Today we are rewriting the story about protein, carbs, and healthy fats — and focusing on macronutrients instead. In this episode, I share the diet swap that helps shift energy, mood, and performance. I detail the daily trifecta of carbohydrates, protein, and fat and you’ll learn how to achieve food freedom in support of your Ferrari… aka your body! If you are looking for a sustainable way to eat, this diet swap is likely the answer. 

First, I share a body-related fear I had around my 40th birthday. I was in the best shape of my life — but didn’t necessarily look fit. Once I swapped out healthy eating for strategic eating, my body changed before my eyes. Now, I’m here to share why proportioned healthy eating will shift the way you look and feel. I dispel food-related myths, and share how to balance foods and track macronutrient intake for enjoyment and health. 

I believe every woman has the option to feel energized and healthy. If you struggle with fatigue around your workout, belly fat, and mood/digestive issues. This episode is for you. 

Want FREE access to my brand new four-week strength training plan, Strength Without Stress? Head over to hollyperkins.com/review where you can upload a screenshot of your review and gain immediate access. This is a limited-time offer before it sells for $197, so be sure to grab it now!

If you resonated with anything shared in today’s episode, I hope you’ll rate and leave a *glowing* review of the show on Apple Podcasts. Be sure to follow and subscribe to keep up-to-date when new episodes drop on Tuesdays! 

Topics Covered:

• Healthy eating vs. a strategic diet plan
• The importance of observing and assessing what you’re eating
• Why you don’t have to be “low carb” to be healthy
• A sustainable and realistic macronutrient breakdown 
• Three benefits of eating according to macronutrients 
• How to track your diet and macronutrients
• How to gain FREE access to Strength Without Stress

Resources Mentioned:

• See the research on macronutrient distributions HERE
• Listen to Episode 4 of The Holly Perkins Health Podcast HERE

Follow Me:

Find me on Instagram: @hollyperkins

Learn more on my website: hollyperkins.com

Connect with me on Facebook: facebook.com/HollyPerkinsFitness/

Disclaimer: Content and information as part of The Holly Perkins Health Podcast is for general interest, education, and entertainment purposes only. The use of information on this podcast or materials or products linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. The content of this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their health care professionals for any such conditions.

Holly Perkins 0:00

In professional auto racing, a great deal of science and precision goes into formulating the fuel so that the sports car can perform at its absolute best. Can you imagine if the Ferrari team rolled up in their formula one car to the corner gas station along the course of the Grand Prix, and filled up with basic unleaded, most likely the vehicle wouldn't run optimally, right? I've got news for you, your body is a bazillion times more sophisticated than a Ferrari. If you want your body to run like a sports car, you need this diet swap that changed my life forever. So keep listening.

Holly Perkins 0:43

Hello, and welcome to Episode Five. I am so thrilled that you're here today, I am sharing probably the most impactful thing that I have learned after 30 years being in the health space. As I say this, I'm wondering why this wasn't the very first episode of my podcast because it's really that foundational, it's that profound and it's that significant in terms of its ability to transform your body, and therefore your life. Pay attention because if you'll take action on what I share in a minute, you'll feel like you discovered the key to transforming your body into the magnificent machine that it is.

Holly Perkins 1:29

If you feel that you eat relatively healthy, but still struggle with fatigue, belly fat, mood issues and or you feel like you can't seem to lose the weight like you used to even though you believe you're eating all the right things. Today's episode will change your life forever, like it did for me.

Holly Perkins 1:48

If you feel bloated, or have digestive issues or feel sluggish around your workouts, this episode is going to be huge. In this episode, you'll learn the diet swap that helps me shift my energy, mood and performance in as little as one day. You'll also learn the minimum effective dose of carbohydrates, protein and fat to eat each day, you'll learn why vague ideas like eat more protein or healthy fats are good or problematic. And you'll learn the easiest way to achieve food freedom for good forever.

