APPENDIX C: Nutrition

APPENDIX C: Nutrition

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs

These aren’t the newest techniques from the latest cutting-edge plan. Rather, they are simple, time-tested, no nonsense habits that you need to get into when designing a good eating program.

1. Eat every 2-3 hours, no matter what. You should eat between 5-8 meals per day.

2. Eat complete (containing all the essential amino acids), lean protein with each meal.

3. Eat fruits and/or vegetables with each food meal.

4. Ensure that your carbohydrate intake comes from fruits and vegetables. Exception: workout and post-workout drinks and meals.

5. Ensure that 25-35% of your energy intake comes from fat, with your fat intake split equally between saturates (e.g. animal fat), monounsaturates (e.g., olive oil), and polyunsaturates (e.g. flax oil, salmon oil).

6. Drink only non-calorie containing beverages, the best choices being water and green tea.

7. Eat mostly whole foods (except workout and post-workout drinks).

So what about calories, or macronutrient ratios, or any number of other things that I’ve covered in other articles? The short answer is that if you aren’t already practicing the above-mentioned habits, and by practicing them I mean putting them to use over 90% of the time (i.e., no more than 4 meals out of an average 42 meals per week violate any of those rules), everything else is pretty pointless.

Avoid Dietary Displacement

Don’t eliminate good food, and replace it with bad food to reduce calories. Eat all your good meals, and if you want the occasional treat, eat it. Make sure you get all your good, whole food first though.

Here are some basic rules for how to improve your eating habits:

• Get used to the taste of food without dressings, sweeteners, etc. Ultimately you'll grow to like the natural taste of foods you once though tasted bland.
• Try to eat more like a true vegetarian (i.e. the bulk of the diet should come from fruits, veggies, unprocessed and unbleached food). But don't get me wrong; I don't want you swearing off meat.
• "Supplement" your unprocessed vegetarian-like diet with the high-protein foods discussed above.
• Add unheated healthy oils to your foods.
• Drink only calorie-free beverages (green tea, water, etc.).
• Unfortunately the worst foods usually are the most convenient and the most processed foods. Avoid eating for convenience alone.
• Avoid any easy-to-prepare breakfast foods (waffles, french toast, etc) as they're loaded with fattening trans-fatty acids.
• Avoid products containing the ingredients or words "partially hydrogenated," "high fructose corn syrup," etc.
• Avoid fast/fried food.
• Avoid foods or meals that are high in both fat and carbohydrate.

List of food choices

These foods should make up about 80% of your daily diet and, as indicated above, you should be eating many of these foods each day, not simply picking one or two selections to eat all the time.

Protein:

• Fish: Salmon, Tuna, Cod
• Eggs
• Chicken breasts
• Cottage cheese
• Milk protien isolates
• Whey-casein blends
• Lean Red Meat

Carbohydrates:

• Vegetables
• Mixed beans
• Low-GI fruits
• Oatmeal/Oat bran
• Mixed-grain bread
• Small amounts of protein-enriched pasta

Fats:

• Flax oil
• EPA/DHA
• Olive oil
• Mixed nuts (no peanuts)
• Fish oil

Post Workout Solid Meal

• Protein: Plain yogurt
• 12 oz milk
• Carbohydrate: High GI, solid-fiber cereal

Foods to avoid at all costs:

Proteins:

• Fatty meats
• Fatty dairy
• Most lunch meat
• Large amounts of milk
• Large amounts of soy

Carbohydrates:

• Regular bread
• Added sugar
• Most cereals
• Soda
• Fruit juice
• Bagels
• Fruit bars
• Candy

Fats:

• Margarine
• Vegetable oil
• Corn oil
• Heated/fried oil