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  1. #1
    Ridill
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    For BG dietary fanatics, a question..

    There's a fitness thread, but that's mostly about exercise and working out. Figured it might help to have a nutritional thread, considering how badly a lot of us probably eat. This is about eating healthy, not counting calories or working out or losing weight or building muscle. Just plain sensible eating.

    Take me, for example. I've always had a pretty good metabolism, allowing me to eat like shit and not be a blob of fat, but it still isn't healthy. My diet is pretty much all meat, cheese and carbs, and no veggies. Surprisingly, my blood pressure and cholesterol is normal, but it's probably time to start making a few changes, nonetheless.

    Problem is this: I know vaguely what I'm supposed to eat. We've all learned about the food pyramid in school, and there's a certain amount of common sense involved. Some amount of vegetables and protein, a few carbs, a little fruit, that sounds like a responsible diet. But I'm clueless as to how to actually construct a properly proportioned (and appetizing) meal out of this vague knowledge. Of course I know that changing your diet has to be something you'll want to maintain or else you'll just fall back into old habits. Otherwise, I'd just eat a slab of dry, plain chicken and a cup of broccoli for every meal, but I doubt that'd last long.

    Help give me some ideas of things I should be eating, and how much. Something fairly intuitive that isn't going to drive me crazy using measuring cups every meal, and doesn't require a scale. I'm not looking to count calories and lose weight, although I probably do need to lose a little. I'm mostly just interested in getting all the nutrients my body is supposed to be getting, feeling good about myself, and properly supplementing my physical activities (sports, gym, cardio).

  2. #2
    Relic Horn
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    I'd hardly call myself a fanatic, but I've done a lot of personal research on the stuff I eat to try to get a good balance between tasty and healthy. I tried the whole "don't worry about how it tastes; food is just fuel for your body" approach and it never held me for more than a couple of days. The most important thing to remember is a lot of healthy things are demonized because they are too readily available in modern food. Sodium, for example, draws a lot of attention for causing high blood pressure, even though it's important. Fat's another one, and carbs are typically lumped in one "bad" category even though they're a great energy source. I do cook all my meals unless we're eating out, so no frozen dinners for me.

    For breakfast, some of my staples are oatmeal (made with skim milk, not water, and no not the maple and brown sugar instant crap) and chopped up strawberries/bananas, or the fruits + honey&oat special-k. Honey nut cheerios are awesome too. My grocery store has a generic with the same stuff so I get that for cheaper, but the generic oatmeal tastes like shit to me so I stick to quaker. I also like making an egg sandwich, with scrambled eggs (3 eggs, 2 of the yolks cut out) and whole wheat bread. Yum. Sometimes I use a whole wheat bagel instead of the bread, or put cottage cheese on it instead of the eggs. I know cottage cheese sounds nasty, but it's a good replacement for cream cheese. There are so many different textures and curd types that you're bound to like one of them*! I also take 2 omega-3 fishoil pills, a calcium/vitamin-d supplement, and a multi-vitamin.

    Lunch and dinner are a lot more free form. I always try to include good veggies and another slice of bread with some olive oil. I like pasta and meat a lot, so I always have some pasta in my pantry and plenty of meat in the fridge. My favorites are chicken, turkey, lean beef (93/7 usually), tuna, and salmon (go easy on the fishies). For veggies, I love onions, carrots, broccoli, and spinach, so those are my go-tos. Asparagus, cucumbers, and sweet potatoes are all great for various nutritional reasons too, so I eat those here and there.

    I tried the 5-meal+ a day plan and wasn't impressed. There are a couple studies kicking around that found it really doesn't do anything for your metabolism (it takes most people around 15-18 hours for their bodies to go starvation mode), and I generally found the same when I tried it (keeping my calorie intake the same, I had the same returns spreading the food over 5 meals as 3). So you're welcome to try that, but it never did me any good.

    You mentioned not keeping track of your calories, but I'd recommend trying it, at least for a little while. A lot of people really don't realize how bad they are doing until their waist-line creeps up on them, and by then it takes a long time to recover. With online trackers like livestrong's myplate (no they aren't paying me to plug them), it's really easy to keep track of your calories, and your protein/carbs/fats ratios. I only used it for a couple of weeks, and now I can estimate how I'm doing any given day pretty accurately without having to check, because I've got a good feel on which foods that I like boost which categories. Their built-in search engine thingy makes it effortless.

    *ok maybe not, but you should try some different types anyway to see. cottage cheese gets a lot of shit, but it's really good for you.

    What kind of stuff do you normally eat? Hard to tell you what you're doing wrong if we don't know what you're doing.

  3. #3
    Spiders are Awesome
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    One of the most common misconceptions is that micronutrients mean jack shit in the age of supplements. Eating lots of fruit is only marginally healthier than gulping down soda.

  4. #4
    Ridill
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    What I'm doing wrong is eating the typical American fare of meat/cheese/carbs, whether it be burgers or pizza or enchiladas or lasagna without proportioning or minding what I'm eating. And not really any vegetables.

