What Flexible Dieting Really Means

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When Flexibility Is The Dish Of The Day

This is Alan Aragon. Notwithstanding not being a “Dr. Alan Aragon”, he’s a research scientist with dozens of peer-reviewed nutrition science papers to his name, as well as being a personal trainer and fitness educator. Most importantly, he’s an ardent champion of making people’s pursuit of health and fitness more evidence-based.

We’ll be sharing some insights from a book of his that we haven’t reviewed yet, but we will link it at the bottom of today’s article in any case.

What does he want us to know?

First, get out of the 80s and into the 90s

In the world of popular dieting, the 80s were all about calorie-counting and low-fat diets. They did not particularly help.

In the 90s, it was discovered that not only was low-fat not the way to go, but also, regardless of the diet in question, rigid dieting leads to “disinhibition”, that is to say, there comes a point (usually not far into a diet) whereby one breaks the diet, at which point, the floodgates open and the dieter binges unhealthily.

Aragon would like to bring our attention to a number of studies that found this in various ways over the course of the 90s measuring various different metrics including rigid vs flexible dieting’s impacts on BMI, weight gain, weight loss, lean muscle mass changes, binge-eating, anxiety, depression, and so forth), but we only have so much room here, so here’s a 1999 study that’s pretty much the culmination of those:

Flexible vs. Rigid Dieting Strategies: Relationship with Adverse Behavioral Outcomes

So in short: trying to be very puritan about any aspect of dieting will not only not work, it will backfire.

Next, get out of the 90s into the 00s

…which is not only fun if you read “00s” out loud as “naughties”, but also actually appropriate in this case, because it is indeed important to be comfortable being a little bit naughty:

In 2000, Dr. Marika Tiggemann found that dichotomous perceptions of food (e.g. good/bad, clean/dirty, etc) were implicated as a dysfunctional cognitive style, and predicted not only eating disorders and mood disorders, but also adverse physical health outcomes:

Dieting and Cognitive Style: The Role of Current and Past Dieting Behaviour and Cognitions

This was rendered clearer, in terms of physical health outcomes, by Dr. Susan Byrne & Dr. Emma Dove, in 2009:

❝Weight loss was negatively associated with pre-treatment depression and frequency of treatment attendance, but not with dichotomous thinking. Females who regard their weight as unacceptably high and who think dichotomously may experience high levels of depression irrespective of their actual weight, while depression may be proportionate to the degree of obesity among those who do not think dichotomously❞

Read more: Effect of dichotomous thinking on the association of depression with BMI and weight change among obese females

Aragon’s advice based on all this: while yes, some foods are better than others, it’s more useful to see foods as being part of a spectrum, rather than being absolutist or “black and white” about it.

Next: hit those perfect 10s… Imperfectly

The next decade expanded on this research, as science is wont to do, and for this one, Aragon shines a spotlight on Dr. Alice Berg’s 2018 study with obese women averaging 69 years of age, in which…

Flexible Eating Behavior Predicts Greater Weight Loss Following a Diet and Exercise Intervention in Older Women

In other words (and in fact, to borrow Dr. Berg’s words from that paper),

❝encouraging a flexible approach to eating behavior and discouraging rigid adherence to a diet may lead to better intentional weight loss for overweight and obese older women❞

You may be wondering: what did this add to the studies from the 90s?

And the key here is: rather than being observational, this was interventional. In other words, rather than simply observing what happened to people who thought one way or another, this study took people who had a rigid, dichotomous approach to food, and gave them a 6-month behavioral intervention (in other words, support encouraging them to be more flexible and open in their approach to food), and found that this indeed improved matters for them.

Which means, it’s not a matter of fate or predisposition, as it could have been back in the 90s, per “some people are just like that; who’s to say which factor causes which”. Instead, now we know that this is an approach that can be adopted, and it can be expected to work.

