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Food, An Odyssey
by Alex Birch
Alex, you write that 6 meals a day is recommended, while I sure don't see anything thats really wrong with that, it's really tideous to eat something so often.
Yeah, it might be, but reducing it to four meals works, too. The real problem is when people only have two meals a day (more common than what you think) and cram down loads of carbs and fat their body cannot use straight away. They'll pack up like bears, and it ain't gonna be muscle. A guy on my dorm is eating about two times a day and it's all freezer food from the supermarkets. I don't think I need to tell he's big as a house.
Someone asked, so here's an ideal day of mine in terms of meals:
Breakfast: I wake up and feel so hungry I could eat the alarm clock. For breakfast I have soured milk, muesli, dark bread with chicken, water and a teaspoon of creatine. A fruit if there's anything nearby.
Snack: After about 2 hours I need something lighter, most commonly a pasta salad with chicken or salmon, or a ciabatta.
Dinner: After another 2-3 hours I have dinner. This could be anything, but I like something heavy with fish or meat. Even tuna salads work, if you increase the portion.
Depending on the time, I will either add a smaller dinner portion again before work out, or go straight to the gym 1-2 hours after dinner.
Post-work out: Gainer, which is the equivalent of a large meal. I also drink about 1 litre of water during work out. When I get home, I usually drink a half litre of oat milk for fast carbs and D-vitamin.
Evening dinner: This time I pack up a lot of food, increasing the portion of carbs. Fish or meat.
Pre-night snacks: If I have nuts around, I eat of that, otherwise I actually often have a second breakfast, focusing on eating those slow carbs that last over night.
This is a good day for me, sometimes I don't have time to eat post-breakfast snacks, although I really should. Ideally I would increase the protein load, but because of economic reasons (I currently spend twice as much money on food than what I do on rent), I've chosen to improvise. Put this in comparison to all the meat and milk Martin consumes in a week, and you realize how your whole physique changes once you begin lifting weights and kicking ass almost every day of the week.
What are the benefits to
What are the benefits to drinking soured milk? Not only do I despise the taste, the texture is repulsive to me as well.
Soured milk
In Sweden it's part of a traditional breakfast. It contains milk protein, calcium, and is good for your stomach. If you don't like it, don't eat it (you're not supposed to drink it).
Ah, I see. I'm Greek, so I'll
Ah, I see. I'm Greek, so I'll settle for goat's milk, thank you.
Greek yoghurt
Greek yoghurt is awesome, better than regular sour cream.
wow...
you eat a LOT...
i have my vices - making pizza at least once weekly on our stone is one - but generally, my eating consists of:
breakfast: banana and another fruit, split up from 7am-11am. maybe a scone if i decide to go downstairs and get a second cup of coffee.
lunch: salad - something with dark leafy greens, carrots, almonds, maybe some block cheese for flavor, and celery. occasioanlly i'll treat myself to a small sandwich from the butcher shop next door to our workplace.
dinner: something more substantial than salad; maybe chicken cutlets in pita bread with cucumbers/hummus; maybe a caprese salad...rarely does it involve a lot of bread/dough unless i'm making pizza.
my wife and i do have sweet tooths, if you will, and therefore sometimes treat ourselves to some type of ice cream or chocolate as a dessert a couple times per week.
and i'm overweight!! just goes to show it's more about activity than diet, though sustaining healthy amounts of each is the right thing for everyone.
Home made pizza is vastly
Home made pizza is vastly underrated, it was too long since I did that.
I'm surprised you get by only on a few fruits for breakfast, but otherwise you seem to maintain a pretty Italian-oriented diet. The Italians I know also eat a lot of salad, cheese, olive oil and bread. The problem with a lot of salads is that they contain almost no nutritions, and don't really stop the hunger for very long. Adding fish or chicken helps a lot to make a salad more food-ish.
Maybe I should mention I basically never eat candy or chocolate, although the latter, especially Danish and Austrian, is awesome. I also forgot to mention that I used to drink one beer every day, but recently I've cut down on beer too, mostly because it costs a lot.
It's all about a balance between diet and activity. If you don't move around a lot, you'll have to emphasize diet more. If you work out a lot, diet will actually not be a big problem in terms of weight. That's why Martin posted the comment about the guy who practically lived on pizza and hamburgers--the guy needed all those carbs to get by. I think every day activity matters most. Walk at least an hour every day, clean the house, take out the dog, play football with your kids, work in the garage..this is how you really keep in shape.
re: salads
You're right abtout salads, too many people just throw iceberg lettuce into a bowl, which provides almost no vitamins or nutrients. I try to use a dark leafy green in my salad, and put almonds/some type of tree nut into it, maybe a little aged block cheese (despite my general disgust for dairy, some of it is too good to stay away from entirely), carrots, celery, maybe some peppers or onions, occasionally I'll throw an artichoke in there or olives...you can really load it up and make it into a great meal of veggies. Of course I throw in a can of tuna or some slices of chicken or turkey occasionally as well.
When I was running 6 miles or so per day a few years back, I was eating anything I wanted and still losing weight, but as you've said in this space before, it's when I started lifting weights and doing speedwork to add to my regimen - that's when the flab started to come off more and I got more lean.
Re: fruit for breakfast, I do drink a good deal of coffee which keeps my morning appetite at bay, and some days I'm more hungry than others when I wake up so I'll have a bagel or buy a scone on my way into work. But generally speaking, your body can get used to very ilttle in the way of calories before late afternoon each day if you're sitting in an office like me :)