[ Nutrition-Filter ] Evaluate this 24 year-old guy's current diet!

December 18, 2009 9:00 AM

[ Nutrition-Filter ] Evaluate this 24 year-old guy's current diet!

Hey Hive! I've been thinking about nutrition lately, and I wanted to get your feedback about my diet. I eat the same, generally healthy foods all the time. I approach food more as fuel than fun, although I do enjoy eating specific kinds of foods only for pleasure at times.

Here's what this 24 year old guy eats all the time:

- Baked / Grilled Chicken Breasts
- lean deli meats (I focus primarily on turkey breast with the smallest amount of saturated fats)
- 2% milk Cheese
- Nature's Own Double-Fiber Wheat Bread (This stuff rocks)
- Original plain oatmeal with a tablespoon of sugar-free jam
- Omelets (3-4 egg whites and one yolk)
- Broccoli and cheese steamers (you pop em' in the microwave for 10 minutes, and voila!)
- Optimum Protein Shakes

... and that's it.

So, do you see anything I might be missing out on, in terms of nutrition? I should mention that I do take a daily GNC sport-grade multivitamin, and a fish oil supplement as well. I've been searching Ask Metafilter, and the internet as a whole, but I have yet to find some kind of guide or consensus about the issue.

Your advice and experience is greatly appreciated AskMeFi!

posted by platosadvocate to Food & Drink (32 answers total)

do you see anything I might be missing out on, in terms of nutrition?

Fruits and vegetables!
posted by Miko at 9:03 AM on December 18, 2009 [11 favorites]

You need fresh fruits and vegetables! At the very least add salads to your meals and fruit as snacks.
posted by something something at 9:03 AM on December 18, 2009

Fruits and vegetables. A couple of servings of frozen broccoli a week does not count as eating fruits and vegetables. You should be aiming for 5-8 servings a day of fruits and vegetables.
posted by decathecting at 9:05 AM on December 18, 2009

What Miko said. Also, that's way more protein than you probably need.
posted by shiny blue object at 9:06 AM on December 18, 2009

Wow. We all think alike!

You may also want to look at your sodium intake. Frozen dinners and deli meat, as well as store-bought bread, tend to be pretty high in it, and your protein powder has 40 grams per serving, so if you're relying on those things as staples, you could be eating a ton of salt.
posted by decathecting at 9:08 AM on December 18, 2009

Nthing fruit and veggies. Deli meats are highly processed, usually have way too much salt and preservatives. You also need to eat beans/legumes and nuts. Some fish every now and then would be good too.
posted by mareli at 9:09 AM on December 18, 2009

You might want to visit a site like FitDay and run a thorough analysis of your diet. Keep an accurate record of everything you eat and drink, including amounts, and then run a nutritional analysis. I suspect you'll find that you're pretty severly deficient in fiber and vitamins.

There's also a substantial amount of evidence that supplements aren't an adequate substitute for eating properly, so don't mortgage your health for pecs.
posted by yellowcandy at 9:12 AM on December 18, 2009

What about making smoothies/juices and popping the protein powder into them? That would be an awesome way to get some fruits in.
posted by so_gracefully at 9:12 AM on December 18, 2009

(And veggies. Spinach and kale are nice in smoothies with a little apple and banana.)
posted by so_gracefully at 9:14 AM on December 18, 2009

Your diet is better than the typical American's but is still pretty poor.

Cut the deli meats and bread, switch to steel-cut oats. I'm not going to tell you to stop completely with the grains but most people overeat them. Add a lot more veggies and some fruit. Jam doesn't count, it might as well be candy with all the sugar. Broccoli and cheese steamers? Really? That cheese sauce is fake. Try roasting some brussel sprouts in garlic and olive oil.

Also, use the egg yolks and switch to whole milk cheese if you are going to eat it. You aren't getting nearly enough fat in your diet. Eat some avocado and some nuts. Eat more fish.

Unless you are lifting heavy you don't need the shakes. If you start eating like this you probably won't even need the multi-vitamin. Keep the fish-oil, it's hard to get enough of this unless you eat fatty fish regularly. You can get eggs with a better fat profile (Look for Omega-3 eggs, they feed the chickens flax-seed mixed with their normal stuff).
posted by Loto at 9:16 AM on December 18, 2009

Seconding that you need waaaaaaaaaay more fruits & veggies. Try a banana or raisins with your oatmeal, throw some peppers & onions into your omelets, maybe a glass of OJ even. An apple & banana for lunch... and throw a few more veggies in with dinner. Basically veggies with every meal. You can get bags of frozen veggies at the supermarket for just a few bucks. They're quick and easy to make, will go well with your chicken breasts at dinner, and one bag'll last a few meals.

