Get RIPPED, Get HEALTHY

Or so this article on bodybuilding.com proclaims…

It starts by giving 8 must do tips if you want to ‘get ripped’ and ‘get healthy’ and they look like this:

1. Drink a gallon of filtered water each day (3.8L)

2. Eat organic meat

3. Drink lemon juice

4. Put down the stimulants

5. Eat organic ‘dirty dozen’ vegetables

6. Eat only wild caught fish

7. Eat fat

8. Eat carbs

• Cut processed carbs

• Go gluten-free

• Eliminate artificial ingredients

The author calls this the ‘clutch’ diet, and as this blog progresses, it will be clear where that name comes from.

Right….

To most people that might sound like some pretty sound advice, but if we look closer:

1. Drink a gallon of filtered water each day (3.8L)

Firstly, filtered is not necessary and doesn’t protect dental health like tap water and absolutely has zero impact on weight loss.

3.8L is well above the government recommended daily intake of water per day (2.6L for adult men and 2L for adult women), and with nearly double the recommended intake, those who do not sweat excessively will be overhydrated which can have negative health impacts long term.

2. Eat organic meat

For the purposes of getting ‘ripped’ (fat loss) the organic/ non-organic status of meat (or any food for that matter) means sweet FA as the calorie and macronutrient profiles are not altered. We know that calories and macronutrients are the determining factors of body weight and composition. When it comes to health, there is no valid evidence to suggest that eating non organic meat is detrimental to health, but rather it is more affordable, accessible and therefore people are more likely to consume it on a regular basis which improves protein intake, increases amino acid consumption and the intake of Vitamin B and intake of glutamine and Vitamin B,E, zinc and heme iron

3. Drink lemon juice

Lemon juice is not the magic weight loss syrup many claims it to be. Unless it can magically reduce the amount of calories you’re eating, that claim has no leg to stand on, no if’s or but’s. However, lemon juice can have some contributing positive effects on gut health.

 4. Put down the stimulants

Except for the fat burners they used to sell as part of the diet. So those stimulants are ok? 

5. Eat organic ‘dirty dozen’ vegetables

According to this article, there are 12 veggies that you should avoid due to high pesticide content, but there is no valid literature to suggest this to actually be the case, especially when considering the dosages people are consuming.

6. Eat only wild caught fish

This is great for sustainable practice, but is there any evidence to point to wild caught having any measurable impact health? It’s a flat NO. What about weight loss? Also a flat out NO.

7. Eat fat

Fats are an essential part of life… and health, thanks to the many benefits they provide like cholesterol control, skin and eye health, brain function, immune system and bone health, and osteoporosis and much much more. BUT, this article does not give readers an idea of how much is too much. As fats are far higher in their caloric value compared to protein and carbs (protein and carbs have 4 calories per gram / fat 9 calories per gram) it’s easy to over consume calories from fats, which will inevitably send your weight UP.

Not exactly conducive to ‘getting ripped’.

This is where understanding the principles of flexible dieting and your own daily macronutrient needs is key. Find out more about that here *hyperlink that last sentence to the ‘what is flexible dieting ebook’ … which we should turn into a blog. 

8. Eat carbs

• Cut processed carbs

• Go gluten-free

• Eliminate artificial ingredients

I don’t even know where to start….

To be brief, eating too much processed food or ingredients (regardless of the macronutrient) isn’t a good idea, but cutting anything out entirely is absolutely unnecessary and can lead to feelings of restriction and binging.

Unless you’re celiac or non-celiac gluten sensitive (only about 4% of the population) there is no need to cut out gluten whatsoever. Of course, eating everything in moderation is advised, but gluten is perfectly fine in moderation for the vast majority of people. Things like bread and pasta, maybe not so evil after all 

So…

Now that we’ve gone through their 8 suggestions compared to what science suggests, let’s see what they suggest next:

Now we can see why this is called ‘the clutch diet’... because in order to do the diet, we must rely on products from the ‘clutch’ brand.

The agenda of this article is becoming clear…

So in order to ‘get ripped’ and ‘get healthy’, you ‘need’ to cut out gluten and artificial ingredients, but add in clutch metabolism tea, clutch waffles/pancakes/muffins, clutch protein powder, clutch fat burner, and a clutch workout powder, which aren’t ‘artificial ingredients?

Hmm seems like a bit of a contradiction there…

What happens after this clutch diet IF a reader is to follow this plan and gets to their goal... What then?

Continue a restrictive meal plan with multiple clutch supplements for as long as they want to maintain their new body weight?

What happens over Xmas, NYE, Easter, Australia Day, Birthdays, Anzac Day or family dinners?

Clearly, we can see that this article DOES NOT help readers understand long-term nutrition, individualise their plan to their needs, navigate social events and holidays or give any education outside of ‘eat fats’, ‘remove stimulants’ and ‘buy our products’.

When a person or article is handing out invalid advice on nutrition as well as cookie cutter meal plans, we can be SURE they are likely not right for you and your individual needs.

The agenda here is to SELL PRODUCT and it’s wrapped up as a weight loss plan with rigid ‘do this’ ‘don’t do that’ guidelines.

My article picking apart ‘Get RIPPED, Get HEALTHY’ is not to slam the author, but rather to help you, the reader, have a better understanding of the potential agenda of articles such as this one.

Any article that provides meal plans for everyone without taking anything into consideration other than gender, that tries to sell you their products, and that pushes unnecessary restriction like ‘filtered water, no non-organic meat’ etc is likely NOT the plan for you…. Or anyone!

I encourage you all to think a little more about suggestions such as the 8 listed above, and meal plans as above before accepting it as good advice.

But most importantly, I encourage you to value continual education so you’re not fooled by marketing such as this who have cleverly, or not so cleverly, wrapped their sales attempts up as a health and weight loss plan.

Diet Smart. Not Hard.

Coach: Lizzy