Basic Nutrition Guide?

I’m looking for a basic nutrition guide, for some friends. I’ve read all the work by JB and Lonnie, but for the guy in the street it seems a little complex

is there a real beginners guide out there somewhere?

[quote] Mod Note:
I suggest this as a great starting point.

7 Habit
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459493

If the everyday person can nail these basic concepts they will be WELL on their way. [/quote]

what he said above… the 7 Habits is just about all you need, in handy bite-sized nuggets.

All except one:
“1. Eat every 2-3 hours, no matter what. You should eat between 5-8 meals per day.”

That pretty much warants a straitjacket. I hope work, friends and hobbies don’t get in the way of those eight meals. :slight_smile: Seriously, that kind of obsession is absolutely not necessary. Just keep your protein in check(1g per pound of bodyweight) and make sure you don’t get hungry during the day by having breakfast, lunch and dinner at set times every day of the week. Then just top it off with a protein shake whereever there’s a gap. Then you can follow the “6 habbits”.

Hmmm… I have to disagree with the above poster. While it might seem excessive to eat all those meals, it does help you make progress. Keeping your metabolism going and keeping insulin levels steady is the name of the game.

There is a reason EVERYONE in the fitness industry does it that way.

I’m not saying it doesn’t work because it does, and it works great. I just think that it doesn’t belong in the “basic nutrition” category because it’s too demanding.

It’s only too demanding if you make it too demanding. I have been doing it for a year, and at first it was a small problem trying to fit it all in. Now its a problem NOT to do it. After you get the ball rolling it becomes no harder than eating 3 times a day. Especially if you are trying to gain wait. It’s hard to eat three 1,500 calories meal that are relatively clean.

If nothing else eat 3 square meals plus 3 shakes in between those meals.

I don’t see how someone who’s day is at least moderately busy can say that it’s not difficult. It’s time-consuming and a big pain in the ass.

And I’m not trying to get 4500 calories a day, I think that’s overdoing it and it’s wearing down your stomach.

People have different metabolisms, bone, organ, muscle and water weight. So all these calculators are anything but accurate.

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Hmmm… I have to disagree with the above poster. While it might seem excessive to eat all those meals, it does help you make progress. Keeping your metabolism going and keeping insulin levels steady is the name of the game.

There is a reason EVERYONE in the fitness industry does it that way. [/quote]

I agree with the poster you disagreed with.
Perhaps I’m a freak of the norm in terms of bulking, but even as a lacto-vegetarian [no meat,fish,eggs] I’ve put on 20lbs [164-184 lbs] in the last 3 months and never eat more than 4 nutrition/calorie packed meals a day [ a serving of either fruit, avocado, nuts or yogurt in between- I count those as snacks]. There’s no jink food at all in my diet and I’m making sure all my nutrition, calorie, and protein needs are all met primarily rather than focusing on 8 meals a day. The bulk gains are now coming very easily and I now even get hungry and have an appetite - 2 things that never happened to me before.
So to someone who generally has a lack of appetite and therefore has adjustment problems switching to such a volume of meals per day, you may find it is possible to achieve a good bulk size with not so many meals… just eat smart, and the total intake should definately not be a little or medium.

We are talking about necessary v. optimum here. Of course it isn’t necessary to eat 5 or 6 times a day, but you will see progress faster with it. You’re results will also be better because of the way this makes your body handle the food. Eating more frequently speeds up your metabolism, and provides a steady flow of insulin…both of which are good things for the person looking to put on quality mass.

Of course I know you can get bigger eating 3 meals a day, it will be faster and provide more quality pounds if you do it the “hard” way.

Nothing worth doing is ever easy.

Agreed. Again I was just pointing out that eating in that manner would be beyond ‘basic’ nutrition, because to me ‘basic’ would be closer to necessary than optimal.

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
We are talking about necessary v. optimum here. Of course it isn’t necessary to eat 5 or 6 times a day, but you will see progress faster with it. You’re results will also be better because of the way this makes your body handle the food. Eating more frequently speeds up your metabolism, and provides a steady flow of insulin…both of which are good things for the person looking to put on quality mass.

Of course I know you can get bigger eating 3 meals a day, it will be faster and provide more quality pounds if you do it the “hard” way.

Nothing worth doing is ever easy.[/quote]

100% in agreement. I do not think that it is that difficult to ingest at least 5 meals a day. It is currently 4:43pm here on the east coast, I work a corporate job, and I have had 6 meals thus far. Granted two were in shake form, but there is no problem with that. I will consume 3 more before bed, with two of them coming in shake form, but not including the Surge consumed during my workout (I haven’t worked out yet).