A round up of listener questions on processed foods, plant-based meats, and how to make sure you’re getting the right amount of protein, carb, and fats.
A round up of listener questions on processed foods, plant-based meats, and how to make sure you’re getting the right amount of protein, carb, and fats.
Related listening:
Protein Density: How To Get More Protein for Fewer Calories (Nutrition Diva #483)
How to Increase Fiber Without Overloading on Calories (Nutrition Diva #479)
Mentioned in this episode:
Protein Density of foods (Chart)
Fiber Density (Chart)
Hello and welcome to the Nutrition Diva podcast. I’m your host, Monica Reinagel and today I have a round up of answers to questions sent in by listeners over the past several months. If you’ve sent a question, you might hear your answer today! (And if you HAVE a question for a future episode), you can email me at nutrition@quickanddirtytips.com You can also leave me a message at 443-961-6206
The first question is from Gwyn, who wrote,
“I have been vegetarian for about 3 years. I eat a lot of plant based meats and wonder if they are actually healthy or not. I want to eat less processed foods and I'm thinking that plant based foods could be just a fancy processed food.”
Gwyn’s correct that it takes a lot of processing to turn a soybean or wheat kernel into something that resembles ground beef or Italian sausage! Even so, the impact on the environment is still lower than raising animals for food .And obviously, no animals are harmed in the process.
For a lot of people, eating more processed food is a price that they are willing to pay in exchange for not consuming animal products.
Of course, you don’t have to eat fake meat at all. But a lot of people find these products useful in transitioning to a diet that includes less (or no) meat.
If you reduce your consumption of processed foods is also a priority, you could start with cutting down on highly processed snacks, desserts, beverages. Unlike plant-based meats, these usually aren’t adding much nutrition to your diet. And, unlike processed snack foods and sweets, plant-based meats are less likely to trigger over-eating.
But, there’s no need to get overly dogmatic about avoiding processed foods. Some types of food processing are actually quite beneficial, rendering nutritious foods more digestible or extending their shelf-life.
Julie wrote with a question about the Dietary Guidelines for vegetarians..
“Do you agree with the serving size and quantities given on the MyPlate Vegetarian Food Guide? I am a long-time lacto-ovo vegetarian and I’m concerned about getting enough protein and fiber, especially as I get older. But I’m also aiming to keep my daily calorie intake at 1800.”
The MyPlate recommendations, which you can find at Myplate.gov, should ensure that you are meeting the minimum protein requirements, which for a woman is 45 grams daily. But getting more than that (60 to 90 grams), can help us maintain muscle mass as we age. Getting that much protein can be a little trickier on a vegetarian diet, especially when you're trying to limit calories. A lot of the foods that vegetarians rely on for protein (such as beans and nuts) also contain a lot of calories from carbohydrates and fats. By the time you’ve eaten enough to meet a higher protein requirement, it may be a lot more calories than you need.
I talked more about how to get more protein for fewer calories in episode #483 on protein density. I also created a table where you can look up the protein density of various foods. I’ll include links to both of these resources in the shownotes.
Julie also expressed concern about meeting the recommendation for fiber, which is 25 - 30 grams per day. The good news is that vegetarian diets are usually relatively high in fiber. And, just to make sure you’re staying within your calorie budget,we can calculate fiber density to reveal the foods that deliver the most fiber for the fewest calories. I talked more about fiber density in episode #479 and created a parallel resource for looking up fiber density. Those links will also be in the shownotes.
And finally, if you're having trouble fitting the recommended servings of everything in without going over your calorie budget, most people can thrive on fewer servings of grains than the MyPlate guidelines recommend. That’s where I’d suggest cutting back first.
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Nicky wrote with a really interesting question about balancing the macronutrient content of her diet–or the percentage of calorie that she gets from carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
“As a fit, healthy woman in my 50s I've been getting more seriously into weight training to try to avoid the loss of muscle tissue as I age. My trainer has advised me to up my protein and carbohydrate intake to build muscle. So for the first time in my life I’ve started tracking my macros.
“I eat a Mediterranean diet, with a high volume of vegetables and legumes, and I thought because they are high in carbs, I’d have a high % of carbs in my diet. But in fact, it is my fat that is quite high. I also eat nuts and seeds daily plus several servings of avocado and fatty fish each week. I’m getting more than 40% of my calories from fat, carbs are limping along behind in the 30s, and only protein seems on track at 20%.
“The recommendations I see online for macro ratios vary widely. I don’t want to make major changes to my diet without understanding this better. Do you have any guidance?’
With all due respect to Nicky’s trainer, I'm not sure she needs to increase protein OR carbs!
Nicky is getting 20% of her calories from protein, which should be more than enough to support healthy muscle protein synthesis. I can’t be sure but it’s possible that the trainer was recommending more carbs as a way of optimizing Nikky’s protein uptake after workouts.
Research shows that a post-workout recovery meal with a ratio of 4:1 (carbs:protein) is optimal. However, this research was done in athletes. The ratio of protein to carbs or the precise timing of post-workout meals really only makes a difference at very elite levels of athletic competition. We mere mortals don't need to worry about those sorts of details.
I also don’t think that Nicky needs to worry about getting 40% of her calories from fats–especially given the healthy sources of fats she’s consuming: nuts, avocados, fatty fish.
The field of nutrition has been gradually recovering from the misguided fat-phobia of the 70s and 80s, which—among other things—influenced the Institutes of Medicine’s recommendation that fat take up no more than 35% of your calories.
Remember that the percentage of protein, fats, and carbohydrates always has to add up to 100%. If you decrease the percentage of one, the percentage of another will have to increase. Previous efforts on the part of the government and public health agencies to get us to avoid fat, for example, led to a dramatic increase in the amount of carbohydrates in the typical diet. With the benefit of hindsight, we can now see excessive carbohydrates (especially refined carbohydrates) are doing much more damage to our health than the fat they replaced.
The obvious corollary to the fact that the IOM’s recommended range for fat might be too low is that the recommended range for carbohydrates (currently, 45-65% of calories) could be too high—at least for the type of carbs that we seem to prefer.
Frankly, it’s a little embarrassing (to the IOM) that these recommendations haven’t yet been updated. It is now widely accepted that getting 40% of your calories from healthy sources of fat is perfectly acceptable—especially if those calories were replacing refined carbohydrates. This is, in fact, quite typical of the Mediterranean-style diet that the Dietary Guidelines promote as one of several healthy diet patterns.
Frankly, Nicky’s diet sounds like it doesn’t need much improving! And the combination of strength training and a balanced and nutrient-dense diet will be a powerful hedge against age-related muscle loss –and aging, in general. Keep up the good work, Nicky!
Thanks to everyone who has sent in questions. I always enjoy hearing from listeners about what’s on your mind. I look forward to including answers to more of your questions in future episodes
If you’re looking for more support for healthy weight management, please check out the tools and resources that are at weighless.life. where our goal is to help people create habits, mindset, and lifestyle that help them maintain a healthy weight without dieting. That’s at weighless.life
Nutrition Diva is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast and is supported by a fantastic team, which includes Brannan Goetschius, Nathan Semes, Davina Tomlin, Holly Hutchings, Morgan Christianson, and Kamryn Lacy.