Eating for health vs. body composition / performance

[Dominique]

Last April, I mentioned a book I read called Understanding Healthy Eating, by Dr. Mike Israetel, Dr. Jennifer Case and Dr. Trevor Pfaendtner. This time I read another book called The Renaissance Diet. Two of the co-authors are the same as in the other book (Israetel, Case) and the third co-author is James Hoffmann ( PhD in Sport Physiology).

Whereas Healthy Eating was more geared at the general population and focused on the impact of eating on long-term health, the second book is more geared at athletes and focuses on the impact of eating on performance (especially in sports where strength plays a big role) and on body composition.

What I liked about both books is they’re very much science-based and they attempt to list factors from most to least important.

Here is the hierarchy of things that matter for health, according to them:

In other words, if you can maintain your weight within a healthy range (or get it into that range), which is achieved by eating the right amount of calories, and you eat foods that come primarily from quality sources (whole, minimally processed instead of highly-processed foods), you have done already 80% of what you can do for your health. The other factors only have a much smaller impact: for instance, whether you choose a LCHF, a HCLF or a vegan diet doesn’t matter much for your health, so long as the two more important principles are in check. Similarly, eating intermittent fasting style or six smaller meals each day doesn’t make much of a difference for your health.

When considering things from the point of view of performance and body composition, the hierarchy is a bit different (again, according to the authors, who have based their recommendations on findings from hundreds of published studies):

Like for health, the most important factor is calorie balance. This is because the best way to lose fat is to be in a caloric deficit, whereas the best environment for building muscle is in a caloric surplus. Everything else is secondary to that. Interestingly enough, macronutrients, which came 3rd with only a 10% total impact on health is now second with a much bigger impact.  And nutrient timing goes from 4th place with 5% total impact to 3rd place with a larger impact, while food composition becomes less important (think jacked IIFYM proponents posting pictures of themselves on Instagram eating poptarts).

As a guy in his mid-fifties, I’m of course interested in long-term health. And although I’m certainly not an athlete, I’m also interested in improving my body composition and wouldn’t mind becoming a bit stronger too (after all, that too plays a role in health, especially when reaching older age). This is why I found both books good reads.

A kind of summary of the second book is available in the form of six shortish (5 to 8 minutes) videos by the main author (Dr Mike Israetel):

• Lecture 1: Nutritional Priorities
• Lecture 2: Calories in vs. Calories Out
• Lecture 3: Macronutrients
• Lecture 4: Nutrient Timing
• Lecture 5: Food Composition
• Lecture 6: Supplements

They’re from four years ago and sound quality isn’t the best, but the actual content is excellent IMO.

[SantiR]

Thank you!!! This is so good for me. I was looking for something similar to educate myself to know more about healthy eating. I will definitely check on this. 

Thanks for this great contribution! 

[Daves_Not_Here]

@Dominique - appreciate your making the effort to summarize the key concepts.

[Baltoscott]

@Dominique -- good summary of the key concepts.  I bought and read Understanding Healthy Eating after you mentioned it last April.  I thought it was a great read.  I will probably wind up looking at The Renaissance Diet as well -- after going through the video links you posted!  Thanks.

[Dominique]

@Baltoscott: FWIW, I started with their Diet Auto Template last Monday (chose the one for cutting). It’s basically all what the book recommends neatly layed out for you in the form of an Excel sheet. There are six tabs for various levels of eating:

 I’m currently in Base, where I’m supposed to spend two weeks. After that, I can either stay in Base (if I’m still losing weight), or switch to Cut 1, which takes some food off from Base. And so on to Cut 2 and Cut 3 (if needed), until you end the diet and switch to maintenance.

I’ve never eaten that "clean" in my life : all protein is lean, all carbs and fats are healthy, there are veggies with every single meal (and there are 5-6 meals per day, depending on whether it’s a training day or a non-training day).

I also started with their Physique training template (chose the one that has you train five days a week). I should be able to stick to both templates for another five weeks straight, after which I have to travel to Washington DC for a conference, during which I’ll have to interrupt both the diet and the training. 

[louiseev]

Thanks for this information. It helps heaps as they have poured through the data and come up with  digestible information.

No but seriously just reinforces when you want to lose weight it really is about what you eat.

As for body composition I am not sure if they mean ummmmm muscle vs fat vs weight or making a particular body part more prominent eg body composition 'building abs' or building a particular physique and how that is different from weight loss and health. 

I am not sure what they mean and the difference between eating for health vs eating for body composition. As are they not two different sides of the same coin?

It is confusing as I am not sure of the differentiation between these concepts but I will watch the videos.

Which one relates to losing actual weight? Just weight. Less fat. Scales are lower. Clothes fit easier. Not musclier. 

[Dominique]

"Body composition" usually refers to the overall ratio of lean mass vs. fat mass, more lean and less fat being considered an improvement. Making specific body parts more prominent is what bodybuilders do (or try to).

Yes, eating for health and for body composition have a lot in common. However, food composition (what most people would consider eating "clean" vs. junk) matters more for long-term health, while macros matter more for body composition (that’s the IIFYM – or "if it fits your macros" – approach, which basically says/claims you can eat anything, even junk food, as long as it fits your targets for each macronutrient).

[louiseev]

Thank Dominique you are a wealth of knowledge!

Ah ok good to know regarding macro as I did not realise that either.

I guess I am looking to eat clean mainly for health and you get so much more energy from eating clean. But to also lose weight. 

I keep just wanting to lose weight (fat) I guess or muscle or both. But I think apart from exercising for health it looks like I have to really watch what I consume as sometimes at night I get very tired and am on medicines which affect my appetite (as in literally they affect my brain and appetite, they are sedating and relax the brain, plus I have sleep deprivation issues so even though I eat healthy at night, I may still overeat as my brain seems to not register to stop sometimes especially when it is sleep deprived and/or medicines induce eating and you have trouble with decision making.

It only happens at night as during the day I do not over eat so I know the medicine plays a large factor.  need though and this is something I continually try and manage to eat healthy and not over eat at night. 

[Dominique]

Sleep and stress play a big role in weight management: too little of the former and too much of the latter make it more difficult to lose weight. Throw in medication and that can complicate things further.

With regards to "clean" eating: there can be too much of a good thing. Just because something is super-healthy doesn’t mean you can eat unlimited quantities of it. Many "healthy" items (think, avocados, nuts, olive oil etc.) are high in calories, so should be consumed within reason. Calories just add up, healthy or not.

I hope you can solve your sleep and night eating issues!