But what if the skeletons aren’t just for Halloween?  

The Skinny Gene Project has been using a diet “skeleton” to help clients with daily meal planning!

Diet Skeleton

Just like each of us is unique, our diet skeleton is a little different, as well.  The skeleton is based on an individual assessment of each person’s calorie, carbohydrate, protein, and fat needs per day.  For a family of four, the diet skeletons may be similar, but the difference will lie in the serving sizes of each food, depending on the needs of each family member.  Here is an example of how a typical dinner may vary for each family member.

*All portions based on standard serving sizes for adults.

Based on the different needs of each individual family member, meal planning can become a difficult challenge that you may face every day.  Here are a few strategic tips to help make meal planning an easier task.   When planning meals, our usual instinct is to think first about the meats and carbohydrates for each meal, but maybe we should try a new approach.

New Approach to Meal Planning

First, choose the vegetables for your meals.  By choosing vegetables first, your meal is more likely to focus on incorporating a variety of vegetables.  Look through your crisper and see what you have to work with.  Green onions, cilantro, bok choy, spinach, broccoli and mushrooms make a great start to a soup.  Bell peppers, zucchini, red onions, mushrooms, carrots, and cabbage can be stir-fried together with olive oil.  Or maybe you only have spinach and broccoli in the refrigerator.  Try sautéing chopped garlic in olive oil and adding spinach and broccoli for a powerful green side to your dinner.   If you are rushed for time, try grabbing a bag of edamame or carrot sticks to add to your dinner on the run.  The great thing about starting with vegetables is that you can be generous on the portions served.  Additional vegetable servings provide more benefits than harm!

Next, choose a protein source that is low in saturated fat, including fish, chicken breast, 94% lean ground beef, pork chops, tofu, eggs or egg whites, and beans.  These protein sources may be incorporated into your vegetables or served on their own.  The usual portion for proteins is 3 oz, which is the size of a deck of cards. A serving of beans is a ½ cup, which is about ½ the size of your fist.   Typically, the American diet is heavily focused on protein, usually exceeding what our body needs.  Although protein is essential for the body, excessive amounts may be stored as fat.

The next nutrient to add to your meal is the fiber-rich, whole grain breads and pastas. This category may also include brown rice, sweet potatoes, beans, lentils, and legumes.   The serving size for this category is:

• 1 slice of bread
• 1 small to medium sweet potato with skin
•  ½ cup measurement of pasta, rice, beans, lentils, and legumes.

Similar to our protein servings, we often over-serve our grains, which will lead to additional fat storage, as well.

Fat plays an important role in our body.  Our instinct is to limit all fat, but a small amount of the healthier fats is essential to our metabolism.  When planning your meal, choose the right fat in the right amount for your meal.  A couple of safe fats to stock in your home are plant based fats such as olive, canola, and soy oils, avocadoes, nuts, and ground flaxseed.  The proper portion size for these fats is:

•  1 teaspoon of oil, about the size of the tip of your thumb
•  1 oz of avocado, about 1/5 of medium avocado
•  1 oz of nuts, less than a small handful.

If your protein source is fish, you can count that toward both protein and fat servings.

The last two important foods to include in our daily skeleton are fruit and dairy.  Each person should have a minimum of 3 servings of each per day.  A glass of low fat milk goes well with each meal, but your dairy servings may also be fulfilled with 1 cup low fat yogurt or 1 oz cheese for a snack or added to your meals.   Fruits go well with dairy, for example, a blended fruit smoothie, cottage cheese and fruit, or Greek yogurt topped with berries.

In addition to incorporating your fruits together with dairy, a single piece of fruit alone can help keep your appetite in control between meal times or provide you with a sweet treat for dessert to finish your day.

The diet skeleton can give each of us an outline of what our body needs, but the important decision is to fill in the skeleton with the right foods and in the right amounts.

Since this seems to be such a common concern, we’d like to share our response to this frequently asked question. If you have any questions, please post them below or contact us privately.

Question:

I am only 16 years old and I am a very active person involving myself in sports such as swimming, running and bicycling, as well as my rifle team, I am also 5″4 in height, and I believe I weigh at least 130-136 the most, my main purpose right now is to lose 15, 16 lbs, but I’m mostly concerned with helping my metabolism increase, so that way I can be able to maintain a healthy diet at my age, and keep that healthy diet when I grow older. But I also want to know if this is the right place for me to start? Thank you.

Answer by: Cindy Marasigan– Skinny Gene dietetic intern, nutrition counselor, fitness instructor, and culinary chef

It sounds like you are very active with sports and you are also concerned about your health and nutrition. The best way to start in your case is nutrition therapy for endurance athletes. Since you do a lot of sports that are focused on endurance it is very important that you get the proper nutrition.

Why Was Nutrition Therapy Prescribed?

With endurance training, the main goal is to provide calories for daily activity and those expended through exercise in addition to replenishing glycogen (energy) stores and repairing lean muscle mass. Focusing on eating often as well as nutrition pre-exercise, during exercise, and post-exercise is key to training and performing at an optimal level and keep you metabolism functioning properly.

