Nutrition

[Tom Yum]

Alot of us train for sports or jobs, but it seems like we don't pay attention to our diets. We're in a rush, so we grab McDonalds or what have you every now and then. I'm a firm believer in GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) when it comes to diet -- especially if you're part of the late 20's to early 30's crowd.

One's nutrition can affect their overall health and performance in a lot of ways, so it makes sense to eat as healthy as possible.

I'm starting with the food pyramid, created by the US Department of Agriculture as a guide for healthy eating in an attempt to critque and improve my own diet.



For breakfast this morning, I ate 3 eggs (from the no-cholesterol, egg product carton), approximately 1.5 cups Kashi cereal with 2 cups, 1% milk and an orange.

I'm drinking a glass of water.

For lunch, I ate a souvlaki sandwhich (grilled lamb w/ tahini? sauce, onions in a pita bread wrap) and a huge plate of tabouli (garlic, tomato, parsley, onion and oil). I drank an iced tea with one packet of splenda.

I worked out (interval work) and ate an orange and an apple afterwards. A friend of mine made me a cheeseburger.

[Tom Yum]

Starting from the top of the pyramid and moving downward, I will analyze my diet according to the recommendations set by the food pyramid.

Sweets:
One packet of Splenda

Beans/Nuts:
None

Oils/Salad Dressing/Mayo:
Probably more than 2-3 servings from the tabouli and lamb, maybe 4-5 servings?

Low-fat dairy:
3 servings (2 cups milk for breakfast cereal, slice of cheese on cheeseburger).

Seafood/Poultry/Lean Meat:
3 eggs (low-cholesterol, egg product), lamb, 90% lean beef on the cheese burger. I probably exceeded the number of servings, but this is expected to help with the training I do.

Grains:
1.5 cups of Kashi cereal, pita bread, 2 hamburger buns. About 5 servings. This is 2 servings less than the recommended daily amount.

Vegetables & Fruits:
Tabouli (maybe 3 servings?), two oranges and an apple. That's 6 servings. This is just 2 servings short of the recommended daily amount.

My diet never consists of the same things every day so this, is just a snapshot at a typical day's eating. Some days include way more fruits and vegetables or a little more bread/grain.

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I've always considered myself a healthy eater. For the most part, I'd say this is true but according to the food pyramid, I need to add more beans/nuts to my diet (I normally eat them 2-3 times per week, but need to add them daily). I need to add atleast 2 more servings of grains and fruits & vegetables as well.

How does your diet stack up to the food pyramid?

[Hardball]

Which Kashi cereal do you eat? What about supplements? What about multivitamins? You do a lot of running which burns a lot of calories, if you do not consume enough cals then your body will go into starvation mode and start to store fat. What about Cancer prevention? Are you getting enough antioxidants?

[Tom Yum]

Good questions. I do take a multi-vitamin, but other than that I don't take supplements.

Today's plate looks a bit different than yesterdays. Yesterday I ran some intervals; today I did a 3-mile steady CHI run, a 1.5 mile swim (1 mile in fins, 0.5 mile w/out), and finished with a 3-mile CHI run (2:00 high speed, 2:00 jog).

For breakfast (didn't have much time): two pieces of toast with peanut butter and drank a glass of milk. Normally, I believe in eating a king-sized breakfast.

Drank two glasses of water.

For lunch: A huge plate of salad -- consisting of spinach leaves, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, black olives, cucumber, squash and low-fat ranch dressing; 3 pieces of cornbread; a cup of gumbo soup (rice, tomatoes, okra, onion and chicken); 3 tacos with ground beef and 2 slices of watermelon.

Can you tell I live in the south? lol. My lunch was high volume and relatively low calorie.

For a late afternoon snack: a dozen cherries, an orange and a glass of milk.

For dinner: Thai-coconut curry beef with carrots and white rice. Two glasses of water and a cup of coffee.

[Tom Yum]

Sweets:
sweetened-condensed milk with the coffee after dinner.

Beans/Nuts:
Peanut butter, probably 1 serving. One serving short of the daily requirement.


