I wish I could find the most comprehensive way to present the only question people want the answer to – what is the best way to eat?
The very short answer to this question is, what you can eat consistently.
Consistency trumps intensity, which is an extremely simple concept. A concept that should be applied to everything in life, not just diet. But intensity is a great story for social media (run an ultra, write a book in 90 days, lose 100#s in 6 weeks) and consistency is boring (lose 100#s in 3 years, write a book in 3 years, etc). Consistency is a dirty word in the world of plethora we live in.
Most people, at least those who care about what they put into their body and aren’t drinking mountain dew like it’s a race to get their feet chopped off, know the basics of eating well.
Most people who eat fairly well will ask – why do I still have “all this fat”, why do my joints hurt, why do I have bloating, why can’t I sleep, why don’t I have more energy….you get the gist.
The answers can range from fairly simple, to uber complicated. For instance, “why do I have all this fat” could be coming from a woman who is 5’5” and weighs 140#s – she is a nice healthy weight, but perhaps she would be happier with the appearance of her body if she had more muscle, her problem isn’t “all this fat” but a body composition issue; or it could be semi-complicated like she has a disordered perception of the size she should be. We obsess over the number on the scale, and weight is total mass: bones, skin, organs, blood volume, muscle and fat. Fat is….well, fat. Losing weight can include losing bone density, muscle, and organ function, no bueno.
Other times the answers to these questions are much more complicated, and need some medical intervention. Like a man who is doing everything right, or at least most things right like working out, keeping alcohol to a minimum, attempting to get sleep but still struggling to lose his gut and even developing a solid c cup perhaps his testosterone levels are low, and all the sunshine, broccoli and barbells in the world won’t help him without some medical intervention. Maybe we have a woman who has low thyroid function and no matter how much cardio and starvation she applies she’s still adding fat and needs medical intervention. Or maybe you have a slight food allergy to milk and even the butter that was used to cook the eggs you ate for breakfast are causing bloating.
What to eat can be a tricky question that involves a lot more then the actual food.
I get asked what I eat, and I hate answering this question for a number of reasons. One because I know if I share what I eat someone will try to mirror my choices and it may not, for a variety of reasons, fit their lifestyle or even nutritional needs. These reasons can include, but are not limited to: they don’t like the taste of the foods I eat, they don’t have access to the foods I eat, their schedule doesn’t allow them to eat foods at the same times I eat, and of course – their needs just might be different then mine. I am a 130# woman – I am a rather smaller human, I know people smaller – and whew if ya smaller then me my heart goes out to ya, shit is hard as a smaller human - you might need to plain eat MORE then I do.
But if I am going to be a good steward for health, fitness, wellness and sound nutrition then I need to help bang the drum of WHAT nutrition actually is. Most of the time people hear “sports nutrition” and they think of lean athletes on magazines, or professional athletes, or some complicated nutrient-timing, weighing and measuring every morsel of food and cutting edge supplements. But every human is made to move, therefore every human is an athlete who should be eating well. BUT! Every human isn’t a high school kid, or an elite 20 something, or a professional athlete, or a guy with a construction job that is laborious, or a mom with a full-time job and two kids. Every human IS different, so every human is going to have different needs.
Keep it simple and work on the basics is HARD-IO. It is easy to get into a dietary dogma – if you have an ailment that includes pain, or have some fat to lose and eating in a specific way, especially a convoluted and complicated way we tend to wrap ourselves around this method/behavior like a boa constrictor going in for the kill. Human brains love puzzles, and diets have been presented over and over again on social media as a secret puzzle. Someone selling the secret rituals, inaccessible fruits and herbs from far off islands, and magic powders that cost as much as a car payment from the pretty smiling woman who shows pictures of herself fat and unhappy, and now she is vibrant and chasing around her kids and dogs in they yard.
You feel a sense of euphoria, like you figured out the Holy Grail. But adhering to the Holy Grail is near impossible, it is expensive, hard to adhere to in social situations and generally…plain doesn’t work….intensity.
Basic can be consistent. You can eat a basic meal almost anywhere, but finding a gluten-free, legume-free, vegan meal anywhere will leave you eating at home alone or left out of most social situations.
People are naturally polarized; nutrition isn’t the only thing that brings out a creed of faith in humans. I “almost” have a masters is in Global History, and a minor in Ancient Middle East; I have read hundreds of books on conflict and it all starts with: this guy looks more like me then that guy, so that guy must be evil. That’s just what humans do, rack, stack and group each other – it is biology.