Meal Planning Tips:

• Eat frequent meals and snacks throughout the day
• Do not skip meals
• Include a whole grain carbohydrate and a lean protein/healthy fat with all meals and snacks to increase satiety.
• Include non-starchy vegetable and fruits with meals and snacks
•  Carbohydrate intake should range from 5 g/kg to 7 g/kg for moderate-duration and low intensity training, 7 g/kg to 12 g/kg for moderate to heavy training, 10 g/kg to 12 g/kg for extreme training.
  • Choose whole, high-fiber grains as your carbohydrate meal choices (breads, bagels, tortillas, cereals, oatmeal, granola bars, crackers, pastas, rice, potatoes, etc.)
• Protein intake should range from 1.2 g/kg to 1.7 g/kg
  • Choose lean proteins such as chicken or turkey without skin, lean cuts of red meat, fish, low-fat dairy, eggs, beans, tofu, edamame, or whey or soy protein powder
• Fat intake should range from 0.8 g/kg to 1.0 g/kg
  • Increase intake of healthy fats (peanut butter, nuts, seeds, flaxseed, olive oil, salmon/tuna) and decrease intake of saturated fats (fried foods, baked/packaged goods, and white, thick, creamy sauces/spreads)
• Hydration should be adequate so that urine color is pale yellow throughout the day
  • Rely on water throughout the day and water/sports drinks during exercise
• Consume post-exercise snack as soon as possible (within 45 minutes) after training

Recommended Foods

Pre-Exercise Eating

• Meal timing: 3-4 hours before exercise
•  Meal composition: High in low-glycemic carbohydrate (200 g to 300 g) and lean protein, low in fiber and fat.
• Meal hydration: Four hours before activity, consume 5 mL/kg to 7 mL/kg (2 mL/lb to 3mL/lb) or 17 oz to 20 oz water or sports drink

• Snack timing: 30 minutes to 1 hour before exercise
•  Snack composition: High in carbohydrate, moderate in protein, low in fat and fiber
•  Snack hydration: 5 oz to 10 oz water or sports drink

During-Exercise Eating

• Carbohydrate intake should begin shortly after the onset of activity
• Timing: Consume 30 g to 60 g carbohydrate/hr spaced every 15-20 minutes
• Composition: High-glycemic carbohydrate such as sports drinks/gels/blocks/beans, fruit, high-carbohydrate bars with moderate protein, crackers, etc.
• Hydration: Dependent on sweat rate
  • Average: 5 oz to 10 oz water or sports drink every 15-20 minutes
  • Sports drinks should contain 6% to 8% carbohydrate
  •  Replace electrolytes lost via sports drink or foods high in sodium/potassium

Post-Exercise Eating

• Snack timing: Within 30 minutes post-exercise
• Snack composition: 4:1 ratio of high-glycemic carbohydrate to lean protein
  • Recommended amount: 1.0 g to 1.5 g carbohydrate/kg
• Meal timing: 2 hours after exercise (Continue meals in 2-hour intervals up to 6 hours)
• Meal composition: High in low- to moderate-glycemic carbohydrate and lean protein, low in fiber and fat
  • Recommended amount: 1.0 g to 1.5 g carbohydrate/kg
• Hydration: 16 oz to 24 oz water or sports drink for every pound lost during exercise

Foods Not Recommended

Pre-Exercise

• High-fat foods (high-fat meats, heavy sauces/creams, fried foods, buttery foods, desserts)
•  High-fiber foods (cruciferous vegetables, whole grains extremely high in fiber, beans)
• Carbonated beverages
• Sugary beverages
• Alcohol

During Exercise

• Low-glycemic carbohydrates (high-fiber whole grains)
•  High-fiber foods (cruciferous vegetables, whole grains extremely high in fiber, beans)
• High-protein foods (meats, dairy, high-protein energy bars)
• High-fat foods (high fat meats, heavy sauces/creams, fried foods, buttery foods, desserts, large quantities of nut butters, nuts, seeds)
• Fluids containing more than 8% carbohydrate (juice, soda, sweet tea, energy drinks, etc.)
• Alcohol

Post-Exercise

• High-fiber foods (cruciferous vegetables, whole grains extremely high in fiber, beans)
• High-fat foods (high-fat meats, heavy sauces/creams, fried foods, buttery foods, desserts, large quantities of nut butters, nuts, seeds)
• Fluids containing more than 8% carbohydrate (juice, soda, sweet tea, energy drinks, etc.)
• Alcohol

Sample 1-Day Menu

(2,500 calories, 60% carbohydrate, 20% protein, 20% fat)

*Important Points to Remember!

• Puberty usually starts when you’re between 9 and 13 years old. But it can start earlier or later. Thanks to hormones like estrogen, you’ll notice changes like your breasts starting to grow and new curves forming on your body. You might notice that you start to get taller, and eventually you’ll get your period.
• During puberty, your body will change and continue to grow — and sometimes the growth happens quickly. This is called a “growth spurt.” During this time you can grow as much as 4 inches in a year. Growth spurts usually start between ages 9 and 11. Most girls reach their full adult height by 18. But just like everything else in puberty, you might grow faster or slower than this. Your nutrition needs will change as you get older.

Growing and Gaining Weight

• Most girls experience growth spurts early in puberty, while most boys have them later in puberty. That’s why many girls are taller than boys in middle school.
• Increased body fat is also a normal part of puberty. “You may go from 8% to 21% body fat,” says Kathy McCoy, MD, a psychiatrist who co-wrote The Teenage Body Book and who was a columnist for Seventeen magazine.
• Don’t go on a diet to try to lose this weight. “It’s not bad fat,” says Melisa Holmes, MD, who co-wrote the Girlology book series. “Women just have to have a certain amount of body fat for reproduction and the health of our menstrual cycles.”
• So don’t make losing weight your main focus. Just try to maintain a healthy lifestyle, follow the guidelines for nutrition for endurance athletes, and keep a positive attitude on self-image.

Hope this helps! Best of luck on your journey to a healthier you!

References:

1. Charney P, Malone A, eds. ADA Pocket Guide to Nutrition Assessment., 2nd Ed Chicago, IL: American Dietetic Association, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-88091-421-5
2. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Nutrition Care Manual. Sports Nutrition. Available at: http://www.nutritioncaremanual.org/topic.cfm?ncm_heading=Nutrition%20Care&ncm_toc_id=8580. Accessed May 14, 2012.