In a world filled with fad diets and conflicting nutritional advice, the "Common Sense Diet" offers a refreshing and practical approach to achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. This plan emphasizes simple, sustainable habits over restrictive rules, incorporating elements from various popular diets while avoiding their common pitfalls. It's a diet that acknowledges the realities of modern life, including the temptations of processed foods and the challenges of maintaining healthy habits amidst busy schedules.
Introduction: Navigating the Modern Food Landscape
We're navigating a changing world. Working from home or headed back to the office, learning online or going into a classroom, these things are changing and it’s bound to impact how we eat, exercise and live. It’s that time of year when the grocery stores not only have a candy aisle, but it looks like Willy Wonka’s candy factory the minute you walk through the door. Halloween treats are seemingly coming at you from all angles, making their way into your home, and your office. Headed to the grocery store?
Many people find themselves gaining weight, especially during times of stress or disruption to routine. The Common Sense Diet addresses this issue by providing a flexible framework for making healthy choices. It's about finding a balance that works for you, incorporating useful aspects of other diets while avoiding extremes that are difficult to maintain.
Background: Learning from Experience
Over the years many eating strategies have been tried, including paleo, vegan, keto, lacto-ovo vegetarian, intermittent fasting, carnivore, OMAD, mindful eating, the Mediterranean Diet, and, sadly, SAD (standard American diet). A person who is searching must try things. And instead of finding the One True Solution, it has been discovered that little aspects of each one of these approaches, when combined and seasoned with a modicum of rationality, produces the right dish: The Common Sense Diet. It’s common sense to put together each little nugget of wisdom in these sometimes radically different approaches to produce the best and most manageable and understandable diet.
Experiences with more radical diets often follow a familiar pattern. First, excitement is gained from someone’s amazing transformation and get very excited to find out what they did to get there. The likely fudged photographs of the person fuel the excitement. Second, the excitement overshadows common sense and personal knowledge of preferences, uniqueness, and weaknesses. Often the more radical the approach the more interesting it is, for some reason. Jumping right in almost immediately and without much planning. Getting frustrated and failing very quickly, sometimes even within days, because much of anything that would ensure some success was not taken into account. However, through all this experimentation and repeated “failures”, and even in the face of extremely challenging present circumstances, consistency has been managed with a couple of key behaviors, including sticking mostly with real food, and not eating very often.
Read also: The Diet of the Common Warthog
But during these current painful pandemic times where the realization that this will last a very long time is starting to set in, and although sticking mainly to real foods has continued, plenty of unreal foods have also been allowed, and the frequency has gone through the roof. This is probably aided by the fact that spending all day every day with two hungry teenagers and seldom more than 20 feet from the kitchen. This whole thing is something like an accidental dirty bulk. A dirty bulk is where you eat in a caloric surplus in order to build muscle but the foods you choose are not the best.
Core Principles of the Common Sense Diet
The Common Sense Diet incorporates the useful bits of more extreme and difficult approaches, such as intermittent fasting, mindfulness, moderation, Grandma’s wisdom, healthy choices, mental health breaks, consistency and freedom. It avoids deal breakers and buzz killers, such as clock-watching, dogma, weighing, measuring and recording food, guilt, and macro-nutrient or food group vilification.
Two Meals a Day, No Snacks, No Seconds, No Platters or Piling: This is a bit of intermittent fasting and also mindfulness and portion control wrapped in a Common Sense blanket. Aside from the many benefits of fasting, if eating frequently leads to overeating frequently. It’s pretty simple. Once you get used to skipping one meal a day it becomes easy, and then skipping snacks, seconds and huge helpings shortly follows. When you get used to eating infrequently and only because of true hunger, you start to notice that most people are eating most of the time and it’s just habit. It can be shocking. You understand that you don’t need that much food and it’s so easy to lose sight of the real reason to eat and then to start doing it for pleasure or to satisfy some other need. Furthermore, frequent eating forces the body to occupy itself with digestion and fat storage rather than other things such as fat burning, repair, and taking out the trash. One meal a day (OMAD) is tough, very tough. Two meals a day (TWOMAD?) is not tough once you get used to it. It feels right. Oh, and if you want to eat some junk or a dessert, go ahead. Just make sure it fits on the plate with the rest of your food. This is one of the best things about the Common Sense Diet. There will be junk. We are human and we can have junk from time to time. But as long as it fits onto the plate and thus into the plan (literally), it’s just fine.
