I haven't been on this site in about 2 years.
1. I used to be big into weight lifting. I obsessed about my diet and supplements. I remember spending hundreds each month on supplements. I was in great shape but let's be real, that is no way to live.
During the past 2 years, I attended culinary school and recently graduated. I of course learned how to cook some great meals. Combining my new knowledge of food and what I used to do, I have some thoughts:
2. Why do people obsess about this crap? Is fruit sugar bad? Casein protein? Must drink protein shake within 10 minutes of workout. I can't have 1 beer cause it'll ruin my gains. WTF
Just eat good, clean food. Focus on animals that are raised and fed well. Make sure you eat lots of fruits and veggies. Just live your life. Eat food your grandparents could have eaten as kids and you'll be fine. Eat real food.
3.
Look at sculptures of ancient Greeks. Do you think they were taking their whey and NO2 religiously? No. They ate good food and were active. Simple.
You make some good points, I'll put numbers by the and add my comments below.
1. I think you are on to something, and we can expand on this. There is a term called big-orexia (or muscular dysmorphy). In this condition you have a unreal view of your own muscularity. Much like an anorexic thinks he/she is still over weight, someone who has this condition thinks they are small when they really are not.
Its not the same as someone in competition assessing their physique and saying: "I need to gain 15 pounds and increase the size of my thighs by 1.5 inches to compete against Mr XYZ this summer". You still understand that you are well built, and that people view you as well built.
Which I think may reflect a good many of us on this site.
What it is, is: being well built, looking at yourself in the mirror, and thinking "I'm so small, he's bigger, that guys bigger" and it effects your view of self worth. You do not view yourself as well built or muscular, and you think people view you as small.
The prior is healthy, its competitive, and its realistic.
The latter is what we see in many young men, and its not healthy, its sociopathically obsessive, and it can lead to many destructive activities.
Its one thing to use supplements and expect to see results. That's fine.
Its another thing to use supplements, attribute all your success to a supplement, and expect to lose everything and more when stopping it. This is not healthy. This is a mental addiction to a compound.
Unfortunately, muscle dysmorphia effects a lot of young men (ages 10-20), just like anorexia effects a lot of young women in the same age. And, it can lead to more dangerous, risky activities.
It can lead to prolonged, compulsive steroid use.
It can lead to a loss of desire to be social: reduced dating, loss of freinds, loss of interest in school/work, etc.
That said, when we talk about muscle dysmorphia and that obsession to train, eat, etc., we need to separate the healthy/competitive version from the pathological version. Unfortunately, this is not something that is done regularly by the media or school psychologists/social workers.
2. Again, this kind of goes back to the first group of comments.
Obsessing over food year round is pathological. If everything you think about is: What am I going to eat at this time? And, even worse, if you worry about what you will eat at what time, especially when you are out of your normal daily activities (ie: a high schooler on a field trip) Thats pathological.
If, however, you are in season preparing for an event or competition, and you have a plan set in place...that's not pathological.
However, this activity can often carry over beyond the competition, and result in a pathological obsession. This is something that most bodybuilders need to monitor. The offseason is the offseason. Its a time to enjoy the amenities of life a little more, and let the body and mind recover from a contest.
And, since bodybuilding is an extreme sport (psychologically), its not uncommon to take things to the extreme. Is fruit sugar bad? Not if you are getting it from a fruit and eating less than 50g per day (an apple a day keeps the doctor away, 6 apples a day...not so good).
Alcohol is more of a luxury item. It really does not offer much in the way of nutrition, except empty calories and some antioxidants in stouts or red wines. A drink or 2 is not going to hurt gains in the average fitness enthusiasts, and one drink is actually beneficial.
3. I will say one thing, after reviewing the diets of probably close to a thousand bodybuilders, I notice one major deficit. Variety! There is no intra-meal variety nor day to day variety. Varying your food sources (protein, carbs, fats, veggies and fruits) on a daily (or intra-meal) basis will ensure a good intake of micro-nutrients.
Lastly, (and I grant you good physiques) even the ancient greeks used supplements. Granted it wasn't NO2 (useless), but they did eat bull testicles and various herbs with the hope of enhancing performance. The majority of the city-states were actually quite obsessive societies.
Br
I just wish I was a better cook! Maybe you can start a thread, chef?