If you're looking for other ideas, you can't go wrong with the "superfoods":

• Beans
• Blueberries
• Broccoli
• Oats
• Oranges
• Pumpkin
• Salmon (any fish really, but especially Omega-3 rich. Don't worry about mercury unless you're eating fish more than once or twice a week)
• Soy
• Spinach
• Tea (green or black)
• Tomatoes
• Turkey
• Walnuts
• Yogurt
• Avocado
• Dark Chocolate (treat yourself a little from time to time)

posted by swashedbuckles at 9:19 AM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

One last thing: don't be afraid to eat red meat as long as it is from a high quality source. Local, grass-fed (-not- grain finished) steer and buffalo are great sources. The meat is generally leaner and the fat isn't as bad for you as in commercially raised steer. Improving the quality of your food is one of the best things a person can do for their health.
posted by Loto at 9:22 AM on December 18, 2009

The nutritional value of what you're eating seems to be pretty low and the level of additives high.

- Replace (or at least alternate) your chicken and deli meats with beans, veggies, and fish (salmon, sardines).
- Replace the "Nature's Own" with bakery bread. Note, anytime you see a brand name as something like "Nature's Own" or "Nature's Way" or natural this-or-that -- it is invariably processed food and not natural at all.
- Oatmeal good. Why sugar-free jam? Dump the fake sugar, use honey.
- Omelets. Ok, but hard-boiled eggs might be a healthier option.
- "Broccoli and cheese steamers". This is junk food. Don't let the marketing fool you.
- "Optimum protein shakes" -- plenty of natural ways to eat protein, why do you need to these artificial supplements?
posted by whiskeyspider at 9:28 AM on December 18, 2009

Folks are already weighing in nutrition stuff like calories, etc. but the other thing to think about, which Loto touches on, is where your food is coming from, how many chemicals/dyes/additives/hormones are in everything. This goes mostly for animal-derived products, but really for everything. For example, if your sugar-free jam has artificial sweetener, I'd swamp it out for preserves with all fruit and if you need, a little added real sugar.

Your diet looks a bit light on complex carbs and fiber, IMHO. Also, it makes a lot more sense (I think) to evaluate diet in the context of how you feel, what your body craves, how much and vigorously you're exercising. I find that when I am active, very active, I need lots more carbs. Some people need lots more protein or fat, etc.

Overall, it looks like you're great on protein and without knowing your activity profile, I'd off the cuff say: more complex carbs and healthy fats (nut fats, etc.).

Of course, much of this has to do with what you and your body want to be eating, if you catch my drift.
posted by Rudy Gerner at 9:31 AM on December 18, 2009

How many calories are you taking in every day? Are you trying to gain muscle, lose fat, or maintain? What kind of exercise are you doing?
posted by ludwig_van at 9:33 AM on December 18, 2009

What do you want to get out of your diet?

Do you weight train? If so, your protein is probably fine.

Do you want to lose weight? Less carbs.

Definitely add more vegetables, fruits in moderation. Eat more fats, they're good for you. Switch to steel cut (pinhead or Irish) oatmeal. Ditch the processed meat.
posted by elsietheeel at 9:36 AM on December 18, 2009

Nature's Own Double-Fiber Wheat Bread (This stuff rocks)

Ditto!

Your diet is better than the typical American's but is still pretty poor.

I don't agree with that at all. Actually, it looks like a pretty decent diet to me. It could be better, but hardly poor. It looks like you're watching your sugar intake so I'd be hesitant to suggest adding too many fruits to your diet (especially high-sugar ones), but yes, you need more veggies. And why the protein shakes? Unless you're doing a lot of weight lifting, you probably don't need them.
posted by SoulOnIce at 9:37 AM on December 18, 2009

If you are watching sugar, which it seems you are, are you anti-all-sugars or just anti-processed sugars? Low sugar fruits are not plentiful but berries are the best source. Green beans, mushrooms, asparagus, bok choy, cucumber, no-sugar-added pickles and salad greens would be similar sources of vegetables.
posted by DarlingBri at 10:12 AM on December 18, 2009

#1. read up on deli meats. You'll find a ton of water, high sodium and an amazing amount of sugar and preservatives added to them. Make your own.

