Nutrition FAQ Round 1: CNTP thoughts on keto, macros, weight watchers oh my!
We asked, y’all responded. What are your most pressing questions about nutrition? We had so many that we only got through 4 in our first live convo, and we’ve compiled the notes here for you to refer back to. The following are our CNTP Rachael Adam’s thoughts on your questions, but if you want a more colorful (read: graphic and blunt) conversation including Kelsey’s thoughts on these topics be sure to check out our live conversation here.
KETO. What’s the scoop, good and BAD
Ketogenic diet is therapeutic and is designed to help reduce seizures and help other neurologic disorders.
Can be helpful for weight loss/curbing sugar cravings but should be used short term
Can be done very healthily and very unhealthily! Most people do it unhealthy as it is not sustainable to do healthy long term.
Quality of fat is the MOST critical component as is making sure you’re getting nutrients (veggies) and electrolytes (trace minerals). Most people who attempt keto do not succeed at this and end up malnourished as a result.
Instead of true “ketogenesis” I recommend a low carbohydrate diet if you want to give it a shot. Getting into ketosis is hard unless you’re willing to be incredibly strict about it.
What’s a vegetable I WON’T eat?
Okra and eggplant are not ones I choose - texture.
I also generally speaking HATE beans - again, its a texture thing for me. If I do eat beans I need to have something really crunchy involved or it’s game over
Thoughts on Weight Watchers?
I generally don’t support diet programs that promote counting - their program is a point system that is based on calories and how much saturated fat a food has. A company like WW needs people to always come back to succeed and I’m always wary of anything health related that wants to retain their customers. I would rather teach people guidelines and figure out what works so that you don’t always have to be thinking about food without a positive or neutral mindset. Or think about foods as “good” versus “bad” even though they say they don’t promote that… It’s almost impossible to do that when you’re counting everything you’re eating and some have more and some have less points associated.
They have gotten better over the years but even mid-last year they launched a kids weight loss program and that was not great. (From Kelsey: aka, very morally fucked up)
Portion control is also part of it but I generally support intuitive eating - where you listen to your body and focus on the cues your hormones are giving you as you’re eating instead of saying you can only have so much during the day. The portion control piece can also have you saving up points for certain things which could reduce the amount of whole, unprocessed foods you’re eating… which is not ideal.
WW coaches are not trained professionals. Kind of like MLMs trying to sell you health products without having any formal education. Would you hire a personal trainer who has no formal training? Because then your form could suck and you could get injured…
Could be losing weight but not developing healthier habits and learning about nutrition and WHY you’re eating what you’re eating
Can be okay but not generally one I would recommend. I would recommend working with a CNTP for one on one coaching if you have specific health issues or want to lose a reasonable amount of weight and learn how to make long-term changes for health
Do you track macros or follow intuitive eating?
When I first started caring about health, feeling better, and losing the drinking weight I had put on my senior year of college I did what was really popular at the time - counted every calorie, ate low/zero fat, and ate a LOT of “health” targeted products like lean cuisine, skinny cow ice cream, nabisco 100 calorie packs, and powdered PB (anyone else?). I also ate 6x per day which was the fad then. I felt TERRIBLE. I would get shaky between meals, fell asleep at my desk (or the wheel), and had so many health issues get worse. I also didn’t lose any weight even though I was working out all the time and eating in a caloric deficit…
When I found Whole30 which was my intro into eating real foods, eating enough food, and dealing with my sugar addiction, I finally felt better AND dropped 2 sizes in 30 days. For the next few years I replaced my calorie counting for hardcore cutting many food groups with no flexability.
Over the last few years I have moved to an intuitive eating lifestyle. I eat basically whatever I want as long as it isn’t ultra processed 90% of the time and then truly anything I want the other 10% - I do this without trying because I know which foods make me feel good and which don’t. I also eat until I am satisfied and pay great attention to my body’s cues. I think EVERYONE can get to where I am and the best part is that you don’t feel controlled by food. It is definitely a journey for most people though!
I also just wanted to touch on macro counting diets because there are a LOT out there right now… this is somewhat similar to my answer about WW - quality of foods are really important and nutrient density is so much more important than just carb/protein/fat. Would you say that broccoli and bread are the same? Or blueberries and cake? Because technically all those are carbs - they have different carb counts but they are still carbs. Same with avocado vs vegan butter - just not the same thing and your body knows the difference. If you are trying to stick to your macros but building in nutrient deficient foods, you’re not going to get healthier, even if you lose weight (if that’s the goal)