PRISM Nutrition

13/11/2018

Chronic overconsumption of calories leads to fat gain, not your metabolism.

I know I keep saying the same things over and over again but this is extremely important.

You don’t have excess weight due to a slow metabolism. Sure you may vary from -10 to 10+ percent from average but it’s not really related to weight gain.

You don’t want it to be either... want to know why? Because you can’t really change your resting metabolism unless you gain weight which would defeat the purpose.

Sure you can gain more muscle but it actually doesn’t increase your resting metabolism that much more than fat does.

So what is the excess weight from? It’s taking in more energy than you think. Yes I keep saying it. Small appetite differences are important genetically and of course our environment.

So what the heck to do?

Do a dietary audit. Not one of these “oh I think I only ate a piece of this and a whatever of that.” You need to actually buy in and weigh every morsel of food and energy substance that goes into your body.

Then start making changes. Or hell you can just go straight to the dietary changes but the audit gives you some clarity.

I’ve had a few hundred patients who say they eat 1200 calories and can’t lose weight yet their labs are normal and the metabolic cart says they burn 1800 calories AT REST.

Your metabolism isn’t slow. I promise. Take control.

17/08/2018

Is your food environment supporting your body composition goals or is it undermining your progress?

Did the food environment cause the obesity epidemic?

As usual, Kevin Hall provides a great brief overview of an important question. In this open access review paper, he describes the putative explanations of obesity that focus on aspects of the food environment, including dietary macronutrient composition, energy content, and overall quality of the food supply.

To summarise:

- Given that our genes have not changed appreciably over the past several decades, environmental changes must have caused the current obesity epidemic.

- Changes in protein intake or the ‘protein leverage hypothesis’ of obesity don’t seem to explain the obesity epidemic.

- Rather, an increase in overall energy intake adequately explains the obesity epidemic, with dietary fat seemingly contributing to a greater extent than carbohydrates.

- That said, focusing solely on the increased calories in the food supply masks the complexity of the simultaneous changes that occurred in food quality, with highly-processed “added value” foods containing relatively high amounts of salt, sugar, fat, and flavour being increasingly common.

- Hall’s conclusion. “It is difficult to imagine a definitive scientific demonstration of the cause of the obesity epidemic since population environmental changes are difficult to isolate and experimentally manipulate. It is easier to rule out simple explanations of obesity such as those based on individual dietary macronutrients. More plausible explanations invoke complex changes in the overall food environment and the associated alterations in normative eating behaviors. Furthermore, a confluence of multiple interrelated environmental changes apart from the food environment, such as decreased occupational physical activity, likely played important moderating roles in the development of the obesity epidemic. Disentangling the relative contributions of these environmental variables is a difficult problem, but it seems clear that the food environment is likely the primary driver of the obesity epidemic.”

FREE full-text link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5769871/

31/07/2018

▫️Sample IF Flexible Framework▫️

Intermittent fasting (IF) or time-restricted feeding simply refers to periods of food consumption followed by extended periods of no-to-low food intake e.g. 8 hours of normal eating with 16 hours fasting (aka 16:8).

The beauty of this approach is the ability to alter feeding patterns to best suit you. For fat loss, there is no real right or wrong way to do it – remember consistency in conjunction with a structure that improves overall adherence and satisfaction is what a dieter should be striving to achieve.

As a fat loss tool, IF can work wonders for some, particularly those with busy lifestyles, families and work commitments – the underlying principle being – it enables one to consume less calories than expended over time.

IF may not be deemed a suitable approach if it encourages one to compensate for the skipped meals by eating more total calories later that day or the next day, or later that week. Net energy balance matters!

If you are someone who can go extended periods without food or someone who has yet to try an IF protocol, it may be something worth considering.

Experiment with different IF variants to find out what works best for you. You may surprise yourself and find it easier to adhere to an energy deficit compared to more traditional dieting approaches.

Calories & macronutrients:
~2250 kcal | 170g Protein | 250g Carbs | 63g Fat
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Feel free to DM or comment below with any questions. 👊

30/07/2018

▫️Meal Plan | Flexible Framework ▫️

Bespoke meal plans can be a great educational tool highlighting suitable portion sizes and varied meal compositions to support goals, appetite and dietary adherence.

For many, a meal plan can simple remove any ambiguity and enable clients to focus on other aspects of their lives (e.g. developing healthful behaviours and lifestyle modifications).

