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INTRODUCTION:
This document is meant to provide some guidance on determining
"target" grams of proteins-fats-carbs --- to reach and MAINTAIN
a "target" body weight.
If you want to look ahead, you can scroll down to tables 1 and 2.
They summarize the main points of this document (web page).
The following text leads us to the development of those tables.
A discussion of body requirements :
Another web document at this site provides a height-weight table
to help you determine an appropriate "target body weight". You can
use that table determine your "target weight" --- for your lifetime.
The most weighty components of your diet are proteins, fats, and
carbohydrates. These 'food component categories' listed in a
"Nutrition Facts" table on most 'processed' foods that you buy.
There are other food components (vitamins, minerals, and other
co-factors) but they are needed in relatively small amounts
compared to the need for proteins, fats, and carbs (and water).
We will simply suggest eating plenty of vegetables and fruits
to get those "micro-nutrients".
Satisfying "micro-nutrient" needs will come about rather naturally,
for the most part, as we determine sufficient vegetables and
fruits to eat to meet targets for proteins, fats, and carbs.
The most problematic of these latter 3 to control properly is
carbohydrates.
Fats can usually be controlled by moderation in a relatively few
food choices --- mostly animal products.
Unfortunately, carbohydrates are everywhere in
our food choices nowadays.
Example:
Go into a "convenience" store. Almost everything in the
store is LOADED with carbohydrates --- in particular, the 2
'danger' ingredients: sugars and starches.
Note that the term 'carbohydrate' typically refers to three
main (by weight) food components --- sugars, starches, and fiber.
These are neither proteins nor fats. (However, sugars and starches
are 'pre-fats'.)
The fiber component is generally good for you --- especially
in the United States, where, since the 1950's, people are
generally not getting enough fiber in their diets.
On the other hand, sugars and starches are being consumed in relatively
prodigious quantities since the 1950's.
When you see the term 'net carbs', it is used to refer
to 'total carbohydrates' minus 'fiber' --- which is essentially
sugars-plus-starches.
Starches are long chains of sugars, and the human body breaks down
starches into sugars within a matter of hours. So you COULD say,
that 'net carbs' are simply 'sugars'.
There are plentiful starches in highly-processed flour ---
which does not have fiber and other components to blunt the
sugar-generating effects of the starches. The fibrous husks
and the wheat germ has been removed from most flours.
So most flours are almost 100% starches.
Also, starches are in the truck-loads of potato and corn chips
in convenience stores, drug stores, discount stores, and grocery
stores.
And, of course, there is all the "added-sugar" in "soft" drinks,
sweet rolls, candies, frozen treats, and all sorts of other junk foods.
The "added sugar" is a carbohydrate of the worst kind. It has no
redeeming vitamins, minerals, and other co-factors. Hence, you
will hear of refined-sugar referred to as being "empty calories".
There are three main components of carbohydrates to consider:
-
sugarS
(glucose=dextrose, fructose, sucrose,
lactose, galactose, high fructose corn syrup, etc. etc.)
-
starches --- which have been found to be converted into
glucose (blood sugar) in the body far faster than
doctors thought decades ago
-
fiber(s)
The first two of these are especially bad, in excess --- and they are
being consumed to excess in the U.S. --- especially since the 1950's.
Unless you are a super-active athlete, it is very easy to imbibe
sugars and starches to excess.
Imbibing too much sugar is especially a risk for "low-fat" dieters,
because "low-fat" processed foods are frequently "loaded" with
high-fructose-corn-syrup or other sugars.
Sugars are typically the first or second ingredient in the
"Ingredients" list of "low fat" foods--- and grams of sugars
figure prominently in their "Nutrition Facts" label,
making up a high percentage of the serving grams.
Manufacturers invariably load up "low-fat" foods with sugars
in order to make the fats-removed foods palatable.
Because of the above considerations, most 'responsible' diet
plans take into account weights of the following food components:
Of course, one could belabor the point and break
-
protein into component amino acids
-
fat into components
(saturated versus unsaturated fats --- or
healthy-fats versus "trans-fats",
which are typically present as
hydrogenated, "unnatural" oils)
-
sugarS into different types of sugars
(glucose, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, etc.)
-
starches into various types
(flours, corn starch, etc.)
The ingredient weights in "Nutrition Facts" labels
is our main, practical source of food-ingredient weights.
So that pretty much makes it impractical to consider
food-component weights of more categories than the following:
Note that the cells of the human body (except bone cells) are
about 70 to 85% water.
And the cell membranes need *healthy* fats to maintain
their integrity.
So *healthy* fats are definitely needed by the body. And water is
definitely needed in large amounts.
We simply note here the usual guideline --- drink about
8 glasses of water a day.
Of course, drink more if you are sweating a lot ---
from exertion, hot weather, or whatever.
