Ep 444 | The 800 Gram Challenge

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Today we are going to focus a bit on health, and we're going to talk around this concept that I just recently learned about called the 800-gram challenge. The 800-gram challenge. This concept refers to something that was put together by this nutrition expert. His name was EC, the initials EC Sienkowski. And the approach to the 800-gram challenge, the approach was to encourage people to eat at least 800 grams of fruits and vegetables every single day. And it's based on research that indicated that this amount, this 800-gram amount, is associated with significant health benefits, including reduced risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, like cancer, and diabetes. So, the 800-gram challenge. Again, I heard a nutrition expert mention it the other day and I had to dive in and better understand. I know I'm supposed to eat fruit and vegetables and I'm pretty focused on that, but I had never heard it quantified in this way. So, why 800 grams? The 800-gram benchmark is my understanding that the 800-gram benchmark is based on studies. One particular study that was published in The Lancet, you may be familiar with The Lancet, it found that consuming 800 grams of fruit and vegetables had the most significant health benefits. Now, what counts here? It's any fruit, any vegetable, raw or cooked. It all counts towards the total. Starchy vegetables like potatoes, they're included. And juices and dried fruits generally don't count because they lack calories and they typically are less filling. So it's more whole foods— I'm sorry, whole foods like whole fruit, whole vegetables, raw or cooked, doesn't matter. And even starchy vegetables like potatoes and legumes, they count. Okay, but not dried fruit. Now, how do you go about measuring? Obviously, you can use a scale or estimate the portions. And for reference sake, a large cucumber is about 300 grams, a medium-sized apple is about 200 grams. The expert that I heard talking around this particular 800-gram challenge said to think about the size of your portions. By using your fist. So if you have, you know, 2 fists together, you figure a medium apple is about the size of your fist. So you would probably have, you know, 2 fists, 2 fists at lunch or 2 fists at lunch, at dinner, you know, making 4 fits, 4 fits, and that would be about 800 grams, right? So think in terms of, of medium-sized apple being 200 grams. If you had 4 of those, that would be the 800-gram challenge. You just add these fruits and add these vegetables to every single meal. Start your day, for example, with a fruit bowl. Maybe have some fruit at lunch and add some roasted vegetables to dinner. Now, when I first started reading about this or listening to this expert, I'm like, "You know what? I'm just gonna consume all my fruit first thing." But that may not be the right approach. It's my understanding after I did some research. That you want a sufficient macronutrient balance, you know, protein, healthy fats. You want these things combined in there as well for, for longer-lasting energy. And so you wanna make it more balanced, so you wanna maybe pair fruits with a protein source, like yogurt or eggs or whatever it may be, and, and pair the vegetables with the protein source like a— like steak or chicken. You wanna maybe mix fruits into smoothies that have protein powder or or flaxseed or whatever it may be. So, just something that's more balanced and will provide for more longer-lasting energy. It's also a little bit more sustainable and flexible when you mix it in as opposed to just focusing solely on that for a meal. So, there's some pros and cons to doing this, it goes without saying. You know, and I wanted to see what's the downside here, right? But let's start with the pros. According to what was in The Lancet, 800 grams of fruit and vegetables is linked to reduced risks of cardiovascular disease by about 30%, reduced risk of stroke by 33%, reduced risk of cancer by 13%, and just premature— reduced premature death risk just overall. And that's because fruits and vegetables have nutrients, essential nutrients, antioxidants, and fiber, things that support your gut health, immunity, overall well-being. We know the benefits of fruit and vegetables. I just don't know if anybody's ever laid it out as 800 grams per day. It's pretty simple. There's not a lot of restrictions here in terms of food types. It doesn't necessarily eliminate other food groups, so it's very sustainable. And it's pretty easy to implement because there's minimal rules. Now, are there cons to this? Of course, accessibility to, to the fruit and vegetables could be challenging for some, the cost. Or availability of fresh fruits and vegetables, that could be a barrier, no question about it. And you also, you know, ideally want to have fruits that are in season. You could also unintentionally overemphasize one food group. So while increasing your fruit and vegetable intake is beneficial, if you focus solely on these things, it may lead to unbalanced macronutrients, which is what I was just mentioning a moment ago. There's also some things to think around as it pertains to your digestion. If you just suddenly spike your fiber, it can lead to all sorts of digestive discomforts, especially for people that are not used to higher fiber intake. And it's not always right, like certain fruits may, you know, individuals may be sensitive to those things. So you got to be aware of that. There's not a lot more in terms of, of terms of cons. The only other thing I'd say that might exist, and of course, you want to consult with your health, you know, professional that's in your life. But I think maybe some blood sugar things we got to keep an eye on, like high fruit consumption, especially from high sugar fruits like bananas and grapes, could spike blood sugar levels. And I think that we've got to be careful around that sort of thing. So, like most things, I think we're going to use the bullets before cannonball approach. I'm going to start introducing more fruits and vegetables into my world and seeing how my body reacts, and then over time introduce up to the 800 grams. I may not just dive in right away if that's not something that I'm historically doing. Who really most benefits from this? People that have poor fruit content right now and vegetable intake in their world right now. Those that are probably looking to simplify or just improve diet quality without these restrictive crazy diets. And people just aiming to manage their weight or improve digestion, introducing more fruits and vegetables is a great thing. So this could be right for you. I don't know. It's again, something I read about, something I saw someone present around. I know I'm pretty focused on my fruits and my vegetables. I've just never targeted 800 grams. But I wanna challenge our No Days Off Nation here today. Maybe this is something for you. If you are not consuming a good quantity of fruits and vegetables, you wanna at a minimum start to introduce these things into your diet, no question about it. And if you are consuming, have you ever measured? And as the research may indicate, 800 grams seems to be the golden number, like the number to target. So if you're already eating these things, start measuring, see where you show up. So the challenge for you today is to take a look at what it is you're consuming, specifically fruits and vegetables, and ask yourself, am I consuming enough? And you may want to use that 800-gram— I was using a fist for 200 grams, right? The medium-sized apple. So 4 fist-size amounts of fruits and vegetables, that may be the play for you. That's all I have for you today, the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it. [MUSIC] [MUSIC]