Healthy Eating

[thager]

After another winter and an additional 8 - 10 lbs. I am finally ready to begin my annual weight shedding ritual to return to skiing shape. I am getting bored with the pear shape and would like to replace it with the wedgeshape. Just wondering what others do to get back on track as far as food. What do you eat? What don't you eat? Myself, I replace my junk food with almonds and dry fruit. Fruit juice instead of cola. Lot more water. Any good tasting healthy recipes out there? Please qualify yourself as I am looking for professional eaters thoughts only! : ) Just kidding.......!

[MattP]

@thager not to be that guy, but staying with the almonds, dry fruit and fruit juice all through the winter would prevent this um issue from arising. I am by no means perfect either, but mind over matter is always a good start. Good luck. Remember you are what you eat.

[Zman]

If you like a tasty protein drink after a workout...

Put all this in a blender: whole banana (riper the better), a good handful of frozen strawberries, two scoops of vanilla flavored protein powder, then about cup or cup and a half of fat free milk and same amount of OJ.

After blending, should be like a smoothie - thicker or more liquid to your taste based on how much milk n juice you add. Sounds funky, but tastes great. Sometimes, I throw in other fresh or frozen fruit, pineapple, blue berries - whatever I have around. (Use the frozen strawberries that come loose in a bag, no syrup or added sweeteners). Cheers.

[thager]

@MattP I am usually pretty good. This year not so much! Had a strange attraction to barley pop and ice fishing. Lots of indoor time and colder, snowier that many previous years.

@Zman That actually sounds tasty! Will give it a try. Thanks.

[BraceMaker]

You might want to address some of the food swaps, they mean well but have some potential negatives. For instance, dried fruit has good nutrients, but it also is concentrated sugar content, and lots of it has additional salt and sugar - if you snack on it you should really think about reducing the amount of it, just a few pieces is really a full serving of dried fruit. Similarly fruit juice is full of sugar, you should atleast water it down, consider upping its health qualities, buy pomegranate or tart cherry concentrate, add it to mineral water or still water depending on preference - you want to make sure you don't add too much. Do you drink coffee at work? Does it have sugar and cream?

[rayn]

Less fruit/fruit juice and more protein if you are trying to lose weight. Too much sugar especially the juice.

[Ed_Obermeier]

Not to be that guy either, but you did ask... Fruit juice has the same amount of sugar in it soda pop has so nutritionally fruit juice no improvement over pop.

 

Qualifications? At age 53 I dropped my weight from 210-ish to 193 and my body fat from whatever it was to 12%. At age 57 I'm now a bit heavier (slightly more muscle mass) but body fat %age is steady. I made the change primarily via diet (read nutrition) and regular exersize. I work out 3-4 X a week, with a trainer once a week, and my son is also a certified trainer so I'm blessed with plenty of resources to draw from.

 

How'd I do it personally? At the risk of sounding like some fad diet freakoid, I did it by following info I got from the book "The South Beach Diet" which more than being some fad diet is really more a listing of what to eat and what not to eat. Plenty of similar "diets" and info sources that will give you the same basic info, Men's Health Mag's book "Eat This Not That" is another good example. Avoid the crap (empty calories and junk carbs), focus on lean protein, veggies, and most fruits, stay away from anything that has WHITE STUFF in it (sugar, white flour, too much salt) and stay away from saturated fats (i.e. deep fried anything) and you're good to go. FWIW the first two weeks of South Beach is pretty much like Atkins - all protein, NO carbs, NO fruit, NO dairy. You'll drop 8 - 12 lbs in the first two weeks and it's really not that hard to do once you begin to kick your carb addition, which is the focus of the first two weeks. After that you start adding in complex carbs (whole grain i.e.) and some fruit and dairy and keep losing an lb or two a week until you hit your goal, then maintain at that. But you have to change how you eat (kick the junk) and that really is a life change, not just a temporary dietary change. The biggest surprise to me was once I got over my junk food addiction the body really doen't want that stuff anymore so it's not too hard to stay away from it. I'm certainly not perfect by any stretch, and I'm definitely not trying to hold myself out as some sort of expert. But you'll find that once you get to that point it's really not that hard to maintain it.

 

Eating "clean" can get pretty boring if you do it right. But if you dig around you can find plenty of cook books etc that will give you lots of ideas on how to make it less boring, and again Men's Health Mag's book "Eat This Not That" is a good source of meal ideas. Lots of ways to skin this cat but basically you gotta get away from the junk carbs and make a lifestyle change in regards to what you do and don't allow into your mouth.

