General Nutrition

I have decided to roughly go through my nutrition, as it has been a large part of my project. One of the most important rules is to eat every three hours to keep the body from storing food as fat ('starvation mode'). Waiting four hours before the next meal is acceptable if the meal cannot be had after three hours for some reason. The meals should contain a protein source, and, depending on the time, a source of carbohydrates. The carbohydrate should be one that digests slowly; whole-wheat and brown rice fit this category. Slow digesting carbohydrates are important because they do not cause the spikes in blood sugar (which causes fat to be stored) which fast digesting carbohydrates do. Different protein sources also have different absorption rates, but these are far less important; red meats (e.g. beef) have a slower absorption rate, and can be beneficial in the last meal before sleep for this reason. Having some fat in meals is important as well, and a small portion of almonds can be helpful if the rest of the meal is pretty lean.

Vegetables are also very important for their higher pH and for filling you up. As the day goes on, and you get into the afternoon, unless you have some activity planned, most people become more sedentary, and subsequently need less carbohydrates (energy). As this happens I start to cut carbohydrates and replace them with vegetables. I also use Barlean's Greens (http://www.barleans.com/greens.asp) twice a day with the morning meals where I am not eating vegetables.

You can get more technical with exactly how much you eat (here's a good article for that http://www.musculardevelopment.com/articles/nutrition/3709-anabolic-eating-for-your-age.html), but using a clenched fist for judging protein and a flat hand for carbohydrates is a way to judge how much you eat in a manner which is more practical than weighing everything out.