* This is part of a year-long series called "52 Weeks to Eating better than Ever". Click on the side bar for more information and to read the previous essays.
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Unless you’re an athlete be careful with carbs, because their sweet and salty addictive nature and highly concentrated calories can get you in trouble.  Most people eat too many total carbohydrates, and choose the worst types of carbohydrates, in the form of bread, pastas, rolls, cereals, pastries, sweets, sodas, and other sugary drinks.  Unless you’re an athlete, you don’t need a ton of carbs, mainly because you don’t need a lot of calories!   
 
If you aren’t actively competing in a sport, you don’t need to be eating a large amount of carbohydrates. Excessive carbohydrates are converted into stored glycogen in the liver and muscles, but once this maximum is reached, excess carbohydrates are stored as fat.  Unless you’re training for a sport, you don’t need as many carbs or calories as you think you do.  This is one reason so many people have success on lower carbohydrate diets.  Too many unhealthy carbs could lead to problems with insulin resistance, weight gain, fat storage, fatigue, and possibly even other health problems related to inflammation.  
 
One of my Master’s thesis supervisors was Dr. Dan Benardot, Nutrition advisor for the US Olympic Team. In his excellent book, Nutrition for Serious Athletes, Dr. Bendardot states that the biggest single mistake athletes make is not eating enough.   Not eating enough is a much different problem from what the ordinary person struggles with, which is eating way too much!
 
Carbohydrates are essential for athletes, because for those involved in training for a sport, they serve an important purpose: providing a quick source of energy in the form of muscle and liver glycogen, and sparing muscle protein from being broken down into an energy source.  If you are playing basketball, soccer, or martial arts competitively, or any other sport, you need more energy, and thus you need more carbohydrates and more total calories.  That way you don’t break down your muscle tissue as an energy source of last resort and you can train hard.  This doesn’t mean as an athlete you can eat junk food, it just means that you need to fuel yourself:
 
a) through tough workouts, and…
b) enough to recover from training.  
 
That way as an athlete you don’t break down precious muscle tissue as energy, in a process called catabolism, which could hinder your performance significantly.  
 
If you ARE NOTan athlete:

• Limit your carbohydrate intake, to 30-60% of total calories.
• Eat meals at times with no carbohydrates at all, like a salad and protein with fruit for desert.
• Choose whole grains, fruits, legumes, beans, quinoa, brown rice, and starchy vegetables. 
• Keep your total calories down by keeping your carb intake moderate and really focus on making good choices.

 
If you AREan athlete:

• Eat healthy carbs at every single meal.

• Make the same healthy choices as a low-carb eater (whole grains, fruits, legumes, beans, quinoa, brown rice, and starchy vegetables) BUT eat more carbohydrates.

• Eat a light snack 45 minutes before you train, with some carbohydrates, about 25-35 grams depending on your size and weight.
• Consume some carbohydrates after you train for recovery.
• Consume 50-75%+ of your total calories as carbohydrates.
• Consume more total calories.  
• One day a week, eat whatever you want to.  

 
Carbohydrates are a great fuel source, but plan accordingly for your goals, and eat the right kinds. Little things add up!

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* This is part of a year-long series called "52 Weeks to Eating better than Ever". Click on the side bar for more information and to read the previous essays.
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You only have so much free will.  If you conserve it, and use it properly, you will eat better and be healthier.  If you reduce the number of decisions you must make when it comes to eating healthy, you will automatically make better choices. 
 
You may be wondering what I’m talking about when I use the term “free will”.  By free will, I mean your ability to freely choose an action. This may not be something you’ve thought much about and may surprise you, but there are many people who believe you, as a human being, don’t have any free will to choose anything, and then there also those who overestimate how much you do have or can reasonably access in each day.  Both are errors and poor strategies for a good and healthy life.  Throwing in the towel on free will, or on the other end of the spectrum, trying to exercise too much free will daily can doom your eating. 
 
You do have free will and thus the ability to make choices, but you only have so much, because choices require mental energy and focus, and most of the things you do are done automatically and without thinking.  

• Biological determinists believe humans are simply acting on their evolutionary and biological desires, and that the decisions we think we’re freely making are not free decisions. I believe they are wrong and that we do have free will. 

 

• Many people who do believe in free will are unaware of the thought processes or the lack thereof behind own decisions, and the way they use their free will, and are so tied into meeting immediate desires like hunger that they rarely take time to consider the consequences. Awareness is the first step for these people.

 

• Some people think through things too much, trying to call on too much free will in too many ways, which creates stress, anxiety, temptations, poor decisions and an excess of demands and mental confusion.  This is the person who jumps from one eating program to another without ever sticking to one and seeing the results they want. 