[Ed_Obermeier]

Staying away from simple carbs (glucose, fructose, sucrose etc) is critical. The absolute simplest carb and the one that gets into your blood stream the fastest is maltose. Primary source of maltose? You guessed it - BEER. Sorry...

[ForrestGump]

Monavie RVL shake for breakfast and lunch, normal dinner during the week. No bread. Sweet potato only 1 hour after workout.

 

I will give up breathing before giving up wine and beer.

[Wish]

Eating like a king in the am, prince in the afternoon and a pauper in evening works well. Especially if you try to follow the food advice ed and others gave. I managed to do this for one week. Lost 5lb. I say one week because I am weak. Will power sucks. I've trained my daughter and wife to ask me what was written in a thread in the past or a close version. "Say, does that taste like 15 off or 35 off ?".

[Horton]

Tacos

[MattP]

@Horton tube food!

[Horton]

Exactly

[Zman]

Hey @Ed Obermeier I was with you (kinda) right up until the beer part. Then you completely lost me dude! I'm back to beer and tacos.

[h2odawg79]

@Thager,

 

I apologize, I could donate a wealth of knowledge and experience to this thread. But, I'm taking a break. Kinda like some of the Pro skiers I know and forums, who have said; "why give info. away for free AND open the door for senseless debate"?

 

Good Luck

[Ed_Obermeier]

Just trying to be helpful @Zman, that's all. Bottom line is they don't teach kids nutrition in this country, which IMO is the crux of the obesity problem. Begin to educate yourself as to what constitutes good (and bad) nutrition and if you're interersted in improving your health it becomes obvious what you need to do and not do. But education is the key.

[JohnCox]

Low fat, low sodium, low sugar. Protein from food, not supplements or drinks (chicken, turkey, fish). 4-5 MEALS (not snacks) a day (about every 4 hours), including 1-2 servings of clean carbs at all but the last meal. People at my office give me a hard time for eating so much, and so often.

[Texas6]

My wife tells me pregnancy really changes a mans body

[jayski]

@thager eat a Paleo diet...less than 6% BF justifies it's effectiveness and the ability to do 2 CF workouts a day with only 2 "1/2 day's off" 12 workouts a week...a good kickstart to get the weight loss going is the 30 Day Isagenix cleanse/fat loss, works amazing! Damn near guarantee most will lose at least 10-15lbs in a month HEALTHILY.

[east tx skier]

@Ed Obermeier, while beer is made, in part, with malted barley and while the unfermented wort does contain maltose, during fermentation yeast consumes the maltose, converting it to alcohol. Beer does contain some residual sugar, but most of the maltose is consumed. The residual sugar is typically a type of sugar that saccharomyces cerevisiae (typical beer yeast) will not consume.

 

Beer contains calories to be sure. But I have not found it to contribute to my own weight gain or loss more than other foods. In fact, the last time I laid off beer for a month, I gained five pounds.

 

As with anything, YMMV. The most weight I ever lost was simply by being extremely conscious of when I became full and putting the fork down at that moment. I think I lost thirty pounds the first month, and another ten after that will little effort. It was too much and I had to intentionally put some weight back on. That was in my 20s and it doesn't melt off as quickly these days. But if you have the discipline, it works well. Eating lean protein and more fibrous vegetables helps.

 

Top it all off with a nice beer.

[ctsmith]

Someone who knows a lot more than me about health and nutrition please critique.

 

I started Insanity 5 weeks ago at 202 lbs (40 years old 5'8", stout build).

 

My diet, every day, consists of the following. FWIW, I don't require variety to be content. For me, the easier, more convenient, the better.

 

* 2 pieces whole bread (140 cal), 2 tbsp natural peanut butter (200 cal) spread on bread, 1 cup frozen berries heated for 2 minutes in microwave to a hot syrup consistency & poured over bread (80 cal). total 420 cals

 

* Cliff protein bar (270), banana (100). total 370 cals

 

* 1.5 cups turkey based chili (275), one egg (100). Total 375 cals.

 

* Cliff energy bar (250), banana (100). Total 350 cals.

 

* 5 oz beef sirloin (275), 5 oz sweet potato (125). 1 bag (10 ounces, its a lot) broccoli cauliflower carrots, steamed (100) total 500 cals

 

Thats a total of 2015 calories. I need little more to have enough fuel for insanity. I might snack on another Cliff energy bar throughout the day. I range from 2000 calories to 2300 calories daily.

 

Drink nothing but water and one cup of coffee with the first meal.

