Everybody knows you have to watch your fat intake and try to keep it low. Generally, I would try to eat less than 10g of saturated fat per day (which is very difficult), and less than 30% of calories in unsaturated fats.
- How Much Dietary Fat Do We Need?
- How much fat should you eat?
I used to think that complex carbohydrates was the most important part of your food intake. Now I'm not so sure.
- Carbohydrates: Nutrition Source, Harvard School of Public Health
- MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia: Carbohydrates
- Carbs Diet Information
- Good Carbs Bad Carbs - Carbohydrate-Guide.com
Now for protein. This is the building blocks of muscle. They say you should get about half a gram of protein per pound of body weight, per day. So a 200 pound guy should eat about 100g of protein every day. I think I'll shoot for 80 to 120g. A lot of body builders like to take a lot more, between 1 and 2 g per pound of body weight. But I don't believe there is any real proof that taking so much protein really helps. In fact, it can be a problem for several reasons, one of them is that it can deplete the calcium in your body.
The most protein comes from tuna and chicken breast. A typical chicken breast has 45g of protein.
Another good source of protein is beef, but that usually has a lot of fat, including saturated fat. But, I do love the beef. Here is a pdf document listing the leanest cuts of beef. To summarize, these are the leanest:
- Eye Round
- Top Round
- Bottom Round
These are the next leanest:
- Sirloin Tip Side Steak
- Top Sirloin Steak
Unfortunately, Tenderloin (Filet Mignon) is quite aways down the list, it has almost 50% more saturated fat than Top Sirloin. 95% Lean Ground Beef is about half way between them. I recommend that we try to avoid ground beef, and only eat the kind with 5%-7% fat. Of course, most restaurant burgers are probably 30% fat....
To make sure I'm getting enough protein, I found a protein powder I really like (Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard, strawberry flavor) and some meal replacement bars (Optimum Nutrition Opti-Pro, and Protein Diet bars). I buy them from AllStarHealth.com.
- Protein
- Nutrition: How Much Protein Do You Need?
- Protein: Nutrition Source, Harvard School of Public Health