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You Are What You Eat
by Tim Wescott
To learn more about Tim Wescott & Weights on the Web please click on the above banner.
Tim Wescott - 2003 Massachusetts Championships
(Middleweight and Masters Overall Champ)
Your bodybuilding success is largely determined by a number of factors. Training hard and consistently is one of them, as is getting adequate rest, which is imperative for muscle growth and recovery. Two more biggies on the list are persistence and intensity. Consistency is another prerequisite, but the single most important ingredient that determines your bodybuilding success, or failure, is by far nutrition. Most bodybuilders and trainers are in agreement that bodybuilding nutrition accounts for up to 75 % of whether you achieve below average results, or reap optimum rewards for your hard training efforts.
Don't put your faith in quick fix diets or new fad diets that pop up every other week. Instead, simply eat well balanced meals, to ensure that you are getting the proper macronutrients into your system. If you are like a lot of people, and have every diet supplement under the sun in your pantry, but the closest thing to resemble real food is a box of "Lucky Charms"cereal, you're in for real trouble. Supplements have a place in a person's diet, but you should always opt for real food whenever possible.
I see too many people that drink 5 protein shakes a day, and eat only one solid food meal, then complain how they are going nowhere in their bodybuilding efforts, and are always lacking energy. A supplement is just that, an item to "supplement" the diet which should be comprised mainly of whole nutritious foods. Don't supplement your supplements with food, but do just the opposite, use them wisely as an adjunct to your diet.
Here are some eating tips to help you on your way to physical perfection:
Eat Breakfast
After a fast of 8 hours of sleep your body is in dire need of nutrients to take you out of a catabolic state and to keep your metabolism stoked. Your metabolism slows down considerably while sleeping, so jumpstart your day with a well balanced high protein, high carbohydrate, breakfast. Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day!
Eat More Often
Having 5-6 meals a day has many advantages. Frequent meals help to keep blood sugar levels stable. They also aid in better digestion and assimilation of food, as well as absorption of essential macronutrients. More frequent meals also help to keep the waistline down, and to keep the body in an anabolic state. Try your best to eat every 2.5-3 hours for best results.
Slow Down
Take the time to enjoy your food. Eating slower will help you to eat less, which will aid you in your weight loss struggles. Masticating (chewing) your food thoroughly will also aid in digestion . Carbohydrate digestion begins in the mouth, so chew your food good before ingesting it. You will only use the food that your body absorbs after digestion, anything else will be excreted.
Stay Hydrated
Thirst is the first outward sign of dehydration. Don't wait to get thirsty, drink fresh clean water all throughout the day. water does so many things to benefit your body's health it would take a separate article entirely to list all of it's attributes. In bodybuilding, not drinking enough water is one of the most common mistakes, and one of the easiest to correct. Carry a 20 oz. sports bottle with you all the time and refill it when necessary. Water also helps you to lose body fat by keeping the metabolism stoked and creating a sensation of fullness in the stomach enabling you to eat enough for your individual needs without overeating.
Limit Late Night Carbs
Eating excess carbohydrates at night when you are less active is a big no no. Laying around watching TV, or going to sleep after eating a high carb meal, makes it easy to store the excess carbs as fat, due to decreased activity. Eat the majority of your carbs early in the day, and at your Post-Workout meal, where they can be used to replenish glucose and glycogen, as well as to be used for fuel.
Variety Is The Spice Of Life
Spice up an otherwise boring menu by including a variety of foods in your diet. Far too many people today don't eat fruits or vegetables at all, even bodybuilders. Some dietary restrictions are necessary and valid when dieting pre-contest, but in the off-season you should be looking to eat more fruits and vegetables, along with your other bodybuilding foods. The guy that I alluded to earlier with the 5 protein shakes a day, is missing out on a lot of the essential vitamins and minerals that are desperately needed to build a great physique, along with the other necessary macronutrients. Bake, broil, boil or steam your foods, to avoid excess fats used in frying, and to keep from losing valuable nutrients. Eat a well balanced diet composed of all the 4 basic food groups.
Eat Your Favorite Foods
To lose weight, it's not necessary to go on fad diets that require you to eat just a few select foods to help you lose weight. Diets like "The Cabbage Diet", "The Grapefruit Diet","The Juice Diet", etc., are just not healthy for you at all. They deprive the body of important nutrients, and are also dangerous. To make it more tolerable to lose weight, eat foods that you like, just cut down the portion size. Of course if chocolate cake happens to be one of your favorite foods, then you have to be a little tougher on yourself. Eat good healthy foods that you enjoy, in moderate quantities.
Don't Miss Meals
The body thrives on routine, so eat 5-6 meals a day, every single day, depending on your goals. Try to eat at approximately the same time every day, and eat every 2.5 - 3 hours. You will never realize even half of your potential, if your eating habits are inconsistent. Spot -on nutrition is vital for overall good health and optimal bodybuilding progress. Be adamant and methodical in your approach to a superior eating regimen.
Add Fiber To Your Diet
There are a myriad of health benefits you will reap when you add more fiber to your diet. A new study finds that dietary fiber from cereals and fruits, but not vegetables, is associated with reduced risk of heart disease. Soluble fiber also swells up in your stomach and in your intestines creating a sensation of being full which will curtail you from overeating if you are trying to lose weight. High fiber foods are also digested more slowly, so they don't cause spikes in blood sugar levels like white bread or sweets do. The average American eats 12 grams of fiber per day, most health organizations recommend 20-35 grams. Fiber not only promotes overall general health, but can also significantly aid in your fat- burning efforts. People who ate the most fiber(about 25 grams per day) weighed 8 pounds less than those who ate the least( about 12 grams per day).
Supplement Your Diet
Supplements are a great adjunct to your diet to help ensure that you get all the necessary vitamins, minerals and protein that you require daily. Choose your supplements wisely as there are so many hyped up products on the market today that will produce questionable results, if any at all. I briefly touched on taking supplements earlier in the article, and I will say again, do not rely on them at the expense of eating whole food. Eat good food first and foremost, then add in the supplements. Use the time tested ones that are documented to produce results over the hyped up ones. A few good ones that I recommend are :
**Whey or Milk & Egg protein powder.
**Branch Chain Amino Acids.
**Creatine.
**Multi Vitamin.
**Vitamin C.
**Vitamin E.
**Chelated Minerals.
You can't go wrong with these as they are proven to be effective. Remember there is nothing more anabolic than good old nutritious food. Eat first, supplement later!
There you have it a good basic primer on what and how to eat to start you off on your quest for a great physique!
TRAIN HARD!
Weights On The Web
http://www.geocities.com/timbuktuweights/
My Forum
http://timwescott.proboards18.com/index.cgi/
* Article by Tim Wescott.
* Back to This Issue's Frontpage
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