Delay the First Meal of the Day as Long as Possible: This is the essence of intermittent fasting and it basically translates to skipping breakfast. Some people skip dinner and have breakfast in the morning but I can’t imagine doing this. Dinner is the main meal. But you can do it how you wish. The reason that skipping breakfast works is that once eating, the tendency to want to continue. The more frequently you eat, the more frequently you get hungry, but it’s not true hunger or a need for nutrition so much as a desire to eat. Putting this off as long as you can is a good way to stay out of that trap. There are many different approaches to intermittent fasting that are very popular today. Some examples are 16:8, 5:2, alternate day fasting, OMAD, and the warrior diet. Generally speaking the numbers refer to hours or days. For example, with 16:8, you fast for 16 hours and eat during an 8 hour window. If you finish your last meal at 8:00 PM, for example, you don’t eat again until noon the next day. With 5:2, you eat “normally” five days a week and on the other two, keep your total calories very low, around 500. Some of the other examples have you paying attention to calories. What I don’t like about these approaches is that they inevitably lead to clock watching and counting. I’d prefer keeping the general idea and not concerning myself with the burdensome details. The two meal, one plate per meal guidelines will accomplish the same things without the need for counting and watching the clock.
Start or Continue Progressive Strength Training: This is a whole discussion in and of itself, or many discussions, but it will be summarized here by saying that many years free-styling workouts were spent. Lately it has finally come to accept that there is a need to follow a plan and track progress. Grind-Style has you doing three sets and when you are ready, you add reps to the latter two sets rather than the first one. Once you have all three sets equal in rep count, you add a rep to the first set and try again. This is progressive strength training, calisthenics-style.
Read also: Omnivorous Starling
Do at Least One Session a Day of Jumping Rope, Running, or Biking: These are the activities outside of calisthenics that are liked but you can choose anything, as long as it is a good fat burner. You can do standard cardio but just be careful that it doesn’t become chronic cardio. By standard cardio I am referring to things like jogging, stair-master, or elliptical, where your goal is to get your heart rate up to the “fat burning zone” and keep it there for 20 or 30 minutes. Such is not my cup of tea but I know that many people like this kind of exercise. Jumping rope, running (sprinting) and biking (at least the way I do it) are HIIT rather than chronic cardio. High Intensity Interval Training is now believed to be one of the best fat-burning approaches to exercise that you can do, in addition to its efficiency and strength-building value. Although, its fat-burning value may be overstated.
Alcohol Only Twice a Week or Less Frequently: It just makes sense.
Try to Stick with Whole Foods That Are as Close to Their Source as Possible: Apples are whole foods. Apple juice is not. Another way to think of this is the great-grandmother approach. Generally whole foods can be picked from the ground or from a tree and eaten. They may have to be dug up, or they ran around or scurried or swam around or flew around and should be cooked. That’s about the extent of the processing. During your great grandmother’s time, people had gardens and perhaps some livestock, maybe fruit trees. They went fishing and ate the catch. There’s a whole foods extravaganza right there, requiring little more than going outside and picking or catching what you want to eat, and maybe a little cooking. Maybe weapons. Certainly no bleaching, grinding, extracting, extruding, centrifuging, extrapolating, or colorizing. The more processing required and the more fractured the food item is, the less whole it is. Why is the whole food greater than the sum of its parts? In essence, whole foods have a lot more of the good stuff and a lot less of the bad stuff than processed foods, while having the same or fewer overall calories and producing more satiety and stable blood sugar. Furthermore, our genes expect and want whole foods. You must understand that processed foods are engineered in labs to serve one purpose: to compel the buyer to buy more. They are chemically engineered to appeal to the same parts of our brains that underlie drug addiction, which in my opinion makes them drugs. And there is only enough “real food” in processed foods to allow them to legally be called food, with the help of a team of lawyers and plenty of fine print. This is what we are eating, in large part because we can’t help ourselves. Generally speaking most of us don’t have gardens or livestock in the back yard. Therefore, the best way to keep to a whole foods diet is to shop the perimeter of the grocery store. The perimeter is where you find the produce, the meats and dairy, eggs, and cheese. The closer you get to the interior, the more likely you will encounter processed food. Fortunately, as explained in the book A Grain of Salt: The Science and Pseudoscience of What We Eat by Dr. Joe Schwarcz, we can have our cake and eat it to. That is to say, a little junk is ok as long as the good stuff is there too. Just don’t replace real food with junk. According to Schwarcz, “roughly one in five premature deaths can be attributed to diet, with a low intake of healthy foods being a greater contributor than a high intake of unhealthy foods.” Pay close attention to this statement. It explains that the health problems are not so much from eating the bad stuff as from NOT eating the good stuff! We are starving ourselves to death as we get fat.
