Your best nutrition tips & tricks

[Bacchus]

Since this forum is still empty, I'll do the honors and get it started.

What is your best small tweaks/tips or tricks in order to improve your diet and nutrition?

I have a few that i find very useful myself, but I do realize that they might not be for everyone. I'm just a firm believer in making it simple and sustainable:

I consider "processed food" a bit differently than what's standard (I think):
I like to think of everything you do to the raw material a process, and use some broscience/brologic when considering what I eat.

Oatmeal for example, if you mix a bowl of oatmeal with milk- it's not exactly a delicacy. But it's nutritious and keeps you full for a while. It's rough and hard, it's obvious that it takes some effort to properly digest.

Now, consider overnight oats instead. It's still the same raw material, with an insignificant amount of high GI carbs added via some berries, or sugar. But if you compare the consistency - it's more or less half digested, so the effect it will have on your blood sugar and satiation is different.

Ground it up and make oatmeal flour, add an egg or two and some milk. Fry up some delicious pancakes. It just goes straight through your system and you're hungry again in no time.

Same logic applies to a bag of chips you snack on while watching a football game for example. It's high calorie and you're ready for dinner 5minutes after eating an entire bag. The equivalent in boiled potatoes would be a couple pounds of potatoes, good luck eating dinner after two pounds of potatoes

Obviously there is a major difference in the pleasure of eating these, and that's where a lot of the problem lies. Which brings me to the next one -

Try getting used to more bland tastes, bitter tastes, sour tastes etc
Tea without sugar for example, it's quite enjoyable when you get used to it - and it does help dampen cravings.

Getting used to bland tastes probably seems a bit silly, but it helps me a lot personally. I consider nutritional value over taste for most my meals, and i have some "go-to" quick fixes for when I'm lazy or low on time. I find it useful to not really enjoy most of my meals, it also makes the ones where I want to enjoy the taste even better.

I keep boiled eggs in my fridge, if i feel like grabbing as snack, I chow down a couple eggs, I don't really enjoy it at all, but it kills the craving.

Instead of ordering when I'm short or time or feeling lazy - I throw some rice in the rice cooker, fry up some ground beef/chicken slices and have a bowl or rice and meat, maybe with some ketchup or a tasty sauce. Takes 10 minutes and it's quite cheap too!

Try getting used to being hungry:
I find the notion that we have to eat x meals per day to be flawed, and in many cases it causes even more hunger. This probably isn't for everyone, but personally I find hunger negligible after a while. The feeling usually stays for quite some time, but then it kind of fades into the background once you're used to having it there.

Time your carbs:
I can't remember where I got the quote from, but - There are essential proteins, essential fats, but there are no essential carbohydrates.

Carbs definitely has a role in your diet, and I don't believe a constant state of ketosis is a good thing - it also carries with it some potential side effects. But carbs are not necessary with every meal, and definitely not in large amounts.

Carbs are fuel, and that's the role they should have. You definitely do not need 60+grams of carbs for lunch if you have an office job (people are different though, and some people feel better when eating carbs and need it to regulate blood sugar). But if you exercise for more than 45mminutes, adding some carbs during the workout will definitely help you push harder and get a better result for your time invested.

Post workout is another good time for carbs, it's actually just as, if not more important than protein in your post-workout nutrition. This is the time when your glucose storages are low. Carbohydrates stimulate insulin production, which helps transport amino acids into muscle cells for repair and growth. By including carbs in your post-workout meal or snack, you ensure that protein synthesis occurs efficiently, reducing the risk of muscle breakdown. And you refill the storages, so a decent amount of carbs you eat after exercise and for the next 4 hours are actually spent refilling and recovering - So it's a good time for that snack you crave, and a nice reward for a good workout.

More protein is "never" wrong:
Protein makes you feel full, and you also spend roughly 20% of the calories in the protein when you break it down. So it would take a lot of effort to have "too much" protein in your diet.

Fruits, juice etc:
First, I would like to point back to the first tip about processing. When you juice or mix fruits into a smoothie, you make it very easy for the body to digest - So it really isn't very optimal in my opinion, even though fruits are healthy generally speaking (I can't with certainty say that this is scientifically backed, but I believe it is).

Try to opt for more vegetables and less fruit, and when you do opt for fruits - try to go for the ones higher in fiber. For me personally, I get addicted when i keep opting for the tasty but healthy treats and it increases my general cravings.


Need to cut my post "short" for now as I have to run, will try to improve it later (If we can edit old posts, not sure how that works here).

