causes snaccidents to happen (i.e. whole bag of potato chips). 

Avoiding irregular eating patterns goes hand in hand with low glycemic eating – avoid going too long between meals/snacks, avoid skipping meals, etc. Have you ever skipped breakfast and had a light lunch to cut back on calories in hopes of weight loss, only to find that by the time dinner rolls around you are starving enough to eat all of those skipped calories and then some? Not only are we setting ourselves up for overeating when we skip meals, but we are also slowing down our metabolism. This can result in those excess calories going right into storage. Your body does this to protect itself – when faced with starvation, your body goes into preservation mode, preserving those calories that you are taking in to maintain your energy for the future. 

Another fundamental is variety. I think that variety is particularly important when it comes to the plant foods that we are consuming. Not just fruits and veggies, but whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. I will get deeper into this in another post about gut health, but these types of foods feed the good bacteria in our gut. Our gut health is super important for a number of bodily functions, immune health, mental health and stress management, just to name a few. Studies show that the more variety we have in our plant based foods, the more variety we have in good bacteria in our gut, ultimately leading to better overall health. 

It’s important to keep an eye on added sugars for a number of reasons, including gut health, reducing risk for chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, and weight management. The American Heart Association recommends consuming no more than 6 tsp per day of added sugars for women, and no more than 9 tsp per day for men. A grande caramel frappuccino from Starbucks has 13.5 tsp of added sugar, and a Dunkin’s medium sized peach passion fruit refresher has 7.25 tsp, just for reference. 

Final fundamental – good quality protein. Protein is important to include at every meal. Protein breaks down more slowly in our bodies than carbohydrates, so it ends up slowing the rate at which our blood sugar rises, and it keeps us feeling full for longer (instead of being ready for a snack an hour after eating). This goes with our fundamental of “low glycemic eating”. So, what does a “good quality” protein look like? A protein that includes all of the essential amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein (arginine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, etc.). There are 20 amino acids in total, 9 of which are “essential”, meaning that our bodies don’t make them on their own, and that we need to get them from diet. We get these “essential” amino acids from “complete proteins”, which are proteins that contain all 9 of those essentials. These include any animal protein such as chicken, beef, fish, eggs, Greek yogurt, milk. Most plant based proteins are not complete proteins, meaning we need to make combinations that will compliment each other’s amino acid profiles. Examples include rice and beans, hummus (including sesame seeds and chickpeas). There are a couple of exceptions – soy is a complete plant based protein (tofu, edamame), quinoa. A plant based diet can be very healthy, it just also needs to be well thought out. 

All in all, as I previously mentioned, there is no “one size fits all” diet, and I believe anyone can benefit from working with a Registered Dietitian. It’s important to understand how to fuel our bodies and our metabolism for optimal function and overall health. The food we consume plays an incredible role in how our bodies function. If we aren’t eating well, we aren’t living well. 

Emily is a Registered Dietician and the Wellness Director at Executive Health and Sports Center. She is available for one on one consultations at ekirouac@ehsc.com