 

In five weeks of Insanity and this diet my cardio and core strength have increased dramatically. I have added muscle and lost 9 lbs overall, currently weighing in at 193. I am just starting the 2nd phase of insanity and expect the weight loss to accelerate. 180 is my goal. Depending on how hard it is, I might shoot for 175.

[Texas6]

@ctsmith, Your diet looks good and if you're losing weight as you planned - its not necessary to change anything. If it were me, I would consider exchanging the two cliff bars for some lean meat or veggies - but real food. I would also change the breakfast up a bit, get rid of the two pieces of bread in exchange for some healthy fat (nuts / avocado) & eggs or egg whites.

[ForrestGump]

@ctsmith Also, keep in mind that just as important as your caloric intake amount is the amounts of protein, fat and carbs you take in. And when. A good place to start is a 40% protein/30% fat/ 30% carb ratio. Good fats are not bad and help as you train more because they contain double the calories as carbs and protein, which the body needs for energy. That fact is especially helpful when you have to eat more to get more calories, but are full. Also, I'd move the sweet potato to within an hour of your workout. The sweet potato is awesome for fueling the muscle after workout when your muscles need it. But outside of an hour or so after working out, your muscles will have already taken in what they need and the sweet potato's benefits go to waste. And therefore to your waist. lol

[jayski]

@OB if your referring to me thx... Job, yes, 11 hrs a day six days a week, one wife and two boys...no second job required

[ctsmith]

Texas and Shane, I appreciate your response.

 

Regarding my 2,3, & 4 meals, which I have to pack and take to work, the first priority is portability and convenience. I know non-processed foods are better but Cliff bars and bananas are so darn easy and dont require cooling, heating, etc. Also, shopping for them is cinch. As for the chili, we make a big pot that lasts almost a week, just dip and go. If a microwave is not convenient then eat it ambient temp, no problem. I fry the egg in the morning and toss it in a small tupperware container and eat it ambient. Load everything up in a soft cooler style lunch box and rock on. For me, if its not convenient, it is not sustainable.

 

Shane, I eat the 5 meal, meat and potatoes, as soon as I have recovered my breath from the Insanity workout. But thanks for tip. I didn't know I was doing the right thing.

[BraceMaker]

@east tx skier - I love my beer - and I agree the maltose is converted in brewing. How much sugar is left depends on the attenuation of the yeast strain, obviously styles like pilsners finish with less sugars than your stouts and porters.

 

Problem is that Alcohol has extremely high energy density, higher than carbs, higher than protein, not up there with fat. But it isn't great stuff.

 

I also agree that just adding/subtracting beer doesn't a diet make.

[east tx skier]

Excellent point on attenuation. A lot depends on the mash temperature, too, when it comes ot how fermentable the wort is. But we might end up putting everyone to sleep. :)

 

I would add that too much alcohol isn't just bad from a dietary perspective. But I think beer is one of the first things on some of these diet books' axe list, and not for the best reasons. If for any reason, I might suggest that drinking too much can cause you to forget your diet and raid the fridge late at night.

 

Charlie Bamforth's books on beer and nutrition are pretty interesting stuff.

[Ed_Obermeier]

Dudes... I never suggested anyone should quit drinking beer. I haven't. Just trying to be helpful...

[BraceMaker]

Nothing like praying for the temps to drop while stirring in cold water and hoping you still have some Alphas left... Then dumping some DME in the boil just to make sure you have something fermentable...

[ral]

I am with Ed on attitude and education... Eating well and USA based company events/conventions do not get along well... Have to do too many of these every year... How can anybody think about putting whipped cream and chocolate shavings in a coffe station? Not that I had any, but DAMN. They took the customer advisory board onstage, a sumo wrestling convention would have been far slimmer...

 

Writing from Orlando International, after a 1.5 days stay of all work and no ski...

[Zman]

This thread - not unlike others - is full of serious minded input, and BS - that challenge is telling one from the other...lol

Ed - I was definitely bustin your chops - I was pretty certain you were not one for laying off the beer.

[jjackkrash]

There's lots of ways to skin a cat. Personally, for me, when I want to cut, I use Carb Night Solution, and when I am where I want to be and want to stay lean, I run Carb Back Loading. The guy who runs this site, and who wrote CNS and CBL, John Kieffer, knows his sh*t, IMO:

 

http://www.dangerouslyhardcore.com/

 

Calories play a role, but insulin manipulation plays a bigger role in fat storage/muscle generation. Last year after a year of sitting on my ass and eating way too much crap, I was too fat to ski, and when I decided enough was enough I cut from around 255 to under 200 in about 4 months give or take on CNS and a basic weight training routine.

