Principles of Diet

by **Dtlv74** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 5:36 pm

Leading on from another thread, what are your personal 'dietary principles'?

How do you construct your diet and what, if any, ideas are your food choices based on, scientific or otherwise?

In my own case I love the study of diet, and can see a lot of value in working out a fairly detailled plan, but my actual implmentation is pretty instinctive.

Generally, every six months or so, I review and tidy up my diet but then let it evolve organically from there. The main principles i follow are:

1) Keep food as unprocessed as possible

2) variety, with no heavy reliance on one particular type of food or macro

3) supplement only where I feel diet isn't optimum

When doing one of my 'reviews', the first thing I look at is simply calories. As most of you know on here I go through phases of pretty poor self care at times, and when in one of these phases I chronically undereat. I have low appetite anyway, and my stress relationship with food is to eat even less.

Within the framework of overall calories I firstly look to the things I consider most important - including natural foods which provide my essential fats. Next is protein, I aim for at least 2.5g per kg of bodyweight. If looking to gain weight, I pick a target weight that's not too far away and calculate to the traget weight, not my current weight.

Beyond this I look to ensure my omega 3/6 ratio is good, then it's down to getting my energy. This I look to get from a fairly equal balance of unprocessed fats and carbs, and within the fats look to predominantly get a balance between medium chain saturates and monounsaturates. Other fats play a secondary role. Carbs are mostly from fruit and veg and are predominantly complex with little refined sugary stuff - although I feel my diet is good enough to allow a little 'junk' without any guilt whatsoever

.

Minerals, vitamins and nutrients tend to take care of themselves if eating a broad range of natural unprocessed foods. I definitely don't obsess with this.

The only supp's (for general diet) I regularly take are zinc, magnesium, additional omega 3 (small amounts now, and only when I feel diet is a bit imbalanced for a few days), and a vit b complex.

The one thing I know I don't do optimally is drink enough fluids, especially water. This I'm working on trying to improve, and in a 'habitual' way.

Health4ni would be pretty pleased with my diet i think as although I don't consciously focus on alkalising to a large degree, my food choices very well fit those principles

.

Now your turn

by **Alex** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 6:01 pm

I've posted mine up in the Nutrtion Journals section for critique or whatever.

Also I'll sticky this thread as well.

by **Dtlv74** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 6:25 pm

Alex wrote:I've posted mine up in the Nutrtion Journals section for critique or whatever.

Also I'll sticky this thread as well.

I forgot there was a Nutrition Journals section... maybe move this thread in there too if you think is more appropriate?

I may as well put a typical days food up also, will do it later when i've more time.

by **Alex** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 6:38 pm

I think it's good here as it's not really a journal.

by **Pain** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 6:38 pm

It's weird, in the past i've been quite strict with 'rules' and tried a variety of eating patterns (from nu style high fat, which didn't work right with and various 'paleolithic' diets)

For probably 2 years now i've just been having nicely balanced eating habbits, go in the supermarket and buy the right sort of foods and then make meals from there, i don't count calories, protein or anything.
I find freestyle and 'going with the flow' better, as soon as i try to restrict myself to any pattern i tire of it very quickly, instead of planning to eat or planning to train i'll do it when i feel is a good time using common sense, it's been working great.

When i go shopping i'll aim for foods which are nutrient dense, satisfying and according to how well i feel on them/digest them.

I made a thread about this on MP, i may as well copy my post, it gives examples of typical foods i eat and how often.

The best part of 2009 is over and my nutrition has stayed extremely stable throughout this year, the only important change was reducing meal frequency and it becoming less 'snacky' than the earlier months (which i recorded)

There havn't really been any rules on what i should eat, just habbits and when i am hungry.
Overall my diet has been around 40-45/30/25-30 CPF, changing slightly but no extreme moves as far as macronutrients go.
It's been inspired by simplicity and level-headedness, nutritious natural foods, no fads, no extremes, instinctual eating.

As i say it's been very habitual but with a few 'different' meals and treats of course.