So now we are at the point of specifying target amounts of these
"practical-to-count" food components --- fiber, net-carbs,
protein, and fats.
TARGET-GRAMS for
proteins-fats-netcarbs-fiber :
We mention the book "Living the Low Carb Life" (2004) by
Jonny Bowden at this point.
In that book, this nutritionist and physical trainer
reviews over 14 different diet plans ---
and in the process points out some target levels for us.
We will abbreviate the name of that book by LLCL, when we refer
to it below.
As you can see in that book and in other books,
many diets and doctors suggest a diet of about
40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat.
In the weight loss phase of most carb-conscious diets,
these percentages may be more like 33-33-33.
TARGET-GRAMS for FIBERs :
Most people need about 25 to 50 grams of fiber per day.
You may wish to make an adjustment in proportion to your
weight --- and consider the 25-50 amount-range to be
suitable for a 150 pound (109 kilogram) person.
Note:
Fiber can come to us naturally (without fiber supplements)
via vegetables and nuts --- and via fruits (along with their
rather high sugar content).
Carrots are Mother Nature's Metamucil or Citrucel.
Carrots have the added benefit that there is no need for
warning the user to use plenty of water to avoid choking.
And there is no addition of refined-sugar to carrots.
If you want more sugar, just add some raisins.
Fiber is very important to avoid constipation --- which can be
a serious health hazard, especially if it is chronic.
Some people, who seem to have a problem getting enough
fiber in their diet, may be helped by drinking a couple of
cups of coffee or tea, daily.
But, you can be sure, those people will not need coffee or tea
if they eat plenty of fibrous vegetables like carrots, broccoli,
brussel sprouts, etc. etc.
Another great aid, in addition to fiber, is plenty of exercise.
A run of several miles is a great aid.
Unfortunately, it is difficult for most people to run this far
daily, or even every few days.
Vegetables can fill an exercise void, in respect to
'regularity' issues.
TARGET-GRAMS for NET-CARBS :
The "net-carb target" for an inital-weight-loss-phase of
dieting is typically a low 20 grams of net-carbs per day.
You may wish to make an adjustment in proportion to your
weight and consider 20 gm/day to be suitable for a 150 pound
(68 kilogram) person.
A typical "net-carb target" for a
lifetime-maintenance-of-weight-loss
is about 80 to 120 grams of net-carbs per day.
(More if you exercise heavily each week. Lance Armstrong
could not get enough carbs on the Tour de France.
Bicycle racers are an exception.)
On some diets, you go about determining your appropriate
"net-carb target" by
-
starting at about 20 grams of net-carbs per day,
-
adding up your net-carb consumption, in grams, daily ---
to adhere to the current net-carb target,
-
weighing yourself every few days, and
-
adjusting your carb-intake upward every couple of weeks,
until you are no longer losing weight.
Thus you determine your "net-carb target" quite precisely.
It is quite likely that the outcome will be about 80 to 120 grams per
day, for a 150 pound person, who gets a moderate amount of exercise.
TARGET-GRAMS for FATs:
As noted above, the proportions of netcarbs-fat-protein are
typically recommended to be about 40-30-30 --- or around
33-33-33 during weight loss.
In either case, this suggests eating about the
same amount (weight) of fat(s) as protein(s).
This should be healthy-fat --- not "trans-fat"
--- for example, not "hydrolized" oils.
In the next section, we will see a method to calculate a
"proteins target" (in grams).
So we will have determined a "fats target" once we have
determined the "protein target".
TARGET-GRAMS for PROTEINs :
Per page 116 of LLCL, one can calcuate a suggested grams of protein
per day.
Take your "target" body weight (in pounds) and multiply by an
"activity factor" --- 0.5 for completely sedentary to 0.9 for a
competetive athlete --- to get
minimum grams of protein(s) per day.
Example:
For a 160 lb person who gets a modest amount of exercise,
we multiply 160 by 0.6 to get 96 grams of protein per day.
For a 160 lb person who is a competitive athlete, they should get
about 144 grams of protein per day.
A sedentary 160 lb man, about 80 grams of protein per day. ( 0.5 x 160 )
Prelude to Table1
Given the target-grams estimation-logic set forth above --- for
Fiber, NetCarbs, Fats, and Protein --- we can arrive at a table
like the following:
TABLE 1.
Proteins-Fats-NetCarbs-Fiber
Targets
for a 160 Pound Person
1.
Weight-and-Activity-Level
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2.
Protein (grams)
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3.
Fats (grams)
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4.
NetCarbs (grams)
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5.
Fiber (grams)
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160 lbs, sedentary
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80
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80
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80
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40
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160 lbs, moderate activity
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96
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96
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96
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40
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160 lbs, athlete
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144
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144
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144
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40
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Adjust this table in proportion to your weight.
