Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.

- Jim Rohn

Realistically, I could write a complete book on discipline… Hey wait, that’s a good idea… Anyway, discipline is such an exciting concept to me, I am so motivated by the thought that with each and everyday we can exact discipline in our lives and one day master the concept entirely. I have always been fairly good at putting my mind to something and eventually getting what I wanted. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I could do this with focus and manifest specifically what I wanted, what I desired at a more expedient rate. And with that said, take it from me, discipline is a virtue, a thing to practice that takes you where you want to go and gets you what you want, yes…it’s really that simple. As for nutrition, because there is so much conflicting and misleading information out there, I will try to simplify the disciplinary elements of nutrition and provide the tangibles on how to exact results from plain simple practice. After all, practice makes perfect!

My guess is with the plethora of conflicting advice abound and so ubiquitously present; you’re still mystified, yet still seeking a real solution to your nutritional dilemma, good for you. And again, I’ll bet you’re probably still wondering… Does anyone out there even know what the heck they’re talking about? Will the experts, those guru’s of gnosh really ever reach a consensus on anything? Is the health and fitness industry only about profit, or is there anybody out there whose integrity and desire to teach the gospel truth about nutrition alive and kicking? These are all good questions and very justifiable, you are not alone my friend. Yes and no is the ambiguous answer or answers, it depends on what side of the fence you are on and who is buttering your bread, unfortunately most people are still looking for the quick fix, the magic bullet, so it does make it quite hard to speak to an audience that doesn’t even ‘show up’, let alone listen. But because you found yourself here, that means you showed up and are listening, therefore this one is for you, those who seek shall find, so without further adieu, here you go…

…You’ve picked up every book and e-book on the subjects of food and nutrition and you’ve perused every web site on the net and now you speculate whether you’ll need a degree in either nutritional biochemistry or food science before you can lose that stubborn abdominal or inner thigh fat.

So what’s the deal? Why so much confusion? Why does one guru suggest that high protein is best for everyone, while another guru suggests high carb and yet another guru suggests high fat? Whew, thats a lot of gurus. Anywhoo… What exactly do high protein, high carb, and high fat really mean? And why are other experts, those pesky guru’s telling us that food choices should be based on our “metabolic type,” our “blood type,” or our “pedigree” or “point of origin”? Such confusion!

Antithetically speaking, one authority declares; “Eat like a Cro-Magnon” and another loudly and proudly utters, “Eat like a Neandertal”, or perhaps you should consume like an ancient Norseman, what gives? But while searching for nutritional Valhalla, most folks just go astray and eat like a Modern American–and end up appearing more like a Sumo than a Samurai.

These days, we have a dissonance of expertise: lots of confusing noise from the pros drowning out the signal of truth. Where is the beacon of clarity?

Confusingly, on the surface it does appear as if today’s nutrition technology is quite advanced. After all, we have at our disposal more nutrition information than ever before. More money is being spent on nutrition research than in any time in history. Every day, impressive strides are being made in the field. Tons of nutrition experts are rising and or being eleated to prominence, fame and fortune. Yet simultaneously and quite sadly, we’re witnessing a steadily increasing rate of obesity, an increase in nutrition-related illness (Diabetes, CVD, and Syndrome X), and an increase in nutrition-related mortality.

A major contributor to the quandary is that much of the information hasn’t reached the people who need it. While another part of the predicament is that even when it does reach those people, they often don’t use it, it’s too much work. And certainly, the dilemma is multi-factorial–there are probably many more reasons than I can list here, like with anything most of the issues are cumulative and not isolated.

So I ask… How much more information do we need?

Strangely, the overwhelmingly curious thing is that many people try to solve the problem by seeking out more information. They know it all and still want more. If there’s one thing of which I am absolutely convinced, it’s that a lack of good nutrition information isn’t what prevents us from reaching our goals or attaining what we desire. We already know everything we need to know. Sometimes the real problem isn’t too little information but too much.

All the fundamental principles you need to achieve good health and optimal body composition are out there already, and have been for years. Unfortunately, with 2500 experts for every fundamental principle and very little money to be made from repeating other people’s ideas, the gurus’ must continually emphasize the small (and often relatively unimportant) differences between their diet/eating plans and the diet/eating plans of all the other experts out there.

In the world of advertising and marketing or profiteering, this is called “differentiation.” By highlighting the small distinctions and fleshing out the large similarities between their program and all the others, they’re going to the mat for your next nutritional dollar.

Now…and let me be clear on this, I’m not accusing nutrition experts of quackery, I stand for unity not division! Yes, some programs are pure unadulterated rubbish, mindless drivel. Those are generally quite easy to pick out and are not worth discussion here, or in my opinion anywhere. And the truth is most professionals/experts do know what they are talking about, can get results, and wholeheartedly believe in what they’re doing. Many of the differences between them are theoretical and not practical, and on the fundamentals they generally agree completely.

In fact, many of the mainstream programs out there, if not most of them, will work. To what extent and for how long, quite obviously will vary. As long as a program is internally consistent, follows a few basic nutritional precepts, and as long as you adhere to it consistently, without hesitation, and without mixing principles haphazardly taken from other programs, you’ll get some results. It’s that simple and that hard…as you can see; results depend as much if not more on psychology as on biochemistry or physiology.

But if you’re like most people, you’ll first review all the most often discussed programs before deciding which to follow. And in this assessment, you’ll get confused, lost, and then do the inevitable. That’s right; you’ll revert back to your old, ineffectual nutrition habits.

You see, most commercial weight loss programs work in the short term (initial lean mass loss), they are not effective fat loss programs because they are deprivational by nature, which means the body is starved of a sufficient amount of daily calories to maintain proper function and the first thing that occurs is a loss of muscle tissue; translating to weight loss. But this is not the solution; no it usually is the beginning of the downward spiral of confusion and frustration.

So, let me give you something that is unbiased and unfettered…

I call these applications:

“10 Disciplines of Effective Nutrition”

These definitely are not new or innovative techniques and procedures, nor are they cutting-edge. More blatantly, they are simple, time-tested; no nonsense traditions that you need to apply when subject to an effective ingestion program.

1. The majority of your daily caloric intake should be in whole foods, except workout and post-workout drinks.

2. Always eat a complete (containing all the essential amino acids), lean protein with each meal.

3. Consume either fruits or vegetables with each meal.

4. Eliminate starchy carbohydrates from daily consumption, except morning oatmeal.

5. The majority of your carbohydrate intake should come from fruits and vegetables, with the exception of workout and post-workout drinks & meals and the morning oatmeal.

6. Do away with all simple sugars and nutrient barren carbohydrates (e.g. candy, cake, cookies, pastries and the like).

7. Make certain that 20-30% of your energy intake comes from fat, with your fat intake split equally between saturates (e.g. animal fat), monounsaturated (e.g., olive oil), and polyunsaturated (e.g. flax oil, salmon oil).

8. Drink only non-caloric beverages, the best choices being water and green tea.

9. Imbibe no less than 10, eight ounce glasses of water per day. More if you exercise and you should be exercising.

10. Consume every 2-3 hours, no matter what. You should eat between 5-8 meals per day.

Finale

Most people can achieve optimal fitness and a desired healthy body composition using the 10 disciplines alone. In fact, with a good deal of my clients at Synergy Fitness Systems, I spend the first few months just supervising their adherence to these 10 fundamentals. But, if you have explicit needs, or if you’ve reached the ninety-percentile, you may need a bit more individualization and or specific fine-tuning beyond the 10 disciplines, so feel free to call or email me.