Building better eating habits - Diet rules

[Torsten Bauer]

Hi Robert,
I am a big fan of the Barbell Logic podcasts and the podcast with you about building better eating habits is one of my favorite ones.

Your concept somewhat mirrors my own approach to dieting. Even though my genetic potential for athletics/strength is quite low I still try to make the best of it and take my training pretty seriously. Consequently, I joined Andy Baker's Barbell Club 2 years ago in order to have my programming taken proper care of. The other part I was struggling with in the past was appropriate nutrition with respect to strength training.

I realized that it is simply not feasible for my everyday life to weigh and prepare my food and thus track all my macros. So I developed a set of rules which I expanded over the years. I came up with the following set thus far:

3 Main Rules
1. I eat 4 meals a day with each meal containing at least 30g of protein (from which at least 20g have to be animal derived)
2. Meals have to be separated by at least 3 hours
3. No snacking between meals (no cake, no sweets, no bretzels etc.) and no caloric beverages.

During the week I have lunch at a cafeteria at work which offers three daily varying dishes. As I do not know the macro content I came up with the following rules:

1. I always take the meal with the leanest piece of meat (fish, chicken, beef, pork).
2. I always substitute fries or chips with rice, corn or noodles
3. I always take (at least) one serving of vegetables
4. I always leave out the sauce, dressing or dip
5. No calorically dense desserts, only fruits
6. I always have a can of tuna in my desk in case there is no appropriate main dish and eat that with one serving of carbs (rice, noodles, corn) and one serving of vegetables.

Additionally I have the following rules:
1. I eat the same breakfast everyday: 1 bowl of oat meal with 30g of whey protein and milk.
2. I eat the same thing with a banana 1 hour before workouts
3. I eat one package of low fat curd or skyr (Islandic yogurt) before bed as my 4th meal of the day.

Instead of counting calories I step on the scale 1-3 times a week and watch my weight. Additionally, I measure my waist about once a month.

Do you think I miss anything essential with my rules? Anything I could do better in the upcoming year?

Thanks in advance and a happy new year!

[Robert Santana]

This looks pretty sound to me, lots of good habits here. How are you addressing fiber? I'd like to see something about legumes, lentils, or high fiber cereal in here somewhere, otherwise this looks pretty good.

[Torsten Bauer]

This looks pretty sound to me, lots of good habits here. How are you addressing fiber? I'd like to see something about legumes, lentils, or high fiber cereal in here somewhere, otherwise this looks pretty good.

Thanks Robert for the hint. I guess appropriate fiber intake is a weak spot. Apart from eating whole grain oats every morning, my daily vegetable side often consists of beans, peas and sometimes lentils. I try to favor whole-grain bread and pasta but not always. I also eat nuts frequently. Overall, I certainly don't hit my recommended amount of fiber on a daily basis.

That will be my new years resolution for 2019 :-)

[Robert Santana]

You are welcome buddy. Get it done and keep that GI doc away in 2019!

[Torsten Bauer]

Robert, just one more thing (to quote my favorite tv Lieutenant):

I realized that it might be unlikely for me to get 40g of fiber on a daily basis without the help of supplementation. I saw that Psyllium husks are most frequently referred to in that regard (my wife even has this stuff in the kitchen drawer).

May I ask what your opinion on that topic is and whether it is important to spread the fiber intake approximately even between your meals? Or is it equally good to get, say, 60% of your total fiber intake in one meal and the rest in the remaining ones?

Thanks in advance!

[Robert Santana]

Robert, just one more thing (to quote my favorite tv Lieutenant):

I realized that it might be unlikely for me to get 40g of fiber on a daily basis without the help of supplementation. I saw that Psyllium husks are most frequently referred to in that regard (my wife even has this stuff in the kitchen drawer).

May I ask what your opinion on that topic is and whether it is important to spread the fiber intake approximately even between your meals? Or is it equally good to get, say, 60% of your total fiber intake in one meal and the rest in the remaining ones?

Thanks in advance!

Thanks for sharing buddy. Supplementation is useful when you legitimately cannot get it from your diet. Remember though, you are losing out on micronutrients when you do that. Try to work in some beans and berries when you can. I would not take a large bolus of fiber in though unless you want to live in the toilet. Spread that out as evenly as possible.

[Torsten Bauer]

I just checked some of the food I usually like to eat and it is really not easy to achieve 40g of fiber a day. Even stuff like sauerkraut, cauliflower and red cabbage is not as fiber rich as I initially thought. As you suggested I will have to refer to berries more. Plus I found something that I like and that has a lot of fiber, namely Pumpernickel bread. Two slices contain about 10g of fiber.

[Robert Santana]

Don’t forget about beans, lentils, oats, and bran buds. All go a long way!

[Alchemist]

Robert, do you have a take on brewer's yeast? 6g fiber per 30 g (about 2 T) plus 16g P. I personally love the stuff and found it an easy condiment to meals that didn't act like just a fiber supplement in the bath room sense.

[Robert Santana]

Robert, do you have a take on brewer's yeast? 6g fiber per 30 g (about 2 T) plus 16g P. I personally love the stuff and found it an easy condiment to meals that didn't act like just a fiber supplement in the bath room sense.

It's a fine supplement with multiple benefits. In addition to providing some fiber, it appears to be beneficial for your intestines, and provides chromium and B-vitamins as well.