These are unpersonalized diets that are often handed out to fresh clients by the vast majority of fitness trainers. Recently, it has increasingly been known by the greater public that these low calorie “cookie cutter” diets, though they yield fast results, in actuality, can damage a person’s metabolism.

With that said, I think that with the proper tweaks and knowledge, these diets can be very beneficial and effective in your weight loss journey. Yes, these diets lack the specificity that differentiates one person’s metabolism from the other; however, the structural/logistical nature of these diets added with clean eating can produce great results.

The Importance of Structure

In a 2010 study published in the British Journal of Nutrition, researchers found that eating more frequently throughout the day, every two to three hours, had an insignificant impact on one’s metabolism – neither raising nor lowering it.

So, why should you schedule out your meals more frequently the next time you diet? Because scheduling creates consistency and rhythm. Knowing when and what your next meal will be is extremely underrated in helping you prolong a diet and achieve results. Just like how scheduling real life tasks can help simplify the day and steamroll productivity, scheduling our meals can help us to stay on track and prevent any rash decisions a hungry stomach might breed.

From experience, I’ve found that having my meals planned and eating more frequently throughout the day allows me to keep my mind off of food. Diets are notorious for producing food cravings, so having to think and decide on a healthy meal with those cravings, while on an empty stomach, is challenging. Even more so when you’re out or at work and your only options are restaurants that specialize in convenience and flavor.

Clean Eating/Nutrition

The practice of clean eating has taken up a rather negative connotation due to a shortfall in perception in recent days. After a few days of eating clean, many will start to complain about how dry their chicken is, or even begin to associate eating as a chore. Unfortunately, this tends to skew our relationship with food and we begin to identify food only as a means to attain certain physical results. We ultimately forget the power and purpose behind nutrition.

Food and nutrition play a much more vital role than just altering our physical appearance and keeping us full. They affect our bodies on a cellular and genetic level. To dive deeper into the vast scope of nutrition’s influence on our bodies, we must first understand the word: epigenetics.

Without going too far off a tangent, epigenetics is the study of changes in organisms caused by modifications of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself. It means that although we can’t change the genetic makeup (letter pattern) of our genes, we can very much so change the way our genes are expressed. Epigenetics works by adding or removing small chemical tags to DNA, thus turning on/off certain genes.

So, why is nutrition so important? Because the way our genes are expressed (on/off) is directly related to what we eat and other various aspects of our environment. Take for example an epigenetic study done on two twin sisters. One twin sister who drinks a lot of milk moves to Hawaii (where she can get an abundance of Vitamin D from the sun) and the other who doesn’t consume any dairy moves to Minnesota (shorter summers, longer winters). Like expected, the X-Rays showed weaker bone development and higher chances of osteoporosis for the sister living in Minnesota. Not only that, further research showed that the gene encoding for bone growth in that sister had temporarily gone dormant. These twins were essentially born with identical genes but their life experiences and diet had altered their genetic functions – kind of like a wallet case and a protective case on two identical iPhones.

I will go more in-depth on this topic on a later post that will cover how certain foods – both good and bad – can change your body internally and cure diseases in some cases. For now, I just want to offer an alternative perspective on the way you may view food. The next time you diet, or even your next meal, think about the nutritional value your meal will provide your body rather than just thinking about your weight. In doing so, you might be able to find some joy in what was before a not so appetizing meal.

Clean eating usually implies that you are eating foods low in fat which coincidentally happen to be full of nutritional value and is thus the reason why I think cookie cutter diets aren’t all that bad.

Below is a “cookie-cutter” diet that, when combined with cardio and weight lifting, has given me great results. If you are a male and follow this diet, I am almost positive you will see some changes. Shout out to my friend, John Park, for being the originator of this diet.

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https://www.instagram.com/jparksrecreation/

The Diet

Things to note:

• Supplement with 60-90 min. of weight training and 20 min. of stair masters. 5x a week.
• Very easy to pack with you.
• If you are not a big breakfast eater, you will feel very full after every breakfast for the first week. Your metabolism will eventually pick up and your body’s fuel burning clock will adapt to being fed in the morning.
• For women, look to substitute the snacks for lower calorie options and consume slightly less protein.
• If weight stays stagnant, make your workouts harder (expend more energy) or lower the calories. For the bigger guys, if you feel as if this diet is too restricting, add more calories to your meals/snacks.
• I left the calories and macros out on purpose. The beauty of this diet lies in its simplicity.

Breakfast – 7AM

• Chobani Greek Yogurt
• Quaker Oatmeal Packet
• Bowl of Fruit or Banana
• 1 Fried Egg
• 1 scoop of Protein

Snack – 10 AM

• PB & J Sandwich or Protein Bar

Lunch – 12 PM

• Salad with Chicken
• Serving of Fruit

Snack – 3 PM

• PB & J Sandwich or Protein Bar

Dinner – 6 PM

• Bowl of Rice
• 2 Servings of Vegetables
• Salmon or Steak (any type of protein really)
• 1 Serving of Almonds

Snack – 9 PM or Post Workout

• 1 Scoop of Protein