What's your "diet"?

[rob_s]

Recent post on suggested reading made me curious how others eat. Not so much "I have this for breakfast, this for lunch" etc. but more in terms of what your theories on good nutrition are. I have run into a lot of people that are heavily into organic food, and alkali, and the blood type diet, etc. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. This also isn't about the latest diet craze to lose weight. This is about a what kind of eating habits you find make you the healthiest and, more importantly, feel the best and get you through the day.

I find myself striving for as much of a Paleolithic diet as possible. From the wikipedia page, "consists mainly of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, roots, and nuts; and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils." Which is pretty accurate for what I try to do, although I confess to having a major sweet tooth and get all ADD if I don't have some kind of refined sugar after a meal. I like DumDum lollipops for this a lot. I also can't live without my cheese, so that's the dairy I have.

I tend to follow the Zone diet in terms of ratios of proteins to carbs, as well as the portion sizes and the 5 meals a day thing.

Generally speaking I find that I've done better with "diets" when I allow myself a little cheating and don't beat myself up about it. So the DumDums and the cheese to me are ways to otherwise stay on track. If I try to follow any one thing too stringently I just wind up unable to maintain things. Frankly though I don't consider dairy products to really be much of a "cheat".

I find that when I stick to my "plan" and begin each day with a workout of some sort, I can get by easily on 6 hours of sleep a night and have no energy problems throughout the day and no need at all for caffeine or sugar beyond my DumDums.

I absolutely "cheat" for convenience too. I have at least two Whopper jrs a month before my regularly scheduled shooting events, and I will eat as many as 4 McDonalds breakfast sandwiches a month as well, although lately it's been more like 2.

[extsieg]

I have been on a 4 block zone life style for 8 months now. I get buy with just plain old carbs, protein and fat. As its a life style change I refuse to even look at a Fast Food joint no matter how hungry I may be. My energy levels stay consistent thru the day in part by not spiking my system with insulin bombs.

As its a life style for me now I don't look at it as a fad diet its just the way I eat. Give the body what it needs in exact portions and you will perform better in all aspects of daily life.

[BushmasterFanBoy]

I eat a pretty varied diet. Wherever I can, I stick mostly to unprocessed foods. Very rarely do I eat something that I didn't prepare. I don't watch for nutritional content very much, I'm mostly counting calories and keeping portions small.

I try to eat 3 meals a day, with no snacking in between. I'd like to transition to a 5-6 meal a day plan, but since portions are pretty small as it is, I don't know if I'd ever get full. I'm usually a sucker for sweets, but I keep it small, and try not to beat myself up over it.

I mostly try to get a good bit of protein with each meal, and cut out the starchy stuff. I don't drink anything with caffiene, anything carbonated, or anything that's artificially sweetened, so that pretty much means milk, fruit juice, and water. Right now my big crutch is the juice, so if I run out, its milk or water, which can really make a meal go bland.

Breakfast is typically an egg with some meat (a slice of ham or 2 strips of bacon, rarely), or two eggs if there's no meat. Lunch is usually lean meat, with cottage cheese or vegetables as a side. Dinner is mostly a re-hash of lunch, just with something different to wash it down with.

In the last year, I've changed my eating habits a lot. I used to eat whenever I got bored, for any reason at all. And I'd eat whatever tasted best, too. My "diet" consisted of whatever greasy, sugary, fried, sweet, microwavable thing was in reach, lol.

[drsal]

Simple diet..low carb, moderate protein intake, daily veges, lots of water...oh yeah the occasional dunkin donuts/ twinkies do find themselves included in the diet plan.
What can I say..

[WS6]

60% complex carbs, 25-30% protein, 10-15% fat

Carbs happen towards the beginning of the day with some protein, and the bulk of fat and protein happens during the latter half of the day.

.75-1gal water a day,

Complex carbs come from:
Brown rice, whole-wheat bread, vegetables, and things of that nature.


Protein comes from:
Eggs, fish, chicken breast, steak, legumes

Fat comes from:
Eggs, legumes, steak

This is just a quick and dirty of how I eat when I am behaving myself. So far (before shoulder injury, which is healing swiftly), it had maintained me at around 170-175#, 10-11% body-fat, and able to bench 100# more than my weight, jog 4-5 miles breathing through my nose only, and do 15-20 pull-ups.

Nothing glorious, but I consider it "functionally" fit.

*I have lost strength due to my shoulder injury on my bench. My back/legs have not lost much, nor have my arms. My weight has fluctuated less than 3# (went from 174-176 to being 178.6# according to my digital "take a guess" accurate scale, lol) from being out of the gym for roughly a month.

[photosniper]

Very little fried food and I try to eat a lot of fruit. Diet is important but I think the fluids we put into our bodies are sometimes more important than the food.
I drink spring/purified water, coffee and limited amounts of fruit juice (limited because of all the complex sugars). I'll go weeks without soda, ice-tea, beer and other drinks and when I do drink stuff like that, I do so sparingly.
I've noticed a big difference in my overall health since I cut out the soda and sweet drinks.

[rob_s]

I agree that cutting out soda is a great way to start, but it also gets used as an excuse for making up for it in other ways. Hence the 300 lb fatbodies you see loading up at McDonalds and then topping it off with a "diet soda".

[Patrick Aherne]

I feel best and lose weight when I cut out simple carbs. Based on my Dr.'s recommendation because of my family history, I find the Atkins Diet works best for me. Not the "Induction" phase that everybody tries, but can't stay on, but a limited carb, or good carb diet. I just cut out all the pasta, bread and potatoes I LOVE. I still drink a diet soda or crystal light mix. Breyer's makes a Carb Smart ice cream bar that is only 5 carbs and atkins makes a peanut nougat candy when I really need a sweet fix. I like almonds and peanuts for snacking and I try to drink > 2 liters of water per day. There is no way I could give up caffeine, but I have tried to cut back. I was drinking 6-8 cups of coffee a day, until I started having stomach problems. Now, I'm down to one or two large coffees in the am and decaf tea in the afternoon.

[30 cal slut]

in September I kinda went off the deep end and went vegetarian, sort of.

i just stopped eating meat (all kinds) and fish. i still hunt and fish, though.

i'm still eating dairy and eggs for protein.

[Derek_Connor]

I've been recently experimenting with The Paleo approach as well. So far, so good.

Pretty much, if man 'made it', I am not eating it (except whey protein, fish oil caps, multi-vit). So this means avoidance of grains, sugar, starch, HFCS, artificial sweetners, etc.

Lots of meat, coconut, more meat, sour cream, cream (no milk), veggies with full fat dressings, and a sprinkle of fruit here and there, mostly berries.

My workouts lately have dramatically increased, just recently set PRs in the bench press and deadlift. Dont know if its due to the diet, normal progress, or being more connected mind <-> body, or a combo.