Holly Perkins 2:31

After 30 years of practice, I have seen it all truly. And what I know for sure is that feeling good and energized and healthy. And on fire is an option for you. It's an option for every woman, it's possible for you to eat without restriction, it really is a thing. It's also possible for you to live a normal life, while also achieving your ideal body composition, your ideal body size, or even just to have the stamina that you want for life. If you haven't yet found a sustainable way to eat, this is probably the answer.

Holly Perkins 3:11

So strength training will change your life in the long run. That is really important to say at the top of the show, because I'm going to be talking a lot about nutrition. For most women, it does take some time to see the permanent benefits of strength training, it's a bit more of a long game. I'm an advocate for adopting strength training as a lifestyle, because it must be a regular part of your weekly activity, if you want to be optimally healthy. And if you want to create the body that you need to keep up with this life that you'd love.

Holly Perkins 3:50

With that said, your nutrition is the fastest way to radically change your biology overnight. And actually, you'll even feel a difference by the end of the day if you make this diet swap at your next meal.

Holly Perkins 4:05

As my 40th birthday was approaching, I was terrified that life was going to be over and I realize now how silly that sounds, especially because my life was literally just getting started at 40. But I see a lot of women fretting before big birthdays like 30 or 40 or 50, etcetera. So I actually think that it's just sort of a normal passage of life for us. But I remember I was really deeply nervous about what was going to happen to my body in my 40s or on my 40th birthday.

Holly Perkins 4:45

So being in the fitness industry I was I was afraid that if my body aged, I wouldn't be relevant in my field and ironically that couldn't be farther from the truth because if anything, I've only become more more effective and more relevant in my field since my 40th birthday. Anyway, I became super motivated to get in the best shape of my life for my 40th birthday leading up to that I exercised a lot. I was in shape, mostly. But I didn't really look fit. I was healthy. But I didn't look like I worked out even though I did. I didn't like the fact that I was working so hard in my workouts. And it really wasn't being witnessed and what my body looked like, I was running probably three times per week, I was lifting, doing cardio classes like boxing and spinning.

Holly Perkins 5:43

And in many ways, I was doing everything right. But I would say that I was exercising, not training. And there's a very big difference. Also, at the time, I was eating healthy according to a more of an eat this not that mentality, right? If a food fell into a healthy category, let's say like vegetables, or brown rice or salmon, then I felt like I was on track and I was doing it right.

Holly Perkins 6:14

So when I made the decision to really transform my body, I became much more strategy driven and began diligently following a very specific strength training program and diet plan. I started strength training with real intention and determination. And I swapped out eating healthy with eating strategically. Rather than eating kale, lean protein, and broccoli because they were healthy foods, I started organizing those foods so that for each meal, there was a very specific amount of carbohydrate, protein and fat,

Holly Perkins 6:55

I still relied on the same healthy foods, but I started combining them differently. And in specific portion sizes, and boom, everything changed. It was as if my body changed before my eyes, literally from 40 to about 46, I was in fabulous shape. I became very lean, I was able to train harder and longer. And I was finally lifting some real weight loads, which up until then had really been elusive. I would work out I would feel good. Some days, I would feel terrible some days. But I really never saw myself making progress.

Holly Perkins 7:38

So when I got it right, I was ripped. And I finally felt strong and young on a very regular basis, it was more than norm. Instead of a blip in time. I looked like I worked out and people would comment on my physique. Everywhere I went. It's really striking when strangers start commenting. And it's usually really good feedback that you're doing something right when other people start making comments, especially if it's strangers. So that's something that I was doing, right? The something that really changed my life forever. That was the most impactful was that I changed my diet.

Holly Perkins 8:24

Looking back, I realized that yes, my workouts changed. And I started getting a lot more serious about my strength training. But it was the changes in my diet that really had the biggest impact on how I felt, how I performed and what my body looked like. I've always said your workouts dictate how fit and functional you are.

