The Official Nutrition Thread - Tips, Recommendations, Current Diets

[varano]

Here's a noob question.

Can someone explain macros to me?

Protein Carbs and Fat are your Macros.

Some people go with Macro splits which are based off of percentage of calories in each category.

 

[varano]

As soon as you feel beta-alanine tingles, your life changes for the better.
(At least in my experience anyways )

I hate beta alanine personally. I cant do the tingles.

 

[AimForTopCheddar]

So basically the basics of nutrition is to eat veggies, fruits, and proteins while limiting your intake for sugars and unhealthy fats and drink A LOT of water throughout the day?

 

[varano]

So basically the basics of nutrition is to eat veggies, fruits, and proteins while limiting your intake for sugars and unhealthy fats and drink A LOT of water throughout the day?

Yeah....
Real rocket science eh? (not a joke towards you)
Despite all the fads out there...thats all it is. Its pretty much what your parents told you as a kid.

I usually eat 1 gram per pound of bodyweight worth of protein and then organize my calories around that. I dont count calories per say but I dont typically have more carbs than protein in a meal. I dont mind higher fat though.

 

[AimForTopCheddar]

Yeah....
Real rocket science eh? (not a joke towards you)
Despite all the fads out there...thats all it is. Its pretty much what your parents told you as a kid.

I usually eat 1 gram per pound of bodyweight worth of protein and then organize my calories around that. I dont count calories per say but I dont typically have more carbs than protein in a meal. I dont mind higher fat though.

No worries, I always thought that proper nutrition was a pain in the ass thanks to all these stupid diet commercials we see on television nowadays.

Seems easy enough to do for anyone really.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

Straight up overdosing on carbs today. Feels good, man. Only had like 60g of protein max. The rest are carbs - simple and bad ones too. mmmm so good. Pretty sure still at maintenance, maybe a little over.

About 700 calories from cookies alone. Damn Specialty's.

 

[varano]

No worries, I always thought that proper nutrition was a pain in the ass thanks to all these stupid diet commercials we see on television nowadays.

Seems easy enough to do for anyone really.

Yeah. I've been in the health and wellness industry for 11 years, i've seen so many fads come and go.

The easiest rule of thumb for carbs is, if you can eat it without cooking it, its good for you. So obviously fruits and veggies good, potatoes, rice, bread etc bad.

For Meat and Eggs etc, try and stay with unprocessed meat and youll be fine. Try and buy farm eggs. They just taste better period

 

[Kitten Mittons]

You can eat raw sugar, no need to cook - are those carbs good for you? Nothing bad about the "bad" carbs you mentioned.

 

[derriko]

Yeah ^ complex carbs like pasta and rice are excellent pre-workout. On a cut, they are the first to go though for me since I like my fats and protein doesn't change bulk or cut.

 

[OzzyFan]

So basically the basics of nutrition is to eat veggies, fruits, and proteins while limiting your intake for sugars and unhealthy fats and drink A LOT of water throughout the day?

lol. It's funny how simple it can be defined.

Just thought this is a place to add some of your or my diet foods why you use them. I try and eat pretty healthy and "clean" so to speak, so here's the "main/generally everday stuff" list (I do eat other things):

-Non-fat Greek Yogurt=Healthy probiotics, lots of protein per ounce, calcium, low sugar, tasty. Sometimes add olive oil.
-Blueberries=Ideal glucose balancing fruit, good for the brain, high amount of antioxidants, fiber, tasty. Sometimes frozen into a blender.
-Protein mix that has fiber/probiotics=high protein, fiber for keeping digestion track healthy, probiotics for health, tasty. (Dr.Mercola if anyone is wondering brands)
-Almond Butter=Tons of healthy fats good for your heart and more, easy to eat, tasty.
-Cage free eggs=high good fats, lots of vitamins, protein.
-Almond Milk=Calcium, tasty, good fat, etc
-Lots of Broccoli=anti-cancer, antioxidants, trace vitamins, etc.
-Aloe Vera Juice=countless benefits, read up. Ever since drinking a cup a day, I feel healthier, more energized and my stools come out completely smooth.
-Tart Cherry Juice=(not a ton b/c sugar) muscle pains, healing, antioxidants, etc
-Pineapple Juice=(not a ton b/c sugar) sinus draining, muscles,
-Wheatgrass mix=energy/vitamins/chlorophyll/alkalizing
-1 full lemon water a day or so=potassium/magnesium/alkalizing/heart healthy
-Fish oil (safe triple distilled or something)=
-B Multi Vitamin/Multi Vitamin/Green Tea=Health and energy boost
-Lots of baked and grilled chicken, sometimes chicken salad




I try and eat organic when I can, but it's a little costly and not easy to do.


PS=Anyone else post there's for addition or comparison!