 

[icebear]

my best cutting/weight loss hack is to limit carbs for breakfast or the first meal of the day!

i will really emphasize protein, fats, and fiber to really stay full and also avoid that blood sugar spike. casein protein is especially great as it it’s a slower digesting protein compared to whey.

i like eating the same thing most days of the week as i already know i can hit my calories and macros without the extra decision stress/anxiety

even before GLP-1s, this breakfast would keep me full for 5 hours:
high fiber bread (647 brand) w/ avocado
dip with 200g cottage cheese & sugar free syrup

as a 5’1 asian woman i was able to go from bmi 26 to 20 in 5-6ish months

i also do not see any food as clean/healthy. i eat what i want and when i want. i am just more mindful of my true satiety and portion sizes. life should still be enjoyable as weight loss is already a long process that sucks the entire time. i find GLPs make it not suck and i’m loving it

 

[MingHenry]

I really focus on protein and hydration. I use a food logging app Lifesum, first time ever to use one, but it's been helpful, and I don't really worry about the carbs and fat macros, I set the protein to 100 grams, and the carbs are higher than the fat, and I always go over the protein, which I'm aiming for. Before starting Zep, then compound, and soon grey market, I was already a healthy eater, my weight issue has been a function of severe hypothryroidism, insulin resistance, and metabolic issues, but just before I started Zep, I spent a week logging what I ate and drank and discovered, as healthy as I ate, I didn't eat as much protein or drink as much water as I was sure I did. I'm an accidental vegetarian (most of the time) so I've discovered some ways to increase my protein - now I get anywhere from 135-165 grams of protein every day. And like @icebear, I can eat the same things for days at a time before I get bored. For more protein, I love Oikos Pro Yogurt - 20 grams in each cup. Obviously cottage cheese, my favorite is Friendship 1% Whipped, which I eat on its own, add to eggs when making an omelet, used by itself with 2 tbsps flaxseed meal mixed in and the fresh-frozen fruit from Trader Joe's that I like to eat still really chilled but not frozen. Because I've been trained by a lifetime of avoiding carbs because of my med issues, I have to remember to add them in - and every once in a while, if I am hungering for it, I'll make a sandwich with good sourdough bread or something like that, oatmeal sometimes, etc. What's worked for me to increase my protein (and help joints, hair, skin) is adding (1) collagen peptides to my coffee or protein shake (favorites are Live Conscious and Vital Proteins), (2) adding in Orgain or Live Conscious protein powder when I make a shake with a Fairlife or Premiere Protein shake, (3) adding in Javy protein coffee powder. Sometimes I add in vegetables and fruit, but not often. Pre-tirz, I ate a ton of vegetables, good clean salads, and apples every day, but have found so far that my desire for them has really disappeared, only have a desire for salad once in a while, but I do eat a lot of strawberries, raspberries, cherries, pineapple, peaches, etc. Though I don't know how I feel about having a protein shake every day with some or all of the Fairlife/Premiere Protein shakes, protein powder, the protein coffee, and sometimes 1/2 cup of Fairlife Fat Free Lactose Free ultra-filtered milk, whether I should consider it all processed and therefore supposedly bad, or not, but it's delicious and I can get as much as 75 grams of protein that way. For me, being on tirz, has helped me actually eat MORE than I used to eat, to eat more regularly (I used to never eat anything until about 4pm - yes I know breakfast is important but I've hated it since I was a kid). I also have eggs, of course, I've gone at least a week at a time making myself a two or three egg omelet with 1/2 cup Friendship cottage cheese and sourdough toast for dinner every night, and daily I have at least one small container of Kitchen Basics chicken bone broth which I started to use in December in anticipation of a major knee surgery, and I swear the collagen in it has helped with my healing, and it's an easy 10 grams of protein. Pre-tirz, I never ate enough in any day to get as much protein as required with tirz by eating only salmon, eggs, etc., so I had to find other ways. And to really up my hydration I've been drinking at least 141 ounces of water each day. I use LMNT, one packet in a 33.8 glass bottle of filtered water. First thing in the morning, I start drinking, half the glass filled from the bottle of LMNT water and the other half with plain filtered water and I keep filling from both bottles and drink it all down until both bottles are empty. Then through the day I drink a 74 oz pitcher of filtered water. I swear the LMNT (I prefer the raspberry salt) has changed how I pee! Though I discovered I hadn't been drinking as much water as I thought, I did still drink a lot - about 70 ounces, and all it did was go through me, but now I'm actually hydrating my body and it's made such a difference - also has taken away the side effect I had earlier on of low blood pressure and dizziness from tirz. I also take digestive enzymes whenever I eat. The various magnesiums did nothing for me, but the digestive enzymes are great for me. I have found, for about 98% of the time, since being on tirz, that I have to remind myself to eat - and developing this routine of LMNT water, pitcher of water, bone broth, a protein shake a day - has helped me to get a good amount of my necessary calories each day. I am in the early maintenance stage - so I'm trying to see how many calories I can increase by without gaining weight, other than the normal fluctuations, while only slightly decreasing my 2x a week tirz injections. I've not found that right number yet - but I've worked at increasing by 100 cals a day - some days I reach that, a few I haven't. 300 cals more a day might be too much, but it's hard to tell yet. Because of my knee surgery, I've gone nowhere, so keeping to my routine has been easy. But I'll be away in a couple of weeks, and it will be interesting to see what happens. I'm not actually particularly worried about overeating or having uncontrollable desires for food, but whether during that week away I can get enough protein and can drink enough water without my routine.

