How do you find a balance between eating for performance and eating like a human being?

Swimming and Skiing I crave fatty foods. Just go with what your body craves. Then read "

Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance" .

800 Meter Man wrote:

There was a post on the homepage a few months back about Tyler Hamilton I believe. It was one of the cyclists who trained with Lance and also won the tour de france. I believe it was him. Anyways - I remember reading how he would finish a hard workout, take some seltzer water to induce satiety and then take ambien (sleep aid) to fall asleep before dinner time.

There's no way that was good for his performance. After a hard workout is the most important time to eat.

This sort of misinformation is part of why eating disorders are so rampant in our sport.

xenonscreams wrote:

800 Meter Man wrote:

There was a post on the homepage a few months back about Tyler Hamilton I believe. It was one of the cyclists who trained with Lance and also won the tour de france. I believe it was him. Anyways - I remember reading how he would finish a hard workout, take some seltzer water to induce satiety and then take ambien (sleep aid) to fall asleep before dinner time.

There's no way that was good for his performance. After a hard workout is the most important time to eat.

This sort of misinformation is part of why eating disorders are so rampant in our sport.

If there is misinformation it is that being an elite athlete is healthy. It isn't. I tried to make that clear. Maybe I failed.

xenonscreams wrote:

800 Meter Man wrote:

There was a post on the homepage a few months back about Tyler Hamilton I believe. It was one of the cyclists who trained with Lance and also won the tour de france. I believe it was him. Anyways - I remember reading how he would finish a hard workout, take some seltzer water to induce satiety and then take ambien (sleep aid) to fall asleep before dinner time.

There's no way that was good for his performance. After a hard workout is the most important time to eat.

This sort of misinformation is part of why eating disorders are so rampant in our sport.

Tyler Hamilton was a world-class pro cyclist. You're a semi-decent local runner. See the difference?

spokes person wrote:

xenonscreams wrote:

There's no way that was good for his performance. After a hard workout is the most important time to eat.

This sort of misinformation is part of why eating disorders are so rampant in our sport.

Tyler Hamilton was a world-class pro cyclist. You're a semi-decent local runner. See the difference?

He could have been better if he hadn't deprived himself unnecessarily

When you go to the grocery store, only buy healthy food. Then eat when hungry. That should get you ninety percent there without being obsessive.

hey hun, if you want to eat healthy these are the guidelines to follow:

1) fruits and/or vegies once a day (like apple and a banana at lunch one day and a salad at dinner the next is good)

2) low fat high carb

3) don't eat like a fatty

4) just eat however much feels right (don't stuff your face, I've found that I just keep eating til I'm no longer hungry)

5) eat whatever food tastes good that follows these guidelines

NotAustin18 wrote:

hey hun, if you want to eat healthy these are the guidelines to follow:

1) fruits and/or vegies once a day (like apple and a banana at lunch one day and a salad at dinner the next is good)

2) low fat high carb

3) don't eat like a fatty

4) just eat however much feels right (don't stuff your face, I've found that I just keep eating til I'm no longer hungry)

5) eat whatever food tastes good that follows these guidelines

It is not appropriate to call an adult woman "hun", kid.

Xenon, you seem like a super obsessive nerd. Is my analysis correct?

One huge tip: find a "dietary philosophy" which allows you to eat until fully satiated and still remain lean. For me a "paleo template" (and a paleo-ish) diet does that.

Two books of possible interest:

http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Nutrition-Your-Genes-Traditional/dp/0615228380

(the basis for the paleo-ish diets followed by some stars in the NBA)

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Food-Pyramid-Politics-Interests/dp/0984755128/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0

(An excellent overview of how "official" nutrition recommendations got so horribly bleeped up by special interests, and how to interpret seemingly contradictory nutrition information)

Do they allow Paleos to eat greek yogurt, hummus, steel cut oats, Salmon, and Quinoa?

I was just wondering because I see those foods in every running magazine diet recipe yet have never seen anybody in real life actually eating that stuff.

kind of a skeptic... wrote:

Do they allow Paleos to eat greek yogurt, hummus, steel cut oats, Salmon, and Quinoa?

I was just wondering because I see those foods in every running magazine diet recipe yet have never seen anybody in real life actually eating that stuff.

You can eat anything you want to; it's your life.

I personally include dairy, small amounts of benign (non-wheat) grains and small amounts of legumes, so I wouldn't have a problem with any of the above IF I could find hummus made without vegetable oils--which is not that easy.

Quinoa tastes awful, IMHO. Full-fat Greek yogurt is really good, IMHO--esp mixed with almond butter.

xenonscreams wrote:

I can't stick to a schedule, when I do that I get way too obsessive, not to mention my hunger varies on a day-to-day basis so sometimes I'm hungry before the contrived schedule says I should eat and sometimes I'm not hungry when it says I should. I don't think eating according to a schedule is a healthy thing and it amazes me that so many people are suggesting that it's OK to do.

Actually eating according to a schedule is perfectly fine, and is common among athletes. I am a pro female runner and I eat according to a schedule to ensure I am consuming adequate calories for my training load, and it also provides a structure for me to eat around my twice a day training schedule.

