I'm walking 5 miles to school 3 days in a row with a backpack on my back. The pack probably weighs 5 pounds or less. I have water with me and drink before I'm thirsty. If I walk 15 miles and do weight training on M, W, F to help tone up... what kind of food should I be eating for optimum energy/etc? Carbs/Proteins? Also, and maybe more importantly, what should I avoid? I know fats, but saturated/unsaturated? Thanks
A shake I made a lot of mornings was variations on the below; 1 banana (freezing it helps, take the place of ice) 2 tablespoons peanut butter 1 - 1.5 cups soy milk blend together tastes great give you soy & peanut protein as well as potassium. it can count as a small meal due to calories.
Read up on The Zone/40-30-30. It is the healthiest way to eat, and it's not a crash diet but a way you can eat for the rest of your life. It's also called the Balance diet...with good reason. You will eat 40 percent of your calories from carbs; 30 percent from protein and 30 percent from fat. If that seems like a lot of fat, consider this: one gram of fat has 9 calories, while one gram of carbohydrates has 4.5 calories. A gram of protein has about 6 calories. So by basing the way of eating around a percentage of calories of each food type instead of volume, you get a balance that other diets simply never achieve. I will say that while working with weights, you will need to add some protein to the equation...but you'll be increasing total caloric intake, so the balance will remain close to the base formula.
if its "energy" you want, then eating fruits, vegetables, salads...basically, things that aren't processed or dead meat is a great way to boost energy. super green drinks and supps. diet and energy has always been my struggle. this is not what i do, just what i've learned. also hear acai gives the body a nice boost.
This, plus to answer one question no one answered in your original post anglp, you always want unsaturated. For a normal diet youre allowed about 50G of Fat(total) with 15G being the saturated variety. This places you on roughly a 2000 calorie diet.Just because youre allowed about 15G of saturated fats it doesnt mean you have to get there. Generally speaking, foods to avoid: Ice cream (especially Haagen Daas) or any other kinds of cream (Cream cheese, etc) Cheeses/Milk that isnt at 2% or less anything fried Any kind of processed cake High fat but generally ok on the saturated part: Most types of nuts Dark Chocolate Oreo's Also because of the amount of energy youre going to expend walking to and from campus, plus having to stay awake in classes I would recommend staying away from Turkey which causes the brain to release additional melatonin, a chemical that makes you sleepy. If you check any sleep aid thats usually the main ingredient. I would also take in a lot of potassium (banana's) to avoid cramping from all the walking. This will help with the absorption of water in to your muscles.
Hard to answer your question specifically, without knowing where you are at now and what you're trying to accomplish t-nation.com...that will provide you a lot of information regarding weight training, diet, supplements, etc. My morning shake usually consists of: 40g whey protein/amino acids (I get a tub of stuff from GNC that has everything) 12 oz skim milk 1 frozen banana 1 apple if you are looking for energy, I would recommend checking out superfood