With turkey, buy a turkey breast split it, season it to your liking, and bake it just like your chicken. pull the breast off the bone while it is still hot, then immediately wrap it tightly in saran wrap and throw it in the fridge to cool completely. Slice thin - against the grain of the muscle.

2. Israeli Couscous / Whole wheat Couscous can be easily added to your breakfast in place of oatmeal (5 minutes to make). I reccommend cinnamon and vanilla to finish, though if you need more sweet add a dab of honey.

3. Sugar-free is generally processed crap. Man up and use something real: honey, or a sugar in the raw (preferably a minimally processed sugar) in a sparing usage or a Stevia based sweetner (note: there is controversy on truvia the big brand).

4. Veggies. Tell me what you like besides broccolli.. because you need more variety. Frozen spinqch, cucumbers, zuchinni, squash... occassionally peas... you'd be surprised what a combination of a little cumin, garlic, onion, sage, thyme, salt, pepper, and/ or chilli powder can do to borring baked and/steamed veggies.

Note: since you aren't adverse to cheese: split the chicken, pound it flat, roll it around a strip of veggie, skewer with a toothpickand bake it in the oven. Remove toothpick and Pour a little melted cheese, mustard and milk over the top. Personally, I wrap them in bacon too - but hey - you don't include bacon in your diet.

5. I'm pretty anti-protien shake/bar. My wife loves them. From my perspective they are overly processed. My wife loves them because she can whip one up with a speedy toddler requiring a bunch of her focus - so its a quick meal that requires low attention. From that perspective, if you are using them to save time - go right on ahead - just keep them to a minimum. Just make no mistake - if you have 5 minutes to make a protien shake, I can assemble a kickass snack from leftovers from yesterday's meals in the same length of time.

6. From your list, I assume you eat 5-6 meals a day (smaller meals). If not, move to this. Make extra at every meal you cook for. Invest in storage containers. Make enough for 3 micro meals at each micro meal and mix and match your containers for the next 3 days.

(Example: Couscous - made plain, portion separated and vannilla and cinnamon are added for breakfast. Curry is added to the remainder and it is stored in a container for a dinner side and tomorrow's mid-morning meal. Veggies cut and cooked for lunch get turned into a small ratatoulie to be eaten for dinner. Chicken breasts, prepped on the weekend are each seasoned individually and then baked in the same pan: One herbed, one mid-east, one spicy, one balsamic/ rosemary). Cool and container them and you've got a bunch of meals protien taken care of. Using the stove? Throw on a cold pot of water with 8 eggs, bring to a boil. Cut the heat and wait 10 minutes. Breakfast is ready for the next two days. Spice your hardboiled eggs.)

Lastly, never look for consesus on Metafilter.
posted by Nanukthedog at 10:23 AM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yeah, dude, where the hell are your fruits and vegetables? That's like the biggest consensus there is in nutrition. Processed broccoli covered with cheese is better than nothing, I guess, but...

Here are a few simple and tasty ways to introduce more veggies into your diet.

