For those of you who consider yourself to have a very healthy diet, what's a typical day of eating like?

Bagel with cream cheese and iced coffee.

Slice of pizza and some extra grilled chicken for protein.

Taco night for dinner!

a peanut butter and honey and udo's oil wheat bread sandwich and a turkey and cheddar cheese and mayo and dijon and wheat bread sandwich and a snickers...to be continued...

I run about 50-80 miles a week depending on the time of year.

Breakfast - smoothie with coconut milk, protein powder, maca and various other goodies

coconut yogurt with more protein powder and some nuts and dried fruit

Lunch - usually a sandwich or stir fry type meal with a kombucha

Dinner - quinoa with steamed veggies and cashew sauce

After dinner snack - protein shake

Usually a cup or two of tea at work.

Energy levels are great throughout the day, I feel good every day, I'm never sick, never injured, sleep well, wake up with no problem...

Breakfast - coffee, water or OJ, banana, oatmeal with butter 2% milk, cinnamon and sugar, or some kind of semi-healthy cereal.

Lunch - Sandwich at Subway: 6 inch club on wheat, no cheese or mayo, spinach, tomatoes, yellow peppers, black olives, spicy mustard, oil and vinegar...OR if at home, grilled chicken breast and a can of lowfat Progresso soup. Probably too much sodium in the soup...

Dinner - grilled chicken, steamed broccoli and brown rice or pasta; or spaghetti with lean (93%) drained ground beef; or chili with same lean ground beef.

Snacks - Gala apples, roasted almonds, gummy worms

After-run snack - Bud Platinum

Splurge maybe once a week on one but not all of the following - Doritos, Oreos and milk, pizza, Five Guys hamburger, etc.

It's a semi-healthy not "very" healthy diet. I'm 48, 5-11/170, run approx. 20-25 miles a week and also do a good bit of strength training. Not trying to be a competitive runner anymore, obviously. Just want to be fairly fit and strong as I age. Moderation in everything.

Breakfast: Oatmeal (w/ milk, wheat germ), mixed nuts (almonds, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, pistachios), dried berries (strawberries, blueberries, cherries)

Lunch: Homemade vegetable soup (carrots, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach, red bell peppers, green beans, celery), cheese, whole wheat crackers

Dinner: Salmon, brown rice

Snacks: Plain greek yogurt, Fruits (oranges, apples, bananas, pineapples), baked sweet potatoes, V8 vegetable juice

MPW - 50

Meals uncorrelated with runs

Today is fairly typical, so I'll just describe what I've had to far and what I plan to have tonight....

7am - Smoothie (collard greens, spinach, carrots, bananas, blueberries, flax seed, hemp seeds) and two pieces of whole wheat toast with honey and peanut butter

9am: Apple

11:30am - Homemade quinoa bar (made from quinoa, peanut butter, honey, dried cranberries, oates)

12:30pm - Salad (mixed leafy greens, carrots, tomatoes, yellow pepper, corn, black beans) and an ornage

2:00pm - Homemade trail mix (almonds, cashews, pistachios, dried cranberries/raisins, etc)

3:30pm - Banana

7:00pm - Wild rice/black bean burger, steamed broccoli and quinoa

Wendy's

Not bad, but Subway? OMG!

Also, if you increase the mileage you'll see better results.

Running approximately 90mpw now.

Breakfast: 5-6 apples at my desk at work

Snack: Single-serving bag of Sun Chips

Lunch: 4-5 apples, salad with low/no fat cottage cheese (no dressing), can of tuna in water

Snack: Single-serving bag of Sun Chips, maybe some chocolate if I can find it in the office.

Dinner: Two big salads with shredded cheese, low/no fat cottage cheese (no dressing)

Dessert: Bowl of bran flakes with skim milk, peanut butter and frozen chocolate chips in bottom of bowl

Snack: peanut butter/chocolate chips

When my mileage gets closer to 110-115mpw, I usually eat the same stuff, just more of it.

tsoi wrote:

Running approximately 90mpw now.

Breakfast: 5-6 apples at my desk at work

Snack: Single-serving bag of Sun Chips

Lunch: 4-5 apples, salad with low/no fat cottage cheese (no dressing), can of tuna in water

Snack: Single-serving bag of Sun Chips, maybe some chocolate if I can find it in the office.

Dinner: Two big salads with shredded cheese, low/no fat cottage cheese (no dressing)

Dessert: Bowl of bran flakes with skim milk, peanut butter and frozen chocolate chips in bottom of bowl

Snack: peanut butter/chocolate chips

When my mileage gets closer to 110-115mpw, I usually eat the same stuff, just more of it.

