Nutrition Advice

Props for keeping on top of this, but for ~100 a week this is still way, way too little. You need regular snacks and to be eating at least every two hours. Such strong lack of variety (a million PB&Js) is not good for your nutrition. Have one PB&J a day and then replace the others with other balanced foods like meats, yogurts, nutrition bars, etc. Protein shakes are also good. You are running so much, it would be hard to eat too much.

OP,

MOST of your diet is good, especially for someone who runs so much, but here are your areas for improvement and WHY (trust me this is already starting, but it will be widely accepted in the not-too-distant future):

1) Carbs. Our bodies need MUCH fewer carbs than we like to think...runners need more than average, but still, not that much more. Carbs are now being blamed for water retention, inflammation all over including in the brain, obesity, and dementia.

2) ADDED sugar is going to be attacked big time. Some are already calling sugar "toxic"...and this is ALL forms of added sugar...sucrose, honey, high fructose corn syrup...all of it. Eating fibrous foods (fruits, some vegetables) with high levels of sugar is still mostly considered ok because the fiber helps slow the absorption of the sugar. Sugar makes the liver release LDL which causes plaque to build up in arteries and causes stroke and heart attacks.

SOOOOOO...

...your bread and pasta and cake aren't really doing you any favors. Pasta once a week, half the number of slices of bread in a week, and some better options than cake for a late snack, and you'd be better off.

What's BACK -- butter and bacon, brother! Well, the nitrites in the bacon are still bad, but as far as causing heart problems, turns out you can eat them if you like.

yeah because bananas and rice is pretty much the standard diet of the obese, demented, and heart attack victims. Maybe it's time to stop rationalizing our bad habits.

Also last time I checked every cell of our body ran on sugar, and aren't we just a bunch of cells when you think about it?

This whole meat and protein based diet is highly acidic and contradicts are natural frugivore diet.

mucus pus dairy wrote:

Also last time I checked every cell of our body ran on sugar

You should check a better source next time. Our cells run on ATP.

bioman wrote:

mucus pus dairy wrote:

Also last time I checked every cell of our body ran on sugar

You should check a better source next time. Our cells run on ATP.

Technically yes, but sugar is the fuel for the production of ATP.

mucus pus dairy wrote:

yeah because bananas and rice is pretty much the standard diet of the obese, demented, and heart attack victims. Maybe it's time to stop rationalizing our bad habits.

Also last time I checked every cell of our body ran on sugar, and aren't we just a bunch of cells when you think about it?

This whole meat and protein based diet is highly acidic and contradicts are natural frugivore diet.

Dude, I didn't tell the guy to stop eating bananas and rice. I told him to cut down on the bread and pasta and cake. I didn't go into huge detail, but carbs from rice (even white rice) are better than from wheat. Wheat-based items are the worst. One cup of white rice has 45g carbohydrates. 1 cup whole wheat flour has 95g plus gluten plus the ability to spike your blood sugar higher than even just eating 100% sugar does.

You're wrong on the sugar thing. We don't need near as much as we get, even in so-called "healthy" diets.

Main diet should consist of:

1) Meat (doesn't even have to be lean)

2) Mostly above-ground vegetables

3) Fruit (as a garnish...a handful of blueberries, not a bowl full.

4) You CAN have a serving of dairy for every meal if you want, but it is not required.

5) MOST nuts.

Infrequently add carbs (ONE serving a day is plenty for most people, and having days in there where you have next to no carbs is fine.

VERY infrequently eat something with added sugar (that is sugar above and beyond what is naturally occurring in the thing you are eating).

mucus pus dairy wrote:

Technically yes, but sugar is the fuel for the production of ATP.

Or fat. You might want to check out beta-oxidation (although possibly not from the source that told you cells run on sugar).

Ultimately, it depends on what school of thought you're coming from. There is certainly an overwhelming amount of information out there. You seem to think the OP is over doing it on carbs, and I am stating that he might be getting too much fat and possibly not enough carbs (he is doing 100 mpw). I think the best way to find what works is to look at the diets of the people you want to look like. If you want to run fast maybe it is worth looking at the diets of the Kenyans. I think we can both agree that the diets of most Americans are not ideal but I can't think of any top runners or healthy people who eat the diet that you suggested.

bioman wrote:

mucus pus dairy wrote:

Technically yes, but sugar is the fuel for the production of ATP.

Or fat. You might want to check out beta-oxidation (although possibly not from the source that told you cells run on sugar).

Ok, but why would we want to run on fat as opposed to sugar?

mucus pus dairy wrote:Ok, but why would we want to run on fat as opposed to sugar?

