When to Eat

Yeah. So you know what to eat now: healthy food. Less fat, maybe less carbs, no processed sugar, etc... More protein, veggies, fruits, whole grains, etc...

The question is: do you know when to eat these foods? Well, carbs are better pre-workout foods. Doesn't mean you should only eat carbs before a workout. Always mix your meals. You should have veggies or fruit in every meal, some protein, and plenty of carbs before a workout. After a workout? Food high in protein, with less carbs is good.

Yeah, yeah, you probably know all that... but I've done some more reading on eating. There's more to it!

I've told you that 5-6 meals a day is better than 2-3 meals a day. Very true! This helps your metabolism work faster and more efficiently... but did you know that you should have a 12 hour fast every day? You see, when you sleep, your digestion slows down... a ton. Apparently, your digestive system needs a rest too! Not just your muscles! Imagine that...

Ok, this is another reason for you to go to bed earlier. Why? Because when you stay up late, you are likely to snack. Because you're tired, your will power is lower, so you're likely eating something bad for you: like chips, ice cream, cookies, etc. That wasn't even my main point. My main point is that to give your digestive system a good 12 hour rest, you can't eat for 12 hours... so if you're snacking away at 11pm, you're going to have a rough time not eating until 11am in the morning.

So for you night owls you may think: awesome! I can now just eat late, and then eat a late breakfast and do just fine! No, you can't. You digest slower at night! You'll gain fat, my friend. Let's say, you always stay up late (or all night) because of your job (if it's because you're partying, change your habits, dude) then eating late is fine. Just don't eat 2-4 hours before you go to bed... If you stay up late on the weekends, or if you work nights, actually be awake like a normal person to be social, you don't only throw off your sleeping patterns, but your digestive patterns. You have a digestive clock too. To change it properly, you can only vary your eating my one hour at a time, if you don't you'll likely gain fat and/or you get less muscle.

Alrighty. So you have to eat earlier, and less at night. It's better for your body! There is all kinds of weird chemical and hormones that are effected by your eating times, I just can't remember them.

I read something like this, it's a little off topic, but I found it pretty funny, and true!

"There have been studies that show people lose more weight they eat eggs for breakfast. There has also been studies that show people lose more weight when they have oatmeal for breakfast. There were even studies that showed that people who ate cereal for breakfast lost more weight. There were even more studies that show if you eat chocolate cake you lose more weight... common denominator? They ate breakfast."

Obviously, cake is one of the worst things for you as a breakfast, but it's better than nothing! Eat breakfast dude.

It's also a good idea to stop eating carbs 4-5 hours before you go to bed. You can still have protein and such, but you don't want energy food that late at night. Just another tip for yah!

Sleep

Sleep. You all love sleep, right? Do know how good it is for you? It's really good. Sleeping right is about as important as eating right is! And eating right is more important than exercise! Exercise is pretty darn important... so eating and sleep are super important!

Anyway, back to sleep...zzzzzzz...

Correct sleep is really important: it helps to replace your hormones to the correct levels, restores energy (duh), repairs muscles (which also means builds muscles), rests the brain, and a ton of other stuff I'm not knowable in!

What's the basic idea of a healthy amount of sleep? 7-9 hours. That's a generalization. Everyone needs their own amount of sleep. Don't say 6 hours is good enough... because it likely is not. Actually the best way to sleep is to not use an alarm. That way, you wake up naturally. You have these sleep cycles lasting 45-90 minutes (I've heard a bunch of variations), and if you interrupt one of those cycles it can make you more tired, lose some of your results from your previous workout, cause you to eat more (because you need more energy), thus gain fat and probably a bunch of not-so-good stuff.

For you teens you might be thinking: "Awesome! I now can sleep in, and say it's for my good health!"

You could... but actually it's best just to 'go to bed earlier'. Yup. That's right. It's best for your health to go to bed before or around 10pm! Sorry folks!

If you're an athlete, trying to gain muscle mass, or trying to lose weight, you should try and get into the habit of going to bed early and not using your alarm! I personally just read about this, so I'm still trying to get into the habit of going to bed earlier, but it's hard when the rest of your family wants to stay up.

Caffeine

I don't know a ton about caffeine, but I read a few articles on the subject. So here we go...

From my own experience, I don't find caffeine worth it. It usually can cause addiction, crashing, dehydration and headaches... with a short burst of energy.

But it's not all bad! Caffeine can be used to up your performance! Well, if you use it right. Drinking your daily cup isn't the way. If you drink (or take pill form) one hour before you lift. It can give you a energy spike while you lift, which could help you lift that extra weight, or get one more rep... but I don't know all the effects caffeine has on you, but you're supposed to wean off of it at least one week before a big event, like a track meet or a soccer game. I have games/meets weekly, so caffeine just wouldn't be worth it except during the winter for me.

There are all these claims that coffee helps live longer and such, but I somehow doubt it. Maybe in small amounts... but eating healthy, staying fit and sleeping right will give you more benefits than coffee ever will, and make you live even longer!

If you like your coffee with sugar in it, then the whole helpful aspect of it is gone. Drink it black or maybe with non-sweetened cream (honey is ok though) or don't drink it.

Here's a article I found about soccer and caffeine. Turns out it effects your 'fine-motor-skills' (ball handling skills, writing, typing, etc), so it wouldn't help a soccer player in the long run. Just being fit is better!

http://www.scienceofsocceronline.com/2008/03/is-caffeine-and-effective-ergogenic-aid.html?m=1

Dip Belt

Well, I just came back from the Allagash canoeing trip, but because I don't feel like writing a long post right now, I'm not going to write about that right now.

Instead, I'm writing about my new dip belt! We just received the box it came it when I was on the canoeing trip. It cost $27, so that's not that bad. That's cheaper than some fancy meals! I read the reviews on Amazon.com, and the only problem people seemed to have was the chain that connected the weights to the belt was a little too short. I'm a short and skinny guy, so that shouldn't be a problem with me! I'll just have to keep thin.

So, what's a dip belt? It's a belt that goes around your waist (duh), and has a chain in front that you can connect weights to. Some people claimed they did pull ups for reps with over 100 pounds on it, so I don't think that I'll be 'out growing' it anytime soon. The great thing about a dip belt is that I can add weight to my pull ups/chin ups/dips without bringing weights (weighed vest) to the gym, or I can use my home weights. The belt also places weight under your center of gravity, so it moves with your bodyweight naturally.

Another plus is I can add weights from 2.5 pounds to 155 pounds to it! Pretty good for any strength range! Though, I think my pull up bar's max weight is 300 pounds, so 160+155=315. That's if I don't gain any weight while lifting! So, I'd eventually max out my pull up bar, which is fine because I'll have built plenty of muscle, and I can work on one arm chin ups!

To say the least, I'm excited to use my dip belt!