Significance and contributions is always the human dilemma, it’s why humans have anxiety. We are hard wired to worry about personal significance and contributions. Anxiety issues are higher then ever because of the openness and readily available amount of information the Internet has brought to us.
Evolution is not destiny, it is a choice, so is de-evolution. I worked for the DoD for years as an Anti-terrorism Officer; one of the questions we worked on every single day was “Why do we humans, remarkably social animals with extremely large brains, spend so much energy on one thing--deliberately and systematically killing other members of our species?” Biology is the answer. It emerges in several disruptive ways. We need to acknowledge this if we want to save the world, our world, we cannot let biology govern our decisions --biology is not destiny.
This is why our diets are so hard in 2022 – biology tells us to relax, be chonky…don’t waste too much energy and store energy (lounge and snack). The problem with this biological trait is in 2022 we have the Dunkin Donut bacon and egg donut sandwich available 18 hours a day, Burger King’s pizza sized burger, The Big Gulp which is 44 ounces of soda with a free refill and any creation the mind can create at Sheetz available 24 hours a day. These high calorie foods set off all sorts of bells and whistles in our mind saying I’m here to PAAAR TAY! They make us feel good….temporarily. And they change our taste buds. Remember when you started feeding your infant – you only fed them the veggies because as soon as they got a taste of the fruits the veggies were spit out in refusal…biology. Again, biology is the answer, awareness is the fix.
We are not daft and dumb creatures who think these high calorie treats and constantly lounging are good for us. We must also have to not be so daft and realize these extreme food choices are “intensity” the same way only eating broccoli and tofu is “intensity”. There is a hundred choices and levels in between. Intensity is the “Good Story” for Instagram….nothing more sensational then a 115# gal in leggings and a crop top eating a triple ice cream cone claiming #macros or an obese guy shoveling the pizza size burger into his gullet while slurping down the Big Gulp for time. Both of these scenarios create controversy and “war” – which on social media turns into significance and contribution – we can all recognize these are the wrong kinds of contribution and significance, but it doesn’t make it any less true that this is what captures our attention.
I don’t ever suggest strict diets for anyone (outside of the fighters who come to me for help who need to make weight), it is hard for me not to fall into a routine of going off on a diatribe of macronutrients, seed oils, micronutrients and circadian rhythms when talking food to people who inquire. It never fails to surprise me how an 18 year old kid who lives off of BK, Sheetz, cereal, pop-tarts and Bucked Ups has an Adonis like figure. How is this possible? A combination of youth, a lot of activity, and good genes. Unfortunately, that does run out and a poor diet will catch up you, and most athletes understand they need to eat for performance. This is a typical diet for kids these days and giving them a complicated diet that prevents them from eating any of the aforementioned foods creates non-compliance…a null and void, don’t waste the ink scenario.
I have worked with hundreds of people on dietary choices to help them reach fitness goals over the years. Most of them are sadly unsuccessful, you see it is easy to sit down with me for an hour, or do one of my group challenges and logically hear the consistency and awareness theory, yet when this isn’t your constantly daily feed and life gets in the way and stress takes over. Well a snickers will solve all your problems of the day…yet the problems keep stacking up. And the mocha frappacino at 3pm gives you the boost of energy and sugar to make it through a dinnerless busy evening of one event after another and you find yourself in the “coffee” drive thru Monday-Friday and on Saturday to “relax”. Well these are your consistent habits and your health and body will reflect them. The biological intense side of you cries to “give up meat and sugar and run a marathon”…..which will leave you exhausted, hungry and broken in a few weeks. The real answer here is instead of the snickers…take a walk to shake off the stress. Instead of the mocha frap, grab a protein shake or learn to say no to too many evening activities so you can have dinner and get to bed at a reasonable time. Not intense, and not sensational….so people believe this won’t work.
OK, so here it is….after all that I know you still want to know….Ang what do you eat?
Here are some of the most frequent questions I get asked about my food choices. Let’s be clear before you read any further….I’m not a hater on any “diet” in the land of obesity I applaud anyone paying attention to what they put into their body; I am however opposed to making food a religion. You see your beliefs are the least interesting thing about you. Your identity shouldn’t be so tied up in your food choices you have to live in a straw. Your food choices will change through the years, don’t burn bridges with people over gluten or coconut oil….mmmkay, trust me on this one.
