The American Medical Association stirred up discussion amongst health professionals when they claimed it was more healthy to stay ‘fit and fat’ than slim and inactive. The association made the controversial statement in the early 2000s, and it’s remained a mainstay of dieting debate ever since.

But what if it’s the absolute truth? What if a healthy diet and active lifestyle are the most essential elements of health, even if they do result in relatively little weight loss? A great deal of the world’s most healthy and active individuals don’t boast the type of body we’re used to seeing on fitness infomercials, yet they remain at a lower risk of developing diet-related conditions than their more aesthetically successful fitness industry counterparts.

We’ve incorporated a combination of the AMA’s research and common aesthetic dieting knowledge into our basic nutrition guide. The end goal of rowing machine training and other exercises can vary quite dramatically, but it’s rarely without a focus on boosting our physical well being and inspiring weight loss.

Implement these five diet tips and you’ll see a boost not just in your physical strength and aesthetic qualities, but in your alertness and your self esteem. They’re each simple changes, and all five can be applied, tested, and implemented right now.

A non-traditional breakfast is essential.

The old adage is true: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The unfortunate reality, however, is that few dieters truly understand how to piece together a breakfast that provides the combination of dieting power and alertness that’s essential for weight loss and exercise.

Modern diets often highlight the importance of a full breakfast, all the while offering a relatively poor set of options. Grain-based foods, cereals with milk, and sugar-filled bread toppings are all standard, and all equally unhealthy.

The greatest breakfast isn’t a breakfast at all, but a meal that’s almost exactly the same as your lunch and dinner. Consume a mix of all three macronutrient groups for breakfast (protein, carbohydrates, and fats) and you’ll gain alertness in the morning, a smoother flow of daytime energy, and fewer high-sugar cravings throughout the day.

Divide your meals into major and minor, and consume accordingly.

Just twenty years ago, the three-meal-a-day diet was considered the standard for losing weight and managing physical fitness. Dieters endlessly counted calories, all the while ignoring the fact that each and every meal was providing their body with a giant surge of calories followed by a needless starvation period.

The problem with the three-meals-a-day diet is that it leave your body without nutritional input for hours at a time. To fill the gaps we turn to high-sugar snacks and fatty treats, all of which break through our diets and end up pushing weight loss further and further away.

One of the most alarming truths about dieting is that the timing of your diet is just as important as the content. Eating healthy foods without consistency leaves you in the same position as unhealthy binges; without nutritional substance and unable to burn energy efficiently. Divide your meals into major and minor, and consume five to six meals daily, alternating between large and small as you go.

Make sure you eat directly after cardio or resistance training.

Guzzling that protein shake after a workout is a good idea, but according to leading exercise scientists it’s not quite enough. The body needs a mix of proteins and carbohydrates to completely recover from exercise, and most sports nutrition solutions rarely provide the two macronutrients in the right quantities.

We recommend a small, balanced meal after exercise. A mix of complex and simple carbohydrates is most efficient for weight loss and muscle maintenance, preferably with a small serving of protein. Consume a compact and reasonably lean meal directly after exercise and you’ll reap the benefits of an enhanced and ultra-efficient metabolism, complete with greater muscle protein absorption and a shorter post-exercise recovery period.

Trying to gain muscle mass? Try a sleep stack.

The traditional dinner/desert combo is far from ideal. Packed with quick-release carbohydrates and simple sugars, it’s a leading cause of unwanted fat and one of the worst anti-health culprits in diet-driven weight loss. All too often a consistent diet falls victim to the night-time binge, and the results are typical; a failure to lose weight, limited morning alertness, and insomnia all stem from poor night-time food selection.

Overcome the temptation to gorge on sugars by eating a ‘sleep stack’ in the hours before bed. Sleep hours are spent restoring body tissue and processing sugars; when you load up on junk foods and fall asleep, those sugars end up being converted into belly fat. A sleep stack is a simple pre-bed meal designed to assist in muscle maintenance and eliminate weight gain during sleep.

The most important ingredients in any pre-bed meal are protein and, quite surprisingly, fat. As a long-term energy source, a small serving of unsaturated fats before bed can help you wake up feeling more alert and aware, all the while keeping your body from becoming catabolic while inactive.

Different activities benefit from different meals.

We recommend consuming a small, lean, high-carb meal before and after exercise. A small dose of energy is often enough to remain alert and physically able throughout your rowing session, though it can often have the exact opposite effect. Pre-workout meals can often sit idle in your stomach, causing physical discomfort during cardiovascular exercise.

It’s important to select a meal that’s not just right nutritionally, but right structurally too. Pizza and a milkshake might sit comfortably in your stomach throughout a light bicycle ride or a walk through the park, but they’re likely to interfere with a high-intensity rowing session or swimming training.

Piece together your pre-workout meal with your activity in mind, not just the meal’s nutritional content. It’s often worth sacrificing nutritional perfection in exchange for something which sits better during exercise; having a rowing training session interrupted due to a poor meal is every dieter’s worst nightmare.