Beyond weight loss

Now, so far we’ve talked mostly about weight loss, and only touched on other health outcomes. This is because:

  • weight loss a very common goal for many
  • it’s easy to measure so there’s a lot of science for it

Incidentally, if it’s a goal of yours, here’s what 10almonds had to say about that, along with two follow-up articles for other related goals:

Spoiler: we agree with Aragon, and recommend a relaxed and flexible approach to all three of these things

Aragon’s evidence-based approach to nutrition has found that this holds true for other aspects of healthy eating, too. For example…

To count or not to count?

It’s hard to do evidence-based anything without counting, and so Aragon talks a lot about this. Indeed, he does a lot of counting in scientific papers of his own, such as:

How much protein can the body use in a single meal for muscle-building? Implications for daily protein distribution

and

The effect of protein timing on muscle strength and hypertrophy: a meta-analysis

…as well as non-protein-related but diet-related topics such as:

Does Timing Matter? A Narrative Review of Intermittent Fasting Variants and Their Effects on Bodyweight and Body Composition

But! For the at-home health enthusiast, Aragon recommends that the answer to the question “to count or not to count?” is “both”:

  • Start off by indeed counting and tracking everything that is important to you (per whatever your current personal health intervention is, so it might be about calories, or grams of protein, or grams of carbs, or a certain fat balance, or something else entirely)
  • Switch to a more relaxed counting approach once you get used to the above. By now you probably know the macros for a lot of your common meals, snacks, etc, and can tally them in your head without worrying about weighing portions and knowing the exact figures.
  • Alternatively, count moderately standardized portions of relevant foods, such as “three servings of beans or legumes per day” or “no more than one portion of refined carbohydrates per day”
  • Eventually, let habit take the wheel. Assuming you have established good dietary habits, this will now do you just fine.

This latter is the point whereby the advice (that Aragon also champions) of “allow yourself an unhealthy indulgence of 10–20% of your daily food”, as a budget of “discretionary calories”, eventually becomes redundant—because chances are, you’re no longer craving that donut, and at a certain point, eating foods far outside the range of healthiness you usually eat is not even something that you would feel inclined to do if offered.

But until that kicks in, allow yourself that budget of whatever unhealthy thing you enjoy, and (this next part is important…) do enjoy it.

Because it is no good whatsoever eating that cream-filled chocolate croissant and then feeling guilty about it; that’s the dichotomous thinking we had back in the 80s. Decide in advance you’re going to eat and enjoy it, then eat and enjoy it, then look back on it with a sense of “that was enjoyable” and move on.

The flipside of this is that the importance of allowing oneself a “little treat” is that doing so actively helps ensure that the “little treat” remains “little”. Without giving oneself permission, then suddenly, “well, since I broke my diet, I might as well throw the whole thing out the window and try again on Monday”.

On enjoying food fully, by the way:

Mindful Eating: How To Get More Nutrition Out Of The Same Food

Want to know more from Alan Aragon?

Today we’ve been working heavily from this book of his; we haven’t reviewed it yet, but we do recommend checking it out:

Flexible Dieting: A Science-Based, Reality-Tested Method for Achieving and Maintaining Your Optimal Physique, Performance & Health – by Alan Aragon

Enjoy!

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  • 7 Tips To Burn Fat & Build Muscle At The Same Time

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    Cori Lefkowith, of “Redefining Strength” and “Strong At Any Age” fame, has her formula to share:

    Know your priorities

    We’ll not keep the 7 tips a mystery; they are:

    1. Determine your primary goal: decide whether your main focus is losing fat while building muscle or building muscle while trimming up. This choice will influence your calorie intake, macros, and cardio approach.
    2. Start tracking: spend 7–14 days logging your current food intake, including calories, protein, carbs, and fats, without taking any particular action to change them yet. Understanding your baseline will help tailor your diet and exercise plan.
    3. Prioritize strength training: focus on strength work over cardio to build muscle. Avoid turning strength sessions into cardio by rushing between sets—allow adequate rest for muscle progression.
    4. Center your meals on protein: adjust your protein intake based on your primary goal. For fat loss while gaining muscle, aim for 40-45% of calories from protein. For building muscle while losing fat, aim for 30-40% protein, with attention to maintaining sufficient carbs.
    5. Set your calories: after adjusting protein, fine-tune your calorie intake. However, make only small changes (e.g. 100 calories up or down) and reassess every 2–3 weeks to avoid extreme deficits or surpluses.
    6. Adjust your cardio: prioritize strength training but use walking as low-impact cardio. Avoid excessive cardio that may hinder muscle gains, and use strategic HIIT sessions if needed.
    7. Ditch the scale: avoid using the scale as your sole measure of progress. Instead, rely on measurements, progress photos, and how your clothes fit to track body recomposition effectively.