I am opposed to humans being so obsessed with food choices they forget the most important thing about food….food gives you energy to do the life thang. You’re not supposed to spend all your days calculating what to eat and how to burn it off….refer back to “food is not a religion”.
Do you eat organic and/or seasonal vegetables and fruits?
Ideally these are the best choices; pragmatically making these choices might not happen for most. Organic might be too expensive for your budget or you might not have access to seasonal fruits and veggies. In the Ross household we eat all the veggies and fruits – frozen, fresh, organic, non-organic. I’m just not convinced organic and seasonal fruits and veggies matters more then your nutritional needs.
Do you count calories and macros?
I have never tracked calories and I do no not track my macros much anymore. I have an established food base I stick to and I have saved to memory quite a few food’s macros.
I stick to basics on the daily - 150 grams of protein per day (for my 130# body) and the rest is filled in with veggies (prioritized) whole grains, and healthy fats.
If I gain weight I asses how many treats I’m having…usually too many. If I lose weight it’s usually from a few extra runs I added in. Both instances are off the normal course, once corrected (if needed to be corrected) my weight will balance out.
Also noteworthy, I weighed and measured food meticulously for years for physique goals. I can eyeball 4 ounces, 2 tbsp and a 1/4 c like a champ. I do not recommend for a novice to unabashedly guess what 2 Tbsp of peanut butter looks like…cause I can guarantee….sadly….you’re wrong.
These are skills from years and years of practice. They now let me control what my body looks and feels like without much angst, planning or hassle.
Do I fast?
No, not anymore. I did intermittent fasting (IF) circa 2012 for about a year. I chose fasting because of the flexibility it gave me with packing food when I commuted to work and had a long schedule. It was much easier to take one meal and a few snacks then 2 meals and snacks. I also read there was a large cellular benefit to IF, and seeming how at the time I wanted to live forever I gave ‘er a go.
I would stop eating about 6pm and not eat again until noon the next day. I was hungry and would curb my hunger with coffee. With a dreadful job that left me relentlessly bored drinking coffee became entertainment and I found myself drinking copious amounts of coffee.
Fasting became a game and I would “see how disciplined” I could be by extending my fasts…with more coffee.
As you can imagine coffee is not a food group and after a few months I found myself extremely fatigued and surprisingly, with all my calorie control, my body was squishy.
If you workout hard your body needs fuel, if you don’t provide the fuel your body will feast on its own muscle and organ tissue, preserving fat as it believes it is in a famine, leaving you…squishy.
Extended fasting and excessive caffeine consumption will have your body dumping high levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, signaling belly fat storage.
Clearly I was not good at intermittent fasting, and just because I wasn’t good at it doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.
I do know…for a fact, that fasting is less beneficial for women, especially menopausal women. Why? Hormones.
I also know that basic fasting: not eating after 6pm and then eating again when you first wake up - is very beneficial and is in-line with your circadian rhythms.
The same benefits associated with fasting like autophagy is actually better regulated with exercise then fasting.
Do you eat artificial sweeteners?
No, I don’t like their taste. I am not opposed to them one way or the other, I just do not enjoy them myself.
Do you eat red meat?
Yes, but I treat red meat as a fat, and not as a protein source, the same as I do with nuts. Red meat contains a lot of dietary fat, and I will easily go over my fat macro if I eat a lot of red meat. But I enjoy a good burger.
Do you drink alcohol?
Yes, but very limited. I enjoy drinking alcohol…I love the chemical sigh it gives you. I have a very active mind, nothing like two drinks to chill the fuck out. However, I am aware I won’t sleep good and I probably won’t feel the best the next day so I save my alcohol for once a week and keep it limited to my two drinks.
What supplements do you use?
Hydrate and Recover by Wilderness Athlete for minerals, and BCAAs and protein powder. I think there is a lot of benefit to Beta Alanine for endurance activities and creatine to prevent muscle fatigue and help with recovery but I don’t take them regularly.
Are you low carb?
No, I eat roughly 200-250 grams of carbohydrates a day. When I trim back on carbs I do have a leaner appearance, which I like better, however I am more tired and fatigued throughout the day. I don’t like ONLY having energy for my workout and then having to slog through the rest of the day, counting down the hours until bedtime. I’d rather have some extra fluff and energy to be an energetic, present wife, mom and business owner, then be a lean sloth.
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