Double Dragon Nutrition

Playing the nutritional platform game and the battle of iifym and clean eating!

to track or not to track that is the question.

Ok you know me i think tracking macros is juuust great, its the closest we can get to ultimate control of our own physique.

but that doesn't mean it is for everyone and it doesn't mean i do it all the time.

Many will question you, "yo, you track macro's or you a clean eater?" - like its some religious cult.

Hey don't be married to your diet and don't be a zealot to one way!

use what works.

“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup.
When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle.
When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.”

water has principles but it also has flexibility.

there is always more than one way to skin a cat.

What is the most important factor when it comes to dietary success?

consistency!

not perfection, consistency.

being relatively close for as long as possible beats eating celebrity x's exact meal plan for a few days before boredom sets in.

So have a plan that follows principles and also has the ability to adapt to your circumstances and environment.

It prevents you from being tied to one approach - you are not a low carber, a tracker, a flexible dieter or a clean eater - you are whatever you need to be.

people naturally like to order things and put things in labelled boxes or pigean hole us into a category. Such as the Track your macros crowd or the non tracking clean eaters, and depending which side of the fence you talk to you will get a valid response as to why you should or shouldn't track or follow clean eating.

and as humans thats also natural - we like to belong, we like to debate (or argue) but we don't like our view being challenged or admitting we may be wrong and we also love to think we have found a quick fix.

Unfortunately, the fitness industry creates thousands of these scenarios and create arguments where there shouldn’t be any.

clean eating and tracking are litterally the same thing - they are 2 ends of the same continuum, they are related - by doing one or the other we both want the same thing.

guess what, if you’re a clean eater getting results you followed the exact basic physiological principles that iifym gives, you just did it with out measuring, so well done kiddo.

iifym does exactly the same as clean eating but with more accuracy and less guess work - and with this increased accuracy and reduced guesswork comes the freedom and flexibility to include way more foods than if you were just "eating clean".

which is the reason why i don't have 1 size fits all approach to follow these principles,

my ultimate goal is to help people increase their own level of competency and hopefully the ability to track their food intake with increasing accuracy for periods of time when this is most useful.

because tracking simply allows for greater accuracy and ease of coaching and management of lifestyle while hitting goals without guesswork.

But people are at different levels...

“its easier to fit the suit to the person, rather than fit the person to the suit"

That is the exact reason i have clients using all types of strategies, they may have the exact same goals but because of circumstance or lifestyle they may be at a different level on the dietary platform (see below).

just a like a platform game we have to find out what level you are currently on, and what you need to do progress to the next level.

here i present to you the levels of dietary tracking.

the goal is to get as much progress as possible out of each level and move onto the next. 

the good thing about this approach is that it isn't a linear progression, we can wave throughout these levels during a year to match our goals, lifestyle and circumstances.

Any one who comes in at a level 1 will make progress with the smallest changes, this level is the easiest but equally that persons level of skill isn't ready for level 11 yet.

i have some people who use level 11 for the majority of the year, some that hover between level 5 and 8, some that are moving into and practicing level 6, some on level 1 and some have moved from a level 11 back down to level 2 because that suits their current goals and situation.

so forget the either, or approach!

be like water.

there isn't a right answer, 

yes level 11 most optimally allows someone to accurately follow the principles.

but what is most optimal for you is the level you can adhere to the most consistently and create sustainability.

"sustainable beats optimal when optimal cannot be sustained"

when plan A doesn't work for us we need another, and this is where i apply the dietary platfom game!

• find what level you currently at
• get so good at that level it becomes habit
• practice working on the next level up

What level are you at right now?

a few factors determine where you sit on the level of the dietary tracking platform.

here's just a few;

1. knowledge and nutritional age - just like training experience (training age) your nutritional age plays a vital role in your ability to adhere or make nutritional changes - if you have been interested in health and fitness since leaving school, love to cook and eat healthy food your nutritional age and knowledge is well above that of someone who has only ever been overweight, doesn't enjoy excercise and only eats microwave meals.

the level of complexity needed and required to progress is vastly different for each person, where the person with no nutritional or exercise background must be taught the basics, they cannot be expected to hit a protein goal if they don't know what foods contain protein.

However the person with an interest in health and fitness may understand what foods contain protein, fats and carbs and may only need a nudge in the right direction in order to be able track.

2. Goals - this one helps you make an informed choice - your goal will tell you how accurate you need to get, whether you want to be that accurate is your choice.

- if your goal is a very lean photo shoot physique then accuracy is required, but if just want lose some excess weight or add some muscle you can get away with a lower level on the platform and hit your goals with a little less accuracy, its your choice.

3. mentality and psychology - motivation waxes and wains constantly - we have many many things that add complexity and varying levels of stress to our already busy lives - work, kids, study, friends and family etc then we add in more by including training and diet to the mix, all while the kids just want chicken nuggets!

we need to allow a certain level of flexibility within our adherence and tracking to match our motivation, without that flexibility we can move from a level 11 to a level minus 1 in one fell swoop, i'd much rather you move from a level 11 to a level 7 or 6 while you ride an increased period of stress or lack of motivation.

basically this  helps prevent the f**k it mentality -

you know when you have had too much on and cant cope with weighing and measuring.

rather than go "F**k it", eat whatever you want and fall off the preverbial wagon, instead adhere to the level that matches your motivation, you might only need to be there a week while things settle down or you may only need to make a slight tweak, when things calm down, you get your head in the game and move back up the levels again.

Basically this helps add a version of periodisation to your diet determined by what is best for your current situation, progress increases the further up the levels you go but by moving through the appropriate level for the appropriate time you can still maintain or progress rather than say "F**K it!"

next time ill cover each level in a little more detail - how to turn pro at each level and how to move to the next level.

until next time,

be good.

Dan