Once a Week Ignore All This and Cut Loose: In order to be the Common Sense Diet it needs to be sustainable. To be sustainable, we need to be able to take a break. That’s what the last guideline is all about. Once a week just forget about all of this and take a breather. Don’t worry about losing ground. You wouldn’t adopt an exercise program that you only do once a week and expect much progress. It might even be a reset. You can call it a “cheat” meal or a “cheat” day if you want, but I don’t really like the implications.
The Handful Diet: A Practical Approach to Portion Control
Another practical approach to portion control is the "Handful Diet," which emphasizes using your hands to measure food portions. This method eliminates the need for scales and measuring cups, making it easy to estimate serving sizes.
Read also: Feeding Your Degu
The Rules of the Handful Diet:
- Eat three meals a day: Each meal should last you for the next five to six hours. Don’t snack in-between. Stick to this schedule for at least the first 14 days of the eating plan.
- Use your hands to measure the amount of food you’ll eat at each meal: Measure the handfuls when you’re ready to eat and are placing the food on your plate.
- The "meal box": You can have up to four handfuls of food per meal, divided this way:
- One or two handfuls of vegetables
- One handful of protein, like chicken, salmon, or eggs
- One handful of carbs - like potatoes, rice, pasta, or bread - OR fruit
- Fats: You can also have up to three tablespoons of fat, like olive oil, butter, or mayonnaise.
- Milk Products: The diet allows about 10 ounces of milk products every day.
- Use common sense: Knowing that some people may get creative with how much food fits into their hand (two chicken filets stacked on top of each other, for example), if the portion seems too good to be true, it probably is.
- Adjust as needed: “If you lose weight, your handful sizes are OK. If you gain weight - and you want to lose weight - you will have to reduce your handfuls” or opt for less fat.
- Indulgences: Sweets, soda, and alcohol are considered “indulgences.” You can have them if you adjust the calories elsewhere. If you want a glass of wine with a meal, for example, you’d skip the handful of carbs at that same meal. If you’re craving a slice of cake, you’d skip half of a meal or the whole thing.
- Balance meals: Always think about balancing the three meals every day. If you know you’re going to a restaurant for a big dinner, cut those earlier meals in half.
Eating this way allows people to consistently eat the same amount of calories without counting them, feeling deprived, or eliminating any foods. It's estimated a woman would consume 1,200-1,800 calories a day on this plan, while a man would ingest 1,600-2,200 calories a day, producing a calorie deficit for most people. The average weight loss is about 1 to 1.8 pounds a week until it naturally stops. It is also recommended 30 minutes of exercise a day for health.
Practical Tips for Implementing the Common Sense Diet
Beyond the core principles, here are some practical tips to help you successfully implement the Common Sense Diet:
- Portion Control: Pay attention to the amount of food you put on your plate. Avoid second and third helpings. Use smaller plates and bowls to help control portion sizes.
- Mindful Eating: Eat slowly and savor the flavor of your food. Pay attention to your body's hunger cues and stop eating when you feel full.
