Ask a die hard dietitian

[dusters]

Hello.

The diets I have been trying and developing are tailored specifically to martial artists, so they may not apply to everyone. However, the guidelines are intact.

My aim is to create a diet 100% fit for my body. To achieve that I started with full blood count to check if I have anything missing from core microelements and minerals.

Basic things first - check with your doc, if your weight is normal. If not, see endocrinologist and ask him for an diet advice and training regime. Check with your doc, what chemicals your body process better, what worse. Albeit they are details, some people can ingest huge amounts of particular chemical and gain nothing, while others get sick from overdose.

There are various diets for various purposes. The body is like clay, you can make it into runner's, swimmer's, powerlifter's or any type you want, if you know the fundamentals.

The carbohydrates is your fuel. Sugar is your fuel. However, consider how many calories per day you spend, how many you ingest. Generally it is better to eat a bit less than more.

For almost every chemical you ingest, there is a healthier alternative.

Eating healthier means your body has to spend less energy processing junk side stuff, so you can sleep less and be more active in long term. White sugar is the foremost thing - choose fruit sugar when you can. Even chemical fructose is better.


Guidelines:

Don't eat empty calories - that's refined flour. Biscuits, cakes, pies are no-no.
Don't eat boiled vegetables if you can - raw or warmed up to conserve the valuable stuff within. Drink fresh, self-made juices often. Drink a lot of good quality water. Read the calories on the stuff you plan to consume. Smell the food. If it's full of E number things, reconsider. Not all of E things are bad, but use them with caution.

The most important one - eat very often, very small meals. You don't want to eat and fall asleep after. Eating small snacks every 2-3 hours is normal.

Get used to making food for yourself. It is your body, your time, your life, your food. Be in control and be happy with results

 

[Janig]

Hi

Do you have a standard meal plan for your high intensity exercise sessions? What meals do you enjoy? What does high intensity exercise mean to you? Thanks

 

[Gigaz]

It is your body, your time, your life, your food. Be in control and be happy with results

So, how much time of the day do you spend with planning and preparing your meals? Do you take into consideration what you'd like to eat at the moment or do you follow some sort of periodic list to determine your meal for today?

 

[LostInTime]

The carbohydrates is your fuel. Sugar is your fuel. However, consider how many calories per day you spend, how many you ingest. Generally it is better to eat a bit less than more.

How do you calculate how much you need? Is that also something you've checked with the doctor? (or is there some general guideline you use maybe?)

 

[Janig]

How do you calculate how much you need? Is that also something you've checked with the doctor? (or is there some general guideline you use maybe?)

An adult needs roughly 230g carbs, 90g sugar, and 2250 calories per day. I calculate exactly by trial, error, feeling, and performance.

 

[Mise]

What about dried fruit? I eat a lot of dried fruit because I figure they're basically fruit, only smaller and sweeter, so I can eat more of them. I feel it's a good way to eat a lot of fruit.

 

[dusters]

Hi

Do you have a standard meal plan for your high intensity exercise sessions? What meals do you enjoy? What does high intensity exercise mean to you? Thanks

Nothing standard, but as a rule of thumb I take a lot of carbs daily. Like 500g of either
rice, buckwheat, noodles or pasta in very small portions. Together with green tea and jam.

I don't eat more than 1kg of one type of stuff per week anyway. Except meat, meat is a must - lean meats for muscle development.

High intensity - you sweat like three pigs combined, You are almost out of breath from exhaustion, you push yourself to the limit everytime. Eg - skipping rope for 15 minutes slowly with rapid bursts, then doing kicks and punches. Running 5km very fast, then kicks and punches. Etc.


What Janig said - the number is calculated from your weight, age, activity and gender. Around 2000 for normal conditions, around 10 000 for guys like http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Phelps who swim 4-5 hours a day.

Dried fruit is not bad compared to most snacks you can take along with you (in a car for example). However I would prefer alive veggies instead. A small box of salad (with very little oil), would be preferable.

I spend about hour every day making food on average. That's with meat preparation, making salads, squeezing juices etc. I have got used to it, so food making is just another work-out

I see what I need for a moment. Usually it's either iron, calcium, magnesium, B vitamin, carbs or some other one of main things.

 

[Smellincoffee]

What would you suggest for a low-carb breakfast to someone who can't eat eggs? I've been trying to shift to a low-carb diet, but breakfast gets in the way, as so much of the 'traditional' breakfast foods (pancakes, biscuits, cereal, toast) involve grains.

