BG Health: Eating Right Edition

[Velgadess]

That brings up another important habit: keep an accurate tracking of what you eat. You will be amazed where so many calories come from in your diet that you may not have thought about before. Like Franzer said, cut out breads. Or at least cut back.

Tracking, I agree. As for breads I still love them. Sammiches is my main go to lunch for work. I avoid white, bleached breads. http://www.daveskillerbread.com/ is my favorite brand. I also still enjoy bad stuff occasionally. Pizza, burgers, that sorta thing but I make healthy choices to go with it. Instead of fries with my burger, I'll get a salad or fruit instead. The only major thing I've cut completely out of my diet is soda pop.

[RKenshin]

Ok I'll ask this here instead of making a new thread.

I need to put on weight. I've been trying to increase my calorie intake but my weight keeps going down. I can't force down enough food/calories to make up for my bodies metabolism or the effects of my meds. Normally this isn't a problem, but since my dental surgery I haven't been able to eat anything that requires chewing. The clinic has been dragging their ass on getting my teeth replaced, it's coming but maybe not until January.

My doctor ran through some suggestions like to force down half a gallon of milk a day if not more, protein shakes and the like but the problem with liquids is that I metabolize them incredibly fast.

So I turn to you all: What would you do if you couldn't eat anything very solid and need to put on say....20 pounds, thereabouts. Or at least stop losing weight.

I'd reimphasize the importance on shakes.

I struggled putting on weight for quite a bit when I first started working out, as my metabolism is way up there. I literally was eating ~4k+ calories a day without gaining anything for a while... but adding in high calorie shakes was enough to finally start making a difference.

Milk, water, protein, and peanut butter can add up to a really heavy shakes. I don't make them as heavy as I used to, but for example:

2 scoops of whey:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o03_s00_i00

1 scoop of casein:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o02_s00_i00

1 scoop of gainer:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o02_s00_i01

Along with 3 cups of milk, 6 cups of water, and 2 TBSN of peanut butter will add up to a 1,600 calorie shake. I'd split that shake up into three bottles and have one after with each meal (1/3rd at breakfast, 1/3rd at lunch, 1/3rd at dinner). Emphasis on after, because if you have it before or during you may not eat as much as you would otherwise. It's easy to force a shake down when you're already full, but not so much to force more food down.

It ends up being 42g fat, 138g carbs, 163g protein... which isn't too bad of a macronutrient balance, all things considred. And I'd have this 3-4 days a week, usually.

This ends up costing ~$70-80 a month in milk/peanut butter/protein, which while pricey is still far cheaper than any other reasonable way to find ~30,000 worth of calories a month.

And if that's still not enough to help you put on weight, adding in another 2 TBSN of peanut butter, another scoop of whey, and/or switching out 3 cups of water for 3 more cups of milk will easily push you up to a potential of 2,300 calories.

There's a lot of flexibility on what you can do, depending on how many calories it takes before you finally start putting on weight and what's in your budget. Ex: If it's too expensive and/or not enough calories, add in more peanut butter/milk.

[AoE]

Any decent substitute for regular milk? I'm also looking into gaining weight but that much regular milk a day would make me a walking bio-weapon.

[RKenshin]

Any decent substitute for regular milk? I'm also looking into gaining weight but that much regular milk a day would make me a walking bio-weapon.

The shake and plan I described ends up being about 1 cup of milk with each meal 3-4 days a week, which isn't as bad as it may seem.

If you botch the milk all together and only have water, you'll still have ~1,200 calories to start with... and up to 1,500 if you add in more PB/whey.

[AoE]

The shake and plan I described ends up being about 1 cup of milk with each meal 3-4 days a week, which isn't as bad as it may seem.

If you botch the milk all together and only have water, you'll still have ~1,200 calories to start with... and up to 1,500 if you add in more PB/whey.

Nah that's not bad at all actually. Thanks, man.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Soy or Almond milk isn't bad taste-wise. I dunno if it will give you gas or not, but it's worth a shot.

[Manako]

One thing that has helped me this year is a consistent breakfast. I usually make oatmeal, either a half cup of steel cut oats or a cup of rolled oats (rolled oats are much faster to make when I'm in a hurry). That's about 300 to 350 calories, but it keeps me feeling full much longer than other meals. High in fiber (both soluble and insoluble), no sugar, no salt, decent amount of protein, and a good amount of vitamins and minerals. Luckily I enjoy the flavor of plain oats, when you start adding tons of sugar it's not much better than the boxed cereals with all the additives. Occasionally I'll add a tablespoon of honey or a 1/4 cup of raisins if I'm going to the gym early, but keep in mind that those small amounts add about 17 g of sugar and close to 100 calories.

That brings up another important habit: keep an accurate tracking of what you eat. You will be amazed where so many calories come from in your diet that you may not have thought about before. Like Franzer said, cut out breads. Or at least cut back.

Can also jazz up your oatmeal with nuts, nut butters, spices, fruits, pumpkin puree, cocoa powder etc.. I can't eat it that plain so normally I'd toss in some pecans, cinnamon and a bit of honey.

