I guess it's not the worst tendency to have, but I often overlook the apparent in certain sports-related catchphrases. Case in point: "team identity."

Search the internet and you'll discover definitions like the one found at reference.com: "Team identity refers to the phenomena of individual team members who feel a positive attitude towards, and identify with, their team ... [and] put the needs of the team before their own."Now that I read it, I get it. As you read on, I hope you get my addition to that, too.Team identity is also a belief in a style of play, championed by the coach, that becomes so ingrained and so powerful that it defeats in-game anxiety. It does so because all involved believe that there's only one style of play that ensures success.A basketball squad that truly sees itself as a swashbuckling, uptempo team won't slow down after a rash of foolish turnovers. That's because they all understand they need to play at a breakneck pace to play their best and that their speed will ultimately create a second, greater outbreak of bad turnovers - for the other team.A team that's more methodical and associates itself with dominating play in the paint won't bomb away from the outside just because the opposition plays a packed-in-tight zone. That's because they all believe that to play their best the big guys still need to work hard for down-low positioning, and the perimeter players still need to pass and move quickly to create the types of passing angles that allow the ball to go inside for easy baskets - in spite of the opposition's attempts to undermine that.Now there's good reason why I wanted you to hear my take on team identity. In the what-to-eat game that we all play, you will encounter something similar to in-game anxiety.It comes from your opposition. More so than naysayers, however, your opposition is the studies that contradict the eating style that you believe is best for you.Consider, for instance, the ongoing debate about whether a low-fat or a low-carb diet is best for weight loss. Spend the next half an hour hunting on the internet, and you could probably find 10 studies that support the one and 10 studies that support the other.What should you do when confronted with such ambivalent? Stay true to your dieting identity.While you may not feel you have a dieting identity right now, cultivating one certainly helps control your body weight. For insight into how to develop one, consider mine.Foremost, your dieting identity should derive from what you want your eating pattern to produce. In my case, I want to stay as lean as possible - unnaturally lean really for someone pushing 56 - without losing any more muscle mass than what occurs naturally through the aging process.My focus on low body fat comes not only from a strong desire to climb hills on the bike as best I can, but also to stay as healthy as possible. A concept called nutrient partitioning virtually ensures a low body fat percentage, so that's central to my dieting identity.In short, nutrient partitioning is the belief that all calories are not equal.Those that come from protein generally produce poor energy for exercise, but the right types aid in next-day recovery. Additionally, except for those types that aid in exercise recovery like whey, protein doesn't digest easily.As a result, sometimes 20 percent of protein calories are wasted in the digestive process, which means there's less chance of adding body fat if excess cals are consumed and they are primarily protein.Nutrient partitioning espouses that any excess calories from dietary fat (with the exception of medium-chained triglycerides, MCTs) become body fat easily. Sometimes, as few as 2 percent of fat calories get lost in the digestive process.Because of that, as well as the fact that fat contains about 225 percent more calories than equal amounts of protein or carbohydrates, I avoid even the healthiest types of fat, like olive oil.The small bit of dietary fat that I do ingest - no more than 10 percent of my total caloric intake - comes from healthy foods that have moderate amounts of it. The greatest fat source comes from the cocoa powder I use in a pudding-like snack that I eat daily that's primarily fat-free cottage cheese.Nutrient partitioning believes that complex carbs create a higher quality energy than simple carbs. Moreover, since most types of complex carbs contain a fair amount of fiber, they keep you feel ing fuller longer than simple carbs.Therefore, I've replaced traditional spaghetti noodles with shirataki noodles, which provide far more fiber and 205 fewer calories per serving. Four servings of shirataki noodles - repeat, four servings - contain only 60 calories, about 75 percent of which come from soluble fiber.And I feel far more satiated eating four servings of shirataki noodles than four servings of traditional noodles and ingest 740 fewer calories to boot.