You probably want to shoot for running on both. For intensive exercise you will need to invoke sugar burning. For mooching about fat is perfectly adequate.

Thanks for the feed back. From reading the comments above it does seem like I'm over doing it on the pb+j's. They're just so easy to make for breakfast and lunch at work. What could I replace some of these with? Something that's easy to make and buy for someone who can be quite lazy. What's a good snack during the day? I feel like i eat healthy overall, kind of lol, but I definitely need to start upping my game up on this!

Also, how do you all plan your eating schedules during the day and are weekends different as far as what you eat and when?

Lose the jelly. You also left out a big item, beverages. What do you drink with these meals or for your general fluid intake?

The only beverages I drink is powerade, water, very little ice tea, and occasional beers. I get plenty of fluids in the day.

dont listen to anything xfit guy says, in fact... do the opposite

Trust you? Really? YOU? Your first piece of bad advice on this thread

Nonsense. If you are not overeating calories, "carbs" (and you ridiculously lump them altogether: fruit, whole grains, potatoes, legumes, vegetables are all mainly "carbs") will not lead to ANY of the problems you suggest. You are simply wrong, and don't know what you are talking about (which is often the case, but I suppose you know something about finance/stock market).

The longest living people on the planet (the people of Okinawa) eat a, wait for it... 90% carb diet. In actuality, and contrary to the fad science you've latched onto, eating a high SAT fat diet (unsat fats are good) will lead to: obesity, inflammation, insulin resistance, CVD, etc. Now, as I often say, if you are not overeating calories, and exercising, and eating an other-wise healthy diet, eating a good deal of sat fat, or sugar, won't have much of a negative impact on your health. Sorry, you're simply wrong.

Yes, eating lots of "ADDED" sugars is not a good choice (this is not news): lots of calories, easily consumed, little nutritional value (in sodas, candy, baked goods). But neither is eating lots of ADDED FATS. And in many of the foods that the anti-sugar people focus on (cookies, baked goods, desserts, etc), there is the double whammy: lots of sugar AND added fats, often the saturated kind. This is the COMBO that can lead to weight gain and related health problems (it's the same combo that exists in a big fast food meal: high sat fat in the burger, cheese, bacon, and some fries, and high sugar and refined carbs in the big soda and refined bread. Except the Sat Fat is not "added", it's in the foods) . It's not just the sugar, and the anti-sugar brigade completely ignores the added FAT content of these foods when saying that they are unhealthy. I know you, like lots of people, are jumping on the "anti-sugar, sat fat is fine" bandwagon, but trust ME, you're overstating the "toxicity" of sugar and the benign nature of lots of sat fat, and ignoring the total calories part of the equation. TdF cyclists guzzle sugar (gatorade, etc) all day long, and don't have the health problems you discuss. BECAUSE they are not overeating calories for their weight, are exercising a lot, and are otherwise eating very healthy (usually a high carb diet). Their longevity is excellent.

Wrong. One could eat whole grain pasta and bread everyday without any health problems whatsoever. And "butter and bacon are back", eh?? So you read one Mark Bittman column and you're convinced? Wow, it doesn't take much to convince you, huh? Are you that easily led astray? Mark Bittman has NO IDEA what he is talking about (he's a food critic, or something like, he has no nutrition/health education or knowledge). The research article he was mainly basing that opinion on has been trashed by the health/nutrition community. Turns out they made several mistakes and had to make several revisions to it. Others spotted these errors, that they blindly missed, immediately. So much for "sat fat is back baby!!".

It is sort of amusing, and yet irritating also, that there is literally decades of research with 1000's of papers demonstrating a connection between high sat fat intake and CVD, and then a couple sloppy papers come out and question this, and WHAM!....old theory is dead, NEW THEORY IS IN: "Sugar bad, Sat Fat good!" Talk about knee-jerk reactions, or simply believing only the research that fits in with your pre-conceived notions.

(and nitrates, at least veggies, LOWER blood pressure substantially. Stick to what you know FPW).

Tyrannosaurus Rexing,

You are using old data and old mantra.

1) First of all, LOTS of vegetables (especially above-ground ones that I mentioned) have VERY FEW carbohydrates. A serving of spinach has 1g. Compare that to a Lender's bagel that has 40g.

2) Just so you know where this is all coming from (and more will follow), you should read Wheat Belly and Grain Brain -- and those two are just the start. I'm not saying that a person (especially a runner) should ban all carbohydrates, but I have read enough now to believe that added sugar is a much bigger problem than we ever thought and that it is a bigger problem than eating fatty foods. When you eat sugar as part of a fiber-rich item (most fruit for example), the fiber slows the absorption of the sugar and lessens the amount of LDL that the liver puts out. You eat several cookies though, and LDL is released a lot by the liver.