Solid diet, but I would add some high quality complex carbs (brown rice, quinoa, sweet potato), more quality protein (wild salmon, organic grass fed beef).

Yesterday's intake was:

Meal 1: coffee + 2 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp coconut oil

Meal 2: 3 eggs with either a serving of oatmeal

Meal 3: usually a grilled chicken breast with greens and olive oil

Meal 4: whey protein + olive oil shake

I don't run, so my caloric requirements aren't that high.

Breakfast-2 archway cookies

snack-pop tart

lunch-pop tart

snack-breaded clams/pasta

snack-greek yogurt

dinner-steel cut oats

snack-boneless skinless chicken breast/tofu

snack-milkyay candy bar

xtraining 10 hours/week

(taking two months off running for recovery)

Sports Nutrition Director wrote:

Not bad, but Subway? OMG!

Also, if you increase the mileage you'll see better results.

Gimme the goods on why Subway is so "OMG!" terrible. There are worse choices.

Also, I know that increasing mileage will help me improve. I did 70-90 mile weeks when I was in college and in my 20s. My days of 26-27 for 8k are over and have been for years. I could work my a** off for a year or two and get under 30 again, but for what?

I don't have the desire to put in the time anymore just so I can run sub-18 instead of sub-20 and win an age group medal. I've got more important, more pleasurable things to do, not to mention I work and have 4 kids who pull me in 4 different directions. I run for general fitness now.

Thanks for the advice, but just so my 40-year-old GF keeps telling me I look 30, I'm happy.

I have healthy aspects of my diet. I try to stick to them as much as possible but I am not always successful.

Breakfast.

I will eat some oates mixed with low sugar yogurt for flavor. If no yogurt, I will eat the oates straight (you develop a taste for them after ahwile).

If at home a will cook some eggs.

I snack on baby carrots A LOT. Love those things. I also keep a bag of sunflower seeds at my desk for when I have cravings. A few mouthful of seeds will usually suffice. Try to bring some fruit to the office for the sweet tooth.

For lunches I will eat salmon and rice quite often. I buy the packaged whole grain brown rice that can be nuked in 90 seconds and mix it with a packet of salmon. Good stuff and simple to prepare. Package says it serves 2 but it makes for a good post run lunch for one.

Dinner: whatever.

I'm running 60 - 70 mpw right now. The only pre run snack I can stomach are the carrots.

early am egg and toast, grapefruit and or juices, electrolyte tab, sometimes electrolyte tab with caffeine

later am protein shake and coffee and apple

lunch salad with a protein

snack anything I can find, usually carbs

dinner large meal of something, the other night a bunch of rice and beans and a veggie, if I eat meat it will be around this time as well

snack anything I can find, maybe more protein shake

trying to lose 5 lbs wrote:

Breakfast-2 archway cookies

snack-pop tart

lunch-pop tart

snack-breaded clams/pasta

snack-greek yogurt

dinner-steel cut oats

snack-boneless skinless chicken breast/tofu

snack-milkyay candy bar

xtraining 10 hours/week

(taking two months off running for recovery)

Drop the PTs and CBs and you'll lose 10.

Post-run (8 miles): Smoothie with spinach, banana, orange, greek yogurt, blueberries, flaxseed

11 AM: 3/4 cup puffins cereal

12 PM: 1 skim mozzerella stick, 1 apple w/1 tbsp ground almond butter

1 PM: 1 cup homemade quinoa/chicken/veggie soup

3 PM: 1 large salad (spinach, peppers, tomatoes, black beans), drizzle of viniagrette

5 PM: snack bag of pretzels

Dinner (projected) 1 beer, pasta w/homemade sauce

Averaging 50 mpw right now - likely more in coming weeks. This is pretty typical regardless of training.

20-25 mpw, lift 3x per week

A typical day:

1. whey protein, whole milk

2. whole eggs, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, cheese, kale

3. sweet potatoes, tilapia, extra virgin olive oil

4. almonds, walnuts

5. greek yogurt, strawberries, blueberries

6. carrots, broccoli

7. banana

8. whey protein, whole milk

Charlie Freak wrote:

Gimme the goods on why Subway is so "OMG!" terrible. There are worse choices.

Well they use enriched wheat and HFCS in their breads, their vegetables are not only wilty but coated with pesticides, all of their meat comes from animals which have been fed bare bones corn diets and most likely tortured/kept in terrible living conditions for their whole lives and their highly processed cheeses/sauces are all high in fat, sodium and substances that have no business being in your body.

They're a massive corporation comprised of thousands of worldwide chain restaurants. Yes, eating a Subway sandwich is better than a Big Mac or a Baconater, but it still is not what your body should be fueled with, not even close. Subway is going to cut corners and give you processed crap every way they can.