| Straight Talk on Fitness www.mikestewartfitness.com Web/blog Entry August 8, 2009 EATING RIGHT! Part I: Eating the Old fashioned American Way |
Over the past several months, we have been discussing the proper way of eating when trying to lose
bodyfat and gain lean muscle. As many of you know I recently divorced the crazy meal plans endorsed by
the large training organizations, corporate gyms and well-known fitness trainers. These bulky, mass
calorie meal plans (which for years I pushed onto clients) are designed for bodybuilders and high-speed
athletes, not normal, 40-hour a week, in-the-trenches-every-day-workers like yourself.
Over the past several months I began investigating the current "fad diets" pushed by the multi-million dollar
"fitness" groups, chains, organizations, societies and bodybuilding organizations. I honestly feel that these
eating styles are designed top heavy toward protein or carbohydrates, fruit or freeze-dried food. Divorce
them!
I researched South Beach, Atkins and Body for Life (too heavy on protein), Gluten-free (too silly),
Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Zone (freeze-dried) as well as the ridiculous Caveman Diet (too ridiculous).
These diets, like a hundred others, are fads and should be avoided at all costs. If you don't beleive me, I
suggest you invest some reading time and investigate them for yourself:
Once you have come to the realization that diets are fads, lets take a closer look at HOW TO EAT. In Part
II we will discuss WHAT TO EAT, but for now, lets talk about how to eat and make a choice on which one
we will choose to follow.
Here are the two choices you have:
Lets look at the American style first ....
bodyfat and gain lean muscle. As many of you know I recently divorced the crazy meal plans endorsed by
the large training organizations, corporate gyms and well-known fitness trainers. These bulky, mass
calorie meal plans (which for years I pushed onto clients) are designed for bodybuilders and high-speed
athletes, not normal, 40-hour a week, in-the-trenches-every-day-workers like yourself.
- ITEM: You must eat according to your fitness goals.
Over the past several months I began investigating the current "fad diets" pushed by the multi-million dollar
"fitness" groups, chains, organizations, societies and bodybuilding organizations. I honestly feel that these
eating styles are designed top heavy toward protein or carbohydrates, fruit or freeze-dried food. Divorce
them!
I researched South Beach, Atkins and Body for Life (too heavy on protein), Gluten-free (too silly),
Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Zone (freeze-dried) as well as the ridiculous Caveman Diet (too ridiculous).
These diets, like a hundred others, are fads and should be avoided at all costs. If you don't beleive me, I
suggest you invest some reading time and investigate them for yourself:
- Complete List of Nutritional Diet Plans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diets
Once you have come to the realization that diets are fads, lets take a closer look at HOW TO EAT. In Part
II we will discuss WHAT TO EAT, but for now, lets talk about how to eat and make a choice on which one
we will choose to follow.
Here are the two choices you have:
- The Standard Old Fashioned American Form of Eating (Fig. 1)
- The Standard Bodybuilding (or European) Form of Eating (Fig. 2)
Lets look at the American style first ....
BREAKFAST SNACK 1 LUNCH SNACK 2 DINNER SNACK 3
7AM 9AM 12PM 2PM 4PM 6PM
Fig. 1: The American Form of Eating
7AM 9AM 12PM 2PM 4PM 6PM
Fig. 1: The American Form of Eating
| MAXIMUM NUMBER OF CALORIES CONSUMED DURING BREAKFAST 1000 CALORIES MAX. |
| MINIMUM NUMBER OF CALORIES CONSUMED DURING DINNER 350 CALORIES MAX. |
The old fashioned American Form of Eating originated about the time of the Civil War (c. 1865). From the turn of
the century until about the 1930's Americans ate in this manner when they began going out to eat at restaurants for
meals. The common linguistic epithet at the time (taken from an old German proverb) went like this:
In the 1920's, 30's and 40's, people were up at 4am tending cattle, chickens, milking cows, working the pastures
until 6am. At 630am they had breakfast which consisted of eggs, bacon, bread and milk - high fat and cholesterol -
at roughly 1500-2000 calories.
But eating breakfast for most is a chore, as one online blogger has mentioned:
breakfast, I eat at a buffet later because I am so hungry." Eat breakfast dammit!
Here are some points about eating in this fashion:
The "Nip Tuck Diet". This is not a diet, but a cable t.v. show that made several salient points about nutrition and
fat loss. Watch the video here. Listen to what Mario Lopez tells his training cohort during the shower scene.
Although the amount of food is near starvation (and incorrect), the point he makes is very true:
The key point made by actor Mario Lopez is quite true: "...the hours you spend watching Sports Center, I am in here
[ the gym ] working out ..." and then he goes on to make an excellent point about the basal metabolic rate (BMR) -
your ability to metabolize food as you get older. This was an absolutely superb point ... of course it was cloaked in
sexuality as the selling point to the program and obviously lost on the general viewing public. After that program
aired, many people went into gyms asking for "The Nip / Tuck Diet Program" at Bally's and 24 hours!
