I remember when this term was coined a few years ago, and I absolutely loved it.

A brilliant term/phrase to tell my clients that simplified nutrition for them to achieve fat loss, optimal health, not have them bogged down in the complexities of different scientific studies which all conflict with each other, meaning you never know who's actually right.

It's all pretty simple, you simply ask yourself... is what I'm about to eat real food?

Chicken. One ingredient, real food. Tick.

Salmon. One ingredient, real food. Tick

Olive oil. One ingredient, real food. Tick

Cheese and onion crisps. Lots of ingredients, not real food. Cross.

You get the idea.

However, despite adopting this principle, a lot of my clients still weren't getting results and not dropping body fat.

Why was this? I think it was down to a few different things.

- It had them restricting their favourite, non "real" foods like pizza, chocolate, ice cream, alcohol etc. which meant they ended up becoming fixated on the fact they couldn't have them, leading them to binge eat.

- It was overly simplistic, and didn't address calorie balance.

I'm all about not overcomplicating things, but that doesn't mean you have to treat someone like they're thick and not explain some of the key concepts behind what will lead them to achieving their goals.

Fat loss is achieved by eating fewer calories than you burn off, and the JERF phrase doesn't consider this. Yes, a lot of single ingredient foods like fruit, vegetables and lean meats are low calorie, so therefore might have you eating few enough calories by "accident", BUT on the flip side, a lot of single ingredient foods are very calorie dense. Fatty meat (chicken thighs, ribeye steak), fatty fish (salmon, mackerel), full fat dairy, nuts and oils are all pretty high in calories making it easy to overconsume calories.

Yes, these foods might be "healthy", but you can still gain fat eating healthy foods. Fact.

Do chips count? I mean it's just potatoes, oil and salt, all of which are "real foods". 

Or does oil even count? It's been processed from an olive/seed/nut/plant.

What about dark chocolate? Dark chocolate is healthy right?

You get the idea...

You're eating out at a restaurant and want a dessert because the rest of your family is having one. Following JERF? You probably do either one of these two things: 1. Don't get one, get food envy from everyone else smashing their pudding, and be miserable for the rest of the evening. 2. You decide "screw it" and get one which leads to guilt, anxiety and the feeling that you've failed on your diet so you just give up.

Hardly desirable in either case.

Instead, a good diet will allow for when you want to enjoy drinks with your mates and eat delicious food with your family. It allows you to eat cake every now and then without worrying that it's going to make you fat, or that the processed nature of it is going to give you cancer, or clog up your arteries, leading to a heart attack. 

However, it is important to remember that it's very unlikely you'll be able to get away with doing this ALL THE TIME without ill effects. Therefore, it's a good idea to be eating "real", single ingredient, unprocessed foods 80-90% of the time and along with this, if you're looking to drop fat, track your calorie intake.

Remember that good diets are not not black and white, made up of a list of dos and don'ts, cans and can'ts.

A good diet allows for you to enjoy life and what you eat without fear, anxiety or guilt.

Much love,

JB