Dr. Norton approaches his view on nutrition with scientific facts, results from intense academic studies, and from personal experience. In this episode, he discusses both the legitimacy & shortcomings of recent popular and common diets (Keto, low carb, intermittent fasting, etc). Dr. Norton conveys that the most important aspects of a healthy diet are to eat enough protein and to be aware of your total calories – all of these other diets are just different ways to get you to the same end result, and some work better for some people than others. 

Studies show that within a control group that eats the same amount of protein and total calories but varies the proportions of carbs/fats to obtain the desired calories, there is little-to-no difference in the amount of fat loss. It is important to note that there is a reason that the amount of protein is listed as a goal, but the amount of each of the other macronutrients (carbs, fats) are not. In terms of fitness & nutrition, protein tends to be seen as the most important macro. Not only are proteins responsible for rebuilding muscle but it is also important for many other things such as building bones/cartilage/skin, carrying nutrients throughout the body, creating digestive enzymes, and regulating hormones. Dr. Norton also notes that 1 calorie of protein does not equal 1 calorie of carbs/fats due to the Thermic Effect (‘TEF’) of food. When your body intakes macronutrients, it uses part of the calories as energy to actually digest the food, leaving behind a ‘net’ calorie count. Fats have a TEF of 0-3%, carbs have a TEF of 5-10%, and proteins have a TEF of 20-30%. This means that if you eat 100 calories of each of these macronutrients, your ‘net’ calorie takeaway from fats is ~ 97-100 calories, from carbs is ~ 90-95 calories, and from proteins is 70-80 calories. 

Some people claim that during a ketogenic diet that you burn more fat – which is true – but there is a caveat: there is also more fat eaten (& therefore stored). The equation for fat loss has two sides: fat loss = fat burned – fat stored. While it is true that you burn more fat in a ketogenic diet, you also store more fat, so the total amount of fat loss is unbothered. For intermittent fasting, the overarching goal is similar: get the required amount of both protein & calories, just in specified windows. Dr. Norton explains that after analyzing meta studies for different intermittent fasting structures (16/8, 12/12, etc) that there is little-to-no difference in fat loss as long as the total calories and total protein remains constant. The biggest issue with intermittent fasting is getting the required amount of protein in the feeding window. The body can only synthesize so much protein at one time (~25-50g), so any amount of protein over that in one sitting is overkill and will likely be lost. In a smaller feeding window, say 8 hours, you would have to make sure the protein is distributed evenly and far enough apart where the body can fully synthesize it and use it all efficiently. Depending on how quick the individual’s body synthesizes it and how small your feeding window is, this could be a difficult task. Some people also claim that intermittent fasting has positive psychological and mental effects – which is individualized & may be true – but this discussion is from a purely nutritional standpoint. 

The biggest takeaway from this episode regarding nutrition for the average person is that overall caloric intake is the most important factor, and that the best diet is the one that you can realistically & consistently maintain.