healthy eating

Question
QUESTION: Healthy eating has been a major concern of mine for about ten years but the abundance of fad diets have left me frustrated. Honestly, I'm tired of bouncing from one diet to another and am looking for something stable to stick with for the rest of my life. What I'm looking for is advice concerning what would constitute healthy eating that would help me maintain and ideal weight of probably 180-190lb. since I'm somewhat muscular. I'm 28 years old, and active, and for now my exercise regime has kept weight reasonably down but I figure by the time I'm thirty, things will start to change. So what is an appropriate balance for carbs vs. protein? How many calories a day should I consume to maintain or drop down to a desired weight? Is there a affordable, practical weigh to eat several small meals throughout the day to keep my metabolism high? And is there a practical way to count calories and log what I eat - if I absolutely have to though I will if need be.  I have all the desire in the world but I'm hampered by conflicting information coming at me from a thousand different angles - so, I'm sorry if my question is a bit much. My particulars are the following: age:28, activity level: workout at least 3-4 times a week, height: 5'9", weight:200-205, sex: male

ANSWER: Hi Quentin,

First let me apologize for the long wait for my response.

What is your exercise regime? Do you lift weights? Cardio? How often do you exercise? Moderate exercise is 3-4 times per week, including lifting each day and 30-40 minutes of cardio.

You should be eating about 1850-1900 calories per day, this will bring you down to 180 in about 10 weeks if your diet is healthy and exercise is consistent. Of course this is also subjective depending on the individual.

Definitely aim for 5 meals a day. 3 main meals with 2 smaller between. Try to eat at approx. the same time each day. Look to eat 40% complex carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat as a guideline, experiment and adjust as you need to.

The cost should be much different than eating 3 times a day as the 3 main meals should be a little smaller than normal. Eat 5-9 servings of veg each day, 1-2 fruit, 3 whole grain, 2-3 protein. Also include nuts like walnuts for healthy fats (great for snacks- 14 halves or 7 whole). Yogurt topped with milled flax seed is also filling, healthy in fat, protein and if you use plain or vanilla and mix with fresh fruit- overall good choice. Other calcium foods include green leafy vegetables such as kale, and others like broccoli; some milk is also good.  Use fish such as salmon for meat, also lean cuts of chicken are good.

Whole grains include oatmeal (slow cooking), 100% whole wheat bread, brown rice, sprouted grain breads, pumpernickel, millet and quinoa. Avoid white flour products all together.

Buy a vegetarian cookbook- learn to cook vegetables in a variety of ways! Vegetables should make up a large portion of your diet. They are low in starch and sugar, most are high in fiber, they are all high in nutrients. Eat them at lunch and dinner and for snacks.

Use carbs in the morning and early afternoon, protein in late afternoon and dinner...in general, not strictly. No food after 6-6:30.

Count calories for about one to two weeks only. This will give you an idea how much you are eating and familiarize you with serving sizes. Also keep a food diary and track your dietary habits, this can be very helpful if you are honest!

Good Luck,

Dan Haley, CNC

www.marketamerica.com/alkalinenutrition

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Great, thanks for the help. The information is priceless. Just one more question, is there any specific literature you could suggest that might have an eating plan laid out. Just to use as "training wheels" until I can keep the regime going on my own?

Answer
Quentin,

You are very welcome, thank you for your feedback.

A great book for this is Power Foods by Stephanie Beling, M.D. She plainly lays out the basics for developing your own eating plan and includes serving size charts and suggested diary and tracking formats.

Thanks again,

Dan Haley, CNC

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