 

[Tomes]

I lost 60 pounds (granted, in my 20's) with no assistance and the ONLY thing that worked for me was cutting back portion size so that I left the table slightly hungry (maybe 70% full, 30% hungry) for every single meal or snack. In general, I genuinely enjoy healthy foods and have a fairly high level of nutrition knowledge, and an understanding of what "not so healthy" foods are worth it to me, so this works to my benefit with this approach - still, when I lost the 60 I ate pizza and baked goods and basically whatever I wanted, in (severe) moderation.

I've tried calorie counting, macro counting, carb cutting, fasting, and none if it works for me personally, somehow knowing the numbers seems to make my body go into overdrive with hunger to fight back against being underfed, or something! What I did may work TERRIBLY for others, and some of these other methods may work great. It's all so personal!

 

[mostlydamp]

I want to contribute by saying that while protein is important, eating too many calories just to get enough protein can be a trap. This kept me overweight for a long time thinking I needed to eat more. If you overall get enough protein you can end up with more one day and less another day. You can go several days without much protein if you get a lot here and there. You also don't have to worry about complete proteins. To some degree your body recycles amino acids so it's not that big of a deal.

Also, protein intake has never corresponded to fullness for me. I have found that by not focusing on protein very much I am so much more likely to eat less food and lose weight, so I just try to get enough to meet the WHO recommendations which are a not very high at all compared to the protein focus in the U.S.

Obviously this is just what works for me but I wanted to offer an alternate opinion on protein.

 

[MingHenry]

I want to contribute by saying that while protein is important, eating too many calories just to get enough protein can be a trap. This kept me overweight for a long time thinking I needed to eat more. If you overall get enough protein you can end up with more one day and less another day. You can go several days without much protein if you get a lot here and there. You also don't have to worry about complete proteins. To some degree your body recycles amino acids so it's not that big of a deal.

Also, protein intake has never corresponded to fullness for me. I have found that by not focusing on protein very much I am so much more likely to eat less food and lose weight, so I just try to get enough to meet the WHO recommendations which are a not very high at all compared to the protein focus in the U.S.

Obviously this is just what works for me but I wanted to offer an alternate opinion on protein.

So glad you've found a way that works for you! I find it so amazing how incredibly different it is for each of us - what works or doesn't or doesn't then does!

 

[milos]

Since this forum is still empty, I'll do the honors and get it started.

I think what you are describing is actually about glycemic index & load

 

[Sackett]

Don't eat around emotions. Don't eat when tired. Stay hydrated and try and walk 10 min after every meal. You can not eat your feelings away. Also stop eating at 80% full and try not to eat until you are hungry for protein. If you are Craving sugar or salt it's boredom, emotional or tiredness. Better to walk or nap at that stage.

 

[Lankiegirl]

Don't eat around emotions. Don't eat when tired. Stay hydrated and try and walk 10 min after every meal. You can not eat your feelings away. Also stop eating at 80% full and try not to eat until you are hungry for protein. If you are Craving sugar or salt it's boredom, emotional or tiredness. Better to walk or nap at that stage.