Holly Perkins 8:48

But your diet dictates what you look like and how well you perform. If you're trying to improve how your body looks, it's really hard to get there on workouts alone. And maybe you don't even really care what your body looks like at all. And I am all for that by the way.

Holly Perkins 9:10

What that means is that 50% of my daily calories were coming from carbohydrates. 25% of my daily calories were coming from protein, and 25% of my daily calories were coming from fat. When I made this change, my digestion was better. My mental acuity and stamina were better, I recovered from workouts better, and I was able to see progress in my workouts for the first time ever.

So a couple of disclaimers before I go a little bit further, there is a shocking number of influencers and experts out there preaching a low carb lifestyle. Keep in mind that many voices out there, even doctors don't have much actual nutrition education, pay attention to whom you pay attention to please, it's really important. These days, it seems like anyone with a large social media following considers themselves an expert. And it's really just not true. And there are some very respectable experts in their field that are out there preaching low carb eating as well.

So therefore, I say, a low carb diet might work for you, especially if you don't train hard. Or if you don't lift weights, or if you're at the very start of a health journey. Or if you're at the very start of a losing weight journey, some people do need to lose a significant amount of body weight on the scale. And if that's you, and you're at the start of that, that is where a low carb approach could be helpful. But if you're just walking a few times per week, or taking a class or two, low carb might be the thing for you. But if you're strength training, as you should be, to really impact your health and your longevity, you're going to need more carbs.

Your body and your brain are designed by mother nature to run off of carbohydrates in the form of blood sugar, which is also known as glucose. And the brain alone needs a ton of glucose. Be sure to listen to episode four on blood sugar where I talk about this more, the less body fat you have, the more carbs you need, the more muscle you have, the more carbs you need.

Also, I've observed that even when someone says that they're low carb, they're not when I really sit down and take a look at what they're eating and calculate their macronutrient distribution. Low Carb is generally defined as less than 40% of your daily calories coming from carbohydrates. 40 To 50% carbs is generally considered a moderate carbohydrate intake. high carb is generally considered above 50% of your daily calories coming from from carbohydrates.

The other thing I want to mention is that everybody's body is different. And it took some experimenting for me over the years to determine that a macronutrient breakdown of 5025 25 seems to work great for everyone give or take a five to 10% carb adjustment.

The takeaway here is that it's really important to observe, assess and really get scientific on, what are you eating? What I have found when I'm working with my clients is that a lot of women will come to me and they'll say they're low carb. But when I do a diet audit, and we really track it for a week, they're actually not low carb some of the time. And it's super important to not just glom on to an idea of carbs are bad, and therefore I'm going to eat less. Because it really does matter what that macronutrient distribution looks like. It's everything. Which is why I'm creating this podcast episode today.

The most sustainable and realistic macro breakdown is 40 to 50% carbs, 25 to 30% protein, and 25 to 30% fat. If you're still learning this language, I always express macronutrients as carbs, then protein, then fat, and the percentage reflects whatever calories you're eating in a day. So if you eat 1400 calories today, you want to end the day at that 5025 25 breakdown. And if you eat 24 or 2500 calories a day, you still want to hit that same breakdown.

So let's get into the three reasons why it was so transformative when I made this diet swap to eat Eating according to macronutrients, and following a 5025 25 distribution, the first reason is that it helps you to define what you're eating. Choosing your foods based on a macronutrient strategy helps you actually define how much protein, fat and carbs you're eating, it's too vague to believe that you need to eat more protein. Because more is relative, right? Your version of more protein is probably very different than my definition of more protein for me. And the same goes for healthy fats. Simply because healthy fats are healthy doesn't mean that you should pour on the olive oil, load up on the avocado on the toast or eat handfuls of nuts.

