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what i eat probably bores you.
I've been leaving comments all over other people's LJ's about my right food / right time theory, and a couple of people have asked, essentially: "Sounds good, but what do you mean? What's the right food and when is the right time? How do I know?"
So I figure I'll try to answer that question.
First off, I can't tell anyone what the specific right thing is. It seems to vary a lot from person to person. Presumably we all burn energy differently.
Also, if your goal is to diet, this isn't for you. I'm concerned about my energy level, though I'd be thrilled to be thinner and I'm constantly convinced I'm shrinking (certainly, exercise has changed my body shape, but I'm not shrinking much so far).
Over several years, I accidentally tested out a variety of eating habits. I learned through error that I need breakfast, lunch and dinner (not skipping anything, and not eating smaller meals) and should eat each day around the same time.
So, knowing that already, I tried varying the size and content of those meals. First, I made sure to drink enough water. For me, that's a 1/2 liter bottle refilled 4 or 5 times at work, and another 4-5 times at home.
Next, I figured out that I need - gasp - the appropriate food groups in each meal (to do this, I tried eating more or less of each food type at different times). I was eating too much plain starch, not enough fruit or veggies, and more dairy than I should (though that is more about other concerns than energy). The rule I usually apply is that each meal should have more or less equal parts of veggies, fruit, protein & breadstuffs; when I tried that, I was more energetic. There's no specific food that I used to eat and stopped.
Then, I played with meal size (which meant a couple of test weeks of being full and hungry at all the wrong times) and concluded that I need about: 200-300 calories in the AM, 300-500 calories at lunchish, and 600-900 calories at dinner; if I eat in the low end at lunch, I go for the high end later & vice versa - it works out to about 1500 calories, which is a lot less than an automatic calorie counter would say I needed. I try to eat when I'm hungry, which is generally when I wake up in the morning, around noon, and around 5 or 6 (hey, meal times - who knew?).
A day's meals might go something like this:
- Breakfast: glass of cranberry juice and serving size of organic cereal w/ almond milk (vegan)
- Mid-morning: green tea & a handful of nuts
- Lunch: pomegranate, can of V-8, small portion of grilled tuna & veggies, 5-6 rice crackers
- Afternoon: more tea & a couple of licorice pieces
- Dinner: pretty big bowl of sausage & polenta with veggies, more cran juice, crusty bread & a fat-free pudding (if I eat pasta or cheese, or anything I find "heavy", it's usually at dinner, before I'm going to be active)
My partner, on the other hand, eats a piece of fruit for breakfast, some veggies at lunch, and twice as much as I do for dinner. Everyone has different energy burning rates. Both of us exercise after dinner every day, which probably explains why we eat so much more then.
So I figure I'll try to answer that question.
First off, I can't tell anyone what the specific right thing is. It seems to vary a lot from person to person. Presumably we all burn energy differently.
Also, if your goal is to diet, this isn't for you. I'm concerned about my energy level, though I'd be thrilled to be thinner and I'm constantly convinced I'm shrinking (certainly, exercise has changed my body shape, but I'm not shrinking much so far).
Over several years, I accidentally tested out a variety of eating habits. I learned through error that I need breakfast, lunch and dinner (not skipping anything, and not eating smaller meals) and should eat each day around the same time.
So, knowing that already, I tried varying the size and content of those meals. First, I made sure to drink enough water. For me, that's a 1/2 liter bottle refilled 4 or 5 times at work, and another 4-5 times at home.
Next, I figured out that I need - gasp - the appropriate food groups in each meal (to do this, I tried eating more or less of each food type at different times). I was eating too much plain starch, not enough fruit or veggies, and more dairy than I should (though that is more about other concerns than energy). The rule I usually apply is that each meal should have more or less equal parts of veggies, fruit, protein & breadstuffs; when I tried that, I was more energetic. There's no specific food that I used to eat and stopped.
Then, I played with meal size (which meant a couple of test weeks of being full and hungry at all the wrong times) and concluded that I need about: 200-300 calories in the AM, 300-500 calories at lunchish, and 600-900 calories at dinner; if I eat in the low end at lunch, I go for the high end later & vice versa - it works out to about 1500 calories, which is a lot less than an automatic calorie counter would say I needed. I try to eat when I'm hungry, which is generally when I wake up in the morning, around noon, and around 5 or 6 (hey, meal times - who knew?).
A day's meals might go something like this:
- Breakfast: glass of cranberry juice and serving size of organic cereal w/ almond milk (vegan)
- Mid-morning: green tea & a handful of nuts
- Lunch: pomegranate, can of V-8, small portion of grilled tuna & veggies, 5-6 rice crackers
- Afternoon: more tea & a couple of licorice pieces
- Dinner: pretty big bowl of sausage & polenta with veggies, more cran juice, crusty bread & a fat-free pudding (if I eat pasta or cheese, or anything I find "heavy", it's usually at dinner, before I'm going to be active)
My partner, on the other hand, eats a piece of fruit for breakfast, some veggies at lunch, and twice as much as I do for dinner. Everyone has different energy burning rates. Both of us exercise after dinner every day, which probably explains why we eat so much more then.
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So, what kind of things did nutritionists say that about veg diets? I would have thought that was EXACTLY the sort of thing they could help with.
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