 

• A balanced and reasonable view on free will is to say that we do indeed have it, but we only have so much, so we need to be careful to conserve it by simplifying things and reducing the number of decisions we make so that we ‘automatically’ make good decisions without thinking.  

 
If you were a gambling addict trying to stop blowing your money at casinos, wouldn’t it be wise to make a rule to not go into casinos?  For a gambling addict to go into a casino and not gamblewould require a massive amount of free will, and thus discipline, which is incredibly taxing on the mind and willpower.  It’s better to just not go in to a casino at all. The same with shopping if you’re a shopaholic, strip clubs if you like strippers, social media addictions, and so on. Create some rules, and stick by them so you don’t have to use as much free will. Food can be approached the same way:

• Have several routine go-to meals you eat repeatedly. These are some of mine:

 
Turkey sandwich with an apple and iced tea.
Chicken breast, broccoli, and grapes.
Whole grain pasta with olive oil, a salad, and yogurt for desert.
Sardines, salad, and brown rice.
Quinoa with olives, tomato salad, and skim milk.
Oatmeal, 1-2 eggs, and a banana.
Almonds and a protein fruit smoothie.
Tuna salad, whole grain crackers, sauerkraut, and celery.
Small steak, sweet potato, and spinach.
Whole grain toast, protein fruit smoothie.

• Get rid of junk food in your house, so you don’t have to use free will to avoid this stuff.
• Stay out of fast food restaurants, so you aren’t tempted to opt for the fried foods.
• Only go out to eat on special occasions, so you don’t eat a heavy and expensive meal.
• Eliminate fried food, except on rare occasions. 
• Let your friends and family knowyou are trying to eat healthy and that you need their help, that way they don’t tempt you but rather will support you.    
• Meals you need to prepare quickly should have the same structure repeatedly, and often even the same thing over and over again- protein, vegetables and / or fruit, & low glycemic, low sugar carbohydrate.

 
These “rules of thumb” add up to make your life so much easier by reducing how much you must think about eating right.  One reason every diet works in some way for some period is because you are limited on a diet to eating certain strict things.  Dieting “works” while you’re doing it because it reduces choices, and reduces your free will load. People lose weight and lose body fat on the South Beach, Atkins, Zone, Weight Watchers, and You Name It diets, and high carb diets, low carb diets, high protein diets, low fat diets, high fat diets and every other type of diet because there is structure to the program, which limits intake and reduces the expenditure of precious free will.
 
Keep it simple. Have a plan and stick to it.  Reduce the number of decisions you’re making, and you will free up willpower to succeed in eating better than ever. 
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* This is part of a year-long series called "52 Weeks to Eating better than Ever". Click on the side bar for more information and to read the previous essays.
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Some Principles for When and What to Eat
 
Like many things with eating right, it’s all about combining various rules of thumb.  The ultimate question is always…….:
 
What is your number one priority?
 
If your priority is to run a marathon, or gain 10 pounds of muscle, or lose 20 pounds of fat, you are going to have very different strategies.  So, let’s run through some of these about when and and what to eat. Remember, the bolded title would be your number one priority.
 
Exercise for Fat Loss
If you are looking to lose some bodyfat, try fasting 2-16 hours before you exercise.  That way your body breaks down fat as an energy source.  You will feel a little lethargic, and won’t be able to work as hard, but you will also burn more fat.
 
Exercise or training for a sport or competition
Eat a meal 3-4 hours beforehand, and a light healthy snack of around 100-200 calories 30-45 minutes before. You need to eat to train hard, so don’t hold back much if you want to compete!
 
Night meals
Try not to eat right before bed, so that your food will digest better and you will be more likely to burn it off.  This is not a hard and proven fact by the research, but it makes sense not to eat a huge meal and then go to bed.  
 
Breakfast
Try to work out before breakfast or at least go for a walk if you can, to boost your metabolism.  
 
Meal spacing
Wait 3-6 hours between big meals, to give yourself time to digest your food.  Grab a snack if you get hungry in between.  
 
Lunch
It’s a good strategy to eat your largest meal in the middle of the day, that way you burn it off before bedtime.  
 
Eating after weight training to gain or maintain muscle
It’s always a good idea to eat a healthy meal after weight training.  Eat a full meal within an hour after weight training to recover.

Eating after cardio to burn fat
Wait at least an hour and up to 3-4 hours after a cardio workout, to utilize fat stores for recovery. 
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Exercising on a fast for health
Sometimes, it’s good to not eat before or after.  Try exercising in the morning and then not eating until lunch or evening dinner. This will provide a jolt to your immune system, and you don’t need to do it very often, more than a couple times per month.  
 
Remember, there are no hard and fast rules, it’s all about prioritizing what you want to work on. And you can vary it day to day.  I use a mix of these depending on what I’m doing on a given day.  The key is to time your meals and plan your intake to reach your goals.  
 
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