Nutrition 101?

[Otto Von Squiggy]

And it wasn't. I found a fantastic online resource that I used for about 8 months to track my dietary intake and activity levels - and it's been really surprisingly easy to balance out what I need.


The website I used was the good old USDA's - the Healthy Interactive Eating Index. You can enter what foods you eat each day (after you input your physiological info) and it tells you pretty well how you did with eating "right." Having baseline bloodwork helps, so you can see whether you're hitting your marks. They also have an activity tracker for how much energy you burn and what calories you need to intake to maintain or lose weight.

http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/

This website is good for looking up nutrient-specific foods:

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

Okay, that's enough - but this is a subject I feel strongly about, because I think most people don't enjoy real food (and drink!) enough, and miss out because of fad diets . . .

Good luck and keep us posted!

just signed up, hopefully within a few months I wont need those extra shocks for all the extra weight.

 

[Big Daddy Chia]

WHats this nutrition u talk about.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Was it just simply the extra weight, or the affect on the joints by the fats themselves in the diet? And...what were those effects?

Good questions. I figure the fat your body stores isn't necessarily all done just in the mid section. So fatty deposits will probably develop in all sorts of places. That will probably be bad for joints that have lots of range of motions that would be limited. Just thinking. That is exacerbated by the extra weight and probably pretty lousy routine of stretching and exercise that a partying student would follow.

 

[Christophe Noel]

I was unaware of the socio-enviro-political implications and I will definitely have to look into it. The stuff is rocket fuel, but is also an acquired taste.

Honestly, I'm not entirely educated on the ins and outs of Acai production, but from the sounds of it, the locals living in Brazil that once centered their diets around Acai are now unable to afford it and the fall out has been ugly.

As for farmed salmon, that is beyond gross. I'd eat a case of slimey hot dogs before I ate an ounce of farmed salmon. Foul. Just foul.

As for organic beef, I'm not so sure organic is always best. I grew up in beef country and still have friends raising beef. Sometimes the most unhealthy beasts I've ever seen have been "organic" cattle. I've seen some with terrible bouts of pink eye and other such ailments. I've seen them with nasty infections which have to remain untreated to fall within the rules of "organic." Real cattle ranchers can't afford to drop a ton of dough on roids and hormones but they do treat for illness which can produce better beef.

 

[Christophe Noel]

Flounder, what is your take on whole eggs vs. just egg whites.

There are some valid arguments for the old egg white routine, but I don't eat enough eggs to worry about yokes. I eat yokes. In the sports nutrition world, particularly the endurance sports world, cholesterol usually isn't a big concern and that was what really drove people from the yoke.

Variety is extremely healthy so I mix my protein intake between eggs, chicken, soy, whey, lean beef and sometimes a little turkey or pork. I also fold in a lot of salmon and other salmoniods like trout.

 

[desertgirl66]

I believe that the body recognizes food in their whole state. Eggs for instance, should really be eaten with the yolks so the body recognizes that it is an egg with all the nutrients associated with egg. You can eat egg whites for the perfect protein that they are, but please throw in at least one whole yolk also. The same for juice. The body recognizes carrots for the nutrients and also the fiber. If you just drink a glass of carrot juice (which is alot of carrots) then the body will be looking for the fiber. Then you might start to crave say, crackers or pretzels, because the body is looking for fiber.

Whole grains provide lots of goodies for the body. Brown rice is good, but rather high on the glycemic index. Quinoa is one of the best whole grains you could eat. An ancient grain from South America, it has been called the perfect food. It has a pure protein profile. Cooks fast and is really tasty. Also, yams are a great food.

As Desertrose pointed out, keep your food whole, unprocessed and organic if possible. Processed foods and refined carbohydrates are probably the worst for you. You can't eat too many vegetables!

 

[DaveInDenver]

Real cattle ranchers can't afford to drop a ton of dough on roids and hormones but they do treat for illness which can produce better beef.

This is a good point. There's an appropriate level of use and an abuse. Routinely pumping them full of rBGH and HGPs is bad, treating illnesses is fine. There are side effects of medical treatments on cattle, like the reduction of effectivity of antibiotics, but the upside is healthy cattle. It's a balance of course. But the notion that 'organic' is not automatically better is something that makes me wonder. Like milk that is rBGH free seems good, but treating the cows to keep them healthy doesn't strike me as a bad idea.

 

[pnwadventurer]

For my family, due to the fact that my daughter has food allergies to a lot of processed food and dyes, have came up with a simple method of eating healthier.