To get the most out of a meal plan, I do suggest clients view it as a template or guideline with the option to include and/or remove certain foods as they see fit.

A strategy I typically recommend to provide greater flexibility and to empower clients to make-informed choices, is the option to make amendments to meals and/or snacks via a tracking app such as MyFitnessPal.
By providing a suitable calorie and protein target for a given meal, clients have the opportunity to develop a flexible mindset with their nutritional choices. This can also discourage the ‘all or nothing’/’on or off the diet’ mindset often associated with meal plans and permit clients to deviate from the plan in a controlled manner that supports goals and preferences.

Within certain fitness circles, meal plans are frowned upon as some believe it disempowers clients to make their own food choices away from the plan. For the most part I disagree with this notion once the correct guidance and education is provided. A meal plan or framework is typically designed for a specific goal and can serve as a template or stepping stone towards healthier eating habits. This includes a personalised meal pattern (i.e. frequency & timing) to best suit lifestyle.
It is true that if a meal plan is given with zero guidelines or education and does not allow for any flexibility then it can promote this good vs. bad or rigid mindset for some individuals.

Take-home message – think of a meal plan as a flexible framework with room for amendments to help you develop healthful eating habits that guide you towards achieving your goal.

Calories and macronutrients:

~2,400 kcal | 200g Protein | 198g Carbs |
90g Fat

11/07/2018

▫️10 Week Transformation Update▫️

Amazing transformation by online PRISM client on his 12 week bespoke nutrition service.

Aran is one of the busiest guys around, gigging throughout the country in addition to holding down a full time job. Despite numerous holidays abroad and weddings, he has remained consistent throughout and has made some serious progress thus far.

Plenty more to come - well done my man!
😎👊

03/07/2018

You'd be hard pushed to find someone who works harder than PRISM client and pro wrestler Joe.
Not afraid to break out of his comfort zone, his commitment and willingness to learn is fantastic.
An absolute joy to coach, I am delighted to continue to have the opportunity to help and guide Joe on his journey.
An inspiration for us all!

IG:

21/06/2018

An absolute pleasure and honour coaching friend and client Humphrey for his second service with PRISM Nutrition.

Making his Men’s Physique debut with limited preparation time, his work ethic and consistency was second-to-none.

Wishing him all the best on his new venture, I hope we cross paths again in the near future.

Full testimonial linked below:
http://bit.ly/PRISMHumphrey

19/06/2018

Fat loss tip:

Make your meals tasty but
not *too* tasty

😋 ✔

🤤 ❌

For the full post check out my IG account:

https://www.instagram.com/kevgarde_prismnutrition

07/06/2018

In light of some of the ridiculous claims in the latest BBC documentary 'The Truth About Carbs' (oh, the irony 😅).
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Myth - carbohydrates alone lead to fat gain. 🚫 This have been disproved time and time again in extremely well-controlled trials.
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Of course, carbohydrates can contribute to fat gain within the context of a sustained calorie surplus, but energy balance is still the deciding factor.
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Ultimately, for healthy individuals and within the context of a varied, well-balanced, and nutrient-rich diet, personal preference should dictate the colour choice of your carbohydrate source. 🥔 vs. 🍠
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Once the majority of your carbohydrate allotment comes from whole, minimally refined foods, feel free to include some treat options on occassion too, if this improves overall dietary adherence and satisfaction.
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Take-home - variety is the spice of life. Energy balance matters 👊

06/06/2018

Instead of spontaneous cheat meals that sabotage your diet, schedule occasional treat meals that become part of the dieting process.

🍓🍇🍅🥑🥦🌶🍄🌰🥚🍖🍗🌮🥩🍤🍠
📅🍕🍦= 😊

21/05/2018

Lol. Who prefers brown rice anyway 🤨
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Rice is rice.
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As long as it fits into what your total calorie and macronutrient intake needs to be, you can pick whichever form of it you like best.
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The rest doesn't matter.
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10/05/2018

Shout-out to PRISM client on his first WWE live appearance this year. Joe is an absolute pleasure to coach and has been killing it from the get go! 💪
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Tonight I make my first WWE Live appearance of 2018

Will be at the 'SSE Arena' in Belfast this evening.

Going to be great evening. (Credit to for photo on left)