 

[dusters]

What would you suggest for a low-carb breakfast to someone who can't eat eggs? I've been trying to shift to a low-carb diet, but breakfast gets in the way, as so much of the 'traditional' breakfast foods (pancakes, biscuits, cereal, toast) involve grains.

Nuts, salad, cabbage (fresh or warmed up), few slices of rye (black) bread. A tea spoon of honey or/and pollen. Throw in some meat on that bread if you plan to move around a lot before dinner.

All kinds of stews are great for any of meals, because compared to boiling or baking, more ingredients are preserved.

 

[Save_Ferris]

Ask a die hard dietitian

If this is their version of diets, then I can't wait to see New Year's.

 

[Narz]

Hi Dusters, do you have any sort of certification? Not that I particular respect certification necessarily since I've seen supposedly officially certified dietitians offering ridiculous advice like that corn flakes + low fat milk is a healthy breakfast. Just curious.

What about dried fruit? I eat a lot of dried fruit because I figure they're basically fruit, only smaller and sweeter, so I can eat more of them. I feel it's a good way to eat a lot of fruit.

I find I really can binge out on stuff like dried figs sometimes but that's just me & I have food issues.

A few questions.

What makes you certain the many meals spaced out is the best approach? For me it seems kind of like a pain in the neck & in my wannabe-self-sufficient frame of mind I tend to find the idea to eat so often a burden & would need proof to show me it's necessarily a superior way to eat. Also, when I eat often it's hard not to eat alot each time so I prefer just to eat 2-3 x a day. Also, there's the whole intermittent fasting thing (where rats simply do not eat at all every other day) which increases lifespan beyond even caloric restriction & seems to counter the constant-feeding approach (then again these rats probably don't do martial arts & are probably fairly inactive on their fasting days, of course most modern folks are also fairly inactive).

What frustrates me about diet is that are so many contradictory opinions & unlike in political/social thought where it's pretty easy to spot & disregard stupid arguments there seems to be evidence for different theories.

For example some seem to do well on low-fat diets whereas some argue that fat actually burns more efficiently than carbs once you can get your body used to using fat.

What seems logical to me is : lots of vegetables, especially greens (the science seems to support that green leafy & cruciforms veggies are good for health, reducing some cancers by half even), don't overeat, like you (dusters) said avoid heavily processed/stripped foods. I'd also add I don't tend to feel very good when consuming large amounts of vegetable oils. They are pretty much empty calories also though better than sugar. I do have some extra-virgin olive oil & flax oil & occasionally coconut oil but don't douse my salad too liberally (I used to use up to 16 tablespoons of oil in a huge salad).

I do find it amazing that we can put a man on the moon but people are still arguing over what macronutritent ratios are ideal for man/woman.

Thx for the thread.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

What no pies???

 

[Janig]

What makes you certain the many meals spaced out is the best approach? ... intermittent fasting

About intermittent fasting Ive read that really serious athletes will eat less the day before a competition, so that their bodies appreciate the food they ingest more on the important day; I havent tried it yet cuz Im bulking but Im interested in references if someone has any.

Many meals spaced out is common for serious athletes. I can begin a workout immediately after eating if I eat small, but for example I finished eating an hour ago and Im still too full to exercise.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

What is the variance in weight loss for 2 people eating 2000 calories per day, if one is eating perhaps 500-800 more in junk food per day? Let's assume both are overweight, averaging 3000 calorie/day intakes and stable weight at that amount before starting the diet.

Or is the weight loss identical, but the person eating junk holding down less muscle mass/having vitamin deficiencies/etc?

 

[Janig]

TheMeInTeam in my opinion (chef, amateur athlete and lifetime food enthusiast) there is no such group as junk food. If you consider a food to be junk then you must have reason for thinking so, and it is that reason which makes the food deficient. Providing more detail might assist a better answer to your question. Eating junk will make you more junk than eating average.

 

[El_Machinae]

Do you monitor your sodium and potassium intake?
Do you take anti-oxidant supplements?

 

[emzie]

Do nutritionists annoy you?

 

[Janig]

Do you monitor your sodium and potassium intake?
Do you take anti-oxidant supplements?

...I do. Ive been inspired to make homemade pizza (doing unsalted dough now) and Im going to use mozzarella or ricotta cheese for their low salt content. When I was a kid I was really upset to hear my fathers illness of salt-induced high blood pressure; I wouldnt wish that on anybody.

 

[Hygro]

Whole milk or nonfat?

Raw milk or fully pasteurized?

 

[Narz]

For many, no milk at all is the best approach. Most Asians & Africans as well as a large percentage of Europeans aren't properly adapted to milk.