Tip: Adhere to the 90% Rule

The Great Diet Debate

Fact: Successful bodybuilders and athletes eat more quality foods than crap.

The diet debate has gotten out of hand. Why? Because a lot of people want reassurance that they can eat shit food all the time: "Please, someone give me a scientific-sounding reason to stuff my face with junk food!"

This is a huge problem among noobs who would "do anything to lose fat" except avoid garbage of course. They fall for the idea that there's no difference in eating healthy and eating garbage, so long as the garbage somehow fits into their macronutrient or calorie plan.

But this isn't even an IIFYM vs. clean eating vs. paleo vs. Zone vs. keto vs. McDonald's debate. This is just a very early chapter in the book of common sense: most of your meals should come from quality food. Even if you're a strength athlete and not terribly concerned about having 10% body fat, eating quality foods most of the time will help you perform better than eating poor quality foods. Duh... except many floundering gym-goers seem to have forgotten this.

Food Selection Matters

From micronutrients and digestion issues to hormonal and inflammatory responses to food, your choices matter. Experienced, successful lifters figure this out. Long-term health is important to them. And that's why they win the long game while others waste years counting the macros in their Twinkies.

The Lesson

Adhere to the 90% rule. Make 90% of your meals consist of nutrient-dense foods, then have your cake and eat it too. Just don't eat it on a daily basis.