Following a macronutrient strategy allows you to precisely calibrate the fuel going into your engine so that you can perform like a Ferrari, you'll feel your body shift into high performance mode very quickly, when you make this diet swap. Having a strategy allows you to feel confident that you're eating right. And this was really huge for me. Rather than always second guessing my diet, I was able to free up so much mental bandwidth, because I finally knew I was eating right I would structure a meal, I would feel good about it, I would eat and I would feel awesome. And it took away a lot of that worrying and second guessing and feeling uncertain about if my diet was actually supportive, or effective or good. And I felt it to my energy and my performance radically improved.

When I made the swap, you'll feel more stable with consistent energy, like a machine. When you make this change, you'll feel stronger during your workouts, you'll feel like a well oiled machine and a high performance vehicle. Just like the Ferrari that your body is. The biggest mistake I see women make is that they eat things based on something that someone said was good, or they avoid foods because someone said it was bad.

Without getting into it too much in this episode, I personally don't believe that nuts and kale are necessarily good. Both of them are incredibly hard to digest. And your body isn't good at extracting the nutrition that a laboratory analysis says is inside of the food. Sure, if we take almonds and kale and we look at them in a lab under a microscope, these are high nutrition, high quality foods. But really what it comes down to is can your body extract all of the nutrition that's in that food. And those two things, as an example, are particularly really hard to digest.

So if you're on the kale bandwagon, and you're eating a raw kale salad each day, and you've got digestive issues, this is what I'm talking about. So how can we say that kale is necessarily good, because it might not be for you, right? And while what I'm about to say next is a bit controversial.

I also don't believe that wedding cake and donuts are necessarily bad. Because if they make you feel joy, and they are eaten in moderation, alongside some protein, they aren't going to ruin your life. And guess what, when you adopt this diet swap and you start choosing your foods based on the mathematics and the macronutrient distribution, you're able to eat some of these foods that I don't think anyone would deem as a health food. But there is a time and a place in your life. And I know a lot of people in my industry who do indulge in some of these foods that seem indulgent and still get phenomenal results.

Eating according to a this food is good and that food is bad sets you up for a lot of judgment, guilt and morality around food. And it's just not that accurate. The truth is you can have fruit juice, you can have potatoes, you can have pizza if you want them and any negative health consequence is neutralized a bit when you balance those foods with protein. Listen, I am not saying that donuts and Pizza or health food. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that if you want these foods from time to time, because you enjoy them, and they make you happy, you'll be able to offset the metabolic fallout if you eat them strategically, so that your carbs protein and fat balance out at the end of the day.

And I do believe that you'll be healthiest if you avoid some foods altogether, you are going to definitely feel very different if you never eat sugar, if you never eat cake, or alcohol or ice cream. And in some ways, I actually do believe that that is how we should be eating. But if that's not realistic for you, it's okay. And you get to decide based on how you feel based on your health, and how often you eat these foods that most of us wouldn't consider a health food.

For me, it was incredibly liberating to let go of feeling guilty if I drank a beer, or if I ate some fries. Because I knew I'd be fine in the long run, as long as I balanced my foods according to the carbohydrate, protein and fat intake. And as long as I ended my day at that 5025 25 breakdown.

The second reason why I think this diet swapped changed my life forever, is because it helps you to identify a minimum effective dose of sorts for carbohydrates, protein and fat. Again, it goes back to this idea of carbs are bad carbs are good protein is good. That is so relative, if you're operating from a place of I heard such and such, experts say I need to eat more protein and it helps me to lose weight. It's all relative. And so this approach really helps you to make sure that you are getting the right amount of protein, fat and carbohydrates each day.

The second reason why this diet swap was so transformational for me is because a 5025 25 macronutrient breakdown gives your body this minimum effective dose of those macronutrients carbohydrate, protein and fat. There was an incredibly interesting Special Issue meta analysis in the journal nutrients in 2020, that examined the myriad macronutrients strategies and their impact on health in different populations around the world and at different times in history. And what's crazy, when you look at it, I will link it is that there is proof and research to support numerous different macronutrient distributions related to various health benefits. And when you look at it, many of those diets were high carbohydrate diets. And this really flies in the face of the low carb era, from the 80s. In the 90s, which still lives today, this research is linked below if you want to take a look at it.