I didn’t know even salt was part of that problem. This part hit hard. Boredom/ emotional and tiredness . Yeah that’s sounds like me

 

[Sackett]

I didn’t know even salt was part of that problem. This part hit hard. Boredom/ emotional and tiredness . Yeah that’s sounds like me

Cool program I did a few years back called naturally slim. They followed naturally slim people from around the world and looked at traits and eating patterns. It's not the end all but it did fill in some gaps as to why we over eat and how to be cognitive of the issue. I will look for my notes and see if I can share them.

 

[tedtwist]

Since this forum is still empty, I'll do the honors and get it started.

What is your best small tweaks/tips or tricks in order to improve your diet and nutrition?

I have a few that i find very useful myself, but I do realize that they might not be for everyone. I'm just a firm believer in making it simple and sustainable:

I consider "processed food" a bit differently than what's standard (I think):
I like to think of everything you do to the raw material a process, and use some broscience/brologic when considering what I eat.

Oatmeal for example, if you mix a bowl of oatmeal with milk- it's not exactly a delicacy. But it's nutritious and keeps you full for a while. It's rough and hard, it's obvious that it takes some effort to properly digest.

Now, consider overnight oats instead. It's still the same raw material, with an insignificant amount of high GI carbs added via some berries, or sugar. But if you compare the consistency - it's more or less half digested, so the effect it will have on your blood sugar and satiation is different.

Ground it up and make oatmeal flour, add an egg or two and some milk. Fry up some delicious pancakes. It just goes straight through your system and you're hungry again in no time.

Same logic applies to a bag of chips you snack on while watching a football game for example. It's high calorie and you're ready for dinner 5minutes after eating an entire bag. The equivalent in boiled potatoes would be a couple pounds of potatoes, good luck eating dinner after two pounds of potatoes

Obviously there is a major difference in the pleasure of eating these, and that's where a lot of the problem lies. Which brings me to the next one -

Try getting used to more bland tastes, bitter tastes, sour tastes etc
Tea without sugar for example, it's quite enjoyable when you get used to it - and it does help dampen cravings.

Getting used to bland tastes probably seems a bit silly, but it helps me a lot personally. I consider nutritional value over taste for most my meals, and i have some "go-to" quick fixes for when I'm lazy or low on time. I find it useful to not really enjoy most of my meals, it also makes the ones where I want to enjoy the taste even better.

I keep boiled eggs in my fridge, if i feel like grabbing as snack, I chow down a couple eggs, I don't really enjoy it at all, but it kills the craving.

Instead of ordering when I'm short or time or feeling lazy - I throw some rice in the rice cooker, fry up some ground beef/chicken slices and have a bowl or rice and meat, maybe with some ketchup or a tasty sauce. Takes 10 minutes and it's quite cheap too!

Try getting used to being hungry:
I find the notion that we have to eat x meals per day to be flawed, and in many cases it causes even more hunger. This probably isn't for everyone, but personally I find hunger negligible after a while. The feeling usually stays for quite some time, but then it kind of fades into the background once you're used to having it there.

Time your carbs:
I can't remember where I got the quote from, but - There are essential proteins, essential fats, but there are no essential carbohydrates.

Carbs definitely has a role in your diet, and I don't believe a constant state of ketosis is a good thing - it also carries with it some potential side effects. But carbs are not necessary with every meal, and definitely not in large amounts.

Carbs are fuel, and that's the role they should have. You definitely do not need 60+grams of carbs for lunch if you have an office job (people are different though, and some people feel better when eating carbs and need it to regulate blood sugar). But if you exercise for more than 45mminutes, adding some carbs during the workout will definitely help you push harder and get a better result for your time invested.

Post workout is another good time for carbs, it's actually just as, if not more important than protein in your post-workout nutrition. This is the time when your glucose storages are low. Carbohydrates stimulate insulin production, which helps transport amino acids into muscle cells for repair and growth. By including carbs in your post-workout meal or snack, you ensure that protein synthesis occurs efficiently, reducing the risk of muscle breakdown. And you refill the storages, so a decent amount of carbs you eat after exercise and for the next 4 hours are actually spent refilling and recovering - So it's a good time for that snack you crave, and a nice reward for a good workout.

More protein is "never" wrong:
Protein makes you feel full, and you also spend roughly 20% of the calories in the protein when you break it down. So it would take a lot of effort to have "too much" protein in your diet.

Fruits, juice etc:
First, I would like to point back to the first tip about processing. When you juice or mix fruits into a smoothie, you make it very easy for the body to digest - So it really isn't very optimal in my opinion, even though fruits are healthy generally speaking (I can't with certainty say that this is scientifically backed, but I believe it is).

