I am not a certified nutritionist. Of course most nutritionists advocate the food pyramid and other absurdities so this may not be a strike against me. The more lay-research I do into nutrition and physical performance and health the more I see vast differences between what the laboratory informed "experts" generally recommend and what those in the trenches practice. For an entertaining and insightful look into the ideology of food guidelines and dietary fads I would recommend hunting down Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma at your local library.
Before laying out my haphazard collection of dietary tips I will set out a little scheme as dreamed up by Pollan. I am going from memory here but Pollan sets out the following guideposts, lovely in their simplicity:
- Eat food. That is real food.
- Eat nothing that your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
- Eat nothing with more than 5 ingredients
- Eat less grains, more vegetables and fruit and if we choose to eat meat think of it as a condiment.
I know I don't have them exactly right but you get the idea. Simple. My quinoa salad from last night breaks rule #3 but I don't think it applies to homemade food. You get the point. Strikes me as reasonable and not too hard to live by.
Here is my less-lovely list along with short explanations:
Eat less grains. That does not mean to eat no carbs. Try and get your carbs from primarily vegetable and secondarily fruit sources. Think of approaching grains as a condiment. And when you do eat grains try and eat whole grains such as quinoa, amaranth and the like.
Why eat vegetables instead of grains?
- Grains tend to cause spikes in insulin levels which means you will want to eat in order to restabilize insulin, and the choices you make while tryng to restabilize may set the domino effect along even further.
- Vegetables tend to contain many more vitamins and nutrients than than grains. Whatever you eat will contribute to filling you up. If you eat a big helping of grains then you will not likely be eating as many vitamin-rich vegetables or tissue building and tissue repairing proteins.
All fats are not created equal. You must consume healthy fats for your well-being. Much of your brain is lined with fats. Fats promote hormonal communication. So eat avocados, olive oil and flax oil.
- Fish oil: I consider fish oil and protein powder to be a food, not a supplement. The thing with fish oil is that they are not all created equal. Most fish oils, even those readily available at health food stores, are not pure enough to take in the kinds of doses that are deemed most beneficial. High quality pharmaceutical grade fish oils are usually tested batch-by-batch for purity. The oils are usually taken from smaller species of fish which do not tend to bioaccumulate as many toxins. Therefore the potency can be greater without compromising the consumer by exposure to mercury, etc. Fish oils are believed to function as an anti-inflammatory (thereby contributing to heart health, joint health and more), and also may contribute to brain development, eye health, hormonal balance, mood and more.
- Protein shakes: if you are trying to put on muscle mass or maintain a high level of lean muscle mass and recover from intense training it will simply be too difficult to eat real "meals" frequently enough. This is where shakes and protein supplements come in. Many nutritionists dismiss protein powders but if you look at the methods of successful strength athletes you will see that many if not most of them use some kind of protein supplementation.
