Optimizing for a healthy diet pattern

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi,

I’m really wanting to improve my dietary patterns and have listened to a lot of the podcast episodes and read some of the articles.

From my understanding to optimize one’s diet, one should:

  1. Control total calories/energy balance
  2. Adequate protein (1.6g/kg or higher)
  3. Adequate fiber (25-30g or 14g/1000 calories)
  4. <10% saturated fats from animal fats and/or butter (if the saturated fats come from milk, cheese, or yogurt is 10% or greater okay then?
  5. Processed meat at <350g/week?
  6. Unprocessed red meat at <500g/week?

Unsure about the red meat recommendations if 1-4 are met.

Few questions:

  1. Where do added sugars play a role here? If the above criteria is met does it matter at all or is it still recommended to keep them at <5%? Meaning if’m getting in my fruits/whole grains/fiber etc. does It really matter if I consume a bunch of added sugar?

  2. Can saturated fat be greater than 10% if it comes from dairy sources (aside from fatty red meat and butter)? I am a fan of mega-bowls of cereal.

  3. Is oily/fatty fish required to optimize health? I’ve heard of a recommendation of 2x a week—unsure of the gram amount.

  4. Do the red meat recommendations (for both processed and unprocessed) change if 1-4 are met?

Thanks so much! Big fans.

2

Ali,

A few corrections to your list:

  1. I would aim for >30g of fiber per day from fruit, veg, whole grains, and legumes
  2. For saturated fat, < 10% of total daily calories should come from saturated fat from red meat, butter, and processed foods.
  3. I do not put a limit on processed or unprocessed red meat if fitting the other criteria. That said, I think eating red meat a few times a week is generally fine, but would not recommend it daily. To your question on added sugar, I would aim to limit them to < 5 to 10% of total daily energy intake or so. Yes, it can matter if you eat a lot of foods with tons of added sugar. This is likely not possible while meeting the other criteria though.

If you want to micromanage your saturated fat intake and fractionate it out based on milk, cheese, and yogurt sources vs “other” sources, you could have more.

No, fish is not required for health, though it can be part of a health promoting dietary pattern.

  • Jordan
1 Like
3

Thank you so much! This is super helpful.

So if my saturated fat pretty much comes from milk or non-red meats (turkey and/or chicken) then it’s okay if it goes above 10%? It doesn’t ever but just wondering theoretically.

Also, would smoked salmon count as a processed meat that should be limited or do you exclusively mean red meat? I’m not really a huge bacon person but I could easily eat smoked salmon everyday. Also I’ll keep in the added sugar thing. I suppose I’ll have to to turn to nuts then to get in calories when I’m full.

Thanks again!

4

So I suppose a corrected version would be:

  1. Adequate energy balance

  2. Adequate protein ( >1.6g/kg)

  3. 30g fiber from fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes

  4. <10% of total calories should come from red meat, butter, and processed foods

  5. If SFA come from milk, cheese, and/or yogurt it’s fine

  • Limit both processed and unprocessed red meat to 3 times a week or less
  • Limit added sugars to <5% or <10% of total calories

Doing the above would probably be not only great for body composition but also general health. longevity, bloodwork, etc.​

5

Since there’s no limit when meeting the other criteria I suppose 1 lb a week is fine? I can finish that over 3 days or so. Not sure if a limit is needed assuming you don’t meet the above criteria. I think I’ve read up to 18 oz of unprocessed red meat per week and as little processed red meat as possible.

6

Apologies for the additional post but it won’t let me edit. I just realized the the recommendation of 12-18oz is COOKED weight and not raw right? Raw would be much greater than, perhaps 25%

7

Hey Ali,

Before I get into my reply, I think it might be helpful to clarify that I think setting up a dietary pattern that meets these targets by default (most of the time) is the goal. I do not think micromanaging nutrition is a good idea.

On to some more clarifications, as I do not wish to write a novel in these replies. I’ll try to make myself more clear.

So if my saturated fat pretty much comes from milk or non-red meats (turkey and/or chicken) then it’s okay if it goes above 10%?

I am less concerned with saturated fat going higher from milk, but that doesn’t apply to other animal products like turkey or chicken. I think having the 10% of daily Cals is reasonable without fractionating it.

Also, would smoked salmon count as a processed meat

Yes, it’s processed. Also explicitly mentioned in our article on red meat and health.

that should be limited or do you exclusively mean red meat?

Processed red meat and processed meat are not the same thing. Regardless, many processed foods - including those that are smoked- should be limited in the diet. Of course, processed food doesn’t explicitly mean bad, which is why I don’t love it as a label. I do think you know what I’m talking about though.
​
To your amended list

  1. Adequate energy balance
  1. Adequate protein ( >1.6g/kg)

  1. 30g fiber from fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes

  1. <10% of total calories should come from red meat, butter, and processed foods
  1. If SFA come from milk, cheese, and/or yogurt it’s fine
  • Limit both processed and unprocessed red meat to 3 times a week or less
  • Limit added sugars to <5% or <10% of total calories
    ​

I would just say < 10% of Cals from saturated fat and added sugars period. No need to micromanage. I would not sign on to 3x/wk for red meat or processed meats, as idk how many servings that means. Again, I would not micromanage this. Rather, I would add “limit processed foods” and “limit red meat”. If you want a number that’s not made up for unprocessed red meat, it’d be World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) recommends that individuals consume no more than 3 portions per week of unprocessed red meat it’d be < 18 ounces cooked per week total.

Since there’s no limit when meeting the other criteria I suppose 1 lb a week is fine? I can finish that over 3 days or so. Not sure if a limit is needed assuming you don’t meet the above criteria. I think I’ve read up to 18 oz of unprocessed red meat per week and as little processed red meat as possible.​

See above. This was also in our article on the topic: The Science of Red Meat and Health | Barbell Medicine

Apologies for the additional post but it won’t let me edit. I just realized the the recommendation of 12-18oz is COOKED weight and not raw right? Raw would be much greater than, perhaps 25%

It is cooked weight, yes.

If there’s anything else going on that is motivating this pursuit of the “optimal” diet, that might be more helpful than the info I’ve provided so far.​

8

Thanks so much. Really helpful.

and honestly, no reason. I just wanting to have a good diet for logevity’s sake and I suppose good blood work (haven’t had any issues knock on wood). I think instead of having hard caps and micromanaging so much like you said I’ll just try my best to limit those things and emphasize fruits, veggies, whole foods, etc.

have a great weekend! :slight_smile: