Trying to eat better....need advice!

[AnthonyJTa 0]

If you enjoy flavored yogurt, mix it yourself. Get some of the plain unflavored stuff, chop some fruit up, and mix. It'll save you a ton of money (around $3 for a quart of plain yogurt versus $1 for a cup of flavored)

Also, if you need more ideas, watch Good Eats on Food Network (hosted by Alton Brown). I enjoy cooking a great deal and he's the only one who actually goes into the science of nutrition and food science. Here's a transcript from an episode on power foods. He explains metabolism and other fun stuff in layman's terms as well.

http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season9/ene..._trip_trans.htm

Yes! I think I got this one from Alton Brown for a pre-game "booster" snack...

1 slice whole grain bread

all natural peanut butter

sliced banana

a little honey drizzled

... I just make a small sandwich out of that about 2 hours before I leave for hockey, and it gives me a great pickup.

I too, enjoy making my own fruit/yogurt.. and a HELL of a lot cheaper.

[willy0314 0]

www.bodybuilding.com

[nni 0]

eat oatmeal for breakfast every morning, not instant oatmeal, either rolled oats or steel cut oats. this alone will start working on that cholesterol.

I've tried eating non-instant Oatmeal (i.e. Quaker oats) and it is so bland on it's own that I can't stand it. Do you have any tips for making it taste better without adding sugar?

And thanks for the info, everyone...keep it coming!

eat oatmeal for breakfast every morning, not instant oatmeal, either rolled oats or steel cut oats. this alone will start working on that cholesterol.

I eat Oatmeal quite a bit. No milk, butter or suger though. I add suger free applesauce or just toss a bunch of fresh berries or other fruit in it.

Ah, thanks. I just posted about this (above).

sugar isnt the enemy, i use a sugar free syrup and a splash of milk. cinnamon can help. fruit etc. these wont hurt you in the long run.

[jeffw 1]

A handful of raisins and a sprinkle of cinnamon is good in oatmeal, too. Or a banana, strawberries...any fruit, really.

[Fletch 219]

I was reading some stuff on bodybuilding.com that mentioned to stay away from fruit because even though it is fructose, it is still high in calories and gets stored as fat. Any truth to that? It was a few days ago, when I read this...I'll look for the link.

[nni 0]

you shouldnt live off of it, but fruit isnt something to be avoided in a healthy diet.

[Fletch 219]

you shouldnt live off of it, but fruit isnt something to be avoided in a healthy diet.

Yeah, I can't find the article but I came across this one that says pretty much what you said (at the very end) -

http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/anthony2.htm

[Nolan Baumcalorimeter 0]

Try not to listen to everything the people at bodybuilding.com say because a lot of these guys are in competitions where every hundredth of a body fat % counts

[sdcopp 1]

there's been a lot of good general advice, but it's not entirely the cure all. The hardest part here is determining what your body type is and what you specifically want to accomplish. Different body types will react differently to dietary changes. Eating better and getting bigger are good as general goals, but to acheive what you want, you'll have to be specific, ie: lower body fat to X%, gain X% in muscle mass focusing on body areas X,Y and Z, etc.

A great read I found was Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle e-book. If you google up RTP Blog, you'll find this and a couple other e-books that seem to have pointed a few people in the right direction. The RTP Blog is for a guy named Adam Waters that has had some outstanding results through proper eating and hard work. It's actually quite inspiring if you're serious about changing your lifestyle. I've actually slipped back into bad habits and need to get back to reading the updates to keep myself accountable.

[Fletch 219]

I'm just looking to burn some of the fat I have off and replace it with muscle. Like I said in the original post, I only weigh 180 pounds and am pretty slim. But I have a bit of a gut, semi love handles and the chest of a 12 year old.

I'd pretty much like to someday look like Ed Norton in "American History X" - minus the swastika, of course ;)

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/07...merican01_l.jpg

[N!! 0]

I was reading some stuff on bodybuilding.com that mentioned to stay away from fruit because even though it is fructose, it is still high in calories and gets stored as fat. Any truth to that? It was a few days ago, when I read this...I'll look for the link.

High amounts of fructose can be problematic since it has to be metabolized almost entirely in the liver. It slows down the insulin response dramatically but may still cause problems if it's consumed in heavy doses. For example, those who binge drink will tend to develop a fatty liver over time; the reason is that the liver is unable to metabolize it all, so the alcohol is stored as fat. Someone who has one drink a day won't develop it because the liver processes it with relative ease, then moves on to other things.

In the case of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), the theory is that the same sort of response happens; that is, that the liver metabolizes what it can but is unable to handle the load, thus causing fatty deposits to form. But HFCS involves a processing in order to increase the fructose before mixing with the corn syrup, which is basically a viscous liquid sugar.

Table sugar (sucrose) in itself isn't the devil that most would have you believe. The key operative word, as always, is "moderation". A good reason to do your own cooking is that you know exactly what's going in there, whereas with processed foods there's a lot of sodium that's been added for preservation, a lot of HFCS added for preservation and maintenance of flavor, dyes and other assorted junk to maintain color, and so on. If you're cooking, though, you know exactly what's going in there. Most homemade marinara sauces contain no sugar, but in most of the commercial stuff "sugar" or "HFCS" usually checks in as the #1 or #2 ingredient (to use one common staple as an example).

[adam14 182]

since i eat breakfast every weekdayat 7, and my lunch hour at school isnt untill 12.30/1.00 i usually leave the house with a couple of cliff protein bars, or else Zone bars in my bag, i'll eat one around 10, in between classes that can hold me untill lunch, then one as afternoon snack and one before my ice session, they come in all different flavors and theyve kept me from snacking on junk. never skip breakfast either! thats a must lol i usually stick to cereals a hand ful of vitamins a fish oil and a yoghurt and a fruit.

[Cavs019 708]

Hello punctuation.

[gxc999 7]

The first thing you have to ask yourself is "What is my goal?"

Sounds to me like you want to get a bit more lean. I would advise a few things

to eat a lot of. First, lean meats like chicken and turkey, broiled or pan made at home with olive oil or just water. Second, drink fewer calories. I pretty much only drink water, which is my I'm unfortunately skinny, but hey, atleast I have some muscle too. Third, more fruits, veggies and healthy stuff. Brown rice instead of white, Rye Bread instead of white bread etc. Cut out soft drinks completely and less fast food. I love cookies, instead of eating triple chocolate chip, eat fresh made oatmeal raisin. Little things like that will add up for you quickly.