And it's really interesting, because what it seems to be is that there are a lot of associated health benefits to a high carb diet. But the key here again, is we've got to identify carbohydrate, right? I hear a lot of colleagues and influencers out there saying carbs are bad carbs are good. Well, there is a big difference between brown rice and table sugar. Both of those are carbohydrates. And again, I believe, if Mother Nature created it, I refuse to believe that it's bad, and you should avoid it altogether.

But there is a big difference in carbohydrates. So if the health associations are not linked to your macronutrient distribution, and it's more linked to the quality of the carbohydrates that you're eating, well then let's kick it to the curb this idea that in order to be healthy, you have to be low carb, it's just not true. I'm proof of it. And my clients are proof of it. Oh, by the way, the research backs that as well. From my perspective, health is more related to the actual foods that you eat. We know that the most disease fighting properties come from plants and plants are carbohydrates. So how on earth can we say that carbs are bad? How on earth could anyone say a carrot is bad because it's quote unquote, high in sugar.

And we know that macronutrient distribution correlates more to metabolism and performance. And carbohydrates are essential for energy and stamina. If you struggle with hunger cravings, energy issues or mental stamina, it's quite likely you're either not getting enough carbohydrates, or your blood sugar is dysregulated. And again, make sure that you listen to episode four on blood sugar because once you understand how blood sugar gets regulated, you realize that even a high protein diet can dysregulate your blood glucose. being intentional about the foods you eat, so that they align with a macronutrient breakdown ensures that you get the minimum effective dose of carbs, protein and fat each day. It gives you the carbs you need for stamina, brain power recovery from workouts, and to avoid glycogen depletion. It gives you the protein you need for structure repair, building muscle and maintenance, and it gives you the fats needed for hormone production and neurological protection. It literally programs your body and your biology to run optimally, because it gives you the macro nutrients that your body needs.

The misconception I see most these days is thinking that drastic and uncomfortable hacks like low carb eating or intermittent fasting or fasted workouts is a needed edge to improve your body, your health or your metabolism. If you provide your body with truly healthy carbohydrates, clean and lean proteins and a variety of fats, you won't need to hack anything. You don't need to suffer through a ketogenic flu for two weeks. If you just start balancing out your protein in your carbs at your next meal. You don't need to become vegan if you just start balancing out your macronutrients.

And before the vegans jump on me, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being vegan. I'm just using it as an example because it's one of the eating preferences that gets tossed around to uplevel your health. And while I'm not saying that's not true, also, if you want to be vegan, I'm all for it. I'm just saying that there are so many different conversations being thrown around where a paleo diet is the healthiest or a vegetarian diet is the healthiest. And if your goal is to improve your health, but it's not an alignment for you to choose one of these more restrictive or life altering approaches. This is a quick and dirty, fast and easy way to uplevel your health. And then once you get the benefits, if you want to take it a step further, and you want to adopt a more extreme type diet that is radically different than your current eating habits. Go for it.

And on that note, the third reason why this diet swap was so transformational for me, I believe, is because it gave me much needed food freedom. And it helped me to feel confident about what I was eating. It just removed the chatter in my head that wondered and worried if I was on the right diet.

So for example, my goal was and still is to get approximately 50% of a meals calories coming from carbohydrates. And therefore I could choose whatever carbs I wanted. It was potatoes, some nights and brown rice. For others. It was turkey burgers for protein at lunch and cod for dinner, I was able to choose the foods that I preferred, and it worked. And I felt good about what I was eating because I knew it would produce results. And this is where if you want to be vegetarian or vegan or paleo, it still fits. This rationale and this approach to eating really does apply to pretty much any kind of lifestyle choice. Outside of obviously ultra low carb or ketogenic.

