The Nine Minute Read That Can Save Hundreds Of Dollars Spent On Expensive Meal Plans
By: Awab Hussain
Tags: Health, Diet, Nutrition, Fitness, Self Improvement

Simplifying meal plan construction strategies ( what they don't tell you).

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

Diet and Nutrition is a serious domain that needs to be looked into to have a sound life. This significance has led it to become a factor in the expansion of a billion-dollar industry that relies on identifying and exaggerating the nutritional issues and offering a “customized” diet plan as a solution for hundreds of dollars per month.

According to the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Americans spent an estimated $30 billion a year in 1992 on all types of diet programs and products, including diet foods and drinks. Marketdata, a market research firm that has tracked diet products and programs since 1989 releases its findings in its biennial study: “The U.S. Weight Loss & Diet Control Market.” which in its 2007 study estimates the size of the U.S. weight loss market at $55 billion. It is now estimated to have reached over $60 Billion.

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Now, you might be wondering, why should you be spending time to read what I have to offer on this topic. So, let me start by briefly introducing myself and my personal journey will explain to you the basic principles behind the diet you consume so that you may not have to go about buying expensive diet plans and instead make your meals according to your own will.

But, first, let me tell you what does this article has to offer:

1. My brief introduction (to make you trust my insight).

2. Basic principles behind the construction of all those expensive diet plans (what they don’t tell you).

3. The knowledge you need____ to become your own dietician.

Disclaimer: This article is for metabolically healthy individuals. If you are suffering from any medical disorder, please consult your physician before following a meal plan.

I am a final year medical student. So basically, I am about to become a doctor. This means that I have studied the metabolic needs of our body and biochemistry in-depth and I have applied that insight to myself so I can guarantee that this article is all you need to customize your diet plan yourself.

I am doing this because I have spent a lot of time surfing through the internet, following youtube channels, and buying expensive meal plans just because I wanted to have a strong and healthy physique. I know the pain and the confusion that follows. The frustration of following a strict routine without completely grasping the principles behind it. Plus, Medium will pay me if you keep on reading, so I have my incentives to share my knowledge with you guys.

Things you need:

1. Setting up your goal

2. Having background knowledge about your body

3. Understanding your macros

4. Buying a simple kitchen scale

Setting up your goal:

The first thing you should do is get on a weighing scale. You have to decide whether you want to lose fat (get lean) or bulk up muscle or just put on muscle while staying as lean as possible. It totally depends on what type of body you prefer. A month ago, I decided to get lean and lose fat.

Having background knowledge about your body:

This is the most crucial part of this article. Please put that bagel down and read this carefully. Everyone should know at least this much about the body.

The one thing the human body cares about is sugar(in the form of glucose). All the rest of its needs are aligned in a way to maintain that level of blood glucose. The liver is the headquarter that orchestrate all the metabolism. (So, stop trying to ruin it by all that binge drinking).

The body can exist in one of the two dietary states. There is no middle ground

· Fed state

· Fasting state

· Fed state: Suppose you eat a bar of chocolate (mainly composed of sugar), the body has special sensors to detect glucose in the blood after we consume something. So, it will signal various organs through messengers called hormones and command them to use that sugar to:

1. replenish its blood glucose level

2. convert the surplus to a storage form (called glycogen) in the liver for future use

3. make fat and power protein synthesis with extra energy.

Photo by the author

· Fasting state or eating a meal with no glucose: Now suppose you decide to fast or eat a diet that has no glucose in it, the body will:

1. use that food containing fat, protein, or carbohydrates (other than glucose).

2. open and burn its stores (glycogen) from the previous meals (like the chocolate bar you ate a few hours ago) if you did not eat anything.

3. breakdown body fat and proteins

All of the above steps in the exact order to synthesize glucose for the body. This glucose synthesis is called gluconeogenesis and it happens mainly in the liver.

Photo by the author

Role of hormones: Hormones are little messengers that convey the different organs about the dietary state of the body (fed or fasting) and tell them to act accordingly. You need to know just two hormones for that:

1. Insulin: The hormone of the fed state. It is released when the body has enough glucose to replenish its blood level and then signal the organs mainly the liver to make glycogen and then use the rest of the energy to power fat and protein synthesis. Thus, making you fat and building muscle if you remain in the fed state for a long period of time during your day

2. Glucagon: The hormone of fasting (or no glucose in food) state. It is released about 90 minutes after a high carb meal (90 minutes is the normal window of insulin to bring the level of glucose back to normal) or if you eat a meal with no glucose.

