La vertical diet is a performance-based nutrition plan, developed by Stan Efferding, a professional bodybuilder and powerlifter.
This diet aims to optimize gut health, correct nutritional deficiencies, balance hormones, and improve energy, stamina, and recovery in athletes.
Originally designed for professional athletes, the vertical diet has also made its way among casual gym goers who want to lose weight or gain muscle mass.
The purpose is to help muscle growth through a diet with easily digestible foods, as well as red meat and white rice to increase your intake of protein and carbohydrates.
Index
What is the vertical diet?
Unlike the various "horizontal diets", which emphasize the variety of numerous food groups, the vertical diet focuses on a limited number of high-quality, nutrient-rich foods.
According to Efferding, limiting variety makes the body even more efficient at digesting and absorbing nutrients, which should help with building muscle mass, recovery, gut health, and metabolism.
How to follow the vertical diet?
The vertical diet has several components, all designed to maximize muscle gain; although it has been designed to be high in carbohydrates, it can also be customized to suit a variety of eating patterns, including low carb diets, intermittent fasting and the paleo diet.
The primary foods proposed by the vertical diet are:
- white rice: rice is easily digestible and this is very important especially for athletes who need high amounts of carbohydrates;
- Red meat: it is preferable to chicken and fish for its abundance of nutrients, iron, vitamin B, zinc and good cholesterol, essential components for muscle growth and testosterone.
It is not possible, however, to satisfy the organism's needs for micronutrients with just these two foods; the diet, therefore, also includes a limited amount of nutrient-rich and easily digestible foods, such as eggs, spinach, salmon and yogurt.
The biggest restrictions of the vertical diet include foods that are not easily digested:
- vegetables that can cause bloating: broccoli, cauliflower, onions and garlic
- legumes, rice e Whole grains: they contain lectins and phytic acid, which can limit the absorption of certain nutrients.
Approach of athletes to the vertical diet
The first step is calculate your basal metabolic rate or the number of calories your body needs to function at rest.
Other calories must then be added according to the type of training followed (Bodybuilders, for example, should aim for a calorie surplus in order to gain muscle mass).
When the body has gotten used to the diet and you start to feel hungry, you have to proceed "vertically", adding more calories.
This process is intended to support greater muscle gain and faster recovery between workouts.
Adding calories involves increasing the consumption of rice and red meat or adding one more additional meal throughout the day.
Potential negative effects of the vertical diet
It should be noted that the vertical diet has risks and potential negative effects, including:
- low fiber content: an adequate intake of fiber helps the sense of fullness, the health of the heart and digestive system;
- low content of prebiotics: the vertical diet excludes many sources of prebiotics, dietary fibers that nourish good intestinal bacteria;
- poor variety: this diet is restrictive and repetitive, so much so that it is really difficult to maintain consistency over the long term.
The vertical diet is a nutritional approach that has no scientific evidence; before embarking on such a path, always contact a nutritionist or doctor, who will be able to advise you in the best possible way.
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