Portion control
A portion is the amount of food you eat. Not to be confused with a serving size which is often mentioned on a food label or recipe.
The goal is for the portion you have to match your nutritional needs including energy requirements and nutrition.
Your portion of a meal to meet these requirements may be different to other people in your family. Which is something to be conscious of.
Timing of meals
Our circadium rhythm plays a role in our physiology, metabolism and behaviour. Our body in it’s optimum state signals when to eat and when to sleep. Having regular eating patterns is linked to less disruption to these rhythms which results in less risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases1. Listening to our body’s natural signals to eat is an important part of mindful eating practices. Eating our meals at consistent times promotes regular digestive patterns. Eating main meals 3-4 hourly is the general recommendation.
As our metabolism slows as we sleep, it is best to not eat a large calorie calorie-dense meal in the evenings, and to avoid snacking in the evenings2.
The timing of our meals can also include using strategies such as intermittent fasting to take advantage of its benefits.
Frequency of meals
The Australian dietary guidelines don’t state how many meals are optimal per day but there is evidence to support 2-3 main meals per day as being beneficial for health along with regular periods of not eating3. Having a plan for when you eat and what snacks helps to avoid eating unhealthy foods and impulse eating of convenience foods4.
Recipe Quick links
Tips for reducing fat and sugar intake
- Practice swapping foods – eg. a chocolate bar for some nuts or an apple.
- Avoid fried foods at home and from takeout.
- Reduce sugary drinks or swap out for gut-healthy options such as kombucha
- Swap your sugar source. There are some non-nutritive sweeteners such as xylitol, and monk fruit (erythritol base) that reduce the calories considerably, and still provide the sweet taste
- Read food labels and compare foods to make better choices on fats and sugar
- Make food from scratch – many jar sauces contain added sugar. You’d be surprised how easy it is to make these yourself and how unnecessary the sugar is.
- Choose leaner cuts of meat to reduce the fat.
- Choose low fat dairy options.
- Choose low fat cooking options such as grilling, steaming or air frying.
The dangers of fad diets
Sustainability of the diet
We eat every day. So, it makes sense to eat in a sustainable way…ongoing. Some diets are restrictive and incredibly difficult to stick to on a regular basis, and are often seen as short-term options.
Because of this, some diets may result in weight loss, but they may then result in weight gain when the ‘diet’ ends. For short-term diets, such as inevitably, once it is over and we return to how we normally eat, nothing has changed, and we regain the weight. It is incredibly difficult to stick to these plans in the long run due to their inability to adapt to our normal lifestyles. The repetitive nature of some of these diets such as weight loss shakes (Optifast), can become boring and unsustainable due to this.
Very low-calorie plans
Nutrition concerns
The limitations of some diets can lead to subpar nutrition. If a balanced diet includes a balance of food from the five food groups then any diet that substantially limits the intake of one group is a risk to our nutrition. Examples include carnivore diets and vegan raw food diets. Both diets have a risk of malnutrition, the carnivore diet for it’s lack of vegetables and grains, and the vegan raw food for it’s availability of nutrients from no processing, and b12 concerns.
Pseudoscience
Some fad diets are not based in science and their explanation for how they function doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. The Beverly Hills Diet makes such claims and combined with it’s very low calories puts people at risk of regaining the weight.
Disordered eating
Many fad diets with their strict rules, including calorie counting, specific timing, and low calories can lead to disordered eating and/or obsessive behaviour around food. Aiming for a diet that is more mindful and fits into our everyday lives will be more sustainable and is more appropriate for those who have previously suffered from disordered eating
References
- https://wellbeing.jhu.edu/blog/2022/12/09/timing-is-everything-why-eating-on-a-regular-schedule-supports-overall-well-being/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7213043
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6520689/
- https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/eating-well/tips-eating-well