    I don't even like most fruit. I like bananas and apples, but don't care for "sweet" ones, like strawberries and such. I'd never put strawberries in my oatmeal (banana or apple, maybe). Which fruits are more important to eat, and which are just used as healthy garnishes to sweeten up a bland meal?

  5. #5
    Salvage Bans
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    Meat and cheese are fine. Processed carbs aren't. Fruits are mostly just sugar, which isn't helping you either.

    Most of this shit is already covered in the fitness thread, not sure why you thought this thread would be beneficial.

  6. #6
    i'm awesome.
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    Get a scale after you determine the portions you'll be eating. Once you weigh out and prepare a few things, you will see what it looks like and be able to eye ball it from then on. Food pyramid they show in school seems like crap to me, so many carbs, it's like they think the average American is working out everyday or something.

  7. #7
    Ridill
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maaglin View Post
    Meat and cheese are fine. Processed carbs aren't. Fruits are mostly just sugar, which isn't helping you either.

    Most of this shit is already covered in the fitness thread, not sure why you thought this thread would be beneficial.
    If it is, it's buried in between workout discussions on random pages. I realize one of the last posts was someone posting his diet for critique, but I intended this thread for general nutritional education, not tailored diets for weight loss/muscle building workout regimens. This isn't about how many calories or carbs you need to accomplish a personal goal, it's about what we should be eating instead of burgers and pizza.

    If you have specific dietary needs, for weight loss/gain/muscle/workouts, then the fitness thread would probably be the ideal place for that.

  8. #8
    Banned.

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    Try to incorporate some of these into your diet.
    http://www.benefits-of-resveratrol.c...per-foods.html

    What I do now, is order a twice weekly delivery from

    www.graze.com

    Graze substitute my tendency to munch on crap on their superfoods.

  9. #9

    You should build your diet around the following 4 things:

    1) Fruits and Vegetables, particularly cruciferous veggies like broccoli, brussels sprouts, bok choy, etc, but don't discount things like carrots and bell peppers either.
    2) Whole grains, like whole wheat bread/pasta and brown rice/quinoa. Too many white/processed carbs is probably one of the biggest reasons people are fat and have no energy
    3) Lean protein like turkey or chicken, lean cuts of beef or pork, and fish.
    4) Healthy fats like nuts and seeds, peanut butter, avocado. Use olive oil to cook and small amounts of butter for flavoring, not the other way around.

    The other problem people seem to have is portion control, even if they're not going for weight loss. The USDA recommended serving size of a piece of meat is 4 oz., roughly the size of a deck of playing cards or the palm of your hand (without fingers). 1 cup of pasta/rice is about the size of your fist. If you're still hungry you can pretty much eat as many veggies as you want, or eat smaller meals throughout the day so you don't need as much food in one sitting.

    You can still eat whatever you want, burgers and pizza and cookies are fine in moderation. It's all about making your indulgences worth it. Having a burger once a week but skipping the fries and coke, or putting a whole bunch of veggies on your pizza and only having 2 slices, or only eating 2 oreos instead of the entire sleeve, etc.

    A soda every once in a while is fine, but you should be cutting it out almost completely, even diet soda. Stick to water, black coffee/unsweetened tea, and skim milk. Fruit juice, even juice without added sugar, can have just as many calories as a coke/iced tea.

    There's a lot of debate about suggested macronutrient ratios, it's probably easiest to just aim for 33% of everything although I'm not really 100% sure. USDA actually recommends a much higher carb intake (around 50%) and lower protein (18%) but I'd probably do something like this:30% protein, 20% fat, 50% carbs, or maybe even more protein so I could drop the carbs below 40%. It's not really necessary to kill yourself going for percentages unless you have a particular goal however, and eating healthy most of the time will iron out most of the kinks for you already.

  10. #10
    E. Body
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    http://www.amazon.com/Food-Rules-Eat.../dp/014311638X

    Check it out. It's cheap and it's a really, really, really good read.

  11. #11
    Formerly Raitoken
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    You say that the point of this thread isn't to count calories/fat and just eat well but I think this needs to be posted regardless.



    For those who can't sit through that there is this version...



    So true and something everyone needs to see.

  12. #12
    Relic Shield
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    Gilgamesh

    This with rice milk for breakfast almost every day for 10+ years. Breakfast of champions.







    *edit The video's above were great, thanks for sharing.

  13. #13
    You wouldn't know that though because you've demonstrably never picked up a book nor educated yourself on the matter. Let me guess, overweight housewife?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Atreides View Post
    3) Lean protein like turkey or chicken, lean cuts of beef or pork, and fish.
    Wanted to point out too, that there is a great misconception when it comes to chicken vs. beef, that just recently I think most people are starting to realize. When you go to a restaurant and want to eat healthy don't just go "oh I'll have chicken then!". People for the longest time used to think that beef was worse than chicken because it contains more fat. However, when you look at the actually menus, most of the beef is grilled, whereas the chicken is baked/battered/fried/etc.. Reality is, grilled chicken can be kinda bland, but people wanted "healthy" so restaurants got creative with their chicken dishes to make them flavorful, but in reality this made them less healthy.

