The term "flexible dieting" has become very popular over the last 5 or so years and ultimately, I think it's been completely misunderstood. I'm NOT a fan of a diet that tries to fit inferior, s*** processed food into a plan as a justification because your body should mostly be getting natural single-ingredient foods. Just hitting your macros and calories for the day is NOT flexible dieting to me, that's following a very 1 dimensional, flawed diet which has lots of limitations.
What is Flexible Dieting
In my opinion "flexible dieting" should be about rotating your natural food sources regularly for two key reasons:
1) Your body gets a broader range of vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and digestive enzymes as well as amino acids. Making sure there's a wide variation of these things in your diet is CRITICAL to building a healthy foundation to progress from.
2) Mentally this gives you a much more enjoyable diet to follow which means that you're less likely to crave things or get bored. Too many people make their diets so restrictive in terms of variation that they end up hating their food which is NOT good!
So yes, there should be flexibility.
BUT...
This is a world away from "if it fits your macros" where people are only concerned about numbers and not focusing on optimizing KEY things like gut health, hormonal output, and blood sugar management.
This is about using common sense whereby you create an environment where your body can make some amazing changes whilst boosting overall health and giving you some freedom. It is not about justifying eating s*** every day!
Having said that, there are times when you can utilize calorie-dense foods which are also processed as a means of boosting metabolic output and giving yourself some normality. This is down to timing your "cheat meals" properly and knowing WHEN to put them in. You can consider 3 ways to select the right cheat meal.
* Other training and nutrition knowledge:
- MOST DIETS FAIL BECAUSE OF THIS
- HOW TO BUILD MUSCLE WITHOUT ADDING WEIGHT TO THE BAR
- 4 FOODS TO HELP WITH DIGESTION
- 3 WAYS TO SELECT THE RIGHT CHEAT MEAL
- BEST WAYS TO ARCHIVE KILLER ABS
- 5 TIPS TO OPTIMIZE IMMUNE FUNCTION
Let us know in the comment how you think and if you have any questions about this topic, feel free to ask. Besides, we will also gladly help you to learn more about protein powder, pre-workout, or other supplements you would like to find/use in Singapore.