[Talint]

I'm looking to vary up my side dishes.

I've gotten into a good habit of balancing and rotating around my entrees throughout the day (white meat, beef, fish), but my side dishes are sorely lacking. It's basically whatever frozen/canned vegetables I can find that's not laced in creamy sauces/salt loaded/other obnoxious additives or salad. It gets extremely boring, and thus makes me break my diet.

If I absolutely must eat carbohydrates, it's of the whole wheat/rice variety, but I try not to indulge on that too often since I've reverted back to a passive working out schedule.

I'm pretty comfortable with the rest of my diet otherwise. Any suggestions?

[BaneTheBrawler]

cottage cheese + fruit, mebbe?

[Yuri-G]

my breakfast is: half cup of oats, cup of greek yogurt, and berries. not exact, I don't measure or anything. filling, nutrition, and gives me energy for the day - and I'm slowly getting used to the weird tanginess of greek yogurt. I usually eat that even on my cheat day because it's just so damn simple. I usually have a cup of green tea too, and if I work out I'll eat a piece of fruit with peanut butter afterward. I have trouble sleeping and have to get up early so more often than not though, I'll just work out at night. it's not optimal but it's better than nothing.

[Yuri-G]

I'm looking to vary up my side dishes.

I've gotten into a good habit of balancing and rotating around my entrees throughout the day (white meat, beef, fish), but my side dishes are sorely lacking. It's basically whatever frozen/canned vegetables I can find that's not laced in creamy sauces/salt loaded/other obnoxious additives or salad. It gets extremely boring, and thus makes me break my diet.

If I absolutely must eat carbohydrates, it's of the whole wheat/rice variety, but I try not to indulge on that too often since I've reverted back to a passive working out schedule.

I'm pretty comfortable with the rest of my diet otherwise. Any suggestions?

I don't really do side dishes; it depends on the meal though. if I just have plain protein (chicken) I'll make a random vegetable to go with it, which isn't too creative but I'm lazy. most of the meals I've been making lately have had variety built in though: greek wraps, bean enchiladas with onion, baked ziti (whole grain noodles, non-fat ricotta, and ground turkey of course).

I do a TON of snacking though, so that's where I get my variety in for the most part. cottage cheese plus anything sweet (honey, cinnamon, raspberry jam - lots of sugar, but in small amounts they're not bad at all). fruit + peanut butter. eggs plus a little salt and pepper. roasted almonds. carrots and hummus. reduced fat string cheese. and I've only really just started with this new way of eating - I'm sure I'll come up with more as I get bored with what I'm eating now.

I will say that posting panda's list from this thread (page 2 I think?) on my refrigerator REALLY helped me. can't tell you how many times I can't decide what I want to get from the grocery store, so I just go over to the list and pick out some ingredients that'll go well together.

[Nirokun!]

Need a quick and easy vegetable side dish? Namul.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namul

http://justbento.com/handbook/recipe...s-namul-namuru

[Kalmado]

Soy or Almond milk isn't bad taste-wise. I dunno if it will give you gas or not, but it's worth a shot.

I use almond milk only now and that versus regular milk my gas and stomach issues dropped a ton.

[Manako]

I use almond milk only now and that versus regular milk my gas and stomach issues dropped a ton.

Yeah I can't drink milk or my tummy wants to murder me. We don't do soymilk because I guess there is estrogen naturally in the beans. Almond milk is tastier anyway.

For vegetable side dishes I prefer fresh or frozen to canned. Many times the vegetable is cooked with the meat, so stir fried veggies, roasted veggies etc.. When we just grill the meat we either steam or roast veggies for the side. Could also just have a soup or side-salad, but we're normally too lazy for that.

[Sendordm]

Is the whole soy and estrogen relationship "official"? I remember reading about it being a topic a few years back, but I eat tofu occasionally and don't really think much of it.

[Manako]

Is the whole soy and estrogen relationship "official"? I remember reading about it being a topic a few years back, but I eat tofu occasionally and don't really think much of it.

From what I read it was only an issue with unfermented soy products. That being said, these days I really don't trust any food studies to be "official" because one something is good and the next is bad. I'm a fan of "everything in moderation" although personally I have had positive results with low-carb diets in the past.

[Cream Soda]

Was hearing some talk about some types of white rice being just as good, if not better than brown rice. Any truth to this and if so which kinds of white rice?

[shaddix]

White rice is a little better than brown rice because of the lower phytic acid content. People will cite the nutritional content is higher in brown rice, but there's no reason for a "rich" american to eat rice for nutrition, it should be relegated to enjoyment and an easy calorie source. With this in mind white rice is just as good if not better than brown rice. It's not a big deal either way and I don't think it will matter unless you're eating brown rice as a daily staple

[BaneTheBrawler]

brown rice doesn't taste very good, imo. white rice is aight if you do the right stuff to it. when i was a kid i even sometimes ate white rice with brown sugar and milk, like cereal.