 

[Kitten Mittons]

Buying organic is worthless if you're thinking nutrition. I don't even find them to taste better either. Almond milk is also a waste of time - it's tasty but there's nothing there. Drink real milk for fats and protein.

I would suggest subbing juices with actual fruits themselves. Pineapple is delicious.

 

[Caeldan]

So basically the basics of nutrition is to eat veggies, fruits, and proteins while limiting your intake for sugars and unhealthy fats and drink A LOT of water throughout the day?

Exactly.

To expand a bit more...

Think of building your plate for each meal like this:
- Pick a protein (eggs, beef, chicken, pork, etc)
- Pick a leafy green (spinach, broccoli,asparagus, etc)
- Add veggies to fill up your plate with colour (carrots, eggplant, sweet peppers, etc)
- Add some fat either with the cooking or over top at the end (EVOO, Ghee, Grass-fed butter, Coconut Oil, Avocado - avoid seed and grain oils, stick to cold press methods)
Also, feel free to have some fruits and nuts throughout the day.

Other rough guidelines:
- Consume roughly 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass (ie 165lbs with 15% bf is ~140lbs lbm).
- Eat carbs to supplement your activity level (so typically not until after you've done whatever exercise you do for the day). There is no actual dietary requirement for them, and with enough fruits and veggies you'll be getting enough for regular activity.
- Start your day with a solid breakfast with protein and fat, not carbs... it'll keep away those hunger pains at your coffee break.
- Drink at least half your body weight (lbs) in ounces of water a day.
- Get plenty of SLEEP (this is actually overlooked a lot on nutrition, but this is critical - especially if you're trying to lose weight, as cortisol buildup will cause weight gain and show up especially in the gut area).

 

[Caeldan]

Buying organic is worthless if you're thinking nutrition. I don't even find them to taste better either. Almond milk is also a waste of time - it's tasty but there's nothing there. Drink real milk for fats and protein.

I would suggest subbing juices with actual fruits themselves. Pineapple is delicious.

For produce, there's no nutritional difference in organic vs non... the items it's worth buying organic for is more due to pesticide use.
So basically anything on the 'Dirty dozen' which can largely be summed up as anything you typically eat the skin of:
http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php

When it comes to meat... organic isn't quite as important as free-range (free-range does have a different nutritional profile compared to factory farmed due to a completely different diet - example increased CLA in free-range beef, omega-3 in free range eggs). Though difficult to find and definitely pricier. Basically if you can't get organic, go with leaner cuts of meats mostly because the majority of the toxins that an animal keeps would pass on through the fat cells.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

I don't know about you guys but carbs are the only thing that actually make me feel full. Oatmeal? Full for hours. Eggs? Hungry for life.

Meat is not gonna make me full. Avocado isn't gonna do anything for me either. Bread? Good way to end your meal.

 

[Caeldan]

I don't know about you guys but carbs are the only thing that actually make me feel full. Oatmeal? Full for hours. Eggs? Hungry for life.

Meat is not gonna make me full. Avocado isn't gonna do anything for me either. Bread? Good way to end your meal.

Bread is going to spike your insulin and cause a sugar crash so that in a couple hours you are hungry again.
It takes a little bit of a 'conversion' but if you stick to it you see a huge difference in both energy levels and satiety over the course of the day.

Basically think of your body as a fireplace, carbs are kindling... they'll burn fast and bright but out pretty quickly. Fat is basically the big log that burns forever and keeps things consistent. But you do need to get it started first, then as long as you keep adding another piece before you burn out you stay good.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

Not really. I've been cutting carbs significantly and didn't feel like it was better for me. Looked leaner since carbs increase water retention but I was hungry all day and low on energy. It's not like I just eat carbs for a meal - but I definitely need some carbs to feel full.

I've been busy with work this week so I've been skipping breakfast and it feels pretty great. I get to have larger meals at lunch and dinner, so I feel fuller throughout the day. If I'm really hungry in the morning, I'll eat. But I'm generally not. Basically, unintentionally doing IF lol.

 

[Caeldan]

Not really. I've been cutting carbs significantly and didn't feel like it was better for me. Looked leaner since carbs increase water retention but I was hungry all day and low on energy. It's not like I just eat carbs for a meal - but I definitely need some carbs to feel full.

I've been busy with work this week so I've been skipping breakfast and it feels pretty great. I get to have larger meals at lunch and dinner, so I feel fuller throughout the day. If I'm really hungry in the morning, I'll eat. But I'm generally not. Basically, unintentionally doing IF lol.

IF is at least 16h fasted - I've tried a period where I'd do one full 24h fast and one 16h fast a week but didn't really find any benefit to that vs my regular diet. Just made life easier since I wasn't cooking anything...

But I know personally when I was say having... muesli+yogurt+fruit for breakfast, 2h later I'd be starving - need to have some sort of snack. Then by lunch again starving (eat leftovers from night before). Then by afternoon break starving... etc.