Typical foods i have been eating:

Animal/protein:
-Mussel meat (almost daily)
-Herring rollmops (almost daily)
-Other seafood: oily fish (sprats), octopus, white fish etc (almost daily)
-Goats cheese (small amounts, couple times a week)
-Liver pate (small amounts, weekly)
-Venison/lean meat (bi-weekly)
-Eggs (monthly)
-Cod liver oil (daily now, but didn't have it in height of summer)

Carbs:
-Buckwheat (almost daily)
-Sourdough bread (Couple times a week)
-Rye crackers (couple times a week)
-Potatoes/sweet potatoes (couple times a week)
-Brown rice (couple times a week)
-Soba noodles/brown rice noodles etc (couple times a week)
-About one piece of fruit a day (kiwis, berries, strawberries, orange etc)

Plant foods:
-Kale/greens/brocolli (average about 250g a day)
-Carrots (almost daily)
-Tomatoes (daily in summer, cut down now)
-Mushrooms (couple times a week)
-Tahini (couple times a week, on/off cycles)
-Spinach (weekly)
-Celery (weekly)
-Avocados (weekly)
-Fennel (bi weekly)
-Macadamia nuts (was a major addiction, couple times a week gone cold turkey recently)
-Other nuts (weekly/bi weekly)

Alcohol:
One or two drinks every other night usually.
(had about 5 or 6 'nights out' with elevated drinking this year)

Calories:
Around 2500, up and down a little bit depending on circumstances.

That pretty much covers 90% of the foods that have entered my mouth in the last year, the other 10% is random stuff, treats etc, the 80/20 rule is good but i find 90/10 sufficient to keep me happy.
The nutrition has required 0% effort to maintain, no real temptation to eat anything else.
My weight has stayed between 186-190lb, fitness and strength have remained on skeleton training but plenty of physical work.
Relaxed, happy and no real illness to speak of.

No new years resolutions needed, i see no reason to change this diet in any significant way, slight tweaks and evolution as i go along excepted.

by **Craig** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 7:47 pm

My metabolism is like lightning, so the only foods I restrict are those I'm intolerant too (gluten, potatoes and pineapple). Appart from that when bulking I just try to ram it all down, not to seem like an arse here but thats all I have to do to get lean gains........ as long as I eat enough!

by **cleaver** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 8:08 pm

My rules are similar and kept simple. I always try to eat local (or at least UK) in-season produce irrespective of whether is it acidic or alkaline.

This means plenty of greens as they grow well up here in honky land.

Protein wise I'm probably around 1g per Lb on average if you count incidental amounts and aminos. Daily this means around 3x40g portions of vegetable protein ( a daily varying combo of hemp, rice, and pea) and one of animal or fish protein. This is usually Cod, Salmon, or Chicken.

Carb wise I'm about the same per day, a little more if training. Fruit and vegetables - The only things off limits are exotic stuff such as mango, and banana etc. Sweet or new potatoes, Aktivated barley, brown rice, and mixed grain pasta make up the rest along with rice milk. I have some granola when the sweet tooth strikes.

Fats wise, I try to consume them raw except those in the food I cook ( protein always oven baked). Sources are Avacodo, Olive, and Coconut balanced with a 369 oil. I found that hemp was giving me dry skin. Not sure if it was the oil itself or whether my o3:o6 balance was off.

On top of that I supplement all vitamins and minerals. My recent bout of illness has taught me that I need far in excess of RDA's to function optimally and that quality of product does count.

by **Dtlv74** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 8:22 pm

I think you've hit on the main thing as far as gains go Craig - simply make sure you eat enough! The only macro tweak that I've ever found to improve gains was way back as a relative newb when I upped my protein from less than 1g per lb. Very low carb wasn't great as it affected my training, but geneally most tweaks don't do much so long as calories are sufficient.

A typical Det days food (when eating properly!)

Breakfast 1
Shake - 30g hemp protein, 10g hemp oil, 5g greens powder, pinch him salts, water
Cup green tea
2-4 free range eggs (poached, fried, scrambled, boiled or as omlette)
cherry tomatoes, spinach

Breakfast 2
Greek yoghurt & honey
Fresh fruit salad
Oats (small bowl), 20g whey protein, nuts, raisins, milk (un homogenized if at all possible!)

Lunch
Rice or pasta or quinoa or sweet pots
Minced meat (most comonly lamb, not normally pork) or portion of oily fish or mixed shellfish or avocado salad
mushrooms or portion of green veg

Pre workout drink
40g whey, 40g BSD's glycoactive

Dinner
Could be anything, but normally largest meal of day (meat normally beef, chicken or white fish, prefered carb rice or quinoa).