Try to opt for more vegetables and less fruit, and when you do opt for fruits - try to go for the ones higher in fiber. For me personally, I get addicted when i keep opting for the tasty but healthy treats and it increases my general cravings.


Need to cut my post "short" for now as I have to run, will try to improve it later (If we can edit old posts, not sure how that works here).

Just started this part on the journey (hate that cliche) Lost almost 40 lbs in 2.5 months eating hardboiled eggs and a lean cuisine meal at night with a 65 cal fruit. pop. This does not sound to my uneducated ear as healthy or sustainable .Just started local hi protein shakes in morning nuts mixes duing the day and a piece of fish a pork chop at night 4 or 5 glasses of water a day .7000 steps a day and haven't got to gym yet .I'm winging it and really don't have a long term plan for how to eat .I'm 70 I want to live live I wasted 50 yrs trapped by my idiot ideas as drugs as a civil write Prohibition almost killed Time for some new skills .how do I get a sustainable plan Not all the skills I learned from the black market hurt .They sure got me off of paying 1200 a month for a drug I couldn't buy even when the bread wasn't a problem

 

[Broken Chef]

As a chef, I don't eat ANY processed foods, sans chocolate and chips - but I even make both of those myself sometimes too. Everything I make is from scratch. My issue has always been sweets and simply overeating. My brain tells me I need more 30 minutes after eating dinner, and every 30 minutes until I finally fall asleep. Sweet, Salty, Sweet, Salty... all. damned. night. long. GLP1's have been my saving grace. They cut that food noise back to almost nothing.

As for tips, I've found that protein smoothies with Garden of Life meal replacement has been a huge help. The fruit in the smoothie satisfies my sweet tooth, the protein fills me up, and the Garden of Life provides nutrients. If I wasn't cooking for my mom, I'd probably get by most days with just smoothies... and some chocolate, lol Gotta get that chocolate in there. I'll be an addict til the day I die.. chocolate is much better for me than crack..so there's that... though I'd lose more weight on crack, chocolate is a bit cheaper.

oh yeah, I'm trying to go with nuts for my healthy snack.. but again, the addictive personality kicks in, so the glp1 making me feel full faster is my saving grace.

There's no way in hell I would have lost 50# without glp1's! Only 50# more to go!

My dr keeps pushing the Mediterranean diet on me. I like it, but my mom hates it, so in lieu of making 2 things for dinner, I only make it occasionally when she goes out with her friends. I like the things that are good for me, I always just ate too much of them. I couldn't eat just a handful of nuts, I ate the whole bag. I couldn't eat just 5 strawberries, I ate a pound, dipped in sugar. I couldn't eat a handful of olives, I ate the whole jar. Now I have control...usually.

 

[Bacchus]

Just started this part on the journey (hate that cliche) Lost almost 40 lbs in 2.5 months eating hardboiled eggs and a lean cuisine meal at night with a 65 cal fruit. pop. This does not sound to my uneducated ear as healthy or sustainable .Just started local hi protein shakes in morning nuts mixes duing the day and a piece of fish a pork chop at night 4 or 5 glasses of water a day .7000 steps a day and haven't got to gym yet .I'm winging it and really don't have a long term plan for how to eat .I'm 70 I want to live live I wasted 50 yrs trapped by my idiot ideas as drugs as a civil write Prohibition almost killed Time for some new skills .how do I get a sustainable plan Not all the skills I learned from the black market hurt .They sure got me off of paying 1200 a month for a drug I couldn't buy even when the bread wasn't a problem

You are completely right about the sustainability. As for whether it's healthy or not is probably debatable, any severe calorie restriction over an extended period of time isn't exactly healthy. But get down to a goal/normal weight is usually healthy when weighed against the cons of overweight over time.

Any diet or intensive program is simply unsustainable over time - In my opinion that is.

Personally, I just keep a rough estimate of my calories and try to hit my protein goal while avoiding the "worst" and calorie dense foods. Makes life easier to keep it simple.

There isn't really a one size fits all solution. But the knowledge needed to stick to a decent diet is not very comprehensive, it's more about filtering out noise and sticking to the basics.

I would definitely try to go to the gym, resistance training is very healthy, especially when advanced in age.

As for a specific sustainable plan, I don't think one exists. It's more about finding out what works for you and balances quality of life with achieving your goals. Have a few calories too much one day, a a deficit the other day. Hitting an exact balance on a daily basis will take up a lot of time and effort.