This hormone tells the organs to donate ingredients so that liver may make glucose to be sent out to blood. So, all that fat in your belly and proteins in your muscle starts to burn up and the ingredients are sent to the liver to make glucose for the blood.

These are the main principles behind all those expensive diet strategies that you’ve been fooled to buy and follow. I’ll break some of the effective strategies for you in the next section.

Understanding your macros:

Our diet is composed of three macronutrients:

· Proteins

· Lipids or Fats

· Carbohydrates

After setting your goals you need to structure your diet in a way to manipulate your body is giving you what you want.

1. If you choose to get lean (lose fat): If you want to lose fat it means you need your body to be in the fasting state for most of the time of the day. So that glucagon constantly tells your body to burn that belly fat, and keep your insulin levels low for most of the day.

How:

Do intermittent fasting: It means that you divide your day into two parts of either 16 and 8 hours or 14 and 10 hours split. You eat or take your daily calories in the 8- or 10-hour time period (Note: to burn fat, your caloric intake should be less than your daily requirement) and keep the 16- or 14-hour window food free or even if you feel like eating, eat very little and please do not consume glucose in the fasting period. Have your sleep within your fasting window so that the fasting window may not seem that long. I personally used this and got my results. I fulfilled most of my caloric requirements from proteins and kept fat and carbohydrates to a minimum.

My tip: I used to drink a cup of black coffee in my fasting period. Caffeine is known to stimulate the effect of glucagon so it speeds up the fat-burning process.

2. Keto or Atkins diet: It is a technique where you try to keep your carbohydrates as less as possible and do not take glucose at all. You fulfill your caloric requirements with fat and proteins. This keeps your body in a chronic state of glucagon surge. This hormone keeps your body in a constant state of burning fat.

3. Moderately toning down your caloric intake: This is a time consuming but effective process. You do not need to keep track of a fasting window or strictly eat a fat and protein only diet. You just divide your meals into 5 or 6 parts and space them in a way that you may not remain in Insulin spike for a long time. The only thing you look out for is keeping glucose low in your diet. This method is very time consuming but easier to follow and the results show late.

But will all of it not also breakdown muscle?

Yes, if you do not do regular muscle strengthening exercises. Keep cardio exercises to a minimum and be regular in muscle-building exercises, and keep your protein content high to keep your muscle from breaking down.

The muscle that will be broken down this way will be replaced by the extra proteins you consume. So, the only thing you will lose is fat.

2. If you want to gain muscle (bulking):

If you want to build muscle i.e. power protein synthesis, you know which hormone is going to be your best friend. Yes, my promised readers who struggled to come so far, you are right. Insulin is the one. So, you have to keep your body in a fed state for most of the time or eat extra calories than your daily requirement to get a greater insulin spike.

How:

1. Eat and Workout: Hit the gym regularly and eat extra. Place your meals in a way that you eat a high carb meal two to three hours before the gym or just have a protein shake before the workout so that you may not breakdown the proteins during the workout when your body needs its glucose levels.

2. Keep proteins high: While bulking, you do not need to care about carbohydrates or fat. Just keep your proteins high

3. Eat more than your caloric requirement so that you have surplus to be stored and power protein synthesis

But won't all of this also power fat synthesis?

Yes, it will. So, you can bulk up according to your needs and then go into a cutting phase explained in the fat losing section above. If you don’t want to do that there is another way.

3.Building up muscle without getting fat:

This is a technique where you combine muscle gaining with fat burning. Casually, it is called ‘culking’ (cutting plus bulking). This is a long process and requires close monitoring. You formulate your diet in a way that you fulfill about two-thirds of your caloric requirements from proteins and keep carbohydrates to a minimum and consume even lesser fats.

You also take the exact calories that are required, neither more nor less. The protein intake will build the muscle and replenish the lost amount. The carbohydrates will provide the insulin spike to power protein synthesis and as there is little fat, so the body will only consume fats from the body stores when in periods of fasting or exercise.

These are the ways you manage your macros according to the physique you want to achieve.

Getting a kitchen scale:

If you are reading this article and have come this far, I assume you are the type of person who weighs him or herself as soon as he or she gets out of bed. This is a good thing. You should keep track of your progress.

To monitor the calories you should weight your food on a kitchen scale and then use an app like fat secrets to check the nutritional value of what you are eating. Keep a record of what you eat all day.

Oh! Don't Forget. Keep taking those selfies that become the face of your transformation stories later on.

Additional Tip: Consume multivitamins and omega fatty acids daily. These micronutrients help to keep your body stable and boost your metabolism and please, stay hydrated.

Photo by Chris Curry on Unsplash

I hope this article provided you with a basic insight.

If you have any questions, you can address them in the response section.