Rules for Engagement - Rule 4 - Diet

This was supposed to be a fairly short post because, well I didn’t think I followed any measure of a strict diet but after writing this, I’ve realised that that is not true. However, the ways in which I view diet has been helpful and kept me relatively healthy whilst also being able to enjoy my food.

So, I generally eat stuff that I believe to be healthy most of the time. What I mean by this is Monday-Thursday I’ll follow a stricter diet than that at the weekend.

Breakfast

Now I’m not a big breakfast person simply becuase I eat late at night so I’m never hungry when I wake up, however I have to have something or I’ll crash or start shaking. So, I’ll have a banana or blueberry or both smoothie with a cereal bar with nuts and seeds in it. After quickly researching to find the benefits of having a banana for breakfast, I have been punched in the face by the amount of articles stating why bananas might not be the best for breakfast due to their high natural sugar content paired with their moderate levels of acidity so, they could end up giving you a quick sugar boost, resulting in a crash mid-morning. To be honest, I’ve never experienced this, maybe that’s because I pair this with a coffee which might be overdriving my body but, this seems to work for me so I’m sticking with it!

Banana & Blueberry Milkshake

Throw a handful of blueberries and a whole banana into a food processor, I use a Nutribullet because I’m obviously middle-class what with the whole blog writing, smoothie making and going for runs for fun deal. I also add honey or agave syrup (because middle-class again) to add a bit of sweetness and a couple of ice cubes to thin it out a bit. Lastly, I add oat milk (this is getting ridiculous now) to the fill line and blitz it until it’s smooth and devoid of bits and voila; a healthy but not filling breakfast.

Lunch

For lunch, it’s generally a free for all in that I just choose whatever I want as long as it’s not processed, microwaved or excessively fried so this could be an egg dish, soup with a sandwich or a pasta dish. Sometimes I’ll add meat to the equation here but it’s not neccessary. It could be a chorizo and red pepper omelette, a chicken salad sandwich with vegetable soup or tomato, basil and bacon pasta. Whatever you want here as long as it’s fairly fresh and healthy. Sometimes I’ll add cheese as well but only a small sprinkling because too much can be fattening. I’ll also have a glass of pure fruit juice, usually orange juice and that’s lunch.

Dinner

Dinner generally follows the same rules as lunch but on a slightly bigger scale. So, I’m going to want a more nutritious meal here. About once a week, I’ll have a steak fillet which I cook in extra virgin oil and garlic for about 1 and a half minutes each side as I like my steak rare. I’ll also season each side with sea salt and black pepper. I’ll have this with oven chips, salad or peas and sweetcorn. Apart from this though, I don’t follow anything else for dinner. I’ll just choose something that’s fairly protein rich, with a side of vegetables and another glass of fruit juice and that’s dinner. If you’re used to a dessert like ice cream, I switched to sorbet during the week as it’s generally more healthy with more vitamin C, fruit and less calories but it does have fairly high sugar content so not too much, if you’re going to try this.

Supper

This, I’m not sure if anyone else does but I tend to snack a lot before I go to bed. This is generally not recommended due to trouble sleeping but I’ve always been a great sleeper, I can do it in my sleep! Also some research suggests eating before bed can actually help you sleep so, if it works for you, go crazy. It can worsen reflux if you suffer from that, however. At one point I was eating a lot of sugar and salt before bed which is most likely not good for sleep and encourages eating more, passing your daily calorie allowance if you have one at the end of the day. I decided to switch each item for a healthy alternative for during the week. Instead of crisps, I’ll have a single bag of baked crisps or grained crisps which have more fibre and less saturated fat. Instead of chocolate, I’ll have a protein bar or a nut-based bar. Instead of a fruit sweet, I’ll have a bag of dried fruit, mostly strawberries. And, instead of a sugary drink, I’ll have flavoured sparkling water.

Friday-Saturday

At the weekend, I’ll still follow the previous rules but without the strictness. So, for lunch I’ll have something like a bacon and egg roll with orange juice but if I’m not feeling like eating vegetables, I don’t have to. Same goes for dinner. Supper reverts back to eating a lot of shit including soft drinks. This isn’t necessarily an excuse to just eat like shit for the sake of it, I still have about five portions of fruit and veg but I have more freedom to eat a little less healthily if I want.

Caffeine

Now, in high school, I used to drink two energy drinks a day whilst studying for exams. This continued somewhat less frequently throughout my late teens, usually having one a day. Then I started cutting down and enjoying a coffee in the morning and an energy drink in the afternoon to get me through the day. Now, the only caffeine I consume is coffee. Come to think of it, maybe all the caffeine at a fairly young age is the reason I’m so obsessed with being productive, keeping busy and writing articles about being productive and keeping busy. Maybe, it’s now permanently in my blood. Anyway, I still wouldn’t recommend drinking energy drinks without any moderation. I’m planning on reducing my coffee intake as well to something like Mushroom Coffee to reduce my caffeine intake and improve my health at the same time.

Water

They say you should drink 8 glasses of water a day so I try to drink as much as I can with another mini-routine. Every morning before I make my smoothie/shake I’ll gulp down a pint of water which helps maintain balance of body fluids and energizes your muscles even before you’ve had breakfast. Then I’ll fill a bottle (mine is 600ml) with cold water and drink this throughout the day. But it’s not just as simple as drinking water whenever I feel like it like some relaxed maniac, no. I will drink the water before I’m thristy. To do this, I drink a gulp of water after each segment of activity. By this, I mean after a session of work or rest or play (Rule 1), I take a drink. This ensures my water levels are high enough consistently throughout the day.