Supps at dinner
Zinc, magnesium, B complex, fish oil (if no oily fish earlier or i think omega 6 is high)

Evening snack & throughout day snacks
nuts
fruit
olives (sometimes)
dark chocolate 87% cocoa
sometimes junk

Drinks
NOT ENOUGH! a few cups green tea, a few glasses water or squash

Things i want to try - buckwheat, more fish & sea food (inc white fish)

Only fat i ever cook with (heat) is coconut oil. hemp oil and sometimes olive oil used cold as dressing (always cold pressed & stored well)

by **Spit** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:00 pm

Good stuff one and all. Det if you want to get into buckwheat then I reckon noodles are the way to go- I find they go well with fish, or as an excellent base for any sort of stir-fry, they're a million times better than rice noodles in that respect.

by **Craig** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:04 pm

I try to get my good food in first, quality carbs mainly oats and basmati rice, as much protein as I can stomach, obv the healthy fats and veg too but once I'm at that feeling full point and still haven't hit my calorie quota I'll just eat whatever. Most peoples bulking diet looks like my cutting diet TBH.

by **Spit** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:06 pm

Craig wrote:I try to get my good food in first, quality carbs mainly oats and basmati rice, as much protein as I can stomach, obv the healthy fats and veg too but once I'm at that feeling full point and still haven't hit my calorie quota I'll just eat whatever. Most peoples bulking diet looks like my cutting diet TBH.

Git.

What are you like on oats Craig, I see you've listed them in that last post- do they give you any problems as a fellow gluten-sensitive type?

by **Craig** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:15 pm

I use gluten free oats from waitrose, the problem come not from the gluten LIKE protein in oats but cross contamination from wheat, this happens when wheat grows amoungst the oats by accident and when the oats are processed in the same facilities as wheat.

My oats cost a small fortune but are worth ever penny to me!

by **Rab** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:27 pm

Im like Craig. Very fast Metabolism and need to ram it down

I lke to get a variety of protein sources every week. Make sure i dont just rely on chicken and get plenty red meat and fish in there too aong with eggs wich are something i feel have their daily value being easy to eat, god grub and high in protein fats and calories for a small volume. I aim for about 300g of protein per day not including the coincidental protein in potatoes/rice/oats/cheese etc etc. appz 1.8g/lb of lean tissue.

i hate eating carbs but i cant go without them. tend to just go with what i can be arsed with/have time o make or is convenient because of he other things im cooking that day. often its a lot of rice, bulgar wheat or potato/sweet potato.

I dont think too much aout fruit and veg. I eat fresh fruit and veg every day. not always with every meal but several portions per day and a decent variety over the week. I enjoy eatign fruit and veg

I dont suplement heavily but dont consider whey to be a supplement as such...just another food really. I go through a fair bit o whey per day - 150g or a tad more if i go with an overflowing scoop portion in the morning. multivit/min and fish oil as standard. thats it really.

I dont think too much abou fats either. I know im gettng a fair bit from my eggs and i lash plenty olive and walnut oil on most of my meals - god fats, tastes good and is lots of extra calories!

I drink plenty water in the summer but drink much more tea in winter. Not a major issue imo as fluid is fluid mostly. I dont take a shovel of sugar or anything in it.

A typical days diet

6.30 - 2 scoops whey in water
8.00 - 75g oats, 200g whole milk, tablespoon honey, 15g raisins
9.00 piece of fruit
10-30 - 200g Chicken, 50g rice (both dry weight) few sprouts or peas etc. Oils
13.00 - 200g chicken, 50g rice, few sprouts or peas etc. Oils
3.00 - piece of fruit & yohgurt
4.45 - 4 large whole eggs, some cheese, piece of fruit
5.30 - 6.45 train with an iso drink - 30g of simple carbs
7.15 - 2 whey, 1 dextrose, creatine, cocoa.
8.30 - 200g beef, veg os some sort and 50g carbs appx.
10.30 - 2 whey in some milk or water or cream or oils. depends on how i feel.

by **Spit** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:28 pm

Craig wrote:I use gluten free oats from waitrose, the problem come not from the gluten LIKE protein in oats but cross contamination from wheat, this happens when wheat grows amoungst the oats by accident and when the oats are processed in the same facilities as wheat.

