Macros are a buzz word.  And for good reason.

Over the last couple decades, most diets counted calories but not much more. In the last few years, the term “macros” became the focus of many diets and healthy eating efforts. Personally, I’m really glad that many people are considering a lot more than just calories when thinking about what they are going to cook or order.  But there are some tricky parts to macros that a bunch of folks don’t understand.

Macros refers to the macronutritients protein, carbohydrates, and fats - the core nutrients that power your body, give you energy, and help you feel full. Some diets believe that higher fats and lower carbs are better - like the ketogenic diet. Other diets can naturally be high in protein and carbs but low in fats - like many vegetarian diets.  These days, lots of diets suggest you maintain specific percentage breakdown of your macros in order to satisfy your daily healthy eating goal.

Most diets that ask you to count your macros don’t take into account when you eat those macros.  For instance, some diets are ok with you eating all of your carbs during one meal and all of your proteins during a different meal.  I don’t like that.

I’m not the carbs police.  I think a reasonable amount of carbs are very important to help you stay energized through the day.  But I don’t like to eat starchy carbs at night. Starchy carbs at night prevent good sleep and can make you wake up feeling bloated.  Basically, when you eat starches at night, like a bowl of spaghetti or a bake potato, your body is trying to burn all those carbs before your body starts burning fats.  These carbs are hard for your resting body to process which can make your sleep bad.

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In my meal plan, you will notice that all of my dinner recommendations are light on carbs and avoid starches. In my case, if you skip carbs for lunch because you eat a salad with a chicken breast, I don’t want you to “hit your macros” and eat pasta for dinner.  I’d rather you eat something delicious and starch-free for dinner then try again tomorrow.

I don’t eat starchy carbs at night because those are our energy source you don't need them to sleep.  Besides, most of us chill after dinner. I recommend to eat starchy carbs early in the day and use them - burn them. That’s why my meal plan has no starches in the dinner recipes.

Remember, the most important thing is that you pick a diet you can stick to. In other words, don’t “diet.” Commit to eating healthy by finding good foods and balancing your lifestyle.  I cover a lot of this in my book, The 4x4 Diet. And you can follow my meal plan in my Pretty Muscles app.