Eating to a schedule isn't unhealthy, what is unhealthy is your OCD behaviour about food. If you are obsessive then don't schedule your food intake.

whoever said they eat only dinner and manage 3000-4000 calories healthily. bullshit. do you know how much food that is? especially low fat?

In the words of Joe Vigil, eat like a poor person. Rice and Beans, Potatoes and flour come in 50 pound bags. Buy them that way-and you can get the bulk of your calories for 6 months for a few hundred dollars. Get more protein from Ground Beef-not cheap a$$ hamburger, but ground round roast. Buy the roasts on sale and buy a grinder-you'll be money ahead and your hamburger will be 98% lean, not the 70% lean you buy in the chubs in your grocery store.

Turkey, ham. Split Pea Soup. Lentils. Lots of eggs, potatoes. Cook yourself-don't buy processed. Use a crock Pot and Bread Machine to make your dinner while at work, and your breakfast while you sleep. Make eating simple food that you prepare a celebration. Eat this way, and you'll eat better, and cheaper.

Food is fuel for the fire. Look at it that way. If you don't understand that analogy, join the Mountaineers in Seattle, and learn about camping and building fires. Modern life is too divorced from where our food comes from. Get back to nature, back to basics. Learn to hunt and fish. I'm completely serious. It will completely change your outlook.

xenonscreams wrote:

Well to give perspective it was so strict that like, I had to have my plain yogurt with fruit at 3:30PM every day. It couldn't be sweetened yogurt and it couldn't be at 3:00PM. Yes, I'm seeing a professional about this, but part of what she recommended was getting input from other runners, figuring out what they do.

There's two ways to look at it, if you were feeling like it was so strict that it was damaging to your life, then perhaps it was a problem.

On the other hand, as you get older, you will probably really get to know your body and the signals for when you need to eat, the consequences for skipping those windows, etc.

Everyone is different. The whole "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" thing, for me is bs. I have never liked breakfast, ever.

If I do eat breakfast, out of courtesy to a host or something, all that happens is I want to eat more / over eat that day.

So your learning when you need to eat, say, to keep your blood sugar even, or whatever, may be a smart instinct.

And, if you have a healthy influence for a certain food, and it is an informed choice, it may not be obsessive to eat it at a certain time etc.

It may be wise planning, and wise choices.

Now, you might be obsessing about obsessing, and need to cut yourself some slack for being a planners. There are lots of merits and potential upsides to your planning your diet and eating on a schedule.

I think the only exception would be, if your planning is such that you are so rigid that you have to break out the yoghurt in the middle of a movie on a date. If you need to break it out in the middle of a business meeting, and your company culture is okay with that, then do what you need to do.

You might want to check this out:

These people seem to have a balanced approach.

You can also apply a little Yin/Yang to it. For instance, if you find that denying yourself certain foods, like chocolate, makes you later want to binge on them, then experiment with allowing yourself a little bit.

The Paleo people seem a bit nuts to me, and their theory flawed. Which Paleo, from what tribe, where on the planet?

Etc.

The Wheat Belly guy seems like he actually has solid research and could be on to something. There are however, some legacy wheats that predate the "Franken-wheat" we have now.

But Paleo, do I really want to eat 5 eggs a day and that much meat? And the fish, if you really do your research, you can't really justify eating fish at all anymore, from a mercury standpoint, and from a factory fishing, destruction of fisheries standpoint. Bless the sustainable fishing concept, but it really doesn't hold up to what is going on in the world's oceans. (Have a few friends who are fish biologists and you start to see things different).

One of my best friends has been 100% raw foodist for 12 years, with the exception of when she is in countries where it is safer to eat only cooked food.

That is a little too extreme for me, although she prepares meals that leave you wanting nothing in eating experience or nutrition. She's an amazing chef with it. If she made my meals 3 times a day, I could be a raw foods only person.

Be a raw foodist, means she has to be really well planned out, and take her meals with her often. To meet her you would never think she was rigid or obsessive, she's just well organized and well planned. It all fits seamlessly into her life.

For you, with your anemia, iron deficiency concerns, you're probably right to be well thought out, and well planned with this stuff.

The real litmus, imo, of being overly rigid or whatever, is if your planning and behavior is having a seriously negative effect on yoru life.

If it isn't, I wouldn't sweat it, be you, plan things out, enjoy your schedule, and be healthy. (You can see from my friends example that she is nothing but completely planned out...and her eating life seems completely natural and healthy for her).

Good luck with this!

Dennis Reynolds 2.0 wrote:

If you're not getting paid to run or winning prize money you are an idiot if you focus on your diet that much.

No - You're the idiot

quote]Dennis Reynolds 2.0 wrote:

If you're not getting paid to run or winning prize money you are an idiot if you focus on your diet that much.[/quote]

I agree. Hobby joggers like xenonscreams need not have such a strict scheduled diet. What's the point? Running isn't your job, and you don't depend on it to live. Gain perspective

I went on scale last night and saw that I put on 6lbs the past couple weeks. Now I'm reading this thread about rigid diets and I'm have to admit, I feel like I've had the grazing habits of a bizon.

Granted I'm an old hobbie jogger and my wife is wondering why I'd ever be concerned about weight, but I am. All this crap laying around the kitchen has taken its toll. No longer do I want to eat like an average 58 yr old guy at Christmas.

No more! It ends today.