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Isocaloric Macronutrient Diet
should I eat? How does it work?
Mike W.
You can find the complete article in Muscle Media 2000, January 1996
issue, pp. 72-6. Written by Dan Duchaine, it basically consists of
something like the following:
Consume an equal caloric quantity of carbohydrates, protein and fat.
A significant portion of your fat should be derived from EFAs (try
Flaxseed Oil, etc.)
Calvin Hass
Here's sort of a shortcut to figuring the percentages that I've found helpful.
The idea is to get 1/3 of total calories from protein, carbohydrates, and fats
(preferably monounsaturated like Olive oil and Flaxseed oil).
Well, the easiest way I've found is to use the following rule of thumb at each
meal. Recall that carbs and protein have roughly 4 calories per gram while
fat has 9 (a little more than twice as much). Thing of your food in three
categories: protein (lean meats and such), carbohydrates (veggies, fruits,
grains although they have a little protein) and fats (basically oil).
At each meal, try to get achieve a ratio of 1:1:.5 of protein, carbo and
fat and you'll be pretty damn close to 33% of each.
That is, I'd start my lunch with protein: a can of tuna, 32 grams of protein,
negligible carbs, and no fat (if it's canned in water). So, I have to
get 32 grams of carbs. Since I use nonfat dressing to make it palatable,
there's
7 grams of carbs leaving me 25. That's about enough for an apple (about
20 grams of carbs) or a piece of bread (15 grams of carbs) and some veggies.
Now, I need about 16 grams of fat to balance the thing. I add a tbsp. of
Oil to my tuna which is 14 grams of fat. The 1.5 grams in the slice of
bread brings me to 15.5 grams of fat and my meal is set.
My biggest problem is ususally the protein and I usually use some type of
powder to balance meals without enough. For example, my breakfast is
a nonfat yogurt (8 grams pro, 15 grams carbo, 0 grams fat). So I add
7 grams of protein powder (about 1/2 scoop of Dan's Designer whey) and
7 grams of fat (1/2 TBSP of Flaxseed oil).
Just remember to get a ratio of 1:1:.5 and you're pretty much set.
Lyle McDonald