Best diet composition
As you will have noticed, there is plenty of ongoing discussion about what the proportion of carbohydrates, fats and proteins should be in a diet most effective for losing fat and keeping it off.
Many weight loss regimes present diet composition as the centerpiece of their programme. The last twenty years first saw a focus on low-fat, then low-carbohydrate and, most recently, the shift to high protein diets.
However, you need to know that there are many more aspects to losing fat and they are, taken together, more important than simply observing certain protein/fat/ carbohydrate proportions in your diet. The composition of proteins/carbohydrates/fats represents just one of the numerous building stones of successful weight management.
TheSlimSchool recommends a diet composition alocated in a similar fashion like the Mediterranean diet, targeting approximately the following proportions:
For weight maintenance:
Proteins 25% Fat 35% Carbohydrates 40%
For fat loss:
Proteins 33% Fat 33% Carbohydrates 33%
Proteins in the diet phase stay, though relatively higher in proportion, absolutely at the same amount as for weight maintenance, while the fat amount is slightly reduced. Carbohydrates are even more reduced.
Example of a 1800kcal (7500 kJ) diet for weight maintenance*
Proteins 450 kcal (1800 kJ) Fat 550 kcal (2300 kJ) Carbohydrates 800 kcal (3350 kJ)
Example of a 1400 kcal (5880 kJ) diet for fat loss*
Proteins 470 kcal (1950 kJ) Fat 470 kcal (1950 kJ) Carbohydrates 470 kcal (1950 kJ)
* calculated based on St.Jeor-Miffin equation for a mildly active middle-aged female 5 ft 4 in/ 162 cm tall weighing 145 lb/ 66 kg. As for all recommendations on our website, TheSlimSchool disclaimer applies.
What are the reasons behind the recommended distributions above?
Proteins
Proteins induce a more rapid and longer feeling of fullness than other food components (except for fibre) and are very difficult to convert to fat. The body cannot utilise 100% of all the available proteins (while it can, for example, utilise 95% percent of egg protein it may be able to utilise only approximately 85% of plant proteins) and needs to burn much more energy when digesting them as well. Effectively, on the average only 80% of the protein intake is available.All this would seem to make proteins the ideal fat loss companion.
There is one big BUT in the equation. High protein intake over longer periods may result in negative health implications, in particular for women. First, a high-protein diet may lead to a higher risk of kidney problems, but also a long-term high protein intake might contribute to deterioration in bone density. Considering what a problem osteoporosis already represents for the aging female population, any further raising of this risk should be avoided. That’s why TheSlimSchool sticks to a recommendation of not more than 25% long term and 33% short term overall protein intake (around 500 kcal/ 2000 kJ daily). Plant proteins (e.g. lentils, beans, chickpeas, nuts, cocoa, tofu) are recommended over animal proteins (meat, milk, eggs) due to the lower acid load for the body. The acidity of proteins may be one of the reasons for the bone loss measured in several studies.
How can you enhance the protein contents of food? This is very easy – choose chilli con carne rather than lasagna, a steak rather than a pizza, sashimi over sushi, hummus over samosas. For a snack, have a piece of cheese (some mature cheeses contain up to 70% of protein calories) or a handful of nuts. When preparing your tuna salad, use more eggs and tuna, but less pasta and mayonnaise.
Fats
Fats have lost some of the bad reputation that they’ve had to carry with them for decades.
While studies deliver controversial results as to which diet has the best weight loss and health effects, one point seems to emerge quite clearly – that diets with a high reduction of fat do not work in the long term.
This may be due to the following factors: fat induces the feeling of fullness for longer than carbohydrates. Diets higher in fat and proteins are easier to track - studies show that when people keep a food journal, they tend to underestimate the quantities of carbohydrates they eat. Fats are necessary for vitamin utilisation (of fat-soluble vitamins), some of which play a role in weight management. Omega-3 oils from fish and polyunsaturated fats (mainly nuts) may also help against insulin resistance.
Look for ways to enhance the fat contents in your diet all while not ruining your weight management efforts: have your pasta or vegetables with olive oil, a sour cream dip with vegetable sticks, or have some salmon sashimi. Give preference to a small piece of cheesecake over biscuits.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are the Jekyll and Hyde of nutrition, representing the entire range of the good, the bad and the ugly of human nutrition depending mostly on their glycemic index and fibre content.
Studies indicate that reducing carbohydrates with a low glycemic index may be your safest nutritional bet against weight gain, as well as towards a healthier lifestyle. The sedentary life that most of us lead is a major cause of insulin resistance. Apart from intensive sports, reducing carbohydrates with high glycemic index/load is the best way of keeping your insulin sensitivity level regular, as well as reducing your waistline.
From the feasibility stand point, avoiding such carbohydrates may be also the most difficult thing to do. We live in an environment full of carbohydrates; reducing them may represent the hardest habit to break. Under normal conditions, especially social ones, it may be impossible to purge carbs from your menu altogether.
TheSlimSchool recommends taking a glycemic index (GI) table of common foods and making a cut-off at a certain level (a realistic target would be 60). You can lower your average GI by a considerable amount of points working by replacement – think or write down an (honest) list of things you’ve eaten in the past several days and work on replacement options. Several othe possibilities exist to lower the GI (e.g. through cooking mode, combination with other nutrients) - they are all presented in TheSlimSchool lessons.
How to enhance the right carbohydrates: More apples, less apple tart. More (green) beans, less rice. Much (!!) less fruit juice, more real fruit. Less biscuits, more dark chocolate mousse (do you really mind?). Popcorn and peanuts rather than chips. Enjoy pasta ‘al dente’, rather than well cooked. (And, obviously, no croissants unless you are on honeymoon in France!)
Do not worry if your low GI replacement product with has somewhat more calories than the original one – See also our article Is calorie counting useful?
Because of the proven addictive nature of high-GI carbs and their contribution to body fat, a significant number of TheSlimSchool lessons are dedicated to this theme.
Overall advice on diet composition:
Do not spend much time on calculations. Keep it simple and steady.
Follow the incremental method, making replacements consciously, but slowly, in a step-by-step manner. Replace ‘bad’ foods that you eat regularly and, when presented with choices, include GI into your considerations (e.g. order your steak with green beans rather than with rice).
In approximately two to three months, you will see the changes and you will reach automatically for a hardboiled egg instead of a pancake, and have an apple rather than apple juice without even thinking. Subscribe now to learn more.
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