I caused a bit of contreversy on Facebook last night by posting a typical meal plan we see from clients coming to us looking to get in better shape. There were plenty of comments from people who were a bit annoyed as they felt the meal plan below was good. Today I hope I can explain why the meal plan below will make you fatter but first take a look at the meal plan yourself and see what you make of it.
Typical Irish persons food diary
- Breakfast : bowl of cereal + glass of orange juice
- Snack : banana and low fat yoghurt
- Lunch : ham or chicken sandwich or wrap with cup of tea
- Snack : apple and orange
- Dinner : mash, beans and small bit of meat
- Supper : bowl of cereal
Ok so you have looked at it and you may be like the facebook friends of mine who commented thinking this is not too bad. Granted its not too bad compared to some people you may know BUT this meal plan will make you fatter. The problem with the above meal plan is that it is very high in sugars. When we take in sugars (the bulk of the above foods are broken down as sugar) your body converts that into blood sugar quickly. Once they’re in your stomach, they are mixed with acidic digestive juices and physically churned through stomach muscle contractions so that it creates a liquid paste. This liquid, sugary paste is then very easily absorbed through the intestinal walls, causing a rapid spike in blood sugar levels. Put simply when we take in more sugar than we burn off we store it as fat – doesnt always mean we put on weight(often we do) but we do get fatter
Processed foods such as those named above are high in sugar and will cause you to store fat. The above food plan is extremely lacking in protein fats and veg. I did recent blogs on protein and fats and if you scroll down a bit you will find them. This is ONE of the biggest reasons for Irish people getting fatter (eating processed foods/sugars and not eating enough protein fats or veg) in my opinion. Before you start jumping on the bandwagon saying beer and fast food is making us fatter – yes 100% of people already know that. My topic is on the type of food plan new clients present to me when they come to me and ask me to help them get in shape.
We got a few comments from a few people saying “fruit is good for you, fruit doesnt make you fat”. Straight away they over looked the rest of the plan and discounted all the sugar in the other foods and just went straight to the fruit. Ok if you havent heard it before you have now – TOO MUCH OF THE WRONG TYPES OF FRUIT WILL MAKE YOU FAT. Fructose (found in fruits) does not go the usual route of sugar and out into the blood stream (thus spiking blood sugar). Fructose is converted into body fat by the liver.Glucose, found in some fruits such as bananas (50-50 split between glucose and fructose) gets converted into glycogen as an immediate source of fuel and a small amount is stored in the liver, more is then stored in muscles (the more muscles you have the more you can store) the rest is pushed out into the bloodstream. This is when insulin springs into acton and pushes the “poison” out of the blood stream and into fat cells. The problem here is while insulin is in the blood, your fat cells become a “1-way” street and so you can’t burn fat as fuel while insulin is storing fat. The more you spike your blood sugar the more fat you’ll store and then the less you can burn
I am 100% not anti fruit ad i eat fruit every single day, however I try to choose wisely and dont over eat on it – my analogy last night sums it up the way i see it;because of the posts they end up thinking we are telling you fruit is bad for you. Steak is good for you, I didn’t tell you to eat the whole cow though did I. Charles Poliquin sums it up perfectly here – “Don’t eliminate fruit, but if you are trying to lose weight or are concerned about your metabolism, limit fructose from all sources to 5 to 10 grams a day. For very active individuals, 20 to 30 grams of fructose should be the maximum intake. Berries are your best bet for fruit because they are low in fructose and are jam-packed with antioxidants”. A typical banana contains in the region of 17-18 grams of fructose. You should also be aware where the fruits you are eating are from and if they are artificially grown and if they are sprayed with chemicals.
So to finish here a few key pointers
- I never told yo not to eat fruit.
- The above meal plan is to high in sugar for most of the general population.
- When we take in sugar spread throughout the day we cause big problems with our blood sugar levels which is bad for health.
- The above meal plan IS high in sugar.
- If we are not incredibly active we wont bur of anywhere near the amount of sugar above.
- Excess sugar will make us fatter
- The protein intake from above meal plan is massively inadequate
- Starting your day with a high sugar meal like cereal is one of the worst choices you can make
- Low fat yogurts are shit
- The above meal plan will make you fatter and unhealthier
Sorry for such a long post but i hope i have given you the reasons why the above plan will make you fatter. If you want to continue eating like this then that is completely fine but if you want to improve health and drop bodyfat you should not follow the type of plan outlined above.
Tanks for reading
