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Friday 3 April 2015

DIET WARS… WHICH ONE IS OPTIMAL?




  • This article summarizes the  analysis of a range of dietary approaches to:
    • understand whether a high fat diet can provide optimal nutrition, and
    • to identify common factors across a range of healthy dietary approaches.
  • The table below shows the macronutrient split of the approaches evaluated.  They are sorted by the total score for each of the dietary approaches based on insulin load, vitamins and minerals and protein of each.

  • The chart below shows the total score for the approaches graphically, sorted from highest to lowest ranking, left to right and the contribution of each of the components that make up the total score (insulin load, vitamins and minerals, and protein).

  • The highest ranking approaches involve organ meats.  If you’re not in to liver then non-starchy vegetables are your next best option to maximise nutrients while keeping the insulinogenic loadlow.
  • The extreme high fat approach (3% carbs from spinach and 10% protein) does not  provide optimal levels of vitamins and minerals. This style of approach may be useful for more extreme therapeutic treatments for epilepsy, Parkinsons, or cancer., however supplementation may be required if this approach were used over the long term.
  • A diet with 80% calories from and 7% of calories from carbohydrates can meet most of the recommended daily intake values for vitamins and minerals.
  • A diet with 75% fat and 10% carbohydrates from non-starchy vegetables we can achieve an optimal balance between vitamins and minerals and insulin load.
  • The fruitarian and budget grains approaches both scored poorly across the board.
  • Dietary approaches without animal products struggle to provide adequate amino acids, vitamins and minerals.
  • Optimal nutrition can be provided using a range of macronutrient profiles. When we consider the insulin load, nutrients and protein quality the highest scoring dietary approaches used between 50 to 80% fat, 13 to 34% protein and 7 to 16% carbohydrates.  Within this window we can then refine the diet based on the goals of the individual whether they be weight lossblood sugar control / ketosis or athletic performance.

Graham

4 comments:

FredT said...

This is not aimed at your post but in the search of clarity and understanding. I am missing something here in the logic.

Optimal for who and for what?

Diabetics need much lower carbs that others. Nobody should be eating processed food, except for survival when nothing else is available (rare). So optimal for a diabetic may be far different from someone with a health insulin levels.

So what do you mean by "optimal". Are you trying to optimize length of life, or quality of life, or minimize weight. This is as clear as a "balanced diet".

Anonymous said...

The definition of optimal is the most favorable, the most favorable for the individual.

Josh

Anonymous said...

Great article and I linked to Marty Kendall to. Good way to widen our vision.
Ted

Galina L. said...

Really, if not a liver than a lot of vegetables? Than you have to eat a huge amount of produce - which has its own downside.