I am trying to restructure my diet to try and make it easier to plan and implement, and had a couple questions I was hoping the more knowledgable posters could comment on:
1. Does it really matter how many meals you eat throughout the day, and do your total calories really have to be divided evenly across all of your meals? If I'm willing to eat some smaller meals and some larger ones, then I can get away with not having to pack as much food to take with me.
2. Does it matter what macronutrients I combine into one meal? I have read that you should only eat either protein+carb meals, or protein+fat meals, but never carb+fat or all 3 combined. Is there any truth to this? If not, then it would make my meal planning quite a bit easier.
3. Along the same lines as question 2 and 3, does it make much of a difference what nutrients I eat at what times throughout the day? For example, I have read that you should consume a quick-digesting protein and a high-GI carb shortly after working out. I do this and don't have a problem with it. However, I have also read that the meal after the post workout shake should be a whole food protein source, a quick digesting carb such as white rice, and no fat. This rule causes me more problems because it rules out many healthy foods such as salmon and sweet potatoes because they are either low-GI, contain fat, or both.
I have also read that all meals outside of the 1 or 2 near your workout should be protein+fat only. Does this really matter?
I track everything I eat on fitday and know what foods are "healthy". My goal is to maintain weight while increasing strength and endurance (to some extent). My only questions concern these other little nutritional "rules" I have read. If they really don't make much difference then I'd rather not follow them because they really make planning a diet incredibly difficult.
1. Does it really matter how many meals you eat throughout the day, and do your total calories really have to be divided evenly across all of your meals? If I'm willing to eat some smaller meals and some larger ones, then I can get away with not having to pack as much food to take with me.
2. Does it matter what macronutrients I combine into one meal? I have read that you should only eat either protein+carb meals, or protein+fat meals, but never carb+fat or all 3 combined. Is there any truth to this? If not, then it would make my meal planning quite a bit easier.
3. Along the same lines as question 2 and 3, does it make much of a difference what nutrients I eat at what times throughout the day? For example, I have read that you should consume a quick-digesting protein and a high-GI carb shortly after working out. I do this and don't have a problem with it. However, I have also read that the meal after the post workout shake should be a whole food protein source, a quick digesting carb such as white rice, and no fat. This rule causes me more problems because it rules out many healthy foods such as salmon and sweet potatoes because they are either low-GI, contain fat, or both.
I have also read that all meals outside of the 1 or 2 near your workout should be protein+fat only. Does this really matter?
I track everything I eat on fitday and know what foods are "healthy". My goal is to maintain weight while increasing strength and endurance (to some extent). My only questions concern these other little nutritional "rules" I have read. If they really don't make much difference then I'd rather not follow them because they really make planning a diet incredibly difficult.