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    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

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    Can You Gain Muscle & Lose Fat At The Same Time? ← we got this question in our Q&A day not long back, and here was our answer. We went for a less numbers-based approach, and a more principles-based approach. Both ways work, so by all means pick whichever method you personally find better suits how you like to do things!

    Take care!

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  • How a Michigan community center supports young people’s mental health

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Even before the COVID-19 pandemic made mental health problems worse for people of all ages, young people already struggled with a lack of support and treatment for issues like depression, anxiety, and ADHD. 

    Like many states, Michigan doesn’t have enough health care providers, and youth mental health professionals are in high demand. 

    Some local groups step in to support kids when they aren’t getting the help they need or experience long wait times for services.

    To learn more about how one community-based organization tackles these challenges, Public Good News spoke with Avion Williams, Youth Coordinator at Community Family Life Center.

    Here’s what she said.

    [Editor’s note: The contents of this interview have been edited for length and clarity.]

    Public Good News: Can you tell us more about your organization and where you’re located?

    A.W.: Community Family Life Center is a community outreach center. We offer a multitude of after-school programs and services to Ypsilanti-Ann Arbor and even the Belleville community. 

    Ypsilanti is a small community. It was originally a farmer’s town. You will still see a lot of older families here. 

    A lot of our restaurants are like mom-and-pop shops. We have our downtown area, which is now being modernized a little bit, but again, a lot of shops are family-owned businesses that have been around for decades. 

    We have a lot of colleges. We have Eastern Michigan, which is the college I actually attend, and that’s in Ypsilanti. But we also have colleges right next door that are 10 minutes away, like University of Michigan and Concordia. 

    So it’s a college town, very family-oriented, but also a very small town with not too many resources.

    PGN: Can you share some of your experiences as a youth coordinator trying to help young people access your organization’s services and programs?

    A.W.: So we offer a ton of different programs, but our main focus is for kids to have something to do. There’s definitely a lot of young people in Ypsilanti. 

    I’m 25, and when I was in high school, a lot of people in my grade were having children. And they weren’t just having one baby, they were having multiple babies. You know, maybe one in tenth grade, another when we graduated our senior year, another right after. So a lot of people my age have a lot of children. And now I work with a lot of their children. 

    Many of those children come to after-school programs, and they’re in need of not just school things like math and reading, but they’re in need of, you know, love and care. Maybe mom can’t do everything because she has to work two or three jobs, or she doesn’t have the best financial help, and so she doesn’t know what to do. 

    And these young children get stuck with teachers that may not necessarily know how to give the best support, because maybe they’re stressed. 

    We have after-school programs and community centers like ours, where we get all of that. 

    Not only do we have to deal with mental health, we have to deal with these babies being hungry. We have to teach what mental health is. 

    PGN: What about therapy? How does that fit into the picture?

    A.W.: Sometimes in society, people just throw therapy out there, like, ‘Go to therapy, go to therapy, go to therapy,’ but they don’t talk about the process of what it’s like getting a therapist. 

    I love the idea of therapy. Don’t get me wrong. Having somebody to talk to is very real. Having the right person to talk to is very real, right? 

    But I think sometimes we don’t talk about how everybody is not able to get therapy. 

    And a lot of times when people are ready for therapy, it’s after everything has happened. 

    You know, ‘Mom is gone, dad is gone. I’m doing terribly in school now. I’m acting out. Now I’m lashing out. I’m super hungry. I don’t have money for this. I don’t have money for that. I don’t know what to do about this…’ and then it’s like, ‘okay, I think I need therapy.’ 