• Sweet potatoes. Just pop 'em in the toaster oven at 400–450°F for an hour. (You can microwave them, too, but the flavor isn't as good.) They're packed with vitamins (and much better for you than regular potatoes.) I like beets done this way, too, but I might be weird.
• Steamed anything. Get a steamer basket (cheap at any home/kitchen store), and you can add a tasty vegetable side to any meal with a minimum of effort. Steamed veggies get a bad rap for some reason—I can only assume that people are overcooking their veggies (which will make a lot of them slimy and bitter), or else using crappy, unfresh vegetables. My favorites for steaming are asparagus (don't overcook), kale (tasty and very nutritious), and broccoli. Snap peas are good, too. Put a cover on the pot to keep the steam in and cook the veggies quicker. Most stuff is done once it turns bright green.
• Spinach. A hot pan (cast iron works well), a scant drizzle of olive oil, and (optionally) a crushed clove of garlic and a twist of sea salt. It cooks almost as soon as it hits the pan—two minutes, tops. (It also reduces significantly in volume, so go ahead and pile a few handfuls in there.) Stir with a wooden spoon to cook evenly. (Use fresh spinach, of course—not frozen. The only disadvantage is that it only keeps for a few days in the fridge.)
• Yellow squash. Just chop it up and sauté it in a bit of olive oil or butter, with chopped fresh or dried herbs (sage, thyme, etc.) and a little salt. Cook just until it starts to brown. (Squash is surprisingly good raw, too—e.g., in salads.)
• Learn how to make soups and stir-fries. These are easy, versatile, healthy dishes that you can make with whatever veggies you have on hand. I like to keep soba noodles on hand for stir-fries—they cook in minutes, and they add protein and a good flavor. (I also love tofu in my stir-fries; buy the "extra firm" variety and freeze it overnight to give it a meatier texture. Seitan is good too, if you can find it.) Put soy sauce, ginger, onion, garlic, Sriracha, flavored oils, etc. in the pan to customize. As for soup, this stuff is aptly named, and has less sodium than canned stock, to boot. Finely chop and sauté whatever aromatics you're using (onion/shallot/garlic/carrot/celery); add stock and bring to a boil; reduce heat and add vegetables/rice/beans (starting with stuff that takes longer to cook). You can add whatever you have/like, in whatever proportion, but tomatoes are a no-brainer (and a rare instance where canned is fine). Add a leftover rind of Parmesan to a vegetable soup to make it super-extra delicious.
• Yogurt. Real yogurt—the plain, unsweetened, tangy stuff. That Yoplait shit has as much HFCS as a soda. Just add a drizzle of honey and a chopped banana (or whatever fruit you like), and you have a tasty breakfast treat. I really like this strained yogurt—all of my friends who have tried it have ditched regular yogurt and never looked back.
• Roasted root vegetables. Very simple: chop up the vegetables; toss in a glass oven dish with just enough olive oil to coat, a sprinkle of salt, and whatever herbs you like; bake at 400°F-ish for however long it takes (probably 20–40 minutes, depending on the vegetable). Turnips, potatoes, beets, parsnips, carrots... Google "herbs that go well with x".

Also, try steel-cut oats. They take much longer to cook than regular rolled oats, but they're much better for you, and (I think) much tastier. They keep you full longer, too—a bowl of these, boiled in water or milk with a handful of nuts and dried fruit, keeps me going until mid-afternoon. You can make them at night and put them in the fridge for the morning, if you're so inclined.

And, yes, sugar-free stuff and protein bars/shakes are not healthy. Your body evolved to eat food, not industrially produced nutrition supplements.
posted by ixohoxi at 11:00 AM on December 18, 2009 [6 favorites]

A big problem with asking a question like this is once you take out the really obviously bad stuff like soda and fast food, there are wildly different opinions on what eating healthy actually means (examples include raw foodists, Ornish diet, paleo diet.) I suggest you study up on the different theories of optimal nutrition, find bloggers who show their health markers and blood tests from different diets and then make up your mind.
posted by SouthCNorthNY at 11:25 AM on December 18, 2009

Pollan had it right, IMO: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Also, in addition to just having more veggies and fruit (8 - 10 servings per day typically), you should make sure that at least one green and at least one orange vegetable per day is included in that 8-10.
posted by Kurichina at 12:58 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

Chiming in to say that no matter what your diet philosophy, there is no diet I know of that would say just a bit of broccoli every day is enough, either in volume or variety. Ditch your vitamin pills and eat foods that have vitamins in them.

I also think that eating such a restricted diet all the time is a bad thing, even if the constituents are in themselves healthy -- and I doubt strongly that deli meat, "broccoli steamers" and protein shakes are in fact very good for you on a regular basis. If you want to raise the odds that your body is getting everything it needs, eat a lot of different foods from different sources.

Oh, that bread:

WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, INULIN (CHICORY), VEGETABLE FIBER (SOY AND/OR COTTONSEED), WHEAT GLUTEN, ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), YEAST, WHEAT BRAN, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING: SUGAR, SALT, DOUGH CONDITIONERS (CONTAINS ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING: SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, CALCIUM STEAROYL-2-LACTYLATE, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, CALCIUM PEROXIDE, CALCIUM IODATE, DATEM, ETHOXYLATED MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, AZODICARBONAMIDE), SOYBEAN OIL, SOY FLOUR, NATURAL FLAVOR, OMEGA 3 (REFINED FISH OIL DERIVED FROM ANCHOVY, SARDINE, AND /OR MACKEREL), MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, AMMONIUM SULFATE, ENZYMES, SOY LECITHIN, NIACIN, IRON (FERROUS SULFATE), WHEAT STARCH, THIAMINE HYDROCHLORIDE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID, CULTURED WHEAT FLOUR, VINEGAR, OAT FLAKE TOPPING

