The nutrition meta thread: principles for a healthier life style

Nutrition
43

For me the biggest thing is finding longevity in whatever approach one wants to take.

It doesn’t really work (I believe) if its something one does for 6 weeks after New Years, then realises that its not gonna work long term.

For me the basics for food are:

  • Lots of carbs and protein
  • Very very low for bad fats (e.g. French fries, cheese etc)
  • Healthy level of good fats (e.g. Olive oil, avocado etc)
  • Have some kind of veggie
  • D, C, Zinc, Magnesium supplements
  • Eat before you get super hungry, so you don’t over eat.
  • For me it helps to weigh my food sometimes, just to get a reference point of calories and what I am getting from the meal.

And most importantly, for someone who loves for like myself. Have a meal once in a while that is EXACTLY what you wanna have, be it burgers and fries or whatever.

Other things of importance:

  • Don’t earn food through working out, eat to fuel the work, eat to recover, eat because food is amazing. Don’t go hungry because you haven’t worked out for the day or its a rest day.
  • Balance, balance, balance.
  • Fuel on the bike, and off the bike.
  • Learn how to read labels, understand what you are eating, how it affects you. For example, a Cinnabon is as many calories as a big ass meal with chicken and rice, a good BBQ sauce - the works. Understanding different foods and how much you value them in terms of nutrition has helped me have a better mental stability towards meals.

For example, if I am having dinner, taking a second portion with a little bit rice and a small extra piece of chicken is totally fine, its probably the equivalent of an Oreo and a half. On the other hand, I can down a packet of Oreos without blinking.

And finally, understanding what the really unnecessary fats, fast carbs, and other crap, comes from. Just the easy change of cooking all your food (and desserts) makes it way way easier to understand what you are putting in your body.

4 Likes
44

If you want a healthier diet, Harvard’s “Healthy Eating Plate” summarize the basics (things that were mentioned before in this post… Eat food (real food, not processed fake fook). Not too much. Mostly plants (whole grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits… I said mostly because there is no problem with eating fish, eggs, milk and the occasional piece of meat, but probably shouldn’t be your main protein source). Escape from salt (and other sources of excessive sodium. I’m talking about your daily diet not electrolytes drinks for sports) and processed sugar, because those things will kill you (hypertension, diabetes, myocardial infraction, heart failure)

If you do a lot of training you will have to consider more carbs and protein than the usual diet and at the proper times.

If you want a healthier lifestyle add to that a minimum of 210 minutes of exercise weekly (probably you already have this covered), don’t smoke, don’t drink alcohol (or very occasionally and never more than 1 or 2 drinks), have a healthy weight (use your preferred standard of measurement… IMC, fat %, etc) and sleep well (sleep hygiene).