    I told people this shit for years but hard to prove until menus started putting on calorie counts. Back then I looked and the highest caloried food at applebee's was their oriental chicken salad.

    Basically, if you don't want to count calories, that's fine, but if you go out don't let words like "chicken" or "salad" trick you into thinking they're better. At least look at the calories to see what you're getting into.

  14. #14

  15. #15
    D. Ring
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    Lakshmi

    i think all cereal suck lol. i dont care how healthy the box looks lol.

    i havent eaten cereal once since i've gotten healthy. but, if i had to binge on cereal once, im going straight for cookie crisp. go big or go home.

    if i want fiber for breakfast, ill just grind up some oats with my morning shake lol. if i need the carbs and energy, ill use vanilla flavored whey and throw in a banana and some frozen blueberries, with some walnuts throughout the day.

    to each their own, obviously, but cereal to me is phailz

  16. #16
    An exploitable mess of a card game
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    Quote Originally Posted by richardd View Post
    i think all cereal suck lol. i dont care how healthy the box looks lol.
    Fuck carbs, I like carbboard.

  17. #17
    Relic Shield
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    Quote Originally Posted by shaddix View Post
    Sugar is the most overlook things I have seen by most people who always telling me that they are trying to get some diet. Some people just like stuffing themselves with different kind of fruits during after meal, during snacks and etc. When I tell them eating fruit like this way will get you fat, they just say that I'm bluffing and it just a fruit lol...

    I think the next overlook food is the commerical yogurt. You won't ever to believe that most yogurt sell in store contain like 16~30g of sugar for each serving. It just like a huge chunk of sugar intake. I had to stop my housemate to buy those yogurt to eat unless they buy those less sugar one.

  18. #18
    Relic Shield
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    My saying for "health foods" has always been, "I read the label on the back and not the one on the front."

    Manufacturers can bend things on the front to be technically true, but misleading. A bag of skittles can claim to be "a great source of vitamin C". A box of donuts can claim be "a great source of energy". (defined by quantity of calories and not quality of calories)

  19. #19
    Salvage Bans
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    You should read the book "Green for Life". Of course, you don't have to be as hardcore about it as the book is. I drink two "green smoothies" a day (they usually come out violet for me but they are still extremely healthy). If you have a blender you should really try these out for a healthy snack. For example, my smoothie this morning was: 2 handfuls of baby spinach, 2 chard leafs, mango, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, 1 banana, 3 tablespoons of honey (and if you're just trying it for the first time add a little sugar). The raspberries and mango take away from the taste of the spinach and chard, and if you add some ice it turns the it more smoothie-like instead of watery like. It may sound a little gross but it actually is pretty dang tasty. If anything, give it a try. If you can drink 2 full glasses a day of these you'll start seeing some incredible changes in your body. You want to switch the greens up every day though to get the different vitamins. But blending the greens extracts them and helps your body absorb them better, too. If you're not eating fruits on a daily basis this is a great way to help get them all down with just 2 glasses of delicious smoothie. I've been having fun mixing the fruits and veggies, it's a surprise delicious taste every day (for the most part..). Sam's Club has these giant plastic bins full of baby spinach & mixed lettuces for really cheap, if you're interested.

  20. #20
    D. Ring
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lyn View Post
    You should read the book "Green for Life". Of course, you don't have to be as hardcore about it as the book is. I drink two "green smoothies" a day (they usually come out violet for me but they are still extremely healthy). If you have a blender you should really try these out for a healthy snack. For example, my smoothie this morning was: 2 handfuls of baby spinach, 2 chard leafs, mango, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, 1 banana, 3 tablespoons of honey (and if you're just trying it for the first time add a little sugar). The raspberries and mango take away from the taste of the spinach and chard, and if you add some ice it turns the it more smoothie-like instead of watery like. It may sound a little gross but it actually is pretty dang tasty. If anything, give it a try. If you can drink 2 full glasses a day of these you'll start seeing some incredible changes in your body. You want to switch the greens up every day though to get the different vitamins. But blending the greens extracts them and helps your body absorb them better, too. If you're not eating fruits on a daily basis this is a great way to help get them all down with just 2 glasses of delicious smoothie. I've been having fun mixing the fruits and veggies, it's a surprise delicious taste every day (for the most part..). Sam's Club has these giant plastic bins full of baby spinach & mixed lettuces for really cheap, if you're interested.
    i think its so awesome you're getting involved in a healthier lifestyle, and those green smoothies are great lol. i have them at the end of my carb cycling days, but i dont add as much fruit fructose is not a big fan of superman rich, but for YOU, i think its great. any female really. but hey, i was going to ask, i get my spinach frozen, and i mix it in with blueberries and vanilla whey, do you think frozen brocolli chunks can do any justice? lol it would be a good way for me to get more veggies in

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