I prefer to make my own. It has just flour and salt and sourdough in it, and it actually undergoes fermentation.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:41 PM on December 18, 2009

The all-caps list of ingredients above is, I guess, intended to suggest that 'chemicals are bad'. I'd be interested in knowing if anyone can actually point at evidence to suggest that any of those are bad (beyond the obvious sugar and salt of course...). I'm not saying that none of them are, I don't know, which is kind of the point.
posted by muteh at 2:12 PM on December 18, 2009 [2 favorites]

OK, that was a bit obtuse, I admit.

But it's a pretty heavily processed food, and underneath the "nature" branding, it's just another industrially-produced bread with minimal fermentation, hence the need for dough conditioners and chemical leavening. It's fortified because it's made from flour that had the germ removed, it has fish oil in it which I personally find skeevy, and it has cottonseed and soy in it, both of which I like to avoid.

It's not actually bread in the traditional sense: it's a baked product which is made to resemble bread by chemical and mechanical means. It's probably not terribly bad for you but the "ooh nature" gloss makes me laugh.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:23 PM on December 18, 2009

Fair enough. I think I've just been overly sensitised to people who point at ingredients lists like they're excerpts from Revelations.
posted by muteh at 2:32 PM on December 18, 2009

I went from little to plenty of vegetables by stocking the freezer. Fixtures (always available) include spinach, peas, and green beans. Costs about $0.33 - $1 serving. You stick them in a pan with a little water and they are ready in 5-10 minutes. Have two with every meal. If you aren't hungry enough for them, cut out starches: corn/grain/potato. Nuts are a good source of fat.

I'm kind of sold on Zone Paleo as trumpeted by Crossfit, others.
posted by samsm at 3:03 PM on December 18, 2009

Drop the processed grains (bread, oatmeal) - they give you little nutrition that other food doesn't give you, and spike your blood sugar, making you hungrier faster. More veggies. Don't listen to what people say about too much protein - it ain't true. You also need more fats. Don't go with "99% lean" meats or too much chicken anything like that. Animal fat is good for you and keeps you from feeling so hungry. It also helps you poop!

Also... you don't need protein shakes. That's ridiculous if you're eating enough meat. Trade that out for some nuts (don't do peanuts or cashews, go with almonds, walnuts, pecans, etc)

That said, I'm a strong believer in the Primal/Paleo/EvoFit thing, so if you really want to listen to me then stop eating any processed grain or sugar. Basically, if you couldn't eat it raw (barring bacteria and crap), don't eat it. Potatoes are poisonous (cooking removes that), wheat tastes like ass on a plate unprocessed, cashews are the seed of a fruit that has a similar toxin to poison ivy. All these things would never be eaten by any strain of humanity during our evolution, so we obviously haven't been built to eat them.
posted by phrakture at 3:36 PM on December 18, 2009

Drop the processed grains (bread, oatmeal) - they … spike your blood sugar

Note that this is less true of steel-cut oats.
posted by ixohoxi at 3:48 PM on December 18, 2009

Worlds Healthiest Foods has a great quiz you can take to help evaluate your diet. Then you can click around and learn about all kinds of foods you might not have even thought to eat that can be very beneficial for your health. I've made some recipes from that site that were good too.

I would also look to more sustainable protein sources. Pastured animals have better lives and have more vitamins and beneficial fats. Buffalo, wild boar, elk, venison, pastured eggs, and pastured turkey are good choices for your body and the environment. Alaskan wild salmon and sardines are also good.

There is a learning curve for these foods so give yourself 1 new healthy food a week and really take some time to learn some recipes for it. It's a great hack that worked for me. This tip works no matter if you are a paleo dieter (like me) or a low-fat eating vegan.
posted by melissam at 3:52 PM on December 18, 2009

Vegetable juicing is a great way to meet your daily requirement for vegetable or fruit servings. A high quality vegetable juicer can be had for around $80 US and you will be very surprised at how well the right combination of veggies and fruits can taste!
posted by yoyoceramic at 4:34 PM on December 18, 2009

Also, try steel-cut oats. They take much longer to cook than regular rolled oats, but they're much better for you

Can anyone back this up? As far as I can tell the difference is minimal.
posted by ludwig_van at 1:53 PM on December 19, 2009