Switch over to a paleo template, breakfast becomes cooking eggs in coconut oil (usually 3), have a few slices of bacon or breakfast sausages or some ground beef, some onion, garlic, sweet peppers and spinach... I could go the day without feeling hungry. (I'll even mix it up and do something crazy like lamb chops, and some broccoli/cauliflower mix for veg when I have the time and something was on sale)

Energy levels much higher than they used to be too. I can easily go a month without coffee if I really want to, where before I'd probably have two before lunch and one in the afternoon to get through the day.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

Are the number of calories you consumed stayed the same?

Carbs just work for me. Veggies are good at stopping my appetite but it's only temporary.

 

[Caeldan]

Are the number of calories you consumed stayed the same?

Carbs just work for me. Veggies are good at stopping my appetite but it's only temporary.

I've probably increased my calorie intake now as well because of weight-training, but when I switched over to paleo I dropped probably 15lbs at first because of activity level (and at that time I was eating everything in site)... then I managed to find a good balance after a little bit and then put the muscle (mostly) on to replace what I lost.

I think I was around 155-160lbs when I started about 1.5y ago. I'm about 165lbs now. I was as low as 143 that I weighed myself. My activities have changed over time, originally when I switched to paleo I think I was going to crossfit 4x/wk, pickup hockey 1x/wk (skater), ultimate frisbee 2x/wk, figure skating 3.5h/wk. Now ideally (which I'm not doing right now) I'm more like gym (cube methodish powerlifting) 3-4x/wk, crossfit 1-2x/wk, hockey 3x/wk (2 goalie, 1 skater), figure skating 1.5h/wk

But I have no problems doing a 16h or 24h fast out of convenience with current diet. I'm not quite as strict as I used to be though either. I'm planning to do a Whole30 in May, which should coincide with me getting back to the gym on a regular basis too. So we'll see how that goes.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

How are you people capable of so much physical activity? Lol, seriously, do I have low T or something?

 

[Caeldan]

How are you people capable of so much physical activity? Lol, seriously, do I have low T or something?

Maybe it's the protein and fat, and limited carbs

 

[Virtanen18]

16 going on 17 shortly.

Why?

How much do you eat in a day? I was about 6'2, 125 out of high school. Ate big for a year and got to 160 pretty easily. Now up to 6'3, 170 (just started to get serious about putting on weight again after a bit of a hiatus).

Usually big bowl of healthy cereal in the morning, 3-4 scrambled eggs with bread around noon, some form of pasta at 3ish, whatever I can find at about 6, and then dinner at 8ish. I try to have chicken with potatoes, or/and rice + veggies on the side as much as possible, but being brown, I get roti a lot. This plus some fruits and vegetables throughout the day has worked well for me.

 

[RayP]

I've probably increased my calorie intake now as well because of weight-training, but when I switched over to paleo I dropped probably 15lbs at first because of activity level (and at that time I was eating everything in site)... then I managed to find a good balance after a little bit and then put the muscle (mostly) on to replace what I lost.

I think I was around 155-160lbs when I started about 1.5y ago. I'm about 165lbs now. I was as low as 143 that I weighed myself. My activities have changed over time, originally when I switched to paleo I think I was going to crossfit 4x/wk, pickup hockey 1x/wk (skater), ultimate frisbee 2x/wk, figure skating 3.5h/wk. Now ideally (which I'm not doing right now) I'm more like gym (cube methodish powerlifting) 3-4x/wk, crossfit 1-2x/wk, hockey 3x/wk (2 goalie, 1 skater), figure skating 1.5h/wk

But I have no problems doing a 16h or 24h fast out of convenience with current diet. I'm not quite as strict as I used to be though either. I'm planning to do a Whole30 in May, which should coincide with me getting back to the gym on a regular basis too. So we'll see how that goes.

I did that once. It was very, very difficult for me... but I also go out to eat 5-6 times a week, so that was a big part of why. With that said, still stuck with it, and felt amazing while doing it. I did it last May, actually, and have kept a modified and less strict version of how I live/eat daily.

 

[Caeldan]

I did that once. It was very, very difficult for me... but I also go out to eat 5-6 times a week, so that was a big part of why. With that said, still stuck with it, and felt amazing while doing it. I did it last May, actually, and have kept a modified and less strict version of how I live/eat daily.

It'll be the fourth time I do it I think, last time was end of august/beginning of september... I just like to reset habits basically... usually go super strict for about 3 weeks of it (ie I don't even bother attempting to eat out), then ease up a little bit by the end and find my equilibrium.

 

[BaconNater]

Where are some good places to get info on health and nutrition tips and everything like that? My buddy always talks about reading articles but he pays for them, was wondering if there was anything like that but for free around. I would like to increase my knowledge when it comes to this stuff, any ideas/suggestions? Thanks!