This is extra helpful if you have certain foods that you prefer to avoid like gluten, sugar, dairy, or if you do want to be paleo or vegetarian. Eating according to Macros gives you the ultimate freedom because no foods are off limits, and it allows you to be expansive. You can have a doughnut or pizza. just balance it out with lean protein. Keep in mind that the top priority is always to choose nutrient dense foods that are healthy. I'm not suggesting that you can eat pizza and doughnuts every day. That's not what I'm saying.

Now, I do believe that you could and as long as you hit your numbers, you'll get results but you're going to feel a lot better you will be healthier and you will burn fat fast If you treat your body like a Ferrari and you fill up on clean, nutritious, healthy foods, the biggest mistake I see women make before they work with me is that they have all of these rules and categories of foods that are good foods that are bad and all kinds of guilt when they eat a bad food, and a lot of pride when they eat healthy.

When you start to eat this way you free up so much mental bandwidth, because now you get to spend your calories however you choose. Do you want oatmeal? Or do you want whole grain bread? Do you want lean beef? Or do you want tofu? Do you want avocado or almond butter? To me there is no good or bad there are really just numbers. I refuse to believe that carrots and potatoes are bad because they are quote unquote high in sugar. I also don't believe that more fat is better even if you're eating healthy fats.

Inside of my 12 week coaching program the nutrition project you'll learn step by step how to actually apply these principles for your goals. That's where I teach you exactly how to eat to achieve your ideal body weight, improve energy, reduce hunger, eliminate cravings Build muscle burn fat, but I want to offer a few first steps now number one, aim to end your day around a 5025 25 macro breakdown.

Number two, build all of your meals and snacks around protein. First, identify the protein source that you want. Whether it's tofu, or fish, or chicken or turkey or pork or lean beef or protein powder, whatever works for you, you get to pick your protein.

Then number three, select vegetables first as your carbohydrate source.

And number four, align all of those food items with your personal eating philosophies like gluten free, sugar free, paleo, dairy free, etc. If you want to learn all of my exact methods and work with me directly, I'll be opening up the nutrition project in the coming months. But for now, you can get on the waitlist by going to Holly perkins.com forward slash waitlist. That way you'll be noticed first when I'm going to be opening up that program again.

So to wrap up, the takeaway here is that when I need to uplevel my performance, my energy or general sense of well being I tighten up my macros. It's a technology that I rely on, because I see the benefit within a day of changing my diet. It's reliable, and it's predictable. I know that I can radically change my body composition very quickly, when I focus on choosing high quality foods and combine them in a way so that I hit that 5025 25 breakdown for each meal. In my experience, it works like magic. It allows your body to be the Ferrari that it actually is. It's powerful, and it works.

Whenever I stray, I feel terrible. And as soon as I get back on track, my life improves. The skies are brighter, my mood is lighter, I feel invincible. Again, I can think more clearly I can put sentences together better. And it's how the best bodies in the world do it because it works like magic. If you feel inspired, but unsure of your next step in this direction, I encourage you to do the following number one, use the diet tracking app and simply enter what you eat today. Don't adjust. Don't edit anything. Just literally enter into a tracking app exactly what you eat and drink everything. Don't judge it. Then at the end of the day, look at the macronutrient breakdown. Assess if any of the three macros are off. If so, assess why, for example, are your protein sources pushing up your fat the next day, adjust your protein up or down until you're close to that 5025 25 breakdown. Once you're close, then adjust your carbs up or down until you hit 45 to 50% of your daily calories coming from carbs. Just make sure that you end each day at 5025 25 so that you can see how you feel. How simple is that.

I hope you enjoyed this episode. Make sure that you save it so that you can refer back to it whenever needed. And if you want access to my four week strength without stress program for free, be sure to rate and review this episode right now. Grab a screenshot and then send it to me over at Holly Perkins dot Calm forward slash review. You'll get immediate free access to strength without stress. And stay tuned for another brand new episode on Tuesday next week. Stay strong my friend