[ForrestGump]

There is a lot of support for carb back-loading in the competitive weight training arena. Pretty simple.

 

1. ultra low carb in morning when it's easiest for the body to convert carbs to fat

2. Workout 3-5pm

3. Load up on carbs and protein after workout and through the evening, making sure to hit the correct ratios and amounts.

 

Without the early carbs, your body's blood sugar and insulin production stabilize in the time of day when fat is most easily created. And once you work out, the muscles need the sugar from the carbs.

[6balls]

Agree on the insulin management over caloric intake. Big problem for majority in the U.S. is excess carb intake, often poorly timed in addition to too little exercise.

[Razorskier1]

I was at 205 at my heaviest this winter. Dropped to 197, then went to FLA to ski with my son. Came home at 202. This morning back to 199. Trying to get down below 195 in the next 2 weeks and then keep working toward 190.

[markchilcutt]

@thager There is a lot of great nutrition plans available but most are hard to follow but if followed will be a game changer.

Its all about a life style change for me. I drink water all day. no more soda or juice and i replaced 2% milk with almond milk and try to eat more frequently smaller portions including more vegies and fruits than before each day.

Cardio Cardio Cardio did i mention 1 to 1.5 hrs of CARDIO 3 to 4 times a week!!!!(best benefit yet)

Its been slow but in 2005 i was 200lbs then dropped to about 185 by 2007 and stayed there for the last 5yrs. Have now reached 175 since doing what i mentioned above. Hope this will help

[JohnCox]

I'm a former runner (+/- 65 miles a week), but an ankle injury forced me to do something else. I learned that dedicated cardio actually can deplete muscle....which is not the goal. A well designed weight training program will work your heart plenty, and increase lean muscle, which burns fat. I managed to drop 20 more pounds after I stopped running (after being stuck at 60 lbs for a year of the excessive cardio), without the beating on my body that running provided. Every now and then, just for fun, I run just to do it, and learned early on that the lungs and heart are still there for me to easily run 4 or 5 miles without any issue. I'm no muscle head - nothing especially heavy, but I incorporate quite a bit of super sets and circuits in most of my workouts.

 

As for nutrition, I eat, and eat a lot. Depending on the time of year and the goal at the time (size and strength v lean and light), I eat 4, 5, and at times 6 FULL meals a day. Clean, lean meat (2-3 pounds a day), clean carbs at all but my last meal, not as many veggies as I'd like, virtually no sodium or sugar, and lots of water. No supplements, shakes, or bars. Just food. I fuel the fire about every 4 hours.

 

What do I do to get in shape? Lift weights. What do I do for cardio? Lift weights, faster.

[east tx skier]

@BraceMaker, been there, done that. Splurged on some mash temp control and have become one of the happy button pushing brewers.

 

@Razorskier1, sounds like my boat owning history. I started at 205, thought about 197 and 190, and ended up at 196.

[markchilcutt]

Agreed @johncox everything needs to be done in moderation ive never been a runner but have a new found love with mtn biking again. Balance is key with everything. and yes circuit training is something a good friend and top pro skier got me going on this winter and has been a big part of my recent 8-10 lb lose. Like you say eat often and eat healthy to keep the fire burning good info thanks.

[JohnCox]

I don't know how to do anything in moderation, @markchilcutt!

[thompjs]

United States of Bacon has some great diet advice

[Razorskier1]

@JohnCox -- agree on the strength training. Lean mass burns calories -- and if you can do it as a push-pull regimen then you pick up enough speed to get a cardio workout at the same time. I just can't get to the gym more than about 3x a week right now, and it shows up in my overall body weight, which was easy to manage when I hit the gym 5x/week.

[dave2ball]

@thager Do your self a huge favor. Go talk to a nutritionist/trainer. They will show you what and how to eat that works for your you and your body. They should also tell you where your fat burning areas are when doing carido and what types of work outs to do that will get you to your goals. Andy and CP have both done this I know for a fact because there nutritionist was my work out partner. I too have used him myself with great results. You'll spend $100 per tournament for X amount of tournaments do yourself this treat favor what ever you want to call it and the benefits will pay off for life.

Everybody who has chimed in seems to know something about weight loss and working out but they may not no you and your fitness level and life style. It will be the best investment you will make for skiing.

[LZywicki1]

Google FODMAPS, a lot of good info.

[JohnCox]

Good advice @dave2ball. I have worked with several trainers, and not all of them go beyond the weights....my first one never discussed nutrition. My best one focused pretty much equally on both, maybe more on nutrition.

 

I'm an ISSA certified trainer in my spare time (whatever that is), but really went through the training for my own benefit.