If you find that you can comfortably maintain your weight with
these target levels, then you can consider raising your net-carb
target about 25%.
This might mean being able to have a slice of
pizza that you were having to forego, for example.
Note that if you are having trouble staying under the net-carb
target, you can find foods that satisfy your hunger and yet are not
carb heavy.
For example, a handful of roasted, salted peanuts, when
you are really tempted to gorge, can be all you need to save the day.
Nuts are rich in proteins and healthy fats and fiber, but relatively
low in "net-carbs" (sugarS plus starches).
Prelude to Table2
(How one would reach the
80-80-80-40 gram-targets,
with a single food)
I have used the data in the book "Dr. Atkins' Carbohydrate Gram
Counter" to give an idea of how much of a given food of various types
(vegetable, fruit, meat, eggs, dairy, cereal, dried fruit)
would be needed to reach the 80-80-80-40 gram-targets ---
for Proteins-Fats-NetCarbs-Fiber.
Example:
For 'brussel sprouts, steamed' in that book, it shows that
1/2 cup would have about:
- 2.0 grams of protein
- 0.4 grams of fat
- 4.7 grams of net-carbs
- 2.0 grams of fiber
If we divide these 4 numbers into 80-80-80-40 grams, we get
the number of half-cups to reach each of those target grams:
-
80 / 2.0 = 40 half-cups for 80 g of protein
-
80 / 0.4 = 200 half-cups for 80 g of fat
-
80 / 4.7 = 17 half-cups for 80 g of net-carbs
-
40 / 2.0 = 20 half-cups for 40 g of fiber
And we can halve these figures to get number of cups.
From this, you can see that brussel sprouts are quite low in fats
--- and also rather low in proteins.
Scan the following table. Then see the observations that are presented
below the table.
(In this table, "huge amt" indicates that a barrel-full would be
needed to reach the target-grams.)
TABLE 2.
Meeting the 80-80-80-40 gram-targets,
with a single food.
1.
Food
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2.
80g Protein
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3.
80 g Fats
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4.
80 g NetCarbs
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5.
40 g Fiber
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Lentils
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~5 cups
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~ 200 cups
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~3.6 cups
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~3 cups
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Brussel Sprouts
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~20 cups
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~100 cups
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~8.5 cups
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~10 cups
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Peanuts (in tbsp)
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~34 tbsp
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~18 tbsp
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~88 tbsp
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~47 tbsp
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Peanuts (in cups)
(16 tbsp = 1 cup)
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~2 cups
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~1 cup
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~5.5 cups
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~3 cups
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Grapes, green
seedless
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~80 cups
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~80 cups
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~3 cups
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~50 cups
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Orange or
Grapefruit
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~44 cups
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~400 cups
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~4.5 cups
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~9 cups
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Shrimp
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~2.25 x 6oz
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~44 x 6oz
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huge amt
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huge amt
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Beef (tenderloin)
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~2 x 6oz
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~1.6 x 6oz
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huge amt
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huge amt
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Chicken (drumstick)
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~1.6 x 6oz
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~8 x 6oz
~3.5 x 6oz with skin
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huge amt
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huge amt
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Ham
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~2.8 x 6oz
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~12 x 6oz
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~44 x 6oz (near huge amt)
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huge amt
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Eggs
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~12 eggs
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~15 eggs
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~133 eggs (near huge amt)
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huge amt
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Swiss cheese
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~10 oz
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~10 oz
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~80 oz (near huge amt)
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huge amt
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Reduce fat (2%) milk
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~10 cups
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~17 cups
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~6.8 cups
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huge amt
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Oatmeal
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~13 cups
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~33 cups
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~3.7 cups
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~10 cups
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Cheerios
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~33 cups
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~57 cups
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~5.2 cups
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~20 cups
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Raisins (in tbsp)
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~266 tbsp
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~800 tbsp
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~10.8 tbsp
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~57 tbsp
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Raisins (in cups)
(16 tbsp = 1 cup)
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~16.6 cups
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~50 cups
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~0.7 cup
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~3.6 cups
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Observations:
Generally, vegetables like brussel sprouts have a lot of fiber
(carbohydrate) and a fair amount of the other type of carbohydrates
(especially starch, rather than sugar).
But vegetables like brussel sprouts have relatively little
fat(s) and protein(s).
Meat and eggs and dairy products are almost the opposite.
Meat and eggs have a lot of protein and fat compared to fiber
and "net-carbs".
In fact, most meats and cheeses have essentially zero
"net-carbs" and fiber.
Be careful what you classify as meat.
Some processed (manufactured) meats, like 'mock crab',
contain a surprising amount of carbs, in
the form of starches, and even sugars.
Fruit tends to be like vegetables but with a lot
more sugar (of the fructose variety).
