Healthy Eating Guidelines -
Athlete Nutrition for Health and Results
Healthy eating guidelines are important to know and follow. As the common expression goes,
You can’t train your way out of a bad diet.
So have a look at these common sense healthy eating guidelines so that a bad diet doesn’t sabotage your workout efforts.
How To Eat
image by RebeccaPollard
I know the headline could sound ridiculous. You might be thinking, “How to eat? Are you serious? You just put the food in your mouth, chew, and swallow. You’ve got to be kidding me! Tell me which foods will get rid of my stomach fat already!”
Well, it is that simple, and it isn’t.
Here’s a quote from Michael Pollan’s excellent “Food Rules – An Eater’s Manual” that gets at this point:
“How you eat may have as much bearing on your health (and your weight) as what you eat.”
Here are some things to consider:
- How much are you eating?
- How fast are you eating?
- Are you trying to eat and do something else at the same time?
All other things being equal, (exercise, daily activity, stress, etc.), if you eat until you are full, you will gain weight. If you eat until you are just satisfied, you will stay the same weight. If you eat until you are a little less than satisfied, you will lose weight.
Check out Healthy Eating Guidelines – How To Eat for more.
What to Eat
There are so many opinions nowadays on what to eat for optimum health.
mmmm… image by alexik
- Are carbs the root of all evil, or should they be the root of our diet?
- Should we just follow the diet of our hunter/gatherer ancestors?
- Maybe we should adopt the eating patterns of some world region with strong patterns of longevity, like the Mediterranean or Japan?
- Should we adopt a “food as fuel” approach and get our meals, astronaut style, in the form of powders and mixes?
- Eat a bit of protein with every meal
- Cut down (NOT eliminate, though) on carbs except immediately after a workout
- Eliminate processed carbs (cookies, crackers, etc.)
- Eat small portions of good brown rice or oatmeal (or cheerios for post workout carbs)
- Eat more ‘good’ fats like nuts and olive oil
- Eat more vegetables than I think I need
- Drink lots of water
- In general, eat until I am just satisfied, not full
- Skip breakfast to cut down on total weekly calories(maybe once or twice per week)
- Do cardio / fat loss workouts in a fasted state
- This means no eating less than 4 hours before a cardio / fat loss workout
- I did this around 3 times per week for a month and lost a lot of body fat, with a small loss of muscle mass that probably would have been prevented if I could have done some strength workouts (I had a shoulder injury at the time)
- Eat less on days when I am not active
- Eat a protein rich snack 2 or 3 hours before a strength workout
- Eat a large, protein and carb rich meal soon (within 30 minutes) after a workout
- Eat good, wholesome, unprocessed foods
- Eat your biggest meal after you work out
- Be aware of your food and body while you are eating
- Don’t eat until you are ‘full,’ eat until you are ‘not hungry’
There are many, many directions to go here.
The confusing thing is, there are people who strictly follow completely contradictory diets who are achieving the SAME goals!
Take strict vegan strength coach Mike Mahler, for example. He avoids all animal products and maintains a low bodyfat, high muscle mass physique that most animal protein-based primal diet advocates would be quite happy to acheive.
Different strokes for different folks. Some things will work better for you than for someone else. You’re going to have to see what works for you.
So here’s my suggestion: first ask, “Will I be able to eat this way on a daily basis?” Can you reasonably, without a huge hassle, follow the specified diet? Or is it going to require an extraordinary effort?
I have been choosing to make things a little easier on myself.
Here is what has been working for me. I try to:
When to Eat
image by zoutedrop
This ties in with “How to Eat?”, since I tend to adjust what/how much I eat in relation to what I am doing on that particular day.From my own experience and what I have read from experts, meal timing is extremely important.
I think I manipulate this more than anything else.
Here are some healthy eating guidelines regarding meal timing that I tend to follow:
To Summarize…
So, to recap, these are some suggestions for healthy eating guidelines that have worked well for me:One more thing:
As Oscar Wilde said,
“Everything in moderation. Including moderation!”
Enjoy your food!