Oils/Salad Dressing/Mayo:
2-3 servings of low-cal ranch at lunch. Coconut-curry probably counts as 2 additional servings. That makes an excess of 2 servings today.

Low-fat dairy:
2 servings - one glass of milk at breakfast, one in late afternoon. Met the daily requirement.

Seafood/Poultry/Lean Meat:
Approximately 1 cup of lean ground beef spread between 3 tacos at lunch. 2 servings? Lean beef with dinner. Met or exceeded the daily requirement

Grains:
2 pieces of whole wheat toast for breakfast. 3 taco shells for lunch, 3 pieces of cornbread for lunch, rice in the gumbo at lunch, bowl of white rice for dinner: 10 servings of grains today. Two extra servings of grain today.

Vegetables & Fruits:
Mega salad plate at lunch - 5 servings of vegetables? 2 slices of watermelon. A dozen cherries. 1 orange -- 9 servings of veges/fruits. Met the daily requirment.

[Tom Yum]

I'm not a nutritionist, but I'm wondering if the nutrition matches the timing of my workouts?

For example - if I do an endurance challenge in the morning, like I did today, should I have eaten excess bread/cereal/grain the day before, before the workout or after the workout?

From The Mayo clinic

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/HQ00594_D

"But right before an intense workout, avoid carbohydrates high in fiber, such as beans and lentils, bran cereals and fruit. High-fiber foods may give you gas or cause cramping. Fructose, a simple sugar found in fruit, can increase the tendency for diarrhea with high-intensity exercise."


"A diet containing at least 40 percent to 50 percent of calories from carbohydrates allows your body to store glycogen, but if you're a long-distance runner or you exercise for long periods of time, you might want to consume more carbohydrates regularly and consider carbohydrate loading before a big athletic event."

*-Note to self do not eat high-fiber food & fruits before PT sessions! I've experienced that oh-so familiar feeling of wanting to do a no. 2 in the middle of it. Hmmm...perhaps I could eat lean protein? Since I PT in the AM and/or early afternoon, I'm thinking egg whites, lean turkey sausage or a protein-shake using milk for pre-workout breakfast. Tuna, lean lunch meats, perhaps a small serving of grain for pre-workout lunch??

* -Eat more carbs and fruits in general, AFTER the day's excercises are done -- dinner time might be the best time to consume most of the days carbs, veges & fruits?

Possible eating schedule:

AM
2-3 egg whites
turkey sausage or turkey bacon
hashbrowns (note - the skins of a potato contain the majority of its fiber)
Gatorade

Workout

Lunch
A big turkey or lean roast beef Sandwhich on white bread or some other kind of sandwhich substitute (gyro, taco etc.)
Soup
Protein shake.

Workout

Afternoon snack
apples/oranges/grapes/cherries/bannana + some kind of nut or seeds.

Dinner
Anything with pasta or rice, lots of veges, more fruit, an additional serving of meat and a glass of milk.

[MyGlyco]

When i'm closing to an important event i usually take an protein shake

[Ghost]

I'm not a nutritionist, but I'm wondering if the nutrition matches the timing of my workouts?

For example - if I do an endurance challenge in the morning, like I did today, should I have eaten excess bread/cereal/grain the day before, before the workout or after the workout?

From The Mayo clinic

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/HQ00594_D

"But right before an intense workout, avoid carbohydrates high in fiber, such as beans and lentils, bran cereals and fruit. High-fiber foods may give you gas or cause cramping. Fructose, a simple sugar found in fruit, can increase the tendency for diarrhea with high-intensity exercise."


"A diet containing at least 40 percent to 50 percent of calories from carbohydrates allows your body to store glycogen, but if you're a long-distance runner or you exercise for long periods of time, you might want to consume more carbohydrates regularly and consider carbohydrate loading before a big athletic event."

*-Note to self do not eat high-fiber food & fruits before PT sessions! I've experienced that oh-so familiar feeling of wanting to do a no. 2 in the middle of it. Hmmm...perhaps I could eat lean protein? Since I PT in the AM and/or early afternoon, I'm thinking egg whites, lean turkey sausage or a protein-shake using milk for pre-workout breakfast. Tuna, lean lunch meats, perhaps a small serving of grain for pre-workout lunch??

