24Jul 2019 by Aidan Muir
Why I’m Not a Non-Diet Dietitian: Part 2

Why I’m Not a Non-Diet Dietitian: Part 2

Health
A year and a half ago I wrote an article called “Why I’m Not a Non-Diet Dietitian.” It’s not the most-read post on this blog, but it is something that I’m proud of since I consider myself to be a poor writer and I believe that it is the only long-form piece of writing I have done that has had a major impact on a number of people. I had planned on writing more about the topic, but honestly, I haven’t had much more to say and the original article still sums up the majority of my thoughts even though I have been in the field for almost twice as long now. The title is 99% for clickbait. The whole point of discussing this is not to downplay HAES or…
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14Feb 2019 by Matthew Benetti
Trying to Eat Healthy? Why You’re Probably Undereating

Trying to Eat Healthy? Why You’re Probably Undereating

Health
It might be your aunt, maybe a friend, or even you. We all have someone in our life on some new healthy eating endeavour. It’s not long before the first social media post goes up. It usually features a plate without carbohydrates (because carbohydrates are the devil’s food), and heavily filled with some sort of salad and protein. To most people this seems great, I mean, they’re healthy foods? There is a common misconception by people who are trying to improve their diet that always eating less, and being restrictive, is good for your wellbeing and health. In some instances, this may be true, but for most, probably not. To understand this, we must define a healthy diet. The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating is a good place to start.…
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20Jan 2019 by Aidan Muir
Diet Breaks for Long Term Weight Loss

Diet Breaks for Long Term Weight Loss

Other
If you are attempting to lose a significant amount of weight, I highly recommend implementing a strategy involving diet breaks. Dieting for a long period of time can be mentally taxing, but there are also metabolic adaptations that occur. These adaptations result in reduced total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). This could also be interpreted as a slower metabolism. The combination of these two things and other factors can make it difficult to consistently make progress over the long term. One way around this is a diet break, where you eat at your maintenance calories for a certain period of time. This timeframe is generally 1-2 weeks, but it could be longer. The MATADOR Study The first major study that brought diet breaks to my attention was The MATADOR Study. This…
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15Dec 2018 by Aidan Muir
3 Things to Focus on That May Help You Lose Weight and Maintain the Weight-Loss

3 Things to Focus on That May Help You Lose Weight and Maintain the Weight-Loss

Body Composition
There are a lot of ways to achieve weight-loss, but the below tips are the 3 things that I have found to be the most effective way to maintain that weight loss. These are things I have learnt through a combination of an excessive amount of interpreting research papers, combined with seeing countless clients in practice on a day-to-day basis. 1) Eat more vegetables. The vast majority of people don't eat nearly enough vegetables for general health purposes anyway. The key reason I recommend this though is for appetite purposes. If you eat more vegetables, you will be filling yourself up with a lot of low-calorie foods. 2) Eat more lean meat. This is counter-intuitive but I believe it is a massive key to long-term results for a lot of…
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03Oct 2018 by Aidan Muir
Is Protein One of the “Secrets” for Weight Loss?

Is Protein One of the “Secrets” for Weight Loss?

Body Composition
A few weeks ago, I presented at a small conference on protein for weight-loss as I feel like it is a subject that is undervalued by a lot of dietitians. Since I am a Gary Vee fanboy and love his idea of pillar content, I figured I would also turn aspects of that presentation into this blog post and share it on a larger scale. My background prior to studying nutrition at university started with an excessive amount of time reading the forums on bodybuilding.com during 2012, followed by even more procrastination in the form of being an active member of a niche bodybuilding/powerlifting forum from 2013-2014. I feel like this has given me a different perspective to other dietitians who have come from different backgrounds. There was a lot…
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17Jun 2018 by Aidan Muir
Low-Fat vs Low-Carb Diets for Weight-Loss?

Low-Fat vs Low-Carb Diets for Weight-Loss?

Health
There is the age-old question of which is better for weight-loss: Low-Fat or Low-Carb diets? At the end of the day, it comes down to calories in and calories out. If calories and protein are matched, then the results should be equal. But that brings up a different question: What if one of the diets is easier to follow in the real world? Of course, you can show the results are the same if you account for all the variables in a strictly controlled study, but that doesn’t mean very much from a practical perspective for those looking to lose weight on their own. Due to this, I’m going to mainly focus this article on what I truly believe is one of the most interesting nutrition studies of the last…
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08Mar 2018 by Aidan Muir
Why I’m Not a Non-Diet Dietitian

Why I’m Not a Non-Diet Dietitian

Other
I recently interviewed Tyson Tripcony and asked him the question “what would you like your legacy to be when you finish your career as a dietitian?” It’s a big question. He is 10x (if not more) ambitious than me, so I thought it would get an interesting answer. At the end of the interview, he threw a curveball and asked me the same question. I had never really thought about it. I’m not ambitious enough to want to be the best practitioner in any field within dietetics or even have a reputation for being near the peak. After a while, I realised that what I want to do is contribute to providing evidence that significant weight-loss is achievable (and maintainable) for a far greater percentage of people than statistics are currently…
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02Mar 2018 by Lauri Teperson
Are High Protein Diets Useful for Weight Loss?

Are High Protein Diets Useful for Weight Loss?

Health
There is much debate around this hot topic and justifiably so. To the common person with little nutritional knowledge, carbs and fats are what make you put on weight right? Protein takes longer to break down and keeps you fuller for longer and therefore it must be the answer. Unfortunately, it is not that simple. Before we delve into this discussion lets take a few steps backwards and define the key components. What are Proteins Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and are made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur. Percentage-wise, 43% of our body’s protein is in our muscle, 15% in our skin and 16% in our blood. Amino acids transform from primary to secondary to tertiary and then finally to its quaternary structure, where…
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