Before I dive into the nitty gritty about ‘how much’, a bit of a prologue about diet culture is warranted. It is largely due to diet culture messaging that women (and men!) tend to undereat and restrict intake. There are many definitions of diet culture and they all have similarities. The most thorough definition, and my favourite, is found right in the introduction of Shana Minei Spence’s fantastic book, “Live Nourished: Make Peace with Food, Banish Body Shame and Reclaim Joy”. Ms. Spence defines diet culture as:
“A system that profits off unrealistic Eurocentric, thin, and unhealthy ideals and expectations; an industry worth over $70billion; an ideology that calls itself a lifestyle, a change, a cleanse, a detox in order to disguise that it is really a scam; a philosophy that takes a negative mental toll on its users and leaves chaos in its wake”
Sounds delightful, right? :/ Unfortunately, diet culture is pervasive. Inherent in diet culture messaging is that food and behaviours can be ‘good’ or ‘bad’, when in actual fact morality should have NOTHING to do with food. You are not superior because you ate a salad for lunch just as you are not inferior or ‘bad’ if you had a chocolate chip cookie for breakfast with your coffee.
Diet culture feeds a negative body image and sets the stage for disordered eating behaviours and eating disorders. It encourages restricting food to attain some unrealistic ideal of “thinness”.
To be clear…your health is NOT a size, a number or a look.
While I could stay on this “anti-diet culture” soap box for the entire post, I won’t. The take-away here is that you are likely one of the bazillions of people who has tried (way) more than one fad diet, only to regain the weight you lost - perhaps more. It likely left you feeling deprived, lethargic and wondering what you did ‘wrong’ when it didn’t work. It is a vicious no-win cycle. It takes the joy out of food, causes us to block out our body’s natural hunger and satiety signals and leads to chronic undereating and an obsession with comparing ourselves to some unrealistic standard.
So…how much IS enough? How do we know if we are giving our bodies what they need to perform what we ask of them, the very least being activities of daily living? This post will give you some general guidelines. BUT…PLEASE UNDERSTAND…these are GUIDELINES, not rules. However, following them will ensure that you are at the very least not underfeeding yourself. Genetics, age, activity level and many social determinants of health impact what we eat and how much. These are all incredibly important factors, but outside of the scope of this post. If you are curious to dig deeper, explore any of what is discussed here, or learn about the foundational nutrition habits that form the foundation of balanced nutrition before even considering what goes on your plate, feel free to reach out to me at stephanie@punchiit.ca Stay tuned as well, for my next 6-week Foundational Nutrition Habits workshop to be held at PuncHIIT Fitness. Dates and times TBD.
When I work with clients, I do not use calorie counting or weighing food. We do not track macros. We work on building healthy relationships with food, moving out of diet culture and learning how to eat in a balanced way that fuels your activities, adds value to your body, but also brings joy. If you are training for a specific, intense activity such as a marathon or a bodybuilding competition, your needs will be different than what is outlined here. The guidelines here speak more to those of us who are striving to work out a few days a week with a balance of high intensity cardiovascular work, moderate intensity work like walking or hiking, and strength training. The more active you are, the more you will veer toward the high end of the guidelines.
Veggies and fruit
It will come as no surprise that vegetables and fruits are important to your overall health. They contain important micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and the all-important fibre that we seem to never get enough of. High intake of fruits and vegetables has been linked to lower risks of many chronic diseases.
For Non-starchy vegetables, strive for one or two fist-sized portions with every meal (assuming 3 meals daily - this holds for all recommendations in this post. If you do not eat three meals daily, distribute the portions across the number of meals you do have), and add a few to your snacks! Think RAINBOW here; the variety of colours all contain various phytonutrients to support your body in different ways - and variety is a key factor in great gut-health too!
Carbohydrates (fruits, starchy veg, grains)
For fruits, starchy vegetables and grains, think at least one cupped handful at every meal, or up to 8 servings of carbohydrates per day. Carbohydrates are your body’s preferred source of fuel. Research has shown women perform and feel better with at least some carbohydrates. Aiming for slow digesting, high fibre carbohydrates is great, and has many benefits (ex, promoting satiety, sustained energy, supporting blood sugar regulation), but please do not fear foods such as white rice or potatoes. NO food is “BAD”. and…no food is a “MIRACLE FOOD” either. Foods add value to our bodies in different ways…some add important nutrients, some bring us joy and some tick both boxes!
Protein
Protein is critical for building and maintaining lean muscle. It provides our bodies with amino acids; we need 20 major amino acids for our health. Our bodies make some amino acids but we must get the rest from food. As with fruits and vegetables, shooting for a VARIETY of protein sources ensures we are getting all the amino acids our bodies need.
Current thinking is that aiming for .88 -1.1 grams of protein per kg of bodyweight is the baseline that prevents deficiency. However, deficiency is a far cry from optimizing health and performance. Plus, as we age we process protein less efficiently so our needs increase. Think more like 1.2-2g/kilo of bodyweight. Now….I do NOT own a scale and I STRONGLY (perhaps even vehemently),suggest you toss yours too. (The negative impact of scales on our mental and physical health is a whole OTHER post!) So…rather than worrying about grams per kilo of bodyweight, hand measurements are ‘handy’ here too! Think about the size and thickness of your palm as an average 20-30g serving of protein. Aiming for one palm-sized serving at each meal plus a couple of protein rich snacks throughout your day will ensure you are getting what you need.
Healthy Fats
Healthy fats have an incredibly important role in inflammation, nervous system signalling, hormone production and cellular health. Certain fats, like Omega 3s, can lower the risk of chronic diseases over your life span. Fats can help you feel satiated and satisfied …and they help to make food delicious! Foods high in healthy fats include olives and olive oils, avocados, oily fish (salmon, sardines), egg yolks, nuts and seeds. Again, using our hand as a benchmark, women will need about 5-6 thumb-sized portions per day. That equates to about 1-2 portions at each meal and half a portion with for a couple of snacks.
As mentioned previously, this post contains general guidelines to help ensure you are not restricting or under-eating. There really is NO ONE-SIZE FITS ALL approach. Your activity level, genetics, gender, age and several other social determinants of health, (such as economic stability and access to grocery stores) all have an impact on your balanced diet (diet meaning what you eat…not ‘diet culture diet’).
If you are curious to dig deeper, explore any of what was presented here, or learn about the foundational nutrition habits that form the foundation of balanced nutrition before even considering what goes on your plate, feel free to reach out to me at stephanie@punchiit.ca Stay tuned, as well, for my next 6-week Foundational Nutrition Habits workshop to be held at PuncHIIT Fitness. Dates and times TBD.
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