Nutrition

Why I Stopped Snacking (And Started Eating Meals Instead)

 

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am always hungry.

I think about food constantly (I’ll admit, probably too much), and if I don’t eat every couple of hours I get grumpy, fuzzy headed, and undoubtedly not much fun to be around.

It has taken me a long time to figure out how to eat properly to best fuel my body, keep my energy up, stay lean, and of course keep myself from “turning” on the people around me when I get too hungry. I’m always experimenting with new foods and trying new methods of eating to work towards reaching my full athletic (and mental) potential.

Yet despite fully knowing that I needed to eat every couple of hours, up until recently I still basically ate only three meals a day—with many, many snacks in between.

Here’s what would happen with that approach:

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Should You Count Calories?

 

One of the biggest nutrition questions I get on a regular basis is whether or not it’s really necessary to count calories.

I always hesitate to answer this one, because really, it depends so much on you—what your short and long-term goals are, whether you know how to eat intuitively or not, whether you’ll actually be diligent and honest when you do it (and not accidentally “forget” that half box of chocolate chip cookies you ate last night), and whether you have obsessive tendencies.

Depending on what your answers are to those questions above, I may or may not tell you it’s a good idea to count calories on a regular basis.

So do I count calories?

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Are Carbs Really That Bad?

 

I have a confession to make.

Despite knowing better, over the past couple of years I fell deeper and deeper into the “carbs are bad” fitness trend.

Now, I knew when I first started hearing about the low carb fad that it was just that: a fad. I knew carbs were crucial to a healthy, well rounded, diet, yet I let myself demonize them anyway. And most of all, I knew carbs were absolutely crucial for athletic performance, yet I kept ignoring the evidence, despite knowing better.

And I wasn’t alone—other performance-focused fitness lovers and athletes began to fall into the low carb trap over the past few years as well. Writers like Adam Bornstein and Jason Ferruggia have recently talked about their own experiences with the low carb diet trend, and the success of Eat to Perform, a site pretty much dedicated to helping athletes add carbs back into their diet in order to improve their athletic performance as well as their overall health, is pretty telling as to just how many athletes are dealing with this issue.

Yet this isn’t to say that low carb diets have absolutely no place for anyone—in fact, if you’re overweight and sedentary, a diet low in carbohydrates can definitely help you lose weight. And if you only do light or moderate exercise, a low carb diet may be right for you as well.

But if you train like an athlete, you have to eat like one. And that means embracing carbs.

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Pre-workout eating

You’re Doing it Wrong: Pre-Workout Eating

Pre-workout eating

“What do I eat before working out?”

I get asked this question all the time.

Because while most people know what to eat after a workout, they’re clueless as to what they should be putting in their bodies beforehand. And the truth is, it’s not an easy question.

Because like so many things in life, it depends on your own personal goals.

And from my experience, there are basically three goals most people have when choosing what to eat before working out:

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