That is, fruits, like vegetables, have more fiber and "net-carbs"
compared to fats and proteins.
Dried fruits (like raisins) have a higher proportion of sugar in
them compared to the fruit (grape) from which they came.
In fact, since the cells are about 75% water, when the water is
removed to make the raisin, a fruit that was about 15% sugar is
turned into a dried fruit that is about 45% (or more) sugar.
In the table above, you can see that it would take only 7/10 of a cup of
raisins to reach the daily target of 80 "net-carbs".
So you need to be aware that if you eat a couple of handfuls of raisins,
you need to limit your other carbs the rest of the day.
For example, have very little bread (pizza, pasta, chips, etc.).
Bread and cereals (like oatmeal and Cheerios in the table), provide
a lot of "net-carbs" --- mostly in the form of starches, but nowadays
added-sugar is significant in breads and cereals.
The "nutrient" amounts (weights) in breads and cereals are,
from most to least
- first "net-carbs",
- then fiber,
- then protein,
- then fat.
Although fat is last, it is really first.
Keep in mind that the "net-carbs" (starches and sugars)
are rapidly converted into fat in the body, if the carbs
are not utilized almost immediately.
Before you leap on bread as a good low-fat food source, remember
that most (processed, manufactured) bread has added-sugar
--- which is a potent fat generator (pre-fat).
And starch is pre-sugar, or pre-pre-fat.
So look at "net-carbs" as well as fat.
Net-carbs and fats have the same effect --- providing triglycerides for
fat cells.
Well-balanced --- nuts and beans
Note that among the foods listed in the table above, peanuts
come the closest to having a fairly good balance among all four
components --- proteins, fats, net-carbs, and fiber.
In fact, nuts and beans (for example, soybeans and garbanzo beans
= chick peas = hummus makings) can provide a way to make sure
that you are getting all four components in fairly good amounts.
Read food labels
(for sugarS info)
Read the "Nutrition Facts" table and the "Ingredients" list
that is provided (or required) on many foods (and poor excuses for
foods).
The "Ingredients" are ordinarily listed in order by their weight
in the product.
In many, many manufactured foods, you will see that some form of
sugar (like high-fructose-corn-syrup or simply "sugar") is
the first or second ingredient.
So when you eat a fistful or so of such a product,
you have used up a significant part of your daily "net-carb" quota.
To help yourself stay within your daily "net-carb" quota, it is
helpful to avoid "added-sugar" foods and "high-natural-sugar" foods
(such as dried fruits) as much as possible.
Complementary foods
Since vegetables/fruits and meat/eggs/dairy complement each other,
combinations of those two groups can help you meet your daily
80-80-80-40 (or whatever) quota in a well-balanced way.
Note that you want to get AT LEAST 80 grams of protein and
AT LEAST 40 grams of fiber, but NO MORE THAN 80 grams
of net-carbs and NO MORE THAN 80 grams of fats.
On getting sufficient protein
From the Protein column, in the table above,
you see that it is not practical to get all the protein
that you need from a vegetable like brussel sprouts.
But you might be able to get most of your protein from
beans, legumes, or nuts.
And you certainly can meet your protein quota by using
meat, eggs, or dairy products.
Actually, nutrition databases show that you can get ALL
the 'essential' amino acids from soybeans.
So, if you want to go vegan, you should be able to get all the
protein that you get from animal products, from plant products.
On healthy fats
From the Fats column,
you see that it is not feasible get your healthy fats from eating
just lentils (legumes) or brussel sprouts (vegetables) or fruits.
Meat and eggs and dairy help meet the need for healthy fats.
Alternatively, oils (like olive oil) and oily fruits (like
avocados and olives) will provide the oils that your cell
membranes need.
On net-carbs
(sugarS and starches)
From the NetCarbs column, in the table above,
you see that it might be feasible to get most of your
daily NetCarbs from beans/legumes --- and from nuts.
And it is quite difficult to get sufficient starches (and sugars)
from a vegetable like brussel sprouts.
Fruits provide net-carbs mainly in the form of fruit sugar (fructose).
It is easy to get net-carbs from breads/cereals/pasta --- but the
danger is that it is too easy to overdo it.
On fiber
From the Fiber column,
you see that it might be feasible to get most of your
daily fiber from beans and legumes (see lentils and peanuts) ---
and little more difficult to get sufficient fiber from a vegetable
like brussel sprouts.
And it is extremely difficult to get sufficient fiber from
animal products (see meats, eggs, and dairy products).
Vegetables like carrots and corn and peas (or a mixture thereof)
are quite good sources of fiber.
But these vegetables rank relatively high in net-carbs.
Not as high as pototoes and sweet potatoes however.
So ditch the potatoes (in all its forms) and keep carrots and
corn and peas among your occasional-to-frequent food choices.
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