We have tried to eliminate as much food as possible that:

1. have ingredients we have no clue what they are
2. have food dyes
3. have high fructose corn syrup
4. high in saturated fat

We feel that the more basic the food is, the better.

We also try to eat our share of foods from different food groups along with portion control.

Do we stick to it 100% of the time, no, but that is our goal.

Steve

 

[Lost Canadian]

Great points everyone, Roseann you nailed it.

Let me just say one thing though. I'm not a fan of hormone-laced cattle but I'm also not sold on going 100% organic either. One reason is many of the foods we eat have higher levels of natural toxins then most pesticides used to protect our food sources. Oranges and coffee for instance contain fairly high amounts of naturally occurring toxins, toxins that of course are processed by our bodies when we ingest them. Don't be fooled by all the organic hype, some of the talk surrounding organic is valid but much of it is not. Just remember that our bodies deal with all toxins in the same way regardless of origin. Go to the rainforest and munch on all the organically grown greens there, do so and I bet you'd be dead within a week if not sooner.

As has been repeated a number of times already proper nutrition is really very simple, eat a balanced diet consisting of lots of fresh locally grown and/or frozen produce, eat whole foods, avoid processed crap, drink plenty of water to flush the toxins we ingest, inhale, and the ones our bodies produce naturally, and our bodies (for the most part) will take care of themselves. Of course exercise and stretch daily, but that's a no brainer.

 

[Christophe Noel]

We're sort of getting "off the farm" with the original topic. Sports nutrition or nutrition for very active individuals is quite different from eating for the average healthy Joe. Sure, brown rice has a high glycemic index, but big whoop. For someone like the original poster who is riding as much as 100 miles a week (probably 8-12 hours) that's actually a benefit.

There is a massive difference between eating healthy and eating for health and performance. MASSIVE difference.

 

[desertgirl66]

Flounder, you may be right in your opinion ---but as one who has a degree in Sports Nutrition--well-just trying to help out with some important information.

In Sports Nutrition--low glycemic and high pure protein is really important.

Keeping the carb count low is important, keeping the protein up is important. Keep the balance, at the right time. You have windows of muscle and ligament repair that are vital---

Good luck!

 

[Christophe Noel]

Flounder, you may be right in your opinion ---but as one who has a degree in Sports Nutrition--well-just trying to help out with some important information.

Keeping the carb count low is important, keeping the protein up is important.

Good luck!

I'm not sure I follow. Can you expand on "keeping the carb count low?" I was assuming the discussion here was focused around the original poster's riding regime which could probably equate to 6-12 hours per week of work load at mid-aerobic, sub-lactate and super-lactate threashold zones. I'm somewhat assuming a larger portion allocated to mid aerobic zones. That's usually the effort level that loves to suck glycogen stores right out of your muscles, no? I'm making huge assumptions based on a late 20's rider with "the bug" for mountain biking. Doesn't sound like sidewalk riding, I guess is my point.

Don't keep us in the dark!! This is just the geeky sorta stuff I love!!

 

[bigreen505]

Sort of brings up an interesting point. I think sports nutrition (no degree here) is somewhat event dependent. I know I personally eat very different in the summer when I am spending a lot of time on the bike (exactly as Flounder described), vs. summer spending a lot of time on the boat (mid-length high intensity efforts) vs. skiing in the winter (very high intensity 2 min. efforts).

 

[Christophe Noel]

Sort of brings up an interesting point. I think sports nutrition (no degree here) is somewhat event dependent. I know I personally eat very different in the summer when I am spending a lot of time on the bike (exactly as Flounder described), vs. summer spending a lot of time on the boat (mid-length high intensity efforts) vs. skiing in the winter (very high intensity 2 min. efforts).

Exactly. During my base building weeks, I log as many as 350 miles per week (winter). My coach I've had for 15 years would kill me if I ate a sugar cube as those are the months that we hope to train my bod to produce/convert glycogens more effectively. Key for upping endurance levels and elevating lactate threshold levels through increased aerobic strength. Those days, my carb intake is massive. On the flip side, when I'm racing back to back days for 2 weeks at Super Week, I have to pound the proteins and suck down my carbs within 45 minutes of getting off my bike. Even in the same sport, consumption changes big time from day to day or week to week.

 

[DaveInDenver]

On the flip side, when I'm racing back to back days for 2 weeks at Super Week, I have to pound the proteins and suck down my carbs within 45 minutes of getting off my bike.

Never had a coach, so I'm in the dark. I trend towards endurance races, since I'm not super fast but stubborn. How do you eat for those? I eat equal carb and protein thinking that I need to refuel and rebuild.