What should I be eating?

[That Bloke]

I'm lazy with food prep, & what my brother buys(I don't food shop much being the one who works dayshift) is limited.
Admittedly I eat microwaved meat pies atleast two nights a week which is too often.

When I cook at the moment(3-4 days of the week) I have A whole chicken breast Floured & shallow fried in canola(it's all that's in the house), or(if I can get it) Olive & sesame oil & I have that with a whole cup(pre-cooked) of boiled rice.

I buy Salami & Pita bread for when I can't be bothered cooking but that doesn't last long, I'd cook more often if there was something around to make a stir fry with.

[dozer]

ever heard of 5 a day and portoins of fruit and veg?

http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/

[That Bloke]

ever heard of 5 a day and portoins of fruit and veg?
Yeah, I eat vegatables, what there is of them, they are frozen, sometimes I make the stir fries with only the vegies.
Fruit yeah, but not as often as I should, as for 5 meals a day well that's not doable in a working week.

Actually I'm not a meal person, on days when I'm not working dinner is the only meal I eat, I'm constantly eating through the day but not meals.


I'm talking more specific to the whole running thing, hence it being in this forum.

[hijukal]

For the days you can be bothered to cook, make massive, reasonably-healthy meals with plenty of leftovers that you can put in the fridge.

The missus and I often cook meals where there are eight or twelve portions and we'll chuck the uneaten ones in the freezer for later retrieval when we simply CBF.

[dwarfthrower]

The good old-fashioned food pyramid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_guide_pyramid) is probably the best guideline whether training or not.

Training you can afford to pack on the carbs a bit more... wholemeal pasta, breads etc... Bananas are good. From what I've seen of photos of you you're not the type to stack on a spare tyre.

Regular small meals are better than a few big ones. The body copes with small amounts of food at a time better. Too much food in the stomach at any one time and some of it will be expelled without being fully digested.

Basically carbs are fuel, proteins are building blocks. If you want to develop muscle - eat more lean protein.

[dozer]

check the website, its 5 portions a day. a big glass of fresh juice can give you 2 portions.

if you are running you will need to eat regularly and usually carbs, low gi like brown bread and rice will release energy slower and let you eat less regularly.

if youre just starting out running your body will usually tell you when it needs fuel. what are you eating through the day?

[Benwah]

A balanced diet, what I always say is "you can't put diesel in a ferrari" so Lean meat, fish and chicken, some eggs, plenty of fresh fruit and LOTS of fresh veggies (greens like sprouts and peas and broc) keep yourself well hydrated (water with a dash of lemon juice is good as soon as you wake up in the morning) Rice, potatos, good crusty (wholemeal if you can eat it) Bread. Don't eat too many trans-fats and try and stay way from junk food but a mars bar now and again won't hurt.

[Glompbot]

My housemate has water with lemon juice or grapefruit juice first thing in the morning
I was wondering why?

I'm loosely following the CSIRO total wellbeing diet... I have to admit, every other time I've tried changing my eating habits I've cut out a lot of protein, but the CSIRO one matches how much I eat already, so its working well for me (its a high protein food plan)

This is what they recommend daily, i'm a bit off track since changing jobs... its a rough idea for you:

High fibre cereal - 40g per day
low fat milk - 250ml per day
wholegrain bread - 2 slices per day
fruit - 2 pieces per day
lean beef/lamb for dinner - 200g per day
lean chicken/fish/other meat - 100g per day
vegetables - 2 and 1/2 cups per day
low fat yoghurt - 200g per day
canola oil - 3 teaspoons per day
wine - 2 glasses p/w


That much red meat actually makes me sick, so I usually have grilled chicken for dinner, lately I've been going nuts for the pork chops though.

I can't remember the last time I used the frying pan.

[kleph]

i'm sortof fighting the same problems, that_bloke. my eating habits are scattershot and i really have to concentrate on putting the necessary quantities in the tank so i got enough fuel to do this training.

probably the first step is working on eating with better regularity. three meals a day and consiously snacking in between. i'm piling up on vanilla crackers, banannas and yogurts to have around the house for the latter.

when it gets to specifics, you might want to do some research as folks have suggested. a great resource i've recently found is nutritiondata.com. give it a gander.

http://www.nutritiondata.com/

[Elentari]

My housemate has water with lemon juice or grapefruit juice first thing in the morning
I was wondering why?

This article may answer that question for you - http://www.quantumbalancing.com/news/lemon%20water.htm

I sometimes put a squeeze of lemon in my water in the morning, but its purely for flavour. For some reason water tastes weird in the mornings but I need fluids and I don't drink milk and doctor has banned me from drinking juice.

Also lemons are totally the most awesome fruit ever!

[Bostonmess]

In the Uk, the first thing in the morning, you seem to get all the chlorophyll.

I found raw mushrooms to be quite good for giving me an energy boost.

[Glompbot]

Ok, so maybe I should start doing it too.

I just drink tea in the morning.

[Glompbot]

I've been getting sugar cravings early afternoon something severe since starting this walking thing. (i've been going for short walks during my lunch break too)

What should I eat to satisfy these cravings?

[meg]

Honey(or golden syrup, lower GI).
Best you can do is snack on nuts unfortunatly.
I've been sugar free for a while and I know it's hard. Try to push through it.

[Benwah]

Honey and Golden Syrup have an almost identical GI to refined sugar.

Nuts is an excellent idea. Fruit (whilst also high in sugar) is at least nutritional.

[dwarfthrower]

I've been getting sugar cravings early afternoon something severe since starting this walking thing. (i've been going for short walks during my lunch break too)

What should I eat to satisfy these cravings?

Sugar cravings are the result of your blood glucose level dropping... you feel like eating sugar because that is what will bring your glucose level back up the fastest. It will also lead to another crash soon after but our bodies don't think that far ahead. You need to head the craving off at the pass rather than try to remedy it once it happens. Your best bet is to spread your food intake out across the day. Have breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, supper... and cut the portion sizes down rather than just the usual 3 square meals. This way the body is continually breaking down lower GI foods into glucose and your blood sugar levels won't be prone to peaks and troughs to the same degree.

[Glompbot]

I'm not big on nuts. I mean, I love them (cashews yum yum), but I can never stop at a small amount. So I don't have them around... and when you eat too many nuts... its not pleasant afterwards.

[kleph]

it really helps to start stocking up on munchie fodder. bannanas, crackers, trail mix. whatever. part of the reason i overindulge on one specific snack is because that's all i've got around.

[Glompbot]

I know my eating habits... i cannot have snack food in the house or i turn it into meals.

[meg]

Home-made dip and rice cakes? I enjoy that. Or munch on pieces of meat.