3) We have been conditioned to think that sugar (especially cane or beet sugar) isn't that bad for us, but all of it is the same...honey, HFCS, all of it.

4) Americans have been told for years that a low-fat diet is the way to go and yet obesity and heart disease and stroke are as big a problem as ever. That's because to make the low-fat stuff taste good, they add sugar, and sugar is the culprit here. And to be clear, eating bread is really the same as eating sugar...and in fact, wheat bread rises your blood sugar more than just eating plain old sugar does.

5) You likely once thought eggs were horrible for you and have now come around on that. You will eventually see the light on carbs and sugar.

Can carbs and sugar be a part of a good diet? Yep. They should take the place of the fats and oils section of the old FDA food pyramid though and be a very small part of our diet. If you MUST get carbs from grains, the very best of the commonly-eaten grains is rice...even white rice. Wheat is the absolute worst.

Soooooooooooo much incorrect info. THis could take all day:

1) you told him to cut way back on carbs. "bananas and rice" are carb foods, so yes, you basically told him to go easy on these

2) carbs from rice are NOT inherently "better" than carbs from wheat. "wheat based items are " NOT "the worst." Where do you come up with this stuff?

3) why would you compare one cup of rice to a cup of wheat *flour* ?? But let's do your comparison: cup of (uncooked) wheat flour vs cup of (uncooked) white rice:

Wheat flour: 95 g's

White Rice: 148 g's carbs

Hello??

Let's do a more sensible comparison: 1 cup cooked white rice to 1 cup cooked wheat pasta:

White rice: 45 g's

Wheat pasta:43 g's.

Big difference, eh?

4) Rice "spikes your blood sugar" higher than pasta. Whole wheat spaghetti has lots of fiber, good amount of protein, and a pretty LOW glycemic index score

5) 100% sugar actually doesn't spike your blood sugar extremely high. It's 1/2 fructose which doesn't spike blood sugar. It's problematic for other reasons.

6) wheat has more protein than rice

7) rice has been shown to have fairly high amounts of arsenic

8) gluten is not a problem for the high majority of people.

I have nothing against rice, but stop demonizing wheat (especially whole wheat. Let's say: whole wheat pasta, topped with fresh tomato sauce and olive oil...a fantastic meal!) and spreading absolutely incorrect "facts" about wheat, carbs, rice.

More to come. you r truly a fountain of misinformation

Tyrannosaurus Rexing wrote:

The longest living people on the planet (the people of Okinawa) eat a, wait for it... 90% carb diet.

Great. That's the Okinawans sorted out. Now how about the other 99.98% of the planet's population? Evolution isn't about aesthetics dopey. Races are different on the inside.

Is this guy serious? Who the hell gave him permission to use that many words on a message board post? Sheesh. Good advice Flagpole. The OPs diet is maybe a little light on the veggies but it's hard to tell as he doesn't mention portion sizes. OP if you are getting stronger/improving and not getting sick then you are getting what you need.

I love the 5 bacon/5 egg breakfast. A little salty maybe but that's a whole lot of material for building a body right there.

Dude, you just want to be argumentative. I didn't tell the guy to stop eating bananas and didn't even insinuate it.

In fact, I gave fruit a bit of an out with this - "Eating fibrous foods (fruits, some vegetables) with high levels of sugar is still mostly considered ok because the fiber helps slow the absorption of the sugar."

Again, you are wrong about wheat vs. rice. I also didn't say the CARBS from rice were better, only that if you WANT carbs from grain it is better to get those from rice rather than from wheat. Today's wheat does things to the body that your grandmother's wheat did not and that rice does not. Again, this goes to your lack of knowledge in this area. Again, I suggest you read Wheat Belly and Grain Brain, and then a lot of other things.

Don't use wheat as a source of protein.

Dude, you saying that I am a fountain of misinformation doesn't make it true. You have been led to believe for years that just because it is whole wheat that it is good for you. This is not true.

Again, you are spouting old mantra that current data no longer supports...now, data seems to change all the time...oat bran was supposed to be good for you and then red wine and dark chocolate, and now all of that has come into question. Eggs were the devil in the 70s and now we pretty much accept that that's not true, so perhaps the carb and sugar thing will find that fate too.

But, be prepared for the big sugar debate. Sugar AND carbs will be attacked big time, and NOT just from an obesity standpoint, but a NEUROLOGICAL one.

You are not up to date on current data with regard to wheat and carbs and sugar.