A lot of questions keep coming up regarding nutrition and diet. That is a good thing. The most effective way to find out what works for you is to keep a food journal. Write down what you eat and at what time. This accomplishes a few things. First, it forces you to think about what you are eating. Next, it forces you to weigh, measure, or read the labels of everything you are injesting. Finally, it will allow you to see what macronutrient breakdown gives you the best results for health and performance at the box. Try it for a couple of weeks and see what happens (For the 6 A.M. class, I'm checking them on Tuesday.). Then every month or so, write it down for a week to check yourself. Here is what I ate yesterday:
6:00 – Workout "Religious"
8:00 – 1 cup of mixed berries, 2 T of coconut oil, 4oz of calamari and 2 turkey meatballs in 1/4c marinara
22g carb / 28g fat / 35g protein
9:30 – 1/2 cup of walnuts and almonds
10g c / 35g fat / 12g p
1130 – 3 eggs with 1 chicken sausage
5g c / 22g f / 30g p
3:00 - 4 chicken wings and 1 apple
18g c / 34g f / 34g p
6:00 – 6oz steak, 100g spinach, 100g brocolli, 1/2c coconut milk, 1/4 cup berries, 2 glasses of wine
31g c / 24g f / 42g p
8:00 – 2oz beef jerky
10g c / 13g p
This breaks down as follows: 96 grams of carbohydrate or 16% of total calories (2335), 143 grams of fat or 55%, and 166 grams of protein or 28%.
This would be in the window for a typical day for me. Protein usually hovers between 30-35% and carbs around 15%. After experimenting for the past year, that ratio and the types of carbs I'm taking in provide me with the best health and performance. I only know that because I write it down and keep track. I can't recommend doing that enough.
There is a website out there called fitday.com. It will do the work for you and also give you a detailed breakdown of the nutrients you are getting (i.e. 578% of the RDA for vitamin A…).
I’ve been using the Fitday.com daily food journal. 3 points come to mind.
1. it is very easy to use…even a former knuckle-dragging Marine can figureit out.
2. It keeps you aware fo what you are putting in your body on a daily basis…leading to a more conscious way of eating.
3. My caloric intake is great than I imagined….there are protein, carbs and fat in just about all food stuffs. Ergo the total caloric count of lets say low fat cottage cheese is more than just 7 times the number of grams of protein. It also includes 7 times the number of grams of protein and 9 times the number of grams of fat. My total caloric intake for the day is still below 2500, but above the 1900 or so calories I calculated based on the Zone method of calculating calories..