Nutrition – “Thoughts of the day”
Fat
Fat will not make you fat. Please remember this when choosing your meals. It is important to understand the difference between trans-fat, which are in processed food such as pastries, cakes, packaged meats and meals. Trans-fat have been showen to be linked with some cancers. The fat is not natural and has been manufactured to improve the taste of cheap food products and increase shelf life.
Increase you’re unsaturated and saturated fat examples includes unsalted raw nuts, avocadoes, red meat, fish, full fat milk, yogurt and butter. Both fat groups help improve hormone release, which develops brain
function, menstrual cycle, hair, skin, nails and more recently has been shown to help reduce depression.
Low fat dieting
Low fat ties nicely with sugar so I thought I would place them together. If you buy a product that is low fat it has to have some kind of taste to it, otherwise businesses would not make a profit, shareholders would stamp their feet and executives lose their jobs.
Food is then supplemented with sugar or artificial sweetener to help develop a great tasting product. The great tasting product is then labelled very carefully. Placing a huge organic sign and a zero % fat label will continue to develop sales. At the back in small writing the word carbs and of which are sugars is added. However we have already been sold on the organic, zero % fat and beautiful country side picture we don’t really care. After all its fat that makes you fat, right???
Sugar
Simple sugars will stop your body burning fat (consuming unsaturated and saturated fat will not). You are more likely to go over your recommended calorie daily intake by eating sugary based foods because they taste good and don’t fill you up. They are the foods we graze on (fruit) and snack on whilst we cook or treat ourselves before bed with a cup of tea (chocolate and biscuits are great examples).
Here is a list of foods that either have sugar or are refined carbohydrates. All cereal (even the “organic ones with pretty countryside pictures on them”, fruit, biscuits, cereal bars, chocolate, cakes, pastries, low fat yogurts, diabetic ice cream, fruit juices and the list goes on.)
Protein
We are made up of protein and in order to recover from fitness sessions, help repair our muscles and continue to perform daily bodily functions we need a consistent source of protein.
Protein helps supress our appetite throughout the day and controls insulin release. Good sources of protein are from meat, eggs, dairy, pulses and raw nuts. Consume between 1-2grams of protein per kilogram of your lean body weight.
For more information on carb cycling, intermittent fasting, IIFYM and supplements, please contact actlife@imperial.ac.uk