What Did I Eat Today?
November 4, 2011 by danny · 6 Comments
Over the last few days I’ve been, well, less than perfect with my eating. I walked by the Halloween candy we had in our house about 376 times, and I dug my hand into that pile more than once. And then last night after I lifted in my home gym, my post-workout meal was a mix of count chocula + cheerios + almond milk with a little protein powder sprinkled in there.
Don’t get me wrong, I still incorporated a lot of protein, veggies, and healthy fats throughout the day. BUT, I did cheat more than I should have.
This is the key to success in this health and physique “game” >>> If you get back on track right away, a little cheating here and there is perfectly fine. Problems arise when a bad night of drinking beer and scarfing down pizza turns into a pancake and syrup infested morning, followed by a quick run to Micky D’s for lunch, and finished off with a family dinner at Olive Garden where you start with 14 breadsticks as your appetizer. Moderation, moderation, moderation! Let’s just not forget what moderation really is… i.e. don’t kid yourself into thinking that cheating 50% of the time = moderation.
Tell Others About Your Goals. Don’t Keep It To Yourself.
Since I splurged a bit over the last couple days, I told myself that I would not put one thing in my body that even resembled a cheat food. I walked by that Halloween candy pile another 34 times, but didn’t give in to temptation once. Another motivating factor was the fact that I knew I was going to blog about what I ate today and didn’t want to look bad when I logged this for you all to read. Sometimes “putting it out there” is great motivation and can be a very powerful tool in helping you drop a few pounds (or whatever your goal is). I know not all of you have a website to share this kind of info, but try something like this; when you start your fitness and nutrition plan, tell a few (or many) people close to you and let them know that YOU ARE GOING to reach your goal. That way, if you give up or don’t hit your goal, you also feel like you are letting them down. It’s a great way to help hold yourself accountable.
Believe it or not, you (my readers) helped hold me accountable today. Again, I knew I was going to be blogging about this later in the day and that REALLY helped me walk away from the Halloween candy. So thanks for the help my peeps! 
What I Ate On This “Bounce Back Day”
First Feeding #1
- ~ 1 cup of oatmeal
-apple slices mixed in
- ~ 1/4 scoop of chocolate protein powder (cinnamon added)
-4 whole eggs
Supplements: 1 fish oil capsule (just under a gram of combined EPA/DHA) + 1 Vitamin D Capsule (1000 IUs)
Green Tea with 1 tsp of creatine (sometime between feeding #1 and #2)
Feeding #2
- ~ 3 ounces of steak (grass-fed)
- ~ 3 ounces of turkey
- 1 small/medium red potato
- green beens + broccoli (organic)
Snacked on a YouBar as I was driving around doing some errands.
Feeding #3
- ~ 8 ounces of beef (grass-fed)
-2 Ezekiel English Muffins with almond butter spread on them
-green beens + broccoli
- ~ 10 almonds
Supplements – 1 tsp Carlson Liquid Fish Oil (lemon flavored) (1.3 grams combined EPA/DHA)
Feeding #4
-2 scoops whey protein powder (chocolate)
-2 strawberries + a handful of raspberries (both organic)
- ~ big spoonful of almond butter
-1 scoop of Superfood (veggie powder)
All mixed into a blender – tasty!
On top of this I had a bunch of water all day.
So there you have it, a typical day of what I eat.
Look similar to what you put down your pie hole on a daily basis? You eat cleaner than me? Does a day in my eating life look WAAAAY more clean than yours? Let me know!
And don’t forget the above message… put your goals out there for others to hear. It will really help you stick with it!
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About danny
That’s a lot of food in one day D. It honestly doesn’t sound all that bad though.
Hey Jamie! And this is on the mild side. Quite often I consume more than this. But since it is a lot of clean food, the calories don’t add up too fast (as opposed to eating about of processed carbs).
Danny
D,
Can you expand on the term “Clean Food”?
Sure Jamie,
Many people define clean as follows:
“If it doesn’t swim, run, or fly, or isn’t green and grow in the ground, don’t eat it..” OR…
“If man made it, don’t eat it.”
I wouldn’t say I recommend eating 100% like the above quotes, but it’s a good general rule of thumb.
Danny
D,
Ok. Thats easy to remember, I’m going to try to follow that more often when a case of the munchies works its way into my head at work. The hardest thing for me is planning to pack things for myself so I don’t have to be overcome with the lure of the vending machine.
The one question I do have is in the supplement category. It would seem to me that some granular (Powder) supplements have to go through an obvious multi-layered “process” to be turned into a granular form. To me this would have to include some “man-made” additives to allow for the accelerated dehydration and preservation of these supplements? How do these items categorize with the above rules?
Thanks for your time answering these questions. I hope other people find the information as helpful as I do.
-Jamie
Good questions, Jamie.
Above I said that the definitions I mentioned are a good rule of thumb (but not perfect). Here’s a copy & paste from Alan Aragon (has his Bachelor and Master of Science in Nutrition)…
“To use a common example, whey is doubly processed in the sense that it’s not only a powdered form of milk protein, but it’s a separated fraction of milk protein. Yet, when combining the results of standard ranking methods (biological value, protein efficiency ratio, net protein utilization, and protein digestibility corrected amino acid score), whey has a higher total than all other proteins tested, including beef, egg, milk, and soy [5]. Furthermore, research has shown not only its benefits for training applications [6], but whey has a surprisingly wide range of potential for clinical applications as well [7-10]. Therefore, despite whey being a refined/processed food, it has multiple benefits and minimal downsides.”
So, as you can see, even know whey protein is “processed,” it has many benefits. This is where the “clean” vs not clean discussion is not always black and white. With that said, most protein powders also use artificial sweeteners that many seem to think the human body should not consume (it’s STILL a controversial topic, as some say that a little bit is perfectly fine). In case you are worried about artificial sweeteners, you can always try to consume a powder like JayRobb Protein Powder (but it’s more expensive) as they use Stevia as their sweetener.
In regards to your “biggest problem,” planning to pack for things for work – that is probably the #1 “excuse” that I’ve heard from clients in “not being able to eat right.” So, you are not alone.
Anyway, just try to cook in bulk and store leftovers for the next day(s). I always store in glass containers (rather than plastic). Just takes a little thought and just a touch more time to prepare for future meals. Habits!
Hope this helps, Jamie!
Danny