* -Eat more carbs and fruits in general, AFTER the day's excercises are done -- dinner time might be the best time to consume most of the days carbs, veges & fruits?

Possible eating schedule:

AM
2-3 egg whites
turkey sausage or turkey bacon
hashbrowns (note - the skins of a potato contain the majority of its fiber)
Gatorade

Workout

Lunch
A big turkey or lean roast beef Sandwhich on white bread or some other kind of sandwhich substitute (gyro, taco etc.)
Soup
Protein shake.

Workout

Afternoon snack
apples/oranges/grapes/cherries/bannana + some kind of nut or seeds.

Dinner
Anything with pasta or rice, lots of veges, more fruit, an additional serving of meat and a glass of milk.

Why just the egg whites mate?
Eat all the egg, read up on cholesterol, how much cholesterol you consume is largely irrelevant what matters is your HDL/LDL ratio. Japanese live the longest yet have just about the highest cholesterol levels in the world. there is proper science backing this though. i can produce if you wish.

You then go on to have sausages bacon( i know its turkey but its processed shit) and hash browns (transfats going up and up here) washed down with glass full crap (gatorade)


Lunch you have white bread ( more crap) and sometimes you have some type of subsititute then you have a protein shake even though youve just eaten meat???? whats the reasoning behind this?


snack and dinner are ok, have something before bed as well.

Breakfast and lunch are a pile of pants though. Overall its not the diet of a fighter and i would think most people woudnt function well on that even if they werent training, certainly not optimally.Id lose alot of weight on that and health.

Eat CLEAN avoid processed crap (that means prepare your food), if you cant identify it or its white then throw it in the bin. eat a better variety of food. have a couple more meals in the day.
Brown pasta or brown rice brown bread etc not white rice unless its basmati perhaps.

[Joe Talmadge]

Tom, I'm essentially in agreement with Ghost, with only minor quibbles on his take. Unfortunately, the food pyramid leaves a lot of open territory to make mistakes in, besides in my opinion making some questionable recommendations to appease the various industries. For example, the grains section, aside from questioning which level in the pyramid it should be at, I see the admonition "preferably whole". Preferably?! You would have a hard time finding a respectable nutritionist making the statement that weak; processed grain products increasingly appear to be linked to health issues. Like Ghost, I eat a variety of real food, which I define as food that is as close to nature as possible -- little to no processing, no artificial colors/flavors/additives/preservatives, no artificial sweetener, no refined sugars or HFCS. Go heavy on the veggies and you're golden.

[GQchris]

just remember that with all the health stuff, there are those times you will need a cheeseburger, a shot of whiskey or a couple of beers and a shot of whiskey... or a glass or two of wine.

[Tom Yum]

just remember that with all the health stuff, there are those times you will need a cheeseburger, a shot of whiskey or a couple of beers and a shot of whiskey... or a glass or two of wine.

I'm on it!

[nycbattle]

While on the topic of nutrition, how does everyone feel about Antioxidants?

I work for a marketing company promoting the new Snapple Antioxidant Waters and they are packed with antioxidants. i've recently learned a lot about how antioxidants can protect your body from tissue damage and I've found this interesting.


Any thoughts?

[GQchris]

While on the topic of nutrition, how does everyone feel about Antioxidants?

I work for a marketing company promoting the new Snapple Antioxidant Waters and they are packed with antioxidants. i've recently learned a lot about how antioxidants can protect your body from tissue damage and I've found this interesting.


Any thoughts?

Snapple? loaded with sugar/high fructose corn syrup.. basically another sugar bomb

[nycbattle]

I hear your on High Fructose (I cant touch the stuff), but these waters don't have any.

They do have sugar- but my understanding as a runner is that some sugar can actually help empty your stomach faster, which can aide in hydration.

[GQchris]

I prefer drinking Cherry flavored Pedialyte.. low sugar and high electrolytes