Great website to help you get your diet in check

[exnihilo]

Okay, some folks may have noticed that despite my focus on mass "power eating" to go with my "power lifting" I've become a huge fan of massive vegetable intake recently. This is because about a month ago I decided I'd try to eat a more balanced diet, and the main thing that was missing was vegetables of the normally "undesireable" sort, specifically leafy greens and cruciferous veggies. I didn't change much, I just made an effort to try and get my daily compliment of all vitamins from food, and added a large helping of all sorts of different veggies. All I can say looking back on the last month or so is "WOW". After maybe two weeks I started to notice my endurance going up quite a bit, I felt more energetic, and I started to notice an increase in the speed of my body composition improvements. Hell, I had like five or six BIG blister-like acne spots on my shoulders and traps that had been there for almost a month from androgen use which dissapeared between two and three weeks after changing the diet, and I didn't develop any more.

I used to take a multi-vitamin, which I stopped taking when I started eating this way, so the only thing that really seems to have changed is an increase in dietary fiber intake. The benefits I have noticed seem far too diverse and far reaching to just attribute to increased dietary fiber (that might in part explain the increased rate of body comp improvement but the endurance, mood, energy level, and general difference in feeling of health is way beyond that).

Just based on my own personal experience I really encourage anyone who doesn't really focus on eating lots of vegetables and relies on a multi-vitamin to try changing their diet around so as to get all the required vitamins from food. To that end I want to post a food advisor which I've found very helpful: http://www.whfoods.net/foodadvisor.php the main site, http://www.whfoods.net is also full of great information and recipes, I can't really say enough good things about it. Their top 100 foods list is a great resource, and though some of the information on the site is directed to nutrition newbies, I think there's something there for everyone.

[milwood]

thanks, ex. That's good info. I especally like those kind of healthy recipes that look like they come from Woman's Day or something. I'm serious, because they are so damn healthy and light, you can eat like a pig, and it's all good. You are absolutely right as far as the shift to whole foods as well. Especially green veggies.

[cable626]

damnit man i've been saying i was gonna start eating more greens, and now this is the final push.
gotta go to the supermarket guys, thanks exnihilo!

[Dwight Schrute]

The benefits I have noticed seem far too diverse and far reaching to just attribute to increased dietary fiber (that might in part explain the increased rate of body comp improvement but the endurance, mood, energy level, and general difference in feeling of health is way beyond that).

Green leafy veggies are the most abundant source of vitamins and the increased fiber intake controls blood glucose and insulin levels which helps in energy utilization, blood cholesterol, body composition, hormonal fluctuations, etc....the advantages are too numerous to list. So in short, the natural fiber intake can do all of those, especially those who are not used to it.

Another example of how diet and whole foods are beneficial.

[exnihilo]

Is it possible that fiber alone can do all that? Maybe. But honestly I have a feeling that if I took out the green veggies and just added solube and insoluble fiber supplements to every meal it wouldn't be the same.

*shrug*

[cable626]

i agree, there is something about whole foods that vitamins just simply can't match.

[UNDERTAKER]

this all coming from a guy who drinks 2 gallons of chocolate milk a day

[exnihilo]

Hey, I switched to torani sugar free 0 cal syrups a long long time ago bro milk is good mojo.

Though I got bloated pretty badly drinking that much milk. I'm trying to keep it around 1/3rd gallon recently, I can go to about 1/2 gallon before I notice much bloating though.

[Dwight Schrute]

Is it possible that fiber alone can do all that? Maybe. But honestly I have a feeling that if I took out the green veggies and just added solube and insoluble fiber supplements to every meal it wouldn't be the same.

*shrug*

From a natural source that includes the amount of vitamins it contains, yes.

[UNDERTAKER]

where do you get that sugar free syrup from?

[exnihilo]

You can get the big 1.75l bottles at smart and final for 3.89 where I live. Between 1/2-1/4 cup is enough to flavor a gallon of milk depending on how chocolatey you like it. You can find it in the grocery store in the coffee aisle too usually, but it's the tiny bottles, and they're usually ~3.50 which is a ****ing rip.

Go around to local coffee shops and ask where they get their torani syrups if you can't find it yourself, they have that stuff at pretty much all decent ones.