- Hydration: Drink plenty of water throughout the day. Water has no calories and can help you feel full, reducing the urge to snack.
- Prioritize Whole Foods: Focus on eating whole, unprocessed foods as much as possible. Shop the perimeter of the grocery store, where you'll find fresh produce, meats, and dairy.
- Limit Processed Foods: Processed foods are often high in calories, sugar, and unhealthy fats. Limit your intake of these foods and choose whole, unprocessed alternatives whenever possible.
- Don't Deprive Yourself: Allow yourself occasional treats and indulgences. Restricting yourself too much can lead to cravings and binge eating.
- Exercise Regularly: Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise most days of the week. Choose activities you enjoy, such as walking, running, biking, or swimming.
- Get Enough Sleep: Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Lack of sleep can disrupt your hormones and lead to increased cravings and weight gain.
- Manage Stress: Find healthy ways to manage stress, such as yoga, meditation, or spending time in nature. Stress can lead to overeating and weight gain.
- Be Patient: It took you a long time to gain the weight, and it will take time to lose it. Be patient with yourself and focus on making sustainable changes to your lifestyle.
Understanding Body Mass Index (BMI)
Body Mass Index (BMI) is a useful tool for assessing whether an individual has a healthy weight for his height. It is calculated as weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of height (in meters), expressed as kg/m^2. In terms of pounds and inches, the formula is 703.07 * pounds/inches^2.
For example, a man who is 5'9" tall (69 inches) would have a weight of inches^2/28.12. A person who is 5'7" tall would be 160 pounds. A woman who is 5'4" tall would have a weight of inches^2/30.57. A woman who is 5'4" tall would be 134 pounds.
BMI Categories:
- A BMI of less than 20 is considered underweight.
- A BMI of 20-25 is considered normal.
- A BMI of 25-30 is considered overweight.
- A BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese.
Some doctors start the normal weight range at a BMI of 18.5.
The Importance of Calorie Balance
Ultimately, weight loss comes down to calorie balance. If you consume more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. If you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. To lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit by eating fewer calories and exercising more.
Even small changes in your daily calorie intake can have a significant impact on your weight over time. For example, eating just 100 extra calories a day can lead to a weight gain of about 10 pounds a year. That's just one can of soda a day.
Sustainable Weight Loss: A Gradual Approach
The key to sustainable weight loss is to make small, gradual changes to your diet and lifestyle that you can maintain over the long term. Avoid fad diets that promise quick results, as these are often unsustainable and can lead to rebound weight gain.
Aim to lose weight in a slow but steady manner, around half a pound to a pound a week. This may not seem like much, but it is a sustainable rate of weight loss that will allow you to keep the weight off permanently.
Overcoming Emotional Eating
Emotional eating is a common problem that can derail even the best-intentioned diet plans. If you find yourself eating when you're not hungry, it's important to identify the underlying emotions that are triggering your eating.
Here are some tips for overcoming emotional eating:
- Identify your triggers: What situations or emotions lead you to eat when you're not hungry?
- Find healthy coping mechanisms: When you're feeling stressed, sad, or bored, try engaging in a healthy activity instead of eating, such as exercise, yoga, meditation, or spending time with loved ones.
- Keep a food journal: Track what you eat, when you eat, and how you're feeling. This can help you identify patterns and triggers.
- Seek professional help: If you're struggling to overcome emotional eating on your own, consider seeking help from a therapist or counselor.
The Role of Water in Weight Loss
Water plays an extremely important role in many of our physiological functions. When it comes to fat loss, nothing happens without water: digestion, elimination, sweat, hormonal transfer. Water is key. And of course, drinking makes you feel satiated so you eat less, and water is neutral on a caloric standpoint. No sugar-laden drinks and excessive stimulants.
The Importance of Recovery and Stress Management
No one can lose fat (or gain muscle) without proper recovery. And proper recovery cannot happen when we are stressed and/or don’t sleep enough. Again, the right hormones at the wrong time can wreak havoc in our bodies. You can have the perfect diet and hydration, and get absolutely no results because you are the victim of chronic daily stress.