The key to making an old fashioned American style of eating WORK for you, is to PLAN out your meals daily, stick
them in the fridge and have them ready at work. You cannot go to work on an empty stomach, or leave your meals
to your boss or co-workers: Your boss and co-workers are fat because they are more interesting in working than
becoming healthy.
Try this style of eating out and plan those meals!
Keep a log of what you do and keep it up to date!
Do not give in to your family, friends or co-workers!
Be strong. Eat healthy and lift heavy.
Resources
[ 1 ] Daily Muscle. Information courtesy http://www.dailymuscle.com.
the century until about the 1930's Americans ate in this manner when they began going out to eat at restaurants for
meals. The common linguistic epithet at the time (taken from an old German proverb) went like this:
- Eat breakfast like a king,
lunch like a prince, and
dinner like a pauper.
In the 1920's, 30's and 40's, people were up at 4am tending cattle, chickens, milking cows, working the pastures
until 6am. At 630am they had breakfast which consisted of eggs, bacon, bread and milk - high fat and cholesterol -
at roughly 1500-2000 calories.
But eating breakfast for most is a chore, as one online blogger has mentioned:
- Breakfast is exactly what the name suggests - Break Fast. It’s breaking the fast your body had while you were asleep for 8
hours (or however long you normally sleep). It is the first meal of the day, usually eaten in the morning (assuming you slept at
night). If you’ve got a twisted sleep cycle (perhaps due to working on shift, etc) and you sleep in the afternoons, then your
breakfast will be the first meal you have when you wake up. Breakfast does not follow the time of the day, but your sleep
cycle, and helps kick-start your metabolism levels for the day, which is crucial to weight loss. A study once conducted
found that although skipping breakfast may seem a good way to eliminate calories, breakfast skippers tend to be fatter than
breakfast eaters. And when people eat a larger-than-normal breakfast, they end up eating almost 100 fewer calories by the
end of the day, an amount that can help your weight loss efforts. Skipping breakfast in order to lose weight is a big mistake
and is counter productive because it actually slows your metabolism and can lead to over eating. [ 1 ]
breakfast, I eat at a buffet later because I am so hungry." Eat breakfast dammit!
Here are some points about eating in this fashion:
- You will get maximum benefit from ingesting 1000-1500 calories in the morning.
- Snacks in between B, L and D should be fruit, nuts (almonds, cashews, pecans, etc.) or cheese.
- You must eat every two - three hours [ MANDATORY ].
- Each meal should be SMALLER than the last, i.e., Breakfast is BIG, Lunch is MODERATE and
Dinner is SMALL. [ MANDATORY ]. - As the number of calories you ingest TAPERS OFF, your stomach will shrink proportionally to
the amount of food that is left in it to burn. The key to loosing your gut is eating less as the day
is winding down. - Final point: Stop eating at 6 or 7pm! Period. [ MANDATORY ].
The "Nip Tuck Diet". This is not a diet, but a cable t.v. show that made several salient points about nutrition and
fat loss. Watch the video here. Listen to what Mario Lopez tells his training cohort during the shower scene.
Although the amount of food is near starvation (and incorrect), the point he makes is very true:
The key point made by actor Mario Lopez is quite true: "...the hours you spend watching Sports Center, I am in here
[ the gym ] working out ..." and then he goes on to make an excellent point about the basal metabolic rate (BMR) -
your ability to metabolize food as you get older. This was an absolutely superb point ... of course it was cloaked in
sexuality as the selling point to the program and obviously lost on the general viewing public. After that program
aired, many people went into gyms asking for "The Nip / Tuck Diet Program" at Bally's and 24 hours!
The key to making an old fashioned American style of eating WORK for you, is to PLAN out your meals daily, stick
them in the fridge and have them ready at work. You cannot go to work on an empty stomach, or leave your meals
to your boss or co-workers: Your boss and co-workers are fat because they are more interesting in working than
becoming healthy.
- ITEM: Read "Why you MUST Exercise" or better termed, "Exercise or Die!"
Try this style of eating out and plan those meals!
Keep a log of what you do and keep it up to date!
Do not give in to your family, friends or co-workers!
Be strong. Eat healthy and lift heavy.
Resources
[ 1 ] Daily Muscle. Information courtesy http://www.dailymuscle.com.
| Nip / Tuck HBO Series Program WATCH VIDEO HERE 3:13 min. Starring Mario Lopez, Dylan Walsh September 5, 2006 episode. *** warning: Nudity! *** |
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