Alcohol

As for alcohol, I can see the appeal of an ice cold beer after a long day or while watching a movie but that’s it, one will quench that thirst and I won’t need another. I struggle to see the point in drinking copious amounts of alcohol on my own. If I’m not at the pub with the intention of getting sh*tfaced, I hardly ever drink. I suppose all those years of underage drinking in a cold park in the dark with the sole intention of getting sh*tfaced, without any acknowledgement for the taste of the alcohol has wired my brain to only want a drink when I want to get drunk. This could be positive in that I don’t drink every night but on the nights when I do, I’ll drink a lot. Maybe in the future, I’ll try to do like the French do and actually drink for the enjoyment of a bottle of wine but for now, multiple pints of Tennents will do just fine.

Workout Supplements

I’ll cover my workout routines in the next rule but I may as well explore what I ingest to refuel muscles and body.

I don’t understand the premise of wasting time driving to a gym, paying money every month just to get in, lifting some heavy weights sometimes and chatting to other ‘gym people’ the majority of the time about tattoos of roses, clocks and the Mother Mary, who’s got the biggest arms and who in the gym “would definately get it” then wasting more time driving home, having a shower to wash off the small amount of sweat built up from tensing hard in front of a mirror and then eating the exciting meal of rice, chicken and mayo (I know someone who eats this), then waking up, going to work and starting the cycle all over again. Of course cycling or any form of cardio is out of the question for these people. Bear in mind, I’m speaking about a specific type of ‘gym person’ not all of them.

I’ve been side-tracked significantly, so I was talking about my priorities. The point I was making is, I’m not an expert in workout replenishment but the stuff I do use seems to do the job they’re supposed to. For workouts involving heavy lifting or strength training, I mix a spoon of creatine mix with around 300ml of water and gulp all that down. Creatine is naturally produced in your body from amino acids – the building blocks of protein. If supplemented, it provides energy for short-term, maximum exercise such as sprinting a 100m or lifting weights. Then I mix two spoons of Essential BCAA’s (Branched-Chain Amino Acids) with around 600ml of water and I’ll drink this throughout my workout. Branched-Chain refers to the chemical structure of BCAAs, which are found in protein-rich foods such as eggs, meat and dairy products. When supplemented, it can increase muscle growth and reduce muscles soreness and fatigue. I found after using these supplements that Creatine did provide more energy during a workout meaning I was able to lift more and for more reps and BCAA’s have significantly reduced my muscle soreness after workouts. Make sure that it would be appropriate for you to use these beforehand though just in case they don’t agree with your body or if you have any underlying health conditions that could influence your body’s reaction to these. After a strength training workout, I supplement with regular Whey Protein with oat milk, this encourages muscle growth and recovery and better immunity to infections, interstingly enough.

For a cardio workout, I drink water throughout and I’ll make a smoothie for afterwards with either banana, blueberries or peanut butter or all 3. Bananas are great for after a run or cardio workout as after burning more calories than a strength training workout, you’ll need more carbohydrates so they help replenish your body's carbohydrate stores. Peanut butter is a great source of protein, carbohydrates, omega-6 fatty acids, potassium, magnesium and vitamin E, so combine these two and you’ve got a pretty well-rounded, whole-food post workout drink. Blueberries, surprisingly contain great complex carbohydrates which digest slowly, staying in your system for longer, resulting in sustained energy and endurance for the day ahead after a workout, they also contain high amounts of water, which help to keep you hydrated.

So that’s my general rules surrounding food. It doesn’t involve counting calories and strictly watching what you eat but it’s generally healthy and means you can spend less time focusing on diet and more time on important career-based or education-based tasks. So, stay healthy but enjoy a splurge every now and then.

Next week, I’ll cover how I exercise.

References

Scott, E., 2016. Why Having A Banana For Breakfast Might Not Be The Best Idea | Metro News. [online] Metro.co.uk. Available at: <https://metro.co.uk/2016/08/13/why-having-a-banana-for-breakfast-might-not-be-the-best-idea-6065212/?ito=cbshare>

Gray, G., 2019. What Does Creatine Do, And How Does It Work?. [online] MYPROTEIN™. Available at: <https://us.myprotein.com/thezone/supplements/what-does-creatine-do/>

Van De Walle, G., 2018. 5 Proven Benefits Of Bcaas (Branched-Chain Amino Acids). [online] Healthline. Available at: <https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/benefits-of-bcaa#section2>

Schuna, C., 2018. 3 Benefits Of Post-Workout Protein Shakes | Livestrong.Com. [online] LIVESTRONG.COM. Available at: <https://www.livestrong.com/article/423068-what-are-the-benefits-of-protein-shakes-after-a-workout/>

Tremblay, S., 2018. Benefit Of Eating A Banana For Sports. [online] Healthyeating.sfgate.com. Available at: <https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/benefit-eating-banana-sports-2447.html>

March, B., 2018. 7 Nutritionist-Recommended Foods That You Should Eat Pre- And Post-Workout. [online] Harper's BAZAAR. Available at: <https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/beauty/fitness-wellbeing/a15172100/best-workout-foods/>

Jones, T., 2016. Is Eating Before Bed Good For You, Or Bad?. [online] Healthline. Available at: tps://www.healthline.com/nutrition/eating-before-bed#section5>