As promised, I thought I’d share a few more dietary hacks that I’ve learned from both training myself and my clients.
1. Understand viscosity.
If you’ve ever used a “cut” or “bulk” approach with your diet you’ll understand the relative problems with each. On occasion a diet can leave you hungry, scraping the last morsel of oatmeal but sometimes it can leave you dreading the next mouthful.
The ultimate goal of each approach is to consume a certain amount of macronutrients, food, in a given time. Obviously this amount of energy will either leave you satieted or it won’t and largely speaking, at the extreme ends of a surplus or deficit, it’s hard to avoid rumbles or bloat. However, there are ways to minimise the problems you may face.
) you eat. The simplest example is to imagine eating a dry baked potato versus a bowl of buttery mash, two quite different tasks I think you’ll agree.
So, , foods should be as dense, thick and sticky as possible. Cook oats with only a little water, maybe stir in a scoop of casein powder, add dry chicken breast to thinly buttered bread, skip the butter on your sweet potato. Equally, the converse is true when trying to cram the calories – lather on the butter, use sauces, add a jus – anything to reduce the viscosity of the meal.
Photo credit: Jones Airfoils
2. Understand volume
In keeping with the above, an equal amount of calories can be found in varying volumes of food and energy density is certainly something to abuse when trying to improve diet adherence.
For example, if your quota for a given meal is 30g/30g/30g (protein/carbs/fat) you could choose a small handful of nuts, some dried fruit and a protein shake. . Equally, you could have a large, seasoned chicken breast and a huge side of green veg followed by some frozen greek yoghurt and berries. Which seems more satisfying?
The point here, is you can always squeeze more volume out of the calorie allotment you’re assigned. If the calorie amount is leaving you peckish this is something to consider. Equally, if food is always left on your plate consider using denser foods (cream/butter/oil/dark chocolate) and add more liquids (shakes/smoothies).
3. Exercise restraint, not denial
We often say that results are a function of information and consistency. Information nowadays is easy to obtain, it’s actually putting it into practice that’s the challenge. The issue with most approaches is unrealistic expectations. No matter how devoted to the iron you think you are, you’re still human, you still have cravings and eventually, if pushed, you’ll buckle.
Mathematically, a diet that’s 85% optimal 100% of the time will yield a greater improvement than a diet that 100% optimal, 50% of the time. The caveat is that yes, you should eat well most of the time and train with consistency but don’t slide off the rails because you eat some pizza or skipped leg day, factor in some realism. Start by including breaks in your plan, allow some ice-cream post-workout once or twice per week for example or make sure you schedule rest days when you know you’re usually busy and training suffers.
Allow plenty of rest, include some things enjoy and be realistic with your expectations. After all, results come from consistency over years, not hours.
Do you have any hacks you use to make your diet and training more consistent and successful? If so I’d love to hear them, leave a comment below.