My oats cost a small fortune but are worth ever penny to me!

I didn't know Waitrose did gluten-free oats and I shop in there all the time (dahling), is it just the bigger stores?

As I'm just gluten-intolerant (rather than a full-blown coeliac) I tend to just go with the normal ones, any trace amounts from cross-contamination aren't really a concern for me. Good to hear that you're happy to eat them though, as I think a lot of people avoid them unnecessarily.

by **kp1512** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:28 pm

you guys are soo lucky with a fast metab!

by **ollie** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:38 pm

I'm lower protein now. About 220g-240g a day, mainly from any of egg whites, chicken, mackerel, sardines, hemp protein and whey protein. Carbs are anything from 50g-150g a day. I like to cycle them. At the moment I'm towards the lower end of that more often than not to drop a bit of fat. Carb sources are oats, quinoa, sweet potato and brown rice. Fats come from oily fish, avocados, fish oil, avocado oil, olive oil, hemp oil and coconut oil. Like Cleaver I consume them all raw with the exception of coconut oil.

I try to avoid gluten as much as possible. I'm not intolerant as such but I definitely feel better without it.

Typical day would look like this:

On waking:
Alka-clear

+ 10 mins:
Greens drink + lemon juice + him salts
1/2 grapefruit
60g oats + 30g creamed coconut + 2 tsp cinnamon + raisins + a little honey
40g hemp protein
1 dsp coconut oil

Throughout day:
Lots of water (probably around 3l)
Green tea or white tea
2 chicken breasts + sardines or smoked mackerel
100g quinoa
Lots of spinach
Cucumber
Avocado
Cherry tomatoes
Pepper
Either avocado or olive oil
Up to 50g almonds

Pre workout:
EAAs
20g hemp protein
Any sugary carbs (about 25g worth)

PWO:
Sometimes I'll have a shake if I feel like I need it. If I do it's just 40-50g of WPC, then usually 20g or so of WMS or a banana. PWO just varies depending on how I feel - more often than not I leave it now though. Always have a greens drink with some him salts here.

Evening meal:
Usually 1/2 grapefruit first
I tend to keep carbs out from here on - like Alex I'll have a rib-eye or some lamb or whatever if I feel like it, otherwise usually fish or chicken, and lots of veg. Usually with some sort of olive oil dressing as well. I've been eating with Nat quite a bit and she likes her food, so I tend to eat something more than chicken and vegetables a few times a week. Also got through a lot of wine in December but I've stopped this now.

Before bed:
Varies. Could be cottage cheese, or powdered protein. I'll get some hemp oil down my neck here too. Often have a ginger and lemon tea or something similar (not mint though).

Unlike Craig I don't have a crazy metabolism but it's healthy enough (maintenance is around 3000kcal) and I can drop fat to 10% fairly easily just by eating cleanly and training hard. I don't count calories at all any more, but I do plan 70-80% of my meals. Any cardio and conditioning work speeds up fat loss really quickly, so I'll be doing more of this in in Jan, as well as having a higher training frequency.

by **RoB** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:58 pm

During the week - Usually a couple hundred grams of protein, fats at least 50% of total calories, and carbs from around 10-60g. Example of todays diet :-

Breakfast - 4 eggs, 3 rashers bacon 50g cheese
Pre-WO shake - 40g whey + 3/4pint gold top
PWO meal - 300g venisson steak, shed load of sauerkraut with home made red wine/currant sauce + half an avocado.
Dinner - Slow cooked shin of beef curry with loads of coconut and double cream

Don't have a clue about values really and can't be botherd to log it but high fat high protein and very low carbs.

Weekends - Medium amount of fat, 200gish protein, 200g+ of carbs and all from sweet/white potatoes, squash, quinoa and things like that. Also get takeaway curries and stuff so white rice as well. Oh and every other weekend i'll have 7 or 8 pints and get shitted. I don't do wheat though, i'm not sure I've got IBS or anything, but I'll start shitting through the eye of a needle when I eat any.

Supplements are a constant for me at the moment -
Magnesium citrate 1/2 a teaspoon
Zinc picolinate -25mg
Fish oil - 4 caps
Vit D - 10,000 IU

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