DQS Explained

What is DQS, and how does it work?

What is DQS?

DQS is an acronym for "Diet Quality Score," a system created by Matt Fitzgerald for athletes to easily track their nutrition.

It is a useful middle ground for those who want to gauge the quality of their diet, but don't have the time or energy to rigidly count calories.

So, how does it work?

The DQS system is pretty simple. This is how it works in general:

Keep track of your food intake. Keep a simple list of everything you ate throughout the day, and a rough quantity. For example: "50g oats, 200ml milk, a handful of chia seeds, 1 banana..." and so on.
Assign each item a category. There are 10 categories in the DQS system, and most foods can be assigned to one of these. Those that can't count as a neutral score (0).
Assign each item a score based on category and quantity. Some foods give positive scores, while others negative. There is a scoring matrix that is based on both the category of food you've eaten, and the amount. For instance, while eating dairy provides positive scores initially, you will start losing points if you eat too much.

If you want to know more about how it works, you can read this guide.

The Categories

Fruits: apples, oranges, bananas, strawberries, natural juices, etc. View the full list.
Vegetables: potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, courgette, aubergine, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, legumes, etc. View the full list.
Lean meats & fish: eggs, salmon, mackerel, lean turkey mince, chicken breast, etc. View the full list.
Nuts & seeds: peanuts, almonds, chia seeds, flax, linseed, nut butters, etc. View the full list.
Whole grains: grains that are unrefined, such as brown rice, wholemeal bread, wholegrain pasta, rye crackers, quinoa, popcorn, etc. View the full list.
Dairy: natural dairy products, such as cheeses (feta, halloumi, cheddar, etc), milk, yoghurt, kefir, cottage cheese, etc. View the full list.
Refined grains: grains that have been refined, such as white rice, white bread, white pasta, crackers, etc. View the full list.
Sweets: foods high in sugar, such as ice cream, biscuits, cake, chocolate, candies, soft drinks, etc. View the full list.
Fried foods: foods that have been deep fried, such as fried chicken, chips/fries, crisps/chips, tempura, etc. View the full list.
Fatty proteins: proteins that are high in fat, such as sausages, chicken thigh, steak, etc. View the full list.

Serving Sizes

Fitzgerald suggests following "common sense" serving sizes. In his own words:

"With high-quality foods, I believe in using commonsense guidelines for serving sizes that are based on the amounts we typically eat.

While it is often said that we tend to eat excessively large portions these days, this is typically not the case with high-quality foods such as vegetables and whole grains.

The thing to watch out for is counting too small a portion of a high-quality food as a serving. A packet of ketchup does not count as a vegetable serving (and not because it's technically a fruit)"

Fruit serving: one piece of medium-sized fruit, a big handful of berries or a medium-size glass of 100% fruit juice.
Vegetable serving: fist-size portion of whole vegetables, a 1/2 cup of tomato sauce or a medium-size bowl of vegetable soup.
Lean meats & fish serving: fist-size portion of meat or fish.
Nuts & seeds: palm-full of nuts/seeds or a heaping tablespoon of nut/seed butter.
Whole grains: fist-size portion of rice, a medium-size bowl of pasta or cereal or two slices of bread.
Dairy: glass of milk (or the amount you'd typically use in cereal), two slices of deli cheese, a single-serving tub of yoghurt.
Refined grains: fist-size portion of rice, a medium-size bowl of pasta or cereal or two slices of bread.
Sweets: one small cookie, 12oz of soda, 1 label-defined serving of sweets or chocolate (unless 80%+ cocoa), one regular slice of cake, or scoop or bowl of ice cream.
Fried foods: one small bag of crisps, one fried hamburger patty, 3–4 fried wings, small portion chips or one doughnut or churro.
Fatty proteins: as per lean meats, a fist-size portion of meat.

Combination foods

Some foods are made up of two or more of these categories. Pepperoni pizza, for instance, is comprised of (at least): fatty protein, dairy (cheese), refined grains and vegetables (tomato sauce).

For such complex foods, Fitzgerald recommends separating them into their consistent parts and scoring each separately. We recommend using Expediate in the same way.

Scoring

Once you have figured out what the portions you have consumed are, you can use this matrix to score your day.

If you're using Expediate, you don't need to worry about this matrix. We'll calculate your score for you.

What about other foods?

There are many foodstuffs not covered by the DQS system, for example:

Condiments, sauces and spreads: if used in moderation, these should not be scored. If using heavy loads of mayo, buffalo sauce or similar fatty sauces, these should be counted as negative points (-1 per portion).
Alcohol: each day, any alcoholic drink after your first is counted as -2.
Coffee and tea: regular coffee and tea has no negative score associated with it (and coffee in particular is purportedly excellent for gut health). If you use sugar or syrups, these count as "sweets".
Sport fuel: isotonic drinks, energy bars and so on do not count positively or negatively towards score when used during exercise. If consumed outside of exercise and made primarily from whole grains they can be scored +1 for the first, -1 for the second and -2 for each consumed thereafter. Those that are primarily sugar should be counted as "sweets".

FAQs

What about fats, such as olive oil or butter?

There are many schools of thought on fat and their impact on the body, positive or negative. Fitzgerald doesn't believe they're harmful.

Despite that, he hasn't provided any clear guidance on how to score fats. We suggest that you treat them as condiments, sauces and spreads (read above): using fats sparingly doesn't require mention. If you use a lot, you should mark each serving as -1.

Why doesn't condiments, sauces, spreads and alcohol count in Expediate?

While Fitzgerald suggests marking these down, we haven't developed that functionality yet. If that's something you're particularly interested in, please let us know via this Google Form.