    Instead of us approaching it as, ‘Hey, this person’s mom is a young mom, maybe we should see if we can get therapy for both of them.’ Or when that child is being born, or when we see this young mom at the hospital and we see that she’s pregnant. Let’s offer some help before things start to hit the fan, right? 

    And maybe this mom doesn’t even have the proper health care to receive therapy, or let alone, doesn’t have the money to pay for it. 

    PGN: How does your organization respond to this need?

    A.W.: We have a lot of ways to access our therapists. We started maybe two years ago, and at first a lot of people weren’t going. And now there’s so many people going that yes, we have this wait list.

    So we also all do daily check-ins with our kids. We really do get to know our kids and their families and have consistent conversations with parents. 

    I always tell my kids this is a safe space to talk. I’m open to hear anything my students have to say.

    This article first appeared on Public Good News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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  • 10 Unexpected Benefits Of Slow Jogging

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Sometimes, less is more:

    Slow and steady wins the race?

    Here’s the rundown… Slowly:

    1. You burn more body fat: running at 50-60% of max heart rate primarily burns fat without having the usual compensatory metabolic slump afterwards, unless you go for a very long time.
    2. You can build more muscle: lower-intensity workouts improve muscle recovery, which is essential too.
    3. You can reduce muscle soreness: light jogging helps clear lactic acid faster (10almonds note: muscle soreness after exercise isn’t about lactic acid)
    4. You avoid injuries: less impact on joints reduces injury risk.
    5. You learn the proper form: running slowly allows better focus on technique.
    6. You can enjoy it more: slower pace lets you take in surroundings and boosts mood.
    7. You still improve your cardiorespiratory fitness: strengthens heart and lungs over time.
    8. You’ll burn more calories than you think: can burn 200–400 calories per 30 minutes.
    9. You’ll improve your mobility: gentle movement supports joint health and collagen production.
    10. You can improve your performance: builds endurance and strength for faster running

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    The authors—cardiologists and AFib specialists—make the case that if you have atrial fibrillation, you do in fact have more options than “take these pills and suffer”.

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  • Spoon-Fed – by Dr. Tim Spector

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    Dr. Spector looks at widespread beliefs about food, and where those often scientifically disproven beliefs come from. Hint, there’s usually some manner of “follow the money”.

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  • Healthy Recipes When There Are A Lot Of Restrictions

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

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    ❝I need to cook for a family event and the combined dietary restrictions are: vegetarian, no lactose, no gluten, no nuts, including peanuts and coconuts, no discernible carbs, including lentils and chickpeas, no garlic or onions, no cabbage, no soup, and it can’t be remotely spicy. The nut allergy is of course absolute and we are vegetarian, the other things may be slightly negotiable but I’d like a stress-free dinner. Ideas?❞

    That is indeed quite restrictive! But a challenge is (almost) always fun.

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    But, let’s see what we can do with a one-dish-fits-all approach!

    The biggest challenge seems to be getting protein and flavor. Protein options are more limited without meat, lactose, or legumes, and flavor requires some attention without being able to rely on spices.

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    1) Invigorating Sabzi Khordan: skip the walnuts and either partition or omit the scallions, and ensure the cheese is lactose-free (most supermarkets stock lactose-free cheeses, nowadays).

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    2) Speedy Easy Ratatouille: skip the red chili and garlic; that’s all for this one!

    3) Black Forest Chia Pudding: the glycemic index of this should hopefully be sufficient to placate the “no discernible carbs” person(s), but if it’s not, we probably don’t have a keto-friendlier dessert than this. And obviously, when it comes to the garnish of “a few almonds, and/or berries, and/or cherries and/or cacao nibs”, don’t choose the almonds.

    Want to know more?

    For any who might be curious:

    Gluten: What’s The Truth? ← this also discusses the differences between an allergy/intolerance/sensitivity—it’s more than just a matter of severity!

    Take care!

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